The Caucasian., 1903-01-22
TALMAGE
SERMON
BY Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE, DID,,
Pastor of Jefferson Park Presbv-
terian Church, Chicago

may obtain consolation aud encourn gr
ment from the doctrine Rev. +. De
Witt Talmage teaches In the following
sermon on the text Matthew xiv. o.
Jesus constrained his disciples to get
into II ship
There 1t is! See. Yon.ler Is the tiisci-
pies boat tossed about OH the waves
of Lake Galilee. Those men seem to
! be In as critical situation as was the
captain of an Atlantic eonl barge som"
time ago. The barge had been caught
! In u storm and was sinking under his
/ feet. The captain signaled to the tug.
Then, as 1t drew near. lie picked up
first one and then another Of his little
children. He raised them above his
head and hurled them through the atr
| into the arms Of the rescuers. Then he
turned and fastened a rope. thrown 10
him from the tug. around the whist Of
| hfs wife aud nnother around his own
waist. and both leaped into the sea.
Two minutes after he and his wife had
/ been dragged into the reSeuing bont
his own coal barge iiHde IL plunge and
disappeared. Every moment The diEci.
pies. like that captutit expected their
/ boat to founder. Some Of thcni were
! veteran fishermen, yet they had given
| up nll hope of@ryet reaching band again.
| The tinnaef Of drowning in Like Gal
/ lice was nut the only tlnnger, nor indeed
1 the greatest danaer which threatened
| tlle disciples. They were IN spiritual
| tlanger. Having seer Jesus only Il few
! hours before feed a multitude OF 5000
| persons with five loates aud few fish
es. they had lost sight of his spiritual
mission md were about TO hail him as
a temporal leader Like the nultitudhs
/ which had been fed, they began To
| whisper among themselves: why not
| make Christ our kingl Such u tI1ifuele
| working lender us this could not only
/ feed rs aiid clothe us without any work
/ upon our unrt. but he also could liber-
| ate ts from Romali tyranny and be to
lis another Moses, another Joshua or
another David" lii order to counter
act this design Of making Elm merely
| d temporal kiiig. which would have
brought him into collision with the
Roman power and have degraded his
| mission into mere insurrection, he
determined to teach the disciples their
weakness and helplessness. He com.
pelIed them to launch their boat and
enter into fearful combat of at least
ten long hours with the Galilean tenn
pest. 80 In order to compel you and
me To hook away from our worldly In.
tereets, which are absorbing our
thoughts and desires, and lead us to
seek from him the higher spiritual
blessings he has to bestow God clouds
our skies and brings upon us tidal
wave OF crushing disaster. that we may
b driven 10 climb into his loving. pro
tecting arms
The dark. tetnpsstu0us nights of re-
HGious peFsecution have often been. II,
God,s sight. the brightest and tis most
bls~sed Of sunshiny days for the
church. II was by having his eyes tsu,.
po<ariiy blinded that Paul gained spir
ifual sight Ii wss by being lowered
Ii basket by few friends over the
Damascus wall In order to escape the
rnsirderpr's dakger that Paul Was set
free 10 embark on his missionary ca
reer. II was By exile TO lonely island
of the Mediterranean that John was
enabled to see his marvellous apoealyp-
tic visions. II WINS not until Rene had
been burned BY the bloody Nero. who
laughed and fiddled while the eonfla-
grafton ragged; not until the Christians
had suffered under the false charge Of
being the ineendlaries that the church
was purified and fully launched OH Its
great evangelistie work. II was when
Martin Luther had to face the diet OF
Worms and had been imprisoned for
months Lii tile Warthurg that the refor-
nation was started. When the pilgrim
futhers on account of religious pefse-
cution had to ieave England then the
first foundation stone OF Christian
America was laid And in 10 time Of
church history caii you find that great
religious awakening has occurred or 4
great religious leader has come forth
without the previous roar of the Gall.
lean tempest, as 1t vawned to destroy
the church and enguf Christian fiiitli.
Parity Through Persecution.
solne time ago heard d great minis
ter of our country developing this
thought In part. he said. 'l'he reason
we do NOT have savonaroits and John
knosea and john Husses III the present
day Is heeatlse we do not have the nm /
cient prosecutions which purified anti !
.enfos5leti the ancient church. Some
people are foolish enough to suppose
thai tile best and greatest day of the
=earls Christian church was when the
Emperor Constantine Joined lie church
with fhp state and Ind thousands upon
thousands of Ills subjects haptizpti bg
the priests III the different riverA But
Il want fe tell you that when tiuttst.lIi-
tine Joined lie church with the state
1t was Il sad 81 for the history Of
the Christian Ilai ID. With tie regal
power Of The church II became 4
f.4,fs1s4Tf9f ,sillfs.ll With III, regal tuwpr