The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-01-20
 DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
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 BY THE REV FRANK DE WITT TAlMAGE, D. Q.

 CE WITT TALMAGE, b. D.
 had q strange dream. At that time nc i was very sick. while he lay in his bed he saw the evil one enter his room | With a huge scroll upon his back
 With demoniac leer he suddenly be- gan 10 unroll il. The scroll seemed to grow larger and larger as it unfolded | before Luthers eyes. Then as the fiead | began to unroll this scroll Luther be- gan to read. And as he read on he found out that this long scroll was the record | or hls past life. There are thy sins, the fend chuekled Aha. see, the rec ord Of them is all there!' But as Mar ! tin Luther read on suddenly d passage or Scripture flashed into his mind. lie raised himself upon his sick bed and said: "Oh, demon, you have forgotten to put something in that record The record IS all true, but you have forgotten the one promise which cancels all that ghast- ly list. Write it there. Write 1t there now: The blood of Jesus Christ his Son ! cleanseth us from all sin 7"
 No sooner did Luther speak thus, the old legend says than the fiend gathered up his long, heavy scroll and with wild cry of defeat, fled into the darkness of the night" That may be only le- | gend, but it Is the consolation of many ! a sin burdened heart Like the blind ! man of the east, we have been staggering along in the darkness of our sins But Jesus has come and touched our eyes Jesus has cleansed us. Jesus has made a test case out of our sins, On account of his shed blood he has spoken to our repentent souls: Thou arc whole Thou are whole" Oh, the wonderful miracle of the kindled eyesight of the blind man of the east. Oh, the divine grace which can cleanse us from all sin!
 Blinds History.
 But il is not sufficient here to make general statement that this young man, having his eyesight given to hi1l, is the symbol of our own lives being cleansed of sin by a superhuman pow CT We must go more into detail and tell you how this young man came to have his eyesght given to him. In the first place, we would state he was not a disciple of Jesus Christ at all. Up to the time Peter asked, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents. that he was born blind?' l do not believe ne , had ever heard of Jesus or he had ever spoken to Jesus or Jesus had ever spoken to him. He was just one of those miserable beggars of the cast who live on charity.
 There these beggars may be met on every street. Like the Jerusalem dogs, they crawl under the very hoofs of your horses The greet you in the country. { They follow you into the city. They are at every street corner. They are cursed at and spat upon "Get out of the way there, you beggar.'' you can hear the cry on almost every hand They are the vampires. the offseourings of the east Like the poltroons of Rome, who used to cut off their thumbs so they could not shoot a bow and arrow and would therefore be immune from conscrir- ton in the Roman army, some of these beggars of the east mutiate themselves i in order to escape work aud to be able to better ply their trade of fbegging. An, yes, this poor blind beggar of the east must have been well used to kicks and cuffs and upbradments! But no sooner had Peter finished talking than a most wonderful experience was his. The blind man could not see. but he could hear. He could feel, And, oh, the softest voice be- gan to talk to him! Every word was a gentle word of love. The softest touch pressed his eyelids. This strange being came and put some salye upon his eyes and then said, Son, go to the pool of l Sioam and wash The blind man could not make out what this strange being 1 was but he felt that he must be either God or the representative of a God Thus the blind man went and came seeing 1 That Is the symbol of true conversion. ! It is obeyng Christ as the blind man oheyed him. It is just giving yourself | up to his will. It is doing what he wants you to do, even though it may i seem foolish way of getting cured. The blind man obeyed Christ, even , though he could not tell who he was.
 Trust and Belief.
 "Oh." you answer, q do want Jesus for my Saviour but I cannot under stand how he could be co-equal with 1 God and yet be born of Mary the Vibgin! l want to believe it, but I cannot. don't understand how this Jesus could be resurrected from the dead l do not understand how he could perform those miracles" Don't you, my brother? Per haps you do not see his face as Paul saw 1t on the Damascus road. But that | does not prevent your trusting him like 1 the blind man of the east. Even though you cannot understand all about him. cannot you hear his sweet voice? Can | not you feel the touch of his fingers upon 1 your eyelids? Cannot you hear him saying to you as he spake to the blind man of the east, "Go wash in the pool of [ Sioam?" Cannot you hear his dear voice l speaking? Will you not surrender yourself and obey his will. even though you can not understand all about this Jesus? Oh, that we could all live in the simple | faith in which Sir David Brewster. the great scientist, lived and died, When he was coming near to the end of his f life he said to his Christian physicia T, Sir James Smpson "I shall see Jesus, and that will be grand. I shall see him | who made the worlds" Then he went on and explained to Dr. Simpson that one l of the greatest desires of his life in i reaching heaven was to have sc many things explained which he could not un- derstand here. Then. as the end drew l near, he whispered: "Yes, I have had the light for many years. and, oh, how bright it is! feel safe, so satisfied" Cannot you be like the gentle, Christian l David Brewster9 Cannot you be like the blind man of the east? Cannot you just obey Christ and leave the mysteries to be solved later? Oh, how soft that voice is, How gentle is that touch Canst thou not hear him gently say "Go wash in tho pool of siloam?" In thy blind ness, wilt thou not go?
 Brave Beegar.
 But there Is another fact you must bear well in mind. No sooner did this