Rensselaer Republican, Volume 24, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 July 1892 — CRISIS OF THE SOUL. [ARTICLE]

CRISIS OF THE SOUL.

Talmage’s Idea of the Importance of Opportune Action. Inlah'i Vlrid Presentation of the Person. Bitty of Christ—The Bible Is Jfew Every Hoar to the Truly Converted. Dr. Talmage’s phenomenal success ih his preaching tour across the sea does not lag for a moment. During the next ten days he will preach in the leading Scottish cities. His sermon for this week is entitled "The Soul’s Crisis,” from Isaiah iv, 6: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.” Isaiah stands head and shoulders above the other Old Testament authors in vivid descriptiveness of Christ. Other prophets give an outline of our Saviour’s features. Some of them present, as it were, the side face of Christ; others a bust of Ghrist. — But Isaiahgives tis the full length portrait of Christ. Other Scripture writers excel in. some things—Ezekiel more weird, 'David more oathetic, Solomon more epigramatic, Habakkuk more sublime — but when ypu want to see Christ coming out from the gates of prophecy in all His grandeur and glory you involuntarily turn to Isaiah. So that if the prophecies in regard to Christ might be called the "Oratorio of the Messiah,” the writing of I%aiaff is the "Hallelujah Chorus,” where all the batons wave and all the trumpets come in. Isaiah was not a man pibked upout.of insignificance by inspiration.. He was known and hdfiored. Josephus and Philo and Sirach extolled him in their writings. What Paul wa£ among the apostles Isaiah was among the prophets. My text finds him standing a’ mountain for inspiration,lookingofit Into the future, beholding Christ advancing and anxious that all men might know him ; jais voice rings clown the ages, "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, ” “ Oh, ”

says some one, inai was ior omen times. ” No, my hearer. I come to-day with no hairspun theories of religion, with no nice distinctions, with no elaborate disquisition, but with a plain talk on, the matters of personal religion. J feel that the sermon I preach this morning,will Jje the savor of life unto life or death unto death. In other words, the Gospel of Christ is a powerful medicine, it either kills or cures. There are those who say :• “ I would like to become a Christian. I have been waiting a good while for the right kind of influence to come/’ And still you are waiting. You are wiser in worldly things than you are in religious things. And yet there are men who say they are waiting to get to mjaven—waiting, waiting, but not with intelligent waiting, or they would get on board the liioe of Christian influences, that would them into the kingdom of GojLJ

Now you know very well that to seek a thing is to search for it with earnest endeavor. If you want to see a certain man in London, and there is a matter of much money connected with your seeing him, and you can not at first find him, you do not give up the search. You say: “It is a matter of £IO,OOO whether I see him or not. ” Oh, that men were as persistent in seeking for Christ!

I do not care so much what posture you take in prayer, nor how large au amount of voice you use. You might get down on your face before God,' if you did not pray right inwardly there would be no response. You might cry at the top of your voice, and unless you had a believing spirit within, vour cry would not go farther up than the shout of a plowboy to his oxen. Prayer must be believing- earnest, loving. - , ”1 remark again, you must seek the Lord through Bible study. The Bible is the newest book in the world “ Ob, ” you say, “it was made hundreds of years ago, and the learned men of King James 'lransfoh&LiL hundreds of years; ago. ” I ‘'confute that idea by telling you it is not five minutes old wheu God by his blessed spirit retranslates it into the heart. If you will, in the seeking of the way of life through Scripture study, im- : plqre God’s light to fall upon the page you will find that these promises are not one second old, and that the3 r .drop straight from the throne of God into your heart.

There are many people to whom the Bible does not amount to much. If they merely look at the outside beauty, why it Will no more lead them to Christ than Washington’s farewell address or the Koran of Mahomet or the Shaster of the Hindoos. It is the inward light of God’s word you must get or die. “Oh, the Bible is the very book you need, anxious and inquiring soul!” A dying soldier said to his mate, “Comrade, <*ive me a drop!” The comrade snook up v the canteen and said, “There isn’t a drop of water in the canteen.” “Oh,” said the dying soldier, “that’s net what I want- feel in my knapsack for my Bible." And his comrade found the Bible and read him a few of the gracious promises, and the dying soldier said: “Ah, that’s what 1 want. There isn’t anything like the Bible for a dying soldier, is there* my comrade?” Oh, blessed book while we live. Blessed book when we die. ‘ When you come into the religjous circle come only with one notion,and only for one purpose—to find the way to Christ. When 1 she people critical about tones of voice, and critical about sermons, and critical about sermonic delivery, they make me think of a man in prison. H§ is condemned to death, but an ameer of

the government brings a pardon an© j puts it through the wicket of th< prison and says: “Here is your pardon. Come and get it.” “What! Do you expect me to take takfi that pardon offered with such a voice as you have, with such an awkward manner as you have? I would rather die than so compromise my rhetorical notions. Ah, the man does not say that; Jie takes it. It is his life. He does not care how it is handed to him. And if this morning that pardon from ths throne of God is offered to our souls should we not seize it, regardless o! criticism, feeling that it is a matter ot heaven or hell? But I come now to the last part of , my text. It tells us when we are to ,{ seek the Lord. “While he may be found.” When is that? Old age? You may not see old age. To-mor-row? You may not see to-morrow. To-night? You may not see to-night. Now! Oh, if I could only write on every heart in three capital letters i that word N-O W—Now! •> Sin is an awful disease. I hear people say with a toss of the head and with a trivial manner, ‘‘Oh, yes, I’m a sinner.” Sin is an awful disease. It is leprosy. It is dropsy. It is consumption. It is all moral disorders in one. Now you know there is a crisis in a disease. Perhaps you have had some illustration of it in your family. Sometimes the physiciau has called and he has looked at the patient and said: “That case was simple enough, but the crisis is passed. If you had called mevester- j day or this morning I could have cured the®patient. It is too late now; ; the crisis is passed.” Just so it is in | the spiritual treatmentjof the soul — ! there is a crisis. Before that, life: j After that, death. Oh, my dear ! brother, as you love your soul do not let the crisis pass unattended to. Oh, if men could only catch one glimpse of Christ I know they would love him. Your heart leaps at the sight of a glorious sunrise or sunset. Can you be without emotion as the Son of righteousness rises behind Cavalry and sets behind Joseph’s sepulchre? He is a blessed Savior. Every nation has a type of beauty. There is German beapty, and Swiss I beauty, and Italian beauty, and £in- j glish beauty; but I care not in whal land a man first looks 'at Christ he pronounces him “chief among ten tbpofand'and one altogether lovely.” Oh my blessed Jesus! Light in darkness! The Rock on which I build! The Captain of Salvation! How strange it is that men cannot love ! thee:

Why should I stand here and plead and you sit there? It is your immortal soul. It is a .soul that shall never die. It is a soul that must soon appear before God for reviewal. Why throw away your chance for heaven. Why plunge off into darkness when all the gates of glory are open? Why become a castaway from God when you can sit upon the throne? Why will ye die miserably when eternal life is offered you, and it will cost.you nothing but just willingness to accpt ft? Why do I say this? Is it to frighten your soul? Oh, no. It is to persuade you: I show you the peril. 1 show you the escape. Would I not be a coward beyond all excuse if, be lieving that this great audience must soon be launched into the eternal world, and that all who believe in Chrst shall be saved, and that all who reject Christ will be lost—would I not be lost—would I not be the veriest coward on earth to hide that truth or to stand before you with a cold, or even a placid manner? My dear brethren, now is the day of your redemption. p It is very- certain that you and I musGsoon appear before God in judgment. We cannot escape it. The Bible says, “Every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.” On that day all our advantages will come ud for our glory or for our discomfiture —every prayer, every sermon, every exhortatorv remark, every reproof, every call of grace; and while the heavens are rolling away like a scroll and the world is being destroyed, your destiny and my destiny will be announced.

But I want 3 r ou to take the hint of the text that I have no time to dwell on—the hint that there-is a time when die cannot be found. There is a man in this city eighty years of ag“e, who’s aid to a preacher who came in, “Do you think that a Than at eighty years ot age can get pardoned?” “Oh, 3 r es,” said the clergyman. ‘ The old man said, “I cant. When I was twenty of age I am now eighty—the spirit of God came to my soul, and I felt the importance of attending to these mat ters, but I put it off, I rejected God, and since then I have had no feeling.” “Well,” ,said the minister, “wouldn’t you like to have me pray wittr you?” “Yes,” replied the old man, “but it will do no gqod. You can pray with me if you like -io.” The minister knelt and prayed and commended the man’s soul to God. It seemed to have no effect upon him. After awhile the last hour of the man’s life came, and through his delirium a spark of intelligence seemed to flash, and with his last breath he said, “I shall never be forgiven.” “Q seek the Lord wbile he may be found.”