The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-05-05
miscellaneous.
Rev, 7. Dewitt TALMAGE.
PRODIGALs-THE WASTED oPPOR-
TUNITIES OF LIFE.
Blessings squAndered Because Of Their very
Abundance-.-We Have Wandered From
God, And We Begin to be In Want
sUBJEcr-"MoNEY ALL aoNE"

Text-Luke 1914: "He began to be in
want"
When | want to get good, warm
hearted text, am very apt to go to one
of the parallels of the Lord, and to none
more frequently than to the parable OF
the prodigal son. There are enough
texts in it for man to preach about fifty
years. Then he will go into the eternal
world, feeling that he has just opened
the outside door Of the su j9Ct. l will
rehearse the story. You all know it
the story of the prodigal son. You
need not go to the Bible to find the story
you find it every day. This SUBJECTS nc
novelty. l will simply say, however
that just as some years ago our young
men went off to California to get their
fortune, and Englishmen used to go to
Australia to get their fortune, 80 sup
pose, this young man Of the text went
off to get his fortune. Youknow it takes
a great deal longer to make money t"an
it does to spend it. Although it is only
little while since this young man g
one third of h fathers property, iJs all
gone, every cent of it. So you have
known men toiling for twenty, thirty or
forty years in commercial or mechanical
life, having acquired large property, to
lie down and die, leaving great estate,
and in FIVE years the boys have got all
through withit. So this young man of
the text and his money we're soon part
ed. do not know ju t how it went, but
there, in the first place, were his travel
ing expenses. A man who had been
brought up as luxuriously as he evident
ly, from the surroundings Of that home,
could not lodge Just anywhere, nor be
COntented with plain fare. He had been
used to see things on large scale, and |
do not suppose he closely calculated ex.
psnses. l do not suppose he always
stopped to take change. Isuppose come
times he bought things without any re.
gard to their cost. Then, besides that,
there came in the bill for his personal
apparel; and young man who had
third of his fathers property in his poCk-
ct could dot afford to go shabbily dress
ed. Besides that, the young man Of the
text had to meet the bill for social enter
tainment; he. .must treat, and it must be
with the Costliest wines and the rarest
viands. Besides that, the sharpers found
out that this young man had plenty of
money, and they volunteer their servi.
Ces. They will show him the sights.
They can tell him things he never imag.
ined, away off on that fathers home.
stead. Well, they undertake to show
this young man the sights, and after
awhile he wakes up one day, and says;
81 think l will count my money" He
counted his money; it was half gone; but
as bad habits we're thoroughly fastened
upon him, he could not stop. After
awhile he counted his money again; it
was three fourths gone; but he was on
the down grade, going swifter, and swif,
ter, and swifter, until, when he comes to
look for his money, it is all gone.
Now, these associates who stuck to
him as long as he had plenty of money,
ara gone. Morning glories bloom when |
the sun is coming up, not when the sun
is going down. There is no money with |
which to meet his expenses. Besides
that. the crops have failed and there is a |
famine in the land, and at time when |
affluent men are strsitened about getting |
their daily bread; what is to become of |
this poor fellow with an empty pocket
and discouraged heart? ooh, let him
go to work," you say. He can not work.
His hands, soft and tender, will be blist-
cred with hard work. Perhaps he comes,
then, TO some place where he can get
work, he thinks, adequate for an eduCa-
ted young man He comes to CONNER.
Cial establishment and asks for work.
''No," says the head man of the business
firm, i've can't have YOU. Why, you are
nothing but tramp of the street. Of |
of our premises" Perhaps he comes to
the Office of some official OF the Govern.
ment, and seeks employment by which
lie can support himself. mo, a man
clad as you are cannot find any employ.
ment in my Office, says the man. What
is be to do? In a strange land, m money
all gone, no friends, ragged, wretched,
undone. My text, with one str ike, gives
the awful picture; "He began to be in
WANT
Now, what does all that mean? It
means you and me. Our race had good
starting; but we all went away from God
and home, and we have found sin to be
an expensive luxury. It despoiled us; it
hungered US; it robbed US; it made us
hopeless, and friendless, and Goddess.
We had a foe spiritual fortune to start
with, and We spent it, and we "begin to
be in want" l care not how fine our
worldly estate may be, or how much
bank stock We may possess, or how ele-
giant our social position, sin has pauper.
ed the whole race, and until we 20 back
W OOus Jul hOm6I VIC are III du awful |
state of beggary and want. There is no
exception to it. In hospitals you will
find there are different wards for differ
ent styles of cases. In one ward those
who little sick; further on you will find
those who are dangerously sick; in an
other ward those who are hopelesslv
sick. Now, have TO tell you that in
the hospital Of the world there is only
one ward, and in that ward they are
sick unto death, and no human doctor
Canstouch the cases, and unless some gu.
pernatural help come, we must all die.
We want. healing; we want light; we
want medicine; We want everything for
the soulauItis no within of mine, but
positive statement Of the Bibles that we
are by nature poor, and WretChed, and
and blind, and bnaked. alOa, |.
thS tGod this morning would help me
70 defne the wants oil. an immortal soul:
"Ha began to be in want.pI .aa s.lp.la
IL lhayahrst TO remark, my dear hearer,
that II you are not Christian, your first
want is the .Holv Ghost. Soma of vou