The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1886-02-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
sCrises in Life" the Subject Of An
Eloquent Discourse,

Delivered at the First congregational
Church OF Columbus, Ohio - The
| Young Man of the Present, Like
| Absalom Of Old. Not Safe.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage visited Colum.
bus, o., recently and delivered a sermon
In the First Congregational Church Of that
city before an audience that completely
filled every available portion OF the edi-
Zee, and many hundreds were unable to
gain admittance. The subject of the dis
course was "Crises in Life" Mr.. Talmage
taking for his text:
Is the young man Absalom safe?-II Sam
uela XVIII. s..
DR.. Talmage said two great character
istics Of Absalom were worldly ambition
and splendid hair. By the one he was de-
based, by the other hung. He was bad
boy and broke his fathers heart. He
wanted to get his fathers throne before
the decease of the father. He wanted to
get IL Immediately. He got an army. He
started out in great insurrection. David,
the father, sits at the palace waiting for
the news of the battle to come, not so
anxious about whether Absalom's hosts
won the day, or whether his own hosts
won the day, as he is anxious about the
safety of his boy. The father in him
mightier than the King.
While he sits there waiting for the COM
ing of the messenger from the battlefield,
he sees the dust rising in the highway, and
long before the messenger comes up,
bringing the swift dispatch, David cries
out to him: SIS Absalom alive? Is Absa-
lom dead? Is the boy woundeds Tell me
quickly-is the young man Absalom
safe." But as the messenger had
no very decisive intelligence to give he
stood aside. There David sat waiting for
another messenger, and after q while he
saw the dust rising on the highway, and
long before the messenger had come up,
David shouted to him again-shouts to this
one as he had to the others: slave you
heard anything from my boy? L. he wound
ed Il he alive! Is he deadt Is the young
man Absalom safe!n
Alas! He was not safe. Absalom, riding
on mule-the meanest animal in all the
world on which to ride, the hardest at the
bit and the sti6est at the neck-Absalom
riding on mule, had gone under tree
branch, and his hair had caught on the
tree branch, and the mule, true to his char
acteristics. had gone on, he not able TO stop
It, and Absalom was suspended, and so he
died. With an awful negative the words
of my text were answered: ais the young
man Absalom safes" No, he was not safe.
Destroyed for this life; destroyed for the
life to come.
want to utter few words this morning
In regard to the safety Of young men; in
deed, Of all men. While men may get
along tolerably well without the religion
OF Christ In some circumstances OF life,
there are three or four turning points
where man must have God or perish, or
4 he does not come 70 such . crisis rs that,
70 such an extreme - that, he must have
God or make mistake that win last for
ever. propose this morning to speak to
you Of three or four OF these turaing points,
ln life.
The flrst turning point Is the choice of an
or profession. II Il . very seri-
Gus time when = young man comes from
the school or the college, and has COM
pleted his education, or has received all
the education from the schools he win re.
ceive, and says: 'aBut what shall it be.
For what occupation, for what profession
am preparedP Mechanism win spread
before him . hundred different occupa-
lions. Professional life win spread before
him seven or eight different callings. In
deed, perhaps, In all there may be 500 diff
srent callings and occupations. For only