Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-03-30
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Weekly Disoourses of the Great
Brooklyn Preacher
Subject: ''The Decoration Of
the SOul.' ESreachedai Fort
Scott, Ekansas,)

TEXT; "Ptt a ring on his hand."-Lulls
XIV, %;
will not rehearse the familiar story of
the fast young man of the parable. You
know what a splendid home he left. You
know what a hard time he had. And you
remember how after that season of vaga-
bondage and prodigality he resolved TO go
and weep out his sorrows on the bosom of
parental forgiveness. Well, there is great
excitement one day in front Of the door Of
the old farm house. The servants come rush
ing up and say: whats the matterl What
is the matter.' But before they quite arrive
the old man cries out: PUT a ring on his
hand.n What a seeming absurditY What
can such wretched mendicant as this fellow
that is tramping on toward the house want
with rings Oh, he is the prodigal SON. No
more tending of the swine trough. No more
longing for the pods of the carob tree. No
more blistered feet. of with the rags! On
with the robe! Out with the ring Even so
does God receive every one of us when we
come back. There are gold rings, and pearl
rings, and corneian rings and diamond
rings; but the richest ring that ever flashed
on the vision is that which our father puts
upon forgiven soul.
l know the impression is abroad among
some people that religion bemeans and beit-
ties man; that it takes all the sparkle out
of his soul; that he has to exchange a roy
STEERING independence for an ecclesiastical
Christian, he does not go down, he starts
upward Religion mutiplieS one by ten
thousand. Nay, the multiplier is infinity.
1t is not blotting Quit is polishing, it is
an arborescence, it is an efioresc ence, it is an
irradiation. When a man comes into the
kingdom of God he is not sent into mental
service, but the Lord God Almighty from the
palaces of heaven calls upon the messenger
angels that wait upon the throne to fly and
put ring on his handn In Christ are the
Il L, .-t,o
honor and richest adornment. PUT ring
on his handn
l remark, in the first place, that when
Christ receives a soul into His love He puts
upon him the ring of adoption. In my
church in Philadelphia there came the repre-
sentative of a benevolent society in New
York. He brought with him eight or ten
children of the street, that he had picked up,
and he was trying to find for them Christian
homes; and as the little ones stood on the pull
pit and sung, our hearts melted within us.
AT the close of the services great hearted
wealthy man came up and said an take
this little bright eyed girl, and I'll adopt her
as one Of my own childrenm and he took her
by the hand, lifted her into his carriage and
went away.
The next day, while we were in the church
gathering up garments for the poor of New
York, this little child came back witha bun
die under her arm, and she said: "There's
my old Dress perhaps some of the poor chill
dren would like to have it, while she herself
was in bright and beautiful array, and those
who more Immediately examined her said
she had ring on her hand. 1t was ring of
adoption.
There are a great many persons who pride
themselves on their ancestry, and they glory
over the royal blood that pours through their
arteries. In their line there was a lord, or a
duke, or prime minister, or a king. But
when the Lord, our Father, puts upon us the
ring of adoption, we become the children of
the ruler of all nations. Behold what man
ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
u.s. that we should be called the sons Of God.h
1t matters not how poor our garments may
be in this world, or how scant our bread, or
how mean the hut we live in, if we have the
ring of Christs adoption upon our hand we
are assured of eternal defenses.
Adopt Why, then, we are brothers and
sisters to all the good of earth and heaven.
We have the family name the family dress
the family keys, the family wardrobe. The
father looks after us, robes us, defends us,
blesses us. We have royal blood in our veins,
and there are crowns in our line If we are
his children, then princes and princesses. 1t
is only question of time when we get our
coronet. Adopted Then we have the fam
lily secrets 1.-THE secret of the Lord is with
them that fear him." Adopted Then we
have the family Inheritance, and in the day
when our father shall divide the riches of
heaven, we shall take our share of the man
SlOIS anu pdliCeS anu temples. I1enCelOfUu
let us boast no more OF an earthly ancestry
The insignia Of eternal glory is our coat of
arms. This ring Of adoption puts upon us
all honor and all privilege. Now we can
take the words Of Charles Wesley, that prince
Of hymn-makers, and sing:
Come, let us Join our friends above,
Who have obtained the prize,
And on the eagle wings of love
To joy celestial rise.
Let all the saints terrestrial sing
With those to glory gone;
For all the servants of our King,
In Heaven and earth, are one.
I have been told that when any Of the
members of any of the great secret societies
OF this country are in distant city and are
i'll any kind OF trouble, and are set upon by
enemies, they have only to give certain
signal and the members of that organization
will flock around for defense. And when
any man belongs to this great Christian
brotherhood if he gets in trouble in trial,
in persecution, in temptation, he has only to
show the ring of Christ'S adoption, and all
the armed cohorts of heaven will come to his
reSrSnn
His love He puts upon it a marriage ring
Now that is not a whim of mine: "And
will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea,
will betroth thee unto Me in Righteousness
and in augment, and in loving Kindness
and in merciesn At the wedding altar the
bridegroom puts ring upon the hand of the
BRIDE signifying love and faithfulness.
Trouble may come upon the household, and
the carpets may CO. the pictures may go, the
piano may go, everything else may go-the
last thing that goes is the marriage ring, for
it is considered sacred. In the burial hour it
Is withdrawn from the hand and. kept in a
casket, and sometimes the box is opened on
an anniversary day, and as you look at that
ring you see under its arch long procession
of precious memories Within the golden
circle of that ring there is room for thou
sand sweet recollections to revolve and you
think of the great contrast between the hour
when, at the close of the wedding
March" under the flashing lights
and amid the aroma of orange BIOS
finger Of the plump hand and that other
hour when, at the close of the exhaustive,
watching, when you knew that the soul had
fled, you took from the hand, which gave
back no responsive clasp from that ema-
ciated finger, the ring that she had worn so
long and worn so well.
On some anniversary day you take up that
ring, and you repolish it until all the old lus-
ter comes back, and you can see in it the
flush of eyes that long ago ceased TO weep.
Oh, it is not an unmeaning thing when tell
you that when Christ receives a soul into his
keeping he puts on it q marriage rinG. He
endowS you from that moment with all his
wealth. You are one-Christ and the soul
one in sympathy, one in affection, one in
hope.
There is no power in earth or hell to effect
enforcement after Christ and the soul are
united. Other kings have turned out their
companions when they got weary of them.
and sent them adrift from the palace gate
Ahasuerus banished Vashti; Napoleon for
sock Josephine; but Christ is the husband
That is true forever. Having loved you once,
10 IONrD 4s,N I n