The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-02-13
THE TALMAGE JUBILEE.
RED-LETTER DAYATTHe TABERNACLE
Two Hundred and Twenty-Six New Men,
bers-The Brooklyn Preacher Notes
the Occasion With an En-
thusfastic Sermon.

tabernacle last Sunday morning and re-
ceived the right hand OF fellowship from
the Rev. DR.. Talmage and Father Pierson,
the senior elder of the church. The new
members included a large number of
young people. The ceremony was wit
messed by as many persons as could be
crowded into the tabernacle, and when it
was at an end the vast congregation united
IN singing "Hold the Fort" with power
and enthusiasm perhaps never surpassed.
Directly in front of the platform stood
table containing the cleaning communion
vessels of silver, and after the sermon
came the sacrament, to which most OF the
people remained, either as participants or
observers. DR.. Talmage's discourse was
appropriate to the occasion. being founded
upon the story of the prodigal son. He
spoke in part as follows:
"By such bold imagery does the bible
set forth the merry-making on earth and
IN heaven when a soul comes back to God.
First of all there is the prodigal's JOY. 1t
IL no tame thing TO become Christian.
The gladdest moment in mans life Is
when he surrenders himself to God. Amid
this church to profess faith in Christ one
night was young man who on the morn
ing following rang my door bell and said:
L have come to tell you l have joy
greater than | can contain; / have had
more JOY in five minutes of this Christian
life than in all the years Of my wandering
and prodigaiity, and | came here this
morning Just to say So Have you ever
seen a man running for his liberty, the
officers of the law after him? Perhaps he
escapes, or, arrested and condemned, per-
haps he is pardoned. What, then is the
Joy of that rescued And here is a man
running for his everlasting life, all the
terrors of the law after him, and Christ
comes in for his pardon and his rescue
and his eternal safety. That made John
Bunyan describe the pilgrim as putting
his fingers IN the ears and running at the
top of his speed, CRYING: Life, life, eternal
lfep A poor workman OF Brooklyn,
few years ago, had a large estate left to
him, and when the word came to him of
the great estate in England that was wait
ing for his arrival, oh the gladness OF that
poor maIs And what is the Joy oil that
soul to-day when in his hand is put the
title deed to all the grandeurs and the joys
and the raptures of heaven, so that he can
say, Heaven is mine; its JOYS are mine;
Its anthems are mine; Its temples are
mine; It's mansions are mine; its God is
mine Oh, how many there are here this
morning who have entered into that JOY,
and there is no Joy like it. | wish could
just take out of this bible all the words
expressive OF kindness and love and par
don and forgiveness and peace and heaven,
and just twist them into one garland and
put it on the brow of the humblest child
of God in all this assemblage and say:
Wear it, son of God, wear it, daughter of
the Lord Almighty; wear it now; wear it
forever. l have sometimes seen a man
arise IN a meeting and give his experience.
Paul arises In a meeting. DE arises In
the presence of two churches-the church
on earth and the church in heaven-and
he gives his experience: 'SorrOwfui, vet
always rejoicing; poor yet making many
rich; having nothing, yet possessing all
things Daniel Sandman was dying OF
cholera, and some one said to him: DO
you feel any pain% No. he said, L can
not have any pain; | have had no pain
since 1 have found the Lord And they
said to him, Have you anything to say to
your friendsP Would YOU like US to de-
liver any message? Yes said he, tell
nv friends that last night the joy of the
eternal God came upon my soul like the
surges of the sea, until l could stand it no
longer, and / cried out, "Stop, Lord; can
endure no more of this gladness. Enough,
Lord. Oh, men of the world, pass over
from this tame satisfaction 10 this rapture
This world is an unsatisfying portion. Al
exander weeping for other worlds to con-
quer and yet drowned in his own bottle
Byron whipped around the world with
disquietude, Voltaire cursing his own soul
at the very moment that the thronged
streets of Paris were applauding him,
Henry ii consumed with hatred Tor
Thomas Beckett, only illustrations of the
fact that this world is a poor satisfaction
and that it cannot make a man happy.
On, pass over into the light and the joy.
This is good religion to live by and it is
good religion to die by. But | notice
also when the prodigal got back there was
the fathers Joy. The father did not rush
out and formally address him, saving:
How do you do? He did not say: Now
you are all covered with filth; go out
there and wash in the trough by the well ;
you have given US enough trouble | tell
you No. In my text was the outbreak
ing Joy, welcome OF fathers love. God
is your father. 1 have not much svmpa-
thy with things / sometimes hear in the
pulpit and elsewhere about God, as though
He were Turkish sultan, hard and I'M
sympathetic, and not listening to the cry
of His subjects. a gentleman said TO me
that he was in one of the far eastern cities
and he saw the king riding through the
street and two men were in alteration.
One man charged the other with eating
his rice and the cruel king said: 'Slay the
man, and let US have by post-mortem ex-
animation this question decided as to
whether he did eat the rice And that
awful test was applied. Our God is not a
Turkish sultan. He is not despot He
is not a car. He is a father. and He
makes all heaven ring with gladness when
the prodigal comes home. He has made
the plain way so easy that no man need
miss heaven. No man will miss heaven
unless he declines it. No difference the
sin, no difference the color, no difference
the history, no difference the surroundings,
no difference the antecedents. When the
white horses of Christ's victory come out
TO celebrate the triumph you can ride on
one of them, do no care who you are. And
as God is greater than all, His 10Y is the
truth and the light, there is in Gods heart
an infinite ocean Of gladness, and to ex-
press it requires all the rivers of pleasure,
and all the thrones of pomp, and all the
ages of eternity. Why, this Joy of God, it
overtops, it undergirds, it outweighs all
the raptures of the universe. 1t is higher
than all hight, it is deeper than all
Iarfbo n Il broo1ar fhop oil width The,