Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-04
A Jubilee Sermon on the Occasion
of Special Communion.
Talmage Delivers 1t in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle Previous Festive Events
Briefly Touched Upon.
Bring Hitler the Fatted Calf and XIII It"
The Christmas, the New Year, the
Marriage, the Thanksgiving.
Special to the Gazette.

zfo pei sohsy Ilaklig TIE present commu
meant membership of the Brooklyn Ia
bernacle 44os. This is also moving da,
III this church. The annual rental o
pews has Just occurred, and to-day NAM
Of the congregation occupy new places
The pews brought higher premiums thi
year than ever before, and the income OF
the church this year Will be &33 ,S04. But
both plans are observed in this church
a vast space is kept free from all ex-
pense, and only part of the building is
mapped of fer rent Dr. Talmage took
his text from Luke XIV, %: bring
hither the fatted calf and kill 1t. - DR..
Talmage said:
JOY. joy! joy! We banquet to-day
over this accession Of a multitude of
souls. In all ages Of the world it has
been customary to celebrate joyful events
by festivity-the signing Of treaties, the
proclamation OF peace, the Christmas
the marriage. However much on other
days Of the year our table may have
stinted supply, on Thanksgiving day
there must be something bounteous. And
all the comfortable homes of Chrstendom
have at some time celebrated joyful
events by banquet and festivity.
Something has happened in the old
homestead greater than anything that
has ever happened before. 4 favorite
son, whom the world supposed would be-
come vagabond and outlaw forever
has got tired Of sightseeing and has re-
turned to his fathers house The world
said he never would come back The old
man always said his son would come He
had been looking for him day after day
and year after year. He knew he would
come back. Now, having returned TO
his father 5 house, the father proclaims
celebration
There is calf in the paddock that has
been kept up and fed to utmost capacity
so as to be ready for
SOME OCCASION OF JOY
that might come along All! there
never viii be a grander day on the old
homestead than this day Let the
butchers do their work, and the house
keepers bring into the table the smoking
meat. The musicians will take their
places, and the gay groups viii
move mp and down the floor All
the friends and neighbors are
gathered in, and extra supply is sent out
to the table OF the servants. The father
presides at the table and says grace, and
thanks God that his long absent boy is
home again. Oh! how they missed him;
how glad they are to have him back
One brother indeed stands pouting at the
back door ana says: ''This is a great
ado about nothing; this bad boy should
have been chastened instead of greeted;
veal is too good for him!' But the
father says: g Nothing is to good:
nothing is good enough!'' There
sits the young man, glad at the
hearty reception, but a shadow of sorrow
fitting across his brow ut the remem-
brance OF the trouble he had seen. All
ready now. Let the covers lift. Music
He was dead and he is alive again. He
was lost and he is found! BY such bold
imagery does the Bible set forth the mer-
~ making when a soul comes home to
God
/. First OF all there is the new con-
vert 5 JOY. IT is no tame thing to be- /
come Christian The most tremendous !
moment in a man s life is when he sur !
renders himself TO God. The grandest /
time on the fathers homestead is when
the boy comes back. Among the great
throng who in the parlors of this church
Drofessed Christ one night was Il young
man who next morning rang my door
bell and said: '.Sir, I canuot contain
myself with the JOY feel; I came here
his morning To express it. have found
more JOY in five minutes in serving God
han in all the years of my prodIgality,
md I came TO say SO.
You have seen perhaps. a man run
ling for his physical liberty and the
,flicers of the law after him. and YOU
aw him escape, or afterward YOU
heard the judge had pardoned him, and
low great was the glee of
THAT RESCUED MAN;
nut il is very tame thing that COM
Jared with the running for ones ever
aSting life-the terrors of the law after
i'm, but Christ coming in to pardon and
less and rescue and save: You remem-
er John Bunyan in his great
tory tells how the Pilgrim put his fingers
D his ears and ran, crying: Life, life,
ternal life! A poor car driver in this
ity some years ago, after having had a
truggIe to support his family, suddenly
as informed that Il large inheritance |
-as his, and there was joy amounting to
ewilCerInent; but that is a small thing
ompared with the experience of one
hen he has put into his hands the title
eeds TO the joys, the Taptures, the splen-
Ors of heaven, and he can truly say:
Its mansions are mine, its temples are
line, its songs are mine, its God is {
line -
Oh. it Is no tame thing to become a
hristian, it Is q merry making 1t is |
ne killing Of the fatted calf It is jubi- {
e. You know the bible never compares I
to funeral, but always compares I
to something bright. 1t is more apt to 6
2 compared to a banquet than anything .
Sc 1t is compared in the Bible to the 9
alter, bright, flashing water: to the q
orning, roseate, tireworked, mountain {
ansh9ured morning. l wish l could to- q
AZ take all the Bible expressions about 5
irdon and peace and life ana comfort c
Id hope and heaven and twist them into
he garland, and put it on the brow of L
e humblest child OF God in this assem- 5
age, and cry: . Wear it, wear it now, I
ear il forever, son Of God, daughter of c
e Lord God Almighty - Oh, the ioy c
the new convert! Oh. the gladness of Z
e Christian service! 5
You have seen sometimes a man in q r
ligiouS assembly get up and give his Il
perience. Well, Paul gave his ex- "
rieuce. He arose III the presence of n
% churches, the church on earth. and b
e church in heaven and he said: Now e.
is is my experience: 'sOrrowful vet is
ALWAYS REJOICING,
,or, vet making many rich-having n
thing, yet possessing all things. - If
a r,aonIa in this hotysa this ,f,ovsy,iuo n,