The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-09-25
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DlvuNE's SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject "The Sunrise"
xT: "The day is at hand."-Romans

|
TEXT: "The day is at hand."-Romans
dii., 10.
Back from the mountains and the SEASIDE,
| and the springs, and the farmhouse, your
cheek bronzed and your spirits lighted. hail
! you home again with the words OF GehaA 70
the Shunammite: SIS it well with thee? is
| it well with thy husband? is it well with the
childr' On some faces see the mark Of re-
cent grief, but all along the track OF tears
see the story of resurrection and reunion
when all tears are done: the deep plowing OF
the keel, followed by the flash of the phos-
| phoresence.
Now that have asked you in regard to
your welfare you naturally ask how am.
Very well, thank you. whether IL was a Ine
600 feet above the level Of the sea, or the
tonic atmosphere Of the Pacific coast, or
| bath in the surf of Long Island beach, or
whether it is the JOY of standing in this great
group of warm hearted friends, or whether
it is new appreciation Of the goodness OF
God, cannot tell. I simply know am
grandly and gloriously "a and +sdn ine1PpeS, Pres
s Moffatt, nAtRs' tRs great Methodist preacher,
occasionally got fast in his sermon, and 70
extricate himself would cry ''Hallelujah" l
am in no such predicament to-day, but am
full of the same rhapsodic ejaculation Start,
ing out this morning on new ecclesiastical
year, want to give you the key note OF my
next twelve months ministry. l want 10 SET
it to the tune of Antioch, Ariel and Corona
| tion Some time ago we had new stop pug
| in this orpan-a new trumpet stop-and 1
want to put new trumpet stop into my SER
mons.
In all our Christian work you and / want
more of the element of gladness. That man
has no right to say that Christ never Laughed.
Do YOU suppose that he was glum at the wed
ding in Cana Of Gallee? Do you suppose
Christ was unresponsive when the children
clambered over His knee and shoulder at His
own invitations Do you suppose that the
evangelist meant nothing when he said OF
Christ: 'sHe rejoiced in spirit~ Do you
believe that the Divine Christ who pours
all the water over the rocks at Vernal
Falls, Yosemite, does not believe IN the
sparkle and gallop and tumultuous Gus. Joy
and rushing raptures Of human hfe' l
believe not only that the morning laughs, and
that the mountains laugh, and that the seas
| laugh, and that the cascades laugh, but that
Christ laughed. Moreover, take laugh and
a tear into an alembic, and assay them, ard yest
them, and analyze them, and you VIII oiten
find as much Of the pure gold OF rehglon IN
shows itself in facial illumination. John
Wesley said he was sure Of a good religious
| impression being produced because OF what
| he calls the great laughter he saw among the
people. Goddess merriment is blasphemy
anywhere, but expression of Christian Joy Is
appropriate everywhere.
Moreover, the outlook OF the world ougnt
to stir us to gladness.. Astronomers recently
disturbed many people by telling them that
there is danger Of stellar collision. We have
been told through the papers by these as
! tronomers that there are worlds coming very
near together, and that we shall have
plaques and wars and tunpIlts and perhaps
the worlds destruction. Do not be scared.
If you have ever stood at a railroad center;
where ten or twenty or thirty rall
tracks cross each other, and seen
that by the movement Of the switch one or
two inches the train shoots this way and that,
without oolliding, then you may understand
how fifty worlds may come within an inch
of disaster, and that inch be as good as mill
ion miles. If a human switchtender can
shoot the trains this way and that without
harm, cannot the Hand that LOT tnousanas 1si
of wears has upheld the universe keep our lit
tie world out of harms ways Christian geo
logists tell us that this world was million OF
wears in building Well, now, I do
not think God would take millions Of years
to build house which was to last, only six
thousand years. There is nothing in the
world or outside the world, terrestrial or
astronomical, to excite dismay. wish that
some stout Gospel breeze might scatter all
the malaria of human foreboding. The sun
rose this morning at about half-past 5, and
I think that is just about the hour in the
worlds history. THE day is at hand"
The first ray of the dawn 1 see in the
gradual substitution of diplomatic skill for
human butchery. Within the last twenty
five years there have been international
differences which would have brought a
| -, do hf1f tphIa
were peacefully adjusted, the pen taking the
place Of the sword.
That Alabama question in any other
age of the world would have caused
! war between the United States and
England. How was it settled? By
men .of-war off the Narrows, or of the
Mersey? By the Gulf Stream Of the ocean
crossed by gulf stream Of human blood!
By the pathway Of nations incarnadined? NO
A few wise men go into quiet room at Ien, n,
eva, talk the matter over, and telegraph 70
Washington and to London: "All settled. !"
Peace. Peace England pays to the United
States the amount awarded--pays really
more than she ought to have paid. But still,
all that Alabama brol is settled-settled for
ever. Arbitration instead of battle.
So, the quarrel eight or nine years ago
about the Canadian fisheries in any otner age
would have caused war between the United
States and England. England said: Pay
me for the invasion of my Canadian fisher
les" The United States said: "Iwill not pay
ANYTHING" Well, the two nations say: Il
guess we had better leave the whole matter
to commission" The commission is ap-
pointed, and the commission examines tho
affair, and the commission reports, and pay
we ought pay we must. pay we DO. Not a
| pound of powder burned, not cartridge bit
ten off, no one hurt so much as by the
scratch of a pin. Arbitration instead OF
battle.
So the Somoan controversy in any other
age would have brought Germany and the
United States in bloody collision. But all IS
settled. Arbitration instead Of battle.
France will never again, I think, through
peccadillo Of ambassador bring on battle
with other nations. She sees that God, in
punishment Of Sedan, blotted out the French
Empire, and the only aspirant of that throne
who had any right of expectation dies in
war that has not even the dignity of being
respectable What is that blush on the
cheek of England to-daya What is the leaf
that England would like to tear out of her
history? The Zulu war. Down with the
sword and up with the treaty.
We in this country might better have set
tied our sectional difficulties by arbitration
than by the thrust of the sword. Philan-
thropy said to the North: PAY down GER
tain amount of money for the purchase of the
slaves and let all those born after certain
time be born free" Philanthropy at the same
time said to the South: 'You sell the slaves.
and get rid Of this great national contest and
trouble" The North replied: II won't pay
a cent" The South replied 81 won't SELL"
War! War A million dead men, and ma
tional debt which might have ground this ma
tion to powder.
| III ~ ~