The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1889-05-24
DEATH IN THE POT.
DR.. Talnaage Takes for His Subject
a"PoIsoned Dinner"
A Hungry Man Wants Not to Listen
to the Words OF a Lecturer.
Elisha Caters to the stomaches Before
Beginning His Discourse.

Special 20 The Kansas City TINES.
BROOKLYN, May 12.-The Rev. T. Dc
Witt Talmage, ID. D., preached at the Tab
ernacle today to a vast congregation, who
sang with grand effect the hymn begin.
ming:
My soul be on thy guard;
Ten thousand foes arise.
And hosts of sin are pressing hard
To draw thee from the skies.
His subject was "a Poisoned Dinner
and his text il Kings, w, 40: $50 they
poured out for the men to eat. And it came
to pass, as they were eating Of the pottage,
that they cried out, AMI said, o thou man
of God, there is death in the pot. And they
could not eat thereof"
Elisha had gone down to lecture to the stu.
dents in the theological seminary at Gilgal.
He found the students very hungry, as stu
dents are apt TO be. 1t is very seldom the
world makes large provision for those who
give themselves TO intellectual toll. In
order that these students may be prepared
TO hear what Elisha says, he first feeds
their hunger. He knew very well it is use
less TO talk, TO preach, TO lecture with nun
CRY men.
So Elisha. recognizing this common sense
principle, which every Christian ought to
recognize, sends servants out to get food
Tor these hungry students. They pick up
some good healthful herbs, but they happen
10 pick up also some coIoduintida, a bitter.
poisonous, beautiful herb. They bring ali
these herbs, they put them into the boiling
pot, they stir them up, and then a portion
or this food is brought to the students and
their professors. Seated at the table, one
OF the hungry students begins Immediately
TO eat, and he happens to get hold of some
OF the coloquintida. He knew it by the taste.
He cries out: poison, poison! thou
man OF god, there is death in the pot!'
CONSERVATION is thrown over the whole
group. What a fortunate thing it was that
TINS student so early found the oloquintida
In the mixture at the tablet You will by
reference find this story is precisely as I
have mentioned il.
Well, in our day there are great caldrons
OF sin and death. ~Coloquintida of mighty
temptation is pressed into it. Some dip it
out, and taste, and reject it and live. Others
dip IL out, taste it, keep on and die. And
a. IS The business of every minister of re-
liglon and every man who wishes well to
the human race, and who wants to keep the
world back from Its follies and its sufferings,
to cry out: "Bewarei poison, poison!
Look out for this caldron! Stand back!
Sin has done an awful work in our world.
1t has gone out through all the ages,
IL has mixed up a great caldron
trouble and suffering and pain,
Ind the whole race is poisoned
poisoned in body, poisoned in mind, poisoned
In soul. But blessed be God that the Gospel
Of Jesus Christ is the antidote, and where
there was sin there shall be pardon,
and where there was suffering there shall
De comfort, and where there was death
there shall be life.
Some time ago, you will remember, Iper-
suaded YOU of the Importance of being
charitable in judgment of others. At the
same time L said to you briefly what this
morning L wish to say with great emphasis,
that while we sympathize with the sinner
we must d~enounce the sin, that while we
pity the unfortunate We must be vehement
against transgreSsion. Sin is a Jagged
thing that needs to be roughly handled.
You have no right to garland it with fine
phrases or lustrous rhetoric. You cannot
catch a buffalo with a silken lasso.
A group of emigrants settle in a wild re
glon. The next day a wild beast comes
down from the mountain and carries off
one of the children. The mex day a wild
beast comes dow from the mountain and
carries off another child. Forthwith all
the neighbors band together, and they go
out with torch in one hand and gun in the
other to hunt those monsters down, to find
their hiding place, to light up and ransack
the caverns, and to destroy the invaders of
their houses. So we want now not merely
TO talk about the sins and folies of the world,
we want to go behind them, back of them.
Down into the caverns where they hide we
need to go with the torch OF Gods Word in
one hand and the sword of Gods eternal
Spirit in the other to hunt out n slay
these iniquities in their hiding places. Or,
to come back to the figure suggested by nv
text, we want to find what are the caldrons
of sin and death from which the iniquities
of society are dipped out.
/. In the first place, | remark: That un-
happy and undisciplined homes are the cal
drons OF great iniquity. Parents harsh and
cruel on the one hand, or on the other hand
loose in their government, wickedly loose
in their government, are raising up agener-
alton OF vlpers. A home where scolding
and fretfulness are dominant is blood rela-
ton to the gaIloWs and the p~enitentiary!
Petulance is a serpent that crawls up into
the family nursery sometimes and brushes
everything. Why. there are parents who
even make religion disgusting to their chill
dren. They scold them for not owing
Christ. They have an exasperating way Of
doing their duty. The house is full of the
war whoop of contention. and from such a
- place husband and sons go out to die.
Oh, is there a Hager leading away
Ishmael into the desert to be smitten of the
thirst and parched of the sand? Ii the
solemn birth hour a voice fell to thee from
the throne Of God, saying: Take this child
and nurse 1t for me, n | will give thee thy
wages" At even time, when the angels of
God hover over that home, do they hear the
a.. children lisping the name of Jesus? o
traveller for eternity, YOUR little ones gath
s cred under your robes, are you leading them
on the right road, or are You taking them
out on the dangerous winding bride path,
off which their inexperienced feet may slip.
and up which comes the bowling of the wolf
and the sound of loosened ledge and tum-
bling avalanche! Blessed is the family
altar at which the children kneel.
Blessed is the cradle in which the Christian
mother rocks the Christian child. Blessed
is the song the little ones sing at nightfall
when sleep is closing the eyes and loosening
the hand from the toy on the pillow. Bless
ed is that mother whose every heart throb
is a prayer for her children's welfare.
The world grows old, and the stars will
cease to illuminate it, and the waters to re-
fresh it, and the mountains to guard it. and
the heavens to overspan it, and its long
story of sin and shame and the glory and
triumph will soon turn to ashes; but infiu-
'ences that started in this early home roll on
and roll up through all eternity blooming
in all the Joy, waving in all the triumph, ex-
ulting In all the song, or shrinking back in
TO all the darkness. Father, mother, which
way are you leading your children!
careful to get all the furniture out.
He got all his books out. and he
got all his pictures out, and he got all his
valuable papers out, but he forgot to ask,
until it was too late: Are my children
safer Oh, when the earth shall melt
with fervent heat, and the mountains shall
blaze, and the seas shall blaze, and the
earth shall blaze, will your children be
safe! viii YOU children be safe. I'm
happy and undiciplined ZONES are the
source of much of the wretchednesS and
sin of the world.
know there are exceptions to it some
times. From a bright and beautiful Chris
tan home a husband or a son will go out to
die. Oh, how long you had that boy in your
PRAYERS! lie does not know how many
He does not understand how many tears you
have shed for his waywardness. Or, II is
hard, after you q toiled for a child, and
given him every advantage and every kind