The Penn's Grove record., 1889-06-01
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON:
A Poisoned Dinner.

$50 they poured out for the men to eat; An.
y caine 70 pass, as they were eating OF tne ~,
OF God, there is death In the pot, And the!
could not eat thereof" II Kings Al w.
Elisha had gone down to lecture u
the students in the theological seminary
at Gilgal. He found the students very
hungry, a students are APT TO be. 1t Il
very seldom the world makes large pro
vision for those who give themselves u
intellectual toll. In order that thess
students may be prepared to hear wha'
Elisha says, he first feeds their hunger
lie knew very well it is useless TO tall
to preach, TO lecture, with hungry men
SO Elisha, recognizing this commons
sense principle, which every Christian
ought to recognize, sends servants ou'
to get food for those hungry students
They pick up some good, healthiu
herbs. but they happen to pick up also
some c~oloquintida, a bitter poisonous
beautiful herb. They bring all these
herbs, they put them into the boiling
pot, they stir them up, and then a por'
tion Of this food Is brought TO the stu
dents and their professors. Seated q,
the liable, n Of the hungry students
begins Immediately to eat, and he hap
pens to get hold of
SOME OF THE COLOQUTNTIDA.
He knew 1t by the taste. lie cries out.
"Poisonl poisoni o thou man of God,
there Is death IN the poti" Consterfha-
ton is thrown over the whole grouI.
What a fortunate thing it was that this
student so early found the c0%loquintida
in the mixture at the table! You will
by reference find this story is precisely
as l have mentioned it.
Well, In our day there are great cald-
rons of sin and death. Coloquintida Of
mighty temptation is pressed into it.
Some dip 1t out and taste, and reject il
and live. Others dip it out, taste it,
keep on, and die. And 1t is the bust
ness of every minister of religion, and
every man who wishes well to the
human race, and who wants to keep the
world back from its follies and its suf-
ferings, to cry out, Beware! poison,
pOisonl Look out for this caldron!
Stand back! Beware!"
Sin has done awful work in our world.
1t has gone out through all the ages. 1t
has mixed up a great caldron of trouble
and suffering and
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 be comfort, and
where there was death there shall be
life.
Some time ago, you viii remember, l
persuaded you OF the Importance of
being charitable in judgment of others.
AT the same time l said To you briefly
what this morning 1 wish to say with
great emphasis, that while we sympa-
thIse with the sinner we must denounce
the sin, that while we pity the ~unfortu-
nate we must be vehement against
transgression. Sin is a jagged thing
that needs to be roughly handled. You
have no right to garland 1t with fine
phrases or lustrous rhetoric. You can
not catch a buffalo with a silken lasso.
A group of immigrants settle in a
wild region. The next day a wild beast
comes down from the mountain and
carries off one of the children. The
next day a wild beast comes down from
the mountain and carries off another
child. Forthwith all the nelghbors band
together, and they 60 out with torch in
one hand and gun in the other to hunt
these monsters down, to find their hid
ing 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 follies
Of this world, we want to go behind
them, back Of them. Down INTO the
cayerns 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 and slay
these
INIQUITIES IN THEIR HIDING PLACES.
Or, to come back to the figure suggested
by my text, we want to find what are
the caldrons of sin and death from
which the iniqulties Of society are
dipped out.
T.. In the first place, l remark: that
unhappy and undic,plintd homes are the
caldrons of great iniquity. Parents harsh
and cruel on the n hand, or on the
other hand loose in their government,
wickedly loose in their government, arr
raising up IA generation of vipers. A
home where scolding and fretfulness are
dominant is blood relation to the gal
lows and the ~penitentiaryl Petulance is
= or.oot tbaf ORC vuls nm into tba f,nni1p
nursery sometimes and brushes every
thing. Why, there are parents who
even make religion disgusting to their
children. They have an exasperating
way of doing their duty. The house is
full of the warwhoop of contention, and
from it husband and sons 60 out to die.
THE JOURNEY FROM THE HOME.
Oh. there is a Hagar leading away
Ishmael into the desert to be smitten OF
the thirst and parched of the sandp In
the solemn birth hour a voice fell to thee
from the throne of God, saying; "Take
this child and nurse il for me, and |
will give thee thy wages" AT even.
time. when the angels of God hover
over that home, do they hear the child
rem lisping the name Of Jesus2 o tray
ell r for eternity, your little ones gather
ed under your robes, are you leading
them on the right road, or are you
taking them out on the dangerous wind
ing bridle-path, off which their inexper-
fenced feet may slip, and up which
comes the bowling of the wolf and the
sound of loosened ledge and tumbling
avalanche? Blessed is the family altar
AZ 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 night,fa all when sleep is closing the
eyes and loosening the hand from the
toy on the pillow. Blessed is that
mother whose every heart throb is a
for her childrens welfare.
The world grows old, and the stars
will cease to illuminate it, and the
waters to refresh it, and the noun
tains to guard it. and the heavens to
it, and its long story of sin
and shame ana glory and triumph viii
soon turn to ashes; but influences that
started in the early home roll on and
roll up through all eternity-blooming
In all the joy, waving in all the triumph
exulting in all the song, or shrinking