The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-02-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a Jubilee Occasion Characterised
by Words of Special Import.
The ProdigaI's Return the Theme Chosen
to Illustrate the Welcome Extendsd
to Large Number of New
Communicates

sermon at Brooklyn Tabernacle, on the
occasion of the reception Of two hundred
and forty new commandments, chose for
his subject the ''Return Of the Prodigals"
his text beingi
Bring hither the fatted calf and kill it-Luke
XIV. 20. ~
Joy Joyi Joyl We banquet to-day
over this accession of q 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 Christendom have
at some time celebrated joyful events by
banquet and festivity.
Something has happened in the old
homestead greater than any thing that
has eTer happened before. A favorite
son whom the world supposed would be-
come vagabond and outlaw forever, has
returned 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 re-
turned to his fathers house, the father
proelaims celebration.
There is a calf in the paddock that has
been kept up and fed to utmost capacity
50 as to be ready for some occasion Of joy
that might come along. Ahl there never
will be grander day on the old home
stead than this day. Let the butchers do
their work and the housekeepers bring
into the table the smoking meat. The
musicians will take their places, and the
gay groups will move up and down the
floor. AL the friends and neighbors are
]
to the table of the servants. The father
presi6fes at the table and says grace, and
thanks God that his long-absent boy is
home again. Oil how they missed him;
| how glad they are to have him back. One
brother indeed stands pouting at the back
door and says: t'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:
| 'sNothing is too good; nothing is good
enough" There sits the young man, glad
| at the hearty reception, but shadow
| of sorrow fitting across his brow at the
remembrance 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-
ry-making when a soul comes home to
God.
1. First Of all there is the new converts
! Joy. 1t is no tame thing to become
/ Christian. The most tremendous moment
| in mans life is when he surrenders him
self 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 prefessed
! Christ one night was young man who
next morning rang my door-ben and
! said: "Sir, I can not contain myself with
| the Joy l feel; I came here this morning
| to express it. have found more JOY Ia
/ five minutes in serving God than in all
the years Of my prodigality, and I came
/ to say So"
You have seen, perhaps, man running
/ for his physical liberty and the officers of
the law after him, and you saw him es-
/ cape, or afterward you heard the judge
had pardoned him, and how great was the
/ glee of that rescued man; but it is very
tame thing that, compared with the run-
ming for ones everlasting hfe-the ter
rors Of the law after him, but Christ COM
| ing to pardon, and bless, and rescue, and
save. You remember John Bunyan, in
his great story, tells how the Pilgrim put
| his fingers in his ears and ran, crying:
i life, life, eternal life I" A poor car
driver in this city some years ago, after
having had struggle to support his fam
lily, suddenly was informed that q large
Inheritance was his, and there was joy
amounting to bewilderment; but that is a
| small thing compared with the experience
Of one who has put in his hands the title
deeds to the joys, the raptures, the splen-
| dors of Heaven, and he can truly say:
| ''Its mansions are mine, its temples are
mine, its songs are mine, its God is NINE"
oh, no tame thing to become Chris
| tian. 1t is a merry making. 1t is the
killing of the fatted calf. It is jubilee.
You know the Bible never compares it to
aTw -
something bright. It is more apt to be
compared to a banquet than any thing
else. 1t is compared in the Bible to the
water, bright flashing water; to the morn
GnR-roseate, fre-worIzed, mountain
transfgured morning. I wish could to-
day take all the Bible expressions abont
pardon, and peace, and life, and comfort,
and hope, and Heaven, and twist them In
to one garland, and put it on the brow OF
the humblest child of God in this assem-
blage, and cry: "Wear it, wear it now,
wear it forever, son Of God, daughter of
the Lord God Almighty" Oh, the Joy Of
the new converty Oh, the gladness of the
Christian service.
You have seen sometimes q. man in 3
religious assembly getup and give his ex-
perience. Well, Paul gave his experience.
He arose IN the presence of two churches,
the church on earth and the church In
Heaven, and he said: Snow, this Is my
experience: Sorrowful, yet always rejoice
ing; poor, yet making many rich-haYing
nothing, yet possessing all things" II
the people in this house this morning
knew the joys Of the Christian religion
they would all pass over into the King
dom Of God the next moment When
Daniel Sandeman was dying Of cholera
his attendant said: "Have you much
pain?'s aOh, - he replied, ''since / found
the Lord have never had any pain ex-
cept SIM Then they said TO him; "Would
you like to send q message to your
friendsg" "Yes, I would; tell them that
2 only last night the love Of Jesus came
rushing into my soul like the surges of
fhe sea, and 1 had to cry out: stop, Lord,
st is enough; stop, Lord, enoughp" On
the joys Of this Christian religion!
Just pass over from those tame joys IN
which you are indu1ging-joys of this
q world-into the raptures Of the Gospel
The world can not satisfy you, You have
found that out. Alexander longing for
other worlds to conquer, and yet drowned
In his own bottle: Byron whipped by dis
quietudes around the world; Yoltaire
@ursing his own soul while ali the streets
Of Paris were applauding him; Henry III
consuming with hatred against poor
Thomas a Becket-all illustrations OF the
fact that this world can not make mar
happy. The very man who poisoned ths
pommel Of the saddle on which Queer
Elizabeth rode, shouted in the street
asGod save the Queeni' One moment thl
world applaUds and the next moment th'
world mathematics. On, come over int
this greater Joy, this sublime solaces thii
magnificent beatitude. The night after
the battle OF Shiloh, and there were thou
sands Of wounded on the field, and tn
, amba1ances had not come, one Christian
soldier lying there a dying under the star
light began to sing
There is - land OF pure delight
and when he came to the next line tne1'
we're scores Of voices uniting