The Iola register., 1891-01-30
PLEADING WITH SINNERS
A Stirring Revival Discourse By
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage.
The Great Inviting Word of the Christian
Religion-"Come"-Ro For All In the
Saviour's Fold-Peace For All
the World.

Genesis, vi Is. Come Revelations
xii Il. Following is the sermon:
Imperial, tender and all persuasive i:
this word Come" Six hundred anC
seventy-eight times is it found in the
Scriptures 1t stands at the front gate
of the Bible as in my first text, inviting
antediluvians into Noah's ark, and II
stands at the other gate of the Bible as
in my second text, inviting the post
diluvians into the ark of Saviour's
mercy. Come" is only word of four
letters, but it is the queen of words,
and nearly the entire nation of English
vocabulary bows to its scepter. 1t is
an ocean into which empty ten thousand
rivers of meaning. Other words drive,
but this beckons. All moods of feeling
hath that word Come" Sometimes il
weeps and sometimes it laughs. Some
times it prays, sometimes it tempts, and
sometimes it destroys. 1t sounds from
the door of the church and from the
seraglios of sin, from the gates of Heaven
and the gates of hell. 1t is confident
and accrescent of all power. 1t is the
heiress of most of the past and almoner
of most of the future. Come" You
may pronounce it SO that all the heav-
ems will be heard in its cadences, or pro-
nounce it so that all the woes of time
and eternity shall reverberate in its one
syllable. 1t is on the top lip of saint
and profiigate. It is the mightiest of
all solicitants either for good or bad.
To-day weigh anchor, and haul in
the planks, and set sail on that great
word, although am sure l will not be
able to reach the further shore. will
let down the fathoming line into this
sea and try to measure its depths, and,
though tie together all the cables and
cordage / have on board, l will not be
able to touch bottom. All the power
of the Christian religion is in that word
The dictatorial and COM
in religion is of no avail
The imperative mood IS not the appro-
pirate mood when we would have peo-
pie savingly impressed. They may be
coaxed, but they can not be driven. Our
hearts are like our homes; at friendly
knock the door will be opened, but an
attempt to force open our door would
land the assailant in prison. Our theo-
logical seminaries, which keep young
men three years in their curriculum be-
fore launching them into the ministry.
will do well if in so short time they
can teach the candidates for the holy
Office how to say with right emphasis
and intonation and power that one
That man who has
such efficiency in Christian work, and
that woman who has such power to
persuade people to quit the wrong and
begin the right, went through a series
of losses, bereavements, prosecutions
and the trials of twenty or thirty years
before they could make it triumph of
grace every time they uttered the word
Come"
You must remember that in many
cases our Come" has a mightier
t'Come" to conquer before it has any
effect at all. Just give me the accurate
census, the statistics of how many are
down in fraud, in drunkenness, in
gambling, in impurity or in vice of any
sort, and l will give you the accurate
census or statistics of how many have
been slain by the word Come" ''Come
and click wine glasses with me at this
ivory bar" ''Come and see what we
can win at this gaming table" ''Come,
enter with me this doubtful specula-
ton" ''Come with me and read those
infidel tracts on Christianity" ''Come
with me to a place of bad amusement"
"Come with me in gay bout through
New York"
If in this city there are 10000 who are
down in moral character, then 20, 900
fell under the power of the word
Come" was reading of wife whose
husband had been overthrown by strong
drink, and she went to the saloon where
he was ruined, and she said: ''Give me
back my husband" And the bartender,
pointing to maudlin and battered man
browsing in the corner of the barroom,
said: There he is; Jim, wake up:
here's your wife come for you" And
the woman said: "Do you call that my
with him? Is that the manly brow? Is
that the clear eye? Is that the heart
that / married? What vile drug have
you given him that has turned him into
a fiend? Take your tiger claws off of
him. Uncoil those serpent folds of evil
habit that are crushing him. Give me
back my husband, the one with whom
] stood at tae altar ten years ago. Give
him back to me-" Victim was he, as
millions of others have been, of the
word Gomez
Now we want all the world over to
harness this word for good as others
have harnessed it for evil and it will
draw the five continents and the seas
between them; yea, it will draw the
whole earth back to the God from whom
1t has wandered. 1t is that wooing and
word that will lead men TO
give up their sins. Was skepticism
ever brought into love of the truth by
an ebulition of hot words against inf
deity? Was ever the blasphemer
Stopped in his oaths by denunciation of
Was ever a drunkard
weaned from his cups by the temper
ance lecturers mimicry of staggering
steps and hiccough? No. 1t was:
''Come with me to church to-day and
hear our singing" ''Come and let me
you to Christian man whom
You will be sure to admire" ''Come
with me into associations that are
cheerful and good and inspiring"
t'Come with me into joy such as you
never before experienced"
With that word which has done so
much for others l approach you to-day.
Are you all right with God? No" you
say, Il think am not; am sometimes
alarmed when think of Him; fear l
will NOT be ready to meet Him in the
last day; my heart is not right with