Connecticut western news., 1891-01-21
A WONDERFUL WORD.
REV. r. DE WITT TALMAGE BREACHES
 AN ABLE SERMON ON "CoME."

REV. r. DE WITT TALMAGE BREACHES
 AN ABLE SERMON ON "coME."
 This Word May Be Used for Good or for
 Evil-It Is Found Many Times in tho
 scriptures-It Beckons, Other Words
 Drive.
 BROOKLYN, Jan. 1S.-Dr. Talmage preached the following sermon this morning to an overaowing congregation in the Academy of Music, this city. At night, when The Christian Herald ser vice was held in the New York Acade- my of Music, fully six thousand persons were massed in the large building. A marked solemnity pervaded the assem- bly,, and at its close many persons in various. parts of the house rose at the invitation of the preacher to ask for prayers for their salvation. Dr. Tal- mage chose the following texts for his sermon: "Come" (Gen. vi, 19; "Come'' Rev. xxi, ID. !.
 Imperial, tender and all persuasive is this word Come" Six hundred and seventy-eight times is it found in the Scriptures It stands at the front gate of the Bible as in my first text, invit- ing antediluvians into Noah's ark, and it stands at the other gate of the Bible as in my second text, inviting the post diluvians into the ark of a Saviour's mercy. Come" is only word of four letters, but it is the queen of words, and nearly the entire nation of En- glish vocabulary bows to its scepter. It is an ocean into which empties ten thousand rivers of meaning. Other words drive, but this beckons.
 All moods of feeling hath that word Come" Sometimes it weeps and sometimes it laughs. Sometimes it prays, sometimes it tempts and some times it destroys. It sounds from the door of church and from the seraglios of sin, from the gates of heaven and the gates of hell. It is continent and accrescent of all power. It is the heiress of most of the past and the almoner of most of the future. "Come!" You may pronounce it so that all the heavens will be heard in its cadences, or pro- nounce it so that all the woes of time and eternity shall reverberate in it's one syllable. It is on the lip of saint and profligate. It is the mightiest of all solicitants either for good or bad.
 ALL THE POWER OF CHRISTIANITY IS
 IN THAT WORD.
 Today weigh anchor, and haul in the blanks and set sail on that great word, although I am sure will not be able to reach the farther shore. l will let down the fathoming line into this sea and try to measure it's depths, and, though I tie together all the cables and cordage I have on board, I will not be able to touch bottom. All the power of the Christian religion is in that word Come" The dictatorial and com mandatory in religion is of no avail. The imperative mood is not the appro- priate mood when we would have peo- pie savingly impressed. They may be coaxed, but they cannot be driven.
 Our hearts are like our homes; at a friendly knock the door will be opened, but an attempt to break open our door would land the assailant in prison. Our theological seminaries, which keep young men four years in their curric- ulum before launching them into the ministry, will do we'll if in so short a time they can teach the candidates for the holy office how to say with right emphasis and intonation and power that one word "Come!" That man who has such efficiency in Christian work, and that woman who has such power to persuade people to quit the wrong and commence the right, went through a series of bereavements, losses, prosecutions, and the trials of thirty or forty years before they could make it triumph of grace every time they uttered the word Come"
 MANY SLAIN BY THAT WORD COME
 You must remember that in many cases our 'come" has mightier come" to conquer before it has any effect at all. Just give me the accu- rate census. the statistics, of how many are down in fraud, in drunken ness, in gambling, in impurity or in vice of any sort, and will give you the accurate census or statistics of how many have been slain by the word "come." Come and click wine glass es with me at this ivory bar" Come and see what we can win at this gam ing table" "Come, enter with me this doubtful speculationi" "Come with me and read those infidel tracts on Christianity" 'Come with me to a place of bad amusement" "Come with me in a gay bout through under ground New York" If In this city there are twenty thousand who are down in moral character, then twenty thousand fell under the power of the word ''come."
 was reading of wife whose hus- drink, and she went to the saloon where he was ruined and she said, "Give me back my husband" And the bartender, pointing to a maudlin and battered man drowsng in the corner of the bar room said, ''There he is. Jim, wake up; here's your wife come fsr you.'" And the woman said Do you call that my husband2 What have you been doing with him2 Is that the manly brow2 Is that the clear eye? Is that the noble heart that marrieda What vile drug have you given him that has turned him into . fend9 Take your tiger claws of o1 him. Uncoil those serpent folds o1 evil habit that ara cr.ushin0 him Give