Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-06-27
REV. DR.. TALMAGH.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun
day Sermon.


There is nothing like hunger to take the
energy out of man. A hungry man can
toll neither with pen. nor hand. nor foot.
There has been many an army defeated, not
so much for lack of ammunition as for lack
of bread 1t was that fact that took the fire
out of this young man of the text. Storm
and exposure will wear out any mans life in
time, but hunger makes quick work. The
most awful cry ever heard on earth is the
cry for bread A traveller tells us that in
Asia Minor there are trees which bear fruit
looking very much like the long bean of our
time. 1t is called the carab.
Once in while the people reduced to des-
titution would eat these carabs, but gener-
ally the carsbs, the beans spoken of here in
the text, were thrown only to the swine, and
they crunched them with great avidity.
But this Young man of my text could
not even get them without stealing them.
So one day amid the swine troughs he begins
to soiilouuiza He says: These are no
clothes for rich mans son to wear; this is
no kind of business for jew to be engaged
in-feeding swine; I'll go home, Ill go home;
l will arise and 10 to my father"
i know there ara n great many. people
who try to throw a fascination, romance
a halo about sin: but notwithstanding all
that Lord Byron aud George Sand have said
in regard to it, it is mean, low, contempti-
BILE business, and putting food and fodder
into the troughs of herd OF antiquities
that root and waliow in the soul of man is a
very poor business for men and women in
tended to be sons and daughters of the Lord
Almighty. And when this young man re-
solved TO go home it was very wise thing
for him to do and the only question is
whether we will follow him.
Satan promises large wages if we will
serve him, but be clothes his victims with
rags and he pinches them with hunger, and
when they start out to do better he sets after
them all the bloodhounds Of perdition.
Satan comes to us to-day and he promises all
luxuries, all enoluments il we will only
serve him. Liar, down with thee to the pit!
THE wages of sin is death" Oh, the young
man of the text was wise when he uttered
the resolution, 81 will arise and go to my
father
In the time of Mary the Prosecutor, per-
secutoT came to a Christian woman who had
hidden in her house for the Lords sake one
of Christs servants, and the prosecutor said,
Where is that heretic,a The Christian
woman said, You open that trunk and you
will see the hereto" The prosecutor opened
the trunk, and on the TOP of the linen of the
trunk he saw a glass. He said, There is no
hereto here" ''Ah" she said, you look in
the glass and you will see the hereto" As
take up the mirror of Gods word to-day
would that instead of seeing the prodigal
son of the text we might see ourselves-our
want, our wandering, our sin, our lost con
young man was, AMI say, 81 will arise and
go to my father"
The resolution of this text was formed in
disgust at his present circumstances. 1t this
young man had been by his employer set to
culturing flowers or training vines over an
arbor or keeping account OF the pork market
or overseeing other laborers he would not
have thought of going home If he had had
his pockets full of money, If he had been able
to say, II have a thousan dollars now of my
own; what's the use of my going bac TO my
fathers house? do You think am going back
to apologize to the old man? why he would
put me on the limits he would not have go
ing on around the Old place such conduct as
have engaged in; won't go home; there
is no reason why should go home; have
plenty of money. plenty of pleasant sur
roundings, why should | go homer All it
was his pauperism, it was his be5gary. He
had to go home.
Some man comes and says to me; why
do you talk about the ruined stata of the
human soul? Why don't you speak about
the progress of the Nineteenth century, and
talk of something more exhilaratingF 1t is
for this reason: A man never wants the
Gospel until he realizes he is i'll famine
struck state. Suppose | should come TO you
in your home and you are ill good, sound,
robust health, and | should begin to talk
about medicines. and about how much better
this medicine is than that, end some other
medicine, and talk about this physician and
+ that physician After while you get tired,
and you would say: Il don't want to hear
about medicines Why do you talk to me
of physicians? | never have DOCTOR"
But suppose | come into your house and l.
| find you severely sick, and l know the medi-
cines that wilt cure, and know the physi-
clan who is skillful enough to meet your
case. You say Bring on that medicine;
bring on that physician. lam terribly sick.
and want help" If / came TO you and you
feel you are all right in body, ana all right in,
MIND, and all right in soul you have need of
nothing; but suppose l have persuaded you
that the leprosy Of sin is upon you, the worst
ofall sickness; oh, then you say Bring me
that balm of the Gospel: bring me that de
vine medicament; bring me Jesus Christ"
But says some enc in the audience, How
do You prove tat we are in a ruined condi-
ton by SIM" Well l can prove it in two
ways, and you may have your choice. |
can lrove it by the statements of men or
by the statement of God. Which shall it
be? You all say, LET us have the state
ment of God" Well, He says in one place
1.-The heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked He says in another
place, what is man that he should be
! clean? and he which is born OF woman,
that he should be righteous He says in
another place, There is none that doeth
( good, no not onen He says in another
place, LAS by one man sin entereth into the
world, and death by SIM and so death passed
upon all men, for that all have sinned."
"Well, u you say, 81 am willing TO ac-nowl-
edge that, but why should ] take the partic-
ular rescue that you propose" This is the
reason, Except a man be born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God" This is the
reason, There is one name given under
heaven among men whereby they may be
saved" Then there are n thousand voices
here ready to say, "Well, l am ready to ac-
cept this help of the Gospe'; ] would like to
have this divine cure; how shall l go to
work. Let me say that u mere whim, an
underlined longing amounts to nothing.
You must have a stout, tremendous resolu-
ton like this young man of the text when
he said. II will arise and go to my father"
"Oh" says some man. ''how do know my
father wants me? How do | know, if | go
back, | would be received;' 'Oh" says
some man, ''you don't know where | have
been; you don't know how far l have wan
dered: you wouldn't talk that way to me if
you knew all the iniquities l have commit
tedg" What is that flutter among the angels
of God? 1t snews, it is newsl Christ has
found the lost.
Nor angels can their JOY contain,
But klndle with new fire;
The sinner lost, is found, they sing,
And strike the sounding Tyre.
When Napoleon talked of going into Italy.
they said: you can't get there. If you
knew what the Alps were you wouldn't talk
about it or think of it. You can't get your
ammunition wagons over the Alps" Then
Napoleon rose in his stirrups and waving his
hand toward the mountains, he said, There
shall be no Alps That wonderful pass was
laid out which has been the wonderment OF
all the years since-the wonderment of all
engineers. And You tell me there are such
mountains of sin between your soul and God.
there is no mercy. Then l see Christ wav-
ing His hand toward the mountains. | hear
Him say, II Will come over the mountains of
thy sin and the hills of thy iniquitv.n There
shall be no Pyrenees; there shall be no Alps.
Again, | notice that this resolution of the
young man of the text was founded in sor-
row at his misbehavior It was not mere
physical plight. 1t was grief that he had so
maltreated his father. 1t is a sad thing
after father has done everything for child
to have that child be ungratefui.
How sharper than serpenCs tooth Il il,
To have thaakiess child.
That is Shakespeare. A foolish son is the
heaviness of his mother That is the Bible.
Well my friends, have not some OF US been