Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-02-06
REV. DIR. TALMAGB.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine'S Sun
day Sermon.
subject, "Onc Thing Lacking

The young mau of the text was a splendid
nature. We fall in love with him at the
first glance. He was amiable and frank and
earnest and educated and refined and re
spectacle and moral, and yet be was not a
Christian. And so Christ addresses him in
the wcrCs that | have read to YOU "Ono
thing thou lackest.n | suppose that that text
was no more applicable to tle young man oil
whom ! have spoken than it is appropriate
TO q large multitude of people in this audi
ence. There are many tnings in which you
are lacking. For instance, you are not lack
ing in good home 1t is perhaps no more
than an hour ago that you closed the door,
returning to see whether it was well fastened,
of one OF the hest homes of this city. The
Younger children Of the house already asleep,
the oder ones hearing your returning foot
steps. Wiil rush TO the door TO meet you. And
in these long evenings the children at the
stand with their games, the wife plying the
needle and you reading the book or the
paper You feel that you have a good home.
Neither are you lacking in the refinements
and courtesies Of life. You understand the
polite phraseolOgy of invitation. regard and
apology. You haye an appropriate apparel.
/ shall wear no better dress at the wedding
than when | come to the marriage of the
kings son. Ii | am well clothed on other
occasions | will be so in a religious audience.
However reckless | may be about my per-
sonal appearance at other times, when !
come into a consecrated assemblage | shall
have on the best dress have Veal under
stand the prophecies OF everyday life and
the properties OF Sabbath life.
Neither are you lacking in worldly sue
cess. You have not made as much money
as you would like to make, but you have an
income. While others are false when they
say they have nc income, or are making no
money. YOU have never told that falsehOod.
You have had a livelihood, or you have
fallen upon old resources, which is just the
same thing for God is just as good to us
when lie takes care OF us by a surplus Of the
past as by present success. While there are
thousands Of men with hunger tearing at the
throat with the strength of a tigers paw,
not one Of you'll hungry. Neither are they
lacking in pleasant friendship. You have
real good friends If the scarlet fever
should come tonight to your house you
know very well who would come in and sit
up with the sick one; or, if death should
come, you know who would come in and
take your hand tight in theirs with that pc
culiar grip which means "Ill stand by you;"
and, after the life is 1ed from the loved one,
take you by the arm and lead you into the
Dextroom and Thileyou are gone TO Green
wood they would stay in the house AMI put
aside the garments and the playthings that
might bring to your mind too severely your
great loss. Friendsi You all have friends.
Neither are you lacking in your admira-
ton OF the Christian religion. There is
nothing that makes you. so angry as to have
q man mahgE Christ. You get red in the
sace, and you say, "Sir, / want you to under
stand though l am not myself a Christian, l
don't ike such things said as that in my
store and the man goes off, giving you a
parting salutation, but You hardly answer
him. You are provoked beyond all bounds.
Many Of you have been supporters of religion
and have given more TO the cause of Christ
than some who profess His faith. There Is
nothing that would please you more than to
see your son or daughter standing at the
alter of Christ, taking the VOWS of the Chris
Iian.
it might be a little hard on you, and might
make you nervous and agitated for a little
while. but you would tie man enough to say:
MY child, that is right Go on. LAM glad
you haven't been kept back by my example.
hope some day 10 join you Iol believe
all the doctrines OF religion. man out
wonder saws. u am sinner YOurespond,
$50 am - Some one says. II believe that
Christ came to save the world You say,
so dol Lookin at your character, at
your surrounding. | lind thousand things
about which TO congratulate you and yet
must tell you in the love and fear o. God,
and with reference to my last account, "One
thing thou ackest.
You need. MY friends in the first place
the element Of happiness. Some day yon
feel wretched. You 90 not know what Is the
matter with you. You say, Il did not sleep
last night | think that mu be the reason
Of my restlessness;n or. Il have eaten some
thing that did not agree with me, and l
think that must be the reason Aud you
are unhappy. Oh, my friends, happiness
ioes not depend upon physical condition
Some Of the happiest people have ever
known have been those who have been
wrapped in consumption, or stung with neu-
ralgia, or burning with the SLOW lire Oh some
lever.
shall never forget one man in my first
parish, who in excrGciation OF body cried
,ut: ".dr Talmage | forget all my pain in
the love and JOY Of Jesus Christ. can't
think OF my suiferings when | think OF
Christ" Why, his lace was illumined:
There are Young men in this house who would
give testimony to show that there is no hap
piuess outside of Christ. while there is great
10y in His service. There are young men
who have not been Christians more than SIX
months who would stand up tonight, II
should ask them, and say in those six months
they nave had more JOY and satisfaction than
in all the years of their frlvolity and dlsslpa-
ton Go to the door Of that gin shop to-
night. and when the gang of young men
come cut ask them whether they are happy.
They laugh along the street and they ieer
and they shout, but nobody has any idea
they are happy.
/ could call upon the aged men in this
house to give testimony. There are aged
men here who tried the world, and they tried
religion. and they are willing to testify on
cur side. 1t was not long ago that en- aged
man arose III a praying circle anu said:
Brethren, lost my son Just as he graduated
from college, and il broke my heart; but
am glad now he is gone. He is al rest, es-
capped from all sorrow and from all trouble.
And then, in 1851, lost all my property, and
you see am getting old, and it is rather
hard upon me; but am sure God will not
let me suffer. He has not taken care OF me
FOR seventy-five years now 10 let me drop out
of His hands,
! went into the room Of an aged mau-his
eyesight nearly gone, his hearing nearly gone
and what do you suppose he was talking
about? The goodness Of God and the joys Of
religion. He said: Il would like to 90 over
and Join my wife on the other side of the
flood, and / am waiting until the Lord calls
me. / am happy now. | shall be happy
there" What is it that gave that aged IN IN
so much satisfaction ana peace? Physical
exuberances No, it has all gone. Sunshine1
He cannot see it. The voices of friendsy tie
cannot hear them. 1t is the grace of God,
that's brighter than sunshine and that is
sweeter than music If a harpist takes
harp and find that all the strings are broken
but one string he does not try 10 play upon
it. Yet here | will show you an oged man
the strings Of whose joy are all broken save
one. and yet he thrums it with such satisIac-
ton. such melody that the angels OF God
stop the swift stroke Of their wings and hover
about the place until the music ceases. IN,
religions "says ara ways of pleasantness,
and ali her paths are peace And IL you
have not the satisfaction that is TO be found
in Jesus Christ | must tell you, with ali the
concentrated emphasis of my soul: "One
thing thou lackest."
remark, again, that you lack the ele-
ments of usefulness. Where is your business!
You say it is No. 45 such street, or No, ~
such street. or No. 800 such street My
friend immortal, your business is wherever
there is tear to be wiped away or soul to
be saved. You may, before coming to Christ,
do great many noble things. You take a
loaf Of bread to that starving man in the
= V. but he wants immortal bread. You
1aze pound of candles to that dark shanty
They want the light that springs from the
throne of God, and you cannot take it be-
cause you have it not in your own heart.
You know that the flight of an arrow de-
-.