The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-12-30
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: Temptations Which Beset
Young Men,"

TEXT: "Surelu, in cain the net is spread
in the sight of amy bird. "-Proverbs l., II.
Early in the morning I went out with a
fowler to catch wild pigeons. We fastened
through the mountain gorge and into the
forest. We spread out the net, and covered
up the edges of it as well as we could. We
arranged the call bird. its feet fast and its
wings Tapping, in invitation to all fowls Of
heSven to settle down there. We retired into
q booth of branches and leaves and waited.
After awhile, looking out Of the door OF the
booth, we saw a flock of birds in the sky.
They came nearer and nearer, and after q
while were about to Swoop into the net. when
suddenly they darted away, Again we
waited. After awhile we saw another LOCK
of birds. They came nearer and nearer un-
til just at the moment when they were about
to swoop they darted away.
The fowler was very much disappointed as
well as myself. We said to each other,
What is the matter?' and "Why were not
these birds caught" We went out and eH-
amined the net and by q hutter Of q branch
of a tree part of the net had been conspicu-
ously exposed, and the birds coming very
near had seen their peril and darted away.
When 1 saw that said to the old fowler,
THAT reminds me of a passage of Scripture:
Surely in vain is the net spread in the sight
of any bird" Now the net in my text
stands for temptation.
The call bird of sin tempts men on from
point to point and from branch to branch
until they are about to drop into the net.
If a man finds out in time that it Is the
temptation of the devil, or that evil men
are attempting to capture his soul for time
n for eternity, the man steps back. He
says Il Inn not to be caught in that way; l
see what you are abouts surely in vain is the
net spread in the sight Of any bird"
There are two classes of temptations-the
superficial and the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
above ground, those underground. If man
could see sin as it is, he would no more en-
brace it than he would embrace a leper.
Sin is a daughter of hell; yet she is gar
landed and robed and trinketed. Her voice
is a MARBLE. Her cheek is the setting sun.
Her forehead is an aurora. She says to
men: "Come, walk this path with me. 1t is
thymed and primrosed, and the air is be-
witched with the odors Of the hanging gar.
dens Of heaven. The rivers are rivers OF
wine, and all you have to do is to drink
them up in chalices that sparkle with dia-
mond and amethyst and chrysoprasus.
See! 1t is all bloom and rosate cloud and
heaven"
Oh, my friends, IL for one moment the
choiring Of all these concerted voices Of sin
could be hushed, we should see the orchestra
Of the pit with hot breath blowing through
fiery flute, and the skeleton arms on drums
of thunder and darkness beating the chorus,
1.-THE end thereof is DEATH"
want to point out the insidious tempta-
.tions that are assailing more especially our
young men. The only kind of nature com
paratively free from temptation, so far as 1
can judge, is the cold, hard, stingy, mean
temperament. What would Satan do with
such a man if he got him? Satan Is not anx-
ious to get a man who after awhile may dis
pute with him the realm OF everlasting
meanness.
1t IS the generous young man, the ardent
young man, the warm hearted young man,
the social young man that is in especial
peril. Apirate goes out on the sea, n one
bright morning he puts the glass to his eye
n looks of, and sees an empty vessel float
ing from port to port. he says, "Never
mind; that's no prize for us" But the same
morning he puts the glass to his eye, and he
sees a vessel coming from Australia laden
with gold, or a vessel from the Indies laden
with spices. He says That's our prize;
bear down on itr' Across that unfortunate
ship the graphing hooks are thrown. The
crew are blindfolde1 and are compelled to
walk the plank.
1t IS not the empty vessel, but the laden
merchantmen that is the temptation Of the
pirate. And a young man empty Of head,
empty of heart, empty Of life-you want no
Young Mems Christian Association to keep
him safe; he is safe. He will not gamble
unless it is with somebody else's stakes. He
will not break the Sabbath unless somebody
else pays the horse hire. He will not drink UNI
less some one else treats him. He will hang
around the bar hour after hour waiting for
some generous young man to come in.
The generous young man comes in and
accosts him and says, swell, will you have
a drink with me to-day?' The man, as though
it were a sudden thing for him, says, ''Wen
well, if you insist on it, I will will"
Too mean to go to perdition unless some
body else pays his expenses? For such
young men we will not fight. We would
no more contend for them than Tartary and
Ethiopia would fight as to who should have
the great Sahara desert; but for those young
sen who are buoyant and enthusiastic, those
who are determined to do something for
time and for eternity-for them we will
fight, and we now declare everlasting war
against all the influences that assail them,
and we ask all good men and philanthropists
to wheel into line, and all the armies of
heaven to bear down upon the foe, and we
pray Almighty God that with the thunder
bolts of His wrath He will strike down and
consume all these influences that are attempt
ing to destroy the young men for whom
Christ died.
The first class of temptations that assaults
ayoung man is led on by the skeptic. He
will not admit that he is an infidel or athe-
1st. Oh, ne! he is a free thinker" he is one
of your Liberal" men; he is free and easy
in religion. Oh. how liberal he is; he is SO
he is so 'liberar' that he will give away the
throne Of eternal justice; he is so Liberal"
that he would be willing to give God out of
the universe; he is so liberal that he would
give up his own soul and the souls Of all his
friends. Now what more could you ask in
the way of liberality? The victim Of this
skeptic has probably just come from the
country. Through the Intervention of
friends he has been placed in a shop. :
On Saturday the skeptic says to him,
"Well, what are you going to do to-mor-
row?' He says. Il am going to church"
us it possibleT says the skeptic. well, I
used to do those things; I was brought up, I
suppose, as you were, in a religious family,
and I believed all those things, but I got
over it.: the fact is, since I came to town I
have read a great deal, and I have found
that there are a great many things in the
Bible that are ridiculous. Now, for in
stance, all that about the serpent being
cursed to crawl in the Garden Of Eden be-
cause it had tempted our first parents; why.
YOU see how absurd it is; you can tell from
Z the very organization Of the serpent that it
had to crawl; it crawled before it was cursed
lust as we'll as it crawled afterward: you
I can tell from its organization that il
crawled. Then all that story about the
: whale swallowing Jonah, or Jonah swal.
lowing the whale, which was it? 1t don't
make any difference; the thing is absurd; il
is ridiculous to suppose that a man could
have gone down through the jaws of a sea
monster and yet keep his life; why, his res.
piration would have been hindered; he
would nave been digested; the gastric juice
would nave dissolved the fibrine and coagu.
lated albumen. and Jonah would have been