The Penn's Grove record., 1893-04-21
RBV. DIR. TALMAGR,
The Brooklyn Divine's
Sunday Sermon.
Sabjec,:-"Apoi! :ies for N h Entering
the Christian Life"

After the invitations to a leves are sent out
the regrets come in. OIs man Apologies
for n~onattendancs IN one ground, another
On another ground. The most OF the regrets
are fouu led on prior engagements. So in
my text a great banquet was spread, the in
vitations We're circulated. AMI nov the re-
grets come In. Tn one gives an agricultu-
raj reason, the other a stock dealers reason,
the other a domestic reason all poor rea-
sons. The agricultural reason being that
the man had bou yht a farm AMI wanted to
see II. Conld he not see it the next law
Ihe stock dealers reason being that he had
bought five yoke of oxen, and he wanted to
go and prove them. He had no business to
huy them until he knew what they were.
Besides that q man who can own 1--WE yoke
OF oxen can his own lime. Be-
sides that he might have yoked two OF them
together n driven them on tho way to
the banqust, for loo ,motion was not
as rapit then as now. The man who
gave the domestic reason said he
had got married. He ought to have
taken his wife with BIN. The fact was they
did not want to go. 'Aud they all with one
consent began to make excuse" So now
700 spreads a great banquet; it is the gospel
least, and the table reaches across the hem
lspheres, and the invitations go out an | mul-
ntudes come and sit down and drink out Of
the chalices of Gods love, while other null
titudesd decline coming-the one giving this
apology and the OF Ter giving that apology.
AND they all with one consent began to
make excuse" I propose this morning. SO
far as God may help me. to examine the
the Christian life.
Apology the first; / am not sure there ia
anything valuable in the Christian re.
hgion. 1t Is pleaded that there are so many
impositions in this day so many things
that seem to be real are sham. A gilded
outside may have a hollow inside. There Is
90 much quackery in physics. in ethics, in
politics, that men come to the habit of in
credul1ty, and after awhile they allow that
t~ncredulity to collide with our holy re-
dgion.
But, my friends, I think religion has made
q pretty good record in the world. How
many Wounds 1t has salvei: how many pill
lars OF fire 1t has lifted in the midnight
wilderness: how many simeon struck Ss-
haras 1t hath turned into the gardens OF the
Lord; how it hath stiliel the chopped sea
what rosy light 1t hath sent streaming
through the rift OF the storm clou wrack;
what pools OF cool water it hath gathered
Tor thirsty Hagar and ishmael; what mama
winter than coriander seed it hath dropped
ali around the lamp OF hardly bestead pill
grims; what promises it hath sent out like
molly watchers to keep tn, lamps burning
around death bedsi Through the darkness
tnat lowers into the s%epulchre, what flashes
| Of resurrection morn.
Besides that. this religion has made so
many heroes. 1t brought Summerfield, the
Methodist, across the Atlantic Ocean with
his silver trumpet to blow the acceptable
year OF the Lord, until it seemei as IL all
our american cities would take the king
dom OF heaven by violence. It sent Je-
hudi Ashman into Africa alone, in q conti-
nent OF nasei ~barbarians to lift the stan
oArd OF civilization and Christianity. II
made John Milton among poets. Raphael
among painters, Christopher Wren among
architects. Thorwaldsen among sculptors,
Handel among musicians, Dupont among
military commanders; and to give new
wings to the imagination. n better bal
ahce to the Judgment, and more determina-
uon to the will, and greater usefulness
70 the life, and grander nobility to the soul,
there is nothing in all the earth like our
christian religion.
Nothing in religioni Why. them, all
those Christians were deceived when in their
dying moment they thought they saw the
castles OF the blessed, and your child, that
with unutterable agony You put away into
the grave-you will never see him again,
nor hear his sweet voice, nor feel the throb
OF his young hearth There is nothing In re-
ligioni Sickness will come upon you. Roll
and turn on your pillow. No relief. The
medicine may be bitter. the night nay be
sho BoAhH may 10 oudt No cAiot
Christ never comes to the sick room. Let
the pain stab. Let the fever burn. Curse
= and die. There is nothing in religion
After awhile death will come. You will
near the paving of the pale horse on the
threshold. The spirit will be breathing away
from the body, and it will take flight
whittier, whittier? There is no God, no
ministering angels to conduct, no Christ, nc
heaven. no home. Nothing in religionl
Oh. You are not willing to adopt
such q dis nal theory And yet
the world is full of skeptics. And let me
say there Is no class of people for
whom l have a warmer sympathy than for
sksptics. We do not know how to treat
them. We deride them, we caricature
them. We, instead Of taking them by the
soft hand of Christian love, clutch them
with the iron pincers of ecclesiasticism. Oh,
II You knew how those men had fallen away
from Christianity I'M become skeptics you
would not be so rough on them. Some
were brought up In homes where religion
was overdone The most wretohed day ia
the week was Sunday. Religion was driven
into them with a triphammer. They had q
surfeit of prayer meetings. They were
stuffed and choKed with cstechisms. They
were told by their parents that they were
the worst children that ever lived because
they liked to ride down hill better than to
read "Pilgrim's Progress" They never
heard their parents talk OF religion cut with
the corners OF their mouths drawn dow
n the eyes role 1 up.
Others went into skepticism through NAL
treatment on the part Of some who pro
fessed religion. There is q man who says
my partner in busines was voluble In
prayer meeting, n he was oficious In al
religious circles, but he cheated me out o
SSooO, and l don't want any Of that re
ligion."
There ara otbsrs uho not into stantic;a,
by a natural persistence in asking questions
why or how. How can God be one beins
In three persons? they cannot understand
II. Neither can 1. How can God bs q com
plete sovereign and yet man a free agent
They cannot understand it Neither can l
They cannot understand why a holy Go
lets sin come into the world. Neither can |
They say. "Here is a great mystery. Her,
y a disciple OF fashion, frivolous and got
less all her dRys-shs lives on to be an octo
genarian. Here is Christian mother train
ing her children for God AMI for heaven
seif-sacrificIng, Chr,stlike, indispensable
seemingly to that household she takes tn
cancer and dies" The sKeptic says, ii eau
explain that" Neither can 1.
oh, l can ses how men reason themsslve
into skeptic.sm. With burning feet | havI
trod that blistering way l know what it i
J to have a hundred nights poured into on
hour. There are men in this au iience VIII
would give their thousands OF dollars II the!
could get back to the old religion of thei
fathers. such men ara not TO be carica
tured. hut helped, and not through thei
heads, but throu n their hearts. WheI
these men really do come into the kingdom
OF God, they will be worth far more to tn
cause OF Christ than those who never 81
ahmed the evidences of Christianity
Thomas Chalmers once q skeptic; RobeE
Hail ono a skeptic; Christmas Evans ono
askeptic. but when they did lay hold OF th
gospel ~caariot, how they made it spec
ahead
Ii therefore I stand this morning befoT
men and women who i've drifted ava
into skepticis,n | throw out no scott.
rather implead you by the memory OF thos
good OLD times when you kneit at yos
mothers knee and said your evening pPaye
and those other DAYS Of sickness when 81
watched all night AMI gave you the mel
cines at just the right time and turnei til
pillow when it was hot. ami with hand Ion
ago turned to dust soothed your pains an
with that voice you will never hear agai
unless you join her in the better countr
told you never mind-you would be bstte
ey snd By, and by that dying ooueh. vhsE