Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-04-17


Talmage,in his sermon in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle this forenoon, spread before
the great audience in eloquent words,
the beauty aud attraetiveness Of the
Gospel feast; the text chose being from
luke IA; is; "And they all with one
consent began 20 make excuse"
After the invitations TO n levee are
sent out, the regrets come In. One man
apologies for nOn-attendance on one
ground, another on another ground.
The most Of the regrets are founded on
prior engagements. So in my text 3
great banquet was spread, the invita-
tions were circulated, and now the re-
grets come in. The one gives an agri-
cultural reason, the other a stock-deal-
er's reason, the other domestic reason.
All poor reasons. The agricultural rea-
son being that the man had bought a
farm and wanted 20 see IL. Could be not
see 10 the next day? The stockholders
reason being that he had bought
FIVE woke OF oxen, and be wanted
70 90 and prove them. be had no 0usi-
ness 70 buy them until be knew what
they were Besides that, man who
can own five yoke Of oxen can command
his own time. Besides that, be might
have yOked two Of them together and
driven them On the way 70 the banquet,
for lOcomOti0n was not as rapid then as
row. The man who gave she domestic
reason said be had got married. He
ought TO have taken his wife with him.
The fact was, they did not want 20 20.
"And they all with one consent began
10 make excuse"
so NOW GOD SPREADS
a great banquet: it is a gospel feast,
and tho tables reach across the two
hemisDheres; and the invitations 90 out
and multitudes come aud sit down and
drink out of the chaliCes Of Gods love,
while.Othe multitudes decline coming-
the one giving this apology and the
other giving that apology; land they
all with one consent begin 20 make ex-
cuSe." / propose this morning so Tar
God may help me, TO examine the apollo
gies which men make for not entering
the Christian life.
Apology the first: / AN not sure there
IS anything valuable In the Christian
religion. IL is pleaded that there are
so many impCsitions IN this day, so
many things that seem % be real are
sham. A gilded outside NAV have a
hollow inside; there is so much Quack-
cry In physics, in ethics, In politics,
that men come 70 the habit Of incred-
ulity, aud after while they allow that
| incTeduliiy TO collide with our holy re-
8igion.
4 But, my friends, I think religion has
made a pretty good record in the world.
How many wounds 10 has salyed, how
many pillars Of ire il has lifted in the
midnight wilderness, how many simeon
struck Saharas it hath turned into the
gardens OF the Lord; how il hath stilled
the chopped sea; what rosy light IL
hath sent streaming through the rift Of
the stOrm-cloudWrack; what pools OF
cool water II hath gathered for Hagar
and Ishmael; what mama whittier than
coriander seed 10 had dropped all around
the camp Of ha-dly-beStead pilgrims;
what promises il hath sent out like holy
watchers TO keep the lamps burning
around deathbeds, through the dark
ness that towers into the sepulchre,
what 1ashes Of resurrection morn!
- NOTHING IN RELIGION!
hy, then, all those Christians were
eceived, when ia 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 heart? There is no
God. no ministering angels 20 conduct,
no Christ, no heaven, no home. Moth
ing in religionl Oh. YOU are not willing
TO adopt such dismal theory. And
yet the world is full Of skeptics. And
lei me say there is no class Of people
for whom I have 3 warmer sympathy
than for skeptiCs. We do not know how
70 treat them. We deride them, we
caricaure them. We, instead of TAX
ing 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 and become skeptics, you
would not be so rough on them. Some
were brought up in homes where relig-
ion was OverdoDe. The most wretched
day in the week was Sunday. Religion
was driven into them with q trip ham
mer. They had a surfeit Of prayer
meetings. They were stuffed and chOk-
ed with catechisms. They were told by
their parents that they were the worse
children that ever lived, because they
liked TO ride down bill better than to
read "Pilgrim's Progress. They never
heard their parents talk Of religion but
with the corners Of their mouths drawn
Adown AID the eyes rolled up.
OH can see how men reason them
Selves into skepticiSm. With burning
feet I have trod that bistering way. I
know what il is to nave a hundred
Nights poured into one hour. There
re men in this audience who would
their thousands of dollars II they
ia get back to the old religion Of
their fathers. Such men are not to be
caricatured, but helped, and not through
their heads, but through their hearts.
When these men really do come
INTO THE KINGDOM OF GOD
they will be worth far more to the
cause OF Christ THAI those who never
Bxaminey the evidence OF Christianity.
Thomas Chalmers once a Skeptie, Rob-
ert Hall once a Skeptic, Christmas Ev-
ans once a skeptic; but when they did
lay hold Of the Gospel chariot how they
made it speed ahead! Other persons
apologize FOR not entering the Christian
life because Of, the incorrigibility OF
their temper. Now, we admit it IS
harder for some people to become
Christians than others; but the grace
of God never came 70 mountain that
Il could not climb, or TO an abyss that
1T could not fatbOm, or to a bondage
Mat it could not break. The widest