The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1893-04-21
MAKING EXCUSES.
Why Sinners Do not Enter into
Chris6an Life.

l
Christian Life.
Lack Of Faith the Cau,e Of Many Excuses
| while Others Fay There h Nothiog
In ReligIon-sssmon by the
Rev. r. Dewitt Taimage -: d.
Rev. DR. Talmsge in his ser mon in tn
Tabernacle. Sunday forenoon, sprea,
before 1.-The great audience tie beaut,
and attractiveness Of the Gospel feast
the text chosen from Luke XIV, IL
"And they all with one consent begaI
TO make excuse"
After the invitations TO levee an
sent out the regrets come In One maj
apologies for ncn-stteodance ON On
ground, smother ON another ground
The most OF the regrets are founded OF
] prior prior saG ~ Ry text
n eeSVs come In The 0n6 6fveS o ~
cultural reason. the other . stock deal.
er's reason, tho other u domestic rea.
son. All poor reasons
The agricultural reason being that
the man had bought farm and wanted
to sec it Could he not see it the next
day? The 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 buy them until
he knew what they were. Besides
that, q man who can own five yoke OF
oxen can command his own time. be
sides that he might have yoked two of
them together and driven them on the
way to the banquet, for locomotion was
not as rapid then as now. The man who
gave the domestic reason said he had got
married. He ought to have taken his
wife with him. The fact was they did
not want to go "And they all with one
consent began to make excuse" SO
now God spreads great banquet; IL is
the Gospel feast and the table reaches
across the hemispheres, and the invita-
tions go out, and multitudes come and
sit down and drink out of the chalice
of Gods love, while other multitudes
decline coming-the one giving this
apology and the other giving that apol-
ogy. And they all with one consent
begin to make excuse" propose this
morning, so far as God may help me, to
examine the apologies which men make
for not entering the Christian life.
Apology the first; am not sure there
is anything valuable in the Christian
religion. 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 so much quack.
cry In physics, in ethics, in politics,
that men come to the habit of credulity,
and after awhile they allow that in
credulity to collide with our holy ire
ligion
But my friends, think religion has
made pretty good record in the world.
How many wounds IL has salved, how
many pillars Of fire it has lifted in the
midnight wilderness, how many
! simoon-struck Saharas 1t has turned
into the garden OF the Lord; how it
hath stilled the chopped sea; what rosy
light it hath sent streaming through
the rift of the storm-cloud wreck; what
pools of cool water it hath gathered for
thirsty Hagar and Ishmael; what man.
ma whittier than coriander seed il hath
dropped all around the camp OF hardly
bestead pilgrims; what promises IT hath
sent out like holy watchers to keep the |
lamps burning around deathbeds; |
through the darkness that lowers into |
the sepulcher, what flashes of rcsurrec-
ton morn!
Besides that this religion has made |
so many heroes. 1t brought Summer
field the Methodist. across the Atlantic |
,x.tt1 L
the acceptable year OF the Lord, until 1t
seemed as il all our American cities
would take the kingdom of Heaven by |
. olcnce. IL sent Jehudi Ashmap into
Africa alone, in continent of naked
to lift the standard of civil
ization and Christianity. 1t made John
Milton among poets, Raphael among
painters, Christopher Wren among
architects, Thorwaldsen among sculp-
tors, Handel among musicians, Dupont
among military commanders; and to
give new wings to the Imagination, and
better balance to the Judgment, and
more determination to the will, and
greater usefulness to the life, and
yrander nobility TO the soul, there is
nothing in all the earth like our Chris
tian religion.
Nothing in religion. Why, then, all4
those Christians were deceived when in
their dying moment they thought they
saw the castles OF the blessed; and your
,hild, 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 nothing in religion Sickness
will come upon you. Roll and turn
On your pillow. No relief. Christ
never comes TO the sick-room. Let the
pain stab. Let the fever burn. Curse
Il and die. There is nothing in re-
Iigion After awhile death will come.
You will hear the paving of the
pale horse on the threshold. The
spirit will be breaking away from
the body. and 1t will take flight
whittier? There is no God, no minister
ing angels TO conduct, no Christ. no
heaven, no home. Nothing in religion!
Oh! you ARE not willing to adopt such
full Of skeptics And let me say there
is no class of people for whom have a
warmer sympathy than for skeptics.
We deride them, we carica,ure them.
We instead of taking them by the soft
hand of Christian love, clutch them
with the iron pineers of eccle-
oh. II you knew how
those men had fallen away from
and become skeptics You
would not be SO rough on them
Some were brought up in homeS {
where religion was overdone. The
most wretched day in the week was I
Sunday. Religion was driven into them
with trip.hammer They had a sur
felt Of prayermeetings They were ,
stuffed and choked with catechism ,
They were told by their parents that
they were the worst children that ever {
lived, because they liked to ride down {
lill better than to read "Pilgrim's !
Progress" They never heard their pa
'ents talk of religion but with the cor ,
iers of their mouths drawn down and |
heir eyes rolled up.
Others went into skepticism through /
on the part OF some who {
,rofessed religion. There is a man who !
ays: MY partner in business was {
'oluble in Draycrfnectinv and he WAS