Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-04-21
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's SUM-
day Sermon.
Subject; apologies for not Entering thr
Christian Life"

tuO icNo COiuS Ouo hidh dYCAOSi69o
for nonattendance on one ground, another
On another ground The most OF the regrets
are founded on prior engagements. So in
my text great banquet was spread, the in
vitations were circulated. ani now the re-
grets come in. The one gives an agricultu-
raj reason, the other a stock dealers reason,
the other domestic reason-lll poor rea-
sons. The agricultural reason being that
the man had bought farm and wanted to
see it. Could he not see it the next day?
The stock dealers reason being that he hal
bought five yoke of oxen, aud he wanted to
20 and prove them. he hal no business to
tuy them until he knew what they were.
Besides that man who can own five yoke
of oxen en- 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 loo )motion was not
as rapil 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. 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 hem
lspberes, and the invitations 90 out an mul-
iitu les come and sit down and drink out OF
the chalces of Gods love, while other null
titudes decline cOming-she enc giving this
apology and the otaer giving that apology.
And they all with one consent began 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 re-
llgion. 1t is pleade that there are so many
lmpositlons IN this day 10 many things
that seem to be real are sham. A gilded
outside may have hollow inside. There is
so much quackery in physics, in ethics, IN
politics, that men come TO the habit OF in
credulity, and after awhile they allow that
increduliIy to collide with our holy re-
ligion.
But, my friends, think religion has made
a pretty good record in the world. How
many wounds it has salve !: how many pill
lars o, fire it has lifted in the mifnight
wilderness: how many simeon struck Si-
haras it hath turned into the gardens OF the
Lord; how it hath stille the caoppei sea!
What rosy light 1t hath sent streaming
through the rift OF thu storm clout wrack;
what pools of cool water it hath gathered
for thirsty Hsgar and lshmael; what mama
whittier than coriander seed it hath dropped
all around the camp Of hardly bestead pill
grims; what promises it hath sent out like
holy watchers to keep thu lamps burning
around death bedsl Throu,h the darkness
that lowers into the sepulchre, what hashes
OF resurrection morn.
Besides that, this religion has made 50
many heroes. 1t brought Summerfeld, the
Methodist. across the Atlantic Ocean with
his silver trumpet to blow the acceptable
year of the Lord, until it seensl as il all
our American cities woull take the king
dom of haat hr- tyfO + %.
hudi Ashman into Africa alone. IN a CONT
nent Of naSe bar5arenS to lit thu stan
dard of civilization AMI Christianity. 1t
made John Milton among poets Raphael
among painters, Christopher Wren among
architects. Thorwaldsen among scllptors,
Handel among musicians Dupont among
military commanders; and 10 give new
wings to the Imagination. and better bal
ance to the judgment, AM more detsrmina-
ton TO the will AMI greater usefulness
to the life, and gran Ter nobility to the soul,
there is nothing in ali the earth like our
Christian eigion.
Nothing in religion, Why then, all
those Christians were deceived when in their
dying moment they thought they saw tho
castles of the olsss-d aut your child, that
with unutterable agony you put away into
the grave-you will never see him again,
nor hear his sweet voice, nor fell the throb
Of his young hesrti There is nothing in re-
ligionl Sickness will come upon you. Roll
and turn on your pillow. No relief. The
medicine may be bitter. the night may be
DARK, the pain may be sharp. No RELIEF.
Christ never comes to thu sick room. Let
the pain star Let the fever burn. Curse
1t an die, There is nothing in religion
After awhile death will COM. You will
bear the paving o. the pile horse on the
threshold. The spirit will be brea ing away
from the body, and it will take flight
whittier, whittier, There is no Cos, no
min stering angels to cOniucs, no Chrisr, no
heaven. no home. Nothing in religion!
Do, you are not willing TO adopt
the world is full OF skeptic.. And let ME
say there is 70 class Of peope for
whom l have a warmer sympathy than for
skeptics. We do not know how to treat
them. We Cerde then, we carlcature
them. We, instead Of taking them by the
soft hand Of Christian love, clutch them
With the iron pincers o ecc.esiastcsn. %,
I 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 W in homes where religion
was overdone. The most wrctcael day in
the week was Sunday Religion was driven
into them with triphammer. They had a
s'irfeit OF prayer meetings They were
stuffed and choked with catechis ms. They
were told by their parents that they were
the worst children that evef lived because
they liked to ride down hill better than to
read "PiIgrim's Progress. They never
heard their parents talk OF religion tut With
the corners of their mouths drawn down
and the eyes role iup.
others went into skepticism through NAL
treatment on the part Of some who pro
lessed religion, There is a man who siNys,
my partner in business was v0luble in
prayer meeting, and he was oficious in all
religious circles, bus he cheated me out OF
5000, and l don't want any OF that re-
Iigion.'
There are others who got into slepticism
by natural persistence in asking questions
why or how. How can God be one being
in three persoDss They cannot understand
1t. Neither can |. How can God be a com.
plete sovereign and yet M IN free agentt
They cannot understand it. Neither can l..
They cannot understand why a holy Go
cts sin come into the world. Neither can J..
They say; Here is great mystery. Here
is disciple OF fashion, frivolous and gol-
less all her days-she lives on to be an octo'
genariaD. Here is a Christian mother train
self-sacrificing, Christike, indispensable
seemingly TO that household-she takes the
cancer and dies" The skeptic says, 81 can't
explain that" Neither can |.
Oh, can SEE how men reason themS eives
into skepticism. With burning feet have
trod that blistering way. know wdat 1t is
to have a hundred nights pourei into one
hour. There are men in this audience who
would give their thousands of dollars II they
could get back to the old religion Of their
fathers. Such men are not to be carica-
tured, 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 than those who never ex'
amined the evidences Of Christianity.
Thomas Chalmers once a skeptic; Robert
Hall once a skeptic; Christmas Evans once
a skeptic, but when they did lay hold OF the
gospel cnariot how they made 1t speed
ahead!
IL therefore stand this morning before
mon and women who have drlfted away
| into skepticism l throw out no scott.
rather implead you by the memory OF thos'
| good oil TINES when you knelt at You
mothe's knee and said your evening PRAYER
and those other days OF sickness when shi
watched all night an1 gave you the medi
cines at just the right time and turnel the
pillow when it was hot. and vita hand Iona
ago turned to dust soothed your pains anC
with that voice you will never hear agar
unless you join her in the better countrI
told you never mind-you would bs BETTE
by aud by, and by that dying conc b, wher,
she talked so slowly, catching her breatl
between ths words-by all those memories
ask you to come and take the same relig