The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-05-03
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN.
DAY SERMON.
ESubJect: "Apologies for Not Enter
ing the Christian Life"

TEXT: "And they all ,Dith one consent
began to make ercuse."-Luke xiv, Is.
? After the invitations to levee are sent out
the regrets come in. One man apologies
flor nonattendancs 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, and now the re-
lgrets come in. The one gives an agricultu-
raj reason, the other stock dealers reason,
the other domestic reason-all 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 had
bought five yoke Of oxen, and he wanted to
go and prove them. BE had no business to
buy them until he knew what they were.
Besides that 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 tn
the banquet for locomotion was not
as rapid then as now. The man who
had got married. he ought to have
taken his wife with bim. The fact was they
Idid not want to 60. And they all with one
consent began to make excuse" So now
God spreads great banquet; it is the gospel
lfeaSt and the table reaches across the hem-
Eispheres, and the invitations 60 out and null
titudeS come and sit down and drink out OF
the chalices Of Gods love, while other null
titudes decline coming-the one giving this
apology and the other 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-
hgion. It 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 hollow inside. There is
80 much quackery in physics, in ethics, in
politics that men come to the habit OF In
credulity, and after awhile they allow that
incredulity to collide with our holy re-
ligion.
But, my friends I think religion has made
"a pretty good record In the world bow
many wounds it has salved: how many pill
lars OF fire it has lifted in the midnight
wilderness: how many simeon struck Sa-
haras it hath turned into the gardens OF the
Lord: how it hath stillei the chopped sea!
What rosy light it hath sent streaming
Through the rift Of the storm cloud wrack;
what pools Of cool water it hath gathered
tor thirsty Hagar and Ishmael; what mamma
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 the lamps burning
around death bedsl Through the darkness
that lowers into the sepulchre, what flashes
of resurrection morn.
many heroes. It brought Summer6eld, the
Methodist, across the Atlantic Ocean with
his silver trumpet to blow the acceptable
year Of the Lord, until it seemed as il all
our American cities would take the king
dom Of heaven by violence. 1t sent Je-
hudi Ashman into Africa alone, in a conti-
nent of naked barbarians to lltt the stan.
dard Of civilization and Christianity. 1t
made John Milton among poets, Raphael
architects, Thorwaldssn among sculptors,
Handel among musicians Dupont among
military commanders; and to give new
wings to the imagination, and better bal
ance to the Judgment and more detsrmina-
ton to the will, and greater usefulness
to the life, and grander nobility to the soul.
there is nothing in all the earth like our
christian religion.
Nothing in religionl 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
nor hear his sweet voice, nor feel the throb
OF his young heart? There is nothing in re.
igion! 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 the sick room. Let
the pain stab. Let the fever burn. Curse
1t and die. There is nothing in religion!
After awhile death will come. You will
he oxys,o~ ~ h0
threshold. The spirit will be breaking away
from the body, and it will take flight
whittier, whittier? There is no God, no
:ministering angelsto conduct no Chrisr, no
heaven. no home. Nothing in religion!
OBJ, you are not willing to adopt
such a dismal theory. And yet
the world is full Of skoptics. And let ME
say there is no class OF people for
whom have warmer sympathy than for
skeptics. We do not know how to treat
them. We deride them. we caricature
soft hand Of Christian love, clutch them
with the iron pincers Of ecclesiasticism. Oh,
IL 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 religion
WAS overdone. The most wretched day in
the week was Sunday. Religion was driven
into them witt triphammer. They had a
surfeit OF prayer meetings. They were
stuffed and choked with catechisns. 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 tut with
the corners OF their mouthI drawn down
and che eyes rollei up.
Others went into skepticism through NAL.
treatment on the part of some who pro-
1esSed religion. There is q man who says
my partner in business was voluble in
prayer meeting, and he was offcious in all
religious circles. but he cheated me out Of
ligion."
There are Others who got into skepticism
oy natural persistence in asking questions
why or how. How can God be one being
In three persons? They cannot understand
It, Neither can I. How can God be com.
plete sovereign and yet man a free agents
They cannot understand it. Neither can l.
They cannot understand why holy Col
lets sin come into the world. Neither can l.
They say: "Here is a great mystery. Here
IS disciple of fashion, frivolous and god
less all her days-shs lives on to he an octo-
genarian. Here is Christian mother train.
ing her children for God ami for heaven,
self-sacrificing, Christlike, indispensable
seemingly to that household-she takes the
cancer and dies" The skeptic says. IL can't
explain that" Neither can /.
Oh, can sea how men reason themsslve
into skepticism. With burning feet have
trod that blistering way. I know what it is
to have hundred nights poured 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 b5 carlca-
tured. but helped, and not through their
heads but throu "a their hearts. When
these men really do come into the kingdom
of (1od thev will bs worth far more to the