Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1893-04-28
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'5 Sun.
DAY SERMON.
SubIecT: "ApoIogias for Not Enter
ing the Christian Life"

Oeqdn TO make eorcuSe. Luke XIV, Il.
After the Invitation ~ a leves ara sent ont
the regrets coma in. GA. man Apologies
for nonattendance or one ground. another
On another ground. The most OF tie regrets
are fOun1ed on prior en- "a yements. 50 in
my text great banquet was spread. the iu-
VltatIOns were circulated. AM now the re-
grets come in. The one gives an agt icultu-
ral reason, the other a stoca dealers reason,
The other a domestic reaSOn-au poor rea-
sons. The agricultural reason being that
the man had bought a farm ami wanted Il
see it. Could he not see it the next day?
The stock dealers reason being that he hal
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 We're.
Besides that man VINO 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 ICcomotion was not
as rapid then nov. The man who
gave the domestic reason said he
had got married. He ought to have
taken his wife with him. Tie fact was they
did not want to 90. And they all with one
consent began to make excuse So now
God spreads great banquet; it is the gospel
feast, and the table reaches across the hem
ispheres, and the invitations go out an mu
ntudes come and sit down and drink cut OF
the chalIces of Gods love, while other mu-
titudes decline conling-5he one giving this
apology and the OF 2er giving that apology.
And they all with one consent began 20
make excuse" | propose this morning, 50
far as God may help me, to examine the
apologies which men make fOc not entering
the Christian life.
Apology the first; | am not sure there IS
anything valuable in the Christian r.
HgIon. 1t is pleaded that there are many
ImposltIons III this day so many things
that seem to be real are sham. gilded
outside may have a hollow inside. There IS
so much quackary in physics, i'll ethics, III
pOIhcs, that men come to the habit o. in
creduiIty, and after awhile they allow that
Increduhty to collide with our holy re
Ggion.
BUT, my friends, | think religion has ma ta
pretty good record in the world. How
many wounds it has salve1: how many pill
lars o. fire 1t has lifted in the midnight
wilderness: how many simeon struck Sa-
haras 1t hath turned into the gardens Of the
Lord: how it hath stille1 the chopped sea!
What rosy light 1T hath senJ streaming
through the rift of the storm clout wrack;
what pools of cool water it hath gathere1
Tor thirsty Hagar and Ishmael; what mama
winter than cOrjander seed it nath dropped
all around the camp of hardly beStead phi
grims; what promises it hath sent out like
hoIy watchers to keep the lamps burning
around death beds! Through the darkness
that lowers into the sepuchre, what flashes
or resurrection morn.
Besides that, this religion has made So
many heroes. 1t brought Summerfelj, the
Methodist. across the Atlantic Ocean with
his silver trumpet to blow the acceptable
year OF the Lord, until it seem9l as I all
our American cities would take the king
dom OF heaven by violence. 1t sent Je
hudl AShmau into Africa alone, III a CONT
nent OF naSel barOaranS. to HTt the stan
dard of civilization and Christianity. it
made John Milton among poets Raphael
among painters, Christopher Wren among
architects, Thorwaldseu among scnipJors
handel among musicians, Dupont among
military commanders; and to give new
wings to the IMAGINATION, and better bal
ance to the judgment, and more detSrmlna-
ton to the will, AMI greater usefulness
to the life, and grauder nobility to the SOUL
there Is nothing in all the earth like our
Christian religion.
Nothing in religion! Why, them, all
those Christians were deceived when i'll 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 teel tho throb
or his young heart? There is nothing i'll re-
hglon! Sickness will come upon you. Roll
and turn on your pillow. No relief. The
medicine may be bitter. the night may b9
dark, the pain may be sharp. No relief.
Christ never c0mes to the SICK room. LeJ
the pain stab. Let the fever burn. Curse
1t ami de. There is nothing lii religion!
After awhile death will come. You will
hear the paving or the pale horse on the
threshold. The spirit will be breaElng away
from the BODY and it will take fight
whittier, whittier? There is no Cos, no
mln.sterlng angels to cOnduc5, no Chris , no
heaven no home. Nothing in religion
On, you are not willing to adopt
sucn dis raj theory. And yet
tee world Is full OF SkeptlcS. And let ME
say there is no class OF people for
whom L have a warmer sympathy than fOc
skepticS. We do not know now to treat
them. We deride them. we carlcature
them We, instead of taking them by the
soft hand OF Christian love, clutch them
with the iron piucers OF ecc!esiaStlclsm. Oh,
II you knew how those men had fallen away
from Christianity and become skeptlcs you
would not be SO rough on them. Some
We're brought uD in homes where religion
was OverdOne. The most Wretched day III
the week was Sunday. Religion was driven
into them with a triphamnlar. They had a
sUrielt OF prayer meetings They were
stuffed and chosed with catechisms. They
were told by their parents that they were
the worst children that ever lived because
they liked TO ride down mill better than to
read "Plgrim'S Progress They never
heard their parents talk or religion cut with
the corners OF their mouths drawn down
and the eyes role up.
Others went into skepticiSn thrOu Oh NAL
treatment on the part of some who prC.
feSSed religion. There is man who says
My partner in business was vOiuO!e IN
prayer meeting, ana he was OfticlOuS IN all
religious circles, but he cheated me out or
5000, AMI | don't want any of that re
hglOn."
There are others who got into sSept!cism
by natural persistence in asking questions
why OF how. How can God be one being
In three persons? They caunot understand
It Neither can |. How can God be com
plete sovereign and yet man a free agent?
they cannot understand 1t. Neither can l..
They cannot understand why a holy Col
lets sin come into the world. Neither eau L.