Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-11-28
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIvINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
SUBJECT: "Home Again.

NIL ~. --u"c -sE, -.
In all ages of the world II has been Gus
fomary TO celebrate joyful events by festive
ity-the signing OF treaties, the proclama-
tfon OF peace. the Christmas. the marriage.
However much on other days Of the year
our table may have stinted supply, on
Thanksgiving there must he something
bounteous. And all the comfortable homes
Of Chrlstendom have at some time cele-
lrated joyful events by banquet and fes-
tivity.
Something has happened in the old home-
/ stead greater than anything that has ever
| world supposed would become a vagabond
| and outlaw forever. has got tired OF sight
| seeing and has returned to his fathers
house. The world said he never would
come back. The old man always said his
son would come. He had been looking for
him day after day and year after year. He
knew he would come back. Now, having
| returned to his fathers house, the father
| proclaims celebration. There Is a calf In
the paddock that has been kept up and fed
to utmost capacity, so as to be ready for
some occasion of Joy that might come along.
| All, there never will be n grander day on
the old homestead than this day. Let the
| butchers do their work and the housekeepers
bring into the table the smoking meat. The
musicians will take their places. and the gay
| groups will move up and down the floor.
All the friends and neighbors are gathered
in, and extra supply is sent out to the table
of the servants. The father presides at the
table, and says grace, and thanks Col that
his long absent boy is home again. Oh. how
they missed him! How glad they are to
have him back' One brother indeed stands
pouting at the back door and says: "This
| is a great ado about nothing. This bad boy
should have been chastened instead OF
greeted. Veal is too good for him." But
Nothing is good enough" There sits the
young man. glad at the hearty reception,
but shadow of sorrow fitting across his
brow ut the remembrance of the trouble he
had seen. All ready now. Let the covers
lift. Music. He was dead, and he is alive
again! He was lost, and he is found! By
such bold imagery does the Bible set forth
the merrymakinG when a soul comes home
to God.
First OF all, there is the new converts joy.
1t is no tame thing to become Christian.
| The most tremendous moment in n mans
life is when he surrenders himself to God.
The grandest time on the fathers homestead
is when the boy comes back. Among the
great throng who, in the parlors OF my
| church, professed Christ one night was
young man.. who next morning rang my
doorbell and said: "Sir, cannot cont ain
myself with the JOY feel. came here this
morning to express it. have found moro
Joy in five minutes in serving God than in
all the years OF my prodigaiity, and ! came
to say So"
l
his physical liberty aui the officers OF the
law after him, and you saw him escape, or
afterward you heard the Judge had par ione1
him and how great was the glee OF that res
cued man! But II Is a very tame thing that
compared with the running for ones ever.
| lasting life-the terrors of the law after him
and Christ coming in TO pardon and bless
| and rescue and save. You remember John
Bunyan, in his great story. tells how the pill
grim put his fingers in his ears and ran, ciy-
ing. "Life life. eternal lifer' A poor car
driver, after having had to struggle to sup
port his family for years. suddenly was in
| formed that a large inheritance was his, G,i
thcro wac Joy amounting to bcWIid-rnasat.
but that is small thing compared with the
| experience OF one when he has put in his
hands the title deed to the joys, the raptures,
the sp!en iors of heaven, and he can truly
say, "Its mansions are mine; its temples are
mine lis songs are nine its God is mine""
Oh, 1t is no tame thing to become a Chris
tian. 1t is a merrymakinr. II is the killing
of the fatted calf. 1t is jubilee. You know
the Bible never compares it to funeral, but
always compares it to something bright. 1t
Is more apt to be compared to a banquet
than anything else. If is compared in the
Bible to the water bright, flashing water
to the morning. roseate, fire worked, noun
tain Transferred morning. l wish could
to-day take all the Bible expressions about
| pardon and peace and life and comfort ami
hope and heaven, and twist them into one
| garland. ana put II on fhe brow OF the mum.
blest child of God in all this land, and cry {:
| Swear it. wear it now. wear it forever, son
| Of God, daughter of the Lord God Almighty.
Oh, the Joy of the new convert Oh, the
gladness of the Christian ssrvicen'
You have seen sometimes man 10 a re-
| ligious assembly get up and give his expe-
| rience. Well, Paul gave his experience.
| He rose in the presence of two churches
the church on earth and the church in
heaven-and he said, "Now, this is my ex-
perience, soErowlul, yet always rejoicing /;
poor, yet making many rich having moth
| Ing, yet possessing all things II all the
people who read this sermon knew the joys
OF the Christian religion, they would all
PISS over into the kingdom of God the next
| moment. When Daniel Sandeman was dy-
1 ing of cholera. his attendant said, 'Have
you much pain?" son" he replied, "since
1 found the Lord I have never had any pain
except SIM" Then they said to him.
"Would you like TO send a message to your
friends?" Eyes. 1 would. Tell them that
only last night the love OF Jesus came rush.
| ing into my soul like the surges of the sea,
and had to cry out: Stop. Lord; it is
enoughl Stop Lord-enough On,
the joys of this Christian religion !!
Just pass over from those tame joys in
which you are induiging-joys of this
world-into the raptures Of the gospel. The
| world cannot satisfy you; you have founi
out-Alexander longing for other worlds to
conquer and yet drowned in his own bottle,
byron Wnlppeu Dy ulsVuitluutS tuo
| world, Votaire cursing his own soul while
| all the streets OF Paris were applauding him,
Henry II. consuming with hatred against
poor Thomas Beckett, all illustrations of
the fact that this world cannot make n man
| happy. The very man who poisoned the
pommel of the saddle on which Queen
| Elizabeth rode shouted in the street, "Go1
Save the Queenp' One moment the world
applauds, and the next moment the world
| anat hematiZes.
sublime solace, this magnificent beatitude.
The night after the battle of Shiloh there
were thousands Of wounded on the field, and
the ambu!ances had not come. One Chris
tian soldier. lying there a-dying under tbs
starlight, began TO sing:
There is land of pure delight.
And when we came to the next line there
were scores OF voices united:
Where saints immortal reign.
The song was caught up all over the field
among the wounded until it was said that
there were at least 10000 wounded men
uniting their voices as they cam. to the
verse
| There ever,s ing spring abiies
And never withering flowers.
Death, like narrow stream, divides
That heavenly land from ours.
Oh, it is a great religion to live by, and it
| fs great religion to die by. There is only
one heart throb between you and that relig-
ion this moment. Just look into the face OF
your pardoning God, and surrender yourself
ior time and for eternity, and He is yours,
and heaven is yours, and all is yours. Some
OF you. like the young man of the text, have
gone astray. l know not the history, but
| you know it-y0u know it.
When young man went forth into life,
the legend says, his guardian angel went
Iorth with him. and getting him into a field
the guardian angel Hwept a circle clear
around where the young man stood. It was
circle of virtue and honor, and he must
not step beyond that circle. Armed foes
came down, but were obliged to halt at the
| circle. They could not pass. But one day
temptress, with dianoned hand, stretched
forth and crossed that circle with the hand,
| and the tempted soul took it, and by that
one fell grip was brought beyord the circle
| and died