The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-09-28
THE TAX COLLECTOR.
DR.. Talinage Discourses on the Con.
version of Zaccheus.
The Sycamore of Philosophical Speculation
Restoration of Dishonesty Acquired
Property-Christ in the Home
Importance of Prayer.

through the press, last week by Rev.
L. Dewitt Talmage was The Tax
Collectors Conversion the text being
taken from Luke xix, Q: This day is
salvation come to this house."
Zaccheus was a politician and tax
gatherer. He had an honest calling,
but the opportunity for ''stealings''
was so large the temptation was too
much for him. The Bible says he twas
sinner"-that is, in the public sense.
How many fine men have been ruined
by official position! 1t is an awful
thing for any man to seek Office under
government unless his principles of
| integrity are deeply fixed. Many a
man, upright in an insignificant posi-
ton. has made shipwreck in great
one. AS far as / can tell, in Jericho
this Zaccheus belonged to what might
be called the ring" They had things
their own way, successfully avoiding
eXposure-if by no other way, perhaps
by hiring somebody to break in and
steal the vouchers. ing
his bad reputation. there were streaks
of good about him, as there is about
almost every man. Gold is found in
quartz, and sometimes in very small
percentage.
Jesus was coming to town. The peO-
pie turned out en- masse to see Him.
Here He comes-the Lord of Glory-on
foot, dust-covered and road-weary,
limping along the way, carrying the
griefs and woes of the world. He looks
to be 60 years of age when he is only
80 Zaccheus was a short man, and
could not see over the peoples head
while standing on the ground; SO he
got up into sycamore tree that swung
its arm clear over the road. Jesus ad-
vanced amid the wild excitement of
the surging crowd. The most honor
able and popular men of the city are
looking on, and trying to gain his at
tention. Jesus, instead of regarding
them, looks up at the little man in the
tree, and says: "Zaccheus, come down.
| am going home with you" Every
body was disgusted to think that Christ
would go home with SO dishonorable
man.
l see Christ entering the front door
of the house of Zaccheus The King
of Heaven and earth sits down; and as
He looks around on the place and the
family, He pronounces the benediction
OF the text: This day is salvation
come to this house."
Zaccheus had mounted the sycamore
tree out of mere inquisitiveness He
wanted to see how this stranger looked
the color of His eyes. the length of His
hair. the contour of His features. the
height of His stature. ''Come down.
said Christ.
And SO many people, in this day, get
up into the tree of curiosity or specu-
lation to see Christ. They ask thou
sand questions about His divinity.
about Gods sovereignty. and the eter-
nal decrees. They speculate, and criti-
else, and hang on to the outside limb
of a great sycamore. But they
must come down from that if they
want to be saved. We cannot
be saved as philosophers, but
as little children. You cannot
go to Heaven by way of Athens. but
by way of Bethlehem. Why be per-
picked about the way sin came into
the world. when the great question is
how shall we get sin driven out of our
hearts? How many spend their time
in criticism and religious speculation
They take the Rose of Sharon. or the |
Lily of the Valley, pull out the anther.
scatter the corolla, and say: ''Is that |
the beautiful flower of religion that you
are talking about? No flower is beau |
tiful after YOU have torn it all to pieces |
The path to Heaven is so plain that a
fool need not make any mistake about |
it, and yet men stop and cavil. Sup
pose that, going toward the Pacific
slope, had resolved that | would stop
until could kill all the grizzly bears
and the panthers on either side of the
way. L would never have got to the
Pacific coast. When l went out to
lunt the grizzly bear, the grizzly bear
would have come out to hunt me. Here
S plain road to Heaven. Men say
hey will not take step on it until
hey can make game of all the theories
hat bark and growl at them from the
.hickets. They forget the fact that as
hey go out to hunt the theory, the
IL.
hey perish. We must receive the
lingdom of Heaven in simplicity. Will
lam Pennington was one of the wisesu
nen of this country-a governor of his
,wn state, and afterward speaker of
he house of representatives. Yet,
when God called him to be Christian,
lie went in and sat down among
ome children who were applying for
hurch membership, and he said to his
,astor: Talk to me just as you do to
hese children for know nothing about
t." There is no need of bothering our
ewes about mysteries when there are
o many things that are plain. DR..
ludlow, my professor in the theolog-
cal seminary. taught me lesson l
ave never forgotten. While putting
variety of questions to him that were
he turned upon me some
What in sternness. but more in love,
nd said: MIR. Talmage, you will have ,
o let God know some things that you /
ont"
We tear our hands on the spines of .
he cactus instead of fastening our eye
n its tropical bloom. A great COM (
any of people now sit swinging them I
elves on the sycamore tree of their {
ride, and l cry to you: ''Zaccheus, {
ONE down! Come down out of your [
ride, out OF your inquisitiveness, out 4
+ your speculation. You cannot ride I
lto the gate of Heaven with a coach {
nd four, position ahead and lackey {
ehind. Except We become as little
hildren, ye cannot enter the kingdom {
God God has chosen the weak ,
hings of the world to confound the :
lighty. Zaccheus, come down! come &
nwnr, 6