The Penn's Grove record., 1894-11-16
RBV. DIR. TALMAGR
THE BROOKLYN DrvNEs sun
DAY sKRMON.
SUBJECT : "Home Again"

DAY sKRMOG.
SUBJECT "Home Again"
Text "Bring hither the fa.sed caif AMI
Kill it."-Luke XIV, %.
In all ages Of the world 1t has been Gus.
tomary TO celebrate joyful events by festiv'
ity-the signing OF treaties, the proclama-
ton OF peace. the Christmas. the marriage.
However much on other days OF the year
u table may have stinted supply. or
Thanksgiving there must be something
bounteous. And all the comfortable homes
OF Christendom nave at some time cele.
hrated joyful events by banquet and fes.
tivity.
Something has happened in the old home
stead greater than anything that has ever
happened before. A favorlte son, whom the
world supposed would become a vagabond
and outlaw forever, has got tired Of rkht-
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 10 his fathers house. the father
proclaims celebration. There is a calf in
the paddock that has been kept up and fed
W NV SuPhOitf ~ 10 W 10 Atbby wi
some occasion Of Joy that might come along.
All, there never will be a grander day on
the old homestead than this day. Let the
butchersdo their work and the h~ousekeepers
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 God that
bis long absent boy Ia home again. oh. how
they missed him How glad they are to
bave 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
the father says: ''Nothing is too good.
Nothing Is good enough" There sits the
young man, glad at the hearty reception,
but a shadow OF sorrow fitting across his
brow at the remembrance Of the trouble he
had seen. All ready now. Let the covers
lift. Music. He was dead, and he is alive
againl He was lost, and he is found! By
such bold imagery does the Bible set forth
the merrymaking when q soul comes home
to God.
First of all, there is the new converts Joy.
1t is no tame thing to become a Christian.
The most tremendous moment in a mans
life is when he surrenders himself to God.
The grandest time OF the father's homestead
is when the boy comes back. Among the
great throng who, In the parlors OF my
church, protested Christ one night was a
young man, who next morning rang my
doorbell and said 'Sir, / cannot contain
myself with the Joy I feel. ! came here this
morning to express 1t. have found more
joy In five minutes In serving God than In
all the years of my p~rodlgality, and ] came
to say So"
You have seen perhaps a man running for
his physical liberty and the officers OF the
law after him, and you saw him escape, or
afterward you heard the Judge had p~ardone1
him and how great was the glee Of that req
cued mani But 1t is a very anne thing that
compared with the running for ones yer.
lasting life-the terrors OF the law after him
and Christ coming in to pardon and bless
and rescue and save. You remember John
Bunyap, In bis great story, tells how the pill
grim put his fingers in his ears and ran, cry
ing, "Life, life, eternal ifer' 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, n
there was joy amounting to bewilderment,
but that Is a small thing compared with the
experience of one when he has put In his
hands the title deed TO thejoys, the raptures,
the s~plendors of heaven, and he can truly
say, "Its mansions are mine ; Its temples are
mine its songs are mine Its God is mine r.
oh, 1t is no tame thing to become q Chris
tlan. 1t is a m~errymaking. It Is the killing
of the fatted calf. 1t is jubilee. You know
the Bible never compares 1t to a funeral, but
always compares ii to something bright. It
is more apt to be compared to a banquet
thar anything else. II is compared In the
Bible to the water bright, flashing water
to the morning, ~roseate, fire worked, moun1
tain TRANSPORTED morning. I wish / could
to-day take all the Bible expressions about
pardon and peace and life and comfort and
hope and heaven, and twist them into one
garland, and put 1t on the brow of the hum
blest child of God in all this land, and cry
of God, daughter Of the Lord God Almighty.
OBJ, the joy Of the new convert oh, the
kladness OF the Christian service"
You have seen sometimes a man 10 q re-
lgious assembly get up and give his expe-
Renee. Well, Paul gave his experience.
He rose In the presence Of two churches
the church IN earth and the church in
h-eaven-and he said, snow, this is my ex-
perience, sorrowtul, 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
pass over into the kingdom OF God the next
moment. When Daniel Sandman was dy-
ing Of cholera, his attendant said, .Havs
you mush pain?" "oh." he replied, "sincs
1 found the Lord l have never had any pain
@WouId you like to send a message to your
~friends?" eyes, I would. Tell them that
only last night the love of Jesus same rush.
ing into my soul like the surges OF the sea,
and I had to cry out; Stop. Lord; 1t is
enough Stop Lord-snough =" oh.
the Joys Of this Christian religion !
Just pass over from those tame joys IN
which you are indulglng-joys OF this
world-into the raptureso OF the gospel. The
world cannot satisfy you you have found
out-Alexander longing for other worlds to
conquer and yet drowned In his own bottle,
Byron whipped by disquietudes around the
world, voltaire cursing bis own soul while
all the streets Of Paris were a~pplauding him,
Henry II. consuming with hatred against
poor Thomas a Beckett, all Illustrations OF
the fact that this world cannot make q man
happy. The very man who poisoned the
pommel Of the saddle on which Queen
Elizabeth rode shouted in the street, "God
Save the Queen r One moment the world
spplauds, and the next moment the world
mathematics.
oh, come over into this greater Joy, this
sublime solace, this magnificent beatitude.
The night after the battleo OF Shiloh there
were thousands Of wounded on the field, and
the smbulances had not come. One Chris
tian soldier, lying there a-dying under tho
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 1t was said that
there were at least 10000 wounded men
uniting their voices as they came to the
verse
There everhs ing spring abides
And never whitening flowers.
Death, like q narrow stream, divides
That heavenly land from ours.
Oh, It Is q great religion to live BY, ani 1t
Is a 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
Tor time and for eternity, n He Is yours,
and heaven is yours, and all is yours. Some
Of you, like the young man OF the text, have
gone astray. / know not the history, but
you know it--ycu know 1t.
When a young man went forth into life,
the legend says, his guardian angel went
forth with him. and getting him into a field
The gnsrai.in SAGA sHept a circle clear
around where The young man stood. II was
.f-ofn ~ rtrsrs aud hnnor and h nuef