Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1894-11-16
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SER lON.
subject: "Home Again"

IN an ago ~ the World u ulS Nfeu Fu~-
tomarv to celebrate joyful events by fesiiv-
| ity-the signing Of trnati 2, the proclama-
ton Of peace. the Christmas. the marriage.
| However much on other days OF the year
| our table may Eay, siintet supply. on
4 THANKSGIVING there must he something
! lountcous. AMI all the comfortable homes
/ o. Christrnlom have ut some tune ce
hrated joyful events 10y hanqlet anu ieS-
| tvity. ,,
| stead greater than ANYTHING that has ever
| ham moi before. A flvOrte son, Whom inc
| worlI supposed would become vagahoni
| and outlaw forever. has got tired OF sight
| seeing and has returned TO MA iather
| house The world said he never would
| come hnck. Tho oil man ALWAYS sati his
| son would come. II" hal been looking for
| him ,lav after dav and year after year. He
| knew he would come back. Now, having
| returned to his fathers house the father
| prcclaims celebration. There is a calf In
| the paddock that has been kept up and fet
| to utmost capacity, so "a to he ready for
some occasion OF JOY that might come along.
All. there never will be n grander day on
the old homestead than this dav. 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 neirhhors are gathered
| in, and extra supply is sent out to the table
Of the servants. The father presdes at the
| table, and SAYS grace, and thanks Col that
: his long nj sent boy is home again. Oh how
| they missed him How glad they are to
havc him back T. One brother indeed stands
| pouting at the back door and saws This
| Is a great ado about nothing. This bad hoy
| should have hern chastcncd instead OF
! greeted. Veal il too good for him ~ But
| the father SAWS Nothing is too good.
| Nothing is good enou,h." There sits tho
| Young man. glad at the hearty reception,
| but a shadow OF sorrow fitting across hts
| brow at the remembrance of tho trouble ho
| hal seen. All ready now. Let the covers
! lit. Music. He was dead, aud he is alive
| again He was lost. and he is found BIZ
such old imagery does the Bible st forth
the mrrrymakinG when n soul comes homo
to God.
First OF all, there ia tho new converts Joy.
| II is no tame thing to become Christian
! The most tremendous moment IN mans
! life is when he 81 renders himself to God.
/ The graniest time on the ia.her's homestead
is when the boy comes back. Among the
great throng who, in the parlorS OF my
| church, profcssei Christ one night was n
| young man, who next morning rang my
| doorbcll and said "Sr, / cannot contain
myself with the jov feel. | came here this
morning to express Il. have found moro
Joy in five minutes in serving God than in
all the yrars OF my prodgality, and l came
TO say So.
You have socn perhaps man running for
his physical liberty and the officers OF tho
law after him, and you saw him escape, or
a'terWari you heard the iuag, hai pardonet
him and how great was tho glee OF that r"s
cucd man But il is Il very tame thing that
compared with the running for ones ever
lasting lfc-the terrors OF the law after him
and Christ coming in to pardon md bless
and rescue and save. You remember john
Bunyan. in his great story, tolls how the pill
grim put his fingers in his ears and ran, ely
ing, "L'fc. life, eternal life" A poor err
driver, after having had to struggle TO sup
port his family for years, suddenly WAS in
formed that a large Inheritance Was his, an |
there was JOY amounting to hewllderment
but that il II small thing compared with tho
experience OF one when he has put in his
hands the title deed to the joys, the raptur's,
the splendors OF heaven, and ho can truly
say, ats mansions are mine; its temples are
mine It's songs are nine its God is mine y"
Oh, II is no tame tllng to become n Chris
tinn. 1t is a mcrrymaking. 1t Is the killing
OF the fatted calf. 1t is jubilee. You know
the Bible never compares 1t to Il funeral but
always compares il to something bright 1t
ia more apt to be compared 10 banquet
than anything else. II is compared in the
Bible to the water-Aright, flashing water
to the morning. rosente, fire worked, noun
tain transferred morning. l wish | could
to-day take all the Binle 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
Swear il, wear 1t now. wear II forever, son
OF Got, daughter Of the Lord God Almighty.
Oh, the jOv of the new convert Oh, the
gladness OF the Christian service
You have seen sometimes a man in re-
ligious assembly get up and give his expe-
rience. Well Paul gave his expert 'nCe.
He rose in the presence OF two churches
the church ON earth and tho church In
heaven-Lnd he said, "Now. this is my cX-
perence, sorrowlul, 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 mex
moment. When Daniel Sandeman was dy
ing of cholera. his attendant said, "Hay,
you mu,h pain?" "Oh." he replied. "sinc,
/ found the Lord have never had any pair
except sin" Then they said to him
"Would you ike to send message to YOU
friends?' "ies, would. Tell them that
only last night the love OF Jesus came rush
ing into my soul like the surges OF the sea-
anu Huu W tl bul sup, lJbIl IL ~
enough! Stop, Lord-anough =" Oh
the Joys OF this Christian religion
Just pass over from those tame joys ia
which YOU are in iulging-joys OF this
word-into the captures OF tho gospel. The
world cannot satisfy you you have found
out-AeXander longing for other worlds to
conquer and yet drowned in his own bottle,
Byron whipped by disquietudes around the
world, Votaire cursing his own soul while
oil thn Of D,n a III.
Henry III. consuming with hatred against
poor Thomas n Beckett, all Illustrations o.
the fact that this world cannot make 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 p One moment the world
applauds, and the next moment the world
mathematics.
Oh, come over into this greater Joy, this
sublime solace, this magnificent heatitudc.
The night after the battIeof Shiloh there
were thousands Of wounded on the field and
the ambuances had not come. One Chris,
ttan soldier, lying there a-dying under the
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 tho field
among the wounded until 1t was said that
there were Mt least 10000 wounded men
uniting their voices as they came to the
verse:
There everlasting spring abides
And never whitening flowers
Death, like narrow stream, divides
That heavenly land from ours.
Oh it is u great religion to live by, and 1t
: is great religion to die by. There is only
one heart throb between you and that relic
, ion this moment. Just look into the face
your pardonlng God, and surrender yourse
Tor time and for eternity, and He is yourp
and heaven Is yours, ana all Is yours. Som
. ofyou, like the young man OF the text, have
gone astray. l know not the history. but
Won knn1u it-vou tnom 4,