Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-12-14
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 'sThe objections to Relig
ious ReViVals.''

| TEXT: "They inclOsed a great multitude
| OF fishes and their net brake. Luke v, g.
Simon and his comrades had experienced
! the night before what fishermen call "poOr
| luck Christ steps on board the fishing
! smack and tells tue sailors Opull away from
| the beach and directs them again to sink the
! net. Sure enough. very soon the net IS full
| of fishes. AMI the sailors begin to haul in.
! SO large a school Of fish was taken that the
| hardy men begin to look red in the face as
! they pull, and hardly have they begun TO re-
| iOice at their success when snap goes a
| thread Of the net, and snap goes another
| thread, so there is danger not only of losing
| the fish, but Of losing the net
! Without mnch care as TO how much the
| boat Tits or how much water is splasheI on
| deck, the fishermen rush about gathering
| up the broken meshe5 of the net. Out
| yOnder there is Il snip dancin.; on the
| wave, and they hail it, "Ship ahOy, bear
down this way Tne ship comes, and
! both tOats, both fishing smacks, are filled
with the fOundering treasures.
| "Ah, says some one, chow much better
| it would have .Jeen if they had staid on
! shore, and tished with a hook and line and
! taken one at time, instead of having this
| great excitement, and the boat almost upset,
| and the net broken. and having TO call for
help. and getting sopping wet with the
sea :" Tho church is tIe boat, the gospel is
! the net, society is the sea, and Il great re-
! vival is q whole school brought in at one
! sweep Of the net. [ have admiration for
| that man who goes out with a hook an linz
| TO fish. I admire the way he unwinds the
| reel and adjusts the bait and drops the
| hook in a quiet place on a still after
noon. and here catches one and there
| one, but [ like also big boat, and
a large crew, and net a mile long, and swift
oars, and stout sails. and stiff breeze, and
Z great multitu ie of souls brOught-SO great
a multitude that you have 10 get help TO
draw it ashOr2-strainin the net to the ut
most until it breaks here and there, letting
few escape but bringing the great multitude
into eternal safety.
In other words. | believe in revivals Tho
great work OF saving men began with 5000
people Joining the church in one day, and it
will close with 40, 600, 900 or 100, 100000 peo-
pie saved in "a hours, when nations shall he
born in a day. But there are objections to
revivais. People are opposed to them be-
cause the net might get broken, and If by
the pressure OF souls it dOest not get broken,
then they take their own penknives and slit
the net. "They tnclosed a great multitude
of fishes, and the net brake
1t is sometimes opposed to reYivals of re-
ligion that those who come into the church
at such times DO not hold out as long as
there is a gale of blessing they have their
sails up. but as soon as strong winds stop
blowing then they drop into a dead calm.
But what are the facts in the case? In all
our churches the vast ma jority Of the useful
people are those who are brought in under
great awaken!ngs, AMI they hold out. Who
are the prominent men i'll the United States
in churches, in prayer meetings, in Sabbath
schools? For the NEST part they are the pro-
duct of great aWakenings.
have noticed that those who are brought
into the kingdom OF God through revivalS
| have more persistence and more determina-
ton in the Christian life than those who
come in under 4 low state OF religion. PeO-
pie born in icehOuse may live, but they
will never get over the cold they caught in
the icehOuse! A cannon ball depends upon
the impulse with which it starts for how far
| it shall go and how swiftly, and the greater
the revival force with which a soul is started
the more farreaching and far resOunding will
be the execution.
But it is sometimes objected to revivals
that there is SO mnch excitement that people
mistake hYsteria for religion.
We must admit that in every revival of re-
ligion there is either a suppressed or a
demonstrated excitement. Indeed if q man
can go out of Il state of condemnation into
a state of acceptance with God, or see others
go, without any agitation of soul, he is in an
unhealthy, morbid state, and is as repulsive
and absurd as a man who should boast he
saw a child snatched out from under a
horses hOOfs and felt no agitation, or saw a
man rescued from the fourth story of a
house on fire and felt no acceieration of the
pulses.
Salvation from sin and death and hell into
life and peace and heaven forever Is such a
tremendous thing that If a man tells me he
can look on it without any agitation l doubt
his Christianity. The fact is that sometimes
excitement is the most important possible
thing. In case of resuscitation from drown
ing or freezing. the one idea is to excite ami
nation. Before conversion we are dead. 1t
is the business of the church to revive
arouse, awaken, resuscitate, startle into lite.
Excitement is bad or good according to what
it makes US do. If it makes Us do that which
is bad, it is bad excitement, but if it make US
agitated about our eternal welfare, If it
make US pray, il it make US attend upon
Christian service, II 1t make Us cry unto God
for mercy, then it is good excitement.
1t is sometimes said that during revivals
OF religion great multituIes of children and
young people are brought into the church,
and they do not know what they are about.
1t has been my observation that the earlier
people come into the kingdom Of God the
more useful they are.
Robert Hall, the prince of Baptist preach
ers, was converted at twelve years Of age. 1t
IS supposed he knew what he was about
Matthew Henry, the commentator, who did
more than any man of his century for in-
creasing the interest in the study of the
scriptures, was converted at eleven years OF
age; Isabella Graham, immortal in the
Christian church, was converted at ten
years OF age; DR.. Watts whose hymns will
be sung all down the ages, was converted at
nine years of age; Jonathan Edwards, per-
haps the might1est intellect that the Ameri-
can pulpit ever produced was converted at
seven years OF age, and that father and
mother take an awful responsibility when
they tell their enid at seven years Of age,
You are too young to be Christian" or
You are too young to connect yourself with
the church. That is a mistake as long as
eternity
If during a revival two persons present
themselves as candidates fer the church and
hn HYNn iG TON 2 i
forty years OF age, l will have more conf
dence in the profession of religion of the one
ten years OF age than the one forty years o.
age Why? The one who processes at forty
years Of age has forty years of impulse in
the wrong direction 10 correct, the child has
only ten years in the wrong direction to
correct. Four times ten are forty. Four
tlmes the religious prospect for the lad that
comes into the kingdom of God, and into
the church at ten years Of age than the man
at forty.
am very apt to look upon revivals as con.
necieI with certain men who foster them.
People who in this day do not like revivas,
nevertheless, have not words to express their
admiration Tor the revivaIists Of the past, fol
they were reyivalists-Jonatkan Edwards
John Wesley, George Whitefeld Griffin
Davies. Osborn, Knapp, Nettleton and many
others whose names come to my mind, The
strength of their intellect and the holiness o.
their lives make me think they would not
nave anything 10 do with that which was
ephemeral. Oh, it is easy to talk against re.
Vivals.
Do you know where Aaron Burr started
on the downward road? 1t was when he
was in college, and he became anxious
about his soul and was about to put himself
under the influence of a revival, and min
lister Of religion said: Don't go there,
Aaron don't so there; that's a place OF
wildfire and great excitement no religion
about that; don't go there" He tarried
away. His serious impressions departed.
He started on the downward road. And
who is responsible for his ruin? Was it the
minister who warned him against that re-
vivGl?
Now | come to the real, genuine cause of
objection to revivals. That is the coldness
Of the obiector. 1t is the secret and hidden
but unmistakable cause in every casa low
ctn ntn IL. L..