The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1895-01-04
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
rHH BRooKGxN DTvINEs sun
DAY SERMON.
subject "The objections to Relie.
ious Revivals.ss

the night before what fishermen call npoor
luck" Christ steps on board the fishing
smack and tells the sailors to pull away from
the beach and directs them again to sink the
net Sure enough, very soon the net Is full
| OF fishes and the sailors begin to haul In
So large school Of fish was taken that the
hardy men begin 10 look red in the face as
they pull, and hardly have they begun TO re-
| joice OF 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 tho net.
Without mneh care as to how much the
boat Tits or how much water Is splashed on
| deck, the fishermen rush about gathering
up the broken meshes of the net. Out
| yonder there Is a ship dancing on the
| wave, and they hail 1t, "ShiD ahoy, bear
down this way r. Tho ship comes, and
both boats, both fishing smacks, are Allied
| with the Laundering treasures.
"Ah, says some one, show much better
1t would have been If they had stald on
shore, and nshed with a hook and line. and
taken one at a time, instead of having this
! great excitement, and the boat almost upset,
and the net broken. and having TO call for
/ help, and getting soppng wet with the
sea !" The church is the boat, the gospel Is
the net, society Is the sea. and a great re-
vlval ls whole school brought in at one
sweep OF the net. I have admiration for
that man who goes out with a hook and line
to fish. / 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 ono and there
one, but I like also a big boat. and
q large crew, and a net mile long, and swift
oars, and stout sails, and stiff breeze, and
a great multitude of souls brought-so great
a multitude that you have to get help to
I Il arhn a4N init *fa 70 ha M
most until It breaks here and there, letting
few escape, but bringing the great multitude
into eternal safety.
In other words. believe in revigals. The
great work ofsavlng men began with 5000
people Joining the church in one day. and 1t
will close with 40, 900 900 OF 100, 00O0 600 peo-
pie saved in "a hours, when nations shall be
] born in a day. But there are objections TO
revlyals. People are opposed to them be-
cause the net might get broken. and If BY
the pressure of souls 1t doest not get broken,
then they take their own penkniyes and slit
the net "They inelosed a great multitude
Of fishes, and the net brake"
1t Is sometimes opposed to revivals 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 dead calm.
BUT what are the facts in the case? In all
our churches the vast majority OF the useful
people are those who are brought In under
great awakenlngs, and they hold out. Who
are the prominent men in the United States
in churches, in prayer meetings, in Sabbath
schools? For the most part they are thepro-
duct of great awakenings.
have noticed that those who are brought
into the kingdom OF God through revivals
have more persistence and more determine
tion in the Christian life than those who
come In under low state Of religion. Peo-
pie born In i'm icehouse may live, but they
will never get over the cold they caught in
the icehousel A cannon ball depends upon
the impulse with which it starts for how far
1t shall 60 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 1t 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 a man
can go out of state of condemnation into
state OF acceptance with God, orse others
CO. without any agitation of SOUL no Is in an
unhealthy, morbid state, and is as repulsive
and absurd as man who should boast ne
saw child snatched out from under O
horses hoofs and felt no agitation, or saw
man rescued from the fourth story OF a
house on fire and felt no acceleration of the
pulses
Salvation from sin and death and hell into
life and peace and heaven forever Is such
tremendous thing that If a man tells me he
can look on 1t without any agitation l doubt
his Christianity. The fact is that sometimes
excitement Is the most important possible
thing. In case OF res uscitation 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 life.
Excitement is bad or good according to what
It makes US do. IL II makes us dothat which
is bad, It Is bad excitement, but IL 1t make us
agitated about our eternal welfare If it
make US pray, II it make us attend upon
Christian service. If 1t make us cry unto God
for mercy, then 1t is good excitement.
1t is sometimes said that during REVEALS
OF religion great multitudes OF children and
young people are brought into the church.
and they do not know what they are about.
It has been my observation that tho earlier
people come into the kingdom Of God the
more useful they are
nopeU nan, the prince OF BaprIsr preacn-
ers, was converted at twelve years OF age It
Is supposed he knew what he was about.
MhttuoW n5nTyi the commentator, VINO ola
more than any man of his century fer 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 mightiest 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 child at seven years OF age,
''You are too young to be Christian" or
"You are too Young to connect yourself with
tha church" That Is a mistake as long as
eternity.
If during a revival two persons present
themselves as candidates for the church, and
the one Is ten years OF age, and the other Is
forty years Of age / win have more conf
dence In the profession OF religion Of the one