The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1896-01-24
A SINFUL RETICENCE.
new. DR.. TALMAGE breaches A PRAc-
T,cAL AND SUGGESTIVE SERMON.

xet the Redeemed of tho Lord Say So.
Public Profession of Christ - An Flo
ouent Confession Conversion of Rev. DIR.
Talmage.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 10. -- Rev. DIR.
Talmage never produced a more prac-
sical and suggestive sermon than this OF
today. We believe it will stir Christen-
dom. His subject was "Say So, and
Che text selected was Psalms evil, 3,
"Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. "
An overture, an antiphon, doxology
ia this chapter, and in my text David
calls for an outspoken religion and re-
quests all who have been rescued and
blessed no longer to hide the splendid
facts, but to recite them, publish them
and as far as possible let all the world
know about it. LET the redeemed OF
the Lord say So" There is sinful reti-
eence which has been almost canonlzed.
The people are quite as outspoken as
they ought to be on all subjects of poll
tics and are fluent and voluble ON the
Venezuelan question and blmetalllsm
and tariffs high and low and remodeled
and female suffrage, and you have to
skillfully watch your chance 1t you
want to put into the active conversation
modest suggestion of your own, but
on the subject of divine goodness, rell-
sious experience and eternal blessedness
they are not only silent, but boastful OF
their reticence Now if you have been
redeemed of the Lord. why do you not
say so? If you have in your heart the
pearl of great price, worth more than
the Kohinoor among Victorian jewels,
why not let other see it? If you got of
the wreck in the breakers, why not tell
of the crew and the stout lifeboat that
safely landed you? If from the fourth
story you are rescued in time of cont1a-
grafton, why not tell of the fireman and
the ladder down which he carried you?
If YOU have mansion in heaven await
ing you, why not show the deed to those
who may by the same process get an
emerald castle on the same boulev ard?
By the last two words of my text David
calls upon all of us who have received
any mercy at the hand of God to stop
impersonating the asylums for the dumb
and in the presence of men, women,
angels, devils and all worlds SAY so. !"
Experience.
In these January days, thousands of
ministers and private Christians are
wondering about the best ways of start
ing a revival of religion. can tell you
q way of starting revival, continental,
+ hemisphere and worldwide. You say a
revival starts in heaven. Well, it starts
in heaven just as prosperous harvest
starts in heaven. The sun must shine
and the rains must descend, but unless
you pillow and SOW and cultivate the earth
you will not raise bushel of wheat or
peck of corn between now and the end
of the world. How, then, shall uni
versal revival start? By all Christian
people telling the story of their own con-
version. Let ten men and women get up
next week in your prayer meeting and,
not in a conventional or canting or dole
full way, but in the same tone they en-
ploy in the family or place of business,
tell how they crossed the line, and
the revival will begin then and there, If
the prayer meeting has not been so dull
as to drive out all except those concern
ing whom it was foreordained from all
eternity that they should be there. There
are so many different ways of being con-
verified that we want to hear all kinds,
so that our own case may be helped. 1t
ALWAYS puts me back to hear only one
kind of experience, such as a man gives
when he tells of his Pauline conversion
how he was knocked senseless, and
then had vision and heard voices, and
after a certain number of days Of horror
got up and shouted for joy. All that dis
courages me, for l was never knocked
senseless, and I never had such sudden
burst of religious rapture that lost my
equilibrium. But after awhile Chris
tian man got up in some meeting and
told us how he was brought up by de-
vout parentage, and had always been
thoughtful about religious things, and
gradually the peace of the gospel came
into his soul like the dawn of the morn
ing-no perceptible difference between
moment and moment-but after awhile
all perturbation settled down into a
hope that had consoled and strengthened
him during all the vicissitudes of a life
time. / said, "That is exhilarating
that was my experience. And SO was
strengthened.
In another prayer meeting man got
mp and told us how he once hated God
and went through all the round of in
iquity until we were all ON nettles lest
he should go too much into the particu-
lars, but one day he was by some reli-
gious power hurled fat and then got up
Christian and had ever since been 60
ing around with a Baxter Bible with
large flaps under his arm, floating
evangelist Well, under this story many
are not helped at all, for they know
they never hated God, and they were
never dissolute. But after awhile some
Christian woman arises and says, 81
have nothing extraordinary to tell, yet
! think the cares of life, the anxieties
about my children and two graves
opened in our family plot made me fee
the need of God, and weak and helpless
and heartbroken l flung myself upor
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