The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-08-07
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
Nights First Approach Comes in
the Trembling of the Soul
The Text Sounds the Gospel of Good Cheer
and Is Taken from the Passage In
Luke: "Abide with Us, for 1t
Is Toward Evening""

In recent sermon at Washington
DIR. Talmage's discourse was on sub
ject that lights up the sorrows of this
life. His text was Luke xxiv:29:
"Abide with as, for it is toward even
ing" He said:
Two villagers, having concluded
their errand in Jerusalem, have started
out at the city gate and are on their
way to Emmaus, the place of their resi-
dence. They 60 with q sad heart
Jesus, who had been their admiration
and their Joy, had been basely mas
sacred and entombed. AS with sad
face and broken heart they pass on
their way, q stranger accosts them.
They tell him their anxieties and
bitterness of soul He in turn
talks to them, nightly expound-
ing the Scriptures. He throws
over thea the fascination of iuteE
ligent conversation They forget the
tine, and notice not the objects they
pass, and before they are aware, have
come up IN front of their house They
pause before the entrance and attempt
to persuade the stranger to tarry with
them. They press upon him their hos
FATALITIES Night is coming on, and he
may meet a providing wild beast, or be
obliged to lie unsheltered from the
dew. He cannot go much further now
Why not stop there, and continue their
pleasant conversation? They take
him by the arm and they insist upon
his coming in, addressing him ia the
words: Abide with us. for it is to-
ward evening""
The candles are lighted, the table as
spread, pleasant socialiiies are enkin-
died. They rejoice in the presence OF
the stranger guest. He asks bless
ing upon the bread they eat, aud he
hands piece of 1T to each Suddenly
and with overwhelming power the
thought flashes upon the astonished
people-it is the Lord! And as they sit
in breathless wonder, looking upon
the resurreeted body of Jesus, He
vanished. The interview ended. He
was gone.
With many of us IT is bright, sun
shiny dav of prosperity There is not
a cloud in the sky, not leaf rustling
in the forest. No chill in the air. But
we cannot expect all this to last. He
is not an intelligent man who expects
perpetual daylight of joy. The sun
will after awhile near the horizon. The
shadows will lengthen. While speak
many of us stand in the very hour de-
scribed in the text, ''for it is toward
evening"" The request of the text is
appropriate for some before me. For
with them it is toward the evening of
old age. They have passed the me-
ridiau of life They are sometimes
startled to think how old they are.
They do not, however, like to have
others remark upon it. If others sug-
gest their approximation toward vener-
able appearance. they say: why,
I'm not 30 old, after all" They do,
indeed, notice that they cannot lift so
much at once. They cannot walk
quite so fast. They cannot read quite
so well without spectacles. They cam
not so easily recover from a cough or
any occasional ailment. They have
lost their taste for merr.ment. They
are surprised at the quick passage of
the year. They say that it only
seems a little while ago that they
were boys They are going a little
down hill. There is something in
their health, something in their vision,
something in their walk, something in
their changing associations, something
above, something lenea' h, something
within, to remind them that it is to-
war even.n..
The great want of all such is to have
Jesus abide with them. 1t is dismal
thing TO tie getting old without the re-
ju, nuting influence of religion. When
we step on the down grade of life and
see thai it dips to the verge of the cold
river, we want to behold some one near
who will he p us across it When
the sight loses its power to glance
and gath up. we need the faith
that can illuminate. When we feel
the failure of the ear, we need the clear
tones of that voice which IN olden
times broke up the 81 ence of the deaf
WITH cadences of mercy. When the
ax-men of death hew down whole for
ests of strength and beauty around US
AMI we are left in solitude, we need
tn. dove of divine mercy to sing in our
branches. When the shadows btgin o
fail and we feel that the day IS far
spent. we need most of all to suppl
cate the strong, beneficent Jesus in the
prayer of the villagers: abide with
US. for it is toward evening"
The request of the text is Sn apPro-
pirate exclamation for all those who
are approached in the gloomy hour of
temptation. There is nothing easier
than TO be good-natured when every
thing pleases, or to be humble when
there is nothing to oppose us, or for
giving when we have not been assailed,
or honest when we have no induce
ment to fraud. But you have felt the
grapple of some temptat on. Your
nature at some time quaked and
groaned under the Internal force. You
felt that the devil was after you. You
saw your Christian graces retreating.
You feared that you would fall
in the awful wrestle with s.n
and be thrown into the dust. The
gloom thickened. The first indications