Connecticut western news., 1896-01-23
A SINFUL RETICENCE.
REV. oR. rALMAGe BREACHES A PaAC- TlCAL AND SUGGESTIVE SeRMoN.

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So. quent Confession--Co of Rev. Dr. Talmage.
 WASHINGTON, Jan. i9. - Rev. Dr. Talmage never produced Il more prac- ftcal and suggestive sermon than this of today. We believe it will stir Christen- dom. His subject was Say So, and the text selected was Psalms evil, 3, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. '"
 An overture, an antiphop. doxology is this chapter, and in my text David rails for an outspoken religion and re- quests all who have been rescued and hlessed no longer to hide the splendid facts. but to recite them, publish them and as far us possible let all the world know about it. Let the redeemed of tine Lord say SD. :" There is n sinful reti- cence which has been almost canonized. The people arc quite as outspoken as they ought to be on all subjects of poli tics and are fluent and voluble on the Venezuelan question and bimetallism and tariffs high and low and remodeled and female suffrage. and you have to skiilfully watch your chance if you want to put into the active conversation a modest suggestion of your own, but on the subject of divine goodness, reli- eious 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 off the wreck ip 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 confia- grafton, why not tell of the fireman and the ladder down which he carried yon9 If you have a mansion in heaven await ing you, why not show the deed to those emerald castle on the same boulevard? :? 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 n revival of religion. I can tell you a way of starting a revival, continental. hem ispheric and worldwide. You say @ revival starts in heaven. We'll, it starts in heaven just as 8 prosperous harvest starts in heaven. The sun must shine and the rains Jfihst descend, but unless you blow and SOW and cultivate the earth you will not raise bushel of wheat or a 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 ful way, but in the same tone they em- 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 verted thnt we want to hear all kinds, so that onr own case may be helped. It always pnts me buck to hear only one kind of experience, such as man gives when he tells of his Pauline conversion --how he was knocked senseless. and then had a vision and heard voices. and after certain number of days of horror got up and shouted for joy. Allthat dis courages me, for 1 was never knocked senseless, and I never had such q sudden burst of religious rapture that lost my equilibrium. But after awhile Chris tian man got up in some meeting and told ua 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 mQrnant and moment--but after awhile all perturbation settled down into a hcpe 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 np and told us how he once hated God and went through all tbe round of in iquity until we were all on nettles lest he should go too much into the particn' lars. but one day he was by some reli gious power hurled fiat and then got uI n Christian and had ever since been go ing around with a Baxter Bible with large flaps under his arm, a floating evangelist We'll, 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, ". have nothing extraordinary to tell, ye think the cares of life. the anxietie about my children and two grave opened in our family plot made me fee rhe need of God, and weak and helpless and heartbroken flung myself upol his mercy, and 1 feel what the Bibl calls the peace of God which passeth al understanding, and ask your pray or that may live nearer to the Christ wh' has done so much for me. " l declar that before that woman got through w were all crying, not bitter tears, bu tears of joyful emotion, and in thre days in that neighborhood all the ic had gone out of the river in spring time freshet of salvation. Let the re deemed of the Lord say so, {"
 have but little interest in what peo ple say about religion as an abstraction but have illimitable interest in wha Dsopie say about what they have person ally feis of religion. It was an oxpres riup of his own gratitude for persona K.svation which led Charles Wesley, aft
 er season of great despondency abo'
 his soul and Christ had spoken pardon
 to write that immortal hymn:
 Oh. for a thousand tongues to sing
 My great Redeemcr's praise'
 Open Confession.