Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-04-17
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME ny the
WASHINGTON PREACHER.
Subject 1.-THE PrOdlgal's Return"

TExT. Il win arise aud so to my father"
Luke ~, Is
There Is nothing like hunger TO take the
energy out Il a man. hungry man can
toll neither with pen nor hand nor foot.
There has been many an army defeated not
% much for lack OF ammunition rs for lack
81 bread. IL was that fact that took the fire
out Of this young man Of the text. Storm
and exposure will wear out any mans life In
time, but hunger makes quick work. The
most awful cry ever heard on earth Il the
CRY for breai. A traveller tells us that in
Asia Minor there are trees which bear fruit
looking very much like the long bean Of our
time u Is called tho caroh. Once ia awhile
the people. reduced 20 restitution, would eat
these carohs, but generally the carobs-tha
beans spoken OF here in the tert-were
thrown only TO the swine, andthey crunched
them with great ayliity. But this young
man OF my text could not even get them
without stealing them. So one day. amid
the swine troughs, he begins 10 solilOqu ~.
He says: "These are no clothes for ricn
mans son to wear. This Is no kind OF busi-
ness Tor a jew to be engaged in, feeding
swine. I'll 90 home. I'll 20 home. Twill
arise and go to my father
know there are great many people who
try 10 throw fascination, romance,
halo, about sin: but, Notwithstanding all that
Lord Byron and George Sand have said in
regard to il, it Is a mean, low, contemplate
business, and putting food and fodder into
the trouchs OF a herd OF iniquities that root
and Wallow in the soul OF man is very poor
business for men and women intended TO be
sons and daughters OF the Lord Almighty,
and when this Young man resolved to 90
home II was very wise thing Tor MN 10 do,
and the only question is whether we will fol-
low him. Satan promises large wages II we
will serve him, but he clothes his victims
with rags, and he pinchcs them with hunger,
and when they start out to do better he sets
after them all the bloodhounds OF hell. Satan
comes to us to-day, and he promises all lux
uries and emoumentS II we will only serve
him. Liar, down withth to the pit! "The
wages of sin IS DEATH" Oh, the young man
of the text was wise when he utterrd the res
olutiOn, II will arise and 60 to my father.'
In the time OF Mary, the prosecutor perse-
CutOr came to a Christian woman who had
hidden in her house for the Lords sake one
of Christ's servants, and the prosecutor said,
"Where is that hereticy" The Christian wo-
man said. "You open that trunk, and you
will see the hereto" The prosecutor opened
the trunk. aud on the top of the linen Of the
trunk he saw u glass. He said. "Ihere is no
hereto here. "Ah!' she said. you look
IN the glass, and YOU will see the hereto.
As | take up the mirror OF Gods word to-
day would that instead OF seeing the prod
/ igal Of the text we might see ourseyes-our
want, our wandering, our sin, our lost con-
| ditiOu. so that We might be as wise rs this
| young man was and say, az will arise and
! 20 TO nv father The resolution OF this
! text was formed in disgust at his present
! circumstances. II this young man had been
| by his employer set to culturing flowers, or
! training vines over an arbOr, or keeping an
! account of the pork market. or overseeing
! other aborers, he would not have thought Of
| going home-if he had had his pockets full
| OF mouey:ifhe had been able to say: al have
| $1,000 now Of my own. What's the use Of
my going back TO my fathers house? Do
/ you think I'm going back to apologize 10 the
| old mani Why. he would pat me on the
| limits. lie would not have going on around
the old place such conduct as | have been
/ engaged in. | won't go home There Is no
| reason why should 60 home. have plenty
/ Of money. plenty OF pleasant surroundings.
/ Why should 20 hOme?" ALI, it was his
pauperism. il was his beggary! He had to
| 60 home. Some man comes and says 10 me,
"Why do you talk about the ruined state OF
the human souI2 Why don't you speak
about the progress Of the nineteenth
century and talk Of something moro
exhilarating?" II is for this rea-
son: A man never wants the gospel un-
til he realizes he is in a famine struck State.
Suppose | should come to you in your home,
and You are in good, sound, robust health,
aud | should begin to talk about medicines,
and Abnnt how rnunh hatt.Ar thia- madeleine j.
I than that, and some other medicine than
some other medicine, and talk about this
physician and that physician. After awhile
you would get tired, aud you would say
81 don't want to hear about medicines. Why
do you talk to me Of physicians? / never
have doctor But suppose | come into
your house, and find you severely sick ana
l know the medicines that will cure you. and
| know the physician who is skillful enough
to meet your case. You say: Bring on all
that medicine; bring on that physician. |
am terribly sick, and | want help" Ii
come to you, and you feel you are all right
in body, and all right in mind. and all right
in soul, you have need of nothing, but sup
pose have persuaded you that the leprosy
OF sin is upon you, the worst Of all sickness.
Oh, then you say, Bring me that balm OF
the gospel; bring me that divine medical
ment; bring me Jesus Christ"
"But." says some one in the audience,
show do you know that we are in u ruined
condition by SIM" Well / can prove it in
two ways, and you may have your choice. /
can prove it either by the statements Of men
orby the statement OF God. Which shall II
be? You say, LET us have the statement OF
God" Well, He says in one place, "rhe
heart is deceitful above all things and desper-
ately wicked" He says in another place,
"What IS man that he should be clean, and
he which is born OF woman that he should
BIO righteous" He says in another
place, "There is none that doeth good
no, not one" He says in another place,
GAS by one man sin entered into the word,
and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all had sinnedn "Well. "
You say, II am willing to acknowledge that,
but why should take the particular rescue
that YOU propose2" This is the reason: "Ex-
cept man be born again he cannot see the
kingdom of God. This is the reason:
"phere is one name given under heaven
among men whereby they may DO saved. "
Then there are thousand voices here ready
TO say: well. ! am ready to accept this
help OF the gospel. / would like to have
this divine cure How shall I go to work?'
Let me say that mere within, an underlined
longing, amounts to nothing. You must
have stout, a tremendous resolution like
this young man of the text when he said, Il
will arise and go to my father" "Oh," says
some man, chow do l know my father wants
me? How do know If 90 back would
be received" "Oh," says some man. "you
don't know where have been. You don't
know. how lar l have wandered. You
wouldn't talk that way to me if you knew
all the iniqutties have committed" What
/ - 'hut iluttbL hilplS thO dbSOIS VI Npuf
What is that horseman running with quick
dispatch2 1t is news! 1t is news! Christ
has found the lost
Nor angels can their Joy contain,
But kindle with new fire.
The sinner lost is found, they sing,
And strike the sounding Tyre.
When Napoleon talked of going into Italy,
they said: you can't get there. If you
knew what the Alps were. you wouldn't talk
about it or think about it You can't get
your ammunition wagons over the Alps. u
Then Napoleon rose in his stirrups, and,
linn IL. l,I...l