The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1896-08-08
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
NIGHTS First Approach Comes III
the Trembling of the Soul
The Text sounds the Gospel of Good Cheer
and Is Taken from the Passage
Luke: abide with Us, for 1t
Is Toward Evening""

Lukts EADAN
Is Toward Evening""
In a recent sermon at washington
DIR. Talmage's discourse was on sun
iect that lights up h sorrows OF 'nn'
life. His text was Luke XXl''%''
"Abide with us, for it is toward even
He said:
Two villagers, having concluded
their errand in Jerusalem, have started
out at the city gate and are on their
to Emmaus, the place OF thelr resi-
dence. They go with a sad heart
Jesus. who had been their admiration
and their Joy, had been basely mas,
sacred and entombed. As with sau
face and broken hear they pass on
their way, a stranger accosts theih,
They tell him their anxieties ana
bitterness of soul. He IN turn
talks to them, nightly expouhu-
ing the Scriptures. lie throws
over them the fascination OF lntel-
lipent conversation. They forget the
time. and notice not the objects theH
mass. and before they are aware nave
come mn in front of their house. Ihey
nause before the entrance N atteHp'
to persuade the stranger to larry WIN
them. They press upon him their nos
pitalities. Night is coming on, ana ne
NAV meet a providing wild beast or De
obliged to lie unsheltered from the
dew. He cannot go much further now
WHY not stop there, and continue their
nleasant conversation? They take
him bv the arm and they insist upon
his coming in, addressing him IN the
words: stAbide with us, for 1T IS to-
ward evening""
The candles are lighted, the table Is
spread. pleasant s~ocialities are enkln-
died. They rejoice in the presence Oh
the guest. He asks a bless
ing upon the bread they eat, n ne
hands a piece of 1t to each. Suddenly
and with overwhelming power the
| thought flashes upon the astonished
| neople-it is the Lordl And as they SIT
in breathless wonder, looking upon
the resurrected body of Jesus, lie
vanished. The interview ended. lie
was gone.
With many of us it is a bright, sun
shiny day of prosperity. There is mol
a cloud in the sky, not a leaf rustlIne
in the forest. No chill in the air. bu'
we cannot expect all this to last he
is not an intelligent mar who expects
perpetual daylight of joy Inc sur
will after awhile near h horizon INT
shadows will lengthen. While L spear
MANY of us stand in the very hour oe
scribed in the text, for 1t Is TOWARD
evening" The request of the text Ii
appropriate for some before me. FOL
with them it is oward the evening O
old age. They have passed n me
ridiau of life. They are sometime
startled to think how old they are
They do not, however, like to hav'
others remark upon it. If others sug
oe.t their approximation toward veneer
able appearance, they say: why
I'm not SO old, after ALL" They dc
indeed. notice that they cannot lift s
much at once. They cannot wal
quite SO fast. They cannot read quit
SO well without s~pectacles. They car
not SO easily recover from a cough o
anv occasional ailment- They hav
lost their taste for merriment. The
are surprised at the quick passage o
the wear. They say that 1t onl
seems a little while that the
were bows They are going a iitti
down hill. There is something !
their health, something in their vision
something in their walk, something /
their changing associations, somethin
above, something beneath, somethln
within, to remind them hat 1t Is t
ward evening.
The great want of all such is to hav
Jesus abide with them. 1t is a dismi
thing to be getting old without the r.
iuyenating influence of religion. VINE
we step on the down grade of life ar
see that it dips to the verge of the col
river. we want to behold some one ne;
VIII will help us across it Whe
the sight loses its power to glan'
and gather up, we need the fat
that can illuminate. When we fe
the failure of the ear, we need the cle'
tones of that voice which In olde
times broke up the silence of the de
WITH cadences of mercy. When Il
ax-men of death hew down whole 10
. ests of strength and beauty around
and we are left in solitude, we me-
the dove of divine mercy to sing in o
branches. When the shadows begin
z fall and we feel that the day is
! spent, we need most OF all TO supp
: cate the strong, beneficent Jesus In I
prayer of the villagers: Abide WI
us, for II Is COWdru cNchlhS'
The request of the text is an Apr
pirate exclamation for all those w
are approached in the gloomy hour
temptation. There is nothing easi
than to be good-natured when ever
thing pleases, or to be humble wh
there is nothing to oppose us, or Il
giving when we AVE not been assall'
or honest when we have no indu
ment to fraud. But you have felt
0rapple of some temptation. fc
nature at some time quaked a
0roaned under the Internal force. Y
fell that the devil was after you. \
saw YOUR Christian graces ~retreatll
You feared hat you would I
u in the awful wrestle with
and be thrown into the dust. ]
Gloom thickened. The first Indicate
Of the night we're seen in all the tire
bling of your soul; In all the infer
suggestions of satan; in all the su
ing up of tumultuous passions and
elements. YOU felt with aw
emphasis that it was toward event
% In the tempted hour you need to
Jesus to abide with you. You can b
hack the monster that would dev
Won. You can unhorse he sin I
would ride you down. You can shar
r the battle ak with which you S
the head of helmeted abominatl
Who helped Paul shake the bra
GATED heart of Felix? Who &C
= like a good sailor when all the c
howled in the Mediterranean S
wreck? Who helped the martyrs t
firm when one word of recanta
would have unfastened the withe
the stake and put out the kindling
When the night of the soul cam
and all the d~enizens of darkness C
riding upon the winds of perditi'
who gave strength to the soul?
broke the spell of Internal ench
ment? He who heard the requei
n the villagers, abide with us, for
toward evening"
Ia One of the forts of France wa
tackled and the outworks were tt
before night. The besieging army
down, thinking there was but lit
do In the morning, and hat the
diery in the fort could be easily u
to surrender. But during the n
through a back stairs they escaped