Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-02-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME BY :. =
WASHINGTON PREACHED
Subject: "rhe Kings Highway

Tiki; ''And an highway shall be there.
and way, and II shall be called. the way Of
holiness the unclean shall not pass over II,
but II shall be for those; the wayfaring men,
though fools. shall not err therein No lion
shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall
90 up thereon, il shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there, and the
ransomed OF the Lord shall return and come
10 Zion with songs and everlasting Joy upon
their heads. They shall obtain Joy and glad
ness.and sorrc W and signing shall fee away"
Isaiah xxxv., 8, g. 10.
There are hundreds Of people in this house
who want to find the right road. You some
times see person hating at crossroads, and
you can tell by HIS looks that he wishes to
ask question as TO what direction he had
better take. And | stand In your presence
conscious OF the fact that there are many OF
you here that realize that there are thou
sand wrong roads, but only one right one,
and take II for granted that you have come
In to ask which one it is. Here is one road
that opens widely, but have not much faith
in II. There are a great many expensive
tollgates scattered all along that way. In
deed at every rod you must pay in tears, or
pay in genufexions, or pay in fiagellations.
On that road, II you get through II at all.
you will have to pay your own way, and
since this differs so much from what have
heard In regard to the right way, believe II
Is the wrong way.
Here is another road. On either side OF it
are houses OF sinful entertainment and invi-
tations to come in and dine and rest, but
from the looks Of the people who stand on
tie piazza, I am certain it is the wrong
house and the wrong way. Here Is another
road. 1t isvery beautiful and macadamized.
The horses hoofs clatter and ring, and they
who ride over 1t spin along the highway I'M
til suddenly they find that the road breaks
over an embankment, and they try to halt,
and they see the bit in the mouth OF the fiery
steed and cry: "Hoi Ho!" But II Is too late,
and. crash! they go over the embankment.
We shall turn and see II we cannot find diff
ferent kind OF road. You have heard OF the
Appian way. 1t was $50 miles long. 1t was
twenty-four feet wide, and on either side OF
the road was path for foot passengers. II
was made out Of rocks cut in hexagonal shape
and fitted together. What a road ii must
have been! Made of smooth. hard rock, $50
miles long! No wonder that in the con-
struction Of II the treasures OF a whole en-
pire were exhausted. Because OF invaders
and the elements and time-the old con-
queror who tears upa road as he goes over
it-there is nothing left of that structure but
ruin. But have to tell you OF a road
built before the Appian way, and yet 1t is as
good as when first constructed. Millions OF
souls have gone over it. Millions more will
come.
The prophets and apostles, too,
Pursued this road while here below.
We therefore will. without dismay,
Still walk in Christ. the good old way.
First, this road of the text is the Kings
highway. In the diligence you dash on over
the Bernard pass OF the Alps, mile after
mile, and there is not so much as a pebble to
jar the wheels. You go over bridges which
cross chasms that make you hold your
breath, under projecting rock, along by
dangerous precipice, through tunnels a-drip
with the meetings. of the glaciers aud per-
haps for the first time learn the majesty OF a
road built and supported by Governmental
authority. Well, my Lord the King decided
to build highway from earth to heaven. 1t
should span all the chasms of human
wretchedness; It should tunnel all the
mountains of earthly difficulty; 1t should be
wide enough and strong enough to hold
fifty thousand millions of the human race,
II so many of them should ever be born; it
should be blasted out OF the crock OF ages"
and cemented with the blood OF the
cross and be lifted amid the shout
ing Of angels and the execration Of devils.
The King sent His Son to build that road. He
put head and hand and heart to 1t, and after
the road was completed waved His blistered
hand over the way, crying SIT is finished!"
Napoleon paid 100000 francs for the build
ing of the Simplon road that his cannon
might go over for the devastation OF Italy,
but our King at great expense has built a
road for different purpose, that the ban
ners of heavenly dominion might come down
over it. Being Kings highway, Of course
1t is well built. Bridges splendidly arched
o. huttrQGsaH hnUa oily Nj haH
the passengers who attempted to cross them.
But Christ the King would build no such
thing as that. The work done, He mounts
the chariot of His love, and multitudes
mount with Him, and He drives on and up
the steep OF heaven amid the plaudits of gaz-
Ing worlds. The work is done-well done
gloriously done-magnifcently done.
Still further, this road spoken of is a clean
road. Many u fine road has become miry
and foul be ause 1t has not been properly
cared for, but my text says the unclean shall
not walk on this one. Room on either side
to throw away your sins. Indeed. II you
want to carry them along you are not on the
right road. That bridge will break, those
overhangng rocks will fall, the night will
come down leaving you at the mercy of the
mountain bandits, and at the very next turn
OF the road you will perish. But II you are
really on this clean road of which have
been speaking, then you will stop ever and
anon to wash in the water that stands in the
basin Of the eternal rock.
Aye, at almost every step Of the journey
you will be crying out: "Create within me
clean heart" II you have no such aspira-
atoms as that, it proves that you have mis-
taken your way, and If you will only look
| up and see the fingerboard above your head,
you may read upon it the words, "There is a
| way that seemeth right unto man, but the
end thereof is DEATH" Without holiness no
man shall see the Lord. and II you have any
idea that you can carry along your sins.
| your lusts, your worldliness, and vet get at
the end of the Christian race, you are so aw-
fully mistaken, that, in the name Of God,
shatter the deusion.
Still further the road spoken of is plain
road. "The wayfaring men, though fools,
| shall not err therein" That is, II man is
three"fourths an idiot, he can find this
road just as we'll as If he were philosopher.
| Theimbecile boy the laughing stock OF the
street, and followed by mob hooting at him,
has only Just to knock once at the gate OF
heaven, and 1t swings open, while there has
been many man who can lecture about
pneumatics, and chemistry, and tell ths
story Of Faraday' theory of electrical polar
| ization and yet has been shut out of heaven.
| There has been many a man who stood in an
observatory and swept the heavens with his
telescope and yet has not been able to see
the morning star. Many man has been ia
miliar with all the higher branches of math-
| ema.ics and yet could not do the simple
sum. "What shall it profit man If he gain
| the whole world and lose his own soul?'
Many man has been a fine reader of TRACE
dies and poems and yet could not ''read his
title clear to mansions in the skies"
Many a man has botanized across the con-
tinent, and yet not known the "Rose of
Sharon, and the Lily of the Valley" But if
one shall come in the right spirit, asking the
way to heaven, he will find it plain Way.
The pardon is plain. The peace is plain.
Everything is plain. He who tries to get ON
the road to heaven through the New Testa-
ment teaching will get ON beautifully. He