St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1896-09-26
TALMAGE's SERMON.
Sounding the Gospel Of Good Cheer
for An
Call Christ to Abide with You. Eves ~
Those DID 1t EDnaas, who Ia.
lorta1n0d the Master
CnaWaroA

/
Those Did IT Eoaass. who La
tertained the Master
Caawarea
Rev. 7. Dewitt Talmage delivered
the following sermon before his Wash
ington congregation, taking for his
text:
Abide with u. for It i toward evening
Luke xiv. 20.
Two villagers, having concluded
heir errand in Jerusalem, have started
out ut the city gate and arc on their
way to Emmaus, the place OF their
residence. They go with . sad heart.
Jesus, who had been their admiration
and their joy, had been basely massa-
cred and entombed. As with sad face
and broken heart they pass on their
way. a stranger accosts them. They
tell Him their anxieties and bitterness
Of soul. He In turn talks to them.
nightly expounding the Scriptures.
He throws over them the fascination OF
Intelligent conversation. They forget
the time, and notice not the objects
they pass, and before they arc 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 Inequalities. Night is COM
ing on, and He may meet = prowling
wild beast, or be obliged to lie un-
sheltered from the dew. He can not
20 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 In the words:
abide with NJ, for it Il toward even
ing"
The candles are lighted, tho table 10
spread. pleasant socialities are en-
kindled They rejoice in the presence
Of the stranger guest. He asks .
blessing upon the bread they eat, and
He hands . piece Of It to each. Sud-
denly, and with overwhelming power
the thought flashes upon the aston
ished people-it is the Lord! And as
they sit in breathless wonder, looking
upon the resurrected body Of Jesus.
He vanished. The interview ended.
He was gone.
With many Of as It il bright, sun.
shiny day of prosperity. There IL not
cloud in the sky, not . leaf rustling
In the forest. No chill in the air.
But we can not expect al this to last.
He is not an intelligent man who exc
poets perpetual daylight Of Joy. The
sun will after awhile near the hori-
son. The shadows will lengthen.
While I speak many Of us stand in the
very hour described in the text, ''for
it ID 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-
ridian 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 ven
cradle appearances. they say: "Why,
I'm not SO old, after ALL" They do,
indeed, notice that they can not lift
quite SO much as once. They can not
walk quite SO fast. They can not
read quite so we'll without specta-
cles They can not SO easily recover
from q cough or any occasional all
ment They have lost their taste for
merriment They are surprised at the
quick passage Of the year. They say
that it only seems . little whilc ago
that they were boys. They are going
little down hill There il something
in their health, something in their
vision, something in their walk, some
thing In their changing associations,
something above, something beneath.
something within, to remind them
that 1t is toward evening.
The great want Of all such is to have
Jesus abide with them It is dismal
thing to be getting old without the
rejuvenating influence of religion.
When we step on the down-grade of
life and see that it dips to the verge Of
the cold river, we want to behold some
ono near who will help us across it.
When the sight loses its power to
glance and gather up. we need
the faith of the ear, We need the
clear tones Of that voice which In
olden times broke up the silence of the
deaf with cadences Of mercy. When
the axmen of death hew down whole
forests Of strength and beauty around
N and we are left in solitude, we need
the dove Of divine mercy to sing in our
branches. When the shadows begin
to fall and We feel that the day is far
spent, we need most Of all to SUPPLE
cate the strong, beneiicent Jesus in the
prayer of the villages: abide with
us, for il ]. toward evening"
The request Of the text is an appro-
pirate exclamation for all those who
are approached in the gloomy hour of
temptation. There 10 nothing easier
than to be good-natured when every
thing pleases, or to be humble when
thcre il nothing to oppose us, or for.
giving when We hEve not been as
sailed. or honest when we have no in
ducement to fraud. But you have
felt the grapple Of some temptation.
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 WOU1O 18I1 tu0 awful W1G0tlS
with sin and b thrown into the dust.
The gloom thickened. The frat indi-
cations Of the night were seen in al
the trembling Of your soul; in al the
internal suRgestions Of Satan. in all
the surging up of tumultuous pas
sions and excitements, you felt
with awful emphasis that it WAS
toward evening. In the tempted
hour you need to ask Jesus to
abide with you. You can beat back
the monster that would devour you.
You can unhorse the sin that would
ride you down. You can sharpen the
battle-ax with which you split the head
Of helmeted abomination! Who helped
Paul shake the brazengated heart Of
Felix3 Who acted like . good sailor
when al the crew howled in the Medi-
terrauean shipwreck? Who helped the