The Penn's Grove record., 1897-03-12
REV. Dr. TAIMAGR
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE
NOTED DIVINE.
Subject: Invited to a Banquet

The signing OF treaties, the proclamation
peace, the inauguration of presidents.
coronation of kings, the Christmas. the ma
riagf. However nue. on other DAYS OF I
year Cuv table may have stintet supply.
Thanksgiving Day there must be somstbil
bouuteous. Aud all the comfortable nom
Of C~hrlsiendom have at some time eel
bratei joyful events by banquet and Il
tiyity. Something has happened on the o
homestead greater than anything that h
ever happened before. A favorite son who
the world supposed would become a yac
bond and outlaw forever has got tired
sightseeing and has returned TO his fnthe,
home. The world said he would never cor
back. The old man always said his 81
would come back. He had beer looking Il
him day after day and year after year. I
knew he would come back. Now having r
turned TO his fathers house the father Or,
claims celebration. There is in the paddoc
a calf that has been kept up aud fed to u
most capacity, so as TO be ready for son
occasion Of joy that might come along. al
there never would be a grancer dayton Ii
old homestead than this day. Let the butcl
ers do their work, and the h~ousekeepel
bring into the table the smoking meat. Tn
musicians will take their places, and the ga
groups will move up and down the hool
All the friends and nelghbors are gathere
in and an extra supply Is sent out to tn
thRA~ Il "AAh- III HAC1thNC q
the table and says grace, and thanks Go
that his long absent 10y is home again
Oh, how they missed him, how glad they ar
TO have him backl
One brother stands pouting at :he bach
door and says; ''This Is a great ado abou
nothing. This bad boy should lave beer
chastised instead Of greeted. Veal Is too
good for him. But the father says, Moth
ing is good enough" There sits the younl
man, glad at the hearty reception, but &
| shadow OF sorrow Hitting across his brow al
the remembrance of the trouble he had seen,
All ready now. Let the covers lift. Music.
He was dead and he Is alive againl He was
lost and he is foundi By such bold imagery
does the Bible set forth the m~errynaking
when a soul ZONES home to God.
First OF all, there is the new converts joy,
II is no tame thing 10 become d Christian
The most tremendous moment in a man's
life is when he surronders himself to God.
The granlest time on the fathers homestead
is when the boy comes back. Among the
| great ihronG who in the parlors ofour church
prOfessed Christ one night was q young man
who next morning rang my door bell and
said: "Sir, / cannot contain myself with the
Joy l feel. l came here this morning to ex-
press II. | have founi more JOY in five
minutes in serving God than III all tho years
Of my prodiga ity, and l came to say So"
You have seen perhaps q man running for
his temporal liberty and the officers OF the
law after him, and you saw him escape, or
aftervard you hear the judge had p%ardoned
him, and how great was the glee OF that res
cusd man; but 1t is a very tame thing, that,
compared with the running for ones ever
lasting life, the terrors of the law after him
and Christ coming in TO pardon and bless
and rescue and cave,
You remember John Bunyan In his great
story tells how tie pilgrim put his fingers to
his ears and ran. CRYING: Life, life, eternal
life!' A poor car driver some time ago,
after years having had TO struggle to SUP,
port his family, suddenly was informed thai
a large inheritance was his, and there was q
joy amounting to bewilderment, but that !:
a small thing compared vita the experience
OF one when he has put in his hands the title
deed to the Joys, the raptures, the s~plendor:
OF heaven, and he can truly say, 'tIts man
sions are mine, its temples are mine, III
songs are mine, its God is mineF, oh, II u
no tame thing to become a Christian. 1t Il
n merrymaklng. 1t is the killing OF thu
fa,ted calf. 1t Is a jubilee. You know tht
Bible never compares II TO a funeral, bu
always compares 1t to something delightful
1t is more apt to be compared to n banquei
than anything else. 1t IS compared in tn
Bible 10 water, bright, flashing water, to tn
morning, ~roseate. flreworked, mountain
TRANSPORTED morning.
1 NlSu 4 GOulu tU-uby tdhC Ill II ~ "a
pressions about pardon, and peace, and life
and comfort, and hobe, and heaven, an
twist them into one garland and put 1t o.
the brow Of tho humbiest child OF God 4
this assemblage and cry, swear it, wear /
now, wear 1t forever, son Of God, daughte
of the Lord God Almighty" Oh. the Joy Q
the new convert Oh, the gladness of tn
Christian servicel You have seen some
times a man in a religious assembly get VI
and give his experience. Well, Pau CAV
his experience. he arose in the preseno
ottwO churches, the church on earth and tn
church in heaven, and he said, Nov this
my experience-sorrowful, yet always re
ioicingi poor, yet making many ricb; havln
nothing, yet possessing all things" III q
people In this house knew the Joys oil tn
Christian religion, they would all pass ove
into the kingdom of God the next momen
When Daniel Sandman was dying OF cho
era, his attendant said, "Havs you muc
pain?"
"oh," he replied, ..since Ifound the Lord
have never had any pain except SIM Enc
they said to him, 'fwouid you Ike to send
message to your friends2" "Yes, l woult
lell them that only last hight the love /.
Jesus can't rushing into my soul like II
surges of the sea, and I had to cry GU
stop, Lord. it is enough; stop. Lord
e~noughn" on, the Joys OF this Christian r
ligion! Just pass over from those tame 10,
in which you IRE indulgihg, joys OF th
world, into the rapturss of tho gospel. ii
world cannot satisfy you. You have four
that out. Alexander longing for other worl
10 conquer and yet drowned IN ms own DC
tie; Byron whipped by disquietudes arouI
the world; Vol.aire cursing his " so
while all the streets of Paris were applau
irg him; Henry II consuming with hetr
against poor Thomas d Beckett
all illustrations of the fact that Il
/ world cannot make a man hapl
The very man who poisoned the pommel
the saddle on which Queen Elizabeth 70
shouted in the street, "God save the Queer
! One moment the world app'auds, n
next moment the world mathematics. y
come over into this greater Joy, this subliI
solace, this magnificent beatitude! The mig
after the battle OF Shiloh. and there W.
thousands OF wounded on the fed, and
amhulanees had not come, Christi
soldier lying there a-dying under the ST
light began to singt
Thcreis a land of pure delight.
} And when he came TO the next line TIL
were scores OF voices singing;
Where saints immortal reign.
The o was caught up all through
: fields among the wounded until u was 81
there were at least 5000 wounded NOR M
, ing their voices as they came TO the verse
There everlasting spring abides
And never whitening flowers.
IT'S but a narrow stream DIVIDES
This heavenly land from ours.
I oh, it Is a great religion TO live by an
t great religion to die by! There V only
e heart throb between you and that raiiSi
= Just look into tho face OF your pardon
y God and surrender yourself for N anu
eternity. ana He Is yours AMI HEAVIER
Q yours and all is yours. some OF YOU
n the Young man OF the text, have gone
i astray. l know not the history, put
4 know it, YOU know 1t. When n young u
Q went forth into life, the legend says
guardian angel went forth WITH MN,
getting MIN into a field, the guardian IN
swept a circle around where the young
stood. 1t was a circle OF virtue anu no
= and he must not step y tnu' III
armed foes came down, but were o9n
to halt at that circle. They could
lass. But one day a temptress, Win
monded hand. stretched forth and eros
that circle with the hand, and
tempted soul took 1t, and by thai one
grip was brought beyond the eircie anu u
Som OF you have stepped beyond
circle. Would you not like this day oy
grace Of God, to step bacsf rms, sa'
you, is YOUR hour OF salvation. Ihere
in the closing hours OF Queen Anne VIM
called the clock scene. Flat down on
pillow in helpless sickness. she conlu
To- R - ..1x,a har hand. she