Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1897-03-12
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME IN THE
WASHINGTON PREACHER.
Subject; Invited to a Banquet"

TExr Bring hithe- the fattrl cali AMI
Kill IL. Luke Nv, p.
Ia all ages OF the world Il has been custom.
AIRY To- celebrate Joyful events by feStiyity
The signing Of treaties. the proclamation OF
peace. the inauguration oi presidents, the
coronation OF kings. the CHRISTMAS the mar
rage. However much ON other DAYS Of thu
year cur tatle may have stinte supply, on
Thanksgiving Day there must he something
houuteOus. AMI all the comfortable homes
OF Chrislendom have at some time cple-
brated joyful events by banquet and fes-
tivity. Something has happened ON the old
HOMESTEAD greater than anything that has
ever happened lefore 4 iayOrite son whOni
the world supposed would become a yaga-
bond and outlaw forever has got tired Of
sightseeing aud has returned to his fathers
home. THE world said he would never come
back. The old man always said his son
would come back He had been looking for
him day after day and year after year. lie
knew he would come back. Now having re-
turned TO his fathers house the father pro-
claims celebration. There is in the paddock
Il calf that has been kept up and fed to ut
most capacity, 80 ~ TO bc ready Tor some
occasion Of JOY that might come along. All,
there never would he Grander day on the
old homestead than this day! Let the butch.
efS 40 lnelT WORK, anu tue HOuSekteIeTS
bring into the able the smoking meat. The
musicians will take their places, and the gay
groups will move up and down the floor
All the friends and nelghbors ARE gathered
in and IN extra supply Is sent out to the
table of the servants. The father presides at
the table and says grace, and thanks God
that his long absent boy is home again.
Oh. how they missed him, how glad they are
10 have him back
h,ar 5fa dc NJ ha hae
door and says: This is u great ado about
nothing. This bad boy should have been
chastised instead of greeted. Veal is too
good for him. But the father says, moth
ing is good enough" There sits the young
man, glad at the hearty reception. but II
shadow OF sorrow fitting across his brow at
the remembrance of the trouble he had seen.
All ready now. Let the covers lift. Music.
He was dead and he Is alive again! He was
lost and he is found! By such bold imagery
does the Bible set forth the meErymakng
when Il soul comes home to God.
First OF all, there is the new converts JOY.
1t is no tame thing to become Christian.
The most tremendous moment in mans
life is when he surrenders himself TO God.
The grandest time on the fathers homestead
is when the boy comes back Among the
great throng who in the parlors OF our church
protested Christ one night was Il young man
who next morning rang my door bell and
said: "Sir | cannot contain myself with the
Joy feel. | came here this morning to cx-
press it. 1 have founi more jov in five
minutes in serving God than in all tho years
of my productivity, and | came 10 say So
You have seen perhaps Il man rGnninG Tor
his temporal liberty and the officers OF the
law after him, and you saw him escape, or
afterward you hear the judge had purdonei
HIM, and how great was the glee OF that res
cued man: but 1t is Il 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 save
You remember John Bunyan in his great
story tells how the pilgrim put his fingers to
his ears and ran. crying: Life, life, eternal
lfe!' A poor ear driver some time ago,
after years having had TO struggle to sun
port his family suddenly was informed that
a large inheritance was his, and there was
Joy amounting TO hewilderment, but that is
small thing compared with the experience
OF one when he has put in his hands the title
deed to the JOYS, the raptures, the splendors
of heaven, and he can truly say. "lts man
siOns are NINE its temples are mine. its
songs are mine, lis God is mine" Oh, it is
no tame thing to become a Christian. II is
u merrymakiu-. 1t is the killing of the
fatted calf II is jubilee. You know the
Bible never compares it to n funeral. but
always compares it TO something delightful.
1t is more apt TO be compared 10 banquet
than anything else. II is cOmtarcd in the
Bible to water, bright, flashing water, to the
morning, rCseatp. tirewOrEed, mountain
transflgured morning.
| wish | could to-day take ali the Bible eX-
pressions about pardon. and peace and life,
and comfort, and hone and heaven, and
twist them into one garland and put it on
the brow OF the humblest child Of God in
this assPmhlaGe and cry, "Wear it, wenrit
now. wear it forever, son of God. daughter
of the Lord God Almighty!' Oh, the Joy Of
the new convert Oh. the cladnrss of the
Christian service! You have seen some
times man in Il religious assembly get up
and give his experience Well, Paul gave
his experience. He arose in the presence
of two churches. the church on earth and the
church in heaven, and he said, "Now this is
my experience-sorrowiul yet always re-
ioicing: poor, yet making many rich; having
nothing, vet possessing all things" If the
people in this house knew the joys OF the
Christian religion, they would ali pass over
into the kingdom of God the next moment.
When Daniel Sandman was dying of chol-
era, his attendant said, ''Have you much
pain"
ION, y he replied, ''since | found the Lord
nave never had any pain except SIN: Iheh
rnioy Salu ~ ~ n, dS You iNo 70 Seul
in'a'"ee ~ S0"l ii'Gn'S' ~ "0''' !,
or t'iein Ia. t bi.'y isS. I,i H.. tho
surges of the sea. andgI had to cry out,
sStop. Lord. it is enough; stop, Lord
enourhr" On the lows OF this Christian re-
Iig.on, Just pass over from those tame joys
in which you are INDUCING, joys OF this
world, into the raptures OF the gospel. Inc
world cannot satisfy you. You nave lound