The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-03-12
INVITED TO A FEAST.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE ASKS THE WHOLE
WORLD TO ATTEND.

soul-It Is a Sublime solace and a Mag.
! nificent Beatitude.
WASHINGTON, March 1.-THE glad
nesses of religion are set forth by DR..
Talmage in this sermon under the figure
of a banquet, and all the world is in
vited to be guests. The text is Luke XIV,
%, Bring hither the fatted calf and
kill it. "
In all ages of the world it has been
customary to celebrate joyful events by
festivity. The signing of treaties, the
proclamation of peace, the Inauguration
of presidents the coronation of kings,
the Christmas, the marriage. However
much ON other days of the year our Ia
BILE may have stinted supply, on Thanks
giving day there must be something
bounteous. And all the comfortable
homes of Christendom have at some
time celebrated joyful events by banquet
and festivity. Something has happened
on the old homestead greater than any
thing that has ever happened before. A
favorite son whom the world supposed
would become a vagabond and outlaw
forever has got tired of sightseeing and
has returned to his fathers house. The
world said he never would 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.
He knew he would come back. Now
having returned to his fathers house
the father proclaims celebration. There
is in the paddock calf that has been
kept up and fed to utmost capacity, so
as to be ready for some occasion of joy
that might come along All, there never
would be a grander day on the old
homestead than this day! Let the butch
ers do their work, and the housekeepers
bring in to the table the smoking meat.
The musicians will take their places,
and the gay groups will move up and
down the floor All the friends and
neighbors are gathered in and an extra
supply is sent out to the table of the
servants. The father presides at the ia
BILE and says grace and thanks God that
his long absent boy is home again. Oh,
how they missed him, how glad they
are to have him back
One brother stands pouting at the |
back door and says: "This is great ado |
about nothing. This bad boy should have
been chastised instead of greeted. Veal .
is too good for himl' But the father
says, Nothing is too good; nothing is
good enough" There sits the young
man, glad at the hearty reception, but
a 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 merrymaking when
a soul comes home to God.
The Greatest Rescue.
First of ALL there is the new converts
Joy. 1t is no tame thing to become a
Christian. The most tremendous mo-
ment i'll d mans life is when he surren-
ders 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
professed Christ one night was young
man who next rCTning rang my door
bell and said Sir, l cannot contain
myself with the joy feel. came here
this morning to express it. I have found
more joy in five minutes in serving God
than in all the years Of my prodigality,
and | came to say so" You have seen
perhaps a man running for his temporal
liberty and the officers of the law after
him, and you saw him escape, or after
ward you hear the judge had pardoned
him, and how great was the glee of that
rescued man; but it is very tame thing,
that, compared with the running for q,
ones everlasting 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 life!'' A poor car
driver some time ago, after years hav-
ing had to struggle to support his fami-
ly, suddenly was informed that large (
inheritance was his, and there was a !
joy amounting to bewilderment, but (
that is a 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, cts mansions are
mine, its temples are mine, its songs (
are mine, its God is mine!" Oh, it is
no tame thing to become a Christian.
1t is a merrymaking. 1t is the killing ]
of the fatted calf. 1t is jubilee. You {
know the Bible never compares it to
funeral, but always compares it to some
thing delightful. 1t is more apt to be {
to a banquet than anything I
else. 1t is compared in the Bible to wa ;
ter, bright, flashing water, to the morn I
ing, roseate, fireworked, mountain trans
figured morning.
l wish l could today take all the BIZ
BILE expressions about pardon, and peace,
and life, and comfort, and hope, and s
heaven, and twist them into one gar ]
land and put it ON the brow of the
humblest child of God in this assem- ]
blage and cry, "Wear it, wear it now,
wear it forever, son of God, daughter {
of the Lord God Almightyp Oh, the s
10Y of the new convert! Oh, the glad
ness of the Christian servicel You have {
-aap sometimes a man in a RELIGIONS as