The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-03-12
A FESTIVE RELIGION.
REV. DIR. TALMAGE INVITES THE
WORLD TO A BANQUET.

He Takes a. . Text, "Bring Hither thu
Fatted Calf" and breaches an Inspiring
Sermon ON tho Joy Of . Saved soul-A
Grand Peroration.
The ~gladnesses Of religion are set fortf
by DR.. Talmage in his sermon under thu
figure Of a BANQUET, and all the world is
invited to be guests. The text is Luke XIV
q. Bring hither the fatted calf and Kill
| it,"
In all ages Of the world 1t has been GUS
tomary to celebrate joyful events by fes.
tiVity-the signing Of treaties, the proc.
lamation of peace, the Inauguration OF
presidents. the coronation of kings, the
Christmas, the marriage. However much
on other days of the year our table may
have a stinted supply, on Thanksgiving
day there must be something bounteous.
And all the comfortable homes Of Christ
endom have at some time celebrated ioy-
full events by banquet and festiyity.
something has happened on the old home
stead greater than anything that has ever
happened before. A favorite son whom
the world supposed would become a yaea-
bond and outlaw forever has got tired of
sightseeing and has returned to his faith
erS 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
erS mousse, the father proclaims cele-
bration. There is in the paddock a calf
mat has been kept up and fed to utmost
CASTOR OF JOY that might come along.
An, there never would be a grander day
on the old homestead thar this day. Let
m hlIfchar III their vyorlx - 49, ---
Keepers bring in to the table the smoking
meat. The musicians will take their
places, and the gay groups will move up
nelghbors are gathered in, and an extra
supply is sent out to the table of the SER
wants. The father presides at the table
and says grace and tanks God that his
long absent boy is home again. Oh, how
they missed him! How glad they are to
One brother stands pouting at the back
door and says" This is a great ado about
nothing: This bad boy should have been
good for him" But the father says,
Nothing is too good; nothing is good
enough" There sits the young man, glad
sorrow fitting across his brow at the re-
membrance of the trouble he had seen.
Al ready now. Let the covers lift. Music
was lost, and he is found. BY such bold
imagery does the Bible set forth the mer-
rymaking when a soul comes home to
THE JOY OF A CONVERT.
First of all there is the new converts
10Y: 1t is % tame thing to become a
in a mans life is when he s~urrenders
himself to God. The grandest time ON the
fathers homestead is when the boy comes
the parlors of our church professed
Christ one night was a young man who
next morning rang my doorbell and said:
Sir, L cannot contain myself with the
JOY l feel. l came here this morning to
express it. l have found more joy in five
minutes in serving God than in all the
years of my p~rodigality, and I 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 afterward you hear
the judge had pardoned him, and how
great was the glee of that rescued man,
but it is a very tame thing that, COM
pared with the running for ones ever
lasting life. the terrors of the law after
him and Christ coming in to pardon and
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 having had to strug-
gle to support his family, suddenly was
Informed that a large inheritance was his,
and there was a joy amounting to bewi1-
derment, but that is a small thing COM
pared with the experience Of one when
the joys. the raptures, the splendors Of
heaven, and he can truly say. Its man.
siOns are mine: it's temples are mine: it's
songs are mine: it's God is mine!' Oh, it
is no tame thing to become a Christian!
1t is a m~errymaking: it is the killing of
the fatted calf: it is a jubilee. You know
the Bible never compares it to a funeral,
but always compares it to something de-
lightful. 1t is more apt to be compared to
a banquet than anything else. 1t is com
pared in the Bible to water-bright, flash
ing water. to the mOrning-rOScate, fire.
worked, mountain TRANSPORTED morning.
I wish I could today take all the Bible
pynrpSSjOnG ah0Jlf ne r60n and na1cQ and
life and comfort and hope and heaven
and twist them INTO one garland and put
God in the assemblage and cry, Wear it,
wear it now. wear it forever. son of God,
daughter of the Lord Coo Almighty"'
gladness of the Christian service! You
have seen sometimes a man in a religious
assembly get up and give his experience.
church on earth and the church in heav-
enrisnce ne sor Ta11f lN vef al fRaS IS re mX es:
poor, yet making many rich: having moth
ing, yet possessing all things" If the
eSEfIt ar ' reiigi onse they ey" Would 5I, all pass
over into the kingdom of God the mex
moment. When Daniel Sandman wa;
"H ffa You much PALM" Soh," he re-
piled. ",since I found the Lord I have
never had any pain except sin;' The
a message to your friends?' Yes,
would. Tell them that only last night tn
love of Jesus came rushing into my sou
like the surges of the sea, and I had t.
cry out: Stop. Lord, it is enough: stop
Christian religion! Just pass over from
those tame joys in which you are indulg
ing. joys Of this world. into the rapture
of the gospel. The world cannot satisf;
you: you have found that out. Alexand
err, longing for other worlds to conquer
and yet drowned in his own bottle: Byrol
whipped by disquietudes around tn
world; .voltaire cursing his own sou
while all the streets of Paris were az
plauding him: Henry II consuming wit,
hatred against poor Thomas a Becket-a
Illustrations of the fact that this worl
,annot make a man happy. The yer
nan who poisoned the pommel of tn
ehouted in the. street, God save tn
'ueen!' One moment the world applaud
nd the next moment the world anathe
~,atizes. oh. come over into this create
~. this sublime solace. this magnifcen
>eautitude! The night after the battle G
2hiloh. and there were thousands Q
vounded on the field. and the ambulance
had not come. one Christian soldier. 1yin
there a dying under the starlight, bega
to sing: