Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-10-11
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
COMFORTING WORDS TO THOSE
IN DECLINING YEARS.
Some Thoughts Suggested by the Invi-
tation to Christ to Abide Overnighs
In an Oriental yiliage-The Eternal
Resting Place.

Copyright, 1900. by Louis Klopsch)
Washington, Oct. Tn this sermon
DR.. Talmage discourses upon the invi-
tation given to Christ to stay over
night in the oriental village and
makes some consolatory suggestions.
The text is Luke xiv, 50, abide with
us, for it is toward evening"
Two villagers, having concluded
their errand in Jerusalem, have started
out at the city gate and are on their
way to Emmaus, the place of their
residence. They go with sad heart.
Jesus, who had been their admiration
and their Joy, has been basely massa-
cred and entombed. AS with sad face
and broken heart they pass on their
way 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 for
get the time and notice not the objects
they pass and before they are 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 coming
on and he may meet prowling wild
beast or be obliged to lie unsheltered
from the dew. He cannot go 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 us, for
1t is toward evening" The lamps are
lighted, the table is spread, pleasant
socialities are enkindled. They rejoice
In the presence of the stranger guest.
He asks a blessing upon the bread
they eat, and he hands piece of it
10 each. Suddenly, and with over
vhelming power the thought flashes
upon the astounded people-it is the
lord! And as they sit in breathless
wonder, looking upon the resurrected
body of Jesus. he vanished. The in
sccyiew ended. He was gone.
Our Greatest Need.
The great want of all is to have Je-
sus abide with them. 1t is dismal
thing to be getting old without the re-
juvenating influence of religion. When
we stop on the down grade of life and
see that it dips to the cold verge of the
cold river, we want to behold some
one near who will help us across it.
When the sight loses its power to
glance and gather up, we need the
faith that can illumine. When we feel
the failure of the ear. we need the
clear tones of that voice which in
olden times broke up the silence of
the deaf with cadence of mercy. When
the axmen of death hew down whole
forests of strength and beauty around
us, and we are left in solitude, we need
the dove of divine mercy to sing in
our branches. When the shadows be-
gin to fall and we feel that the day is
far spent, we need most Of all to sup
plicate the benefcient Jesus in the
prayer of the villagers, abide with
us, for it is toward evening"
The request of the text is an appro-
pirate exclamation for all those who
are approaching the gloomy hour of
temptation. There is nothing easier
than to be good natured when every
thing pleases, or to be humble when
there is nothing to puff us up or for
giving when we have not been assailed
or honest when we have no induce
'ment to fraud But you have felt the
grapple of some temptation. Your ma
ture at some time quaked and groaned
under the Internal force. You felt
that the devil was after you. You saw
your Christian forces retreating. You
feared that you would fail in the awful
wrestle with sin and be thrown into
the dust, The gloom thickened. The
first indications of the night were
seen.