The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-02-20
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

DIVINE.
Subject: Ejectment From Eden-It Shows
1dleness Is Bad For Man-Blessings of
Labor - Riches Are More Equally
ICopvrirht laol.l
WASHINGTON. D. C-There is great
aolace in this discourse of Dr. 1almage
for those whose lives have many anxletles;
text, Isaiah iii, 10, Say ye, to the right
eons that it shall be we'll with him..
Here is a promise for people who are
all right, but who will come and get it!
How many, or rather. how few, people do
you know who are all righto If it were
asked of any assembly that those who
were sinless should rise up. none would
rise, except imbeciles and religious cranks.
An accident happened near sixty centu-
ries ago that started the human race in the
wrong way, and we have not got over II
yet We know great many splendid, men
and splendid women, but they will ten
right thing or thought the right. thought;
If it were any of your business. they could
give you an inventory Of frailties and mis-
takes and infelicities that would be aston
ishing. Here, then, you say, IS biple
promise that goes a-bepging. Say We TO
the righteous that it shall be we'll with
him."
1t is my DELIGHTFUL work to-day to show.
you that all the sons and daughters OF
Adam and Eve may appropriate the hene-
diction of my text if thew will first do the
right thing. Over here in the next street
was a man who in great misfortunes lost
all he had and was positively beggared,
but a letter comes from some European
city, where the land records are kept, an
nouncing to him that great fortune IS
his. Now he is as onulent as he was pau
perized. He doffs his rags and puts on
respectable attire and moves into nome
appropriate for a man OF vast estate ms
worldly circumstances were all wrong last
year; they are all right this year. On the
next street is man who was from perfect
health Frustrated. and he seemed to be
sick unto death. but skilful physician
took correct diagnosis of his disease, and
by prompt and vigorous treatment re-
stored him to his former vigor. AS to his
health he was all wrong before: Now he
is all right. In these two ways L illustrate
my theme.
By sin we have all been morally bank
rupted. Christ the Lord from His inn
mite riches nays our debts and empara-
discs us in His mercy From His richest
wardrobe He put on us the clean robe OF
His Righteousness. and gives US a palace
in the heavens when we are ready to 60
up and take it. Now. as to our spiritual
estate we are all right. We were morally
diseased but Christ, the physician. by
bath in the fountain of His grace, cures us.
Now, as to our spiritual health we are
all right. That is the way we come to the
Righteousness spoken of in the text. 1t Is
a contributed Righteousness, made.over
Righteousness, an imputed righteousness.
The moment you get into right relations
with Christ the Lord that moment you can
appreciate the magnificent comfort OF the
text, and / defy you in all this great book:
from the first verse of the first chapter OF
Genesis to the last verse of the last chap
ter of Revelation. to find me passage
with higher and deeper and broader and
longer comfort than that Of the text,
half way between the continents. and high
as the sun when the clock is striking II
at noon. But I shall be swamped with
the oceanic tides of this subject unless the.
Lord help me to keep foothold; Say
ye to the righteous that it shall be well
with him."
Bear in mind that but few people can
stand worldly success. Water is good
thing. but too much of it will drown.
Fire is good thing. but too, much OF it
will destroy: Light is good thing, but
too much of it dazzles and blinds; Sue.
cess is a good thing, but too much of it
has overwhelmed many for this world and
the next. If it were best for us, we would
all be millionaires, live in palaces like the
Alhambra, and be as personally attractive
as Cleopatra appeared to Antony. But
the most of folks could not endure such
superabundance, and it is absolutely neces-
sary in order to keep them right that 999
men out of 1000 should find life a struggle.
how, N,,t 0f saf
Adam was elected from the premises
where by ten minutes of employment a
day he could keen the garden and dress it
the best thing that could happen to him
was compulsion to work and fight. The
ground that bloomed with spontaneous
flowers and rustled with harvests that
owed nothing to plow or hoe became hos
tile. and bramble was ubstituted for rose,
and the panther growled where before he
fawned, and horn and fang and hoof be-
came belligerent. That Edenic ejectment
shows US as nothing else ever could that
idieness or only a few minutes of employ
ment day are doom and overthrow. Put
it down among your blessings that you
have to work hard with brain or hand or
foot or all three of them.
How many men do you know worth
S250,000 who are devout and .consccrated
and humble and generous and employing
You could count them I'D on the fingers
Of your two hands even if by accident or
war you had lost one or two of the fingers.
AS to the realm of personal attractiveness,
how many women radiant of countenance
and graceful of form do you know who are
unaffected and natural of manner and
deeply .pious before God, using their
beauty for the betterment of the. world
and not for selfish purposes? I only take
ha ric1- Of oelyipo tba DOactiOn and leove
to you the risk of answering it. These
things say to show you that in order to
have the promise of the text fulfilled in
your case it is not necessary you have phe-
nomenal worldly success.
Notice, also that God gives the righteous
the power to extract good out of evil, and
by divine chemistry to change the bitter
into the sweet and the harmful into the
beneficial The promise that it shall be
to be free from trouble There is no es-
cape from that. We all have family rela-
tions and some of them will be making
exit from this world, so that bereavement
is the universal inheritance. The differ
ence between the prospered and those not
prospered is the difference in the amount
they can afford to lose. The more wealth
q man has the more ne can lose, but one
man can afford to lose a million dollars
"nere anOtner man cdHnoI duoru W ioSS
one dollar On larger or smaller scale all
suffer financial loss. Amid the rapidity of
the revolutions of the wheel of national
and international finance monetary per-
plexity is as common as day or night.
So also misinterpretation and SANDER
come to all who live active lives. Our
actions, thoroughly honest and above
board, may come under suspicion. Every
court room at every term of court hears
illustrations of the delusions of what is
called circumstantial evidence. Innocent
men are fined or imprisoned or electro
cuted because of an unfortunate conjunc-