The free press. (Poplarville, Miss.) 1890-19??, 1901-04-04
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
DISCOURSE BY THE EMINENT ID.
VINE LAST SUNDAY.
Subject: RevivaIs Benefit --~ Lessons
Drawn From Famous Religious AwalS
enings The Most Useful Christians
Are Those Coyerted Early in Life,
copyright 1901. ]


enings The Most Useful Christians
Are Those Coverted Early in Life.
copyright 1aol-
WASHINGTON, D. C.-Yhis discourse of
DIR. Talmage is most pertinent at this
time, when a widespread effort for re-
ligious awakening is being made; text,
Luke v, s, They inclosed a great multi
tude of fishes, and their net brake"
Simon and his comrades had expert
enced the night before what fishermen
call poor luck Christ steps on board
the fishing smack and tells the sailors
to pull away from the beach and di-
reefs them again to sink the net. Sure
enough, very soon the net is full of
fishes, and the sailors begin to haul in.
So large a school of fishes was taken
that the hardy men begin to look red
in the face as they pull, and hardly
have they begun to rejoice, at their sue
cess when snap goes thread of the
net, and snap goes another thread, SO
| there. is danger not only of losing the
fish. but of losing the net
Without much care as to how much
the boat tits or how much water is
/ splashed on deck the fishermen rush
| about gathering up the broken meshes
| of the net. Out yonder there is q ship
| dancing on the waves, and they hail it:
"Ship ahoy! Bear down this way!" The
ship comes, and both boats, both fishing
smacks, are filled with The foundering
treasures.
"Ah," says some one, chow much better
it would have been if they had staid on
shore and fshed with a hook and line
| and taken one at a time instead of hay
ing this great excitement and the boat
almost upset and the net broken and
having to call for help and getting sopping
wet with the seal"
The church is the boat, the gospel is
the net, society is the sea, and great
revival is a whole school brought in at
one sweep of the net. l have admiration
and line to fish. ! admire the way he
unwinds the reel and adjusts the bait and
drops the hook in quiet place on a
still afternoon and here catches one and
there one, but I like also a big boat and
swift oars and stout sails and a still
breeze and a great multitude OF souls
| brought-so great a multitude that you
| have to get help to draw ii ashore, strain
| ing the net to the utmost until it breaks
here and there, letting a few escape, but
bringing the great multitude into eternal
safety.
In other words, I believe in revivals.
| The great work of saving men began
one day, and it will close with forty or
a hundred million people saved in twenty
| four hours when nations shall be born in
a day. But there are objections to re-
| vivals. People are opposed to them be.
cause the net might get broken, and if
by the pressure Of souls it does not get
broken, then they take their own pen
knives and slit the net. They inclosed
a great multitude OF fishes, and the net
brake"
1t is sometimes opposed to revivals Of
religion that those who come into the
church at such times do not hold out.
As long as there Is a gale Of blessing they
| how ale hnt ns a =
winds stop blowing then they drop into
a dead calm. But what are the facts in
the case? In all our churches the vast
majority of the useful people are those
who are brought in under great awaken
ings, and they hold out. Who are the
prominent men in the United States in
churches, in prayer meetings, in Sabbath
schools? For the most part they are
the product of great awakenings.
| have noticed that those who are
brought into the kingdom of God through
revivals have more persistence and more
determination in the Christian life than
those who come in under low state OF
religion. People born in an icehouse may
live, but they will never get over the
cold they caught in the icehouse.
A cannon ball depends upon the i'm
pulse with which it starts for how far it
Shall 60 and how swiftly, and the great,
er the revival force with which a, soul
is started the more far-reaching and far
resembling will be the execution.
But it is sometimes objected to re-
vivals that there is so much excitement
that people mistake hystera for religion.
We admit that in every revival OF re-
ligion there is either suppressed or a
demonstrated excitement Indeed If a
man can go out of a state OF condemna-
ton into a state Of acceptance with God
or see others go without any agitation OF
soul he IS in an unhealthy, morbid state
and is as repulsiye and absurd as man
who should boast he saw a child snatched
out from under a horses hoofs and felt
no agitation, ~ saw man rescued from
the fourth sto. of a house on fire and
felt no acceleration OF the pulses. =,
Salvation from sin and death and hell
into life and peace and heaven forever
is such tremendous thing that ii man
tells me he can look on it without any
agitation l doubt his Christianity.
The fact is that sometimes excitement
is the most important possible thing. In
case of resuscitation from drowning or
freezing, the one idea is to excite ANNA
ton Before conversion we are dead. 1t
is the business of the church to revive,
arouse, awaken, resuscitate, startie into
life. ;.
to what it makes us do. Ii it makes us do
that which is bad, it is bad excitement,
but if it makes us agitatcd about our
eternal welfare, if it makes us pray, If 1T
make us attend upon Christian service, II
it make us cry unto God for mercy, then it
is good excitement.
It is sometimes said that during re-
vivals of religion great multitudes Of chill
dren and young people are brought INTO
the church, and they do not know what
they are about. 1t has been my obser-
walton that the earlier people come into
the kingdom of God the more useful they
are. Robert Hall, the prince of preachers,
was converted at twelve years OF age 1t
is likely he knew what he was about.
Matthew Henry, the commentator, who
did more than any man Of his century Tor
increasing the interest in the study of the
Scriptures, was converted at eleven years
of age; Isabella Graham, immortal in the
Christian church, was converted at ten
years of age; DR.. Watts, whose hymns
will be sung ali down the ages, was con
verified at nine years of age; Jonathan
Edwards, perhaps the mightiest intellect
that the American pulpit ever produced,
was converted at seven years OF age, and
that father and mother take an awful re-
sponsibility when they tell their child at
seven years of age, You are too young to
be Christian" or, You are too young
to connect yourself with the church,
That is a mistake as long as eternity.
If during a revival two persons pre-