The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-05-16
DR.TALnAdE's sERnoN
Preached a Short Time Before
His Death.

WAsH1NGroN, D. C.-In the following
discourse, prepared by DR.. Ialmagc before
his illness, the folly and danger Of post
ponng the acceptance of the gospel inFl-
tatiOu are exposed on the text Luke xiv,
IS And they all with one consent began
TO make excuse"
After the invitations TO a levee are
sent out the regrets come IN. One man
apologies for non.atteudance on one
ground. another on another ground. The
most of the regrets are founded on prior
engagements. SO IN my text great ban
Quet was spread, the invitations were cir
culated, and now the regrets come IN.
The one gives an agricultural reason, the
other a stock dealers reason, the other a
domestic reason All poor reasons. The
fact vas, they did not want to 90. And
they all with one consent began TO make
excuse"
So now God spreads a great banquet.
1t IL the gospel feast, and the table reaches
across the hemisphercs, and the invita-.
tons 60 out, and multitudes come and
sit down and drink out of the chalices Of
Gods love, while other multitudes decline
coming, the one giving this apology, and
the other giving that apology and they
all with one consent begin to make ex-
cuse." propose, so far as God may help
me, to examine the apologies which men
Apology the first: | am not sure there
is anything valuable in the Christian re-
ligion. 1t is pleaded that there are so
many impositions in this day; so many
things that seem to be real are sham. A
gilded outside may have a hollow inside
There is so much quaekery in physics, IN
ethics, in politics, that men come to the
habit of incredulity, and after awhile they
allow that incredulity to collide with our
h.1v ~. NlsYA da II
religion has made a pretty good record in
the world. How many wounds it has
salvedl How many pillars Of fire 1t has
lifted in the midnight Wildernessl How
many simoom struck deserts it hath turned
into the gardens Of the Lord How it
hath stilled the chopped sea! What rosy
light it hath sent streaming through the
rift of the stormcloud! What pools of
cool water it hath gathered for thirsty
Hagar and Ishmaell What mama winter
than coriander seed it hath dropped all
around the camp of hardy bested pilgrims!
What promises it hath sent out like holy
watchers to keep the lamps burning around
deathbeds, through tho darkness that
lowers into the sepulcher! What flashes
Of resurrection morn!
Besides that, this religion has made so
many heroes. It brought Summerield, the
Methodist, across the Atlantic ocean with
his bllNGI bIuulpEb 70 DlOW Lue dCCepLdDl1
year of the Lord until it Ceemed as If all
our American cities would take the king
dom of heaven by violence. 1t sent Jehudi
Ashman into Africa alone, in a continent
Of naked barbarians. to lift the standard
of civilization and Christianity. 1t made
John Milton among poets Raphael among
painters. Christopher Wren among archi-
tects, Thorwaldsen among sculptors, Han
del among musicians, Dupont among mill
I
to the imagine ton and better balance to
/ the judgment and more determination to
the viii and greater usefulness to the life
and grander nobility to the soul there is
nothing in all the earth like our Christian
religion. Nothing in religion? Why, then,
/ all those Christians were deceived when
! in their dying moment they thought they
saw the castles of the blessed, and your
/ child, that with unutterable agony you
/ put away into the grave, you will never
see him again or hear his sweet voice
nor feel the throb of his young heart.
There is nothing in religion? Sickness
will come upon you Roll and turn on
your pillow; no relief The medicine may
be bitter, the night may be dark, the pain
may be sharp; no relief. Christ never
comes to the sick-room. Let the pain
stab; let the fever burn; curse it and die
There is nothing in religion? After awhile
ing of the pale horse on the threshold
The spirit will be breaking away from the
body, and it will take flight-whither
whittier? There is no God, no minister
ing angels to conduct. no Christ, NJ
heaven, no home. Nothing in religion
Oh, you are not willing to adopt such q
dismal theory
And yet the world is full of skeptics
And let me say there is no class of PEG
n NYFan how H.
than for slleptics We do not know how
to treat them. We deride them, we carica
ture them. We, instead of taking Their
by the soft hand of Christian love, clutch
them with the iron pinchers of eccesias
tlcism. Oh, if you knew how those meT
had fallen away from Christianity and be
come skeptics you would not be so rough
on them! Some were brought up in home.
where religion was overdone. The most
wretched day in the week was Sunday
Religion was driven into them with a trip
hammer They had a surfeit Of prayer
meetings. They were stuffed and chokeC
with catechisms. They were told bv theil
parents that they were the worst childrer
that ever lived because they liked to ride
down hill better than to read Pilgrim
Progress" They never heard their pa
rents talk of religion but with the corners
ef the mouth drawn down and the eye
rolled up. Others went into sllepticisn
through maItreatment on the part Of som,
who protested religion There is a MAJ
who says: My partner in business wa,
conspicuous In prayer meeting, and hC
was otticious in all religious circles, bu
he cheated me out Of $4,000, and l dom
want any of that religion" Then Their,
are others who get into slepticism by
natural persistence in asking questions
why or how? How can God be one bein,
in three persons? They cannot understand
it. Neither can l. How can God be
complete sovereign and yet man FREE
agent? They cannot understand it
Neither can /. They cannot understand
why a holy God let's sin come into tn
world Neither can I. They say: Her
Is a great mystery; here is a disciple o
fashion, frivolous and goddess all her days
she lives on to be an oetogenarian Her
! Is n Ghristinn r1,nEhnr lrninir,r L. Il, n