The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-04-18
DANGER IN DELAY.
Folly of Postponing Acceptance of
Gospel Invitation Exposed.
DIR. TaImnEe Examines Apologies Of
Men for Not Entering the Chris
tan Life-Sympathy for
the Skeptics.
copyright. 1902 by Louis Klopsch. N. VI



In the following discourse, prepared
by DR., Talmage before his illness, the
folly and danger of postponing the ac-
ceptance of the Gospel invitation are
exposed on the text, Luke IA: 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 nonattendance on one
ground, another on another ground.
The most of the regrets are founded
on prior engagements. So in my text
a great banquet was spread, the IN
vitations were circulated, and now the
regrets come in. The one gives an
agricultural reason, the other a stock
dealers reason, the other domestic
reason. All poor reasons. The fact
was, they did not want to go. And
they all with one consent began to
make excuse"
So now God spreads great banquet.
1t is the Gospel feast, and the table
reaches across the hemisphere, and
the. invitations go out, and multitudes
come and sit down and drink out of the
chalices of Gods love, while other null
titudes decline coming, the one giving
this apology, and the other giving that
apology, land they all with one con-
sent began to make excuse" 1 pro-
pose, so far as God may help me, to ex-
anime the apologies which men make.
for not entering the Christian life.
Apology the first: L am not sure
there is anything valuable in the Chris
tan religion. 1t is pleaded that there
are so many impositions in this day; so
many things that SCENE to be real are
sham. A gilded outside may have
hollow inside. There is so much quack-
cry in physics, in ethics, in politics,
that men como to the habit of incred-
ulity, and after awhile they allow that
incredulity to collide with our holy
religion. But, my friends, think re-
Hgion has made a pretty good record
in the world. How many wounds it
has salved! How many pillars of fire
it has lifted in the midnight wilder
ness! How many Simeon struck des-
erts 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 wa
ter it hath gathered for thirsty Hagar
and Ishmaeli What mamma whittier
than coriander seed it hath dropped
all around the camp of hardly bested
pilgrims! What promises it hath sent
out like holy watchers to keep the
lamps burning around deathbeds.
through the darkness that lowers into
the sepulcher! What flashes of resur-
rection morn!
Besides that, this religion has made
SO many heroes. 1t brought Summer
field, the Methodist, across the Allan
blow the acceptable year of the Lord
until it seeemd as if all our American
cities would take the kingdom of
heaven by violence. 1t sent Jehudi
Ashman into Africa alone, in a conti-
nent of naked barbarians, to lift the
standard of civilization and Christian
ity. 1t made John Milton among po-
cts, Raphael among painters, Christie
pher Wren among architects, Thor
waldsen among sculptors, Handel
among musicians, Dupont among mil
itary commanders, and to give new
wings to the imagination and better
balance to the judgment and more de-
termination to the will and greater
usefulness to the life and grander no.
bility 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
MI int
you will never see him again nor 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 sickroom. Let the pain stab;
let the fever burn; curse it and die.
There is nothing in religion? After
awhile death will come. You will hear
the paving of the pale horse on the
threshold. The spirit will be breaking
away from the body, and it will take
hight-whither, whittier? There is no
God, no ministering angels, to con-
duct, no Christ, no heaven, no home.
Nothing in religion? Oh, you are not
willing to adopt such dismal theory
And yet the world is full of skeptics.
And let me say there is no class of
people for whom have warmer SYM
pathy than for skeptics. We do not
know how to treat them. We deride
them, we caricature them. We, in
stead of taking them by the soft hand
of Christian love, clutch them with
the iron pinchers of ecclesiasticism.
Oh, if you knew how those men had
fallen away from Christianity and be-
come skeptics you would not be so
rough on themi Some were brought
up in homes where religion was over
done. The most wretched day in the
week was Sunday. Religion was driven
into them with triphammer. They
had a surfeit of prayer meetings.
They were stuffed and choked with
catechisms. They were told by their
parents that they were the worst chill
dren that ever lived because they liked
to ride down hill better than to read
Pilgrims Progress" They never
heard their parents talk of religion
but with the corners of the mouth
drawn down and the eyes rolled up.
Others went into skeptieism through
maltreatment on the part of some