The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-04-30
DIR, TALMAGES SERMON
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE sY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: Danger In Dslsy-The Fohy Oh
Pc.tponinx the Acceptance OF the
GospeI Inyitation-Sy nPRthy For the
sk.nsiesTime to he Religious.

discourse. prepared BY DR.. Talmage before
his illness. tho folly and danger OF post
poning the acceptance OF the gospei invf
tation are exposed on the text, Luke XIV,
u, "And they all with one consent oesan
| to make excuse.
After the invitations to levee arc
s.rt cut the regrets come in. One man
sroiocizes for non.attendance en- one
c-ound, another on another ground. The
mcst Of the regrets are founded on prior
| cpeapcments. So in my text great BAN
ouct was suread, the invitations were CIR
criated. 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. ine
| faat was, they did not want to so. And
they all with one consent began to make
| excuse" ~
So now God spreads a great banquet.
| Il is the gospel feast, and the table reaches
across the hemispheres. and the invita-:
| tions 20 out, and multitudes come and
cit 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 hpoOsy aie nnG 'nsy sI
cuse." I propose, so far as God may help
me. to examine the apologies which men
make for not entering the Christian life.
| 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
eilded outside may have a hollow inside.
There is so much quackery in physics, in
ethics, in politics. that men come to the
habit OF incredulity. and after awhile they
allow that iEcredulity to collide with our
holy religion. But, my friends, think
religion 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 wilderness! How
many Simeon struck deserts it hath turned
hath stilled the chopped sea! What rosy
light it hath sent streaming through the
| rift OF the storm cloud! What pools OF
cool water it hath gathered for thirsty
| Hsear and Ishmael! What mama whittier
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 the darkness that
lowers into the sepulcher! What flashes
Of resurrection morn!
Besides that, this religion has made 30
many heroes. II brought Summerfeld, the
| Methodist. across the Atlantic ocean with
| his silver trumpet to blow the acceptable
year Of the Lord until it seemed as il all
our American cities would take the king.
dom Of heaven by violence. It sent Jehudi
| Ashman into Africa alone, in q continent
/ Of naked barbarians. to lift the standard
Of civilization and Christianity. It made
John Milton among poets, Raphael among
| painters. Christopher Wren among arehi-
| t.cts, Thorwaldsen among sculptors, Han.
| del among musicians, Dupont among mill
| tary commanders, and to give new wjnCs
to the imagination and better balance to
the judgment and more determination to
the win and greater usefulness to the life
and grander nobility to the soul there Is
| nothing ir all the earth like our Christian
religion. Nothing in religion? Why, then,
| oil 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
| sec him again or hear his sweet voice
nor feel tie tkrob of his young heart.
There is nothing in religion: Sickness
yoar faRs pcv ?Sa rs TS TSe Medicine ned n
be bitter, the night may be dark. the pain
may BE- sharp; no relief. Christ never
comes to the sick.rocm. Let the pain
stab; let the fever burn: curse il and die.
There is nothing in religion? After awhile
death will come. You will hear the paw.
ing of the pale horse on the threshold.
The spirit will be breaking away from the
body, and it will take. fisht-whither.
ing angels to conduct. no Christ, no
heaven. no home. Nothing in religion
Oh, you, are not willing to adopt such II
dismal theory!
And yet the world is full of skeptics.
! And let me say there is no class OF peo.
pie for whom I have a warmer sympathy
than for skcpties; We do not know how
to treat them; We deridee them, we earica.
by the soft hand of Christian love, clutch
them with the iron pinchers of ecclesias.
ticisn. Oh, il you knew how those men
had fallen away from Christianity and he
come skeptics you would not be so rough
on them! Some were brought up in homes
where religion was overdone. The most
wretched day, in the week was Sunday.
Rel zion was driven into them with trip
meetings. They were stuffed and choked
with ca;echisms. They were told by their
parents that they were the worst children
that ever lived because they liked to ride
| Gown hill better than to read Pilgrim 8
Progress" They never heard their pa
rents 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
/
who says: '' Ny partner in business was
conspicuous III prayer meeting, and he
was oficiols in all religious circles, but
he cheated me out Of 5000. and / don't
want any of that religion" Then there
arc others who get into skepticism by a
natural persistence in asking questions,
why or how? How can God Be one being
it. Neither can ]. How can God be a
complete sovereign and yet man q free
Nsi:h:r can e l. They '' eannoe noeeeu understand nd
why holy God lets s.n come into the
world. Neither can ]. They say: Here
is : great mystery; here is o disciple Of
fashion, frivolous and goddess all her days;
is Christian mother. training her chill
dren for Cod and for heaven, self-sacrific.
ing, Christlike. indispensable seemingly to
that household; she gets a cancer and
that" Neither can I.
! can see how men reason themselves
into skepticism. With burning fe.t !
have trodden that blistering way. know
what it is to have hundred nights
the arid desert Of doubt who would give
their. thousands Of dollars if they coul1
get back to the old religion Of thc,s
fathers. Such men are not to be carica.
turcd, but helped, and not through their
heads, but through their hearts. When
these men really do come into the king.
dom Of God, they will be worth far more
to the cause OF Christ than those who
never examined the evidences of Chris.
tianity. Thomas Chalmers once a skeptic,
Robert Hall once a skeptic, Christmas
Evans once 4 skeptic; but when they did
lay hold Of the gospel chariot how they
made it speed ahead! II, therefore, l nd.
dress men and women who have drifted