The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-11-23
DR.. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
BY THE REV. FRANK De WITT rALmAeE. D. D.

De WITT TALMAcE, D. D.
ately called the children to gether; then
after greeting his lawyer friends, ne turn
ed and said: Gentlemen, gave my heart
to Christ this morning. 1t Is very IN
pcrtant day in my life. | intend 10 start
a family altar at once. / wish that you
would Join In family worship with me and
my children and that my Christ might
become your Christ But If you are not
willing to join we will be through with
prayers in little while, and then we VIII
all go to dinner" As a result or tnat
earnest plea not only did his family, but
also his guests. kneel In prayer one or
two Of those guests then and there gave
| their hearts to Christ. Would that we
all might start our evangelistic work IN
our homes! Would that we all might
obey the commandment of my text by
first trying to bring our loved ones 10
know and to trust that Saviour whose
love for the repentant sinner passeth
all understanding!
But the gospel invitation ought to be
given to the strangers who are within
a Christians gates as well as to the
loved ones who have a right by the ties
of blood to live there. 1t is nonsense for
us to suppose that after we have gather
ed our fathers and mothers and wives
and husbands and children and very
few dear personal friends into the gos-
pei lifeboat we have a right to haul In
the plank and cast off the hawsers and
set sail for heaven, deeming our Chris
tian responsibilities fulfilled. No. EN-
phatically no. The Christians obligations
are so far reaching toward his fellow men
that in the light of the gospel the poor
traveller who was waylaid by thieves on
the road to Jerico was just as much a
brother to the good Samaritan as If he
had been born in the same cradle. sung to
sleep by the same lullaby and reared In
the same homestead.
But though the gospel teachings make
the Jew and the gentle brothers, yet the
average church member does not feel that
he has any direct responsibility in pre-
senting the gospel invitation to the stran-
ger that is within his gates. After the
minister has preached some Sunday
pertinent sermon upon this overwhelming
text, Go out into the highways and
hedges and compel them to come fn" this
average church member accosts the pas
tor with words like the following: why,
my dear pastor you would not expect me
| to stand in the aisle of the church and
ask the stranger to come into the after
meeting. would you? am a young girl.
1t would not be proper for young lady
to speak to strange men and women,
even in a church without an introduce
tion.' Or some young man would say
| Preacher, l am a church member, but I
cannot do what you want me to do. You
surely would not expect me, when I am
riding along in a railroad train. to talk
about Christ with every man who might
sit down by my side and open conversa-
tion with me? Why, such a course as
that would naturally be very embarrass-
ing to me as well as to the people with
whom talk" Yes, young man or young
woman. whether 1t would be embarrass-
ing or no, whether you have had an intro
lon, ~ - ,rrIf
you come into temporary contact, that is
what believe every true church member
ought to do. I believe every Christian
ought to be so anxious to save souls for
Christ that, no matter in what position
In life he may be placed, he ought never
to allow any man, woman or child to
come into contact with him in any way
unless he tactfully improves that chance
for speaking a word for his Divine Mas
| ter
Spread the Invitation.
Church members should present the
| gospel invitation to the men and women
whom they chance to meet the more
willingly because they would never dream
of waiting for an Introduction or of hes
itating on account of embarrassment II
they saw the same people threatened
with any physical danger. Supposing, o
Christian man, you were returning home
late some night and you saw the flames
playing about the curtains Of the dining
room In your neighbours house. Would
you hesitate for one instant about ring
ing that owners doorbell because you
had not a personal acquaintance with
him? Would you first scurry around the
town to hunt up some mutual acquaint-.
ance to give you that introduction? MOI
At the top Of your lungs you would cry
''Fire Firei 'Fire!" You would tell your
side to run to the nearest fire alarm box
and at once call the engines And IL the
smoke was rolling up in great clouds
and threatening to suffocate the inmates
of that home you would with your cane
smash the parlor windows and rush up
stairs unannounced and awaken the
/ drowsy sleepers. II necessary, you would
help carry the children down into the
street in your protecting arms. After
you are ready to do all that to warn
a stranger of an earthly danger, do you
mean to tell me that unless you have
been introduced you have no right to give
to that same stranger the gospel invita-
| ton? / declare that your position Is not
tenable. tell you that II you truly be-
| lieve that an unrepentant sinner must
| die, then you should act toward the SIN
ner who is in imminent danger of de-
| struction in the same way in which you
| would act toward that man who is sleep
| ing in bed when the fire demons are
dancing along his Railways and playing
| hide and seek among the tapestries of
| his parlor
| Again, 1t is absolutely necessary in or
| der to carry out the command of my
text for the average church member to
| give the gospel invitation to his friends
and to strangers when they are gathered
inside the church walls as well as when
they are scattered without and 1t Is also
necessary for the church members to ex-
tend this invitation for specified time
and place. A general invitation to come
| to supper Is, as rule, worse than no in
vitation at all. When a person comes to
me ana gushingly says, ooh, Mr. Tai
mage, do wish you would come and visit
us; come any time you can and stay as
| long as you please" I am sure of one fact
| that person wants to be polite, but he
| does not want me to come. He did not
| set date. But when friend comes to
me and says, Mr.. Talmage will you and
| your wife take supper with us next
| Thursday night; we are poor folks but
| we will give you the best we have?" I
| generally accept. Why? Because 1 think
that man wants me to come. He set a
| time and place where he wished to enter
| tain me. So, when the minister of the
| Lord Jesus Christ breaches a sermon and
| gives a general invitation and SAYS to
| the sinners. Come to Christ" and then
| dismisses his audience with a benedictfon
| and goes home. as a rule, that sermon has
amounted to but very little in its evan
| gelistic results. But when the minister of
| the Lord Jesus Christ can go to his
| church members and say: Brethren we