The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-03-08
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
nY rHE Rev FRANk DE wITr rALMAeE. ?. D.

Chicago. March 5.-In this sermon the preacher gives striking modern applica- ton to the parable of the wedding feast and the varied excuses sent by those who absented themselves, but who desired to conceal the reaI.reason. The text is Luke xiv. IS. And they all with one consent began to make excuse"
 It is comparatively seldom that men are convinced by argument In every pefioo the great discoverer or philosopher now soever irrefutabe his arguments, mas been treated with incredulity and some times with ridlcule The little children used to point their fingers to their fore heads when the Genoa sea captain passed by, and all Europe called Columbus crazy because he believed in circumnavigauon. Up to Kepler's time this world was sup nosed to he a great animal, the wind its breadth, the sulphur and mineral veins it's ulcers, the eruptions and Volcanlc pulsations it's coughings. Calico had to nubliclv renounce the theory which he conld logically prove because the church considered it heresy. The young scientist who read a paper some years ago arguing that the coral islands were built by small insect was persecuted and expelled from the French academy, and, broken hearted and in disgrace, he committed suicide To introduce my innovation into the realm of thought by the power of argument is a task that few have the courage to attempt and fewer still the power to achieve.
 But though argument and fact are fxsyO xUiZ rdS " can always charm-he who can tell story and he who can paint picture. With one flash the artist of the brush or pen can carry the truth home. The public speaker who wields the greatest Influence today is not the scientist or the logician, but the orator who can tell the common people what thing is like. Christ nearly always spoke In parables His analogies were the wheat and the tares and the mustard seed and the birds of the air and the lilies of the valley. Everybody can understand similitude.
 One of these matchless similitudes is the scene of the text. The Kingdom of heaven Is compared to a feast to which many guests have been invited. Man ners and customs change, but in all pe- riods and in all lands the idea of feast has been familiar. They have been cele-
 
 made great feast when he gave his daughter Leah in marriage to Jacob. Archelaus made a great feast for those who came to his fathers funeral Kenil- worth castle blazed and cannons boomed during the days of Elizabeth, and cour- tiers drank to the health of the queen. Feast of the Passover, feast of Pentecost, feast of Tabernaces, were the three great annual festal occasions of the Jews. The holy communion was instituted at feast of Christ and his twelve apostles. The comparison of the kingdom of heaven to feast is, therefore, a very simple and familiar one. But, harki when the time comes for the guests to arrive, knock after knock is heard. Regret after regret is handed in Insult is heaped upon in suit And they all with one consent be- gan to make excuse"
 Excuses Old and New.
 Let us examine the excuses by which the men of old evaded this feast and see how closely they resemble the excuses by which men of the present day try to jus tify themselves in their refusal to sit down at the marriage banquet of the Lamb First, the capitalists excuse Hardly had the ancient banquet table been prepared when we can see courier $ horse dash up to the would-be hosts
  liveried costume of one of the rich men of the east He dismounts and knocks at the front door When the servant opens that door, the messenger hands in a scented missive which reads something like this: My dear friend much to my regret I find it impossible to be with you tonight I know you expected ne, but have just closed a big deal I have be- come the owner of a large tract of land, and I must go out and see ic. I pray thee have me excused. Though I am com pelled to be absent in body, yet shall be with you tonight in spirit. Adieu. my dear sir, until we mest at my own table" When the good man of the house receives this letter, his eye flashes. The Bible distinctly declares in reference to this episode: "Then the master of the house being angry"-He read between the lines of that refusal. He knew that this capitalists was making Il poor excuse, he knew that the capitalist as an intelli- gent investor would, never have bought that land unless he had first seen 1t, ex- amined it and ascertaircd that it's title deeds were all right. The good man may have had his suspicion that the capi talist of the last. now that he was a great landowner, felt a little above his old associates and, therefore, may have thought it was not dgnifed for him to mingle with ordinary guests at a com mon banquet and thus he stayed away. So we find that the hardest mer and women to reach in a gospel serse are the rich people. They do not always thii;k 1t respectable to associate with repre- sentatives of the masses in church pew They would be willing to go to heaven if