The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-07-17
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.


possessed not with seven devils. but sev- enty times seven devils. No sooner did l leave home and go away from mother and father than I plunged into a life of dissipation. I drank, l gambled, I blas- phemed. I did everything I ought not to nave done, and left undone everything ought to have done. It Is said that when Lysimachus was fighting against the Getae he was entraped by his enemies in the desert sands. His thirst became so great that he offered his whole king dom for a drink of water. as Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. But no sooner had Iysimachus slaked his thirst than he cried: 'Ah, wretched me, who for such a momentary qualification should have lost so great a kingdom
 Though l have been brought up in Christian home, for the momentary sat- isfying of my evil desires I have stihed all those pure influences of the past 1 am like a man who, to Quench his thirst has done more than to barter away kingdom. I have bartered away my life"
 Not so fast. brother; not so fast You have flung yourself into the quagmire Of sin, but Dy your very words Of despair know you are near to the kingdom. l have had in my time much experience with young men, and I have sometiems found that, like the prodigal who left his fathers home for the far country, many young men reared in lAe best of homes have flung themselves into the seething whirlpool of sin. But these young men were like the prodical also in that they came back to their fathers home after they had spent their all. The golden cords of parental prayer are now tugging at your heart. Vilest of sinners you may have been; most heartless of wayward boys may have been your history. but to- day God is calling; your dead mother, your redeemed mother, is calling; your hearted father is calling: Come, come, come homei Oh, sinner come home!'' Will you hear the cry? Way off in that far country of sin thou art not far from the kingdom of God" Thou art not far from Christ. but near, on account of your early Christian home training.
 Don't Live Seifishiy.
 Almost savedl Yes, you are. I know it by the unhappy looks that are chiseled in the wrinkles of your face. When you started out in life you thought the height of a mans happiness could be es- timated by the length of his bank ac- count. You thought ,44e worldwide area of his joy could be always circumscribed only by the hemispheric spread of his fame. But now by bitter experience you know that weatth and fame only bring added cares. You know that if man lives for himself alone, if he dose not seek the higher joys of the soul, if he does not live for Christ, seeking also the well fare of his brother man, he can find no happiness on earth at all
 can imagine a scene in your life which brought it's emptiness vIvidly before you. Such scenes. varying in their details, come to many a man, bidding him pause and consider what is the true purpose of life. Let me seei V nere did this scene happen? In Chicago. You are a wealthy merchant. You have come out on visit to Los Angeles. It was in Chicago. as near as I can make out, on a Saturday night, the second week of January. The fire was burning brightly on your office hearth. The table by your side was filled with papers. The employees. working ten yours a day, sometimes think the em- ployer entering his office at or 10 o'clock in the morning has very easy time But long after the busy beehive of the modern dry goods emporium has stopped it's hum, and the tired little cash girls have crowd ed the streets. laughing, shouting, per- haps smiling at the passersby, in juvenile delight at being set free from toll and the bookkeepers have balanced the accounts, and the iron shutters have been pulled down. and the clerks have closed their counters, and the cashiers have locked their safes, and the delivery wagons have ceased their rumbling, and the wornout horses have been fed and blanketed in their stalls and the street lamps have become as multitudinous as the visible stars of the heavens the tired merchant works on. The wood in the fireplace crackled and laughed. The flames leaped higher and higher and sputtered more loudly as the reports of the different de- partments recorded the bushes triumph of a whole year. Stock had been taken, for the holiday goods were all sold. Ev- cry promissory note had been met. There was plenty of money in the bank to clear