Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-07-16
Calnage
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, d. d.

Los Angeles. Cal, July 1O.-The
preacher i'm this sermon shows by illus
tration and incident that true and en-
during happiness and satisfaction are
not to be found i'm worldly success. but
in embracing the offer of salvation
through Christ. The text is Mark xii,
81. Thou art not far from the kingdom
of God"
What is TO you the saddest word in
all the English language? Edgar Al
Ian Poe. that brilliant genius of Amer
lean literature. whose designations en-
dungeoned him i'm n chamber of hor
rors as CHASTITY as that in which Thorn
as De Quincy was compelled TO live
and whose raven of delirium tremcns
sounded his death knell when he had
just reached forty years of age. has
made the word ''nevermore' awful in
its significance. In it we hear the
black bird of demoniacal despair croak-
ing a dirge. In il are heard the sobs
of breaking hearts and are seen the
ghostlike horrors of living charnel
house. "Nevermore! Nevermore. New
ermore!' To many that word will al
ways be the saddest of all words.
Thomas Carlyle. the great English
essayist and philosopher. the master of
mighty sentences and prose master
pieces. dipped his pen in the rcddest of
all inks when he wrote the word
fought" The great author of the just
ly famous philosophical dissertation
upon THE French Revolution" de-
clared that the word Ought is the
saddest of all words. 1t has in it all
the harsh and reverbcrating voices
which run the gamut of remorse. Car
lyle's conception of the imperial force
of that word ought had i'm il the
thunder of Sinai, and TO the offender
recreant to duty il still sounded. min
gled with the taunts of the ticnds of
the eternal inferno. deriding and mock
ing the miserable sufferer with the re-
mindcrs of the bliss he might have en-
joyed il he had done as he ought.
Some have declared that the saddest
Of all words is gone" others DEATH"
others despair" But today want to
call your attention to another word
which I think is the saddest word ever
uttered by man. 1t was that which
King Agrippa spake to Paul when on
the Roman tribunal of Caesarea Phi
iippi he said: almost! Almost thou
persuadest me to be u Christian" All,
yes. King Agrippa was so near the
kingdom of God that just one step
forward would have placed the Roman
ruler at the feet OF Christ. Just one
step more would have changed him
from n pagan into a humble and re-
pentant follower of the Nazarene. But
that one step was never taken. King
Agrippa was almost persuaded to be
O Christian, but his almost" never
brought him into safety and eternal
life
Today am going to try to help some
Of you to overcome that saddest of all
words. almost" l am going TO show
some of you that, like the scribe of my
text. who came to question Jesus, you
are mot far from the kingdom of God"
but I am also going to show you that
to be almost" saved and yet not saved
Is to be lost completely and utterly lost.
Just as much as were the poor fellows
who were imprisoned few years ago
In the iron hulk of the steamers burn
ing at the wharfs of Hoboken. in New
York harbor. Frantically they stood ut
the barred portfolios. Frantically they
stretched forth their arms through the
iron gratings. The could see the blue
waters of the harbor. They could hear
the calls of the would be rescuers hard
Mt work. But they Were lost. entirely
lost though there was ''only one step"
between them and perfect safety.
Advantage of n Christian Home.
Almost saved! Yes. you are. How
do | know it? l learn how near you
have come to salvation as look ut the
entries on those white pages sewed be-
tween the Old and the New Testaments
Of the family Bible. BY this record Of
the family births and deaths I find
your father was Christian. Your
mother was Christian. Your sisters
and brothers were all Christians.
find also that your parents reconsecrat-
ell their lives for Gods service when
they held you before the sacred altar
OH the day you were baptized. 1t is
very easy matter for you to become a
Christian. with such Il family history.
Its true" says some young man to
me. II was born in a Christian home.
am not near, however. but very. very
far from the kingdom of God. Why,
after left my Christian home SEEM
ed to be possessed not with seven
devils. but seventy times seven devils.
No sooner did I leave home and go
away from mother and father than
plunged into life of dissipation. l
drank, gambled. blasphemcd. l did
everything I ought not TO have done.
and l left undone everything ought
TO have done. 1t is said that when
Lysimachus was fighting against the
Getae he was entrapped by his enc
mics I'm the desert sands. His thirst
became SO great that he offered his
whole kingdom for a drink of water, as
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