Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-07-15
Calnnase
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Tslmaee, ID. ID.

LUIS Angeles, Odl., July lO.-Ine
preacher in this sermon shows by illus
tration and incident that true and en-
during happiness and satisfaction are
not 10 be found in worldly success. bst
through Christ The text is Mark xii,
"a. 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 in a chamber of hor-
rors as CHASTITY as that in which Thorn
as De Quincy was compelled TO live
and whose raven of delirium tremens
sounded his death knell when he had
just reached forty years of age, has
made the word "nevermore'' awful In
Its significance. In il we hear the
black bird OF demoniacal despair croak-
ing dirge. In il are heard the sobs
OF breaking hearts and are seen the
ghostlike horrors Of Il living eharnel
house. ''Nevermorei 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 reddest of
all Inks when he wrote the word
fought" The great author OF the just
iy famous philosophical dissertation
upon 1.-THE French Revolution" de-
clared that the word ought is the
saddest Of all words. 1t has in IL ali
the harsh and reverberating voices
which run the gamut of remorse. Car
3yle's conception of the imperial force
OF that word ought had in ii the
thunder OF Sinai. and to the offender
recreant to duty 1t still sounded, min
Rled with the taunts of the fiends of
the eternal inferno, deriding and mock
Ing the miserable sufferer with the re-
minders 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 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
persundest me to be a 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 a pagan into q humble and re-
pentant follower OF the Nazarene. But
that one step was never taken. King
Agrippa was almost persuaded to be
n Christian, but his almost never
brought him into safety and eternal
life.
Today I am going TO try TO help some
OF you to overcome that saddest OF all
words almost" / am going 10 show
some or you that. like the scribe of my
text. who came 10 question Jesus. you
nre mot far from the Kingdom OF God"
but am also going TO show you that
10 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 Il few years ago
In the iron hulk OF the steamers burn
Ing at the wharfs OF IIoboken, ia New
York harbor. Frantically they stood at
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
at work. But they We're lost entirely
lost. though there was only one step"
between them and perfect safety.
Advantage OF "A Christian Home.
Almost saved. Yes, you are. How
DO know 81? / learn how near you
have come TO salvation as look nj the
entries on those white pages scwed be-
tween the Old and the New Testaments
OF the family Bible. BY this record OF
the family births and deaths ] find
your father was Christian. Your
mother was Christian. Your sisters
and brothers were all Christians. I
hnd also that your parents reconsecrat-
ed their lives for Gods service when
they held you before the sacred altar
ON the day you were baptized. 1t is a
very easy matter for you 10 become n
Christian. with such Il family history.
lis true" says some young man to
me. II was born in Christian home.
am not near, however, but very, very
far from the Kingdom of God. Why,
after left my Christian home / SEEM
ed t. be possessed not with seven
devils. but seventy times seven devils.
No sooner did leave home and 60
away from mother and father than /
plunged into Il life OF dissipation.
drank, gambled, I blasphemed. did
everything l ought not TO have DONE
and laft undone everything I ought
TO have done. 1t is said that when
iysimaehus was fighting against the
Getae he was entrapped by his ene-
mies In the desert sands. His thirst
became so great that he offered his
whole kingdom for drink of water, as
Esau sold his birthright for a mess of
pottage. But no sooner had Lysi-
machus slaked his thirst than he cried:
-Ah. wretched me. who for such a
mementary qualification should have
lost so great a kingdom Though
have been brought up In Christian
home. for the momentary satisfying OF
my evil desires have stified all those
pure influences OF the past. 1 am like
q man who. to Quench his thirst, has
done more than to barter away a king
dom. i have bartered away my life.
Not so fast, brother; not SO fast. Yot
hGeye flung yourself into the quagmIrs
- sin. but by your very words of de
SPAR L know you are near to the king.
dom. ] have had in my time much ex.
perisnce with young men, and have
sometimes found that, like the prodi.
gal who left his fathers home for the
Tar country, many young men reared
in the best of homes have flung them.
selves into the seething whirlpool of
sin. But these young men were like
the prodigal also in that they came
back to their fathers home after they
had spent their all. The golden cords
OF parental prayer are now Juggling at
your heart. Viiest or sinners YOU NAV
have been; most heartless of hayward
boys may have been your history, but
today God is calling; your dead moth