Milford chronicle., 1904-07-15
Ca(maQe
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee, D. D.

preacher in this sermon shows by illus
tration and incident that true and en-
during happiness and satisfaction ar,
not to be found in worldly success, bu
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
ican literature whose designations en-
dungeoned him in a chamber Of hor-
rOrs as ghastly as that in which Thom-
as De Quincy was compelled to live
and whose raven of delirlum tremens
sounded his death knell when he had
Just reached forty years of age, has
made the word "nevermOre" awful in
It's significance. In it we hear the
black bird Of demoniacal despair croak-
ing dirge. In it are heard the sobs
Of breaking hearts and are seen the
ghostlike horrors Of a living charnel
house. "Neyermorei 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
Ought" The great author of the just
" 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 reverberating voices A..
which run the gamut of remorse. Car
lyle's conception of the imperial force
of that word ought had in it the
thunder of Sinai. and to the offender
recreant to duty it still sounded. min
gled with the taunts Of the fiends of
the eternal inferno, derding and mock
Ing the miserable sufferer with the re-
mindcrs of the bliss he might have en-
joyed if 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 +
ippi he said: almost! Almost thou
persuadest me to be Christian" All. :
yes, King Agrippa was so near the +
kingdom of God that just one step =
forward would have placed the Roman n
ruler at the feet of Christ Just one .
step more would have changed him /,
from pagan into a humble and re- Y
)entant follower Of the Nazarene. But n
hat one step was never taken. King q
Agrippa was almost" persuaded to be s.
Christian, but his almost" never n
'rought him into safety and eternal ii
ife. =,
Today l am going to try to help some In
I you TO overcome that saddest of all nj
words, almost" l am going to show II
ONE Of you that. like the scribe of my re
ext who came to question Jesus. you w
re mot far from the kingdom of God" III
ut am also going to show you that pI
be almost saved and yet not saved w
to be lost completely and utterly lost. eli
lst as much as were the poor fellows tb
no were imprisoned a few years ago
the iron hulk of the steamers burn
II at the wharfs of Hoboken. in New
ork harbOr. Frantcaly they stood at "a
10 barred portfolios. Frantically they -
retched forth their arms through the ="
on gratings. The could see the blue iu'
alters Of the harbor. They could hear on
~ a NNe rafA H. a 1. ]
work. But they were lost, entirely e% "a.
1t, though there was "only one step az az
tween them and perfect safety.
of Christian Home. -
Almost saved! Yes, you are. How ~,
l know it? I learn how near YOU -, 49,
We come to salvation as l look at the -
tries on those white pages sewed be- 70
cen the Old and the New Testaments ,,,,,
the family Bible. BY this record OF h.
family births and deaths I find ",
II father was a Christian. Your +i,,
ther was a Christian. Your sisters 49,,
1 brothers We're all Christians. I -
also that your parents reconsecrat a.
their lives for Gods service when 60,
y held you before the sacred altar Suo'
'A+N eAg eOu were DdpllAeu. II Is Low,
Y easy matter for you to become a .I,',i
'istian with such family history. o,,..
lis true says some young man to moi
Il WAS born in a Christian home. H.
n not near, however, but very. very 80
from tie kingdom Of God. Why, ~
II ! left my Christian home seem -.
to be possessed not with seven in.
Us, but seventy times seven devils. L.
sooner did l leave home and 20 NT
" from mother and father than I H.
ged into a life Of dissipation. l Y,,oni
lk, l gambled, blasphemed. 1 did ston
. hing l ought not to have done, +bo
left undone everything I ought tbo,
lave done. 1t is said that when \, :
machus was fighting against the tbo
-e he was entapped by his enc s,,Io,
in the desert sands. His thirst tba+
me so great that he offered his sbir
e Kingdom for a drink of water, as III, ~,
! sold his birthright for mess Of - a.
lge. But no sooner had Lysl- s. g ~
ius slaked his thirst than he cried: 80 80