Los Angeles herald., 1906-03-26
PAYS HIS RESPECTS TO
LUKEWARM CHRISTIANS
REV. DR., TALMAGE FLAYS THE
CHRONICALLY INDIFFERENT
Sinners Of Tepid Morality He De-
cIares, Are Harder to Reach
Than Those Who Derlde the
Savior

Rev. Frank De Witt Talmage's SER
. mon yesterday treated of "LukeWarm
Christianity"
The reverend speaker said in part:
Though God loves all his children
there is one class about whom he is
especially concerned. AS the worried
mother four or five times during the
night lights her lamp and goes to look
at the little sick patient and to fee!
the brow of the fevered child, GOD
again and again turns his anxious eyes
towards certain of his wayward ones.
"And where do you think these di-
vine eyes are most pleadingly looking
Towards the social outcasts? Oh, no.
Towards the drunkardS who are stag
gering and hiccoughing towards their
filthy tenements? No. Towards the
murderers in the criminal dock about
to be tried for their lives? No. To-
wards the thief who, in the evening
hours, knocks down the pedestrian, or
towards the safe breaker, who with his
dark lantern is making his way
through the cellars Of the bank he IN
tends to rob? No, no. no. These sinners
by the very enormity of their crimes
may be led to the mercy seat, if we
only go after them in the right way.
Gods Yearning Looks
Goods most yearning looks are not
turned towards those who are In open
rebellion against his name, but to-
wards those who are chronically ana
systematically Indifferent. THOSE VINO
are simply negative to the divine call
of love are harder to reach than those
who deride God or curse him.
Can you make any other deduction
than this from Christ's message to the
church members at Laodicea? OF all
the seven churches in Asia, there was
not one more excoriated in Revelation
than was this church. Of all the
eastern churches, there was not one
from outside appearance whose trans
gressions were not more heinous.
Modern Laodiceans, these sinners OF
lukewarm Christianity and tepid NOR
atty, at q distance can be likened TO
a beautifully polished mahogany or
rosewood table. To the casual OBJ
server, it seems to be worth almost It's
weight in gold. But when you closely
examine the same, you find 1t is SIM
ply veneered with rosewood or ma
hogany, cut as thin as paper.
"They are like contrary winds, tanta-
lizing the sea captain becalmed near
the equator. Here it is little putt
of wind; yonder 1t is little puff; Off
to the west is another little puff. All
these little puffs come from different
directions. But before the ships sails
can be trimmed and filled, like the
cheeks of a school boy blowing soap
bubbles, these puffs of wind die away
and the ships keel moves not.
Shallow People
"They are like people of shallow
Christian experience whom Christ de-
scribes, under the figure of grain
growing on stony ground which, on
account of the scarcity of soil cover
ing the roots, dies before the meridian
has been reached by the sun in the
heavens. Now, the purpose of this
sermon is to describe some of the
causes of the languid condition of these
modern Laodiceans.
II am not today preaching to the
great sinners or to the great saints;
but to those who are simply lukewarm
or negative or appallingly indifferent
to Gods love and Gods command
ments. May God help me to move
some out of their sinful lethargy. May
he fire with holy zeal the lukewarm
hearts of our modern Laodiceans, whom
Christ denounces with Gods bitterest
contempt and scorne and opprobrium."