The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-08-26

DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
eY lee REx ERANk De VIII rALMAeE. D. ..

DE WITT TALMAeE, D. D.
! do all In our power to win back that
health In order to become physical as well
as spiritual athletes In the Masters SER
vices?
"0h, yes say some people, John was
one OF those lovable men. lie was one Of
those elinging vines. He was the gentle
John. He never would say anything to
hurt anybodys feelings. He would go
miles and miles to tell pleasant fact.
He would go miles and miles to escape
telling an unpleasant truth" In other
words, most artists paint John with an
effemnate face. He is supposed to have Il
face which could never belong to a great
surgeon who has to- drive in the knife or
to great prosecuting attorney who has
to arraign criminal at the bar of justice
or to great commander who has to lead
on his soldiers in battle or to a great
statesman who has to Sign a death war
rant when 1t Is necessary and right so
to do. We do not picture him as a man
Of wrath and denunciaton. but only of
pardon and of peace, whereas, in fact, no
human face should be chiseled with firmer
| features of decision. He was q positive
man through and through. He seemed to
be able to handle the thunderbolts of
heaven as no inspired writer before or
| since has ever been able to do. Where can
II
punishment as in his book of Revelation?
Where such denunciation OF sin and eter-
nal death as In his apocalypse and his
visions? If you would be an apostle like
st. John you must be an uncompromising
foe of evil well as one who breaches
| the love and the pardon and the mercy
and the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
st. John No compromlser.
st. John was one of the favorlte disci-
pies of Jesus Christ on account of his
posltiveness. When the question of right
and wrong came up he was out and out,
up and down, through and through for
the right. There was no compromise. Are
we going to be like John In our denunca-
ton of evil? When 1t is necessary to use
the knife upon the deadly cancer a good
surgeon will keep on driving 1t in and
cutting down until he gets out all of the
roots? 1t Is a dangerous matter, this
tampering with evil. In my Chicago
church there sat Sunday after Sunday a
beautiful woman who was the mother Of
| three fine children. One day she came
to me and said: THE doctor wants me
to go to the hospital and have lump
upon my breast cut out" The next day
she had this operation DONE But the sur
geon was one of those vaeillating men. He
never did his work thoroughly. He made
a small incision and took out the lump.
".
in four month the lump came back. Then
another surgeon saw 1t. He said: Had
l done the first operation l could have
saved her life. I fear 1t is too late now
Then he laid that woman upon the table
and began to cut. He cut away the
f1eshy part of that womans right side,
from the waist up into the cords of the
neck. But. alasl he began his cutting too
late. That mother Is now in her grave
/ 10 Hrct pllt
enough This charge can never be made
against st. John. When he uses the knife
upon the cancer of sin he cuts clear down
to the root. He was a man of positive
characteristics. His lip was a smiling lip,
but it was a firm lip. May God help us
to be like John May we learn how to
denounce evil, as well as to preach the
pardoning love of Jesus Christ
But as we come into the banquet hall
and find the twelve apostles gathered
around Jesue for the last supper there
| is another characteristic to which 1
want to call your attention about this
same st. John. He was not only dis
clple who saw visions and dreamed
dreams, but he was one of the most
practical of men. All his castles were
not air castles. All his Utopias were
not anchored in the eloudlands. All his
telescopes were not focused upon the
dim future. He could the grass
glitterlng above his head. While he
thought about heaven, he always had
his feet planted upon the soil of earth.
The echoing sounds of the celestial
chorus did not drown out the roaring
waves beating themselves into foam
upon the rocky heights of old Patmos;
neither did the Bread of Heaven en-
tlrely shut his eyes to the necessity of
working in the harvest fields near his
own home In other words, when John
prayed he prayed like the common
sense Christian Mr.. Sturgeon once told
about. A poor laborer with a large
family broke his leg Then the good
mans friends decided to hold a prayer
meeting to ask God to care for his help
| less servant. The meeting was con-
Quoted by a Deacon Brown. Hardly
had the meeting got under way when
there was a knocking at the poor
mans door. us Deacon Brown IMP
asked husky, growing youth. well,
| father wanted me to tell him he did
not have time to attend the meeting to-
day. He had to work. But he has sent
his prayers and they are out in the cart"
The prayers that were sent We're piled in
an old farm wagon. These prayers con-
sisted of big bags of potatoes and beef
and flour. So when St John prayed he
prayed with his hands and feet as well
as his lips. He did not worship God as
did the devotes in the temple of mo, who
always worshped their deity by going
to sleep; butt he was ready to toll and
labor for his daily bread, as every other
man ought to be-
ST. John Was Practical.
We'll" you ask, chow do you make
| st. John out to be such a practical man?
How do you know he was careful about
| his money matters and careful to pro-