Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1906-08-02
Caln1aSe
Sermon
BY Rev.
frank De Witt Talmaac. d. d.

careless, the Indifferent and the irrev-
erent, who in church keep one eye on
the sermon and the other on business or
pleasure, this sermon has direct ap.
plcation. The text selected is Acts Xxx,
tain young man named Eutychus, being
fallen into deep sleep"
No class Of men work harder for
Christ than do the travelling evangellsts.
When such men as John Wesley and
George Whitencld and D. L. Moody
have world for parish, they realize
how large that field is, and they do
over 1t before they die. The true evan
gelst breaches on Sunday. He also
breaches on Monday. Tuesday, Wednes-
day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
He not only breaches at night, but in
the afternoons and In the mornings.
He breaches at all times and under all
conditions. He seems to say to HIM
self: "The harvest Is plenteous, but the
laborers are few. o God. give me
strength to WELD thy sickle with super
human power and gather thy sheaves
by the multitudes into the gospel gran
ary."
No work is too great for the true Cos
pei evangelist if he can only get an
audience to hear him preach. Turn to
the letter which Daniel Baker wrote to
his son in 1854. He was then an aging
man Of sixty-three. Yet he wrote these
words: "My speaking amounts to some
three or four sermons day. and this
for some three or four months past
Many persons express their astonish-
ment Why. Mr.. Baker, how can you
stand it? You can break down six
preachers / confess it does seem
little strange. but 50 1t is When I FIN
ish one meeting, I begin another the
very next morning, sometimes the very
same evening. My Master sustains me.
and Is it not written. They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their
strength"
John Wesley. the travelling evangel-
ist always began his days work at 4
o'clock in the morning. Many were
the times he preached two sermons
before breakfast. On an average he
used to travel every year nearly 5000
miles. He preached from two to four
sermons every day Of his life. Not
only that. but he everywhere dissem-
mated his printed appeals for Christ.
Truly Tyerman was right when he
eulOgized John Wesley's hercuean la
bors in these words: Looking ut his
travelling, the marvel IS how he found
time to write. and, looking ut his books,
the marvel Is how he found time to
preach" But preach he did. lie kept
on preaching under all conditions. He
seemed to say "My life is slipping
away so fast that l must carry the
gospel to as many people as possible
before I die" Wesley preached in the
early morning to the miners Of Gro
marty. He preached in the market
places at noon. He preached in the
fields in the afternoon. He preached
in the churches at night. He preached
at all times, under all conditions, to all
who would hear the message Of the
ntoning love of Jesus Christ.
Paul the Early Wesley.
Now, II l might not seem irreverent
I would say that the Apostle Paul was
the John Wesley among the early dis
ciples. In all probability he was not
an imprisoned speaker like Peter.
Peter always seemed to me to be the
George Whitefeld Of the apostolic
band. I can imagine him preaching
on the day of Pentecost as George
Whitefield so often stood before his
audiences, with flaming eyes and ear
nest gesture and resonant voice. Oh,
what power Peter must have been.
But, though George Whitetield had his
work to do, John Wesley had his work
also, and a far greater work John
Wesley went from place to place, not
only preaching, but also organizing
churches and collecting money for his
evangelistic work. Such was the work
of Paul. He was the John Wesley Of
the apostolic band.
Now, today we find this ancient
John Wesley on one Of his great mis-.
sionary tours. He wants to make the
most Of his trip, so he stops only a
short time at Troas. l think l hear
him say to his travelling companion,
Luke, do you think we can get
through our work here in week?' II
do not believe So" answers Dr. Luke.
"a week Is very short time" II
know it," says Paul. but II we wait
for the sailing of another vessel there
is no telling how long we may have to
remain here. 1 would like to preach
to these friends for months instead Of
week. But we must hasten on.
want to present the gospel to rs many
different cities as can before l die.
think II we get up early In the morn
Ing and preach before breakfast and
keep on preaching during the day and
preach late In the evening can SOW a
good many seeds. Our time is very
short. We must hasten on to Assos
and Mitylene and thence so to Chlos
and Trogyllium and Miletus."
Sleeping Christians.
Thus we see Paul hard at work In
Troas. Six days slipped by only too
quickly. On the last day before he
sails he has so much to say that he
continues his talks far on toward the
midnight. While he Is exhorting the
Christians of Iroas to be true to their
faith young man who is sitting on
the window sill of the room dozes.
loses his balance and falls out and
breaks his neck. "And there sat in a