Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-11-10

TO get; aud u thousand times men choose
be as they are, rather than to be better
Il, tits cost.
Here we perceive elements. of change.
and tLat change is masked and going on.
For now religion, instead OF stunning hu-
manlty Ter SIX yarking excursions. is coming
rio hf nto humanity. She is acknowledl-
| nc nose and more humanity rs the onty
| shipct of her charge, life, work and pnr-
| nose; becoming more and more Indifferent
| 10 everything e.se We lose our bearings
somewhat under this. More aud more re-
| lgion is coming right into the world, just
as God made it, and as you and are max
aud direct the judgment that shall issue the
er;aa..ct III last. She is passing from her
| >equesterptl life, from her punishment, into
buman life and into The grand world God
made sor her, and she is asserting power
| here Religion is valued, or coming 10 be
valued. more and more for W bat 1t does Tor
| US every hour; in that k is seen 10 touch
! us al every point, tarrying IN our homes,
coming in;o coun ing rooms, stealing Into
onr sigilS, becoming the atmosphere IN all
he breath we breathe, light IN ali our
| oing IN the world. She pursues US. as we
| rw, challenging our loyalty thereto in the
| daily walks of life She is laying her band
upon institutions; vet We remember how
even IN New Testament times, she was for
hidden t. touch public affairs She is like
leaven working into aud in her purpose
pervaaing al The Institutions of ihe world;
-h, is. seeking to erthrone herself as the
scepsre of society at large
Less and less is religion becoming q sun
day-suit, moe and m re every dav
the working dress of our real life; not of
oar speculative life or theological life, but
our human lie. Men have, to great ex
,ent, sought to make religion Il kind of
cake or sweet-meat for company, to treat
God with when He came 10 see them, or
when old death came around. But the
world is finding out that religion, If it is
worth anything, is valuable FOR being bread
and meat unto the necessities of our hu
mainly, the ordinary table OF bounty e
must subsist upon day by day. We know
how sometimes people shut up the best
L. IL, Il
air into it until the guest comes, and then
it is not fl 10 sit in three minutes. SO re-
Ueiou is treated as a sort of select parlor
once in while entered; whereas the world
is at last finding out shat religion must be The
whole house. Her light and sunshine must
be in every room, in every chamber. from
| the attic to the cellar even Every apart
ment must be fragrant with the pure air of
| her life and nature. 1t is of no use, my
friends, to keep our religion for exhibition,
as things are kept in showcase to be look
! ed at, all bright, with the dust wiped off
/ from every article of our faith kept there
as specimen of what we beieve-and be-
cause we believe it, hope for salvation. Re-
| hand, in our life. We exhibit it indeed
| but as a grand, divine scale on which we
| propose to live and construct our humanity
| from which we propose to report at last as
to our deserts and that we ask for; grand
scale, not of what we believe, but of what
we do and become Consequently, if we
want to find. live Christianity, we must
| not seek it among the dead 1t is pleasant
| to roam among fragrant epitaphs; but trey
are not the haunt of vital, potent Chris
| tianity.
1t ia matter of interest a great many
times, to walk through the halls popnlous
with the tinsel, the wardrobes and the re-
| nown Of kings and earthly potentates; but
| if we want a vital Christianity, that is not
the place in which to look for it. To find
that, we must go into the street where men
are. down onto sthe wharfs, out upon the
sea, where men toll and do deeds, sud make
characters for GROWING OR Tor wreck. we
must go into counting-rooms, we must 60
wherever men live and do and make re-
cords. If you want to find live Chris
| tianity, go into the homes of men-if you
want to find = dead Christianity, you can
fad it there sometimes. If you would dis
cover who is true and who is sound on this
great matter of the Gospel and of Chris
tianity, don't betake yourself to the uncer-
taintes we talked of last Sunday; don't
look into those matters that lie beyond the
possible reach of human settlement, for you
have enthroned the spiritual and the ethical
principles of the Christian religion over
your life, as the law of your duty. If you
hare done that, you need look no further
Thus the work Of redemption is going on
and will go on. And under this new de.
parture. Christianity will achieve trium phs
whose splendors shall eclipse all that is fad
ing ia the beauty of days that are gone.
| l say, it is true that the world misses Ger.
| tain familiar things It is true. if that is