The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1879-02-20
GOD AND HEAVEN.
It Would take as Long as Eternity
to Tell the Pleasures of
True Religion"
Sermon by Rev. DIR. TaImage Feb. o.

| n y
Services were begun with the hymn,
''our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years TO come"
The lesson was the Garden Of
Eden, as described in the Book of
Genesis. The full discourse follows:
TEXT-"Her sOdys are a0ays of pleas
antness. - Proverbs, ill.,, II.
You have often heard of Gods
only begotten Son-have you ever
heard of his daughter2 She was
born IN heaven. One day she came
down over the hills of our world.
She had a queenly step. On her
brow was celestial raliance. Her
voice was music. Her name was
Religion, and my text introduces
her. Her ways are ways of pleas :
antness and all her paths are
peace"
Much has been said of late con
cerning my. theories of religion.
Are. they orthodox or heterodox? /
shall, in this and other sermons,
from time to time state my religious
doctrines The effect of theological
study on me is different from the
effect on some. Every year tear
a leaf out of my theology, until it
has become a very brief statement,
and have only three oriour leaves
left. give you a page of it to-day,
The first element of my religion is
sunshine. As soon as l get into
room L have passion for throwing
open all the shutters. That, by
Gods help, / mean to do to-day.
We put so much of the sepulchral
in our religion and are so disposed
to pull down the shades and close
the blinds, that it is only through
mere and there a crevlce that the
light streams. l want 1ow To pull
aside the curtain and food your
souls with eternal sunshine. Wher
ever can get hold of bell mean
to ring it. IL there be those who
have made up their minds to hug
their misanthropy, they had better
60 now before the fairest and bright
est and gladdest being of the uni
verse comes an. Gods Son is gone,
but His daughter is here. Give her
room. Come in, thou Queen of
Heaven! Make this house thu
throne room. Hail. thou daughter
of the God Almighty
find much of the sunshine of re-
ligion in Christian society. The
most doleful people have ever met
are the perpetual un-makers, such
men as Charles Lamb, Thos. Hood.
Artemus Ward and others / might
mention, whose lives have been To
make sport. They make the world
laugh, but their biographies and
their auto biographies tell us that
there Is down in their soul deep
disquietude. Laughter is no sign
of happiness. The hyena laughs;
the maniac laughs; the loon among
the Adrlondacks laughs; the bac-
chanal crashing his decanter against
the wall laughs. From merely
worldly mirth there is dreadful re-
action. Such men are nearly al
ways cross the next morning. They
snap at you on Change, or pretend
they do not see you on the street.
gave up mere worldly society long
ago, because it was SO dull, so in
ane and so stupid; / always walk on
the sunny side of the street. For
tnat reason l have crossed over into
Christian society. l like better
their words of repartee and their
styles of amusement. There is
more real, genuine exhilaration
among truly Christian people than
any other class. They are better
natured the next morning and they
live longer. Long after the lungs
and the brain and the heart have
failed to do their work, or do it in
an upologetic way, l have known
these people to live on. l have
known Christian men whom the |
doctors say ought to have died |
years ago, and their living for a day |
is in defiance of all the laws of
anatomy and physiology. They |
have within them the supernatural
vitality Of Christian religion.
When a man is filed with the |
peace of God, he is not only happy |
himself, but he makes all around |
him happy. Put dozen Christian
people in one room in social con
versation, and between 3 and 10
o'clock, they will have more re-
sounding glee, more bright strokes
of wit, more thorough satisfaction |
of soul than all the worldly parties |
that will be gathered for the next
four thousand years. | mean that
coming together of people that are
invited because it is best under all |
the circumstances that they be In |
vited, and who go because under all
the circumstances il is best that |
they go, leaving their shawls on the |
second floor and their hats on the |
third, marching in to greet the gen
tleman and lady of the household |
with formal salutation, and then |
spending the evening in discussion /
of the weather and apologies for
treading on long trails, and perpet-
ual effort to keep the comers of the
month up to the appearance OF
pleasu ,e, and then go about with
an idiotlc hee hee about nothing till
Jne late cOllaJlOu IS seIFcu, bhSh iS-
turn to the parlor 10 resume the
weather, then, with the assurance
that he has really enjoyed the hour,
starting home with a sense Of relief
that is the chief satisfaction Of the
evening. Young man, just come TO
New York, where are you going 20
spend your evenings? Go 70 Nib
los, says one; go to Booths; go 20
the opera. Take my advice and
throw yourself body and soul into
Christian society. Report yourself
to me five years from now and let
me see how the advice works. Bring
with you that young man who re-
fuses the advice. AT the end Of
that time he will come up dissi-
pated, shabby in apparel, not dis
posed 10 look any one in the eyes,
and with moral character eighty five
per cent. off. You will come with
physical health confirmed, counte-
nance frank, habits honorable, soul
saved, with all the inhabitants OF
Heaven, from lowest angel up to