Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-07-30
sunday-schOOl Lessons.
The Christianity Of Everyday Speech.

sept z0-Le3sOn selected by the ochOOL
The Christianity Of Everyday Speech.
THOSE who have undertaken TO lead
Christian lives, and who are known to
the world as having made confession Of
duties and obligations of high and un-
changing character, are in constant
danger Of permitting themselves to for
get the true nature of their obligations,
and Of being more or less influenced by
the purposes and the sentiments Of
those who are not Christians at all. He
who would constantly rise higher in the
performance Of Christian duty must
constantly struggle so to rise; for in
the Christian life there is rightly no such
| thing as stagnation or subsidence.
| When we are not positively and ag-
gressively seeking to do right, and to
| be worthy of the Name we have named,
we may be sure that our nOn-action will
result in practical acceptance Of prin-
| ciples of thought and life which have
been framed By the enemies of true re-
ligion. In our work and our play, our
thought and our speech, and all the
conduct of our daily lives, it cannot be
! doubted that. when we cease to shape
our dOings in obedience to our sense of
what is right and wrong in the Chris
tian sense, we fall at once to the level
of those whose principles of living are
essentially worldly and unchristian. 1t
is hard to climb; it is easy to let 90;
and so it is that too many Christians
practically throw the influence of their
lives, or OF very large part of their
lives, into the worldly and material side
of the balance, and so destroy when it
is their duty to upbuild, and follow the
broad way of popular usage rather than
the narrow one of individual duty.
Take, for instance, but one line of OBJ
ligation-that of not conforming to low
and unspiritual standards of speech.
Are we always as careful as we ought
to be in what we sag about the religion
we claim to believer Do we always
speak of it as a true and holy thing,
about whose verify we have no doubt? ?
Do we talk reverently of its Bible, its
sacraments and other offices, its serving
ministers, its gatherings and its places
of worship? The non-Christian world
has its own vocabulary of speech con-
cerning all these things; do we ever
adopt parts of that vocabulary as eX-
pressive of our own feelings, or, at any
rate, of the feelings which, in our COW
ardlY moments, we affect to have? We
may be sure that there are plenty OF
people who are ready, and more than
willing, to treasure up what we may
lightly say of things which we profess
to hold dear, and to try to Justify the
GOODNESS and selfishness of their own
unbelief by any lack of warmth or posi-
| -, 81
cerning the highest themes and the
noblest duties. If by our daily speech
we seem to express the conclusion that
religion is a trivial and unimportant
matter, that its creeds are OutwOrn, its
ministry an excrescence of bygone
superstition, and its membership hYpo,
critical and hollcw-hearted, how is any.
BODY to know that in our heart of heart:
we hold any higher view? If the world
finds us willing to accept its standards
aud its utterances when we are on the
street, what right have we to ask that il
give us credit for any firmer faith OI
any devouter spiritual frame in our
closets? We are measured, and we
ought to be measured, by what we say,
and by the manner in which our words
are spoken. Ii our language in weaker
hours, when consorting with the
worldly-minded and unspiritual, be.
trays our higher purpose and our more
trustful faith, we have no right to com
, plain if we are ranked with unbeliev-
ers and with enemies of the cause
which we pretend to follow, He
who is not with me is against me; and
he that gathereth not with me scatter
eth abroad" There is altogether toe
much scattering abroad by means o
the worldly words which we seek Il
embody in Christian speech.
In order to refuse thus to adopt 1
7 lower scale of speech and action thar
+ that which we are bounden to hold, il
$ is by no means necessary to adopt I
4 "strait-laced " mode of conduct, or tC
fall into Pharisaic or monastic habit
a of seclusion, or to become morbid,
2 sensitive concerning the relations be
tween "the church and the world.
4 Not by such means shall we rise tOwar,
: the ideal Christian life, but by testins
! our thoughts, words and deeds by tn
simple question whether their tru
2 source is a constant desire to think
| speak and act as in Christ's name, ol
' whether they spring from no noble
I purpose than shifting desire to gel
. along as easily as may be, by following
e the general currents. S. Times.