News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-04-23
A FEW PULPIT THOUGHTS.
NOTES FIs05JsRfIR SUNDAY SERMONS
OF PROMINENT CLERGYMAN.
Tulmage on the Uses- OF TrOHblc-John Hall
on Finding Truth tor the SeekIng-Cros-

TalmaRe on the Uses OF TrOHbic-John Hall
on FindinR truth tor the SeekIng-Cros-
by and FRTkhurst.
TALMAGE on THE USES OF TROUBLE.
The Doctor chose for his text Sunday,
Revelation, vii, 17-"And God shall
wipe away ali tears from their eyes," Ire
member once, began the preacher, being
on Far Western prairie, when | had a
most singular experience. 1t was rain
ing heavily. The clouds seemed to be
in haste to empty themselves. But
throughout the tremendous rainfall the
sun kept shining in sll his splendor. 1t
was grand sight, this rain and sun
shine, and it was Instructive as well as
beautiful. | was reminded of the tears
of the children of God, and felt that
their weepings, which are inevitable,
were but rain on pansied prairies in
Gods golden sunlight. What are tears
The chemist tells US that they consist of
SO much salt and so much lime. Bot
the chemist leaves ont the principal in
glelient. Tears are agony in solution.
Tears had their uses, said DR.. Tai
mage; and it would be his aim in what
followed to show what these uses were.
Tears were useful, in the first place, to
keep the world from being too attractive.
The world was beautiful. 1t was and
could not but be attractive. People
were not to blame for loving it ami de-
string to remain IN it. They could not
expect God to spoil it, to rob it of its
beauty, go as to make them anxious to
get out of it. Bat it was not mans home:
aud, as no one was willing to leave it
until trouble had robbed it of its attrac-
tons, so trouble was sent to loosen
mems hold upon it and to make them
willing to go. The Doctor said he had
such visions of Heaven now, he was so
overwhelmed with a sense of the
grandeur of the heavenly state, that if
his vast congregation were in one boat
and he could push it from its earthly
mooriDgs he would do so, even if he
himself could only get an imperfect hold
on its side.
Tears were useful, in the second place,
to make men feel their dependence upon
God. KING Alfonso wished he had been
present at the creation. He would have
used his influence so as to secure the
creation of better world. Pity he was
not present, said DR.. Talmage, with
mock seriousness, which brought an au-
dible ripple of laughter. Pity he was
not present. l wonder what God would
do if some men were out of the world !? |
Their presence is so indispensable. So |
long as men are in good health and in |
they think not of God. They |
trust In themselves. 1t is only when |
they are beaten, when they have become |
desperate, when there is no hope from
any other source, that men come to
GOD, piteously calling for help.
Tears are useful, in the third place, to
capacitate men for the offices of sym
pathy. This gave DR.. Talmage the OPP
portunity for which he had been pre-
pairing his audience. Brooklyn had sus-
tained loss and he himself friend in
the sudden death of Mrs. Samuel T.
5piers, the wife of DR.. Spiers. The
preacher pronounced an evidently care
ully prepared and glowing eulogy on
he deceased lady, and spoke of DIR.
5piers as the man who had come to his
rescue in the hour of his trouble, and
who, when the lances of the many were
about to destroy him, protected him by
ais broad and firmly held shield.
When upon the white horse be rode
1own upon my antagonists and routed
them, said the Doctor, he put me under
repay.
ovERwoRK AND UNDUE HASTE.
The Rev. DIR. Charles Fl. Parkhurst:
All about us are men who abbreviate
their lives by process of slow suicide.
1t is often and wisely said that if there
is any difficult service to be rendered,
the man most ready to undertake it, and
most likely to succeed, is the man al
ready overburdened. The man hardest
TO enlist in an enterprise is the man who
is now engaged in 10 enterprise. But a |
mans life is given him to use, not to use |
up. The institution of the Sabbath was |
not an arbitrary arrangement. Gods |
purpose was that man should have
resting tiHs5,a chance to reimburse him
self for expended physical energy.
Hurry precludes anything like comfort. J
There is no deliciousness in attempting !
to do months work in week. We |
have a right TO have some good time in |
this world as well as all good time IN the |
world to come. Earth suffers detriment |
by the way we aCcentuate heaven; we
put felicity all IN tho future tense.
There is a sin of other-worldlinesS as
well as of worldliness 1t is an impulse
Of nature to wish to do large things and
many things. Some Of US would not be
content with being angels unless we
could be archangels. One mistake OF
hos interested in Christianizing man
kind is in thinking there is special need
Of haste. There is no hurry; all divine
work is gradual; God never shows signs |
Of precipitancy. Time is long; eternity |
is longer. Christ waited nearly the full |
time of average human life before He |
began His work. In His life there Is |
no hurry or fairy; He had time for the |
demands of social life and for devotion.
His simplicity of aim, too, is noticeable.
His one end was to EDUCATE twelve men
into an understanding of Himself. These
twelve were the fulcrum by which He
gained leverage upon the world. The
permanence of our work does not de-
pend upon its area, but upon its depth
and thoroughness. Things half done
are temporal; things wholly done are
eternal.
FINDING TRUTH FOR THE SEEKING.
The Rev. DR.. John Hall Men dis
like to be compelled to change their
course in life; it wounds their pride to
have to yield to pressure from without
that does not correspond to the inclina-
ton within. Hence arises in spiritual
matters the need of frequent and urgent
appeals to induce them to turn from the
ways of their inclination to better paths,
We appeal to them to turn from religious
ignorance. knowledge is good; its
value is recognized in business; why
should you be SO Indifferent to it in
spiritual things? How much do you
know of heaven? How real is God to
You? Do you know what sin is and
what it is not ? Aud are you willing TO
forsake it? Turn to the truth. 1t is
palmer to-day than it was of old; but
even then no man sought it in vain if
he sought it honestly and earnestly.
Paul found it on the road to Damascus,
and you may find it more readily than
he if you will not let Familiarity blind
your eyes. Turn to the righteous way.
Men admire the right; they find it in
many forms, and resting satisfied with
what they find they speak against the
Gospel. But the truly upright life, the
life which does away with all need of
Judge, jury and prison, is the life of the
sincere Christian.
THE DANGER OF wORLDLINEss.
The Rev. DR.. Howard Crosby
W orldliness is the one word that COM
prehends all evils. 1t destroys religion
by striking at its very foundation. His
tory shows this in the churches of Asia
Minor, in the work of Papacy in later
ages, and in the effects of the union of
Church and State in recent days. The
evils of the Church enter through the
sins of the individual. It is there that
we nust attack tbaun The individual