News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-05-21
THE SUNDAY PULPIT.
MINISTER'S WHO TALK ON POPULAR
TOPICS OF TIE DAY.
Beecher on Right Living Talmase's Tests
for Clubs-Girls Ought to be Watched.

Beecher on Right Living Talmase's Tests
| for Clubs-Girls Ought to be Watched.
Mr.. Beecher preached Sunday. His
text had to do with the need for higher
impulses to right living in the case of
protesting Christians. These extracts
are taken from the sermon:
''The kingdom of God consists of that
group of men, in all nations and ages,
| that are renouncing their animal i'm
pulses in favor of life generally flowing
from reason and the higher moral and
spiritual sensibilities. They have got
up above the equatorial line; they are
| living in a land without winter, and
with an ever present summer of the
SOUL"
ssThe true idea of religion is not so
much to tuck up our conduct so that it
will never drag on the ground: not so
much to take care of the Bible, of
church meetings, of associations in such
way as that men shall say, what re-
ligious folks they are 7 to get reputa-
ton for piety-it is to be and not to
SEEM"
at is very easy for man to act relig-
iously when he knows everybody is
watching him and praising him. Men
are almost universally vain and will do
| great deal for the sake of praise. The
Americans are the proudest and the
vainest people that live upon the face of
the earth. The temptation to gain
praise for doing things that are right is
very strong element in our national
character. In our religion there is not
little of the element of vanity. A
thousand little, micelike vanities creep
in and out of our religious influences"
"Nothing can be more defling to
Christianity than the spirit which exists
too often in churches-their combative-
ness, their enviousness and their jeal-
ousies; their strifes as to who shall be
first, who shall be most respectable,
who shall be most prosperous. All
those things are not of Him who caIleth
you; they are of the devil. But churches
that are full of sweetness, full of activ-
ity, and that seek each others honor,
rather than their own-whose atmos-
phere is warm and nourishing-the
churches which cherish the graces of
the Spirit, so that if a man comes in
from the outward world he will say,
This is, indeed, different life from
what have ever seen anywhere, that is
a moral influence beyond preaching, be-
yond all organization; and whenever we
can begin to touch church with church
from village to village, and from town
to town, and to circle the nation with
associations of men and women that are
manifestly seeking to produce holiness
in their souls, yet with all cheerfulDess
and sweetness and beauty, the glory of
the Lord will not long hDger and the
millennial day will have already lit up
the eastern horizon with its beams"
DIR. TALMAaE ON CLUBS
DR.. Talmage's text was Luke, vi, A
-"For every tree is known by it's own
fruit"
"What is the influence of club houses
in America ?" he asked, after few in
troductory remarks. In answering the
| question he admitted that men were
| bound to have clubs. Clubs were differ
ent-as different as night was from day.
| There was the genteel or aristocratic
club, with its perfect fxings and ar
rangements of all kinds - its dining
rooms, its parlors, its library and its
costly picture gallery. 1t was the per-
lection of comfort and convenience
complete enchantment. There was the
other and more Vulgar club--its at
mosphere foul with beer and tobacco
and whisky, and fouler still with the
| language of profanity. Whatever was
| to be said in favor of the one kind of
club, the other could only be spoken of
| as an abomination. The preacher said
| that he could not raise his voice against
clubs without qualification, as he had
been a member of more than one club
himself He had belonged to baseball
club, theological club and literary
club, and he had experienced good from
| them all.
There were certain tests by which the
value of club life could be tried. The
first test was: What was the influence of
/ the club on mans home? There were
| men who put the club first, the home
second. In some cases, home lost all
its attractions. The husband and father
seldom there; and when there he con-
trived to make things as unpleasant as
possible, and found fault with every
thing. Genial as an angel at the club,
he was ugly as sin at home. ooh, it is
too true" DIR. Talmage exclaimed at the
top of his voice-''lt is too true that
hundreds, even thousands, of Brooklyn
homes are being dubbed to death p
cloud laughter).
The second test suggested was, What
was the effect of the club on mans
business? The club unhappily often
led to ruin. Fortune was beaten to
pieces by the base ball. It was trampled
under horses hoofs. It was drowned
in oceans of wine or Monongahela. The
third test suggested was, What was the
effect of the club on mans morals
Had domestic worship been discon-
tinued? Was there the same high re-
gard for personal character-the same
high regard for wife and children
Some men would not drink at home;
they would not swear at home. But
the children knew that their father drank
and swore all the same; and the son
would follow the example, and because
of weaker constitution and inferior
liquor would overtake the father and
they would go down to hell together.
"By these tests" said DR.. Talmage,
"try the club, and If it won't bear the
trial let the club be abandoned. Mol
lusks are found hundreds of fathoms
deep in the Norwegian seas, the Siberian
deer fattens on the steep sides of the
Alsatian mountains, plants and flowers
grow in the burning desert and on the
hot lips of the volcano, but poverty of
heart and life can never thrive in dis
solute club house. Never Never"
| GIRLS OUGHT TO BE WATCHED.
The Rev. J. J. White, pastor of the
Fourth Street M. P. Church, Williams
burgh, who married two young couples
whose parents are seeking to annul the
marriages, said in his sermon Sunday
Marriage is a divine institution.
| Once a young man said when married
him, I thank you, Mr.. White He was
in raptures, and added: Il feel like
new man, aud 30 he was; for no man
feels complete until he is married. You
all know and feel desire for that COM
| pletion. Where there is no esteem
there can be no affection, and where
there is no affection there is no union of
hearts. Now, therefore, marriage
should never be thoughtlessly entered
into, for good marriages are the basis of
our national stability. Fancy nation
of bachelors. There would be anarchy.
| When you see young men keeping away
from marriage the nation is beginning to
decay. Now, what is bringing this
about 3? Want of parental restraint.
Young girls are allowed to run about
unattended, and are not watched at
home, or looked after when outside Of
the home circle.
cit is a wonder that more girls are
not led astray. Mothers should be the
confdantes of their daughters in love
affairs. 1t amazes me when l find
senseless tops and dudes encouraged in
the house by mothers who have mar
riageable daughters. Yet when these
| 81, olf L, f.