Milford chronicle., 1888-12-21

Lifted from the Brick Kiins"-The Death
bed Of the InhdeI-Nen Who Are Inf
dels Are Men without Hope-what Re
IiGion Does for Man on Earth.
BRooKLYN, Dec. i6.--The Rev T De Witt
Talmage's discourse today was entitled,
Lifted from the Brick Kilns" His text
was; Though ye have lain among the pots,
yet shall ye be as the wings Of a dove covered
with silver, and her feathers with yellow
gold Psalms xviii, lS He said;
suppose you know what the Israelites did
down in Egyptian slavery. They made bricks.
Amid the utensils of the brick kiln there
were also other utensils Of cookery-the ket-
ties, the pots, the pans, with which they pre-
pared their daily food--and when these poor
slaves, tired Of the days work, lay down to
rest, they lay down amid the implements Of
cookery and the implements Of hard work.
When they arose in the morning they found
their garments covered with the clay and the
smoke and the dust, and besmlrched and be-
grilned with the utensils of cookery But
after a while the Lord broke up that slavery,
and be took these poor slaves into a land
where they had better garb, bright and clean
and beautiful apparel No more bricks for
them to make. Let Pharaoh make his own
bricks. When David in my text comes to
describe the transition Of these poor Israel
ties from their bondage amid the brick kilns
into the glorious emancipation for which
God had prepared them, he says; Though
ye have lain among the pots, yet shall ye be
as the wings of dove covered with silver,
and her feathers with yellow gold"
Miss Whately, the author of a celebrated
book, Life in Egypt" said she sometimes
saw people In the east cooking their food on
the tops Of houses, and that she had often
seen, just before sundown, pigeons, doves,
which had, during the heat Of the day, been
hiding among the kettles and the pans with
which the food was prepared, picking up the
crumbs that they might find--just about tho
hour of sunset would spread their wings and
fly heavenward, entirely unsoiled by the
region in which they had moved for the
pigeon is a very cleanly bird. And as the
pigeons flew away tho setting sun would
throw silver on their wings and gold on their
breast. So you see it was not far fetched
simile or an unnatural comparison, when Da-
Vid In my text says to these emaneipated Is
raelites, and says to all those who are brought
out of any kind Of trouble into any kind Of
spiritual Joy; Though ye have lain among
the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a
dove covered with silver, and her feathers
with yellow gold"
HOW SIN WEIGHS UPON MANS SOUL
Sin is the hardest of all tasllmasters /
Worse than Pharaoh, it keeps US trudging, |
tTudging, in most degrading service; but
after a while Christ comes, and he says; "Let |
my people 60" and we pass out from among |
the brick kilns Of sin into the glorious liberty /
OF tine Gospel; we put on the clean robes Of a /
Christian profession, and when at last we soar /
away to the warm nest which God has pro
vided for US in heaven we shall go fairer /
than a dove, its wings covered with silver, /
and its feathers covered with yellow gold,
am going to preach something which /
some of you do not believe, and that is that /
the grandest possible adornment is the relig- /
ion Of Jesus Christ. There are a great many |
people who suppose that religion is a very |
different thing from what it really is Tho .
reason men condemn the Biblei because they /
do not understand tho Bible; they have .
not properly examined It, DR.. johnson said /
that Hume told minister in the bishopric Of .
Durham that he never apparently examined /
the New Testament, yet all his life warning .
against it, HALEY, the astronomer an
nounced his skepticism to Sir Isaac Newton,
and Sir Isaac Newton said; snow, sir, l |
have examined the subject and you have .
not, and am ashamed that you, protesting
to be a philosopher consent to condemn a
thing you never have examined" And SO
men reject the religion of Jesus Christ be-
cause they really have never investigated it.
They think it something impractical, some
thing that will not work, something Peck
snifian, something hypocritical, something
repulsive, when it is so bright and so beauti-
full you might compare it to a chaflinch, you
might compare it to a robin redbreast you
might compare it to a dove, its wings COW
gold.
But how is it if a young man becomes a
Christianl All through the club rooms
where he associates, all through the business
circles where he is known, there is commits
Grafton. They say; "What a pity that q
young man who had such bright prospects
should so have been despoiled by those Chris
tians, giving up all his worldly prospects for
something which is Of no particular present
worthg" Here is young woman who be
comes a Christian, her voice, her face, her
manners the charm Of the drawing room.
Now all through the fashionable circles the
whisper goes; "What pity that such a
bright light should have been extinguished,
that such graceful gait should be crippled,
that such worldly prospects should be oblit-
eratedl" All, my friends, it can be shown
that religions ways are ways Of pleasantness
and that all her paths are peace; that reli-
gion, instead Of being dark, and doleful, and
lachrymose, and repulsive, is bright and
beautiful, fairer than dove, its wings COW
cred with silver and its feathers yellow with
gold.
See, in the first place, what religion will
do for mans heart 1 care not how cheer
ful man may naturally be before conver-
sion, conversion brings him up to a higher
standard Of cheerfulness. l do not say he
will laugh any louder, l do not say but he
may stand back from some forms Of hilarity
in which be once INDUCED; but there comes
into his soul an immense satisfaction. A
young man not q Christian depends upon
worldly successes to keep his spirits up. Now
he is prospered, now he has large salary, now
he has a beautiful wardrobe, now he has
pleasant friends, now he has more money
than he knows how to spend; everything goes
bright and we'll with him. But trouble comes
there are many young men in the house
this morning who can testify out Of their
own experience that sometimes to young men
trouble does come-his friends are gone, his
salary is gone, his health is gone; goes down,
down. He becomes sour, cross, queer, mis-
anthropic, blames the world, blames society,
blames the church, blames everything, rushes
perhaps to the intoxicating cup to drown his
trouble, but instead of drowning his trouble
browns his body and browns his soul.
THE PART OF A CHRISTIAN
But here is a Christian young man 4
Trouble comes to him. Does be give upl
No. Ho throws himself back on the resources
Of heaven. He says; ''God is my father
Out of all these disasters shall pluck advan-
tage for my soul All the promises are mine,
Christ is mine, Christian companionship is
mine, heaven is mine. What though my ap-
parel be worn QUIT Christ gives me a robe Of
righteousness. What though my money be
Comet have title deed to the whole uni
verse in the promise, AN are yours What
though my worldly friends fall awayl Min
stsring angels are my body guard. What
shongh my fare be poor and my bread be
icant9 sit at the Kings banquet"
Oh, what poor, shallow stream is worldly
a