The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-12-21
SIN AS A TASKMASTER.
HOW THE WORLDS TROUBLES
ARE BORNE BY MEN.

"Lifted from the Brick Kllns'-The Death.
bed Of the Infldei-Men who Are Inf.
dels Arc Men without Hope What Re.
ligion Does for Man ON Earth.
BROOKLYN, Dec. 16. Tho Rev. r.
De Witt Talmage's discourse today
was entitled. Lifted from the Brick
kilns." Els text was: Though We
have lain among tho pots, yet shall We
be as the wings of dove covered with
silver, and her feathers with yellow
gold" Psalms xviii, 10. He said:
suppose you know what the Israel
ties did down in Egyptian slavery.
They made bricks. Amid the uten-
sils Of the brick kiln there were also
other utensils Of cookery the kettles,
the pots, the pans, with which they
prepared 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 besmirched and begrimed with the
utensils of cookery. But after while
the Lord broke up that slavery, and he
took these poor slaves into 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 Israelites
from their bondage among 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 a
dove covered with silver, and her
feathers with yellow gold"
Miss Whately, the author of cele-
brated book, "tife in Egypt" said she
sometimes saw people in the east cook
ing their food on the tops Of houses,
and that she had often seen, just be-
fore shutdown, pigeons, doves, which
had, during the heat of the day, been
hiding among the kettles and pans
with which the food was prepared
picking up the crumbs that they might
ind-just about the hour Of sunset
would spread their. wings and fly
heavenward, entirely unsoiled by the
region in which they had moved, for
the pigeon is very clearly bird And
as the pigeons flew away the setting
sun would throw silver on their wings
and gold on their breast. So you see
it was not a far fetched smile, or an
comparison, when David in
my text says to these emancipated
Israelites, 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 We be as the wings of dove
covered with silver, and her feathers
with yellow gold"
HOW SIN WEIGHS UPON MANS SOUL.
Sin is the hardest of all taskmasters.
Worse than Pharaoh, it keeps us
trudging, trudging in most degrad-
ing service; but after 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 the Gospel; we put on the
clean robes of Christian profession,
and when at last we soar away to the
warm nest which God has provided for
us in heaven, we shall go fairer than a
dove, its wings covered with silver,
and its feathers covered with yellow
gold.
l am going to preach something
which some of you do not believe, and
that is that the grandest possible adorn-
is the religion of Jesus Christ. There
are a great many people who suppose
that religion is very different thing
from what it really is. The reason
men condemn the Bible is be-
cause they do not understand the
Bible; they have not properly ex,
amined it. DR.. johnson said
that Hume told a minister in the bish-
opric of Durham that he had never
particularly examined the New Testa-
ment, yet all his life warning against
it. HALEY, the astronomer, announced
his skepticism to Sir Isaac Newton,
and Sir Isaac Newton said: Now, sir,
/ have examined the subject and you
have not, and am ashamed that you,
protesting to be a philosopher, consent
10 condemn a thing you never have
examined" And SO men reject the
religion of Jesus Christ because they
really have never investigated it.
They think it something impractical,
that will not work, some
hing Pecksniffian, something hypo-
critical, something repulsive, when it
IS SO bright and so beautiful you
night compare it to chaffinch, you
night compare it to robin redbreast,
you might compare it to a dove, its
wings covered with silver, and it's
Gathers with yellow gold.
But how is it if young man be-
comes Christiana All through the
,lub rooms where he associates, all
through the business circles where he
s known. there is commiseration.
They say: 'What pity that a young
nan who had such bright prospects,
hould SO have been despoiled by those
Christians, giving up all his worldly
prospects for something which is Of
10 particular present WORTH Here is
young woman who becomes Chris
ian, her voice, her face, her manners
he charm of the drawing room. Now
IL through the fashionable circles the
Whisper goes: What pity that such
bright light should have been extin-
ruished, that such a graceful gait
hould be crippled, that such worldly