Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1889-01-04
TALMAGB'S SERMON
rhs Weekly DisoOurses of the Greet
BROOKLYN Preacher.
Subject: Lifted from the
BricklkiIns."

pots, yet shall We be as The IOings Of Il dOUs
co0ered NTH Situer, and her feathers with
yeilOW gold Psalms xviii, ID.
Isuppose you know what tie Israelites did
down in Egyptian slavery. They made
bricks. Amid the utensils 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 inn
meDts 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 aud
begrimed with the utensils Of cookery. Bat
after a while the Lord broke mp that slavery,
and He 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 Pharoah make his own
bricks, When David in my text comes to
describe the transition of these poor Israelites
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 he as
the wings of dove covered with silver, and
her feathers with yellow gold"
Miss Whately, the author OF a cele-
brated 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 be-
fore shutdown, pigeons and 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 fnd-just about the hour
of sunset would spread their wings and fly
heavenwsrd, entirely unsoiled by the
region in which they had moved, for
the pigeon is a very cleanly 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 farfetched simile, or an IN
natural comparison, when David in my text
says to these emancEated lsraelites, 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"
Sin is the hardest of all taskmasters
Worse than Pharaoh, it keeps US trudging,
trudging in a most degrading service; but
after n 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 q
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 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
RrdnuBSU
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 because
they do not understand the Bible; they have
not properly examined it. DR.. johnson said
that Hume told minister in the bshopric
of Durham that he had never particularly
examined the New Testament, yet all his life
warning against it. Haley, the astronomer,
announced his skepticism to Sir Isaac New
ton, and Sir Isaac Newton said: Now sir, |
have examined the subject and you
have not, and | am ashamed that you,
processing TO be a philosopher, consent
to condemn a thing you never have ex-
amined.n And so men reject the religion
of Jesus Christ because they really have
never investigated it, They think it some
thing impractical, something that will not
work, something Pecksniitian, something
hypocritica something repulsive, when it is
SO bright and SO beautiful you might COM
pare 1t to a chatfinch, you might compare it
to robin redbreast you might compare it
to dove, its wings covered with silver, and
its feathers with yellow gold.
But how is it if young man becomes
Christian? All through the CLUB rooms where
he associates, all through the business circles
where he is known, there IS commlSeratlon.
They say: "What pity that young man
who had such bright prospects should so
have been despoiGd 10y those Christians, CIV
thing which is Of no particular present
worth?' Here is a young woman who be-
comes n Christian, her voice, her face, her
manners the charm Of lie drawing room
Now all through the fashionable circles the
whisper goes: what pity that such bright
light should have been extinguished, that
such q graceful gait should bS crippled, that
such worldly prospects should be obliterated"
All, my friends it can be shown that re-
ligion's ways are ways of pleasantneSs and
that all her paths are peace, that religion,
instead of being dark and doeful, and
lachrymose, and repulsve,is bright and beau
tiful, fairer than a dove, its wings covered
with silver and its feathers with yellow
gold.
See, in the first place, what religion will
do for a mans heart. care not how cheer
full man may naturally be before CONVEX
sion, conversion brings him up to q higher
standard of cheerfulness. l do not say he
will laugh any louder, do not say but he
may stand back from some forms of hilarity
in which he once INDUCED; but there comes
inte his soul an immense satisfaction.
young man, not a Christian, depends upon
worldly successes to keen his spirits IN Now
ne Is prospered, now he has large salary, now
he has 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 ex-
perience that sometimes to young men
trouble does Come-his friends are gone, his
salary is gone, his health is gone; he goes down,
down. He becomes sour, cross, queer, mis-
anthropic, bames 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.
But here is Christian young man.
Trouble comes to him. Does he give up?
No. He throws himself back on the re-
sources of heaven. He says: GOD is my
father. Out of all these disasters | shall
pluck advantage for my soul All the
promises are mine Christ is mine, Christian
companionship is mine, heaven is mine.
What though my apparel be worn
out! Christ gives ME robe OF righteousness.
What though my money be gone. have
title deed to the whole universe in the prom
Use: All are yours What though my
worldly friends fall away! Ministering
angels are my bodYguard. What though
my fare be poor and my bread be scant! l
sit at the Kings banquet"
Oh what shallow stream is worldly en-
joyment compared with the deep, broad,
Overlooking river of Gods peace rolling
midway in the Christian heart! Sometimes
you have gone out on the iron bound beach
Of the sea when there has been a storm on
the ocean, aud you have seen the waves dash
into white foam at your feet. They did not
do you any harm. While there, you thought
of the chapter written by the Psalmist, and
perhaps you recited it to yourself while the
storm was making commentary upon tho
passage: "God is our refuge and strength,
very present help in time of trouble
Therefore will l not fear though the earth be
removed, and though the mountains be
carried into the midst of the sea; though the
waters thereof roar and be troubled though
The mountains shake with the swelling
thereof Selahl" Oh, how independent the
religion of Christ makes a man of worldly
success and worldly circumstances Nelson,
the night before his last battle, said: "To-