The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1889-01-14
DR.. Talmage's Sermon Yesterday.
Welcome Sweet Day of Rest That
Saw the Lord Arise"
An Element of Gloom Striking
Through All False Religions.
God Intended That Our Religion
Should Have Cheerfulness.
The Christian Religion Has No Spikes
No Hooks for the Shoulders; It Has
the Sweetness OF Music and
Perfume OF Flowers.

Special Dispatch to The Appeal.
BROOKLYN, n. ", Jan. l3. The Rev.
T. Dewitt Talmage, DID,, preached today
on "a Bright Sunday Va A Doleful Sun
day." After expounding appropriate
passages Of Scripture, he gave out the
hymn:
"Welcomc, sweet day Of rest
That saw the Lord arise
The text was: "Aud call the Sabbath a
delight." Isaiah lvii,, 10. DIR. Talmaee
said:
There is an element of gloom striking
through all false religions. Paganism is a
broo of horrors. The god OF Coniucius
frowned upon its victims with blind fate.
Mohammedanism promises nothing to
those exhausted with sin in this world but
an eternity Of the same passional indul-
gences. But God intended that our reli-
gion should have the grand characteristic
OF cheerfuluess. St Paul struck the key
note when he said; "Rejoice evermorc,
and again say, rejoice" This religion
has no spikes for the feet II has no hooks
for the shoulders; It has no long pilgrimages
TO take; II has no funeral pyres upon
which to leap; il has no Juggernauts be-
fore which to fall. Its good cheer is sym
boliled in the Bible by the brightness OF
waters, and the redolcnce OF lilies, aud the
sweetness OF music, and the hilarities OF a
banquet. A choir OF scraphim chantcd nj
its induction, and pcaling trumpet, and
waving palm, and Tapping wing OF arch
angel are To celebrate lis triumphs II
began its chief mission with the shout:
GLORY to God in the highest" and will
close It's earthly mission with the ascrip-
ton: "llallelujah, for the Lord God ON.
nipotcnt rcigncthl"
But men have said that our religion is
not cheerful, because we have such dole
ful Sabbath. They say. "lou can have
your religious assembagcs, aud your long
faces, aud your smiling cant, and your
psalm books and your Bibles. Give MS
the Sunday excursion. and the horse race,
and the convivial laughter We have so
much JOY that VIZ want 10 spread II all
over the seven days oi 'he week, and YOU
shall not have one Of or days Of worldly
satisfaction for religious doleiulness."
want 10 show these mcn-if there are any
such in the house this morniny-that they
are under great dclusion, and that God
intended the litytwo sundays of the year
10 be hung up like bells in a tower, beat.
ing perpetual chime OF Joy aud glory and
salvation and heaven, for ! want You 10
carry out the idea -ot the text, 'and call
the sabbath delight
| remark, In tho first place, We ar Ia
find IN this day the Joy Of healthy rcposc.
In this democratic country We all have Ia
work-some with hand, some with brain,
some with foot. ii there Is In all this
house a hand that has not, during the past
year, been stretched forth 10 some kind oi
toll, let 1t be lifted. Not one, not one,
You sell the goods. You teach the school.
You doctor In the sick-room. You prac
ticc NJ the bar. You edit n newspaper
You tan the hides. You preach the Cos,
pei. You mend the shoes. You sit nj the
shuttle. You carry the bod Of bricks ~
the ladder on the wall. And the one oc
cupaion IL ~ honorable ~ the other, pro
vidcd God calls YOU Ia IL. care not wha
you do. II you only do II well. But whor
Saturday night comes, you are jaded ant
worn. The baud can not 10 skilltullJ
manufacture; the eve cannot see ~
we'll; the brain Is not - clear
the judgment IL not ~ we'll balanced. A
prominent manufacturer told me that u,
could see a difference between the good.
which went out of his establishment On
Saturday from the goods that went out OF
Monday. lie said; They were very dit
iorcnt indeed. Those that were made IL
the former part Of the week, because Of tn,
rest that had been previously given, wcr,
better than those that were made In tho
latter mart Of the week, when the met
were tired out" The sabbath comes, an,
Il bnthcs the soreness from the limbs
quicts the ag,aiod brain and puts out th'
fires Of anxiety that have been burning nj
tho week Our bodies are scycn.da,
clocks, and unless on the seventh day the
arc wound up. they run down into thl
grave. The Sabbath was intended n
savings bank; into u We arr 10 gather th,
resources upon which we are 10 draw oil
tho week. That man who breaks the Sab
bath rObs his own nerve, his own muscle
his own brain, his own bones. lie dip
up the wine Of his own life, and throws
away. lie who breaks the Lords da
gives mortgage 20 disease aud death upo
liis entire physical estate, and NJ the mo.
unexpected moment thut mortgage will b
iorccoscd. aud the soul elected from Oh
premises. Every gland, anil pore, an
cell, aud iingcr-nail demands the scycnt
day for rcposc. The respiration Of th
lungs, the throb a the pulse IN the wris
tie motion of the bono In ~ socket Il,
clare "Rcmomber the sabbath day
keep Il holy" Thefo arc thousands ,
men who have had thoIf lives dashed ~
against the golden gates u the sabbath.
prominent London merchant tcsiiiics thi
thirty years ago he went 10 London. II
says IL have during that time waichc
infinitely, and | have noticed that the inc
who went 10 business on tho Lord
day, or opened their Couniing.housc
have, without single exception
como 20 failure" a prominent Chrisiia
merchant In Boston says 81 find u don
pay 10 work on sunday When ! was
boy, | noticed out on Long Wharf tibet
were merchants who loaded their vcsso
on the Sabbath day, Keeping Their me
, busy from morning tll night aud u Is IN
, observation that they themselves came
nothing--those merchants and their CHI
, drcn cnmo 10 nothing. Il doesn't pay,
! he says. ito work on the sabbath
! appeal 20 your observation. Whei
are he men who were twenty years ny
. Sabbath brcal eu and WHO have bee
Sabbath breakers ever since? Without
; single exception, you will tell mo tue