News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-05-23
SUNDAYS SERMON.
ONE OF REV. DIR. TALTAGEs
STERLING DISCOURsEs.
Subject: "a Poisoned Dinner

and said: o thou man of God, there IS
aeGta az tae pot ATsd they could NOT eat
thereof" III Kings iv., 40.
Elisha had gone down to lecture to tho stu
GENTS IN tho theological seminary at Gilgal.
he found the students very hungry, as stu
dents are apt TO be. 1t is very seldom the
world makes large provisions for those who
give themselves to intellectual toll. In order
that these students may be prepared to hear
what Elisha says, he first feeds their hunger
lie knew very web it is useless to talk, to
preach TO lecture with hungry men.
% Ensha, recognizing this common sense
principle which every Christian ought to re-
cognlze, sends servants out TO get food for
these hungry students. They pick I'D some
good, healthful herbs, but they happen 10
Plck up also some coloquintida, a bitter poi
herbs, they put them into the boiling pot,
they str them up, and then a portion
OF this food is brought to the stu
dents and their professors Seated at
the Table, one of the hungry students begins
Immediately to eat, and he happens to get
hold of some Of the coloquintida He knew
1t by the taste. He cries out: Poison,
polsonl thou man of God. there is death in
tne Pot !" CONSERVATION is thrown ever the
whole group. What u fortunate thing it was
that this student so early found the colo
qulntiCla In the mixture at the table You
VIII by reference find this story is precisely as
L have mentioned it.
Well in our day there are oreat caIdrons
OF SIN and death. Coloquintida of mighty
temptation i pressed into it. Some din it
OUT ana taste, and reject it and live. Others
CUP u out. taste IL, keep on and die And it
is6ne business of every minister of religion
ana every man who wishes well to the
human race, and who wants to keen the
world back from its follies and its sufferings,
- eiy o1t; Iteware! poison, poison! Look
OUT Tor this caldronl Stand back! Bevarer'
Sln mas done an awful work in our world
III mas gone out through all the ages it has
1nineo up a great caldron of trouble and
sS-eF1ng and pain, and the whole race is
poISoned-poiSoned in BODY poisoned il,
mlnd, poisoned in soul. But blessed be God
That the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the
sntldote and where there was sin there shall
ne PARTON, and where there was suffering
there shall be comfort and where there was
death there shall be life
some time ago, you viii remember, 4 per-
Snaded you of the importance of being chari-
table IN Judgment Of others. At the same
tlIne said TO you briefly what this morning
wish 70 say with great emphasis that while
Wesympathize with the sinner we must de-
nounce the sin, that while we pity the unfor-
sunate we must be vehement against trans
erosion. Sin is a jagged thing that needs TO
be roughly handled. You have no right to
garland IL with fine phrases or lustrous
rhetoric You cannot catch buffalo with a
sItan lasso
a group Of eEigrants settle in a wild region. /
The next day wild beast comes down from /
The mountain and carries of one of the chill
gren. The next day a wild beast comes down (
nom the mountain and carries off another
child. Forthwith all the neighbors band to-
Sether, and they go out with torch in one
nand and gun IN the other to hunt these mon
sters down, TO find their hiding place, TO
light up and ransack the caYerns and
20 destroy the invaders of their houses.
90 we want now not merely TO talk about the
SINS and follies of the world we want to go
behind them, back Of them. Down into the
caverns where thcy hide we need to go with
the torch Of ttods Word in one hand and the
Of at
hunt out and Stay these iniquities in their
hiding places. Or, to come back to the fig
ure suggested by my text we want TO find
what are the caldrOns of sin and death from
which the iniqUities of society are dipped
out
1. In the first place, / remark: that un-
happy and undisciplined homes are the
caldrons of great iniQuity
Parents harsh and cruel ON the one hand
or on the other hand loose in their govern
ment, wickcdly loose in their governments
are raising up generation of vipers. q
Rome where scolding and fretfulnesS are
dominant is blood relation to the gallows and
the penitentiaryl Petulance is a serpent
that crawls up into the family nursery
sometimes and brushes everything. Why,
there are parents who even make religion
disgusting to their children. They scold
them for not loving Christ. They have an
exasperating way of doing their duty The
house is full of the war whoop of contention,
and from such place husband and sons go
out to die.
Oh, is there Hagar leading away Ishmael
into the desert to be sTnitten of the thirst and
parched of tho sand? In the solemn birth hour
a voice fell to thee from the throne of God,
and win give s Tee SH1 tSy ar Wage E 1t iF even
time, when the angels of God hover over that
home, do they hear the children hsping the
name of Jesus? o traveller for eternity, your
little ones gathered under your robes, are you
leading them on the right road, or are YOU
taking them out on the dangerous wlnd-
ing bride path, off which their III
experienced feet may slip, and up which
comes the bowling of the wolf and tho
sound of locsened ledge and tunlb6ng
avalanche? Blessed is the family altar at
which the children kneel. Blessed is the
cradle In which the Christian mother rocks
the Christian child. Blessed is the song the
little ones sing at nightfan when sleep is
closing the eyes and looSoning the hand from
the toy or the pillow Blessed is that mother
whose every heart throb is q prayer for her
children's welfare.
Tho world grows old, and the stars will
cease to illuminate it, and the waters to re
fresh il, and the mountains to guard it and the
heavens TO oyerspan it, and its long story OF
sin and shame and glory and triumph will
soon turn TO ashes; but influences thatstartsd
IN the early home roll on and roll up through I
ali eternity blooming in all the joy, waving in
all the Il iumph, exulting in all the song. or
shrinking back into al he darkness. Faith
eT, mother, which way are you leading your
children9
A house took fire and the owner was very
careful to get all his furniture out. He got
all his books out, and lie got all his
pictures out and he rot all his valuable
papers out but he forgot to ask, until it was
too late: ''Are my children safe? Oh,
when the earth shall melt with fervent heat,
and the mountains shall blaze, and the seas
shall blaze and tho earth shall blaze viii
your children be safes VIII your children
be safe? Unhappy and undiScipiined homes
are the source of much OF the wretchedness
and sin of the world
know there are exceptions to it sometimes.
From 8 bright and beautiful Christian home
a husband or q son viii 20 out to die. Oh,
how long Won had that boy in your prayers /
He does not know how many sleeplss5 nights
you have spent over him. He does not I'M
derstand how many tears you have shed for
his waywaTdness. Oh it is hard. after you
have toiled for a child, and given him every
advantage AID every kindness, to have him
pay yeu back in ingratitude As
one Sabbath morning a father came
to the foot of the pulpit as stepped out of II, |
and said; 80 my son my son, my SON.
There IS many q young man proud OF his
mother, who would strike into the dust any !
man who would insult her, who is at this mo
men5 himself by his evil doing and his bad
habits sharpening a dagger TO plunge through
that mothers heart. A telegram brought
him from afar. He went bloated and SCARED
into the room and he stood by the hfeless
form of his mother.
Her hair gray: it had turned gray in sor-
row. Those eyes had wept floods of tears
over his wandering. That still white hand
had done him many kindness and had writ
ten many loving invitation and good coun-
sell He had broken her old heart He came
into the room and threw himself on the casket
and he sobbed outright: Mother, mother"
but those lips that bad kissed him in infancy
and uttered so many kind words spoke not;
they were sealed. Rather than have sIch
memory come on my soul, l would prefer TO
have roll over on me the Alps and the hlma-
layas.
But while sometimes there are sons who |
turn out very badly, coming from good |
homes, 1 want to tell you for your encourage
ment it is a great exception. Yet an unhap- |
py and undisciplined home is the poisonous |
caldron from which a vast multitude drink |
their death.
III. remark that another caldron of in
iquity is an indolent life. All the rail trains
down the Hudson River yesterday, all the |
rail trains on the Pennsylvania route all the /
trains ON the Long Island road brought to
these cities young men 10 begin COM
mercial life. Some of them are here
this morning. l doubt not Do you know
what one Of your great temptations is
going to be? II is the example of indolent /
people in our cities. They are in all our /
cities. They dress better than some who are |
industrious. They have access 80 all places |
of amusement-pienty of money, and yet |
idle. They hang around our great hotels |
the Fifth Avenue, the Windsor, The |
Brunswick, the Stuyvesant, the Gilsey |