The Penn's Grove record., 1889-01-05
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON
Lifted from the Mire.

Lifted from the hAire.
ssThouah We have lain among the pots, yet
shall We be as the wings of a dove covered
with silver, and her feathers with yellow
gold."-Ps. s.: Is:
SUPPOSE you know what the lsra-
elites did Gown in Egyptian slavery.
They made bricks. Amid the utensils
of cookery-the kettles, the pots, the
pans, with which they prepared thelr
daily food; and when these poor slaves,
tired of the days work, lay down to
rest, they lay down among the imple-
ments 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
a while the Lord broke up that slavery.
n and He took these poor slaves into q
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 brick-kilns
into the glorious emancipation for
which God had prepared them, he says:
"Though We 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 a cele-
brated book, "Life 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 before
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 crums that they might
lind: Just about tile hour of sunset they
would spread their wings and fly heav-
onward, entirely unsoiled by the region
in which they had moved, for the pig
con is "a very clearly bird. And as the
pigeons flew away the setting sun would
throw silver on their wings and gold on
their breasts. So you see it was not a
Z f~ar-tetched simile, or an unnatural
comparison, when David in my text
s.ays to these emancipated Israelites,
and says TO all those who are brought
,nt of any kind OF trouble into ;sBs
K IND Of spiritual joy: Through ye
ha We Ian among the post, yet shall ye
be as the wings of a dove covered with
sily e., and her feathers with yellow
gold.i'
Sir lis the hardest or all taskmasters.
Wors.. tlan Pharaoh, it keeps us drudg-
ing, d-ud2ing in
A MOST DEGRADING SERVICE;
but after u while Christ comes, and
He says: "Iet my people go, . and we
pass out from among the brick-kilns of
sin INTO the glorious liberty of the Cos
pei; we put oil the clean robes of a
Christian profession, and when, at last.
we soar away to the warm nest which
| God has provided for US in heaven, we
| shall 90 fairer than a dove, its wings
/ covered with silver, and its feathers
| covered with yellow gold.
| 1 am going to preach something
| which some of you do not believe. and
that is, that the gfandest possible
| adjournment is the religion OF Jesus
| Christ. There are u great many people
| who suppose that religion is u very DIFF
ferent thing from what 1t really is. The
| reason men condemn tile Bible Is be-
J cause they do not understand the Bible;
| they have not properly examined it.
| DR.. johnson said that Hume told a
! minister in the bishopric Of Durham,
! that he had never particularly EXAMINE
4 ed the New Testament, yet all his life
warning against it. HALEY the astron-
Cmer. announced his scepticism to Sir
Isaac Newton, and Sir Isaac Newton
said: "Now, sir, l have examined the
subject and you have not; and l am
ashamed that you, protesting to bea
philosopher, consent to condemn q thing
YOU never lave examined.' And 80
mel reject the religion Of Jesus Christ
beca,ase they really have never invests
gated it. They think it something un.
desirable, something that will not
work, something Pecksninian, some
thing hypOcritical, something repul-
sive, when 1t is so bright and so
| beautiful yon might compare it to
| chafinch, you might compare 1t to
a robin-redbreast, you might COM
| pare it to a dove, its wings, covered
| with silver, and its feathers with yellow
gold.
WASTED PITY.
But how is 1t If a young man be-
comes u Christian? All through the
elub-rooms where he associates, all
! through the business circles where he
is known, there is commiseration. They
say: "What a pity that a young man
who had such bright prospects should
so have been despoiled by those Christ
ians, giving up all his worldly prospects
for something which is of no particular
l present worth!" Here is a young wo-
man who becomes a Christian; her
voice. her face, her tanners the charm
of the drawiDg-room. Now all through
the fashionable circles the whisper
goes: "What u pity ahat such a
bright light should have been extin-
guished, that such a graceful gait should
be crippled, that such worldly prospects
should be obliteratedl" All, my friends
it can be shown thai religions ways
OF ~pleasantness, and that all her paths
are peace; that religion, instead of be-
ing dark and doleful and ~lachrymose
and repulsive, is bright and beautiful,
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. l care not
how cheeful a man may naturally be be-
fore conversion, ~
CONVERSION BRINGS HIM UP
to a higher standard of cheerfulness. l
90 not say he will laugh any louder; l
do not say but he may stand back from
some Of his hilarity in which he once in
dulged; but there comes INTO his soul
an immense satisfaction. A young
man not a Christian depends upon
worldly successes TO keep his spirits up.
Now he is prosperous, now he has
q 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 well 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
l1.ltt IN wN.n. ha 700 lla.. l-...