The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-07-21
SOME SUNDAY THOUGHTS.
The Religion Of Convenience. the
Theme at the Baptist
Church.
The Members OF That Sect Num-
bered by Tens Of
Millions.
Tht Z. II. @, A. OF Two Years Aeo-Tho As
eocistion's Pleasant Rooms In
. the Hotter Block.

At the Baptist church yesterday morning
the Rev. @. B. Allen, Jr., preached to
large congregation, taking a. his subject
The Religion Of Convenience.
'He answered and said. I 60, sir;' and
went not" This young mans father bade
him work in the vinyard. He promised to
work required of him, but like many peo-
pie Of to-day he never could do what he 20
fully purposed to do. He may have reas-
oned thus: This work must be done, but
some other time will answer. Or 1t may be
that the work proved to be difficult, or not
to his liking, or perhaps he had q little af-
fair Of his own to attend to which he
deemed of great importance. At any rate
he did not find it convenient to do the
work, and he did it not. He stands as the
representative Of large GLASS whose relig-
ion is tho religion Of convenience. It is
about this religion that want to speak
this morning.
and Of feeling az offered to that which is a
is the emotional in religion, but the true
consists, not in feeling, but in the dis
charge of duty to God. Conceiving, as
many do. that religion is emotion, feeling,
then whatever Of duty there is in it is
grounded in feeling. # time, place and all
conditions are favorable to the discharge OF
duty, such as attendance upon public wor-
study, then these duties are discharged. If
these things be not to ones liking at the
time. they are neglected. This is cold,
formal, heartless and soul-destroying re-
ligion: And it is quite popular: Baptists
in this coantry are numbered by three
which speak is numbered by tens of mill
ions. Every Christian feels it's influence at
times upon himself when he cries out
against some difficult duty, or justifies him
self in q practice which the word
Of God teaches him is not up to the
high standard of holy religion. He
observes its influence upon others. In
every church one-fifth of the members do
the work. Four-fifths use the church as an
easy chair in which to lounge while they
enjoy the comforts of the church. There is
far too much Of this religion In us all. OF
this religion it may be claimed further that
1t does not satisfy the divine requirement Of
men. God demands the whole heart. He
demands whole hearted obligation or
none.
The Christian is soldier. It is not al
ways convenient or to the soldiers liking to
face cannon belchinR death, or pace tho
lonely beat, but convenient or inconvenient
duty. Fighting is not pleasant work. Paul
speaks Of beating the body under that the
soul may be on top. A religion of conven-
fence cannot meet the divine requirement.
Furthermore it fails to satisfy the souls
deepest need. If God demands ali Of the
soul, the soul demands God. The enlight-
ened and growing Christian feels sense
of shame in rendering any but the choicest
service. And lastly the religion of con.
venience utterly fails when religion ID
most needed. That religion is good fol
nothing which will not hold man when
the strain comes. This religion may do to
live by in sunny times, but the only religion
after all which is worth anything is that
which comes out strong in unforeseen stress
of trouble or temptation. Daily, self-deny-
ing faithfulness, patient and steadfast
walking with God, resolute persistence in
duty even when it costs and smarts, this is
the only kind of religion which does not
give way in the crisis of life. This only can
be trusted in the hour of sorest need.