Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-01-30
REV. DR.. 7ALMAGE.
The Eminent Brooklyn Divine's Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject: "ReIigion in Our Daily Llfe.''

TEXT: "Whether. therefore ne eat OF
drink, or whatsoever 20 do do all to In,
glory OF God ri Corinthians K, 81.
When the apostle in his tsxt sets forth thu
Idea that SO common an action as the IA Yin !
CT food and drink is to be conducted to ths
CORY oil God, be proclains the Importance o,
rehgion IN the ordinary affairs of our life.
IN all ages OF the world there has bean 4
tendency to set apart certain days, places
and occasions for worship. and 60 thtnh
those were the chief realms ia which RELIGION
WAS to act. Now holy days and holy plscss
nave their Importance. They give oppor.
tunity for especial performances OF Christian
duty, and for RECALLING of the religious appe.
Ute, but they cannot take ths placs of con.
tnuous exercise of faith and PRAYER. In
other words, man cannot be SO much OF A
christian on Sunday that he can afford to
be wording all the rest OF the weet, If a
steamer puts out for Southam oton and goes
one DAY in that direction and the other six
days in other directions, how long before the
steamer will get to Southampton It. will
never get there.
ANA though man may seem to be voy.
aging heavenward during the holy Sabbath
day, II during the following six DAYS of tha
week be is going toward thu world, and to.
ward the flesh, and toward the devil, he will
never ride up into the peaceful harbor OF
heaven. You cannot eat so much at the
sabbath banquet that you can afford re.
igious abstinence the other six DAYS Hero.
ism and prineeiy behavior on great occasions
are no apology for lack of right demeanor in
circumstances Insignificant and inconspicu.
Gus, The genuine Christian life is not spas.
mode; does not go BY fits and starts. It tolls
ON through heat AMI cold up steep mountains
and along dangerous declivities its eve GA
the everlasting hills crowned with the castles
of the blessed.
:. / propose this morning to plead for re.
Ggion for to-day.
:, In the first place, we want TO bring the re-
nglon OF Christ into our conversation. When
a dam breaks, and two or three villages ara
overwhelmed, or an earthquake IN South
America swallows whole city, then people
begin to talk about tia une artainty OF life,
and they imagine that they are engaged in
positively religious conversation. No, You
may talk about these things and have nc
81 lace OF God at all in your heart. We ought
every day to be talking religion. II there is
anything glad about it, anything beautiful
about it. We ought TO be continuously dis.
proportion as their Christian experience is
shallow, talk about funerals and graveyards
and tombstones and deathbeis. Tbs real,
genuine Christian man talks chiefly about
TINS life and the great eternity beyond, and
not so much about the insignificant pass be-
tween these two residences. And yet how
lew circles there are where the religion OF
Jesus Christ is welcome.
80 into circle even o. Christian people.
Ey hat fall 80, III a
talk about Christ or heaven and everything
is Immediately silencel. As on summed.
day, when the forests are full of life, chat
ter and ehlrrup and caro,-a mighty chorus
OF bird harmony, every tree branch an or
chestra-lf hawk appear in the sky every
voice stops and the forests are still; Just so,
have seen lively religious circle silenced
on the appearance Of anything like religious
conversation. No one has anything to say,
save, perhaps, some old patriarch in the
corner of the ROOM who really thinks that
something ought TO be sail under the cir.
cumstances, so he puts one foot over the
other and heaves long sigh, and says, "Oa,
yes; that's SO, that's so
My friends, :he religion of Jesus Christ
Is something to talk about with glad
heart. 1t is brighter than the waters. it
is more cheerful than the sunshine, Do not
go around grooming about your religion
when you ought to be sin ging it or talking
it in cheerful tones of voic'. How often il
is that we find men whose lives are utterly
nc7ns sLent, VINO attempt to talk religion,
and always make failure of It'll NY
friends, we must live religion, or we cannot
talk IT. Ii man is cranky and cross and
uncongenial and hard in mis- dealings and
then begins TO talk about Christ an / heaven,
everybody is repealed by it.
Yet have heard such men saw in whining
tones, I'VE are miserable sinners" "The
Lord bless You, The Lord have mercy on
you" their conversation interlarded with
such expressions, which mean nothing bu!
canting, and canting is the worst form Of
hypocrisy If we have really felt the religion
of Christ in our hearts let us talk it, and tall
it with Illuminated couutenauce, remember.
ing that when two Christian people talk Co
gives especial attention and writes down
what they say Malachi ill.,, Is, Then they
that feared the Lord spake often one to an
other, and the Lord herkenei and heard it
and book of remembrance was written"
Again, | remark, we must bring the re
iigion OF Christ into our employments
'Oh, you say, that is very we'll if maj
handle large sums of money, or if he hav,
an extensive traffic, but in my threat an1
needle store, in my trimming establish
ment in the humble work in life that an
called to, the sphere is too small for tn
action OF such grand, heavenly principles.
Who told you so? Do you not know tina
God watches the faded leaf on the brook,
surface as certainly as He does the path o
blazing SUM- And the moss that creeps III
the side of the rock makes as much impress
sion upon God's mind as the waving tops 0
Oregon pine and Lebanon cedar; and tn
aijer, cracking under the cows hoof, sound
as loud III Goa's ear as the snap of a world,
conflagraton.
When you have anything to do in life
however humble it may seem to be, God i
always there to help you to 90 it. If Won,
work IS that of fisherman, then God viii
help you, as He helped Simon wnen he
dragged Gennesaret. If your work is draw
ing water, then He will help you, as wher
lie talked at the well curb to the Sam ritar
woman. IL you are engaged in the Gu stonl
house, He will lead YOU, as He led Matthew
sitting at the receipt of customs. A religion
mat Is rot good in one place is not worth
anything in another place. The man who
has only days wages in his pocket as GER
tainly needs the guidance of religion as h,
who ratties the keys of a bank and could
abscond with a hundred thousand hard do.
lars
There are those prominent in the caurche:
who seem to be on public occasions very de
yout who do not put the principles Of
III Isl D Atil5Aiu ihIp IIdCbleps lneY are the
most inexorahle of creditors. They are the
most grasping of dealers. They are known
as sharDers OH the street. They fleece every
sheep they can a'ed. A country merchant
comes III to buy ring or fall goods and he
gets into the store of one of these professe1
Christian men who have really no grace in
their hearts, and h. is completely swindled
lie IS so overcome that he cannot get out Of
town during the week He STAYS in town
over Sunday, goes into some church TO get
Christian consolation, when what is hi,
amazement to find the very man who hand,
him the poor box in the church Is the on,
who relieved him of his money But neve
mind, the deacon has his black coat on now
he looks solemn AMI goes home talkin
about ''the blessed sermon"
If the wheat in the churches should be pu
into hopper, the first turn of the Gran
would make the chaff fly, tell you. Som
of these men are great s'icklers for Gospt
preaching. They say: You stand there j
preach like an angel, and we stand on
here and attend TO business. Don't mi
things. Don't get business and religion i
the same bucSet. You attend to your mat
tiers and we will attend to ours They
not know that God sees every cheat the
have practiced in the last six years; that II
can look through the iron wall OF their fir
proof safe; that He has counted every di,
honest dollar they have in their pocket. an
that day of judgment will come. fhes
inconsistent Christian men will sit on tn
Sabbath night in the houss of God singin
at the c.ose OF the service, Crock of AGE,
Cert for Me-" and then when the bene1ie
ton is pronounced shut the pew door an
say as they go out ''Goodby, religion, I'll b
back next Sunday"
l think that the Church of God AMI tn
oaooath ara only an armory where we ar
u geC weapons. When war comes, if
man wants to fight for his country he doe:
not go to Troy or Springfield to do battling
but he goes there for swords and musIets
l look upon the Church of Christ and th
Sabbath day as only the place and tim