News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1892-01-28

the Christian Spirit Put Into 1t.
BROOKLYN, Jan. 24-Dr. Talmage's
sermon this morning was on the topic
On which he is never tired of insist
ing, and which, more than any other
constitutes his message to this gen
eratiOn-the application of religion
to the affairs of daily life. His text
was taken from | Corinthians X, 81.
Whether, therefore, We eat or drink
or whatsoever We do, do all to the
glory of God"
When the apostle, in this text, sets
forth the idea that so common an ac
ton as the taking of food and drink
is to be conducted to the glory of
God, he proclaims the Importance of
religion in the ordinary affairs of our
life In all ages of the world there
has been tendency to set apart GER
tain days, places and occasions for
worship, and to think those were the
chief realms in which religion was to
act. Now, holy days and holy places
have their Importance. They give
opportunity for especial performance
of Christian duty, and for RECALLING
of the religious appetite; but they
cannot take the place of continuous
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 week If a steamer put
out for Southampton, and go one day
%ID4 I5-.Oo+1~,, he Of, civ
days in other directions, how long be
fore the steamer will get to South
arnpton2 1t will never get there.
And though a man may seem to be
voyaging heavenward during the
holy Sabbath day, if, during the fol
lowing six days of the week, he is
going toward the world aud toward
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
religious abstinence the other six
days. Heroism and princely be
havior on great occasions are NO
apology for lack of right demeanor
in circumstances insignificant and in
conspicuous. The genuine Christian
life is not spasmodic; does not go by
fits and starts. 1t tolls on through
heat and cold. up steep mountains and
along dangerous declivities, its eye
on the everlasting hills crowned with
the castles of the blessed
| propose this morning to plead for
religion for today.
CHRIST IN OUR DAILY CONVERSATION.
In the first place we want to bring
the religion of Christ into our con
versation. When a dam breaks and
two or three villages are over
whelmed, or an earthquake in South
America swallows a whole city. then
people begin to talk about the I'M
certainty of life, and they imagine |
that they are engaged in positively |
religious conversation. No. You |
may talk about these things and |
have no grace of God at all in your |
heart We ought every day to be |
talking religion. If there is any |
thing glad about it, anything beauti
full about it, anything important |
about it, we ought to be continuous
ly discussing it.
| have noticed that men, just in
proportion as their Christian expe- |
rience is shallow, talk about funerals |
and graveyards and tombstones and |
deathbeds. The real, genuine Chris
tan man talks chiefly about this life
and the great eternity beyond, and
not so much about the insignificant
pass between these two residences.
And yet how few circles there are
where the religion of Jesus Christ is
welcome Go into a circle, even of
Christian people, where they are full
of joy and hilarity, and talk of
Christ and heaven, and everythingis
Immediately silenced.
As on a summer day, when the for
ests are full of life, chatter and CHR
rup and Garcia mighty chorus of
bird harmony, every tree branch an
orchestra-if a hawk appear in the
sky every voice stops, and the for
ests are still; just so l have seen a
lively religious circle silenced on the
appearance of anything like religious
conversation. No one had anything
to say. save perhaps some old patri-
arch in the corner of the room, who
really thinks that something ought to
be said under the circumstances so
he puts one foot over the other, and
heaves a long sigh and says, ooh,
yes; that's so, that's soI''
My friends, the 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
groaning about your religion when
you ought to be singing it or talking
1t in cheerful tones of voice. How
often it is that we find men whose
lives are utterly inconsistent, who at
tempt to talk religion, and always
make failure of it, My friends, we
must live religion or we cannot talk
it. If man is cranky and cross and
uncongenial and hard in his dealings,
and then begins to talk about Christ
and heaven, everybody is repealed
by it.
Yet have heard such men say in
whining tones, I'VE are miserable
sinners. =" THE Lord bless you, " THE
Lord have mercy on you" their con-
versation interlarded with such eX-
pressions, which mean nothing but
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 talk it with
an Illuminated countenance, remem-
beTng that when two Christian PEG
pie talk God gives especial attention
and writes down what they say.
Malachi iii, 16, Then they that feared
the Lord spake often one to another;
and the Lord hardened and heard it,
and a book of remembrance was
written"
CHRIST IN OUR DAILY LABORS.
Again remark, we must bring the
religion of Christ into our employ
ments. "Oh, " you say, that is very
well if a man handle large sums of
money, or if he have an extensive
traffic: but in my thread and needle
store, in my trimming establishment,
IN the humble work in life that am
called to, the sphere is too small for
the action of such grand heavenly
principles" Who told you so? Do [
you not know that God watches the
faded leaf on the brooks surface as
certainly as he does the path of a
blazing sum- And the moss that {
f1n CID o. l. | 4