Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-11
SLEEPING ON SUNDAY.
Every Man Has Free Choice Of Doing
That or Going to Church.
IT is A QUESTION OF REWARD.
Parable of the Great Supper and Its Lesson
on lmpulsiveness.
A SERMON BY REV. GEORGE HODGES
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,

Il
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH,
The parable of the Crest Slipper was
| spoken at . great supper If the importance
of feast is to be measured not by the num-
Der of the dishes but by the character Of
the guests and by their conversation, that
was most notable feast that was held that
Sabbath in the house of one Of the rulers of
the Pharisees, when the Lord Christ Him
self sat at the table.
They had been talking there, as was most
natural, about the day and how to Keep it;
about what might be done and what might
not be done upon the Sabbath. And there
had been much difference of opinion, most
of the guests believing that man was made
for the Sabbath, while Jesus taught that
the Sabbath was appointed for the use and
for the benefit OF man. Our Lords asser-
tion about the Sabbath continually scam
dalIzed the orthodox people Of his day.
However, there is not much good in argu-
ing with one who can vindicate his position
BY a miracle. And when Jesus healed q
sick man on that Sabbath day in the pres
'ence of all the scrupulous Pharisees, they
wisely held their peace.
Feasts That dre socia, Bargains.
Then the talk turned to the feast, and to
the fashions of feasts, and Jesus gave ad-
vice which nobody in the room was minded
to follow. When you are guest, he said,
take the obscurest seat at the table; do not
be among those who crowd into the highest
places. And when you are a host, do not
give your best dinners to your friends, nor
to your relatives, least of all to your rich
neighbors. Do not make your feasts social
investments from which to get dividends in
the shape of invitations to the fessts of
your guests; but invite lot of poor people,
let then sit down at your finest table; and
tnou shalt be recompensed in the resurrec-
tion of the just. We are not even yet good
enough Christians to be satisfied with such
a remote compensation, and to give such
Christian dinners as that
just here it was that one of them that sat
at meat with him, and heard these things,
said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat
bread in the kingdom of God.
Words depend so much upon the expras-
sion of the face, and the tone of the voice,
and the whole character of the speaker, that
when they are taken by themselves, and set
down in black ink upon white paper, with
out any of these illustrative accompani-
ments to explain them, they mean this, or
they may mean that, we cannot absolutely
tell
Men Who Think Of the Future,
The speaker, in this instance, may have
been one of those obtrusively pious people
who are forever talking in the language of
religion. No doubt there were many of
them among the Pharisees, more than there
are now. This man, sitting next to the
Master, and desiring, like some people now
adays, when the parson is present, to say
appropriate to the occasion ven-
tured this remark. The fact that he looked
10 far ahead into the future suggests that
be was one of these religious takers, and
that his lips we're . good deal more pious /
than his life. For the religious thinkers,
the real saints, concern themselves with the
present. They desire to do the will of God
to-day; and whatever blessings God may
have tomorrow for those who do his will,
hey are content to leave until tomorrow,
md to God. 1t is not well to spend great
ieal of time thinking about the celestial
uture. The chief thing for good people to
think about is this terrestrial present.
Religion does not greatly consist in
speech. Not in word, neither in tongue,
ire we to love God, but in deed and in
ruth. They are not always most religious
who talk most about religion. 1t is easy
% understand how our Lord must have de-
,ested that sort OF affectation, He who was
10 sincere, so genuine, SO manly, so plain of
speech, SO set against hypocrisy.
ImpuIsive and Shallow Telnperaments.
1t is perhaps more likely. however that
he speaker was of an impulsive temper,
given to emotion; and that his
words, while they were the honest express
lion of his feelings at the moment, were not
he voice of any deep conviction. Christ
Jaw into the hearts OF men, and spoke to the
.eal needs of men. He wished to make
emotion permanent, to translate impulse
nto character, to change the flash of enthu-
'iasm into the fire of enduring service. And
he knew that to effect that betterment,
men must be made to think. They must be
topped and set to studying the meaning of
heir words.
Thus when a woman, listening to His |
eaching, called out from the edge of the |
eacher, you remember how He answered,
Yea, rather blessed are they who hear the |
rord of God and keep it." And when |
simon Peter declared that he was ready to |
% with Him even to prison and to death, |
ou know how He Immediately foretold |
hat Peter should deny Him. Lord"
ries an impulsive disciple, 'I will follow |
'hee whithersoever Thou goest" ''The |
oxes have holes" is the Lords reply, sand |
he birds of the air have their nests, but the |
'on of man hath not where to lay His
cad"
The Christ Never Utilized Excitement,
Christ was thus continually repressing en-
husiastic people that he might make them
trong and enduring. He never made use
T the attraction of excitement; always
aught quietly, appealing not to the
motions, but to the reason and to the will
lie handled men as o skillful horseman
andles q spirited horse. The horse is eager
D break into gallop, but the strong hand
n the rein keeps him down into better,
lore lasting pace.
1t is strange that, with the spirit of
christianity thus exemplifed in Christ,
eople should ever imagine that right re-
gion is matter of emotion. Christianity,
) 1t was taught by Jesus Christ, appeals to
he highest and the best in human nature,
,ther represses than encourages excite
lent, and deals with the reason and the
ill. "Do not thinkH is the maxim of the
evil "Come now, and let us reason to-
ether," is the invitation of religion.
Our Lord answers the exclamation of His
aighbor at the table with the story of the
reat Supper
The Best Reward II The Lasting.
"Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the
lnkgom of God" One would think that
must recognize that benediction.
he permanent is better than the tran
tory. The best reward is that which lasts.
cd is greater than man. The highest
essing is the blessing of God The soul
hat Than tha hodv Tb,. x,o.t |