Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1892-01-29


Talmage's sermon this morning was on
the topic on which he is never tired of
insisting, and which, more than any
other, constitutes his message to this
gencration-the application of religion
TO the affairs of daily life. His text
was taken from /. Corinthians 1921:
"Whether, therefore, We eat or drink,
or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory
of God"
When the apostle, in this text, sets
forth the idea that SO common an ac-
ton rs 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 a
tendency to set apart certain 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 impor-
lance. They give opportunity for
especial performance of Christian duty,
and for regaling of the religious
Appetite; but they cannot take
the place of continuous eX-
ercise of faith and prayer.
purpose, this morning, to plead for
a religion for to-day.
In the first place we want to bring
the religion of Christ into our CONVEX
sation. When dam breaks and two
or three villages are overwhelmed, or
;..i earthquake in South America swal-
lows whole city, then people begin
to talk about the uncertainty of life,
and they imagine they are en-
gagged 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 anything glad about it, any
thing beautiful about it, anything i'm
| portant about it. we ought 10 be con-
tinuously discussing it. have noticed
that men, just in proportion as their
! Christian experience is shallow, talk
about funerals, and grave yards, and
tombstones, and death beds. The real,
! genuine Christian man talks chiefly
about this life, and the great eternity
! beyond, and not SO much about the in
significant pass between these two res
! licences.
My friends, the religion OF Jesus
! Christ is something to talk about with
glad heart. 1t is brighter than the
waters; il is more cheerful than the sun
shine. Do not go around grooming
about your religion. when you ought
TO be singing it or talking it in cheer
| full tones of voice. How often it is that
we find men whose lives are utterly in
consistent, who attempt to talk re-
/ ligion, and always make "a 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 be-
! gins to talk about Christ and heaven,
everybody is repealed by it. Yet have
| heard such men say, in whining tones,
/ eve are miserable sinners" THE Lord
bless you;" 1.-THE Lord have mercy on
/ YOU" their conversation interlarded
with such expressions, which mean
nothing but canting; and can't
ing is the worst form of hypocrisy.
| Again | remark: we must bring the
+ religion of Christ into our employ
ments. "Oh, you say, that is very
well if n man handles large sums of
money, or If he have an extensive
traffic, but in my thread-and-needle
store, in my trimming establish
ment, 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 blazing sun?
And the moss that creeps up the side of
the rock makes as much impression
upon Gods mind as the waving tops of
Oregon pine and Lebanon cedar; and
the alder cracking under the
cows hoof, sounds as loud in
| Gods car as the snap Of "a
worlds confagration When you have
! anything to do in life, however humble
it may seem to be, God is always there
10 helpyou to do it. If your work is
! that of fisherman, then God will
help you, as he helped Simon when
! he dragged Gcnnesaret. If your work
! is drawing water, then he will help
you, as when he talked at the we'll
curb to the Samaritan woman.
If you are engaged in the Gus
tom-house, he will lead you as he led
Matthew sitting at the receipt of Gus
toms. A religion that is not good in
one place is not worth anything in
another place. The man who has only
days wages in his pocket as certainly
needs the guidance of religion, as he
who rattles the keys of a bank, and
could abscond with 500, 900 hard dol
| lars.
There are those prominent in the
churches who seem TO be, on public oc-
casions, very devout. who do not put
the principles of Christ's religion into
practice. They are the most inexor-
able Of creditors. They are the most
grasping of dealers. They arc known
as sharpers on the street. They fleece
every sheep they can catch. A
country merchant comes in TO
buy spring or fall goods and
he gets into the store of one OF these