The Penn's Grove record., 1893-09-08
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
Subject "Wcek Day Religion

TEXT: "h all ny nays acknowledge Him."
Proverbs ill.,, 6.
There has been a tendency in all lands and
ages to set apart certain days, places and oe-
casions for especial religious service, and to
think that they formedthe realm in which re-
liglon was chiefly to act. Now. while holy
days and holy places have their use, they can
never be a substitute for continuous exercise
OF faith and prayer.
In other words, a man cannot be so good a
Christian on Sabbath that he can afford to be
q wording all the week. II n steamer start
for Southampton and sail one day in that di-
rection and the other six days sail in other
directions, how long before the steamer will
get to Southampton? Just as soon as the
man Will get to heaven who sails c I the Sab
bath day towardthat which is good, and the
other six days OF the week sails toward the
world, the fies.l an the devil. You cannot
eat so much at the Slbhath banquet that you
can afford religious abstinence all the rest OF
the week.
Genuine religion Is not spasmodic, does
not go by fits and starts, is not an attack OF
chills and fever-now cold until your teeth
chatter, now hot until your bones ache.
Genuine religion marches on steadily up
steep hills and along dangerous declivities,
its eye ever on the everlasting hills crowned
with the castles OF the blessed.
IpropOse. so far as God may help me, to
fllpH NNh - W. iAhy a. ceA
to ordinary life and practice it In common
things-yesterlay, to-day, tomorrow. :
And, in the first place, l remark, we ought
to bring religion into our ordinary CONVERSE
ton. A dam breaks, II two or three viii
lagos are submerged, a South American
earthquake swallows n city, and people bel
gin to talk about the uncertainty of human
life, and In that conversation think they are
engaging in religious service when ther3
may be no religion at all. l have noticed
that in proportion as Christian experience IS
shallow men talk about funerals and death-
beds and hearses and tombstones n cpl
taphs.
If n man have the religion of the gospel in
its full power in his soul, he will talk chiefly
about this world and the eternal world and
very little comparatively about the insignia
cant pass between this and that. Yet how
seldom it Is that the religion OF Christ Is q
welcome theme Ii a man full OF the gospel
of Christ goes into q religious circle and be-
gins to talk about sacred things, all the con-
yersation Is hushed, md things become ex-
ceedingly awkward. AS on a summer day,
the forest full of song and chirp and carol,
mighty chorus Of bird h~armonies, every
branch an orchestra, if a hawk appears in
the sky, all the voices are hushed, so l have
sometimes seen a social circle that protested
to be Christian sllencel by the appearance OF
the great theme OF God n religion.
Now. my friends, If we have the religion OF
Christ in our soul, we will talk about 1t in
an exbilarant mood. 1t is more refreshing
than the waters, it Is brighter than the sun
shine, it gives a mar JOY here n prepares
him for everlasting happiness before the
throne of God. And yet, II the theme OF
religion be introduced into q circle, every
thing Is s~ilenced-silenced unless perhaps an
aged Christian man in the corner OF the
room, feeling that something ought to be
said, puts one foot over the other and signs
heavily and says, "Oh, yes that's so!
NV friends. the religion of Jesus Christ is
not something to be groaned about, bu
something to talk about and sing about, your
face irradiated. The trouble is that men pro-
Tossing the faith Of the gospel are often sc
Inconsistent that they are afraid their con-
yersation will not harmonic with their life.
We cannot talk the gospel unless we live the
gospel. You will often find a man whose en-
tire life is full Of Inconsistencies filling his
conversation with such expressions as, 1--WE
are miserable sinners" 'tThe Lord help u.s.
.'The Lord bless you" interlarding their
conversation with such phrases, which are
mere canting, and canting is the worst kind
Of hypocrisy.
If a man have the grace of God in his heart
dominant, he can talk religion, and 1t Will
seem natural. and men. instead Of being re-
pulsed by it. will be attracted by 1t. Do you
MOI kuOM tDlI WHICH wv tNNE|
talk as they ought about the things OF Christ
and heaven God gives special attention, and
He writes it all down. Malachi ILL.,, 10,
s'Then they that feared the Lord talked one
to the other, and the Lord hearkened and
heard, and a book of remembrance was writ
ten."
But l remark again, we ought TO bring the
religion Of Jesus Christ into our ordinary
employments. "0h," you say, chats q very
good theory for n mar who manages a iarSe
business, who has great traffic, who holds a
great estate-it Is a grand thing for bankers
and for shippers-but in my thread and nee
die store, In my trimming establishment, IN
NV insignificant work of life, you canno
apply those grand gosple principles" who
told you that? Do you not know that q
faded leaf on BROOKS surface attracts Gods
attention as certainly as the path OF a blaz-
ing sun, and that the moss that creeps upthe
side of the rock attracts Gods attention as
certainly as the waving tops OF Oregon pine
and Lebanon cedar, and that the cracking
OF an alder under q cows hoot sounds a.
loudly in Gods ear as the snap OF q worids
confederation, and that the most insignih'
cant thing In our life is OF enough impor,
lance to attract the attention OF the Lore
God Almighty?
NV brother, you cannot be called to do any
thing so Insignificant but God will help you
in it. If YOU are u fisherman, Christ vii
| stand by you as He did by Simon when n
dragged Gennesaret. Are you a drawer o
water2 He will be with you as at the vel
curb when talking with the Samaritan
woman. Are you a custom house oficer'
Christ will call you as He did Matthew at th'
! receipt OF custom. The man who has only
DAVIS a in his pocket as certainly need
religion as he who rattles the keys OF q banl
and could abscond y. III a hundred thousand
hard dollars. And yet there are men who
profess the religion OF Jesus Christ who d.
not bring the religion Of the gospel into
their ordinary occupations and employ
ments.
There are in the churches OF this day mel
who seem very devout on the Sabbath wht
| are far from that during the week. Aeoun
try merchant arrives in this city, andhe goe'
| into the store to buy goods OF q man wh'
processes religion, but has no grace in hi
| heart, The country merchant Is swindied
He is too exhausted to go home that week
| he tarriesI In town. On Sabbath he goes 4
some church for consolation, and what is hi
| amazenent TO find that the man who carrie
| around the poor box is the very one VIII
swindled him. But never mind. The deacol
| has his black coat on now and looks solemn
and goes home talking about that blesse'
sermon Christians on Sunday. Wording
during the week.
THAT man does not realize that God know
: eNArY ulhuOntoI NOAAo IL A"S
| that God is looking right through the ire
wall of his money safe, and that the day G
Judgment is coming, and that ''as the par
fridge stitch on eggs and hatcheth them moi
sol . that getteth riches and not by RICH
III ave them in the midst OF his days, an
al shall be a fool" But how man
III no do not bring the religion G
aCp heir everyday occupation. The
IN is for Sundays.
/ YOU were to go out to fight 70
Nd airy in some great contest, woul
M 10 do the battling at Troy or Q
81 ieaeld2 No, you would go there to g
yoHr swords and muskets. Then you woul
90 out in tho face OF the enemy and conten
Tor your country. Now, Itake the sabhnt
dny and the church to be only the armor
where we are to get equipped for the gret
battle of life, and that battlefield is Monda.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday an
Saturday. "Antioch." and "st. Martins
md "old Hundred" are not worth much
I'VE do not sing all the week. A ser non Is
little account IL we cannot carry ii benin
the counter and behind the plow. The Sa'
bath day is OF ne value If it last only
hours.
"oh," says some one, "lfI had a gre'
sphere, I would do that. II l could ha,
lived in the time of Martin Luther, II 1 coul
nave been paul'S travelling companion, II