The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-09-06
"WEEK-DAY RELIGION"
A Topic of Practical Value Dis
cussed by Rev. DR.. Talmage.
Genuine Religion is Not spasmodic and
Does Not Go by Fits and Starts-It
Should be Brought Into the Ordi-
nary Affairs Of Lifo and
Practiced Daily.

nt the brooklyn tabernacle recently
by Rev. DIR. Talmage from the text I'm
all thy ways acknowledge Him"-Prov-
erbs Ill, O.:
There has been tendency in all
lands and ages to set apart certain
days, places and occasions for special
religious service, and TO think that
they formed the realm in which re-
ligion was chiefly to act. Now, while
holy days and holy places have their
use, they can never be substitute for
continuous exercise of faith and
prayer. In other words, man cannot
be so good Christian on Sabbath that
he can afford to be wording all the
week. If a steamer start for South
ampton, and sail one day in that direc-
tion, and the other six days in other
directions, how long before the steamer
will get to Southampton? Just as soon
as man will get to Heaven who sails
on the Sabbath day toward that which
is good, and the other six days of the
week sails toward the world, the flesh
and the devil. You cannot eat so much
at the Sabbath banquet that you can
afford religious abstinence all the rest
of le 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 un-
til 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.
propose, so far as God may help me,
to show you how we may bring our re-
Egion into ordinary life, and practice
itin common things-yesterday, to-day,
tomorrow.
And in the first place I remark: We
ought to bring religion into our ordi-
nary conversation. A dam breaks and
two or three villages are submerged, a
South American earthquake swallows
a city, and people begin to talk about
the uncertainty Of human life, and in
that conversation they think they are
engaging in religious service, when
there may be no religion at all. have
noticed that in proportion as Christian
experience is shallow, men talk about
funerals, and deathbeds, and hearses,
and tombstones, and epitaphs. II a
man have the religion of the gospel in
its full power in his soul he will talk
chiefly about this world and the eter-
nal world, and very little comparative
ly about the insignihcantp pass between
this and that. Yet how seldom 1t Is
that the religion of Christ Is a welcome
theme? II a man full of the gospel OF
Christ goes into religious circle, and
begins to talk about sacred things, all
the conversation is hushed, and things
become exceeding awkward. AS on a
summer day, the forest full of song
chirp and carol, mighty chorus Of bird
harmonies, every branch an orchestra
If hawk appears in the sky, all the
voices are hushed, so have sometimes
seen social circle that professed to be
Christian, silenoed by the appearance
of the great theme of God and reli-
gion. Now, my friends, II we have the
religion of Christ in our soul, we talk
about IL in an exhilarant mood.
1t is more refreshing than the
waters, it is brighter than the sun
shine, IL gives man Joy here, and pre-
pares him for everlasting happiness be-
fore the throne Of God. And yet, If the
theme of religion be introduced into a
circle, everything is silenced-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 othr and sighs heavily
and says, 20, yes; that's soV' My
friendsl the religion of Jesus Christ is
not something to be groaned about,
but something TO talk about and sing
about, your face irradiated. The
trouble Is that men protesting the faith
OF the gospel are often so inconsistent
that they are afraid their conversation
will not harmonic with their life We
cannot talk the gospel unless we live
the gospel. You will often find man
whose entire life is full of inconsisten-
cies filing his conversation with such
expressions as, 1--WE are miserable sin.
ners," "the Lord help u.s." "the Lord
bless you," interlarding their conver-
sation with such phrases, which are
mere canting, and canting is the worst
kind Of hypocrisy. II man have the
grace of God in his heart dominant, he
can talk religion and IL will seem nat.
ural, and men, instead of being re-
pulsed by It, will be attracted by 1t.
Do you not know that when two Chris.
tian people talk as they ought about
the things of Christ and Heaven, God
gives special attention and He writes II
all down. Malachi III; 10: "Then they
that feared the Lord talked one to the
other, and the Lord hearkened and
heard, and book Of remembrance was
written"
But remark again: We ought 10
bring the religion Of Jesus Christ into
our ordinary employments. "ohl'' you
say, "that's very good theory for q
man who manages large business,
who has great traffic, who holds a great
estate; II Is grand thing for bankers
and for shippers, but In my thread and
needle store, in my trimming establish.
ment, in my Insignificant work of life,
you cannot apply those grand gospel
principles Who told you that? Do
| you know that q faded leaf ON brooks
surface attracts Gods attention as Ger.
tsinly as the path Of blazing sun, and
that the moss that creeps up the side
OF the rock attracts Gods attention MS
certainly as the waving tops Of Oregon
pine and Lebanon cedar, and that the