The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-04


Ship TO. Southampton That Sails in
the Direction of Southampton One
pay and in other Directions Six.
Brooklyn. Sept. 3-Rev. T. Dewitt
Tal1nace in selecting a topic for to-day
chose one of practical value to all classes,
viz. Week Day Religion The text IS
from Proverbs iii.6. In all thy ways
acknowledge him
There has been "a tendency in all lands
and ages to set apart certain days, places
and occasions for especial religious SER
vice. and TO think that they formed the
realm in which religion was chiefly toact
Now. while holy days and holy places
have their4 use. they can never be
a substitute for continuous exercise OF
faith and prayer. In other words, man
cannot be so good Christian on Sabbath
that he can afford 10 be a wording
all the week. If a steamer start for
Southampton. and sail one day in that
direction, and the other six days sail in
other directions, how long before the
steamer will get 10 Southampton Just
as soon as man will get to heaven who
sails on the Sabbath day towards 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 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 danger
Gus dechvities, its eyes ever on the ever
lasting hills crowned with the castles OF
the blessed.
] propose. soafar as God may help me,
TO show you how we may bring our relig-
ion into our ordinary life, and practice 1t
in common yesterday, to-day to-
morrow.
And in the first place I remark We
ought to bring religion into our ordinary
conversation. A dam breaks and two or
three villages are submerged, South
American earthquake swallows a city,
and people begin to talk about the uncer-
tainty of human life, and in that CONVEX
sation think they are engaging
In religious service when there
may be no religion at all ]
have noticed that in proportion as Chris
tian experience is shallow men talk
about funerals and deathbeds, hearses,
and tombstones, and epitaphs. If 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 compare
lively about the insignificant pass
between this and that, Yet how seldom
it is that the religion of Christ is a wei
come theme. If a man full of the Gospel
of Christ goes into a religious circle, and
begins to talk about sacred things, all the
conversation is hushed and things become
exceeding awkward. AS on summer
day, the forests full of song and chirp
and carol. mighty chorus of bird harmo-
MES, every branch an Orchestra-if a
hawk appears on the sky, all the voices
are hushed. so | have sometimes seen a
social circle that professed to be Chris
tian, silenced by the appearance of the
great theme of God and religion. Now,
my friends. if we have the religion of
Christ in our soul, we will talk about
1t in an eXhilarant mood. 1t is more re-
freshing than the waters, it is brighter
than the sunshine. il gives a man Joy here,
and prepares him for everlasting happi-
ness before 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 other, and signs heavily, and
says "Oh. yes; that's so !" My friends
5 the religion of Jesus Christ is not some
thing to be groaned about, but some
thing 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 win often find a man whose
fqsa1 ifa IL full of ief
his conversation with such expressions
as, I'VE are miserable sinners" 1.-THE
Lord help us, " 1.-The Lord bless YOU" in
terlarding their conversation with such
phrases, which are mere canting,
and canting is the worst kind of ,hYpoc-
risy. If a man have the grace Of God in
his heart dominant, he can talk religion
and it will seem natural, and men, in.
stead of being repulscd by it, viii be at
tracted by it. Do you not know that
when two Christian people talk as they
ought about the things of Christ and
heaven, God gives special attention. and
he writes it all down. Malichi iii: IS
"Then they that feared the Lord talked
one to the other. and the Lord hearkened
and heard, and book of remembrance
was written"
But l remark again: We ought to brine
the religion of Jesus Christ into our ordi
nary employments. OH you say. that's
a very good theory for man who man
ages a large business, who has great traf
4ic. who holds a great estate; it is grand
thing for bankers and for shippers but il
my thread and needle store, in my trim
ming establishment, in my insignificant
work of life, youcannot apply those grand
Gospel principles. Who told YOU that
Do you not know that a faded leaf on 4
brooks surface attracts Gods attention as
certainly as the path of blazing sun, anC
that the moss that creeps up the side O.
the rock attracts Gods attention as Ger
tainly as the waving tops of Oregon pine
and Lebanon cedar, and that the crack
ling of an alder under a cow hoof sound.
as loudly in Gods ear as the snap of Z
worlds con1agration, and that the mos
Insignificant thing in your life is O.
enough Importance to attract the atten
ton of the Lord God Almighty
My brother, You cannot be called to d.
anything so insignificant but God vii
help you in it. If you are fisherman
Christ viii stand by you as he did by ST
mon when he dragged Gennesaret. Ar,
you drawer of water2-he will be with
you as at the well curb when talkin,
with the Samaritan woman Are YOU
custom-house officer2-Christ will cal
you as he did Matthew at the receipt o
custom. The man who has only a day
wages in his pocket as certainly need
religion as he who rattles the keys of
lauy and po17T1 n bcros,1 v.-ifb -,