Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-09-09
WEEK DAY RELIGION.
TIE PRACTICAL THEME OF DR.. Tall
q MAGE'S SUNDAY SERMON.

TIE PRACTICAL THEME OF DR.. TAI
- MAGE's SUNDAY SERMON.
4 Religion Is Applicable to the Common
place Affairs of Life-Tho Aggregate I'm
L. portanoe of Small Things-"In All Thy
Ways Acknowledge Him"
BRooKLYN, Sept. 3.-Rev. T. De Witt
ItTalpage in selecting topic for today
Echose one of practical value to all classes
ssz3iz, "Weel1 Day Religion" The text
E.isifrom Proverbs iii, 6, "In all thy ways
ktacknowledge him.
f. There has been q tendency in oil lands
'fand ages to set apart certain days, places
and occasions for especial religious serv-
5ESce, and to think that they formed the
tsrealm in which religion was chiefly to
Fact. Now, while holy days and holy
places have their use, they can never be
To- substitute for continuous exercise Of
faith and prayer.
In other words, man cannot be 80
wood a Christian on Sabbath that he can
isafford to DO a-worldling all tho week. If
kta steamer start for. Southampton and
gslil one day in that direction, and the
.4ssother, six days sail in other directions,
kRow long before the steamer will get to
northampton Just rs soon as the man
swill get to heaven who sails on the Sab
Ebath- day toward thatwhichis good and
1.-THE other six days of the week sails to-
ward the world, the flesh and the devil
You. cannot eat SO much at the Sabbath
:Ebanquet that you can afford religious
8abstinence all the rest of the week.
y ~: GENUINE RELIGION NOT sPAsMoDIo.
s. Genuine religion is not spasmodic,
ssd4es not go by fits and starts, is not an
1attack of chills and fever-now cold I'M
ftiifs your teeth chatter, now hot until
ffyour bones ache. Genuine religion
glnarches on steadily, up steep hills and
asaleng dangerous declivities, its eye ever
Ton Ton the everlasting hills crowned with
.sthe castles of the blessed.
&. 81 propose, so far as God may help me,
Eto:show you how we may bring our re-
into ordinary life and practice it
ainF common things-yesterday, today,
,stomorrow.
& ssAnd, in the first place, remark, we
Fought to bring religion into our ordinary
A dam breaks, and two
Eor9three villages are submerged, South
4IsAnerican earthquake swallows city,
'RRand people begin to talk about the un-
certainty Of human life, and in that con-
+ EiESersation think they are engaging in re-
service when there may be no re-
sfigioniat ALL Ihnve noticed that in pro-
EportiOn rs Christian experience is shall
lllow@men talk about about funerals and
and hearsos and tombstones
land epitaphs.
50 man have the religion of the gos-
sIial IN its full power in his soul, he will
talk ;chiefy about this world and the
lEasttesnal world and very little compare
isSSiiiNeIys about the Insignificant pass be-
ItWsensthis and that. Yet how seldom
that the religion of Christ is well
theme! If q man fun of the gospel
:hTist goes into a religlous-c circle and
1sbegirls to talk about sacred things, all
the conversation is hushed, and things
become exceedingly awkward. AS on q
summer day, the forests full of song and
chirp and carol, mighty chorus of bird
harmonies. every branch an orchestra.
if hawk appears in the sky, all the
voices are hushed, so l have sometimes
seen social circle that professed to be
Christian silcnced by tho appearance OF
the great theme of God and religion.
Now, my friends, if we have the reli-
gion Of Christ in our soul, we will talk
about it in an exhilarant mood. 1t is
more refreshing than the waters, it is
brighter than the sunshine, it gives a
man joy here and prepares him for ever
lasting happiness before the throne of
God. And yet, if the theme of religion
be introduced into q circle, everything
is silenced- silenced unless perhaps an
aged Christian man in tho corner Of the
room, feeling that something ought to be
said, puts one foot over the other and
signs heavily and says, ooh, yes; that's
sol"
My friends, the religion of Jesus Christ
is not something to be groaned about,
but something to talk about and sing
about, your face irradiated. Thu, 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. VIC can
not talk the gospel unless we live the
gospel. You will often find man whose
entire life is full of inconsistencies fill
ing his conversation with such express
sions as, 1--WE are miserable sinners"
''The Lord help US, 1.-THE Lord bless
you," interlarding their conversation
with such phrases, which are mere can't
ing, and canting is the worst kind of
hypocrisy.
If man have the grace Of God in his
heart dominant, he can talk religion, and
it will seem natural, and men, instead
Of being repulsed by it, will be attracted
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. Malachi iii, 1G, "Then they
that feared the Lord talked one to the
other, and the Lord hearkened and heard,
and book Of remembrance was writ
ten"
RELIGION IN EVERYDAY AFFAIRS.
But remark again, we ought to bring
the religion of Jesus Christ into our or
binary employments. "Oh," you say,
'that's very good theory for man who
manages a large business, who has great
traffic, who holds great estate-it is a
grand thing for bankers and for ship
pers-but in my thread and needle store,
in my trimming establishment, in my in
significant work of Life, you cannot ap-
ply those grand gospel principles. Who
told you that? Do you not know that a
/ faded leaf on brooks surface attracts
Gods attention as certainly as the path
of a blazing sun, and that the moss that