The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1893-09-08
WEEK DAY RELIGION.
THE PRACTICAL THEME OF DR.. TAIL
MAGE'S SUNDAY SERMON.

/ III eNlNNtiiiS tpDiS iOI tOu}ty
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 serv-
ice, and to think that they formed the
realm in which religion 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 2 wording all the week. If
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 to
! Southampton? just as soon as the man
| will get to heaven who sails ON the Sab
bath day toward that which is good, and
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
banquet that You can afford religious
! abstinence all the rest of the week.
GENUINE RELIGION NOT sPAsMoDIc.
Genuine religion is not spasmodic,
does not go by fits and starts, is not an
attack of chills and fever-now cold I'M
| til 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.
Iprcpose. 50 far as God may help me,
to show yoa how we may bring our re-
igion into ordinary life and practice it
in common ENTHUSIASTICALLY, today,
| tomorrow,
And, IN the first place, remark, we
ought to Bring religion into our ordinary
| conversation. A dam breaks, and two
| or three villages are submerged, a South
American earthquake swallows q city,
and peoi ~ BEGIN to talk about the I'M
certainty CT human life, and in that con-
versation t'iuk they are engaging in res
lgious service when there may be no re-
hgion at ait, have noticed that in pro-
portion as Christian experience is shall
low men talk about about funerals and
deathbeds ana hearses and tombstones
and epitaphs.
If mau have the religion of the Cos
pei in its f;ll power in his soul, he will
talk chiefly about this world and the
eternal world and very little compare
lively about the insignificant pass be-
tween this aad that. Yet how seldom
it is that tho religion Of Christ is well
come thema! II man full of the gospel
of Christ gcc5 into religious circle and
begins to talk about sacred things, all
the conversation is hushed, and things
become exceedingly awkward. AS on a
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 / have sometimes
seen social circle that professed to be
Christian silanced by the appearance of
the great theme Of God and religion.
Now, my friends, if we have the reG.
! gion of Christ in our soul, we will talk
about it in an exhilarant mood. It 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 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
SOP
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. 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 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, "We are miserable sinners,
''The Lord help us" 1.-The Lord bless
you," interlarding their conversation
with such phrases, which are mere cant
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 Goo
gives special attention, and he writes il
all down. Malachi iii, 16, 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 large business, who has great
traffic, who holds great estate-it is
grand thing for bankers and for ship
pers-but i'll my thread and needle store
in my trimming establishment, in my in
significant work of life, you cannot ap
ply those grand gospel principles Wht
eold you that? Do you not know that {
faded leaf on brooks surface attract
Gods attention as certainly as the patti
of blazing sun, and that the moss tina
creeps up the side of the rock attract
Gods attention as certainly as the wav
ing tops of Oregon pine and Lebanon
cedar, and that the cracking of an aide
under cows hoof sounds as loudly il
Gods ear as the snap of worlds con
fagration, and that the most insignifi
can't thing in your life is of enough i'm
portance to attract the attention of thu
Lord God Almighty?
by brother, you cannot be called tt
do anything so Insignificant but Coz
will help you in it. Ii you are fisher
man. Christ will stand by You as he dit
by Simon when he dragged Gennesaret
Are you drawer of water? lie viii