The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1893-02-10
IALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Discourses
on THE Sunshine Of Religion"
The Daughter of God who Walks I'm the
Sunshine-"Her Ways Are Ways OF
Pleasantness and All Her
Paths Are Peace"

Paths Are Peace"
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage delivered
the following discourse on THE Sun
shine of Religion" in the Brooklyn
tabernacle, taking for his text:
Her ways are ways Of pleasantness--Prove
iii, IL.
You have all heard of Gods only be-
gotten Son. Have yon heard of Gods
daughter? She was born in Heaven.
She came down over the hills of our
world. She had queenly step. On her
brow was celestial radiance. Her
voice was mnsic Her name is Reli-
gion. My text introduces her. Her
ways are ways of pleasantness, and all
her paths are peace"
But what is religion? The fact is
that theological study has had a diff
ferent effect upon me from the effect
sometimes produced. Every year /
tear out another leaf from my theol-
ogy until ] have only three or four
leaves left. In other words, a very
brief and plain statement of Christian
belief.
An aged Christian minister said:
''When 1 was a young man, knew
everything; when got to be thirty-five
years of age in my ministry had only
hundred doctrines OF religion; when
got to be forty years of age, had
only fifty doctrines of religion; when !
got to be sixty years of age, / had only
ten doctrines of religion, and now / am
dying at seventy-fve years of age, and
there is only one thing / know, and
that is, that Christ came into the world
to save sinners" And so I have mo-
ticed in the study of Gods word, and
in my contemplation of the character
of God or the eternal world, that it is
necessary for me to drop this part of
my belief and that part of my
/ cling TO the one great doctrine that
man is a sinner, and Christ is his Al
mighty and Divine Saviour.
Now, take these three or four leaves
of my theology, and / find that in the
first place, and dominant above all
others, is the sunshine of religion.
When go into a room have passion
for throwing open all the skaters.
That is what / want to do this morn
ing. We are apt to throw so much of
the sepulchral into our religion and to
close the shutters, and to pull down
the blinds, that it is only through here
and there a crevice that the light
streams. The religion of the Lord
Jesus Christ is religion of joy indc-
scribable and unutterable. Whenever
can find a bell mean to ring it
If there are any in this house this
morning who are disposed to hold on to
their melancholy and gloom, let them
now depart this service before the fair
est and the brightest and most radiant
being of all the universe comes in.
Gods Son has left our world, but Gods
Daughter is here. Give her room!
Hail! princess of Heaven. Hail! daugh-
ter of the Lord God Almighty. Come
in and make this house thy throne
room.
In setting forth this idea the domi-
nant theory of religion is one of sun
shine. hardly know where to begin,
for there are SO many thoughts that
rush upon my soul. A mother
saw her little child seated on
the floor in the sunshine, and
with spoon in her hand. She said:
"My darling, what are you doing
there?'' ''Oh," replied the child, I'm
getting a spoonful of this sunshine. -
Would God that to-day / might present
you with cleaning chalice of this
glorious, everlasting, gospel sunshine!
First of all, l find a great deal of sun
shine in Christian society.
do not know of anything more dole
full than the companionship of the mere
fun-makers of the world-the Thomas
Hoods, the Charles Lambs. the Charles
Matthews of the world-the men
whose entire business it is to make
sport. They make others laugh, but
| if you will examine their autobiogra-
| ply, or biography, you will find that
| down in their soul there was terrific
| disquietude. Laughter is no sign OF
| happiness The maniac laughs. The
hyena laughs. The loon among the
Adirondacks laughs. The drunkard,
dashing his decanter against the wall,
laughs.
There is a terrible reaction from all
sinful amusement and sinful merriment.
Such men are cross the next day. They
snap at you on the exchange or they
| pass you, not recognizing you. Long
ago l quit mere worldly society for the
reason it was so dull, SO inane and SC
stupid. My nature is voracious of joy.
/ must have it.
] always walk on the sunny side OF
| the street, and for that reason have
crossed into Christian society. / like
their mode of repartee better; like
their style of amusement better. They
| live longer. Christian people, some
times notice, live on when by all nat
ural law they ought to have died. ]
have known persons who have contin-
ued in their existence when the doctor
said they ought to have been dead ten
| years Every day of their existence
was defiance of the laws of anatomy
and physiology, but they had this SUI
| pernatural vivacity of the Gospel in
their soul, and that kept them alive.
Put ten or twelve Christian people in
a room for Christian conversation, and
you will from to 10 o'clock hear more
resounding glee, see more bright
strokes of wit and find more thought
and profound satisfaction than in any
merely worldly party. Now, when ]
say a worldly party" / mean
| that to which you are invited be
cause under all the circumstances OF
the case it is the best
for you to be invited, and to which you
go because under all the circumstances
of the case it is better that you go;
and leaving the shawls on the second
floor, you go to the parlor to give
| formal salutation TO the host and hos
tess, and then move around, spending
the whole evening in the discussion OF
the weather, and in apology for tread