The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-04-07
RELIGION OF CHRIST.
DR.. Talmage Says 1t Is the Grand
est Possible Adjournment.
Inhdeiity and Christianity Contracted
The Peace of One, the Despair
of the Other-The Dam
gers of Delay.

In a late sermon at Brooklyn Rev. 7.
Dewitt Talmage discoursed on the
sustaining power of religion to those
who are in daily contact with the
world, its trials and temptations. The
text chosen was Psalms, xviii, IS:
Though you have lain among the
pots, yet shall We be as the wings Of
a dove covered with silver. and her
feathers with yellow gold" DIR. Tai
mage said:
l suppose you know what the Israel
ties did down in Egyptian slavery.
The men made bricks. Amid the uten-
sils of the brick-kiln there were also
other utensils of cookery-the kettles.
the pots, the pans, with which they
prepared their daily food; and
when these poor slaves, tired of the
days work, lay down to rest, they lay
down among the implements of cook.
cry and the implements of hard work.
When they arose in the morning they
found their garments covered with the
clay and the smoke and the dust, and
besmirched and begrimed with the
utensils of cookery. But after awhile
the Lord broke up that slavery, and he
took these poor slaves into a land
where they had better garb. bright and
clean and beautiful apparel. When
David, in my text, IN to describe
the transition of these poor Israelites
from bondage amid the brick -kilns into
the glorious emancipation which God
had prepared them, he says: Though
We have lain among the pots, yet shall
ye be as the wings OF a dove covered
With silver, and her feathers with yell
low gold"
Sin is the hardest of all taskmasters.
Worse than Pharaoh, 1t keeps u drudg-
ing in a most degrading service; but af-
ter awhile Christ comes and says: Let
my people 60" and we pass out from
among the brick-kilns of sin into the
glorious liberty of the gospel; we put
on the clean robes of a Christian pro-
f~ession, and when, at last, we soar
away to the warm nest which God has
provided for us in Heaven, we shall 90
fairer than q dove. its wings covered
with silver and its feathers with yellow
gold.
l am going to preach something
which some Of you do not believe, and
that Is, that the grandest possible
adornment is the religion of Jesus
Christ. There are a great many people
who suppose that religion is a very diff
ferent thing from what it really is.
The reason men condemn the Bible is
because they do not understand the
Bible; they have not properly examined
it. DIR. johnson said that Hume told q
minister in the %bishopric of Durham
that he had never particularly exam-
ined the New Testament, yet all his
life warning against it HALEY. the
astronomer, announced his skepticlsm
to Sir Isaac Newton. and Sir Isaac
Newton said: "Now, sir, ] have exam
ined the subject and you have not; and
am ashamed that you. protesting to
be a philosopher, consent to condemn
a thing you never have examined"
And SO men reject the religion of Jesus
Christ because they really have never
investigated it.
But how is it il a young man becomes
q Christian? All through the club
rooms, where he associates. all through
the business circles where he is known,
there is commiseration. They say:
What a pity that a young man who
had such bright prospects should SO
have been despoiled by those Christ
ians, giving up all his worldly pros
poets for something which is of no par
ticular present WORTH Here is q
young woman who becomes q Christ
ian; her voice, her face, her manners
the charm of the drawing room. Now. all
through the fashionable circles the
whisper goes: what a pity that such Q
bright light should have been extin-
guished, that such a graceful gait
should be crippled, that such worldly
prospects should be obliteratedv' All.
my friends. it can be shown that re-
ligion's ways are ways Of pleasantness,
and that all her paths are peace; that
religion, instead of being dark and
doleful and l~achrymose and repulsive,
is bright and beautiful, fairer than q
dove, its wings covered with silver and
its feathers with yellow gold.
See. in the first place, what religion
will do for a mans heart. care not
how cheerful a a may naturally be
before conversion, conversion naturally
brings him up to a higher standard of
cheerfulness. l do not say he will
laugh any louder; l do not say but he
may stand back from some forms Of
hilarity in which he once indnlged;
but there comes into his soul an i'm
mense satisfaction. A young man not q
Christian depends upon worldly success
to keep his spirits up. Now he is pros
pered, now he has a large salary. now
be has a beautiful wardrobe. now he has
pleasant friends, now he has more
money than he knows how to spend;
everything goes bright and we'll with
him. But trouble comes; his friends
are gone. his salary is gone. his health
Is gone; he goes down, down. He be-
comes sour cross. queer, misanthropic,
biames the world, blames society.
blames the church, biames everything.
rushes perhaps to tho Intoxicating cup
to drown his trouble, but, instead Of
drowning his trouble, he browns his
body and browns his soul.
But there is a Christian young man.
Trouble comes to him. Does he give
up? No! He throws himself back on
the resources of Heaven. He says:
GOD is my father. Out OF all those
disasters l shall pluck advantage for
my soul. All the promises are mine.
Christ is mine, Christian companion
ship is mine. Heaven is mine. What
though my apparel BIZ worn ont?
Christ gives me q robe Of righteousness.
What though my money be gomez ]
have a title deed to the whole universe
in the promise, al are yours What
though my worldly friends fall away?
Ministering angels are by body guard.
What though my fare be poor and my
bread be scant? l sit at at the Kings
banquet"
Oh, what Q poor, shallow stream ia
worldly enjoyment compared with the
deep, broad, overlooking river of Gods
peace, rolling midway in the Christian
heart. Oh, how independent the 70,
ligion OF Christ makes u man of world.
success and worldly circumstances!
You and | have found ont that people
who pretend to be happy are not al
ways happy, Look at that young man
caricaturing the Christian religion.
scofing at everything good. going into
registering drunkenness. dashing the
champagne bottle to the floor, rolling
the glasses from the ,barroom counter,
laughing, shouting, stamping the
floor. Is he happyP l will go
to his midnight pillow. will
see him turn the gas off. will
ask myself il the pillow on which he
sleeps is as soft as the pillow on which
that pure young man sleeps. All! NO.
Vivian In nnanS bto nuac In fho nnrn