Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-04-13
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
IFHE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUM-
DAY SERMON.
Subject: ESustaining Power of Re
ligion.''

TEXT: "T1ough ye hare lain among he
! pots. yet shall ye be as the oCtngS Of q dOUe
cOuered 1clh sjlUer and her feathers NTH gel
l0U5 gold. xviii, 13.
I suppose you know what the Israelites
did down in Egyptian slavery. They made
bricks. Amid the utensils Of the brickkin
there were also other utensils of cookery
the kettles, the pots, the pans, with which
they prepared their daily food, and when
theso poor slaves, tired Of the days work. lay
down to rest they lay down among the i'm
plements Of cookery and the implements Of
hard work. When they arose in the morn
ing, 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 a while 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. No more bricks
for them to make. Let Pharaoh make his
own bricks. When David, in my text. comes
to describe the transition Of these poor Is
raclites from their bondage amid the brick.
kilns into the glorious emancipation for
which God had prepared them, he says,
Though 20 have lain among the pots, yet
shall yc be as the wings Of a dove covered
| with silver and her feathers with yellow
| gold"
Miss Whatcly. the author of a celebrated
| book, ''Life Ia Egypt" said she sometimes
| saw people in the East cooking their food on
| the tops of houses, and that she had often
seen Just before sundOWn pigeons and
doves, which had during tho heat of the day
been hiding among the kettles and the pans
with which the food was prepared, picking
up the crumbs that they might find. Just
about the hour of sunset they would spread
their wings and fly heavenward, entirely
unsOiled by the region in which they had
] m hn vliC iC y.ia on hir1
And as the pigeons flew away the setting
sun would throw silver on their wines and
gold on their breasts. So you sec it is not a
fGrfCtchcd simtle Or an unnatural COM
pariSOn when David, in my text. says to
these emanclpated IsraoIiteS and says to all
those who are brought out of any kind OF
trouble into any kind of spiritual Joy,
Though ye have lain among the pots, yet
shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered
with silver and her feathers with yellow
| gold"
Sin is the hardest of all taskmasters.
Worse than Pharaoh, it keeps US dru3cing
In a most degrading service, but after awhile
Christ comes, and He says, 'Let Ny people
CO. and we pass out from among the brick
kins of sin into the glorious liberty of the
gospel. We put on the clean robes of a
Christian profession, and when at last we
soar away to the warm nest which God has
provided for us in heaven we shall go fairer
than dove, its wings covered with silver
anu It's lodLiitIS Will NtllOW SOiJl
am going to preach something which
sOmC OF you do not believe, and that is that
the grandest possible adornment is the re-
ligiOn of Jesus Christ. There are a great
many people who suppose that religion is u
very different thing from what it really is
Tho reason men condemn the Bible is because
they do not understand the Bible. They
have not properly eXaminedit. DR.. Johnson
said that Hume told q minister in the bishop
Iic Of Durham that he had never particularly
examined tho New Testament, yet all his life
warning against it. HaIioy, the astronomer,
announced his skcpticism to Sir Isaac New
ton, and Sir Isaac Newton said: Now, sir,
L have examined the subject, and you have
not. And l am ashamed that you, profess
ing TO be philosopher, consent to condemn
a thing you have never examined"
And so men reject the religion Of Jesus
Christ because they really have never in
Vestigated it. They think it something IN
desirable, something that will not work,
something Pecksniffian, something hypocrit-
ical something repuIsive, when it Is so
bright ana so beautiful you might compare
1t to chaffinch, you might compare it to a
robin red breast, you might compare it to a
d0ve-its wings covered with silver and its
feathers with yellow gold.
But how is it if q young man becomes a
Christian? Al! through the ciubrOOmS where
he associates. all through tho business cir
Giles whore he is known, there is cOmmisera-
ton. They say, "W hat q pity that n young
man who had such bright prospects should
so have been deSpOiied 10y those Christians
giving up all his worldly prospects for some
thing which is OF no particular present
worth ~ Here is q young woman who be-
comes a Christian-hCr voice, her face, hor
manners the charm of the drawing room.
Now all through the fashionable circles
the whisper goes, ''What pity that such
bright light should have been extinguished,
that such graceful gait should be crippled,
that such worldly prospects should be
oolitcratcdm ~ All, my friends, it can be
shown that religions ways are ways of
pleaSantneSS and that all her paths are
peace; that religion, instead of being dark
and dOlcful and lachrymOso and repulsive,
is bright and beautiful, fairer than u dove,
its wings covered with silver and its feathers
with yellow gold.
See, in the first place, what religion will
do for Il mans heart. ! care not how cheer
fut i man may naturally be before conversion,
conversion brings him up to q higher
stan lard of chcerfuness. | 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 INDUCED, but there comes
into his soul an immense satisfaction. A
young man not a Christian depends upon
worldly succC Ses to keep his spirits up
Now he is proSpered, now he has large
salary, now he has a beautiful wardrobe
now he has pleasant friends, now he has
moro money than he knows how to spend,
But trouble comes. There are many Young
men in the house this morning who can tes-
THY out OF their own experience that some
times TO young men trouble comes-hs
friends are gone, his salary is gone his health
is gone. He goes down, down. He becomes
sour, cross, queer, misanthropic, bIames the
world, blamcs society, blames the church
blamcs everything, rushes perhaps TO tho in
toHicattng cup to drown his trouble, but in
stead of drowning his trouble he browns his
body and browns his soul.
But hero is a Christian young man,
Trouble comes to him. Does he give up?
No! He throws himself back on the re-
sources of heaven. He says ''God is my
Father. Out of all these disasters I shall
pluck advantage for my soul. All the prom
lses are mine, Christ is mine, Christian COM
paniOnShip is mine. heaven is mine. What
though my apparel be worn out? Christ
gives me a robe of righteousness, What
though my money be gone? l have a title
decd to the whole universe in the promise,
All are yours What though nv worldly
friends fall away? Ministering angels are
my body-guard. What though my fare be
poor and my bread be scant? 1 sit at the
Kings banquet! :"
Oh, what poor. shallow stream is worldly
enjoyment compared with the deep, broad,
overt1owng river of Gods peace, rolling
midway in the Christian heart Sometimes
you have gone out on the iron bound beach
OF the sea when there has been storm on
tue oct'tu' anu gOu nave seen the waves daSn
into white foam at your feet. They did not
DO you any harm. While there you thought
OF the chapter written by the psalmist, and
perhaps you recited it to yourself while the
storm was making commentary upon the pas
sage: God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in time of trouble. There
fore will | not fear, though the earth be re-
moved. and though the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea, though the waters
thereof roar and be troubled, though the
mountains shake with the swelling thereof"
Oh how independent the religion Of Christ
makes man of worldly success and worldly
circumstances Nelson, the night before his
last battle said, Tomorrow 1 shall win
either peerage or q grave in Westminster
Abbey" And it does not make much differ
ence to the Christian whether he rises orfalls
in worldly matters. He has everlasting re-