The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-16
RELIGION IN THE HOME.
The FiTeSide the First Place Where
Gratitude Should Be Shown.

the Accompaniment of Gigantic
wretchedness "A Happy Home a
Place Where the Kindness of God
Has Full Swing.
Brooklyn, April 15.-In the great audi
ence which assembled in the Brooklyn
Tabernacle, this forenoon. were many
strangers. Rev DIR. Talmage chose for
the subject of his sermon Home Re-
lgion, - taking his text from Luke viii, 49,
s'Return to thine own house, and show
how great things God hath done unto
thee"
After a fierce and shipwrecking night
Christ and his disciples are climbing up
the slaty shelving of the beach. How
pleasant it is to stand on solid ground
after having been tossed so long on the
pillows! While the disciples are con-
graduating each other on their marine
escape, out from dark, deep cavern on
the Gadarene hills there is something
swiftly and terribly advancing. Is it an
apparition2 Is it a man. Is 1t wild
beast2 1t is a maniac who has broken
away from his keepers, perhaps few
rags on his person, and fragments of stout
shackles which he has wrenched of in
bleeding wounds of his own laceration, he
flies down the hill
Back to the boats, We fishermen, and put
out to sea, anG escape assassination. But
Christ stands his ground; so do the disct-
pies and as this flying fury with gnash-
ing teeth and uplifted fists, dashes at
Christ Christ says, Hands off Down at
my feet, thou poor sufferer" and the
demoniac drops harmless, exhausted,
worshipful Away, We devils! ~ com
manded Christ, and the two thousand
fiends which had been tormenting the
peor man, are transferred TO the two
thousand swine which go to sea with
their accursed cargo.
The restored demoniac sits down at
Christs feet and wants to stay there.
Christ says to him practically, do not
stop; you have mission to execute; wash
OF the filth and the wounds in the sea
smooth your disheveled locks put on de-
cent apparel and go straight TO your desc
lated home, and tell your wife and chill
dren that you will no more alright them,
and no more do them harm that you are
restored TO reason. and that l, the ON
nipOtent Son of God, am entitled hereafter
TO the worship of your entire household.
Return to thine own house, and show how
great things God hath done unto thee
Yes, the house, the home is the first
place where our religious gratitude ought
10 NC Northumberland III bAA6 OubSlu6 HOIlu
we may seem to have religion when we
have it not but the home tests whether
our religion is genuine or sham. What
makes happy home2
Well, one would say house with great
wide halls, and antlered deer-heads, and
parlors with sculpture and bric-a-brac, and
dining-hall with easy chair and plenty OF
light and engravings of game on the wall,
and sleeping apartments commodious and
adorned, No. In such place as that,
gigantic wretchedness has sometimes
dwelt, while some Of you look back to
your fathers house, where they read
their Bible by the light of tallow candle
There were no carpets on the floor, save
those made from the rags which your
mother cut night by night, you helping
wind them into a ball, and then sent
TO the weaver who brought them to
shape under his slow shuttle. Not lux
ury in all the house. But you cannot
think of it this morning without fearful
and grateful emotion You and / have
found out that it is not rich tapestry, or
gorgeous architecture, or rare art that
makes happy home.
The six wise men of Greece gave pre-
scriptions for happy home. Scion says
happy home is place where man S
estate was gotten without injustice, kept
without disquietude and spent without
repentance. Chic says that happy
home is the place where man rules as a
monarch a kingdom. Bias saws that a
happy home is place where a man does
voluntarily what by law he is compelled
TO do abroad. But you and l, under a
grander Light, give better prescription {:
happy home is place where the kind
ness of the gospel of the son of God has
full swing
While speak this morning there is
knocking at your front door, if he be not
cd rErhn L.,
wet with the dews of the night, who
would take your children into his arms,
and would throw upon your nursery, and
your sleeping apartments, and your draw
ing room, and your entire house blessing,
Mat will make you rich while you live,
and be an inheritance to your children
after you have done the last DAVIS work
for their support, and made for them the
last prayer. IL is, the illustrious one who
said to the man of my text, Return tc
thine own house, and shew how great
things God hath done unto thee" Now
in the first place, we want religion in oul
domestic duties.
Every housekeeper needs great grace
If Martha had had more religion she
would not have rushed with such bad
temper to scold Mary in the presence o,
Christ 1t is no small thing to keeT
order, and secure cleanliness, and memo
breakages, and achieve economy, and
control all the affairs of the household
advantageously, Expenses will run up,
store bills will come in twice as large as
you think they ought to be, furniture will
wear out, carpets will unravel and thu
martyrs of the fire are very few in com
parison with the martyrs of housekeeping
Yet there are hundreds of people in THU
church this morning who in their homes
are managing all these affairs with
composure, an adroitness, an ingenuity
and a faithfulness which they neve
could have reached but for the grace o
our practical Christianity. The exasper-
ations which wear out others have beef
to you spiritual development and sancti
hcation. Employments which seemed /,
relate only to an hour have on them al
the grandeurs of eternal history.
You need the religion Of Christ in tn
discipline of your children. The rod
which in other homes, may be the frs
means used, in yours will be the last
There will be no harsh epithets-"yo,
knave, you villain, you scoundrel, II
thrash the life out of you, YOU are tn
worst child | ever knew" All that kin,
of chastisement makes thieves, pick
pockets, murderers, and the outlaws o
society. That parent who in anger strike
his child across the head, deserves tn
penitentiary. And yet this work of dis
ciphne must be attended TO- Gods grac
can direct us. Alas for those who com
TO the work with fierce passion and reck