Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1894-04-21
RELIGION AT HOME.
AN ELOQUENT SERMON PREACHED
AT THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.

lllZliI0lON III 4AO1uIfs
AN ELOQUENT SERMON PREACHED
AT THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.
Rev. DR.. Talmagc Shows That Religious
Gratitude should First ne Demonstrated
In the Family Circle-The Right Train
ing For Children.
BROOKLYN, April 15.-In the great
audience which assembled in the Brook
lyn Tabernacle this forenoon We're nan
strangers. Rev. DR.. Talmage chose for
the subject of his ermo Home Reli-
gion, taking his text from Luke viii,
80, Return to thine own house and
shew 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
billowsl While the disciples are on
graduating each other on their marine
escape out from a dark, deep cavern on
the Gadarene hills there is something
swiftly and terribly advancing. Is it an
apparition? Is it q man? Is it a wild
beast? 1t is a maniac who has broken
away from his keepers, perhaps a few
rags on his person and fragments OF
stout shackles which he has wrenched
off in terrific paroxysm. With wild yell
and bleeding wounds of his own LAGER
alton he flies down the hill.
Back to the boats, We fishermen, and
put out to sea and escape assassination!
But Christ stands his ground; SO do the
disciples, and as this flying fury, with
crashing teeth and uplifted fists, dashes
at Christ Christ says: Hands off Down
at my feet, thou poor sufferer. And the
denoniac drops harmless, exhausted,
worshipful. Away, We devilsl' com-
manded Christ, and the 1900 fiends
which had been tormenting the poor
man are transferred to the z, 900 swine,
which go to sea with their accused
cargo.
The restored demoniac sits down at
Christ's feet and wants to stay there.
Christ says TO him practically: "Do not
stop. You have a mission to execute
Wash off the filth and the wounds in the
sea- Smooth your disheveled locks. Put
on decent apparel and go straight to your
desolated home and tell your wife and
children that You will no more alright
them and no more do them harm; that
you are restored to reason, and that |,
the omnipotant Son of God, am entitled
hereafter to the worship Of your entire
household, Return to thine own house
and sllew how great things God hath
done unto thee"
A True Home Luxury.
Yes, the house, the home is the first
| place where our religious gratitude
ought to be demonstrated. In the put
side world we may seem to have religion
when We have it not, but the home tests
whether our religion is genuine or Il
sham. What makes a happy home?
Well, one would say IL house with
great wide halls, and antlered deer heads,
aad parlors with sculpture, and bric-a-
brac, and dining hall with easy chair,
tsili pIcllI VI l4Siit, anu cuSldN iilSS "
game on the wall, and sleeping apart
ments commodious and adorned. No. In
such a place as that gigantic wretched.
ness has sometimes dwelt, while some
of you look back to your fathers house,
where they read their Bible by the light
of a 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 a luxury III all the house. But you
cannot think Of it this morning without
fearful and grateful emotion. You and
l have found cut that it is not rich tap
estry, or gorgeous architecture, or rare
art that makes a happy home.
The six wise men of Greece gave pre-
scriptions for a happy home. Scion says
a happy home is a place where a mans
estate was gotten without injustice, kept
without disquietude and spent without
repentance. Clilo says that a happy
home is the place where a man rules
as a monarch a kingdom. Bias says that
a happy home is a place where a man
does voluntarily what by law he is COM
PEELED to do abroad. But you and | I'M
der II grander light give a better pre-
scription-a happy home is Il place
where the kindness of the gospel of the
Son of God has full swing.
Religion In Domestic Duties.
While l speak this morning there is
knocking at your front door, if he be
not already admitted, one whose locks
are 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 q bless
ing that will make you rich while you
live and be an inheritance to your chill
dren after you have done the last days
work for their support and made for
them the last prayer. 1t is the illustri-
Gus one who said to the man of my
text, Return to thine own house and
shew how great things God hath done
unto thee. Now, i'll the first place, we
want religion in our 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 of
Christ. 1t is no small thing to keep or
der and secure cleanliness and mend
breakages and achieve economy and con-
troll all the affairs of the household adj
vantageously. Expenses will run up,
store bills will come in twice as large as
you think they ought to be, furniture
will wear out, carpets viii umravel, and
the martyrs of the fire are very few in
comparison with the martyrs of house
Keeping.
Yet there are hundreds of people in
this church this morning who in their
homes are managing all these affairs
with a composure, an adroitness, an in
genuity and a faithfulness which they
never could have reached but for the
grace Of our practical Christianity. The
eXasperations which wear out others
have been to you spiritual development
and sanctification. Employments which
seemed to relate only to an hour have