Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-07-31
REV. DR.. TaLQaGE.
The Brooklyn Divine's Sunday
Sermon.
Subject: "Plain People.''

Subject: "Plain People.'s
TEXT: "Salute Asyncritus. Phlegon. Her
mas, Patrobas, Hermes, Philologus and
Julia. a."-Romans xvi, IA, Is.
Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes, Adam
Clark, Thomas Scott and all the commenta-
tors pass by these verses without any especial
remark. The other twenty people mentioned
In the chapter were distinguished for some
thing and were therefore discussed by tho
illustrious expositors, but nothing Is said
about Asyncritus, Phlegon. Hermas, Patro-
bas, Hermes, Philologus and Julia. Where
were they born? No one knows. Where did
they die? There Is no record OF their decease.
For what were they distinguished? Abso-
lutely for nothing, or the trait of character
would have been brought out by the APOSTLE.
II they had been very intrepid or opuIent or
hirsute or musical Of cadence or Grass OF
style or In anywise anomalous, that feature
would have been caught by the apostolic
camera. Butthey were good people, because
Paul sent to them his high Christian regards.
They were ordinary people, moving In ordt-
nary sphere, attending to ordinary duty and
meeting ordinary responsibilities.
What the world wants is a religion fol
ordinary people. II there be in the United
States IS 0O0. .O0J people, there are certainly
not more than OOO, 900 extraordinary, and
then there are "a ,OOO, ,OCO ordinary, and we do
we'll to turn our backs for little while upon
the distinguished and conspicuous people Of
the Bible and consider in our text the seven
ordinary. We spend too much of our time
in twisting garlands for remarkables and
building thrones for magnates and sculptur-
ing warriors and apotheosixing philanth-
rOpists. The rank and file of the Lord's
soldiery need especial help.
The vast majority of people to whom thiA
sermon comes will never lead an army, will
never write a State constitution, will never
electrify Senate, will never make an im-
portant invention, will never introduce
a new philosophy, will never decide
pect to; you do not want to. You will not
be Moses to lead Nation out of bondage.
You will not be Joshua to prolong the day.
light until you can shut five kings In q cav
ern. You will not be a st. John to unroll an
apocalypse. You will not be Paul to pre4
side over an apostolic college. You will not
be Mary to mother a Christ. You will more
probably be Asyncritus or Phlegon or Her.
mas or Patrobas or Hermes or Philologus OF
Julia.
Many Of you are women at the head d.
households. This morning you launched the
family for Sabbath observance. Your brain
decided the apparel. and your judgment was
final on all questions Of personal attire.
Every morning you plan for the day. The
culinary department Of your household is in
your dominion. You decide all questions of
diet. All the sanitary regulations OF your
house are under your supervision. To regu-
late the food. and the apparel, and the habits
and decide the thousand questions Of home
life Is a tax upon your brain and nerve and
general health absolutely appalling II there
be no divine alleviation.
1t does not help you much to be told tha,
Elizabeth Fry did wonderful things mid the
criminals Of Newgate. 1t does not help you
much to be told that Mrs. Judson was very
brave among the Bornesian cannibals. II
does not help you much to be told that Flor
ence Nightingale was very kind to the
wounded in the Crmea. 1t would be better
for me to tell you that the Divine Friend Of
Mary and Martha is your friend, and that He
sees all the annoyances and disappointments
and abrasions and exasperations Of an ordin-
ary housekeeper from morn till night,
and from the first day Of the year to the last
day of the year and at your call He Is ready
with help and re-enforcemenrs.
They who provide the food Of the world
decide the health OF the world. One Of the
greatest battles of this century WAS lost be-
cause the commander that morning had a fit
Of indigestion. You have only to go on some
errand amid the taverns ana the hotels of
United States and Great Britain to appre-
ciate the fact that vast multitude Of the
human race are slaughtered by Incompetent
cookery. Though young woma n may have
taken lessons in music and may have taken
she is not we'll educated unless she has taken
lessons in dough. They who decide the ap-
parel OF the world and the food Of the world
decide the endurance Of the world.
An unthinking man may consider it a mat
ter OF little imporance-ths cares of the
household and the economies of domestic life
but tell you the earth is strewn with the
martyrs Of kitchen and nursery. The health
shattered womanhood of America cries out
for a God who can help ordinary women in
Al. NR
wearing. grinding, unappreciated work goes
on, but the same Christ who stood on the
bank of Gailee in the early morning and
kindled the fire and had the fish already
cleaned and broiling when the sportsmen
stepped ashore, chilled and hungry, will help
every woman to prepare breakfast, whether
by her own hand or the hand Of her hired
help.
The God who made indestructible eulogy
Of Hannah, who made a coat for Samuel
her son, and carried it to the temple every
year. will help every woman in preparing the
family wardrobe. The God who opens the
Bible with the story of Abraham's entertain
ment of the three angels on the plains Of
Mamre will help every woman to provide
hospitality, however rare and embarrassing.
1t Is high time that some Of the attention We
have been giving to the remarkable women
of the eBible-remarkable for their virtue or
want OF 1t or remarkable for their deeds
Deborah and Jezebel and Herodia and Atha-
liah and Dorcas and the Marys, excellent and
abandoned-it is high time some of the at
tentiOn we have been giving to these con-
spicuous women OF the Bible be given to
Julia OF the text, an ordinary woman amid
ordinary circumstances, attending to ordi-
nary duties and meeting ordinary response
bilities.
Then there are the ordinary business men.
They need divine and Christriap help.
When We begin to talk about business life,
oh rttyhf off nd al xrhn
did business on a large scale, and who sold
millions OF dollars Of goods a year, but the
vast majority Of business men do not sell a
million dollars Of goods, nor half million,
nor quarter Of q million, nor the eighth
part of a million. Put all the business men
Of our cities, towns, villages and neighbor-
hoods side by side, and you will find that
they sell less than CSC, 900 worth OF goods
All these men in ordinary business life want
divine help. You see how the wrinkles are
printing on the countenancs the story Of
worriment and care. You cannot tell how
old business man Is by looking at him.
Gray hairs at thirty. man at forty-fve
with the stoop Of q nonogenarian. No time
to attend to improved dentistry, the grinders
cease because they are few. Actually dying
of old age at forty or fifty when they ought
to be at the meridian.
Many Of these business men have bodies
like neglected clock to which YOU come,
| and you wind 1t up, and 1t begins to buzz
and roar, and then the hands start around
very rapidly, and then the clock strikes 1--WE
or ten, or forty. and strikes without any
sense, and then suddenly stops. 80 is the
body Of that wornout business man. 1t is .
neglected clock. and though by some sum-
mer recreation 1t may be wound up, still the
machinery is all out Of gear. The hands turn
tonishment Of the world. Men cannot un.
derstand the wonderful activity, and there
Il q roar, and buzz, and q rattle about these
disordered lives, and they strike ten when
they ought tc strike five, and they strike
twelve when they ought to strike six, and
they strike forty when they ought to strike
nothing, and suddenly they stop. Post
mortem examination reveal the fact that all
the springs and pivots and weights and bal.
ancs wheels Of health are completely de-
ranged. The human clock has simply run
down. And at tho time when the steady
hand ought to be pointing to the industrious
hours on a clear and sunlit dial the whok