Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-12-21
THE REAL RELIGION.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE LAYS STRESS UPON
GOOD WORKS.

He Sees Little Good In the Religion That
Is Not EIanifes: IN Good Deeds-ReIi-
gion That Is LTade Up of Fluent Per-
petua1 Talk.
WASHINGTON, Dee. 20-This subject
of Dr. Talmafs, cuts through the con-
ventionalities and spares nothing of that
make believe religion which is all talk
and no practice The text chosen was
James ii, 30, Faith without works is
dead.
The Roman Catholic church has been
charged with putting too much stress
upon good works and not enough upon
faith. l charge Professionalism with put
ting not enough stress upon good works
as connected with salvation Good works
will never cave man, but if man
have not good works he has no real faith
and no genuine religion. There are
those who depend upon the fact that
they are all right inside while their
conduct is wrong outside Their reli-
gion for the most part is made up of
talk-vigorous talk, fluent talk, boast
full talk, perpetual talk They will en-
terrain you by the hour in telling you
how good they are. They come up to
such higher life that they have nc pa
thence with ordinary Christians in the
plain discharge of their duty. AS near
as l can tell, this ocean craft is mostly
sail and very little tonnage. Foretop-
mast staysail, foretopmast studding sail,
main topsail, mizzen topsail = every
thing from lSeTing jib to mizzen spanker.
but making no useful voyage. Now,
the world has got TIED Of this, and it
hot int oil
the circumstances of life. We do not
want new religion, but the old reli-
gion applied in all possible directions.
Two Rivers.
Yonder is river with steep and
rocky banks, and it roars like q young
Niagara as it rolls on over its rough
bed. 1t does nothing but talk about it
self all the way from its source in the
mountain to the place where it empties
into the sea- Tho banks are SO steep
that the cattle cannot como down to
drink. Tt does not run enc fertilizing
rill into the adjoining field. 1t has not
one gristmill or factory on either side.
1t sulks in wet weather with chilling
fogs. No ore cares when that river is
born among the rocks, and no one cares
when it dies into the sea. But yonder
is another river, and it moses its banks
with the warm tides, and it rocks with
floral lullaby the water lilies asleep on
its bosom. 1t invites herds of cattle and
focks of sheep and coveys of birds to
come there and drink 1t has three grist- |
mills on one side and six cotton factories |
on the other. 1t is the wealth of 900 |
miles of 1uXuriant farms. The birds Of |
heaven chanted when it was born in the |
mountains, and the ocean shipping will |
press in from the sea to bail it as it
comes down from the Atlantic coast.
The one river is q man who lives for
himself The other river is q man who |
lives for others.
Do you know how the site of the an
Gent city Of Jerusalem was chosen?
There were two brothers who had adj
Joining farms The one brother had
large family, the ether had no family.
The brother with large family said:
''There is my brother with no family.
He must be lonely, and will try to
cheer him up, and I will take some of
the sheaves from my field in the night
time and set them ever on his farm and
say nothing about it. - The other broth
er said, 'tMy brother has a large family
and it is very difficult for him to sup
port them, and will help him along,
and will take some of the sheaves from
my farm in the nighttime and set them
over ON his farm and say nothing about
it, So the work Of transference went
ON night after night and night after
night, but every morning things seemed
to be just as they were, for, though
sheaves had been substracted from each
CHI hoo al o16 |
the brothers were perplexed and could
not understand. But one night he broth
ers happened to meet while making this
generous transference, and the spot
where they met was so sacred that it
was chosen as the site of the city Of Je-
rusalem. If that tradition should prove
unfounded. it will nevertheless stand as
a beautiful allegory, setting forth the
idea that wherever kindly and gener-
GUS and loving act is performed that is
the spot fit for some temple of commem-
Grafton.
! have often spoken to you about
faith, but this morning / speak to you
about weeks, for "faith without works
is dead" 1 think you will agree with
me in the statement that the great want
of this world is more practical religion.
We want practical religion to go into
all merchandise It will supervise the
labelling of goods. 1t will not allow
man to say that thing was made in
one factory when it was made in anoth-
er. 1t will not allow the merchant to
say that wStch was manufactured in
Geneva when it was manufactured in
Massachusetts,. 1t will not allow the
merchant to say that wine came from
Madeira when it came from California.
Practical religion will walk along by
the store shelves and tear off all the