The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-12-17
DIR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Practical Discourse on a Prac-
tic..I Subject.
Some Absurdities In Church Building and
MAnagement-More Practical Wisdom
Needed In Christian EndeaVor
and In Church Work.

| children OF light" DIR. Ialmage, IN
recent sermon, assailed some of the
absurdities in church architecture and
management, and advocated more
practical methods in efforts to do good
He said:
That is another way of saying that
| Christians are not so skillful in the
manipulation of spiritual affairs as
worldlings are skillful in the manage
ment of temporalities. see all around
me people who are alert. earnest, con
centrated and slIillful in monetary
matters. who In the affairs of the soul
are laggards, inane, inert. The great
want of the world is more common
sense in matters of religion. If one
half of the skill and force
fulness employed in financial affairs
was employed in disseminating the
truths of Christ, and trying to make
the world better, within ten years the
Juggernaut would fall, the last throne
of oppression upset, the last iniquity
tumble, and the anthem that was
chanted over Bethlehem on Christmas
night would be echoed and re-echoed
from ali nations and kindred and peo-
pie: GLORY to God in the highest, and
on earth peace, good will to men"
Some years ago, on a train going to-
ward the southwest, as the porter of
the sleeping car was making up the
berths at the evening-tide, l saw
man kneeI down and pray. Worldly
people looked on as much as to say:
What does this mean?" Isuppose the
most of people in the car thought that
the man was either insane or that he
was a fanatic; but he disturbed no one
when he knelt. and he disturbed no
one when he arose. In after converse
ton with him L found out that he
was a member of a church in north
ern city; that he was a seafaring man,
and that he was on his way to
New Orleans to take command
of a vessel 1 thought then, as
| think now that ten such men-men
with such courage for God as that man
had-ten such men would bring the
whole city to Christ; a thousand such
men would bring the whole earth into
the kingdom of Jesus. That he was
successful in worldly affairs, found
out. That he was skillful in spiritual
affairs, you are we'll persuaded. Ii
men had the courage, the pluck, the
alertness, the acumen, the industry,
the common sense in matters OF the
soul that they have in matters of the
world, this would be very different
kind of earth in which to live.
In the first place, my friends, we
want more common sense in the build
ing and conduct of churches. The idea |
of adaptiveness is always paramount |
in any other kind of structure. If !
bankers meet together, and they re- |
solve upon putting up bank, the bank |
is especially adapted to banking pur-
poses; if a manufacturing company |
puts up building, it is to be adapted |
to manufacturing purposes; but adap-
tiveness is not always the question In |
the rearing of churches In many
Of our churches we want more
light, more room, more ventlla-
lion, more comfort. Vast sums of
money are expended on ecclesiastical
structures, and men sit down in them,
md you ask a man how he likes the
church; he says: Il like it very we'll,
put L can't hear" As though shawl
factory were good for everything but
making shawls. The voice of the
preacher dashes against the pillars.
Men sit down under the shadows of
he Gothic arches and shiver, and feel
hey must be getting religion, or some
hing else, they feel so uncomfortable.
o, my friends! we want more com
non sense in the rearing of churches.
There is no excuse for lack OF light
when the heavens are full of it, no ex-
use for lack of fresh air when the
world swims in it. 1t ought to be an
not only of our spiritual
happiness, but of our physical comfort
when we say: How amiable are thy
abernacles. o, Lord God of Hosts! !
| day in thy courts is better than
housand."
Again L remark: We want more s
ommon sense in the obtaining of :
eligious hope. All men understand {
hat in order to succeed in worldly dl-
ections they must concentrate. They
hink on that one object, on that one I
ubiect, until their minds take fire with {
he velocity of their own thoughts. All
heir acumen, all their strategy, all
heir wisdom, all their common sense /
hey put in that one direction, and !
ney succeed. But how seldom it is {
rue in the matter of seeking after 1
cd! While no man expects to accom- j
lish anything for this world without I
and enthusiasm, how t
lany there are expecting after awhile /
} get into the Kingdom of God with {
ut use of any such means. 7
A miller in California, many years Y
20, picked up a sparkle of gold from 7
he bed of a stream which turned his /
ill. He held up that sparkle of gold '
ntil 1t bewitched nations. Tens of /
lousands of people left their homes. L
hey took their blankets, and their S
ickaxes, and their pistols, and went L
, the wilds of California. Cities t
1rang up suddenly on the Pacific 4
past. Merchants put aside their ele- L
ant apparel, and put on the miners S
arb. All the land was full of the talk G
bout gold. Gold in the eyes, gold in s
lie ears, gold in the wake of ships, u
DID in the streets-gold, gold, gold! t
Word comes to us that the mountain
! Gods love is full of gold; that men 2
ave been digging there, and have t
rought up gold, and amethyst, and t
Lrbuncle, and jasper, aud sardonyx, o
nd chrysoprasus, and all the precious /
ones out of which the walls of heaven a
ere builded. Word comes of d man Y
no, digging in that mine for one a
our, has brought up treasures worth t
ore than all the stars that keep vigil O
Ter our sick and dying world. b
Is it g bogus company that is a
rmedP Is 1T undeveloped territory?
b, no; the story is true. There are V
lndreds and thousands of people who ]