The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-08
HARBoR OF ETERNAL HOME.
THE EARTHLY HOME As a SPHERE
FOR SERVING GOD.


lures Two on Earth and the HcHv-
emily Home as He saw 1t in "a
Dream-Thc Home as "A Factor in
the Affairs of the Nation and a
Refuge ON Earth.
Washington. D. c., Feb. This SER
mon of DR.. Talmage Will set many memo
ries ringing with the good old times His
subject was: "Harbor of Home" and the
text Mark 5l9. Go home to thy friends,
and tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee.
There are great many people longing
for some grand sphere in which 10 serve
God. They admire Luther at the Dict OF
Worms. and only wish that they had some
such great opportunity in which to dis
play their Christian proves. They admire
Paul making Felix tremble, and they only
wish that they had some such grand oc-
casion in which to preach righteousness,
temperance and judgment TO come. All
they want is an opportunity to exhibit
their Christian heroism. Now the apostle
comes to US and he practically says: Il
will show you place where you can eX-
hibit all that is grand and beautiful and
glorious in Christian character and that
is the domestic circle
If one is not faithful in an Insignificant
sphere he will not be faithful in resound-
ing sphere If Peter will not help the Grip
pie at the gate of the Temple, he will new
err be able to preach three thousand souls
into the kingdom at the Pentecost. II
Paul will not take pains TO instruct in the
way of salvation the sheriff of the Phllip-
ian dungeon, he will never make Felix
tremble He who is not faithful in skir-
mish would not be faithful in an Arranged
don. The fact is, We are all placed in Just
the position in which we can most grandly
serve God and we ought not to be chiefly
thoughtful about some sphere of useful
ness which we may after awhile gain. but
the all-absorbing question with you and
with me ought to be: Lord, what wilt
thou have me now and here to do?'
There is one word in my text around
which the most of our thoughts will to-
day revolve. That word is HOME. Ask
ten different men the meaning of that
word and they will give you ten different
definitions. To one it means love at the
hearth, it means plenty at the table, in
dustry at the workstand, intelligence at
the books, devotion at the altar To him
il means a greeting a the door and
smile at the chair. Peace lowering like
wings. Joy clappng Its hands with
laughter. Life tranquil lake. Pilowed
on the ripples sleep the shadows
Ask another man what home Is, and he
viii tell you il is want, looking out OF
cherries fire-grate and kneading munger
q s EMMY WITH enrses No Bible on the
shelf Children robbers and murderefs
in embryo. Vile songs their lullaby.
Every face a picture of ruin. Want in the
background and sin staring from the
front No Sabbath wave rolling over that
door-sill. Vestibule of the pit. Shadow
lie for
everlasting chains. Faggots for an unend-
ing funeral pile. Awful word! II is spelled
with curses, il weeps with ruin, Il chokes
with woe, it sweats with the death-agony
The word Home in the one case
means everything bright The word
Home" in the other case means every
shall speak to you of the home a test
of character. home as refuge, home as
political safeguard, home as school, ana
home as a type of heaven.
And in the first place remark that
home is a powerful test of character. The
disposition in public may be in gay Co.'S
tune, while in private 1t is in dishabille.
A play-actors may appear in one way on
the stage and may appear in another way
behind the scenes, so private character
may be very different from public charae-
ter. Private character is often public
character turned wrong side out A man
may receiVe you into his parlor as though
he we're distillation of smiles, and yet
his heart may be swamp of nettles.
There are business men who all day long
are mild and courteous and genial and
good natured in commercial life, keeping
back their irritability and their petulance
and their discomfort: but at nightfall the
dam breaks. and scOlding pOurS forth in
floods and freshets.
Reputation is only the shadow of char
acter, and a very small house sometimes
will cast a very long shadow. The lips
may seem to drop myrrh and cassia, and
the disposition to be as bright and warm
as sheaf of sunbeams, and yet they may
only be a magnificent show window to
wretched stock of goods. There is many
a man who is atfable in public life and
amid commercial spheres, who, in a cow
ardly way, takes his anger and his petu-
lance home and drops them in the domcs
tic circle.
The reason men do not display their
bad temper in public is because they do
not want to be knocked down. There
arc meu who hide their petulance ana
their ilTitability just for the same reason
that they do not let their notes go to pro-
test; 1t does not pay Or for the same
their stock company to sell his stock al
less than the right price, lest is deprec-
ate the value. As at sunset the wind
rises. so after a sunshiny day there may
be tempestuous night There are peo-
pie who in public act the philanthropist,
who at home act the Nero, with respect
10 their slippers and their gown.
Audubon, the great ornithologist. with
gun and pencil, went through the forests
of America to bring down and to sketch
the beautiful birds, and after years of toll
ana exposure completed his manuscript
ana put IL IN trunk in Philadelphia for
a few days of recreation and rest and
came back and found that the rats had
utterly destroyed the manuscript; but
without any discomposure and without any
fret or bad temper, he again picked up his
gun and pencil and visited again ali the
great forests of America and reproduced
his immortal work. And vet there are
people with the ten-thousandth part of that
loss who are utterly irreconcilable, who
az the loss Of a pencil or an article Of raj
mont will blow as long and sharp as
northeast storm.
Now, that man who is affable In public
and VINO Is irritable in private is making
FRAUDULENT over issue OF stock and he is
as bad as a bank that might have four
or I'VE hundred thousand dollars OF bills
IN circulation with no specie in the vault
Let us learn ito show pety at home" II
VIC nave il not there we
have it not anywhere. If we have
not genuine grace In tho family
circle, all our outward and public plausi-
bihty merely springs from a fear of the
world or from the Shiny, putrid pool of
our own selfishness. / tell you the home
Is mighty test OF character What YOU
are ~ home you are everywhere, whether
You demonstrate il or not.
Again, ] remark that home is a refuge
Lille Is the United States army on the ma
tional road 10 Mexico a long march with
ever and anon skirmish and a battle.