Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-01-06
REV. DR., TALMAGf,
ne Eminent Divine's SUNDAY
Discourse.
Subject: "a Practical Religion"

TEXT: Faith without works is dead."-
james it,, 20.
The Roman Catholic Church has beel
Charged with putting too much stress upon
good works and not enough upon faith. ]
charge Protestantism with putting not
enough stress upon good works as connected
with salvation. Good works will never save
"a 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 con-
ouct is wrong outside. Their religion fol
the most part is made up of talk-vigorous
talk. fluent talk, boastful talk, perpetual
talk. Ttey will entertain you by the houI
IN telling you how good they are. They
come up 10 such a higher life that they have
no patience with ordinary Christians in the
plain discharge of their duty. As near as
can tell. this ocean craft is mostly sail and
very little tonnage. Foretopmast staysaIl,
foretopmast studding sail, main topsail. miZ.
zan ,opsail everything from h>ing jib tc
mizzen spanker, but making no useful voy.
age. Now, the world has got tired of this
an | it wants n religion that will work into
all the circumstances of lie. We do not wan
II new religion, but the old religion applied
all possible directions.
Yonder is n river with steep and rocky
banks, and 1t roars like young Niagara as
it roll on over its rough bed. 1t does moth
2 but talk about itself all the way from its
source in the mountain to the place where il
empties into the sea. The banks are so steep
that the cattle cannot come down to drink.
1t does not run one fertiiizing rill into the
adjoining ilel'. 1t has not one gristmiil or
fact ~ on either side. 1t sulks in wet
weather with chilling fogs. No one cares
wuen that river is born among the rocks and
no one cares when it dies into the sea. But
yOnder is another river, and 1t MOSES its
TasafNf In
fora! lullaby the water lilies asleep on its
bosom. 1t invites herds of cattle and fiocks
of sheep and covey5 of birds to come there
and drink. 1t has three gristmills on one
side and six colt on factories on the other. II
is the wealth of 200 miles of iuxurant farms
The birds of heaven chanted when it was
born in the mountains, and the ocean ship.
ping will press in from the sea to hail it as /,
comes down from the Atlantic Coast. The
enc river is Il man who lives for himself.
The other river is man who lives for
others.
Do you know how the site Of the ancien.
city OF Jerusalem was chosen2 There were
two brothers who had adjoining farms. The
one bi other had a large family, the 9TH er
had no family. The brother with large
family said: There is my brother with no
family. He must be lonely, aud 1 will try
to cheer him up, aud will take some OF the
sheaves from my field in the night time and
set them over on his farm and say nothing
about it," The other brother satd: ''My
brother has large family and it is very
difficult for him to support them, and will
help him along, and 1 will take some OF
the sHeaves from my farm in the night time
AMI set them over IN his farm aud say moth
ing about it So the work of transference
went on night after nj ght and night after
night. but every morning things seemed to
be just as they We're, for, though sheaves
mai been substracted from each farm,
.hn had oil haa oA1 1nI md hal
ers were perplexed and could not under
stand. But one night the brothers hap
pened 10 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 " Jerusa EN-. II that tradition
PFC. o-VBfor uded, it viii neve-.he-
less stand kts a~beaptlfui allegory, SITTING
forthtne iiea that wtsereyer kindly AMI
generous aud loving acf is performed that is
the spot 1T for some remple of commeu-
Grafton.
l have often spoken TO you about faith,
but this MOI ,ag Ispeak to you about works,
OF 'Jaith Without works is dead" 1 think
you will agree with me in the statement that
the greai want in this world is more practi-
cal religion. We want practical religion to
90 into all merchandise. 1t will supervise
the labelling of goods. 1t will not allow a
man to say that a thing was made in one
factory when it was made in another. 1t
will not allow the merchant to say that watch
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 tags that
make misreprese ntation. 1t will not allow
the merchant 10 say that is pure coffee when
dandelion root and chicory and other ingred-
tents go into it. 1t will not allow him to say
that is pure sugar when there are in it sand
and ground glass.
When practical religion gets its full swing
in the W rid, it will go down the street and
It will come o that shoe store and rip off the
fictitious soles of inany fine looking pair of
shoss and show that it is pasteboard sand
wiche between the sound leather. Aud this
pracicai religion will go right into gro-
Gerry store and il will pull out the plugs of all
the adulterated sirups. and il will dump into
tie ash barrel in FROM of the store tho cassia
Dark that Is sold for cinnamon and the brick
dust that is sold for cayenne pepper, and it
will shake out the prussian blue from the tea
leaves, ami it will sift rom the flour plase er
of paris and bone dust and soapstone. and it
will by chemical analysis separate the one
quart of water from the few honest drops of
cows milk, and it will throw out the live
anmalcules from the brown sugar.
There tas been SO much atulteration OF
articles of food that it is an amazement TO
Inc that there is healthy man or woman liz
America. Heaven only knows wnat they
put into the spices and into the sugars and
nto the butter aud into the apothocary drug.
But chemical analysis and the microscope
have made won ierful revelat ions. The board
of health in Massachusetts anaiyzed a great
amount of what was called pure coffee and
found It not one particle of coffee. In Eng
and there is a law that forbids the putting
of alum in bread. The public authorities
examined Gfty-oEe packages of bread and
found them all guilty. The honest physi-
nj yp-itipU u ptinp dnal Epnu
bat that i may bring death instead of health
TO hie patient, because there may be one of
the drugs weakened by che per art Gle,
and another drug may be- in full force, and
SO the prescription may have just the oppo-
site effect intended. Oil of wormwood war
ranted pure from Boston was found to have
fory-one per cent. of rosn and alcohol and
chloro form. Scammony is one of the most
valuable medical drugs. 1t is very rare,
very precious, 1t is the sap of the gum of a
rec or a bush in Syria. The root of the tree
is exposed, an incision Is made into the root,
and then shells are placed at this incision to
catch the sap or the gum as it exudes. 1t is
very precious, this scammony. But the
peasant mixes it with cheaper material;
hen it is taken to Aleppo. and the merchant
there mixes it with a cheaper material; tnen
il comes on to the wholesale druggist in Lon
don or New York, and he mixes it with a
cheaper material: then ii comes to the retail
! druggist, ami he mixes it with cheaper
I material. and by the time the poor sick man
go,s it INTO lis bottle it is ashes and chalk
and sand, and some of what has been called
| pure seamL,ony after analysis has beer
| found to be 1 o scammony at all.
Now, rracti al religion will yet rectify al
this. II will 30 10 those hypocritical pro
| fessors OF religion who got a "corner" il
| corn and wheat in Chicago and New York
sending prices up and up until they wer'
! beyond the reach of the poor, keeping thes,
breadstufis in their own hands, or control
| ling them until the prices going up and NJ
| and up. they were, after awhile, ready 4
sell. and they sold out, making themselve
millionaires in one or two years, trying I,
| fix tine matter up with the Lord by building
a church or university or hospital. delud
ing themselves with the idet that the Lort
would be so pleased with the gift He woult
forget tbs sGindie. Now, as such MAJ
may not have any liturgy in which to sa
MS prayers, 1 will compose for him On
which he practically is making. "Oh, Lord
| we, by getting corner in brea istuffs
i a,xIl lSl.- L.