Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-02-16


their Christian
proves. They admire Paul making Fe-
lix tremble and they only wish that
they had some such grand occasion in
which to preach righteousness, temper
ance, and judgment to come. All they
want is an opportunity to exhibit their
Christian neroism. Now the apostle
comes to lis and he practically says: Il
VIII show you a place where You can
exhibit all that is grand and beautiful
and glorious in Christian character,
and that is the domestic circle
II one is not faithful III an insignifi-
cant sphere he will not be faithful in
resounding sphere. If Peter will not
help the cripple at the gate of the Tenn
pie, he will never be able to preach
three thousand souls into the kingdom
at the Pentecost. If Paul will not take
pains to instruct in the way of saliva
ton the sheriff of the Phiiippian dun
geon, he will never make Felix trem
BILE. He who is not faithful in a skir-
mish would not be faithful in an Ar
mageddon. 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 usefulness 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 tnow and here} to do?"
There is one word in my text
around which the most OF our thoughts
will to-day revolve. The 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, il
means plenty at the table, industry at
the workstand, intelligence at the
books. devotion at the altar. To him
it means greeting at the door and a
smile at the chair. Peace lowering like
wings. Joy clapDing its hands with
laughter. Life tranquil lake. Pill
lowed on the ripples sleep the shadows.
Ask another man what home is, and
he will tell you it is want, looking out
of a cherries fire~grate and kneadng
hHhoSA III ah empty
damp air shivering with curses. No
Bible on the shelf. Children. robbers
and murderers 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 doorsll Vesti-
bule of the pit Shadow of Internal
walls. Furnace for forging everlasting
chains. Faggots for an amending fun
eral pile. Awful word! 1t is spelled
with curses, it weeps with ruin, it
chokes with woe. it sweats with the
death-agony of despair.
The word Home" in the one case
means everything bright. The word
Home" in the other case means every
thing terrific.
l shall speak to you of home as a
test of character, home as refuge.
home as a political safeguard home
as school. and home as 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 costume, while in private it is in
dishabille. AS play-aCtors may appear
in one way on the stage and may APP
pear in another way behind the scenes,
so private character may be very diff
ferent from public character. Private
character is often public character
turned wrong side out. A man may
receive you into his parlor as though
he were a distillation of smiles, and
yet his heart may be a swamp of net
ties. There are business men who all
day long are mild and courteous and
genial and good-natured in CONNER
cial life, keeping back their irritability
and their petulance and their discon-
tent; but at nightfall the dam breaks.
and scolding pours forth in floods and
freshets.
Reputation is only the shadow OF
character, and very small house
sometimes will cast a very long shad-
ow. The lips may seem to drop myrrh
and cassia. and the disposition to be as
bright and warm as sheaf of sun
beams, and yet they may only
be magnificent show window
TO a wretched stock OF goods.
There is many man who is
affabe in public life and amid CONNER
cial spheres, who, in cowardly way,
takes his anger and his petulance home
and drops them in the domestic circle.
The reason men do not display their
bad temper in public is because they
do not want to be knocked down There
are men who hide their petulance and
their irritability just for the same rea-
son that they do not let their notes go
to protest; it does not pay. Or for the
same reason that they do not want
man in their stock company to sell his
stock at less than the right price, lest 1t
depreciate the value. AS at sunset the
wind rises, so after sunshiny day
there may be tempestuous night.
There are people who in public act the
philanthropist, who at home act the
Nero. with respect to 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 and exposure completed