Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1897-02-17
REV. DR.. TALMAGE
Tho RAiaeae Davsns's Sun1ay


subject: "harbOr of HOme.ss
TIKI: "Go home to thy frieu Is aud tell
them how great things the Lord hath done
for hee-"-Mark ", 10.
There are q great many people longing 70,
come grand sphere in which TO serve God.
They admire Luther at the diet of Worms.
opportunity in which to display their Chris
tian prowess. They imire Paul making
Felix tremble. and they only wish that they
had some such grand occasion in which to
preach righteousness. temperance and juds-
ment to come. All they want is An oppor-
tunity to exhibit their Christian heroism.
Now the apostle comes to Us, and hs prac-
tically says, 81 will show you a plaza VIII srs
you can exhibit all that is grand aud beauti-
ful and glorious in Christian character and
that Is the domestic CIRCLE"
II one Is not faithful in an Insignificant
sphere, he will not be faithful In a resound-
ing sphere. II Peter will not help the Grip
pie at the gate Of the temple, he will never
be able to preach 5000 souls into the king.
dom at the Pentecost. II Paul did not take
sheriff Of the Philippian dungeon, he will
never make Felix tremble. He who is not
faithful In q skirmish would not be faithful
In an Armageddon. The fact Is, we are all
placed in just the position in which we can
most grandly serve God, and we ought not
Of usefulness which We may after awhile
gain, but the all obsorbing question with you
and with me ought to be. "Lord, what wilt
thou have me (now and here)to dor"
There Is ono word In my text around
Thich the most OF our thoughts will to-day
revoIve. That word is home. ASK ten dif-
ferent men the meaning Of that word and
they will give you ten different deflnltlons.
To one it m cans love at the hearth, 1t means
plenty at the table. industry at the works
stand, intelligence at the books, devotion at
the altar. To him 1t means q greeting at the
door and a smile at the chair. Peace no YER
Ing like wings. Joy clapping Its hands with
laughter. Life a tranquil lake. Pillowed
on the rippies sleep the shadows
Ask another man what home Is and he will
ell you it is want looking out OF a cherries
IRE CRATE and kneading hunger In an empty
breai tray. TIE damp air shivering with
curses. No Bible on the shelf. Children,
robbers and murderers In embryo. Vile songs
their lullaby. Every face picture of ruin.
Want in the background and sin staring
from the front. No Sabbath wave rolling
over that doorsiil. Vestibule OF the pit.
Shadow of Internal walls. Furnace for forg
ing everlasting chains. Faygots for an un-
ending funeral pile. Awful word! 1t ts
spelled with curses, 1t weeps with ruin, Il
chokes with woe. 1t sweats with the death
The word home In the one case means
everything bright. The word home In the
other case means everything terrific.
Ishail speak to you Of home as q test Of
character, home as a refuge, home as q poli-
teal safeguard, home as a school and homo
as a type of heaven.
Aud in the first place remark that home
- "A powerful test Of character. The DISPOSE
ton in public may be In gay costume, while
in private it Is in dishabiile. As play actors
may appear in one way on the stage and may
appear in another way behind the scents, so
private character may be very different from
public character. Private character is often
public character turned wrong side out. A
man may receive you into his rarlor as
though he were distillation Of smiles. and
yet his heart may be q swamp of nettles.
There ara business men who all day long are
mild and courteous and genial and good
ua' ured in commercial life, keeping back
their irrtabiity, and their petulanee, and
their discontent, but at nightfall the dam
breaks and scolding pours forth in floods
an,l freshets.
Reputation is only the shadow Of charac-
ter. and very small house sometimes will
east a very long shadow. The lips may seem
to drop myrrh and cassia, and the disposi-
tion TO be as bright and warm As a sheaf Of
sunbeams, and yet they may only bs mag
nificent show window to q wretchei stock
of goods. There is many q man who is
spheres who, in u 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 petuiance and their irrtsbiity
Just for the same reason that they do not iot
their notes go to protest-it does not p1y.
Or for the same reason that they do not want
a man in their stock company to III his
stock at less than the right price. lest 1t de-
preciate the value. As at sunset the wind
rises, SO after a sunshiny day there may be
tempestuous night. There are people who
in public act the phitanthropist who at home
acI the Nero with respect to their slippers
and their gowns.
Audubon, the great ornithologist, with,
gun and pencil went through the forests OF
America to bring down and to SIX .tch the
b bsautiful bird. and after years OF toll and
exposure CON plete his manuscript and put
it in trunk In Philade phia for a few days OF
recreation and rest and came back and
found that the rats had utterly destroyed
the manuscript. but without any discom-
posure and without any fr-t or bad temper,
he again picked up his gun and pencil and
visited again all 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 irrecon-
cilable, who, at the loss OF a pencil or an
article Of raiment, will blow as long and
sharp as a northeast storm.
Now, that man who is affable in public
ard who is irritable in private Is making
fraudulent overissue OF stock. and he IS as
bad as n bank that might hav. S40O 900 or
$500 900 of bills in circulation with no specie
. in the vault. Let US learn "to show piety at
home" II we have IL not there We have it
not anywhere. II We have not genuine
grace in the family circle, all our outward
| and public piausibility merely springs from
fear Of the world or from the siimy, putrid
pool of our own selfshness. I tell you the
| home is a mighty test Of character. What
YOU are at home you are everywhere, wheih-
er you demonstrate it or not.
Again, l remark that home is refuge.
| Life is the United States army on tho na-
tionaI road to Mexico, long mach, with
ever and anon a skirmish and a battle. At
| eventide we pitch our tent and stack our
arms. We hang up the war cap and lay our
head on the knapsack. We sleep until the
| morning bug.e calls us to marching and ac-
tion. How pleasant is it to rehearse the VIC
| tories and the surprises and the attacks oil
| the day seatei by the still campfire OF the
| home circlei
Yea, life is a stormy sea. With shivered
mas,s and torn s1ils and hulk aleak, We put
| into the h rbor of home. Blessed harbor
| There we 90 for repairs in the drydock o
| quiet life The can tie in the window is tc
| the toi;ing man the lighthouse guiding him
into port. Children go forth to meet thsil
fathers as pilots at the Narrows take the ha nd
| OF ships The doorsili of the home Is tht
| wharf where heavy life is unladep.
There is the place where We may talk o
what we have done without being charget
with self adulation. There is the place wher'
We may lounge without being thought un
graceful. There is the place where We may ex
| press affection without being thought silly
/ There is the place where We may forget ou
annoyances and extsperations and troubles
! l. No, Than dfa
| That n better The grave Is brighter an
grander and more glorious than this world
with no tent from marchings, with no harbo
from the storm, with no place to rest iron
this scene Of greed and gouge aud loss an
gain. God pity the man or woman who ha
,, nohome'
Further, l remark that home is politics
| safeouar,, The safeguard of the state mus