The Yale expositor., 1898-05-06
TALMAGEs SERMON.
A BRAWNY RELIGION, SUN
DAYS SUBJECT.
Tho Tendency to Put the Poor Folk
Out of the Church Condemned--A
Blow at Fashionable Religiou-Revolu-
tlon Is Near at Hand.


appropriate for these times. Text
Acts II. 6: These that have turned
the world upside down are come hither
ALSO"
There is a wild, believing mob
around the house of Jason. in Thessa-
lonica. What has the man done so
greatly to offend the people? He has
been entertaining Paul and his com
rades. The mob surround the house
and cry, Bring out those turbulent
preachers They are interfering with
our business; they are running our reli-
gion! They are actually turning the
world upside down."
The charge was true; for there Is
nothing that so interferes with sin,
there is nothing SO ruinous to every
form of established iniquity there is
nothing that has such tendency to turn
the world upside down, as our glorious
Christianity. The fact is, that the
world now is wrong side up, and 1t
needs to be turned upside down in or
der that it may be right side up. The
time was when men wrote books en-
titling them Apologies for Christian
ity." / hope that day has passed. We
want no more apologies for Christian
ity. Let the apologies be on the part
OF those who do not believe in our
religion. We do not mean to make
any compromise in the matter. We
do not wish to hide the fact that Chris
tianity is revolutionary, and that its
tendency is to turn the world upside
down.
Our religion has often been misrep-
resented as a principle of tears. and
mildness, and fastidiousness; afraid
of crossing peoples prejudices; afraid
of making somebody mad; with silken
gloves, lifting the people up from the
church pew into glory, as though they
were Bohemian glass, so very delicate
that with one touch it may be demol-
ished forever. Men speak Of religion
as though it were a refined imbecility;
as though it were spiritual chloroform,
that the people were TO take until the
sharp cutting of life were over. The
| Bible, so far from this, represents the
religion of Christ as robust and brawny
| -ransackng and upsetting ten thou
sand things that now seem to be settled
on firm foundations. | hear some man
in the house say, 81 thought religion
was peace" That is the final result.
A mans arm is out of place. Two men
come, and with great effort put it back
to the socket. 1t goes back with great
pain. Then it gets well. Our world
is horribly disordered and out of joint
It must come under an omnipotent
surgery, beneath which there will be
pain and anguish before there can come
perfect health and quiet. l proclaim,
therefore. in the name of my Lord
Jesus Characterization!
The religion of the Bible will make
a revolution in the family. Those
things that are wrong in the family
circle will be overthrown by 1t, while
justice and harmony will take the
place. The husband will be the head
Of the household only when he is fit
to be. / know a man who spends all
the money he makes in drink, as well
as all the money that his wife makes;
and sometimes sells the children's
clothes for rum. Do you tell me that
he is to be the head of that household?
II the wife have more nobility, more
courage, more consistency, more of all
that is right, she shall have the SUI
premacy. You say that the Bible says
that the wife is to be subject to the
| husband. know ii. But there is a
husband, not a masculine caricature.
| There is no human or divine law that
makes woman subordinate to man
| Of r a N "
comes into a domestic circle, it will
give the dominancy to that once who is
the most worthy of it.
Again, Christianity will produce a
revolution in commercial circles. Find
me fifty merchants, and you find that
they have fifty standards of what is
right and wrong. You say to some one
about a merchant, rs he honest? ?" "Oh,
yes" the man says, "he is honest; but
he grinds the faces of his clerks. He
is honest; but he exaggerates the value
of his goods. He is honest; but he
loans money on bond and mortgage,
with the understanding that the mort
gage can lie quiet for ten years, but
as soon as he gets the mortgage he re-
cords it and begins a foreclosure suit,
and the sheriff's writ comes down, and
the day of sale arrives, and away goes
the homestead, and the creditor buys
1t in at half price" Honest? when he
loaned the money he knew that he
would get the homestead at half price.
Honest? but he goes to the insurance
Office to get policy on his life, and
tells the doctor that he is well, when
he knows that for ten years he has had
but one lung Honest? though he sells
property by the map, forgetting to tell
the purchaser that the ground is all un-
der water; but it is generous in him
to do that. for he throws the water in
to the bargain.
All! my friends. there is but one
standard of the everlasting right and
OF the everlasting wrong, and that is
the Bible; and when the principle shall
get its pry under our commercial
houses, believe that one-half OF them
will go over. The ruin will begin at
one end of the street, and 1t will crash!