Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-08-04
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

"Silver Wings the Subject-Lives of the
Christian and the Unbelievcr Contrast
ed-Scenes at the Deathbed of Napo-
leon and voltaire Compared With
Death of Paul.
TEXT: Though ye have lain among the
pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove
covered with silver, and her feathers with
yellow gold. Psalms xviii; 13.
1 suppose you know what the Israelites
did down in Egyptian serfdom. They made
bricks. Amid the utensils OF the brick kiln
there were also other utensils Of cookery
the kettles, the pots, the pans, with which
they prepared their daily food. and when
these slaves, tired Of the days work lay
down to rest, they lay down amid the i'm.
plements of cookery and the implements Of
hard work. When they arose in the morn
ing they found their garments covered with
the clay and the smoke and the dust, and
besmirched and begrimed with the utensils
of cookery. But after awhile the Lord
broke up that slavery, and He took these
poor slaves into a land where they had bet
ter garb bright and clean and beautiful ap-
parel. No more bricks for them to make.
Let Pharaoh make his own bricks. When
David in my text comes to describe the
transition of these poor Israelites from their
bondage amid the brick kilns into the glori-
Gus emancipation for which God had pre-
pared them, he says: Though ye have
lain among the pots, yet shall ye be as the
wings of a dove covered with silver, and
her feathers with yellow gold.'
Miss Whately, the author OF a celebrated
book, Life in Egypt" said she sometimes
saw people in the East cooking their food
on the tops of houses, and that she had
often seen, just before sundown, pigeons,
doves which had, during the heat of the
day, been hiding among the kettles and the
raps with which the food was prepared,
picking up the crumbs that they might
find, just about the hour of sunset
spread their wings and fly heavenward,
entirely unsoiled by the region in which
they had moved, for the pigeon is a
very cleanly bird. And as these pigeons
few away the setting sun would throw sill
yer on their wings and gold on their
breasts. So you see it was not far
fetched simile or an unnatural comparison,
when David, in my text, says to these
emaciated Israelites, and says to all those
who are brought out OF any kind of trou-
BILE into any kind of spiritual Joy,
Though ye have lain among the pots, yet
shall ye be as the wings of dove covered
with silver, and her feathers with yellow
gold"
I am going to preach something this
morning which some of you do not believe,
and that is that the grandest possible
adornment is the religion Of Jesus Christ.
There are great many people who suppose
that religion is very different thing from
what it really Is. The reason men con-
demn the Bible is because they do not un-
derstand the Bible; they have not properly
examined it. DR.. johnson said that Hume
told minister i'll his bishopric of Durham
that he had never particularly examined
the New Testament, yet all his life warning
against it. HALEY, the astronomer, an
nounced his Skepticism to Sir Isaac New
ton, and Sir Isaac Newton said: 'Now,
sir, have examined the subject, and you
nave not, and I am ashamed that you, pro-
Tossing to be philosopher, consent to con-
demn a thing you never examined" And
so men reject the religion of Jesus Christ
because they really have never Investigated
it. They think 1t something impractical,
something that will not work, something
Pecksniffian, something hypocritical some
thing repulsive, when 1t is so bright and so
beautiful, you might compare it to dove,
it's wings covered with silver and its
feathers with yellow gold.
To enter the religious life is to put your
self in the pardon, the comfort, the COM
panionship, the omnipotence of the illus
trious Christ, the Saviour of one world
and the chief Joy Of another. The storm
His frown; the sunlight His smile; the
spring morning His breath; the earth
quake the stamp of His foot; the thunder
the whisper Of His voice; the ocean u drop
on the tip of His finger; heaven a sparkle
on the bosom of His love; eternity the
twinkling of His eye; the universe the fly
ing dust of His chariot-wheels. Able to
heal a heart-break, or hush a tempest, or
drown world, or food immensity with
His glory. What an uplifting thing to
make such Being our ally!
But how is it II a young man becomes
Christian? All through the gay circles
where he associates, all through the busi-
ness circles where he is known. there is
commiseration. They say, "What pity
that young man who had such bright
prospects should so have been despoiled
by those Christians. giving up all his
worldly prospects for something which is
of no particular present WORTH Here is
young woman who becomes Christian;
her voice, her face, her manners the
charm of the drawing-room. Now all
through the social circle the whisper goes,
what pity that such bright light
graceful gait should be crippled, that
such worldly prospects should be obiter-
ated." All, my friends, it can be shown
that religions ways are ways Of pleasant
ness, and that all her paths are peace;
that religion, instead of being dark and
bright and beautiful, fairer than dove,
its wings covered with silver and its
feathers with yellow gold
See, In the first place, what religion will
do for mans heart. I care not how
cheerful man may naturally be before
higher standard Of cheerfulness. I do not
say he will laugh any louder; do not say
but that he may stand back from some
forms of hilarity in which he once in
dulged, but there comes into his soul an i'm
mense satisfaction young man, not a
Christian, depends upon worldly successes
to keep his spirits up. Now he is pros
pered, now he has large salary, now he has
a beautiful wardrobe, now he has pleasant
friends, now he has more money than he
knows we'll how to spend; everything goes
bright and we'll with him. But trouble
comes-there aso many young men in the
house this morning who can testify out of
their own experience that sometimes to
young men trouble does come-his friends
are gone, his salary is gone, his health is
gone; he goes down, down. He becomes
sour, cross, queer, misanthropic, blames
the world. blames society, blames the
church. blames everything; rushes per-
haps, to the intoxicating cup to drown his
trouble, but instead Of drowning his
trouble browns his body and browns
llis soul.
But there is o Christian young man.
Trouble comes to him. Does he give up?
No. He throws himself back on the re-
sources of heaven. He says, "God is my
Father. Out Of all these disasters shall