The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1898-05-07

U..|.IA Z|W.|A nm with our BUSINESS
@4 LHNnn They are running
REV. TALMAGE. our religioni They
are actually turning h world up
side 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 order that it may be right side up.
The time was when men wrote books
emitting them Apologies for Chris
tianity." 1 hope that day has passed.
We want no more apologies for Chris
tianity. Let the apologies be on the
part of those who do not believe in our
religion. We do not mean to make
n compromise in h matter. We
do not wish to hide h fact that Chris
tianity is revolutionary, and that its
tendency is to turn the world upside
down.
Our religion has often been misrepre-
sented 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 for ever. Men speak of religion
as though it was a refined imbecility;
rs though it was a spiritual chloro-
form that the people were to lake I'M
til the sharp cutting of life were over.
The Bible, so far from this, represents
the religion of Christ as robust and
brawny-ransacking and upsetting TO-
900 things that now seem to be settled
on Arm foundations. l hear some man
in this house say, II thought religion
was peace" That is the fnal result.
A mans arm is out of place. Two men
come and with n great effort put 1t
back to the socket. 1t goes back with
great pain. Then it gets well. Our
world is horribly disordered and out
of Joint. 1t must come under an ON
nipotent surgery, beneath which
there will be pain and anguish before
there can come perfect health and
quiet. ] proclaim, therefore, in the
name of my Lord Jesus Christ Revo-
lutionl
The religion of the Bible will make
q revolution in the family. Those
things that are wrong in the family
circle will be overthrown by it, while
Justice and harmony will take the
place. The husband will be the head
of the household only when he Is fit to
be. l know q 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 hat he is to
be the head Of that household? If the
wife have more nobility. more courage
more consistency, more of all that Is
right, she shall have the supremacy.
You Jay that the wife is to be subject
to the husband. 1 know it. But that
Is a husband, not a masculine carica-
ture. There is no human or divine
law thai makes a woman subordinate
to a man unworthy of her. When
Christianity comes into a domestic cir
Gle, it will give the dominancy to that
one who is the most worthy of it.
As religion comes in at the front
door mirth and laughter will not go
out of the back door. 1t will not
hopple the children's feet John
will laugh just as loud; and George
will Jump higher than he ever did
before. 1t will steal from the little
ones neither ball nor bat, nor hoop, nor
kite. 1t will establish a family altar.
Angels will hover yer 1t, Ladders of
light will reach down to it. The glory
of Heaven will stream upon it. The
books of remembrance will record it;
and tides of everlasting blessedness
will pour from it. Not such a family
altar as you may nave seen, where the
prayer is long, and a long chapter is
read, with tedious explanation, and
the exercise keeps on until the chill
dren's knees are sore, and their backs
ache, and their patience Is lost, and
for the seventh time they have counted
all the rungs in the chair; but 1 mean
a family altar such as may have been
seen in your fathers house. You may
have wandered far off in the paths of
sin and darknesss but you nave never
forgotten that family altar where
father and mother knelt. importuning
God for your soul. That Is q memory
that a man never gets over. There
will be a hearty, joyful family altar in
every domestic circle. You will not
have to go far to hnd q Hannah rearing
her Samuel for the temple. or agrand-
mother Lois i~nstructing her young
Timothy in the knowledge of Christ,
or a Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus
gathered in fraternal and siGteFly
affection, or a table at which Jesus
sits. as 1t that Of Zaccheus, OF a home
in which JesnE dWells, as in the house
of Simon, the tanneF, The religion of
Jesus Christ, coming into the domestic
circle, will overthrow all 3ealcusies.
and peace, and order, and holiness wifi
take possession of the home.
Again: christianity will produce a
revolution in commercial circles. Find
me so merchants, and you win And
that they have so standards of what il
right and wrong. You say to some
one about a merchant. us he honest?"
10, yes" the man says. 'hs Is honestS
but he grinds the faces of his clerks,
He Is honest; but he exagRerates the
value of his goods. He is honest; but
he loans money on bond and mort
gage, with the understanding that the
mortgage can lie quiet for ten years,
but as soon as he gets the mortgage,
he records it and begins a foreclosure
suit, and the sheriff's writ comes down,
oho az 90 VI SoAC AIANOos II NV y
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 q policy on his
life. aud tells the doctor hat he is
well. when he knows that for ten
years he has had but one lung. Hon
estp though he sells property by the
map. forgetting to tell the purchaser
that the ground is all under water,
but 1t 10 generous in him to do that.
for he throws the water into the bar.
gain.
You build a house, and you put into
1t a rotten beam. A mechanic stand
ing by says, 1T will never do t. put
that beam in; it will ruin your whole
building" But you put it in. The
house is completed. Soon it begins to
rock. You call in the mechanic and
EaVyl.-k l. I'LL AIs,