Connecticut western news., 1898-02-17
FOR COMMON PEOPLE.
pR. TAlMAGs's WORDS or CHEER
 FOR Th6 LOWlY.


 FOR ThE LOWLY.
 The Rank aud File of the Lords Sol
 diery Need Especial HeIp-Let Us Be
 Content With Gods Gif;s-The Penalty
 Of Greatness OutweiKhs the Joy.
 copyright. 1898. by American Press Asso-
 ciation.l
 WASHINGTON, Feb. l3.-Dr. Talmage In this discourse calls the roll of faithful men and noble women in all departments who are unrecognized and nnrewarded and sounds encouragement for those who do work iu spheres incon- spicuous; text, Romans xvi, II, l5, Sa- lute Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Pa trobas, Hermes, Philologus and Julia. |"
 Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes, Adam Clark, Thomas Scott and all the com mentators pass by these verses without any especial remark. The other 20 peo- pie mentioned in the chapter were dis tinguished for something and were therefore discussed by the illustrious ex- positors, but nothing is said about Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, Philologus and Julia. Where were they born? No one knows. When did they die? There is no record of their aecease. For what were they distin- guished? Absolutely nothing, or the trait of character would have been brought out by the apostle. If they had been very intrepid or opulent or hirsute or musical of cadence or crass of style or in any wise anomalous, that feature would have been caught by the apostolic camera. But they were good people, be- esose Paul sends to them his high Christian regards. They were ordinary people, moving in ordinary sphere, at tending to ordinary duty and meeting ordinary responsibilities.
 For the Rank and File.
 What the world wants is a religion for ordinary people. If there be in the United States 70, 900, 900 people, there are certainly not more than 1000, 900 extraordinary. and then there are 69.- GOO, 900 ordinary, and we do we'll to turn our backs for little while upon the distinguished and conspicuous peo- ple of the Bible and consider in our text the seven ordinary. We spend too much of our time in twisting garlands for remarkables, and building thrones for maQnates, and sculpturing warriors, and apotheosizing philanthropists. The rank and file of the Lord s soldiery need especial help.
 The vast majority of people will never lead an army, will never write state constitution, will never electrify a senate, will never make an important int a philosophy, will never decide the fate of nation. You do not expect to, you do not want to. You will not be a Moses to lead & nation out of bondage. You will not be Joshua to prolong the daylight until you can shut five kings in . cavern. You will not be St. John to unroll an Apocalypse. You will not be Paul to preside over an apostolic college. You will not be Mary to mother Christ. You will more proba- bly be Asyncritus, or Phlegon, or Her mas, or Patrobas, or Hermes, or Philol- ogus. or Julia.
 Many of you are women at the head of households. Every morning you plan for the day. The culinary department of the household is in your dominion. You decide all questions of diet. All the sanitary regulations of your house are under your supervision. To regulate the food and the apparel and the habits and decide the thousand questions of home life is tax upon brain and nerve and general health absolutely appalling if there be no divine alleviation-
 Needs of tho Human Race.
 It does not help you much to be told that Elizabeth Fry did wonderful things amid the criminals at Newgate. It does not help you much to be told that Mrs. Judson was very brave among the Bor- nesian cannibals. It does not help you very. much to be told that Florence Nightingale was very kind to the wounded in the Crimea. It would be better for me to tell you that the divine friend of Mary and Martha is your friend, and that he sees all the annoy ances and disappointments and abra- sions and exasperations of an ordinary housskeeper from morn till night, and from the first day of the year until the last day of the year, and at your call he is ready with help and re-enforce- ment.
 They who provide the food of the world decide the health of the world. You have only to go on some errand amid the taverns and the hotels of the United States and Great Britain to ap- preciate the fact that vast multitude of the human race are slaughtered by incompetent cookery. Though young woman may have taken lessons in music and may have taken lessons in painting and lessons in astronomy, she Is not we'll educated unless she has taken les sons in dough. They who decide the apparel of the world and the food of the world decide the endurance of the world.
 An minimizing man may consider it . matter of little importance, the cares of the household and the economies of domestic life, but tell you the earth is strewn with the martyrs of kitchen and nnrsery. The health shattered woman hood of America cries out for God who can help ordinary women in the ordinary duties of housekeeping. The wearing, grinding, unappreciated work goes on, but the same Christ who stood on the bank of Galilee in the early morning and kindled the fire and had the fish already cleaned and broiling when the sportsmen stepped ashore. chilled and hungry, will help every wo- man to prepare breakfast, whether by her own hand or the hand of her hired help. The God who made indestructible eulogy of Hannah, who made coat for Samuel, her son. and carried it to the temple every year, will help every wom- an in preparing the family wardrobe. The God who opens the Bible with the story of Abraham's entertainment by the three angels on the plains of Mamre will help every woman to provide hos pitality, however rare and embarrass- ing. It is high time that some of the attention we have been giving to the remarkable women of the Bible-re- markable for their virtue or their want