Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1898-05-26
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

Make n Ravolution in tho Family.
TEXT: ssThese that have turned the world
upside down are come miner also."-
Acts xviii, 6.
There is wild, believing mob a-ound
the house OF Jason, in Thessalonica. What
has the man done 80 greatly to offend the
people? He has been entertaining Paul
and his comrades. The mob surround the
house and cry: Bring out those turbulent
preachers! They are Interfering with our
business! They are running our religion!
They are actually turning the world upside
DOWN.
The charge was true, for there is moth
ing that so interferes with sin, there is
nothing go ruinous to every form OF estab-
llshed iniqnity, 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 it needs to be turned upside
down in order that 1t may be right side up.
The tim was when men wrote books en-
titling them apologies for Christianity"
more apologies for Christianity. 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 mat
ter. We do not wish to hide the fact that
Christianity is revolutionary, and that its
tendency is to turn the world upside down.
Our religion has often been misrepre-
sented as principle of tears, and mild
ness, and dfastidiousness; 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 demolished forever. Men speak
of religion as though it were q refined i'm
becility; as though 1t were spiritual
take until the sharp cutting of life were
over. The Bible, so far from this, repre-
sents the religion of Christ as robust and
brawny-ransacking and upsetting ten
thousand things that now seem to be set
tied 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
dist orted and out of joint. 1t must come
under an omnipotent surgery, beneath
which there will be pain and anguish be-
fore there can come perfect health and
quiet. Iproclaim, therefore, in the name
of my Lord Jesus Christ-revolution!
The religion of the Bible will make
revolution in the family. Those things
that are wrong in the family circle will be
overthrown by it, while justice and har-
mony will take the place. The husband
will be the head of the household only
when he is fit to be. / know man who
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? If the wife
have more nobility, more courage, more
consistency, more of all that Is right, she
shall have the supremacy You say that
the Bible says that the wife is to be subject
TO the husband. know 1t. But that is
husband, not masculine caricature.
There is no human or divine law that
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worthy of her. When Christianity comes
into domestic circle it will give the do
minancy to that one who is the most
worthy of it.
Again: Christianity will produce revo-
luton 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, els
he honest?" "Oh! yes,' the man says, che
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 mortgage
can lie quiet for ten years, but as soon as
he gets the mortgage, he records ii and
begins foreclosure suit and the Sheriff's
writ comes down, and the day of sale ar
rives, and away goes the homestead, and
the creditor buys it In at half price, Hon
est? When he loaned the money he knew
that he would get the homestead at half
price. Honest? But he goes to the insur-
ance 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 prop
erty by the map. forgetting to tell the pur-
chaser that the ground is all under water;
but it is generous in him to do that, for he
throws the water into the bargain.
The fraudulent man piles up his gains,
bond above bond, United States security
above United States security emolument
above emolument, until his property has
become great pyramid; and, as he
stands looking at 1t, he thinks it can never
be destroyed; but the Lord God comes, ard
with His little finger pushes 1t all over
You build a house and you put into it
rotten beam. A mechanic standing by
says: 'It will never do to put that beam
in; it will ruin your whole building" But
Soon it begins to rock. You call in the
mechanic and ask: "What is the matter
with this door? What is the matter with
this wallf Everything seems to be giving
out Says the mechanic: ''You put
rotten beam into that structure, and the
whole thing has got to come down. Here
is an estate that seems to be all right now.
1t has been building great many years.
But fifteen years ago there was dishonest
transaction in that commercial house.
That one dishonest transaction will keep
on working ruin in the whole structure un-
ruin about the possessor's ears-one dis
honest dollar in the estate demolishing all
his possession. ! have seen it again and
again; and so have you.
You have an old photograph OF the signs
on your street. Why have those signs near
ly all changed within the last twenty years?
Does the passing away Of n generation ac-
count for it? Oh, no. Does the fact that
there are hundreds Of honest men who go
down every year account for 1t? Oh, no.
This is the secret The Lord God has been
walking through the commercial streets OF
our great cities; and he has been adjusting
things according to the principles Of eter-
nal rectitude.
The time will come when, through the
revolutionary power Of the Gospel false
hood, instead Of being called exaggeration,
equivocation, or evasion, will be branded a
liei And stealings, that now sometimes
go under the head Of percentages and
Commissions, and bonuses, will be put into
the catalogue OF State-prison offenses.
Society will be turned inside out and up-
side down, and ransacked OF Gods truth.
until business dishonesties shall come to
an end, and all double-dealing; AID God
VIII overturn, and overturn. and overturn;
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