The Chanute times., 1899-03-03
TALMAGE's SERMON.
HOME" THE SUBJECT OF LAST
SUNDAYS TALK.
From tho First Book of Timothy, Chap
ter W, Verse 8, as Follows: Let Them
Learn First to Show Piety at Home"
Spheres In Which to Serve God

to foreign travel and the watering
places, and the ocean steamers are
thronged; but in the winter 1t is
rather to gather in domestic circles,
and during these months we spend
many Of the hours within doors, and
the apostle comes to us and says that
we ought to exercise Christian be-
havior amid all such circumstances.
Let them learn first to show piety at
home.
There are a great many people long
ing for some grand sphere in which
to serve God. They admire Luther at
the Diet of Worms, and only wish
that they had some such great op-
portunity in which to display their
Christian prowess. They admire Paul
making Felix tremble, and they only
wish that they had some such grand
occasion in which to preach righteous
ness, temperance and judgment to
come. All they want is an opportunity
to exhibit their Christian herolsm.
Now. the apostle practically says: 81
will show you place where you can
exhibit all that is grand and beautl-
full and glorious in Christian charac-
ter, and that is the domestic circle.
Let them begin first to show piety at
home" II one is not faithful in an in
significant sphere he will not be faith
full in resounding sphere.
If Peter will not help the
cripple at the gate of the Temple, he
will never be able to preach three
thousand into the kingdom at the Pen-
tecost. If Paul will not take pains to
instruct in the way of salvation the
jailer of the Philippian dungeon, he
will never make Felix tremble. He
who is not faithful in a skirmish would
cot be faithful in an Armageddon.
The fact is, we are all placed in just
the position in which we can most
grandly serve God, and we ought not
to be chiefly thoughtful about some
sphere of usefulness which we may
after a while gain, but the all-ab-
sorbing question with you and with
me ought to be, Lord, what wilt
thou have me now and here to do?"
There is one word in St. Pauls ad-
juration around which the most of
our thoughts will revolve. That word
is "home." Ask ten different men the
meaning Of that word, and they will
give you ten different definitions. To
one it means love at the hearth, plen-
ty at the table, industry at the work.
stand, intelligence at the books, devo-
ton at the altar. In that household,
discord never sounds its war-whoop
and deception never tricks with its
false face To him it means a greet
ing at the door and a smile at the
chair, peace lowering like wings, joy
clapping its hands with laughter. Life
is a tranquil lake. Pillowed on the
ripples sleep the shadows. Ask an
other man what home is, and he will
tell you it is want looking out of a
cherries fire CRATE, kneading hunger
in an empty bread tray. The damp
air shivers with curses. No Bible on
the shelf. Children robbers and mur-
derers in embryo. Obscene songs their
lullaby. Every face a picture of ruin.
Want in the background and sin star
ing from the front. No Sabbath-wave
rolling over that door sill-vestibule
of the pit, shadow of internal walls,
fagots for an unending funeral pile.
Awful word! 1t is spelled with curses; /;
it weeps with ruin; it chokes with
woe; 1t sweats with the death agony
of despair. The word home" in one
case means everything bright; the
word home" in the other case means
everything terrific.
shall speak now of home as test
of character, home as refuge, home
as political safeguard, home as a
school, and home as type of heaven.
And in the first place, home is pow
erful test of character. The dispo-
sition in public may be in gay cos
tune, while in private it is dlshaDllle.
AS play actors may appear in one
way on the stage and may appear in
another way behind the scenes, so pri'
vate character may be very different
from public character. Private char
acter is often public character turned
wrong side out A man may receive
you into his parlor as though he were
distillation of smiles, and yet his
heart may be a swamp of nettles.
There are business men who all day
long are mild and courteous and genial
and good-natured in commercial life,
damming back their irritability and
their petulance and their discomfort;
but at nightfall the dam breaks, and
scolding pours forth in floods and
freshets. Reputation is only the shad-
ow of character, and a very small
house sometimes will cast a very
long shadow. The lips may seem to
drop myrrh and cassia, and the dispo-
sition be as bright and warm as a
sheath of sunbeams, and yet they may
only be magnificent show window for
wretched stock of goods. There is
many a man who is affable in public
life and amid commercial spheres, who
in a cowardly way takes his anger and
his petulance home and drops them in
the domestic circle. The reason men
l.