The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1900-07-13
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject Gods Saving Grace-ReIision Ia
an Active Principle Which Works
Constantly For tho Welfare of Body
{ and Mind and soui-Hope For Sinners.
ICopyriRht IgOO.l


Constantly For tho Welfare of Body
and Mind and soui-Hope For sinners.
Copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, ID. Cdr. Talmage is
now travelling in Norway, where he has
been deeply interested IN the natural phe-
nomena and the quaint social life OF that
wonderful land. In this sermon he ar
CUES contrary 10 the opinion of many,
that religion IL an active principle which
works constantly for the welfare of body
and mind and soul His text is Luke xiv,
a. Salt is good"
The Bible is a dictionary Of the finest
simlles. It employs among living Great
ures storks and eagles and doves and uni
cOrns and sheep and cattle; among trees
sycamores and terebnths and pOmegran-
atcs and almonds and apples, among lcw-
els pearls and amethysts and jacinths
and chrysoprases. Christ uses no stale
illustrations. The lilies that He pluclss IN
His discourse are dewy fresh; the ravens
IN His discOurses are not stuffed specimens
of birds but warm with life from wing tip
TO wing tin: the fish He points TO are not
dull about the gills, az though long cap
tured, but a-squirm in the wet net Just
brought up on the beach of TibcrIas. In
my text, which IL the peroraton Of one OF
His sermons, He picks up a crystal and
holds II before His congregation AZ an Illus
traton of divine grace IN the heart when
~ u
salt IL good l."
| shall try TO carry out the Saviours
idea i'm this text aud IN the first place say
90 you that grace is like salt IN It's beauty.
In Gallicia there are mines of salt with OK.
cavations and underground passages reach
ing, | am told 2S0 miles. Far underground
there are chapcls and halls of reception.
the columns, the affairs and the pulpts of
salt When the king and the princes come
to visit these mines, the whole place is
Illuminated, and the glory of crystal walls
and crystal ceilings and crystal floors and
crystal columns, under the glare of the
torches and the lamps. needs words of crys-
tai TO describe It. But you need not 90 30
far as that TO find the beauty of salt You
live in a land which produces millions of
bushels of II IN year and you can take
the morning rail train and IN few hours
get TO the salt mines and salt springs. and
you have this article morning, noon and
night on your table Salt has all the
beauty of the snowflake and water foam,
with durability added. II is beautiful 10
the naked eye, but under the glass YOU see
the stars, and the diamonds. and the white
tree branches. and the splntcrs and the
bridges of fire as the sun glnts them.
There is more architectural skill IN one of
these crystals of salt than human ngc
nuty has ever demonstrated in an Alham
bra or st. Peters.
IL would take all time, with an infringe
ment upon eternity, for an cngcl of God
to tell onc-half the glorics in a salt crystal
SO with the grace of Cod It is perfectly
beautiful | have seen II smooth out wrln-
kles of care from the brow; have seen il
make an aged man feel almost young
again: ! have seen IL lift the stoopiug
shoulders and put sparkle into the dull eye
Solomon discovered it's therapeutic quail
ties when he said, at is marrow TO the
bones II helps to digest the food and
to purify the blood and TO calm the pulses
and quiet the spleen and instead oi Tvn-
dalls prayer test of twenty years ago, put
ting a man in philosophical hospital To bc
experimental upon 10y prayer II keeps him
so well that he does not need TO be prayed
for as an invalid. | am speaking now OF a
healthy rclglon-not of that morbid rChg
ION that sits for three hours on grave
stone reading llcrvey's "Meditations
Among the Tombs'-a religion that pros.
pers best in a bad state of the lvcrl |
speak of the religion that Christ preached
| suppose, when that religion has con.
quered the world, that disease will hc ban
ished, and that man 100 years of age Will
come in from business and say, II am
tired; | think II must Toe time for me to
60, and without one physical pang heaven
will have him.
But the chief beauty Of grace is in the
soul. IL takes that which was hard and
cold and repulsivc and makes II all over
again. IL pours upon ones nature what
David calls "the beauty of holiness" II
extirpates everything that is hateful and
unclean. II jealousy and pride aud lust
and worldliness urk about, they are
chained and have a very small sweep.
Jesus throws upon the soul the fragrance
of summer garden as lie comes IN say
ing II am the Rose of sharon aud lie
submerges Il with the glory Of a spring
morning, as He says, II am the light.
Oh how much that grace did for the
three Johns! IL took John Bunyau. the
foul mouthed, and made him John Bun.
yam, the immortal dreamer. II took John
Newton, the iniidel sailor, and in the midst
of the hurricane made him cry out "My
mothers God. have mercy upon me-" II
took John Summerfeld from n life of sin
and by the hand of a Christian maker of
edge tools led him into the pulpit that
burns still with the light of that Christian
eloquence which charmed thousands to the
Jesus whom lie once despiscd All, YOU
may search all the earth over for anything
40 beautiful or beautifying as the grace Of
Cod Go all through the deep mine pas
ssges OF Wieliczka and amid the under
ground Kingdoms of salt in Hallstadt and
show me anything so transcendcnty beau
tiful as this grace OF God fashioned and
hung in eternal crystals.
Again, grace is like salt in the fact that
II ~ n necessity of life. Man and beast
across the western prariey Why. they
were made there 10y deer and buffalo going
TO and coming away from the salt "licks'
Chemists and physicians all the world over
tell us that salt is a necessity of life. And
40 with the grace of God you must have It
or die. / know n great many speak of II
as mere adornment a sort of shoulder
strap adorning n soldier. or light. froth
ing dessert brought in after the greatest
part OF the banquet OF life - over. or q
medicine 90 be taken after powders and
work. but ordinarily a mere superfuity. "a
string Of bells around n horses neck while
he draws the load and IN nowise helping
him 90 draw it. So far from that declare
the grace Of God 10 be the first and the
last necessity II il food we must take or
starve into an eternity of famine. 10 Is
clothing. without which W freeze 10 the
mast Of infinite terror II is the plank