The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-08-11
TALMAGE SERMOT.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY T:4s k7le d..
WINS
subject: Gods Saving Characterization IL
An Active Principle Which Works
Constantly For the Welfare OF Bo,fy
ana Mind and SOul-Hope For Sinucrs
fCopyright 1900.

how travelling in Norway, where he ha
been deeply interested in the natural ph,
nomena and the quaint social life of tina
wonderful land. In this sermon he al
enes, contrary to the opinion of man,
that religion is an active principle whic
works constantly for the welfare of bod
and mind and soul. His text is Luke xiv
| "a. Salt is good
he Bible Is dictionary of the fines
slmllcs. 1t employs among living Great
nres storks and eagles and doves and uni
corns and sheep and cattle; among trees
sycamores and terehinths and pomegran
ates and almonds and apples; among jew
els. pearls and amethvsts and iacinth
ana chrysoprases. Christ uses no stal,
| 11IIuStIations. The lilies that He plucks il
HIS discourse are dewy fresh: the raven.
in His discoursos are not stuffed specimen.
OF birds, but warm with life from wing til
to wing tip; the fish He points to are not
dull about the gills, as though long cap
tured but a-squirm in the wet net lus,
brought up on the beach of Tiberias. In
my text, which is the peroration of one OF
His sermons, He picks up crystal and
holds 1t before His congregation as an illus
tratlon Of divine grace in the heart when
Iifflt re says what we all know by experiment,
Salt is good"
i shall try to carry out the saviour's
4N'>" III tit4S ttAt dIu III the nFSt place saw
to you that grace is like salt in its beauty.
In Gallicia there are mines of salt with ex.
caFatIons and underground passages reach
Ing, am told, 2e0 miles Far underground
there are chapels and halls of reception.
the columns, the affairs and the pulpits 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 crvs-
tai to describe it. But you need not go so
far as that to find the beauty of salt. You
live IN land which produces millions of
bushels OF 1t IN year. and you can take
the morning rail train and in few hours
act 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 dura ahility added. 1t is beautiful to
the naked eve, but under the glass you see
the stars. and the diamonds. and the white
tree branches. and the splinters, and the
bridges of fire as the sun glints them.
There is more architectural skill in one Of
these crystals of salt than human inge-
nuity has ever demonstrated in an Alham-
bra or St. Peters.
1t would take all time with an infringe.
ment upon eternity. for an angel of God
to tell one-half the glories in salt CRYSTAL
80 with the grace Of God; it is perfectly
beautiful. have seen it smooth out wrin-
kies OF care from the brow; have seen it
again: | have seen it lift the stopping
shoulders and put sparkle into the dull eye.
Solomon discovered its therapeutic quail
ties when he said, cit is marrow to the
bones" It helps to digest the food and
to purify the blood and to calm the pulses
and quiet the spleen. and instead Of Tyn-
dalrs prayer test of twenty years ago. put
ting man in philosophical hospital to be
experimental upon by prayer. it keeps him
20 well that he does not need to be prayed
Tor as an invalid. am speaking now Of
healthy religon-not of that morbid relig-
ion that sits for three hours on a grave
stone reading Hervey's calculations
Among the Tombs"-a religion that pros
oers best in a bad state of the liver! I |
peak of the religion that Christ preached. |
suppose, when that religion has con-
luered the world, that disease will be BAN
shed, and that a man 100 years of age will |
ONE in from business and saw. "I am
.ired; | think it must be time for me to |
'o:. and without one physical panC heaven |
will have him.
But the chief beauty of grace is in the
oul. 1t takes that which was hard and |
gam: 1t pours upon ones nature what
hvld calls "the beauty of holiness" It |
xtirpates everything that is hateful and
mclean. II jealousy and pride and lust
nd worldliness 1urk about. they are
hained and have very small sweep.
esus throws upon the so,ll the fragrance
I a summer garden as He comes in say
~, Il am the Rose of Sharon" and He
ubmerges it with the glory of sprins
nv l. 1
Oh. how much that grace did for the
hree Johns! 1t took John B,invan, the
onl mouthed, and made him John Bun
an, the immortal dreamer: it took John
ewton. the inf lei sailor. and in the midst
the hurricane made him cry out ''Mv
lother's God, have mercy upon me-" It
ook John Summcrfeld from a life of sin
nd by the hand of Christian maker Of
lge tools led him into the pu'nit that
lrns still with the light of that Christian
oquence which charmed thousands to the
esus whom He once despised. All Won
av search all the earth over for anvthinc
} beautiful or heautifying as the grace Of
cd. Go all through the deep mine pas
ges of Wieiiczka and anil the under
-ound Kingdoms of salt in Hallstadt and
low me anything so transcendent'y beau
full as this grace of God fashioned and |
ing in eternal crystals.
Again, grace is like salt in the fact that
is a necessity of lie. Man and beast
irish without salt. What are those paths
ross the western prairie? Why. they
ere made there by deer and buffalo going
and coming away from the salt clicks
1emists and physicians all the world over
II us that salt is a necessity of life. And
with the grace of God; you must have it
die. | know great many speak OF it
mere adornment, sort of shoulder
rap adorning a soldier, or a light, froth .
g dessert brought in after the greatest $
rt OF the banquet of life is over. or a
edicinc to be taken after powders and !
ustard plasters have failed to do their ,
1rk, but ordinarily mere superfiuity. (
ring of bells around horses neck while (
draws the load and in now'ise helping t
m to draw it. So far from that declare a
e grace of God to be the first and the
IT necessity. 1t is food we must take or $
,rve into an eternity of famine. 1t is 9
,thing. without which We freeze to the c
ast of infinite terror. IT is the plank, 2
d the only plank. on which we can float 9
oreward 1t is the ladder, and the only a
lder, on which we can climb up into ihe \
hit. 1t is positive necessity for The |
II. You can tell very easily what the r
ect would be if person refused to take i
t into the body. The energies would :
l. the lungs would struggle with the air o