Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-02-21


our best In the spheres where we are
placed and not wait TO serve God in
resounding position; text, / Corinthi-
ans x, 81, whether. therefore, ye eat
or drink or whatsoever We do, do all to
the glory OF Cod
When the apostle In this text sets
forth the idea that so common an ac-
ton as the taking of food and drink is
to be conducted TO the glory of God, he
proclaims the Importance of religion
In the ordinary affairs of our life. In
all ages Of the world there has been
tendency to set apart certain days,
places and occasions for worship, and
to think those were the chief realms
in which religion was to act. Now,
holy days and holy places have their
importance. They give opportunity for
special performance Of Christian duty
and for RECALLING of the religious appe-
tite, but they cannot take the place OF
continuous exercise of faith and pray
er. In other words, n man cannot be
SO much of Christian on Sunday that
he can afford to be a wording all the
rest of the week. If steamer put out
for Southampton and so one day in
that direction and the other six days In
other directions, how long before the
steamer will get to Southampton? 1t
will never get there. And, though
man may seem to be voyaging heaven
ward during the holy Sabbath day. IL
during the following six days OF the
week he is going toward the world
and toward the flesh and toward the
devil how long will il take him to
reach the peaceful harbor of heaven?
You cannot eat so much at the Sabbath
banquet that you can afford religious
abstinence the other six days. Hero
ism and princely behavior on great oc-
casions are no apology for lack of right
demeanor in circumstances insignif-
cant and inconspicuous. The genuine
Christian life is not spasmodic; does
not go by fits and starts 1t tolls on
through heat and cold, up steep noun
tains and along dangerous declivities,
its eye on the everlasting hills crowned
with the castles of the blessed. 1 pro-
pose to plead for an everyday religion.
In the first place we want to bring
the religion of Christ into our CONVEX
sation. When dam breaks and two
or three villages are overwhelmed or
an earthquake in South America swal-
lows a whole city, then people begin
TO talk about the uncertainty of life,
and they imagine that they are engag-
cd in positively religious conversation.
No. You may talk about these things
and have no grace OF God at all in
your heart. We ought every day to
be talking religion. If there is any
thing glad about it, anything beautiful
about ii, anything important about it,
we ought 10 be continuously discuss
Ing. have noticed that men just
in proportion as their Christian expe-
rience is shallow talk about funerals
and graveyards and tombstones and
deathbeds. The real, genuine Chris
tan man talks chiefly about this life
and the great eternity beyond and not
SO much about the insignificant pass
between these two residences. And
yet how few circles there are where
the religion OF Jesus Christ is welcome
Go into a circle even of Christian peo-
pie. where they are full OF Joy and hi
larity. and talk about Christ or heaven
and everything is Immediately silenced.
AS on n summer day when the forests
are full OF life, chatter, chirrup and
Garcia mighty chorus OF bird harmo-
ny, every tree branch an orchestra-if
hawk appear In the sky, every voice
stops and the forests are still. Just so
i have seen lively religious circle
silenced on the appearance OF anything
like rQfffvf0ftS onprarcot NJ one h.I
anything TO say save perhaps some old
patriarch in the corner OF the room. who
really thinks that something ought to
he said under the circumstances; so he
puts one foot over the other and heaves
long sigh and says, "Oh, yes; that's
SO, that's sou
1t Makes the Heart Glad.
My friends. the religion OF Jesus
Christ Is something TO talk about with
q glad heart. 1t is brighter than the
waters; 1t is more cheerful than the
sunshine. Do not so around grooming
about your religion when you ought to
be singing it or talking it in cheerful
tones OF voice. How often 1t is that
we find men whose lives are utterly
inconsistent who attempt TO talk reli-
gion and always make n failure OF I'll
My friends, we must live religion or
we cannot talk 1t. If q man is cranky
and cross and uncongenial and hard In
his dealings and then begins to talk
about Christ and heaven, everybody is
repealed by it. Yet ! have heard such
men say in whining tones, 1--WE are
miserable sinners" ''The Lord bless
you," THE Lord have mercy on YOU"
their conversation interlarded with
such expressions, which mean nothing
but canting, and canting is the worst
form OF hypocrisy. If we have really
felt the religion of Christ in our hearts,
let us talk it, and talk It with an illu-
minated countenance, remembering
that when two Christian people talk
God gives special attention and writes
down what they say; Malachi ill, 16,
Then they that feared the Lord spake |
often one to another, and the Lord !
hearkened and heard 1t, and a book OF |
remembrance was written"
Again, remark, we must bring the |
religion OF Christ into our employ |
ments. "Oh," you say, that is. very |
well II a man handle large sums of |
money or If he have an extensive traf- |
nc, but in the humble work in life that |
l am called to the sphere is too small |
for the action of such grand, heavenly |
principles" Who told you so? Do You |
not know that God watches the faded |
leaf on the brooks surface as certainly |
as he does the path OF a blazing sun? |
And the moss that creeps up the side
OF the rock makes as much impression
upon Gods mind as the wavihg tops |
OF Oregon pine and Lebanon CEDAR
ana the alder, cracking under the
cows hoof. sounds as loud in Gods ear
as the snap OF worlds confagration.
When You have anything to do in life,
however humble it may seem to be,
God is always there to help you to do
It III your work is that of a fisher
fho1, ca ]