The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1902-02-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
NECESSITY OF BRINGING RELIGION
INTO THE EVERY DAY WORLD.


OF CODA Man Cannot BE Chris
tan on Sunday and 4. Wording All
the Rest of the Week.
Copyright. 1902. Louis Klopsch. N. "
Washington, Feb l6.-In this dis
course DR.. Talmage advises us to do
our best in the spheres where we are
paced and not wait to serve God in
resonndlng position; text, l Corinthi-
ans X, 81, Whether, therefore, We eat
OF 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-
tloll as the taking of food and drink is
70 be conducted to the( Tory of God. he
proclalms the importA of religion
IN the ordinary affairs l.. our life. In
ali ages of the world there has been
tendency to set apart certain DAYS
places and occasions for worship, and
10 thlnk those were the chief realms
In Which religion was to act. Now
holy days and holy places have their
Importance. They give opportunity for
speclal performance of Christian duty
ana Tor regallng of the religious appe
lite. but they cannot take the place OF
CONTINUOUS exercise of faith and pray-
er. IN other words, man cannot be
SO much OF a Christian on Sunday that
ne can afford to be wording ali the
rest OF the week. You cannot eat so
much at the Sabbath banquet that YOU
can ahofd religious abstinence the 9TH
er SIN days. The genuine Christian life
is not spasmodic; does not go by fits
ana starts. it tolls on through heat
ana cold, up steep mountains and along
dangerous declivites, it's eve on the
everlasting hills crowned with the cas-
Ties OF the blessed propose to plead
for an everyday religion.
In the first place we want to bring
the religion Of Christ into our CONVEX
satlon. 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,
ana they Imagine that they are engag-
ed IN positively religious conversation.
mo. You may talk about these things
ana nave no grace of God at all in
your heart. We ought every day to
De talking religion. The real, genuine
CHRISTIAN man talks chiefly about this
lie ana 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.
20 into circle even of Christian peo-
pie, where they are full of JOY and hi
iarlty, and talk about Christ or heaven
ana everything is Immediately silenced.
AS ON q summer day when the forests
are full of life, chatter, chirrup and
Garcia mighty chorus of bird har-
mony, every tree branch an orchestra
II hawk appear in the sky every voice
stops and the forests are still Just so
l have seen a lively religious circle
Ellenced on the appearance of anything
like religious conversation
My friends, the religion of Jesus
Christ is something to talk about with
a glad heart. 1t is brighter than the
waters; it is more cheerful than the
sunshine. DO not go around groaning
about your religion when you ought to
be singing it or talking it in cheerful
tones of voice. How often it is that
we find men whose lives are utterly
inconsistent who attempt to talk relig-
ion and always make failure of it.
My friends, we must live religion or we
cannot talk it. If we have really felt
the religion of Christ in our hearts, let
us talk of it, and talk it with an illumi-
mated courtenance, remembering that
when two Christian people talk God
gives special attention, and writes
down what they say; Malachi ill.,. 16,
'"rhen they that feared the Lord spake
often one to another, and the Lord
hearkened and heard it. and book of
remembrance was written"
Again, ] remark, we must bring the
religion of Christ into our employ
ments. "Oh." you say, that is very
we'll il man handle large sums of
money or if he have an extensive traf-
fic, 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 waving tops
of Oregon pine and Lebanon cedar,
and the alder. cracking under the
cows hoof sounds as loud in Gods ear
as the snap of worlds conhagration.
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. A religion that is not good in one
place is not worth anything in an
other place. The man who has only
days wages in his pocket as certainly
needs the guidance of religion as he
who rattles the keys of a bank and
could abscond with hundred thou
sand dollars.
There are those prominent in the
churches who seem to be on public oc-