Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1902-02-17

our best in the spheres where we are
placed and not wait to serve God in
resoundng position; text, l Corinthi-
ans X, 81, whether, therefore, We eat
or drink or whatsoever We do, do all to
the glory of God"
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 CT our life. In
all ages of the world there has been q
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 regaling of the religious appe-
tite, but they cannot take the place Of
continuous exercise of faith and pray
er. In other words, Il man cannot be
so much Of Christian on Sunday that
he can afford to be q wording all the
rest of the week. If a steamer put out
for Southampton and go 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, if
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 it 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
dcmeanOr in circumstances insignifi-
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. | 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 Il 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,
ed 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 it, anything important about it.
we ought to 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 Il 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 q 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
a hawk appear in the sky, every voice
stops and the forests are still. Just SO
l have seen lively religious circle
silenced on the appearance of anything
like religious conversation. No one had
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 So
1t Makes the Heart Glad.
Ny friends. the religion of Jesus
Christ is something to talk about with
q glad heart. 1t is brighter than the
waters; it is more cheerful than the
sunshine. DO not go around grooming
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 reli
gion and always make a failure of it
My friends, we must live religion OF
we cannot talk it. 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. we are
miserable sinners" The Lord bless
YOU" The Lord have mercy on YOU
their conversation intorlarded Will
such expressions. which mean nothing
but cantinC. and canting is the wOrs
form Of hypocrisy. If we have really
felt the religion Of Christ in our hearts
lnt I1S nix If oU1 talk If with IN ilIn