The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-04-22
WORK NEAREST AT HAND
Rev. DR.. Talmage Says Be Grateful for
Gods Common Blessings.
Put Your Religion IntO Praetlee-Reveuue
Of Spiritual Strength

DR.. Talmage advises us to do our best i'm
the spheres where we are placed and not
wait TO serve God In resembling position;
text, j Corinthians Y, 81, Whether, there.
fore, we eat or drink or whatsoever We do.
do oil TO the glory of God"
When the apostle in this text sets forth
the idea that so common an action as the
taking of food and drink is TO be conduct
ed to the glory of God, he proclaims the
Importance OF religion in the ordinary az.
talrs OF our hfe. In all ages of the world
there has been a tendency to set apart GER
tam days, places and occasions for wor-
snip, ana TO think those were the chief
realms IN which religion was to act Now.
holy days and holy places have their i'm.
portance. They give opportunity for spe-
clal performance OF Christian duty and for
regahng OF the religious appetite but they
cannot take the place Of continuous exer-
else OF faith and prayer In other words
man cannot be so much OF Christian on
sunday that he can afford to be n world
hllg All the rest OF the week If steamer
put out Tor southampton and 60 one day
IN that direction and the other six DAVIS in
other directions, how long before the steam
er VIII get to southampton? 1t will never
set there. And, though man may seem
70 oe voyaging heavenward during the holy
Saooath day, II 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 ii take him to reach
the peaceful harbor of heaven. You can
not eat so much at the Sabbath banquet
That YOU can afford religious abstinence
the other six days. Heroism and princely
tehavior on great occasions are no apology
Sor lack of right demeanor in circumstances
Insignificant and inconspicuous. The gen.
uine Christian lie is not spasmodic does
not go by fits and starts 1t tolls on
through heat and cold, up steep mount
aims and along dangerous declivities its
\ eye on the everlasting hills crowned with
the eastlea of the blessed / propose to
3plead for everyday religion
n In the first place we want to bring the
religion of Christ into our conversation.
When dam breaks and two or three vii
lagos are overwhelmed or an earthquake
IN South America swallows a whole city,
then people begin to talk about the uncer-
tainty of life, and they imagine that they
are engaged IN positively religious CONVEX
sation. 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 anything glad
about 1T, anything beautiful about it, any
thing important about it, we ought to be
continuously discussing.
have noticed that men Just in proper
ton es their Christian experience is shall
low talk about funerals and graveyards and
tombstones and deathbeds. The real, gen
ulne Christian man talks chiefly about this
life and the great eternity beyond and not
so much about the insignificant pass be-
tween these two residences
And yet how few circles there are where
the religion of Jesus Christ is welcome.
20 into circle even of Christian people
where they are full of JOY and hilarity and
tax about Christ or heaven and everything
Is Immediately silenced. AS on n summer
day when the forests are full of life chat
ter, chirrup and Garcia mighty chorus of
bird harmony, every tree branch an orches-
tra-lt hawk appear in the sky, every
voice stops aud the forests are still
just so i have seen n lively religious cir
Gle slenced on the appearance of anything
like religious conversation. No one had
anything to say save perhaps some old pa
triarch in the corner of the room, who
really thinks that something ought to be
said under the circumstances; So he puts
one foot over the other and hcaves long
sigh and says, "Oh, yes; that's SO, that's
My friends, the religion of Jesus Christ
is something to talk about with n glad
heart. 1t is brighter than the sunshine.
Do not go around groaning about your re-
hgion when you ought to be singing it or
talking 1T In cheerful tones of voice. How
often 1t 10 that we find men whose lives
are utterly inconsistent who attempt to
talk religion and always make a failure of
1t! My friends, we must live religion or
we cannot talk it. If a man Is cranky and
cross and uncongenial and hard in his deal
lngs and then begins to talk about Christ
and heaven, everybody is repealed by it.
Yet have heard such men say in whining
tones, I'VE are miserable sinners" "The
Lord bless you" "The Lord have mercy on
you their conversation interlarded with
such expressions which mean nothing but
cantinR, and canting Is the worst form of
hypocrisy. If we have really felt the re-
hglon OF Christ IN our hearts, let us talk
1t, and talk 1t with an illuminated counte-
nance, remembering that when two Chris
tan people talk God gives special atten-
ton and writes down what they say: Ma
lachl iii, l6, Then they that feared the
Lord spoke often one to another, and the
Lord hearkened and heard it. and book
of remembrance was written"
Again, | remark, we must bring the reli-
gion of Christ into our em9loyments. "Oh."
you say, that is very well il man handle
large sums OF money or If he have an eX-
tensive traffic, but in the humble work in
life that ] am called to the sphere is too
small Tor the action OF such grand, heaven
~ principles" Who told you SOP Do you
not know that God watches the faded leaf
on the brooks surface as certainly az 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, crack
ling under the cows hoof, sounds as loud
IN Gods car as the snap of a worlds CON
haWation. 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.
II your work is that OF a fisherman, then
God will help you, as He helped Simon
Wncn lie dragged Genuesdret. III your
work IS drawing water then He will help
you, as when He talked at the well curb
to the Samaritan woman. II you are en-
gagged IN The custom house. He will lead
you as He led Matthew sitting at the re-
ceipt of customs
A religion that is not good in one place
is not worth anything in another place.
The man who has only days wages i'm his
pocket as certainly needs the guidance of
religion az he who rattles the KEYS of a
bank and could abscond with a hundred
thousand dollars.
There are those prominent in the
churches who seem to be on public occa-
sions very devout who do not put the
principles of Chrst's religion into practice.
They are the most inexorable Of creditors.
They are the most grasDing Of dealers.
They are known as snarpers on the street.
Whey fleece every sheep they can catch. A
country merchant comes in to buy spring
or fan goods, and he gets into the store of
one of these professed Christian men who
have really no grace in their hearts. and h5
Is completely swindled lie is so overcome
that he cannot get out Of town during tho
week. He stays I'M town over Sunday goes
into some church to get Christian consola.
ton when what rs his amazcment to- find
that the very man who hands him the poor
box In the church ig the one who relieved
him OF his money! But never mind: the
i.