In a sermon on "The Debt Parents Owe to their Children," Newell Dwight Hillis, D.D., of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, told of a parent who had said to him: "For twenty years neither myself nor my family have paid attention to Christianity. And now I have learned to my sorrow that the Christion Church is the only place in which to bring up a family. If I had ten sons I would compel them to marry wives reared in the Christian Church and the Christian home, who have the Christian method and Christian spirit of rearing children. (Text.)
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RELIGION, IMPORTANCE OF
Lecky says that the humble meeting in
Aldersgate Street where John Wesley was
converted forms an epoch in English history;
and he adds that the religious revolution
begun in England by the preaching of
the Wesleys is of greater historic importance
than all the splendid victories by land and
sea won under Pitt.—W. H. Fitchett, "Wesley
and His Century."
(2661)
Religion in Work—See Work Proving Religion. Religion of Great Men—See Prayer by Great Leaders. Religion, Practical—See Witness of Service. RELIGION, SHADES OF It has been well said that as the prism exhibits the various colors contained in light, so mankind displays the various forms and shades of religion.
(2662)
RELIGION, SHALLOW Religion has not done much for a man if it has not moderated the savage passions of his nature. Prof. Fred. M. Davenport says: I once spent an evening listening, with a couple of friends, to an old darky's account of his conversion. He had reached the climax of the recital, was in a considerable state of ecstasy, and was very anxiously seeking to impress us all with his spiritual experience, when suddenly his dog began barking furiously just behind him and utterly broke the continuity of his thought and of his speech. I think no one of us will ever forget the dash of savagery that came into his face as he turned with flashing eye and foaming lip upon that canine intruder. It was a startling transition, revealing the crater of primitive passion just underneath the crust of religious culture and nurture.—The Contemporary Review.
(2663)
RELIGION THAT WEARS
The Persian carpet may be meant for the
feet, but few things are so full of lessons
for head and heart and life. When choosing
one the first thing to do is to make sure that
the colors are fast, which is done by moistening
a handkerchief and rubbing the carpet
to see if the color comes off. Next, count
the stitches. A good carpet contains 10,000
stitches to the square foot, while the better
ones have as many as 40,000. The weaver
does not see the pattern as he works, as the
reverse side of the web is toward him. When
a native buys a new carpet he immediately
puts it down in the bazaars for all the traffic
to pass over it; and the more muddy the
shoes of the passers-by the greater will be
the beauty of the carpet afterward, provided
the colors are fast, as it acquires that beautiful
silky gloss, so dear to the heart of the
carpet-lover.
A man needs a character that will
wear, whose colors are fast, and that
will grow more beautiful when exposed
for the world's use.
(2664)
RELIGION TO DIE BY
Wesley always insisted on judging religion
by the most severely practical tests.
Life was one test, and he mistrusted profoundly
a religion which did not fill life
or its possessor with gladness and strength.
But he knew that death, with its mystery and
loneliness, was the last and sorest test of
religion. Did the religion he preached make
that last darkness luminous? Did it put
songs on dying lips and gladness in dying
hearts? "The world," wrote Wesley, "may
not like our Methodists, but the world can
not deny that they die well," and the religion
which teaches men to die well may surely
find in that fact its best credentials.—W. H.
Fitchett, "Wesley and His Century."
(2665)
RELIGION UNCHANGEABLE
Farmers once plowed with a forked stick,
and now with the steel gang-plow. But
Julius Cæsar said, nearly twenty centuries
ago, that a soldier should have a pound of
wheat per day, and the German Government
allows the same pound of wheat per day to
