, 1872-11-18

spired it. It was the spirit in whach ne SAID it;
it was tia 1;vina snirit behind the finite man !;
it was The quality, not the quantity, OF religious
Dr. Chalmers. the great Scottish reforner
says substantially the same thing, speaking Of
pLiIanIhronc Combinations. Chalmers, you
know. was the founder of the Free Church Of
Scotland, and is to be spoken Of as the highest
of the relief Of the poor. He says that, when
| YOU have arranged your system Of poor relief in
any community, SO that it is in perfect opera
tion, tho visitors knowing their duty and the
paupers knowing their place, SO that sick
| woman draws her medicine, or sick man his
your salaries or your dividends on
stocks,-that when this regularity has
your system is to knock it ID the head, throw
the pieces overheard, and begin all over again.
1 have ho doubt he is right What DR.. Chalmers
means is this that in all this quantity Of work,
ordtrs for this, audit OF that semi-annual report
OF both, choice Of officers, conflict Of tickets,
vote OF thanks, testimonial OF respect, and the
restr-that in all this quantity the original quail
ty Oft spirited or Christian endeavor is in great
| danger Of being oyerlaid and forgotten. l am
| sure. We have all seen in tragedies and revolu-
tions of the last ten years instance after instance
1 OF the substantial truth of this operation.
When, in 1852, the Government asked for one
| T two volunteers to teach the freedmen their
le. !ters 10 that they could read their Bibles,
thf. uaands upon thousands Of young men and
won ven sprang forward at the call. It was my
offici, duty at that moment, to examine the
| oua]if cations OF many OF those who applied
The fin qqeston asked was, AWhat salary 20
yet ~. me there and give me roof over my head
ana ration 4 to eat. and will ask nothing more
Now the a, ,slity of that work such people rem
dered ie et Nng to stand ont, distinctive and un-
l. H.. M erfYa
OF education, rrusaian system, Pestalozzian sys-
tenn. Horace Mann system, or George
Peabody syste1 = is ever going to compare WITH
that nnsystema, &c determination OF the aoy
nite il its result. Multiply int!nlty into "a any
human effort and II p1 prodtc is ininlty. That
product is greater, q. ID Il is moe enduring, taan
any product even of the effort Of Gdlllons multi
Piled into any finite Il notire OF purpt tsS' however
Il young life had III friend, who died when
we we're both young, wl tose wide-awake, ch. eer-
full unse1fsh everyday life was all alive with
holy spirit which, on q little thought, you saw
was TIC Holy. Spirit; Tot that there was any
responded with the technical signs of
inspiration; he did not speak with tongues;
he did not attempt any wonders he did not
prophesy, though he often interpreted, if he
Lad only known it-he did not know it ; and he
interpreted the eternal wonders in the most ou-
hand and informal way. A few yeara ago, I
told two or three stories Of the mans life how
he gave heart to ar Irish widow by giving her
the privilege Of picking up chips in r.; rail5oad
he did-with the divine spirit; how he brought
q new and deeper life into the home where he
boarded; how he civilized and reformed the
day laborers on Georgia railEoad which was
Standing in the pufpit, just as I an standing
now, and a boy in the church asked
me if I would print them with some
sketch Of the influence and power of that
philosopher Dr.. Wayland had asked me to do
the same thing, and last year printed them.
The stories we're nothing in quantity, but il 7
could rightly have put them on paper, every
that little story Of an inspired life goes, tie
quality of it tells? One day it is an army sur
geon On the plains who writes to tell me that
that is the religion he is seeking for oneday it is
a leader Of opinion in California; one day . boy
words sweep hither and thither the sensitive
are sung. from Presbyterian Sunday
Sc sshGG M churches IN a oya in ehatanoor 5TSSey Tapy
simply to commemorate and repeat that young |
mans unselfsh endeayor; from theSuperinten- |
dent Of Schools great Western city eager to i'm
press his life on the public school system; from |
School in New York, I have letters written to |
me, asking for more of the incidents which will |
illustrate the life Of an entirely unpretending |
Christian man, who has no secrets ; had, had |
almost said, no system; had no idea that he had /
anything to show or teach the world, simply
because had related two or three little stories |
Of the spirit Of his life, and because that spirit
vas the Holy Spirit-the infinite spirit.
Suppose, instead. had published I care not |
how many volumes Of explanation Of the way in
which God comes to man, or mans Life is hid in |
Tod. Whether in doctrine, whether in analysis,
= nay, even in criticism, of Scripture, suppose
YOU ID think my theory would ever have found it's |
3yav j. ITO the palaces Of the metropolis, or into
the ten enoent houses, or to the desert plains
Would i. have been echoed to mefrom the Sierra
eyerv @ State, between the Gulf and the St. LEW
-ence. MOI at all It is because you could not
tai tha story with any g enlargement" as the
Scotch preachers call it; it is because the
snTbodv 1se unfolda it or improve upon it, that
it touches he heart Of men in life where circum-
stances and eoloring are just Like this. It is an
a 1ich one can mention OF an effect |
day. It is The quality, not the quantity, of a
lesson which to- rl,es the eager heart Of a wait
Let US take this for the personal lesson Of to-
day. All. Of us, HeEhaps ar are i sometimes dis,
ggtsa WITH our pos haye DONE better
man listens With delg ttto Writ Dexter or Wendell
Phillips to say in the d. spths OF his heart "oh! If
I nn1v 1yern 4 puhlic eu eaEef, and that woman |
erieves hecanse ehe has rot been placed in the !
position Of Mary Carpet 1es ot mary We9s;
and that man looks upo- @ tne cnar1sies OF Mr.
Lenox or Mr. Astor to say, I'm we're only
q millionaire;" and yet anotlrer Teaas OF Operlln
Or Of Madam Guion to say, oh t: u ony 51@N Snew
his practical success or her rapture OF deVo-
ton" This is all ade1usion. It is not the g.
gantic temple it is not the a2tar in the temple;
It is not the gift upon the altar it is che spirit
that sancti6es the gift, altar anil tempIe-quali-
1n 1nthInr
altar Il aoi is nolhins, the gift Is nothing 6at tie
psalm that Tns sung when the gift was LAID
there: or the spirit OF the prayer which t
said T" God help u.s." is eternal. HaVe you
in GONE midnight walk looked among |
q Thousand stars above, and, in the rapture OF
the stiffness, said: IT am not alone; Re is also
here who hung them in their spheres" That
moment of companionship may give you strength |
YOU, in the midst of to-morrow's commonplace,
give new turn to some life to-day very dreamy