The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-07-14

| ages, ana supervising thIuy euuuIuluhIoei
and driving off dust that will soon settle
again, and doing the same thing day in
and day out, and year in and year out,
until the hair silvers, and the back stoops
and the spectaGles crawl to the eyes, and
the grave breaks open under the thin
sole of the shoe-oh, it is a long monot'
onyl
But when Christ comes to the drawing
room, and to the kitchen, and to the
nursery, and to the dwelling, how cherry
become all womanly duties! She is never
alone now. Martha gets THROUGH fretting
and joins Mary at the feet at Jesus. Now
she sings Christian tunes all Gay long
mendine, washing, baking, sCrubbing.
Deborah is happy because she can help
Lapidoth; Hannah, because she can make
coat for young Samuel; Miriam, because
she can watch her infant brother; Ra'
Chel; because she can help Ter father wa.
ter the stock; the widow of Sarelto, be-
cause the cruise of OF is being replenish-
ed. o, woman, having in your pantry
nest OF boxes containing all kinds OF
condiments, why have you not tried in
your heart and life the spiCery of our
holy religiOnP "Martha, Martha, thou
art careful and troubled about many
things; but one thing is needful, and
Mary hath chosen that good part which
shall not be taken away from her." |
must confess that a great defl of the re-
igion of the day is utterly insipid. There
is nothing piquant or eleVating about it.
Men and women go around cumming
Psalms in minor key and Cultivating
melancholy, and their worship has in 1t
more sighs than raptures. We doubt
not their piety; oh no; but they are sit
ting at feast where the cook has forgot
ten to season the food Everything is
fat in their experience and in their con-
ve,sation EmanCipated from sin, and
death and l6ll, and on their way to a
magnificent heaven, they act as though
they were tIudging on toward an ever.
lasting Botany Bay. Religion does not
seem to agree with them. 1t seems to
catch il. the windpipe and become
strangulation instead of an exhilsration.
All the infdel books ever written, from
Voltaire down to Herbert Spencer, have
not done 30 much damage to our Christi
anity as lugubrious Christians. Who
wants religion woven out Of the shsd
ows of night2 Why go growing on your
way to celestial enthrOnement2 Come
out OF that cave and sit down in the warm
light of the Sun of Righteousness Away
with your odes to melancholy and "Her.
vey's Meditation among the Tombs."
THE hill OF Zion yields
A thousand sacred aWeew
Before we reach the heavenly fields,
Or walk the golden Btreets
"Then let our Songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through BmmADuel's ground,
To fsirer worlds on high"
have to say, also, that we need to put |
moi 9 enlivenment and spice in our re.
ligious teaching, whether in the prayer.
meeting, or the Sabbath. school or the |
church. We ministers need more fresh |
air and sunshine in our lungs and our
hearts and our head, Do you wonder
that the world is 30 far from being con.
verted, when you find 80 little viVaCity |
in the pulpit and in the pewP We want
like the Lord, to plant in our sermons
and exhortatlons more lilies of the field.
We want fewer rhetoric Celebrations and
fewer sesquipedalian words; and when
we talk about shadows we do not want
to ay adumbration; and when We mean
queerness, we do not want to talk about
ldio yncrasies; or if stitch in the back,
We do not want to talk about lun bago;
but in the plain vernaCulsr Of the great
masses, preach that Gospel which pro.
poses to make men happy, honest, ViCtO
rious and free. In other words, we want
more cinnamon and less grisle. Let us
be 30 in all the different departments of
work to which the Lord calls us. Let us
be plpin. Let us be earnest. Let us be
common sensiCal. When we talk to the
people in vernaCular they can under.
stand, they will be glad to come and re.
Ceive the truth we present Would to
God Queen Balkis would drive her spice
dromedaries into all our sermons and
praye meeting exhortations.
More than this, we want more life and
spice in our Christian work, The poor
do not want 30 much to be groaned over
as sung to. With the bread, and medi'
cines, and garments you give them, let
there be an accompaniment of smiles and
brisk encouragement. Do not stand and
talk to them about the wretChednCss of
their abode, and the hunger of their
looks, and the hardness of their lot, Ah!
they know 1t better than you can tell
them. Show them the bright side of the
thing if there be any bright side. Tell
them good times will come. Tell them
that fer the children of God there is i'm
nodal resCre. Wake them out of their
by an inspiring laugh, and while
you send in the pre- CtiCal help, like the
Queen of Sheba, also send in the spices.
There are two ways of meeting the poor.
One is to come into their house with
nose elevated in disgust, a much as to
say: Il don't see how you live here IN
This neighborhood; it actually makes me
sick; thele ia that bundle take it, you
poor, miserable wretch, and make the
most of it," Another way is to 90 into
the abode of the poor in manner that
seems to say: "The blessed Lord sent
me; LIE was poor himself. 1t is not more
for the good l am trying to do you, than
for the good you can do me-" Com Dg
in that spirit, the gift will be as aromatic
as the spikenard on tie feet of Christ,
and all the novels on that alley will be
fragrant with the spices.
We need more spice and enlivenment
in our church music. Churches cit dis
cussirg whether they shall have Choirs
or preCentors or organs or bass viols or
say, take that which will bring
out the most inspiring music. If we had
half as much zeal in our churches as we
have in the songs of our Sabbath.sChools
IL would not be long before the whole
earth would quake with the coming God.
Why, nine-tenths of the people in ChurCh
do not sing; or they sing 30 ieebly that
the people at their elbows do not know
they are singing People month and
humble the praises of God, but there is
not more than one out of hundred who
makes joyful noise unto the rock Of
our salvation. Sometimes, when the
congregation forgets ITSELF ard is all abb
sorbed in the goodness Of God or the
glories Of heaven, get an intimation Of
what church music will be q hundred