The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-05-26

| sweeten that acid disposition, and to
| put sparkle into the mans spiritsp The
| spiceTy of our holy religion. Why, II
between the losses of life there dashed q
| CLEAN of an eternal gain, If between
the betrayals of life there came the
CLEAN Of the undying friendship OF
| Christ, IL in dull times in business we
found ministering spirits flying to and
| fro in our office and store and shop, every
day life, instead of being stupid mono
tone would be a glorious inspiration,
penduluming between calm satisfac-
| tiOn and high rapture. How any woman
| keeps house without the religion of
Christ to help her Is a mystery to me.
To have to spend the greater part of
ones life, as many women do, In plan
ming for the meals, and stitching gar
ments that will soon be rent again, and
deplOring breakages, and supervising
tardy subOrdinates, and driving off dust
that soon again will settle. and doing
the same thing day in and day out, and
year in and year out, until the hair
silvers, aud the back stOOps, and the
spectacle crawl to the eyes, and the
grave breaks open under the thin sole
Of the shOe-Oh, 1t Is long mOnOtOnyl
But when Christ comes to the drawing
room, and comes to the kitchen, and
comes to the nursery, and comes to the
kg
wOmanly dutiesl She Is never alone
now. Martha gets through fretting, and
joins Mary at the feet Of Jesus. Now she
sings Christian tunes all day long
mending, washing, baking, securing,
scrubbing. Deborah is happy, because
she can help LapidOth; Hannah, because
sbe can make a coat for young Samuel;
Miriam, because she can watch her in
fant brother; Rachel, because she can
help her father water the stock; the
winOw of Sarepta, because the cruise of
oil is being repienished.
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 religiOn2 Martha, Martha, thou
artcarefuI and troubled about many
things; but one needful, and Mary hath
chosen that good part which shall not be
taken away from her,"
I,must confess that great deal of the
religion Of this day Is utterly insipid.
There Is nothing piquant or eleVating
about 1t. Men and women go around
humming psalms In a minor key, and
culturing melancholy, and their wOr-
ship has in it more sighs than raptures.
We do not doubt their piety. Oh, no.
But they are sitting at feast where the
cook has forgotten to season the food.
Everything is fat in their experience
and in their conversation. Emancipa-
tiOn from sin, and death and hell, and
on their way to a magnificent heaven,
they act as though they we're trudging
on toward an everlasting Botany Bay, re-
ligiOn does not seem to agree with them.
1t seems to catch in the wind-pipe and
become a strangulatiOn instead Of an
exhielTatiOn. All the infidel books that
have been written from VOltaire down
to Herbert Spencer have not done so
much damage to our Christianity as lu-
gubriOus Christians. Who wants reli-
giOn woven out Of the shadows of the
nightp Why go growing on your way
to celestial enthrOnementp 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 "MeditatiOns Among the TOmbs:"
"The hill OF Zion yields
thousand sacred sweets,
Before we reach the heavenly fields.
Or walk the golden streets.
Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emmanuels ground
To falrer lands on high"
l have to say, also, that we need to put
more spice and enliVenment in our reli-
prayer meeting or in the Sabbath school,
or in the church. We ministers need
more fresh air and sunshine In our
lungs and our heart and our head. Do
you wonder that the world Is so far from
being converted when you find so little
ViVacity in the pulpit and the pewp We
want, like the Lord, to plant in our ser
mons more lilies Of the field. We want
few rhetorical Celebrations and fewer
sesquipedalian words, and when we talk
about shadows we do not want to say
adumbratiOn; and when we mean queer
ness we do not want to talk about lido
syncracies; or If stitch in the back we
do not want to talk about lumbagO; but
in the plain Vernacular of the great
masses preach that Gospel which pro-
poses to make all men happy, honest,
victorious and free. In other words, we
want more cinnamon and less gristle.
Let this be so in all the different depart
meIits of work to which the Lord calls
US. Let us be plain; let us be earnest.
Let us be commOnsenSieal. When we
talk to the people in a Vernacular they
can understand they will be very glad
to come and receive the truth we pre-
sent. Would to God that Queen Balkis
would drive her spice-laden drOmedaries
into all our sermons and prayer meeting
exhOrtatiOns.
More than that, we want more life and
spice in our Christian work. The poor
do not want so 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 noGstand
and talk to them about the Wretchedness
of their abode and the hunger of their
looks and the hardness Of their lot. All,
they know it 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 for the children of God there is inn
mortal rescue. Wake them up out of
their stOlidity by an inspiring laugh;
and while you send in practical help,
like the Queen of Sheba, also send IN
the spices. There are two ways of meet
ing the poor. One is to come into their
house wiGh nose elevated in disgust, as
much as to say: 81 don't see how you
live here in this neighborhOod. Itactu-
ally makes me sick. There Is that bun
die: take 1t, you poor, miserable wretch,
and make the most Of it," Another is to
go into the abode Of the poor in a man
ner which seems to say: "The blessed
Lord sent me. He was poor himself. 1t
is not more for the good / am going to
try to do you man than 1t Is for the good
that you can do me-" Coming in that
o,nfrff tho Gift mi ha "a -, ~ "a