The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-02-12

oVlo va HIS CnuTCn uIu TIE cdiut.
Rev. Nesbitt said the papers Sunday
mOraing were the worst in the week.
DIR. Jackson said they were both better
and worse, because of the much larger
amount OF reading matter; larger of good
and larger OF bad.
After further discussion the following
resolution wss passed by majority vote
Whereas, We regard the reading of the
secular newspapers on Sunday as detri-
mental to the spiritual interests OF the
churches 4; and,
Whereas, The publishing OF the notices
Of the church services IN the Sunday pa
pers may be construed as sanction of
such reading therefore,
Resolved, That we will hereafter discOn-
tinue the publication Of notices in the
Sunday papers, and publish them in the
Saturday papers instead.
Previous To the formal opening of the
meeting, the following article from the pen
Of Major John y. Edwards in Sundays
-. Joseph Gazette, was read, and request
ed to be published in the city papers
THE EMPTINESS OF MATERIALIsM-
When great griefs come, materialism
has nothing 10 offer for consolation. In
the hey-day Of life, and youth, and health,
men may boast of their in6delity over their
wine as they boast VI old love affairs but
when the night falls ami the darkness
gathers, they find then that all their puerile
scofing and unbelief is nothing but
naked sien-pOst pointing the way TO utter
nopelessness and desolation.
Msterialism believes in nothing except
what IL sees, and il sees very little. IL
f.ff faEa
Tor grant, d of love or tenderness, and de-
MES that in the unknown of a irsr great
cause there will finally be found that
haven of rest which could only he the le-
gItimate OutgrOwth of the cruciiction. 1t
II weakness itself In The face Of its own
torment.
1t resorts to the qualification OF the lower
appetite to drown It's sorrows and by 80
doing buries itself deeper and deeper in the
slough OF despond. AS il scouts
at prayer IL destroys the only step
oy which the soul may lift itself up
10 those high planes Of thought and feel
whereby being BECOMES no longer the
slave of earthly pleasure, and whereby the
world, the flesh and the are put under. foot.
Without this state attained permanent
happiness is impossible. The highest prin.
ciples of all religions teach in some way,
that the lower nature must be mortified,
chastised and corrected until it comes
into complete subsection 10 the higher.
Even the Man of Nazareth, whose
spirit was loaded down with a carnsl body,
agonized in the garden OF Gethsemane
until He triumphed over the earthly fear
oi a cruel, coming death. There is NO
triumph on earth greater than when thor
Ough and complete resignation says -
.,'Ihy will be done"
And vet, day after day the materislist
stands up in defense OF bis cold, hesrtless,
unfruitful creed, and asks nothing of the
unknown except place to lie down and be
forgotten. How much OF this is real? How
much sincere How much is truly believed
in when the river called Jordon is reached
at last, and the spirit about to be freed
feels It's deepening waters cold TO the heart?
Ii can never be known fully. II takes
more false pride and stubbornness to live
and die a real materialist, than to fight a
martyrs fight and die a martyrs death.
There are so MANY things TO make
him loathe and despise his
unbelief. Precious things pass away
idolized thiugs perish. There are little
graves out in the darkness. There are
touches of vanished hand; there are
sounds of a voice that is still. Every
emotion Of the stOic's being yesrns for re-
union hereafter. He knows that his creed
cuts him off forever from his loved ones,
vet he clings to ii wen BY the side OF the
grave wherein lie buried
Broken vows and pieces Of rings,
Fragments wi songs that nobody sings,
A lutte unSwcpi and harp vii bout strings,
And the garments she used 10 wear.
Yes, it vas surely true, that which the
great Frenchmau. Littre. declared when h.
came 10 die: There are many sad things
In life, hut the saddles; of all is unbelief."