Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-23

oron;+;. mediterranean shipwreek. n
.ss a' nature, comfortable with tho
" . ~ world against him, shaking his est
~. Msueiace OF the Governments of earth md
~. ,'fces OF darkness; yet the thou
on,lse thrilled him, transported him
oVer~nelmed him. John Knox was,n'
oenolng In his nature, and hard in son,o
.espec1s' The fash of his Indignation
maze the queen SILVER and the duchess
Iuake' yet he sat down as a little child Mt
u iee1 or Jesus. Solomon was surround.
gu ny all palatial splendor-his ships po.
lug ou' from Ezion-geber on VOYAGES Of
saree years, bringing back all the wonders
VI .ne world; his parks afloat with mvrrb
anu iranklncense, and a-rustle with trees
piought from foreign lands, the traces of
nis s'upendous gardens found by the
traveller at this day. Solomon sits down
IN tnls place to think of Christ, the alto
getner lovely and the altogether fair: and
"nllst seated, there ONE a breath of the
spices and aromatic woods, and of the
blossoms, in through the palace win.
dow, and he crys out:
my beloved is unto me as a cluster of
camphire from the vineyards of En.gedi.
orlch and rare, exquisite and ever last.
ing perfume! Let it in every poor mans
windows; plant it on every grave: put it's
leaves under every dying head; wreath
its blossoms for every garland: wave ito
branches in every home; and when 1 am
about to die, and my hands lie cold and
stun and white upon the pillow, let ZONE
plain and humble soul come and put in nv
dying grasp this living branch with clus.
tiers.
Of campfire from the vineyards Of En-. gedi.
1t is many years now since l found the
hord. 1 must in your presence tell you
how good He has been to my soul. Often
since then / have given Him a hard thrust
in His sore side; but He has been patient
with me by day and by night. It is the
grief of my life that I have treated Him so
badly; but He has never let me go. Ihave
seen no wonderful sights, I have heard no
wonderful sounds, I have no marvellous
experience; it has been a plain story of
patience on His part and of unworthiness
on my part. Some of my dear friends be-
fore me have had more rapturous xpe
%riences. Christ to them has been the CON.
queror on the white horse, or the sun of
righteousness setting everything ablaze
with light, or the bridegroom coming with
lantern and torches. To me it has been a
very quiet and undemonstrative expe-
rience. 1t has been something very sweet
but very still. How shall l describe it? I
have it now:
My beloved is unto me like a cluster Of
campfire from the vineyards of En.gedi.
But l remark further: This campfire
plant of the text was a symbol of Christ in
the fact that it gives coloring. From the
Mediterranean to the Gauges the people
of the East gathered it, dried the leaves,
pulverized them, and then used them as a
dye for Identifying garments and their
own persons. 1t was that fact that gave
the campfire plant of the text its COM
mercial value i'll the time of King Solo
mon; a type of my Lord Jesus, who beau
titles, and adorns, and colors everything
he touches.
1 have no faith in that mans conversion
whose religion does not color his entire
life. 1t was intended so to do. If a man
has the grace of God in his heart it ought
to show itself in the life. There ought to
be this 'cluster of campfire" i'll the ledger,
in the roll of Government securities, in the
medical prescription, in the law book. A
religion is of no value to a merchant I'M
less it keeps him from putting false labels
on his goods; or to the plaster CT, unless it
keeps him from putting up a ceiling which
he knows will crack in six months; or to
the driver, unless it keeps him from LASH
ing his horses to eight miles an TOUR when
the thermometer is at ninety degrees; or
to thu fo,,,.,. ,,p1a,e ~ l,oooc L;,, e,2~,
putting the only sound pippins on the top
of the barrel; or to the shoemaker, unless
it keeps him from substituting. brown pa
per for good leather in the soles. In other
words, the religion of Christ is good for
every thing or it is good for nothing. The
grace Of God never affects us by piece
meal. If the heart is changed the head is
changed, and the liver is changed, and the
spleen is changed, and the hands are
changed, and the feet are changed, and the
store is changed, aud the house is changed,
and every thing over which the man has
any influence comes to q complete and
radical change. The religion of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not Il pot of hvs-
cinth to be set in a parlor bay-window
for passers-by to look at, and to be exam
iIou Ou1y ny OulSclVtS "lIeA VIC udVS COIAl"
pany; but it is to be a perfume filing all
the room of the heart as "a cluster Of
campfire from the vineyards of En-gedi."
The trouble is men do not take their re-
figion with them. The merchant leaves il
outside the counter lest it disturb the
goods. The h~ousokeeper will not let her
religion trail its robes in the kitchen on
w~ashing-day. The philosopher will not
let his religion come in amid tho batteries
lest it get a galvaric shock. But, l tell you,
unless your religion goes with you every
where, it goes nowhere. That religion
was intended to color all the heart and
the life.
But, mark you, it was a bright color.
For the most part it was an orange dye
made of this campfire plant, one of the
most brilliant of all the colors; and so the
religion of Jesus Christ casts no blackness
or gloom upon the soul. 1t brightens up
life; it bri ghtens up everything. There is
no more religion in a funeral tina there is
in q wedding; nc more religion i'll tears
than in smiles. David was no better when
he said he cried out out of the depths Of
hell. than he was when he said that his
mouth was filled with laughter and his
tongue with singing. The best men that l
have ever known have laughed the loudest.
Ro1;oion was intauded to ighte up all our