The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-07-15

Lord, and l must in your presence tell you
how good He has been to my soul. Often
since then I have gwen Him hard thrust
in His sore side but He has been patient
with me by day and by night. 1t is the
grief of my life that have treated Him SO
badly, but He has never let me go. have
seen no wonderful sights. 1 have heard
no wonderful sounds. have no marvel
GUS experience; it has been 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 expert
ences. 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 experience.
1t has been something very sweet, but very
still. How shall | describe it? l have it
now: "My beloved is unto me as a cluster
of campfire from the vineyards of En- gedi."
But 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 Ganges the people of
the East gathered it, dried the leaves, pull
verified them, and then used them as a dye
for identifying garments or their own per-
phire plant of the text its commercial value
in the time Of King Solomon; type of
my Lord Jesus, who beauties and adorns
and colors everything He touches. l have
no faith in that mans conversation 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
ha Hpln Of 1ol
in the roll of government securities, in the
medical prescription, in the law book. A
religion is of no value to a merchant un-
less it keeps him from putting false labels
on his goods; or to the plasterer, unless it
keeps him from putting up 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 hour when
the thermometer is at 80; or to the farmer,
unless it keeps him from putting the only
sound pippins on the top of the barrel; or
to the shoemaker, unless it keeps him from
substituting brown paper for good leather
in the soles. In other words: the religion
Of Christ is good for everything or it is
good for nothing. The grace of God never
affects us by piecemeal. 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,
and the house is changed, and everything
over which the man has any influence
comes to a complete and radical change.
The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is
not pot of hyacinth to be set in parlor
bay window for passers-bv to look at,
and to be examined only by ourselves when
we have company, but it is to be a
perfume filling 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 religion with them. The mer-
chant leaves it outside the counter lest it
disturb the goods. The housekeeper will
not let her religion trail it's robes in the
kitchen on washing-dsy The philosopher
will not let his religion come in amid the
batteries lest it get a galvanic shock. But
| tell you, unless your religion goes with
you everywhere it goes nowhere. That re-
hgion was intended to color all the heart
and the life.
But, mark you, it was bright color.
For the most part it was an orange dye
made of this campfire plant, one of the
most brilliant of all colors; and SO the re-
ligion of Jesus Christ casts no blackness
or gloom upon the soul. 1t brightens up
life; it brightens up everything. There is
no more religion in funeral than in we'd
ding; no more religion in tears than in
smiles. David was no better when he said
he cried out of the depths of hell than he
was when he said that his mouth was filed
with laughter and his tongue was singing.
The best men that l have ever known have
laughed the loudest. Religion was in
tended to brighten up all our character.
Take out the sprig of cypress from your
coat and put in "a cluster of campfire
from the vineyards of En- -gedi." Religions
"ways are ways of pleasantness and all her
paths are peace" 1 have found it so.
There are hundreds in this house who have
found it so.
1 remark sgain, that the campfire plant
of the text was symbol of Jesus Christ,
because it is a mighty restorative. You
know that there is nothing that starts re-
spiration SO soon in one who has tainted as
camphor, as we have it. Put upon a sponge
or handkerchief the effects are almost i'm
mediate. Well, this campfire plant Of the
text, though somewhat different from that
which we have, was a pungent aromatic,
and in that respect it becomes a type Of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the mightiest
Of all restoratiyes. have carried the cam
phire plant into the sick-room, after the
doctors had held their consultation and
said there was no hope and nothing more
could be done, and the soul frightened up
under the spiritual restorative. There is
no fever, no marasmus, no neuralgia, no
consumption, no disease of the body that
the grace of God will not help. l wish
that over every bed of pain, and through
every hospital of distress we might swing
this "cluster of campfire from the vine
yards of n-gedi." Christ's hand is the
softest pillow, Christs pardon is the
strongest stimulus, Christ's comfort is the
mightiest anodyne. Christ's salvation is
the grandest restorative. 1t makes man
mightier than his physical distress.
Art thou wearyP Art thou languidP Art thou
sore distressed?
GCome to me" saith One-"and coming, be at
rest"
II ask Him to receive me, will He say me nay3
Not till earth and not till heaven pass away.
Finding, following, keeping, struggling, is He
Saints, apostles, prophets, martyrs, answer
"Yesl
Nero tarred and put pitch upon the
Christians of his day, and then setthem on
fire, that they might illumine the night
round about the palace; but while they
were burning and the crowd beneath were
jeering, louder than all the noise went up
the songs of praise and triumph from the
dying martyrs. John Bradford came out
in the presence of the instrument of tor
ture that was to put him to death and said:
"I am a Christian now. l have never been
before" And so, again and again, the
Lion of JudanS tribe has torn to pieces the
wild beasts of martyrdom.
This grace is also q restorative for the
backslider. Who do you mean by that2
the house of God, but seldom go there
now; you who once used to pray, but never
pray now; you who once sat at the holy
communion but take not the Lords cup
now; mean you who once rejoiced in
Christian society, but now sit amid scoffers.
Backslider! Oh, what a suggestive word