The Brookhaven leader., 1886-07-15

gether lovely and the altogether fair; and
whilst seated, there comes a breath OF the
spices and aromatic woods, and of the
blossoms, In through the palace win
dow, and he crys out:
My beloved 10 unto me as cluster OF
campfire from the vineyards Of En-. gedi.
orich and rare, exquisite and ever-last-
ing perfumei Let 1t in every poor mans
windows; plant 1t on every grave; put its
leaves under every dying head; wreath
its blossoms for every garland; wave It's
branches in every home; and when ! am
about to die, and my hands lie cold and
stiff and white upon the pillow, let some
plain and humble soul come and put in my
diving grasp this living branch with clus.
ters.
OF campfire from the vineyards of En-. gedi.
1t is many years now since found the
Lord. ! 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. 1t is the
grief Of roy life that have treated Him so
badly; but He has never let me go. Ihave
seen no wonderful sights, have heard no
experience; it has been plain story of
patience on His part and of unworthines s
on my part. Some Of my dear friends be-
fore me have had more rapturous expe-
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 | describe itf
have il now:
My beloved Ia unto me like a cluster of
cam phire 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 Ganges the people
of the East gathered it, dried the leaves,
pulverizeA them, and then used them as
dye for Identifying garments and their
own persons. 1t was that fact that gave
the campfire plant of the text its COM
mercial value in the time of King Solo
mon; a type of my Lord Jesus who beau
titles, and adorns, and colors everything
he touches.
have no faith in that mans conversion
whose reli gion does not color his entire
life. 1t was intended so to do. II 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" in the lel ger
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 a ceiling which
he knows will crack in six months; or 10
the driver, unless it keeps him from lash
ing his horses to eight miles an hour when
the thermometer is at ninety degrees; 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 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 tho hands are
changed, and the feet are changed, and the
store is changed, and the house is changed,
and every thing over which the man has
any influence comes to a complete and
radical change. The religion of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not a pot of hya-
cinth to be set in a parlor bay-wndow
for passers-by to look at, and to be exam
ined only by ourselves when we have COM
pany; but it is to he a perfume filing all
the room of the heart as "a cluster Of
campfire from the vineyards of En-g edi."
The trouble is men do not take their re-
ligiOn with them. The merchant leaves it
outside the counter lest it disturb the
goods. The housekeeper will not let her
religion trail its robes in the kitchen on
washing day. The philosopher will not
let his religion come in amid the batteries
lest it get galvanic shock. But, 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 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
rel gion of Jesus Christ casts no blackness
or gloom upon the sonl. 1t bright rs up
l
no more religion in funeral than thore is
in a wedding; no more religion i'll tears
than in smiles. David was no better W ben
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
have ever known have laughed the loudest.
Religion was intended to brighten up a Ii our
character. Take out the sprig of cypress
from your coat and put in "a cluster Of
campfire from the whey ards of En- ged :"
Religions ways are ways of pleasant
ness and all her paths are peace" Ihave
found it so. There are hundreds in this
house who have found it so.
/ remark again 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
respiration so soon in one who has tainted
as camphor, as we have it. Put upon
sponge or handkerchief, the effects are
almost immediate. Well, this campfire
plant of the text, though somewhat differ
ent from that which we have, was a
pungent aromatic, and in that respect it
becomes type of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the mightiest of all restoratives.
have carried this campfire plant into the
sick room after the doctors had held their
consultation and said there was no hope
and nothing more could be lone,
and the soul ri2htened up under
the spiritual restorative. There is no
fever, no marasmus, no neuralgia, no con-
sumption, no disease of the body that the
grace of God will not help. wish that
over every bed of pain and through every
hospital of distress might swing this
''cluster of campfire from the vineyard