Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-09

now many pages, chapters, anu even vol
umes, would become blank paper And if
the same ink could be employed by pub
fishers of writings upon themes theological,
what an inestimable, what an unspeakable
| gain But suppose now that some spell
were upon us at all prayer times, so that
only the real and true words, the words
which we really meant, should get utteranee
at all Suppose that every syllable uttered
after the James and John fashion should be
silent How would the service sound? 1t
would be queerer than a Quaker meeting.
That is how it does sound in thelear OF God.
PRAYERS THAT ARE NOT SUCH.
A good many prayers have no more pray
ing IN them than if they began with zone,
two three, four, fve," and ended with
"forty-eight, forty-nIne, fifty" They have
just as much religious value as the rule OF
three. They are not prayer at all.
"Golden vials, full of odors, which are the
prayers of saints" That is what this same
John wrote afterward, when he had grown
good deal in the grace of God-that is
what he wrote about religious utterance
which means something. Golden vials, full
NOT empty.
I suppose that every company which
comes to take the vows of Christian disciple
ship has some among the number who are
like James and John, and do not know
what they are doing. And presently when
trial comes as it did come to James and
John, when the promises need translation
into performance, when the soul meets
temptation, when the new-armed soldier has
to fight some real devil, then it happens, as
with James and John, that the pledged dis
ciple finds out for the first time what the
words meant which he took upon his lips.
Pray then, oh Christian brethren, for James
and John. Sorely do they need it.
James and John spoke thoughtlessly, be-
cause they listened thoughtlessly. They
listened to the words of the Master, as peo-
pie listen to them to-day, in the Bible, or in
sermons. They were strong, stern words
They asked a great deal. They spoke of
suffering and sacrifice, of following Him
even unto death. They promised draught
otthe chalice of woe, and bath in the bap-
tism of pain. But James and John did not
stop to ask what the words meant. Indeed,
if they had stopped, and asked, and been
answered, perhaps they would still have
said, "We are able" just as .thOughtlessly,
because they would have mimicized the
meaning of the demand. They would have
said within themselves; "It cannot come to
that; it cannot possibly mean all that. Yes,
we are able. Only give US the thrones and
the rulerships."
THOUGHT NECESSARY.
We are forever hearing without thinking,
and reading without thinking. And so the
hearing and the reading do not impress us,
do not carry their meaning into our hearts.
For thinking is the propulsion which drives
ideas into our minds and lives 1t is like
talking into phonograph. 1t is the dis
tinctness with which you speak which
makes an impression on the wax of the
cylinder which can be reproduced in accu-
rate sound. Distinctness is announced
back distinctly. So thoughtful hearing
makes thoughtful promising and thoughtful
performing afterward.
Even strong impressions pass away.
Here are the dreadful tidings of desolation
and death in the valley of the Conemaugh.
Our hearts are full of it. We see in imagi-
nation that great and fatal wave hurrying
down upon defenseless villages and towns.
We hear the roaring Of the food
and the cries of the dying. We see
the CLEAN of the remorseless fire.
We behold waste of water where stood
busy city full of people. We wonder about
the number of the dead. We picture the
distress, the agony of the homeless. starved,
grief-smitten survivors. We take all the
dreadful things which have happened in
this city-the flood at Butchers Run, the
disaster at Twentv-eighth street, the ruin of
Weldin's store; we take them all and null
| tiply-them by hundred and then try to
think of the state of things to-day in Johns
town.
And then, by and bye, we forget. Some
thing else takes our attention. The misery
of our friends and neighbors passes out of
our minds. A blessed thing that forgetful-
ness is possible. There is no doubt OF that.
But, in the same way, only more easily and
more speedily, impressions pass away which,
if they stayed, would change our lives.
God speaks to US and we forget it; we for
get j. because we do not thoughtfully
enough give heed when God speaks.
A NEEDED WARNING.
am sure that we all need warning against
this kind of thoughtlessness. Christ does
mean just what He says. When He de-
clares that he who takes not cross and fol-
lows after Him is not worthy of Him. He
means just what He says. When He calls
us to live clean, honorable, helpful lives in
Gods sight, He means that. God speaks in
that word straight to every mans heart.
without holiness no man shall see the
Lord" That is meant to be taken Just as
it stands. The sermon on the mount is
meant to be. one rule of daily living. The
Bible means just what it says. Not letter
less. Christianity means the imitation OF
Christ, carried into every act, every place,
every thought and every minute Of every
day-nothlng less.
But we fail to realize this. We hear it
with the inattentive ears of James and
John. And out of such inattentive hearing
comes conventional Christianity. Con-
ventional Christians are like conventional
flowers. And you know that conventional
flowers are stiff, angular and mathematically
uniform suggestions of real flowers. They
run along the frieze of a ceiling, one the
very image of the other. II you have a
strong Imagination, or if you have been told
beforehand, you may know what they are
intended to represent, but the grace, the
color, the roundness, the life of the natural
flower are all lacking. The silliest fly
would not take them for flowers. And we
have conventional Christians, cast in
ecclesiastical patterns, yielding to Christian
faith and custom an outward conformity, q
little like real Christians, yet not real
There are Christians-Christian in name
who have no more conception of what it
means to be a genuine Christian that James
and John had of what they were saying
when they said so confidently, "We are
able From this superficial and unusual
Christianity, from any presence of it in our
swn hearts, good Lord, deliver us.