The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-05-20

no. But they are sitting at feast where
the cook has forgotten to season the food.
Everything is fat in their experience and in
their conversation. Enancipated from sin
and death and hell, and on their way to q
MAGNIFICENT heaven. they act as though they
we're trudging on toward an everlastln G
Botany Bay. Religion does not seen to
agree with them. It seems to catch in the
windpipe and become a tigb strangulation
instead of an exhilaration.
All the infidel books that have been writ
ten, from Voltaire down to Herbert Spen.
Ger, have not done so much damage to Our
Christianity as lugubrious Christians. Who
wants religion woven out OF the shadows
Of the night Why go growing On your way
to celestial enthronement? Come out OF
that cave and sit down in the warm light of
the Sun Of Righteousness. Away with your
odes to melancholy and Hervey's "Medita.
tions Among the Tombs."
Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emmanuel's ground
To fairer worlds on high.
have to say. also, that we need to put
more spice and enlivenment in our religious
teaching, whether it be in the prayer meet
Ing, or in the Sabbath school, or in the
church. We. ministers need more fresh all
and sunshine in our lungs and our heart and
our head. Do you wonder that the world is
80 far from being con verted when you find
80 little vivacity In the pulpit and in the
pew? We want, like the Lord, to plant In
our sermons and exhortations more lilies OF
the field. We want fewer rhetorical elabora.
ttons and fewer sesQuipedalian words: and
when we talk about shadows we do not want
to say adumbration; and when we mean
queerness, we do not want to talk about
l1tosyncracies: or If stitch in the back, We
do cnt want to talk about lumbago, but In
the PLAIN vernacular preach that gospel
which proposes to make all men happy, hon
est, victorious and free.
In other words, we want more cinnamon
and less gristle. Let this be so In all the
different departments Of work to which the
Lord calls us. Let us be plain. Let US be
earnest. Let US be common 5ensical When
we talk to the people in vernacular thew
can understand they will be very glad to
come and receive the truth we present.
Would to God that Queen Balkis would
drive her spice laden dromedaries into
all our sermons and prayer-meeting e1hor-
tations.
More than that, we want more life and
spics in our Christian work. The poor do
not want so much to be groaned over as sung
to. With the bread and medicines and the
garments you give them, let there be an ac-
Compartment Of smiles and brisk encourage.
ment Do not stand and talk to them about
the wretchedness Of their abode and the
hunger Of their looks, and the hardness Of
their lot. Ah they know it better than you
can tell them. Show them the bright side
Of the thing, If there be any bright side.
Tell them good times will come. Tell them
that for the children Of God there Is i'm
mortal rescue. Y AXE them up out Of their
stolidity by an Inspiring laugh, and while
you send in help, like the Queen Of Sheba,
also send in the spices.
There are two ways of meeting the poor.
One is to come into their house with a nose
elevated in disgust. as much as to say: II
don't see how you live here in this neighbor-
hood. It actually makes me sick There is
that bundle; take it, you poor, miserable
wretch, and make the most of it," Another
way is to go into the abode of tie poor in
manner which seems to say: THE blessed
Lord sent me. He was poor himself. 1t is
not more for the good am going to try to do
you than it is for the good you can do me-"
Coming in that spirit the gift will be as aro-
matic as the spikenard on the feet Of Christ,
and all the novels in that alley will be fra
grant with the spice.
We need more spice and enlivennlent in
our church music. Churches sit discussing
whether they shall have choirs, or Precen.
tors, or organs, or bass viols, or cornets. I
saw, take that which will bring out the most
inspiring music. II we had half as much
zeal and spirit in our churches as we have in
the songs of our Sabbath schools it would
not be long before the whole earth would
quake with the coming God. Why, in most
churches nine.tenths Of the people do not
sing, or they sing so feebly that the people
at their elbows do not know they are sing
ing. People mouth and humble the praises
Of God; but there is not more than one out
of hundred who makes "a joyful noise"
INTO the Rock of Our Salvation. Somes
times, when the congregation forgets itself,
and is all absorbed in the goodness OF God or
thu glories of heaven, get an intimation OF
what church music will be hundred years
from now, when the coming generation shall
wake up to its duty.
proinisea high spiritual blessing to any
one who will sing IN church, and who will
sing so heartily that the people all around
cannot help but sing. Wake up! all tbs
churches from Bangor to San Francisco and
across Christendom. 1t is not matter or
preference, it is a matter of religious duty.
oh, for fifty times more volume OF sound.
German chorals in German cathedrals sur
pass us and yet Germany has received
nothing at the hands Of God compared with
America; and ought the acclaim IN Berlin be
louder than that in Brooklyn! Soft, long
drawn out music is appropriate for the draw
inc room and appropriate for the concert
but st. John gives an idea of the sonorous
and resonant congregational singing appro-
pirate for churches when, In listening to the
temple service Of heaven, he says: II heard
a great voice, as the voice of great multi
tude, and as the voice Of many waters, and
as the voice Of mighty thunderings. Halle
lujah for the Lord God omntpotent reign
eth"
Join with me in crusade giving me not
only your hearts, but the mighty uplifting
of your voices, and believe we can, through
Christs grace sing fifty thousand souls into
the kingdom Of Christ. An argument they
can laugh at, sermon they can talk down,
but vast audience joining in one anthem Is
irresistible. Would that Queen Balkis would
drive all her spice leaden boundaries into
our church music Neither was there any
such spice as the Queen Of Sheba gave Klag
Solomon" -,
Now. want to impress this audience with
the fact that religion Is sweetness and per-
fume and spikenard and saffron and CHINA.
mon and cassia and frankincense, and az
sweet spices together. '-Oh," you say, Il
have not looked at It as SUCH l thougnt IL
was a nuisance; it had for me repulsio1;
held nv breath as though 1t were malodor;
have been appalled, at its advance l nave
said, if have any religion at ALL want 10
have lust as little OF it as is possible TO get
through with" Oh, what mistake your
have made, my brother. The religion OF
Christ is present and everlasting redolence.
II counteracts all trouble. Just put it on
the stand beside the pillow Of sickness. 1t
catches in the curtains and perfumes the
sitting air. 1t sweetens the cup OF bitter
medicine, and throws glow on the gloom
of the turned lattice. 1t Is balm Tor the
aching side, and soft bandase for the tenn
pie stung with pain.
Why did you lock 50 sad today wnea men you tpa
came in? Alasl for the loneliness ana I;s.ns .as
heartbreak. and the load that is never lifted
-. sa,,I Sn.na Of ron 90 about feel.