Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-05-08

81. s ~. III Che Wlndpipe and become a
ton. "A ~ 'Ani'@la-
All the infidel books that have been
@iiC'en from Voltaire down to Herbert
spolceI, nave not done so much damage
10 our Christianity as lugubrious Chris
. .,ahs. VINO wants religion woven out of
Ine shadows of the night? Why 20
saLowllhs on Your way to celestial en-
thronement? Come out of that cave and
s s uown IN the warm light of the Sun of
Righteousness. Away with your odes To
melancholy and Hervey's s.Meditations
Among the Tombs"
linen let our songs abound,
| W. And every tear be dry:
| n: We're marching through Emmanuel,s
1 ground
| To fairer worlds on high.
nave to say, also, that we need to put
more spice and enlivenment in our rel,r-
lous teaching, whether it be in the PRAYER
meeting, or in the Sabbath school. or in
the church. We ministers need more fresh
ar and sunshine in our lungs and our
heart and our head. Do you wonder that
the world is so far from being converted
when you find so 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 Celebrations and
fewer sesquipedalion 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
idiosyncracies; or if stitch in the back,
we do not want to talk of lumbago, but
In the plain vernacular preach that Cos
pei which proposes to make all men
happy, honest, victorious and free.
In other words, we want more cinna-
mon 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
sensical. When we talk to the people in
vernacular they 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 in all our sermons and
prayer meeting exhortations.
| More than that, we want more life
and spice in our Christian work. The
poor do not want so much to be groaned
over as SING to- With the bread and
medicines and the garments you give
them. let there be an accompaniment of
smiles and brisk encouragement. 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. All! 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 immortal rescue. Wake
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 nose elevated in disgust, as much
as to say: II don't see how you live
here in this neighborhood. IL 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 the poor in man
ner which seems to say: '"The blessed
Lord sent me. He was poor himself.
1t is not more for the good l 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 aromatic as the spike
nard on the feet of Christ, and all the
novels in that alley will be fragrant with
the spice.
We HCIu lllOlC SptCt duu cullfcllIucnU
in our church music. Churches sit dis
cussing whether they shall have choirs.
or precentOrs. or organs, or bass viols or
cornets l say, take that which will
bring out the most inspiring music. If
we mad 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 a hundred who makes ga
joyful noise'' unto the Rock of Our Sal
walton. Sometimes when the congrega-
ton forgets itself, and is all absorbed in
the goodness of God or the glories of
Heaven, l get all intimation of what
church music will be hundred years
from now, when the coming generation
shall wake up to its duty.
promise 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 the churches from Bangor to San
Francisco and across Christendom. 1t
is not a matter OF preference, it Is mat
ter of religious duty. Oh, for fifty times
more volume of sound. German chorals
in German cathedrals surpass 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, Tong drawn
out music is appropriate for the drawing
room and appropriate for the concert,
but ST. John gives an idea of the sono-
rous and resonant congregational sing
ing appropriate for churches when. in
listening to the temple service of Heaven,
he says: 81 heard great noise, as the
voice of great multitude, and as the
voice of many waters and as the voice
of mighty thunderings. Hailclujah, for
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
Join with me in crusade, giving me
not only your hearts but the mighty up
lifting of your voices, and [ believe we
can, through Christ's grace, sing fifty
thousand souls into the kingdom OF
Christ. An argument they can laugh at,
a sermon they may talk down, but a vast
audience joining in one anthem isirresis-
tible. Would that Queen Balkis would
1nl la in 4