Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-04

l
! TINS LIE, coming TO us from time to time,
are stupid often, and inane, and intolerable
! Here are men who have been bartering,
and negotiating, climbing, pounding. ham
! merlng for twenty years, forty years, fifty
| years. One
GREAT LONG DRUDGERY.
has their life been Their face anxious.
their feelings benumbed, their days monot-
onous. What is necessary to brighten up
that mans life. and to sweeten that acid
disposition. and to put sparkle into the
mans spirits The spicery OF our
holy religion. Why, ii between the losses
Of life there dashed a CLEAN of an
eternal gain; If between the betrayals of
life there came the CLEAN of the undying
friendship of Christ; if in dull times in
business we found ministering spirits flying
10 and fro in our Office. and store and shop.
everyday life, instead OF being stupid
monotone, would, be I glorious inspiration,
pendu!uming between calm satisfaction and
high rapture
How any woman keeps house without the
religion of Christ TO help her, is mystery
to me. To have 10 spend the greater part
OF ones life, as many women do in plan
nlng for the meals. in stitching garments
that Will soon be rent again. and deploring
breakages. and supervising tardy subordi-
mates, and driving of dust that soon again
Will settle. and doing the same thing day in
eiiIS '>iN bIl Ill anu ONt, III
Ill their hair silvers, and the back Stops.
and the spectacles crawl to the eyes, and
the grave breaks open under the thin sole
Of the shOe-oh, it is a
LONG MONOTONTi
But when Christ comes TO the drawing
room, and comes to the kitchen, and
comes to the nursery, and comes to the
dwelling, then how CHEEKY become all
womanly duties. She is never alone now.
Martha gets through fretting and joins
Mary at the feet of Jesus. All day long
Deborah is happy because she can help
LaPidOth: Hannah, oecaSe she can make
coat Tor young Samuel; Miriam, because
she can watch her infant brother; Rachel,
because she can help her father water the
stock; the widow of Sarepta because the
cruise of oil is being replenished 0 woman,
having IN Your pantry u nest of boxes con
tanning all kinds of condiments, why have
You not tried in YOUR heart and life the
spicelN of ourholy religion! Martha, Mar
tina. thou art careful and troubled about
many things; but one thing is needful, and
Mary hath chosen that good part which
shall not be taken away from her. '
] must confess that 4 great deal Of the re-
ligion of this day
Is UTTERLY INsIPID.
There IS nothing piqUant or elcvating about
H. Men and women 90 around humming
songs IN minor key. and culturing melan-
N14N-h' anu LLlCIl NpiSlll) Ids III IL Ilplt
signs than rapture. We do not doubt their
piety. Oh, 40. But they are sitting at i
feast where the cook has forgotten to season
the food. Everything is fat in their eXpe-
Iience and in their conversation. EInanci-
pated from sin. and death, and hell. and on
their way to magnificent heaven. they act
as though they We're tIudging on toward I'm
everlasting Botany Bay. Religion does not
seem 10 agree with them. Ii seems 10 catch
III the wind-pipe and become tight stran-
gulatlon instead of an eNhilaratIon. All the
lnhdel books that have been written. from
Eoltaire down to Herbert Spencer, have
not done so much damage TO our Christian
lily as lugubrious Christians. Who wants
religion woven out of the shadows of the
night| Why go growing on your way
10 celestial enforcement, Come out Of
that cave and sit down in the warm light of
the sun of Righteousness. Away with YOUR
odeS to melancholy and Hcrvey's ''Nledita-
tons among the TOmbS."
Then let or songs abound
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emmanuel : ground
To fairer worlds on high.
l have 10 say, also, that we need TO put
more
SPICE AND ENLIvENNENT
in our religious teaching; whether ii be in |
he prayermeeting. or in the Sabbath |
school. or in the church. We ministers |
need more fresh air and sunshine in our |
ungs, and our heart, and our head. Do |
on wonder that the world IS so far from |
Being converted when YOU find so little |
-iVacity III the pulpit and in the pew? We |
want, like the Lord, 10 plant in our ser
mons and eXhortations more lilies of the
ield. We want fewer rhetorical elabora-
ions, ana fewer seSquipedalian words: and
When we talk aboug shadows. we do not
want 10 say adumbration; and when we
mean queerness, we do not want TO talk
bout idiosyncraSieS; or if 4 stitch in the
'ack, we do rot want to talk of lumbago:
nut in the plain vernacular preach that Cos
'el which proposes to make all men happy
IOnest, victorious and free. In other words. |
We want more cinnamon and less griStle |
LET this be so in ali the different depart
nentS of work to which the Lord calls US.
ct lis be plain. Let Us be earnest. Let |
IS be commOn-sensical. When we talk to
he people in Il vernacular they can under
tand, they will be very glad to come and
eCeive the truth we present Would to |
iOd that Queen Ballis would drive her
pice-laden ,romedaries into all our ser
lous and prayer-meeting eXhOrtations
More than that,
We WANT MORE LIFE
nj spice in our Christian work. The poor
o not want so much to be groaned over as
ung to. With the bread, and medicines.
e an accompaniment of smiles and brisk
Encouragement. Do not stand and talk to
hem about the wretchcdneSs of their abode
nd the hunger OF their looks, and the hard
ess OF their lot. All. they know il better
han YOU can tell them. Show them the
right side of the thing, if there be any
right side. Tell them good times will |
ONE. Tell them that for the children of
'od there is immortal rescue. Wake them
p out OF their stolidity by an inspiring
lugh. and while you send in help. like the |
'ueen of Sheba also send in the spices. |
here are two ways of meeting the poor
me is to come into their house with a nose
levaied in disgust, as much as to say: i |
on see how you live here in this neigh
orhood. II actually makes me sick There
that bundle-take it, You poor miserable
reich and make the most of il" Another
ay is to go into the abode of the poor in
anner which seems 10 say: The blessed
ord sent me. He was poor himself II IS :
lt more for the good am going 10 try to
D you than il is for the good You can do
e." Coming in that spirit, the eife will | d.
: as aromatic as the spikenard on the feet
Christ, and all the novels in that allev |
i'll be fragrant with the spice.
We need more spice and enlivenment :
our
CHURCH MUSIC. /
Churches sit discussing whether they :.
lall have choirs, or precentors, or organs, !
bass-viols, or comets; 1 say take that !
hich will bring out the most inspiring :
uSic. If we had half as much zeal and
'irit in our churches as we have in the
ngs of our Sabbath schools il would not
. lnnp before the whole Ivo11lI | Il