Milford chronicle., 1891-05-08

are stupid often and inane and intoler-
able. Here are men who have been barter
ing and negotiating, climbing, pounding,
hammering for twenty years, forty years,
/ fifty years. One great long drudgery has
/ their life been. Their face anxious, their
feelings benumbed, their days mOnOtOnous.
What is necessary to brighten up that
mans life. and to sweeten that acid dispo-
sition, and TO put sparkle into the mans
spirits? The spicery of our holy religion
/ WHY. If between the losses Of life there
dashed a CLEAN Of an eternal gain; II be-
tween the betrRyals OF life there came the
| CLEAN OF the undying friendship Of Christ;
/ il in dull times in business we found min
/ istering spirits flying to and fro in our
office and store and shop, everyday life.
l instead Of being u stupid monotone, would
! be a glorious inspiration, penduluming be-
tween calm satisfaction and high rapture.
How any woman keeps house without
| the religion of Christ to help her Is mys-
4 terry to me. To have to spend the greater
part Of ones life, as many women do IN
| planning for the meals, in stitching gar
! ments that will soon be rent again, and de
ploring breakages and supervising tardy
subordinates and driving of dust that
/ soon again will settle, and doing the same
| thing day in and day out, and year in and
year out, until their hair silvers, and the
| back stoops, and the spectacles crawl to the
! eyes, and the grave breaks open under the
/ thin sole Of the shoe-oh, it is long mon
Otony! But when Christ comes TO the
| drawing room, and comes to the kitchen,
and comes to the nursery, and comes Ia
/ the dwelling, then how CHEEKY becomes 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
| abe can help Lapidoth; Hannah, because
! she can make coat for young Salnueii
| Miriam. because she can watch her infant
! brother; Rachel, because she can help her
/ father water the stock; the widow OF Sa-
repta. because the cruise Of oil is being re-
! plenished. 0 wOmani having in your
! pantry nest Of boxes containing all kinds
/ of condiments, why have you not tried In
| your heart and life the spicery Of our holy
! religionl Martial Martial thou art care
/ ful 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"
! SOME RELIGION IS INsTPID.
! must confess that a great deal Of the
/ religion of this day is utterly insipid.
/ There is nothing piquant or sievatine
! about it. Men and women go around
/ humming psalms in q minor key, and
/ culturing melancholy, and their worship
has in it more signs than rapture. We do
not doubt their piety. Oh, no. But they
! are sitting at feast where the cook has
forgotten to season the food. Everything
/ is fiat in their experience and in their con
versation. Emancipated from sin and
| death and hell, and on their way to mag
( nifcent heaven, they act as though they
were trudging on toward an everlasting
| Botany bay. Religion does not seem "a
agree with them. 1t seems to catch in the
/ windpipe and become tight strangulatlon
/ instead of an exhilaration.
All the infdel books that have been writ
ten, from VOltaire down to Herbert Spen-
Ger, have not done 50 much damage 70
our Christianity as lugubriOus Christians
Who wants q 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 "MeditatiOns Among the Tonhs. y
Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emmanuati
ground
To fairer worlds on high.
have to say, also, that we need 70 put
more spice and enlivenment in our relig-
iOus teaching, whether it be in the prayer
meeting, or in the Sabbath school, or IN
the church. We ministers need more fresh
air and sunshine in our lungs and oul
heart and our head. Do you wonder thai
the world is 30 far from being converted
/ when you find 50 little viVacity in the pull
pit and in the pewl We want, like the Lord
TO plant in our sermons and exhortatiOnf
more lilies of the field. We want fewer
rhetorical Celebrations and fewer sesqui
pedalian words; and when we talk about
shadows, we do not want to say adumbra-
ton; and when we mean queerness, we dc
not want to talk about idiosyncracies; or il
a stitch in the back, we do not want e
talk of lumbago, but in the plain Vernacu-
lar preach that gospel which proposes t.
make all men happy, honest, 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 b
earnest. Let US be common sensical
When we talk to the people in vernacu'
lar they can understand they viii be very
glad to come and receive tho truth we pre-
sent. Would to God that Queen Balkis
would drive her spice laden dFomedAriea
into all our sermons and prayer meeting
exhortations.
LIFE AND SPICE IN CHRISTIAN WORK.
More than that, we want more Life and
spice in our Christian work. The poor do
not want so much 70 be grOaned over az
sung to. With the bread and medieinea
and the garments you give them, let there
he an accompaniment Of smiles and brisk
announcement. Do not stand and talk T.
them about the wretchedness Of their
abode. and the hunger of their looks, and
the hardness Of their lot. Ali they know
il better than you can tell them. Show
them the bright side Of the thing, II 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 In
spring laugh, and while you send in help
ike 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: =
don't zee how you live here in this neigh
bOrhoOd. 1t 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 a manner which seems "a
say: "The blessed Lord sent me. He was
poor himself. It is not more for the good
am going to try to do you than it is fol
the good you can do me" Coming in thai
spirit the gift will be as aromatic as the
spikenard on the feet Of Christ, and all the
novels in that alley will be fragrant will
the spice.
We need more spice and enlivenment Il
our church music. Churches sit discussing
whether they shall have chOirs, or precen
tors, or organs, or bass viols, or eornets-
say, take that which will bring out TIKI
most inspiring music. II we had half a
much zeal and spirit in our churches a. w
Er..N.n I. rsa.hafr ftNl