The Red Cloud chief., 1891-05-15

oBhsss AZ bPstts 20
ligion. Why, II between the Losses oi
life there dashed a CLEAN Of an eternal
gain; IL between the betrayals of life
there came the CLEAN of the undyine
friendship of Christ; If in dull times In
business we found ministering spirits
flying to and fro in our Office, and store,
and shop. everyday life, instead Of be.
ing a stupid monotone, would be q glo'
rious inspiration, penduluming be
tween calm satisfaction and high rap
ture.
How n keeps house with.
out the religion of Christ To help her is
a mystery to me. To have TO spend
the greater part OF ones life, as many
women do, in planning for the meals,
in stitching garments that will soon be
rent again, and deploring breakages
and supervising tardy subordinates,
and driving off dust that soon again
Will settle. and doing the same thing
day In and day put and year in and
year out until their hair ~silvers, and
the back stoops, and the s~pectacles
crawl TO the eyes, and the grave breaks
open under the thin sole Of the shoe
o. 1t is a long monotony!
But when Christ comes TO the draw
ing room, and m TO the kitchen.
and ome TO the nursery, and comes to
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
she can help Lapidoth; Hannah, be-
cause she a make a coat for young
Samuel; Miriam, because she c.n 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. o, woman.
having in your pantry a nest OF boxes
containing all kinds Of condiments, why
have you not tried in your heart and
life the spiccry OF our holy religion?
Martha. Martha. 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"
u HluSt CouieNS thdt q RIOat oCaA vi
the religion of this day is utterly In
sipid. There is nothing piquant Or ele-
waiting about il. Men and ONE 60
around humming psalms in n minor
key, and culturing melancholy, and
their worship has in it more signs than
rapture. We do not doubt their piety.
o, no. But they are sitting at q feast
where the cook has forgotten to season
the food. Everything is fat in their
experience and in their conversation.
Emancipated from sin. and death, and
hell, and on their way to q magnificent
Heaven, they act as though they were
trudging OH toward an everlasting
Botany Bay. Religion does not seem
To agree with them. 1t seems to catch
in the wind-pipe and become n tight
strangulation instead Of an exhilara-
ton. All the infidel books that
have been written, from Voltaire
down to Herbert Spencer, have not
done so much damage TO our Christian
ity rs our lugubrious Christians Who
wants a religion woven out OF the
shadows of the night? Why go growl-
ing on your way to celestial enthrone-
Come out of that ave and sit
down in the warm light OF the sun Of
righteousness. Away with your odes
to melancholy and Hervey's "Medita-
tons Among the Tombs."
Then let our songs abound.
And every tear be dry:
We're marching through EminanueFs
ground
To faircr worlds on high.
have to say, also, hat we need to
put more spice and enlivenment in Our
religious teaching; whether it be in the
prayer meeting, or in the Sabbath
school, or i'm the church. We ministers
need more fresh air and sunshine in
our lungs, and our heart and our head.
DO you wonder hat the world is 50 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 o
lilies of the field. We want fewer
rhetorical Celebrations, and fewer ses-
.quipcdalian words; and when we talk
about shadows, we do not want to say
dtlulnb dtlbH, did "ISh We ilSdu
queerness, we do not wantto talk about
idiosyncracies; or if q stitch in the back
we do no: want to talk Of lumbago:
but, in the plain ~vernacular preach that
gospel which proposes to make all men
happy. honest, victorious and free. In
other words, we want more cinnamon
and less gristle.
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 sung 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
Indebtedness 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. il there be
any bright side. Tell them good times
will come. Tell them that for the
children of God there is immortal res
cue. Wake them up out of their sto-
lidity by an inspiring laugh, and while
you send in help. like the Queen Of
Sheba also send in the spices.
We need more spice and enlivenmcnt
in our church music. Churches sit dis.
GUESSING whether they shall have choirs
or ~precentors, or organs or ~bass-viols.
or comets; l say, take that which will
bring out the most inspiring music. II
we had half rs much zeal and spirit in
our churches as we have in the songs
Of our Sabbath schools, il would not be
before the whole earth would
quake with the coming God Why. in
most churches, nine-tenths Of the peo-
Pile do not sing; or they sing SO feebly
that the people al their elbows do not
that they are singing.
promise a high spiritual blessing to
any N who will sing so heartily that
the people all around can o help but
Wake up. all the churches from
to San Francisco, and across
.rhristendom. 1t is not a matter of
il is a matter of religious
iuty. Soft, long drawn out music, is
for the concert; but $.
John gives an idea of the sonorous and
congregational singing appro-