Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-05-09

idiosyncrac;esi or if a stitch in the back, we
do not 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 80 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 sefisical When
we talk to the people in a vernacular thy
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 lnden dromedaries into
all our sermons and prayer meeting exhor-
| tations.
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 &C
compartment of smiles and brisk encourage
nent. Do not stand and talk to them about
the wretchedness of their abode, and tho
\ hunger of their looks. and the hardness 81
| their lot All! they know it better than you
IAN tell them. Show them the bright side
If the thing. il there be any bright side.
| Fell them good times will come. Tell them
1 hat for the children OF God there is i'm
mortal rescue Wake them up out OF their
stolidity by an inspiring laugh, and whils
/ Fou send in help lise 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: Il
1on't see how you live here in this neighbor-
hood. 1t actually makes me sick There is
| thar bundle; take it, you poor miserable
wretch, aud make the most of it." Another
| way is TO go into the abode of the poor in a
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-
matte as the spikenard on the feet OF Christ,
and all the hove.s in that alley will be fra
| grant with the spice.
We need more spice and enivenment in
| our church music. Churches sit discussing
whether they shall have choirs, or preeen-
tors, or organs, or bass vioIs, or comets. |
! saw, take that which will bring out the most
inspiring music. II we had half as muca
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"
unto the Rock of Our Salvation. Some
| times, when the congregation forgets itself,
| and is all absorbed in the goodness OF God or
| the 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.
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 upl all thu
! churches from Bangor to San Francisco and
across Christendom. IL is not matter of
preference, it is 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 Brooklyn9 Soft long
drawn out music is appropriate for the draw
| ing 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: Il heard
| a great voice, as the voice of a great multi
tude, and as the voice OF many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thunderings. Halle
lujah for the Lord God omnipotent reign
| eth"
Join with me in a crusade, giving me not
| only your hearts, but the mighty uplifting
| ofyour voices, and l 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 can talk down,
but a 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 KING
| 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 cassla an1 frankincense, and all
| sweet spices together. oh" you say. II
have not looked at it as such | thought it
was nuisance; it had for me a repulsion;
held my breath as though it were malodor;
| l have been appalled, at its advance have
said, if | have any religion at all, | want to
have just as little of it as is possible to get
through with" Oh, what a mistake your
| have made, my broGher. The religion of
| Christ is a present and everlasting redoience
1t 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 for tho
| aching side, and soft baniage for the tenn
! pie stung with pain.
| Why did you look so sad today when YOU
! came in? Alasi for the loneliness and the
| heartbreak, and the load that is never lifted
from your soul. Some of you go about feel
| Ing like Macaulay when he wrote: ''If had
| another month of such Gays as have been
| spending, l would be impatient to get down
into my little narrow crib in the ground like
weary factory child And there have
been times in your life when YOU wished yo1
| could get out of this life. You have said
| "Oh, how SWEET to my lips would be the dust
of the valley" and wish you could pull over
! you in your last s,umber the coveriet of
| green grass and daisies. You have sad
| "Oh, how beautifully quiet it must be 10 the
tomb. wish was there" / see all around
about me widowhood and orphanage and
| chiidiessneSS; sadness, disappointment per-
plexity. Ii | could ask all those to rise in
this audience who have felt no sorrow and
been buffetel by no disappointment
| could ask al such TO rise, how many would
rise? Not one. e
A widowed mother with her little child
went West, hoping to get better wages there,
and she was taken sick and died The over
seer of the poor got her body aud put it in
box, and put ii in wagon, and starteddown
the street toward the cemetery at full trot
The little child-the only child-ran after it
through the streets, bareheaded. crying,
Bring me back my mother bring me back
my motherm And it was said that as the
people looked on and saw her crying after
that which lay in the box in the wagOn-all
lage was in tears And that is what a graf
many of you are doing-chasing the dead.
Dear Lord, Is there no appeasement for all
this sorrow that | see aoout mes Yes, the
thought of resurrection and reunion far be-
yond this scene OF stru sgle and tears. They
Shall hunger no more, naltaar thirst any
more, neither shall the sun light on them,
nor any heat; for the Lam5 watch is in the
midst of the throne shall lead them to living
fountains of water, and God shall wipe away
| all tears from their eyes"
Across the couches of your sick and across
the graves Of your dead | fling this shower
of sweet spices. Queen Balkjs, driving up
to the pillared portico of the house OF cedar,
carried no such pungency OF perfume ex-
hales to-day from the Lords garden. 1t is
| peace. 1t is sweetness 1t is comfort. II is
infinite satisfaction, this Gospel | commend
to you. Some one could not understand why
au old German Christian scholar used to be
always so calm and happy and hopeful when
he had so many trials AMI sic6nesses and
ailments. A man secreted himself in the
| house. He sail. Il mean to watcl this old
scholar and Christian and he saw the Oil
| Christian man 60 to his room and SIT down
on the chair beside the stand al opea tbs
| Bible and begin to real He read on an
| on, chapter after chapter, hour after hour,
until his face was all aglow with the It'd
| ings from heaven. aa1 when the cloci
! struck twelve he arose and shut his Bihle
and said: BLESSED Lord, We are on the
same old terms yet. Cool night. Good
night
Oh, you sin parchel and you trouble