Connecticut western news., 1891-05-06
CONN, WEDNESDAY, 6. 1891.

In our sermons and exhortations more lilies of the field. We want fewer rhetorical elaborations and fewer ses- quipedalian 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 idiosyncrasies; or if a stitch in the back, we do not 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 cinna- mon and less gristle. Let this be so in .lll 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 under stand they will be very glad to come and receive the truth we present. Would to God that Queen BaIkis would drive her spice laden dron~edaries into nn our sermons and prayer meeting ex. hortations.
 More than that, we want more life and spice in our Christian work. The poor do not want so much to be groan- ed over as sung to. With the bread and medicines and garments you give them let there be an accompaniment not stand and talk to them about the wretchedness of their abode and the hunger of their looks and the hardness of their lot. An! 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 chil- dren 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 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. It act ually makes me sick. There is that bundle-take it, you poor, miserable wretch, and make the most of it." An other 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 It 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 aromatic as the spikenard on the feet of Christ, and all the novels in that alley will be fragrant with the spice.
 SPICE NEEDED IN CHURCH MUSIC.
 We need more spice and enlivenment in our church music. Churches sit dis cussing whether they shall have choirs or precentors or organs or bass viols or comets. say take that which will bring out the most inspiring music. If we had 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 peo- pie do not sing, or they sing so feebly that the people at their elbows do not know they are singing. People mouth and humble the praises of God, but there is not more than one out of a 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 good ness of God or the glories of heaven, l get an intination of what church mu- sic will be a hundrcl years from now, when the coming generation shall wake up to it's duty.
 promise high spiritual blessing to any one who will sing in church, and who will sing so heartily that the peo- pie all around cannot help but sing Wake up! all the churches from Bangor to San Francisco and across Christen- dom. It is no matter of preference, it is matter of religious duty. Oh, fm fifty times more volume of sound. Ger man 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 Brook lyn2 Soft, long drawn out music is appropriate for the drawing room and appropriate for the concert, but St. John gives an idea of the sonorous and resonant congregational singing appro- priate for churches when, in listening to the temple service of heaven, he says: Il heard a great voice, as the voice If a great Mult.. lue, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice ofmighty thunderings. IIallelujah, for the Lord God olnnipotent reigneth."
 A CRUSADE PROPOSED.
 Join with me in a crusade, giving me not only your hearts but the mighty uplifting 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, sermon they may talk down, but a vast audience joining in one anthem is irresistible. Would that Queen Balkis would drive all her spice laden drome- daries 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 perfume, and spikenard and saf- iron and cinnamon and cassia and frankincense and all sweet spices to- gether. "Oh," you say, 'I have not looked at it as such. thought it was a nuisance; it had for me a repulsion; :; I held my breath as though it were malodor; have been appalled, at its advance; have said, If have any re- igion at all, I want to have just as lit tie of it as is possible to get through with.' Oh, what a mistake you have made, my brother. The religion of Christ is 8 present and everlasting red olence. It counteracts all trouble. I,,a4 .,.,f ;& ar, tho stand boo;do tho nil