Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-05-23
alone now; Martha gets through frettng

can make a coat Tor JDuuS oduiAei, K idAi,
because she cali watch her infant brother;
Rachel, because she can help her father
water the stock: the widow of Sarepta, be
cause the cfuse Of oil Is being replenlshed.
o woman. having III your pantry a nest OF
boxes containing all kinds Of condiments
WHY have you not tried IN your heart and
life the spicery Of our holy religion:
Martha. Martha. thou art careful and
troubled about many things; but one thing
is aeedful, and Mary hath chosen that good
part which shall not be taken away from
her,
must confess that a great deal OF tue re-
ligion Of this day Is utterly insipid Ihero
is nothing plQuant or elevating about 1t.
Men and women 60 around humming psalms
In q minor KEY, and culturlng melancholy,
and their worship has in it more signs than
rapture. We do not doubt their Plety- On,
no. But they are sitting at a feast where
the cook has forgotten TO season the food.
Everything is fat in their experience aud in
their conversation. Emancipaued from sin
and death and hell, and On their way t. a
magnificent heaven, they act as though they
were trudglng On toward an eyeria sting
Botany Bay. Religion does not seem to
agree with them. It seems to catch Ia the
%windpipe and become a tight strangulatlOn
instead Of an exhiiaration
All the infdel books that have been writ
ten, from Voltaire down to Herbert Spen-
Ger. have not done SO much damage to our
Christianity as lugubrious Christians. Who
wants a religion woven ont of the shadows
OF the night? Why go growing on your way
to celestial eDtnronements Come out OF
thar cave and sit down in the warm light Of
the Sun of Righteousness. Away with your
odes to melancholy and Herrey's Media
tons Among the Iombs."
Then let Our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emmanuefs ground
To falrer worlds on high.
l have To say. also, that we need to put
core spice and enllvenment In our religious
.9aching, whether it be ID the prayer meet
,Ig, or III the Sabbath school, or in the
church. We ministers need more fresh air
and sunshine iii our lungs and our heart and
cur head. Do you wonder that the world is
so far from being converted when you find
50 little vivacity in the pulpit and in the
Jew We want, like the Lord, to plant in
| our sermons and exhortations more lilies of
tue field, We want fewer rhetorical elabora-
tlons and fewer ~sesqulpedalian words; and
when We -alk about shadows, we do not want
TO say adumbration; and when We mean
| queerness, we do not want to talk about
idlosyncr.cies' or if q stitch in the back, we
do not want to talk about lumbago, but in
the plain vernacular preach that gospel
L WAlIh u oHCSCo ~ hiohS OH 0ASA AapR5 AOAN
est, victorious and free.
III other words, we want more cinnamon
and less grlstle. Let this be so in all the
different departments Of work to which the
Lord calls US. Let Us Ge plain. Let us be
earnest. Let us be common sensical. When
| We talk to the people III a Vernacular they
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 laden dromedaries into
all our sermons and prayer-meeting exhor-
tatlOns.
More th.a that, we want more life and
spice in our Christian work. The poor dc
not want SO much to be grOaued over as sung
To. With tie bread and medicines and the
garments you give them, let there be an ac-
compartment of smiles and brisk encourage.
ment. Do not stand and talk to them about
the Wretchedness of their abode, and the
hungeT.oI 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. If there be any bright side
Tell them good times viii come. Tell them
that for the children of God there is i'm
mortal rescue. Wake them up out of theil
stolidity hy an inspiring laugh, and while
You send III help, like the Queen Of Sheba
also send III the spices.
There are two WAYS of meeting the Door
One IS to come into their house with q noss
elevated III disgust, as much as to say: ..
cont see how You live here in this %neighbor
hood, 1t actually makes me sick. There i
that bundle, take it, you poor, miserable
wretch, ana make the most of it, Anothel
way Is to go into tue abode OF the poor in
manner Which seems to say 'Ihe blessed
Lord stHt me. He was poor himself. 1t i
not more for the good ! am going to try to d
You than it Is for tine good you can do me !
Coming III that spirit the gift will be as arc
matte as the spikenard on the feet Of Christ
@.t - l +Ial - 4Iat H. Ill - g.
grant with the spice.
We need more spice and enlivenlnent il
ourchurch music. Churches sit discussins
whether they shall have .cnOlrs, OF precen
tors, or organs, or bass viols, or comets.
say, take that which will bring out the m6s
inspiring music. II we had half as mucl
zeal and spirit III our churches as we have il
the songs of our Sabbath schools it woul
not be long before the whole earth woul,
quake with the coming God. Why, in mos
churches nine tentfis of the people do no
sing, or they sing So feebly that the peopl
at their elbows do not know they are sing
ing. People mouth and humble the praise
OF God: but there is not more than one on
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 goodness of God @
the glories Of heaven, | get al lntimation G
what church music will be a hundred year
wake up to its duty.
promise Il high spiritual blessing to an
one who viii sing in church, and who wi
sing SO heartily that the people all aroun
cannot help but sing. Wake up. all til
churches from Bangor to San Francisco ali
across Christendom: It is not Il matter {
preference, If i a matter Of religious duty
Oh. for fifty times more volume of sound
German chorals III German cathedrals SUI
pass US, aud yet Germany has receive
nothing at the hands of God compared wit
America; ana ought the acclaim 10 Berlin /
louder than that in BROOKLYN? Soft. Ion
drawn out music IS appropriate for the dras
ing room and appropriate for the coucer
but St. John gives ar idea Of the sonora,
and resonant congregational singing appr
pirate for churches when, IN listening to II
temple service of heaven. he says; I hea,
a great voice, as the voice of a great mutt
tude, and As the Voice of many waters. a,
as the voice OF mighty tauI.erings. hall
lujah for the Lord God omnipotent reig,
eth
JON with lie in a crusade, giving nle nc
only your hearts, but the mighty up,iftin
OF your voices, aud [ believe We can. throug
Chrlsts grace. sing fifty thousand souls inf