The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-05-12

It Is not O matter of preference; it is
q matter Of religious duty. Oh, for fifty
times mcse volume OF sound. German
chorals in German cathedrals surpass
us, and yet Germany has received moth
Ing at the hands of God compared with
America, and ought the acclaim In Ber-
lin be louder than that In Brooklynp
Soft, long-drawJi-out music, Is appro-
pirate for the dra wing-room and appro-
pirate for the concert; but St. John gives
an idea of the sonorous and resonant
congregational singing appropriate for
churches when. in listening to the tenn
pie service of heaven he says: 81
heard a great voice as the voice ola great
multitude, and as the voice of many
waters, and as the voice of mighty thun-
behring's. Hallelujah, for the Lord God
omnipoten: rcigneth."
Join with me In a crusade, giving me
not only your hearts but the mighty up
lifting of your voices, and I believe we
can, through Christ's grace, sing SO, 900
souls into the kingdom of Christ. An
argument, they can laugh at, sermon,
they may talk down; but "a vast audi
ence joining IN n anthem is irresistible.
Would that Queen Balkis would drive
all her spice-laden dromedaries into our
church music. "Neither was there any
such spice as the Queen Of Sheba gave
| King Solomon
Now want to Impress sthis audience
with the fact that religion is sweetness
and perfume, and spikenard, and saffron,
and cinnamon, and cassie, and franklin
cense, and all sweet spices together.
"Oh," you say, 81 have not looked at It
as such. Thought it was a nuisance; it
had for me a repulsion; 1 held my breath
as though 1T were malodor; 1 have been
| appalled, at its advance; / have said, if 1
have auy religion at all, I want to have
just as little of it as is possible to get
through with" Oh, what q mistake
you have made, my brother. The relig-
ion Of Christ is a present::and everlasting
redolence. 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 q
glow on the gloom of the turned lat
tice. 1t is a balm for the aching side,
and q soft bandage for the temple stung
with pain. 1t lifted Samuel Rnther-
ford into a reveiry of spiritual delight,
while he was in physical agonies. It
helped Richard Baxter until, in the
midst of su cha complication of diseases
as perhaps no other man ever suffe red,
he worte, 1.-THE Saints Everlasting
Rest" And 1t poured light upon John
Buhyan's dungeon-the light of the shin.
ing gate of the shining city. And it is
good for rheumatism, and for neuralgia.
and for low spirits, and for consumption;
tis the cathollcon for all disorders. Yes,
it will heal all your sorrows.
Why did you look so sad to-day when
you came in? Alas! for the lonliness
and the ~heartbreak, and the load that is
meyer lifted from your soul. Some Of
you 60 about feeling like Macaulay,
when he wrote: 'If I had another month
OF such days as / have been spending.
1 would be impatient to gee down into
my narrow crib in the ground like a
weary factory child" And there have
been times in your life when you wished
| you could get out o fthis lief. You have
said: "Oh, how sweet to my lips would
be the dust of the valley" and wished
you could pull over you in your last
slumber the coverlet of green grass and
daisies. You have said, "Oh, how beau
tifully quiet it must be in the tomb. L
wish 1 was there" 1 see all around me
widowhood, and orphanage, and child.
le~ssness; sadness, disappointment, per-
plexity. If L could ask all those to rise
in this audience who have felt no sorrow
and been buffeted by no disappointment
it 1 could ask all such to rise, how
many .-culd rise? Not one.
A widowed mother and her little child
went West, hoping to get better wages
there; and she was taken sick and died.
The oyerseer of the poor got her body
and put it in a box, and put it in a wagon,
and started down the street toward the
cemetery at a full trot. The little child
the only child-ran after it through
the streets, crying: "Bring me back my
mother! Bring me back my mother!'
And it is said that as the people looked
OF and saw her crying after that which
lay in the box in the wagon-all she
loved on earth-it is said the whole viii
lage was in tears. And that is what a
great many of you are doing-chasing
h dead. Dear Lord. is there no APP
peasement for all this sorrow that I see
about me? Yes, the thought OF resur-
rection and reunion tar beyond this scene
Of struggle and tears. "They shall hun
ger no more, neither thirst any more,
neither shall the sun light on them, nor
any heat; for the Lamb which 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,..I fling
this shower of sweet spices. Queen
Balkis, driving up to the pillared portico
of the house of cedar, carried no such
pungency of perfume as exhales to-day
from the Lords garden. It is peace. 1t
Is sweetness. 1t lie comfort. 1t is inf
mite satisfaction, this gospel 1 commend
to you. Some one could not understand
why an old German Christian scholar
used to be always so calm, and happy,
and hopeful, when he had 30 many trials,
and sicknesses, and ailments. A man
secreted himself in the house. He said:
u mean to watch this old scholar and
Christian" and he saw the old Christian
man 60 TO his room and sit down ON the
chair beside the stand. and open the BIZ
BILE and begin to read. He read on and
on, chapter after chapter, hour after
hour, until his face was all aglow with
the tidings from heaven, and when the
clock struck twelve, he arose and shut
his Bible, and SAIL, "Blessed Lord. we
are on the same old terms vet. Good.
night. good-night.n Oh, YOU sin-par-
ched and you trouble-pounded, here is
satisfaction. VIII you come and get itp
L cannot tell you what the Lord offers
you hereafter 30 we'll as I can Tell you