Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1891-05-09
nounces, ''of spices. great abundance;
neither was there any such spices as
the Queen OF Sheba gave to King Solo
rHE spIcE or RELIGIoN.


Well, my friends, you know that oil
theologians agree in making Solomon
type of Christ, and making thcqueen
of Sheba type of every trath seeker;
and I shall take the responsibility Of
saying that all the spikenard and cas-
sia and frankincense which the queen
Of Sheba brought to King Solomon are
nightly suggestive of the sweet spices
of our holy religion. Christianity is
not collection of sharp technicalities
and angular facts and chronological
tables aud dry statistics. Our religion
is compared to frankincensc and to
cassia, but never to nightshade. 1t is
bundle of inyrrll. 1t is a dash OF
holy light. 1t is a sparkle of cool
fountains It's IN opening of opaIine
gates. 1t is collection of spices.
Would God that we were us wise in
taking spices to our Divine King rs
! Qneen Balkis was wise in taking the
spices to the earthly Solomon! What
sinlnyef ls5lnost. need lis to ihaveitlIe
humdrum driven out Of our. life and
5 the huil<lrunl out of our religion. THE
Americln-and English and Scottish
church WILL die of huuldrum unless
there be change.
An editor from San francisco few
weeks ago wrote Inc saying he was get.
ting up for his paper a symposium from
many clergymen, discussing among
other things Why do not people go
to church, and lie wanted my opinion,
and gave it in one sentence, People
do not 10 to church because they can
not stand the liulndr,lm. The fact is
that most people lave SO much hum
drum III their worldly calling that they
do not want added the hundru:n of re.
ligion. We need in all our sermons and
exhorations and songs and prayers
more of what Queen Balkis brought to
Solomon-namely, more spice.
The fact is tllGt the duties and cares
of this life coming to us from time to
time are stupid often and inane and
intoIerabie Here are men who have
been bartering and negotiating. climb
ing, pounding, llllnmeriilg for twenty
years, forty years, fifty years One
great long drudscry has their life been.
Their face anxious. their feelings be-
numbcd. their days monotonolis.
What is necessary to brighten up that
mans life and to sweeten that acid dis
position, and to put sparkle into the
mans spirits? The spiccry OF our holy
religion. Why, if between the losses
of life there dashed CLEAN of an eter-
nal gain; if between the bdtrayals OF
life There came the glealn of the unGy-
ing friendship of Christ; if in dull times
in business we found lninistering spirits
flying to and fro in our Office and store
and shop, everyday life, instead of be-
ing stupid monotone would be a
glorious inspiration. penduluming be-
tween calm satisfaction and high rapt-
ure
AN INEXrLICADLE MYSTERY.
How any woman keeps house with
out the religion OF Christ to help her is
mystery to me. To have to spend
the greater part of ones life, as many
women do, in planning for the mcals,
in stitching garments that will soon be
rent again. and deploring broakages,
and supervising tardy subordinates,
and driving off dust that soon again
will settle, and doing the same thing
day in and day out, and year in and
year out, until their hair silverS; and
the buck stoops, and the spectlcfes
crawl to the eyes, and the grave breaks
open under the thin sole of the shoe
oh, it is a long monotonyl But when
Christ comes to tho drawing room, and
comes to the kitchen, and comes to the
nursery, and comes to the dwelling,
then how CHEEKY become all wolnanly
duties. She is never alone now. Mar
tina gets through fretting and joins
Mary at the feet of Jesus.
All day long Deborah is happy be-
cause she can help I.apidoth; Hannah,
because she can make Il coas for young
Samuel; Miriam. because she can watch
her infant brother; Rachel. because she
can help her father water the stock;
the widow of Sarepta, because the
cruso OF oil is being replenislled. 0
woman having in your pantry nest of
boxes containing all kinds of condi-
ments. why have you not tried in your
heart and life the spicery of orr holy
religion9 Martha! Martha! thou art
careful and troubled about many things;
but one thing is needftll, and Mary hath
chosen that good part which shall not
be taken away from her"
must confess that a great deal of
the religion of this day is utterly in
sipid. There is nothing piquant or ele-
waiting about it. Men and women go
around hunnling psalms in a minor
key. and culturing melancholy, and
their worship has in it more signs than
rapture. We do not doubt their piety.
Oh, 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
he'll and on their way to magnificent
heaven, they act as though they were
trudgihg on toward an everlasting
Botany bay. Religion does not seem
to agree with them. 1t seems to catch
in the windpipe and become a tight
stransulation instead Of an cxhilara-
ton
All the infdel books that have been
written, from Voltaire down to Herbert
Spencer, have not done SO much dam
ARE to our Christianity rs lugubrious