The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1892-06-08

cuiiS<ductS DtlOTc L loct III SUI. iidt
man put the emphasis in the right
place We want to put less stress upon
our God as our everlasting portion.
David had found out the nothingness of
this world and the all-sufficiency of Go1.
Notice how he interjects the Selahs
''Trust in the Lord at all times; We pep
pie, pour out your heart before him.
God is refuge for us. Selah." BLESSED
be the Lord who daily loads us with
benefits, even the God of our Salvation.
"The Lord shall count, when He writeth
up the people, that this man was born
there. Selah" Let the world have its
honors, and it's riches, and its pomp
Let me have the Lord for nv
light, my peace, my pardon, my hope,
my Heaven.
But when I speak of the Selah of en-
phasis ] must notice it is startling, q
dramatic emphasis. 1t has in it the
bark, the hist of the drama. THAI
Weakening and arousing emphasis we
who preach or instruct need to use
more frequently. The sleepiest audien-
ces in the world are religious audiences.
You Sabbath school teachers ought
to have more of the dramatic elemen!
in your instructions. BY graphic scrip.
ture scene, by anecdote, by descriptive
gesture, by representation, urge your
classes to right action. We want 10
our schools and colleges and prayer
meetings and in all our attempts at re-
form, and in all our churches to have
less of the style didactic and more of
the style dramatic. Fifty essays about
the sorrows of the poor could not affect
me as little drama of accident and
suffering saw one slippery morning in
the streets of Philadelphia
Just ahead of me was lad, wretched
in apparel, his limb amputated ut the
knee; from the pallor of the boys cheek
the amputation not long before. He
had package of broken food under his
arm-food he had begged, suppose, at
the doors. AS he passed on over the
slippery pavement cautiously and care
fully steadied him until his crutch
slipped and he fell. l helped him up as
we'll as could, gathered up the frag-
ments Of the package as well as could,
put them under one arm and the crutch
under the other arm; but when | saw
the blood run down his pale cheek !
was completely overcome. Fifty essays
about the suffering of the poor could
not touch one like that little drama OF
accident and suffering.
Oh! we want in all our different dc.
partments of usefulness and l address
hundreds ofpeople who are trying to do
good-we want more of the dramatic
element and less of the didactic. The
tendency in this day is to drone re.
ligion, to whine religion, to cant re.
ligion, to moan religion, to croak re.
ligion. to sepulchrize religion, when we
ought to present it in animated ano
spectacular manner.
Sabbath morning ny Sabbath morn
ing l address many theological student.
who are preparing for the ministry
They come in here from the different
institutions. l say to them this morn
ing; If you will go home and look ovol
the history of the church you will fine
that those men, men have brought mos
souls to Christ who have been dramatic
Rowland Hill, dramatic; Thomas Chal
mcrs, dramatic; Thomas Guthrie, dra
matte; John Knox, dramatic; Rober
McCheyne, dramatic: Christmas Evans
dramatic; George Whitefeld, dramatic
Robert Hall. dramatic; Robert South
dramatic; Fecelon, dramatic; join
Mason. dramatic; DIR. Mott, dramatic.
When you get into the ministry, i
you attempt to culture that element
and try to WELD it for God, you vii
meet with mighty rebuff and carica
ture, and ecclesiastical council viii
take your case in charge, and they vii
try to put You down; but the God whC
starts You will help you through, ant
great will be the eternal rewards fol
the assiduous and the pluclly.
What we want, ministers and laymen
is to get our sermons and our exhorta
tons and our prayers out of the old rut
| see a great deal of discussion in tn,
religious papers about why people Dc
not come TO church. They do not com,
because they are not interested.
The old hackneyed religious phrase
that come moving down through tn,
centuries will never arrest the masses
What we want to-day, you in you
sphere. and l in my sphere, is to fresheI
up. People do not want in their ser
mons the sham flowers bought at thu
millinery shop, but the japonicas we
with the morning dew: nor the heav,
bones of extinct megatherium of pas
ages, but the living reindeer caugh
last August at the edge Of the Shrool
! lake. We want to drive cut the drows
) and the prosaic, and tho tedious, ant
the humdrum, and introduce the bright
, ness and vivacity, and the holy sarcasm
and the sanctified wit, and the epigran
power and the blood-red earnestness
and the fire of religious zeal, and d
not know of any way of doing it a
well as through the dramatic, Atten
ton. Behold! Hank! sclah!
Next, speak of the Selah Of perpetu
, ity. The Targum, which is the Bible i
, Chaldee, renders this word of my tex
forever" Many writers agree in bt
| lieving and stating that one meaning c
, this word is forever" In this yer
verse from which l take my text Sela
means not only poetic significance. an
5 intermission, and emphasis, but it mean
, eternal Observation-Disclosures! God
5 government forever, Gods goodnes fol
5 ever, the gladness of tho righteous fol-
: ever. Of course, you and l have nc
surveyors chain with enough links {
/, measure that domain OF nenninrr