Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-05-23


fore lost my eyesight." That man put
the emphasis in the right place. We
want to put less stress upon this world
and more stress upon our God as our
everlasting portion.
David had found out the nothiugness
of this world and the all-sufficiency of
God. Notice how he interjects the
Selahs. Trust in the Lord at all times;
ye people, pour out your heart before
him. God is refuge for MS. Selah. !"
sBlessed be the Lord who daily loads
us with benefits, even the God of our
salvation. Selah." 1.-The Lord shall
count, when he writeth up the people,
that this man was born there. Selah. &"
Let the world have it's honors, and its
riches, and it's pomp. Let me have the
Lord for my light, my peace, my
fortress, my pardon, my hope, my
heaven.
What sinners value resign;
Lord! tits enough that thou art mine.
shall behold thy blissful face,
And stand complete in righteousness
This world is all an empty show,
But the bright world to which | go
fldlu JOYS buD5ldulldl anu blllttINt
When shall wake and find me there9
o glorious hourl o blest abcdel
shall be near and like my God,
And sin and sense no more control
The endless pleasures of my soul.
But when speak of the Selah Of en-
phasis | must notice it is startling, a
dramatic emphasis. 1t has in it the
Hark, the Hist of the drama. That
wakenipg and arousing emphasis we
who preach or instruct need to use more
frequently. The sleepiest audiences in
the world are religious audiences.
NECESSITY OF DRAMATIC FORCE.
You Sabbath school teachers ought to
have more of the dramatic element in
your instructions By graphic Scripture
scene, by anecdote, by descriptive ges-
ture, by impersonation urge your classes
to right action. We want in all our
schools and colleges and prayer meet
ings, and in all our attempts at reform,
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 slip
perry morning in the streets of Philadel-
phia. Just ahead of me was a lad,
wretched in apparel, his limb amputated
at 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. helped him up as
well 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 de-
partments of usefullness-and | address
hundreds of people 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 religion.
to whine religion, to cant religion, t.
moan religion, to croak religion, to Sc
pulchrize religion, when we ought to
present it in animated and spectacular
manner.
Sabbath morning by Sabbath morning
address many theological students who
are preparing for the ministry. They
come in here from the different institu-
tions. | say to them this morning: If
you will go home and look over the his
tory of the church you will find that
those men have brought most souls to
Christ who have been dramatic-Row-
land Hill dramatic; Thomas Chalmers,
dramatic; Thomas Guthrie, dramatic;
John Knox, dramatic; Robert McCheyne,
dramatic; Christmas Evans, dramatic;
George Whitefield, dramatic; Robert
Hall, dramatic; Robert South, dramatic;
Fenelon, dramatic; John Mason, dra-
matte; Dr. Mott, dramatic. When you
get into the ministry, if you attempt to
culture that element and try to WELD it
for God you will meet with mighty re-
buff and caricature, and ecclesiastical
council will take your case III charge,
and they will try to put you down, but
the God who starts you will help you
through, and great will be the eternal
rewards for the assiduous and the
pluclly.
GET OUT OF THE RUT.
What we want, ministers and laymen,
is to get our sermons, and our exhorta-
tions, and our prayers out of the old rut.
| see great deal of discussion in the re-
hgious papers about why people do not
come TO church. They do not come be.
cause they are not interested. The old
hackneyed religious phrases that come
moving down through the centuries will
never arrest the masses What we want
today, You in your sphere and l in my
sphere, is to freshen up, People do not
want in their sermons the sham flowers
bought at the millinery shop, but the
japonicas wet with the morning dew;
nor the heavy bones of extinct megathe-
rum of past ages, but the living rein
deer caught last August at the edge of
Schroon lake.
We want TO drive ont the drowsy, and
the prosaic, and the tedious, and the hum
drum, and introduce the brightness and
vivacity, and the holy sarcasm, and the
sanctifed wit, and the epigrammatio
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