The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-05-24

i yet emperor of France, sat down de-
I jected, his hands over his face. A lad
came in with tray of food and said,
Eat, it will do you good" The en-
peror looked up and said, You are from
the country" The lad replied, Yes"
Your father has a cottage and few
acres of groundg' Yes" There is
| happiness" said the detected emperor.
All! Napoleon never put the emphasis
in the right place until he was expiring
! at st. Helena.
On the other hand. look at Satisfac-
ton amid the worst earthly disadvan-
tage. Il never saw until l was blind"
| said a Christian man. Il never knew
| what contentment was while l had my
eyesight as l know what content is now
that have lost my eyesight. l affirm,
though few would credit it, that would
not exchange my present position and
circumstances for my circumstances be-
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 nothipgness
| of this world and the all-suificieucy of
! God. Notice how he interjects the
! Selahs. Trust in the Lord at all times;
| we people, 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. Selah" THE Lord shall
| count, when he writeth up the people,
that this man was born there. Selah."
! Let the world have its honors, and its
| riches, and its pomp. Let me have the
! Lord for my light. my peace, my
! fortress, my pardon, my hope, my
! heaven.
What sinners value l 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
Hath joys substantial and sincere;
! When shall wake and find me there?
% glorious hour! D blest abode!
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 a startling,
dramatic emphasis. 1t has in it the
Hank, the Hist of the drama. That
Weakening 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
oil
schools and colleges and prayer meet
ings, and in all cur 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 rs 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 ar1n-food he had begged, l 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
we'll as | could, gathered up the frag-
ments of the package as well as l could.
put them under one arm and the crutch
under the other arm; bat when l 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
I address many theological students who
are preparing for the ministry. They
come in here from the different institu-
tons. | 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; IhOmaS ChaImerS,
} 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
J council will take your case in 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
plucky.
GET OUT OF THE RUT.
, What we want, ministers and layInen,