Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-07-01

bardment of temptation. Better have
in it something that will help that
daughter thirty years from now when
upon her come the cares of motherhood
and the agonies of bereavement Do
not waste the best hour for making an
impression upon your little one, the
hour of dusk, the beach between the
day and the night. Sing not doleful
song, but suggestive song, u Chris
tan song, song you will not be
ashamed to meet when It comes to you
in the eternal destiny of your son and
daughter.
These family songs are about all we
keep of the old homestead. The house
where you were born will go into the
hands of strangers. The garments that
were carefully kept rs relics will be-
come moth-eaten. The family Bible
can go into the possession of only one
of the family. The lock of gray hair
may be lost from the locket, and in
few years all signs and mementocs of
the old homestead will be gone forever.
But the family songs those that we
heard at years of age, ut 5 years of
age, Mt 10 years of age, will be indie
structible, and mt 40, or 80, or 10, or 20
years of age will give us n mighty boost
over some rough place in the path of
our pilgrimage.
What IN occasion that must have
been in Washington. December II, 1850,
when Jenny Lind sang "IIomc, Sweet
Home" the author of those words,
John Howard Payne, seated before
her She. had rendered her othes IA
vorite songs, 'Custa Diva" and her
Flute Song" with fine effect but
when she struck "lIome, Sweet Home"
John Howard Payne rose under the
power. and President Fillmore and
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster and
the whole audience rose with him.
Anything connected with home ram
sacks our entire nature with holy
power. and songs that get well started
in the nursery or by the family hearth
roll on after the lips that sung them
are forever silent and the ears that
first heard them forever cease to hear.
preach this sermon just before many
of you will go out to pass days or
weeks in the country. BE careful how
you treat the birds. Remember they
are Gods favorites, and il you offend
them you offend him. lie is SO fond of
their voices that there are forests
where for a hundred miles no human
foot has ever trod and no human ear
has ever listened. Those interminable
| forests are concert halls with only one
auditor-the Lord God Almighty. He
builded these auditoriums of leaves and
sky and supports all that infinite min
strelsy for himself alone. BE careful
how YOU treat his favorite choir.
While this summer more than usual
out of doors, let us have what my text
suggests, an out-of-doors religion.
What business had David with all the
advantages of costly religious services
and smoking incense on the altar to be
listening to the chantresses among the
tree BRANCHES? All. he wanted to make
himself and all who should come after
him more alert and more worshipful
amid the sweet sounds and beautiful
sights of the natural world.
|
be rededicated. 1t is older than St
Paul's or st. Peters or st. Marks or ST.
Sophia's or st. Isaac's 1t is the cathe-
dral of Nature. That is the church in
which the services of the millennium
will be held The buildings fashioned
out of stone and brick and mortar will
not hold the people. Again the Mount
of Olives will be the pulpit. Again the
Jordan will be the baptistry. Again
the mountains will be the galleries.
Again the skies will be the blue ceiling.
Again the sunrise will be the front
door and the sunset the back door of
that temple. Again the clouds will be
the upholstery and the morning mist
the incense Again the trees will be
the organ-loft where 1.-The fowls of
heaven have their habitation which
sing among the branches" Saint
Francis dAssisi preached a sermon to
birds and pronounced benediction
upon them, but all birds preach to us,
and their benediction is almost saper-
nal.
While, this summer, among the works
of God, let us learn responsiveness.
Surely IL we cannot sing, we can hum
a tune, and If we cannot hum tune,
we can whistle. If we cannot be an
oriole, we can be quail. In some way
let us demonstrate our gratitude to
God. Let us not be beaten by the
chimney swallow and the humming
bird and the brown-thresher. Let us
try to set everything in our life to
music, and If we cannot give the
carol of the song sparrow, take
the plant Of the hermit thrush.
Let our life be an anthem OF
worship to the God who created us
and the Christ who ransomed us, and
the Holy Ghost who sanctifies us. And
| our last sonpi Nav Il be our best song!