Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1893-03-30


trained, and it is from the holy men
and women of Israel that we all have
learned the lesson. Not only have
they taught US to turn to God in the
hour of peril and trial, but also to
awaken in our hearts the DISPOSE
t ons with which He should be ap-
preached. "Lord, teach us to pray"
was the demand of His disciples to
Christ, and in response He taught
themsthe most perfect of all prayers
brief, yet so full of meaning that it
expresses all the legitimate aspira-
tions and wishes of man. But the
soul needs to pour itself out more
FREE and effusively, to give a fuller
expression for its cravings and to
what it feels, and nowhere can such
expression be found, so noble or so
deep, as on the lips of the Hebrew
saints, In the prayers of the pat
riarchs, and in their blessings, which
are only another form of prayer,
there is simplicity and sublimity
which cannot be surpassed Abra-
ham reverently and trustfully plead
ing for Sodom, Esther for hr peo-
pie threatened with destruction,
Judith in the anticipation of her
bold and bloody deed, Solomon pour
ing forth his thanksgiving in the
dedication of the Temple raised by
his hands, will teach man to the
end of time how to approach God.
Above all, David, "the sweet singer
of Israel" with all the experience of
a checkered life, by turns shep-
herd boy, a youthful warrior, a pros
scribed exile and powerful king,
passing through every trial and tast-
ing every bitterness, 9 held up by
the hand of God whom he ever
trusted, and though he had not been
faultless, even according to the
imperfect standard of his own
time, yet because he had re-
pented, David, proclaimed IN
the end a "man after Gods own
heart," has lett US in the hymns
which he composed, and in those
which. his example inspired-in the
Psalter-the most complete, the
most beautiful expression ever
known of sorrow, of joy,of petition,
Of praise, of every feeling to which
a religious soul may give utterance
Hence its familiarity to all Chris
tain ages; and we'll has it been ex,
tolled in the following beautiful
words:-
HE only who knows the num-
Der Of waves of the ocean and the
abundance of tears in the human
eye. He who catches tae sighs of
the heart before they are uttered,
and who hears them still when
they are hushed into silence. He
alone who can tell how many holy
emotions, how many vibrations
have been produced and will ever
be produced in the souls of men
by the reverberation of these mar
vellous strains, of these predestis
mated hymns, read, meditated, sung
in every hour of the day and night,
in every winding of the vale of
tears. The Psalter of David is
like a mystic harp hung on the
walls of the true Sion. Under the
breath OF the Spirit of God it sends
forth it's infinite varieties of devo-
ton, which rolling on from echo
to echo, from soul to soul, awakes
in each a seperate note, mingliug
in that one prolonged voice of
thankfulness and penitence of
prayer and of praise"
But while admiring the glorio US
characters of the Old Testament,
we cannot remain bind to what
was missing in them. They be>
longed to an imperfect dispense ion,
and they shared in its imperfec-
tions. They tailed to realize in
their fullness the highest teachings
vouchsated to them. They knew
ank spoke of the fatherhood of
God, hut it took the Gospel to make
them feel that they were His chill
dren. Their hearts still clung to
life and the things of life; they re-
spected poverty in others, it is true,
but they dreaded it for themselves;
it could never have been the obs
ject of their choice. Their chastity,
as nation, was in signal contrast
with the universal corruption which
reigned all around them; yet they
knew not the higher beauty of a
purely virginia. life. Their charity
was sincere, but limited mostly to
their own people. Christ it was
who expanded the heart of man
and made it like His own, capable
of embracing all humanity. HUI
mility was not unknown to them,
but they never reached its depths.
Christ was the first to reveal tkem
in His life and death, and to ims
part to them mysterious fascina~
tion WHICH has drawn down into
them, ever since He came, the
highest and noblest souls the world
has ever known Finallythe 0 dies
lament saint had tasted the bitter
sweets of repentance and atone
ment; but he never had had before
him the spectacle of the extremes
of austerity and purity meeting in
one divine person, and the most
spiritually enlightened had to wait
for the Passion and Death of
Christ to understand all there is of
beauty and power and love in a
life which gathers its whole inspi-