The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1894-09-21

stopped one nightfall, years ngo,
at Freyburg, Switzerland, to hear the
organ of world wide celebrity in that
nightfall. All the accessories were
favorable. There was only one light
in all the cathedral, and that a faint
taper ON the altar. | looked up into
the venerable arches and saw the
shadows of centuries, and when the
organ awoke, the cathedral awoke.
and all the arches seemed to lift and
culver as the music came under them.
That instrument did not seem to be
made out of wood and metal, but out
of human hearts, so wonderfully did
it pulsate with every motion; now
laughing like a child, now sobbing
like a tempest. At one moment the
music would die away until you
could hear the cricket chirp out
side the wall, and then it would roll
up until it seemed as if the surge of
the sea and the crash of an avalanche
had struck the organ pipes at the
same moment. At one time that night
~ a. ao IL y oH udutO h VI oplIlUo
weeping up from earth had met a
squadron of descending angels whose
glory beat back the woe. Standing
there and looking at the dim taper on
the altar of the cathedral, l said:
How much like many a Christians
life! Shadows hover, and sometimes
his hope is dim, and faint, and flicker
ing, like a taper on the altar. But at
what time God wills, the heavens
break forth with music upon his soul,
and the air becomes resonant as the
angels of God peal it with their shin
ing sceptres."
Oh, the Lord God las many far and
beautiful daughters; but the fairest
Of them all is she whose ways are
pleasantness and whose paths are
peace. Now. my brothers and sisters
for l have a right to call you also
L know some people look back on their
ancestral line, and they see they are
descended from the Puritans or HUI
guenots, and they rejoice in that; but
| look back on my ancestral line, and
| see therein such amingling and mix
ture of the blood of all nationalities
that l feel akin to all the world, and
by the blood of the Son of God, who
died for all people, | address you in
the bonds of universal brotherhood.
L come out as only a servant, bring.
ing an invitation to a party, and | put
1t into your hand. saying, Come, for
all things are now ready" and l urge
it upon you and continue to urge it,
and, before l get through, l hope, by
the blessing of God, to compel you to
come in.
We must take care how we give the
invitation. My Christian friends, 1
think some times we have just gone
opposite to Christ's command, and we
have compelled people to stay out
Some times our elaborated instruc-
tions have been the hindrance. We
graduate from our theological semina-
ries on stills. and it takes five or
six years before we can come down
and stand right beside the great
masses of the people. learning
their joys, sorrows, victories, defeats.
We got our heads SO brimful of theo-
logical wisdom that we have to stand
very straightles they spill over. Now,
what do the great masses of the peo-
pie care about the t~echnicalities
of religion? What do they care
about the hypostatic union or the diff
ference between u~b-lapsarian and
supra-lapsarian? What do they care
for your profound explanations, clear
as q London fog? When a man is
drowning he does not want you to
stand by the dock and describe the
nature of the water into which he has
fallen. and tell him there are w
parts hydrogen gas and one of oxvgen
gas, within common density of thirty
nine Fahrenheit, turning to steam
under a common atmospheric pressure
of two hundred and twelve. He does
not want a chemical lecture on water;
he wants a rope.
Oh my friends, the curse of God on
the church, it seems to me, in this
day, is metaphysics. We speak in an
unknown tongue in our Sabbath
schools, and in our religious assem-
blages, and in our pulpits, and how
can people be saved unless they under
stand US? We put on our official
gowns, and we think the two silk
balloons Tapping at the elobws of a
preacher give him great sanctity. The
river of Gods truth flows down before
us pure and clear as crystal; but we
take our theological stick and stir it
UP. and stir it up. until we can not ZEE
the bottom. Oh. for the simplicity of
Christ in all our misunderstanding
simplicity he practiced when standing
among the people, he took a lily, and
said, There is a lesson Of the way I
will clothe you;" and, pointing to a
raven, said. There is a lesson of the
way l will feed you; consider the
lilies-behold the fowls"
1 think often in our religious
instructions we compel people
to stay out by our church ar
chitecture. People come in and they
find things angular, and cold, and
stiff, and they go away lever again
to come; when the church ought to be
a great home circle, everybody having
a hymn book, giving half of it to the
one next to him, every one who mas a
hand to shake hands, shaking hands
the church architecture and the church