Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-01-31

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trumpets to peal forth the praises of this
one altogether fair. Oh. thou flower of
eternity, thy breath is the perfume of
heaven! Oh, blissful daybreak, let all
people clap their hands in thy radiancel
Chorus: Come, men and saints and cher
ubim and seraphim and archangel-all
heights, all depths, all immensities
Chorus: Roll him through the heavens
in chariot Of universal acclaim, over
bridges Of hosannas, under arches of
coronation, along by the great towers
Ginning with eternal jubilee. Chorus:
Unto him who hath loved us and wash
ed us from our sins in his own blood, to
him be glory, world without end!'
have a word of five letters, but no
sheet white enough on which to write it
and no pen good enough with which to
inscribe it. Give me the fairest leaf
from the heavenly records-give me the
pencil with which the angel records his
victory-and then, with my hand strung
to supernatural ecstasy and my pen dip
ped in the light Of the morning, l will
write it out in the capitals of love,
Jesus" It is this one, infinitely
fair, to whom you are invited. Christ is
waiting for you, waiting as a banqueter
waits for the delayed guest-the meats
smoking, the beakers trimming, the
minstrels with fingers on the stiff string,
waiting for the clash of the hoofs at the
gateway.
Waiting for you as mother waits for
her son who went off 10 years ago, drag
ging her bleeding heart along with him.
Waiting! Oh, give me a comparison in
tense enough, hot enough, importunate
enough to express my meaning-some-
thing high as heaven and deep as hell
and long as eternity! Not hoping that
you can help me with such a comparison,
will say, "He is waiting as only the all
sympathetic Christ can wait for the COM
ing back of a lost soul"
Bow the knee and kiss the Son.
Come and welcome, sinner come.
HOW LUTHER SAW THE TRUTH.
Again, the holy spirit is ready. Why
is it that so many sermons drop dead
that Christian songs do not get their
wing under the people-that so often
prayer goes no higher than a hunters
"holloY It is because there is link
wanting-the work of the holy spirit.
Unless that spirit give graphing hooks
to a sermon and lift the prayer and watt
the song, everything is dead failure.
That spirit is willing to come at our call
and lead you to eternal life, or ready to
come with the same power with which
he unhorsed Saul on the Damascus turn
pike, and broke down Lydia in her fine
store, and lifted the 5000 from midnight
into midnoon at the Pentecost. With
that power the spirit Of God now beats
at the gate of your soul. Have you not
noticed what homely and insignificant
instrumentality the spirit of God en-
ploys for mans conversion?
There was a man on Hudson river
boat to whom tract was offered. With
indignation he tore it up and threw it
overheard. But one fragment lodged on
his coat sleeve, and he saw on it the word
'aternity," and he found no peace until
he was prepared for that great future.
Do you know what passage it was that
caused Martin Luther to see the truth?
1.-The just shall live by faith" Do you
know there is one-just tone-passage that
brought Augustine from life Of dissi-
patton? Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ
and make no provision for the flesh to full
fill the lusts thereof" II was just one
passage that converted Hedley Wears, the
great soldier, to Christ, "The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sim"
Do you know that the holy spirit used
one passage of Scripture to save Jonathan
Edwards? "Now, unto the king, eternal,
immortal. invisible, the only wise God, |
our Saviour, be glory" One year ago on
Thanksgiving day read for my text,
"Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he
is good, for his mercy endureth for
ever" And there is young man in the
house to whose heart the holy spirit took |
that text for his eternal redemption. |
might speak of my own case. will tell
you | was brought to the peace of the
gospel through the Syro-Phenician wom-
ans cry to Christ, Gwen the dogs eat of
the crumbs that fall from the masters |
table"
TRUE ELOQUENCE.
Do you know that the holy spirit al
most always uses insignificant means!
ELOQUENT sermons never save anybody. !
Philosophical sermons never save any
body. Metaphysical sermons never save
anybody. But the minister comes some
Sabbath to his pulpit worn out with en-
gagements and the jangling Of frenzied
doorbell. lie has only text and two or
three ideas, but he says: 20 Lord. help !
me. Here are a good many people may
never meet again. | have not much to
say. Speak thou through my poor lips
And before the service is done there are
fearful eyes and solemnity like the
judgment.
The great French orator, when the
dead king lay before him, looked up and
cried, God only is great" and the tri-
umph of his eloquence has been told by
the historians But | have not heard
that one soul was saved by the oratorical
flourish. Worldly critics may think that
the early preaching Of Thomas Chalmers
was a masterpiece DIT Thomas Chal-