The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-05-18

I
| the universe is the Christian religion.
There is so much trouble in the world;
business men have so many anxieties;
toiling men have so many fatigues; or
phans have so many desolations-fo
Gods sake, if there be any bright place
on earth, show it to them. Let the
church of Jesus Christ be the most
cheerful place on earth. Let me say
that do not want anybody to
come whining around me about
the Christian religion. 1 have
no faith in a religion made up of
equal parts of NORWOOD, vinegar and
red pepper. If the religion that is pre-
sented to us be depression, we will
get along better without it. If it be a
JOY, let it shine out from your face and
from your conversation. If a man
comes to my house to talk of religion
with lugubrious countenance and
manner full of sniffle and dolorousness,
l feel like saying to my wife: You
had better lock up the silver before he
steals something" l have found it an
invariable rule that men who profess
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, priding
sanctimoniousness, always turn out
badly. l never knew an exception.
While those who are the most consist
ent, the most useful and the most con-
secrated have perfume in their CONVEX
sa tion and Heaven in their face.
The happiest Christians that l have
ever known have been persons from 90
to so years of age. By that time peo-
pie get over the shams and pretenses
of society, and have no longer any pa
thence with anything like imposture in
religion. o Christian! how dare you
be gloomy? Is not God your Father?
Is not Jesus Christ your Saviour? Has
not your path all through life been
strewn with mercies? Are you insens-
ible to the fact that there are glories
awaiting you in the better handbook
ologies of celestial worship, eternal
chorals, fearless eyes, songs that re-
sound under arches of strength and ho-
sannas that clap their hands at the
foot of the throne?
We try to make this church a cheer
full church. A man, on Saturday after
noon, stands in his store and says:
"How shall | meet these obligations?
How can / endure this new disaster
that is coming upon me?' He goes
home. Sabbath morning finds him in
the house of God. Through the song,
through the sermon, through the prayer,
the Lord Jesus Christ says to that man:
20 man! have watched thee; / have
seen all thy struggles 1t is enough;
will see thee through; / will stand be-
tween thee and thy creditors. l will
make up in heavenly treasures what
you have lost in earthly treasures.
Courage, man! courage! Angels of God,
| command you to clear the track for
that man: put your wings over his head;
with your golden scepters strike for his
defense; throw around him all the de-
lenses of eternity" What is the conse-
quence? That business man is strength
ened. He goes to the store next day
feeling that God is with him and ready
to deliver.
That same Sunday there is poor old
woman in the church hearing the
gospel. Oh! how shrunken she is She
wears the same dress she wore twenty
years ago. How faded it is, and now
out of date! She sits and listens
as well as she can. Her eyes are so
dim she cannot see half way across the
church. Her ear is so imperfect that
she can only catch occasionally a note
of the psalm or word of the preacher.
Some one sitting next to her gives her
book and finds the place for her.
She says, Thank you, miss, thank
you!" She holds the book close up to
her eyes, and with a voice full of
tremors sings
Jesus. lover Of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the pillows near me roll
While the tempest still is high;
Hide me, o. my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm Of life Is past,
Safe into the haven guide
OH receive my soul at last.
And Jesus says to her: Mother, are
you weary?" and she says: "Yes, Jesus,
am very tired" Jesus says: Mother,
are you poor?" And she says: Eyes, /
am very poor. l cannot sew any more;
1 cannot knit any more. l am very
poor" Jesus says to her: Mother,
would you like to rest?" She says:
Eyes, Lord, that is what want-rest."
Courage, mother" says Jesus, 81 will
see thee through" She goes home.
The next morning, in the tenement |
house, some one dwelling on an
other floor comes TO her room and |
knocks No answer The door is
opened She is dead! The night be-
fore the chariots of God halted at that |
pillow of straw, and Jesus kept his |
promise He said that he would give |
her rest, and he has given her rest |
Glory be to God for the height, the |
depth, the length, and the breadth of |
such Christian comfort!
Oh. my friends, we need to break
away from slavery to ecclesiastical |
custom. We dare not sing if anybody |
hears us. We dare not preach unless we
have rounded off our sentences to suit
the criticism of the world. We dare
not dress for church until we have ex-
amined the fashion-plates, and would
rather stay at home than appear with
q coat or hat not sanctioned by Gus
tom. When will the day of deliverance
come to the church of God, when, in
stead of a dead religion, laid out in
state on a catafalque of pomp and in
sincerity. we shall have a living,
sympathetic. glowing Chris
tianity?
l remark. further, that we have here
tried to build church abreast of the
times 1t is all folly for us to try to do
things the way they did fifty or hun.
bred years ago. We might as well be
blowing with Elijah's crooked stick, or
20 into battle with Saul's armor, or
prefer canal boat to an express train.
as IN ne clinpinp tn old THINGS What |