Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1894-05-16

lor an audience room. The proninen
architects OF the country said: at can
not be done. You need a churchlv buill
ing And so we had plan after plan O.
churchIy buildings presented, but in du,
Tune God sent a man who grasped oul
idea and executed it. 50 far from being
failure, 1t satisfied our want, and nj,
our three churches were built on the
amphltneatrical plan, and scores of
churches all over the country have
| adopted the same plan.
And, my brethren and sisters. we fail
IN our work just in proportion as we trv
to be like other churches. We believe
that God intended every church. like ev.
cry man, to be individual, gathering m
all It's pecuIiarlties and idiOsyncrasies
and hurting them all toward some good
and grand object. In other words. no
two churches ought ever to be Just alike.
Here is church, for instance, whose OBJ
Ject 1t is to prepare philosophers and art
lists and critics for heaven. God speed
them in the difficult work! Here is a
church, on the other hand, that proposes
to bring only the poor into the kingdom
OF Jesus Christ, looking not after the
rich. God speed such church in its
undertaking! But there is a larger idea
that a church may take-bringing in the
rich ana the poor, the wise and the igno-
rant, the high and the low, so that kneel
ing beside each other shall be the man
faring sumptuously every day and the
yrh /,
God speed such church!
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 examined
the fashion plates and would rather stay
at home than appear with a coat or hat
not sanctioned by custom. When will
the day of deliverance come to the church
of God, when, instead of dead religion |
laid out in state on a catafalque of pomp |
and insincerity, we shall have a living, |
sympathetic, glowing Chris
-ianity?
n hdppy SHurCn.
l remark, further, that we have tried
lere to build and to conduct cheerful
'hurch. While, as you know, we have
lot held back the terrors of the law and
he sterner doctrines of the gospel, we
lave tried in this house to present to this
people the idea that the gladdest. bright
st, happiest thing III ali the universe is
he Christian religion. There is so much
rOuble in the world. Business men have
o many anXieties. Toiling men have so
lany fatigues. Orphans have so many
esolations. For Gods sake, if there be
ny bright place on earth, show it to
lem! Let the church of Jesus Christ be
le most cheerful spot on earth.
Let me say that do not want ANYBODY
} come whining around me about the
hristian religion. | have no faith in
eligiou made up of equal parts of worm
ood, vinegar and red pepper. If there
giOn that is presented to us be depres-
on, we will get along better without it.
it be joy, let 1t shine out from your
ce and from your conversation. If a .
an comes to my house to talk of re- :
zion with lugubrious cOuntenance and
amer full of sniffle and dolorousness, / :
ell like saying to my wife, "YOu had 7
,tter lock up the silver before he steals {
mething." l have found it an invari- {
lie rule that men who profess faith in ,
e Lord Jesus Christ. priding them (
Ives at the same time on their sancti- f
always turn out badly-I (
ver knew an eXceptiOn-while those {
no are the most consistent, the most {
eful and the most consecrated have s
rfume in their conversation and heav- S
in their face. /
The happiest Christians that l have a
er known have been persons from 90
so years of age. By that time people
t over the shams and the pretenses Of h
ciety and have no longer any patience a
tn anything like imposture in religion. c
Christian, how dare You be gloomy? .
not God your father? Is not Jesus V
rist your Saviour? Has not your path h
through life been strewn with mer- d
S? Are you insensible to the fact that k
ere are glories awaiting You in the bet Il
land-doXologies of celestial wor. Il
p, eternal chorals, fearless eyes, songs ii
1t resound under arches of strength G;
hosannas that clap their hands at 81
foot of the throne? NJ
5 it nothing 10 you that all the hills OF in
wen are radiant with the faces of w
se who have gone up from you aud OF
o are waiting for your coming, ready ht
keep with you eternal holiday? Is
re nothing in songs that never cease, tb
hearts that never ache, in splendors ii;
t never die, 10 make you glad2 Then liz
e no more mercy at the hand Of thy re-
/! Give back the marriage ring of ro
, that Jesus put on yOur finger in the W,
Of your sspOusal! Plant no more of rel
flowers OF heaven where there ought st,
be nothing but nettles and night in.
lie! iny
The Gospel of Courage. ~
'e try to make this church cheerful me
rcA. A man on Saturday afternoon of
IDS in his store and says: "How shall ]
set these obhgatiOnsJ How can en- her
3 this new disaster that is coming VIII
n meT He goes home. Sabbath Yea
ming finds him in the house of God. 4 !