The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-03-25
Warmth and Hone.

An! 1 am SO Rlau thal tne sun Oh
Righteousness dawned on the polar
night of the nations And if Christ is
the great warmer, then tho church is
the great dollhouse, with its plants and
trees and fruits of righteousness. Do
you know, my friends, that tho church
is the institution that proposes warmth!
l have been for q years studying how
to make the church warmer. Warmer
architecture, warmer hymnology, warm
er Christian salutation. All outside ST.
berian winter, we must have it princes
hcthouse The only institution on earth
today that proposes to make the world
warmer. Universities and observatories,
they all have their work. They propose
to make the world light, but they do
net propose to make the world warm.
Geology informs Us, but it is as cold as
the rock it hammers. The telescope
shows where the other worlds are, but
an astronomer is chilled while looking
through it. Christianity tells US Of
strange combinations and how inferior
affinity may be overcome by superior
affinity; but it cannot tell how all
things work together for good. Worldly
philosophy has great splendcr, but it
is the splendor Of moonlight on all ice
berg. The church of God proposes
warmth and hope-warInth for the ex-
pectations, warmth for the sympathies.
Oh! I am SC glad that these great altar
fires have been kindled. Come in out
of the cold. Come in, and have your
wounds salved. Come, and have your
sins pardoned. Come in by the great
gospel fireplace.
A Blessed Confagration.
Notwithstanding all the modern in
ventions for heating, l tell you there is
nothing so full of geniality and social
ity as the old fashioned country fire.
place. The neighbors were to como in
for winter evening of sociality. In the
middle of the afternoon, in the best
room in the house, some one brought in
a great backlog with great strain and
put it down on the back of the hearth.
Then the lighter wood was put on, arm
ful after arnful. Then shovel of Goals
was taken from another room and put
under the dry pile, and the kindliDg be-
gan, and the cracking. and it rose un-
til it became a roaring fame, which
filed all the room with geniality and
was reflected from The family pictures
OIL the wall. Then the neighbors came
in two by two. They sat down, their
faces to the fire, which ever and anon
was stirred with tongs and readjusted
on the andirons, aud there were such
times Of rustic repartee and story tell
ing and mirth as the black stove and
the blind register never dreamed of.
Meanwhile the table was being spread,
and so fair was the cloth and SO clean
was the cutlery, they glisten and glis-
ten in our mind today. And then the
best luxury of orchard and farmyard
was roasted and prepared for the table,
to meet the appetites sharpened by the
cold ride.
Oh, my friends, the church Of Jesus
Christ is the worlds fireplace, and the
woods are from the cedars of Lebanon,
and the fires are fires cf love, and with
the silver tongs of the altar we stir the
fame, and the light is reflected from all
the family pictures Oil the wall-pic-
lures of those who were here and are
gone now. Oh, ccme up close to the
fireplace! Have your worn faces trans
figured in the light. Put your cold feet,
weary of the journey, close up to the
blessed confagration. Chilled through
with trouble and disappointment, come
close up until you can get warm clear
through. Exchange experience, talk over
the harvests gathered, tell all the gospel
news. Meanwhile the table is being
spread. On it, bread Of life. On it,
grapes of Eshcol. On it, new wine from
the kingdom. On it, thousand Injuries
celestial. Hark as wounded land raps
on the table, and tender voice comes
through saying: "Come, for all things
are now ready. Eat, o friends drink,
yea, drink abundantly, o beloved!s'
My friends, that is the way the cold
world is going 10 be warmed up, by the
great gospel fireplace. All nations will
come in and sit down at that banquet.
While was musing, the fire burned.
"Come in cut Of the cold, come in out
of the cold!"