The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-28

any real church growth, the people as
wen as the minister have had to carry
d ioad OF responsibility and care.
moreover this extra load usually falls
/ upon shoulders that are already bur
deneu- This extra strain on brain and
nerve makes relaxation doubiy neces-
safy. And yet every year a certain
class of critics come forward with the
suggestion that those congregations
which close their churches for vacation
are leaving God and religion behind
and giving the devil a chance. A some
what better reason was given by old
Dr. Putnam of SomerVille Mass. who
said that he didn't dare 10 stop preach
ing for fear he would have to go to
church like other people and listen to
sermons. But the usual assumption of
our anti-vacation critics seems to be
that religion is confined within the
walls of churches; that God is to be
found only at shrines and affairs This
conception of God is part of the prini-
tive superstition of the childhood of the
race. 1t is quite on a par with the idea
OF the little girl whose parents were
about 10 move to Chicago from small
town in Illinois. On the night of their
last day in their old home, after the
little girl had been bidding good bye
to every one she knew outside the
family, her mother was somewhat
startled to hear her add at the end of
her usual evening prayer the exclama-
ton: Good bye, God, ives goin' to
Chicago
Our still youthful but slowly matur-
ing civilization is just beginning to
learn that God is to be found out of
doors as well as in the churches. In
every shrub and tree and flower, in
lake and mountain brook. in forest, in
meadow and in cultivated field. in all
the processes of natures growth, we
may see the wisdom, power. and love
of God. 1t is well that we have meet
ing places in which we may assemble
for reverent thought and worship; il is
well that we should come to feel to-
ward them q tender and sacred regard.
They should be connected in our minds
with some of the deepest experiences of
our lives. 1t is well that we have
churches. They are a necessity to
social progress. But it is a strange
perversion of the idea of true religion
to think of it as connected only with
church buildings and formal exercises.
Such was not the teaching of Jesus.
The woman of Samaria whom he met
at Jacobs well raised the same ques-
ton as to the proper place of worship
being exclusively located in a certain
in this mountain, and We say that in
Jerusalem is the place where men ought
TO worship" ii. e. in the temple.) Never
was answer more sweeping or con-
elusive. THE time has come when
neither in this mountain, nor in Jeru-
salem, shall We worship the father.
God is spirit; and they that worship
him must worship in spirit and in
truth" What a searching rebuke to
n or niS
answer to those who would confine
religion within enclosures built by men!
What a magnificent plea for the wor-
ship of God out of doorsl
NOT SACRILEGIOUS TO BE JOLLY.
Another misconception of play time
is that we are necessarily getting
away from God and religion when we
are jolly. Our Puritan inheritance has
given to many people an impression of
religion as stern, gloomy and forbid
ding-Something to associate with long
meter tunes and melancholy faces. DR..
Peabody tells US that the first time a
bunch of roses appeared on the pulpit
of the South Parish in Portsmouth it
excited comment from every newspaper
in New England. President Woodruff
in his address to the old folks last week
said when he was a boy back in Con-
necticut it was a crime for mother
to kiss her baby on Sunday. 1t is the
survival of this abnormal state of mind
which has left upon so many the i'm
preston that religion is somehow in
with merriment and fun;
that God is fond of us when we put on
long faces, but displeased when we
laugh. How different is all this again
from the teachings of the founder of
our religion, He was charged with |
levity by the long-faced pharisees, be-
cause he mingled in the mirth and play |
around him. He took a merry, laugh
ing child as the fittest symbol of the |
kingdom of heaven. He said that these |
merry little ones were dear TO the |
father of us ALL That group of happy, !
Joyous children who surrounded this |
platform two weeks ago, and whose
young lives we consecrated to truth |
and purity-think you God was dis /
pleased with them when they laughed |
and smiled? l tell you no. But their |
smiles and laughter are the reflected |
radiance of His infinite love. In every
thing about us on these, bright June
lays, we find the thought of natures
Sod expressed in light and joy and |
beauty. The lark and robin sing their
gayest songs without apparent fear of
becoming secular and worldly. The
roses are not painted black, the peoples
gray. or the carnations brown. True
here are neutral tints, but they blend
With the gay TO form perfect har-
nony.
So life is full of serious needs and
sober problems. And mems lives must
Use TO meet them with the strength of
earnest purpose. But this purpose is
lot weakened by the happiness and joy
which give symmetry TO conduct In
ife's music there are heavy tones and
light. There are serious notes of obliga-
ion. responsibility and duty. And there
ire lighter notes of merriment and
nirfh. There are average notes, too,
which grow monotonous If unrelieved.
And all of these must blend to make
he perfect symphony. If we would
atch the strains of life's divinest
melodies. then the clear ringing upper
totes of jov and gladness must be
RELY heard. but heard attuned in
Iarmony with the deep bass of the
moral law. Let vacation time be
rowded full of that sort of play and
un which accords with earnest pur-
ose. and the melody of our mirth will
My bring us nearer to that infinite
armony which seeks expression con-
family through these imperfect lives
f ours.
Food. when it sours on the stomach,
ecomes innutritive and unwholesome.
I poisons the blood, and both mind and