The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1898-06-17

you be cnleny critical of the rhetoric OF
the PASTORS petition? No, no. A thou
sand people will feel, "'That prayer is
for me, I" and at every step of the prayer
chains ought to drop Off and temples of
sin ought to crash into dust, and jubilees
of deliverance ought to brandish their
trumpets. In most of our churches we
have three prayers-the opening pray
er, what is called the "long prayer"
and the closing prayer There are many
people who spend their first prayer in
arranging their apparel after entrance
and spend the second prayer, the "long
prayer" in wishing it were through
and spend the last prayer in preparing
to start for home. The most insignifi-
cant part of every religious service is
the sermon. The more important parts
are the Scripture lesson and the prayer.
The sermon is only man talking to a
man. The Scripture lesson is God talk
ing to man. Prayer is man talking to
God. Oh, if we understood the grandeur
and the pathos of this exercise of pray
er, instead of being a dull exercise, we
would imagine that the room was full
of divine and angelic appearances.
Church Must Progress.
But, my friends, the old style of
church will not do the work. We might
as we'll now try to take all the passen-
gers from Washington to New York by
stagecoach, or all the passengers from
Albany to Buffalo by canalboat, or do
all the battling of the world with bow
and arrow, as with the old style of
church to meet the exigencies of this
day. Unless the church in our day will
adapt itself to the time it will become
extinct. The people reading newspapers
and books all the week, in alert, pictur-
esque and resounding style, will have
no patience with Sabbath humdrum.
We have no objection to bands and SUR
plice and all the paraphernala Of cler-
ical life, but these things make no inn
pression-make no more impression on
the great masses Of the people than the
ordinary business suit that you wear on
Pennsylvania avenue or Wall street. A
tailor cannot make minister. Some of
the poorest preachers wear the best
clothes and many backwoodsman has
dismounted from the saddlebags, and
in his linen buster preached sermon
that shook earth and heaven with its
Christian eloquence- No new gospel
only the old gospel in q way suited to
the time No new church, but church
to be the asylum, the inspiration, the
practical sympathy and the eternal help
of the people.
But while half of the doors of the
church are to he set open toward this
world the other half of the doors of the
church must be set open toward the
next You and tarry here only brief
space We want somebody to teach US
how 10 get out of this life at the right
time and in the right way. Some fall
put of hfe, some go stumbling out of
life, some go groanipg out of life, some
90 eursing out Of life. We want to go
singing, rising, rejoicing, triumphing
We went halt the doors of the church
vet IN that direction. We wan. }! hals The the
prayers that way, half the sermons that
way. We want 70 know how to get
ashore from the tufnnlt of this world
INTO the land of everlasting peace We
DO not want to stand doubling and SHY
srtng when we go away from this
world. We want our anticipations
aroused to the highest pitch.
Jesus Leads.
We want to have,-tne exhilaFation of
1 dying child in England, the father
ceiling me the story, When he said to
aer, "Is tie path farrow?" she answer
sdT "The path is narrow. 1t is 50 har-
row that l cannot walk arm in arm with
Christ 80 Jesus goes ahead, and he
saws, Mary, follow. " Through the
church gates set heaTenward how many
Of your friends and mine have gone?
The last time they were out of the house
they came to church. The earthly pill,
grinnage ended at the pillar OF public
worship, and then they marched out to
a bigger and brighter assemblage. Some
of them were so old they could not walk
without a cane or two crutches. Now
they have eternal juvenescence. Or
they were so yOLLg they could not walk
except as the L-aternal hand guided
them. Now they bound with the hilarl-
ties celestial. The last time we saw
them they were wasted with malarlal
or pulmonic disorder, but now they
have no fatigue and no difficulty OF res
piration in the pure air of heaven. How
l wonder when you and will cross
over Some of you have had about
enough of the humping and failing OF
this life. A draft from the fountains OF
heaven would do you good. Complete
release you could stand very well. If
YOU got ON the other side and had per-
mission to come back, you would not
come. Though you were invited to
come back and join your friends ON
earth, you would say: "No, let me tar
ry here until they come. shall not risk
going back. If man reaches heaven, he
had better stay here"
On, 1 join hands with you in that
uplifted splendor!
When the shore is won at last,
Who will count the pillows past?
In Frey burg, Switzerland, there is
the trunk of tree 400 years old. That
tree was planted to commemorate an
event. About ten miles from the city
the swiss conquered the Burgundians,