The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-11-07

water the stock: the widow OF SareDta,
because the cfuss OF oil Is being replen-
ished. O, womanl having IN your pantry
a nest Of boxes containing all kinds OF
condiments. why have you not tried In
your heart and life the sHicery OF our
holy religion? Martial Martha thou art
careful and troubled atout many things;
but one thing Is needful, and Mary bath
chosen that good part which shall not be
taken away from her.
Make NeiE ehsly Worship.
"I must confess that a great deal Of
the religion of this day Is utterly insspid-
There Is nothing piquant or everlasting
about It. Men and women go around
humming psalms In a minor key. and cul-
turing melancholy, and their worship has
in 1t more signs than raptures. We do
not doubt their piety. Oh, no, But they
are sitting at a feast where the cook has
forgotten TO season the food. Everything
Is fat in their experience and in their
conversation. Emsncipated from sin and
death and hell. and on their way 10 a
magnificent heaven, they act as though
they were trudging on toward an ever
lasting Botany Bay. Religion does not
seem TO agree with them. Il seems to
catch in the windpipe and become a
strangulation instead OF an exhilaration.
All the infidel books that have been writ
ted. from VOItaire down to Herbert Spen-
Ger, have not done so much damage to
our Christianity as lugubrious Christians.
Who wants a religion woven out of the
shadows of night? Why go growing on
your way TO celestial enforcement?
Come out of that cave and sit down in
the warm light of the sun OF righteous
ness. Away with your odes TO melan-
choly. and Hervey's 'Meditations Among
the Tombs'
Then let our songs abound
And every tear be dry:
We're marching through Emmsnuers ground
To fairer worlds on high
81 have TO say, also, that we need to
put more spice and enlivenment in our
religious teaching; whether II be in the
prayer-meeting or In the Sabbath-school,
or In the church. We min ,sters need more
fresh ,,ir and sunshine In our lungs and
our heart and our head. Do you wonder
that the world Is so far from being con-
verted when you find so little vivacity in
the pulpit and in the pew? We want, like
the Lord. to plant in our sermons and
exhOrtations more lilies OF the field We
want few rhetorical Celebrations, and
fewer sesquipedalian words: and when
We talk about shadows. we do not want
to say admiration; and when we mean
queerness, we do not want to talk about
ldiosyncrasies; or If there be a stitch in
the back, we do not want to talk about
lumbago; but. in the plain vernacular of
the great masses, preach that gospel
which proposes to make all men happy.
honest vieterious, and free In other
words, we want more cinnamon and less
gristle. Let this be so I'm all the different
departments of work to which the Lord
calls Us. Let us be plain. Let us be
earnest Let us be common-sensical.
When We talk to the people In a vernacu-
lar they can understand, they will be very
glad 10 come and receive the truth we
present. Would TO God that Queen
Balkis would drive her spice-laden drom-
edarles into all our sermons and PRAYER
meeting exhortations.
More Life in Christian Work.
More than that, we want more life and
spice In our Christian work. The poor do
not want so much to be groaned over as
sung to. With the bread. and medicines
and the garments you give them. let there
encouragement. Do not stand and talk
70 them about the wretchedness of their
abode, and the hunger of their looks, and
the hardness Of their lot. All! they know
1t better than you can tell them. Snow
them the bright side Of the thing, IL there
be any bright side. Tell them good times
will come. Tell then that for the chill
dren OF God there is immortal rescue
than nm 0nf Of . y at
inspiring laugh, and while you send in
practical help. like the Queen of Sheba.
also send in the spices. There are two
ways of meeting the poor. one is 10 COME
into their house with a nose elevated in
disgust, as much as TO say: I don't see
how you live here in this neighborhood.
1t actually makes me sick. There is that
bundle-take ii. you poor, miserable SUI
ferer. and make the most of it, Another
way is TO go into the abode of the poor in
manner which seems to say: The bless
ed Lord sent me. He was poor Himself.
1t is not more for the good am going to
try TO do you than it is for the good that
you can 90 me- Coming in that spirit. the
gift will be as aromatic as the spikenard
on the feet of Christ, and all the novels
IN that alley will be fragrant with the
spice
I'VE need more spice and enliyenment
In our church music. Churches sit dis
cussing whether they shall have choirs or
precentors or organs or bass viols or cor
nets L say, take that which will bring
out the most Inspiring music. If we had
half as much zeal and spirit in cur church
es as We have IN the songs of our Sab
bath-schools ii would not be ICING before
the whole earth would quake with the
coming God. Why, nine-tenths of the peo-
ChnFFh nY civ
feebly that the people at their elbows do
not know they are singing. People mouth
and humble the praises of God: but there
is not more than one out OF a hundred
who makes a joyful noise unto the Rock
Of our Salvation. Sometimes when a con-
gregatiOn forgets itself, and is allah
sorbed in the goodness of God or the glo-
ries Of heaven, / get an intimation of
what church music will be a hundred
years from now, when the coming genera
ton shall wake up TO its duty.
Strong Sway of Holy song.
'T promise high spiritual blessing to
any one who viii sing in church, and who
will sing so heartily that the people all
around cannot nelp but sing. Wake up,
all the churches from Bangor 10 San Fran
cisco. and across Christendom. 1t is not a
matter of preference; IL is a matter of re-
ligious duty. Oh. for fifty times more vol
ume of sound than has ever yet rolled up
from our churches. German chorals In
German cathedrals surpass US, ana yet
Germany has received nothing at the
hands Of God compared with America:
and ought the acclaim in Berlin be louder
than that in our own cities? Soft music.
long-drawn-out music, is appropriate for
the drawing-room and appropriate for the
concert; but ST. John gives an idea of the
sonorOus and resonant congregational
singing appropriate for churches when.
in listening 10 the temple service Of heav-
en-, he says: i heard a great voice, as the
voice OF a great multitude, and as the
voice of many waters, and as the voice OF
mighty thunderings. 'Hallalujah, for the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth' An ar
gument men can laugh at. sermon they
may talk down, but a thousand voiced ut
terance OF praise 70 God is irresistible.
Would that Queen Balkis could drive all
her spiee-laden drOmeGaries into cur
church music. Neither was there any
such spice as the Queen or Sheba gave
King Solomon
Perfume Of -anetity.
Now. want 10 impress you with the
fact that religion is sweetness and per-