The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1901-02-16

his two wings, one over the lips Of one
half the audience and the other wing
over the lips OF the other half Of the
audience, and the voices roll back into
the throats from which they started,
and only here and there anything Is
heard, and nine-tenths Of the holy
power Is destroyed. and the dumb devil,
as he flies away, says; 81 could not
keep Isaac Watts from writing that
hymn, and ! could not keep Lowell Ma
son from composing the tune to which
II Is set, but ] smote into silence or half
silence the lips from which II would
have spread abroad to bless neigbSor-
hoods and cities and then mount the
wide open heavens" Give the long
meter doxoiogy ths full support Of
Christendom. and those four lines
would take the whole earth for God.
That hymn, "Oh, For a Thousand
Tongues TO Sing" was suggested to
Charles Wesley by Peter BOILER, who,
after his conversion, said: II had
batter keep silent about t." "Eo,"
said Wesley. "if you had 10000
tongues, you had better use them for
chriat." And then that angel Of
hymnology penned the words;
on. for a thousand tongues 10 sing
Ny dear Redeemer's praise,
The giories OF my God and King,
The triumphs Of His graesi
Jesus. the name that calms our fears.
That bids our aOrTOWe ceanN.
'Tis music 10 the sinners ears;
lis life and health and peace
While much OF the modern music
Is a religious doggerel, q consecrated
nonsense, q sacred imbecility. ! would
like TO see some great musician of
our time lift the baton and marshal
"Luther's Judgment Hymn" "Yar.
mouth" Dundee" Ariel" Battle
-.s>-.nsuxbridge." "Pleyers Hymn"
"HArwell," Antioch" Mount Piss
gah" and Coronation" with . few
rvgfno-ts Of mighty tunes made In
our " time, anu storm ASH, Ar
RIGA and America for the kingdom of
God. But the frat thing TO do Ia to
drive out the dumb devil Of the text
from all our churches.
Do not, however. let uh lose our
selves In g~enerahtiss. Not n OF Us
but has had u lives sometimes
touched by the evil spirit Of
the text-this awful dumb devil
We had Just n opportunity of say
ing . Christian word that might have
led . man or woman into . Christian
Afe. The opportunity was fairly put
before US. The word of invitation or
consolation o. warning came TO the
inside gate Of the mouth, but there
II halted. Some hindering power
locked the jaws together SO that they
did not open. The tongue lay fiat and
still In the bottom of the mouth as
though struck with paralysis. We
we're mute. Though God bad given
US the physiological apparatus for
speech and our lungs were filed with
air which by the command Of our
will could have made the larnygeal
muscles move and tho vocal organs
vibrate, we were wickedly and fatal
ly silent. For all time and eternity
we missed our chance, OF II was q
prayer meeting, and the service wa,
thrown open for prayer and remarks,
and there was . dead ~halt--every'
thing silent as o graveyard ct mid
night. Indeed, II was u graveyard
and midnight. An embarrassing pause
took place that put q wet blanket
on all the meeting. Men, bold enough
on business exchange or In worldly
circles, shut their eyes as though they
were praying in silence, but tbey
were not praying at all. They wsr'
busy hoping somebody else would Dc
his duty. The women flushed undei
the awful pause and made their fan
more rapidly futter. Some brother
with M cold. coughed, by that Sount
trying TO ill up the time, and tn
! meeting was slain. But what killed
> &? The dumb devil. This is the wa,
/ i account for the fact that the stu
pidest places on earth are som'
I prayer meetings. ] do not see how
Z q mar can keep any grace II he regu
; larry attends them. They are spirit
ual refrigerators. Religion kept OF
ice. How many of us have lost occa
. sions Of usefulness7 In q sculptor
/. studio stood a figure II the god OPP
:. portunity. The sculptor had mad
the hair fall down over the face o
, the statue so as TO completely cove
, It, and there we're wings to the feet
, When asked why he so represented
I Opportunity, the sculptor answered
"The face OF the statue Is thus GOV
, cred because we do not recognize Op
, portunity when IL comes. and tn
? wings TO the feet show nat 0pportu
nifty is swiftly gone.
But do not let the world dsride III
E church because Of all this. for the cum
: devil Is just as conspicuous In the world
3 The great political parties assemble a
Z the proper time to build platforms 70
the candidates 10 stand on. A commit
tee Of each party is appointed TO max
e the platform. After proper delibers
. tion, the committees come In with
Q ringing report: 'Whsreas." an
. Whereas" and whereas" Pre-
. nunciamentok all shaped with the on
Idea Of getting the most votes. All 81
preston In regard 10 the great mora
evils Of the country ieaored. No q
preston In behalf Of temperate II,
Ing, for that would lose the vote Of IN
liquor traffic. No expression In regar
/, 10 the universal attempt At the demoll
/, tion OF the Lords day. No rscognitio
, OF God In the history Of nations, 70
that would lose the vote Of atheist
l. But whereas" and Whereas" an
whereas" Nine cheers will be give
b. for the platform. The dumb devil q
u the text puts one wing over one plat
ls form and the other wing over the othe
D. platform. Those great convention
- are opened with prayer Big their char
,e lains. II they avoided platltudes an
ID told the honest truth In their PRAYER
70 they would say; 20 Lord. Wa want ,
~ DO po'tmsstsrs and ospsplI and toy,ir