The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-08-08

hilaration. All the infidel books that
have been written, from Voltaire down
TO Herbert Spencer, have not done so
much damage to our Christianity as
lugubrious Christians.
Put In More Spices.
have to say also that we need to
put more spice and enlivenment in our
religious teaching, whether 1T be in the
prayer meeting or in the Sunday
school or in the church. We minis
ters need more fresh air and sunshine
in our lungs and our heart and our
head. Do you wonder that the world
is SO far from being converted when
you find SO little vivacity in the pulpit
and in the pew? We want, like the
Lord, TO plant in our sermons and ex-
hortations more lilies of the field. We
want fewer rhetorical Celebrations and
| fewer sesquipedalian words, and when
we talk about shadows we do not want
tosay adumbration, and when we mean
queerness wo do not want to talk
about idiosyncrasies, or if a stitch in
e1AS peASh VIC aO uOI WANT W ldlh
about lumbago; but, in the plain YER
nacular of the great masses preach
that gospel which proposes to make
all men happy, honest, victorious and
Tree. In other words, we want more
cinnamon and less gristle. Let this be
so in 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 vernacular they can
understand, they will be very glad to
come and received the truth we present
Would to God that Queen Balkis would
drive her spice laden dromedaries into
all our sermons and prayer meeting
eXhortations.
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 garments you
give them let there be an accompani-
ment of smiles and brisk encoura ge-
ment. Do not stand and talk to them
about the wretchedness of their abode,
and the hunger of their looks, and the
hardness of their lot All, they know
it better than you can tell them. Show
them the bright side Of the thing, if
there be any bright side. Tell them
good times will come. Tell them that
for the children of God there is i'm
mortal rescue. Wake them up out of
their stolidity by an inspiring laugh,
and while you send in help, like the
queen of Sheba, also send in the
spices. There are two ways of meet
ing the poor. One is to come into their
house with nose elevated in disgust,
as much as to say: 81 don't see how
you live here in this neighborhood. 1t
actually makes me sick There is that
Dlndle. Take it, you poor, miserable
wretch. and make the most of it," An
other way is to go into the abode of
the poor in manner which seems to
say: "The blessed Lord sent me. He
was poor himself. 1t is not more for
the good l am going to try to do you
than it is for the good that you can dc
me-" Coming in that spirit, the gift
will be as aromatic as the spikenard
on the feet Of Christ, and all the
novels on that alley will be fragrant
with the spice.
Singing as Religious Duty.
promise a high spiritual blessing
to any one who will sing in church
and who will sing so heartily that the
people all around cannot help but sing.
Wake up all the churches from Ban
gor to San Francisco and across
Christendom! 1t is not matter of
preference. 1t is a matter of religious
duty. Oh, for fifty times more the
volume of sound than has ever yet
rolled up from our churches! Ger
man chorals in German cathedrals sur
pass US, and yet Germany has received
nothing at the hands of God compared
with America. And ought the ac-
claim in Germany be louder than that
of America? Soft, 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 to the temple service of
heaven he says: 81 hear great
voice as the voice of a great
multitude, and as the voice of
many waters, and as the voice of
mighty thunderings. Halleluiah, for
the Lord God omnipotent reigneth!"
Join with me in crusade, giving
me not only your hearts, but the
mighty uplifting of your voices, and
believe we can through Christ's grace
sing 5000 souls into the kingdom of
Christ. An argument they can laugh
at, a sermon they may talk down, but
a 5,000voiced utterance of praise to
God is irresistible. Would that Queen
Balkis would drive all her spice-laden
| dromedaries into our church music!
The Remedy for Sorrow.
Why did you look so sad this morn
ing when you came in? Alas, for the
loneliness and the heartbreak and the
load that is never lifted from your
soul! Some of you go about feeling
like Macaulay when he wrote, eff l
had another month of such days as 1
have been spending, l would be i'm
patient to get down into my little, mar
row crib in the ground, like weary
factory child" And there have been
times in your life when you wished
you could get out Of this life. You
have said, "Oh, how sweet to my lips