The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1901-09-05

Az the dromedaries are driven up to
dies of camphor are unloaded, and
the sacks of cinnamon and the boxes
of spices are opened, the purveyors
of the palace discover what my text
announces: "Of spices, great abun-
dance; neither was there any such
spice as the queen of Sheba gave to
King Solomon"
Well, my friends, you know that
all theologians agree in making Sol
omon a type of Christ and in making
the queen of Sheba type of every
truth seeker, and / will take the re-
sponsibility of saying that all the
spikenard and cassia and franklin
cense which the queen of Sheba
brought to KING Solomon are might
lily suggestive of the sweet spices OF
our holy religion. Christianity is not
. collection of sharp technicalities
and angular facts and chronological
tables and dry statistics. Our reli-
gion is compared to frankincense and
to cassia, but never to nightshade.
1t is bundle of myrrh. 1t is dash
of holy light. 1t is a sparkle of cool
fountains. 1t is an opening of opal
inc gates. 1t is a collection of spices.
Would God that we were as wise in
taking spices to our Divine King as
Queen Balkis was wise in taking the
spices to the earthly Solomon.
The fact is that the duties and
cares of this life, coming to us from
time to time, are stupid often and
inane and intolerable. Here are men
who have been battering, climbing,
pounding, hammering, for 20 years,
40 years, so years. One great, long
drudgery has their life been, their
faces anxious, their feelings be-
numbed, their days monotonous.
What is necessary to brighten up
that mans life and to sweeten that
acid disposition and to put sparkle
into the mans spirits? The spicery
of our holy religion. Why, if between
the losses of life there dashed the
CLEAN of an eternal gain, if between
the betrayals of life there came the
CLEAN of the undying friendship of
Christ, if in dull times in business we
found ministering spirits flying to
| and fro in our Office and store and
shop, everyday life instead of being
stupid monotone would be glor-
ious inspiration, penduluming be-
| tween calm satisfaction and high rap
| ture.
must confess that great deal of
the religion of this day is utterly in
sipid. There is nothing piquant or
elevating about it. Men and women
go around humming psalms in minor
key and cultivating melancholy, and
their worship has in it more sighs
than raptures. We do not doubt their
piety. Oh, no! But they are sitting
at feast where the cook has for
| gotten to season the food. Everything
is fat in their experience and in their
converse ton. Emancipated from sin
and death and hell and on their way
to a magnificent Heaven, they act as
though they were trudging on toward
an everla sting Botany Bay. Religion
does not seem to agree with them. 1t
seems to catch in the windpipe and
become a tight strangulation instead
of an exhilaration. All the infidel
books that have been written, from
Voltaire down to Herbert Spencer
have not done so much damage to ouI
Christianity as lugubrious Christians
Who wants a religion woven out o1
the shadows of the night? Why &C
growing on your way to celestial en-
thronement? Come out of that cave
and sit down in the warm light of the
Sun of Righteousness. Away with
your odes to melancholy and Hervey's
"Meditations Among the Tombs."
Then let our songs abound
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Emmanuel.
| ground
To fairer worlds on high.
l have to say also that we need te
put more spice and enlivenment in oul
religious teaching, whe ther it be il
the prayer-meeting or in the Sunday
school or in the church. We minister:
need more fresh air and sunshine il
our lungs and our heart and our head
Do YOU wonder that the world is 81
far from being converted when yol
find so little vivacity in the pulpit ant
in the pew? We want, like the Lord
to plant in our sermons and exhorta
tions more lilies of the field. We wan
fewer rhetorical Celebrations ant
fewer susquipedalian words, and whel
we talk about shadows we do not wan
to say adumbration, and when W,
! mean queerness we do not want Il
talk about idiosyncrasies, or if a stitcl
in the back we do not want to tall
about lumbago; but, in the plain yer
nacular of the great masses, preacl
that Gospel which proposes to max
all men happy, honest, victorious AM
free. In other words, we want NOR
cinnamon and less gristle. Let thi
be so in all the different department
of work to which the Lord calls us
Let US be plain. Let US be earnest
Let US be common-sensical. When W
talk to the people in vernacular the
can understand, they will be very gia
to come and receive the truth we pre-
sent. Would to God that Queen Balki
I