Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1901-02-16

anu AT the emu OF the second verse II
stopped, and they went up and found
| Tom, the drummer boy, leaning against
stump and dead.
Ten Thousand Tongues.
That hymn, "Oh, For a Thousand
| Tongues to Sing" was suggested to
Charles Wesley by Peter Boiler who,
after his conversion, said, Il had better
keep silent about it," No" said Yves.
ley, If you had ten thousand tongues
You had better use them for Christ" And
then that angel of hymnoogy penncd the
words:
Oh. for a thousand tongues to sing
My dear Redecmer's praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumph of his gracel
Jesus, the name that calms our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
lis music in the sinners ears;
lis life and health and peace.
While much of the modern music is a
religious doggercl, consecratrd non
sense, Il sacred imbeciHty. l would like To
see some great musician of our time lire
the baton and marshal "Luther's Judg-
ment Hymn Yarmouth" Dundee"
"Plcyers Hymn" "Harwen," Antioch"
Mount Pisgah" and Coronation" with
few regiments Of mighty tunes made in
our own time, and storm Asia, Africa
| and America for the kingdom of God. But
the first thing to do is to drive ont the
dumb devil of the text from all our
churches
DO not, however, let MS lose ourselves
I ~
had our lives sometimes touched by the
evil spirit of the text--this awful dumb
devil. We had just one opportunity Of
saying Christian word that might have
led man or woman into Cbtistian life.
The opportunity was fairly put before
us. The word of invitation or consolation
or warning came TO the inside gate of the
mouth, but there it halted. Some hinder.
ing power locked the jaws together so
! that they did not open. The tongue lay
fiat and still in the bottom of the mouth
ms though struck with paralysis. We
were mute Though God had given us
the physiological apparatus for speech
| and our lungs were filled with air which
by the command OF our will could have
| made the laryngeal muscles move and the
| vocal organs vibrate, we were wickedly
and fatally silent For all time and
! eternity we missed our chance, or il was
prayer meeting, and the service was
thrown open for prayer and remarks,
! and there was dead halt-evcrything 81
! lent as a graveyard at midnight Indeed.
| IT was a graveyard and midnight. An
! embarrassing pause took place that put &
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 they
were not praying ut all. They were busy
| hoping somebody else would do his duty
| The women flushed under the awful
| pause and made their fans more rapidly
| hutter Some brother, with no cold
coughed, by that sound trying to fill up
the time, and the meeting was slain. But
what killed it2 The dumb devil. This
| is the way / account for the fact that
the stupidcst places on earth are some
prayer meetings. | do not see how a man
keeps any grace if he regularly attends
| them They are spiritual refrigcrat tors
| Religion kept on ice How many of nv
| have lost occasions of usefulness? In Il
! sculptor's studio stood figure of the god
| Opportunity. The sculptor had made
| the hair fall down over the face of the
| statue so as to completely cover it, and
there were wings to the feet. When
! asked why he so represented Opportunity
| the sculptor answered, THE face of thu
| statue is thus covered up because we ,io
not recognize Opportunity when it comes,
and the wings to the feet show that OPP
portunity is swiftly gone"
PnbIic Recognition of God.
| But do not let the world deride the
| church because of all this, for the dumb
| devil is just ms conspicuous in the world.
| The great political parties assemble at
| the proper time to build platforms for
| the candidates to stand on. A commit
tee of each p ~ is appointed to make
the platform. After proper deliberation,
| the committees come in with ringing re.
port, Whereas" and Whereas" and
whereas" Pronounciamcntos all shap-
cd with the one idea Of getting the most
votes. All expression in regard to the
great moral evils of the country ignored.
No expression in behalf Of temperate ly-
ing, for that would lose the vote of the
liquor traffic. No expression in regard to
the universal attempt ut the demolition
Of the Lords day. No recognition of God
in the history Of nations, for that would
lose the vote of atheists But Where.
as and Whereas" and Whereas"
Nine cheers viii be given for the plat
form. The dumb devil of the text puts
one wing over the one platform and the
other wing over the other platform
Those great conventions are opened with
prayer by their chaplains. If they avoid.
cd platiludcs and told the honest truth
in their prayers they would say: 20
Lord, we want to be postmasters and
consuls and foreign ministers and United
States district attorneys. For that we
are here. and for that we will strive till
the election next November. Give us
office on we die. Forever and ever,
amen The world, TO say the least Is
no better than the church on this sub
ject Of silence at the wrong time. In 9th
er words, is it not time for Christianity tn
become pronounced and aggressive as
never bcfOrcf Take sides for God and so
briefly and righteousness. EFF the Lord
be God follow him; if Baal then follow
him" Have You opportunity of rebuking
a SIM RChukp IL Have you "a chanca