The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1901-02-15

sailed. our silence gives consent 10
the bombardment OF your Fathers
house. You allow slur 10 he east on
your mothers dying pillow. In behalf
ofthe Christ, who for you went through
the sgonies of assassination on the
rocky bluff back of Jerusalem, you
dared not face a sickly joke. Better
load up with few questions. so that
next time you viii be ready. Say 10 the
scoffer: MY dear sir. will YOU tell me
what makes the difference between the
condition of woman in China and il the
United States? What co YOU think of
the sermon on the mount? How do
you like the golden rule laid down in
the Scriptures? Are you in favor of the
Ten Commandments? In your large
and extensive reading have YOU come
across a loyelicr character than Jesus
Christ? viii You please to name the
triumphant deathbeds of infidels and
atheists? How Go you account for the
fact that among the out and out be
levers in Christianity we're such per
sons as Benjamin Franklin. John Rus
kin, Thomas CARLYLE. Darlington, Mac
aulay, William Penn, Walter Scott.
Charles Kingsley. Horace Bushnell,
James \. Garfield, Robert +. Lee. Stone
wall Jackson. Admiral Foote. Admiral
Farragut. Ulysses :. Grant. John Nil
ton, William Shakespeare. Chief Jus
tice Marshall. John Adams, Daniel Web
ster, George Washington? How do you
account for their fondness for the
Christian religion? Among the in
Vulnerable colleges and universities
of the earth viii YOU name me three
started by infde.s and now supported
by infideiS? Down in your heart are
you really happy in the position you
occupy antagOnistic 10 the Christian
religion? When co you have the most
rapturouS views Of the next world >"
Go al him with a few such ques ions.
and he Will get so red in the face "a 10
suggest apopleXy. and he Will look at
his watch and say he has an engage
ment and must go. Iou will put him in
q sweat that viii beat Turkish bath.
You viii put him on a rout compared
with which our troops al Bull Run
made no time at all. Arm yourself. not
with arguments. but interrogation
points. and / promise YOU victory. Shall
such man as YOU. shall such a woman
as you, surrender to one of the mean
est spirits that ever smoked Up from
the pit-the dumb devil spoken OF in the
text?
But then there are occasions when
this particular spirit that Christ eXor-
ciSed when He said: Il charge thee
TO come out of him" takes people by
the wholesale. In the most responsive
religious audience have You noticed
how many people never sing at all?
They have book, and they have q
voice. and they Know how 10 read.
They know many of the tunes. and vet
are silent while the great raptures OF
music pass by. Among those who sing
not one on, of a hundred sings loud
enough to hear his own voice. They
hum it. They give sort OF religious
grunt. They make the lips go. but ii is
inaudible. With voice strong enough
10 stop street car one block away all
they can afford in the praise of God is
about half a whisper. With enough
sopranos. enough altos. enough bassos
to make a small heaven between the
four walls they let the opportunity 60
by unimproved. The volume of voice
that ascendS from the largest audience
that ever assembled ought TO be multi
piled two thousandfold But the min
lister rises and gives ont the hymn. the
organ begins, the choir or precentor
leads. the audience are standing so
that the lungs may have full expan-
sion. and mighty harmony is about to
ascend when the evil spirit spoken Of
in my textile dumb devil-spreads
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 threats from which they started.
and only here and there anything 8
heard. ard nine-tenths of the hoy
power is destroyed. and the dumb devil
as he flies away. says: Il could not
keep Isaac Watts from writing shat
hymn, and could rot keep Lowell Ma
son from composing the tune 20 which
il is set. but | smote into silence or hair
silence the lips from which it would
have spread abroad TO bless neighbor-
hoods and cities and then mount the
wide open heavens" Give the long
meter doxology the 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
better keep silent about it." No"
said Wesley. ''if you had 10000
tongues, you had better use them for
Christ" And then that angel of
hymnology penned the words:
Oh. for thousand tongues to sing
My dear Redeemers praise,
The glories Of my God and King,
The triumphs Of His grace.
Jesus. the name that Gains our fears,
That bids our sorrows cease;
IT'S music in the sinners ears:
It's life and health and peace.
While much of the modern music
is religious doggerel, a consecrated
nonsense, a sacred imbecility, would
like to see some great musician of
our time lift the baton and marshal
"Luther's Judgment Hymn Var
mouth" Dundee" ariel" Battle