Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1901-08-08


stitching garments that will soon be rent
again and deploring brcakagcs and SUI
pcrvising tardy subordinatcs and driving
off dust that soon again will settle and
doing the same thing day in and day
out and year in and year out until the
hair silvers and the back stoops and the
| spectaclcs crawl to the eyes and the
| grave breaks open under the thin sole of
the shoe-oh, it is a long monotony. But
| when Christ comes to the dra wing room
and comes TO the kitchen and comes to
| the nursery and comes to the dwelling,
! then how CHEEKY become all womanly du-
| ties! She Is never alone now Martha
gets through fretting and joins Mary at
the feet Of Jesus. All day long Deborah
Is happy because she can help Lapidoth,
! Hannah because she can make a coat for
young Samuel Miriam because she can
watch her infant brother, Rachel because
she can help her father water the stock,
the widow Of Sarepta because the cruise
of oil is bciSg replenished. o woman,
having in your pantry a nest of boxes
containing all kinds of condiments, why
have yon not tried in your heart and life
the spiccry Of our holy religion? Mar
tina, Martha, thou art careful and trou-
bled about many things, but one thing is
ncedful, and Mary hath chosen that good
part which shall not be taken away from
her"
| must confess that n great deal OF the
religion of this day is utterly inspid.
There is nothing piquant or elcvating
about it. Men and women 20 around
humming psalms in a minor key and cul-
tivating melancholy, and their worship
has in it more signs than raptures We
do not doubt their piety. Oh, no. But
they are sitting ut feast where the cook
has forgotten to season the food. Every
thing is Hat in their experience and in
their conversation. Emancipatcd from
sin and death and hell and on their way
To Il magnificent heaven, they act as
though they were trudging on toward an
everlasting Botany Bay. Religion does
not seem to agree with them. 1t seems
to catch in the windpipc and become
tight stranCulation instead of an exhila-
ration. All the infdel books that have
been written, from Noltaire down to Her
bert Spencer, have not done so much
damage to our Christianity as lugubrious
Christians. Who wants Il religion woven
out of the shadows of the night? Why
20 growing on your way to celestial en-
throncment? Come out Of that cave and
sit down in the warm light of the Sun Of
Righteousness. Away with your odcs to
melancholy and IIervey's calculations
Among the Tombs"
Then let our songs abound
And every tear be dry;
We're marching through Enmanuers ground
To fairCr worlds on high.
Put More Spices.
! have to say also that we need TO put
more spice ami cnlivcnment in our rcli-
gious teaching, whether it be in the
prayer meeting or in the Sunday school
or In the church. We ministers 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 exhortations more lilies Of
the field. We want fewer rhetorical
Celebrations and fewer sesquipedalian
words, and when we talk about shadows
we do not want to say adumbration. and
when we mean Queerness we do not want
to talk about idiosyncrasies, or if stitch
in the back we do not want to talk about
lumbago; but, in the plain vernacular Of
the great masses, preach that gospel
which proposes to make all men happy,
honest, victorious and free. In other
words, we want more cinnamon and less
griste. Let this be so in all the differ
ent departments of work to which the
Lord calls us. Let us be plain. Let US
be earnest. Let us be common srnscal.
When we talk to the people in vcrna,-
ular they can understand they will he
very glad TO come and receive the truth
we present Would to God that Queen
Balks would drive her spice laden drom-
edaries into all our sermons and prayer
meeting celebrations.
More than that, we want more life
and spice in our Christian work. The
poor do not want so much TO be groan
over ms sung TO. With the bread AZ |
medicines and garments you give them
let there be an accompaniment of smiles
and brisk encouragement. Do not stand
and talk to them about the wretchedncss
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 stolidty by an inspiring laugh, and
y
Sheba, also send in the spices. There are
two ways Of meeting the poor One is to
come into their house with nose elevat-
ed in disgust as much as to say: II don't
see how you live here in this neighbor-
hood. 1t actually makes me sick. There
is that bundle. Take it, you poor, mis-
cradle wretch, and make the most of it,"
Another way is to so into the abode Of
the poor in manner which seems to say:
himself, 1t Is not more for the good |
AIN going TO try to do you than it is for
the good that you can do me-" Coming
in that spirit, the gift will be as aromatic
as the spkenard on the feet OF Christ,
md all the novels on that alley will be
fragrant with the spice.
We need more spice and enliyenment
IN our church music. Churches sit dis
cussing whether they shall have chors
or precentors or organs or bass yiols or
comets. ! say take that which will
bring out the most inspiring music. IL
we had half as much zeal and spirit in
our churches as we have in the songs OF
our Sunday schools, 1t would not be long
before the whole earth would quake with
the coming God. Why, nine-tenths of the
people in church do not sing. or they sing
so feebly that the people at their elbows
do not know they are singing. People
mouth and humble the praises of God.
but there Is not more than one out of a
hundred who makes joyful noise unto
the Rock of Our Salvation. Sometimes,