Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-08-13
SO we sing, and we sing it heartily:
"Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts
in Christian love,
The fellowship Of kindred minds IS ike 10
that above "

1nG Cn1S SnElStiuu lONVD NHC"
we see it, when we hear it,, and w, we know
how it appears in the earth. we know
that love seeks with total sclf-forgettui'
ness the happiness Ct the object loved,
and so long as we know What it does ana
how it behaves itself In the social fabric.
we ought to be quite content. Ana want
YOU to notice at this point wherein love
is superior to the most eloquent speech.
Eloquent speech may mean self edvertise'
ment. Love always means self placement.
"The gift in question:" says the brilliant al
Drummond, in his book entitled The
Greatest Thing in the World,' and which
/ commend to you to read, was once
splendid and dazzling. 1t was brilliant
faculty drawing. all eyes to the e. speaker n;et ef
and all ears to his voice.. III IS the gilt ~
eloquence by which. a man ,swa,ys the
mind and thrills the hearts of his hearers.
Now you can see how man without love-
possessing such a power, gives to hlmseit
advertisement, and the fact Is that some
of the most brilliant orators OF fame, ana
among them occupants. Of pulpits, are so
fond of themselves and glory SO much IN
their eloquence, that they forget the other
elements that 60 to make up manly Chris,
YOU that the man possessing that eloquence
Is in constant danger. The attraction
which he has for the people always tends
to centre his mind upon himself; and by
and by he gets to be greater if he is not
aware, than the Master Himself whom he
processes to serve and represent. :,
Love, on the other hand. is selfefface-
ment. Love goes forth in benehcent MIN an.
istry, alleviating the, wounds of broken
with this thought is the teaching of the
Master Himself. You remember that
marvellous sermon in the mountain,. IN
which He saws, Even so, let your light
shine before men that they shall see your
good works and may glorify your Father
In heaven, The word So is to PC en-
phasized as indicating, the manner n, , OF the
the eyes as to dazzle the eyes; light may
be held so close before the eyes of the
world as to dazzle the eyes of the world.
You are not to see the shining one, but
you are to see the fruits, the results of the
shining. This Is the way with the old
sun itself. You look out upon the lawns
in the parks and the country side, and 1
have never seen the parks more beautiful
than when | visited them soon after my
arrival in this city few days ago. You
look out upon the grass and the growing
grains and the vegetation and the flowers
and you feast your eyes on the beauty and
the wealth of the carths surface; and you
begin to saw, whence came all this; who IS
the worker; who produced all this; and
you undertake to look up at the sun SHIN
ing yonder in the zenith of the heavens;
And the old sun, for your termerlty, Will
dart his red hot fire into your eyes and
will leave a mark upon you that you Will
not forget for many a day. do not look
at me; look at the grass; look at the grow
inn grain; look at the trecs-look at the
work, not at the worker. So with God
Himself. No man has seen God at any
time; we see Him only in Jesus Christ.
No man has seen God the eternal, at any
time; but we count the stars that belem
the dome above us, when the great daylight
is gone, and the more we study them the
more are we thrown back on the teaching
of our childhood, when we. learned to
sing. Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how
| wonder what YOU are, up above the world
so high like diamond in the sky" You
see the stars and the glory of them trans
ports your wondering soul, but you do
not see Him who made and keeps the
stars. If God is invisible in Himself, lie
is not invisible in His ministry. You
and l. be!svcd, who have been born anew,
are sons and daughters of God, and we
please Him most when like Him, we cfiace
ourselves and are seen only in the bcneii-
cent ministry of our lives, in our homes,
in our communities, i'll our churches, IN
our city, in the world. Then under tins
first point, we say. again that love Is OF
greater Naluc 10 lHe CnuTCu " lit
world than the most eloquent speech. Now
| may not say that eloqucnce is not vaIu.
able. No one of us would refuse 1t II
proffered to us. ] may not say-nclther
would Paul say-that cloquence, even the
gift of tongues was anything to be de-
spised. In the apostolic age it served to
attract the attention of men to the divine
manifestations among the sons OF men; and
it was greatly coveted because of this
,n-,ln,, NJ I a
notice that only few people can be c'o-
quent and the great majority OF us III re-
gard to speech will have to exhibit reality
rather than cloqucnCc in speech, and serve
our generation in the most practical man
ner available to us Now / might estab-
fish this point by argument and by declam,
alton, but | prefer to give you few Illus
trations, to tasten what l mean in your
mind.
A woman over here in New York City,
some years ago, came to the City Mission
would like to do something for God. am
not eloquent in speech, but l think l
could distribute tracts among the poor
and needy Give me a suitable supply and
! will render this service to my Lord.
She was supplied abundantly., On going
down the street she saw policeman TAX
ing a poor woman to the station; she
went to the station house and there
learned the facts in the womans case and
yben the woman was to be discharged.
When she came out she was met by tins
good woman, who threw her arms around
her neck and kissed her; and the woman
said: my God! Why did you do that?
No one has kissed me since my mother
died; why did you do that:' And the
humble Christian woman said: Il do not
know, unless it was Jesus sent me to do
It," Without going into further detail.
let me say that that life was redeemed by
the kiss of that Christian woman, whose
heart was full of love for her kind. This
Is the kind l mean. No eloquent preach
Ing from the most brilliant preacher that
you have ever had in the city could have
reached that life as did that kiss. That
reminded her of her departed mother. a
poor young girl was dying in the city of
Paris and on seeing a Christian woman
who was a stranger to her, said to her:
"You know l hate you Christians. You
have nothing to give but good advice.
You build fine institutions for us when we
have fallen, but you do nothing for lis
to keep us from being thrown into the
path of temptation" And no one but
that good woman, acting with Miss Hunt
In her benefcent work in the gay city of
Paris, understood the dying energy with
which she uttered those words. BY and
by this woman won her into the kingdom
Of God, and just before she died said to
the Christian woman, who represented for
the first time Christianity unto her: "Let
me die on something that is yours. Won't
you let me put my head on your pillow?
would like to die with my head on such
pillow as your pure head has rested on" 1t
was granted. That is what mean That is
the ministry that is open to love. Over
yonder in the city of Detroit, reportc
| !alled little bootblack in the street t.
| polish his boots. The little fellow came
but as he got out his brush and wa
about to begin a big, brusk fellow CAM
vou 90 away. / will do this" And tn
reporter became indignant and said
What do you mean by this?" 90, tina
s all right, boss. DO you know that Jim
my has been sick in the hospital for NOR
| i, ho iu strnnI