The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1904-10-20

whisper d warning; they must ecry
aloud ana spare not They kindled
faith and aroused zeal and awakened
hope III the stirring services Of the
church. They cherished the class
meeting as an unrivalled school Of
Christian experience; they loved the
prayer meeting as did Peter the
Mount Of TRANSPORTATION. saying one
to another, 1T is good for US to DC
here. They took time to be relig-
ious. Life was ont so strenuous 4
half century ago as it is now. Bust
ness was not allowed to crowd the
worshipper from the temple, The
Sabbath was not generally overbur-
dened with preaching. II they had
one sermon week, that was good !
Observation-Disclosures n. aooa
they mad the more time to mediate
and pray, and practice the sermon
We lose much when we lose leisure.
The word "Selah" occurring so fire.
quently in the Psalms has little
meaning to our ears. It meant some
thing to an Oriental in David's day.
Scholars say that it means: Praise
an opportunity to think, mediate, re-
fleet We might well revive theNword
"Selah'in our modern life. The Sab
bath is often made a burden by too
many services; the week days a con.
tinuous burden by the stress of bust
ness and the whirl Of social life
This rush attenuates and dilutes spir-
itual life and fosters the tendency 70
substitute hustle and organization
and platitudes for personal expert
ence and testimony. Both to be of
value must be fresh from day to day.
The mama would not keep sweet till
the second day save when a Sabbath
intervened. Those early Methodists
gathere mama as God bade them.
They daily drank from the brook by
by the way" They we're not afraid
to say that they knew that they were
saved, And they had ample warrant.
They did not sing. with Isaac Watts:
'Tis point I long to know
+. =. b
Oft it causes anxious doubt
Do love the Son or no?
Am His or am not?"
But rather they sang, with Charles
Wesley: ~
What we have seen and felt
With confidence we tell,
And publish to the sons of men
The signs infallibEe."
And they had eysn better warrant
than Wesley. Fhe first epistle Of
John is contained in three printed
pages; in that brief space John says
that I'VE know Cod nineteen times,
and me says the same thing in equiv
alent language thirty-two times more;
or in a letter which can be read
aloud in ten minutes he says that we
can know God and eternal life fifty
one times! Surely John was a Meth
odisti
Experience, song testimony this
triumyirate wrought wonders in the
days gone by. There is no patent on
the methods of the fathers. They
were often crude in speech, uncouth
i'll manner, deficient in many graces
yet they won men and advanced the
Kingdom, and pushed the world I'd
ward the circle of light that streams
from the throne. They were not per.
feet; they never posed as models;
they are an example to us which we
do well to heed. The model Is to be
copeland copy usually reproduces
faults even more faithfully than ex,
cellencies; but an example is to be
followed not in the letter but in the
spirit. Their zeal, their devotion
their courage, their loyalty to duty
their steadfastness of faith, their in
tegrity Of conscience, their glowing
fervor, their conscious c%nnrienca
their directness of purNa. heir sin
gleness Of aim, their -i.y-wG
may well cultivate as alcments O.
power in Christian life and service
They served their generation accord
ing to the will of God-as He gayy
them light and love and grace foI
service; let it be ours, with equal fl
deity, to serve our generation, Il
cultivate present day experiences, t
do present day duty, to walk with un
faltering step and unbroken rank tn,
path which their piety and goot
works made luminous the path tina
"shineth more and more unto til,
perfect day" Thus shall we be wor
thy sons Of noble sires; thus shall tn,
twentieth century hasten the da,
when all shall cry: "Alleluianl TIL
Lord God Omnipotent reigneth!"