The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-30
Try WILLIAM t. ELLlS.)

bSloiS ~ pV0St1iS
oommon in newspaper offices, it was
ne practice Of some composltors To
keep standing certain common lines
md phrases. They knew that SO
~stereotyped is human speech me
could insert these lines bodily with
some saving Of time and TABOR. | haFe
thought of these c~ompositors OFTEN
when attending some religious meet
ngs. For these seemed made up OF
eft-over, shop-Worn phrases. Inc
freshness and life have gone out OF
hem. They have all unwitunsly De
come that odious thing, can't
RELIGION has a tendency to run to
words. Certain stock phrases become
common. Glibness in co~nVentlonai
speech is a blight upon religious lille.
It was the same fatal facility IN
5t~ereotyped p~hraseology that att1lcted
the active memhers of the jewish
church, and gave rise to the parable
which the Sunday schools are now TO
study. story of the two sons Is
, story Of lip-service versus life serv-
ce. The first son was told by ms
father to so to work in the vineyard
out refused. Afterward he repented
md went. The second son. with
oromptness and politeness said, Il so
sir"-but went not.
Pious yerbosity.
The auditors of the parable praised
he first son-until the teacher point
ID out that the second son represented
heir own case. They had been Wond-
.ouSly proficient in professions; never
aad religious ~phraseology been more
luxurious than with them. But, 10,
Ill the while they had been making
his pious verboSity a test OF ecclesIas-
.ical standing the %publicans and the
oo%stitutes had been going into the
zingdOm Of heaven ahead OF them.
What q shatterinS blow 10 self-com-
.olaCenCyi
The shock wa meant to be whole
some. What if somebody should arise
n prayer-meeting and interrupt every
sne whG used carelessly the sublime
phrases Of Christian devotion with the
.h~allenEe, DO you NEAR that!
Would not the effort be as beneficial as
t would be startling? We are very
careless in the use Of speech in this
western world. We are in quite as
much danger as those old Pharisees Of
putting words in the place of works.
We are FOND of taking religious
pledges, and repeating solemn conse-
:rations and lifting our hands in meet
ngs in renewed VOWS. The peril that
always awaits the glib and the stereo-
and conventional, of putting the
sorm in the place OF the substance
urks before our feet. The danger CT
becoming like the second son in the
parable is a real one.
A story was told the other day Of a
South Carolina Scotchman who was an
Austere and reserved man. One of
mis- descendants says that the only
word of endearment he vas ever heard
% utter concerning his wife was Oh
ais death bed when he commanded
her to the care Of his adult sons in
he words, Margaret is a. good WON
an, and l like her" We smile at the
meagerness and caution of the utter
but boring that they had
been preceded by a life. of consistent
devotion, are not the simple. phrases
more beautiful than the tropical ardor
Of the passages commonly read from
letters in the divorce courts? Let us
De a little slower to speak the. great
words. and a great deal more heed
full to insure reality behind them. 1t
Is not"The most beautiful prayer ever
addressed to a Boston audience" that
moves God. but the sincere cry Of an
honest heart.
a Dire Warning.
Kipling derides the modern thought
which substitutes for our first par
ents, 1.-The yOlk of an added egg"
Far worse than this tendency to make
man of jeliyfish origin is that which
if one may speak plainly without
verse a iellyfish God, without char
acter or convictions, and easily to be
placted and cajoled with cheap and
sugary phrases. The teaching Of Jesus
that God is Q is a strong and noble
and divine conception; a popular per-
version Of this teaching, which strips
the Diety Of IL his divine attribute s
and makes him a characterless crea-
ture Of man's vagrant will, is debaS-
Ing and dangerous to the last degree
1t needs to be met with such terrific
parallels OF warning as Jesus spoke to
the self-Satisfied Jews of his dav.
A story is often the best form of
argument. So Jesus depicted the whole
history of the Chosen People in the
parable Of the householder who. after
making ready his vineyard, let it to
certain h~usbandmen. But when he
sent to receive his rental Of the crops
the beat the servants,
and otherwise ill-treated them, ever
TO death. "A second ~deputation of serv-
ants received like treatment. Then,
comment OF the respect that his own
sons person would receive. he sent
him. Then the wicked husbandmen