The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-18


church tDr. BarnesD, by Request OF the
Young Mems Christian Association.
FsPECIAL REPORT FOR THE EVENING TELEaRAPH.l
"Cease nly son, to hear the obstruction that cduSct
70 err JTon1fhe words 10tedge."-Pr0Uer6s XIX
Solomon, the author of these words, is pre-
cisely the person to give us text for the rehec-
sions of this evening. At once a king and a
sage, against both his royal dignity and his
wisdom, he allowed himself to be drawn into
the charmed circle of sinful indulgence OF fall
the men OF his day he knew best the power of
temptation, and the danger and emptiness of
worldly pleasure.
Emerging from the wreck and ruin of his
oWn life sated and drenched with pleasure he
fully travelled. HIS advice, substantially, is
that the young shall move cautiously, thought
a delicious song, a witticism, a syliogism, n
ding, or wel-contrived story, shall not be
allowed to cheat them out of the truth, or put
them into the hands of their souls enemies.
In a word he bids them consider and under
stand what truth Is ana what talsehood, that
a solicitation to good from temptation to sin,
and understand the great difference between
the charm and sweetness OF real pure, viz
tuous beauty, and the snowy and shallow
attractions which set off and conceal the ruin
of lust. He would have the young men of his
concerned about the character they are forming,
that they will see through the wues of the
false instructor and refuse to hear him to the
end of his argument; that they will scent
error and sin at the first words, and say:-Get
IN,
the instruction that causeth to err"
our object this evening is similar. We see
error all around us-in books, in newspapers,
in magazines. We sec this error becoming
practical in loosing the bonds of morality, in
lowering sacred things; in grading the way to
every form of worldly amusement and dissipa-
tion and in dimming the eternal distinction
between good and evil, right and wrong. We
hold as a matter of course, that the highest in
terests of man are the moral and religious; that
whatever threatens these must be resisted at
every hazard and every sacrifice. The world
is bent on being rich and happy. We bid them
God-speed, but call upon them first of all to be
Virtuous, and beg them to stay in their mad
race after excitement and gold, and consider
what they were made for, what is duty, what
will stand the test of the dying hour, and what
will pass judgment in the last day. We would
especially analyze the opiates with which they
drug their consciences and dispose of true relt-
gion while they yield themselves up TO sin.
Or to drop the figure, the thinking OF people people
eth so is he;" and the literature which is all
around us, pressing upon him from every CEN
bookstore, is more than likely to modify his
thoughts. And that man or that association
that will aid the endangered spirit IN a. sieng m out
will do much towards saving a soul from
death.
evening. Our theme is, The dangers to yOIulg
men from The current HterdtTe. ,.--
First of all, let us consider the dangers from
skeptcism.
Within few years past number of books
have been published against Christianity, which
world. Among these may be mentioned strauss
"ILfe of Jesus" Coenso'S books, essays, and
reviews, Remains Life of Jesus" and q few
minor performances. We DO not mention these
books for the purpose of refutng them. Such
task lies wide of our aim in this discourse. We
wish rather to call attention to the fact that
these books, so full of plausible sophisms and
bold statements without proof, must be fraught
with danger to the inexperienced TO theolo-
gians, and learned Christians generally, they
are quite harmless; perhaps, indeed, they give
to such confirmation of their faith. In reading
tbpXT a rp stC "
where that of Hume rested namely, on the
alleged unchangeableness OF the laws of nature,
and the consequent imposSibility of o miracle;
and that his theory of the mythical origin of
the Gospels is bare hypothesis, with nothing
TO back it, recently reIuted by his fellow-unbe-
lever Renan, as frequently before. In reading
"COlenso on the Pentateuch," they see in the
mistakes of a renowned mathematician how
little the strongest foe can DO against the Bible.
So puerile and so groundless are his arith-
metical calculations, that child ought to be
ashamed of them, and child might answer
them. And in reading Renan he would come
to the conclusion, as we did, that the author had
not even carefully read the Gospels before
undertaking to retute them, and might rise from
the study OF his book greatly strengthened in
his faith by an eloquent effort TO overthrow it.
But while such attacks on Christianity might
confirm the faith of the learned and expert
enced Christian, they would be likely to affect
the young and inexperienced quite differently.
The bare fact that such books are written by
and magazines and reviewers to give item
favorable notice, is well suited to make an in
furious impression upon those who are uns killed
in theological science, especially If they are not
Christians. The arguments from these books
are constantly referred to in the newspapers:
they meet the young mans eye in book notices
ana magazine articles, and If the range of his
reading takes him mostly through periodicals
and papers unfriendly to Christianity and
to orthodox views of it, these arguments, with
their friendly CLOSES, will repeat themselves
upon ms mind until by sheer dint of repetition
they make lodgment, or at least create bias
in their favor
There is the more danger of this because manv
OF the Leading newspapers, those especially Of
Inc greatest ability and widest circulation and
lnhuence, are under semi-infidel control Take
for example the New York Tribune a paner
i Whlch mas done more for the cause of human
liberty than any other in the nation, what sort
OF religion does 1t reflect? Its editor is a uni
Versal1st which practically includes Unitarian
ISM also anu Jus criticisms of religious pubica-
Lons always iaVor latitudinarian views. Books
which aim to establish the inspiration of Scrin-
ture as an infallible revelation, and to support
Ihe doctrines OF the evangelical churches. are
always, or nearly always, unfavorably received
while works substantially infdel generally re.
celVe elaborate and appreciatiVe treatment we
The type of many.
1t would take nice calculating to determine
Whether the services of these papers to The
cause OF humanity in general are not inferioT
In bulk to the harm they have done 10 ~
sacred interests OF true religion The ntteTaucaS
OF such paper as the New York Tribtt,le. read
Dy young man every day, are apt to become
authority, on religion as on other 0uesfionS
He grows accustomed TO see the defenderS Of
divine truth treated as old fogies beionginS n
an age OF which nothing is lett butsfosSiig and
the impugners of miracles and 'insniratinn
honored as the giants OF new and better era
These bold assaults of unbelief, which are
served up in book notices almost every weeir
nave indeed been fully and perfectly answered
IN reviews and religious Weeklies but the re-.
views are never seen by the young men, and
the religious weeklieS il ever seen, have not Inc
IOrce OF standard authorities among men ot
Ine world, and cannot compete with the great
and oVershadowing dailies.
a N In hnn 1yCf hot g.,