The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-02-25
GOSPEL RIRDRARCES.

byterian Church, Broad street, Below
Chesnut.
IRPECIAL REPORT FOR THE EVENING TELEGRAPH I
1 am perfectly aware, my brethren, that in
investigating q subject like this, we must press
closely upon the hearts and consciences of men.
am equally aware that / lay myself open to
severe If not unkind remarks My object is
Rdelity, and the accomplishment of good only.
/ believe that the truth must be told. Every
body wi II admit that it ought to be told; and
that II told kindly, freely, and fesrlessly, the
good results would be in proportion. But we
must be perfectly satisfied that 1t is the truth,
and the truth only; that it is not conjecture or
the offspring of prejudice, or that which has
resulted from anon-investlgatlon of the subject.
The question before us, then, this afternoon is
vital one. 1t is great moral question, which
involves the present and future good of man.
That Christianity does not make the progress
in the world that it should, Is an unqucstiouable
fact We mourn over it continually. 1t is the
lamehtation in the pulpit, and throughout the
press, and everywhere why IS II! 1t Is talr
question. Is it less important or less valuable
than the things of this world that do make pro-
gress?--for we are making progress, wonderful
and rapid progress in many things.
The whole world, civilized and uncivilized,
are making progress in some of the arts un-
doubtedly; and especially in the art Of killing
each other 1t is perfectly wonderful We can
kill more men now at one broadslde than we
could fifty years ago with dozen. So 1t IS with
everything else. Look at the influence and
progress of intemperance, and murder, and
theft, and defalCation. Why is it? The Bible Is
represented as coming from God-it is csta-
bished; it is diVinely beyond the power of con-
tradiction; 1T has weathered every cape; IL has
outIode every storm; 1t has stood erect amid
the widest tempest that ever ragged. When the
vengeance of Nature seemed to be uprooting
the wrath O blending
it to overthrow the God of righteousness
and of truth and submerge the Bible, it
rose on the very topmost wave of the seas
of wrath, and made its way TO the
shore in safety, while they had been attempting
its destruction. The Bible has withstood all
opposition.
since the days of the Apostles, maintained her
position in part. For the first century it was
wonderfully perfect; but of late years, you may
say what you please, Christianity has not nor
Is not making the progress she ought. Our
nation to-day is hve hundred per cent. worse
than it was twenty years ago. Investigate it if
you please. Don't take my statement. Men
may profess great attachment and love for their
country, but believe in that practical attach
ment and that love of country that endeayors
to better the condition OF the people.
=, Elevate them IN every point OF view. Bring
them up from their degradation and sin, and
bring them into fellowship with the Father, and
with His Son, Jesus Christ The majority OF
the wicked is enormous. Why is it? It is
land one against the other. Take the members
of the churches OF this city, and how many
truly religious will you have out of seven or
eight hundred thousand?
My brethren, you will never be aroused to
activity until you see where you actually are,
and the dangers that surround you. We may
suppose that we are very safe and comfortable,
and that there is no danger; but the rumblings
of an earthquake are beneath our ieet, and it
must and it acW burst with frightful fury, and if
we are clustered under the shadow of that
mountain without preparation, its liquid flame
and fire will sweep everything before it; but if
we are prepared, we may withstand its fury.
We are disposed to blame the world for being
wicked: We do not always stop to ask, Why
is 1t SO F? We blame the Sabbath-breakers, the
drunkard, the manufacturer of intoxicating
liquors; we denounce the folly and vanity of
the people of the world. 1t is done from our
pulpits and the press. Is 1t because these
things are wicked that the Church does not
make sufficient progress in the world? Who
are to blame? Who stand most in the way of
the progress OF the Gospel? We that call our
selves Christians, or the men of the world?
Let us look at the record. desire you should
look at it calmly and quietly.
After considering this subject with great care,
am constrained to the conclusion, and it is
my solemn belief, that those who profess rel-
g1ousness are the ones that stand most in the
way OF the progress of the Gospel; and If the
case cannot be made out fairly from the facts
with which we are surrounded, then l must
necessarily change my view. The Apostle Paul,
in the Ia Epistle to the Romans and the 18th
verse, makes this statement:-"But if thy
brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest
thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy
meat for whom Christ died." There is not an
nngodly man, or non-professor of religion in
the United States, or upon the globe, to-day,
that will do this. 1t requires a professor OF
religion, and no other, to do it.
The Apostle, in this very passage, addressing
himself to the members of the Church. says:-
''Let us not, therefore, judge one another any
more; but judge this rather that no man put
stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his
brothers way. know, and am persuaded by
the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean
of itself; but to him that esteemeth anything
to be unclean, to him it is unclean." You have
gone into the market, and have purchased
there meat that had been offered for sacrifice,
and brought it home, and 1t has been dressed,
and you have eaten it.
A non-informed and an unenlightened man
saw you do that, and he followed your example,
with this difference-he ate it, as he supposed
you did to the glory of an idol. He saw you do
this thing. He knew that you were Christian,
and protessed to follow the teachings OF the
Bible, and was a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ; but he was not informed, he had not the
light or knowledge that he ought to have had,
and your conduct influenced him to commit a
direct act of idolatry. 1t may have been per-
fectly harmless to you, but then you have the
intelligence to discern between the two, and the
other had not, and your conduct thereby be.
came deeterious and destructive to him. But
let any other idolator in the city of Rome, or
Corinth, or Athens have gone into the market
and bought meat that had been offered as sacri.
fee to an idol, ii would not have had a bad
influence. That is what they all did, and what
they were expected to do. But it is the conduct
of this follower of Jesus Christ which is censu
rable.
In another passage, 1st Corinthians, viii, H.
Paul says, "And through thy knowledge shall
the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died ,
nnl1a hot n