The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-08-26

W ANANAA AN AAAAn bNNAA
The inquirer has unearthed IRON the ser.
mons Of Ebenezer Erskine, q famous
Scotch minister, the following specimen
OF historic faith: oh! what a bed is
this! no feathers but fire, no friends but
furies, nc ease but letters, no daylight but
darkness, no clocks to pass away the time,
but endless eternity, FIRE eternal always
burning and never dying. Oh! who can
endure everlasting flames? 1t sltall not
be %quenched night nor day; the smoke
thereof shall 60 up forever and ever. The
wicked shall be crowded together like
bricks in a fiery furnace No wonder
Mr.. Macrae asked the Synod TO define
their present faith. No great wonder that
they declined, lest the definition should
indicate a great divergence from the past
traditions Ns his own"
A CORRESPONDENT Of the ErGRgelid, writ
ing about the question Of one or two ser.
mons a day, says:
~ have been a pastor for more than
thirty years, and two things are my exper.
ience: !. l can preach far better In the
evening than in the morning; less schol.
astic, II may be, but more ~feryently, earn.
estly, practically, satisfactorily. 2. Far
more persons come TO q personal decision
upon religion (sayinG i will arise God
be merciful to me a %sinner') after an even.
ing sermon than the former. l have
found it well at times to preach adoCtrinal
discourse in the former part OF the day,
and then an attendant practical one e. g.,
A. NJ, GLORY Of God,' what Is it? p. NJ,
'Glorify God with your body and spirit
A. NJ, Divinity Of Christ; p. NJ, tho duties
and comforts lowingtherefrOm, &c. It's
well to keep the mind Of the audience, so
far as possible, upon one subject the day
through. This usage Of one service, and
the sermon but a half.hour long, is fatal
to doctrinal preaching, but is just the
thing that too many persons want, and
this broad Church latitudinarian age de.
mands. Hence the two indefinite, loose,
undecided views our youth are entertain.
ing respecting many Of the most import
ant truths Of Holy Writ"
An "0ld parish Minister writes to the
Independent as follows:
l have Just returned from Association.
1t is notquite what. it used to be in my
younger days, when the meetings Of d.
ISOLATION and Consolation I'VE need to
pronounce them with a violent accent for
distinctions sake, with epexegetical re
marks, sometimes, for the benefit Of the
younger brethren and newcomers from
Massachusetts or Rhode Island or the no.
gions Of Presbyterianism beyond the Hud.
SOM were centers OF resort from afar for
pilgrims in one.horse wagons, the solemn
sanctity Of whose white craysts were their
protection from exactions at the toll.gate,
At the association meeting theology
held high festival. And It was the
ology. There was small Greek and less
Hebrew, and no biblical geography at all
but 'reasoninghigh Of knowledge, late and
WILL Of moral inability and physical ina.
bility, and secret will and revealed will,
and suspended volition and power OF con.
trary choice, and Taylor and Tyler, and
taste scheme and exercise scheme. No
Quibbling dissertations on the site OF
Pisgah, or the authorship OF Deuteronomy
or the antiquity OF man; but a well.
grounded assurance that the books oil
Moses were Moses books, and that the
Creation took place four thousand and
four years before the Christian Era, as
vulgarly computed. We would not have
knocked off that odd four years to please
any r%ationalizing critic that had dared
come at US with his CrackJaw German
authorities. Those were glorious days.
THE London Spectator is quite as much
puzzled over the credulity OF the scientific
enthusiast as over that Of the woman who
said that "she would believe that Jonah
swallowed the whale, il that were in the
Bible" 1tsays:
"But il the old lady had seen in one OIL
Mr.. Huxley's lectures a statements that q
flying fish had swallowed an albatross,
and had believed it, she would not have
been accounted credulous. A ghost is
impossible, but the generation OF force
without the consumption OF anything
that can be credited at once. The notion
ola conversion, a rare mental operation,
which, nevertheless, does occasionally oc.
cur outside, as well as inside, the
circle. Of religions emotion, Is con.
temptuously ridiculed, but the no.
ton Of a new motor produced
from a small wineglassful OF water is
received with most respectful attention.
The preacher who describes q possible
time in which all men shall be Christians
and laws scarcely needed is condemned as
a foolish dreamer; but when Sir William
Thompson looks forward to the day when
North America shall be lighted by the
electric force generated by utilizing Mia.
CARA, he is only going q little too far ahead
Of his generation, We are really not 90.
ing one inch beyond the truth when we
say there are men who would reject the
central fact Of Christianity-the resurrec-
ton OF Christ-not for defect OF evidence,
but because it is, in e, impossible, vet
would believe that certain combinations OF
electricity and heat could generate life, and
thousands who would reject the story Of
PauTs vision as ridiculous, while receiv.
ing as true an account ola new instrument
that would enable q Londoner to see New
York"
AN editorial correspondent Of the Chris.
tiGn Union thus interestingly describes the
seasons improvement and work at Chau.
tauqua, N. Y: The greatest improvements
have been made in the facilities
a 'feast Of reason and flow OF
soul. The old pavilion is gone. The old
auditorium remains, but is deserted. A
hall has been put up capable of seating, 1
should guess, one thousand people, with
a roof which protects from the sun and
rain. The building affords an admirable
place for the smaller and less popular
gatherings Of ChautauQua. A chfldren's
temple has been erected, which Is a great
improvement on the old section ient,
Here B. 7. Vincent every morning ave
severalhundred children drill inthe Bible,
and here, in the afternoon, Mrs. Seymour,
superintendent OF the Primary Depart.
ment Of Dr.. Booths Mission, OF New York.
illustrated her peculiar methods BY teach.
ing a infant class OF little children before
Q large class Of Sunday school teachers,
Bat the center Of Chautauqua is now its
amphitheatre, finished this spring, whose
platform is in the focus Of ten or twelve
thousand eyes-for the roof will cover sir