Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1881-01-13
&eadiug fpr the sabbath.
CONDUCTED BY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
Original ]
THE GOSPEL..IT,S EFFECTS.

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THE GOsPEL..IT's EFFECTS.
The word gospel is said to be derived from
the Anglo.saxon, "good-spell." This is a
compound word made up of "God," which
signifies good, and "spell." which means his
tory story or tidings The word gospel then,
in accordance with this derivation, signifies
either good history, or good story, or good
tidings, as may be indicated by its connection.
So far as we know, it is restricted in its use to
the message of peace and pardon which God
proclaims to sinners-of the human family,
through the merits of the obedience and SUI
ferings of Jesus Christ.
We cannot conceive of any announcement
that can, with more propriety, be denominated
good tidings, than pardon to the condemned or
freedom to the slave. Nothing is so dear to
US as life All that man hath will man
give for his life. millions of money" said
great sovereign, ''for an inch of time
The gospel is good news, because it proclaims
pardon to the captive and life to those doomed
to die.
There is one aspect of the gospel which is
often overlooked. We are too apt to regard
the effects of the gospel as all prospective.
Rarely do we, when contemplating the many
blessings which we now enjoy, trace them to
their true and proper source. Science is re-
garded not only as having developed the re-
sources of nature, but as having procured for
US all the blessings Of civil and religious liber-
ty. We would not detract nything from the
triumphs of science. Neither would we re-
tard, in the least, its onward progress; but
what, we may ask, has unassisted science done
for the human family? We might safely say
nothing, and triumphantly challenge refu-
tation of the assertion; but without any fear
of being called to account we may say unas.
sisted science has done very little to amelio.
rate the physical condition Of man, and still
less to alleviate him in morals. ....
Men are prone to ascribe to the instrument,
what.really belongs to the first cause. The
triumphs of enlightened nations are lauded
and extoled, without inquiring what it is
that entities some nations to be called en-
lightened, while others are stigmatized as
barbarous.
The primary effect Of the gospel is to
change the man. No science can do this.
Human philosophy is powerless to change
the savage into saint. The gospel of Jesus
Christ alone can do this. Our ancestors, but
a few centuries ago, were savages. BY the
gospel we are to-day what we are.
Neither soil nor climate can make people
great, or rich, or happy. Much of the soil
of Old England is poor, and its climate is in
some respects far from being generous. Yet
Old Eng land in wealth, in the arts and
sciences, in everything men regard as great
and good, stands amoug the FIRST if not the first
nation on earth. The effect of the gospel on
England and Scotland is that it has turned
chalk hills and craggy mountains into fat
lands To the gospel of Jesus Christ may
be traced all the useful arts. No nation des.
titute of the gospel has ever made any ad-
vancement in. agriculture, in commerce or in
civil government.
One way, and very good way, too, OF
discovering the good or evil which any par
ticular person or thing produces, is to remove
it. Now suppose we drive the gospel from
the world and what would be the probable
results2 We may safely say that those in
stitutons which distinguish the civilized man
from the savage would begin at once to de.
cay, and one generation would be sufficient
to plunge the human family into moral and
intellectual night. Without the gospel, the
world would not exist one month. Take
avay its institutions and -naA.. --~~.!1 -t'.e,
upon eHUu urt-rzRith less mercy than the
wolf prays upon the 1aub.
WHEEL. BARROW STYLE OF RELIGION
Richard Baxter, of whom we spoke week
or so ago, said good thing when he said OF
some one who lived in his day, that they had
"wheel barrow religion" They went when
they we're showed" 1t would he hard to find
better name for the religion of many who
live now. Many people are very like wheel.
barrows, and no Paddy plodding up and
down steep incline has harder and more
weary work than those whose duty it is to
push them As often as not they are quite
empty. They take what is put into them,
whether it be good or worthless. Whatever
knowledge or feeling of duty they have is
proof of some one else's work They are
easily upset and emptied, and they have no
power or will to get up again. They move
as long as firm hand grasps them ard keeps
them going. AS soon as they are left to
themselves they stop, and are helpless and
useless until they are lifted. When they
move, it is up and down, backwards and for
wards, never getting further, or showing any
life of their own.
We do not blame wheel.barrow for being
what it was made to be- or for not showing
the nature of man. But it is quite too
bad that reasonable, responsible creatures
should show no more will or character than
whee.barrow. A human being ought not
only to hear truth, but so to lay hold of it
and make it his own that it may be new
power to him. He ought to seek Gods light
and learn motives for right doing, so as to be
able to watch for bis way, and take it, and
90 on in it. He ought to know the worth of
Gods grace and how to gain it, so as to need
no urging to use the means rightly, that he
may grow in it and be strong.
No wonder many parson loses heart, and
feels that his work is not guiding living souls,
but trundling wheel-barrows. He wants to
learn those who have never learned, or to
rouse those who have never wakened out of
the sleep of sin but he is forced to spend
his time on those who know all he has to say,
and whom he has taught and reused over
and over again. He finds them tumbled into
the mire of some sin, emptied Of all they had
gained. and helpless to get up Or he finds
them standing idle, waiting like dead things,
ready to be pushed by servant of God, or
all agent of Satan Western Church.
A Coop ExPERIENCE.-God knows me
better than know myself. He knows my
gifts and powers my faiings and my weak
nesses, what can do and not do. So de-
sire to be led !; to follow him, and I am quite
! sure that be has enabled me to do q great