Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-09-10
OUR SUNDAY SERMON.
The Alleged Decay Of the Christian
Religion.
Asermon which will be Preached BY Rev. j.
R. Thompson, Pastor Of the He'd
F.. ding N. E. Church, Jersey City.
N. J., at XingwoOd ".
Va, to-day. Sept. 10.
r1usfuLL OF ELooUENcE AND BEAUTY

KINGwooD, w. VA, Sept. 9.-1ouf
correspondent, learning that Rev. J. r.
Thompson, well-known in Wheeling as
an eloquent and popular preacher, ex-
President of the West Virginia Univer-
sity, would preach in this place to-
morrow, sought the distinguished gen.
tleman and prevailed upon him to per.
NIT full synopsis of his sermon to be
made in advance of its de-
livery, for the benefit of the
readers of the SUNDAY REGISTER. L
herewith forward it in haste, hoping 1t
may be in time for insertion in to-mor-
rows issue. The reverend gen.
tleman will say:
Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my
words shall not pass away" Msth. A%h
Modern unbelief, especially so far as
it prevails among intellectual per-
sons, is marked by a patronizing atti'
tude toward Christianity. Infidelity does
not now array itselfin open and violent
opposition to its high claim of superna.
tural origin and divine authority. Ii
does not indulge in virulent opprobrious
epithets. No really thoughtful person
in the ranks of unbelief any longer
thinks of denouncing Christianity as the
enemy of mankind, or as the cunning
production of priestly imposture. 1t 70
spoken of rather as having played al
important, a beneficial, necessary
part in the growth of the human race.
We are told that it was admirably adap-
ted to fulfill certain indispensable func-
tons in the cruder and ruder times, be-
fore men had acquired any wealth, or
leisure, or knowledge, or art, or liberty,
or civilization, but that now, the race
having grown larger and stronger, nav
ing left its childhood forever behind,
the religion of its childhood snoui9
quietly and with decent respect be laid
aside. The implication Is that
Christianity is Worn Ont,
that it has exhausted itself, that it is
without Juice or sap or vital force, that
man has grown too large for 1t, Is, in
fact, developed beyond it. 1t is said
that as man should not wear the
same clothes he did when he was boy,
so the human race in its manhood
should cast aside the religion OF its child
hood, and for the same reason, namely,
because il no longer fits. The tree
should be content to lose its old bark
because it has grown too large for 1t.
This old bark served an excellent pur.
pose when the tree was young and
slender, but now It hinders and obstrlcts
the growth it once aided
and furthered. In such a
cavalier spirit, with such deferential and
patronizing words, Christianity is being
shrouded for the grave.
Christianity Decaying:
Has it run OUT Has the world gone
in advance of 1t? Has man grown too
large for it? Is its final collapse i'm
pending? Is 1t old, juiceless sapless,
iifeless? These are serious and weighty
questions, and the dearest hopes of
man are bound up in their answer. The
answer given to these questions to-day
is an earnest and emphatic mo" and
1t is the aim of the hour to show that
Christianity is a living re.
ligiOn, Of reason sSI of vigOF, ,v T0i
force and beauty and power.
Let us ascertain the tests of vitality in
a religion; certain marks or traits,
which if found in any religion, rescue
it from the imputation Of decay. pro-
pose four tests of vital religion. First,
that its revelations shall be reasonable
and that they shall be adapted TO the
constitution and circumstances of the
moral beings for whom they are made.
Second, that its moral standards shall
be
Ample and supreme.
Third, that it shall be possessed of the
missionary spirit. Fourth, that 1t Is
now competent to the production of
such results as are to be expected of q
living religion. A religion which sur
wives the searching application of these
tests cannot be a decaying re-
ligion, doomed to speedy ex-
tinction. Life and power are the neces-
sary attributes of religion, whose reve-
lati0ns are eminen thy reasonable, and
fit into all the facts Of human nature
and human life, whose moral standards
overpass the actual conduct Of the best
men and women of the most highly
developed nations, which is penetrated
with the missionary spirit, and which
il working marvellous moral transforma-
tiOns in our very presence. These tests
are now to be applied to the Christian
religion.
l. /. Are the revelations, the great
truths Of Christianity, reasonable, and
are they
Adapted to Man In His Present Life!
Let us clearly apprehend the force Of
this statement. The Question Is not,
"Are the revelations Of Christianity
such as man would have predicted be-
forchand If he had been inquired Of
concerning them, but, being made, are
they such as commend themselves to
the universal reason, do they fit the
facts of human life, or, do they do vio-
lence to the heart, the conscience, the
primitive instincts, the deep spiritual
intuitions, of mankind?
The conspicuous and characteristic
revelation Of Christianity is that Jesus
Christ is the
Incarnation Of Gsd.
Not that He is merely the Revealer Of
God, but that He is God revealed; not
that He manifests God, but that He is
God manifested; not that He merely
expresses the Divine Character, but that
He Is the Divine Character expressed,
in short, that what He said and did
and was on earth while He tabernacled in
the flesh, God says and does and Is from
everlasting 10 everlasting. Does such q
revelation of the Divine character and
disposition do violence to our reason In
its finest and highest moods? If the
ignorance, Interpretation, the infirmi-
ties, the guilt of men be remembered,
do they not need such God, God Of
marvellous eondescension, Of untiring
patience, Of tender sympathy, Of heal
ing, forgiying snd restoring love? II
we had 70 climb 10 His seat,
Alone and Unaide0.
who OF us would ever stand in his pres-
ence?
Christianity teaches that man may be
the conscious subject Of q spiritual and
Divine movement, that his former
guilt may be utterly blotted out
that his old-self and flesh-life
may be radically changed, and
that he may enter upon new,