Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-09-10

In. l., III, doctrine that this life b not ell,
III. - 70 bs,t a training, ground that man
t 1'o.h not AZ the beast, that "dust thou Ar,
e VI drst retnrnest. was not written OF the
~ that We survive the experience
o - dsoth and enter upon life high am
rio serene. endless? Is It not unreason
- dsnv u,ch a hope? VIII not God
,onnd ont our life to wholeness, to beau
ty, to powerf .....s
They are reasonable, and they are aoaPt..
ed to the actual moral exigencles %
the men and women to whom they arS
sent. The world has not outgrown, VII WI
never outgrow, them. They nave me,
yieor, power, and they have not oeen
touched by the palsy Of death.
3 The moral standards OF CnIistAn
ity are ample and supreme, ana y Is,
therefore, vital not decaying reuSiou
Moral standards are ample wnen tnelr
subjects may not exhaust ana oVerpaS
them. The moral standards OF Cnls
tianity would be insufficient II any mAh
might say with truth, II have meas
ured up to the moral requirements OF .ne
gospel, but am conscious OF q capaSi.y
for a completer righteousness than tnat
here described and required" has any
man ever exhausted the righteousness
of Christianity? Is there any man OF
whom We may say, HE mas measureu
up to the fullness OF the stature OF Chfist
and vet there is room for growth III ms
naturem In the gospel, as no"here
else, virtues hang in clusters,
Rich and Glorious.
In even good men, yea, the very best
among us, virtues are single, scrawny,
stunted, unripe. The moral qualities
demanded by Christianity are all IN
spired, colored, directed by the Sover-
eign force of love, so that holiness ar
rays itself in the irresistible garo Oh
beauty. The virtues of which men Doast
themselves, how prudential are they,
how tame and insipid often, the children
not seldom Of fear and policy, fear re;
moyal from the glorious freedom ana
beauty of righteousness which faul nao
In Christ! The law Of Christ, namely
that the powers Of our spirits, all the
possessions and forces Ofour lives are 10
| be held and used with utter unselfish;
| ness, has man fulfilled and oyerpassed
| this Jaw? ,,
Christianity gives these moral quail
ties
| Supreme FoSees
A religion has entered upon the per.
iod of decrepitude when It lays stress
upon externalties, when it attaches more
Importance to the sign than to the
thing signified, to the form than to the
shirt which the form enshrines. Not 80
Christianity. 1t accepts no substitute
for actual inherent, personal righteous
ness. 1t allows no rite, or form, or sac
red place or day, or theological sound
ness. to supersede the actual obedience
and purity of the spirit within US.
Behold again,
The vitality OF our Religion.
Men have not measured up to it's NOR
| al standards much less surpassed them.
| They have not exhausted its inspirations
TO loving duty, nor has Christianity low
cred the lofty standards of life, and con-
| duct and character it has ever held up
before men.
3. 1t is required ola vital religion that
| il shall be instinct with the missionary
| spirit. The missionary spirit OF re-
lieion is the impulse and endeavor to
propapate itself. Max Muller, speak:
| inc as q sch,scc!sr, not ~ a theologian and
preacher, says: "There a,a TWO KINDS
Of religions, one missionary, the o..nef
n-missionary. Christianity Is a mis-
sionary religion and would cease to ex.
list il il ceased to be missionary. A sur
vey of the world shows us that the mis-
sionary religions are alive, the non.mis-
sionary, dying or dead" The last words
of the Founder Of Christianity were,
"Go We into all the world, and preach
my Gospel to all nations" A religion
to be vital must have the impulse and
the endeavor to propagate ITSELF The
Christian religion
Survives the Application OF this Test.
II has never been more fully possessed
of the missionary spirit than at this
time. 1t embraces all organizations OF
Christians. That most ancient sect, the
Roman Church, Is still sending forth
its missionaries to the farthest portions
Of the earth's surface, while the differ
ent Protestant bodies are vieing with
each other in their gifts and devotion
to the cause of domestic and foreign
missions. They seek to enter every
country, to possess every island Of the
seas, to penetrate the darkest abodes OF
cruelty and superstition. Hang up q
map Of the world, and point out where
there are not mission stations. More
money was given, more missionaries
preached and taught, more converts
from heathenism were made last year,
than in any single year since Christ
from the Galilean Mount babe his fol-
lowers to disciple all the nations. A
religion hastens to decay when 1t ceases
to
Respect or Circulate It's Sacred Books,
but the Bible was printed In more Ian
| guages and circulated in greater num-
bers in the year 1881 than I'm any previ.
Gus year of the history Of the Church.
| A religion is declining when 1t sends
| out weak and incompetent men to en-
force its claims in unfriendly fields, but
| the foreign missionaries of the Christian
| churches are quite the peers Of the men
| who labor in the home fields. In the
missionary efforts Of the Christian re-
ligion, we see no evidence that II IL
aging, orthat its final collapse Is impend-
| ing.
| 4. IL is required Of living and vigor-
GUS religion that 1t shall be actually
competent to the production Of
appropriate and benefcent results.
The object Of religion must be to i'm
| prove man, and the condition of man.
| To say. as we often do, that Religion
seeks the glory of God Is TO express the
same thought in another form, for 1t is
wore than idle, 1t Is criminal TO talk Of
the enhancement Of Gods glory, while
man, Gods child, Is
DEPRIVED, Degraded and Distressed.
The glory of father who lives in plen-
| ty and splendor while his children are
clothed in rags, and suffer from lack Of
bread, must mean that he Is seeking to
find, TO clothe, to feed his children.
The glory Of God must consist In the
redemption Of His children from all the
evils that afIlct and degrade them.
A vital religion, therefore,
must seek the elevation Of mans spirit,
] and the ameliOration Of his condition.
is the Christian religion actually pro-
! ducing such noble results in the world
/ about us?
In England, fifty years ago, women
and girls were employed in mines and
couieries in the severest and most de-