West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1882-09-15
- CHRISTIANITY DECASINGt
Rev. ,. N. Thompson Rt Tire "a. n.
Church lust SUNDAY

/ Sl tne NJ. n. Church OF this place last
Sunday morning, from the text, Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but my words
shall not pass away" Matt. - :35.
The Sunday edition of the Wheeling
| Register with characteristic enterprise
contained a report of nearly two aud
half cOlumns of the sermon. from which
we exccrp the following,
Modern unbelief. especially 80 far as il
prevails among intellectual persons, is
marked by patronizing attitude toward
Christianity. In6delity does not now ar
ray itself in open and violent opposition
10 ITS high claim of supernatural origin
and divine authority. 1t does not indulge
in virulent opprobrious epithets. No re-
ally thoughtful person in the ranks OF
unbelief any longer thinks of denounciug
Christianity as the enemy of mankind, or
| as the cunning production of prlestlY inn
| posture. II is spoken OF rather as having
played su important, a beneficial, n nee
essary part in the growth of the human
race. We are told that il was admirably
adapted To fulfill certain indispensable
functions in the cruder and ruder times,
before 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, having
left its childhood forever behind, the re-
| ligion of it's childhood should quietly and
with decent respect be laid aside The
implication is that Christianity is worn
out, that 1t has exhausted itself, that it Il
without juice or cap or vital force, that
man has grown too large for IL, is, in fact,
developed beyond IL. Ii is said that as a
man should not wear the same clothes he
did when he was boy, so the human race
in its manhood should cast aside the relig
ion Of It's childhood, and for the same rea-
son, namely, because IL no longer fits.
The tree should be content to- lose It's old
bark because Il has gro Hn too large for IL.
| This old bark served an excellent purpose
when the tree was young and slender, but
now II binders and obstructs the growth 1t
once aided aud furthered. In such a cav
! Hing spirit, with such deferential and pat
runlzlng words, Christianity is being
shrouded for the grave.
Is Christianity decaying? Has Il run
out? Has the world gone in advance of
iI2 Has man grown too large for fY Is
lis final collapse impendiDg2 Is il old,
| juiCeless, sapless, lifeless2 These are
serious and weighly questions, and the
dearest hopes OF man IRE bound up In
their answer. The answer given to these
questions to day Is an earnest and en-
phatic NO." and it is the aim Of the hour
to show that Christianity is u living re-
| lgion, OF reason, OF vIgor. of immaculate
| purity. Of divine force and beauty and
power.
Christianity teaches that man may be
the conscious subj ct Of a spiritual and
Divine movement, that his former guilt
may be utterly blotted out, that his old q
| self and flesh life may be radically chang
| ed, and that be may enter upon new,
fresh, sweet. whol,som life of the spirit.
Ia this there is nothing irrational, for
either we must deny GOd's existence en-
tirely or admit that He may mould and
new create the spirts of His children, and
| it is more rational 10 suppose that He
would rescue His children from the Ger
vice Of evil than that He would permit
them thus to be eusnared and degraded
forever. And Is not this doctrine adapted
| TO the moral necessities OF mcn2 Do they
not need to be delivered from evil, to
break away from the old guilty life OF
the flesh, 10 be reinspired with the love
and service Of holiness1
Christianity recognizes that this life 10
partial, relative, incomplete, and reveals
another life Of liberty and strength, Of
harmony and purity and stability. 1t
needs no argument to demonstrate the
relative and fragmentary character Of tho
life that now lie. it's inadequacy, ils unsat-
sfactoriness, for To this fact all men every
where hold up converting hands, it lie
woven into the warp and wool of human
literature from the earliest times until
now. Is It irrational 20 accept tho Chris
tian doctrine that this life is not all, that
Il is bat training ground. thai man dieth
not as the beast, that "dust thou art, TO
dust re;urnest, was not written of the
soul, that we survive lne tAptIlcuCo VI
death, and enter upon life high, ample,
serene, endJess? Is It not unreason TO de-
ny such a hope2 Will not God round out
our life 70 Wilderness. 10 beauty, 10
pOWeT2
These doctrines survive the test They
are reasonable, aud they are adapted to
the actual moral exigencies Of the men
and women to whom they are sent. The
world has not outRrown, will meyer out
grow, them. They have tife, vigor, pow
er, and they have not been touched by the
palsy Of death.
The moral standards of Christianity
would be insufficient If any man might
Jay with truth, 81 have measured up 10
he moral requirements OF the gospel, but
am conscious Of a capacity tor com
dieter righteousness than that here de-
scribed and required Has any man ever
exhausted the righteousness Of Christianity
Is there any man Of whom We may cay,
Gle has measured no 20 the fullness OF
he stature of Christ and yet there is room
for growth ~ his nature2' Ia the gospel
NJ nowhere else. virtues hang in clusters,