Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1885-01-01
&eadiug fur the Sabbath.
CONDUCTED EY
REV. ROBERT LATHAM.
Original. !
WHO is RESPONSIBLE?

Original.
WHO Is RESPONSIBLE
The present condition and future prospects
of no insignificant number of the human
family living in our midst, are calculated tr
awaken within us feelings which are akin
to anguish. These people are poor. They
were born poor, and they live amidst the
ravages of poverty. Their houses are suffi
cient neither to keep out the pelting rains
of winter nor the scorching rays of sum
mer's sun. The food upon which they sub.
sist is of the commonest kind, and it is doled
out to them in quantities barely sufficient tt
keep soul and body together. They enjoy
none of the luxuries of civilization and very
few of it's comforts. Viewing multitudes OF
the human family, with whom we come in
contact almost daily, simply as animal be-
ings, their condition is sonly in a few respects
more desirable than that Of the wild beasts
of the forest, while with respect to the ma
iority of circumstances which attend them
they are certainly less favored than the
wild animals. For the greater part of their
lives, the wild animals revel in abundance,
but there are multitudes Of human beings
in every civilized land over whom poverty
as an armed sentinel, keeps constant guard.
Wretched as is their present condition, it
is made more wretched by looking into the
future. The prospects even for this world
are dark and gloomy, and only dark and
gloomy. Not ray of we'll grounded hope
enters their humble cabins, or cheers their
sad hearts The indications are that these
beings, in whose mortal bodies are immortal
souls, will drag out miserable life of pow
erty and shame and suffering, and at last,
like so many useless animals, lie down and
die and be forgotten. No marble slab; no,
not even plank, will mark their last rest
ing place. From their houses they will be
carried out and buried, and that, so tar as
their connection with this world is concern
ed, will be the end of the matter. No tears
of sympathy will be shed, and none, or very
few of affection.
This is sad picture, but its saddest fea-
ture is vet to he painted. These miserable
members of the human family live without
God. Vice, in its most hideous form, lives
and grows and fattens and attains huge pro-
portions in those huts of squalid poverty.
In those cabins which sin has erected as mon
uments of it's ravages, the great arch enemy
of all good keeps high carnival. The in
mates of these wretched abodes have appa-
rently no more religion than brutes. So de-
graded are many of them that they are not
even superstitious. All the natural affec-
tions have died within their breasts and
their souls are as gross and sensual rs lust
Itself
What ground have we for cherishing the
hope that when these heathen-heathen in
the Scripture sense of the word-pass away
from their earthly troubles, that all their
troubles will be at an end? There is moth
ing, so far as mortals can see, or God, in his
word, has revealed, to base a hope upon.
They have lived from the cradle to the
grave in sin. Their lives have not only
been goddess, but they have lived without a
god Of any kind or character. They have
paid divine honors to no being-not even an
idol of their own heart. Of God, the MAX
er and governor of all things, they know
nothing and care nothing, except to bias
pheme his holy name. OF Jesus Christ
they know nothing and care less. Of the
plan of salvation they are as profoundly ig-
norant as if there was no Saviour and no
plan ofsalvation. How can they be saved ?
Now the question proposes itself to our
minds, "Wh0 is responsible for this state OF
things?" At whose hands will God require
the blood of these heathen-these human
beings in Christian lands, who are living in
misery and dying without hope? A voice,
endorsed by many, is heard, saying: "rhese
wretches themselves are responsible for all
the misery which befalls them in this life,
and threatens them in the world beyond the
grave. HIS 10 iCdlllN AHSS tiS
thriftless and improvident, hence poverty
came upon them like an armed man. Ad-
mitting all this, has everything been done
that is possible, to lift these poor miserable
members of the human family in our midst
out of their degradation, and place them
firmly on the high plane of Christian civili-
Zation: The truth is, SO little has been at
tempted in this direction, that it may be
said nothing has been attempted.
We have fallen into the habit of stigma
tizing these heather, who live in our midst,
as the offal of creation, and practically we
treat them as if they were without souls
either to he lost or saved. We forget that
what we are, we are by the grace of God.
If we are better than these heathen, it is be-
cause we have been made better by the gos-
pei of Jesus Christ. We forget that we have
to 90 back, only a very short distance, into
the past, in order to find our progenitors all
that those whom we now neglect are. BY
nature, our heather neighbors are as good as
we are. Not only so, but in our veins
courses the same blood which flows in
theirs.
What a glorious thing it would be if all
the heathen-all the goddess people Of our
country, were brought savingly under the
power of the gospel. 1t will be said by some
croaking professor of the Christian religion,
"That will never take place, it never can
take place." 1t will be the proper time to
make this bold and goddess declaration when
every effort has been made by every pro-
fessed Christian in our land, to Christanize
our heathen neighbors. For the temporal
and spiritual condition Of these heather in
our midst, the Church. in her united capaci-
ty, is responsible. 70 the Church Jesus
Christ gives the commission to take the gOs.
pei, with all its saving power, into those
places which are full of horrid wickednesS.
But as the whole is only what the parts OF
which it is composed make it, this duty
of evangelizing the heather in our midst,
devolves upon each Christian, individually
If every individual would, in the matter,
come up to the measure of duty, things
would soon assume II different aspect, and
that for the better The miserable hovel
dwelling be reared in its stead. The Sab
bath would be observed; Gods name would
be praised instead of being blasphemed and
peace and plenty would take up their hab.
itation in the land. Our poor houses and
jails, and our penitentiaries would be ten
antless, and we would be permitted to see,
with our own eyes, many souls savingly
brought under the power of the gospel and
into the kingdom of Jesus Christ. This j.
enough to stimulate every individual who
has spark Of grace in his soul, or a grain
of love for Jesus Christ in his heart, to 60 tC
work in earnest. In addition to this, God
makes of us the solemn inquiry, "Where is
thy brother:" Shall we say we know not
Am 1 my brothers keeper:' Then will
God reply, "rhe voice of thy brothers
blood crieth unto me-" Let us all remem.
ber, that if those whom God has placed in