The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-07

| q mOckery OF Goa TO pray 10 MIN &c
keep OF temptation when you throw
yourself in its way.
believe that the Young Mems
Christian Association Of this city is
c noble and useful organization. and
has materially assisted in the success
of these meetings. l hope the busi.
ness men OF the city will soon put up
for them a substantial building OF
their OWE. 1t is the place to which
would advise the young men to go,
and where they will be sure to be
surrounded by religious influences
and ont Of the way of the seductive
wilcs Of sin. The association has
done much to break down sectarian-
ism. The young men Of this city are
subject to hundreds Of temptations.
The saloons are gaping wide; the
harlot walks the streets. l believe
that it was rum that carried down
Noah and the five cities of the plain.
Now, if Noah was the only righteous
man and succumbed to the rum devil,
what must the rest have been? Chill
dren and young men must have a
pure religious atmosphere TO breathe,
or they will become corrupted and
tainted by the surroundings of sin.
That is first essential towards
moral or religious education, and l
trust that the good men, the true
men, the noble men Of Charleston
will do ali in their power to further
their aims and increase the influence
Of the Young Mems Christian Asso.
citation.
5lr. Moody then addressed himself
to the text which he had selected for
his discourse. and which was as fol.
:0ws: And when Jesus saw that
he answered discreetly He said unto
him. Thou art not far from the king.
dom Of Cod. And no man after that
durst ask him any question.
In the chapter of Marx from which
the text is taken, said Mr.. Moody,
we have the evidences of the com
bined attack made upon Jesus Christ
by the Pharisees and Sadducees.
He answered them, but the very fact
os His ability to meet their sophis.
tries engendered in them for Him
only q deeper hatred and a thirst for
revenge. lie knew that they did not
know the difference between the in.
ternal and the external from the wor.
ship of God. They relied on the an
cient prophets, but only upon the out
ward form Of their teachings, and
this kind Of religion at the time OF
Christ was q characteristic of the
worship of the Jewish doctors. But
after the colloquy between Christ and
the Pharisees the scribe spoke, and
spoke so much in accord with the re-
ligion which Christ taught that the
Divine Master spoke to him and Of
him the words of the text as record
ed by St. Mark. But why do we &C
back two thousand years to point the
moral of the text? There are hun
drcds, perhaps thousands, of mer
who may be said to be just upon the
border land of salvation. The worlo
is full of them. Take, for instance
Herod. I once believed that he haC
no lust idea of the necessities of re
ligion, but my opinion was changed
by the statement he made that ht
could find nothing evil in the life o.
preaching of John the Baptist. There
was something, indeed, very startling
in the preaching of John and ther'
was much in his appearance that re
minded the Jews of their old prophe
Elijah. He came announcing tn
Kingdom Of Christ. Yes, that Chris
was at the door. can imagine hin
addressing one of those ancient au
! dieDces swayed under his thrillin.
eIoqucnce like the tree-tops unde
the force Of the wind. I can imagin
uerod driving up to such meeting
and the thought passing througl
! Johns m!nd that he. too, would b
convinced by his preaching. I cal
imagine. too, the effect of john
preaching on Herod himself. Wha
must we believe from the statemen
that Herod "observed John and say
that he was a holy man." Littl
then did Herod believe that he woult
be the instrument Of the death o
John. But Herod's spirit was no
entirely cleansed. He had one sin
and he compromised with that. 81
had nc one to tel, him all his sins
John was an uncompromising Chris
tian, and he told the whole truth
But it was dangerous undertaking
I can imagine those around him tell
ing John that it would not be wis
/