News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1890-05-08

have q faith in some system that pro-
poses to save. l am free to confess that
| would be happier if could exercise
the simple and beautiful faith that IS
possessed by many whom | know. L
am not willingly out of the church or
out of the faith. My state of uncer-
tainty is one of unrest. Sometimes L
doubt my Immortality, and look upon
the deathbed as the closing scene, after
which there is nothing. What shall L
do that I have not done?"
ALL skepticism is a dark and doleful
land. Let me say that this Bible IS
either true or false. If it be false, we
are as well off as you; if it be true,
then which of us is safer?
Let me also ask whether your trou-
BILE has not been that you confounded
Christianity with the inconsistent
character of some who profess it. You
are a lawyer In your profession there
are mean and dishonest men. Is that
anything against the lava You are a
doctor. There are unskilled and con.
temptible men in your profession. Is
that anything against Incidence You
are a merchant. There are thieves and
defrauders in your business. Is that
anything against merchandise? Be
hold, then. the Unfairness of charging
upon Christianity the wickedness Of
its disciples. We admit some Of the
charges against those who profess re-
ligion.
Some Of the most gigantic swindles
of the present day have been carried
on by members of the church. There
are men standing in the front rank in
the churches who would not be trusted
for five dollars without good collateral
security. They leave their business
dishonesties in the vestibule of the
church as they go in and sit at the
communion. Having concluded the
sacrament, they get up, wipe the wine
from their lips, go out and take up
their sins where they left off. To
serve the devil is their regular work;
to serve God, a sort Of play spell.
With Sunday sponge they expect to
wipe off from their business slate all
the past weeks inconsistencies. You
have no more right to take such a
mans life as a specimen of religion
than you have to take the twisted irons
and split timbers that lie on the beach
at Coney Island as specimen Of an
American ship. It is time that we
draw line between religion and the
frailties of those who profess it.
THE BIBLE IS THE BEST BOOK.
Do you not feel that the Bible, take
it all in all, is about the best book that
the world has ever seen? Do you know
any book that has as much in it? Do
you not think. upon the whole, that
its influence has been benefcent? l
come to you with both hands extended
toward you. In one hand I have the
Bible, and in the other I have moth
ing. This Bible in one hand [ will sur
render forever just as soon as in nv
other hand you can put book that is
better. Today I invite you back into
the good old religion of your fathers
to the God whom they worshiped, to
the Bible they read, to the promises on
which they leaned, to the cross on
which they hung their eternal eXpec
tations. You have not been happy
day since gou swung off; you will
not be happy minute until you swing
back.
Again: There may be some of you
who, in the attempt after a Christian
life, viii have to run against powerful
passions and appetites. Perhaps it is
q disposition to anger that you have to
contend against, and perhaps, while in
a very serious mood, you hear of some
thing that makes you feel that you
mast swear or die. know Christian
man who was once SO eXasperated that
he said to q mean customer, I cannot
swear at you myself. for am a mem
Der of the church; but if you go down
stairs my partner in business will
swear at you" All your good resolu-
tons heretofore have been torn to tat
ters by explosion of temper. Now
there is no harm in getting mad if you
only get mad at sin. You need to
bride and saddle those hot breathed
justice and wrong. There are q thou
sand things in the world that We ought
to be mad at. There is no harm in
getting red hot if you only bring to
the forge that which needs hammer
ing. a man who has no power Of
righteous Indignation is an imbecile.
But be sure it is a righteous indigna-
ton, and not a petulancy that blurs
and unravels and depletes the soul.
There is a large class of persons in
midlife who have still in them appe-
tites that were aroused in early man
hood at a time when they prided
themselves on being a ''littIe fast"
high ivers, free and easy" ''hail
fellows well met" They are now pay
ing, in compound interest, for troubles
they collected twenty years ago. Some
of you are trying to escape, and you
will-yet very narrowly, as with the
skin of your teeth" God and your
own soul only know what the struggle
is. Omnipotont grace has pulled out
many a soul that was deeper in the
mire than you are. They line the
beach of heaven-the multitude whom
God has rescued from the thrall OF
suicidal habits. If you this day turn
your back on the wrong and start
anew God will help you. Oh, the
weakness of human help! Men viii
syInpathize for awhile and then turn
you off. If you ask for their pardon
they will give it and say they will try
you again; but, falling away again
under the power of temptation, they
cast you of forever But God for
gives seventy times seven; yea, seven
hundred times; yea, though this be
the ten thousandth time. He is more
earnest, more sympathetic, more help
full this last time than when you took
your first misstep.
VICTOR At LAST.
If, with all the influences favorable
for a right life, men make so many
mistakes, how much harder is it when,
for instance, some appetite thrusts its
iron grapple into the roots of the
tongue, and pulls a man down with
hands of destruction If, under such
circumstances, he break away, there
will be no sport in the undertaking,
no holiday enjoyment, but a struggle
in which the wrestlers move from side
to side, and bend and twist, and watch
for an opportunity to get in a heavier
stroke, until with one final effort, in
which the muscles are distended, and