Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-05-22

Sometimes l doubt my Immortality, and
look upon the death bed as the closing
seer ', after which there is nothing What
shall l do that have not doneP' All! skep-
ticism is dark and doleful land! Let mo
say that this Bible is either true or false.
II it be false we are as we'll off as you; il
it be true, then which of us is saferi
Let me also ask whether your trouble has
not been that you COMPOUNDED Christianity
with the inconsistent character Of some
who pro. ess it! You are q lawyer In
your profession there are mean and dishon-
est men. Is that anything against the law!
You are a doctor. There are unskilled
and contemptuous men in your profession.
Is that anything against medicine! You
are q merchant. There are thieves and
defrauders in your business. Is that any
thing against merchandise! Behold, then,
the unfairness Of charging upon Chris
tianity the wickedness Of its dis ciples. We
admit some OF the charges against those
who profess religion. 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
trustel for 8 without good collateral
security They leave their business dis
honesties in the vestibule Of the church as
thCJ W all uUu SIt ~ LuO COmuuulOu.
Having concluded the sacrament, they 60
up wipe the wine from their lips, go out
and take up their sins where they left off,
To serve the devil is their regul.r work; to
serve God sort OF play SPELL With
Sunday sponge they expect to wip, of
from their business slate all the past weeks
Inconsistencies. You have no more right
to take such q mans life as specimen OF
religion than you have to take the twisted
iron and split timbers that lie on the beach
at Coney island as a specimen of an Ameri-
Can ship. 1t is time that wo draw line
between religion and the frailities Of those
who profess it,
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 in
fiuenco has been benitcent! l come to you
with both hands extended toward you. In
one hand have tho Bible, ard in the o,her
have nothing. This Bible in one hand J.
will surrender forever just as soon rs in
my other hand you can put a book that is
better To-day invite you back into the
good old fashioned religion OF your fathers
to the God whom they worshipped,t % the
Bible they read, to the promises on which
they leaned, to the cross on which they
hung their eternal expectations. You have
not been happy a day since you swung off;
you will not be happy minute until you
swing back.
Again: There may be some OF you who,
In the attempt after q Christian life, will
have TO run against powerful passions and
nppetites. Perhaps 1t is disposition to
anger that you have to contend against;
and perhaps, while in very serious MOOD.
you hear something that makes you feel
that you must swear or die. I know q
Christian man who was once so exasperated
that he said to mean customer: II can
not swear at you myself. for am mem
Der OF the church, but il you will go down
stairs my partner In business will swear at
YOU"
All your good resolutions heretofore have
been torn to tatters by explosion Of temper
Now, there is no harm in getting mad IL
You only get mad at sin. You need to
bride and saddle those hot breathed pas.
sions, and with them ride down injustice
and wrong. There are thousand things
in the world we ought to be mad at There
Is no harm in getting red hot il you only
bring to the forge that which needs ham
mering. A man who has no power OF
righteous Indignation IL an imbecile But
be sure it is q righteous indign alton and
NV = pOIulOuCy UkuTS anu uuF6VCkS
and depletes the soul.
There is II large class OF persons in mid
life who have still in them appetites that
were aroused in early manhood, at time
when they prded themselves on being
'llttle fast" ''hi2h livers," "free and
easy" "ha,l fellows well met" They arc
now paying in compound interest, for trou-
bles 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. Omnipotent
grace has pulled out many soul that
was deeper in the mire than you are
They line the beach OF heaven-the multi
tude whom God has rescued from the
thrall OF suicidal habits. II you this day
turn your back on the wrong and start
anew God will help YOU o, the weakness
OF human help! Men will symp ,thize for
awhile, and then turn you of. II you ask
FOR their pardon, they will give it AMI say
they will try you again, but, falling away
again under the power OF temptation, they
cast you off forever. But God forgives
seventy times seven; yea, seven hundred
times; yea, though this be the ten thou
sandth time. He Is more earnest, more sym
pathetic, more helpful, this last time than
when you took your first misstep
II, with all the influences favorable for
right life, men make so many mistakes,
how much harder is 1t when, for in
stance, some appetite thrusts its iron
grapple into the roots of the tongue and
pulls man down with hands OF destruc-
ton II, under such circumstance, he
break away there will be no. sport in the
undertaking, no holiday enjoyment, but o
struggle In which the wrestlers move from
a n nd vut u
for an opportunity to get in heavier
stroke, I'm il with one final effort, In which
tho muscles are distended and the veins
stand out, and the blood starts, the swarthy
habit falls under the knee Of the victim
escaped at last as with the skin OF his
teeth"
The ship Emml, bound from GotteuburQ
to Harwich, was sailing on, when the man
on the lookout saw something that he pro-
nounced q vessel bottom up There was
something on 1t that looked like sea gull,
but was afterward found to be waving
handkerchief. In the small boat the crew
pushed out to the wreck and found that it