The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-05-15
=. If [ should come at you nov

y
| mo with an argument; if with Sar-
| caSnl, you answer mo with sarcasm;
| blow for blow. stroke for stroke, but
when l come and knock ut the door
of your heart, you open it say, "Come
in, my brother, and tell me all you
know about Christ and heaven"
| Listen to two or three questions:
Are you as happy rs you used to be
when you believed in the
truth of the Christian religion?
| Would you like to have your chill
drsn travel on the road in which you
, are now travelling? You had d rela-
tive who profesod to be Christian,
and was thoroughly consistent, living
and dying in the faith Of the Gospel.
| Would you not like to live the same
quiet life, and the same peaceful
| death! / have Il lctter sent me by
one who has rejected the Christian
religion. 1t says: 81 am old enough
to know that the joys and pleasures
of life arc cvancscont and to realize
| the fact that it must be comfortable
i'll old age to believe in something
relative to the future, and to have u
faith in some system that propo scs
to save. [ am free to confess that [
would be happier if / could exercise
the simple and beautiful faith that is
| possessed by many whom I know. |
am not willingly out Of the church or
out of the faith. My state of uncer.
| talnty IS one of unrest. Sometimes
L doubt my Immortality, and look up
on the death-bcd as the closing scene,
after which there is nothing. What
shall [ do that l have not donct'
Ali Hccpticism is dark, ,doleful land,
Let Inc say that this Bible is either
true or false. If it be false, we are
rs well off us you; if it be true, then
Which of us is safer!
| Let me also ask whether your
| trouble has not been that you con
founded Christianity with the incon-
Sistcnt character of some who pro-
fcSs it? You arc lawyer. In your
| profession thcr" arc mean and diShOn-
est men. Is that anything against
| the law? You arc II doctor. There
| are rmsEillcd and contemplate men
| i'll your profession. Is that anything
| chant. There arc thieves and dcfraud-
crs in your business. Is that any
thing against merchandise? Bchsld,
then, the umfairRoss Of charging upon
Christianity the wickcdncsS OF its
disciples. We admit that some of
the charges against those who pro
iC&S religion arc true. Some of the most
gigantic swiudlcs OF the present day
have been carried ON by members OF
tho church. There arc men standing
in the f. ont lNnk in the churches who
would not be trusted with s. with
out good collateral security. They
leave their business diShoMcstics in
the vcStibulc OF the church as they
80 in and %iI al tn" communion.
Having concluded the sacrament.
thcy get up and 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 servo
God, Il sort of play spell With u
Sunday sponge they expect TO wipe
off from their business slate all the
past weeks Inconsistencies You
have no more right 10 take such IL
MANS life us II specimen of religion
than you have to take the twisted
irons and split timbcrs that lie on the
hcnciI mt CUIIcy Trlnrr,l t.c u specimen
of an American ship. 1t is time that |
we draw II line between religion and |
the lrailtics of those who profess it.
DO you not feel that the Bible,
take it all i'll all, is about the best
book that the world has ever seen? |
DO you know any book tknt has as |
much in il! DO you not think, upon |
the whole, that it's influence has been
bcncticenU | come toyou with both
hands cXtendcd toward you. In one
hand ! have the Bible, ana in the
other | have nothing. This Bible in
one hand | will surrender for ever
ust as soon rs in my other hand you
M put II book that is better. Today
| invite You back into the good old
fashioned religion of your fathers
to the God whom they wOrshipod, to
the Bible they read, to the promises
on which they leaned, to the CROSS on
which they hung their eternal expcc-
tationH. You have not been happy a
day since you swung off; you will
not be happy II minute until You
swing back.
There is large class OF persons in
mld-lltc who have still IN them Nppc-
titcS that were aroused in early man
hood, at q time when they pridcd
themselves on being "littlo fast"
"high livcrs," free and clsy," hail
fellows we'll met. They are now pay
ing, i'll compound interest, for trou-
bles they collected twenty years ago.
Some OF you arc trying to escape, and
you will--yct very narrowly, "as
with the skin Of your tecth.' God
and your own soul only know what
the struggle il. Omnipotcnt grace
has pulled out many u soul. that was
deeper in the mirc than you are.
They line the beach of heaven-thc
multitude whom God has rescued
from the thrall OF suicidal habits. If
You this day turn your back on
the wrong and start mow God help
you. Oh the wcnknoss Of human
help! Men will Sympathizo for u
while and then turn you off. If you
ask for their pardon, they will give it,
and sny they will try you again; but,
falling away again under the power
Of temptation, they cast you of for
ever. But God forgivos seventy
times seven; yea scven hundred times;
yea, though this be the ten-thou-
sandth time, Hp is more earnest,