The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-06-24

mas not learned single thing In six
thousand years. He knew ut the start
that the human race would 60 wrong and
what would be the best means Of its res
toration and redemption. And the law
which was thundered on Mount Sinai,
from whose top 1 had the two tables OF
stone in yonder wall transported, is the
perfect law. And the Gospel which
Christ announced while dying on that
mount from which I brought that stone
ir yonder wall, and which Paul preached
on that hill from which I brought yon-
der granite, is the Gospel that IS going
to save the world. Young man, put on
that Gospel armor! No other sword
will triumph like that. No other shield
Will protect like that. No other helmet
will glance OFT the battle axes like that.
Our theological seminarles are doing
glorious work, but if ever such theoloei-
cal seminaries shall cease to prepare
Young men for this plain Gospel advo-
cacy and shall become mere phllosophl-
cal schools for guessing about God and
guessing about the Bible and guessing
about the soul, they cease their use
fulness, and young men, as in olden
time, when they would study for the
Gospel ministry, viii put themselves
under the care OF some intelligent and
warm hearted pastor and kneel with
him in family prayer at the parsonage,
and 60 with him into the room of the
sick and the dying, and see what VIC
tories the grace Of God can gain when
the couch of the dying SAINT is the mara
thon.
VITAL RELIGION is THE REMEDY.
That is the way the mighty ministers
of the Gospel were made in olden times:
Oh, for a great wave Of revival to roll
over our theological seminaries and our
pulplts and our churches and our eccles-
iastical courts, and over all Christen-
dom! That would be the end OF contro'
versy. While such deluge would float
the ark Of God higher an higher, it
would put all the bears aud tigers and
reptiles of raging ecclesiastlcism fifteen
cuDits under.
Now, what is the simple fact that you
IN the pew and Sabbath school class and
reforrnatory association and we in the
pulpits have to deal with? 1t is this:
That God has somewhere, and it mat
ters not where, but somewhere. provld'
ed great heaven, great for quletness
for those who want quiet; great for vast
assemblage for those who like multi
tudes; great for architecture for those
who like architecture; great for beautiful
landscape for those who like beautiful
landscape; great fer music for those who
like music; great for professions for
those who like armies on white horses,
and great for anything that one especl-
ally desires in such rapturous domin-
ion; AMI through the doings Of one who
was born about FIVE miles south OF Jeru-
salem and died about ten minutes walk
from it's eastern gate all may enter that
great heaven for the earnest and heart
felt asking. Is that all? That is all.
What, then, is your work and mine:
Our work is to pursuade people to face
that way and start thitherwartl and fin
ally 60 in. But has not religion some
thing to do with this world as we'll as
the next? Oh yes; but do you not see
that if the people start for heaven on
their way there they will do all the good
they can? They will at the very start
O. the journey get so much of the spirit
of Christ, which is spirit of kindness
and self sacrifice and generosity and bur-
den bearing and helpfulness, that every
step they lake will resound with good
deeds. Oh, get your religion off of stills!
Get it down out of the high towers! Get
1t on level with the wants and woes OF
our poor human race! Get it out Of the
dusty theological books that few people
read, and put it in their hearts and lives.
Good thing is 1t to profess religion when
you join the church, but every day,
somehow, we ought to profess religion.
A peculiar patchwork quilt was, DUR
ino the civil war, made by a lady and
sent to the hospitals at the front. She
had a boy in the army, and was natur-
ally interested in the welfare of soldiers.
But what patchwork quilt she sent!
On every block Of the quilt was a pas
sage Of Scripture or verse Of hymn.
The months and years of the war went
by. On that quilt many wounded man
had lain and suffered and died. But one
morning the hospital nurse saw pa
tient under that blanket kissing the tg.
ure of a leaf in the quilt, and the nurse
supposed he was only wandering IN bis
mind. But no; he was the son Of the
mother who had made the quilt and he
recognized that figure OF leaf as part
of gown his mother used to wear, and
it reminded him Of home. do you
know where this quilt came from?" he
asked. The nurse answered.. 81 can
find out, for there was a card pinned
last to it, aud | will find that" Sure
enough, it confirmed what he thought.
Then the nurse pointed to passage Of
Scripture in the block Of the quilt, the
passage which says, when he was yet
great way of his father saw him and
ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. +"
Yes" said the dying soldier, Il was a
great way off, but God has met me and
had compassion on me" snail write
to your mother and tell her that the lost
one is fund and the dead is alive?" He
answered, Il wish you would, if it would
not be too much trouble" DO you sup
pose that woman who made that quilt
and filled it with Scripture passages had
any trouble about who Melchizedek was,
or how the doctrine ofGod's sovereignty
can be harmonized with mans free agen'
cy, or who wrote the Pentateuch or the
inconsistencies of the Nicene creed? No;
no; 90 to work for God and suffering hu.
manity and all your doubts and fears
and mysteries and unbeliefs put togeth'
er will not be heavy enough to STIR the
chemists scales, which is accustomed
to weighing one-fftieth part Of a grain Of
chamomile flowers. Why stop a mo-
ment to understand the mysteries when
there are 80 many certitudes: Why
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