Sharp County record., 1891-01-29

have | which are not of this fold
Again | remark, the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to find many of His sheep
among those who are now rejecters of
Christianity. | do not know how you
came to reject Christianity, l do not
know whether it was through hearing
Theodore Parker preach, or whether it
was reading "Renan's Life of Jesus, " or
whether it was through some skeptic in
the store or factory. Or it may be
probably in the case-that you were
disgusted with religion and disgusted
with Christianity because some man
who professed TO be a Christian defraud-
ed you, and he being member of the
church, and you taking him as a repre-
sentative of the Christian religion, you
said "Well, if that's religion, don't
want any of it."
do not know how you came to re-
Ject Christianity, but you frankly tell
me you do reject it; you do not think
the Bible is the Word of God, although
there are many things in it you admire;
you do not think that Christ was a
Divine being, although you think He
was very good man. You say: "If
the Bible be true-I nevertheless think
the earlier part of the Bible is an
allegory," And there are fifty things
that l believe y>u do not believe.
Nevertheless they tell me in regard to
you that you are an accommodating,
you are an obliging person. If l should
come to you and ask of you favor you
would grant it if it were possible. 1t
would be joy for you to grant me a
favor. If any of your friends came to
you and wanted an accommodation, and
you could accommodate them, how glad
you would be.
Now l am going to ask ofyou favor.
| want you to oblige me. The accom-
mediation will cost you nothing, and will
give me great happiness. Of course you
will not deny me. | want you as an ex-
pertinent to try the Christian religion.
If it does not stand the test, discard it;
if it does, receive it.
If you were very sick, and you had
been given up of the doctors, and / came
to you and l took a bottle Of medicine
from my pocket and said; "Here is med
icine I am sure will help you; it has
cured fifty people," you would say: Oh,
l haven't any confidence in it; they tell
me all these medicines will fail me. "
"Well," say, twill you not, as mat
ter of accommodation to myself, just
try it?" "Well," you say, 81 have no OBJ
lection to trying it; if it will be any salts
faction to you will tryit." You utake it.
Now you are sick in disquietude, sick in
sin. You are not happy, You laugh
sometimes when you are miserable.
There come surges of unhappiness over
your soul that almost swamp you. You
are unhappy, struck through with un-
rest. Now will you not try this solace,
this febrifuge, this anodyne, this Cos
pei medicine? "Oh," you say, 81
haven't any faith in it." AS a matter
of accommodation, let me introduce you
to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great
Physician. "Why," you say, 81
haven't any faith in Him" Well
now, will you not just let Him
come and try His power on your
soul? Just let me introduce Him to you
l do not ask you to take my word for
it. ] do not ask you to take the advice
of clergymen. Perhaps the clergy
men may be prejudiced; perhaps we
may be speaking professionally; per-
haps we may give you wrong advice;
perhaps we are morbid on that subject;
so do not ask you to take the advice
OF clergymen, | ask you to take advice
of every respectable layman, such as
William Shakespeare, the dramatist; as
William Wilberforce, the statesman; as
Isaac Newton the astronomer; as Robert
Boyle, the philosopher; as Locke, the
metaphysician; as Morse, the electrician.
These men never preached-they never
pretended to preach-but they come out,
and putting down, one his telescope, and
another the electricians wire, and an
other the parliamentary scroll-they
come out and they commend Christ as a
comfort to all the people, a Christ that
the world needs
Now do not ask you to take the adj
vice of clergymen. Take the advice of
laymen, 1t does not make any differ
ence to me at this juncture what you
have said against the Bible, it does not
make any difference at this juncturc
how you may have caricatured religion;
take the advice of men who are prom
inent in secular affairs, as these men
whom | have mentioned, and others who
Immediately occur to your mind, You
see do not scoff at slSepticism, Incver
scotfed at skepticism. | had good |
for not scofling, | have been q
natural sReptic. do not know what
the first word was that / uttered after
entering this world, but | think it must
have been "why?' There were times
when | doubted the existence Of God,
when | doubted the divinity Of Christ,
when doubted the immortality of the
soul, when doubted my own existence,
when doubted every thing. have been
through the whole curriculum of doubt,
and you can tell me nothing new about
it. ! have come out from great
Sahara desert into the calm. warm,
land of the Gospel. know
4 l. L.