Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1892-02-04

became ayseonscientiously believe their
! cause is-right, and not from any bitterness
or hatred towards the enemy.
4. l am churchman because the church
reaches and upliftS the masses.
(a) In works of charity and mercy From
one side of the land to the other we are
met with founding hospitals, orphans
| homes, infrmaries for the sick and the
| aged, rescue homes for the fallen, inebri-
ate asylums and other institutions for the
saving of those that are weak, poor or lost.
| Nearly all OF these are owned and run di-
| rectly by the church, and if not by the
| church as such, then by men and women
who are deyout Christians and ardent men,
/ bers of the church. Did heathenism ever
do the like? Do inidels and free-thinkers
| build such institutional The "unchurched
! millions, y do they do it,
| (bl The church uplifts men mentally
. through the channels Of education. There
are in the United States 3S4 colleges and
universities for men or for men and women.
| OF this number 29S are owned and equipped
| by the church. They are church schools.
| That leaves but eighty others, for the
most part state universities, and they are
| frequently manned by Christian professors.
This does not include the very large num-
Der Of colleges for females only, which are
! almost without exception church schools
| can do no more than mention these facts;
| the reader must elaborate them.
(c) The church uplifts the masses by en-
lightenment through the pulpit and in the
house of God. There is no greater source
of popular instruction and enlightenment
than the preached word. All through the
New Testament there are frequent com
mands to preach and this supposes an
audience to preach to. St Paul says:
''F'orsake not the assembling of yourselves
together" If people must come together to
hear the word, then a gathering place is
-
are built costly, first, that they may be en-
during: secondly, that they may be attract
i've and suited to the work for which they
are intended, and thirdly, that they may
give some adequate expression of the rev
erence and gratitude that the people feel
towards God. There is education and
training in stone and mortar and
psaltery and music in column, arch and
fresco. The money put into. churches is not
wasted, nor is it subtracted from charity
The people who build the churches are the
ones who build and equip the various
benevolent institutions of the country
Besides it is great deal better
to gather the masses into a church and
preach to them the gospel of industry,
cleanliness and goodness, so that they
may become self supporting, rather than to
let them alone in their ignorance and sin,
and then seek to ease the conscience by the
toss of dime to beggar on every street
crossing.
(d) A church and ministry that labors thus
for the general good, and that too, with
such pronounced success, is worthy of
support" and the disposition on the
part of discriminating public to extend
financial aid finds its authority in
the words of Christ. His order to his min
istry is: 'Provide neither gold, nor silver,
nor brass in your purses, nor scrip for your
journey, neither two coats, nor yet slaves
for the workman is worthy of his meat. -
Matt.-x., 9, 10.
5. l am churchman because the church
teaches the eunobling doctrine of immortal
ity. Nor does she degrade the doctrine by
teaching that Immortality is conditional
upon becoming a Christian immortality
is q gift of God, free and irrevocable. When
he created man, he "breathed INTO his nos
trils the breath of life.'' He did that for no
other creature that he made. That 'breath
of ife'' was the breath of God; 1t was i'm
mortality, unconditional, and no act of man
or devil can destroy 1t. l even question if
God himself could annihilate the immortal
spirit that he gave man at the beginning l
am sure he does not wish to do so. Immor-
tally is fact of consciousness. We all
know that the self within US is more than
the body in which we live. That body may
be cut away limb by limb, until every capa-
bility of action or self-help is gone, but the
self, the ego, remains 1t is indestructible,
diuO eiACICAOIO 4HIHAOIl II iLltl ID uOb Is
sentially and Internationally immortal,
then he is no more than beast. Such
doctrine is dishonoring to both God and
man.
g. I am a churchman because the church
teaches men how to come to Christ and be
saved. Christ died for all men, and he is
ready to save all who want to be saved
But they must meet the conditions of sal
walton. These conditions are to repent,
give up sin and believe on him. He is the
'Spotless One'' and will bear our sins if |
we come with true repentance and de- |
termine TO give up sin forever. But the re-
pentance must be sincere, and in order to |
be that it must involve reparation for |
wrong doing and restoration of that which |
has been wrongly gotten. I know of no |
pulpit that does not insist on this, some |
more clearly than others, but all insist |
on it.
z. am a churchman because the Bible |
and the church teach the possibility of |
holy life on earth. This is the acme of the |
Christian religion and the capetone in the /
edifce of Christian doctrine. sod requires |
holiness of heart and life, the 4Qedqf Jesus |
is offered as cleansing fountain and the |
spirit can enable Us to resist |
temptation. Thus the ruin wrought by sin |
finds complete remedy in the atonement |
- w. f. LoYD.
Advice to nothsfa
Mrs. Ysss1eH.s Soothing SyrFp for children /
teethiat soothst the chE1d seatens the gums 1
allasS fsfin, ours Wind coliGA and is tho best |