The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-10-10
"ro WHOM SHALL WE cor"
Christ Alone Can Satisfy tho Yearning o
the SOUL.

Christ Alone Can Satisfy tho Yearning Of
the soul.
Rev. i. u. Kelsey, Sc. d., pastor Of the
Benton avenue Congregational church.
took his text last night from John, 6:G8.
Lord, to whom shall we go2 Thou hast
the words of eternal iife.n lie said In part:
These are tho words Of n man driven to a
corner; 1t 10 his last resort. 1t ~ either this
or nothing. there 10 nom other and We
must have something. Many had taken,
ofiense ut a discourse which Jesus hadsdc-
livered; with q tone of sorrow he turned to
MS deoiples, saying: Will 20 also 90
away. The eager, ever ready Peter cries
out; Lord, to whom shall we goT" As
one looks ons upon the seething ooean of
human opinions. PHILOSOPHERS, oreeds and
religions the same cry il heard: Lord, TO
whom shall we 90, thou hast the words Of
eternal life. Christianity is the only re-
ligion which meets the need OF men In an
the Lamb of God that takes away sin, here
only do We find.
Nv y y y The fountain filled with blood,
Drawn from ImmanueFs veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains"
The blood Of bulls and goats cannot take
away sin, ritualisms, Qenuflections. bap-
tisms, fasting. penances and the making OF
many prayers will not cleanse the soul.
down deep in the human heart is a craving,
a longing, an agony of yearning which is
unsatlsfied, until a man sees u crucitied
messiah az his savior.
In this age and country 1t lie peculiarly
true that in religious matters IL is either
Christianity or it must be open, blank in
fidelity. The only real vital aggressive re-
ligious force Ia Christ; for us the practical
question resolves itself down to Christ or
nothing. Muhomedanism, Buddhism,
Brahamanism, Confusianism, Idolutry-
none of these can for once be mentioned
alongside of Christianity. Whatever of
service they may or may not have been in
the vast to help men to godlike lives, they
are dead for this age and all ages to come.
For Us we must take Christ or nothing. IL
must be for US Christianity or intidelity.
But inidelity has no cheer, no word of
help, no redeeminQ power, no life in death,
no atonement for sin, no strength for weak
ness. 1nfidelity is despair. ITO whom car
we eo-Thou, 0 Christ, hast the words of
eternal life.
We must have a religious hope Of some
kind. A few men succeed in crushing out
the religious tendencies Of their nature;
but men were 30 made that as the sparks
fly upward. so they look upward in rever-
ence, awe and worship of Him who created
them. Man ia distinctively q religious man,
as we'll as an intellectual being. We do
wrong to our nature when we crush out this
ieligious craving, as we do injury when we
crush down intellectual cravings. We nre
as evidently made with religious yearnings
as We are made with intellectual desires.
The eye was no more made for light than
the soul for God; as surely as we blind the
eye by continually staying in the dark, sc
surely do we injurs the soul by refusal of
religious Worship and action.
The rejection of Christ leaves one just al
much in tina dark IA befOfe. What 0Oef
one gain by such a rejection? Nothing
good and valuable can come from such 9
rejection. Take the great facts of human
experience and they remain the same. Re
jecting Christ you do not get rid of the
great problem of sin. Rejecting Christ yor
do not get rid of the great fact of human
depravity. Rejecting Christ you do not rio
the world or yourself Of the burdens ant
the heartaches OF life. Rejecting Chris
you do not add to your strength in thu
mighty struggle for victory over evil. II
rejecting Christ you do not rid yourself o.
conscience, the fear of death, and divin,
Judgment. Death remains, though yo,
drive away your Lord.
President McCosh, of Princeton col
lege. gIories in being n Christian
For fifty years Presidents Hopkins. of Will,
Jams college, one of tho brainiest men o.
America, stood az the humble but delighted
champion of Jesus. Whittier and Tenny
sou both sang sweetest songs in the nam'
Of Jesus. In the years just succeeding OF
revolution infdelity swept the land like
contaRion from Ftance, until scarcely al
avowed Christian was left among the stu.
dents Of Yale. But President Dwight stood
up among them and composed. delivered
and published his immortal sermons callet
Dwight's Theology. and Mt the close of tina
set of sermons scarcely any unbeliever
were left.