The free press., 1893-12-07

gest block to-day in the way of the gospel
chariot ''Ifi" 'If' We have theological
seminaries which spend most OF their time
and employ their learning and their genius
in the manufacturing of offs" With that
weaponry are assailed the Pentateuch, and
the miracles. and the divinity Of Jesus Christ:
Almost everybody is chewing on an ''if.
When many man bows for prayer, he puts
his knee on an eff" The door through which
people pass into inddelity and atheism and
all immoralities has two doorposts, and the
one is made of the letter 'f' and the other
of the letter If.
There are Only four steps between strong
faith and complete unbelief First. surrender
the idea of the verbal inspiration OF the
Scriptures and adopt the idea that they Were
all generally supervised by the Lord. Sec
ond surrender the idea that they were all
generally supervised by tho Lord and adopt
the theory that they were not all, but partly.
supervised by the Lord. Third, believe that
they are the gradual evolution of the ages,
and men wrote according to the wisdom OF
the times in which they lived. Fourth, be-
Iieye that the Bible is bad book and not
only unworthy of credence, but pernicious
and debasing and cruel.
Only four steps from the stout faith In
which the martyrs died to the blatant car
feature of Christianity as the greatest sham
Of the centuries. But the door to all that
precipitation and horror is made out OF an
'sif . The mother of unrests in the minds OF
Christian people and to those who regard
sacred things is the eff of incredulity. In
1879. in Scotland | saw letter which had
been written many years ago by IhomaS
CARLYLE to Thomas Chalmers. Carlyle at the
time OF writing the letter was young man.
The letter was not to be published until after
the death of Carlyle. His death having taken
place, the letter ought to be published.
1t was a letter in which Thomas Carlyle
expresses the tortures of his own mlnd Whlle
relaxing his faith i'll Christianity, while at
the same time expresses his admiration ior
DR.. Chalmers. and in which Carlyle wishes
that he had the same faith that the great
Scotch minister evidently exercised. Nothing
that Thomas Carlyle ever wrote In ''Sartor
Resartus." or the French Revolution, or
his "Iife OF Cromwell" or his immortal
ESSAYS" had in it more wondrous power
than that letter which bewailed his own
doubts and extolled the strong faith OF
another.
made an exact copy of that letter, with
the understanding that it should not be pub
lished until after the death Of Thomas
Carlyle, but returning to my hotel In Edln-
burgh felt uneasy lest somehow that letter
should get out of my possession and be puo-
lished before its time. So took it back to
the person by whose permission L mad
copied it. All reasons for its privacy having
Perhaps this sermon, finding its way into
a Scottish home, may suggest its printing,
for that letter shows more nightly than any
thing Ibaye ever read the difference between
the II know of Paul, and the 81 know" OF
JOB, and the ''I know" of Thomas Chalmers,
and the ~ know ofall those who hold with
a firm grip the gospel, on the one hand, ana
the unmooring. bestorming and torturinS
''if' of incredullty on the other. l like the
positive faith of that sailor boy that Captain
Judkins of the steamship Scotia picked up in
a hurricane "Go alott, said Captain Jud-
kins to his mate, ''and look out for wrecks.
Before the mate had gone far up the rat
lines he shouted: "a wreck wreck !!
''Where away - said Captain Judkins, ION
the port bow" was the answer. Lifeboats
were lowered, and forty men volunteered to
put out across the angry sea for the wreck.
They came back with a dozen shipwrecked,
and among them boy OF twelve years.
who are youY' said Captain Judkins.
The answer was. 81 am Scotch boy. My
father and mother are dead, and am on my
way to America ''What have you here"
said Captain Judkins as he opened the Doys
Jacket and took hold of a rope around the
bows body. 1T is "a rope" said the boy.
But what is that tied by this rope under
your arn?" ''That, sir, is my mothers
Bible. She told me never to lose that.
Gould you not have saved something else?'
mot and saved that" "Did you expect to
90 down?' ''Yes, sir, but | meant to take
my mothers Bible down with me" "Bravo! J"
said Captain Judkns. II will take care of
you"
That boy demonstrated a certainty and
confidence that l like. Just in proportion
as YOU have few ''ifs" of incredulity in your
religion wfll you find it u comfortable re-
ligion MY full and unquestioned faith In II
is founded on the fact that 1t sooths and sus-
tains in time of trouble. 1 do not believe
that any man who ever lived had more bless
ings and prosperity than have received
from God and the world. But | have had
trouble enough to allow me opportunity Tor
finding out whether our religion IS OF any
use in such exigency. l have had fourteen
Great bereayements. to say nothing OF lesser
bereayements, for | was the younger OF Il
large family | have had as much persecu-
ton as comes to most people. L nave had
all kinds of trial, except severe and pro-
longed sickness, and would have been dead
long ago but for the consolatory power OF
our religion.
Any religion will do in time OF prosperity.
Buddhism will do. Confucianism will do.
pbe0soply will do. No religion at all will
do. But when the world gets after you and
defames YOUR best deeds, when bankruptcy
takes the place OF large dividends, when you
fold for the last sleep, the still hands over
the still ueart OF your Olu ldtHeI WIN HAS
been planning for your welfare all these
years. or you close the eyes of your mother,
who has lived in your life ever since before
YOU were born, removing her spectacles be-
cause she will have clear vision in the home
to which she has gone, or you give the last
kiss to the child reclining amid the flowers
that pile the casket and looking as natural
and lifelike as she ever did reclining in the
cradle, then the only religion worth anything
IS the old fashion religion Of the gospel OF
Jesus Christ
would give more in such a crisis for one
of the promises expressed in half verse oi
the old book than for a whole library con
tanning all the productions of all the other
religions of all the ages. The other religions
are a sort OF cocaine to benumb and deaden
the soul while bereavement and misfortune
90 their work, but our religion is inspira'
tion, illumination, imparadisation. 1t is G
mixture OF sunlight and hallelujah. Do not
adulterate it with one drop of the tincture o.
incredulity.
Another Bible ''if'' is the 'if'' of eternn
Significance. Solomon gives us that sit
| twice in one sentence when he says, III thou
be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. but il
thou scornest thou alone shalt bear It,
Christ gives us that ''if'' when he says, 81
thou hadst known in this thy day the things
which belong unto thy peace, but now they
are hidden from thine eyes" Paul gives III
I 49, ,,,hap ha cny-G ssTf thew shall entel