Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-01-07

Inc Only poiut VI iOoOiioAoueo
between the Christ-child of Beth
lehem and the real followers of
His way in this age are the poor,
the prosecuted and the suffering
soul and repentant sinner. We
talk much of christian unity,
the conquering army of Christ,
of the one fold and one shepherd,
&c. If man cannot enter Heav-
en- unless he becomes as a little
child, so there can be no christian
unity mo universal christian vic
tory,-no one fold and the final
redemption of mankind until the
world returns to that state
of humility, poverty and frater-
nifty in which Christ established
His Church. The beginning and
the end of Gospel life and teach
ing must one day meet together.
How far are they from it to-day
Who leads in high, fashionable,
modern life? Who fires blank
ammunition at the devil of fable
and fiction, while counting the
"ways of the world" the real
devil of the mind, heart and
flesh ? Who lives for money
Who labors for money first and
salvation last? Who is at home
in the house of the Lord? Who
is lost in Gods temples if he has
not on the wedding garment of
the day-a full dress suit and a
paid up ticket of admission ?
What are the poor good for any
how? To turn up noses at; to
curl scornful lips at; to live on
husks; antiquarian relics for
charity sermons for the rich! In
fidelity has not one ray of attrac-
ton for us to infidelity, but the
most of the christianity of the
day,-the way of the world, is
pregnant with the food of refiec-
ton ON which atheism and inf
deity feed the souls that are
lost forever. In every age of
history, wealth, power and infiu-
ence led Christ's church and peo-
pie to moral and temporal decay
and destruction. The martyred
minister, the ashes of the ark of
Gods people, the confiscation of
property, may have been the
work of infidels and revolution
lists, but they Oere christians first
some cause turned them from
friends and followers into enc
mics and destroyers. The foun-
dations of that cause are being
fast laid again in the wealth,
power, influence, struggle for
temporal gains and worldly
means of life and living, going
on in the christian world. AS
wealth, title and distinction come
in at the Lords door, Christ and
His charity and grace and saliva
ton betake themselves to other
nations and peoples more wor-
thy. John and Peter and Paul
would be strangers and social
outcasts to-day in Rome, Paris,
London, New York and Chicago,
&c. Every animal and vegeta-
BILE life has it's element, out of
which it perishes. Gods ele-
ments are charity, poverty, hui
mility, and outside of these di-
vine elements christianity with
ers and dies. Every element has
its destroying agency-life alone
possesses the power of renewing
itself out of the ashes of decay.
The destroying element in
Christ's church is greed, rivalry,
opposition. love of power, position
and worldly gain. The flame of
worldly life is feeding these fiery
elements, and a century or two
may witness the ruins of the re-
ligious structure and the charred
embers of religious life. The
Word of God itself is life ever
lasting; destroyed by natural
means, it will survive by the su-
pernatural, and this age compar-
ed with the last great age of
grace is as the barbarian period
compared with the Columbian
era.