Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-11-25

not have saved something elser' mot
and saved that" did you expect to go
DOWN. eyes, sir, but I meant to take
my mothers Bible down with me-"
"Bravor said Captain Judkins. Iw will
take care Of you"
That boy demonstrated a certainty and
confidence that like. Just in proper
ton as you have few Ifs" of inoredulity
in your religion will you find 1t o COM
Portable religion. My full and unques-
tioning faith in it is founded on the fact
that it soothes and sustains in time Of
trouble do not believe that any man
who ever lived had more blessings and
prosperity than have received from God
and the world. But have had trouble
enough to allow me opportunity for find
ing out whether our religion is of any use
in such an exigency. have had IA great
bereavements, to say nothing Of lesser
bereavements, for was the youngest Of
large family. have had as much per-
secution as comes to most people. Ihaye
had all kinds Of trial, except severe and
prolonged sickness, and would have
been dead long ago but for the consola-
tory power Of our religion.
Any religion will do in time Of pros
perity. Buddhism will do. Confucian-
ism will do. Theosophy 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 heart of your old father who 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 because 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 fashioned religion of
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
would give more in such crisis for
one of the promises expressed in half
verse of the old book than for whole.
library containing 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 be-
reayement and misfortune do their work,
but our religion is inspiration, illumina-
ton, imparadisation. It is mixture of
sunlight and haleluiah. Do not adul-
terate it with one drop of the tinctureof
incredulity.
A SIGNIFICANT t'1F."
Another Biblo ..if'' is the "if" Of eter-
nal significance. Solomon gives us that
sir twice in one sentence when he says,
ssIf thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for
thyself, but if thou soonest, thou alone
shalt bear it." Christ gives us that eff"
when be says, IF thou hadst known In
this thy day the things which belong unto
thy peace, but now they are hidden from
thine eyes" Paul gives us that 'if''
when he says, IF they shall enter into
nv rest" All those "ifs" and a score
more that / might recall put the whole
responsibility of our salvation on our
selves. Christ's willingness to pardon
no 'if" about that Christ's willingness
to help-no "if" about that. Realms Of
glory awaiting the righteous-no "if'
Tie oniy ii alf tie case worth q
moments consideration is the eff" that
attaches itself to the question as to
whether we will accept, whether we will
repent, whether we will believe, whether
we will rise forever, Is it not time that
we take our eternal future off that
swivel? Is it not time that we extirpate
that "if,n that miserable eff, that haz-
ardous eff" We would not allow this
uncertain "if" to stay long in anything
else of importance. Let some one say
In regard to railroad bridge, 81 have
reasons for asking if that bridge is safe" "
and you would not cross it. Let some
one say, II have reasons to ask if that
steamer is trustworthy. and you would
not take passage on 1t.
Let some one suggest In regard to a
property that you are about to purchase,
'I have reason to ask if they can give a
good title" and you would not pay
dollar down until you had some skillful
real estate lawyer examine the title. But
1 allowed for years of my lifetime, and
some of you. have allowed for years OF
your lifetime an ''if" to stand tossing up
and down questions of eternal destiny.
Oh, decided Perhaps your arrival here
today may decide. Stranger things than
that have put to fight forever the "f"
of uncertainty.
A few Sabbath nights ago in this
church man, passing at the foot of the
pulpit, said to me, 81 am miner from
England" and then he pushed back his
coat sleeve and said, do you see that
scar on my arm?" I said: eyes. You
must have had an awful wound there
some time" He said: eyes, it nearly
cost me my life. was in mine In
England 900 feet under ground and three
miles from the shaft of the mine, and a
rock fell on me, and my fellow laborer
pried off the rock, and I was bleeding to
death, and he took newspaper from
around his luncheon and bound it
around my wound, and then helped me
over the three miles underground to the
shaft, where 1 was lifted to the top, and
when that newspaper was taken OFT my
wound read on it something that
saved my soul, and it was one of your
sermons. Good night" he said as he
passed on, leaving me transfixed with
grateful emotion.
And who knows but the words now
speak, blessed of God, may reach some
wounded soul deep down in the black
mine of sin, and that these words may
be blessed to the stanching Of the
wound and the eternal life of the soul?
Settle this matter instantly, positively
or ~. l., Pr71~U