The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1893-11-24

that mothers make for, their chill
dren and all have failed. She is COM
ing toward the vivid and venturesome
and terrific PRAYER of my text. She is
going to lift her own eternity and set
it upon that one If" by which she ex-
poets to decide whether you will go up
with her or she down with you.
Another Eible ''if-': IS the IF of incred-
ulity. Satan used it when Christ, with
his vitality depressed by forty days
abstinence from food, the tempter
pointed to some stones. in color and
shape like loaves of bread. and said:
eff Thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread"
That was appropriate, for Satan Is the
father of that if of incredulity.
Peter used the same ''if' when, stand
ing on the wet and slippery deck of a
fishing smack of Lake Galilee. he saw
Christ walking on the sea as though 1t
was as solid as 2 pavement OF basalt
from the adjoining volcanic hills, and
Peter cried out: If it be Thou, let me
come to Thee on the water" What
preposterous If. What human
foot was ever SO constructed as
to walk on water? In what part Of
the earth did law of gravitation make
exception to the rule that man will
sink to the elbows when he touches
the wave of the river or lake, and will
sink still further unless he can swim?
But here Peter looks ont upon the form
in the shape of a man defying the
mightiest law of the universe, the law
of gravitation. and standing erect on
the top of the liquid. Yet the incredu-
lous Peter cries out to the Lord: IF it
be Thou" Alas. for that incredulous
IF" 1t is working as powerfully in
the latter part of this nineteenth Chris
tian century as it did in the early part
of the first Christian century. Though
small conjunction. it is the biggest
block to-day in the way of the gospel
chariot.
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 gen
orally supervised by the Lord. Second.
surrender the idea that they were all
generally supervised by the Lord, and
adopt the theory that they were not
all. but partly supervised by the Lord.
Third, believe that they are the grad
ual evolution of the ages. and men
wrote according to the wisdom of the
times in which they lived. Fourth, be-
lieve that the Bible is bad book, and
not only unworthy of credence but per-
nicious and debasing and cruel. Only
four steps from the stout faith in which
the martyrs died to the blantant Carl
cature of Christianity as the greatest
sham of the centuries. But the door Of
all that precipitation and horror is
made out of an if The mother Of
unrests in the minds of Christian peo-
pie and in those who regard sacred
things is the if of incredulity.
In 1879. in Scotland. l saw a letter
which had been written many years
ago by Thomas Carlyle to Thomas
Chalmers. Carlyle, at the time of
writing the letter, was young man.
The letter was not to be published I'M
til after the death of Carlyle. His
death having taken place the letter
ought to be published. 1t was letter
in which Thomas Carlyle expresses the
tortures of his own mind while relaxing
his faith in Christianity. while, at the
same time. he expresses his admira ton
for Dr. Chalmers, and in which Carlyle
wishes that he had the same faith that
the great Scotch minister evidently ex-
ercised Nothing that Thomas Carlyle
ever wrote in .'Sartor Resartus." or the
French Revolution" or his Life 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.
Perhaps this sermon finding its way
into a Scotch home may suggest its
printing. for that letter shows move
nightly than anything l have ever
read the difference between the Il
know" of Paul and the Il know" of
Job and the Il know" of Thomas Chal-
mers and the Il know of all those
who hold with a firm grasp the old
gospel on the one hand, and the un-
mooring. bestorming and torturing
If of incredulity on the other.
Just in proportion as You have
few Ifs" of incredulity in your religion,
will you find it comfortable religion.
NY full and unquestionable faith in it
is founded on the fact that it soothes
and sustains in time of trouble.
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 lived in your life ever
since before your were born, removing
her spectacles because she will have a
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 life-like as she ever did in
the cradle. then the only religion worth