News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1893-09-14
comparea with what it has been, s.
much more mighty that it will seem
almost like a new religion.

much more mighty that it will seem
almost like a new religion.
adopt this theory because Christian
ity has gone on straight ahead notw1th-
standing all the bombardment, and in
fidelity has not destroyed a church, or
crippled minister, or rooted out one
verse of the Bible, and now their am
munition seems to be pretty much ex-
hausted. They cannot get anything new
against Christianity, and if Christianity
has gone on under the bombardment of
centuries and still continues to advance
may we not conclude that, as the powder
and shot of the other side seem to be ex-
hausted, Christianity is going on with
more rapid stride?
| find an encouraging fact in the
thought that the secular press in this
day and the pulpit seem harnessed in
the same team for the proclamation of
the gospel. Tomorrow there will not be
a banker on Wall street or State street
or Third street who will not have in his
pocket or ON his table treatises on Chris
tianity, calls to repentance and Scripture
passages, 20 or 80 of them, in the re-
city and other cities. Why, that thing
would have been impossible few years
ago. Now ON Monday morning and
Monday evening the secular press
spreads abroad more religious truth than
all the tract societies of the country
spread in the other six days. Blessed
be the tract societies! We hail them,
and we hail these others.
say it would have been impossible a
few years ago. Hundreds of letters
would have come to the secular news
paper offices, saying, stop my paper;
we have religion ON Sunday; don't give
us any through the week. Stop my
paper" But have been told that many
of the secular papers have their largest
circulation on Monday morning, and the
whole population of this country are be-
coming sermon readers. Besides that,
have you not noticed the papers pro-
claiming themselves secular almost every
week have religious discussions in them?
Go back few years when there was
not decent paper in the United States
that had not discussion on the doctrine
of eternal punishment. Small wits made
merry, know, but there was not an in
telligent man in the United States that
as a result of that controversy in regard
to eternal punishment did not ask him
self the question, "What is to be my
eternal destiny?" And some years ago
when Tyndall offered his prayer gauge
there was not a secular paper in the
United States that did not discuss the
question: ''Does God ever answer prayer?
May the creature impress the Creators"
Are not all these facts encouraging to
every Christian and every philanthropist?
Besides that, the rising generation are
being saturated with gospel truth as no
other generation by this international
series of Sunday school lessons. Formerly
the children were expected only to nibble
at the little infantile Scripture stories,
but now they are taken from Genesis to
Revelation, the strongest minds of the
country explaining the lessons to the
teachers, and the teachers explaining
them to the classes, a1d we are going to
have in this country 5000, 900 youth fore
stalled for Christianity. Hear it! Hear
it'll
y
you have talked on these great themes.
that they are finding out that while
science is grand in secular directions
worldly philosophy grand in secular di-
rections, they cannot give any comfort
to soul in trouble.
COMFORT IN THE GOSPEL.
Talking with men ON steamboats, and
in rail cars, find they are coming back
to the comfort of the gospel. They say,
Somehow human science doesn't COM
fort me when have any trouble, and i
are trying the gospel.
Take your scientific consolation to that
mother who has just lost her child. APP
ply the doctrine of the Survival of the
fittest." Tell her that her child died be-
cause its life was not worth as much as
the life of one that lived. Try that if
you dare. Go to that dying man with
your transcendental phraseology and tell
'f f4f4rr f1t. confidence -1ss4l
great ''to be" and the everlasting ''now,"
and the eternal ''what is it?" and go on
with your consolation and see if he is
comforted.
Go to that woman who has lost her
husband and tell her it was geological
necessity that that man passed out of ex-
istence, just as the megatherium disap-
peared in order to make room for
higher style of creation, and go on with
your consolation and tell her that there
is possibility that 10, 0OO,OOO years from
now we ourselves may be geological
specimens on the geological shelf, petri-
fed specimens of the extinct human
race.
And after you have got all through
with your consolation, if the poor af-
ficted soul is not utterly crazed, 1 will
send out the plainest Christian from my
church, and with one half hour of pray
er and the reading of Scripture promises
the tears will be staid, and the conso-
lation and the joy in that house will be
like the calmness of an Indian summer
sunset. There will be a glory flooding
the house from floor to cupola. Oh, peo-
pie are fndin% out themselves-and they
all have oubles-they find that philoso-
ply and science do not help them when
there is a dead babe in the house. They
are coming back to our glorious old fash
toned sympathetic religion.
Oh, young man, do not be ashamed to
be found on the side of the Bible. Do
not join those young men who in this
day put their thumb in their vest and
swagger about the street and the stores
talking about the glorious nineteenth
century, about its light being sufficient
without any Bible and without any
Christ and without any God. The time
is coming-we may not live to see it,
but should not be surprised if we did
see it-when this whole country is to be
one great church, the forests the aisles,
the Allegheny and the Rocky mountains
the pillars, the chain of inland lakes the
baptistries, and the worship the hallelu-
iah chorus to him who was and is and
shall be evermore. Oh, come over to
the majority-come under the banner of
Emanuel.
Vernon was the son of an English
squire. He was brought up in great
elegance. There was man working on
the place of the name of Ralph. Vernon
used to often talk with Ralph. After
awhile Vernon went off to college and
came back with his mind full of skepti-
cism. He talked his skepticism to Ralph,
the workman. After awhile Vernon
went from home again. was gone for
years, came back, and among his first
questions when getting home was,
"Where is Ralph" "Oh!" said the ia
Their, ralph is in prison waiting for the
day of execution"
Vernon fastened to see Ralph. Ralph,
looking through the wicket of the pris-
on, said: vernon, how good you are to
come and see me! am glad to see you.
1 hardly expected you would come and