Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-11-24

| place, the letter ought TO be published.
It was letter in which Thomas Carlyle
expresses the fortunes OF his own mind while
relaxing his faith in Christianity, while at
the same time expresses his admiration FOR
| 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 Life of Cromwell" or his immortal
/ Essays" had in it more wondrous power
than that letter which bewailcd his own
doubts and extollel the strong faith OF
/ another.
] l made an exact copy o. 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 Edin-
/ burgh felt uneasy lest somehow that letter
should get out OF my possession and be pub
llshed before its time. So took it back to
! the person by whose permission l had
copied il. All reasons for its privacy having
vanished. wish it might be published.
Perhaps this sermon, finding its way into
Scottish home, may suggest its printing,
/ for that letter shows more nightly than any
! thing | have ever read the difference between
/ the Il know OF Paul. and the Il know OF
/ Job. and the II know OF Thomas Chalmers,
and the Il know Of all those who hold with
firm grip the gospel, on the one hand, and
the unmooring. bestorming and torturing
''if of incredulity on the other l like the
positive faith of that sailor boy that Captain
! Judkins OF the steamship Scotia picked mp in
| hurricane. GO aloit. said Captain Jnd-
J kins to his mate, "and look ont for wrecks.
/ Before the mate had gone far up the rat
| lines he shouted "a wreck \ wreck
! "Where away - said Captain Judkins. ION
/ l,o q l1IpDOdtS
/ were lowered, and forty men volunteered to
| put out across the angry sea for the wreck
! They came back with dozen shipwrecked,
and among them a boy Of twelve years.
who are you?" said Captain Judkins.
! The answer was II am Scotch boy. My
| father and mother are dead. and am on my
| way to America" "What have YOU heret
! said Captain Judkins as he opened the boy !
/ Jacket and took hold OF rope around the
/ boys body. 1T Is a rope said the boy
| But what is that tied by this rope under
| your arm?' THAT, sir, is my mother 8
Bible. She told me never to lose that. -
| Gould YOU not have saved something e!seY
Not and saved that" "Did you expect to
| 60 down. eyes, sir, but meant to take
nv mothers Bible down with me. Bravo !"
said CAPTAIN Judkins. II will take care Of
you"
That boy demonstrated a certainty and 3
confidence that l like. just in proportion
as YOU have few Ifs Of incredulity in yoIr
religion will you find it comfortable re-
ligion. Ny full and unquestioned faith In II
] is founded on the fact that It sooths and sus-
tains in time OF trouble. ] do not believe
/ that any man VINO ever lived had more bless
ings and prosperity than l have received
from God and the world. But I have had
trouble enough to allow me opportunity for
finding out whether our religion is o! any
use in such exigency. I have had fourteen
great bereavements. TO say nothing OF lesser
bereavements for ! was the younger oil q
large family. | have had as much persecu-
/ ton as comes TO most people. have 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. Coniucianism will do.
/ Theosophy will do. No religion at all will
I 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
J 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-
Z
{ 10 which she has gone. or you give the last
kiss TO the child reclining amid the flowers
that pile the casket and looking az 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 crisis for one
OF the promises expressed In hall v-rse Of
the old book than for whole library con
tanning all the productions OF all the other
religions Of all the ages. The otherreligions
are a sort OF cocaine to benumb AMI deaden
the soul while bereavement and misfortune
do their work, but our religion Is lnsplra'
ton. illumination. implradisation. 1t Is y
mixture OF sunlight AMI hGlleluiah. Do not
adulterate it with one drop OF the tincture Of
incredulity.
Another Bible "ir' is the 'if' OF etcrnll
significance. Solomon gives US that IF
twice IN one sentence when he says III thou
be wise. thou shalt be wise for thyseli, but II
thou soonest thou alone shalt bear II.
! Christ gives us that cir when he says. III
/ thou hadst known In this thy day the tning-
which belong unto thy peace, but now they
are hidden from thine eyes. Paul gives us
that "ir' when he says, III they shall enter
into nv rest" All these ifs and score
more that might recall put the Whole re-
sponsibility OF our salvation on ourselves
Christ's willingness to pardon-no IF about
that Realms OF glory awaiting the right
eous--no ''if' about that.
The only ''if' in all the case worth mo.
ment consideration is the 'it' that attache.
itself to the question as to whether we VIII
accept. whether we will repent, whether we
will believe whether we will rise forever IL
it not time that we take our eternal future
OF that swivel? Is it not time that we eX-
tirpate that "if,' that miserable III that
hazardous 'if?" We would not allow this
uncertain if TO stay long in anything else
oiimportance Let some one say in regard
to a railroad bridge. Il have reasons for ask
ing If that bridge is safe and you would no'
cross il. Let some one say, II have reasons
TO ask II that steamer is trustworthy, ano
you would not take passage on IT,
Let some one suggest In regard 70 prop
ertv that you are about to purchase, Il have
reason to ask il they can give a good title,
/ AMI you would not pay dollar down until
/ YOU had some skillful real estate lawyer ex'
anime the title. But 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, decide Perhaps your arrival
/ here to-day may decide Stranger things
| than that have put 10 flight forever the ''it'
/ OF uncertainty.
/ A few Sabbath nights ago in this church q
/ man passing at the foot Of the pulpit said to
( me, II am miner from England" and then
J he pushed back his coat sleeve and said, do
/ you see that scar on my ARM / said, eyes ;
/ you must have had an awful wound there
some time" He said Eyes It nearly cost
I me my life. was in a mine in England Goa
| feet underground and three miles from the
( shaft Of the mine, and a rock fell on me, and
my fellow laborer pried OF the rock, and J
was bleeding to death, and he took \ news
paper from around his luncheon and bound
/ II around my wound and then helped me over
/ the three miles underground to the shat
where | was lifted to the top, and when the
newspaper was taken of my wound / read
on it something that saved my soul, and 1t
was one OF your sermons. Good night, he
said as he passed on, leaving me transaxed
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 stanch-
Ing of the wound and the eternal life OF the
soul? Settle this matter instantly. positively
and forever Stay the last "if" Bury deep
the last ''if How TO do 1t? Fling body,
mind and soulin prayer as earnest rs that
Of Moses in the text Can you doubt the