Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1893-11-20

/ q knock 40 the cottage door, ana tne
son entered, crying out. Mother |
knew you would pray me homeP II l
would ask all those in this assemblage
who have been prayed home to God
BY PIoUS MOTHERS
to stand up, there would be scores that
would stand, and II ] should ask them
90 give testimony it would be the testi-
mony Of that New England son coming
ashore from the split tim0ers OF the
whaling ship, My mother prayed me
hOme"
Another Bible gP' is the mp Of in
credulity. Satan used it. when Christ,
with his vitality depressed by forty
days abstinence from food, the tempter
\ pointed % some stones, ia color and
shape like loavcs OF bread, and said: If
thou be the Son Of God, command that
these stones be made bread" That was
! appropriate, for Satan is the rather OF
! that ''If'' of incredulity. Peter used
| that same "If" when. standing on the
wet and slippery deck Of q fishing
smack OF Lake Galilee, be saw Cdrist
walking On the sea as though is were
as solid as pavement Of basalt from
the adjoining volcanic hills, and Peter
cried out: IF 10 be Thou, let me come
/ 20 Thee on the water What a pre-
/ poSterOus III" What human foot was
/ ever so constructed as 20 walk OF
water? In what part OF the earth did
/ law OF gravitatiOn make exception 10
the rule that a man will sink TO the
elbows when be touches the wave OF
river or lake, and will sink still further
unless he can swim?
But here Peter looks out upon the
/ form in the shape OF a man defying the
mightiest law OF the universe, the law
Of gravtotOu, and standing erect on
I the top OF the LIQUID. Yet the increGu-
Ions Peter cries out TO the Lord, IF IL
\ be thou" Alas! for that incredulOus
"If." II is working as powerfully In
the latter part Of this nineteeth Chris
/ tian century as il did in the early part
Of the first Christian century. Though
/ q small conjunction, it is the biggest
/ block to-day 10 the way Of the Gospel
chariot. ''Ii!" "Ifw We have theo-
| logical seminarles which spend most Of
their time and employ their learning
I aud their genius in the manufacture OF
IFS" With that weaponry is assaied
the Pentateuch, and the miracles and
the divinity of Jesus Christ Almost
everybody is chewing on an III"
WHEN MANY A MAN BOWS
For prayer, he puts his knees on an
off" The door through which people
pass into infdeity and atheism and all
immoralities has two door posts, aud
the one is made up of the letter ''I''
and the other Of the letter ''F."
There are only Hour steps between
strong faith and complete unbelief,
First, surrender the id9a of the verbal
inspiration of the Scriptures, and adopt
the idea that they were all generally SUI
Uervlsed by the Lord. Second, surren-
der the idea that they were all gener-
ally supervised by the Lord, and adopt
the theory that they were not all, but
partly supervised by the Lord. Third,
belive that they are the gradual eyolu-
tion of the ages, and men wrote accord
ing TO the wisdom Of the times in which
they lived Fourth, believe that the
Bible is q Dad book aud not only IN
worthy Of credence but perniclOus and
debasing and cruel. Only four steps
from the stout faith in which the mar
tyrs died to the blatant caricature OF
Christianity as the greatest sham Of the
centuries. But the door TO all that pre-
ciDitation and horror is made out OF an
81" The mother Of unrest in the
minds Of Christian people and those
who regard sacred things is the 'If'' OF
inCreduIity. In 1879, in Scotland, saw
letter which had been written many
years ago by Thomas Carlyle to Thomas
Chalmers. Carlyle, at the time OF writ
ing the letter, was young man. The
letter was not TO be published until aft
er the death Of Carlyle. his death hav-
ing taken place, the letter ought to be
published. 10 was q 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 admiration for DR..
Chalmers, and In which Carlyle wishes
that be had the same faith that
THE GREAT SCOTCH MINISTER
evidently exercised. Nothing that
Thomas Carlyle ever wrote in "Sartor
Resartus," or the "French Revolution,
on his Life OF Cromwell" or his i'm
mortal Essays" had in it more won
drous power than that letter which be-
walled his own doubts and eXtOlled the
strong faith of another. l made an eX-
act COPY OF that letter with the under
standing that 10 should not be published
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
ara oe published before its time. SO
took it back to the person by whose
permission had copied il. AL reasons
for it's privacy having vanished, wish
it might be published.
Perhaps this sermon finding its way
into q Scottish home may suggest us
printing, for that letter shows more
nightly than anything have ever read
the difference between the II know" OF
Paul and the IL know" of Job and the
Il know" of Thomas Chalmers and the
- know of ell those who hold with a
firm grip the old Gospel on the one
hand, aud the unmooring, bestorming
aud torturlng 'Tf" Of incredulity on the
other. like the positive faith OF that
sailor boy that Captain JudkinS, OF the
steamship Scotia picked up In hurri-
cane. go aloft," said Captain Judkins
to the mate, ''and look out for wrecks"
Before the mate had gone far up the
ratines, he shouted, "A wreck!
wreckr "Where away?" said Captain
JudkinS "Od the port bow" was the
answer. Life boats were lowered, and
forty men volunteered TO put out across
the angry sea for the wreck. They came
back With a dozen ship wrecked, and
among them boy of twelve years.
'Who are you?" said Captain Judkins.
The answer was: Il am a Scotch boy.
Ny father and mother are dead ana l
am on my way to America. what