Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1893-11-25

stones be made bread" That was APP
propriate, for Satan is the father of
that .if'' of incredulity. Peter used that
same eff when, standing on the wet
and slippery deck of a fishing smack on
Lake Galilee, he saw Christ walking on
the sea as though it We're as solid as a
pavement of basalt from the adjoining
/, volcanic hills, and Peter cried out, IF
| it be thou, let me come to thee on tho
| water"
What a preposterous .if.7 What hu-
man foot was ever so constructed as to
walk on water? In what part of the
earth did law of grayitation make excep-
ton to the rule that a man will sink to
the elbows when he touches wave of
river or lake. and will sink still farther
unless he can swim? But here Peter looks
out upon the form in the shape of man
defying the mightiest law of the uni
verse-the law of gravitation-ands stand
ing erect on the top of the liquid. Yet
| the incredulous Peter cries out to the
Lord, ''If it be thou" Alas, for that in
credulous '.if!" 1t is working as power
fully IN the latter part of this nineteenth
Christian century as it did in the early
part of the first Christian century.
Though small conjunction, it is the
biggest block today in the way of the
gospel chariot. ''Ifr' "Ifr' We have
theological seminaries which spend most
of their time and employ their learning
and their genius in the manufacturing
of ''ifs." With that weaponry are as
sailed the Pentateuch, and the miracles,
and the divinity of Jesus Christ. AL
most everybody is chewing ON an ''if. +"
When many man bows for prayer, he
puts his knee ON an eff" The door
through which people pass into infidelity
and atheism and all immoralities has
two doorposts, and the one is made up of
the letter SIP and the other of the let
ter IF"
There are only four steps between
strong faith and complete unbelief: First,
surrender the idea of the verbal inspira-
ton of the Scriptures and adopt the idea
that they were all generally supervised
by the Lord. Second, surrender the idea
that they We're 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 gradual evolution of the age, and
men wrote according to the wisdom of
the times in which they lived. Fourth,
believe that the Bible is bad book and
not only unworthy of eredence, but per-
nicious and debasing and cruel.
Only four steps from the stout faith in
which the martyrs died to the blatant
caricature of Christianity as the great
est sham of the centuries. But the door
to all that precipitation and horror is
made out of an IF" The mother of
unrests in the minds of Christian people
and in those who regard sacred things
is the IF of incredulity. In 1879, in
Scotland, saw letter which had been
written many years ago by Thomas Car
lyle to Thomas Chalmers. Carlyle, at
the time of writing the letter, was a
young man. The letter was not to be
published until after the death of Car
lyle. His death having taken place, the
letter ought to be published.
1t was letter in which Thomas Car
lyle expresses the tortures of his own
mind while relaxing his faith in Chris
tianity, while at the same time he ex-
presses his admiration for DR.. Chalmers,
and in which Carlyle wishes that he had
the same faith that the great Scotch min
lister evidently exercised. Nothing that
Thomas Carlyle ever wrote in 'Sartor
Resartus," or the French Revolution"
~ hi, 80 Of C,.p,nu-aII ~. -,
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.
made an exact copy of that letter,
with the understanding that it should not
be published until after the death of
Thomas Carlyle; but, returning to my ho-
tel in Edinburgh, felt uneasy lest some
how that letter should get out of my pos
session and be published before its time.
SO | took it back to the person by whose
permission had copied it. All reasons
for its privacy having vanished, | wish
it might be published.
AN INCIDENT.
Perhaps this sermon, finding its way
into Scottish home. may suggest its
printing, for that letter shows more
nightly than anything have ever read
the difference between the Il know" of
Paul, and the 81 know of Job, and the
Il know" of Thomas Chalmers, and the
II know" Of all those who hold with q
firm grip the old gospel, on the one hand,
and the unmooring. hestorIning and tor
turing eff of incredulity on the other.
ike the positive faith of that sailor boy
that Captain Judkins of the steamship
Scotia picked up in hurricane. $50
aloft, said Captain Judkins to his mate,
land look out for wrecks
Before the mate had gone far up tho
ratlines he shouted: "A wreck A wreck.
where away" said Captain Judkins.
"Off the port bow" was the answer
Lifeboats We're lowered, ard 40 men vol
unteered to put out across the angry sea
for the wreck They came back with a
dozen shipwrecked. and among them q
boy of 1a years
WHO are YOU end Captain Judl1ins
The answer Was: II ann Scotch boy
My father and mother are dead, and !
am ON my way to America. What have
you here:" said Captain Judkins as he
opened the boys jacket and took hold of
rope around the boys body. at is a
rope" said the boy. But what is that
tied by this rope under your arIn?'
''That, sir, is my mothers Bible. She
told me never to lose that" Gould you
not have saved something else?" Not
and saved that" did You expect to go
down. Eyes, sir, but l meant to take
my mothers Bible down with me"
Bravo" said Captain Judkins. Il will
take care of YOU"
That boy demonstrated a certainty and
a confidence that like. Just iii proper
ton as you have few Ifs" of incredulity
in your religion will you find it com
Portable religion. Ny 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 End
ing out whether our religion is of any use
in such an exigency. have had ii 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. have
had all kinds of trial, except severe and
prolonged sickness, and would have
been dead long ago but for the consola-
tory mower of Our religion
Any religion viii do in time of pros
perity. Buddhism viii do. Confucian-
ism will do. Theosophy viii do. No
religion at all will do. But when the
xrnrlal rraAs . ftar ,.ori and dafarnlas r-1,r,r