Connecticut western news., 1893-09-14

for centuries, some of them, and they come back, and we say, Gentlemen of the jury, have you agreed upon a yer dictp' They say, "No, we have not
 agreed" Then we say, "Go back for a few more centuries and then come in and see if you can agree, see if you can
 render some verdict" Now, there is not the meanest prisoner in the Tombs court
 who would be condemned by jury that could not agree, and yet you expect us to renounce our glorious Christianity for such 8 miserable verdict as these
 men have rendered, they themselves not
 having been able to agree.
 WEAK COMMANDMENT.
 But my subject shall. no longer be de- fensive; 1t must be aggressive. I must show you that instead of Christianity falling back it is on the march, and that the coming religion of the worlds to be the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ 10000 times intensified. It is to take possession of everything-of all laws, all manners, all customs, all cities, all na- tions. It is going to be so mighty as compared with what it has been, so much more mighty that it will seem almost like new religion.
 adopt this theory because Christian ity has gone on straight ahead notwith- standing all the bombardment, and in- fidelity has not destroyed a church, or crippled 8 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 stridep
 I 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 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 30 of them, in the re-
 ports of the Christian churches of this
 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 societiesl We hail them, and we hail these others.
 I say it would have been impossible 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 almostevery 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, I know, but there was not an in- telligent man in the United States that as 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 secular paper in the United States that did not discuss the question: "Does God ever answer prayer? May the creature impress the Creator" 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, and we are going to have in this country 5, 1000, ,00O youth fore stalled for Christianity. Hear itl Hear iti ... .. Besides that, you must have noticed, if 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 THR 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
 must try something ,else." And they are trying the gospel.
 Take your scientific consolation to that
 mother who has just lost her child. Ap- | ply the doctrine of the survival of the | Attest" Tell her that her child died be- cause it's 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 him he ought to have confidence in the l 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 1t was a geological | necessity that that man passed out of ex- istence, just as the megatherium disap- peared in order to make room for a | higher style Of creation, and go on with your consolation and tell her that there is possibility that 10, ,000, ,00O years from now we ourselves may be geological specimens on the geological shelf, petri- | fled 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, I will send out the plainest Christian from my church, and with one half hour of pray CT 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 glory flooding the house from floor to cupola. Oh, peo- | pie are finding out themselves-and they
 all have troubles-they find that philoso- phy and science do not help them when ! i, ba ;., 4lo mi