Democratic messenger., 1894-03-24

preached 10 few hundred or "a few
Thousand people. and on Monday morn
ing and Monday evening. In the morning
To the millions. What IA thought it is.
What an encouragement for every Chris
tian man.
GIOI,loUS FACT.
Besides that. have you noticed that
during the past few years every one of
the doctrines of the Bible came under dis
cussion III the secular press: Do you not
remember "A few years ago. when every
paper in the United States had an cdi-
torial On the subject, is There Such IA
Thing as Future Punishment" 1t was
the strangest thing that there should be
"a discussion IN the secular papers on that
subject. but every paper in the United
States and in Chrlstendom discussed,
"ls There Such Thing as Rctribution:"
/ know there were small wits who made
sport of the discussion, but there was
not AN intelligent man ON earth who. as
the result of that discussion. did not ask
himself the question. What is going To
be my eternal destiny 81 II was in re-
gard To Tymdall's prayer gauge.
About IL years ago, you remember.
T! the secular papers discussed that. and
with just as much earncstncss as the re-
ligious papers. and there was not man
in Christendom who did not ask himself
| the questions: is there ANYTHING i'll pray
er: May the creature impress the Gre
ator:' Oh, what a mighty fact, what n
I .rlA tho sa..,al..t
and the pulpit of the church of Jesus
Christ harnessed III the same team.
Then look at the International series
of Sunday school lessons. DO YOU know
that every Sabbath. between 3 and )
o'clock. there are j.OOO, 900 children study
ing the same lessona lesson prepared
by the leading minds of the country
and printed in the papers and then these
subjects are discussed and given over to
the teachers, who give them over to the
children! 80. whereas. once, and within
our memory, the children nibbled here
and there at a story III the Bible, now
they are taken through from Genesis To
Revelation. and we shall have 5000, 900
children forestalled for Christianity. My
soul is full of eXultation. feel as If
could shout will shout, "Alleluia, the
Lord God omnipotent reigneth."
SCIENTIFIC CONSOLATION.
Then you notice more significant
fact, if you have talked with people ON
the subject, that they are getting dissat-
isiied with philosophy and science as
matter Of comfort They say it does not
amount To anything when you have
dead child i'll the house. They will tell
you, when they were sick and the door of
the future seemed opening, the only com
fort they could find was i'll the gospel
| People are having demonstrated all over
the land that science and philosophy can
not solace the trouble and Woes of the
world, and they want some other reli-
| gion, and they are taking Christianity,
the only sympathetic religion that ever
came into the world.
| You Just take your scientific consola-
tion into that room where "a mother has
lost her child. Try III that case Your
splendid doctrine of the survival of the
fittest" Tell her that child died because
it was not worth as much as the other
children. That is your survival of the
tittest.' Go To that dying man and tell
him to pluck up courage for the future.
Use your transcendental phraseology up
ON him. Tell him he ought to be conf
dent in 1.-The great to be. and the ever
lasting now" and the eternal what is
it," just try Your transcendentalism
and your philosophy and your science on
him.
Go TO that widowed soul and tell her
il was geological necessity that her
companion should be taken away from
her, Just as i'll the course of the world
history the megatherium had 10 pass out
of existence. and then you go on i'll your
scientific consolation until you get To the
sublime fact that 10000. 900 years from
now we ourselves may be scientific spec
linens On Il geological shelf, petrified
specimens of an extinct human race
And after You have got all through
with your consolation. if the poor affiict-
ed soul is not craZed by it. will send
forth from this church the plainest
Christian we have, and with one half
hour of PRAYER and reading of Scripture
promises the tears will be wiped away,
and the house from floor to cupola will
be flooded with the calmness of an In
dian summer sunset. There is where
sce the triumph of Christianity. Peo-
pie are dissatisfied with everything else.
They want God. They want Jesus Christ.
Talk about the exact sciences. There
is only one exact science. 1t is not math-
ematics. Taylor's logarithms have many
4.
TEN has many imperfections. The only
exact science is Christianity-th only
thing under which you can appropriately
write, "Quod erat dcmonstrandum." y on
tell me that two and two make four.
do not dispute it, but il is not 50 plain
that two and two make four as that the
Lord God Almighty made tins world
and for man, the sinner he sent his only
begutten Son To die.
| put on the witness stand to testify
III behalf of Christianity the church
ON earth and all the church i'll heaven.
Not 80, not Il thousand. not IL million,
but all of the church ON earth and all
the redeemed i'll heaven.
\ QUESTION uF TESTIMONY.
You tell m, James \. Garfield was in
augnrated president of the United States
on the ith uf March, 1881. How do |
know il: You tell me there were $1,000
persons who distinctly heard his inau-
gural address. deny both. | deny that
he was inaugnrated deny that his in
augural address was delivered. You
ask why. did not see II; did not hear
II I;ut Won SAY that there, wer,. ~ tsHl
persons who did see and hear him. l say
cannot take it anyhow. did not see
and hear him. Whose testimony will
lyon take: Iou will not take my testi-
,mony Iou say: "Iou know nothing
about il; yuu were not there. Let Us
have the testimony of the 5000 persons
who stood before tlr capitol and heard
that magnificent inaugural" Why. of
course that is as your common sense die