Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-07-30

Gospel. Would you not like TO live the
same Quiet life, aud die the same peace
full death? | received letter, sent me
by one who has rejected the Christian
religion. IL says, IL am old enough TO
know that the joys and pleasures OF NE
are eVanescent, and TO realize the Iact
that II must be comfortable In old age 10
believe in something relative TO the Iu-
ture, and TO have faith In some system
that proposes to save, l am free TO con-
fess that would be happier II | could
exercise the simple and beautiful fatth
, that is possessed by many whom know.
/ am not willingly out of the Church or
out of the faith. My state OF uncer-
tainty is one OF unrest Sometimes l
doubt my Immortality, and look upon
the death-bed As the closing scene, after
which there is nothing. What shall /
do that have not done?" All! scepsi-
cism is a dark and doleful land. Let me
say that this Bible is either true or
false. II IL be false, we are as well on
as you: il il be true, then which one OF
US Is safer?
Let me also ask whether your trouble
has not been that you COMPOUNDED Chris
tianity with the inconsistent character
Of some who profess it. You are
lawyer. In your profession there are
mean and dishonest men. Is that any
thing against the law? You are q doc
tor There are unskilled and contempt
ible men in your profession. Is that
anything against medicine? You are
merchant. There are thieves and de-
frauders in your business. Is that any
thing against merchandise? Behold,
then, the unfairness OF charging upon
Christianity the wickedness OF its dis
ciples We admit some Of the charges
against those who profess religion. Some
OF the
MOST GIGANTIC swINDLEs
OF the present day have been carried on
by members Of ths church. There are
men In the churches who would not be
trusted for five dollars without collat-
eral security. They leave their bust
ness dishoneSties In the vestibule OF the
church as they 60 in and sit at the COM
munion. Having concluded the sacra-
ment, they get up, wipe the wine rom
their lips, 90 out, and take up their sins
where they left of. To serve the devil
Is their regular work; 10 serve God a
sort of play-spel, With a Sunday
sgonge they expect 10 wipe OIL from
their business slate all the past weeks
Inconsistencies. You have no more
right 10 take such mans life as
specimen OF religion than you have to
take the twisted irons and split tlmbers
that lie on the beach at Coney Island as
a specimen OF an American ship. IL is
time that we draw a line between re-
lig!on and the frailities Of those who
profess IT,
Do YOU not feel that the Bible, takeit
all 10 all, is about the best book that the
world has ever seen? Do you know any
book that has so much in 1t? DO you
not think, upon the whole, that its in
fluence has been benefcent? ! come to
YOU with both hands extended toward
you. In one hand have the Bible and
in the other l haze nothing. This Bible
in one hand l will surrender forever
lust as soon as in my other hand you
can put book that is better.
To-day l invite you back into the
good old fashioned religion Of your
fathers-to the God whom they wor-
shipped, to the Bible they read, to the
promises on which they leaned, to the
cross on which they hung their eternal
expectations. You have not been happy
a day since you swung of; you will not
be happy minute until you swing back.
Again: There may be some OF you
who, in the attempt after Christian
life, will have 10 run against powerful
passions aud appetites. Perhaps IL is
disposition 10 anger that you have TO
contend against; aud perhaps, while In
a very serious mood, you hear OF some
thing that makes you feel that you
must swear or die. l know OF Chris
tian man who was once so eXasperated
that he said 10 mean customer, Il
cannot sweer at you myself, Tor l am
member Of the Church; bat II you will
90 down stairs my partner in business
will swear at YOU" All your good res
olutionS heretofore have been
TORN TO TATTERs
by explosions Of temper. Now, there
is no harm in getting mad il you only
get mad st sin. You need 10 bride
and saddle these hot-breathed passions,
aud with them ride down injustice and
wrong. There are a thousand things
In the world that we ought 10 be mad
at. There is no harm in getting red
hot II you only bring 10 the forge that
which needs hammering. A mau who
has no power OF righteous indignation
is an imbecle. But bs sure it is
righteous indignation and not petu-
lancy that blurS, aud unrayels, and de-
ple,es the soul.
There is . large class OF persons In
midlife who have still in them appetites
that were aroused in early manhood, at
q time when they prided themselves on
being a little fast" "hign livers,
free and easy" hail fellows well
met" They are now paying in com.
pound interest for troubles they collect
ed twenty years ago. Some OF you are
trying to escape, and you will-yet very
narrowly, "aS with the skin OF your
teeth" God aud your own soul only
know what the struggle is. Omniptent
grace has pulled out many soul that
was deeper 10 the mirs than you are.
They line the beach Of heaven-the
multitude whom God has rescued from
the thrall OF suicidal habits. II you
this day turn your back on the wrong,
aud start anew, God will help you. Ga
the weakness OF human help, Men will
sympathize for while, aud then turn
you off, II you ask for their pardon,
they will give II, aud say they will try
you again; but, falling away again I'M
der the power of temptation, they cast
you of forever But God forgiveS sew
enty times seven; yea, seven hundred
times; yea, though this be the ten thou
- Al hR IA
sympathetic, more helpful this last time
than when you took your first misstep.
II, with all the influence favorable for
a right life, men make so many mis-.
takes, how much harder il is when, for
instance, some appetite thrusts its