Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-03-08

doors seems writt-a. .sNo imutancs." while
To- minister siaa 4 Ia the pllpit. hamn-ring
oui bis little nieeiiss of beliei, pounding out
thu te-hnieAli;ies of religion. making pins.
In tbs mast praairal. common sanss way.
AMI LAYING n. 4 "a. nlnssssntials aud the
hard defnitiOn- Of religion. so out on the
HDt given mission. telling the people what
they neet anl wh-n an 1 how they can get Il.
Comparatively little effort as vet has been
male 20 save that large class Of persons 10
our mihst eail-i - optics anl he who gOe-
10 work here will not be- building upon
another mans foundation. There is a great
multitude Of them. They are afraid Of US
and our chur'hes for the reason We do not
know how u treat them. One Of this class
met Christ. and hear with what tenderness
ani pathOs ami beauty and success Christ
dealt with him; Thou shalt love the Lord
thy Goi with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul. aud with all thy mind AMI with all tiny
strength. This l. the first commandment
and the second Is like TO this-namely, thou
shalt lovethy neighbor as thyself. There is
no other commandment greater than this
Aud the scribe said 20 Hin, "well, Master,
Thou hast said the truth. for there is one
God, aud to love Him with all the heart,
and all the unterstan ling, ani all the soul,
anl all thu strength, il more than whole
burnt offerings AMI sa"rih Aud when
Jesus saw that he answered dis,reetly tie
said unto him, ''fhOu art not far from the
Kingdom OF God. 80 a sSenttc was saved
IN one interview. But few Christian people
treat the skeptic in that way. Instead OF tax
ing hold of him with the gentle hand OF love,
we are aptto take him with the iron pinchers
Of ecclesiasticism.
You would not be 30 rough on that man IL
you knew by what process he hal lost his
faith In Christianity. | have known men
skeptical from the fact that they grew up in
Ia tt-ha
day was the most awful day OF the week.
They had religion driven into them with a
trip hammer. They were surteited with
prayer meetings. They were stuffed and
chOked with oate'hisms. They were often
told they were the worst boys the parents
ever knew, because they liked TO ride down
hill better than 10 real b Inyan's "Pilgrlm's
Progress" Whenever father aud mother
talked of religion, they drew down the cor
ners Of their mouth anl rolled up their eyes
II any one thing will seat a boy or girl to
ruin sooner than another, that Il it, IL
had such n father an | mother. fear | should
have been an inaiel Wnen | was boy in
Sunlay-schoOl, at one tims We had tea cher
w'), when We were not attentive, struck us
over the heal with a New Testament, AMI
there is way OF using cyea the Bible 80 as
to make 1t offensive.
Oshers were trlppel up Of skepticism from
being grievously wrongei by some man who
prOfesS'd to be "A Christian. They hal a
partner in business who turned out to BE-
iirst-'lass scDun lrel, though professel
Christian. Many years ago they lost all faith
by what happenei in az oil company Which
was formed amid the petroleum excitement.
The company Owned no land, or if they did
there was no sign Of oil produced. but the
President Of the company was Presbyterian
elder, AMI the treasurer was an Episcopal
vestryman. and one dire,tOr was a Meth )list
class lea Ter, and the other directors prOmi-
nent members Of Baptist and Con gationll
churches. Circulars were gotten out telling
what fabulous prospects opened before this
company. Innocent men and women
whJ had little money to invest, AMI thai
little their all, said, II don't know anything
about this company, hut - many good men
are at the head of ii that it must be excellent,
and taking stock in II must be almost a.
good as joining the church
81 they bought the stock ali perhaps re-
ceiyed one dividend so Us 10 keep thnn still
but after awhile they iouul that the con-
pauy had reor;AnjZei AMI hal different
president aat different treasurer ant differ
ent directors. Other ongagsm snts or i'll
health ha caused the former OH 'ers Of TIL
company. with many regrets 10 resign.
And all that this subscribers Ofthat stock hal
u show for their investment WAS q beaItl-
fully ornamented certificate. Sometimes
that man looking over his Did papers con
across IN # r,rtiti ,,te a1l il is 50 s1yy.,tiy.
tina, he vows h,y.,nt. none of the rali ION
that the pre-i lent. AMI trustees arl di-A..
tors OF that oil company pr1fes.ei OF
course their rei.,tiou OF religion ON such
grounds was uaphiibsophiral AMI unwisr.
an told that many OF tn Unite States army
desert every year, aul there are Thousands
OF court mqrtills every var. l. tins.
anything aGain-t the Cnitel States Gov
ernment that .w5rr them inY AMI
If a soldier of Jesus Christ desert. j. that
ANYTHING against the Christianity whi \
he swore to support aud dt.euly How do
you nudge OF the currency 0f II country? BY
a counterfeit hiily Oh Won must hay, IA
thence with III 80 who hay. ba,n -w;rtla hy
religious prrten ierI lave in the pr4sna ~ Of
others a frank. honest. earnest Cnrlstiau life
that they NAV he attracted to the sam, Saw
Jour upon whom your hopa, depend.
Remember skcptinisn alwav, has some
reas IN. good or la /. for existing Gonthe'-
irr III zion started when the news cl.ns to
Germany Of the clrthluake at Lisbon. Nov,
/, I775 Tnut G0OJl palul, should have
perishai in thut enrthalake nul in the after
rising Of the Tlgus so stirrrl his svmparhies
that he threw up his belief in the - JinaS4 OF
God
Others have gone into sSop,ie,sn from 4
natural persistence in asiiug in reason why
They have been fearfully stabbed nf the in
terrogation point. Thereare 50 many things
they cannot get explained. They cannot I'M
dcr-tani the Trinity h,w q Il can ba soy.
rreign and vet n man Trae agent Neither
can / They saw. II don't understand why
| n good God should have let sin a.. ne into the
world Neither do l. Yon .ny. ,.Wny was
thnt child Il lrte3 in life with Al III disaiyau-