The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-04


had any Christian worker look them in
7 tle eye and with esruostness in the ac-
. ccufIati0u. say Come OF they would
long ago have been in tho kingdom My
FRIENDS. religion is either sham or tre-
mend0uS reality 10 it be "a sham. Jet us
cease 10 have anything TO do with Chris
/ tian association. II II be reality. then
great populations are on their way 90 thr
bar Of God untitled for the ordeal. and
what are we doing
DO orier TO reach the multitude Of out
siders we must drop an technicalities out
OF our religion When we talk 10 people
about the hyp0= tatic union and French
1ncycloociiauism. and Erastiniauism. and
Compiuteusianism We are as impoliuc
and little understood as % a physician
should talk 70 an ordinary patient about
the pericarIium. and intercosal muscle
and scorbutir symptoms. Many of MS
come out Of the thsological seminariee so
loaded Up that we take the FIRST ten years
10 show our people how much we know.
and the next ton years get our people
to know as much as we know, and at the
end find that neither of as know any
thing as We ought to know. Here are
hundreds of thousands OF ginning, strug-
Cling. and dying people whe need 10 real
ize just one thing-that jesus Christ came
to save them. and will save them now
But we 80 into "a profound and elaborate
definition Of what justification is, and
after all the work there are not, outside
OF the learned professions. five thousand
people n the United States who can tell
what Justification is. / will read you the
definition:
classification is purely a forensic act.
the act Of "a iudge sitting in the forum, In
which the Supreme Ruler and Judge, who
is accountable 20 none. and who alone
knows the manner in which the ends Of
his universal government can best be at
tanned. reckons that which was done by
the substitute and not on account of any
thing done by them. but purely upon ac-
count Of this gracious method Of reckon
ing. grants them the full remission Of
their sins"
Now. what IS justification? 7 win tell
YOU what Justification is-when sinner
believes. God lets him of One summer
ln Connecticut / went TO "a large factory,
and saw over the door written the words
mo Ambulance. J entered and saw over
the next door: mo Admittance.' OF
course I entered. I got inside and found
it "A pin factory and they were making
pins. very serviceahle, hnc and useful
pins. So the spirit of eNclusiveness has
practically written over the outside door OF
many a church: NO Admittance." And If
the stranger enter he finds practically
written over the second door: mo Admit
lance, and II he goes in over all the pew
doors seems written: mo Admittance,"
while the minister stands I'm the pulpit
hammering out his little niceties of be-
lief. pounding ont the technicaliues or
religion. making pins. In the most prac-
Teal. common-sense way, and laying aside
the non-essentials and the hard definitions
of religion. 80 out on the God-given mis-
sion. telling the people what they need
and when and how they can get it.
Comparatively little effort as yet has
been made to save that large class of per
sons in our midst called sceptics, and he
who goes to work here will not be build
ing upon another mans foundation There
is a great multitude of them. They are
afraid of us and our churches. for the
reason we do not know how TO treat them.
One of this class met Christ, and hear
with what tenderness, and pathos, and
beauty, and success Christ dealt with
him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul
and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength. This is the first commandment
and the second is like to this: namely.
thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself
There is no other commandment greater
than this" And the scribe said to him
"Wel. Master. thou has said the truth.
for there Is one God. and TO love him with
all the heart, and all the understanding
and all the soul and all the strength is
more than whole burnt offer
ings and sacrifices" And when
Jesus saw that he answered dis
creetly, he said unto him: Thou art not
far from the kingdom of God" So a scep-
tic was saved in one interview. But few
Christian people treat the sceptic in that
way. Instead Of taking hold of him with
the gentle hand of love. we are apt to
take him with the iron pincers of eccles-
iasticism.
Yon would not be so rough on that man
If you knew by what process he had lost
his faith in Christianity. l have known
men skeptical from the fact that they
grew up in houses where religion was
overdone. Sunday was the most awful
day of the week They had religion driven
into them with a trip-hammer. They We're
surfeited with prayer meetings. They
were stuffed and choked with chatecisms.
They were often told they were the worst
boys the parents ever knew. because they
liked to ride down hill better than read
Bunyan's "Plgrim's Progress" When
ever father and mother talked of religion
they drew down the corners of their
mouth and rolled up their eyes. If any
one thing viii send a boy or girl to ruin
sooner than another, that is it. IL l had
had such a father and mother, l fear 7
should have been an infidel When l was
a boy in Sunday school, at one time we
had a teacher, who, when we were not at
tentive, struck us over the head with
New Testament. and there is a way OF
using even the Bible so as to make it Of
fensive.
Others We're tripped up of skepticism
from being grievOusly wronged by some
man who protested to be Christian. They
had a partner in business who turned out
to be a frst-class scoundrel, though pro-
fessed Christian. Many years ago they
lost all faith by what happened in an oil
company which was formed amid the pc
troleum excitement The company owned
no land, or, If they did, there was no sign
of oil produced; but the president of the
company was a Presbyterian elder and
the treasurer was an Episcopal vestry-
man, and one director was a Methodist
class-leader, and the other directors prom
inent members of Baptist and Congre-
gationai churches. Circulars were gotten
out telling what fabulous prospects
opened before this company In
nocent men and women who had
little money TO invest. and
that litde their all. said 81 don't know
anything about this company, but so
many good men are at the head of it that
it must be excellent. and taking stock
in it must he almost as good as Joining,
the church" SO they bought the stock
and perhaps received one dividend so as
to keep them still, but after while they