The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-03-13
,ethod Of .sckonirsr cy,.a,.ts them the

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One summer. u Connecticut,
went 10 :; large factory, and saw o<,ea
TIE door written the words, No aG
,i.ittance. entered and saw ovel
the next door. No aan!ittancc. Oi
course I entered / got INSIDE anc
found ii q pin factory, and they were
making pins, very seIvic2abie. ine and
useful pins. So tie spirit OF cNcius,
iveneSs has practically written over
the outside door OF May ! church.
No Admittancc. And ;fthe StranG-
e. enter he finds practically written
owe. the second door. Ne admit
tanca, and 4 l." goes IL over all the
pew doors seems written. No admit
lance. while TIC minister s;aAG>lA tie
pulpit hammeriIg out his little nice
ties of belief, pounding oas the techni-
cali.ies Of reiig:on-laakin% pms. ID
tie most practical. common sense
way, AID laying aside the nonessen-
.;ais and the hard definitions OF reilg-
;or. 60 out on the God given mission:
telling the people what they need and
when and how they can get 1t.
Comparatively little effort as yet has
been made to save that large class of
persons in our midst called sGepiics.
and he VINO goes to work here will
not be building upon another mans
foundation. There is q great multi
tudc 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 net Christ, and hear with
what tenderness and pathos and beau
ty 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-namelv. thou shalt love thy
neighbor as thysclf. There is no 9th
er commandments greater than this.
And the scribe said to him. Well,
Master, thou hast said the truth. for
there is one God. and TO love him with
all the heart, and all the understand
ing. and all the soul. and all the
strength, is more than whole burnt Of
ferings and sacrifices. !" And when
Jesus saw that he answered discreetly
he said unto him. Thou art not far
from the kingdom Of God" So a
skeptic was saved in one interview
But few Christian people treat the
skeptic in that way. Instead of taking
hold of him with the gentle hand Of
love, we are apt to take him with the
iron pinchers of ecclesiasticiSm.
You would not be so rough on that
man if YOU knew by what process he
had lost his Christianity. I have
known men skeptical from the fact
that they grew up in the 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 catechisms
They We're often told they were the
worst boys the parents ever knew. be-
cause they liked to ride down hill bet
ter than to read Bunyans Pilgrim s
Progress. Whenever father and
mother talked of religion, they drew
down tue corners of their mouth and
rolled up their eyes. If any one
thing viii send . boy or girl to rain
sooner than another, that is it. If l
had had such father and mother. |
fear I should have been al infidel.
When l was boy III Sunday school,
at one time we had . teacher who.
when we were not attentive. struck us
over the head with New Testament,
and there is way of using the Bible
so as to make itotfensive. Others We're
tripped up Of skepticisn from being
grievously y wronged by some man who
p"ofessed to be a Christian. They had
partner in business who turned out
to be a first class scoundrel, though q
professed Christian. Of course their
rejection of religion on such grounds
was unphilosophical and unwise I
am told that many Of the United States
army desert every year. and there are
thousands of court martials every year.
Is that anything against the United
States government that swore them IN ?
And if a soldier OF Jesus Christ desert,
is hatanyth;ng against the Christian
ity which he swore to support and de-
fend? How dc you Judge Of the cur
rency OF a country: Bya counterfeit
bill? Oh, you must have patience
with those who have been swindled by
religious pretenders. Live in the
presence of others frank, honest,
learnest Christian life, that they MAJ
/ be attracted to the same Saviour ur,.sl
whom your hopes depend
Remember slepticisln always, na<
some reason, good or bad. for sxistiJg
Goethes irreiigion started when the
news came to Germany 6 the earth
quake at Lisbon, Nov. :, 1875. Thai
60, 600 people should aave pe,.ished IL
that earthquake af,5i IN the after rising
of the Tagus so stirred his sy1npathie.
that he threw up his belief in the
goodness Of Sod.
Others a&ve gone into skepticisn
from 4atUral persistence in asking
the reason why. They have been fear
fully stabbed OF the interrogation
point. There are so many things they
cannot get explained. They ca1no
understand the Trinity or how Goo
can be sovereign ana yet man free
agent. Neither can l. They say, -
don't understand why good Coo
should have le. sin come into thu
world" Neither DO l. You say
why was that child started in life
with such disadvantages, while other:
have all physical and mental equip
ment!: I cannot tell They go on
of church on Easter morning and say
That doctrine Of the resurrection con
founded me-" So it is to me mys
terry beyond lmravelment. I under
stand all the processes by which mer
get into the dark. know them all
I have travelled with burning feet tha
blistered way. Tie first word whicl
most children learn to utter is Papa
or Mama" but l think the first wort
ever uttered was why" I know
| what It is TO have q hundred midnirht