Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-02-14


Joseph Speer = Other Religious
Notes.
Yesterday morning, Rev Jacob Britting-
ham, rector of St. Luke's p e. church,
preached very thoughtful and earnest
discourse to his congregation. His re-
marks which are given in full, were
drawn from Romans /: 16-'I am not
ashamed Of the gospel Of Christ. for II
is the power of God unto salvation unto
every one that believeth."
There are three classes of persons in
the world. First, those who are governed
by their own opinions; secondly, those
who are governed by the opinions Of
others; and thirdly, those who are gov
erned by the gospel Of Christ.
Now, while it is perfectly right and
proper that every one should have an
opinion of his own, and no less proper
and right to respect that Of other people,
yet in either case, if the gospel does not
come in as a controlling principle, i. e.. if
opinion, especially in spiritual matters,
is not based upon the highest standard of
truth in our reach, then our lives must
sooner or later prove utter disappoint-
ments. if not actual failures.
The Judgment, which our minds form
as to that part of our life which is behind
us. would be utterly unconsolable without
the light of the gospel, and so there would
be no hope for the future. and no peace
for the present. The individual opinion,
or even the combined opinions of all the
people on earth has never and can never
bring the peace for which we sigh. And
as we turn and contemplate the past with
all its disappointments and mistakes and
since it may be crimes which darken the
life. how like the Egyptian darkness it
rises before us and how utterly poweress
we are to get one ray on consolation out
of it, Our sins, like a black cloud, rise
before us and can never be scattered by
mere human opinion. Only the gospel can
do that; for it tells us of One. who came
to save His people from their sins and
give us peace in believing. The future is
no less cheerless without the gospel; for
death would still leave its amending sting,
the grave its everlasting victory, and eter-
nifty would stand out before US appalling
in its hopelessness.
IF we are to depend upon our own
thoughts. or the opinions and PHILOSOPHERS
of the world. then we are of all men the
must miserable. Thoughts and opinions
and PHILOSOPHERS all have their proper
place in the world, but they are not the
gospel. while the most glowing thoughts,
and most consistent opinions and the
most beautiful PHILOSOPHERS may grow out
of the gospel. they are not the gospel.
They may be speculations about the gos-
pei. but not the gospel itself. The gospel
is a fact; or rather, / should say. it is
declaration or proclamation of great and
undoubted facts, which cannot be moved.
1t is the good views concerning Christ
and the truths He thought and therefore
He says: 'Whosoever shall be ashamed Of
me and my words in their adulterous and
sinful generation. of him also shall the
Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh
in the glory of the Father with the Holy
Angels
such a man as St Paul might have
been tempted to be ashamed Of it and Ills
word. There was not much about either
to commend them to the mere opinion of
this man before his conversion. The au-
thor had been crucfied as a malefactor;
His doctrines had nothing to set them off
among scholars; His followers were da-
spised and evil spoken of everywhere.
Ana yet ST. Paul said he was not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ, nor was he
shame to it. He made a bold profession
of his faith right in the face of his own
preconceived ideas, and in opposition to
the combined opinions of his former assu-
ciates. He found that his own opinion
and that of others were wrong in regard
to the gospel of Christ, through which
finally he was lead to this change of
mind. He could not therefore be ashamed
of it and he tells us why.
Il The main condition is because it is
the power of God unto salvation. Other
Observation-Disclosures might and did do some
good in the world, but they were too
slow TO regenerate men. The heather
philosophy might and did refine and
strengthen mans intellect, but it was
powerless to reform mems lives.
Even the Jewish religion had come TO
the point in it's history in our Lords day
when it could do little more than stare
with amazement at the deep things Of
God The doctors in the Temple, with Je-
sus in their midst asking and answering
questions, were typical of the sad cond1-
ton in which their religion had degener-
ated Their one study. it is true, was the
word of God (and chiefly the Law), but
it was rendered Improbable by their in
ventions. They studied the comment rath-
err than the text, which they thought was
too sacred to be handled directly. The
question with them was not what Moses
said but what Rabbi So-and-so had said
OF Moses's teaching. The word of God
was thus made of more effect by their ira
dtions. for the principle, which it advo-
Gated. was often hidden beneath a mass
of commentaries, which taught duties i'm
possible to be put into practice. No Won
der that the Doctors OF the Temple stared
with amazemnt upon that wonderful
child and were as powerless as heather
philosophers to reform mems lives. No
wonder Saul Of Tarsus. so long as he
depended upon mere Jewish teachings and
human philosophy was equally as power
less to reform himself. For a long time
he thought himself these things We're the
great power of God, but he found his
mistake when the power Of God-the gos-
pel of Jesus Christ-took firm hold upon
him.
S''The earnest heart, and manly intellect
Of ST. Paul full of the spirit of the Mas
ter broke the spell of human philosophy