The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-27

headed a reform movement looking to
pure homes and a clean life?
/ A seventh point of contact and SINH
larity is their superficiaIity. Neither is
| disposed to consider any subject with
| seriousness. Their success is not in
! logic, but in creating laughter on the
part of shallow auditors. No question
IS sounded to its depths. Their founda-
/ tons are the muck of the swamps of
unbelief. When Gladstone undertook to
meet the superficial vaporings of inf
deity with virile truth, he soon discov-
cred that his sword was cutting shad-
oWs
! They agree again in the use of sophis-
Try. Mfsquoting scripture is a favorite
method of both. Into the vacancy of
minimizing minds are thrown the hol-
low bubbles. wind-filled bubbles, having
the form of truth, without its sub
stance.
They agree again in their malevo-
lenoe. This could scarcely find more
forceful illustration than in the closing
| sentences of the apologist's late plea.
lie says: What ecstasy it would be to
know that God really exists, that he is
really our father and cares for us; that
an paths, turn and twist as they may,
VIII lead at last to the gates of peace.
10 know that the tomb is a door that
leads to eternal life; to take your babe
upon your knee and say mine, and mine
/ forever more; to take the woman you
love to your breast, and know that
/ however dark the clouds, she is yours.
Ihen how beautiful, how enchanting
! uearh would be. The shroud would be-
come a robe Of glory. And yet it would
De tar better that all this should be
raise, than that all the New Testament
should be true" Can human mind con-
celYe of a spirit of malevolence more
audacious than this concluding SEN
] tence?
Finally, the devils apologist''
agrees with his client in that both are
utterly impotent to stay the rolling
tides of divine love. The angry spume
| OF the Atlantic rushes wrathfully
against the cliff at White Head Storms
gather and add to the relentless fury
| or the leaping foam. Then the storm
supsides and the face is not even
Inarred, but smiles down upon the wa
ters with gentle rebuke.
| NO assaults on the citadels of truth
are new; every generation has produced
some champion of infidelity; every gen.
GRAFTON has been prolific in predictions
! Oh speedy ruin to the church and the
early decay of Christianity. The sin
cere inquirer for truth will be i'm
pressed with the fact that individual
ana organized effort to suppress the
Bible and dethrone Christ has resulted
IN. the multiplication of disciples. There
are mountains of testimony to the in
destructibility of Christianity. In
creasing intelligence increases adher-
ents and advocates of the religion of
Jesus. The sun cannot be blotted out
+ by rhetoric
The Mont Blancs of faith are Cod
the Bible. the church, prayer regener-
/ n INN toll
IN his creative and providential works
HIS glory appears in natures immen-
/ sites and intensities
Here is the Bible, 66 books by 40 and
more authors, and written during a
period of 1000 years, the most hated
and most loved book on earth. In the
thought world it holds a place COM
handing, directive.
A bad book cannot produce a pure
and noble life. Myriads of witnesses
sanity in life and angelic in death
have left their testimony that thew
owed their highest Inspirations, their
deepest joy and their abiding peace to
the Blble. 1t moves in the vanguard
OF ciElli1atIon. 1t is at the foundation
OF all philanthropic institutions.
| Human experience is one CT the surest
supports of faith While multitudes ex-
perlence the thrill of joy, the glad con-
! Sciousness, the eXilarating hope. the
4 deep assurance of faith attendant upon
/ inner revelations of Cod to the soul, the
soothing of sceptics can have no particu-
lar force. Whatever makes for beauty
OF character, nobility o : purpose, honor
! and uprtghtnesS has its impulse and
surest support in the religion of Jesus.
All that is best in life, comes from a
( firm faith in God. A life without God
IS shtvering, terrified lie that goes
down to the grave as to on unwelcome
dungeon.
The gifts of God can be forced on
no one. Peace of soul and loneliness of
life are the fruits of faith In life's
battles courage and heroism are sure
to the man who has visions of realized
ideals. If any one cares to ally himself
with one who would if he could rob
life of it's worth, he may-T do not A
soldier is offered a canteen which is
said to be filled with pure and living
water. His course lies across the des-
/ ert. Witnesses b thousands assure
/ him of the life-CiVng power of the wa
ter. One comes to persuade him to throw
it aside. He ridicules the idea that it
/ is needed, and tearing it away, offers
nothing in its place. Perhaps you want
to applaud such a character. do not.
! Perhaps you are disposed to throw
away your hope. I am not.
Infdelity would paint the sky black,
tear the petals from every flower Of
hope, and for life's music of faith and
love would introduce the discordant,
hideous wall of despairing unbelief
When the tide waters of Christian faith
have gone cut you sit by a shore whose
fostering ooze is a proclamation of
death. But when you clasp the hand
whose nail print tells Of sympathy and
divine love, it proves 70 be the hand
of conquest and guides through every
trial to endless day and everlasting
! peace.