El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-31

Il
er. They were brought when 10! the
mice pictures" proved to be bank
notes.
| But though we do no. understand al
ways what God sends US, yet he is pa
tient and continues to send his mes
sages to US.
The world is becoming better. Some
people do not believe it, but honestly
| believe it. In its progress it takes
! hold of all that is valuable and will not
let il die, while that which is worthless
| is dropped out. Only that which goes
| into the good order of the world be-
comes permanent. There Is moro love
1 of truth than there was: more science,
more freedom, more comfort, more re-
iligiOu, aud there will be more in the
next age. Christianity naver had so
many advocates, and such hold on
Intelligent faith, though our progress
ought to be much larger than it ts.
There are "chariots OF irOn' and we
are afraid of them, therefore they can
not be driven out.
Consider these ''chariots of iron"
as hindrances to the Gospel, what are
they I? and where are they found? 1t is
possible for Us to hinder the gospel.
It is an awful power with which we
are endowed, greater than If we had
power to arrest the laws of nature,
and it is not only possible but there is
danger of it. Paul was afraid OF it, for
he said I'VE suffer all things lest we
should hinder the gospel" For nine
teen centuries Christianity has been
before the world in its present form,
and yet there are millions unsaved,
multiplied thousands are bound by the
chains OF atheism.
Twas amazed at the worlds parlia
msnt of religions, as I listened to the
CIV Proh
dois.s, HiEdOos, MOhammedans, and
the Greek church running away into
millions. 1 put down also the millions
in lands nominally Christian, I looked
at our own country, the great centers
of population, New York, Boston,
Chicago, ST. Louis, New Orleans, and
San Francisco. L thought of the small
pro portion who were practical Chris
tiaus and for a moment my favor1te
idea of the world growing better was
nearly staggered: L found L had to
face all classes of hindrauces. 1 was
led, not to any new discoveries, but
to the more perfect realization, of the
wide spread and universal shortage
on the part of those who really are
Christians. We must judge causes by
effects. Certain present facts are
Fossils tell us of pre-Adamic life.
Long extinct aud forgotten civiliza-
tions are shown by exhumed ruins;
we know the ocean must have fsrth-
err shore though we have not seen it
The race must have had ancestors
though they were removed long ages
before we we're born. The Pyramids
of Egypt were built by some people,
though we did not witness it. A pres
emit fact, known by another fact not
present
There are many different opinions
concerning the hi1drances OF the
Gospel. One man Gays, the trouble is
found in the fixed and unalterable
sovereignty Of God, but can we believe
tt at millions shall be carried into eter-
nifty without even having a chance?
If so, we cease all effort to save men,
and bow to the W II of inscrutable |
wisdom, and tamely rest in present |
security. l can not believe1 1t, for in |
all parts of his world better condition |
of things is shown. Neither can l
agree with the next man. who says 1t /
is in the limited necessity, for real
happiness must depend on moral good
ness, and moral goodness is not found |
where people are not Christian. All
admit it. The philosophy Of our
nature confesses it. all history attests |
it, all travellers in other lands cay 1t ia |
true, merchants find it in the markets |
OF the world, Seamen find it in every |
port they enter, statesmen observe 1t |
in every kingdom and republic. mis- |
sionaries meet it in every part OF the /
world.
Occasionally one is found who says |
itsis in the limited fitness of the gospel. |
It may suit the bright European or the |
American, but not the |
dreamy Hindoo, the lethargic Chinese, |
tae obtu se African, or stolid Lapland-
er. But my friends. the gospel is
constructed to overcome just |
such difficulties.
Lookset the first three centuries.
History shows that great multitudes
throughout Greece and all parts of the
known world gave themselves up to
the law of Moses and the religion of
Christ, and this too, when human ma
ture Was most depraved and gOrged
with iniquity, and bloated and brutal
lied to the lowest depths, and debased
by all the furies of passion, and the
blood thirsty demons of lust and
shame, and the double shotted cruelty
Of blind chance, yet into this mass of
sin, Christianity went, and fell like an
electric stroke from God, and flew to
tn ends of the earth.
have little patience with the other
line of SO called higher criticism and
higher culture, claiming that Christ
lanity is only preliminary. Investiga-l
zion shows much of it to be not higher
culture, but higher nonsense. l know
the universal law of human progress is
an ascending one, from general to
and from material to spirit
ua' and from local and vanishing to
permanent and eternal, but there is no