The Penn's Grove record., 1900-10-05

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 offerings 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 Chris
tian people treat the skeptlc in that way.
Instead of taking hold Of him with the
gentle hand of love we are apt TO take
him with the pinchers of ecclesiasticism.
You would not be SO rough on that man
if you knew how he lost his faith in Chris
tianity. | have known men skeptical from
the fact that they grew up in houses where
religion IS overdone. Sunday was the
most awful day in the week. They had
religion driven into them with a trip ham,
mer; they were surfeited with prayer
meetings; they were stuffed and choked
| with catechisms; they were often told
that they were the worst boys the parents
| ever knew because they liked to ride down
hill better than to read Bunyan,s PHI
grim's Progress"
Whenever father and mother talked of
religion they drew down the corners of
their mouth and rolled up their eyes. If
any one thing will send a boy or girl to
ruin ! ,oner than another that is it. If l
had such a father and mother l fear l
should have been an infidel.
Others were tripped up to skcpticism
from being grievously wronged by some
man who protested to be a Christian.
They had a partner in business who turned
out to be a frst-class ~scoundrel, though a
protested 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 it did, there was no sign Of
oil produced, but the President of the
company was a Presbyterian elder and the
Treasurer was an Episcopalian vestryman,
and one director was a Methodist class
leader, and the other directors prominent
members of Baptist and Congregational
churches. Circulars were got out telling
what fabulous prospects opened before
this company. Innocent men and women
who had a little money to invest, and that
little their all, said: IT do not know any
thing 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 be almost as good as joining the
church" So they bought the stock, and
keep them still, but after awhile they
found that the company had ~reorganized,
and had a different president and a diff
ferent treasurer and different directors.
Other engagements or ill health had
caused the former officers of the company
with many regrets to resign. And all
that tue subscribers Of that stock had to
show for their investment was a beauti-
fully ornamented certificate. Sometimes
that man, looking over his old papers,
comes across that certificate, and It is SO
suggestive that he VOWS he wants none of
the religion that the president and trus.
tees and directors of that oil company
professed.
OF course their rejection of religion on
such grounds was unphilosophical and u
wise. Now, you must nave patience with
those who have been swindled by religious
pretenders. Live in the presence Of others
q frank, honest, earnest Christian life, that
they may be attracted to the same Saviour
upon whom your hopes repend.
Remember skepticism always has some
reason, good or bad, for existing. Goethe's
irreligion started when the news came to
Germany Of the earthquake at Lisbon No
vember l, IT'S. That 10000 people should
have persisted in that earthquake and in
the after rising of the Tagus River SO
stirred his sympathies that he threw up
his-belief in the goodness of God.
Others have gone into skepticism from
a natural persistence in asking the reason
why; They have been f~earfully stabbed
of the fatal interrogation point. There
are so many things they cannot get ex-
planned. They cannot understand the
Trinity or how God can be sovereign and
vet man a free agent. Neither can I.
They say, Il don't understand why a good
God should let sin come into the world"
Neither do |. You say. why was that
child started in life with such disadvan-
tages, while others have all physical and
mental equipment" / cannot tell. They
go out OF church on Easter morning and
say "That doctrine of the resurrection
COMPOUNDED me-" So it is to me a mystery
beyond unrayelment. I understand all the
processes by which men get into the dark.
know them all. I have Travelled with
burning feet that blistered way.
The first word that children learn is
generally papa or mamma. l think the
first word | ever uttered was why" l
know what it is to have a hundred mid
nights pour their darkness into one hour.
Oh, skepticism is a dark land! There
are men who would give a thousand
worlds, if they possessed them, to get
and mothers, and it is our place to help
them, and we may help them. never
through their heads, but always through
their hearts.
These skeptics, when brought to Jesus,
will be nightly effective, far more so than
those who never examined the evidences
of Christianity. Thomas Chalmers was
once a skeptic, Robert Hall a skeptic,
Robert Newton a skeptic, Christian Evans
hand they took hold of the chariot of the
gospel they rolled it on with what mo-
mentumi
If / address such men and women to-day
/ throw out no scott. I implead them by
the memory of the good old days when at
their mothers knee they said, "ISow l
lay me down to sleep and by those days
and nights of scarlet fever in which she
watched you. giving you the medicine in
just the right time, and turning your pill
low when it was hot, and with hands that
many years ago turned to dust soothed
away you pain and with voice that you
will never hear again, unless you join her
in the better country, told you to never
mind, for you would feel better by and
by, and by that dying couch where she
looked SO pale and talked so slowly, catch
ing her breath between the words, and you
felt an awful loneliness coming over your
soul-by all that | beg you to come back
and take the same religion.
1t was good enough for her; it is good
enough for you. Nay, | have a better plan
than that. ] plead by all the wounds and
fears and blood and groans and agonies
and death throes Of the Son of God, who
approaches you this moment with torn
brow and lacerated hands and whipped
back and saying, Come unto Me all ye
who are weary and heavy laden, and I will
you rest"
Gain, there is a field Of usefulness but
touched, occupied by those who are
| Fay in their habits. All northern ma
Bns, like those of North American and
England and Scotland - that is, in the
colder climates-are devastated by alco.
holism. They take the fire to keep up
the warmth. In southern countries, like
Arabia and Spain, the blood is SO warm
they are not tempted to fiery liquids. The
great Roman armies never drank any
thing stronger than water tinged with
vinegar, but under u northern climate
the temptation to heating stimulants is
most mighty and millions succumb. When
a mans habits go wrong, the church drops
him, the social circle drops him, good in
luences drop him-we all drop him. Of
Niall the men who get off the track but few
even get on again.
Destitute children Of the street offer a
field of work comparatively u~noccupied.
The uncared for children are in the ma
jority in most of our cities. When they
grow up, if unreformed, they will outvote
your children, and they viii govern your
childre
The whisky ring will hatch o,,t other