Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-10-04

the bar of God untitled for the ordeal
And what are we doing?
Dealing with skeptics.
Comparatively little effort as yet
has been made to save that large class
of persons in our midst called skeptics,
and he who goes to work here will NO,
be building upon another mans
foundation. There is large number
OF them. They are afraid of us ana
our churches for the reason we do not
know how to treat them. One of this
class met Christ. And hear with what
tenderness and pathos and beauty 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 and great
commandment, and the second is like
unto it-namely, thou shalt love thy
neighbor as myself. There is none
other commandment greater than
these" And the scribe sand to him.
We'll. master. thou hast said the
truth, for there is one God. ana 10
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 dis
creet'y he said " % him, Thou art
not far from the Kingdom of God"
You would not be so rough on that
in Christianity. | have known men
skeptcal from the fact that they grew
up in houses where religion was over.
done. Sunday was the most awful day
in the week. They had religion driy-
en- into them with trip hammer,
ings. They We're stuffed and choked
with catechisms. They We're 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 Pilgrims 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 sooner than an
other, that is it. II | had such ia
ther and mother | fear | should have
been an infidel.
Unfaithful Christians,
Others were tripped up to skepti.
cism from being grievously wronged
by some man who professed to be a
Christian. They had a partner In
business who turned out to be first
class scoundrel, though professed
Christian. Many years ago they lost
all faith by what happened in an oil
company which was formed amid the
petroleum excitement. The company
owned no land, or II they did there
was no sign of oil produced; but the
president Of the company was Pres
byterian elder, and the treasurer was
an Episcopalian yestryman, and one
director was Methodist class leader
and the other directors prominent
members of Baptist and Congregation
al churches. Circulars were gotten out
| telling what fabulous prospects opened
| before this company. Innocent men
and women who had little money
to invest, and that little their all, said,
Il do not know anything about this
company, but so many good men are
at the head of it that 1t must be ex-
cellent, and taking stock In 1t must
be almost as good as Joining the
church" SO they bought the stock
and perhaps received one dividend SC
as to keep them still. but after a
mad recognized and had a different
president and different treasurer and
different directors. Other engagements
or i'll health had caused the former OF.
fcers of the company, with many re.
grets, TO resign. And all that the
subscribers of that stock had to show
| for their investment was beautifully
! Crnamented certificate. Sometimes
that man, looking over his old papers
comes across that certificate. and II
| is so suggestive that he VOWS he wants
none of the religion that the president
| and trustees and directors of that OH
company professed
Some Reasons for Existing.
Remember, skepticism always has
| some reason, good or bad, for existing.
Goethes irreligion started when the
news came to Germany of the earth
quake at Lisbon, Nov. l, ITS. That
10000 people should have persisted In
| that earthquake and in the after ris-
ing of the Tagus river so stirred his
sympathies that he threw up his be-
lief in the goodness of God.
Others have gone into skepticisms
from a natural persistence in askins
the reason why. They have been fear
| fully stabbed of the fatal interroga-
ton point. There are so many things
they cannot get explained. They can
not understand the Trinity or how Goa
can be sovereign and yet man a free
agent. Neither can /. They say, IL
don't understand why good God
should let sin come into the world. y
Neither do /. You say, why was that
child started in life with such disad-
vantages, while others have all physi-
cal and mental equipment" | cannot
tell They go out OF church on Easter
morning and say, THAT doctrine of
the resurrection COMPOUNDED me-" So
1T is to me a mystery beyond unravel-
ment | understand all the processes
by which men get into the dark.
know them all. ! have Travelled with
burning feet that blistered way. The
first word that children learn to utter
is generally papa or mamma. ! think
the first word | ever uttered was