Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1900-10-06

iigion that the president and trustees
and directors Of that oil company pro
fessed.
OF course, their rejection of religion
on such grounds was unphilosophlca
and unwise. am told that many o.
the United States army desert every
year, and there are many court mar
tials every year. Is that anything
against the United States government
that swore them in? And If soldier
Of Christ deserts Is that anything
against the Christianity which ht
swore to support and defendf How dc
you Judge of the currency Of coun
try? BY a counterfeit bill? Now, yor
must have patience with those who
have been swindled by religious pre-
tenders. Live in the presence Of others
frank, honest, earnest Christian life
that they may be attracted to the same
Saviour upon whom your hopes de-
pend
Remember skeptlcism always has
some reason. good or bad, for existing
Goethe's irreliglon started when the
news came to Germany Of the earth
quake at Lisbon Nov. 1, IT'S. That
| 10000 people should have perished In
that earthquake and In the after rising
of the Tagus river SO stirred his SYM
pathles that he threw up his belief In
the goodness of God
Light Up Darkness.
Others have gone into skepticism
from natural persistence In asking
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 God
can be sovereign and yet man free
agent. Neither can I. They say, IL
don't understand why a good God
should let sin come into the world"
Neither do l. You say, why was that
child started In life with such disad-
vantages, while others have all phys
ical and mental equipmentT | cannot
tell. They 60 out Of church on Easter
morning and say. THAT doctrine of the
resurrection confounded me-" So 1t Is
to me a mystery beyond unravelment.
understand all the processes by
which men get into the dark. I know
them ALL have Travelled with burn
ing feet that blIstered way. The first
word that children learn to utter is
generally papa or mamma. think the
first word | ever uttered was why"
know what 1t Is to have a hundred
midnights pour their darkness into one
hour.
Such men are not to be scoffed at,
but helped. Turn your back upon
drowning man when you have the rope
with which to pull him ashore and let
that woman In the third story Of a
house perish in the flames when you
have a ladder with which to help her
out and help her down rather than
turn your back scoffingly on a skeptic
whose soul Is In more peril than the
can be. Oh skepticism is dark land!
There are men who would give thou
sand worlds, II they possessed them, to
get back to the placid faith of their ia
theirs and mothers, and 1t is our place
to help them, and we may help them,
never tfrrvusir tiIeir heads, but always
through their hearts. These shvp p Ala.
when brought TO Jesus, will be might
!ly effective, far more so than those
who never examined the evidences Of
Christianity. Thomas Chalmers was
once a skeptlc, Robert Hall skeptic,
Robert Newton a skeptic, Christmas
Evans a skeptlc. But when once with
strong hand they took hold of the char
lot of the gospel they rolled 1t on with
what momentum!
If address such men and women to-
day, throw out no scoff. | implead
them by the memory Of the good Old
days when at their mothers knee they
said, "Now I lay me down to Sleep"
and by those days and nights Of scar
let fever In which she watched you,
giving you the medicine in just the
right time and turning your pillow
when 1t was hot and with hands that
many years ago turned to dust soothed
away your 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 bet
ter by and by, and by that dying couch
where she looked so pale and talked so
slowly, catching her breath between
the words, and you felt an awful lone
illness coming over your soul-by all
that beg you to come back and take
the same religion. It was good enough
for her: II Is good enough for you. Nay,
have a better plea than that. plead
by all the wounds and tears and blood
and groans and agonies and death
throes Of the Son of Cod who ap-
proaches you this moment with torn
brow and lacerated hands and whip
ped back and saying, Come unto me
all ye who are weary and heavy laden
nnd | will give you rest"
Help the Drowning.
Again, there is a field Of usefulness
but little touched. occupied by those
who are astray In their habits. All
northern nations, like those Of North
America and England and Scotland
that is, in the colder clmates-are dev-
astated by alcoholism. They take the
fire to keep up the warmth. In south
ern countries, like Arabia and Spain,
the blood is SO warm they are not
tempted to fiery liquids. The great
Roman armies never drank anything
stronger than water tinged with vine
gar, but under our northern climate the
temptation to heating stimulants Is
most mighty, and millions succumb.
When a mans habits 60 wrong, the
church drops him, the social circle
drops him, good influences drop him
we all drop him. OF all the men who
get off the track but few ever get on