Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1900-10-11

y.
making pins, very serviceable fine and
useful pins. So the spirit of exclusiveness
has practically written over the outside
door of many a church, mo Admittance."
And if the stranger enters he finds practi-
cally writ Y over the second door. ''No
Admittancc," while the minister stands
in the pulpit hammering out his little
| niceties of belief, pounding out the techni-
calities of religion making pins.
| In the most practical, common-sense
way and laying aside the non-essentials
! and the hard definitions OF religion go out
on the God given mission, telling the peo-
pie what they need and when and how
| they can get it..
Comparatively little effort as yet has
| been made to save that large class of per-
sons in our midst called skeptics, and he
| who goes to work here will not be build
ing upon another mans foundation. There
is large number of them. They are
afraid of us and our churches, for the rea-
son we do not know how to treat them.
One of this class met Christ and heard
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
as thyself. There is none other com
mandment greater than these" And the
scribe said to Him, ''Well. Master, Thou
hast said the truth, for there is one God,
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 skepuc 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 :. DIS overdone Sunday was the
most awful day in the week. They had
religion driven into them with trip ham
mer; they were surfeited with prayer
meetings; they were stuffed and choked
that they were the worst boys the parents
ever knew because they liked to ride down
hill better than to read Bunyan's "Pil-
grim's Progress"
Whenever father and mother talked of
religion they drew down the corners of
| any one thing will send boy or girl to
ruin sooner than another that is it. If
had such father and mother l fear [
should have been an. intidel.
The first word that children learn is
generally papa or mamma. l think the
| first word l ever uttered was why" |
know what it is to have a hundred mid
nights pour their darkness into one hour.
Oh, skeptcism is a dark land! There
are men who would give a thousand
worlds, if they possessed them, to get
back to the placid faith of their fathers
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
once a skeptic, Robert Hall skeptic,
Robert Newton a skeptic, Christian Evans
a skeptic. But when once with strong
hand they tool, hold of the chariot of the
gospel they rolled it on with what mo-
mentum.
If / address such men and women to-day
I throw out no scoff. | implead them by
the memory of the good old days when at
their mothers knee they said, ''Now |
lay me down to sleep" and by those days
and nights of scarlet fever in which she
watched you, giving you the medicine III
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 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 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 better plan
than that. / plead by all the wounds and
tears 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 l will
give you rest
Again, tnere is field OF usefulness but
little touched, occupied by those who are
astray in their habits. All northern ma
tions, 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 tnged with
vinegar, but under our northern climate
| the temptation to heating stimulants ia
most mighty and millions succumb. When
a man habits go wrong, the church drops
| him, the social circle drops him, good in
huences drop him-we all drop him. OF
all the men who get oil the track but few
even get on again.
Destitute children of the street offer
field of work comparatively unoccuped.
The uncared for children are in the ma
jority i'll most OF our cities. When they
grow NJ, ii unreformcd, they will outvote
your children, and they will govern your
children.
The whisky ring will hatch out other
whisky rings. and grog shops will kill
with their horrid stencil public sobriety
unless the church of God rises up with out
stretched arms and inlolds this dying pop
uation IN her bosom.
Public schools cannot do il. Art CALLER
les cannot do it. Blackwell's Island can
not do it. Almshouses cannot no it.
Jails cannot do it. thureh OF God, wake
up 10 your magnificent mission! Nou can
do IL, Get somewhere somehow To- work
The prusslan cavalry mount by putting
their right foot in the stirrup, while the
| American cavalry mount by putting their
| lett foot into the stirrup. | do not care
how YOU mount your war charger ~ Won