The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-10-12

the reason why. They have been fear |
fully stabbed of Ii fatal interroga-
ton point. There are SO things
they cannot get explained. They can
not understand the Trinity or how God
can be sovereign and yet man a free
agent. Neither can l. They say, II
dont' 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 disad-
~vantages while others ave all pnysi-
cal and mental eQuipment?" I cannot
tell. They go out of church on Easter
morning n say, That docrr1ne Of
resurrection COMPOUNDED me-" So it is
to me a mystery beyond unravelment.
I understand all the processes by which
men get into the dark. 1 know them
all. 1 nave raveled with burning feet
that blistered way. The first word that
children learn to utter is generally papa
or 10 1 think the first word I.
ever uttered was "Why?" / know
what is is to have a hundred mid
lights pour their darkness into one
hou
Such men, are not to be scoffed al,
but helped. Turn o back upon a
with which to pull him ashore, and let
hat 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
bodies of those other endangered ones
can be. o, Spepticism IS a dark land.
There are men who would give a thou
sand worlds, if they possessed them. to
get back to the placid faith of their
fathers 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 mighti-
ly 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, Christmas
Evans a skeptic. But wnen once with
strong IND they took hold of the char
lot of the gospel they rolled it on with
what momentum!
AWAKENING TENDER MEMORIES.
If I address such men and women to-
day, / throw off no scott. l implead
them by the memory of the good old
days when at their mothers knee they
said, Now l 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 it was hot and with hands that
many years ago turned to dust sooth-
| ed away your pain and with voice that
you will never heal again, unless you
| join her in the better country, told
you to never mind for vol would feel
better by and by, and by "a dying
couch where she looked so pale and
talked SO slowly, catching her breath
between the words, and you felt an aw-
full loneliness comm gover your soul.
By all that 1 beg you to come bacr
take the same religion. 1t was good
enough for her. 1t is good enough for
you. I plead by all the wound and
tears and blood and roans and agonies
and death throeS Of the Son of God,
who approaches you this m with
torn brow and lacerated hands. and
whipped back, and saying, Come unto
me, all We who are weary and heavy
laden, and 1 will give you rest"
Again, there is a field of usefulness
but little touched, occupied by those
who are astray in their habits. All
northern England and Scotland-that
is, in the colder climates-are devas-
tated by alcoholism. 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 ar
mics never drank anything stronger
than water tinged with vinegar, but
under our northern climate the temp
tation to heating stimulants is most
mighty, and millions Succumb. When
q mans habits go wrong, the church
Nrops him, the social circle drops him,
good influence drops him, We all drop
him. Of all the men who get off the
track but few ever get on again. Near
my summer residence there is a life
saving station on the beach. There are
all the ropes and rockets. the boats, the
machinery for getting people off ship
wrecks. One summer / saw there 10 to
20 men who were breakfasting after
having just escaped with their lives and
nothing more. Up and down our coasts
are built these useful structures, and
the mariners know it, and they feel that
if they are driven into the breakers
there will be apt from shore to come a
rescue.
THE CHURCH AS A LIFEBOAT.
The churches of God ought to be so
many life saving stations, not so much
to help those who are in smooth waters
but those who have been shipwrecked.
Come, let us run out the l~ifeboats! And
who will man them? We do not preach
enough to such men; we have not
enough faith in their re,ease. Alas, If
when they come to hear us we are Ia
boriously trying to show the difference
between sublapsarianism and supralap-
sarianism, while they have a hundred
oA