The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-11-12
The Subject Of the First Of the Rev.
S. T. Westhafer's Interest
ing Series Of
SERMONS ON DESTINY
Delivered at the Fourth Street NJ. Z.
Church Last Evening-Morality
Priceless Jewel.

Ing, the pastor, ReY. s. T. WeSthater,
delivered the first Of q series OF sermons
on Destiny" Mr.. Wsethafer's topic
last night was what VIII Become OF
Moral Man." and he took his text from
Matthew 5:2o: For say unto you ex-
cept your Righteousness shall exceed the
righteousness Of the scrtbes and the
Pharisees, ye shall In no case enter Into
the kingdom Of heaven" Mr.. West
hafer's discourse in full was as follows:
Anew years ago a writer In the Nine
teenth Century Magazine. In an article
on Destiny" said: II can understand
what is TO become of the sheep and !
can understand what Ia to become OF
the goats. but how are the Alpacos to
be dealt with in the Judgment day."
The writer went on to describe this
third animal, to which he likened the
third class of man. The alpaca, Is a
half domesticated animal that pastures
n'large flocks on the upper ranges Of
the Andes mountains In Chill and Peru.
It has long lustrous hair. and In many
respects RESEMBLES sheep. Some peo
pie even call 1t sheep, but 1t Is not a
sheep. 1t also looks like 4 goat, but In
reality 1t Is neither a sheep nor a goat.
but species Of small camel. By the
alpaca, the writer meant the moral man
and raises the question whether or not
at the Judgment there will b. class
for this nondescript type. The type
here referred to is the man who is too
good to be lost and not good enough to
be saved. We have met him In eoclesy
we have considered his case seriously.
He is puzzle. In fact the perplexity
growing out OF his situation has put
many people on the sharp horns Of
dilemma. On the one hand we do not
want TO discredit the value Of moral
qualities. on the other we will not
throw away our Christian faith. 1t will
be interesting and trust helpful to In
quire what will become of the moral
man at the general Judgment.
Teachings of Our Savior.
The teachings of our Savior set forth
in the words we have selected for our
text, throws a flood Of light upon the
subject. After the 1sraelites had been
divided up. and the ten tribes had gone
off and others had been carried down
Into Babylon as captiyes there was left
"a class of people who set themselves
Ito the observance Of the moral law and
adapted it to the new condition of
things. They were the conservatives.
They were eminently religious. the most
religious people in the then known
world. They drew apart from the
masses of the people. They stood aoof
from society. They organized them
selves into a class. They forbade they
children TO marry outside their clan.
They refused to obey foreign customs
They were the "Pharisees." and their
work was important to the cause OF re-
liglon.
But rs time went on these strict re-
ligion!sts fell from grace. They be-
came Journalists. They fell into reli-
gious narrowncss and became super
fetal but intense in their ideas of re-
liSion. First they lost the old idea that
the law was vital and spiritual in con-
tent. Second, they came TO know moth
Ing OF religion as 4 power that produces
an inward disposition or state. To
them the law of Moses was wholly ex-
ternal. The promise had come down
TO them hat II they obeyed the Mosaic
ritual perfectly they would become the
chief ton of the world. So regardless
of its spiritual content. they kept every
5ot and little of the law In the hope OF
obtaining national supremacy. They
were strictly sabbatarians. They noted
the moment the Sabbath began, and the
moment 1t closed. They did no work on
Sunday. The law forbade them TO reap,
and when the disciples walking through
the fields on the Sabbath pucked a
Z few heads Of grain the PharIsees re-
buked them. That was called reaping.
They determined to wear light shoes In
stead OF heavy ones on Sunday, for
WHEN they walked over the grass with
, heavy shoes they tramped ou, the seed
and that was considered threshIng. a
man was not allowed to gather kindlIng
wood on Sunday. They went so far us
TO put men TO death for this ofrensr.
They observed the Sababth to the letter
and did not work, but otherwise they
: could do as they pleased. They were
allowed to amuse themselves and have
good time II they wanted TO- but they
must not work.
Pharisees We're Rigorous Morallsts.
Now what was true OF tho Sabbath
was true OF everything else. Thc Phari-
sees were rigorous morallsts. They left
out the spirit OF religion. They had no
conception OF tho spirit which lies back
or and prompts right conduct. They
omitted the inward life. Jesus did not
despise their system of morals, but no
came to inspire It and give It life. He
+ said. u came not to destroy but to full
= MI" His teachings, therefore, with re-
spect to morality Is this: unless your
ideas OF religion arc more moral. morn
spiritual. than those Of the scrlbcs ant!
Phhr!sees. yc shall in no case enter
into thu Kingdom Of heaven.
Now the attitude OF Christ toward tho
Phnriaccs naturally leads us to inquire
what DO we mean By morality ard wha,
IL chr!sta attitude toward 1t today?
Morality In general means compliance
with rules OF conduct such ns are laid
down and recognized by society, apart
from religion. whether they relate -tc
self to the cDnmunitv IN o,,,,,,