The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-02-14

lists?
How do you account for the fact that
among the out-and.out believers in Chris
tianity were. such persons as BENJAMIN
franklin, John Ruskin. Thomas CARLYLE,
Darlington Macaulav William Penn, Wal
ter Scott, Charles Kingsley. Horace Bush
nell, James A. Garfield. Robert L. Lee,
Stonewell Jackson. Admiral Foote, Ad-
miral Farragit. Ulysses S. Grant John
Milton. William Shakespeare Chief Jus
tice Marshall John Adams, Daniel Webs
ter. George Washington? How do you
account for their fondness for the Chris
tian religion?
Among the innumcrahle colleges and
universities of the earth viii you name me
three started by infdcls and now sup
ported by in6dels? Down in your heart
are YOU really happy in the position you
occupy antagonistic to the Christian reli-
gion?
Go at him with few such questions,
and he viii get so red in thc face as to
suggest apopleXy, and he will look Mt his
watch and say he has an engagement and
must 90. You will put him in sweat
that will beat a Turkish bath. You will
put him on a rout compared with which
our troops at Bull Run made no time at
ALL
Arm yourself, not with arguments, but
interrogation points. and | promise you
victory. Shall such man as YOU. shall
such woman as you. surrender 60 one OF
the meanest spirits that ever smoked up
from the pit-the dumb devil spoken OF in
the text?
But then there are occasions when this
particular spirit that Christ exercised
when He said. 81 charge thee to come out
OF him" takes people by the wholesale.
In the most responsive religious audience
have you noticed how many people never
sing at all? They have book, and they
have voice. and they know how to read.
They know many of the tunes and yet are
silent while the great raptures of music
pass by. Among those who sing not one
out OF a hundred sings loud enough to
hear his own voice. They hum it. They
give = sort of religion! grunt They make
the liUs so, but il is inaudible. With
voice strong enough to stop a street car
one block away, all they can afford in the
praise OF God is about half a whisper
With enough sopranos, enough altos,
enough bassos to make a small heaven be-
tween the, four walls, they let the, oppor,
tunity go by unimproved. The volume of
voice that ascends from the largest au
dience that ever assembled ought to be
multiplied two thousaudfold But the
minister rises and gives out the hymn, the
organ begins the choir or preceptor leads,
the audience are standing so that the
lungs may have full expansion, and a
mighty harmony is about to ascend when
the evil spirit spoken OF in my text-the
dumb devil-spreads his two wings over
the liDs of one.half the audience. and the
otner wing over the lips OF the other half
or the audience, and the voices roll back
INTO the throats from which they started,
and only here and there anything is
heard. and nine-tenths of the holy power
is destroyed, and the dumb devil. as he
flies away, says, Il could not keep Isaac
Watts from writing that hymn, and
could not keep Lowell Mason from com.
posing the tune TO which it is set. but
smote into silence or half silence the lips
from which it would have spread abroad
to bless neighborhoods and cities and
then mount the wide open heavens" Give
the long meter doXology the full support
OF Chrstendom and those four lines would
take the whole earth for God.
This is the way l account for the fact
that the stupidest places on earth are
some prayer meetings, l do not see how
man keeps any grace if he regularly at
tends them. They are spiritual refrigera-
tors. Religion kept on ice. How many OF
us have lost occasions of usefulness!
In a seulptors studio stood figure of
the god Opportunity. The sculptor lad
made the hair fall down over the face of
the. statue so as to completely cover it,
and there were wings to the feet When
asked why he so represented Opportunity
the sculptor answered, "The face of the
statue is thus covered up because we do
not recognize Opportunity when it comes,
and the wings Of the feet show that OPP
portunity is swiftly gone"
But do not let the world deride the
church because Of all this, for the dumb
devil is Just as conspicuous in the world
The great political parties assemble at the
proper time to build platforms for the
candidates TO stand on. A committee of
each party is appointed to make the plat
form After proper deliberation the com
whereas" and whereas" and ''Whereas."
Pronuneiamentos all shaped with the one
idea OF getting the most votes. All ex-
preston in regard to the great moral evils |
OF the country ignored. No expression in
behalf of temperate living, for that would
lose the vote OF the liquor traffic; No ex-
preston in regard to the universal attempt |
at the demolition OF the Lords day. No
recognition Of God in the history of ma.
tons, for that would lose the vote of
atheists, But whereas" and whereas
and whereas" Nine cheers will be given |
Tor the platform. The dumb devil of the
text puts one wing over the one platform |
and the other wing over the other plat |
form. Those great conventions are opened |
with, prayer by their chapiains. If they |
avoided platitudes and told the honest |
truth IN their prayers they would say: |
~ Lord, we want to be postmasters and
eonsuls and foreign ministers and United |
states district attorneys. For that we are |
here and for that we will strive till the
election next November. Give us office or
we die. Forever and ever, Amen"
The world, to say the least. is no bet.
ter than the church on this subject Of si-
ience at the wrong time. In other words |
is 1t not time for Christianity to become
pronounced and aggressive as never be.
fore? Take sides for God and sobriety
and righteousness.
If the Lord be God, follow Him; il
Baal, then follow him" Have you oppor-
tnnity OF rebulsing sin? Rebuke it.
Have you chance to cheer a disheartened
soul! Cheer it,. Have you useful word
to speak? Speak it,
be out and out, up and down for right.
eousness, If your ship is afloat on the
Pacific Ocean of Gods mercy, hang out
your colors from the masthead. Show your
passport If you have one. Do not SNUG
gle your soul into the harbor of heaven.
Speak out for God! Close up the cbapter
OF lost opportunities, and open a new
chapter. Before you get to the door on
your way out shake hands with some one.
and ask him to join you on the road to
heaven. Do not drive up TO heaven in a
two'wheeled "sulky" with room only for
one, and that yourself, but get the big.
gest gospel wagon you can find, and pile Il
tuI OF friends and neighbors, and shout
till they hear You all up and down The
skies, Come with us. and we will do Won
good, for the Lord hath promised good
ron cerning Israel"