Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1901-02-07

| them bright and crystalline as before. But
the. other kind of church is an armory,
gathering recruits for the Lord Of Hosts
and saying to every applicant: "Do you
want to be on Gods side, the safe side
and the happy side? If so. come in the
armory and get equipped. Here is bath
in which to be cleansed. Here are sandals
| your brow. Here is breastplate for your
heart. Here is a sword for your right
arm, and yonder is the battlefield. Quit
yourselves like men,"
l remark again the heavenly Shepherd
is going to find great many of His sheep
Christianity. Some of the mightiest advo-
Gates of the gospel were once skeptcs.
Thomas Chalmers once a skeptic, Robert
Hall a skeptic. Christmas Evans skeptic,
Charles G. Finney a skeptic, laul, the
apostle. once skeptic. But when once
gospel chariot they rolled it on with what
momentum! / do not know how you
came to reject Christianity. It may have
been through the infdel talk of some
young man in the store or shop or factory.
1t may have been through the trickery of
gusted you with religion. 1t may be that
thirty years ago you lost all faith by what
happened in an oil company which was
| formed amid the petroleum excitement.
The company owned no land. or. if they
did. there was no sign of oil produced.
| But the president of the company was
Presbyterian elder and the treasurer an
Eplsconal -estrvman and one director was
Methodist class leader and the other
| officers prominent me-~hers of Baptist and
Congregational churches Circulars were
got out telling what fabulous prospects
lar had all the hues of earth and sea and
sky. The letters famed with all the beauty
of gold and jasper and amethyst. Inno-
cent men and women who had a little
money to invest and that little their all
said, II do not know anything about this
the head of it that it must be excellent,
and taking stock in it must be almost as
good as joining the church" So they
| bought their stock. and perhaps received
one dividend to keep them still. But after
awhile they found that the company had
reorganized and had different president,
different treasurer and different direc.
tors. Other engagements or an overcoming
podesty had caused the former officers of
| the company, with many regrets, to resign,
and all the subscribers of that stock had
| to show for their investment was beauti.
fully ornamented certificate. Sometimes
| that man. looking over his old papers,
comes across that certificate, and it is SO
suggestive that he vows he wants none Of
the religion that the president and direc.
tors of that oil company professed.
But do not stop now to know how YOU
came into rejection of Christianity. You
frankly tell me that you do reject it.
You do not believe that Christ is a divine
being. although you admit that He was
very good man. You do not believe that
the Bible was inspired of God, although
you think there are some very fine things
in it. You believe that the Scriptural de-
scription of Eden was only an allegory.
| ~ hat I hol hat
you do not believe, and yet you are an
accommodating man. Everybody that
knows you says that of you.
If l should ask you to do kindness for
| me, or if any one else should ask of you
kindness, i would do it. If when you
are i'll | should come to you with a phial
OF medicine and say, This kind of medi-
cine has cured fifty people who were just
as badly off as you are. Take it" and you
replied: 81 do not want to take it. have
no confidence in it," l would say, Take it
to oblige me-" and you would say, We'll,
| if it will accommodate you l will take it."
Now, you have found that this world is
insufficient, and you are sick of sin. /
| come to you with a gospel medicine. 1t
has cured hundreds and thousands and
millions. Will you take it? NO" you
say ri have no confidence in it," Take
it, then, to oblige me. | tell you of ply
sician who has cured more blind eyes and
| bound up more broken hearts and healed
more CHASTITY wounds than all the doctors
since the time of Aesculapius. Be obligrng,
and just make the experiment.
| II you are not acquainted with the ordi-
| nary modes OF prayer, say IN substance:
| "Oh, Lord Jesus, this is a strange thing
| for me to do | know nothing about the
| formulas of religion. These Christian peo-
| pie have been talking so long about what
| Thou canst do for me, | am ready to do
| whatever Thou commandest me. If there
be any power in religion, as these people
say. let me have the advantage of it."
| Will you not try that experiment?
do not now say there is anything in re-
| liglon. Do not take my counsel or the
counsel OF any clergyman, for you may dis
like clergymen. Perhaps we may talk pro-
fessionally. Perhaps we may be prejudiced
| in the matter. Perhaps our advice is not
worth taking. Then take the counsel of
some very respectable layman, as John
! Milton, the poet; as William Wilberforce,
| the emancipator; as Isaac Newton, the as
tronomer; as Robert Boyle the philoso-
pher; as Locke, the metaphysician; as
Morse, the telegrapher; as Washington,
| the statesman.
They never preached, or pretended to
preach, yet, putting down one his telescope
and another his parlimentarians scroll and
| another his electricians wire, came forth
and commended the religion OF Christ al
the best thing for the cure of the worlds
| woes. Ii you will not take the recommen-
dation OF ministers of the gospel. take the
recommendation of highly respectable lay.
| men.
Oh, men, skeptical and struck through
| with unrest, l beg you to come off that
| great Sahara desert OF doubt into the
| bright and luxuriant land of gospel hope
| and peace. Nol do not want your children
to come up in that skepticism. II you do
| not believe in anything else, you believe in
| love-a fathers love, mothers love,
| wife's love, a child's love.
Then let me tell you that God loves you
more than all these together. The great
heart OF Christ aches to have you come in,
and lie looks into yonr, eyes this moment,
saying, Other sheep | have which are not
| of this fold"
Again. remark that the heavenly shep-
herd is going 10 lind a great many OF the
sheep among those who have been full OF
evil habit They were all cheated into sin.
The spider does not say TO the fly, Come
into the web where kill insects" Oh. no.
The spider says, Dearest fly come and
take morning walk with me on this sus-