The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1901-07-19

e an arctic night, the cold equal TO tn
g darkness. You do well TO bee anpr,
v but how about those who have bee
$ flung Of scepticism. and that is NOR
IS millions than you will ever know o.
c until the judgment day reveals every
Y thing. All, here comes your opportu
i nifty for gentleness, kindness anc
d sympathy The probability is that Il
d you had been piled with the same in
= fuences as this unbeliever there
e would not be Bible in an voui
e house from cellar TO attic. Perhap,
I he was in some important transaction
swindled by member of the church
? whose taking of the sacrament was a
sacrilege. Perhaps he read agnostic
books and heard agnostic lectures
and mingled in agnostic circles until
he has been befogged and needs your
Christian help more than anyone
that you know of. Do not get into
any labored argument about the
truth of Christianity. He may beat
you at that. He has a whole artil-
lery of weapons ready to open fire.
Remember tnat no one was ever re-
formed for this life or saved for the
life to come by an argument, but in
humblest and gentlest way. your
voice subdued, ask him a few ques-
tions. Ask him if he had a Christian
parentage, and if he says yes ask
him whether the old folks died happy.
Ask him if he has ever heard of any
one going out Of this life in raptures
of infdelity and agnosticism. Ask
him if it is not a somewhat remark
able fact that the Bible. after so
many years, sticks together and that
there are more copies of it in exist
ence than ever before Ask him if
he knows of any better civilization
than Christian civilization and
whether he thinks the teachings of
Confucius or Christ are preferable.
Ask him If he thinks it would be a
fair thing in the Creator of all things
to put in this world the human race
and give them no direct communca-
ton for their guidance and. if they
did wrong, tell them Of no way of
recovery. ! think if a famous infdel
Of our time. instead Of being taken
away instantaneously. had died I'm
his bed after weeks and months of
illness he would have revoked his
teachings and left for his beloved
family consultations which they could
not find in obsequics at which not
one word of Holy Scripture was read,
or at Fresh Pond crematorv. wher,
no Christian benediction was pro-
nounced. do MT positively say that
in prolonged illness. there would
have been a retraction, but ! think
there would
But let me confess at this crisis Of
my sermon that there is not an in
junction in the Bible more difficult to
obey than the words of the texs.
While it applauds a wholesome indig-
nation. it warns against sinful an
ger And there is i'm all the realm
of passion nothing more destructive I
than indiscriminatc hate. First Of /
all. it frenzies the nervous ganglia. Z
Those people who easily fare up on a
little provocation go into high dud- Z
geon, take umbrage without reason, 4
snap you up quick, have ruined their T
nerves, and there is only one thing q
worse to ruin, and that is the brain, a
md we say of one that is given to d
frequent ebullitions of temper that u
he is an unbalanced man. A business h
nan of our acquaintance said: Il "
'annot afford to get mad. 1t hurts !,
ne So"
A man thoroughly mad can say
nough in two minutes to damage
i'm for 20 years. 1t only took five
minutes for the earthquake to de-
troy Caracas. One unfortunate sem
ence uttered in affront in a speech
yer the door of the white house
gainst one of the most brilliant men
the astcentury.
Surprising all other characters in
he worlds biography stands Jesus
hrist, wrathful against sin, merciful
, the sinner. Witness His behavior
,ward the robed ruiiians who de- (
anded capital punishment for an
Tending woman-denunciation for :
leir sinful hypocrisy, pardon for
sr sweet penitence. He did not Z
,eak of Herod as "his majesty" or
lis royal highness," but dared TO (
'mpare him 10 cunning fox, say
2: $50 We and tell that fox" But,
crt TO the cry of suffering, He finds
n lepers and TO how many of the
n awful invalids did He give con- OF
lescence and health? Ten. Rebuk- Co
z Pharisaism in the most coni- sh
essed sentence in all the yOcab- te,
lry of anathema-"Ye serpents. We Co
neration of vipers, how can We es-
pc the damnation Of hell?"-yct re.
,l1ing upon Peter with such tender ter
SIS that no word was spoken-and sci
{ a word was needed, for the look SUI
oke louder than words. "And the dei
rd looked upon Peter. and Peter Wi
mt out and wept bitterly" Oh, what boz
look il must have been to break ira
vn the swarthy fisherman apostlel i've
was such a hurt look, such a be- Of
ching look. such a loving look, /
n a forgiying look Was there eve
7 other being since time began, tie
h a combination of wrath against ma
)ng and compassion for the wol
)ngdoer? Lion of Judah's tribei" da,