Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1901-04-15
4 SPIDERS NED
IN FIRST CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
MANY INTERESTING CONTRACTS
FORMED-A BRIEF SUMMARY OF
THE DISCOURSE GIVEN.

mon on Tle SuDJeCI. 1iuotlh5 IL a
Spiders Web" He chose as his text
Job VIII, 18th and 14th verses: $50
are the paths Of all that forget God;
and the hypocrite's hope shall perish;
whose hope shall be cut OFF, and whose
trust shall be a spiders web" He be-
gan his discourse by %picturing a spid-
er's web in the early morning, telling
how it sparkled and glistened with the
dew upon 1t and from it drawing the
lesson that the hope of the ungodly, or
those that forget God, is as the spid-
er's web, a thing of beauty. and We
need not marvel if many are allured
by it.
Taking up the first general division
of his sermon, he said: There is that
in the life of the ungodly which at
first glance seems lovely and allures
many in it's hasty confidence. Woven
out of threads of sophistry and self
conceit, and sparkles with jewels of
worldly pride and pleasure, it supplies
a gaudy carpet for the feet OF fairies
of sinful folly and shame to dance up
on. Beauty of unholiness takes often
the form of self-indulgence."
He then asked, Why should we de-
nv ourselves the pleasures that lie
within our grasp, such as dancing, eat
ing, drinking and enjoying the full ex-
tent of the good things OF this life?
He answered by saying that Satan,
when tempting men, suffers nothing to
appear otherwise than, a pleasure,
sweet satisfaction, a phantom of hap
piness and that the pleasures of sin last
but for a. season, and a brief season
at that and they are gone the beauties
of the spider web, the dew has evapor-
ated, which was so bright at dawn.
Trust not in the spiders web, however
lovely it appears, until you have con-
trasted it's feeting charms with the
beauty of holiness, whose fair colors
grow brighter as the shadows of death
draw nigh.
The second division taken up was
that the SPIDERS web illustrates the
hope of the ungodly in that it is spun
in the dark. The light of Gods truth
is shut out from his life lest his deeds
should be reproved. Satan, in most
cases, appears as an angel of light to
win adherents to himself. He then
told of Isaac Ernest viewing the pic
lures in the Baltimore studio, when he
said 1t was difficult to discover the
picture of Satan as 1t looked like the
others, the only difference being the
eyes.
Satan's doctrine must be arranged
in the stolen garb of sweet charity to
hide it's real folly and falsity, and ne
must keep men in darkness, where
they remain ignorant of the truth, as it
is his only hope. Satan so loves to
blind men to duty by enticing them.
He also tries to destroy the truth it.
self. God has said: THE ways OF the
ungodly shall perish"-and no hope re-
main to him who knows not God and
does not obey the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, except in blOtting out
of the sky of truth the shining lumi-
nary, then the owls Of unbelief beat
their wings against the sun of Right
eousness.
These men who try to destroy Gods
truth fail to point us to a religion equal
or better than the Christian religion,
The result of Satan's attempt is that
the church, which like the moon, has
been rejecting in but a slight degree
the light of the central sun is now
moving out fully into the path of its
rays and showing daily a full disc to
the eyes of men. And all the Earrings of
sin cannot stop the shining nor inter
cept a single ray of her influence in its
passage to the hearts of men. Come
out of your darkness and sin and follow
him who said: Il am the light of the
world. he that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall see the
light of life"
He next took up the point that the
trust of the ungodly is like the spiders
web. in the kind Of qualification 1t
affords. There is no security in the
web, the spider is at the mercy of any
strong creature. So with the ungodly
who trust in worldly pleasures. A yes
sci at sea without sail or rudder. A
soldier in battle without weapon Or
ammunition to defend himself against
the wiles of the devil. No helmet of
soaring hope to protect him from the
saber stroke of despair. No breast
plate OF righteousness to defend him
from the unholy burst of ambition.
No shield of faith to ward off the
fiery darts of wickedness. No word of
the spirit to afford him a weapon with
which to smite OFF the erring Of his
soul. No redeemer stands before him
to bid him laugh at death. Without
God and hope he spends his life watch
ing for enemies whose assaults he cam
not resist.