Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-07-12

tHttk. al. NY rfttuOc. tue (uUItu Oh
Jesus Christ. instead of falling back. is
on the advance.
am nightly encouraged because
find. among other things. that while
this Christianiiy has been bombarded
for centuries irfideiisy has not destroy
ed one church or crippled one minister
or uprooted one verse OF one chapter of
all the Bible. II that has been their
magnificent record for the centuries OF
the past. what may we expect for the
future7 The church all the time get
tug the victory. and their shot and
shell all gone.
And then End another most eucour-
aging thought In the fact that the sec
ular printing press aud the pulpit seem
harneSsed Ia the same team for the
proclamation of the gospel Every
banker in this capital tomorrow, every
Wall street banker tomorrow in New
York. every State street banker tomor-
row In Boston. every Third street bank
er tomorrow in Philadelphia. every
banker IN the United States and every
merchant will have in his pocket
treatise on Christianity, 10. 20 or 80
passages of Scripture in the reports of
sermons preached throughout the land
today 1t will be so in Chicago. so in
New Orleans. so In Charleston. so I'm
Boston. so in Philadelphia. so in Gin
rinnati. SO everywhere. 4 know the
tract societies are doing a grand and
glorious work, but / tell you there is
no power on earth today equal to the
fact that the American printing press
is taking up the sermons which are
preached to few hundred or a few
thousand people and on Monday morn.
Ing and Monday evening scattering
that truth to the millions. What an en-
enlargement for every Christian man,
Significant Facts.
Then you have noticed a more sig.
nificant fact If you have talked with
people on the subject-that they are
getting dissatisfied with worldly phl-
losophy as matter Of comfort They
say IL does not amount TO anything
when you have a dead child in the
house. They tell you when they were
sick and the door OF the future seemed
opening the only comfort they could
find was the gospel People are hav-
ing demonstrated all over the land that
science and philosophy cannot solace
the troubles and woes OF the world, and
they want some other religion. and
they are taking Christianity, the only
sympathetic religion that ever came In
to the world. You just take scientif-
ic consolation into that room where
mother has lost her child. Try in that
case your splendid doctrine of the "sur-
vival OF the fttest" Tell her that
child died because It was not worth as
much as the other children. That is
your survival of the fittest." Just try
your transeendentalism. your philoso.
phy, your science. on that widowed
soul and tell her Il was n geological
necessity that her companion should be
taken away from her. just as In the
course of the worlds history the mega.
therium and the ichthyosaurus had to
pass out Of existence. and then you 90
on In your scientific consolation uRtii
you get to the sublime fact that $4,000.
900 years from now we ourselves may
be scientific specimens on the geologic
shelf. petrified specimens Of an extinct
human race. and after you have got all
through with your consolation, IL the
poor afflicted soul Is not crazed by Il.
we will send forth from any OF our
churches the plainest Christian we
have. and with one half hour OF prayer
and reading OF Scripture promises the
tears will be wiped away. and the
house from floor to supola will be
flooded with the calmness OF an Indian
summer sunset. There Is where / see
the triumph OF Christianity. People
are dissatisfied with everything else.
They want God: they want Jesus
Christ.
The fact is that infldellty and aguosti-
cism are founded on ignorance geolog-
teal. ignorance chemical. ignorance as
tronomical. ignorance geographical We
have heard what the enemies of Chris
tiani;y have had 10 testify. Now put
before you the testimony OF the church
on earth and the church In heaven. Not
fifty, not a thousand. not million. but
all Of the church on earth and all Of the
redeemed In heayen. VIII you take the
evidence OF those who have witnessed
as well as felt the power OF religion, or
Will you prefer the testimony OF those
who begin by declaring that they have
never witnessed or felt It's power? You
tell me that OF n certain 4th OF March,
20 years ago, president OF the United
States was inaugurated. How do
know IL? You tell me there were 90
600 persons who distinctly heard his
inaugural address. l deny both. 1 de-
ny that he was inaugurated. deny
that his inaugural address was deliv-
cred. You ask why? did not see il.
1 did hQ0r p,.f 10,
there were 10000 people who did see
and hear him. Is not the testimony of
the 10000 who were present worth
more than the testimony OF one who
was absentl Now. there are some men
who say they have never seen Christ
crowned In the heart and they do not
believe il Is ever done There is a
group OF men who say they have never
heard the voice OF Christ. that they
have never beard the voice OF God.
Ihey do not believe that anything like
IL ever occurred. / point TO twenty,
hundred thousand or q million people
who say: Christ was crowned in our
hearts affections. We have seen him
and felt him In our soul, and we have
heard his voice. We have heard IL in
heard 1t again and again."
Panacea For All Trouble.
You say morphia puts one to sleep.
You say In time OF sickness it is very
useful. deny 1t. Morphia never puts
anybody to sleep. 1t never alleviates
pain. You ask why say that. i have
never tried it. never took II. denv
that morphia is any soothing TO the
nerves or any quiet in times OF sick
ness. / deny that morphia ever put
anybody to sleep. But here are 20 per
sons who say they have all felt the
soothing effects of a physicians pre-
scribing morphine. Whose testimony
VIII you take? Those who took the
medicine or my testimony. never hav.
ing taken the medicine. Here is the
gospel of Jesus Christ. an anodyne for
all trouble the mightiest medicine on