Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-04-19


They cannot understand it. Neither
can /. They cannot understand why
holy God let's sin come into the world.
Neither can |. They say: Here Is
great mystery; here Is disciple OF
fashion. frivolous and goddess all her
5ays: she lives on to be an octogenarian.
Here is a Christian mother, training |
her children for God and for heaven
self sacrificing, Christlike, indispensa-
bic seemingly to that household; she
gets a cancer and dies" The skepuc |
says, 81 can't explain that" Neither
can |.
can see how men reason themselves
into skepticism. With burning Feet l
have trodden that bllstering way.
know what 1t Is to have a hundred
nights poured Into one hour. There are
men in the arid desert Of doubt VINO
would give their thousands OF dollars
II they could get back to the ola re-
ligion Of their fathers. Such men are
not to be carlcatured, but helped. ana
not through their heads, but through
their hearts. When these men really
do come into the kingdom of God, they
will be worth far more to the cause OF
Christ than those who never examiner
the evidences Of Christianity. Thomas
chalmers once skeptic, Robert Hall
once a skeptic, Christmas Evans once
skeptic; but when they did lay hold
of the gospel chariot how they mace
It speed ahead! II. therefore, address
men and women who have drifted
away into skepticlsm. throw out no
scoff; | rather implead you by the
memory of those good old times when
you knelt at your mothers knee ana
said your evening prayer ana thoSe
other days of sickness when she watch
ed all night and gave you the medl-
cines at Just the right time and turned
the pillow when Ii was hot ana VIVID
! hand long ago turned to dust soothed
your pains and with that voice you
will never hear again unless you join
her in the better country told you new
er mind. you would be better by and
by, and by that dying couch where she
talked so slowly, catching her breath
between the words-by all those men,
ories | ask you to come and take the
same religion. 1t was good enough for
/ her: II is good enough for you. Aye,
I make a better plea: BY the wounds
and the death throe Of the Son or God,
who approaches you In Infinite love
with torn brow and lacerated hands
and whipped back. crying, Come unto
me. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and will give you rest!
Another Apology.
Other persons apologize for not en-
terInr the Christian life because of the
incorrigibillty Of their temperament
Now. we admit It is harder for some
people to become Christians than for
others. but the grace Of God never
CAME to a mountain that it could not
climb or to an abyss that 1t could not
fathom or to a bondage that 1t could
not break. The widest horse that ever
trod Arabian sands has been broken tc
hit and trace. The maddest torrent
tumbling from mountain shelving has
\ been harnessed to the mill wheel anc
the factory band. setting a thousand
shuttles all a-buzz and a-clatter. AnC
the widest, the haughtiest, the mos
ungoyernabe man ever created by th'
grace of God may be subdued and sen
out on ministry Of kindness, as GoC
sends an August thunderstorm to wa
ter the wild flowers down In the grass
Peter with nature tempestuous as tn
sea that he once tried to walk, at on
look from Christ went out and wep
bitterly. Rich harvests of grace ma.
grow on the summit Of the Jagge'
. steep. and hocks Ct Christian grace
may find pasturage in fields OF brambl
and rock. Though your disposition
NAV be all a-bristle with fretfulness
though you have a temper AEGEAN
: with quick lightnings. though you
: ayarice be like that Of the horse leecn
5 CRYING. "Glvev' though damnabie iii
P purities have wrapped you in all con
suming fire. God can drive that oeVl
8 out of your soul. and over the chao
2 and the darkness he can say, lie
b there be light" Converting grace ha
2 lifted the drunkard from the ditch an
e snatched the knife from the hand o
r the assassin and the false keys fror
Y the burglar and in the pesdferous lane
r of the city met the daughter OF sin ur
u der the dim lamplght and scattere
:. her sorrow and her guilt with tn
t words. Thy sins are forgiven; CO. an
g sin no more" For scarlet sin scarle
atonement.
i Other persons apologize for not>en
G tering the Christian life because OF tn
Y Inconsistencies Of those who profes
: religion. There are thousands Of poo
+ farmers. They do not know the natur
# Of soils or the proper rotation OF crops
l. Their corn is shorter In the stalk an
h smaller in the ear. They have tie
& less bushels to the acre than thel
]. neighbors. But who declines being
D farmer because there are so many poe
D. farmers? There are thousands OF II
D. competent merchants. They buy at tn
t. wrong time They get cheated In tn
j sale Of their goods. Every bale
't goods is to them bale Of disaste
They fail after awhile and go out
business. But who declines to be
S. merchant because there are so man
of incompetent merchantsi There al
D. thousands OF poor lawyers. They cal
OF not draw a declaration that VIII stan
le the test. They cannot recover 1u'
Id damages. They cannot help defen'
Of ant escape from the injustice OF b
he prosecutors. They are the worst ID
II pediments against any case In whlo
81 81 close" Not yet! Not yeti Now. |
~ ~ not give any doleful view of thy III
~ - There is nothing In my nature, nothll
" in the grace of God. that tends iowa
90 a doleful view Of human life. ma
- not much sympathy with Addlsons Z
q script!on Of the "Vision OF Mira
VI y, where he represents human life as
eu IT,, a L,.iJ0a of n hundred arches al