Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1908-12-24


friend. But" / said. show can he
have got through with it alreadvas
He looked at me with pity for INV
lnsular ignorance and non-apprecia-
ton or the ignorance of the American
mind and, said, Have You not been
mere long enough to know how easily
we take a thing up and how much
more easily we drop it again?" The
fact is that what is new In these new
schemes is not true, and what is trne
In them is not new am very glad
to have such man as Chesterton.
with his paradox, irony and sarcasm
calling attertion to the utter folly Of
being led by this or by that, because
1t pretends to be new. You may saw
we are in progressive age, but it is
because We are progressive that we
must preserve cur self-respect ana
not be carried away by this and that
wind Of doctrine. Looking back
over twenty years, / can recall in
Vulnerable theories and PHILOSOPHERS
that have tried to take possession OF
men and the church; but they have
gone and the old faith, the old relig-
ion and the old belief in Jesus and the
Cross remain transcendent, more cer-
tain and loyable than anything else:
In the cross Of Christ I glory,
lowering Ger the wrecks of time.
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round It's head sublime.
Mr.. Chesterton tells us the way in
which he found his way to belief and
found rest, and he speaks about the
amazement with which he realizes
how one objection to Christianity
carceled another out. Take one OBJ
lection to Christianity and it is COM
pletely answered by another objec-
tion from some other objector. He
found, he says, one objection in the
agnOstfc manual to Christianity on
the ground that it is a religion Of
gloom, and another because Christian
ity had cast rose pink veil over all
human life, with silly, fabby senti-
mentalism- about this being the best
of all possible worlds. He found an
other objection that 1t has made man
weak and that Christianity took all
the virility, all the manhood out OF
us, and another that Christianity had
deluged the nations with blood. Is
Christianity, he asks, a religion of
meekness and mildness, or of mur-
der and massacre? 1t may be one or
the other, but it cannot be both at
the same time.
You remember the humorous poem
by John Godfrey SAKE about the four
blind Hindus who went to see an
elephant. They could not see the ele-
phant, but they said what they had
seen. One happened to lean against
the elephant and declared it was
much like wall. Another got hold
of his tail and described him as being
like rope. Another got his trunk
and said he was a serpent, and the
fourth ran against his tusk and said
he was shaped very much like spear.
The fact is that they had not seen the
elephant at ALL That is all. And
that is my sermon. The cbjectors
have never seen Christianity at all:
they have never understood Chris
tianity at ALL They have seen mere
fragments-the tail or ear of the
elephant-but they have not seen
Christianity and know not what it is.
The difficulties Of religion are
great, but the difficulties of unbelief
are Infinitely greater. It is not true
that Christianity in it's fullness is
simple thing that anybody can grasp
in two minutes There are difficulties
and perplexities, but the difficulties
and perplexities and problems in
which you involve yourself by the
rejection of Christianity are far great
er than those involved in its accept
| ance. / could present half a dozen,
/ will present one: If unbelief has
stated the case truly to us, Jesus
Christ was only peasant boy, car
| penter and fanatic for religion, who
lived in an obscure part of the Ro-
man empire and died as criminal
/ after three years OF agitation. That
is all. And yet Christianity, the most
tremendous and colossal fact in the
world, has all grown out of that!
Men and women, ignorant and wise.
| in widely different circumstances, tell
you that they have been down and
have been raised. have had burdens
lifted from their shoulders, strength
came to them, enabling them to bear
their loads, they have been conscious
of sin and realized forgiveness. the
chains have dropped from their man.
acled spirits and they have walked In
the freedom of manhood and woman.
hood, they tell you they have been
lost and were found. / myself have
at times seen through the vail that
hides the invisible from the visible
| and have been sure OF God, and
| have risen from what I thought tne
livery gates Of death and have walket
the hills OF life again, and found tha
my Saviour was Ey my side. II yo'
want to know whether Christianit!
is true, try It. The objections contra
dict each other, and are not true
Christianity stands and Christ make
His appeal still to ycu tonight ant
| offers the invitation: "Come unit
Me all ye that labor and are heay,
laden, and I will give you rest.