Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1911-12-26
Thou, Lord, Only Makest Us Dwell in Safety
By Bishop w. A Gambler

Charles Darwin said with reference to
| the power of christianity in promoting
personal security SHOULD voyager
chance to be on the point of shipwreck
| on some unknown coast, he will most
devoutly pray that the lesson of the mis-
sionary may have reached thus far :.
The lesson of the missionary is the en-
| chanter's wand"
An illustration OF the same truth is
furnished by the following incident as
reported in recent issue of one of the
leading papers In New York;
A Young Lawyer Some Time Ago
Started for the West. While he was in
college he was blatant unbeliever.
/ He boosted that he could locate in
some place where there were no
churches or Bibles. He found a place
| which met his conditions. Before the
| year was out, he wrote to a young
| minister a former college classmate,
begging him to come out and bring
plenty of Bibles and begin preaching,
for he had become convinced that a
place without Christians, churches
and Bibles was too much like hell
for any living man to stay in"
AS we sit secure in our homes, at the
happy season of Christmas, we do well
to revert to the source of our security
and peace. Jesus Christ, the Prince of
Peace, alone maketh us to dwell in safe
| ty. Yet we live in daily forgetfulness of
the source of this unspeakable blessing.
We accept 1t as a matter of course, just
as we accept the blessed light of the
sun without stopping to ask, What would
be our fate If this benign light failed to
shine upon us?
We have had for some years past a
tendency in certain quarters to hunt out
and magnify supposed blemishes in the
sacred Scriptures and defects Is Chris
| tianity; but these mongers Of the inf
nitely little have seemed to have no eye
| for the great. indisputable facts of his
tory, in which the religion of Christ has
vindioated by its benign effects its claims
to be of divine origin. The critics have
been so absorbed in studying what seem
| to be spots on the sun that they have
not been able to appreciate at it's true
value the sun itself But for the chris
tianity which prevails in the lands in
which they live, and the religion which
they seek to discredit, they would have
no universities from which to draw their
livings and out of which to pour forth
their theorizings. It would seem to be a
decent thing for them to treat more re-
spectfully the source from which they
derive their safe homes, comfortable IL
| braries, and get readers and students
enough interested in religious themes to
| DuY ana fedQ their DOOKS. II the ear III
were as bare of genuine christianity as
are the hearts of the destructive critics,
they themselves would find II intolerable.
Recently a famous professor In one Of
| the most conspicuous universities in Ger
many has lamented publicly the utter UNI
| fruitfulness of all the rationalizings OF
himself and his colleagues, declaring that
the common people can not comprehend
their theories an1 that the educated
.<xI. Co.
What sort OF christianity would be In the
world If all the preachers in the earth
were men of his type? Has rationalism
strength enough to cleanse one sinful
bosom of its sinfulness, or make one hui
man habitation in all the earth secure?
When and where has it ever tanned saw
age spirit, or turned one barbarous tribe
from worshiping dumb idols and practic-
ing bloody rites to serving the living
God and dwelling in peace with its neigh
bours? What can 1t do even in christian
lands to curb the fierce passions of
greed and class hatred? What can it and
the ayowed infidelity to which it Is akin
and with which it is allied, do to bless
the isolated home al, the lonely frontiers
man and his family? What is 1t doing, or
| can it do, in the more settled communi-
ties to create happy homes and I'LL them
with light. and peace, and hope? What
- uOluB IIll6 C0flSLtUdS~cN0 10 make
those who follow II happier or better?
The sweetest and most joyous homes
in all our heaven-blessed land today are
those homes in which the simplest,
strongest faith in Christ is found. In
each of them with the opening of the
day a lesson was read from the dear
old family Bible, and then the revered
father led the household to the throne
OF grace in prayer for needed blessings
and in thanksgiving for past benefits
Songs of trust and love fill them with
music, diffusing in the hearts of all the
members of the family a supernatural
gentleness mingled with a heavenly
eheeFfulness. Such homes are the
strength Of the country and the hope
of the future. They are strong in the
strength which God supplies. We could
spare without serious loss the palaces of
godlessness and the mansions of 1enervat-
ing luxury; but the nation would be Inn
poverished indeed If these homes of pray
er and piety perished from among our
people. Even the dissipated Robert
Burns was able to see that religious
homes were "wall of fire around his
much loved isle. and after describing in
''The Cotter's Saturday Night the wor-
shipful scenes Of christian home he
sings. 81
From scenes like these old scota's
grandeur springs,
That makes her loved at home, revered
abroad A
And the source of Scotland's grandeur
is the spring of whatsoever real national
greatness is found in any land.
| 1t is no accident that the map of the
worlds greatest prosperity, peace. and
purity is coineident with the area In
which the influence of Christ is strong
est. Where the Saviour is most sincerely
loved all around the world today there
are found the greatest number OF noble
hearts and happy homes. Where He IS
most trusted men are most trustful and
trustworthy. Such facts are not mean