The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-08

The most common sense thing in the
world Is religion. Prove it. II will
do 1t IL you will just give 1t a chance.
Give water a chance. and 1t will
run your mill, irrigate your field. put
out your fire. flow In your house
Obey the law OF steam--run your
trains. run your battleships, run your
engines. Obey the law of electricity
-illumine your home. Obey the laws
OF gasoiine--drive your automobile.
just give II chance. that Is all
lou ret fHe beneft or any 1orc4
the same in religion. Follow this
rule and you will find that the Bible
came from God and that Jesus
Christ liz the Son Of God.
The only way to md out IL a seed
Will grow Is to plant 1t; give it a
chance to grow. Plant it The
power OF religion can be tested in
the same way that you can test the
seed.
The way to find out whether or not
a railroad ticket Ia good is to get
on the train. give IL to the conductor.
and If he punches it instead OF you.
1t is good.
A man says to me. You have never
been born"
say You are too late. don't
need any argument to prove that
was born. l wouldn't be here II
hadn't been born"
All right! / was no more truly
born OF my mother than / WAS born
OF the Spirit Of God; 20 had a
spiritual birth and l had q physical
birth. Here I am. You don't need
any argument about that II /
hadn't had a spiritual birth. would
have been dead, drunkard, long
ago for all i know. Something has
kept me and saved me for thirty
years
You are a fool If you argue
AGAINST either physical or spiritual
birth The Bible says. III you have
= Will to know. you viii know
That fs something that any sAepic
or any fnfidei can try. There is a
promise that any scientist can Try
out II he is honest
All the science IN the world would
nave been lost IL we had not been
willing to give II chance to prove it,
We would know nothing Of powder.
we would know nothing OF electricity,
we would know nothing of steam, we
would know nothing of chloroform:
/ think one of the greatest benefits
hatAt t1tr race ever received Is
chloroform. If man said to me,
what do you think is one of the
greatest benefits that has ever come
to the human race through invention
or through discovery" ! think l
would say that 1t was when Jane
Young Simpson discovered chloro-
form or DIR. Miller ether.
Boon to Mankind.
Oh, think of the millions that
would be in their graves IL 1t hadn't
been for the discovery OF chloroform
or ether. They couldn't stand what
they can today. 1t just keeps people
alive.
Just give II chance: that is all
II wants. God asks the same thing.
no matter whom you may be.
Now. all the science in this world
would have been lost IL we had been
unwilling to prove 1t, give it chance
and try II. II you do nothing. you
get nothing. and you get no more than
you deserve, rot particle.
1t is necessary to learn the alpha
bet Of religion. There Ia an alpha
bet in knowledge. That Ia the rea-
son yol start your children IN the kim
dergarten. That is the beginning of
knowledge. You don't think OF start
ing them in a university or college,
Tnat is the wlno-up.
There is beginning in knowi-
edge and there Is an A. r c in reli-
gfon, too. Then. in the name of God,
B e In religion like you did with
the A b c In knowledge. Just start
In. You have got to have start;
then II win prove and develop as your
mind develops.
How did we learn that ice would
freeze? Bv experiment. How did
we learn that Are would burn7 By
experiment How did we learn that
strychnine would kill. By expert
menting with II.
How did we learn that Jesus would
cave? BY experimenting. We gave
him q chance. that In all.
So. therefore, you get more IL you
will uae what you have. Start out
with little faith. which you have
now. Use that and God VIII give
you more.
start out like little child does
when II starts to walk It's legs are
weak. II falls down. bumps it's head
and has a hard time Of 1t. 1t gets up.
falls down, gets UPON II goes, 1t
uses the strength 1t has. and pretty
soon IT'S got more, and It seldom falls.
That's the way with religion. Start
stumble and fall. Old appetites will
come hack to you You win stumble,
get up. stumble. get up and go on,
After 4 while you will get 20 strong
you can give them the ha! ha,
Good Methodist Doctrine.
That In good Methodist doctrine.
And it's good Bible doctrine. I'll tell
you. am q Presbyterian. but
yAnk my hat of to John Wesley
John was a wonder. He couldn't
preach Hike George Whitfield. He
could organize. and George couldn't,
hut George could preach to beat the
band.
So do this. win your DO what
the Bible Gays before you throw It
away. Give II a chance. that IL all
You give God q chance, and II you
ind ont there is nothing In II. ! am
perfectly willing for you to say so.
Just give God a chance and see.
Everybody knows what Christian