THE INFIDEL'S SERMON TO A PREACHER.
By Peter Stryker
NEVER shall I forget the remark of a learned legal friend who was at one time somewhat skeptical in his views. Said he to me: "Did I believe, as you do, that the masses of our race are perishing in sin, I could have no rest. I would fly to tell them of salvation. I would labor day and night. I would speak with all the pathos I could summon. I would warn and expostulate, and entreat my fellow-men to turn unto Christ and receive salvation at his hands. I am astonished at the manner in which the majority of your ministers tell your message. Why, you do not act as if you believe your own words. You have not the earnestness in preaching that we lawyers have in pleading. If we were as tame as you are, we would never carry a single suit." A decade of years has passed away since that remark was made. I bless God it was addressed to me. It put a fire into my bones which I hope will burn as long as I live. God preached a stirring sermon to me that day by the mouth of that infidel lawyer.—Peter Stryker.