USA > West Virginia > The West Virginia pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal church. Sermons from living ministers. With personal sketches of the authors > Part 16
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The migrations and intercourse of men made roads, ferries and bridges a necessity, and the science of civil engineering was begun. In the counting of domestic animals and the interchange of commodities, was laid the foundation of mathematical science. The stars kindled their beacon fires to guide benighted travelers. The moon was the periodical servitor of man. The sun was sky-king in the beginning, as now. What wonder at the prominence early given to astronomical study ? True, astronomy was long but a system ofrude guesses; but out of those guesses there grew a science, which condemns, as inaccurate, a once reliable tele- scope, whose sole fault is an infinitely small irregu- larity in the face of its object glass, resulting from the wiping off of unavoidable dust and soot.
The desert, the mountain and the sea defied man's power. But who defied could long remain content ? Adventure, discovery, migration, travel, commerce, each taught in the university of the world, and man went to school. There he developed courage, hardi- hood, genius, self-control-in a word, he found himself.
I might speak at great length of the natural foun- dation and gradual developement of botany, geology, zoology, meterology and other sciences, by which hu- man faculties have been educated; but the thought is already transparently clear, that God manifestly de-
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signed the universe for man's education, whatever other purposes and plans may have entered into his creative thought.
But the educational mission of the universe to man, is not confined to his physical and mental nature. The thoughts and actions growing out of his contact with physical objects and his ascertainment of phy- sical laws, bring him into peculiar relations with his fellow man, so that, whether he wishes or not, he is obliged tograpple with social and moral problems. No people, however uncivilized, has ever been long able to evade certain of the simpler of these social and moral questions. I do not assert the ability of man to work out these problems for himself. On the con- trary, I believe the only true and complete solu- tion ever reached, is when God's revelation, on these subjects, is accepted, as the sole and indispensable key to their complete elucidation. But what I say is, that the relation of the physical universe to its hu- man inhabitant is such as to start up social and moral questions which at once quicken the human faculties and emphasize the necessity of a super- human, super-scientific, super-cosmic revelation-a spiritual revelation from the eternal and Almighty God-a revelation that shall interpret to Pagan and Parsee and Mussulman, the moral blindness and hun- ger of which his religion is but the symptom and outcry, and then open his eyes to saving truth and graciously feed his soul.
2. By its cheer and inspiration the universe has ministered to man's development, for real growth 1 not the natural child of energy and despair, but the legitimate offspring of wedded hope and love.
Nature may seem remorseless and exacting, but she is just and stable. He who violates her laws, is pur- sued and punished; but he who obeys, finds them mighty for his protection and comfort. To the obedi- ent nature's messages are like the invitations to a wed- ding; but to the disobedient they are like the warrant for the arrest of a criminal. Thus a premium is put upon obedience to law. The violator-be he drunk- ard, glutton, lecher, sluggard, overworker, or what not
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-may justly fear the day of physical as well as moral retribution. But the keeper of the law fears not. The very stability of nature's laws assures him, cheers him, inspires him. He sees in them protection, and helpful- ness, because he works along the line of their unerring operation, instead of contrary to it. His efforts are not paralyzed by fear, but quickened by a hope that mounts to assurance and claims an interest in all that exists. For him gravitation binds the universe together with cords, soft as silk, and strong as iron. For him the benevolent seasons march their ceaseless rounds. For him the flowers open their eyes, and the birds swell their morning and evening chorus. We know not how much we owe to these influences, of whose constant presence and ministry we scarcely think. To the prisoner in his solitary cell, and to the imprisoned invalid and his pale watcher, this state- ment has a meaning and emphasis which the free and strong can only know by the experience of isolation. Yet, in hours of loneliness, or despondency, or anger, have you not sometimes fled from human society to com- munion with the fields and the flowers, the trees and the birds, the brook and the mountain, or the stars and the sea? How they reproved your anger and selfish- ness, companied your lonely soul, bore away your de- spondency, and inspired you with a hopefulness which gave significance and value to your life and work.
Even Byron-proud sad, cynical, debauched, skep- tical though he was-could say
" There is a pleasure in the pathless woods, There's a rapture on the lonely shore, There is society where none intrudes By the deep sea, and music in its roar."
The solitary flower that grows in the desert, beyond the sight of other vegetation, may seem lost and un- designed. The skeptic may rail at our God, and sneer- ingly ask what purpose it can serve there. But a weary, famishing and disheartened traveler, who has given up to die, sees it and says, "If God cares for this little flower, he will care for me." One flower less, and Mungo Park had slept forever in the sands of the Afri- can desert. Did not that flower praise its Creator by saving a man? How many of you have done as much?
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Thus do natural objects-both animate and inani- mate-by Divine appointment speak to us. Many of us feel what we are not gifted to express. William Cullen Bryant was not the first person to learn an inspiring lesson from a "water-fowl," on its long sky-voyage be- tween distant zones. On many a heart deeply had sunk the lesson it had taught, but to him was given the utterance of what others mutely felt,
" There is a power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast,- The desert and illimitable air,- Lone wandering, but not lost. He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright."
These truths suggest certain practical thoughts, which press forward for expression.
1. If these unthinking objects minister acceptable praise to their Maker, what ministry have we? Shall the unwritten music of the forest swell the praises of the Creator, and angel-voiced man stand stupidly silent in the presence of his God? Shall the mind- less wind find coherent and orderly speech, and we, with intellect almost divine, forget the Father from whom is inherited all that differences us from un- reasoning beasts, or from the lifeless clods that are turned afield by the gleaming plowshare? Shall na- ture glorify God by helping to build a man, and we play priest and Levite with a fallen human being, be- cause, forsooth, he does not belong to our sect? Shall nature feed the hungry and clothe the naked, and we be indifferent to the cry of distress? Shall a flower save a man's life, and we care nothing for his eternal destiny? Shall the coral insect build for the long- coming future, and we build only for a lifetime?
2. The power to do is glorified by doing. God's power to create the universe was glorified by so doing. Dwelling alone for ten thousand millenniums could not have brought him glory equal to one day of the world. His glory is not abstract power ; that is noth- ing; but power utilized-benevolently employed- this is the glory and crown of our Lord. We praise
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not the Christ who could pity, could teach, could die, could save ; but the Christ who did pity, did teach, did die, does save. So, with men, power is only glorified by its use. You boast your power to abstain from ar- dent spirits, but do you do it? You ask to be honored because you say you can lead a virtuous lite, but do you do so? You have power to keep from profanity, but do you use that power ? You are able, you say, to govern your tongue, but do you keep it from slander and gossip, and lying, and filthy speech ? You aver your ability to put to the blush many professing Chris- tians, by leading a life of superior moral excellence, but do you do it ? Boasting is excluded until power to do has been demonstrated by doing. Do you wish the world to praise you ? Leave off telling what you can do, and actually do something which the world needs to have done. It will not withhold the palm branch, or the laurel, or the gold, or the applause.
Do you' wish to obtain the praise of Almighty God ? Cease vaunting yourself in his sight. Use your boasted power in his service. Open your purse, your hand, your eye, your ear, your lips, your heart. Let the full measure of their power act in every open field. You will not lack crown or kingdom or plaudit, for " an entrance shall be ministered unto you abund- antly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."
PERSONAL SKETCH.
ONE of the foremost young preachers of the West Virginia Con- ference is GEORGE C. WILDING. He was born July 17, 1846, near the town of Radnor, in Radnorshire, South Wales. In May 1851, he came with his parents to America, and settled in Limetown, now Coal Bluff, Washington county, Pennsylvania. About two miles from the village, in a little old log school house, near the banks of the historic Monongahela, young Wilding first attended school. Up a little valley above the village, there was a small Sabbath School held regularly in a humble stone church. It was here the subject of this sketch entered the Sabbath School army. While attending this "Lord's day" school, when about eight years of age, he received his first religious impressions.
While at Coal Bluff he had a narrow escape from an awful death. Wandering among the coke ovens, he accidentally fell into a coke furnace. Had it not been for almost instant aid be- ing rendered, he would have burned to death. As it was, his clothes, hands and face were badly scorched.
When about seven years of age, he, with his parents, visited the city of Pittsburgh. Though nearly thirty years ago, he says he distinctly remembers the emotions of rapture which filled his heart and mind as he, for the first time, looked upon this grand city of forges, mills and tall spires. It was the most wonderful exhibit of grand sights he had ever seen-surpassing in every respect, the expectant dreams of his childhood. He has fre- quently seen it since, but it is altogether a different city. Twen- ty years associations with a busy world, bring with them many and varied changes. The step from youth to manhood covers strange ground, and embraces those scenes and events of life which can never be forgotten. Not so when the meridian is reached, and the sun is receding towards the west. Then, time is fleeting, and things we see and hear slip away from us as a. dream.
The Wilding family moved from Pennsylvania to Mason coun- ty, West Virginia, in July 1855. From his Mason county home, Bro. Wilding entered the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church in March 1872. Of some of his early associations at Ma- son City, Hartford and New Haven, I allow Bro. Wilding to speak for himself: "Among my school teachers in Mason county I remember with grateful emotions, Sidney M. Campbell, Rev. John W. Perry, of the United Brethren Church, Rev. B. Howell, Daniel Duskey and W. H. L. Rine. When twenty years of age,
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I obtained the consent of my father to go to Marietta College for a brief season, and spent a portion of two years there. I entered the employment of Geo. W. Moredock, Esq., of Hartford City, when a boy of ten years, and continued therein until I was past twenty-five. For some years I worked in the mines ; aided in building the salt furnace at New Haven-having the exalted po- sition of bringing water for the thirsty men, carrying the tools of the stone masons to the blacksmith ship and back, and occasion- ally driving oxen and running an engine. In 1863 I entered the store of the Hartford City Coal and Salt Company, where I re- mained for a number of years. In 1868 I took charge of the Compa- ny store at New Haven. From 1865 to 1872, I was bookkeeper for the Union Salt Company at New Haven, in addition to work- ing in the store. I am greatly indebted to Mr. Moredock. He has done a great deal for me, as well as for my good father. Un- der his inspirations I felt the first strong uprisings of ambition, and therefore longed for an education.
I was converted in the little old school house, on the hillside, in New Haven, January 28, 1866, at a meeting conducted by Rev. Jacob Bachtel, of the United Brethren Church. I united with this church and remained therein until January 1867, when I joined the M. E. Church, under the pastorate of Rev. E. W. Ryan, now the Presiding Elder of Wheeling District. In my early relations with the M. E. Church I had a model class leader and friend in Robt. Robinson, who continued as leader up to the time I joined the conference. My home in the church at New Haven, for five years, was very pleasant. I often think of our precious class meetings and prayer meetings, our cheery Sabbath School and instructive preaching services. I remember all my pastors with respect and veneration, and they fully deserve both. They were Revs. E. W. Ryan, J. M. Powell, D. H. K. Dix, and J. B. Feather. About this time I took an active part in temper- ance work, in the order of Good Templars, and was Grand Secre- tary of the State for one term-1871-2.
"In March 1872, I arranged to attend the session of the West Virginia Conference, and enter the regular ministry, but was pre- vented, on account of business engagements, from doing so. I, however, was appointed by Presiding Elder Powell, to take charge of the Nicholas Circuit."
It was upon this Circuit that Bro. Wilding entered upon the duties of a very active and useful life. His first year was a great success. Prior to this time, he had never ridden twenty miles on horseback. Now he was in his saddle almost constantly. I have frequently heard him say that he used to have, while rid- ing through the mountains of Nicholas, visions of horses and saddles as vivid as those of a heavenly kind unveiled to John on Patmos. But this was a part of his ministerial training. "Brush College"-as our mountain Circuits are termed-is in many re- spects, as important a training as one can get at a theological seminary. During this year, our "circuit rider" held nine pro- tracted meetings, received one hundred and fifty probationers into
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the Church, and in the meantime wrote nine hundred letters as Grand Secretary of the Good Templar organization.
Brother Wilding joined the West Virginia Conference at Guy- andotte in March 1873, and was sent to Point Pleasant Circuit, where he remained three years. Under his pastoral care, the churches were repaired, a new parsonage was erected, and the mem- bership of the Circuit more than doubled. His next appoint- ment was North Street Station, Wheeling, where he also remain- ed three years. During the term, the Church had two revivals, resulting in one hundred and fifty-five conversions. In October, 1878, he was stationed at Thompson Church, Wheeling Island, where he remained two years. Under his ministry one hundred and ten souls were converted and added to this Church. From Wheeling Island he was sent to Parkersburg Station, next to Fourth Street, Wheeling, the most important station in the Con- ference. At the close of this pastorate, in October 1881, he was made Presiding Elder of Parkersburg District, which is his present field of labor.
At the October, 1878, session of Conference, held at Parkers- burg, Bro. Wilding was elected Conference Secretary, and is still in that important office, notwithstanding the fact that he is a Presiding Elder. It is a rare compliment for a secretary to be continued after he is made a Presiding Elder; but with one ac- cord Brother W. was re-elected to this important station. The writer has heard more than one of our Bishops say, that he is one of the most efficient secretaries in the entire Methodist con- nection-I am quite sure that I never was acquainted with a better one.
Bro. Wilding's has been a busy life. He possesses unusual energy, and is conscientious in all his work. He ranks high as a minister of the Word, and has already left his impress upon the hills and valleys of his adopted State. His life, thus far, has been a marked success, and his future is bright with promise.
SERMON XVII.
BY
REV. GEORGE C. WILDING, P.E.
THEME :- SOUL SATISFACTION.
TEXT :- They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures .- PSALM xxxVi: 8.
The theme of this verse of scripture is the spiritual communion of human souls with God, their divine maker. The teachings are that such communion of the soul with God is eminently and abundantly satis- factory in its character and extent. In order to mag- nify the theme, and to illume the teachings of the text, the author of this Psalm resorts to the favorite Oriental method of teaching, namely, the figurative or pictorial. At least three quite distinct and widely varying metaphors adorn and beautify these brief lines of Scripture.
The first metaphor is that of a house, in the sense of a tenement, a dwelling, a home. About every well ordered household, every model home, we naturally group the ideas of shelter, protection, rest, com- fort, food and friends. The figure implies that a soul in communion with God possesses and enjoys in a spiritual sense, all of the blessings that are repre- sented by these temporal enjoyments of domestic life.
The second metaphor is that of a field. There has been a protracted drouth, and the earth is dry, dusty and parched, under the fierce glare of an Eastern sun. Now, there comes a shower, gentle at first, but rapidly
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increasing in volume, and soon the earth is refreshed, drenched, saturated. And to demonstrate the con- tinuance of this moisture, a stream of water is rep- resented as flowing through the midst of the field. The soul outside the pale of communion, is the field suffering the rigors of drouth ; the soul in communion with God, is the field refreshed by showers of rain and watered by the flowing stream.
The third metaphor is that of a temple, a sanctu- ary, a church. In fancy we observe the devout saint entering the earthly courts of the Heavenly King. We notice the eye flash, the bosom heave, and the face glow, as he worships God in his house, in fervent prayer and swelling praise ; forgetting the feverish world outside those sacred walls, with all of its cares, burdens and sorrows. As the child of God is blest in the service of the earthly sanctuary, so, the soul in communion with God, is dwelling continually in the spiritual temple, and is steadfastly feasting on heav- enly manna, the rarest, choicest spiritual food.
It may be profitable, now, to leave metaphor and figure far behind us, and push forward to the atten- tive study of this theme and its teachings.
I. WE ARE SO CONSTITUTED, IN OUR COMPLEX NATURE, THAT WE INSTINCTIVELY CRAVE WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR OUR ENJOYMENT AND SATISFACTION.
Perhaps we should here stop long enough to distin- guish between what may be termed proper and im- proper desires or longings. Some of our cravings are, in themselves, proper, Othersare, in themselves, improper ; while others, still, are proper inside of cer- tain limits or restrictions, and improper outside of these lines of limitation. We may safely conclude that all of our cravings, which, if fully gratified, would injure us, or any other human being are improper ; and that all of our cravings, which, if entirely satis- fied, would not harm us, or any other person-but, on the contrary, would benefit ourselves, or others, or both-are proper and pure in their character.
It should be a matter of gratitude, that in this era of Christian civilization, we have but little difficulty
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in determining between cravings which are pure and proper, and cravings which are impure and improper.
As human beings, we have a many-sided nature, or a nature subdivided into many compartments, or par- titioned off into a number of distinct rooms : or to em- ploy another figure, we have a being composed of a number of distinct and peculiar personalities. And in each of these departments there are characteristic cravings, of a pure nature, and each personality has a longing or hungering of its own.
In the physical personality of our being, if that physical life be normal or healthy, there will be at intervals-more or less stated or regular-a hungering for material food. This is undoubtedly a real hunger, and nothing but food will satisfy it. Suppose you es- cort a famishing man through the halls of a famous art gallery, and let him gaze upon rare paintings of luscious fruits and succulent vegetables, and nutri- tious meats, so true to nature that we are surprised that they do not drop from the canvas, and what is the result ? Is his hunger appeased ? Nay, but rather heightened. Take him into the epicurean dining hall of a Delmonico; lead him to the head of the great tables freighted heavily with nutritious food
and toothsome delicacies. Have him feast his eyes on the tempting vision. Now, is his hunger allayed or even quieted ? On the contrary, it is grown raven- ous and unmanageable. Paintings and visions of food will not gratify the craving of a hungry man. Noth- ing but substantial, palpable, material food will satis- fy this hunger. When this craving does not return for a considerable space of time, the body pines, fades away and death ensues.
In the social department of our being, if the social nature is normal and active, there will be developed an instinctive craving for society-for intercourse with kindred souls, congenial spirits. This hunger is as real as the first, and will not be satisfied with the shadow for the substance. The rules of good so- ciety, as printed in books of etiquette, may be studied for days together; vast crowds of strangers may be met on the street, at any or every hour of the day;
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happy groups of people may be observed in the cheer- ful homes which we pass in our walks; but these are only pictures of society to us. The hunger for society still remains, and nothing but a congenial group, in which we are central figures, will satisfy it. When this craving dies, or is crushed to earth, we have the nunnery or monastery, the nun and monk-terms so distasteful to true Americans, and'clustering about an idea so antagonistic to true social life.
In the intellectual personality, if the intellect be healthy and vigorous, there is a craving for informa- tion or knowledge of some character. This also is a real hunger. A simple sight of the book of knowl- edge, to admire the symmetry of its proportions, or the beauty of its superb binding, or to read its great title, would not satisfy the craving of the mind for wisdom. No; the lids of the vast volume must be opened, and the rich treasures it contains spread be- fore the intellect, that it may feast thereon. When this mind hunger is entirely gone, a mental death soon takes place.
The spiritual man in our being, if normal and growthful, also craves for food, hungers for nourish- ment-for satisfaction. This hunger, as truly as either of the others, is a real hunger that nothing but food will satisfy. Pictures of food, such as moralism or formalism, or ritualism will not appease that hun- ger. The shell or husk, that enclosed the food, will not do instead of the food itself. None of the modern forms of religion, that omit or exclude a sympathizing Savior, will satisfy a hungering soul. When this hun- ger perishes, spiritual death soon occurs.
II. THIS INSTINCTIVE HUNGER IS AN ARGUMENT FOR, AND A PROPHECY OF, THE EXISTENCE OF AN ABUND- ANT SUPPLY.
In the first mentioned three of these realms, the physical, the social and the intellectual, this argu- ment is demonstrated, and this prophecy is fulfilled. There is the hunger for food and the supply of food to match it ; there is the longing for congenial society, and the supply is found in the cheerful circle of friends
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there is the craving for mental nutriment, and the supply is furnished by the school, the book, the ora- tor. and nature.
Now, we are left with the craving in the highest domain of all-the spiritual. How is it to be ap- peased ? Is there anywhere a supply ?
The proof of this proposition, in the employment of reason alone, cannot be carried to the lofty altitude of demonstration; but it may be made to approxi- mate very closely to its summit. In the use and ar- rangement of these arguments, we demonstrate the strongest probability of the existence of this supply to gratify the hunger of the soul. The line of rea- soning is briefly this :
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