The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-24

everlasting Voey against the navleS OF darkness
riding up through the bay. l go out sometimes
in the summer, and | find two beehives, and
these two bee-hives are in a quarrel come
near enough not to be stung, and | come just
near enough to hear the controversy, and one
beehive says: ''That field of clover is the sweet
est" and another beehive says: THAT field of
clover is the sweetest" l come in between them
and l say: stop this quarrel II you like that
field of clover best go there But let me tell you
that that hive which gets the most honey is the
best hive" SO | come out between the churches
of the Lord Jesus Christ One denomination
of Christians SAYS: THAT field of Christian doc
trine Is the best and another says: This field
of Christian doctrine is the best" well, say,
go where you get the most honey" That is the
best Church which gets the most honey of Chris
tan grace for the heart and the most honey OF
Christian usefulness for the life.
Depend upon it, intolerance never put down
any denomination. What did it do against the
Methodist church, That church was prosecuted,
and nearly all the pulpits of Great Britain closed
against her ministers The very name of the
church was given in derision, There are in the
Astor Library, New York, | am told, 707 books
and pamphlets against Methodism kept there
merely a curiosity. Did intolerance destroy
the Methodist church, She stands either first
or second-I do not know which, now-in num-
Der, in all the earth while she has her men not
only in places of religious trust, but of secular
trust. Intolerance against the Methodist Church
has lifted it up. What is the use of trying,
then, that spirit of intolerance! Let us have
division of work. Let us attend to Christian
work, and let Satan do all the work of intoler-
ance. He is lively, and he is active, and he is
Industrious, and he understands ecclesiastical
law He will attend to that
What did intolerance accomplish against the
Baptist Church, If laughing scorn if TRADE
and denunciation could have destroyed that
church, it would not have disciple day. Rev.
Leonard Bernkop, Baptist minister burned at
Salisbury, because he was Baptist, in his
dying moments saving: 81 am roasted enough
on that side: turn me over now; the fire don't
hurt compared with the eternal glory" Rev. Mr..
James. Baptist minister, because he was a
Baptist, drawn hurdle from Newgate to
Tyburn; his dead body lifted on the city
gates; his head lifted pole and
set up in front of the place where
a Baptist minister, and because he was Baptist
publicly whipped, and two men coming up and
shaking hands with him. they got whipped, and
the surgeon who dressed their wounds pursued
as a criminal, and one hundred Baptists were put
to death in Flanders and Holland because they
were Baptsts. Even Richard Baxter lost his
balance on the subject, and he said that the
Baptists were as bad as murderers because they
put people under water and they caught their
death OF cold. lie wrote these words: The or
binary practice of baptizing overhead, and in
cold water, as necessary, is plain breach of the
sixth commandment Therefore it is not or
dinance of God, but heinous sin; and as Mr..
Craddock shows in his book of gospel liberty the
magistrate ought to restrain it to save the lives
of his subjects, In word it is good for nothing
but to dispatch men out of the world that are bur
densome and to ranken churchyards conclude,
if murder would be SIM then dipping ordinarily
overhead in England is sin; and if those who
make it mems religion to murder themselves,
and urge it upon their conscience as their duty,
not to be suffered in commonwealth any
more than highway murderers; then judge how
these Anabaptists, that teach the necessity of
such dipping, are to be suffered" In New
England the Baptists were prosecuted; they
were driven out of Boston, and when petition
was sent up asking leniency in their behalf, the
men who signed the petition were fined, and it is
a matter of church history that after man had
been baptized by immersion, weeks having gone
by, and his death occurring the officiating cler
gyman was thrown into prison and indicted for
murder How near did intolerance destroy the
Baptist church, Well, the last statistics saw
of that church was, they had 900 churches
and about two million communicates
England prosecuted the Jews. England, by
law, said no Jew should hold any official power
in the realm. England thrust back the Jew and
thrust down the jew. Who was for years the
Prime Minister of England Who became next
to Queen Victoria in powerl Who was higher
than the throne, because its adviser and coun-
selor2 Disraeli, the jew Intolerance never
puts down anything; it puts it up.
HOW TO MAKE WAR UPON THE Evil
But now, my friends, having shown you the
origin of bigotry, or seetarianism, and having
shown you the damage it does, want briefly to
show you how we are to war against this terri
BILE evil, and l think we ought to begin our war
By realizing our own weakness and our imper-
lection. If we make so many mistakes in the
common affairs of life, is it not possible that we
may make mistakes in regard to our religious
affarsi Shall we take man by the throat or
by the collar because he cannot SEE religious
truths Just as we dol In the light of eternity it
will be found out, think, there something
wrong in all our creeds and something right in
all our creeds. But since we may make mis-
takes in regard to the things of the world, do
not let us be so egotistic and so pulled up as to
have an idea that we cannot make any mistake
in regard to religious theories; and then | think
we will do great deal to overthrow the sec
taranism from our heart and the sectarianism
from the world by chiefly charging in these
things in which we agree rather than those on
which we differ Now, hore is a great
gospel platform, A man comes up this
side the platform and says; II don't believe
in baby sprinkling." Shall / shove him Off Hero
is man coming up on this side the platform,
and he says: Il don't believe in the perseverance
of the saints" Shall | shove him off, No.
will say: DO you believe in the Lord Jesus as
your Saviorl Do you trust him for time and
eternity?" Eyes, l say: ''Come on, brother;
one in time, and one in eternity; brother now,
brother forever" Blessed be God for a gospel
platform so large that all who receive Christ
may stand on IT.
think we may overthrow the severe sectari-
ansm and bigotry in hearts, and in the
church, also, by realizing that all the denomina
tionS of Christians have yielded noble institu-
tons and noble men, There is nothing that so
stirs my soul as this thought One denomina-
ton yielded Robert Hall and an Adoniram Jud-
son; another yielded Latimer and a Melville;
another yielded John Wesley and the blessed
Summerfeld, while our own denomination
yielded John Knox and the Alexanders-me of
whom the world was not worthy Now l say
if we are honest and fair minded men, when we
come up in the presence OF such churches and
such denominations, although they may be diff
ferent from our own, we ought to admire them,
and we ought to love and honor them. The
churches which can produce such men, and such
large hearted charity, and such magnificent
martyrdom. ought to win our affection-at any
rate, our respect So come on, we 90. 900 Episco-
nalians in this country. and We 400 0Gl Preshv- |