Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-08-03

is ONLY one mOde OF DNpfiSt. ana bhhb ~
Immersion Then ! say let me plunge
you! Anyhow, [ say, away with the gate
OF rough panel and rotten posts and
rusted latch when there are y gates ANA
they are l. pearls. The fact is, that a
great many OF the churches in this day
are being doctrined to death. They have
been trying for 30 years to find out all
about Gods DEGREES, and they want 10
know who are elected to be saved, and
who are repr0bated TO be damned, and
they are Keeping on discussing that sub
ect when there are millions of souls who
need 10 have the truth put
straight at them that unless
they repent they will be damned
They sit counting the number of teeth in
the jaWbone with which they are TO slay
the Philistipes when they ought 10 be
welding skilully the weapon. They sit
on the beach ami see a vessel going 70
pieces IN the oifng, and instead of getting
into boat and pulling away for the
wreck, they sit discussing the different
STYLES OF oar-locks. God intended us TO
know some things and intended Us not TO
know others. ] have heard scores Of ser
mons explanatory Of Gods decrees but
came away more peyplexed than when
went. The only result OF such discussion
is q great fog. Here are two truths which
are 10 conquer the world: Man, n sinner;
y a.
these two theories in his religious belief
shall have my right hand in warm grip of
Christian brotherhood.
A man comes down 10 river In time Of
freshet. BE wants to get across. He has
10 swim. What does he dog The first
thing is TO put of his heavy apparel and
drop everything he has in his hands. He
must 40 emptv-handed II he is going to
The other bank And / tell you when we
4 4
find il swift and raging, we will have to
put of all our seCtarlansm and lay down
all our cumbersome Croeds, and, empty
handed. put out for the other shore.
"Whatg" say you, would you resolve all
the Christian church into one kind Of
church? Would you make all christen-
dom worship in the same way, by the
same fortnsV Oh. no; you might as well
decide that all the people shall eat the
same food, without reference to appetite,
or wear the same kind Of apparel, with
out reference to the shape Of their bodies.
Your ancestry, your temperament, your
surroundings will decide whether You 20
to this or that church and adopt this or
that church pOlity. One church will best
ret one man TO heaven and another church
another man. | am not opposed TO fences
being built around denominations OF
Christians. | am not opposed TO a very
high fence being built around each OF the
denominations Of Christians; but do say
that in every fence there ought to be bars
that YOU can let down and gate that you
can swing open. Go home, therefore, and
take your Bible and get down on your
knees before God and make your own
creed. | am not opposed to creeds--l
believe in them; but a creed that does
not reach down to the depth Of
mans immortal nature is not worth the
paper that it is printed on.
/ do not care which one of the gates
you 20 through ifyOu only go through one
Of the twelve gates that Jesus lifted.
Well, now l see all the redeemed Of earth
coming up toward heaven. Do you think
they will get in? Yes. Gate the first,
the MOravians come up; they believe in
the Lord Jesus Christ; they pass through.
Gate the second, the Quakers come up;
they have trusted in the Lord; they pass
through. Gate the third, the Lutherans
come up; they had great admiration for
the reformer and they pass through. Gate
the fourth, the Roman Catholics come
W; believing IN salvation by Jesus
Christ they pass through. Gate the fifth
the German Reformed Church passes
through. Gate the sixth, she Congrega-
ti0nalists pass through. GATE the
seventh; the Baptists pass through.
Gate the eighth, the EpiscO-
palians pass through. Gate the ninth,
the Sabbatarians pass through. Gate the
tenth, the MethOdists pass through. Gate
the eleventh, the Reformed Dutch Church
passes through. Gate the twelfth. the
Presbyterians pass through. But there
are great host of other denominations
who must come in, and great multtudas
who connected themselves with no visible
church, hut felt the power Of godliness in
their heart and showed it in their life /;
where is their gatey VIII YOU shut al
this remaining host out Of the cityf No
They may come in at our gate. Hosts Of
God, if you cannot get admission through
any other entrance, come In at the twelfth
gate. Now they mingle before the throne
looking ont on the one hundred and forty
and four thousand, and you cannot tell at
that gate they came in. One Lord, one
faith, one baptism. One glassy sea. One
doXol0gy. One triumph. Glory be to
God, one heaven, but twelve gates.
In the third place notice the points of
the compass toward which these gates
look. They are not on one side, or on two
sides, or on three sides, but on four sides.
This 10 no fancy Of mine but "a distinct an
nouncement. son the north three gates,
on the south three gates, on the east three
gntes, on the west three gates" What
does that mean? Why, Il means that all
make any difference from what quarter Of
the earth a man comes up; if his heart is
right there is gate open before him. On
the north three gates; that means mercy
for LaplRnd and Siberia and Norway and
Sweden. On the south three gates; that
means pardon for Hnd0stan and Algiere
and Ethiopia. On the east three gates;
that means salvation for China and Japan
and BOrneo. On the west three gates
that means redemption for America. II
does not make any difference how dark
skinned or pHle.taced man may be they
Will find a gate right before them. Those
| plucked bananas under a tropical sun
! Those, behind reindeer, shot across Rus
sian SHOWS. From Mexican plateau
! from Roman cempagn0. from Chinese tea
| field, from Holland dixie, from Scotch
| highlands they come. they come. Heaven
is not a monopoly for few precious souls
! II is not a Windsor castle built only fol
/ royal families. lt is not small town
J with a small population, but John saw 4
/ and he noticed that an angel was meas
uring it,, and he me0 sured it this way and
| then measured IL that way. and which
/ ever way he measured IL il was 800
miles; 80 that Babylon and Thebes and
! Tyre and Nincynh and 81. Petersburg
aud Canton and Pekin and Paris aud Lon
/ don and New YOrfs and all the q a. cities
| Of the past and all the Twins
cities Of the present added together woulC
/ not reach the census of that great mo
/ tropOlis. Walking along n street You cai