National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1886-06-28

-FOUR, nYe, six, seven, eight, nine, teni
eleven. twelve. Hear II, all the earth and
all the heavensl Twelve gatesl
admit this is rather hard on sharp Soc
tarianisms. II Presbyterian Is blgoted he
brings his Westminster assembly eatechism,
and he makes a gateway out OF that, and
he says to the worlds "You 10 through
there or stay out.n II n Methodist Is big
oted he plants two posts aud he says:
NOW you crowd in between those two
pos,s or stay out" Or, perhaps, an Epis.
copal'an may say: "Here is a liturgy out
of witch / mean TO make a gate; go
through II or stay out" Or a Baptist may
say: Here is a water-gate; you go through
that or You must stay out.n And 80 In all
our churches and in our denominations
there are men who make one gate for
themselves and then demand that the
whole world go through IT, abhor this
contractedness In religious views. Oh,
small souled man, when did God give you
the contract Of making gatesY tell you
plainly, / will not 90 in that gate.
will go in at any one OF
the twelve gates j choose. Here ia a
man who says: 81 can more easily aud
more closely approach God through a
R Hsc the prayer boos Here H IS %an S when
says: az believe there is only one mode of
baptism, and that is immersion" Then
say: "Let me plunge you.n Anyhow
cay: Away with the gate of rough panel,
and rotten posts, and rusted latch, when
there are twelve gates, and they are twelve
pearls.
The fact is that a great many Of the
churches in this day are being doctrined to
death. They have been trying TO find out
all about Gods DEGREES. and they want to
know who are elected to be saved, and who
are reprobated 10 be damned, and they are
keeping on discussing that subject when
there are millions OF souls who need to have
the truth put straight at them. They sit
counting the number Of teeth in the jaw
bone with which Samson slew the Phllis-
tines. They sit on the beach and see YES
sci going TO pieces In the ofling, and In
stead OF getting into a boat and pulling
away for the wreck, they sit discussing the
different styles Of oarlocks. God intended
us TO know some things, and intended us
not to know others. have heard scores of
sermons explanatory Of Gods DEGREES, but
came away more perplexed than when
went. The only result Of such discussion
is great fog. Here are two truths which
are to conquer the world: Man, a sinner
Christ, a saviour. ANY man who adopts
these two theories In his religious belief
shall have my right hand in warm grip Of
Christian brotherhood.
A man comes down to a river In time of
freshet. He wants to get across. lie has
is to put of his heavy apparel and drop
everything he has in his hands. He must go
empty handed II he is going to the other
bank. And tell you, when We have come
down to the river Of death and find Il swift
and raging, we will have to put Off all our
sectarianism and lay down our cumbrous
creed and empty-handed put out for the
other shore.
"What," say you, "would you resolve all
the Christian church into one kind Of
church Would you make all Chrlstendom
worship I'm the same way, by the same
formsW Oh, no You might as well de-
eide that all people shall eat the same kind
OF food, without reference to appetite, or
wear the same kind Of apparel, without
reference to the shape Of their body. Your
ancestry, your temperament, your surround
ings will decide whether you 20 to this or
that church, and adopt this or that polity.
One church will best get one man TO heaven
and another church another man. do not
care which one Of the gates you go through,
II you only go through one Of the twelve
gat es that Jesus lifted.
Looking out at the one hundred and forty
and four thousand and you cannot tell at
what gate they came in. One Lord. One
faith. One baptism. One CLASSY sea. One
"Wby,. Luther, how did you get INF" 81
came through the third gate" "Cranmer,
how did you get in2" ~ came through the
eighth gate.'F "Adoniram johnson, how
did you get through" ~ came through
the seventh gate" Hugh McKail, the
martyr, how did you get throughf' 81
came through the twelfth gate" Glory to
| God, twelve gates, but one heaven.
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
| is no fancy Of mine, but distinct announce
ment. On the north, three gates, on the
| south, three gates, on the east, three gates,
on the west, three gates. What does that
meanH Why, 1t means that all nationalities
are included, and It does not make any
| o man comes up; II his heart Is right, there
is q gate open before him. On the north,
three gates. That means mercy for Lap
land, and Siberia, and Norway and Sweden.
On the south, three gates. That means
| pardon for Hlndostan, and Algiers, 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. It does
| not make any difference how dark-skinned
or how pale-faced men may be, they will
find gate right before them. Those
| plucked bananas under a tropical sun
| These shot across Russian SHOWS behind
reindeer. From Mexican plateau, from
Roman campana, from Chinese tea field
from Holland dyke, fromScotch highlands
they come, they come. Heaven Is not {
monopoly for few precious souls. 1t II
not o Windsor Castle for royal families. Il
is not o small town with small population
but John saw 1t and he noticed that oil
angel was measuring 1t, aud he measured Il
this way, and then he measured 1t that, ant
whichever way he measured It It was 1,50l
miles; SO that Babylon and Thebes, ant
Tyre and Nineveh, and st. Petersburg ant
and New York, and all the dead cities o
the past and all the living cities of thu
present added together would not equal tn,
census Of that great metropolis.
Walking along the street, you can, by tn,
contour OF the dress or of the face, guess
where man came from. You say, "Tha
is Frenchman; that is Norwegian; tina
Is an American" But the gates that gathe
In the righteous will bring them In IRE
spective Of nationality. Foreigners some
times get homesick. Some Of the tenderes
and most pathetic stories have been told o
those who left their native cline ant
longed for 1t until they died. But tn,
Swiss, coming to the high residence o
heaven, will not long any more for tn
Alps. standing In the eternal hills. TIL,
Russian will not long any more for tn
that he hears the hum and the rustic OF tn
harvests Of everlasting light. The roya
ones from earth will not long to go bacl
again to the earthly court, now that the.
stand in the palaces Of thezsun. Thoa
who once lived amid the groves OF spic
and oranges will not long to return, nov
that they stand under the trees OF life thai
bear twelve manner OF fruit.
While speak an ever increasing thron
is passing through the gates. They are &c
ing up from Senegambia, from Patagonia
from Madras, from Hong Kong. "Whatl
you say, ''do you introduce all the heathe
Into glory ri / tell you the fact is, that th
majority Of the people In those climes di
In infancy and tine infants all go straigh
into eternal life, and so the vast majorit
Of those who die in China and India, tn
vast majority of those who die in Africa
go straight into the skles-they die In in