The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1886-07-09


the other side of that gate, and we are
kings. The pilgrim of earth going through
sees in the one huge pearl all his earthly
tears in crystal. o, gate of light, gate of
heaven, for our weary souls at last swing
open
When shall these eyes thy heaven built wall
And pearly gates behold,
Thy buIwarks with salvation strong,
And streets of shining gold?
o, heaven is not duh placed Heaven
Is not contracted place. Heaven is not
a stupid place. ST saw the twelve gates
and they were twelve pearls"
In the second place, want you to count
the number of those gates. Imperial
parks and Iordly manors are apt to have
one expensive gateway and the others
are ordinary; but look around at these
entrances to Heaven and count them.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine ten, eleven, twelve. Hear it,
all the earth and all the Heavens! Twelve
gates
1 admit this is rather hard on sharp
sectarianisms. If a Presby terrain is
bigoted he brings his Westminster
Assembly Catechism, and he makes a
gateway out of that, and he says to the
world:
''You go through there or stay out"
If a Methodist is bigoted he plants two
posts and he says:
"Now you crowd in between those two
posts or stay out"
Or perhaps an Episcopalian may say:
sHere is liturgy out of which I
mean to make gate; go through it or
stay out"
Or Baptist may say:
Here is a water gate; you go through
that or you must stay out"
And so 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, 1
abhor this contractedness in religious
views. o, smaH-souled man, when did
God give you the contract for making
gates? I tell you plainly, I viii not go in
| that gate. I viii go in at any one of the
twelve gates choose. Here is a man who
says:
81 can more easily and more closely ap.
proach God through a prayer book"
1 say: "My brother, then use the
prayer book"
Here is a man who says:
"I believe there is only one mode of
| baptism, and that is immersion"
Then I say: 'Let me plunge you"
Anyhow I say, away with the gate of
latch, when there are twelve gates and
they are twelve pearls.
The fact is that 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 to be damned, and
they are keeping on discussing that SUBJ
| ject 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 jawbone with which Samson
slew the Philistines. They sit on the
| beach and see a vessel going to pieces in
the off1ng, and instead of getting into a
| boat and pulling away for the wreck, they
set discussing the various styles of oar
| locks. God intended US to know some
things and intended us not to know others.
Ihave heard scores of sermons explanatory
| of Gods DEGREES, but came away more
perplexed than when 1 went. The only
result of such a discussion is a 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
| broth erhood.
freshet. He wants to get across. He has to
swim. What does he do? The first thing
is to put off his heavy apparel and drop
everything he has in his hands. He must
| go empty handed if he is going to the
other bank. And 1 tell you when we have
come down to the river of death and find
| it 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 churches into one kind of
| church? Would you make all Christendom
worship in the same way, by the same
| forms?"
0, mol You might as well decide 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 surroundings,
will decide whether you go to this or that
church, and adopt this or that polity.
| One church win best get one man to Henv-
| en-, and another church another man. do
not care which one of the gates you go
| through, if you only go through one Of the
! twelve gates that Jesus lifted.
Looking out at the one hundred and
forty and four thousand, and you can not
tell at what gate they came in. One Lord.
| One faith. One baptism. One CLASSY sea.
One doxology. One triumph. One Heaven.
"Why, Luther, how did you get in?"
''I came through the third gate"
"Cranmer, how did you get IMP"
''I came through the eighth gate"
"Adoniram Judson, how did you get
through"
81 came through the seventh gate"
"Hugh McKall, the martyr, how did you
| get through?"
"I 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
announcement. On the north, three gates;
on the south, three gates; on the east, three
gates; on the west, three gates. What
does that mean? Why, it means tn at all
nationalties are included, and it does not
make any difference from what quarter of
the earth man comes up; If his heart is
right there is a gate open before him. On,
the north, three gates. That means
mercy for Lapland, and Siberia, and
Norway, and Sweden. On the south,
three gates. That means pardon
for Hindostan, and AIgiers, 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. 1t
does not make any difference how dark
skinned or how pale faced men may be,
they will find a gate right before them.
Those plueked bananas under tropical
sun. These shot across Russian SHOWS be-
hind reindeer. From Mexican plateau,
from Roman campagna, from Chinese tea
field, from Holland dixie. from Scotch
highlands, they come, they come. Heaven