The Mankato free press., 1888-08-10

beds Of those who rejected part of the Bible,
or rejected all of the Bibla Now, take
my arm and Let us pass through
this dividing avenue Look of upon the
right side. Here are the deathbeds on the
right side Of this avenue. "Victory through
our Lord Jesus Christi" "Free. grace"
'Glory. gloryf" 81 am sweeping through
the gates washed In the blood of the Lambin
"The chariots ase comingr" ~ mount,
fyr "Wings, wingsp ''They are coming
for mel" "Peace, be still" Alfred Cook.
mans deathbed, Richard Cecil's deathbed,
Commodore Foote'S deathbed, your fathers
deathbed, your mothers deathbed, yosr sis
ter's deathbed, your child's deathbed Ten
thousand radiant. songful deathbeds Of those
who believed an entire Bible
Now take my arm and let US go through
that avenue and look Off upon the other side.
No smile of hope. No shout Of triumph. No
fae supernaturally illumined Those who
reject any part Of the Bible never die well
No beckoning for angels to come. No listen
ing for the celestial escort. Without any
exception they 90 out Of the - because
they are PUSHED out; while on yer hand
the list of those who believed gftire BIZ
BILE and gone out of the world In Triumph is a
list so long it seems interIninablA Oh, Is
not that splendid influence, this orthodoxy,
which makes that which must otherwise be
the most dreadful hour Of life-the last hour
positively paradisaicali
Young men, old men, middle aged men,
take sides in this contest between orthodoxy
and heterodoxy. "Ask for the old paths
walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your
souls" But you follow this crusade against
any part of the Bible-first of all you will
give up Genesis, which is as true as Matthew;
then you viii give up all the historical parts
Of the Bible; then after a while you will give
up the miracles; then you will find it con-
venient to give up the Ten Commandments;
and then after a while you will wake up In
fountainless, reckless, treeless desert swept
Of everlasting sfrocco. If you are laughed at
you can afford to be laughed at for standing
by the Bible just as God has given it to you
and miraculously preserved it.
Do not jump overheard from the stanch
old Great Eastern of old fashioned orthodoxy
until there is something ready to take you
up stronger than the fantastic yawl which
has painted on the side Advanced Thought, {"
and which leaks at the PROV and leaks at the
stern and has a steel pen for one oar and q
glib tongue for the other oar, and now tips
over this way and then tips over that way,
until you do not know whether the psssen-
gers Will land in the breakers of despair or on
the sinking sand of inldelitv and atheism.
am in full sympathy with the advance
ments of our time, but this world will never
advance a single inch beyond this old Bible
God was Just as capable of debating the truth
to the prophets and apostles as he is capable
Of debating the truth to these modern
apostles and prophets God has not learned
anything in thousand years. He knew Just
as much when he gave the first dictation as
he does now, giving the last dictation, IL he
Is giving any dictation at ALL So 1 will stick
to the old paths Naturally q skeptic and
preferring new things to old, never so much
as today felt the truth Of the entire Bible,
especially as / see into what spectacular
imbecility men rush when they try to chop
up the Scriptures with the meat ak Of their
own preferences, now calling upon philoso-
ply, now calling ON the church, now calling
on God, now calling on the devil. prefer
the thick, warm robe of the old religion-old
as God-the robe which has kept so many
warm amid the cold pilgrimage Of this life
and amid the chills Of death. The old robe
rather than the thin, uncertain gauze offered
us by these wiseacres who believe the Bible
in spots
On July 81, 1914, at 72 years of age, expired
Isabella Graham. She was the most useful
woman of her day amid the poor and sick, at
the head of the orphan asylums and Magda-
len asylums, and an angel Of mercy in hos
pital and reformatory. DIR. Mason, one of
mightiest men Of his day, said at her funeral
that she was mentally and spiritually
the most wonderfully endowed person be
ever met She was an impesonation of the
most orthodox orthodoxy. Her last word
was peace. As sublime peroration to my
sermon will give an extract from her last
will and testament, showing how one who
believes in an entire Bible may make a
glorious exit.
An extract from q will:
'My children and my grandchildren I
leave to my covenant God, the God who hath
fed me all my life with the bread that per-
isheth and the bread that never perisheth,
who has been Father to my fatherless chill
dren and husband to their widowed mother
thus far. And now receiving my Redeem
er's testimony, l set to my seal that God is
true; and believing the record of John that
God hath given to me eternal life, and this
life is in his Son, who, through the eternal
Spirit, overcomes without spot unto God, and
being consecrateda a priest forever, hath with
his own blood entered into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for me.
also believe that he will perfect what concerns
me, support and carry me safely through
death, and present me to his Father, COM
plete in his own Righteousness, without spot
or wrinkle. Into the hands Of this redeem
ing God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost COM
init my redeemed spirit. Graham.
Let me die the death Of the righteous, and
and let my last end be like hers. "Glory be
to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy
Ghost, as it was In the beginning, Is now and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen
and amenr