The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1888-04-04

them IS !. piece Of the cross, cone IN on
that piece Tens of thousands Of people
are to-day kept out Of the Kingdom OF Gou
because they can not believe every thing.
am talking with a man thoughtful
about his soul, who has lately Travelled
through Mex England and passed the night
at AuGovcr. lie says 10 nc: II can not
believe that in this Fife Gcstiay is i"revo-
cably liked: think there viii DC another
opportunity of repentance alter death.
I say TO him: My brother, what has that
to do witt! YOU: Don't yru r2&ilzc that the
man who waits FOR another chance alter
death. when ne has Il good cnHnce before
death, is u stark fool, HAD not you better
take the plank that is thrown 10 You now
and head for shore rather than Wa!t Ior 4
plank that may by Invisible hands DC
thrown to YOU after You are dead. DO as
YOU please. but rs fyr myself, with pardon
for all my sins offered nic now and al Inc
ioys of time and eternity offered me
now, instantly take them rather ttan run
the risk Of such other chance as wise men
think they can peel off or twist out OF
Scripture passage that has for all the
Christian centuries been interpreted an
other way.
You say: Il do not like Princeton the
ology or -An2ovcr theology 10 not ask
you on board either # the great men-3f-
war, their PORTFOLIOS filed with great siege
guns Of ecclesiastical hattie But do ask
You to take the one plank OF the Gospel
that YOU do believe II and strike out Tor
the pear-Strung beach of Heaven.
SAYS some o,hcr man: Il would attend
to religion if / was quite sure about the
doctrine of election and free agency, but
that mixes me all up. These things used
to bother ME. bat / have no more neIplcN-
ity about them, toI' say 10 myself: : II
love Christ and live I good, honest uscfu!
life. am elected TO he saved: and il I do
not love Christ and live I bad life / will be
damned, and all the theological s2ninar!es
OF the universe can not make IL any dliicr-
eut'' ! floUndcrci along while in the sea
of sin and doubt. ana it was as rough rs
the Mediterranean Oh :nc fourteenth nlGhs
when they threw the grain overheard; bus
7 saw there was mercy for Il sinner, and
that plank took and | have been warm
ing myself by tho bright fire on the shore
for three decades.
While I ant talking TO another man about
his soul he tells me: Il do not become 4
Christian because do not believe there is
any hell at all All! cont you: Do all
the people, Of all beliefs ana no belief at ALL
OF good morals and bad morals, go straight
to a happy Heaven. DO the holy and the
debauched have the sane destinations: At
midnight, III hallway, the owner OF q
house and q burglar Iacct eS.h other, and
they both fire, and both are wounded, but
the burglar dies IN i've minutes ana the
owner OF the house lives week after. VIII
the burglar be at the gate OF Heaven
waiting when the houSe-owncr comes in!
VIII the dcbauchc and the Ibert!nc go
right in among the families cf Heaven?
wonder if Hcrod is playing on the banks
Of the River Of Life with the children nc
massacred. wonder # Charles Guitcau
and John Wilkes Booth are up there shoot
ingat a mark. do not now controVcrt 1t,
although must say for such 4 miserable
Heaven / have no a2mlration. Bat the
Bible does not say: believe il rcrdition
and be saved
Because all are saved, according to your
theory, that ought not 10 keep you from
loving and serving Christ. Do not refuse
to come ashore because all the others, ac-
cordmg to your theory. are going to get
ashore You may have q different theory
about chemistry, about astronomy, about
the atmosphere, from that Which others
adopt, but you arc no! therefore hlndercd
from action. Because Your theory Of light
is different FROM others, you DO not refuse
to open your eyes; because yoGr theory CT
air is different, you Go not refuse to
breathe; because your theory about the
stellar system is different, You DO not re-
fuse to acknowledge the north star. Why
should the fact tha; your theological the
cries are different hinder You from acting
upon what you know: If you have not
whole ship fashioned in the theological dry
docks to bring you to wharfage, you have
at least plank :'Some on broken pieces
of the ship"
But do not believe in revivals!" Then
90 to your room, and 81! alone with your
door locked give your heart to God and
Join some church where the thermometer
never gets higher than fifty in the shade.
g But DO not believe in baptlSm.' Come
in without it and settle that matter after
ward ''But there are so many lnconslst-
ent Christians! Then conc in and show
them by good example how professors
ought to act '.But dent believe in the
Old Testament" Then come in on the
New. 'tBut don't like the Book OF Ro-
mans!' Then come IN on Matthew or
Luke. Refusing to come 10 Christ, whom
YOU admit to be the Saviour OF the lost, be-
cause you can not admit other things, you
are ike man out there in that Mediter-
ranean tempest and tossed i'll the Melita
breakers, refusing 70 come ashore until he
can mend the pieces Of the broken ship.
I hear him say: - won't go in
on any Of these pIanks until ]
know in what part of the ship they be-
long; when can get She w:ndlass III the
right place, and the sails set, and that Keel
piece where it belongs, and that floor TIM
Der right, and these ropes untanglcd, vii!
90 ashore am al old sailor and know all
about ships fc,. forty years, and as soon as
can get the vessel atioat III good shape /
will come in a man drifting by on
piece Of wood hears him and says: You
will drown before you get that ship recon-
structed. Better do rs am Going. ! know
nothing about ships. ami never SAW one be-
fore | came on board this, a!sd l can not
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