Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1888-09-01

Gospel the world round are men who be-
lieve In an entire Bible. Call the roll of all
the missionaries who are today enduring
sacrifices in the ends Of the earth for the
betternent, and they all believe in
an entire Bible. Just as soon as
q missionary begins TO doubt whether there
ever was Garden OF Eden, or whether there
is any such thing as future punishment, he
comes right home from Beyrout or Madras,
and goes into the insurance businessl All
the missionary societies this day are differed
by Orthodox men, and are supported by
Orthodox churches.
Orthodoxy, beginning with the Sandwich
Islands, has captured vast regions Of bar
barism for civilization, while heterdoxy has
to capture the first square inch. Blatant for
many years in Great Britain and the Unite2
States. and strutting about with peacockian
braggadocio 1t has yet to capture the
first continent, the first state, the
first township, the first ward, the first space
Of ground as big as you could cover with the
small end OF sharp pin. Ninety nine out
of every hundred of the Protestant churches
Of America were built by people who
believed in an entire Bible. The pull
pit now may preach some other Gospel,
but IL is heterodox gun on an orthodox
carriage. The foundations of all the
churches that are Of very great use in this
world to-day were laid BY men who be-
lieved the Bible from lid to lid, and if
/ cannot take It in that way will not
take It at all; just as il received
letter that pretended to come from a
friend, and part of it was his and part some
body else's and the other part somebody
else's, and it was a sort Of literary mongrel-
ism, and | would throw the garbled sheets
into the waste basket.
No church OF very great influence to- day
but was built by those who believed in an
entire Bible. Neither will a church last
long built on part of the Bible. You
have noticed, suppose, that as soon
he is apt to preach in some hall, and
he has an audience while he lives, and when
he dies the church dies. If l thought that
my church in Brooklyn was built on a quarter
of Bible, or half Bible, or three quarters
of Bible, or ninety.nine one hundredths of
Bible, l would expect it TO die when
/ die; but when / know it is built
on the entire Word Of God, know it will last
two hundred years after you and / sleep the
last Sleep oh, the splendors Of an ortho-
doxy, which, with ten thousand hands and
ten thousand pulpits and ten thousand Chris
tian churches, is trying to save the world
In Music Hall, Boston, for many years
stood Theodore Parker battling orthodoxy,
giving it, as some supposed at that time,
its death wound. He was the most fascinat-
ing man ever heard or ever expected to hear,
and l came out from hearing him think
ing in my boyhood way: 'sWell. that's the
death of the church." On that same street
and not far from being opposite stood Park
Congregational Church, called by its enemie,
"Hell-fire Correr.' Theodore Parker ded
and his church died with him; or, if it is in
existence, it is SO small you cannot see il
with the naked eye. Park Congregational
Church still stands on 'Hell- fire Corner, -
laundering away the magnificent truths Of
| this glorious orthodoxy Just as though Theo-
dore Parker had never lived. All that Bos-
ton, or Brooklyn. or New York. or the world
| ever got that is worth having came through
the wide aqueduct of orthodoxy from the
| throne of God
| Behold the spleuiors of character built up
| by orthodoxy. Who had the greatest human
| intellect the world ever knew. Paul In
| physical stature, insignificant; in mind, head
| and shoulders above all the giants of the age.
Orthodox from scalp to heel. Who was the
| greatest poet the ages ever saw, acknowledged
TO be SO both by infdels and Chris
tians' John Milton. seeing more without
| eyes than anybody else ever saw with ewes.
Orthodox from scalp to heel Who was the
| greatest reformer the world has ever seen, so
acknowledged by infdeIs as we'll as by Chris
tians. Martin Luther. Orthodox from scalp
| to heel.
Then look at the certitudes o man, be-
/ lievlng in an entire Bible. where did you
come 'FRONT.' Answer: 81 descended from a
| perfect parentage in Paradise, and Jehovah
breathed into my nostrils the breath of life
/ am son of God. o man, believing in half
and-half Bible, believing in Bible in spots,
where did you come froms Answer: 1T is
all uncertain; in my ancestral line away
back there was an ordng- outang and tadpoIe
and polywog and it took millions of years
| to get me evouted-n Oh man, believing in a
Bible in spots. where are you going to when
you quit this worlds Answer: Going into
great to be, so on into the great somewhere,
and then shall pass through on to the great
anywhere, and shall probably arrive in the
nowhere" That is where thought you
would fetch up o man, believing in
an entire Bible, and believing with all your
heart. where are you going to when
leave this worldl Answer: 81 am going TO
my Fathers house; / am going into the
companionship Of my loved ones vino have
gone before; am going to leave all my
sins, and am going to be with God and like
God forever and forever" Oh, the glorious
certitudes Of orthodoxy
Behold the splendors Of orthodoxy in its
announcements Of two destinies.
Palace and penitentiary. Palace with
gates on all sides through which all may
enter and live on celestial luxuries world
without end, and all for the knocking and
| the asking palace grander than if ali the
Alhambras and the Versailles and the Wind
sor Castles and the Winter Gardens and the
imperial abodes Of all earth were heaved up
| into one architecture al glory. At the other
end of the universe penitentiary where men
VINO want Their sins can nave them. Would
| 1t be fair that you and ! should have our
choice OF Christ and the palace, and other
men be denied their choice of sin and
eternal degradation Palace and penitentiary.
| The first OF no use unless you have the last.
| Brooklyn and New York would be better
places to live in with Raymond Street Jail,
! the Tombs and Sing Sing, and all the small
pox hospitals emptied on them, than heaven
would be if there were no hell. Palace and
penitentiary. IL | see man with full bowl
OF sin, and he thirsts for it, AMI his whole
nature Graves it, and he takes ho'd with both
hands and presses that bowl to his lips and
then presses it hard between his teeth,
and the draught begins 10 pour its sweet
ness down his throat; shall we snatch
away the bowl, and jerk the man up to the
gate of heaven, and push him in il ne does
not want to go and sit down and sing psalms
| foreveri No. God has made you and me so
completely free that we need not 20 to
heaven unless we prefer it. Not more free
/ to soar than free to sink.
Nearly all the heterodox people know be-
| lieve all are coming out at the same destiny:
without regard to faith or character we are
all coming out at the shining gate There
they are, all in glory together Thorn
as Paine and George Whiteheld, JezebeI
and Mary Lyon, Nero and Charles Wesley,
l Charles Guiteau and James A. Garfield John
Il