The west Tennessee star. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1888, 1888-08-17

/ ters denomination OF Christians, taking
a solemn oath, as we all do, that We will
| promulgate the theories OF that denoml-
nation, and then the man shall proclaim
| some other theory, he has broken his
/ oath, and he is out-and-out periurer.
/ Nevertheless, I declare for largest liberty
| in religious discussion. 1 would no N )re
have the attempt to rear a monument to
| Thomas Paine interferej with than I
would have interfered with the listi ng OF
| the splendid monument to Washington.
Largest liberty for the body, lar 20 st lib
erty for the mind, largest liberty for tho
soul
Now 1 want to show YOU as a matter of
advocacy for what 1 believe to be the
| right, the splendors of orthodoxy. Nj any
have supposed that its disciples are peo-
| pie of fiat skulls, and no reading, and be-
hind the age, and the victims Of gulibn-
ity. I shall show you that the word
| orthodoxy stands for the create st
| splendors outside of Heaven. Behold the
! splendors of its achievem ants. All the
| missionaries of the Gospel the world
| round are men who believe in an entire
Bible. Call the roll OF all the mission
! aries who are to-day enduring sacrifices
in the ends of the earth for thu cause of
religion and the worlds betterment, and
| they all believe in an entire Bible. just
| as soon a missionary begins to doubt
| whether there ever was a Garden of
! Eden, or whether there is any such thing
! as future punishment, he comss right
home from Beyrout or Madras and goes
! into the insurance business. All the
| missionary societies this day are Off cered
! by orthodox mon, and are supported by
| orthodox churches.
| Orthodoxy, beginning with the Sand
| wich Islands, has captured vast regions
| of barbarism for civilization, while hetro-
, doxy has to capture the first square inch.
Blatant for many years in Great Britain
and the United States, and strutting about
with peacockian braggadocio, it has yet
| to capture the first continent, the first
| State the first township, the first ward,
the first space of ground as big rs you
! could cover with the small end Of a 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 pulpit now may preach some
| other Gospel, but it is a 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 believed the Bible from lid to lid,
| and if l can not take it in that way / will
| not take it at all; just as if I received
| letter that pretended to come from
friend, and part of it was his and part
some body else's, and the other part some
body else's, and it was a sort of literary
mongrelism L 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 entire Bible. Neither will a church
| last long built on part of the Bible.
You have noticed, 1 suppose, that as soon
as man begins to give up ithe Bible he is
apt to preach in some hall, and he has
an audience while he lives, and when he
dies the church dies. If I thought that
my church in Brooklyn was built on
! .~1e4J H. d l. 1-TR u
three quarters of a Bible, or ninety mine
one hundredths of q Bible, 1 would ex-
pect it to die when l die; but when l
know it is built on the entire word OF
God, know it will last two hundred years
after you and l sleep the last sleep. oh,
the splendors of an orthodoxy which, with
! ten thousand hands and ten thousand pull
pits, and ten thousand Christian churches,
is trying to save the world.
In Music Hall, Boston, for many years
stood Theodore Parker battling ortho-
! doxy, giving it, as some supposed at that
time, its death wound Hgwas the most
fascinating man / ever heard or expect
to hear, and 1 came out from hearing
him, thinking in my boyhood way:
"WeII, that's the death of the Church"
On that street, and not far from being op-
posite, stood Park Congregational
| Church, called by ITS enemies: "Heli fire
| Corner" Theodore Parker died, an his
church died with him; or, il it is In
existence. it is so small you can not see it
with the naked eye. Park Congregation
al Church still stands on "Hsll fire Cor
| ner," laundering away the mAgifice MT
4 truths of this glorious orthodoxy just as
| though Theodore Parker had never lived.
| All that Boston, 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.
~. L Il.
| up orthodoxy. Who had the greatest hu-
| man intellect the world ever saw? 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 in
! fdels and Christians? John Milton, see
ing more without eyes than any body else
ever saw with eyes. Orthodox from scalp
to heel Who was the greatest reformer
| the world has ever seen? so acknowledg ed
| by tho infidel as well as Dy the Christians?
Martin Luther. Orthodox from scalp to
| heel.
Then look at the certitudes. Oh man,
| believing in an entire Bible, whore did you
! come from? Answer:
II descended from perfect parentage
in Paradise, and Jehovah breathed into
my nostrils the breath of life. am
son of God'
o man, believing in a half and half
Bible, believing in a Bible in spots, whore
did you come from? Answer:
cit is all uncertain; IL my ancestral
line away back there was an Orang- -outang
and tadpole and a polywog, aud it took
millions of years to get me evoluted."
o man, believing ia a Bible in spots,
where are you going to when you quit
this world? Answer:
"Going into a great to be, so on int 0
Al -,
pass through on to the great anywhere,
and shall probably arrive in the no.
where"
That's whore 1 thought you would fetch
up. o man, believing in an entire Bible,
and believing with all your heart, where
are you going to when you leave this
wOrldf Answer:
81 am going to my Fathers house;
am going into the companionship OF my
loved ones who have gone before; / am
going to leave all my sins, and / am go
ing to be with God and like God forever
and forever"
Oh, the glorious certitudes OF ortbo-
doxyi
Behold the splendors Of orthodoxy In
its ammo uncement of two destinies.
| Palace and penitentiary. Palace with
gates on all sides through which all may
enter aad live on celestial luxuries. world
without end, and ali for the knocking and
the asking. palace grander than IL all
the AIham bras and Versailles end the
Windsor castles and the winter gard ems
/ and the imperial abodes Of all the earth
were heaved up into one architectural
, glory. At the other end of the univeTse
a penitentIary where men who want their
sins can have them. Would II 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 degrada-
ton? Palace and penitentiary. The