Milford chronicle., 1888-08-10

/ Against that caldron OF piety and bias
phemy, philanthropy and assassination, sell
sacrifice and beastliness, place the two des
TIMES of the Bible forever and forever ant
forever apart
Behold also the splendors Of the Christian
orthodox deathbeds.
Those who deny the Bible, or deny any
part Of it, never die well. They either go out
in darkness or they go out in silence porten
! tous You may gather up all the biogra
/ phies that have come forth since the art Of
/ printing was invented and I challenge you
to show me a triumphant death Of a man
who rejected the Scriptures, or rejected any
/ part of them Here I make a great wide
avenue. On the ono / put the deathbeds Of
those who believed in an entire Bible. On
the other side of that avenue put the death
beds Of those who rejected part of the Bible,
or rejected all Of the Bible Now, take
my arm and let US pass through
this dividing avenue. Look Off upon the
right side Here are the deathbeds on the
right side Of this avenue. Victory through
our Lord Jesus Christm 'Free gracen
GLORY. gloryr Il am sweeping through
the gates washed in the blood Of the Lambn
The chariots are cominglu II mount,
fym "Wings, wingsm "They are coming
for mein "Peace, be stillin Alfred Cook
mans deathbed Richard Cccil's deathbed,
Commodore Foote's deathbed, your fathers
deathbed, your mothers deathbed, your sis
ter's deathbed, your ehild'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
face 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 60 out of the world because
they are pushed out; while on the other hand
the list Of those who believed in an entire BIZ
ble and gone out of the world in triumph is a
list so long it seems interminable Oh, is
not that a splendid influence, this orthodoxy
which makes that which must otherwise be
the most dreadful hour Of life-the last hour
positively paradisaicall
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
soAlsn But you follow this crusade against
any part Of the Bible-first of all you viii
give up Genesis, which is as true as Matthews
then you viii giveup all the historical parts
Of the Bible; then after a while you viii give
up the miracles; then you win find it con-
venient to give up the Ten Commandments;
and then after while you will wake up in
fountainless reckless, treeless desert swept
Of everlasting sirocco If you are laughedat
You can afford to be laughed at for standing
by tho 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
haspainted 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 a
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 passen-
gers viii land in the breakers Of despair or on
the sinking sand of inGdelity 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
as much when he gave the first dictation rs
he does now, giving the last dictation, if he
is giving any dictation atall. So 1 will stick
to the old paths. Naturally a s5eptic and
preferring new things to old, I never so much
as today felt the truth Of the entire Bible,
especially as I see into what spectacular.
imbecility men rush when they try to chop
up the Scriptures with the meat ak of their
11ory aal1fr,or 7r,,ov, r,i,ifoco
ply, now calling on the church, now calling
on God, now calling on the devil Iprefer
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 q, 1914, at 72 years Of age, expired
Isabella Graham. She was the most useful
woman of her day amid tho poor and sick, at
the head of the orphan asylums and Magda-
len asylums, and an angel of mercy in hos
pital and reformatory. Dr. Mason, one of
mightiest men of his day, said at her funeral
that she was mentally and spiritually
the most wonderfully endowed person he
ever met She was an impesonation Of the
most orthodox orthodoxy. Her last word
was peace. As sublime peroration to my
sermon I 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 a will:
"AIy children and my grandchildren I
leave to ny 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 a Father to my fatherless chill
dren and husband to their widowed mother
thus far. And now receiving my Redeem
ers testimony, I set to my seal that God is
true; and believing the record of John that
God hath given TO ms eternal life and this
life is in his Son, who, through the eternal
Spirit, overcomes without spot unto God, and
being consecrateda priest forever, hath with
his own blood entered into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for me.
also believe that he viii 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
nit my redeemed spirit-Isabella 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 itwas in the beginning, is now and
ever shall be, world without end. Amen
and amenl"