The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-08-06


bowl to his lips, and then presses it hard be-
tween his teeth, and the draught begins to
pour Its sweetness down his throat, shall we
snatch away the bowl, and jerk the man up
to the gate of heaven, and push him in if
he does not want to go, and sit down and
sing psalms forever9 No. God has made
you and me SO completely free that we need
not go to heaven unless we prefer it. Not
more free to soar than free TO sink
Nearly all the heterodoX people | know
believe all are coming out at the same
destiny; without regard TO faith or charac-
ter we are all coming out ut the shining
gate. There they are. all in glory together.
Thomas Paine and George Whitfield, Jeze-
bel and Mary Lyon Nero and Charles
Wesley, Charles Guiteau and James A.
Garfield, John Wilkes Booth and Abraham
Lincoln-a!l in glory together All the in
nocent men, women and children who were
massacred, side by side with their mur-
derers. II we are all coming out at the
same destiny, without regard to character,
then it is true. | turn away from such
debauched heaven. Against that cauldron
of piety and blasphemy, philanthropy und
assassination, self-sacritlce and heastlIneSs,
place the two destinieS of the Bible for
ever and forever and forever apart.
Behold also the splendorS of the christian
orthodox deathbeds
Those who deny the Bitle, or deny any
part of it, never die we'll. They either go
out in darkness, or they go out in silence
portentous. You may gather up all the
biographies that have come forth since the
art of printing was invented, and | chal-
lenge you to show me triumphant death
of a man who rejected the Scriptures, or ra-
jected any part of them Here | make q
great wide avenue. On the one | put the
death beds of those who believed in an en-
tire Bible. On the other side of that ave
I 1.,Is .,f tIr
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 death
beds on the right side of this avenue "Vic-
tory through our Lord Jesus Christp
Free grace" GLORY, gloryw II am
sweeping through the gates washed in the
comingW II mount, | fly" wings,
wingsp They are coming for mep
Peace, be still" Alfred Cookman's death
bed Richard Cecil's death-bed Commodore
Foote'S death bed Your fathers death
bed, your mothers death-bsd, your sisters
death-bed, your child's death-bed. Ten
thousand radiant, songful death-beds of
those who believed in an entire Bible.
/ sNow, 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 bsckoning for angels to
como. No listening for the celestial escort.
Without any exception they go out OF the
world because they are pushed out; while
on tho other hand the list of those who e.
lieved in an entire Bible and gone out of the
world in triumph is 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-posi-
lively paradisaical1
Young men, old men, middle-aeed men,
take sides in this contest between orthodoxy
aud 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 will give up all the historical parts
of the Bible then after while you will give
up the miracles; then you will find it con-
venient to give up the Ten Commandments;
and then after n while you will wake up in
fountainless, reckless, treeless desert
swept by everlasting sirocco. II 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
Do not Jump overheard from the stanch
old Great Eastern of old-fashioned ortho-
doxy 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 glib tongue for the other oar,
aud now tips over this way and then tips
over that way, until You do not know
whether the passengers will land i'll the
breakers of despair or on the sinking sand
of iufidelity and atheism.
am in full sympathy with the advance
ments of ourktime, but this world will never
advance single inch beyond this old Bible.
Col was just as capable of debating the
truth to the prophets and apostles as he is
capable of debating the truth to these mod
ern apostles and prophets. God has not
learned anything in a thousand years. He
knew just as much when he gave the first
dictation as he does now, giving the last
dictation, if he is giving any dictation at
all. So / will Stick to the old paths. Nat
urally skeptic and preferring new things
to old, | never so much as to-day felt the
truth of the entire Bible, especially as | see
into what spectacular imbeciity mon rush
when they try to chop up the scriptures
with the meat ak of their own preferences,
now calling upon philosophy, 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 aud
amid tho chills of death. The old robe
rather than the thin, uncertain gauze Of
fered us by these wiseacres who believe the
Bible in spots.
On July "a, 1914, at ~ years Of age. ex
pired Isabella Graham. She was the most
useful woman Of her day amid the poor and
sick, at the head of the orphan asylu,Ds and
Magdaien nsylums, and an angel Of mercy
in hospital and reformatory. DR. Mason,
one Of the mightiest men of his day, said at
her funeral that she was mentally aud
spiritually the most wonderfully endowed
person he h I'd ever met. She was an inn
personation of the most orthodox ortho-
doxy Her last word was peace. AS a
sublime peroration to my sermon, l Will
give an extract from her last will and testa
ment, showing how one who believes in an
entire Bible may make glorious exit:
AN EXTRACT FROM WILL.
"My children and my grandchildren /
leave TO my covenant God, the God who
hath fed mo all my life with the bread that
perisheth and the bread that never perish
eth who has been father TO my fatherless
children and husband TO their widowed
mother thus far. And now receiving nv
Redeemer's testimony, set tony seal that
God is true; and believing the record of
John that God hath given 70 mo eternal life
and this life is in His Son, who, through the
eternal spirit, overcomes without spot unto
God, and tsing consecrated priest forever