The national leader., 1889-02-09

IL you WanI 10 Walk IN CDo gdIu0uS,
walk there. If you want to leap in the
furnaces, you may. Suppose, now, a
man had charmed key with which he
could open all the jails, and he should
open Raymond Street Jail, and the
New York Tombs and all the prisons
on the continentI In three weeks what
kind OF a country would this be? all
the inmates turned out Of those prisons
and penitentiaries. Suppose all the
reprobates, the bad spirits, the outrage
Gus spirits, should be turned into the
New Jerusalem. Why, the next morn
ing the gates of pearl would be found
off hinge, the linchpin would be gone
out Of the chariot wheels, the ''house
of many mansions" would be burglar
lied. Assault and battery. arson, liber-
tinism, and assassination would reside
in the capital Of the skies. Angels OF
God would be insulted on the streets.
Heaven would be a dead failure if
there were no great lookup. If all
people without regard to their charac-
ter when they leave this world go right
into glory, 1 wonder if in the temple of
the skies Charles Guiteau and John
Wilkes Booth occupy the same pew!
Your common sense demands two des-
tiniesl And then as to the Presbyterian
Church believing there are infants III
perdition, if you will bring me Pres
byterian of good morals and sound
mind who will say that he believes
there ever was baby in the lost world.
or ever will be, will make him deed
to the house live in, and he can take
possession tomorrow,
So the Episcopal Church is misrepre-
sented by the enemies of evangelism.
They say that Church substitutes forms
and ceremonies for heart religion and
1t is all a matter of liturgy and genu-
flexion. False again. All Episcopal
ians will tell you that the forms and
creeds of their Church are worse than
nothing unless the heart go with them.
So also the BoptaSt Church has been
misrepresented.
THE ENEMIES OF EVANGELISM
say the Baptist Church believes that
unless man is immersed he will never
get into heaven. False again. All the
Baptists, close communion and open
communion, believe that if man ac-
cept the Lord Jesus Christ he will be
saved, whether he be baptized by one
drop of water on the forehead, or be
plunged into the Ohio or Susquehanna,
although immersion is the only gate to
their earthly communion.
The enemies of evangelism also mis-
represent the Methodist Church. They
say the Methodist Church believes that
conversion in that church is tempor-
ary emotion, and that all man has to
do is to kneel down at the altar and
feel bad, and then the minister pats
him on the back and says, "lt is all
right" and that is all there is of 1t.
False again. The Methodist Church
believes that the Holy Ghost alone can
convert a heart, and ID that Church
conversion is an earthquake of convic-
tion and a sunburst of pardon. And as
to mere Temporary emotion" wish
we all had more of the Temporary
emotion" which lasted Bishops James
and Matthew Simpson for a half cell
tury, keeping them on fire for God until
their holy enthusiasm consumed their
bodies.
So all the evangelical denominations
are misrepresented. And then these
enemies of evangelism 60 on and hold
up the great doctrines OF Christian
Churches as absurd, dry, and inexpli-
cable technicalities. "There is your
DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY"
they say. ''Absurd beyond all bounds.
The idea that there is God in three
personsl Impossible! If it is one God,
lie can't be three. and if there are
three, they can't be One." at the
same time all of us-they with us-ac-
knowledge trinitieS all around us.
Trinity in our own makeup body,
mind, soul. Body with which we
move, mind with which we think. soul
with which we love. Three, yet one
man. Trinity in the alright, heat,
moisture-yet one atmosphere. Trinity
il the court room-three judges on the
bench, but one court. TrlnitleS all
around about us, in earthly govern
nent, and in nature. OF course, all
the illustrations are defective for the
reason that the natural cannot fully
illustrate the spiritual. But suppose
an ignorant man should come up to a
chemist and say: 81 deny what you
say about the water, and about the air;
they are not made Of different parts.
The air is one; 1 breathe it every day.
The water is one; drink l. every day.
You can't deceive me
ABOUT THE ELEMENTS
that 90 to make up the air and the
water.n The chemist would say:
~ ou come up into my laboratory and
will demonstrate this whole thing to
you," The ignorant man goes into the
chemists laboratory, and sees for him.
self. He learns that the water is one,
and the air is one, but they are made
up of different parts. So here is man
who says, Il can't understand the doc
trine of the Trinity" God says, ''You
come up here into the laboratory after
your death, and you will see-you will
see it explained, you will see it demon
strated." The ignorant man cannot
understand the chemistry of the water
and the air until he goes into the labor
atory, and we will never understand
the Trinity until we go to heaven. The
ignorance of the man who cannot un-
derstand the chemistry of the air and
water does not change the fact. Be-
cause we cannot understand the Trim