Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-03-06

work, and you might as we'll have the
world 60 back and stick TO what Robert
Fulton knew about steamboats, and rel
ject the subsequent improvements inl
navigation; and 90 back to John Gutten-i
berg, the inventor of the art of printing
and reject all modern newspaper
presses, and 90 back to the time when,
telegnphy was the elevating of signals
or the burning of bonfres on the hill,
tops and reject the magnetic wire, which
is the tongue of nations, as to ignorei
all the exegetes and the philologists and
the theologians of the last three hun,
dred and twenty-six years and put your
head under the sleeve of the gown Of a.
Sixteenth century doctor. could call
the names of twenty living Presbyterian
ministers of religion who could make a
better creed than John Calvin. The
Nineteenth century ought not to be.
called to sit at the feet Of the Sixteenth.
But" say you, it is the same old
Bible, and John Calvin had that as welk
as the present students of the Scrip-i
lures Yes; so it 10 the same old sun I'M
the heavens, but in our time it has gonei
to making daguerreotypes and photo-I
graphs. II is the same old water, but
in our century it has gone to running,
steam engines. 1t is the same old cleo
tricity, but in our time it has become al
lightning footed errand boy. So it is the
old Bible, but new applications, new
uses, new interpretations. You must
remember that during the last three.
hundred years words have changed their
meaning and some of them now mean
more and some less. do not think that
John Colyin believed, as some say hei
did, in the damnation Of infants, ali
though some of the recent hot disputes
would seem to imply that there is such
thing as the damnation of infants.
A man who believes in the damnation
of infants himself deserves to lose
Heaven. do not think any good man.
could admit such possibility. What
Christ will do with all the babies in the
next world I conclude from what He did
with the babies in Palestine when He,
hugged them and kissed them. When
some of you grown people go out of
this world your doubtful destiny will be,
an embarrassment to the minister officiat-j
ing at the obsequies, who have to be-.
cautious as to what hurts surviving
friends. But when the darling children,
go there are no ifs" or "buts" or
guesses. We must remember that good,
John Calvin was logician and q meta
physician and by the proclivities of his,
nature put some things in an unfortun-.
ate way. Logic has its use and meta
physics has its use, but they are not
good at making creeds. A gardener
hands you blooming rose, dewy FRESH /
but severe botanist comes to you with
q rose and says: I will show you the
structure of this rose.' And he pro-.
| ceeds to take it apart and pulls off the
leaves and he says: There are the
petals, and he takes out the anthers
and he says: Just look at the wonder
full structure OF these floral pillars" and
then he cuts the stem to show you the
juices of the plant. So logic or meta i
physics takes the aromatic rose of the,
Christian religion and says: Il will just
show you how this rose of religion wasI
fashioned" and it pulls off of it piece,
and says: THAT is the human will, =,
and another piece and says: This is,
Gods will, and another piece and says.
This is sovereignty" and another piece;
and says: "This is free agency" this isl
this and that is that. And while stand,
looking at the fragrants of the rose.
pulled apart, one whom the Marys took.
for gardener comes in and presents me,
with crimson rose, red as blood and!
| says: "Inhale the sweetness of this,
wear it on your heart and wear it for:
| ever" must confess that ! prefer the,
rose in full bloom to the rose pulled
apart.
What time we have had with the
dogmatics, the apologetics and the herr
meneutics. The defect in some of thei
| creeds is that they try to tell us all about
the DEGREES of God. Now the only hu-'
man being that was ever competent toi
handle that subject was Paul, and he
would not have been competent had he
not been inspired. Ibelieve in the SOW
ereignty of God and believe in mans
! free agency, but no one can harmonize
the two. It is not necessary that het
harmonize them. Every sermon that I
| have ever heard that attempted such
harmonization was to me as clear as q
| London fog, as clear as mud. My
| brother of the Nineteenth century, my
brother Of the Sixteenth century, give
us PauIs statement and leave out your
! own. Better one chapter of Paul on
that subject than all of Calvin's insti-i
tutes, able and honest and mighty as
they are. Do not try to measure either
the throne of God or the thunderbolts
of God with your little steel pen, What
do you know about the DEGREES? You
cannot pry open the door of Gods eter-I
nal counsels. You cannot explain the
mysteries of Gods government now;
much lens the mysteries of His govern
ment FIVE hundred quintillion Of years
ago. Imove for creed for all our de-
nominations made out of Scripture quo-
:, fatinns mira and nimnIa That won n
take the earth for God. That would be
impregnable against infidelity and
Apollyonic assault. That would be be-
yond human criticism. The denomina-
tion, whatever its name be, that can
rise up to that will be the church OF the
millennium, will swallow up all other
denominations and be the one that will
be the bride when the Bridegroom
cometh. Let us make it simpler and
palmer for people to get into the king
dom Of God. Do not hinder people BY
the idea that they may not have been
elected. Do not tag on to the one essefiI
tial Of faith in Christ any of the in
Vulnerable nonessentials. A man who
/ heartily accepts Christ is a Christian
| and the man who does not accept Him ig
not Christian. and that is all there is
of it. He need not believe lin election
1 or reprobation. He need not believe in
the eternal generation Of the Son. He
need not believe in infant baptism. He
need not believe in plenary inspiration,
/ Faith in Christ 10 the criterion, is the
test, is the pivot, Is the indispensable.
But there are those who would add unto
! the tests rather than subtract from them.
| There are thousands who would not ac-