The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-03-19


blooming rose, dewy fresh, but severe
botanist comes to you with rose
and says: 81 will show you the structure
of this rose" And he proceeds 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 wonderful structure of these
floral pillars" and then he cuts the stem to
show you the juices Of the plant. So logic
or metaphysics takes the aromatic rose Of
the Christian religion and sayS: VI will just
show YOU how this rose Of religion was
fashioned" and it pulls of of it q piece and
saws: THAT is the human viii, /" and another
niece and saws: ''This is Gods will" " and an
other piece and says: This is sovereignty"
and another piece and says: This IS iree
agency" this is this and that is that. And
while I stand looking at the fragments E mu o.
therose pulled apart, one whom the Marys
took for gardener comes in and presents me
with a crimson rose, red as blood, and says;
"Inhale the sweetness Of this, wear it on your
heart and wear it forever" l must confess
that prefer the rose in full bloom to the rose
pulled apart
What a time we have had with the dogma
tics, the apologetics and the hermeneutlcs-
The defect in some Of the creeds Is that they
try to tell us all about the DEGREES OF GOD
Now the only human being that was ever
competent to handle that subject was Paul.
and he would not have been competent had
he not been inspired. / believe in the 80
yereienty Of God and believe in mans free
agency, but no one can harmonic the Two. luis
not necessary that he harmonize them: Every
sermon that I have ever heard that az
tempted such harmonizatlon was TO me as
clear as London fog, as clear as mud. MY
brother Of the nineteenth century, my
brother Of the sixteenth century, give us
Paups statement and leave out our own.
Better one chapter of Paul on that subject
than all Of Calvin's institutes, able and honest
and mighty as they are. DO not ry 70
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 Oh coos
eternal counsels. You cannot explain
now, much less the mysteries OF his
government five hundred quintillion OF years
AGO. move for creed for all our denoml-
nations made out Of Scripture quotations
pure and simple. That would take the earth
for God. That would be impregnable against
infidelity and Apollyonic assault. That
would be beyond human criticism. Inc de-
nomination, whatever its name be, that can
rise up to that will be the church OF the mil
lennium, will swallow up all other denoml-
nations and be the one that will be the brlde
when the Bridegroom cometh. Let us make
it simpler and palmer for people to get into
the kingdom Of God. Do not hinder people by
the idea that they may not have been elected.
d. not tag on to the one essential OF faltn I'D
Christ any of the innumera5le nonessentlals
A man who heartily accepts Christ IS
Christian and the man who does not accepb
Him is not Christian, and that IS all there Is
Of it. He need not believe in election or rep.
rotation. He need not believe in the eternal
xl,aS Ia ,no1r M
in everlasting punishment. He need not De
| lieve in infant baptism. He need not believe
in plenary inspiration. Faith in Christ
is 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 accept persons into church
membership if they drink wine or II they
smoke cigars or if they attend the theater
or If they play cards or If they drive last
horse. Now do not drink wine or smoke or
attend the theater, never played game Of
cards and do not drive fast horse, although
I would if owned one. But do not
substitute tests which the Bible does
not establish. There Is one passage OF
Scripture wide enough to let all in
who ought to enter and to keep out all who
ought to be kept out: "Beieve in the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved" Get
a mans heart right and his life will be
right. But now that the old creeds have
been put under public scrutiny, something
radical must be done. Some would split
them, some would carve them, some would
eloneate them, some would abbreviate them
At the present moment and in the present
] shape they are a hindrance. Lazarus Is
alive but hampered with the old grave
clothes. II you want one glorious church
free and unencumbered take of the cerements
Of old ecclesiastical vocabulary. Loose her,
and let her go!
sepulchral shadows and hindered and hoppled
by doubts and fears and sins long ago re-
pented Of What they need is to understand
the liberty Of the sons Of God. They spend
more time under the shadow of Sinai than at
the base Of Calvary. They have been sing.
ing the only poor hymn that Newton ever
/ wrote:
Tfs point long to know,
OFT It causes anxious thought
! Do love the Lord orno,
| Am His or am not?
Long to know, do yous Why do you not
find out, Go to work for God and you will
very soon find out The man who IS all the
! time feeling of his pulse and looking at his
tongue to see whether it Is coated Is morbid
and cannot be physically we'll The doctor
will say: "Go out into the fresh air and into
active life, and stop thinking of yourself and
you will get well and strong" So there are
people who are watching their spiritual
Symptoms, and they call it self-examination
and they get weaklier and slckher IN their
faith all the time Go out and do some thing
| nobly Christian. Take holy exercise and
then examine yourself, and, instead of New.
toms saturnine and bilious hymn that l first
quoted, YOU will sing Newton's other hymn:
Amazing g.ace. how sweet the sound
r That saved wretch like me!
once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind but now see.
What many of you Christians most need
is to get your grave clothes off. rejoice
that you have been brought from tue death
Of sin to the life of the Gospel, but you need
! to get your hand loose and your feet loose
and your tongue loose and your soul loose.
| There is no sin that the Bible so arraigns and
! punctures and fagellates as the sin of unbe.
! lief, and that is what's the matter with you.
| "Oh," you say, IF you knew what l once
was and how many times have grievousiy
strayed, you would understand why
do not come out brighter" Then [ thinS
| YOU would call yourself the chief of sinners.
| am glad you hit upon that term, for have
/ promise that fits into your case as the cog
; of one wheel between the cogs of another
wheel or rs the key fits into the labyrinths o!
| lock. A man who was once called SaaI
but afterwari Paul declared: This is q
faithful saying and worthy Of all acceptatio.
that Christ Jesus came into the world to savs
sinners of whom I am chief" Mark tha'
-"of whom I am chief" "Put down you.
oyercoats and hats and I will take car
| of them while you kill Stephen
so Saul said to the stoners Of the frs
martyr-"I do not care to exert mysei:
much, but will guard your surplus appare.
while you do the murder" The New Testa
/ ,,,nt oooount cove tsTba with ecsaS laid down