The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1894-09-26


Quarrel about the color Of that obelisk. One
man said It was white, another man said II
was green, another man said 1t was blue
and when they were in the very heat OF the
controversy more intelligent traveller came
and said: "Gentlemen, have seen that
obelisk, and you are all right, and you are
all wrong. Why didn't you walk all around
the obelisk2"
Look out for the man who only sees one
side OF religious truth. Look out for tne
man who never walks around about THESE
great theories of God and eternity and tne
dead. He will be bigot ineyitably.tne
man who only sees one side. There Is no
man more to be pitied than he who has In
his head lust one idea-no more, no less.
More light. less sectarianism. There Is moth
Ing that will 80 soon kill bigotry as sunshine
Gods sunshine.
So have set before you what consider
to be the cause Of bigotry. have set before
you the origin Of this great evil. What are
some of the baleful effects? First OF all, II
cripples investigation. You are wrong and
am right, and that settles it. No taste for
exploration, no spirit of investigation. From
the glorious realm Of Gods truth, over
which an archangel might fly from eternity
to eternity and not reach the limit, the man
shuts himself out and dies, blind mole un-
Another great damage done by the sectar-
ianism and bigotry Of the church Is that 1t
disgusts people from the Christian religion.
Now, nv friends, the church of God was
never intended for war barrack. People
are afraid Of riot. You go down the street
and you see an excitement and missiles fy-
Ing through the dir and you hear the shock
of firearms. Do you, the peaceful and In
dustrious citizen, 60 through thct street?
ooh, no." you will say; "l'll go around the
block" Now, men come and look upon this
narrow path to heaven, and sometimes see
the ecclesiastical brickbat flying every
whittier, and they say: "Well, guess III
take the broad road. There Is so much
sharpshooting on the narrow road guess
I'll try the broad road !"
Francis so hated the Lutherans that he
said that II he thought there was one drop
of Lutheran blood in his veins he would
puncture them and let that drop out. just
as long as there Is so much hostility between
denomination and denomination, or between
one professed Christian and another, or be-
tween one church and another, so long men
will be disgusted with the Christian religion
and say, ''If that Is religion, want none OF
T."
Again, bigotry and sectarlanism do great
damage in the fact that they hinder the
triumph OF the gospel. Oh, how much
wasted ammunition, how many men OF
splendid intellect have given their whole hie
10 controversial disputes when, II they had
given their life to something practical, they
might have been vastly useful! Suppose,
while speak, there were common enemy
coming up the bay, and all the forts around
the harbor began to fire into each other, you
would cry out "National suicide! Why
don't those forts blaze away In one direction,
and that against the common enemy" And
yet I sometimes see in the church OF the
Lord Jesus Christ a strange thing going on
church against church, minister against
minister, denomination against denomlna-
tion, firing away into their own fort, or the
fort which ought to be on the same side, In
stead of concentrating their energy and CIV
the navies Of darkness riding up through the
bayl
-What d. 4Rtalss:n n % .accnmolish Against
the BAPTIST Uhurcn9 Il laughing scorn ana
TRADE could have destroyed the church, 1t
would not have to-day disciple left. The
Baptists were hurled out Of Boston in olden
times. Those who sympathized with them
were imprisoned, and when petition was
offered asking leniency In their behalf all
the men who signed 1t were indicted. Has
intolerance stopped the Baptist church,
The last statistics In regard to 1t showed
25, 900 churches an1 5000, 900 communicants.
Intolerance never put down anything.
In England law was made against the
Jew. England thrust back the Jew and
thrust down the Jew and declared that no
Jew should hold official position. What
came Of It? We're the Jews destroyed? Was
their religion overthrown? No! Who be-
came prime minister of England? Who was
next to the thronep Who was higher than
the throne because he was counselor and
adviser? Disraeli, q Jew. What were We
celebrating in all our churches as well as
synagogues only a few years ago2 The one
hundred1h birthday anniversary OF Monte
fore, the great Jewish philanthropist. In
tolerance never yet put down anything.
But now, my friends, having shown you
the origin OF bigotry or sectariantsm, and
having shown you the damage 1t does, 1
want briefly to show you how we are TO war
against this terrible evil, and think we
ought to began our war by realizing our own
weakness and 'our imperfections. II we
make 90 many mistakes in the common AZ
fairs of life, Is 1t not possible that we may
make mistakes in regard to our religious
affairs2 Shall We take man BY the throat
or by the collar because he cannot see re.
ligious truths just as we do2 In the light OF
eternity 1t will be found out, think, there
was something wrong in all our creeds and
something right in all our creeds. But since
we may make mistakes in regard to things
OF the world do not let Us be so egotistic and
60 puffed up as to have an idea that we cam
not make any mistake In regard to religious
theories. And then, think, We WILL do q
great deal to overthrow the sectarian from
our heart and the sectarianism from the
world by chiefly enlargtng In those things In
which We agree rather than those In which
we differ.
Perhaps might torcefully illustrate this
truth by calling your attention to an incl
dent which took place about twenty years
ago. One Monday morning at about 2
o'clock, while her 900 passengers were sound
asleep In her berths dreaming OF home. the
steamer Atlantic crashed into Mars Head.
Five hundred souls In ten minutes landed In
eternity! Oh, what a scene! Agontzed men
and women running up. and down the gang
way and clutching for the rigging, and the
plunge OF the helpless steamer and the clap
ping Of tho hands of the merciless sea over
the drowning and the dead threw two conti-
nents into terror.
But see the brave quartegmaster pushing
out with the lifeline until b |ets tot the rock,
and see these fishermen / kherlng up the
shipwrecked and taking them into the cab
ms and wrapping them In the lannels snug
and warm, and see that minister Of the gos-
pei, with three other men, getting into q
ifeboat and pushing out for the wreck. pull
ing away across the surf and pulling away
until they saved one more man. and then
getting back with him to the shore. Can
those men ever forget that night. and can
they ever forget their companfonship In
peril, companionship In struggle, compan-
ionship in awful catastrophe and rescue?
Never! Never! In whatever part of the earth
they meet they will be friends when they
noention the afnru Of that niQht when the At.