The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1894-10-05

a bigot. The whole tendency of edu.
cation and civilization Is to bring a
man out of that kind Of state Of mind
and heart. There was in the far east
great obelisk, and one side of the
obelisk was white, another side Of the
obelisk was green, another side Of the
obelisk was blue, and travellers went
and looked at that obelisk, but they
did not walk around it. One man
looked at one side, another at another
side, and they came home, each look
ing at only one side; and they hap
pened to meet, the story says, and they
got into rank quarrel about the
color of that obelisk. One man said it
another man said it was blue, and
when they were in the very heat of the
controversy more intelligent travel
er 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 obelisk?"
Look out for the man who sees only
one side of religious truth. Look
out for the man who never walks
around about these great glories of
God and eternity and the dead. He
will be a bigot inevitably-the man
who only sees one side. There is no
man more to be pitied than he who has
in his head just one idea-no more, no
less. More light, less sectarianism.
There is nothing that will so soon kill
bigotry as sunshine-Gods sunshine.
Go T hava COT hofO,.o xro,. xxyho o0n.
slider to be the causes of bigotry. l
have set before you the origin of this
great evil. What are some of the bale
full effects? First of all, it cripples in
vestigation. You are wrong, and am
right, and that ends it. No taste for
exploration, no spirit of investigation.
From the glorious relm 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 under corn
shock. 1t stops all investigation.
While each denomination of Chris
tians is to present all the truths of the
Bible, it seems to me that God has
given to each denomination an especial
mission to give particular emphasis to
some one doctrine; and so the Calvinis-
tic churches must present the sover-
eighty of God, and the Arminian
churches must present mans free
agency, and the Episcopal churches
must present the Importance
of order and solemn ceremony,
and the Baptist churches must
present the necessity of ordinances,
and the Congregational church must
present the responsibility of the in
dividual member, and the Methodist
church must show what holy enthu-
siasm hearty congregational singing
can accomplish. While each denomi-
nation of Christians must set forth all
the doctrines of the Bible, feel it is
especially incumbent upon each denom-
ination to put particular emphasis on
some one doctrine.
Another great damage done by the
sectarianism and bigotry of the church |
is that is disgusts people with the
Christian religion. Now, my 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 |
flying through the air, and you hear |
the shock of firearms. Do you, the |
peaceful and industrious citizen, go |
through that street? Oh, mol you will |
say: 'I'll 60 around the block" Now,
men, come and look upon this narrow
path to Heaven, and sometimes see &C.
clesiastical brickbats flying every
whittier, and they say: "Well, guess
I'll take the broad road; there is so
much sharp-shooting on the narrow
road, guess I'll take the broad roadr'
Again, bigotry and sectarianism 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 life to controversial
disputes, when, if 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 be-
gan to fire into each other
you would cry out: National sui
eide! why don't those forts blaze away
in one direction, and that against the
common enemy?" And yet 1 some
times see in the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ a strange thing going on;
church against church, minister against
minister, denomination against denom-
ination, firing away into their own
fort, or the fort which ought to be on
the same side. instead of concentrat-
ing their energy and giving one mighty
and everlasting volley against the
navies of darkness riding up through
the bay!