Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-09-13

say. III go around the block" Now
men come and look upon this narrow
path TO heaven. an sometimes ser
the ecclesiastical bricko oats flyin
every whittier, and they say, "WelL
guess I'll take the broad road; there
is so much sharp-shooting on the mar
row road guess I'll try the broad
road"
Francis l. so hated the Lutherans
that he said that if 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 de-
nomination and denomination, or be-
tween one professed Christian and
another, or between one church and
another SO long men will DE dis
gusted with the Christian religion.
and say, IF that is religion / want
none of it
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 a 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 vet sometimes see in the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ a strange
thing going on: church against church,
minister against minister, denomina-
ton against denomination, firing
away into their own fort, or the fort
which ought to be on the same side,
instead of concen trating their energy
and giving one mighty and everlast-
ing volley against the navies of dark
ness riding up through the bay!
Perhaps might forcefully illustrate
this truth by calling your attention
to an incident which took place about
twenty years ago. One Monday morn
ing at about 2 o'clock, while her 900
passengers were sound asleep in her
berths dreaming of home, the steamer
Five hundred souls in ten minutes
landed in eternity. Oh, what scene!
Agonized men and women running up
and down the gangways and clutch
ing for the rigging and the plunge of
the helpless steamer and the clapping
of the hands of the merciless sea over
the drowning and the dead threw two
continents into terror But see this
brave quartermaster pushing out with
the life line until he gets 10 the rock,
and see these fishermen gathering
up the shipwrecked, and taking
them into the cabins. and wrapping
them in the fannels snug and warm;
and see that minister. of the gospel,
with three other men, getting into a
life boat and pushing out for the
wreck, pulling 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 companionship in peril,
companionshipi in struggle, companion
ship in awful catastrophe aud rescue?
Never! Never! In whatever part of
the earth they meet. they will be
friends when they mention the story
of that night when the Atlantic"
struck Mars Head. Well, my friends,
our world has gone into a
worse shipwreck. Sin drove it on
the rocks. The old ship has lurched
and tossed in the tempests of six
thousand years. Out with the life
line! do not care what denomina-
ton carries it. Out with the life boat!
l do not care what denomination rows
it. Side by side, in the memory OF
common hardships and common trials,
and common prayers, and common
tears, let us be brothers forever. We
must be.
One army of the living God,
To his command we bow;
Part of the host have crossed the food,
And part are crossing now.
And 1 expect to see the dav when
all denominations of Christians s lall
Join hands around the cross of Christ
and recite the creed: 81 believe in God
the Father Almighty Maker of heaven
and earth, and in Jesus Christ and in
the communion of saints, and in life
everlasting. Amen"