The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1895-04-17

lig ghty gg 70 OF pearl, gate OF heaVen, for
our weary souls at last swing openl
When shall these eyes thy heaven built walls
,.sAnd pearly & tes behold; s3S
.lhY.pntWarks with salvation strong 2
And streets Of sbining gold?} IL :. Z
Oh, heaven is not dull placel |
Heaven is not a contracted place.
Heaven is not stupcd place. i
saw tho u gates, and they were IL
pearls"
IN inc second place, / want you to
count the number Of those gates I'M
| perial parks and lordly manors are
apt to have ono expensive gateway,
and the others are ordinary, but look
and count them. One, two, three, four,
on, twelve. Hear it all tho earth
and ali tho heavens. Twelve gates
admit this is rather hard on sharp
scctarianisms. If Presbyterian is
bigoted, he brings his Westminster as
scmbly catechism, and he makes a
gateway out of that, he says to the
world, "You go through there or stay
out" If a member Of the Reformed
church is bigoted, he makes a gate
out of the Heidelberg catechism, and
he says, "You 20 through there or
stay out" If i Methodist is % bigotcd, d
he plants two posts, and he says,
"Now, you crowd in between those,
two posts or stay out" Or perhaps an
Episcopalian may say, Here is lit
urgy out of which mean to make a
gate; go through it or stay out" Or
a Baptist may say "Here is u water
gate; you go through that, or YOU
must stay out" And so in all our
churches and in all our denominations
there are men who make one gate for
themselves and then demand that tho
whole world go through it. I abhor
this contractedness in religious views.
Oh, small souled man, when did God
give you the contract for making
gates2 [ tell you plainly 1 will not 20
in that gate. l will go in at any one
Of the 10 gates I choose. Here is a
man who says, II can more easily and
more closely approach God through q
prayer book" l say, "My brother,
then use the prayer book" Here is a
man who says, II believe there is only
one mode Of baptism, and that is i'm
mersion." Then / say, LET me
plunge you" Anyhow, I says, away
with the gate Of rough Panel and rot
ten posts and rustcd latch when there
are IL gates, and they are 10 pearls.
The fact is that a great many Of the
churches in this day are being doctrain-
ed to death. They have been trying
to find out all about Gods DEGREES, and
they want to know who are elected to
be saved and who arc roprobated to be
damned, and they are keeping on dis
cussing that subject when there are
millions of souls who need to have the
truth put straight at them. They sit
counting tho number of teeth in the
jawbone with which Samson slew the
Philistines. They sit OH the beach and
see vessel going to pieces i'll the Of
fing, and instead of getting into boat
and pulling away for the wreck they
sit discussing the different styles Of
Oarlocks. God intended us to know
some things and intended us not to
know others. [ have heard scores of
sermons explanatory of Gods DEGREES,
but camc away more perplexed than
when I went The only result of such
discussion is a great fog. Here are
two truths which are to conquer the
world-man, sinner; Christ, Say
iour. Any man who adopts those two
theories, in his religious belief shall
havemy right hand in warm grip Of
Christian brotherhood.
a man comes down to river in
time OF frcshet. Flo wants to get across.
Elc has to swim. What does he do?
The first thing is oput Off his heavy
apparel and drop everything he has in
his hands. Flo must 60 empty handed
if he is going to the other bank. And
tell you when we have como down
to the river of death and find it swift
and raging we will have to put off all
our scctarianism and lay down all our
cumbrous creed and empty handed put
you, ''would you resol> IL the Chris
tian church into one kind Of church?
Would you make all Christendom
worship in the same way, by the same
forms2' Oh, no. You might as well
decide that all people shall eat the
same kind of food without reference
to appetite, or wear the same kind of
apparel without reference to the shape
Of their body. Your ancestry, your
temperament. your surroundings, will
decide whether you go to this or that
church and adopt this or that church
polity. One church will best get one
man to heaven and another church
another man. I do not care which one
of the gates you go through if you
only go through one of the 12 gates
that Jesus lifted.
Well, now, see all the redeemed of
earth coming up toward heaven. Do
you think they will all get in2 Yes.
Gate the first, the Moravians como up;
they believed in the Lord Jesus; they
pass through Cato the second, the
Quakers come up; they have received
the inward light; they have trusted in
the ord; they pass through. Gate
the third, the Lutherans come up they
had the same grace that made Luther
what he was, and they pass through.
Gate the fourth, the Baptists pass
through. Gate the fifth, the Free Will
Baptists pass through. Gate the sixth,
the Reformed church passes through.
Gate the seventh, the Congregational
lists pass through. Cato the eighth,
the German Reformed church passes
through Gate the ninth, the Metho-
dists pass through. Gate the tenth,
Sabbatarians pass through. Gate the
eleventh, tho Church Of the Disciples
pass through. Gate tho twelfth, the
Presbyterians pass through. But there
are great part Of other denominations
who must come in, and great multi
tudes who connected themselves with
no visible church, but felt the power
of godliness in their heart and showed
it in their life. Where is their gate2
Will you shut all the remaining host