The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-04-17

A2d streets Of shining coic'
Oh. heaven is not a dull place:
Heaven is not :: scoatracted place:
Heaven is not a stuped place. =
saw the y gates, and they were l.
pearls.
In the second place, / want you to
count the number of those gates. I'M
perial parks and lordly manors are
apt to have one expensive gateway,
ard the others are ordinary, but look
around at these entrances to heaven
and count them. One, two, three, four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, elev-
en-. twelve. Hear it all the earth
and all the heavens Twelve gates.
l admit this IS rather hard On sharp
sectarianisms. If a Presbyterian IS
bigoted, he brings his Westminster as
sembly catechism, and he makes a
gateway out OF that, he says to the
world, You 90 through there or stay
out" If member of the Reformed
church is bigoted, he makes gate
out of the Heidelberg catechism, and
he saws, You 90 through there or
STAY out" If Methodist is bigoted,
he plants two posts, and he says,
Now. YOU crowd in between those
two posts orstay out" Or perhaps an
Episcopalian may say, Here is a lit
urgy out of which | mean to make a
gate; 60 through it or stay out" Or
a Baptist may say Here is a water
gate; you 60 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 the
whole world 60 through it. l abhor
this contractedness in religious views:
Oh, small souled man, when did God
give you the contract for making
gates l tell you plainly will not 60
in that gate. l will goin at any one
of the II gates l choose. Here IS a
man who says, L can more easily and
more closely approach God through a
prayer book. I say, My brother,
then use the prayer book. Here is a
man who says, Il believe there is only
one mode of baptism, and that is i'm
mersion." Then I say, Let me
plunge you" Anyhow, I says, away
with the gate of rough Yanel and rot
ten posts and rusted latch when there
are 12 gates, and they are ~ pearls.
The fact is that a great many OF the
churches in this day are beingdoctrain-
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 are reprobated 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 the number of teeth in the
iawbone with which Samson slew the
Philistines. They sit on the beach and
see a vessel going to pieces IN the of
fng, and instead of getting into a 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. I have heard scores Of
sermons explanatory of Gods DEGREES,
but came away more perplexed than
when I went. The only result of such
discussion is great fog. Here are
two truths which are to conquer the
workman, sinner; Christ, Saw
iour. Any man who adopts those two
theories, in his religious belief shall
have my right hand in warm grip OF
Christian brotherhood.
a man comes down to river in
time of fresheJ. He wants to get across.
He has to swim. What does he do?
The first thing is to put off his heavy
apparel and drop everything he has 10
his hands. He must 60 empty handed
if he is going to the other bank. And
I tell you when we have come down
10 the river of death and find it swift
and raging we will have to put off all
our sectarianism and lay down all our
cumbrous creed and empty handed put
out for the other shore. What, " say
you, would you resolveall the Chris
tan church into one kind of church?
Would you make all Christendon
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 60 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. do not care which one
of the gates you 60 through If you
only 60 through one of the u gates
that Jesus lifted.
Well, now, see all the redeemed of
earth coming up toward heaven. Do
YOU think they will all get in? Yes.
Gate the first, the Moravians come up;
they believed in the Lord Jesus; they
pass through. Gate the second, the
Quakers come up; they have received
the inward light; they have trusted in
the Lord; 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
pass through. Gate the sixth,
the Reformed church passes through.
Gate the seventh, the Congregational
lists pass through. Gate the eighth,
the German Reformed church passes
through. Gate the ninth, the Metho-
dists pass through. Gate the tenth,
Sabbatarians pass through. Gate the
the Church of the Disciples
pass through. Gate the 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 gate?
Will you shut all the remaining host
out of the city2 No. They may come
in at our gate. Hosts of God if you
cannot get admission through any
OF Tho u-a1fth