Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-03-02

81 do not like Princeton theology, or
New Haven theology, or Andover
theology" l do not ask you on board
either OF these great men-ofwar, their
portfolios filled with the great siege
guns of ecclesiastical battle. But do
ask you TO take the one plank OF the
Gospel that you do believe in and strike
out for the pearl-strung beach OF
heaven.
Says some other man: 81 would at
tend to religion if l was quite sure
about the doctrine of election and free
agency, but that mixes me all up"
Those things used to bother me. but
l have no more perplexity about them:
for / say to myself: "If love Christ
and live a good, honest, useful life.
l am elected to be saved; and if l do
not love Christ, and live bad life, /
Will be damned, and all the the theo-
logical seminaries of the universe can
not make it any different" l founder
ed along while in the sea of sin and
doubt, and it was as rough as the Medi-
terranean on the fourteenth night,
when they threw the grain overheard,
| but l saw there was mercy for sim
ner, and that plank took, and l have
been warming myself by the bright fire
on the shore ever since.
While l am talking to another man
| about his sou. he tells me: II do not
| become Christian because / do not
| believe there is any hell at all" All!
| don't you? Do all the people of all
beliefs and no belief at all, .of good
morals and bad morals go straight to
happy heaven? Do the holy and the
debauched have the same destination?
At midnight. in hallway, the owner
OF house and burglar meet; they
both fire, and both are wounded. but
! the burglar dies in five minutes and
the owner OF the house lives a week
after; will the burglar be at the gate
of heaven, waiting, when the house
owner comes in? Will the debauchee
and the libertine go right in among
| the families Of heaven? / wonder IL
Herod is playing on the banks of the
| river OF life with the children he mas
sacred: / wonder il Charles Guiteau
and John Wilkes Booth are up there
shooting at mark. / do not now con-
trovert 1t, although must say that for
such a miserable heaven have no ad-
miration. But the Bible does not say:
| Believe in perdition and be saved"
Because all are saved, according to your
! theory, that ought not to keep you from
| loving and serving Christ. Do not re-
| fuse to come ashore because all the
others, according to your theory, are
| going to get ashore. You may have
different theory about chemistry, about
astronomy, about the atmosphere
| from that which others adopt, but you
are not, therefore, hindered from ac-
ton. Because your theory Of light is
| different from others, do not refuse to
open your eyes. Because your theory
| of air is different you do not refuse
to breathe. Cecaus3 your theory about
the stellar system is different, you do
not refuse to acknowledge the north
star. Why should the fact that your
| theological theories are different him
der you from acting upon what you
know? II you have not whole ship
fastened in the theological drydocks
to bring you to wharfage, you have
at least a plank. Some on broken
pieces of the ship"
But | don't believe in revivals!"'
Then go to your room, and all alone,
with your door locked, give your heart
to God, and join some church where the
thermometer never gets higher than
| fifty in the shade.
But l do not believe in BAPTISM"
Come in without 1t and settle that mat
ter afterward. But there are so
many inconsistent Christians. Then
come in and show them by good ex-
ample how professors should act. But
| don't believe in the Old Testament"
| Then come in on the New. But /
| don't like the Book of Romans" Then
come in on Matthew or Luke. Refus-
ing to come to Christ, whom you admit
| to be the Savior Of the lost, because
you cannot admit other things, you are
| like a man out there in that Mediter-
ranean tempest, and tossed in the Me-
| lita breakers, refusing TO come ashore
until he can mend the pieces of the
broken ship. hear him say: Il won't
go in on any Of these planks until
know in what part OF the ship they
belong. When l can get the windlass
in the right place, and the sails set.
and that keei-piece where 1t belongs,
and that fioor-timber right, and these
ropes untangled, will go ashore. / am
| an old sailor, and know all about ships
! for forty years. and as soon as can get
the vessel afloat in good shape I will
come in" A man drifting by on
piece OF wood overhears him and says:
''You will drown before you get that
ship reconstructed. Better do as i am
doing. l know nothing about ships,
and never saw one before | came on
board this, and cannot swim stroke,
but am going ashore on this shivered
timber" The man in the ofiing, while
trying to mend his ship goes down.
The man who trusted to the plank is
saved, o my brother, let your smash
ed up system OF theology go to the bot
tom, while you come in on splintered
spar! Some on broken pieces of the
ship"
You may get I'll your difficulties set
tied as Garibaldi. the magnetic Italian.