The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1897-03-05

thou shalt be saved ? or, believe in synod
of bort and thou shalt be saved or, be-
lieve in the Thirty-nine Articles and
thou shalt be saved? A man may be
orthodox and gro to he'll, or heterodoA
and go to Heaven. The man who in the
deep affection of his heart accepts
Christ is saved, and the pnan who does
not accept Him is lost.
l believe in both the Heidelberg and
! Westminster catechisms, and / wish
| on all did, but you may believe in moth
ing they contain except the one idea,
that Christ came 10 save sinners, and
that you are one of them. and you are
instantly rescued. If you can come in
on the grand old ship, would rather
have you get aboard, but if you can only
/ find a piece of wood us long us the
human body, or a piece as wide as the
outspread human arms, and either OF
them is piece of the cross, come in on
that piece. Tens of thousands of people
are to-day kept out of the kingdom of
God because they cannot believe every
thing.
! i am talking with a man thoughtful
about his soul who has lately travelled
through New England and passed the
night at Andover. lie says TO me: II
cannot believe that in this life the des-
! tiny is irrevocably fixed; | think there
will be another opportunity of repent
ance after DEATH" l say to him: my
brother, what has that to do with you
Don't you realize that the man who
waits for another chance after death
when he has good chance before death
is a stark fool? Had not you better take
the plank that is thrown to you now
and head for shore rather than wait for
"a plank that may by invisible hands be
thrown to you after you are dead? Do
as you please, but as for myself, with
pardon for all my sins offered me now,
and all the joys of time and eternity
offered me now, / instantly take them,
rather than run the risk of such other
chance as wise men think they can peel
off or twist out of a Scripture passage
that has for all the Christian centuries
been interpreted another way" You
say: al do not like Princeton theology,
or New Ha"en theology, or Andover
theology" | do not ask you on board
either of these great mcn-of-war, their
portfolios filled with the great siege
guns of ecclesiastical battle, but l 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: Il would at
tend to religion if | 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 perp!cXity about them,
for say to myself: "If / love Christ
and live a good, honest, useful life, l
am elected to be saved, and if do not
love Christ and live a bad life, l will
be damned, and all the theological sem
inaries of the universe cannot make it
any different" Ifioundered long while
in the sea of sin and doubt, and it was
as rough as the Mediterranean on the
fourteenth night, when they threw the
grain overheard, but l saw there was
mercy for the sinner, and that plank l
took, and | have been warming myself
by the bright fire on the shore ever
since.
While 1 am talking to another man
about his soul he tells me: Il do not be-
come a Christian because l do not be-
lieve there is any hell at ALL" All,
don't you? Do all the people of all be-
liefs 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 mid
night, in a hallway, the owner of a
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.
VIII the burglar be at the gate of Heav
en-, waiting when the house owner
comes in? VIII the debauchee and the
libertine go straight in among the fam
lilies of Heaven? l wonder if Herod is
playing on the banks of the river of life
with the children he massacred. IwOn-
der if Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes
Booth are up there shooting at mark.
l do not now controvert it, although
must say that for such a miserable
Heaven | have no admiration. But the
Bible does not say: believe in perdi-
tion and be saved" Because all are
saved, according to your theory, that
ought not to keep you from loving and
serving Christ. Do not refuse to come
ashore because all the others, according
to your theory, are going to get ashore. |
You may have a different theory about |
chemistry, about astronomy, about the |
atmosphere, from that which others |
adopt, but you are not therefore him |
1ered from action.
Because your theory of light is differ
emit from others, do not refuse to open
YOUR eyes. Because your theory of air |
is different you do not refuse to breathe.
Because 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 hinder you from
lcting upon what you know? If you
nave not a whole ship fastened in the
theological dry docks to bring you to
you have at least a plank.
Some on broken pieces of the ship"
"But 1 don't believe in revivals"'
Then go to your room, and all alone, |
With your door locked, give your heart
{ God, and join some church where
he thermometer never gets higher
han so in the shade.
But L do not believe in baptism!"
'ome in without it and settle that mat
er afterward. But there are so many
Inconsistent Christians!" Then come
Z and show them by a good example
CIV professors should act. But don't
elieve in the Old Testament" Then
ONE in On the New. but l don't like
he book of Romans" Then come in
n Matthew or Luke. Refusing to come
o Christ, whom you admit to be the
avious of the lost, because you cannot