Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-02-26

courage Ill tHOSt WIN Nohh'N NeehS WV
whole system Of religion as we believe
It. but who really believe something,
to come ashore on that one plank.
l do not underrate the value Of great
theological system, but where in all
the Bible is there anything that says:
Believe in John Calvin and thou shalt
be saved? or, believe in Arminius and
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 or
thodox and go to hell, or heterodox and
20 to heaven. The man who in the deep
affection Of his heart accepts Christ is
saved, and the man who does not accept
him Is lost.
One Central Fact.
I believe in both the Heidelberg and
Westminster catechisms, and wish you
all did, but you may believe in nothing
they contain except the one idea, that
Christ came 10 save sinners, and that
YOU are one of them, and you are in
stantly rescued. If you can come in on
the grand old ship, would rather have
you get aboard, but if you can only find
piece of wood as long as the human
body, or a piece as wide as the out
spread human arms, and either of them
is a piece Of the cross, come in on that
piece. Tens Of thousands of people are
today kept out of the kingdom of God
because they cannot believe everything.
am talking with a man thoughtful
about his soul who has lately travelled
through New England and passed the
night at Andover He says to me, 81
cannot believe that IN this life the des-
tiny is irrevocably fixed; l 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
plank that may by invisible hands be
throYn to you after you are deadF 10
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 Scripture passage
that has for all the Christian centuries
been interpreted another way. " You
say, Il do not like Princeton theology
or New Haven theology, or Andover the
ology. " l do not ask you on board either
of these great men-of-war, their port
holes filed 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
Saws 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
have no more perplexity about them,
for say to myself, IF love Christ
and live good, honest useful life,
am elected to be saved, and If / do not
love Christ and live a bad life | will
be- damned, and all the theological SEM
inaries Of the universe cannot make II
anv different. " fioundered long while
in the sea of sin and doubt, and 1t was
| as rough rs the Mediterranean on the
fourteenth night, when they threw the
grain overheard, but | saw there was
mercy for a sinner, and that plank
took, and : have been warming myself
bv the bright fire on the shore eyel
since.
Doubt Overruled.
While l am talking TO another mar
| about his soul he tells me, Il do not be-
come a Christian because do not be
lieye 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 moral
and bad morals, go straight to a happy
heaven? D. the holy and the debauchet
have the same destination? At MD
night. in a hallway, the owner OF
house and a burglar meet They bot
fire. and both are wounded, but tn
burglar dies in five minutes, and tn
owner Of the house lives week after
VIII the burglar be at the gate ot Eeav
on. waiting. when the house o"nc
comes in? Will the debauchCc and tn
, libertine 20 right in among the fannie
| of heaven? | wonder if Herod ], playln
: ON the banks of the river Of life wit
the children he massacTed. / wonder
- Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes Boot
: are ND there shoOtiOng at mark.
NOT now controvert it, although mus
saw that for such a miserable heaven
have no admiration But the Bible doe
Il not say. believe in perdition and :
q saved" Because all are saved, ACCORD
ing to your theory, that ought not
keep you from loving and servlh
Christ Do not refuse to come ashol
. because all the others, according to you
n theory, are going to get ashore 10
q NAV have a different theory about chen
. istry. about astronomy, about the a
| mosphere from that which others adop
4 but you are not therefore hindere
v from action. u
: Because your theory of light is diffe
;. ont from others do not refuse TO ope
your eyes Because your theory OF a
4 is different you do not refuse to breatn'
. Because your theory about the steil'
. system is different you do not reiu'
TO acknowledge the north star Wn
should the fact that your theologic;
theories are different hinder you frol
# ,cting upon what you knowT II y
:. have not a whole ship fastened IN u
Y theological drydocks to bring you
/ wharfage, you have at least plan
| "some on broken pieces of the ship.
N but l don't believe in reyivals'
Then 20 to your room, and all aion
If with your door locked, give your hea
s. to God, and join soma church VINE
!, the thermometer never gets higher th'
N 80 in the shade.
|. "But I do not believe in baptism
ID Come in without it and settle that m'
se ter afterward. "But there are so MAJ
;rcors;etant Christiansr' Then COZ