The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-02-26

D smooth voyage, for ofttimcs it will /
tsmpestuous or chopped sea, but
could promise safe arrival for all VIII
took passage OH that Great Eastern, s.
called by me because it's commando
came out of the east the star of tn
east badge of his authority.
But vast multitude do not take reg
ular passage Their theology is broker
in pieces, and their life is broken il
pieces, and their habits are broken il
pieces, and heir world and spiritua
prospects are broken in pieces, and ye
/ believe they are going to reach thu
shining shore, and l am encouraged by
the experience Of those people who are
spoken Of i'll the text, "Some on broker
pieces of the ship.
One object in this sermon is to en-
courage all those who cannot take the
whole system of religion as we believe
it, but who really believe something,
to come ashore Oh that one plank.
l do not underrate the value of great
theological system, but where in all
the Bible is there anything that says:
DOllONC III OOIlll SdlNlu anu IuOu Sudll
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
go to heaven. The man who in the deep
affection of his heart accepts Christ is
tLo ,lo 10
him is lost.
One Central Fact.
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 to 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 i'll 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 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 81 do not like Princeton theology,
or New Haven theology, or Andover the
ology." | do not ask you on board either
of these great men-of-war, their port
holes filled with the great siege guns of
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, Il 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 1 say to myself, eff l love Chri t |
and live good, honest, useful life, 1
am elected to be saved, and if | do net |
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. floundered 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 a sinner, and that plank l
JOOK, ana nave De6n warming myself
by the bright fire on the shore ever
since
Doubt Overruled.
While l am talking to another man
about his soul he tells me, Il do not be-
,ome a Christian because do not be-
ieve there is any hell at all. " All,
lon't you? Do all the people of all be-
iefs and no belief at all, of good morals
ind bad morals go straight to a happy
Do the holy and the debauched
nave the same destination? At mid
hight, in hallway, the owner of a
house and burglar meet. They both
ire, and both are wounded, but the
burglar dies in five minutes, and the
,wner of the house lives a week after.
Will the burglar be at the gate of heav-
N, waiting, when the house owner I
omes in? Will the debauchee and the
ibertine go right in among the families
# heavenP l wonder if Herod is playing {
IN the banks of the river of life with
he children he massacred. 1 wonder if
Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes Booth {
mn thoro c1,pofip,,or Of N ,,,o,1-