Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-02-25


sayedf or, believe in synod of bort and thou
shalt be savedf OF, believe In the Thirty-nine
Articles and thou shalt be saveds A man
may be ortbdox and go to hell or hetero-
dox and go 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.
believe in both the Heidelberg and
Westminster citechisms, and / wish you
oil 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, aud you are instantly res
cued. II 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 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 today kept out Of the kingdom
of God because they cannot believe every
thing.
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:
cannot believe that in this life the destiny
is irrevocably fixed think there will be
another opportunity of repentance after
death. II say to him: "My brother, what
has that to dowith you? Don't you realize
that the man who waits for another chance
after death when he has good chance be-
fore 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 offer
ed me now, instantly take them rather
than run the risk of such other chance as
wise men think they con peel off or twist
out of Scripture passage that has for all
the Christian centuries been interpreted
another way" You say, ~ do not like
Princeton theology, or New Haven theolo-
gy, or Andover theology" 1 do not ask
you on board either of these great men-of-
war, their portfolios filled with the great
siege guns of ecclesiastical battle, but ! do
ask you to take the one plank of the gos-
pei that you do believe in and strike out
| for the pearl strung beach of heaven.
Says some other man, 81 would attend
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 have no more perplex-
ity about them, for say to myself, "If
love Christ and live good, honest, useful
life, am elected to be saved, and if 1 do
not love Christ and live bad life l will
be damned, and all the theological semina-
ries of the universe cannot make it any
different" Ifloundered along while in the
sea of sin ard doubt, and it was as rough
as the Mediterranean on the fourteenth
night, when they threw the grain over
board, but Isaw there was mercy for a
sinner, and that plank took, and have
been warming myself by the bright fire on
the shore ever since
While I am talking to another man
about his soul he tells me, 81 do not be-
come a Christian because do not believe
there is any hell at ALL I" All, don't you?
Do all the people of all beliefs and no be-
lief at all, Of good morals and bad morals,
go straight to happy heayenP Do the ho-
ly and the debauched have the same desti-
nation? At midnight, in a hallway, the
owner of house and burglar meet.
1ucy uUuIl lro, ullu DUUIl ttTS WUuAucu Dub
the burglar dies in five minutes, and the
owner of the house lives q week after.
Will the burglar be at the gate of heaven,
waiting, when the house owner comes in?
Will the debauehee and the libertine go
right in among the families of heaven?
wonder if Herod is playing on the banks
of the river of life with the children he
massacred. wonder if Charles Guiteau
and John Wilkes Booth are up there shoot
ing at q mark. I do not now controvert it,
although must say that for such a miser-
able heaven l 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 diff
ferent theory about chemistry, about as
tronomy, about the atmosphere, from that
which others adopt, but you are not, there
fore, hindered from action.
Because your theory Of light is different
from others do not refuse to open your
eyes. Because your theory of air is differ
ent 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 him
der you from acting upon what you know?
If 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 so in the shade.
''But / do not believe in baptism. !"
, Come in without it and settle that matter
afterward. "But there are so many incon-
sistent Christians. !" Then come in and
show them by good example how pro-
fessors should act. "But don't believe in
the Old Testament" Then come in on the
New. "But don't like the book of Ro-
mans" Then come in on Matthew or
Luke. Refusing to come to Christ, whom
you admit to be the Saviour Of the lost, be-
cause you cannot admit other things, you
are like man out there in that Mediterra-
mean tempest and tossed in the Melita
breakers, refusing to come ashore until he
can mend the pieces OF the broken ship l
hear him say: II won't go in on any Of
these planks until I know in what part Of
the ship they belong. When can get the
windlass in the right place, and the sails
set, and that keel piece where it belongs,
and that floor timber right, and these ropes
untangled, l will so ashore am an old
sailor and know all about ships for 40
years, and as soon as l can get the vessel
afioat in good shape will come in. A
man drifting by on q piece of wood over
hears him and says: you will drown be-
fore you get that ship reconstructed. Bet
ter do as l am doing, I know nothing
about ships and never saw one before I
came on board this, and canndt swim a
! stroke, but am going ashore on this shiy-
cred timber The man in the offing, while
trying to mend his ship. goes down. The