The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1897-03-04

wise men think they can peel OH 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 theology, or Andoyer
theology. I do not ask you on board
either Of these great men-of-war. their
portfolios filed with the great siege
guns Of ecclesiastical battle. But do
ask you to take the one plank of the
Gospel that yousdo believe in and strike
out for the pearl-strung beach OF
heaven
Says some other man: 81 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
have no more perplexity about them;
for say to myself: ST love Christ
and live a good, honest, useful life,
am elected to be saved; and if do
not love Christ, and live bad life, |
will be damned, and all the the theo-
logical seminaTies of the universe can
not make it any different. = 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 saw there was mercy for a sin
ner, and that plank took, and I have.
been warming myself by the bright fire
on the shore ever since.
While / am talking to another man
about his sou: he tells me: 81 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 beliefs at all, of good
morals and bad morals go straight to
a happy heaven? Do the holy and the
debauched have the same destination?
At midnight, in a 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 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? I wonder If
Herod is playing on the banks of the
river OF life with the children he mas
sacred: I wonder if Charles Guiteau
and John Wilkes Booth are up there
| shooting at a mark. do not now con-
trovert it, although must say that for
such miserable heaven / have no adj
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 anG 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 a
different theory about chemistry, about
astronomy, about the atmosphere
from that which others adopt, but you
are not, therefore, hindered from &C
ton. Because your theory Of light is
different from others, do not refuse tc
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 d.
not refuse to acknowledge the north
star. Why should the fact that you1
theological theories are different hin.
der you from acting upon what yor
know? If you have not whole shi1
fastened in. the theological drydock.
to bring you to wharfage, you hav,
at least a plank. Some on broker
pieces Of the ship"
But don't believe in revivals!'
Then go to your room, and all alone
q with your door locked, give your hear
to God, and join some church where tn
thermometer never gets higher thai
fifty in the shade.
But I do not believe in baptism!
Come in without it and settle that mat
ter afterward. But there are s
many inconsistent Christians! The
J. come in and show them by good ex
ample how professors should act. ..Bu
/ don't believe in the Old Testament!
Then come in on the New. But
! don't like the Book of Romans" The
: come in on Matthew or Luke. Refus
ing to come to Christ, whom you admi
j Ito be the Savior of the lost, becaus
) you cannot admit other things, you ar
like a man out there in that Meditel
], ranean tempest, and tossed in the Nj
: lita breakers, refusing TO come ashor
until he can mend the pieces of tn
broken ship. Ihear him say: II won
go in on any of these planks until
> know in what part of the ship the
! belong. When can get the windlas
; in the right place, and the sails Sc
and that keel-piece where it belong
/. and that foor-timber right, and thes
!, ropes untangled, I will go ashore. al
an old sailor, and know all about shiI
. for forty years, and as soon as can 6,
: the vessel afloat in good shape I wi
come in A man drifting by on
, piece of wood overhears him and say
: "You will drown before you get tn,
: ship reconstructed. Better do as a
doing. know nothing about ship
and never saw one before came (
board this, and I cannot swim strok
. but am going ashore on this shiver.
timber The man in the off1ng, viii
q trying to mend his ship goes dow
The man who trusted to the plank