The L'Anse sentinel., 1897-03-06

prospects are broken in pieces, and yet
l believe they are going TO reach the
shining shore, and ] am encouraged by
the experience of those people who are
spoken of in the text: 'Some on broken
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
il, but who really believe something,
TO come ashore on that one plank.
do not underraIc 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
orthodox and go to hell, or heterodox
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.
beliege in both the Heidelberg and
Westminster catechisms, and / wish
YOU 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, l would rather
have you get aboard, but if you can only
find a piece of wood as long as the
human body, or u piece as wide as the
Outspread human arms, and either o:
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
Cod because they cannot believe every
thing.
am talking with n man thoughtful
about his soul who has lately Travelled
through New England and passed the
night at Andoyer. He says 10 me: Il
cannot believe that in this life the des-
tiny is irrevocably fixed; | think there
will lie another opportunity of repent
once 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 adj my sins offered me no,y.
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
oil or twist out OF a 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
theology" | do not ask you on board
either of these great mcn-of-war, their
portfolios filed with the great siege
guns of ecclesiastical battle, but | do
ask you 10 take the one plank of the
Gospel that you 10 believe in and strike
out for the pearl-strung beach of
Heaven.
Says some other man: II 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 perplcXity about them,
for | say TO myself: IF l love Christ
and live n good, honest, useful life,
am elected 10 be saved, and if do not
love Christ and live bad life, i will
lie damned, and all the theological sem
inaries of the universe cannot make it
any different Ifloundered 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 | saw there was
mercy for the sinner, and that plank
took, and have been warming myself |
by the bright fire on the shore ever
since. ~
While l am talking to another man
about his soul he tells me: Il do not be-
come a Christian because l do not be-
iievc 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, 4 hallway, the owner of a
house and a burglar meet. They both |
ERE, 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 Heav-
en-, waiting when the house owner
comes in? Will the drbauchee and the
libertine go straight in among the fam
lies of Heaven? / wonder if Herod is
playing on the banks of the river of life
with the children he massacred. won
der il Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes
Booth are up there shooting at a mark.
l do not DOW 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, arc going to get ashore.
You may have n different theory about
about astronomy. about the