The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1900-05-26

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and John Calvin had that aS we'll as the
present student OF the Scriptures.'' Yes;
SO it Is the same old sun in tho heavens
but in our time it has gCna to making
| dagEcrreOtyres and photographs. 1t is
the same Old water, but in our century 1t
| has gone to running steam engines. 1t Is
the same Old electricity, but in our time it
has become a lightnlnS footed errand boy.
SO it Is the old Bible, but new applications,
new uses, now interpretations. 1on must
remember that during the last 800 years
words have changed their meaning, and
some OF them now mean more and some
| less.
do not think that John Calvin believed
as some say ..e did, In the damGGtion Of in
fants, although some of the re-. st hot dis
putes would seem to imply that there is
such thing rs the damnation OF infants.
| A man who believes In the damnation OF
| infants himself deserves to lose heaven. l
do not think any good man could admit
such possibility. What Christ will do
with all the babies in the next world l con-
| clude from what He did with the babies In
Palestine when He hugged them and kissed
| them.
When some OF you grown people go out
OF this world, your doubtful destiny will be
| an embarrassment to ministers officiating
at your obsequies, who will have to be
| cautious SO as not to hurt surviving
lIlcuuS. but Wueu lUe uaEllug CulluIcu go
| there are no "ifs'' or "buts" or gUesses.
We must remember that good John CAL
| vim was logician and u metaphysician
| and by the proclivities of his nature put
| some things In an unfortunate way. Logic
| has its use, and metaphysics has its use.
but they are not good at making creeds.
| What a time we have had With the
| dogm atics, the apologetics and the her
meneuticsi The defect In some OF the
| creeds is that they try to tell us all about
| the DEGREES Of God. Now, the only human
being that was ever competent to handle
that subject was Paul, and he would not
have been competent had he not been In
| spired. believe in the sovereignty OF God.
| and believe In mans free agency, but no
one can harmonize the two. 1t Is not
| necessary that we harmonize them.
| Every sermon that l have ever heard
| that attempted such harmonization was to
me as clear as q London fog, as clear as
| mud. My brother of the nineteenth CEN
| tury, my brother OF the sixteenth century,
<tye US PaupS statement and leave GU.
your own.
Better one chapter of Paul on that SUBJ
iect than all of Calvin's institutes, able
and honest and mighty as they are. Do
not try to measure either the throne Of God
or the thunderbolts Of God with your little
steel pen.
What do YOU know about the DEGREES?
eternal couDsels. You cannot explain the
mysteries Of Gods government now, much
less the mysteries of His government five
hundred quintlllion ye ars ago.
n But now that the old creeds have been
put under public scrutiny something rRdt-
cal must be done. Some would split them,
some would carve them, some would elon-
gate them, some would abbrevate them.
At the present moment In the present
shape they are a hindrance. Lazarus IS
alive, but hampered with the old grave
clothea II you want one glorious church,
free and unincumbered, take OF the cere-
ments OF old eceleslas tical vocabulary.
Loose her, and let her gol
Again, my text has good advice concern
ing any Christian hampered and bothered
and bound by fear Of his own dissolution.
To such the book refers when it speaks OF
those who through fear Of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. The
most OF US, even If we have the Christian
hope, are towards about death.
Backed up by the teachings OF your Bible,
just look through the telescope some bright
night and see how many worlds there are
and reflect that all you have seen, COM
pared with the number Of worlds In exist
ence, are less than the fingers OF your right
hand as compared with all the fingers OF
the human race. How foolish, then, for US
to think that ours is the only world TT for
US to stay in.
One Of our first realizations In cutting
out Of this world, think. will be that In
this world we were very much pent up and
had cramped apartments and were kept on
the limits. The most, even OF our small
world, Is water, and the water says to the
human race, Don't come here or you will
drown" few thousand feet up the at
mosphere is uninhabitable, and the at
mosphere says to the human race, Don't
come up here or you cannot breathe"
few miles down the earth Is furnace OF
fire, and the fire says, Don't come here or
you will burn" The caverns OF the mount
aims are full OF poisonous gases, and the
gases say, Don't come here or you will be
asphYxiated."
And pneumonlas and pleurisies ana con-
sumptions and apoplexies 60 across this
earth In focks, In droyes, in herds, and 1t
Is q world OF equfnoXes and cyclones ana
graves. Yet we are under the delusion
that 1t Is the only place fit to stay in. We
want to stick to the wet plank In midocean
while the great ship, the City OF God, OF
the Celestial line, goes sailing past and
would gladly take US up IN n lifeboat. My
Christian friends, let me tear Off your de-
epondencies and flights about dissolution.
NY Lord commands me regarding you,
saying, "Loose him. and let him co.
Heaven is Dinety-flve per cent. better
than this world, thousand per cent. bet
t0T, IullllOu per Ccut' pC|tC1' AoNo 'ho
gladdest, brightest. most jubilant days
you ever had on earth and compress them
all into ono hour, and that hour would be
requiem, fast day, q gloom, horror.
rs compared with the poorest hour they
have had in heaven since the first tower
was built or its first gates swung or Its
first song caroed.
"Oh," you say, "that may be true, but
an so afraid of crossing over from this
world to the next, and fear the swapping
OF the cord between soul and body" Well,
all the surgeons and physicians and sci
entists declare that there is no pang at the
parting OF the body and soul, and all the
restlessness at the closing hour OF life is
involuntary and no distress at all.
"But," you cay, 81 fear to 60 because
the future is so full Of mystery" Well,
will tell you how to treat the mysteries.
The mysteries have ceased bothering me,
for do as the judges OF your courts often
do. They hear all the arguments In the
case, and they say, II will take these
papers and give you my decision next
week." SO have heard all the arguments
In regard to the next world, and some
things are uncertain and full OF mystery,
and so I fold up the papers and reserve
unit. the next world my deeiSion1aI
them. I can there stud
to haxtpr advuDtHGsau