Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1900-05-10
putes would seem to imply thas there 10
such q thipo az tha ia nnatian OF inx.=4a

do not think any good man could admit
such a possibility. What Christ will do
with all the babies in the next world / con.
clude from what He did with the babies in
Palestine when He Rugged them and kissed
them.
When some @. you grown people 20 out
Of this world, your doubtful destiny will be
an Embarrassment to ministers officiating
at your o~bsequies, who will have to be
cautious so as not to hurt surviving
friends. But whep the darling children &c
there are nc "ifs" butts" or guesses.
We must remember that good John Cal.
vim was a Iogician and . metaphysician
and by the procliyities Of his nature pu:
some things in an unfortunate way. Logic
las It's use. and metaphysics has its use.
but they are not good at making creeds.
What a time we have Lad with the
dogmatics. the apologetics Z the her
meneuties. The defect in some OF the
creeds is that they try to tell US all abou.
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.
.ptred. l believe in the sovereignty OF God.
and j believe in mans free agency, but no
one can natn0nize the two. 1t is not
necessary that we harmonizs them.
Every sermon that l have ever heard
that attempt cd such harm niZation was tc
me as clear as a London fog, as clear a.
mud. Ny brother Of the nineteenth cen.
fury, my brother OF the sixteenth century.
give US Paul,s statement aud leave out
your own,
Better one chapter Of Pau on that sub
Joct than Ill of Calviu's Institutes, able
and honest and mighty As they are. De
not try to measure either thetbrone OF God
CIR tue thunderbolts Of God with your little
steel pen.
WHAT do You know about the d~ecreea:
You cannot pry open the door of Gods
eternal colnsels. You cannot explain the
mysteries Of Gods government now. much
less the mysteries OF His government: five
hundred qulntiiiion ye ars ago.
But now that the Old cree1s have been
pat under ru9lic scrutiny something rad.-
cal must be done. Some would split them,
-Oule would carve them, some wOuld elnD-
gate them, some would abbreviate them.
A. the present moment in the present
shape they are a hindrance. Lazarus is
alive, but ham pered with the Old grave
clothes. II you want one glorious church.
free and n~nincumbered, take off the cere-
ments OF old ecclesiastical vocabulary.
Loose her, and let her so.
Again, my text has good advice concern.
ing any Christian hampered and bothered
aud 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 ii we have the Christian
hope. are towards about death.
Backed ~ Ivy the teachings Of your Bible.
Just look throGgil the telescope some bright
night and see how many worlds there are
and reflect tiat all you have seen, COM
pared with the number OF worlds in exist
ence, are less than the fingers Of our right
hand as cont pared with all the fingers OF
the human race. How foolish, then, for US
to think that ours is the only world lit for
US to stay ii.
One Of our first raalizations iD getting
out Of this world. I think. will be that IL
this world we were very much nent up and
had crainptd apartments and were kept Oh
the limits. The most, even OF our small
void, is water, and the water says to the
human race, Don't come here or you will
DROWN A few thousand fee. up the at
noaphers i Uniulabitabie. and the at
mosphere says to the human race, "Dou't
come up here or you cannot Breathe" A
few miles down the earth is Il furnace Of
fire, and the fire says, "DOA't come here or
you will burn The caverns Of the mount
airs are full OF poisonous gases, and the
gases say, "Don't come here or you will be
asphyXiated."
Aud and pleurisies ana con-
sumptious and apoplexies so across this
earth III flOckS, in drOves, in nerds, and it
is a world OF eq%uinoxes and cyclones and
graves. Yet We are under the delusion
that it is the only place ft 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 Il iifeboat. Ny
Christian friends. let lle tear oil your de-
spOndencie5 and flights about dissolution.
My Lord commands me- regarding you,
saying, Loose him, and let him GO
Heaven is ninetv-tive per cent. better
than this world. q thousand per cent. bet
ter, Il million per cent. better. Take the
gladdest, brightest. most jubilant days
You ever had on earth and compress them
all into one hour and that hour would be
n requiem, a fast day, a gloom. 4 horror,
rs compared with thu poorest hour they
have had in heaven since the first tower
was built Or its fest gates swung or its
first song ~car0!ei.
On YOU say. THAT may he true. but I
am 50 afraid 81 crossing over from this
world 10 the next, and / fear the swapping
Of the cord between soul and BODY We'll,
all the surgeons and physicians and sci
entists declare that there is no pans at the
parting Of the body and svul, and all the
restlessness ct the closing hour Of life is
Involuntary and no distress At all.
But. you say, II fear to so because
the future is so full OF mystery.' Well, 1
will tell you how to treat the mysteries.
The mysteries have ceased botllering me,
FOR do as the Judges o. your courts often
DO. They hear All the arguments in the
case, ant they say. Il will take these
papers and give you my decision next
week. 50 L nave neard dtltNe arguments
IN regard to tho next world, and some
things are uncertain aud full Of mystery,
and so | fold up the papers and reserve
until the next world my decision about
them. l can there study al! the,mvsteries
TO better advantage, for the light will be
better and my faculties stronger. and l
Will ask the Christian philosophers, who
have had all the advantages Of heaven for
centuries, to- help ne, and l may be per.
mitted myself hulnblyto ask the Lord. and
l think there will be only one mystery left;
that will be how one sounworthy az myself
got into such an enraptured place.
The only part Of the journey 1 made
years ago to Palestine that | really dread
ed was the landing at Joppa. That is the
port OF entrance for the Holy Land, and
there are many rocks, and III rough wealth
er people cannot land ut all. The boats
taking the people from the steamer to the
docks must run between reefs that looked
to me to be about fifty feet apart, and one
mlsstroke OF an oarsmuD or an unexpected
wave has sometimes been fatal, and
hundreds have persisted along those
reefs. Besides that, rs we lett Port
said the evening before. an old. trav-
eier said: The wind is Just right 10
give you ii rough landin: at Joppa; indeed