Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-04-27
What lime we have had With tho

that subject was Paul, aud lie would not
have been competent had lie 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 attempt ed such harmonization was TO
me as clear as a London fog, as clear us
mud. My brother Of the nineteenth CEN
fury, my brother OF the sixteenth century,
give us Paul's statement and leave our
your own.
Better one chapter OF Paul on that sub
ject than all OF Calvn's institutes, able
and honest and mighty as they are. DO
not try to measure either the throne oil God
or the thunderbolts OF God with your little
steel pen.
What do you know about the DEGREES?
You cannot pry open the door OF coos
eternal counsels. You cannot explain tue
mysteries of Gods government now, much
less the mysteries OF His government i've
hundred quintillon ye ars ago.
q But now that the Old creeds have been
put under public scrutiny something radt-
cal must be done. Some would split them,
some would carve them, some would elon-
gate them, some would abbroviate Them
At the present moment Ia the present
shape they are hindrance. Lazarus Is
alive, but hampered with the old grave
clothes. II you want one glorious church,
free and unincumbered, take of the cere-
ments or old eccles lastica vocabulary
Loose her, and let her go!
Again, my text has good advice concern
ing any Christian hampered and bothered
and bound by fear OF his own dissolution.
10 such the book refers when 1t speaks OF
those who through fear OF death were all
Sat tnnk 70
most of'us, even II we have the Christian
hope, are towards about death.
Backed up by the teachings OF your Bible,
lust look through the telescope some bright
night and see bow many worlds there are
end 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, Tor us
to think that ours is the only world lit Tor
US to stay In.
One of Gu. first reaizations IN getting
out of this world, think, will be that In
this world we were very much pent up aud
had cramped apartments and were kept on
the limits. The most, even OF our small
world Is water, and tho 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 pneumonias and pleurisies ana con-
sumptions and apoplexies go across this
earth In flocks, in droves, Ia herds, aud 1t
Is world Of equinoxes aud cyclones aud
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 mdocean
while the great ship, the City OF God, OF
the Celestial line, goes sailing past AMI
would gladly take US up IN a lifebOat. My
Christian friends, let me tear off your de-
spondencies and frlghts about dissolution.
NV Lord commands me regarding you.
saying, "Loose him. and let him 60"
Heaven Is ninety-nve per cent. better
than this world, thousand per cent. bet
ter, a 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
a requiem, a fast day, gloom, horror,
rs compared with the poorest hour they
have had In heaven since the first tower
was built or It's first gates swung or Its
first song caroled
"Oh," you say, Chat may be true, but
am 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 tho
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 say, II fear to go because
ha f,,f, 70 Ia on full of m yafpry ~ We'll 1
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, 81 will take thes Q
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 / fold up the papers and reserve
until the next world my decision about
them. can there study all the mysteries
to better advantage. for the light will be
better and my faculties stronger, and
will ask the Christian philosophers, who
have had all the advantages of heaven for
centuries, to help me, and l may be per-
mitted myself humblyto ask the Lord, and
think th3re will be only one mystery left;
that will be how one so unworthy ms myself
got into such an enraptured place.
The only part OF the journey | made
years ago to Palestine that l really dread
ed was the landing at Joppa. That Is the
port Of entrance for the Holy Land, and
or people cannot land at 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
misstroke OF an oarsman or an unexpected
wave has sometimes been fatal, and
hundreds have persisted along those
reefs. Besides that, rs we left Port
Said the evening before, an old. trav-
sler said: 1.-THE wind Is just right 10
give you rough landing at Joppa; indeed
[ think you will not be able to land at ALL"
The fact was that when our Mediterranean
steamer dropped anchor near Joppa and
we put out for shore In the small boat, the
water was as still as though it Lad been
sound asleep hundred years, and We
landed as easily as l entered this pulpit.
Well, your fears have pictured for you an
appalling arrival at the end OF your voyage
OF life, and they say that the seas will run
high and that the breakers will swallow
you up, or that II you reach Canaan at all
1t will be very rough landing.
The very opposite will be true IL you
have the eternal God for your portion.
Your Decentralization for the promised
Palestine. Christ will meet you far out at
sea and pilot you into complete safety, and
you will land with q hosanna on one side
Of you and halleluiah on the other.
Land aheadl" It's fruits are waving
Der the hill OF fadeless green
And the living waters lavipg
Shores where heavenly forms are seen.
Rocks and storms I'll fear no more
When on that eternal shore.
Drop the anchor, furl the sail
~, 20 xpifnin ba yaIlt