Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-06-01

arus, hobbling up the stairs OF the
tomb bound hand and foot, and the
object of this sermon Is to help free
their body and free their souls, and
shall try to obey the Masters COM
mand that comes to me and comes to
every minister of religion: "Loose
him, and let him go!"
Many are bound hand and foot by re-
| ligious creeds. Let no man misinter-
pret me as antagoniaing creeds. /
have eight or ten of them--a creed
about religion, n creed about art,
a creed about social life, creed abou
government, and so on. A creed is
something that man believes, wheth-
er il be written or unwritten. The
Presbyterian church is now agitated
about its creed. Some good men in
ii are for keeping it because it was
framed from the Nelief of John Cal
vim. Other good men in it want re-
vision. l am with neither party. In
stead of revision | want substitution.
| was sorry to have the question dis
turbed at all. The creed did not him
der us from offering the pardon and
the comfort of the Gospel to all men,
and the Westminster Confession has
not interfered with me one minute.
But now that the electric lights have
been turned on the imperfectons Of
that creed-and everything that man
fashions is imperfect-let us put the
old creed respectfully aside and get
% brand new one.
What time we have had with the
dogmatics, the apologetics and the
hermeneutics. 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 COM
petent to handle that subject was
Paul, and he would not have been COM
petent had he not been inspired. be-
lieve in the sovereignty of God and be-
lieve in mans free agency, but no one
can harmonize the two. 1t is not neces-
sary that we harmonize them. Every
sermon that | have ever heard that at
tempted such harmonization was to me
as clear as London fog, as clear as
mud. My brother of the nineteenth
century, my brother of the sixteenth
century, give us Paul's statement and
leave out your own. Better one chap
ter of Paul on that subject than all of
Calvin's institutes, able and honest and
mighty as theyiare. Do not try to meas
ure either the throne of 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 Gods eternal counsels. You
cannot explain the mysteries of Gods
government now; much less the mys.
teries of His government five hundred
quintillion years sgo.
l move for creed for all our de.
nominations made out of Scripture
quotations pure and simple. That
would take the earth for God. That
would be impregnablc against infdel
ity and Apollyonic assault. That
would be beyond human criticism
The denomination, whatever its name
be, that can rise up to that will be
the church of the millennium, will
swallow up all other denominations
and be the one that will be the bride
when the Bridegroom cometh. Let
us make it simpler and palmer foi
people to get into the kingdom ot
God. Do not hinder people by the
idea that they may not have beer
elected. Do not tag on to the one es
sential of faith in Christ any of the
innumerable nonessentials. A mar
who heartily accepts Christ is {
Christian, and the man who does moi
accept Him is not Christian, ant
that is all there is of it. lie need moi
believe in election or reprobation. Ii,
need not believe in the eternal gen
GRAFTON of the Son. He need not be
lieye in everlasting punishment. HI
need not believe in infant baptism
He need not believe in plenary in
spiraton. Faith in Christ is the cri
terion is the test, is the pivot, is th,
indispensable.
But there are those who would ado
unto the tests rather than subtrac
from them. There are thousands wh,
would not accept persons into churcl
membership if they drink wine of j
they smoke cigars or if they attent
the theater or if they play cards o
if they drive fast horse. But do no
substitute tests which the Bible doe
not establish. There is one passage o
Scripture wide enough to let all il
who ought TO enter and to keep OIL
all who ought to be kept out: "Be
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ ant
thou shalt be saved" Get man
heart right, and his life will be right
But now that the old crceds have beel
put under public scrutiny, something
radical must be done. Some woul
split them, some would carve then
some would elongate them, som
would abbreviate them. At the pres
ent moment and in the present shap
they are hindrance. Lazarus is alive
, but hampered with the old grave
clothes. If you want one gloriou
, church, free and unincumbered, TAX
off the cerements of old ecclesiastica
, vocabulary. Loose her, and let her go
, Again, there are Christians who ar
, under sepulchral- shadows and fear
and hoppled oy doubts and fears an
, sins long ago repented of. What the
need is to understand the liberty c
the sons Of God. They spend NOR
B, time under the shadow of Sinai tina
, at the base Of Calvary. They hav
been singing the only poor hymn tina
. Newton ever wrote:
! IT'S point / long TO know
Oft 1t causes anxious thought;
: Do / love the Lord or no?
: Am / His or am / not?
. Long to know, do you? Why do yo
/. rot find out? Go to work for Got