The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1900-05-31

vision. I am with neither party. In
stead of revision want substitution.
was sorry to have the question dis
turbed at all. The creed did nye min !
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 imperfections of
that creed-and everything that man
fashions is imperfect-let us put the
old creed respectfully aside and get
. brand new one.
What q time we have had with the
dogmatics, the apologetics and the
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-
ieve in the sovereignty of God and be-
lieve in mans free agency, but no one
can harmonic the two. It is not neces-
sary that we harmonic 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 Paurs 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 they are. 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
I 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 impregnable against infidel-
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 for
people to get into the kingdom of
God. Do not hinder people by the
idea that they may not have been
elected. Do not tag on to the one es-
sential of faith in Christ any of tho
innumerable nonessentials. A man
who heartily accepts Christ is
Christian, and the man who does not
accept Him is not a Christian, and
that is all there is of it. He need not
believe in election or reprobation. He
need not believe in the eternal gen.
Grafton of the Son. He need not be-
lieve in everlasting punishment. He
need not believe in infant baptism.
He need not believe in plenary in
spiration. Faith in Christ is the cri-
terion, is the test, is the pivot, il the
indispensable.
But there are those who would add
unto the tests rather than subtract
from them. There are thousands who
would not accept persons into church
membership if they drink wine of if
they smoke cigars or if they attend
the theater or if they play cards or
If they drive fast horse. But do not
substitute tests which the Bible does
not establish. There is one passage Of
Scripture wide enough to let all in
who ought to enter and to keep out
all who ought to be kept out: BE
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ and
thou shalt be saved" Get mans
heart right, and his life will be right.
But now that the old creeds have been
put under public scrutiny, something
radical must be done. Some would
split them, some would carve them,
some would elongate them, some
would abbreviate them. At the pres
ent moment and in the present shape
they are hindrAnce. Lazarus is alive,
but hampered with the old grave
clothes. If you want one glorious
church, free and unincumbered, take
of the cerements of old ecclesiastical
vocabulary. Loose her, and let her 90!
Again, there are Christians who are
under sepulchral shadows and fears
and hoppled ny doubts and fears and
sins long ago repented of. What they
need is to understand the liberty OF
the sons of God. They spend more
time under the shadow of Sinai than
at the base of Calvary. They have
been singing the only poor hymn that
Newton ever wrote:
IT'S point I 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 you
not find out? Go to work for God
and you will very soon find out. The
man who is all the time feeling his
pulse and looking at his tongue to see
whether it is coated il morbid and
cannot be physically we'll The doctor
| will say: 'Go out into the fresh all
and into active life and stop thinking
of yourself, and you will get well and
strong" So there are people who are
watching their spiritual symptoms
and they call it determination, anl
they get weaklier and sicklier in thei1
4