The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-04-28

the death and burial of sin into spirit
ual life, but they yet have the grave
clothes on them. They are, like Lag
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
l shall try to obey the Masters COM
mand that comes to me and m to
every minister of religion: Loose
him. and let him co."
Many are bound hand and foot by re-
ligious creeds. Let no man misinter-
pref me as autagonizing creeds. l
have eight or ten of them-a creed
about religion. a creed about art.
n creed about social life, a creed abou
government. and so On. A creed is
something that a man believes, wheth-
er it be written or unwritten. The
Presbyterian church is now agitated
about its creed. Sons good men in
il are for keeping it because 1t was
framed from the belief of John Cal
vim. Other good men in it want re-
vision. | am with neither party. In
stead of revision | want substitution
| was sorry to have the question dis
turbed at all. The creed did not hin
der us from offering the pardon and
the comfort of the Gospel to all men,
and the Westminster Confession has
not interfered with me n 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
q brand new one.
What a 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. l be-
lieve in the sovereignty of God and be-
lieve in mans free agency, but no one
can harmonic the two. 1t 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 n London fog, as clear as
mud. My brother of the nineteenth
century, my brother of the sixteenth
century, give us Paul's statement ant
leave out your own. Better one chap
ter of Paul on that subject than all o
Calvin's institutes, able and honest ant
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
door of Gods eternal counsels. 70,
cannot explain the mysteries of Gods
government now; much less the mys
teries of His government five hundred
quintillion years ago.
| move for a creed for all our de
nominations made out of Scripture
quotations pure and simple. Tha'
would take the earth for God. Tha.
would be impregnable against infidel
ity and Apollyonic assault. Tha
would be beyond human criticism
The denomination. whatever its nam
be, that can rise Up to that will b.
the church of the millennium, will
swallow up all other denomination.
and be the II that will be the brid,
when the Bridegroom cometh. lie
us make it simpler and palmer TO
people to get into the kingdom o
God. Do not hinder people by TIL
idea that they may not have BEEF
elected. Do not tag on to the one es
sential of faith in Christ any of tn
innumerable nonessentials. \ MAJ
who heartily accepts Christ is
Christian. and the man who does no
accept Him is not a Christian, an,
that is all there is of it. He need no
believe in election or r%eprobation. II
need not believe in the eternal ger
GRAFTON of the Son. He need not bt
lieve in everlasting punishment. II
need not believe in infant baptism
He need not believe in plenary il
SEPARATION. Faith in Christ is the or
t%erion, is the test, is the pivot, is tn
! indispensable.
But there are those who would ad
unto the tests rather than subtra,
thNAhs ~ WI
, would not accept persons into churc
membership if they drink wine of
; they smoke cigars Or if they atter
; the theater or if they play cards
if they drive a fast horse. But do M
substitute tests which the Bible do,
+ not establish. There is one passage
Scripture wide enough to let all
who ought to enter and to keep o,
all who ought to be kept out; "B
lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ al
thou shalt be saved" Get a man
3 heart right. and his life will be RICH
= But 10Y that the old creeds have bee
put under public scrutiny, somethir
! radical must be done. Some wou
split them, some would carve theI
: some would elongate them, son
would abbreyiate them. At the pre-
, ent moment and in the present shat
they are q hindrance. Lazarus is aliy
but hampered with the old gray
clothes. If you want one gloriol
= church, free and unincumbered, tai
off the cerements of old ccclesiastic
. vocabulary. Loose her, and let her g
Again. there are Christians who a