The Washington weekly post., 1900-12-18

heart accepts Christ Is saved.
II believe IN both the Heidelberg and
Westminster catechisms and / wish you
all did: hut you may believe in nothing
they contain except the one idea. that
Christ came 10 save sinners. and that you
are one of them, aad you are instantly
rescued. II you can come in on the grand
old ship, / would rather have you get
aboard, but II you can only md a piece OF
wood as long as the human body. or a
piece as wide as the outspread human
arms, and either of them IS piece of the
cross come in on that piece. Tens OF
thousands Of people are to-day kept out u
the Kingdom Of God because they cannot
believe everything
Il am talking with man thoughtful
about his soul who has lately Travelled
through New England and passed tie
night at Andover. He says 10 me: I can
not believe uhat in this life the destiny is
irrevoeably fixed: think there viii be an
ether opportunity of repentance after
death. l say TO him: NJ brother, what
has that 20 do with you? Don't you real
ize that the man who waits for another
chance after death, when he has a good
chance before death, is a stark fool? Had
not you better take the plank that Is
thrown TO you now and head for shore,
rather than wait for plank that may by
invisible hands be thrown to you after
you are dead? Do as you please, but as
for myself, with pardon for all my sins
offered me now, and all the joys OF time
and eternity offered me now, l instantly
take them, rather than run the risk of
such other chance as wise men think they
can peel off or twist out of a Scripture
passage that has for all the Christian
centuries been interpreted another way
You say: L do not like Princeton theology,
or New Haven theology, or Andover theol-
osy.' / do not ask you on board either of
these great men-Of-war, their portfolios
| filled with the great siege guns of &C.
clesiastical battle. But l do ask you to
| take the one plank of the Gospel that you
do believe in and strike out Tor the pearl
strung beach OF heaven.
The Main and Only Vital Question
Says some other man: would attend
to religion If | was quite sure about the
doctrine Of election and free agency, but
| that mixes me all up.' Those things used
| to bother me, but 1 have no more 1er-
| plexity about them, for / say TO myself,
II l love Christ and live a good, Fonest
useful life am elected to be saved and
! If do not love Christ, and live a bad life.
l will be ruined and all the theological
| seminaries of the universe cannot make 1t
any different l fioundered along while in
| the sea Of sin and doubt, and it was as
rough as the Mediterranean on the four
teenth night, when they threw the grain
overheard, but / saw there was mercy for
a sinner. and that plank l took, and
have been warming myself by the bright
| fire on the shore ever since.
while L am talking 10 another man
about his soul he tells me: 4 do not be-
come a Christian because l do not believe
! there is any place of future punishment
All don't you? Do all the people of all
! beliefs and no belief at ALL of good morals
and bad morals, go straight to a happy
/ heaven? Do the holy and the debaucned
! have the same destinatiOn2 AT midnight,
/ in a hallway the owner of a house and
| burglar meet; they both fire. and both are
wounded, but the burglar dies in five min
GteS and the owner of the house lives
week after; will the burglar be at the gate
| of heaven, waiting. when the HORSEPOWER
comes in? VIII the Gebauchee and the
/ libertine go right in among the families OF
| heaven? L wonder If Herod is playing on
| the banks of the river OF life with the
children he masSacred. l wonder II
| Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes Booth
| are up there shooting at mark. L do
| not now cOntrovert IL, although | must
| say that for such a miserable heaven /
| nave no adTnlratlon
seek Christ in Your Own WAY.
"But the Bible does not say: Believe in
! perdition and be saved Because all are
| saved according TO your theory, that
| ought not to keep you from loving and
/ serving Christ. Do not refuse TO come
| ashore because all the others, according
to your theory. are going to get ashore.
| You may have a different theory about
| chemistry, about astronomy, about the al
mosphere, from that which others adopt,
/ but you are not, therefore. hindered from
action. Because your theory Of light is
/ different from others, do not refuse 10
| open your eyes. Because your theory Of
air is different you do not refuse to
/ breathe. Because your theory about the
| stellar system is different. you do not re-
| fuse to acknowledge the north star Why
| should the fact that your theological the
cries are different hinder you from acting
| upon what you know? If you have not a
/ whole ship fastened in the theological dry
/ docks 10 bring you to wharfage, you have
at least plank. Some on broken pieces
of the ship
Z" But | don't believe in reYivals" Then
/ go TO your room, and all alone, with your
1 door locked, give your heart TO God and
/ join some church where the thermometer
/ never gets higher than fifty in the shade.
But ! do not believe in baptism"
Come in without and settle that matter
| afterward But there are so many inc0n-
/ sstent Christiansr Then come in and
/ show them by a good example how pro-
! fessors should act. But | don't believe
| in the Old Testament" Then come in on
/ the New. But | don't like the Book Of
| Romansr Then come in on Matthew
Z "a fhr4n
I whom you admit 10 be the Saviour Of the
J lost, because you cannot admit other
/ things, you are like a maa out there ia
/ that Mediterranean tempest, and tossed
/ In the Melita breakers, refusing 20 come
/ ashore until he can mend the pieces OF tn
1 broken ship. / hear him say. i won't 20
/ IN on any OF these planks until / knew
/ in what part OF the ship they belong
When | can get the Windlass IN the right
Z place, and the sails set, ard that keel
piece where il belongs and that floor
/ timber right and these ropes untangl d
/ ! will go ashore. | am ar Old sailor. and
+ know all about ships for forty years. and
/ as soon as ! can get the vessel afiOat IN
good shape ] Will come in A man driff-
/ inc by on piece OF wood Oyerhears him
anc says: You viii drown before you gel
I That ship reconstructed. Better 90 as |
am doing. ! know nothing about ships
and never saw one before / came on board
I this, and | cannot swim a stroke. but I
an going ashore on this shIvered timber
/ The man N The Ofilng. while tryfag to
/ mend his ship, goes down The man who
trusted % the plank h saved. on no
brother. let your smashed-uD system. u
theology 90 % the bottom. while YOU
( come In on splintered spar, Some on
+ broken pieces Of the ship
You may get all your difficulties settled
/ as Garibaidi. the magnetic Italian got MS
1 gardens made. When the war between
I Austria and Sardinia broke out ne was
( living at CABRERA. very rough and uncul-
/ ,ured isia'-i home. But he went forth
/ with h.s sword 10 achieve the liberation
/ of Naples and Sicily. and gave 500 90
/ people free government, under Victor I'm.
/ manuel GariDaldl. after being absent two
/ years from Caprera. returned and when
ne approached II. he found that his home
/ had. BY Victor Emmanuel, as a su-pri=e
been Edeniged. Trimmed ghFubbery had
/ taken the place GO thOrny thickets. gar
| Sens the place OF barrenness and the old
/ rOokery Ia which he once lived had given
/ way 20 2 pictured mansion. And I tel
! YOU II YOU VIII come and enlist under The