The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-04-15

Al hh COmmhnu we DOM
Part Of the host have crossed the food
And part are crossing now"
Swing in, o, blessed dooI! unit all the
earth shall go in and live. Swing out
until all the heavens come forth TO ceIe-
brate this victory.
But further, It is door with tasten.
ings The Bible says Of Noah: "rbe
Lord shut him" A vessel without bull
warks or doors would not be a safe ves'
sci to 90 in. When Moan and his family
heard the fastening of the door of the
ark they we're very glad. Without those
doors were fastened the first heavy surge
of the sea would have whelmed them;
and they might az we'll have perlshed
outside as well as inside of the ark. The
Lord shut him in Oh, the perfect safe
ty of the ark. The surf Of the sea and
the lightnings of the sky may be twisted
into a garland of snow and tire-deep
to deep, storm to storm, darkness
to darkness-but once in the ark, all ID
well.
There comes upon the good man del
uge of financial trouble. He had bis
proceeds to lend; now be cannot borrow
q dollar. He once owned store in New
York, and had branch houses in Boston,
Philadelphia and New Orleans. He
owned four horses and employed man
to keep the dust off his coach, phaeton
carriage and curriCle; now he has hard
work to get shoes in which to walk. The
great deep of commercial disaster was
broken up, and fore, and aft and across
the hurricane deck the waves struck
him. "The Lord shut him in." A food
of domestic troubles fell on him; sick.
ness and bereavement came; the rain
pelted; the winds blew; the heavens are
afame; all the gardens of earthly de-,
light are washed away; the mountains of
ioy are buried fifteen Cubits deep. Bat,
standing by the empty crib, and in the
desolated nursery, and in the dolefuI
hall, once alive with merry voices, now
silent forever, he cried: The Lord gave,
the Lord hath taken away; blessed be
the name of she Lord TIE Lord shut
him in" All the sins of a lifetime clam
ored for his overthrow, the broken vows
and dis onored Sabbaths, the dangerous
profanities. But, looking out of the win
dow, he saw his sins sink like lead to the
bottom of the sea. The wrath of the
billows only pushed him toward heaven,
"The Lord shut him in."
The same door fastenings that kept
Noah in kept the world ou'. am glad
to know that when a man reaches heav'
en- all earthly troubles are done with
him. Here he may have it hard to get
bread for his family; there be will never
hunger any more. Here he may have
wept bitterly; there "tbe lamb that is in
the midst of the throne will lead HIM to
the living fountains of water, and God
will wipe all tears from his eyes" Here
he may have hard work to get house,
but in my Fathers house are many
mansions, and ent day never comes.
Here are deathbeds, and cotins, and
graves; there no sickness, no weary wat
ching, no choking cough, no consuming
fever, no chattering chill, no tolling bell,
no grave. The SORROWS of life may come
up and knock at the door; the perplexi'
ties of life may come up and knock at
the door, but no admittanCe. Safe for
ever! All the agony of earth in one
wave, dashing against the bulwarks of
the ship of celestial light, shall not break
them down. Howl on, ye winds, and
r ge, ye seas! "The Lord shut him in"
Oh, what a grand old doorl So wide,
so easily swung both ways, and with
such sure fastenings, No burglars key
can pick that lock. No swarthy arm of
hell can sho back that bolt | rejoice
that l do not ask you to come aboard a
crazy craft with leaky hulk, and broken
helm, and uDfastened door; but an ark
fifty cubits wide and three hundred Gu.
bits long, and door so large that the
round earth, without grazing the posts,
might be bowled in.
Now, if the ark of Christ is as grand a
place to live in, d die, and triumph,
come into the ark. Know we'll the door
that shut Noah in shut the world ou;
and though, when the pitiless storm
came pelting on theiI heads, they beat
upon the door, saying, "Let me inl Let
me inp' the door did not open. For one
hundred and twenty years they were in
yited. They expected to come in; but
the antedluvian said, I'VE must cult
vate these fields; we must be worth more
hocks of sheep and herds of cattle; we
will wait till we get little older; we'll
enjoy our old farm a little longer" But
meanwhile the storm was brewing. The
fountains IF heaven we're filling up The
pry was being placed beneath the fOun-
dations of the great deep. The last year
had come; the last month; the last week,
the la day, the last hour, tue last mo.
ment. In an awful dash an ocean drop
ped from the sky, and another rolled up
from beneath; and God rolled the earth
and sky into one wave of universal de.
struCtion.
So men now put off going into the ark
They say they will wait awhile first
They say, "You cannot expect man Of
my attainments and my position to sur
render just now, know what am do.
ing. Trust me-" After a while, one
night about II o'clock, going home, he
passes a sCafolding as a gust of wind
strikes it, and plank falls. Dead, and
outside the arkl His body is picked up,
bu his soul is not. Dead, and outside of
the arkl Or, some night ne wakes up
with distress that momentarily inCrea.
ses. The doctors come in and they give
him twenty drops, but no relief forty
drops, but no relief. No time for prayer.
The children scream, and the wife faints.
o, my God, dead and outside the ark
The world laughed to see a man go in,
and said, Here is man starting for the
ark. Why, there will be no deluge Ah,
here fellows, have you heard the news2
This man is going into the ark" Under
this artillery of scorn the good mans
resolution failed. And 80 there are hun
dreds kept ont by the fear of derision
Is it not the fear of being laughed at
that keeps you out of the Kingdom Of
God2 Which of these scorners will help
you at the las2 In the day Of eternity
will they bail you QUIZ Ah, they can
keep you out of heaven, but they can
not keep you out Of hell!
"My'soul be on thy guard,
Ten thousand foes arise
The hosts Of sin are pressing hard