The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-05-19

brother, you did pray. Every tear Of re-
pentance upon your check was q prayer.
The tirsttcar that fell, God sent to catch;
and tho angel swept down and caught
that tear, and with the glittcring treasure
swept back to the throne, and all tho hcav-
enly host cried out as they saw the treas
ure: "Belold! they prayl Behold! they
prayr'
oh, come with me into the ark. Come
into the ark, and bring your children
with you. Which one Of them can you
spare? Will it be the youngest? Will
it be the Oldest? Oh, no! You cannot
spare one Of them. 4 gentleman on
! board ono of tho western steamers saw n
poor man OIL deck, with W little girls.
He said: "You seem to be Il very poor
man." ayes; If there is in the world
one man poorer than I, God help him y
The gentleman, who was ~ benevolent
man, said: Il will take M of those chill
dren and adopt her, and bring her up ina
Christian family. and give her half my
estate, and that will be a great relief" y
relief! will it be Il relief to have my heart
torn out and my arms from my body =?
A relief! What do you mean? No; L
cannot afford to spare one" "Coinc thou
and all thy house into the ark y
"Father," said u young man in Phlla-
delphia, when I was living there, you
gave me great wealth and asplendid edn-
cation, and you started me well in every
respect in life, except one. You never
taught Inc how to die. And now lam go
ing to die, and l am going out into the
darkness" 20, come thou, and all thy
house, into the ark" What will you in
the day of judgment say. when God asks
you about your children? "Whcrc is
Mary? Where is George? Were j.
Henry? Where are those children ?"
calling them by name. Will they ALL be
in the ark?
Iwish, tonight, that this whole audi
ence, eli masse, could pass into the king
dom of God. l would not be satisfied
with the salvation of fifty, or a hundred,
or q thousand people there. Wo must
have them all in the ark.
Confronting you, perhaps, only once in
all my life, | cannot let go your hands,
my friends, Tonight, until you are i'll the
ark. Suppose that one of these young
men in the aisle should start for Christ in
Heaven. That young MAJ thinks he has
no influence; his example will take eight
cen or twenty young men into the ark.
If he never said one word, they would
hear of it this week, or the next week.
1t would thrill through their souls; and
there is something so grand, so magniti-
cent about a young man cOnsecrating
himself to Christ that it is irresistible. III
he would but start for Christ, how many
Of his friends would start with him.
Sometime ago, eight young men OH the
Potomac river went out to break the
Lords day, as full of w~ickcdncss as could
be. They started out to break the Sab
bath, and as they passed by tho fields
along the Potomac, the bell of n church
struck up, and one yonng man named
George, siad: 'There is the bell of Il
church; I am going" The young men
said: becoming a Christian! going to
church! You never go to church, do
you? If you are going to church, here
we are at the Potomac river and we will
baptize YOU" and they seized him to
throw him in the river. The young mar
said: "My lads, wait; AM in your power
and you may put me in the river, but
hold on and I will tell you II thing.
My mother was an invalid and was never
out of bed. When I was about to leave
no ne she said: "Georgo, when you get
ISVVl ulIlS pbSNSb bpg S'liiS ~ II 6So
my blessing And" said George, telling
the story to those Young men, after got
the things packed up, I went into tho
room where my mother was, and [ re-
member she did look so sick, and I saw
the blue veins in her hands. l remember
It rs though it W re yesterday, and sho
said; George, kneel down by my bed,
and take my dying blessing" And [
knclt down, and she put that poor, sick
hand o my head, and said: "George, you
will be out in the world. You will be
tried; you will find agreat many troubles
and these are my dying words: when
sinners Gntice thee, consent thou not
And l am going to church" and he start
ed. Some Of the young men in derision,
and some solemnly affected, followed.
They got to the village church; some
went in, and some fingered around the
door. The truth went to Georges heart.
He submitted to Christ, and anchored in
the kingdom of God that day. The 9TH
crs, that morning, or within u week or
two, all became Christians, and to-day
six are in heaven and two are standing in
high positions in church and state; and
all because II young man did his duty.
Oh, to start tonight for the kingdom OF
God. The door Of mercy is wide open
Ilo", allCI " WI bS A''NS =
have seen some men reject the Offers OF
mercy until it seemed to me I could sec
the doors Of mercy close. They ste o
wide open, the gates did, and they re-
fused the offers of grace; tho door kept
closing, closing. until the ~door-shut!
I was told that 1 should be in the tower
of London when the clock struck-the
tower of st. Paul's cathedral. They said
the effect was so peculiar. So I calculu-
ted the time when the bell struck. 1t
struck three. It struck one with great
power; then there was a long cessation,
and it seem as if it would never strike
again, but after q great while the brnZen
tongue came up and struck two; then
there was u long cessation, and it seemed
it would nOt strike again-it seemed as il
the clock had stopped; but after awhile it
came up again and struck three; and l
thought to myself, ooh, how like the
passing away of the day of mercy. 1t
goes slowly but certainly, and almost i'm
pcrceptibly." The clock. strikes one,
day Is gone forever. But yo; men post
ponc and postpone, and adjourn and adj
ijourn the great theme Of salvation, not
realizing that tho day Is going, and the
clock strikes four, five, six. Oh, if they
would only attend to that; but they do
not realize that the day is going, and that
opportunities are perishing; and tho
clock strikes seven, eight. If the clock
strikes twelve, 1t is too late. The day OF
mercy is going, going, going. The clock
strikes nine. Oh, if it struck twelve
Ten, eleven! God forbid it should strike
twelve until We have entered tho king
dom 1t has not struck twelve! Now is
the accepted time; now Is the day of sal
Walton.
"To-day, If you would hear his voice,
Now is the time to make your choice.
Say, will you to Il Zion go7
Will you have our Christ or MOP"
Como into tho ark!
Come into the ark, young and old, to-
night, tonight! Let that be tho record,
that all of you come into the ark. There
is a day coming when all this scene OF
tonight will be rehearscd. 1t Is written
now in q ponderous tome; it is known
Just Who are here who sat, who stood who
half entered the doorway. who were out
side, and who could not gain an entrance,
but who tried to come in. All our names
tonight are written on that tome, that
ponderous tome, by tie eternal recorder.
Then will be shown in a few minutes the
result Of this Sabbath night in my soul.
I nm interested in your salvation of all
people. My first interest must be in my
own salvation; yours, In your salvation
above all. We either accept Christ or re-
ject him. We go into the ark or stay out.
Hank! I hear the sound as of the rush
ing of chariot wheels, or as the SWOOp of