The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-04-15
ATLANTA, GA, April 4, 1880.

of the Governor of Georgia that Dr. Tai
mage came South. DR.. and Mrs. Tai
mage are guests at the Governors man
sion, His sermon was as follows:
tUBJECT-"THE BROAD GOSPEL"
Text-Genesis 79: Come thou and
all thy house into the ark"
We do not need the Bible to prove the
deluge. The geologist's hammer announ'
Ces it. Sea shells and marine formation
on top of some of the highest mountains
of the earth, prove that at some time
the waters washed over the tops of the
Alps and the Andes. In what way the
catastrophe came we know not; whether
by the stroke of a comet, or by flashes OF
lightning, changing the air into water,
or by a stroke of the hand of God, like
the stroke of the axe between the horns
of the OK. The eartn staggered. To
meet the catastrophe God ordered a
great boat built. 1t was vast structure,
probably as large as two or three Cunard
steamers. 1t was the Great Eastern of
olden time.
The ship is done, the door is open, the
lizards crawl in, the cattle walk in, the
grasshoppers hop in, the birds fly in.
The invitation goes forth to Noah Come
thou and all thy house into the ark.
Just one human family embark on the
st. ange voyage, and hear tie door go
shut. A great storm sweeps along the
hills, and bends the cedars until all the
branches snap in The gale, There is a
moan in the wind like unto the moan of
a dying world. The blackness of the
heavens is shattered by the fare of the
lightnings that look down into the wa
ters, and throw a ghastliness on the face
OF the mountains. How strange it looks!
How suffocating the air seems The big
drops Of water plash upon the upturned
faces of those who are watching the tenn
pest. Crash 60 the rocks in Convulsion
and boom go the bursting heavens The
inhabitants of the earth, instead of fly
ing to house.tops and mountain tops, as
men have fancied, sat down in dumb
white horror to die. For when God
grinds mountains to pieces, and let's the
ocean slip into cable, there is no place
for men to fly to. See the ark pitch and
tumble in the surf, while from its win
dows the passengers look out upon the
shipwreck of race and the carcasses Of
a dead world. Woe to the mountainsl
Woe to the sea
am no alarmist. When, on the Goth
of September, after the wind has for
three days been blowing from the north.
east, you prophesy that the equinoctial
storm is coming you simply state fact
not to be disputed. Neither am l an
alarmist when 1 say that storm is com.
ing, compared with which Noah'5 deiuge
was but an April shower, and that it is
wisest and safest for you and | to get
safely housed for eternity. The invita-
tion that went forth to Noah sounds in
our ears: Come thou and all thy house
into the ark"
Well, how did Noah and his family get
into the ark? Did they climb in at the
window or come down the root? No,
they went through the door, And just
80, if we get into the ark Of Gods mer.
cy, it will be through Christ, the door
The entrance to the ark of old must have
been very large. We know it was, from
the fact that there we're monster animals
in the earlier ages; and in order to get
them into the ark two and two, accord
ing to the Bible statement, the door
must have been very wide and hig,,. So
the door into the mercy of God is a large
door We 20 in, not two aud two, but by
hundreds and thousands and millions
Yea all the nations of the earth may 90
in, ten millions abreast.
The door Of the ancient ark was in the
side, So now, it is through the side of
CDrist-the pierced side, the wide.open
side, the heart side-that we enter. Ahal
The Roman soldier thrustiDg his spear
into the Savior's side, expected only to
let the blood out but he opened the way
to let the world in. Oh, what broad
gospel to preach If man is about to
give an entertainment he issues one or
two hundred invitations, carefully put
up and directed to the particular persons
whom he wishes to entertain. But God,
our Father, makes banquet, and goes
out to the front door Of heaven, and
stretches out His hands over land and
sea, and with voice that penetrates the
Hindoo jungle, and the Greenland ice
castle, and the Brazilian grove, and En-
glish factory, and American home, cries
out, Come! for all things are now
ready?' 1t is a wide door! The old
cross has beer taken apart, and its two
pieces are stood up for the door posts, 80
far apart that all the world can come in.
Kings scatter treasures on days of great
rejoicing. So Christ, our King, comes
and scatters the jewels of heaven. Row.
land Hill said he hoped to get into hea'
ven through the creviCes of the door,
but he was not obliged thus to 90 in. At
ter having preached the gospel in Surrey
Chapel, going up toward heaven, the
gatekeeper cried: Lift up your heads
ye everlasting gates, and let this man
come in!" The dying thief went in.
Richard Baxter and Robert Newton
went in. Europe, Asia Africa North
and South America may yet 90 through
this wide door without crowding. Hol
every one-all conditions, all ranks, all
peoplesl Luther said this truth was
worth carrying on ones knees, from
Rome to jerusalem; but think it worth
carrying all around the globe, and around
the heavens, that "God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
should not perish, but have everlasting
life" Whosoever will, let him come
through the large door. Archimedes
wanted fulCrum on which to place his
lever, and he said he would then move
the world. Calvary la the f1lcrum and