Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-20

wonderful now" is more shOrtlived than
they. 1t is flash, a stroke, glance.
Its cradle is its grave. IL men catch 1t
at all it Is with quick clutch. Millions Of
men have lost their soul immortal because
they did not understand the momentum
aud the ponderosity Of that one word.
All the strategic powers OF he'll are ex-
erted in trying to subtract from the
energy and emphasis Of that word. They
say it is only a word Of three letters,
While there is better word of eight let
ters-"tO-morrOw." They say: Throw
away that small word and take this other
grand ones" and so men say, "Give us
Tomorrow and take away from us
now and between those two words
is the Appian Way of death. and n great
multitude throng that road, jOstling and
elbOwing each other, Fastening on swifter
and swifter to die. For how much would
you walk the edge Of the roof OF your
house? For how much would you come
out on the most dangerous peak Of
the Matterhorn and wave your capS You
say: "NO money could induce me to do
it." And yet You stand with one foot on
IA crumbling moment and the other foot
lifted, not knowing where YOU will put it
down, while the distance between you and
the bottom Of the depth beneath you no
plummet can measure, no arithmetic cal
culate, no wing of lightning cleave. And
yet the Bible tells us that unless a man
has new heart he cannot get into heaven,
and many are not seeking for that new
heart. In Mexico sometimes the ground
suddenly opens, and man standing near
the gap can see down an appalling dis
lance, but oh, if now at your feet there
should open tue Chasms OF the lost world,
how you would fling yourself back and
cry: "GOd save me-nOw now. now"
| greet you, my brother, in the very gate
of eternity. Some of us may live a longer
and some a shorter time; but at the long
est lie is so short that | feel we all stand
on the do0rsill of the great future. The
next step-all the angels of God cannot
undo the consequences. VIII your
exit from this life be a rising
or falling? The righteous 90
ing spirits meet them. The doors of Par
adise open to receive them. Up! up! up!
Oh, what a grand thing it is to die with
strong faith in God like that which Stone
wall jackson had when in his expiring
moments he said: Let us cross over the
river and lie down under the shade" But to
leave this world unpreparedly is falling
falling from God, falling from hope, fall
ing from peace, falling from heaven
swiftly falling, wildly falling, forever
falling. So it was with ore who had been
hat omitted all preparation for the future
world, and had come down to his last
hour He said to his wife, seated by his
bedside: son. don't talk to me about
pains ii is the mind, woman; it is the
mind. or all the years of my life | never
lived one minute for heaven. 1t is awful
ly dark here" he whispered, sit is awfully
dark. | seem to stand on the slippery
edge of a great gulf. ! shall fall. | am
fol A. a.g,.3
man tumbles over n pTecipice, he expired.
Wise for this world, about all the matters
of his immortal soul he was his life long
PLAYING the fool.
| will take a particular case and ask
what You think about that case. He has
been all his life amid Bibles and churches
80 that he knows his duty. Christ has Of
fered to do all for that man that divine
Savior can offer to do for q dying soul.
Heaven has been offered him, yea, been
pushed upon him, and yet he has not &C
cepted it, and now he is deliberately al
lowing his chances Of life to go away from
him. What do you say OF that one? Hal
lucinated," says one; 'NonOmaniacal,"
says another; playing the fool" says
another. On, how many there are taking
Just that position! There is such thing
al pyrOmania, an insanity which dispOses
one TO destroy buildings by fire; but who
would have thought that there was a
pyrOmania of the immortal nature, and
that any one could be so struck through
with that insanity as to have desire and
disposition to consume the soul?
Awake, man! Awake, woman! from
the phantasia, real or affected. Take
Christ. Escape for eternity. just see
what has been done for you. Lift the
thorny cap from the brow of Jesus and
see the price that was paid for your
Liberation. Look at the side and see
round and round, amid broken arteries,
the blood rushing forth in awful sacrifice
for your SINS. Oh, wrap those bare and
mutilated feet of the dying Lord in your
LAP, for they were torn in a hard tramp
for your soul, Oh, for tears to weep over
this laceratiOn OF Christ. Oh, for broken
heart to worship him. Oh, for an omni-
potent impulse strong enough to throw
us all down at the feet of a cruclfed
and risen Jesus. We must repent. We
must believe. We must be saved.
cannot consent to lose my own soul /:
| cannot consent to have others lose their
souls. Come with me, and as in this
summer time we 20 down to the beach
and battle in the waters, so now let us
Join hands and wade down into the sum-
merry sea of Gods forgiveness. Roll over
us, tides of everlasting love! Roll over
us! Dear Lord, we knock now at the door
of mercy, not as the demented knock, not
knowing what they want, but knocking at
the door of mercy because we want 10
come in, while others run their meaning
less hands up and down the panels and
scrabble on the gate In the presence of
God, and men, and angels, and devils,