The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1888-02-29
The Common Salvation.

There was once boy in Cromarty
called Hugh Miller. He was an appren-
tice mason and was taken by his mas
ter to work in quarry. One day he
happened to see a little stone, round
and rough, on the ground, and he took
his hammer and split it in two. To his
surprise and joy he beheld inside
picture of the bones of tiny fish and
the shadow of the very fish itself. 1t
had once been real fish and this stone
was its tomb. Once il lived and swan,
like other fish, in some stream. And
then, on an evil day, it was wrapped
round by dust of lime and shut in, until
the moment-hundreds perhaps thou
sands, of years after-when the Gro
marty boy brought it out into the light,
its flesh all wasted away, its bones all
turned into stone, and only shadow of
its form remaining. The boy felt as if
he had suddenly passed into fairy-land.
He could not have been more aston
ished if he had found kings palace.
Here was rough-looking pebble at his
feet, and yet inside of it was this pic
ture of the fish, silently telling the story
of its life and death. Now it is to a
little heap of pebbles like that / should
liken this Epistle of Jude, which we
have read for our lesson to-day. 1t is
rough, hard to read, hard to under
stand, part of the New Testament. 1t
is not easy reading for grown-up peo-
pie. 1t is far from easy reading TO you;
but it has many beautiful sayings in it.
1t has verse in which Jude declares
that he had given all diligence to write
unto them of the common salvation.
"The common salvation that is the
saying, which child may understand,
and in which / wish to help you to be
glad. 1t lies in the heart of this third
verse, as beautiful, as great miracle
as the picture which Hugh Miller
found in the heart of his pebble.
And it has far finer story to tell. 1t
tells the story of the good thing which
Jesus brought down from heaven.
And what it tells concerning that good
thing is that it is " common 80 the
common salvation" 1t is common to
rich and poor, to black people and
white. 1t is the one same salvation
by which everybody who will may
be saved. The saved who are now
saved who are still in the earth have
LOCh odNCu ny IL. III 10 SdlfdIlDu LOT
the whole world-for whatsoever will
have it, lie is the Savior of children
all the same as of grown-up people.
He is the common Savior-Savior for
fathers and mothers, Savior for chill
dren as well. | read not long since of
little girl of nine years old into whose
heart came this very thought. She
said to her mother one Sunday: els
Jesus a Savior for children of nine
years old?" Il" But why do you ask
such question as that?" the mother
said. Because our minister was Of
fering salvation to the big people this
morning, but he did not offer it to me. !"
My dear children, Christ is Savior for
nine years old as much as for nineteen
or ninety. He was nine years old
himself once. He is the common
Savior. He is the Savior for people who
have gray hairs and for you who have
still the flowing locks of youth. He
has salvation for boys and girls of all
ages. He has salvation for the baby in
its mothers arms. And it is this very
thing he meant when he said, " Suffer
the little children to come unto me,
and forbid them not" But you will
not always be children. Sooner than
you can imagine you will be old and
gray-haired. And it may come to be,
as you rise in years, that you shall be,
in the good providence of God, set
over homes where you will have serv-
ants under you, or over workplaces
where you will have work-people to
rule. If such lot should ever fall to
you l hope that God may give you
grace to remember what has been said
to you to-day. Do not fall into the
evil way of thinking that there is a
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