Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1888-10-06

unlocked a handcuff, quicker than the bay
onets Of revolution pried open the
BastiIe you may be liberated and made
free SON or a free daughter of God. You
have only to choose between serfdom and
emancipation, between chain and coronet,
between Satan and God. Make up your
mind and make it up quick When
the King of Sparta had crossed the
Hellespont and was about to march through
Thrace. he sent word to the people in the
different regions asking them whether he
should march through their countries as
friendr answered most of the regions, but
the King Of Macedon replied: II will take
time to consider it" "Then,n said the
King CT Sparta: "Let him consider it,
but meantime, we march-we march"
So Christ, orr King. gives us our choice
between his friendship and his frown, and
many Of us have long been considering what
we had better do; but meantime He marches
on. and our opportunities are marching by.
And we shall be the loving subjects OF His
reign or the victims Of our own obduracy.
So, urge you to precipitancy. rather than
slow deliberation. and l write all over your
soul the words of Christ saw inscribed on the
monument OF Princess Elizabeth in the Isle
of Wight the words to which her index
finger pointed in the open Bible when she was
found dead in her bed after a lifetime Of
trouble: Come unto Ne, ali We who are
rest" Is there drunkar1 here, You NAV. by
the Saviour's grace. have that fire of thirst
utterly extinguished. Is there a defrauder
here? You may be maie saint. Is there
a libertine here9 You may be made as pure
as the light When minister in an outdoor
meeting in Scotland was eulogizing goodness,
there were hanging around the edge
of the audience some Of the most depraved
men and women and the minister said moth
ing about mercy for prodigals. And a de-
PRAYED woman cried out: ''Your rope is not
long enough for the like of u.s." Blessed be
God. our Gospel can fathom the deepest
depths and reach to farthest wanderings, and
here is rope that is long enough to rescue
the worst: "Whosoever will. "
But why take extreme cases. when we all
have been or are now the captives of sin and
death. And we may through the great
Emancipator drop our shackles and take a
throne You have looked at your hand and
arm only as being useful now, and curious
piece of anatomy, but there is something
about your hand and arm that makes me
think they are an undeveloped wing
And il you would know what pos
sibilities are suggested by that. ask
the eagle that has looked close into the eye
of the MONDAY sun; or ask the albatross that
has struck its claw into the black locks of the
tempest; or ask the condor that this morning
is descending to the highest peak of Chin
borazo. Your right hand and arm and your
left hand and arm. two undeveloped wings,
better get ready for the empyrean-
''Rise, my soui. and stretch thy wing,
Thy better portion trace"
There have been chains famous in the
worlds history, such as the chain which
fastened the prisoner of Chillon to the pillar,
into the staple Of which l have thrust my
hand. on the isolated rock of the Lake Of
Geneva; such as the chain which the
Russian exile c'anks on his wa to the mines
of Siberia; such as the chain which Zenobia,
the captive queen, wore when brought into
the presence of Aurelian Aye. there have
been races in chains, and nations in chains,
and there has been a world in chains: but.
thank God, the last one of them shall be
broken, and under the liberating power of
the omnipotent Gospel the shackles shall
fall from the last neck and the last arm and
the last foot. But these shattered letters
shall all be gathered up again from the dun
geoas and the warehouses. and the mines.
and the rivers and the fields, and they shall
again be welded and again strung link to link,
and polished and transformed until this world,
which has wandered off and been a recreant
world and lost world shall by that chain
be lifted and hung to the throne of God. no
longer the iron chain of oppression. but the
golden chain Of redeeming love. There let
this old ransomed world swing foreverl Roll
on We years, roll on ye days, roll on We
hours, and hasten the glorious consummationi