The Russellville Democrat., 1888-06-07

ones from under the wheels Of temptation
and sin--snatching them from under
laundering rail-trains of eternal dis
aster, bringing them up into respectabil-
| lily In this world and into glory for the
world to come. You appreciate what the
engineer did, why can you not appreciate
the grander work done by every Sabbath
school teacher this afternoon?
| OIL my friends, want to impress upon
myself and upon yourselves that 1t Is not
the number Of talents we possess, but the
use we make OF them.
God has a royal family in the world
Now. IL | should ask:
ssWho are the royal families of his
tory?, you would say: blouse Of Haps-
burg, house of Stuarts, house Of Bour-
bons.v They lived in palaces and had
great equipages. But who is the Lords
royal family? Some of them may serve
you In the household, some of them are In
unlighted garrets, some OF them via
walk this afternoon down the street, on
their arm basket Of broken food;
some OF them are in the almshouse, de-
| spised and rejected Of men; yet in the
last great day while it will be found that
some OF us who Jared sumptuously every
day are hurled back into discontinue,
there are the lame that will take the prey.
One step further; There are great
many people discouraged about getting to
Heaven. You are brought up in good
| families, you had Christion parentage;
but you frankly tell me that You are q
thousand miles away from the right
track.
My brother, you are the one want to
fn4 an r.
| ing for you. / will tell you how you got
| astray. 1t was not righteousness on your
part. 1t was perhaps through the genial
| i.y and sociality of your nature that you
| fell into sin. You wandered away from
| your duty, you unconsciously left the
house Of God; you admit the Gospel to be
true, and yet you have so grievously and
| so prolongedly wandered, you say rescue
| is impossible.
| 1t would take a week to count up the
names of those in Heaven who were on
earth worse than you tell me You are.
They went the whole round Of iniquity,
they disgraced themselves, they dis
graced their household, they despaired of
return because their reputation was gone,
their property was gone, every thing was
gone; but in some hour like this they
| heard the voice of God, and threw
themselves on the D ivine compassion, and
| they rose up more than conquerors. And
tell you there is .-.e same chance tor
| you. That is one reason why l like to
preach this Gospel, so free Gospel, SO
tremendous Gospel. It takes man all
| wrong, and makes him all right.
In former settlement where preached
| member Of my congregation quit the
house of God, quit respectable circles,
went into all styles of sin, and was slain
| of his iniqnity. The day for his burial
| came, and his body was brought to the
house of God. Some of his comrades
who had destroyed him were overheard
| along the stree t, on the way to the burial,
saying: "Come, let US go and hear Tai.
mage damn this old sinnerp,' OIL had
nothing but tears for the dead, and had
| nothing but invitations for the Twin
| You see / could not do otherwise.
| s'Christ Jesus came to seek and save that
| which was lost.' Christ in His dying
prayer said s'Father, forgive them"
| and that was prayer for you and for me.
| Oh! start on the road to Heaven to-day.
You are not happy. The thirst of your
soul will never be slaked by the fountains
of sin. You turn everywhere but to God
for help. Right where you are, call on
| Him. He knows you, He knows all about
you, He knows all the odds against which
| you have been contending in life. Do not
90 to Him with q long rigmarole of
prayer, but just look up and say: ''Helpi
helpl"
But you say: "My hand trembles so
from my designations, / can't even take
hold of a hymn-book TO sing" Do not
worry about that, my brother; / will give
youa hymn at the close so familiar you
can sing it without book. But you say:
81 have s1ch terrible habits on me,
can't get rid of them" My answer is,
Almighty grace can break up that habit
and will break it up. But you say:
"The wrong did was to one dead and
in Heaven now, and / can't correct that
wrong"
You can correct it. By the grace of
God, go into the presence of that one, and
the apologies you ought to have made on
earth make in Heaven.
"Ohw says some man, ''if 1 should try
to do right, if l should turn away from my
evil doing unto the Lord, l would be
jostled, l would be driven back, nobody
would have any sympathy for me-"
You are mistaken. Here in the presence
of the church on earth aud in Heaven, /
give you to-day the right hand of Chris
to preach this, and He sent you here to
hear this
Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the I'M
righteous man his thoughts and let him return
unto the Lord, who will have mercy, and unto
our God, who will abundantly pardon.
Though you may have been the worst
sinner, you may become the best saint,
and in the great Day OF Judgment it will
be found that ''where sin abounded, grace
does much more abound" and while the
spells of an everlasting kingdom are be-
ing awarded for your pursuit it will be
found that the lame took the prey.
Blessed be God that we are, this Sabbath,
one week nearer the obliteration of all the
Inequalities of this life and all its dis
quietudes.
Years ago, on a boat on the North
River, the pilot gave very sharp ring to
the bell for the boat to slow up. The en-
gineer attended to the machinery, and
then he came up, with some alarm, on
deck to see what was the matter. He saw
it was a moonlight night and there were
no obstacles in the way. He went to the
pilot and said:
"Why did you ring the bell in that wayt
Why do you want to stop, there's nothing
the mattersr And the pilot said to him:
'There is a mist gathering on the river;
don't you see that? And there is night
gathering darker and darker, and can't
see the way"
Then the engineer, looking around and
seeing it was a bright moonlight, looked
into the face of the pilot and saw that he
was dying, and then that he was dead.
God grant that when our last moment
comes we may be found at our post doing
our whole duty, and when the mists of the
river Of death gather on onr eyelids may
the good pilot take the wheel from our
hands and guide us into the calm harbor
of eternal restl
Drop the anchor, furl the sail,
am safe within the vale.