The Brookhaven leader., 1889-08-08

itecture OF the whole universe, spanning
the dark gulf between sin and righteous
ness, and all God asks you is to walk
across it; and you start, and you come to
it and you stop, and you go little way on
and you stop, and you fall back, and you
experiment.
You say, "How do know that bridge
will hold mep instead of marching on
with firm step, asking no questions, but
feeling that the strength of the eternal
God is under you. Oh, was there ever
prize proftered so cheap as pardon and
Heaven are offered to you? For how
much? A million dollars? 1t is certainly
worth more than that. But cheaper than
that you can have it. Ten thousand doll
larsp Less than that. Five thousand
dollars? Less than that One dollarf
Less than that. One farthing? Less than
that without money and without
price," No money to pay. No journey
to take. No penance to suffer. Only Just
one decisive action of the soul:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
Shall l try to tell you what it is to be
saved! can not tell you. No man, no
angel can tell you. But l can hint at it.
For my text brings me up TO this point.
Thou shalt be saved" 1t means a hap
py life here and a peaceful death and
blissful eternity. 1t is a grand thing to
go to sleep at night and to get up in the
morning, and to do business all day feel
ing that all is right between my heart and
G. cd. No accident, no sickness, no perse-
cution, no peril no sword can do me any
permanent damage. l am forgiven
child of God, and He is bound to see mo
through. The mountains may depart,
the earth may burn, the light of the stars
may be blown out by the blast OF the
judgment hurricane; but life and death,
things present and things to come, are
mine. Yea, further than that-it means
peaceful death.
Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Sigourney, DR..
Young and almost all the poets have said
handsome things about death. There is
nothing beautiful about it. When we
stand by the white and rigid features Of
those whom we love, and they give no
! answering pressure of the hand and no
returning kiss of the lip, we do no. want
any body poetizing around about us.
Death is loathsomeness, and midnight,
and the wringing of the heart until the
tendrils snap and curl in the torture, un-
less Christ should be with us. confess
ror or death, unless Christ shall be with
me. would rather go down into cave
of wild beasts or jungle of reptiles than
into the grave unless Christ goes with
me. Will you tell me that l am to be
carried out from my bright home and put
away in the darkness? l can not bear
| darkness. At the first coming of the
evening must have the gas lighted, and
| the further on in life | get the more
| like to have my friends about me.
And am to be put off for thousands of
years in a dark place with no one to
| speak to? When the holidays come and
| the gifts are distributed, shall add no
| Joy to the Merry Christmas" or the
| ''Happy New Year?" All, do not point
| down to the hole in the ground, the grave,
| and call it beautiful place. Unless
| there be some supernatural illumination
| l shudder back from it. My whole nat
ure revolts at it. But now this glorious
| lamp is lifted above the grave, and all
| the darkness is gone, and the way Is
| clear. look into ii now without single
shudder. Now my anxiety is not about
death; my anxiety is that l may live
| Alright, for l know that if my life is con-
sistent when l come to the last hour, and
these hands with which beg for your
eternal salvation to day are folded over
the still heart then | shall only begin to
live.
To be saved is to wake up in the pres
ence of Christ. You know when Jesus
was upon earth how happy He made every
house He went into and when He brings
us up to His house in Heaven how great
shall be our glee. His voice has more
music in it than is to be heard in all the
oratorios of eternity.
Talk not about banks dashed with ef-
florescence. Jesus is the chief bloom OF
Heaven. We shall see the very face that
beamed sympathy in Bethany. and take
the very hand that dropped its blood from
the short beam of the cross. Oh, want
to stand in eternity with Him. Toward that
harbor l steer. Toward that goal l run.
/ shall be satisfied when / awake in His
likeness.
oh, broken hearted men and women,
how sweet it will be in that good land to
pour all of your hardships and bereave-
ments and losses into the loving ear of
Christ, and then have Him explain why it
was best for you to be widowed, and why
| it was best for you to be tried, and have
him point to an elevation proporti onate
to your disquietude here saying:
''You suffered with me on earth; come
up now and be glorified with me in
Heaven"
Some one went into house where there
had been a good deal of trouble and said
| to the woman there:
"You seem to be lonely"
"Yes," she said, II am lonely"
"How many in the family:"
"Only myself"
"Have YOU had any childrenm
81 had seven children"
"Where are they"
Gone"
"All gomez"
"All"
"All dead?"
GAIL"
Then she breathed long sigh into the
| loneliness. and said: ''Oh, sir, l have
| been a good mother to the grave"
And so there are hearts here that are
| utterly broken down by the bereavements
of life. l point you to-day to the eter-
| nal balm of Heaven. Are there any here
| that | am missing this morning? oh,
you poor, waiting maid! your hearts
sorrow poured in no human ear, lonely
| and sad! how glad you will be when
| Christ shall disband all your sorrows and
crown you queen unto God and the Lamb
| forever! Aged men and women, fed by His
love and warmed by the grace for three
score years and ten! will not your
decrepitude change for the leap
| of a hart when you come to look face to
| face upon Him whom, having not seen,
| will ha thu Gond Shan