Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-06-05

carloatuFe sofro% for sin, and they make
out an easier path than the "Pilgrim's Pro
gress" that John Bunyan dreamed Of. The
road they travel does not stop where Johns
did, at the city of Destruction, but at The
gate of the university; and l am very GER
tain that it will lot come out where Johns
did, under the shining ramparts of the ce.
lestial city. No repentance, no pardon. II
you do not, my brother, feel that you are
down in the ditch, what do you want of
Christ to lift you out? If you have no ap.
probation of the fact that you are astray,
what do you want of him who came to seek
and save that which was lost? Yonder is
the City of Paris, the swiftest OF the In
mans, coming across the Atlantic. The
wind is abaft, SO that she has not only her
engines at work, but all sails up. / am on
board the Umbria, of the Cunard Line.
The boat davits are swung around. The
boat is lowered. | get into it with red
flag, and cross over to where the City OF
Paris is coming, and wave the flag. The
captain looks off from the bridge and says
'iWhst do you want?' reply: II come
to take some of your passengers across to
The other vessel: think they will be safer
and happier thefiess,,s~ tih5is :, The captain would
look down with indignaGii1cils> and say; "Get
out of the way, or l will run you cssoos%n cossn.
And then I would back oars, amidst the
jeering of two or three hundred people
looking over the saffrail. But the Umbria
aud the City of Paris meet under different
after a while. The City of
Paris is coming out of cyclone; the life
boats are smashed; the bulwarks gone; the
vessel rapidly going down. The boatswain
gives his last whistle Of despairing com.
mand. The passengers run up and down
the deck and some pray, and all make a
great outcry. The captain says: You
have about fifteen minutes now to prepare
for the next ~orld." "No hopep sounds
from stem to to stem, aud from the ratlines
down TO ths cabin, see the distress.
am let down by the side of the Umbria. /
push off as last as can toward the sinking
City of Paris. Before come up people are
leaping into the water in their anxiety to
get to the boat, and when l have swung up
under the side of the City of Paris the
frenzied passengers rush through the gang
way, until the officers with axe and clubs
and pistols try to keep back the crowd, each
wanting bis turn to come next. There is
bat one lifeboat, and they all want to get
into it, and the cry is: "Me next!me next"'
You see the application before l make it.
AS long as a man going on il his sin feels
that all is well, that he is coming out at a
beautiful port, and has all sail set, he wants
no Christ, he wants no help, he wants no
rescue; but if under the fash of Gods con-
victiDg spirit lie shall see that by reason OF
sin he is disuasted and waterlogged, and
going down into the trough of the sea
where he cannot live, how soon he puts the
sea glass to his eye aud sweeps the horizon.
and at the first sign of help cries out: 81
want to be saved. I want to be saved now.
l wanted to b. saved forever" No sense
of danger, no application for rescue.
Oh, that Gods eternal spirit would fash
upon US a sense of our siufulness! The
Bible tells the story in letters of FIRE, but
we get used to it. We joke about sin. We
trifling thing2 Sin is vampire that is
nature. Sin? It is Bastile that nc
earthly key ever unlocked. Sin? Il is ex-
patriation from God and heaven. Sin? II
is grand larceny against the Almighty, tor
the Bible asks the question: "Wiil man
rob God?" answering it in the affirmative.
This Gospel is a writ of replevin to recover
property unlawfully detained from God.
In the Shetland Islands there is a man
with leprosy. The hollow Of the foot has
swollen until it is fiat on the ground. The
joints begin to fall away. The ankle thick.
ems until it looks like the foot of a wild
beast. A stare unnatural comes to the eye.
The nostril is CONSTRUCTED. The voice drops
to an almost inaudible hosrseness. Tuber.
cles blotch the whole body, and from them
there comes an exudation that is unbeara-
ble to the beholder. That is leprosy, and
we have all got it unless cleansed by the
grace of God. See Leviticus. See II
Kings. See Mark. See Luke. See fifty
Bible illusions and combinations.
The Bible is not complimentary in its
language. It does not speak mincingly
about our sins. It does not talk apologeti
cally. There is no vermilion in its style. II
does not cover up our transgressions with
blooming metaphor. 1t does not sing about
them in weak falsetto; but it thunders out
'sThe imagination of mans heart is evi
from his youth" "Every one has gont
back. He has altogether become filthy
He is abominable and filthy, and drinkett
in iniquity like water" And then the
Lord Jesus Christ filings down at our fee
this humiliating catalogue: "Ont of the
heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulte
ries, fornic tion, murders, thefts, bias
phemy." There is text for your rational
lists to preach from. Oh, the dignity o.
human naturel There is an element o.
your science of man that the anthropologis
never has had the courage yet to touch
and the Bible, in all the ins and outs of thu
most forceful style, sets forth our natura
pollution, and represents iniquity as {
frightful thing, as an exhausting thing, a
a lOathsome thing. 1t is not mere bemir
ing of the feet, it is not mere bsfoulinl
of the hands; 1t is going down, head ant
ears under, in ditch, until our clothe
abhor Us.
My brethren, shall We stay down wher
sin thrusts us? l shall not if you do. w
cannot afford to- l have to-day to tell yol
that there is something purer than snow
wator, something more pungent than al
kali, and that is the blood of Jesus Chris
that ceanseth from all sin. Aye, the rive
of salvation, bright, crystalline and heaven
born, rushes through this audience witt
billowy tide strong enough to wash you
sins completely and forever away.
Jesus, let the dam that holds it back nov
break, and the floods Of salvation roll owe
US.
Let the water andithe blood
From thy side q healing .flocd,
Be OF sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Let US get down on both knees an
bathe in that flood of mercy. Ay, strik
out with both hands and try to swim to tn
other shore of this river of Gods grace. L
you is the word of this salvation sent
Take this largess of the divine bounty
Though you have gone down in the deep
est ditch Of libidinous desire and corrup
behavior, though you have sworn all bias
phemies until there is not one sinful wor,
left for you to speak, though you have bee
submerged by the transgressions CT q life
time, though you are so far down in you
sin that no earthly help can touch you
case-the Lord Jesus Christ bends over yol
to day, and offers you his right hand pro
posing to lift you up, first making yo1
whittier than snow, and then raising you t
glories that never die. "Billy," said
Christian bootblack to another, "wEen v
come up to heaven it won't make any dii
ference that we've been bootblacks here
for we shall get in, not somehow or other
but, Billy, we shall get straight throug
the gate" Oh, if you only knew how fu