Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-29

! joy at your deiiveranpe. That is saving
! faith. In other words, what you be-
/ lieFe with all the heart, and believe in
/ regard to yourself. On this hinge turns
/ my sermon; aye, the salvation of your
! immortal soul. You often 90 across a
bridge you know nothing about. You
| do not know who built the bridge: You
/ 90 not know what material IL IS made
/ Of; but You come to it and walk over it
/ and ask no questions. And here is an
/ arched bridge blasted from the - Rock
! Of Ages, and built by the
/ architect of the whole a. -
verse, spanning the dark gulf bete en-
! sin and Righteousness, and all GoQ asks
! you is to walk across 1t; ana You start
! and you come to it, ana you stop, and
! you go q little way on and you stop, ana
/ you fall beck and you experiment. YqSI
/ say, How do | know that bridge VIII
/ hold mel instead of marching on with
/ firm step, asking no questions, but feel
/ ing that the strength of the eternal God
! is under you. Oh, was there ever prize
! pFOfTered SO cheap as pardon and hcaven
| are offered to you? For now much? \
1 million dollars? It IS certainly worth
! more than that But cheaper than that
/ you can have it. Ten thousand dollars?
Less than that. Five thousand
/ dollarsE,,> Less than that. One
/ dollar? Less than that One farthing?
Less than that. ''WithOut money anu
1 without price. No money TO pay. No
! journey to take.
NO FENNANCE TO SUFFER.
! Only just one decided action of the
soul: Believe on the Lord Jesus
/ Christ and thou shalt be saved - Shall
| l try 10 tell you what it is 10 be saved? l
cannot tell you. No man, no angel
can tell you. But I can hint at it.
For my text brings me up to this point:
| ''Thou shalt be saved. - It means a
happy life here, and a peaceful death
and a bissful eternity. 1t is a grand
thing to go to sleep at night, and 20 get
up IL the morning, and to do business
one day feeling that all IS right between
| my heart and GOD. No accident, no sick
ness, no persecution, no peril, no sword
can DO me any permanent damage. l
am q forgiven child of God, and
/ He is bound to see rne through. He has
sworn He will see me through. The
! mountains may depart, the earth may
burn, the light OF the stars may be blown
out by the blast OF the judgment hurri-
cane; but life and death, things present
and things to come, are mine. Yea,
further than that-it means a peaceful
| death. Mrs, Hemaus, Mrs. SigOurney,
| DR.. Young, and almost all the poets bave
said handsome things about ath.
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
not want anybody poetizing around about
us. Death is IoathsOmeness, and mid
night, and the wringing of the heart
until the tendrils snap and curl in the
torture, unless Christ shall be with us.
l confess to you an infinite fear, a con-
Stunning horror of death, unless Christ
shall BE with me. I would rather go
down into q cave of wild beasts or a jun
gle of reptiles than into the grave, I'M
less Chrift goes with me. VIII you tell
me that l am to be carried out from my
bright home and put away in the dark
ness: l cannot bear darkness. At the
first coming of the evening L must have
the gas lighted, and the further on in
life l get the more l like to have my
friends round about me.
DO NOT FEAR DEATH.
And am 1 to be put of for thousands
of years in a dark place with no one 10
speak to? When the holidays come and
the gifts are distributed, shall I add no
Joy TO the ''HBerry Christmas or the
''Happy New Year?'' An, do not point
down to the hole in the ground, the
grave, and call it a beautiful place. In
less there be some supernatural illumina-
ton I shudder back from it. Ny whole
nature reyolts a it. But now this glO-
rious lamp is lifted above the grave, and
all the darkness is gone, and the way is
clear. l look into It now without a sin
gle shudder. Now my anxiety is not
about death; my anxiety is that l may
live Alright, for I know that if my
life is consistent when I come to the
last hour, and this voice Is silent
and these eyes are closed, and these
hands with which ! beg for your eternal
salvation to-day are folded over the still
heart, that then l shall only begin to
live. What power is there in anything to
chill me in the last hour, if Christ wraps
around me the skirt Of His own garment?
What darkness can fall upon my evelids
then amid the heavenly daybreak? O
Death, will not fear thee then. Back
to thy cavern Of darkness, thou robber
Of all the earth. Fly! thy despoiler of
families. With this battle AK I hew thee
III twain from helmet to sandal, the
voice of Christ sounding ali over the
earth and through the heavens: 60
Death, l Will be thy plague. 0 Grave,
I viii be thy destruction. -
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 III it than is TO be heard III
all the oTatOrios Of eternity.
JESUS Is HEAVEN S BLOOM.
Talk not about banks dashed with
efiorescence. 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, l want 10 stand in eternity with
Him. Toward .hat harbor I steer To- |
ward that goal I run. ! shall be salts
fed when [ awake in His likeness. -.
oh, broken hearted men ana women,
how sweet it viii be in that good Iand to |
pour all OF your haTdships and bereaEe-
ments ana losses into the loving ear of |
Christ, and then have Him explain why |
1t was best FOR you to be sick, and why it |
I..Sr FOr, y-oTt ~ hn nd