The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1889-08-15

utter tho prayer which Rowland Hill
so often uttered in the midst of his
sermons; master, helpp How are you to
trust In Christi just as you trust any
one: You trust your partner in business
with important things. II commercial
hence you expect tho payment of that nots
at the end of three months. You have per-
feet confidence In their word and in their
ability. Or again, you go home expecting
there will be food ON the table, You have
confidence in that, Now, ask you TO have
the same confidence in tho Lord Jesus
Christ, He says; You believe take
away" "What~ you say, ''before pray
any morel Before read my Bible any
morey Before l cry over my sins any
more" Yes, this moment. Believe with ali
your heart and you are saved. Why, Christ
is only waiting to get from you what you
give to scores of people every day What
is thatl Confidence. II these people whom
you trust day by day are more
worthy than Christ II they are
more faithful than Christ II they
havo done moro than Christ ever did, then
give them the preferences; but IL you really
think that Christ is as trustworthy as they
are, then deal with Him as fairly. "Oh,"
says some onein light way: ~ believe that
Christ was born in bethlehem. and I belicye
that lie died on the cross" DO you believe
It with your head or your heart? l will illus
strate the difference. You are In your own
house. In the morning you open q news
paper and you read how Capt Braveheart
on the sea risked his life for the salvation of
his passengers. You say, What grand
serve very well OF the country" You fold
the newspaper and sit down at the table, and
perhaps do not think of that incident again.
That is historical faith.
But now you are on the sea, and it is night,
and you are asleep, and you are awakened by
the shrek of 'Fire" You rush out on the
deck. You hear amid the wringing Of the
hands and the fainting, the cry: "No hopel
no hope We are lost! we arc lostp The sail
puts out its wings of fire, the ropes make a
burning ladder in the night heavens tho
spirit Of wrecks misses in the wave, and on the
hurricane deck shakes out its banner OF smoke
and darkness. "Down with the lifeboatsp'
cries the captain Down with the lifeboatsr'
People rush into them. The boats are about
full Room only for one more man. You are
standing on the deck beside the captain. Who
shall it be' You or tho captain? The cap
tain? The captain says: ''Youn You Jump
and are saved. He stands there and dies.
Now, you believe that Captain Braveheart
sacrificed himself for his passengers. but you
believe it with love- with tears, with hot
and long continued ordinations, with
deliverance. That is saving faith. In other
words, what you believe 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 60 across
a bridge you know nothing about You do
not know who built that bridge, you do not
know what material it Is made Of; but YOU
come to it and walk over it and ask no ques-
tons And here is an arched bridge blasted
from the Rock of Age" And built by the
architect of the whole universe, spanning the
dark gulf between sin and Righteousness, and
all God asks you is to walk across it; and you
start, and you come to it, and you stop, and
You go a little way on and you STOP and you
fall back, and you experiment. You say:
instead of marching on with firm step, ask
ing no questions, but feeling that the
strength of the eternal God is under
you. Oh, was there ever prize proffered
so cheap as pardon and heaven are offered to
you? For how muchs A 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 dollars9 Less than that. One dol
lar? Less than that. One farthing? Less
than that. without money and with
out price" No money to pay.
No journey to take No penance
to suffer. Only just one decisive
dctlon OIL ING soul: 'BeloVe on bne
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved"
Shall try to tell you what it is to
be saved? l cannot tell you. No man, no
angel can tell you. But I can hint at
it. For my text bring me up to this
point. Thou shalt be saved" 1t means a
happy life here, and peaceful death and
blissful eternity. 1t is grand thing
the morning, and to do business all
day feeling that all is right between my heart |
and God. No accident. no sickness. no per-
secutlon no peril no sword can do me any |
permanent damage 1 am q forgiven child |
OF God and He is bound to SEQ me through. |
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. He |
mans, Mrs. Sigoulney, Dr. Young, and al |
most all the poets have said handsome things |
about death. There is nothing beautiful |
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 loath someness. and midnight, and |
the wringing of the heart until the tendrils |
snap and curl in the torture, unless Christ |
shall be with U.S. l confess to you an
unless Christ shall be with ME. I would |
rather go down into cave OF wild beasts or
q jungle Of reptiles than into tho grave, I'm.
less Christ goes with me. Will you tell me
that am to be carried out from my bright
home and put away in the darknesss ]
cannot bear darkness At the first
coming of the evening I must have the
gas lighted, and the further Oh in life get
the more like to have my friends round
about me.
And am TO be put off for thousands of
years in dark place with no one to speak
to? When the holidays come and the gifts
are distributed, shall I add no joy to the
'.Merry Christmas, or the 'Happy New
carr All, do hot point down to the hole
in the ground the grave, and call it a beauti-
full place. Unless there be some supernatural
1 shudder back from it. NV |
whole nature revolts at it. But now this
glorious lamp is lifted above the grave, and |
al the darkness is gone and the way is clear.
look into it now without a single shudder.
Now my anxiety is not about death; my anx-
Lefty is that may live Alright, for know that
II my life is consistent when I como to the
last hour, and this voice is silent,
and these eyes are closed, and these hands,
WITH which beg for your eternal salvation
today, are folded over the still heart that
then shall only begin to live What power
IS there in anything to chill mo in tho last
a. ChtioO WidpS iHc tilt sklTG OI |
His own garment What darkness can fall
lpon my eyelids then amid tho heavenly
iaybreak? o Death, / will not fear thee
,hen. Back to thy cavern of darkness. thou
'obber of all the earth. Fly thou despoler
If families. With this battle ak hsw thee
n twain from helmet to sandal, the voice of
christ sounding all over the earth and
through the heavens: 10 Death. will be
ay plague. Grave, l will be thy dcstruc
ion"
To be saved is to wake up in the presence
# Christ. You know when Jesus was upon
'arth how happy He made every house He
vent into, and when He brings us up to His
louse in Heaven, how great shall be our glee
lis voice has more music in it than is to be
leard in all the oratories of eternity.
Talk not about banks dashed with effores
ence. Jesus is tho chief bloom of heaven
We shall see the very face that bcamsd sym
,athy in Bethany, and take the very hand
hat dropped its blood from the short beam
t the cross Oh, want to stand Ill eternity
With Him. Toward that harhor stenr To-