Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-08-07

cry, mo hopel no hope! We are lost! W
are lostF' The sail puts out its wings O
fire, the ropes make burning ladder in th
night heavens, the spirit of wrecks Kisses il
the wave, and on the hurricane deck shake
out its banner of smoke and darkness
''Down with the lifeboats!" cries the cap
tain. "Down with the lifeboats!'' Peopl,
runh into them. The boats are about full
Room only for one more man. You ar,
standing on the deck beside tha captain
Who shall it be2 You or the captainP Th
captain says, "You." You jump AID ar
saved. He stands there and dies. Now
you believe that Capt. Braveheart sacrificed
himself for his passenger, but you believ,
it with love, with tears, with hot and lonl
continued exclamations, with grief at hi
loss, and joy your deliverance. That il
saving faith. In other words, what you bs
lieve with all your heart, and believe in re
gard to yoirself. On this hinge t1rns my
sermon; aye, the salvation of your immorta
| soul. You often go across bridge yol
know nothing about. You do not know
who built the bridge, you do not know
what material it is made of; but you com,
| to it and walk over it and ask no questions
And here is an arched bridge blasted from
the Crock of Ages" And built by the ar
chitect of the whole universe, spanning tht
dark gulf betw en- sin aud righteousness
and all God asks you is to walk across it
and you start and you come to it, and yor
stop, and you go little way on and yor
stop, and you fall back, and you expert
ment. You say, elbow do 1 know tina
bridge will hold me?" instead of marching
on with firm step, asking no questions, bul
feeling that the strength of the eternal Goo
is under you. On, was there ever prizt
proffered so cheap as pardon and heaven are
offered to you? For how muchs A mil
lion dollars? 1t is certainly worth more
than that. But cheaper than that you car
have it. Ten thousand dollars? Less than
that. Five thousand dollars? Less thar
that. One dollar? Less than that. One
farthing? Less than that. "Withou.
money and without price," No money tc
pay. No journey to take. No penancs tc
suffer. Only just one decisive action of the
soul: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved" Shall try tc
tell you what it is to be saved? 1 cannot
tell you. No man, no angel eau tell you.
But I can hint al it. For my text brings
me up to this point. "Thou shall be saw.
ed." It means happy life here, and a
peaceful death and a blissful eternity. II
is grand thing to go to sleep at night and
to get up in the morning, and to do bust.
ness all the day fesling that all is right be
tween nay heart and God. No accidf no
sickness, no persecution, no peril, M word
eau do me any permanent damage. 1 am a
forgivea child of God, aad he is bound to
see me through. The mountains may de-
part, 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 a
peaceful death. Mrs. Hemaus, Mrs. Sig.
Quincy, DR.. Young, and almost sill the
poets have said handsome things about
death. There is nothing beautiful about it.
When we stand by the white and rigid fea.
lures 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 poetising around about us. Death
is loathsomeness, and midnight, and the
wringing of the heart until the tendrils
snap and curl in the torture, unless Christ
shall be with us. 1 confess to you an infin-
lite fear, a consuming horror of death, un-
less Christ shall be with me. I would ra
ther 60 down into cave of wild beasts OF
a jungle of reptiles than into the grave, un.
less Christ goes with me. Will you tell me
thaG am to be carried out from my bright
home and put away in the darkness? l
cannot bear darkness. At the first coming
of the evening | must have the gas lighted,
and the further on in life get the more l
like to have my friends round about me.
Aud am to be put off for thousands of
years IN dark place with no one to speak
to? When the holidays come aud the gifts
are distributed, shall add no Joy to the
"Merry Christmas or the "Happy New
Yeal?" Ah, do not point down to the hole
in the ground. tho grave, and call it a beau
tiful place. Unless there be some supernat-
ural illumination l shudder back from it.
My whole nature 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 it now without single
shudder. Now my anxiety is not about
death;my anxiety is that I may live Alright,
for l know that if my life is consistent when
L come to the last hour, and this voice is ST.
lent. and these eyes are closed, and these
hands with which I bag 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 eyelids then
amid the heavenly day break? o Death, l
will not fear thee then. Back to thy cav
ern of darkness, thou robber of all the
earth. Fly! thou despoiler of families
With this battle axe l hew thee in twain
from helmet to sandal, the voice Of Christ
sounding all over the earth and through the
heavens: so Death, will be thy plague.
o Grave, will 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 to, 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 eterIi-
ty.
Talk not about banks dashed with effior-
escence. Jesus is the chief bloom of heav-
en-. We shall see the very face that BEAM
ed sympathy in Bethany, aud 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
steer. Toward t! at goal 1 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 your hardships and bereavements 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 prosecuted, and why it was best
for you to be tried, and have him point to
an elevation proportionate to your disouiet-
ude here, saying: "You suffered with me
on earth. come up now and be glorlfed with
me in heaven" Some one went into a
house where there had been a good deal of
trouble and said to the woman there: "You
seem to be lonely" EYES," she said, 81
am lonely" ''How many in the family?"
'Only myself "Have you had any chill
dren?'' 81 had seven Children "Where
are they9" ''Gone." can gomez" GAIL
"All dead?" GAIL" Then she breathed
long sigh into the loneliness, and said:
''Oh, sir, have been a good mother to the
grave" And so there are hearts here that
are utterly broken down by the bereaye-
ments of life. l point you to-day to the
eternal balm of heaven. Are there any
here that am missing this morning? Oh,
you poor waiting maid! your hearts sorrow
poured in no tuman ear, lonely and sad!
how glad you will be when Christ shall dis
band all your sorrows and crown you queen