Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-08-08
THE EARTHQUAKE.
ONE WAY OF ESCAPE Is OPEN.
A Midnight Scene In q Prison and
the Lesson IL Teaches

Jails are dark, dull, damp, loathsome places
even now; but they were worse In the apos-
tolic times. imagine to-day we are stand
ing in the Philippian dungeon Do you not
feel the ehilli Do you not hear the groan Of
thoss incarcerated onos who for ten years
have not seen the sunlight and the deep sigh
OF women who remember their fathers house
and mourn over their wasted estatef Listen
again. II Is the cough Of q consumptive, or
the struggle OF one In the nightmare
Of 9 great horror You listen again and hear
q culprit his chains rattling as he rolls over
In bis dreams, and you says: 'tGod pity the
prisoner.n But there Is nnother sound In
that prison II Is q song Of joy and gladness.
Whata place to sing ini The music comes
winding through the corridors OF the prison,
and In all the dark wards the whisper Is
heard: "What,s that Whats thatSn
It b the song Of Paul and Silaa They
cannot sleep. They have been whipped, very
badly whipped The long gashes on their
backs are bleeding yet They lie fat on the
cold ground, their feet fast In wooden SOCK
eta and OF course they cannot sleep. But they
can sing. Jailer, what are you doing with
these peoplef Why have they been put In
here2 Oh, they have been trying to make
the world better. Is that alli That Il all.
A pit for Joseph. A lions cave for Dam
lei. A blazing furnace for Shadrach.
for Philip Melancthon. A dungeon
for Paul and Silas. But while we are stand
ing In the gloom Of the Philippian dungeon,
and we hear the mingling voices of sob and
groan and blasphemy and hnllelujah, sud-
denly an earthquakei The iron bars Of the
prison twist, the pillars crack of, the solid
masonry begins to heave and all the doors
swing open. Tho jailer, feeling himself re-
spolsible for these prisoners and believing,
N. ~ a. H.
BILE since Brutus killed himself, and
Cato killed himself and Cassius killed
himsef-puts his sword to his own heart
proposing with one strong, keen thrust to
put an end 10 his excitement and agitation.
But Paul cries out: ''Stopi Stopl Do thy
seif no harm. We are all here" Then see
the jailer running through the dust and amid
the ruin Of that prison, and l see him throw
ing himself down at the feet Of these prison.
shall DOR Did Paul answer: 'Get out of
this place before there Is another earthquake;
put handouts and hopples on these
other prisoners lest they get awayT
No word of that kind. His COM
pact, thrilling, tremendous answer, an
swer memorable all through earth and
heaven, was: "Believe on tho Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved" Well, we
have all heard Of the earthquake in Lisbon,
in Lima, in Aleppo, and in Caracas, but we
live in q latitude whore severe volcanic dis
fifty earthquakes. Here Is q man who has
been building up a large fortune. His bid on
the money market was felt in oil the cities.
He thinks he has got beyond all annoying
Tivalries In trade, and he says to himself:
'tNow ! am free and safe from oil
possible perturbation" But in 1881, or
In 1857, or in 1873 a national panic
st1ikes the foundations Of the commercial
world, and crash goes all that magnificent
business establishment Here is man who
has built up a very beautiful home. His
daughters have Just come from the seminary
with diplomas Of graduation. His sons have
started In life honest, temperate and pure.
When the evening lights are struck there isa
happy and unbroken family circle. But
there has been an accident down at Long
Branch. The young man ventured too far
out In the surf. The telegraph hurled the
terror up to the city. An earthquake struck
under the foundation of that beautiful home.
The piano closed; the curtains dropped; tho
laughter hushed. Crash! go all those domes-
tic hopes and prospects and expectations. So,
my friends, we have all felt the shaking
down Of some great trouble, and there was
time when we were as much excited as this
man Of the text, and we. cried out as he did:
~Wha9 shall I dor What shall doS' The
same feply that the apostle made to him is
appropriate to us: "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be saved"
There are some documents Of so little i'm
portance that you do not care to put any
more than your last name under them, or
even your initials; but there are some docu-
meats Of SO great Importance that you write
out your full name. So the Saviour in some
parts of the Bible is called "Lord," and in
other parts of the Bible Hei called Jesus"
and in other parts Of the Bible He is called
"Christ;" but that there might be no mistake
about this passage, all three names come to-
gether-"The Lord Jesus Christ"
Now, WHO'S this being that you want me
to trust in and believe in! Men sometimes
come to me with credentials and certificates
of good character, but cannot trust them.
There is some dishonesty in their looks that
makes me know l shall be cheated il con-
fde in them. You cannot put your hearts
confidence in man until you know what
stun he is made Of, and am
unreasonable to-day when I stop to
ask you who this is that you want me
to trust inP No man would think of ventur-
ing his life on . vessel going out to sea that
had never been inspected. No, you must
have the certificate hung amidships, telling
how many tons it carries, and how long ago
it was built, and who built It and all about
1t. And you cannot expect me to risk
the cargo of my immortal interests
on board any craft till you tell me
what it Is made of, and where it was made
and what it is. When, then ask you who,
this is you want me to trust In, you tell me
He was very attractive person. Contem-
porary writer's describe His whole appear
ance as being resplendent. There was no
need for Christ to tell the children to come
to Him. Suffer little children to come
unto Me-" was not spoken to the children; it
was spoken to the disciples. The children
came readily enough without any invitation,
No sooner did Jesus appear than the little
enes jumped from their mothers arms au
avalanche of beauty and love, into His
lap. Christ did not ask John to put his head
down on, His bosom; John could not help but
put his head there. suppose to look at Christ
was to love Him. Oh, how attractive His
manner. Why, when they saw Christ COM
ing along the street they ran into their houses,
and they wrapped up their invalds as quick
as they could, and brought 1 them out that
thing 80 pleasant, SO inviting, so cheering in
everything He did, in His very look. When
these sick ones were brought out, did He say:
tDo not bring Me these sores; do not trouble
Me with these leprosiesp No, no; there was
a kind look, there was gentle word, there
was healing touch. They could not keep
away from him, @
In addition to this softness of character,
there was fiery momentum. How the kings
of the earth turned pale. Here is plain
man with few sailors at his back, coming
off the sea of Galilee, going up to the palace
Of the Caesars. making that palace quake to
the foundations, and uttering word Of
mercy and kindness which throbs through oil
the earth, and through all the heavens, and