Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-02-07

| save anu INC HcW COuf6EL S6c
funeral sermon The man who few days
before had been a blasphemer and q
drunkard and hater of ali that was good.
he preached the sermon.
That is regeneration, that is regenera-
ton! Ii there are any dry husks of techni-
cality in that, where are they? All made
over again by the power of the grace OF
God. A few years ago a ship captain
came in here and sat yonder under the
gallery. He came in with a contempt for
the church of God and with an especial
dislike for Talmage. When an opportu-
nifty was given he arose for prayer. and,
as he was more than six feet high, when
he arose for prayer no one doubted that he
arose. That hour he became Christian.
He went out and told the ship owners and
ship commanders what q great change
had been wrought il aim, and scores and
scores have been brought to God through
his instrumentality.
| A little while after his conversion he
was on the ship of Hatteras in thick and
prolonged fog. and they were at their
wits end and knew not what to do, the
| ship drifting about bither and thither,
| and they lost their bearings; and the con-
| verted sea captain went to his room and
asked God for the salvation of the ship,
| and God revealed it to him while he was
| on his knees that at a certain hour, only q
little way of, the fog would lift; and the
converted sea captain came out on the
deck and told how God heard the prayers.
He said: 1T is all right, boys, very soon
the fog will lift" mentioning the hour. A
man who Stood there laughed aloud in
| derision at the idea that God would answer
prayer; but at just the hour when God had
assured the captain the fog would lift
there came a fash of lightning through
| the fog, and the man who had jeered and
| laughed was stunned and fell to the deck.
The fog lifted. Yonder was Cape Hatteras
| lighthouse. The ship was put on the right
| course, and sailed on to the harbor of
safety.
| When in seaport the captain spends
| most of his time in evangelical work He
kneels down by one who has been helpless
| in the bed for many months and the next
| day she walks forth in streets well. He
elsbeside one who has long been decrepit
and he resigns the crutches. He kneels
| beside one who had not seen enough to be
| able 10 read for ten years, and she reads
| the Bible that day. Consumptious go
| away and those vino had diseases that
| were appalling to behold come up to rapii
| convalescence and to complete health.
am not telling you any thing second
handed l have had the story from the
| lips of the patients in this very house,
those who were brought to health of body
| while at the same time brought to God.
No second hand story this. l have heard
the testimony from men and women who
have been cured. You may call it faith
cure or you may call it the power of God
coming in answer to prayer; do not care
| what you call it, it is a fact. The soothing
sea captain, his heart full of hatred for
Christianity, now becomes a follower of
the meek and lowly Jesus, giving all the
| time to evangelical labors, or all the time
he can spare from other occupations. That
| is regeneration. that is regeneration. Man
all made over ag in.
There is your absurd doctrine of vicar
ious sacrifice" say these men who have
chewed up the little book OF creeds and
have the consequent embittered stomach.
''Vicarious sacrifice! Let every man suf-
fer for himself. Why do want Christ to
suffer for me. I'll suffer for myself and
carry my own burdens" They scott at the
idea of vicarious sacrifice, while they adj
mire it everywhere else except in Christ.
People see its beauty when a mother suf-
lcIS lOI utI Cullu 6Opio see us DeduJy
when a patriot suffers for his count v.
People see its beauty when man deni IS
himself for friend. They can see the
beauty of vicarious sacrifice in every one
but Christ.
A young lady in one of the literary in
situations was a teacher. She was very
reticent and retired in her habits. and size
formed no companionshIps in the new po-
ehn id
very pain-sometimes it was very shabby.
After awhile she was discharged frop, the
place for that reason, but no reason was
given. In answer to he letter discharg-
ing her from the position she said: "WeIl,
if l have failed to please l suppose it is
my own fault" She went here and there
for employment and found none, and in
desperation and in dementia she ended
her lie by suicide. Investigation was
made and it was found that out of her
small means she had supported her father,
eighty ears of age, and was pay ing theway
for her b. other in Yale College on his way
to the ministry. 1t was found that she
had no blanket on the bed that winter, and
she had no fire on the very coolest day of
all the season. People found it out. and
there was large gathering at the funeral,
the largest ever at any funeral in that
place. ard the very people who had scoffed
came and looked upon the pale face of the
martyr. and all honor was done her; but
ii was too late. Vicarious sacrifice. All
are thrilled with such instances as that.
But many are not moved by the fact that
Christ paid His poverty for our riches.
His self-abnegation for our enthronement
and knelt on the sharp edges of humilIa-
ton that we light climb over His lacerated
shoulder into peace AMI Heaven.
Be it ours to admire and adore these
doctrines at which others jeer. o, the
depths of the riches both of the wisdom
and knowledge of God! How unsearch.
able is His WI dom, ard His ways are past
finding outl o. The height, the depth. the
zen til, the breadth, the infinity, the inn
mensity the eternity of that love! Let
our earnest prayers go out in behalf of all
ose no scott at these doctrines of grace.
When the London plague was raging in
he year 1868 there was a hotel near the
chief burial place which excited much
comment Er"land was in fright and be.
reavement. tt g dead carts went through
the streets day and night aud the cry,
Bring out your deaIw was an
swered by the bringing out of the
forms of the loved ones, and they
were put twenty or thirty in a cart, and
the WAGONS went on to the cemetery; and
these dead were not buried in graves, but
IN great trenches in great pits, in one pit
Lila burials! The carts would come up
with their great burd, of twenty or thirty
to the mou of the PHI, and the front of
the cart was lifted and the dead shot into
the pit. All the churches in London were
open for prayer day and night and En-
gland was in great anguish. At that very
me at hotel at a Waysi inn near The