The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1889-03-29

teal difference to you and TO me who
Junius was, whether Sir Philip Fran
els, or Lord Chatham, or John Horne
Tooke, or Horace Walpole, or Henry
Grattan, or any one OF the forty-four
men who were seriously charged with
the authorship. But il is an absorb
ing question, it is a practical question,
it is an overwhelming question to you
and to me, the authorship OF this
Holy Bible whether the Lord God OF
heaven and earth or pack Of dupes,
scoundrels or impostors We cannot
afford to adjourn that question week
or a day or an hour, any more than a
sea captain can afford to say: well,
this is a very dark night. ! have
really lost my bearings; there is q
light out there. / don't know whether
it is lighthouse or false light on
the shore, don't know what IL is; but
I'll just go to sleep and in the morn
ing I'll find out" In the morning the
vessel might be on the rocks and the
beach strewn with the white faces OF
the dead crew. The time for that sea
captain to find out about the light
house is before he goes to sleep. On,
my friends, want you to understand
that in our deliberations about this
Bible we are not at calm anchorage,
but we are rapidly coming toward the
coast, coming with all the furnaces
ablaze; coming at the rate of seventy
heart throbs minute, and l must
know whether it is going to be harbor
or shipwreck.
SOULS DRIFTING ON THE SEA OF inf
DEITY.
I was so glad to read in the papers
of the fact that the steamship Edam
had come safely into harbor. A week
before the Persian Monarch, plow-
ing its way toward the Nawows, a
hundred miles out, saw signals OF dis
tress, bore down upon the vessel, and
found it was the steamship Edam. She
had lost her propeller. She had two
hundred passengers on board. The
merciful captain of the Persian Mon
arch endeavored to bring her in, but
the tow line broke He fastened it
again, but the sea was rough and the
tow line broke again. Then the night
came on and the merciful captain OF
the Persian Monarch ''lay to-" think
ing in the morning he could give res
cue to the passengers. The morning
came, but during the night the
steamship Edam had disappeared,
and the captain of the Persian
Monarch brought his vessel into
harbor saying how sad he felt
because he could not give complete
rescue to that lost ship. I am glad
that afterward another vessel saw her
and brought her into safety. But
when l saw the story of that steam
ship Edam, drifting, drifting, drifting,
I do not know where, but with no
rudder, no lighthouse, no harbor, no
help, l said: "That is skeptic, that is
an infidel, drifting, drifting, drifting,
not knowing where he drifts And
then, when I thought of the Persian
Monarch anchored in harbor / said:
''That is Christian, that is man
who does all he can on the way, cross
ing the sea to help others, coming per-
haps through very rough voyage into
the harbor, there safe and safe for
ever" Would God that there might
be some one today who would 60 forth
and bring in these souls that are drift
ing. In this assepblage, how many
score shall ] saySM a hundred, or
thousands-not quite certain about the
truth of the Bible, not certain about
Drifting, drifting, drifting.
Oh, how l would like to tow them in.
I throw you this cable. Lay hold of
that cable of the Gospel. Lay hold of
it. / invite you all in. The harbor is
wide enough, large enough for all the
shipping Come IN, 0 you wanderers
on the deep Drift no more, drift no
more. Come into the harbor. See the
glorious lighthouse of the Gospel
s.Peace on earth, good will to men"
Come into the harbor God grant that
it may be said Of all of you who are
now drifting in your unbelief as it
might have been said of the passengers
Of the steamshipEdam, and as it was
said centuries ago of the wrecked corn
ship Of Alexandria, 1T came to pass
that they all escaped safe to land"