Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-06-07

shining ramparts of the celestial city.
No repentance. no pardon. If you do
not. my brother, feel that you are down
! IN the ditch, what do you want of Christ
TO lift You out2 If YOU have no appre-
citation of the fact that you are astray,
what do you want of him who came to
seek and save that which was lost?
Aonder is the City of Paris, the swiftest
OF the lnmans, coming across the At
lantic. The wind is abaft, SO that she
has not only her engines at work, but all
sails up. l am on board the Jmbria of
the Cunard line. The boat davits are
swung around. The boat is lowered. l
get into it with a red flag, and cross
over to where the City of Paris is com
ing. and wave the flag. The Captain
looks off from the bridge, and says:
What do you want?" I reply: 4 come
to take some of your passengers across
safer and happier there" The Captain
would look down with indignation and
say: Get out of the way, or will run
you down" Andthen would back oars,
amidst the jeering of two or three hun
bred people looking over the tatfrail.
But the Umbria and the City of Paris
meet under different circumstances after
a while. The City of Paris is
coming out of a cyclone; the life boats
are smashed; the bulwarks gone; the
vessel rapidly going down. The boat
swain gives his last whistle of despair
ing command. The passengers run up
and down the deck, and some pray, and
all make great outcry. The Captain
says: You have about fifteen minutes
now to prepare for the next world. No
hope!" sounds from stem to stern and
from the ratlines down to the cabin.
see the distress. I am let down by the
side of the Umbria. push off as fast
rs l can toward the sinking City Of
Paris. Before l come up people are
leaping into the water in their anxiety
swung up under the side of the City of
Paris, the frenzied passengers rush
through the gangway until the officers,
with ax and clubs and pistols, try to keep
back the crowd, each waiting his turn to
come next. There is but one life boat,
and they all want to get into it, and the
cry is Me next! me next" You see the
application before I make it. AS long
as man going on in his sin feels that
all is we'll. that he is coming out at
beautiful port, and has all sail set, he
wants no Christ, he wants no help, he
wants no rescue; but if under the flash
of Gods convicting spirit be shall see
that by reason of sin he is dismasted
and waterlogged, and going down into
the trough of the sea where he cannot
live, how soon he puts the sea glass to
his eye and sweeps the horizon, and at
J the first sign of help cries out: Il want
} to be saved. want to be saved now. l
want to be saved forever" No sense Of
danger, no application for rescue.
| Oh, that Gods eternal spirit would
} fash upon us sense of our sinfulness!
l The Bible tells the story in letters of
I five Int W. fo in1y
} about sin. We make merry over it?
3 What is sin? Is it trihing thing? Sin
: is q vampire that is sucking out the life
3 blood of your immortal nature. Sin? It
9 is a Bastile that no earthly key ever I'M
locked. Sin? It is expatriation from
9 God and Heaven. Sin? 1t is grand
9 larceny against the Almighty, for the
i. Bible ask S the question: will a man
S rob God?" answering it in the affirmative.
!" This Gospel is writ of replevin to re-
It coverproperty unlawfully detained from
5, God.
1t In the Shetland Islands there is maj
t. with leprosy. The hollow of the foo
l. has swollen until it is flat on the ground
o The joints begin to fall away. The
" ankle thickens until it looks like the
e foot of wild beast A stare Immature
f comes to the eye. The nostril is con-
9 stricted. The voice drops to an almost
d inaudible hoarseness. Tubercles blotch
a the whole body, and from them there
d comes an exudation that is unbearable
: to the beholder. That is leprosy, and
S we have all got it unless cleansed by
o the grace of God. See Leviticus. See
K III. Kings. See Mark. See Luke. See
!, fifty Bible illusions and combinations.
4 My brethren. shall we stay down where
sin thrusts us? i shall not if you do.
t We caunot afford to. l have day to
r tell you that there is something purer
4 than snow water, something more pun
s gent than alkali, and that is the blood
r of Jesus Christ that cleanseth from all
0 sin. Ay, the river Of salvation, bright,
l crystalline and Heaven born, rushes
l through this audience with billowy tide
: strong enough to wash your sins COM
l pletely and forever away. 0 Jesus, let
7 the dam that holds it back now break,
3 and the foods of salvation roll over US.
3 Let the water and the blood
From thy side healing flood,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
= Let us get down on both knees and
battle in that flood of mercy. Ay, strike
, out with both hands and try to swim to
: the other shore of this river of Gods
! grace. To you is the word of this sal
, vation sent. Take this largess of the
: divine bounty. Though you have gone
, down in the deepest ditch of libidinous
! desire and corrupt behavior, though you
: have sworn all blasphemies until there
is not one sinful word left for you to
! speak, though you have been submerged
: by the transgressions of a lifetime,
though you are so far down in your sin
that no earthly help can touch your
case-the Lord Jesus Christ bends over
: you to-day, and offers you his right
hand, proposing to lift you up. first max
ingyou whiterthan snow, and hen raising
, you to glories that never die. Billy, "
said Christian boot-black to another,
, when we come up to Heaven it won't
make any difference that we've been
y boot blacks here, for we shall get in,
,, not somehow or other, but, Billy, we
i shall get straight through the gate
! and tender is the offer of Christ, this
day you would all take him without one
+ single exception; and if all the doors OF
! this house were locked save one, and
) you were compelled to make egress by
only one door, and 1 stood there and
questioned you, and the Gospel of
, Christ had made the right impression
upon your heart to-day, you would
answer me as you went out, one and all: