The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-01-25

Bible any more? Before I cry over my Gins
any more?" Yes, this moment. Believe
with all your heart and yon are saved. Why,
Christ j. only quitting to get from ron what
you give to. scores Of people every day.
What is that? Confidence. If these people
whom you trust day by day are more worthy
than Christ, if they are more faithful than
Christ, II they nave done more than Christ
ever did, then give them the preferences; but
If you really think that Christ Is as trust
worthy as they are, then deal with him as
fairly; "Oh," says some one in q light way,
hem, int ! believe that he died on the
cross. Do you believe it with your head
or you heart? / will illustrate the differ.
ence. You are in your " house. In the
morning you open q newspaper, and you
read how Capt. Braveheart Oh the sea
risked his life for the salvation Of his pas
sengers. You say: what a grand fellow
well OF the country" Yon told the newspa-
per and sit down at the table, and perhaps
do not think of that incident ngain. That is
historical faith. But now you are on the SEQ,
and it is night, and you are asleep, and are
awakened by the shrek of "irel" You rush
OuO ou tnc ucck. LOU ueur, uuulu tH0 WFIlS-
ing Of the hands and the fainting, the cries:
n hopel we are lostl we are lost!" The
sail puts out its wings offre, the ropes make
a burning ladder in the night heavens. the
spirit OF wreck misses in tho waves, and on
the hurricane deck shakes out it's banner of
smoke and darkness. "Down with the life
boatsl' cries the captain. 'Down with the
boats are about full. Room only for
one more man. You are standing on the
deck beside the captain. Who shall it be?
You or the captain? The captain
He stands there and dies. Now, you believe
that Capt. Braveheart sacrificed himself for
his passengers, but you believe it with love,
with tears, with hot and long continued ex-
carnations, with grief at his loss aud JOY at
your deliverance. That is saving faith. In
other words, what you believe with all the
heart, and believe in regard to yourself. On
this hinge turns my sermon; aye, the saliva
ton of your immortal soul. ~
You often go across a bridge you know
nothing about. You do not know who built
it is made OF; but you come to it, and walk
over it. and ask no questions. And here is
an arched bridge blasted from tho Crock of
Ages" and built by the architect of the
whole universe, spanning the dark gulf be-
tween sin and Righteousness, and oil God
asks you is to walk across it; and you start,
and you come to it, and you stop, and you
back and you experiment. You say: "How
do I know that bridge will hold mel" instead
of marching on with q firm step asking no
questions, but feeling that the strength of
the eternal God is under you, o, was there
ever a prize offered 80 cheap as pardon and
A million dollars? 1t is certainly worth more
than that: But cheaper than that you can
have it. Ten thousand dollars? Less than
that. Five thousand dollars? Less than
that. One dollar? Less thar that. One
f~arthing? Less than that. "Without
money and without price," No money to
pay. Nojourney to take. No penanee to
soul: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shall be saved" Shall I try to tell
you what it is to be saved? l cam
not tell you. No man, no angel can tell
you. But l can hint ut it. For my text
brings me up to this point: t"Thou shalt be
saved" 1t means q happy life here, and a
peaceful death and u blissful eternity. 1t is
agrand thing to 60 to sleep at night, and to
get up in the morning, and to do business oil
day feeling that all is right between my heart
and God. No accident, nc sickness, no per-
secution, no peril, no sword can do any per-
manent damage. / am a forgiven child of
God, and he is bound to see me through.
Ho AlOuuouius mdJ ucpdrb, tu0 eHfCQ may
burn, the light OF the stars may DO blown
out by the blast of the Judgment hurricane;
but lie aud death, things present and things
to come, are mine. Yea, farther than
that-it means q peaceful death.
Mrs. Hemans, Mrs, %Sigourney, DR.. Young
and almost all the poets rave said hand
some things about death. There is nothing
beautiful about it. When we stand by the
white and riged features of those whom we
love, and they give no answering pressure of
the hand and no returning kiss oltheli lip, we do
not want anybody poetizing around about
US. Death is ionesOmcness, and midnight, and
the wringing of the heart until the tendrils
snap and curl in the torture unless Christ be
with us. / confess to you to an infinitefe fear, a
consuming horror, OF death, unless Christ
shall be with me. I would rather go down
into q cave of wild beasts Of a jungle of rep
tiles, than into the grave. unless Christ goes
with me. Will you tell me that I am to be
carried out from my bright home and put
away in the darkness? I cannot bear dark
ness. At the first coming Of the evening I
must have the gas lit, and the further on in
about me. And am l to be put off for thou
sands Of years in a dark place, with no one to
speak to-? When the holidays come, and the
gifts are distributed, shall l add no joy to the
merry Christmas" or the Happy New
Ycar?" All, do not point down to the
hole in the ground, the rave, and
call it a beautiful place; unless there be some
supernatural illumination, I. shudder back
from it. My whole nature revolrs att. But
now this glorious lamp is lifted above the
grave, and oil it's darkness Is gone and the
way Is clear. / look into it now without q
shudder. Now my anxiety is not about
death; my anxiety is that may live Alright,
for ! know that my life is consistent when I
come to the last hour and this voice is silent,
and these eyes are closed, and these hands
with which / beg for your eternal salvation
to-day are folded over the still heart, that
then shall ] only begin to live. What power
Is there in anything to chill me in the last
hour if Christ wraps around me tho skirt OF
His own garment? What darkness can fall
day. break? o, death, l will not fear thee
then! Back to the cavern of darkness, thou
robber of all the earth. Fly, thou despoiler Of
families. With this battle axe hew them in
twain from helmet to sandal, the voice of
Christ sounding all over the earth and
through the heavens: 20, death, ! will be
thy plague. Q, grave. / will be thy destruc-
To be saved is to wake up in the presence
of Christ. You know when Jesus was upon
earth how happy he made every house he
went into, and when he brings us up to his
house how great our glee. His voice has
more music in it than is to be heard in all
the %oratorios Of eternity. Talk not about
banks dashed with eff1orescence. Jesus. is
the chief bloom of heaven. We shall see. the
very face that beamed with. symathy in
Bethany, and take the very hand That drop
ped its blood from the short beams of the
cross. Q, I want to stand in eternity with
him. Toward that harbor ! steer. Toward
that goal l run. / shall be satisfied when I
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 bereavments, and losses into the loving
ear Of Christ, and then have him explain
why 1t was best for you to be sick, and 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 nm elevation proportionate to