The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-02-06

the cross to the mouth Of the hole, and they
plunge it in, all the weight of His body COM
ing down for the first time on the spikes;
and while some hold the cross upright,
others throw in the dirt and trample it
down, and trample it hard. o, plant that
tree we'll and thorou9 9hiy, for it is 10 bear
fruit such as no other tree ever bore. Why
did Chr st endure itp He could have taken
those rock and with them crushed His cruel
fers He co Id have reached up and grasped
the sword of the omnipotent God and with
one clean cut have tumbled them into perdi-
ton. But no. He was to di He must d e.
His life for my lifo. II S life for you life.
In on, of the European cities young man
died on the scaffold or the crime Of MUIR
der. Some time after. the mother of this
yuung ma was dying, and the priest can't
in, and she made con ession to the
prest that she was the murde.e an I
not her son; a moment of anger she
had struck her husband q blow that slew
him. The son came suddenly into the room,
and was washing away the wounds and try
ing to resuscitate his father when some one
looked through the window and saw him, and
supposed him to be the criminal. That
young man died for his own mother. You
say: ut was wonderful that he never ex-
posed her." But 1 tell you Of q grander
thing. Christ, the Son of God, died not for
His mother, not for His father but for His
sworn enemies. o. such Christ as that-so
loving, so self sacrifcing-can you not trust
Him?
I think there are many under the spirit oi
God Who are saying: 81 will trust Him if you
will only tell me how" and the great ques
ton asked by thousands in this assemblage
is: How? how:' And while l answer your
question look up and utter the prayer which
Rowland Hill so often uttered in the midst
of his sermons: master, helpw How are
you to trust in Christ? Just rs you trust
any one. You trust your partner In busl-
ness with important things. If conf
mercial house give you note payable
three months hence, You expect the pay
mcnt of that note at tho end of three
months You have perfect confidence
in their word and in their ability. You go
home to-day. You expect there will be food
OH the table. You have confidence in that.
Now ask you to have the same confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says: "You
believe; take away your SINS" and they are
all taken away: What" you say, rDetorel
pray any more? Before read my Bible any
more? Before Icry over my sins any more?
Yes, this moment. Believe with all your
heart aad you are saved Why, Christ is
only waiting to get from you what you give
to scores of people every day. What is that?
Confidence. If these people whom you trust
lay by day are more worthy than Christ, II
they are more faithful than Christ, If they
have done more than Christ ever did, then
give them the preference, but it you really
think that Christ is as trustworthy as they
are, then deal with Him as fairly. oh"
says some one in light way, II believe that
Christ was born in Bethlehem, and believe
that He died on the cross" Do you believe
it with your head or your heart?
[ will illustrate the difference. You
nre in your own house. In the morning you
open newspaper, and you read how Cap
tain Braveheart on the sea riSked his life
for the salvation OF his passengers. You
say: "What q grand follow ho must have
been! His family deserves very well OF the
country" You fold the newspaper and sit
down at the table, and perhaps do not think
of that incident again. That is historical
faith. But now you are on the sea, and
and are awakened by the Shrek Of
''Frem You rush out on the deck.
You hear, amid the wriuging of the
hands and the fainting the cries: mo
hope! we are lost! we are lost" The sail
puts out its wings of fire, the ropes make
burning ladder in the night heavens the
spirit Of wreck Kisses in tho waves, and on
the hurricane deck shakes out its banuer Of
smoke and darkness. "Down with the life
boatsm cries the Captain. "Down with the
life boatsm People rush into them. The
boats arc 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 says: You"
You jump and are saved. He stands there
and dies. Now, you believe that Captain
Braveheart sacrificed himself for his passen-
gers, but you believe it with love, with tears,
with hot and long continued exclamationS,
with grief at his loss and with JOY at your
leliverance. 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 salvation
of your immortal soul.
You often go across bridge you know
nSthing about. You do not know who built
the bridge, You 10 not knew ktae 'Ehqt material
it is made of; but you come to it, SuS waih
nm archcd bridge blasted from the Rock Of
Ages and built by the architect OF the
whole universe. spanning tho dark gulf be-
tween sin and Righteousness, and all God
asks YOU is to walk across it; and you
start, and you come to it, and you
stop, and you go little way on and
YOU stop, and you fall back and you
experiment.. You say: ''How do know
that bridge will hold me~ instead Of march
ing on with firm step, asking no questions,
but feeling that the strength OF the eternal
God is under, you, o, was there ever we prize
offered so cheap as pardon and heaven are
offered to you? For how much? 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 than that One farthing? Less
than that without money and without
price" No money to pay. No journey to
take. No penance to suffer. Only just one
decisive action of the soul: "Beiieve on sne
Lord Jesus Christ. and thou shall be savei."
Shall try to tell you what it is to be saved?
cannot tell you a. AZ man nan n n? 3 angel Fer
my text brings me up to this point: "Thou
shalt be saved.". Itmeans happy life here,
ana peaceruI ueatn anu u uIlsslur eteruity.
1t is a grand thing to go 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, no sickness, no
persecution, no peril, no sword can do ME
any permanent damage. am a forgiven
child of God, and He is bound to see me
through Hc has sworn He will see .:le
through. The mountains may depart, the
earth may burn, the light of the stars may
be DloWn out Dy tne DlaSG Ol tle JuuSiieht
hurricane; but life and death, things present
and tbjpa5 come, are mine. Yea, farther
than fhat-lt means peaceful death.
Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Sigourney, DR.. Young
aud almost all the poets have said handsome
things about death. There is nothing beau.
tiful about it. When we stand by the white
and rigid features Of those whom we love,
and they give no answering pressure Of the
hand and no returning kiss Of the lip,
we do not want anybody poetizing around
about US Death is loathsomeness and mid
night, and the wringing of the heart until the