The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1890-02-15

save you: There have been hundreds and
in safety by that scarlet line, and 1t
will bear you away in safety. Do you
notice what q very narrow escape those spies
had? ! suppose they came with 6ustered
cheek and with excited heart. They had a
very narrow escape. They went in the broad
They came out OF the window, they went up
by the stairs Of stone; they came own on q
slender thread. And So, my friends, We go
easily and unbashfully into sin, and oil the
doors are open; but If we get out at all it
will be by being let DOWN over precipices, wrig-
Cling and helpless, the strong grip above
keeping us from being dashed on the rocks
beneuth. 1t il easy to get into sin, young
man. 1t it, not So easy to get out oIit.
Ayoung man goes to the marble counter
Of q hotel. lie. asks for a brandy smash
called SO. / suppose. because it snashes the
it. AS the young mon receives it he does
not seem to be ut oil excited. 1t does not
give any glossiness to the eye. He walks
home in beautiful apparel, and all his pros
poets are brilliant. That drink is not going
to destroy him. but it is the first step on O
bad road. Years have passed on, end | sce
that young mnn alter he has gone tn" whole
length of dissipation. 1t is midnight and he
is in o hotel-perhaps the one where +, too
the first drink. A delirium is on hIni. He
rises from the bed and comes to the window,
and it is easily lifted; SO he lifts it. Then he
pushes back the blinds and puts his foot on
the window sill. Then he gives one spring.
and the Waterman finds his distigured body,
unacceptable, on the pavement. On, if he
had only waited q little-if he had come
down on the scarlet ladder that Jesus holds
from the wall for him. and for you. and for
A minister ofChrist was not long & dis
missed from his diocese for intoxication,
and in a public meeting he gave this accou mt
OF his sorrow: IL had u beautiful home
once, but strong drink shattered it. ] had
beautiful children: but this fend of rum
them to the lgravc. had a
hut she sta in Indebtedness tonight
while l wander over the earth. l had u
mother, aud the pride Of her lie was l.; but
the thunderbolt struck her. | now have
scarcely a friend in the world. Taste of the
bitter cup | have tasted. and then answer
me as to whether l have any hatred for the
agency of my ruiz. Hate it! | hate the
whole damning traffic. l would to God to-
night that every distillery was in flames, for
then in the glowing sky | would write in the
smoke of the ruin: "Woe to him that putt
eth the bottle to mis- neighbours lips" That
broad door of temptations: he came out of
the window. And when l see the tempta-
tiOns that are about us in all countries, and
when l know the proclivities to sin in every
mans heart. l see that if any of US escape it
will be a very narrow escape. O.. it we have.
my friends, got of from our sin, let US tie
the scarlet thread by which we have been
saved across the window. Let us do it in
praise of him whose blood dyed it that color.
Let it be in announcement of the fact that
we shall no more be fatally assaulted.
"There is now no condemnation to them
TINT aro in Christ Ioono 1Iar LOT oil fhr
forces Of this world come up in cavalry
charge, and let spirits of darkness come or
an Internal storming party attempting to
take our hole, this rope twisted from these
words, 1.-The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
from oil SIM" will hurl them back defeated
forever,
Still further: We must take this red cord
of the text and stretch it across tho window
of our households. When the Israelitish
army came up against Jericho, they said,
What is that in the Window" Some one
said: THAT is a scarlet line" co." said
some one else, that must be the house that
was to be spared. Don't touch it," That
line was thick enough, and long enough,
and conspicuous enough to save Bahab, her
father, her mother, her brothers, and her SIS
ters-the entire family. Have our house.
holds as good protection? You have bolts
or the front door and on the back, and
fustenings to the window, and perhaps
ooA \ psU AtCS uhu Hotholp "h PCT
Waterman blowing his whistle at midnight
before your dwelling; but all that cannot
protect your household. Ia there on our
houses the sign of n Saviour's sacrifice and
mercy? Is there a scarlet line in the win.
dow? Have your children been consecrated
to Christ? Have you been washed in the
blood of the atonement? In what room do
you have family prayers? Show ME where
it is you are accustomed to kneel, The sky
is black with the coming deluge. ls you
family inside or outside of the ark? 1t is a
sad thing for u man to reject Christ but to lie
down in the night of sin, across the path to
heaven, SO that his family come up and trip
over him-that is terrific. 1t is q Fad thing
for q mother to reject Christ; but to gather
her family aronnd her, and then take them
by the hnnd and lead them out into paths
of worldIiness, away from God and heaven,
alas! alas! There may be geranium and cac-
tus in that family window, and upholstery
lowering over it, and childiph faces looking
out of it, but there is no scarlet thread
stretched across it. Although that house
may seem to be on the best street in
all the town or city. it is really on the edge
of a marsh across which sweep most poison
ous malarias, and it has a sandy foundation
and it's splendor will come down, and great
will be the fall of it. A home without God.
A prayerless father, An undevout mother!
Awful! awful! Is that you! Will you keep
on, my brother, on the wrong road, and
take your loved ones with you? Time il so
short that We cannot waste any of it on
apologies, or indirections, or circumlocu.
tons. You owe to your children, o father,
0 mother, moro than food, more than cloth
ing. more h shelter-you owe them the ex.
ample of q prayerful, consecratad pro-
nounced, out-nnd-ou ut Christian life. You
cannot afford to keep it away from them.