The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-02-05

under the weight, and they put the end of
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 thorou ;h'y, for it Is to bear
fruit such as no other tree ever bore. Why
did Chr st endure it? he could hsve taken
those rocK lana Win Jnem crushed bis cruel
fiers. He co Id have reached up and grasped
the sword of the omnipotent God and with
one clean cat have tumbled them into perdi-
tion. But no, He was to di !. BE must d 9.
His life for my life. HIS life for you life.
In on Of the European cities young man
died on tn, scaffold or The crime Of MUIR
der. Some time after. the mother of this
sbs was ana snS R1e5 cahs Ss
priest that she was the murdere, an 1
not her son; n a moment of anger she
had struck her husband 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
say: lit was wonderful that he never ex-
posed her." But / tell you Of a 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 sacriacing-can you not trust
Him2
think there are many under the spirit OF
God who are saying: ~ will trust Him If you
will only tell me how" and the great ques
tlon esked by thousands in this assemblage
is "Hows how? And while answer your
question I look up and utter the prayer which
Rowland Hill so often uttered in the midst
of his sermons. ''Master, help" How are
you to trust in Christ? Just as you trust
any one. You trust your partner in bust
ness with important things. II a conl-
srs hs hSase give give you ,ns mote Rs Rsyaee naG
ment of that note at the end Of three
months. You have perfect confidence
in their word and in their ability. You 60
home to-day. You expect there will be food
on the table. You have confidence in that.
Now, ask you to have the same confidence
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says: "You
believe; 1 take away your sins;" and they are
all taken away: What" you say, "beforeI
pray any more? Before I read my Bible any
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 thatf
Confidence. If these people whom you trust
day 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 if 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
that he died on the cross" Do you believe
it with your head or your hearth
I will illustrate the difference. You
are in your own house. In the morning you
open a newspaper, and you read how Cap
tain Braveheart on the sea rlsked his LIE
for the salvation of his passengers. You
say: "What O grand fellow he must have
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
it is night, and you are asleep,
and are awakened by the shrek Of
"Firep You rush out on the deck.
You hear, amid the wringing OF the
hands and the fainting, the cries: mo
hope! we are lostl we are lost" The, sail
burning ladder in the night heavens, the
spirit Of wreck Kisses in the waves. and on
the hurricane deck shakes out its banner OF
smoke and darkness. "Down with the life
boatsP' cries the Captain. "Down with the
life boatsp People rush into them. The
boats are about full. Room only for one
more man. You are standing on the deck
or the Captain? The Captain says: 'You."
You jump and are saved. He stands there
and dies. Now, you believe that Captain
Brayeheart 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 ut 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 salvation
of your immortal soul.
You often go across bridge you know
nothing about. You do not know who built
the bridge, you do not know what material
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 the "Rock OF
Ages" and built by the architect OF the
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 60 little way on and
YOU STOP and you fall back and you
e1periment. You say: "How do l know
that bridge will hold me?' instead OF march
ing on with firm stop, asking no questions,
but feeling that the strength OF the eternal
God is under you. o, was there ever prize
offered so cheap as pardon and heaven are
offered to you? For how much? A million
dollars? It 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
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved"
Shall try to tell you what it is to be saved?
I cannot tell you. No man, no angel
can tell you. But I can hint at it, For
shalt be saved" Itmeans happy life here,
and peaceful death and a blissful eternity:
It is a grand thing to 60 to sleep at
night, and to get up in the morning, and
to do business all day feeling that all
is right between my heart, heart and
God. No accident, no sickness, no
any permanent damage. am forgiven
child of God, and He is bound to see me
through. he has sworn He will see me
through. The mountains may depart, the
earth may burn, the light of the stars may
be blown out by the blast OF the Judgment
hurricane; but life and death, things present
and things to come are mine. Yea, 1artneR
Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. Sigourney, DR.. Young
and 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 loathsomoness, and mid
night, and tho wringing Of the heart until the
tondrils snap and curl in the torture un-
less Christ be- with us. confess to you TO
an infinite fear a consuming horror. OF