The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1890-05-21

II, with all the influences favorable
for right life, men make so many mis-.
takes, how much harder 1t Is when, for
instance, some appetite thrusts its iron
grapple into the roots Of the tongue, and
pulls man down with hands Of dc.
struction! If, under such circumstances,
he break away, there will be no sport in
the undertaking, no holiday enjoyment,
but a struggle in which the wrestlers
move from side to side, and bend and
twist, and watch for an oppor tunity to
get in heavier stroke, until with one
final effort, in which the muscles are
distended, and the veins stand OFT and
the blood starts, the swarthy habit ialls
under the knee of tho victor-escaped at
last as with the skin OF his teeth"
The ship Emma, bound from GotteL
burg to Harwich, was sailing on, when
the man ON the lookout saw some thing
that he pronounced vessel bottom-up.
| There was some thing on it that looked
like a sea-gull, but afterwards was found
to be a waving handkerchief. In the
small boat the crew pushed out to the
wreck, ana found that it was capsized
vessel, and that three men had been
digging their way out through the bot
tom of the ship. When the vessel cap
sized they mad no means of escape. The
captain took his penknife and dug away
through the planks until his knife broke.
Then an old nail was found, with which
they attempted to scrape their way out
Of the darkness, each one working until
his hand was we'll nigh paralyzed, and
he sank back faint and sick. After long
and tedious work, the light broke
through the bottom Of the ship. A
handkerchief was hoisted. Help came.
They were taken on board of the vessel
and saved. Did ever men come so near
a watery grave without dropping into
it? How narrowly they escaped-es-
capped only with the skin of their teeth. {"
There are men who have been cap.
sized Of evil passions, and capsized
mid-ocean, and they are a thousand
miles from any shore Of help. They
have for years been trying to dig their
way out. They have been digging away
and digging away, but they can never
be delivered unless they will hoist some
signal of distress. However weak and
feeble it may be, Christ will see it, and
bear down upon the helpless craft and
take them on board; and it will be
known on earth and in Heaven how
narrowly they escaped az
with the skin of their teeth"
There are others who in attempting
to come to God must run between a
great many business perplexities. II a
man go over to business at 10 o'clock in
the morning, and comes away at 8 in the
afternoon, he has some time for religion;
but how shall you find time for religious
contemplation when you are driven from
sunrise to sunset, and have been for five
years going behind in business, and are
frequently dunned by creditors whom
you can not pay, and when, from Mon.
day morning until Saturday night you
are lodging bills that VOW can not meet?
You walk day by day IN uncertainties
that have kept your braifs on fire for the
past three years. Some with less bust.
ness troubles than you HAYS gone
crazy. The clerk has heard noise
in the back counting room, and
gone in and found the chief man
Of the firm raving maniac; or the wife
has heard the bang Of pistol in the
back parlor, and gone in, stumbling
over the body Of her husband-a suicide
There are in this house to-day 500 men
pursued, harrassed, trodden down and
scalped, of business perplexities, and
which way to turn next they do not
know. Now, God will not be hard or
you. He knows what obstacles are IL
the way Of being Christian, and youi
first effort in the right direction He
will crown with success. Do not let Sa.
tan, with cotton bales, and kegs, and
hogsheads, and counters, and stocks OF
unstable goods block up your way tc
Heaven. Gather up all your energies.
Tighten the girdle about your loins.
Take an agonizing look into the face Of
God and then say, Here goes one grand
effort for life eternalp' and then bound
away for Heaven, escaping as with
the skin Of your teeth"
In the last day it will be found that
Hugh Latimer and John Knox and Huss
and Ridley were not the greatest mar
tyrs, but Christian men who went ur
incorrupt from the communications and
perplexities of Wall street, Water
. street, Pearl street, Broad street, State
street and Third street. On earth they
| 81 OF sa> N,
retailers, or importers; but in HEAVIER
Christian heroes. No fagots were heapeG
about their feet; no inquisition demand
ed from them recantation; no soldier
aimed q pike at their hearts; but they
had mental tortures, compared with
which all physical consuming is as the
breath of a spring morning.
find in the community large clas
, Of men who have been so cheated, 81
lied about, so outrageously wronged tina
, they have lost their faith in every thing
In world where every thing seems 81
topsy-turvy, they do not see how there
can be any God. They are COMPOUNDED
, and frenzied and misanthropic. Elah
crate arguments to prove to them thu
truth of Christianity, or the truth of an!
, thing else, touch them nowhere. Hea
me, all such men. Ipresent to you n,
!, rounded periods, no ornamental dis
, course; but put my hand on your shoul
, der and invite you into the peace Of tn
Gospel. Here is rock on which yo'
may stand firm, though the waves dasl
', against harder than the Atlantic, pitch