The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-02-14

he will be cut to pieces. What shall he dol
Escaue through the window of Gods mercy.
That sunshine has been pouring in fer many
q day. Gods inviting mercy. Gods par
doning mercy. Gods all conquering mercy.
Gods everlasting mercy. But, you cay, the
window is SO high. All, there is n rope, the
very one with which the cross and its victim
were lifted. That was strong enough to hold
Christ. and it 10 strong enough to hold you.
Bear oil your weight upon it, all your hopes
for this Iife all your hopes for the life that is
to come. Escape now through the window.
But" you say, THAT cord is too small to
save me; that salvation will never do at all
for such q sinner as have BEEN" suppose
that the rope with which Rahab let the two
apies to the Kround was not thick enough.
but they took that or nothing. And, my
dear brother, that is your alternative.
save you: There have been hundreds and
Thousands who have been borne away
in safety BY that scarlet line, and it
will bear you away in safety. Do you
notice what very narrow escape those spies
had? l suppose they came with fustered
cheek and with excited heart. They had a
very narrow escape. They went in the broad
door of sin; but how did they come out?
They came out Of the window, they went up
by the stairs OF stone; they came down on q
slender thread. And 80, my friends, we go
easily and unbaahfully into Elm, and oil the
doors ore open; hut If We get out at all it
Will DO by being let down over precipices, wrig-
keeping us from being dashed on the rocks
beneath. 1t is easy to get into sin, young
man. 1t 10 not SD easy to get out OF it.
Ayoung man goes to the marble counter
of hotel. He asks for brandy smash
called so, l suppose. because it smashes the
one that takes it. There is no intoxication in
it. As the young man receives it he does
not seem to be at oil excited. 1t does not
give any glossress 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 a
bad road. Years have passed on, and see
that young man after he has gone the whole
length of dissipation. 1t is midnight and he
is in hotel-perhars the one where he took
the first drink. A delirium is on him. 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 disfgured body,
unrecoYnizable on the pavement. Oh, if he
down ON the scarlet ladder that Jesus holds
from the wall for him. and for you and for
me; but no, he made one jump and was gone.
A minister ofChrist was not long ago dis
missed from his diocese for intoxication,
and in a public meeting he gave this accou mt
OF his sorrow: II had beautiful home
once hut strong drink shattered it. l had
took their dimpled hands in his and led
them to the lgravc. had q
wie-to know her was to love her;
hut she sits in wretchedness tonight
while l wander over the earth. l had
mother, aud the pride Of her life was !; but
scarcely a friend in the world. Taste of the
bitter cup have tasted, and then answer
me as to whether have any hatred for the
agency of my ruin. Hate it! l 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
minister Of the Gospel went in through the
broad door of temptation: he came out OF
the window. And when l Fee the tempta-
tions that are about us in all countries, and
when know the proclivities to sin in every
mans heart. see that if any of us escape it
will be very narrow escape. o. if we have.
my friends, got off from our sin, let us tie
the scarlet thread by which we have been
saved across the window. Let M 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 10 now no condemnation to them.
that are ia Christ Jesus" Then let an the
charge, and let spirits Of darkness come on
an Internal storming party attempting to
take our hole, this rope twisted from these
words, THE blood of Jesus Christ eleanseth
from all sin, will haFi' them back defeated
forever,
Still further We must take this red cord
of the text and stretch it across the window
of our households. When the lsraelitish
army came up against Jericho. they said.
"What is that in the Window Some one
said: "That is n 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,
father. her mother, her brothers, and her sis
ters-the entire family. Have our house.
holds az good protection? You have bolts
on the front door and on the back, and
fnstenings to the window, and perhaps
burglar alarms. and perhaps an especial
Waterman blowing his whistle at midnight
before your dwelling; but all that cannot
protect your household. Is there on our
houses the sign of Saviour's sacrifice and
mercy? Is there q scarlet line i'll the win.
dow? Have your children been consecrat ted
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. Is your
family inside or outside of the ark? 1t is a
sad thing for u man to reject Christ but to le
down in the night of sin. across the path to
heaven. so that his fomily come up and trip
over him-that is terrific. 1t is sad thing
for mother to reject Christ; but to gather
her family around her, and then take them
by the hand and lead them out into paths
Of worldlness. away from God and heaven,
alas! alas! There may be geranium and cac-
tus in that family window. and upholstery
lowering over it. and childish 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 marsh across which sweep most poison
GUS malarias, and it has 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 is SO
short that we cannot waste any OF it on
apologies, or indirections, or circumlocu
tons. You owe to your children. o father,
n H. L. e \ II. l.