The Opelousas courier., 1892-11-12
mariners, for eternity! Launch out into

shallow experience. Doubts ana fears have
in our day been almost elected to the parlia-
ment of Christian graces. Some consider it
a bad sign not to nave any doubts. Doubts
and fears are not signs Of health, but testers
and %carbuncles. You have a valuable house
or farm. 1t is suggested that the title IS
not good. You employ counsel. You have
the deeds examined. You search ths record
for mortgages, judgments and liens. You
are not satisfied until you have a certificate,
signed by the great seal of the State, assur-
ing you that the title is good. Yet how many
leave their title to heaven an undecided mat
teri Why do you not go to the records and
find out? Give yourself no rest, day or night,
until you can read your title clear to man
sions in the skies.
Christian character is to come up to high
er standards. We nave now to hunt
through our library to find n Robert
M'Cheyne, or one Elward Payson, or one
Harlan Page. The time will come when we
will find half a dozen of them sitting IN the
same seat with us. The grace OF God can
make a great deal better men than those I
have mentioned. Christians seam afraid
they will get heterodox by going too far.
They do not believe in Christian perfection.
There is no danger of your being perfect for
some time yet. | will keep watch and give
you notice in time, if you get too near per-
lection for the safety of your theology.
One-half of 0 Christians are simply
stuck in the mul |. Why not cut loose from
everything but God? Give not to Him that
formal petition made up of $3.50
Lord" this and 30 Lord" that. When peo-
pie are cold and have nothing to say to God
they strew their prayers with 'O's' and
Forever and ever, Amen" and things to
fill up. Tell God What you want with the
feeling that He is ready to give it, and be-
lieve that you will receive, and you shall
have it. Shed that old prayer you nave
been making these ten years. It is high
time that yGu outgrew it. Throw it aside
with your old ledgers. and your old hats,
and your old shoes. Take a review of your
present wants, of your present sins and of
your present blessings. With a sharp blade
cut away your past half and half Christian
life, and with new determination, and new
plans, and new expectations launch out into
the deep.
The text is appropriate to all the unfor-
given. Every sinner would coine to God II
ne thought he might come just as he is.
People talk as though the pardon of God
were a narrow river, like the Kennebsc or
the Thames, and that their sins draw too
much water to enter it. No: it is not q river
nor a bay, but a sea. l should like to per-
suade you to launch out into the great deep
OF Gods mercy. / am a merchant. I have
bought a cargo of spices in India. | have,
through a bill Of exchange, paid for the
whole cargo. You are a ship captain. l
give you the orders and say, Bring me
those spices" You land in India. You go
to the trader and say, ''Here are the orders"
and you find everything all right. You do
not stop to pay the money yourself. It is
not your business to pay it. The arrange
ments were made before you started. So
Christ purchases our pardon. He puts the
papers, or the promises, into your hand. Is
it wise to stop and say, II cannot pay for
my redemption? Goo does not ask you to
lay. Relying on whathas been done, launch
out into the deep.
The Bibles promises join hands, and the
circle they make will compass all your sins,
and all your temptations, and all you sor-
rows. The round table of King Arthur and
his knights had room for only thirteen ban
queters, but the round table of Gods Sapply
is large enough for all the present inhabit-
ants Of earth and heaven to sit at, and for
the stillsnightier populations that are yet to
be.
DO not sail coastwise along your old habits
and old sins. Keep clear of the shore. Go
out where the water is deepest. Oh, for the
mid sea of Gods mercy! "Be it known unto
you, men and brethren, that through this
Man is preached unto you forgiveness OF
sins" I preach it with as much confidence
To GD6 6lguC} y Sdi-SIu tEduSSFGSSOE a " Gne
maiden. Though you sins were blood RED
they shall be snow white. The more ragged
the prodigai, the more compassionate the
Father. Do you say that you are too bad
The high water mark of Gods pardon il
higher than all your transgressions. s'The
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin"
Do you say that your heart is hard? Sup
pose it were ten times harder. Do you say
that your iniquity is long continued? Sup
pose It were ten times longer. Do you say
that your crimes are black? Suppose that
they were ten times blacker. Is there any
lion that this Samson cannot slay? Is there
any fortress that this Conqueror cannot
take? Is there any sin that this Redeemer
cannot pardon?
tits said that when Charlemagne's hos'
was overpowered by the three armies of thu
Saracens in the pass of Roncesvalles hi
warrior. Roland, in terrible earnestnes
seized a trumpet and blew it with such ter
rife strength that the opposing army reelet
back with terror, but at the third blast Of
the trumpet it broke in two Isee your sou
ffercely assaiIed by all the powers Of eartf
and he'll. I put the mightier trumpet of thu
Gospel to my lips and blow it three times
come" Blast the second-"Seek ye tn
Lord while He may be found" Blast tn
third-"Now is the accepted time; now
the day of salvation"
Does not the host of your sins fall back
But the trumpet does not, like that of Roland
break in two. As it was handed down to u
from the lips of our fathers, we hand it dowl
to the lips of our children, and tell them Il
sound it when we ara dead, that all the gen
eratiors of men may know that our God is
hardening Coda sympathetic Coda low
ing God-and that more to Him than the
anthems OF heaven. more to Him than tn
throne on which He sits; more to Him thai
are the temples of celestial worship is the jo,
of seeing the wanderer putting his hand Oh
the door latch of his Fathers house. Hea
it. all We Nations Bread for the worst hun
ger. Medicine for the worst sickness. Ligh
for the thickest darkness. Harbor for tn
worst storm.
DIR. Prime, in his look of wonderful inter
est. entitled "Around the World" describes
a tomb in India of marvellous architecture
Twenty thousand men were twenty-five
years in erecting that and the buildings
| around il. Standing in that tomb. il yor
speak or sing. after you hav ceased yol
hear the echo coming from a height OF on
hundred and fifty feet. It is not like other
| echoes. The souni is drawn out in swee
prolongation, as thoug h the angels o
| God were chanting on the wing. How man,
| souls in the tomb of sin will lift up tn
voice of penitence and prayer? II now the,
would cry unto God the echo would dro]
from afar, not struck from the marble Gu
pola of an earthly mausoleum, but sounding
back from the warm heart OF angels hyin
the news, for there is Joy among the angel
of God over ons sinner that r~epentsthI