Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1893-11-03

think by marine law all our modern yes.
sells have enough lifeboats to hold all the
crew and all the passengers in case OF emery
ency but the marines OF my text were stand
ing by the only boat. and that small boat,
and yet 276 passengers. But what thrills me
through and through is the fact that though
we are wrecked by Sin and trouble and there
is only one lifeboat, that boat is large enough
to hold all who are willing to get into 1t. Inc
gospel hymn expresses it
All NAV come. whoever wilt
This Man receives poor sinners STILL
But must haul in that statement a little.
Room fer all In that lifeboat, with just one
exception. Not you'll do not mean you, but
there Is one exception. There have been
cases where ships were in trouble, and tine
captain got all the passengers and crew INTO
the life5oats. but there was not room Tor the
captain. He through the sea trumpet,
shouted "Shove of now and pull for the
beach. Good-byp' And then the captain,
with pathetic and Sublime self-sacrifice, went
down with the ship. SO the Captain OF our
salvation. Christ the Lord, launches the Cos
mel lifeooat and tells us all to get in, but He
perishes.
at behooved Christ to suffer" Was it
not So We who witnessed His agonizin2 eX-
piration2 Simon Of Cyrene, was it not so!
cavalry troops. whose horses paved the
dust at the crucifixion, was IT not soT re
Marvs who swooned away with the sun OF
fine midday heavens. was it not so? by
His stripes we are healed" BY His death
we live. BY His sinking in the deep sea OF
suffering we get OF in 4 safe lifeboat. Yes.
we must put into this story little OF our
own personality We had a ride in that
very lifeboat from foundered craft to sold
shore.
once on the raging seas rowed.
The storm was I'D: the night was Dark
The ocean yawned and rudely blow't
The win that tossed my Laundering bark.
But got into the gospel lifebout and got
ashore. No religious speculation Tor me-
These higher criticism fellows do not bother
me bit. YOU may ask me fifty questions
about the sea, and about the land. and about
the lifeboat that cannot answer, but one
thing know, | am ashore, and am going 10
stav ashore. ii the Lord by His grace will
help me. feel under me something 80 nrn
that try it with my right foot, and try IL
with nv left foot, and then try 1t with Dotn
feet and IL is so solid that think II must Do
what the old folks used to call the Rock OF
Ages. .,, ,,,
And be nv remaining days on earth many
or few | am going to spend my tlme IN
re commencing the lifeboat which fetched me
mere. q poor sinner saved by grace, ana III
swinging the cutasses TO sever the ropes ol
any unsafe lifeboat and let her fall on. MY
nearer. without asking any questions, eet
into the gospel lifeboat. Room and yet
tnsre IL room! The biggest boat on earth Is
tbe oospsl lifeboat. You must remember the
proportion of things, and that the snip
vrecked craft is the whole earth, ana the
lifehoat must be in proportion.
Won talk about your Campanias, ana your
Jucaniqs. and your Majestics, and your Guy
of New Yorks, but all of them put to2ether
are smaller than an indiana canoe on och-
room Lake compared with this gospel l1epoat
that is large enough to take in al Natiohs;
Room for one and room Tor all ue' III
"How? How2" you ask.
Well, know how you ieel, lor suniniei
before last on the sea OF Finland naa the
same experience. The ship ID wnicn We
sailed could not venture nearer than mile
tror, shore, where stood the Russian palace
of Peterof, and we had to get into small
boat and be rowed ashore. me water was
rouoh. and as we went down the ladder at
tbe side of the ship we held firmly on 10 the
railing. but in order TO get into the poat "e
had at last to let go. -.
Hov aid know that the boat was goou
and that the oarsmen were sufnclentg HOW
did know that the Finland Sea would not
swallow us vita one opening OF It's crystai
iaws2 We bad to trust, and we did trust,
and our trust was well rewarded. LII tue
same way get into this gospel nieboat. Lei
20! AS long rs you hold on 10 any otnel
hope you are imperiled. and you ger no au.
vantage from the lifeboat. Let go Does
some one here say, "I guess will hold on
little to my good works. or to pious parent
age. or to something can do in the way OF
aehievlng nv own salvation" No, no, let
gol Trust the Captain, who would not pW
Won into a rlckety or uncertain craft
For the sake of your present and everiast-
inc welfare. with all the urgency OF an lul-
rnortaI addressing immortas, cry from the
dentbs of nv soul and at the top OF my voice,
LET gol Last summer tho life saving crew
at East Hampton invited me to come up "
the life station and see the crew practice, loi
twice q week they are drilled IN the inpoI-
tant work assigned them bytne Unlteu 3,a We
Government. and they go through a.i sne
routine of saving the soipwreeked. But ina
would give little idea OF what tneS VIZ .n
have TO do IL some midnight next winter, the
wind driving backward, vessei snouiu e''
In the grasp OF hurricane. .bo
See the lights fare from the snip III tne
breakers. and then responding Dgnts haLIns
from the beach, and hear the rockers pu11 as
they rise. and the i:eboat rumbles OUT, am
the gun booms, ana the life line rises anu anu
faIIs across the splintered docks ana tne
nawser tightens, and the life car goes 70 ana
fro, carrying the exhausted mariners, and the
ocean. as if angered by the snatchinS OF the
human prey from the white teeth Oh Its SURF
and the stroke of its billowng paw, rises
with increased fury to asssil the land SO
now I am engaged IN no light drill, practlc-
inc for what NAV come over some OF your
souls 1t is with some OF you wintry MD
night, and your hopes for this word and the
next are wrecked.
But see See! The lights kindled on the
beach throw out the life line. Haul IN,
band over hand All, there is lifeooat ~
the surf, which all the wrath OF earth and h"li
cannot swamp, and its Captain with SCARED
hand puts the trumpet to His lips as Ge
cries, hOh, Israel, thou hast destroyed thy
self, but in Me is thy help" But what is the
use of all this if you decline to get into IL!
You might as we'll have been sailor on
board that laundering ship OF the MenI-
terranean when the mariners cut the ropes
of the boat and let her fall of.