The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-08
experience, rotating through the uni

ing parabOla, and on and on, ana up anu
up, and down and down. and round and
round. Don't you see? Now, that theosopnic
| lfeboat has been launched. 1t proposes 10
take you off the rough sea Of doubt into ever
lasting quietude. How do you Like the life
boat? My opinion is you had better initiate
| the mariners of my text and cut OIL the ropes
| of that boat and let her fall of.
| Another lifeboat tempting us to enter is
| made OF many planks OF good works. 1t Is
really beautiful boat-almsgiving, practi-
| cal sympathies for human suffering, right
eous words and righteous Deeds L must
| admit like the looks Of the PROV, and OF
the rowlocks and of the paddles, and Of the
steering gear, and OF many who are think
| inc to trust themselves on her benches. But
the trouble about that lifeboat Is It leaks I
never knew man yet good enough to earn
heaven by his virtues or generositles.
II there be one person here present on this
blessed Sabbath all Of whose thoughts have
been always right, all Of whose actions nave
always been right and all OF whose words have
always been right, let him stand up, or IL al
ready standing let him lift his hand, and
will know that he lies. Paul had it about
right when hesaid, "By the deeds Of the law
shall no flesh living be justified" David had
It about right when he said, "There is none
that doeth good, no not one" -.
!! The old book had 1t about right when It
said, "All have sinned and come short OF the
glory OF God" Let man get on that little
steamer called The Maid Of the Mist, which
| sails up to the foot of Niagara Fails, and then
climb to thetop OF the falls on the descending
foods, for he can dc it easier than any man
syer will be able to climb to heaven by bis
| good works. ~
Ifyour thoughts have always been exactly
deht. and your words exactly right. and
| olu
20 up to the gate OF heaven, and you need
not even knock tor admittance, but open 1t
| yourself and push the angels out OF your way
and 90 up and take one OF the front seats.
| But Won would be so unlike any one else that
has gone up from this world that you would
be a curiosity In heaven and more ut for
heavenly museum than for place where the
inhabitants could look at you free OF charge.
No, sir, Iadmire your good works, and tina
lifeboat you are thinking OF trusting IN ls
handsomer than any yawl OF pinnace OF
YACHT or cutter that eyer sped out ofa boat
house or hoisted sail for race. But she leaks
Trust your soul in that, and you Will go to
the bottom. She leaks. SO I initiate the
mariners of the text. ndwith cutlass strike
the ropes Of the boat and let her fall OF. sE
Another lifeboat Is tChristian Incon-
sistencies. The SplanksFsof this boat are
composed Of the split planks OF shipWrecks.
| That PROV Is madeaout T hypocrisy from
the life of q man who professed one thing
lifeboat was the falsehood Of church MEM
ber, and the other oar wast the wickedness
of some minister ot,the Gospel, whose in
ioaities were not for d long while found out.
Not one plank from the oak OF Gods
eternal truth In all that lifeboat. All the
planks. BIZ universal admission, are decayed
and crumbling and fallen apart and rotten
and ready to sink. -,
swell. well, you say, mo one Will want
TO get into that lifeboat." On, my friend,
Won are mistaken. That Is the most popular
J iifeboat ever constructed. That Is the most
| popular hfeboat ever launched. Millions OF
people want to get into it. They jostle esch
other TO get the best seat In the boat. You
/ could not keep them back though you stood
| at the gunwales with club, as on onr ship
| Greece in hurricane, and the steerage pas
senpers were determined to come up on deck,
where they would have been washed on, anu
| the officers stood at the top OF the stairs
| clubbing them back, Even by such violence
| as that you could not keep people from
jumping into the most popular iifeboat, mace
| of church member inconsistencies.
In times of revival when sinners flock into
| the inquiry room the most OF them are kept
| from deciding Alright because they know 80
MANY Christians who are bad. The inquiry
room becomes q Worlds Fair for exhibition
| of nil the frailties or church members, so that
| II YOU believe all is there told you you would
| be afraid to enter church lest you get your
| pockets picked or get knocked down.
This Is the way thev talk ~ was cneatea
out OF $500 by leader OF a Bible class. "a
Sunday-school teacher gossiped about me
and did her best to destroy my good name. "
"I had a partner in business who swamped
our business concern by his trickery and then
| rolled up his eyes In Friday night prayer
meeting, as though he were looking 1or
Elijah's chariot to make second trip and
take up another passenger.
But what a cracked and water logged and
| gaping scanned lifeboat the inconsistencies
of others Put me on shingle mid-Atlantic
| and leave me there rather than In such
yawl of spiritual confidence. God forbid that
should get aboard it, and lest some OF you
make the mistake OF getting into 1t 90 as
the mariners did on that Mediterranean ship
" hen the sailors were about to get into the
, unsafe lifeboat Of the text and lose their
| lives in that way. "Then the soldiers cur
off the ropes of the boat and let her fall of. !"
"Well," says some one, "this subject Is
very discouraging, for We must have LIE
| boat II we are ever to get ashore, and you
| have already condemned three" All. 1t is
| because want to persuade you to take tho
only safe lifeboat. will not allow you to DO
! deceived and get on to tho Wild waves and
| then capslze or sink. Thank God, there ls
| llfeboat that will take you ashore In safety,
las sure as God Is God and heaven IL heaven.
The keel and ribs OF this boat are made out
Of tree that was set up on bluff back
| Of Jerusalem a good many years ago. Botn
| Of the oars are made out OF the same tree.
| the rowlocks are madeout OF the same tree.
| The sreerr.g gear Ii made our OF the same
| tree. The planks of It were hammered to-
gaher by the hammers OF executioners who
thought they were only killing Christ, but
wess really pounding together an escape for
| all Smperiled souls of all ages. -
| Ills an old boat, but good as new, though
| It has been carrying passengers from sinking
shipt to firm shore for ages and has never
lost passenger. These old Christians begin
| to smile because 1t is dawning upon them
| ThatI mean. The fact Is that In this way
yearsago they got OF wreck themselves,
and Iio not wonder they smile. It Is not
sensekss giggle that means frivoIty. but 1t
! Is s4ile like that on the lace OF CHRISTIANS
the mSnent they leave earth for heaven
yea, lie the smile Of God Himself when He
had completed the plan for saving the world.
Righ after that big tumble OF the Atlantic
Ocean ax or seven weeks ago on the beach
at EastHampton met the captain OF the
| life saving station and said, "Captain. do
i YOU thitk lifeboat could live in a seq like
\ that?" ALTHOUGH the worst OF 1t was over,
the captiin replied, "No, I do not think 1t
could.''j But this ifeboat OF which speak
can ivean any sea and dehes all breakers,
and all cyclones, and all equinoxes, and all
earth, and all hell. In twenty years the life
saving apparatus along our Atlantic coast
saved THE lives Of over 45, 900 OF the ship
wrecked jbut this lifeboat that commend
has saved IN twenty years hundreds OF mill
| a., ~ Ia ab;nuracLad like those newly