The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1893-10-25
and with cutlass strike the ropes Of

blSUencleb. Inc plankb OF thlb DoaJ bIo
composed of the split planks Of ship
wrecks That prov is made out Of
hypocrisy from the life Of man who
professed one thing and really was an
other. One oar of this lifsboat was the
falsehood Of a church member, and the
other oar was the wickedness of some
minister Of the gospel, whose iniqui-
ties were not for q long while found
out Not one plank from the oak sf
Gods eternal truth in all that lifeboat
All the planks, by universal admission,
are decayed and crumbling and fallen
apart and rotten and ready 30 sink.
"Well, WELL" you say, mo one will
want to get into that lifeboat." o,
my friend, you are mistaken. That is
the most popular lifeboat ever con-
structed. That is the most popular life
boat ever launched. Millions Of people
want to go into 1t. They jostle each
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 our ship Greece In O hurricane,
and the steerage passengers were de-
termined to come up on deck, where
they would have been washed off, and
the officers stood at the top Of the stairs
clubbing them back. Even by such vi.
olence as that you could not keep peo.
pie from jumping into the most popu-
lar lifeboat, made 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 so
many Christians who are bad. The In
quiry room becomes worlds fair for
exhibition Of all the frailties Of church
members, so II you believe all is there
told you, you would be afraid to enter
q church lest you get your pockets
picked or get knocked down. This Is
the,way they talk: II was cheated out Of
s500'by leader Of Bible class" "a
Sunday-school teacher gossiped about
me and did her best to destroy my
good name" "Ihad a partner in busi-
ness who swamped our business con-
cern by his trickery, and then rolled
up his eyes in Friday night prayer
meeting, as though he were looking
for Elijahs chariot to make a second
trip and take up another passenger.
But what cracked and water-logged
and gaping-seamed lifeboat the incon-
sistencies Of others. Put me on a
shingle mid-Atlantic and leave me
there, rather than In such yawl Of
spiritual confidence. God forbid that
l should get aboard 1t, and lest some
OF you make the mistake of getting
into It, do as the mariners did on that
Mediterranean ship when the sailors
were about to get into the unsafe life
boat of the text and lose their lives in
that way. "Then the soldiers cut off
the ropes Of the boat and let her fall
off,"
"Well," says someone, this subject
is very discouraging, for we must have
lifeboat, II we are ever to get ashore,
and you have already condemned
three" All, IL is because / want TO
persuade you TO take the only safe lite'
boat Twill not allow you 70 be de-
ceived and get on TO the wild waves
and then capsize or sink. Thank God,
there is lifeboat that will take you
ashore In safety, as sure as God Is God
and Heaven Is Heaven. The keel and
ribs of this boat are made out Of tree
that was set back of Jerusalem good
many years ago. Both Of the oars are
made out OF the same tree. The row
locks are made out OF the same tree.
The steering gear is made out Of the
same tree. The planks Of IL were ham
mered together by the hammer Of exc
cutioners, who thought they were only
killing Christ, but were really pound
ing together an escape for all imper-
lied souls Of all ages. 1t is an old boat,
but good as new, though II has been
carrying passengers from sinking ships
TO firm shore for ages, and has never
lost passenger. These old Christians
begin TO smile because 1t is dawning
upon them what mean. The fact Is
that in this way years ago they got off
a wreck themselves, and / do not won
der they smile. II is not senseless
giggle that means frivolity, but 1t is a
smile like that on the face OF Chris.
tians the moment they leave earth for
Heaven, yea, like the smile Of God
Himself when He had completed the
plan for saving the world.
Right after that big tumble Of the
Atlantic Ocean six or seven weeks ago,
on the beach at East Hampton | met
the captain Of the life saving station
and said: Captain, do you think a
lifeboat could live In sea like that?"
Although the worst OF It was over, the
captain replied: "No, l do not think
II could" But the lifsboat Of which
speak can live in any sea and dsfies all
breakers, and all cyclones, and all
equinoxes and all earth and all hell.
In twenty years the. life saving appa-
ratus along our Atlantic coast saved
the lives OF over 5000 Of the ship
wrecked, but this lifeboat that com.
mend has saved In twenty years hun.
dreds OF millions Of the shipwrecked.
Like those newly invented English
lifeboats, II Is insubmergable, self
riQhting and self-bailing. All along
our rocky American coast things were
left 10 chance for centuries, and the
shipwrsclsed crawled up on the beach
TO die unless somo one happened TO
walk along or some fsherman's hut
might be near. But after the ship Ayr
shire was wrecked at 5quan Beach,
and the Powhatan had left her three
hundred dead strewn along our coast,
and another vessel went on the recks,
g., - hnnd,ad lives nariahino the Uni.