Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-07-07

wreck OF JnOSe VINO, no. ldklnB tne'
| warning. drove with the cargo of i'm
morta hope into the tangled
foam of the breakers
Repentl the voice celestial cries,
! Nor longer dare delay;
The wret h that scorns the mandate dies,
And meets the fiery day.
But / analyze the publican's prayer
n step further, and ] find that lie eX-
| pected no relief except through God S
mercy. Why did not he say, / am an
honorable man; when get ten dollars
taxes pay them right over to the pov-
ernment | give full permission to
anybody to audit my accounts; l ap.
peal to thy justice, O God! He made
no such plea. He threw himself fiat
upon God mercy.
Have You any idea that man, by
/ breaking off the scales of the leprosy,
can change the disease? Have you
any idea that you can, by changing
your life change your heart, that you
can purchase your way to heaven?
! Come, try it; come, bring all the bi cad
you ever gave to the hungry; all the
medicine you ever gave to the sick; all
the kind words you have ever uttered;
all the kind deeds that have ever dis
tinguished you; add them all up into
! the tremendous aggregate of good
words and works, and then you will
see Paul sharpen his knife as he cuts
that spirit of self satisfaction, as he
cries, "By the deeds of the law there
shall no flesh be justified"
| Well, say a thousand men in this
audience, if ! am not to get anything
in he way of peace from God in good
works, how am i to be saved? by
mercy. Here l stand to tell the sto y;
mercy, mercy, long suffering mercy:
, sovereign mercy, infinite mercy, omni-
| potent mercy, everlas ing mercy. Why,
it seems in the Bible as if all Ian
guage were exhausted, as if it were
stretched until it broke, as if all eX-
preston were struck dead at the feet
of prophet and apostle and evangelist,
when it tries To describe Gods mercy.
Oh, says some one, that is only adj
ding TO my crime, if come and con-
SIS before God and seek his merry.
No, no! The murderer has come, and
while he was washing the blood of his
Wet III from his han S, looked into the
ia &c of God and cried for mercy, and
his soul has cen white in Gods par
doning love! And the soul that has
wandered off in the streets, and down
to the very gates of hell, has come
back to her fathers house, throwing
her arms around his neck, and been
saved by the mercy that saved Mary
Magdalen.
But, avs some one, you are throw
ing open that door of merry too wide.
No, ! wi throw it open wider; ! will
take the responsibility of saying that
If all this audience, instead of being
gathered in semicircle, were placed
side by side, IN one long line, they
could all march right through the wide
open gate of mercy. whatsoever"
whatsoever" Oh, this mercy of God
there is no line long emo 9Th to
fathom it; there is no ladder long
enough TO scale il; there is no ari h
netic facile enough to calculate it; no
angel S wings can fly across it,
heavenly harpers, aided by choirs
with feet like the sun, cannot compass
that harmony of Mercy, Mercy 1t
sounds in the rumbling of the celes-
tial gate; ] hear 1t in the Ginning OF
the celestial towers; | see it fla hing
in the uplifted and downcast coronets
of the saved; l hear it in the thunder
ing tread of the hammered hosts round
about the throne; and then it comes
from the harps, and crowns, and
thrones, and professions, to sit down,
uneXpres ed, on throne overlapping
all heaven-the throne of mercy
How l was affected when some one
told me in regard TO that accident on
Long Island Sound, when one poor
woman came and got her hand on a
raft as she tried to save herself, but
those who were on the raft thought
there was no room for her and one
man came and mos: cruelty beat and
bruised her hands until she fell Off.
Oh, | bless God that this life-boat of
the Gospel has room enough for the
sixteen hundred millions of the race
r ON for one, room for all, and yet
there is roOInl
push this analysis of the publicans
prayer a step further, and find that he
did not expect any mercy except by
plea ling for it. lie did not fold his
hands Igether, as some do, saving "lf
I'm to be sIved I'll be wed; if I'm
to be lost, I'll be lost and there is
no hing for me to do" He knew what
was worth having was worth asking
for: hence this earnest cry Of the text,
''God be mercful to me a sinner"
IL was an earnest prayer, and it is
chara terist C of all Bible prayers that
tn were answered. The blind man:
Lord, that may re GIVE my sight,"
the leper: Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean" sinking Peter:
Lord, save me;" the publican: God
be merciful to me sinner" But if
you come up with the tip of your fin
ger and tap at the gate of mercy, it
will not open; you have got to have
the earnestness of the warrior who. de-
feated and pursued, dismounts from
his lathered steed, and with gaunt-
letted fist pounds at the palace gate.
You have got to have the earnestness
of the man who, at midnight in the
fourth story has n sense of su location,
with the house in flames, goes to the
window and shouts to the fremen,
"Helpl" Oh. unforgiven soul! if you
were in full earnest | might have to
command silence in the auditory, for
your prayers would drown the voice of
the speaker, and we would have to
pause in the great service. 1t is be-
cause you do not realize your 81 be-
fore Godthat you are not this moment
crying; Mercy, mercy, mercy.
This prayer Of the publican was also
humble prayer. The Pharisee
looked up, the publican looked down.