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

| ing paraboia. and on and on and up ana
| up, and down and down. and round ana
round. Don't you see? Now. that theosopnic
| lifeboat has been launched. 1t proposes 10
take you of the rough sea of doubt into ever"
| lasting quietude, How do you like the me-
ooatf My opinion is You had better Initiate
the mariners of my text and cut off the ropes
OF that boat and let her fall off.
| Another lifeboat tempting us to enter IS
made OF many planks of good works. 1t is
really a 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
1 the rowlocks and Of the paddles and OF the
steering gear, and OF many who are think
| ing to trust themselves on her benches. But
the trouble about that lifeSoat Is It leaks.
never knew man yet good enough to earn
heaven by his virtues or generosities.
III there be one person here present on THIS
| blessed Sabbath all of whose thoughts have
been always right, all of whose actions have
always been right and all oiwhose words have
! always been right let him stand up, or III al
ready standing let him lift his hand, and
| will know that he lies. Paul had 1t 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
hat doeth good, no not one.
| The old book had it about right when it
said, "All have sinned and come short OF the
| glory OF God" Let man get OF that little
steamer called The Maid o. the Mist, which
sails up to the foot of Niagara Falls, and then
climb to thetop OF the falls onthe descending
aoods for he can do it easier than any man
,ver will be able to climb to heaven by his
good works.
II your thoughts have always been exactly
tight. and your words exactly right. and
-FOUR deeds always exactly right, you can
20 up to the gate OF heaven, and sou need
| aot even knock tor admittar1ce, but open II
yourself and push the angels Gut OF your way
and go up and take one OF the front seats.
But You would be so unlike any one else that
has gone up from this world tnat you a. w gu
Dc q curiosity In heaven and more ut Tor
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 IS
handsomer than any ycwl or pinnace or
yacht or cutter that ever sped out ola boat
| house or holsted sail for d race. But she leaks.
Trust your soul in that, and you WIN go 10
he bottom. She leaks. So l Initiate the
mariners Of the text and with cutlass strike
the ropes of the boat and let her fall Of.
Another lifeboat Is Christian Incon-
,istencies. The planks OF this boat are
composed OF the split planks oil shipwrecks.
That PROV is made out OF hypocrisy from
| he life of a man who protested one thing
and really was another. One oar OF this
Iifeboat was the falsehood Of church MEM
bar, and the other oar was the wickedDess
of some minister OF the Gospel, whose In
| louities wece not for n long while found out.
] Not one plank from the oak OF Gods
eternal truth in all that lifebolt. All the
blanks. by universal admission, are decayed
and crumbling and fallen apart and rotten
and ready to sink.
'Well. well, you say, mo ono VIII want
10 get into that lifeboat." On my iriend,
sou are mistaken. That Is the most popular
! Iifeboat ever constructed. That Is the most
popular lifeboat ever launched. Millions OF
people want to get into it. They jostle each
other to get the best seat in the boat. You
could NOT keep them back though you stood
al the gunwales with club, as on our snip
! Greece in hurricane, and the Storage pas
senoers were determined to come up on deck,
where they would have been washed of, and
the officers stood at the top of the stairs
| clubbing them back. Even by such violence
az that YOU could not keep people from
jumping into the most popular liiepoat, mace
| of church member inconsistencies.
| n times OF revival MUeu oiuhOAo HUN tA'eO
J the innuirv room the most of them are kept
| from deciding Alright because they know so
many Christians who are bad. The inquiry
room becomes O Worlds Fair for exhibition
! of all the frailties OF church members, 80 ina.
| n Won believe all is there told you you would
! he afraid 10 enter church lest you get your
pockets picked or get knocked down.
This is the way they talk II was cheated
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.
| ~ had partner in business VINO swaut pea
our business concern by his trickery and then
rolled up his eyes in Friday night prayer
Meeting. az though he were looking ZOE
Eliiah's chariot to make q second trip ana
take up,another passenger.
Rut what a cracked and water logged and
gaming seamed lfeboat the inconsistencies
of others Put me on shingle mid-Atlantic
and leave me there rather than in such
xavvl of spiritual confidence. God forbid that
! I shonld get aboard ii, and lest some OF you
make the mistake of getting into 1t / do as
the mariners did on that Mediterranean snip
w hen the sailors were about TO get into the
J unsafe llfeboat OF the text and lose tnelr
/ lives In that way. "Then the soldiers cut
! off the ropes of the boat and let her 1ali on. :
s.Wel,o says some one, tins suplect Is
very discouraglng, for we must nave iue-
| boat II we are ever to get ashore, and you
have already condemned three" All. 1t Is
/ because want to persuade you to take the
only safe lifeboat. / will not allow you TO DC
! deceived and get on to the Wild waves and
then capslze or sink. Thank God, there is a
ljfehoat 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 a tree that was set up on a DUN PACK
, of Jerusalem a good many years ago. Botn
of fine oars are made out of the same tree.
The row!ocks are made out OF the same tree'
The greerILg gear Is made Our oil the same
tree The blanks of 1t were hammered to-
pether by the hammers OF executioners VINO
/ thong tsey were only killing Christ, but
were really pounding together an escape fof
all imperiled souls of all ages.
1t is an old boat, but good as new, though
| it has been carrying passengers from sinking
ships to firm shore for ages and has never
Iosta passenger. These old Christians begin
70 smile because it is dawning upon then
what Imean. The fact is that in this way
wears ago they got off wreck themselves,
andlI do not wonder they smile. 1t is not a
senseless giggle'that means fr1yonty, put IL
ia n smile like that on the face OF CHRISTIANS
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 Atiantlc
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 llfeboat could live in sea like
ffhatY Although the worst OF it was over,
the captain replied, mo, do not think it
could., But this iifeboat OF which speak
can live in any sea and defes all breakers,
and all cyclones, and all equinoxes, and all
earth and all hell. In twenty years the lie
saving apparatus along our Atlantic coast
aa.-od tha liraa of over AZ 900 of the ship