The Penn's Grove record., 1893-10-27

so he enabled to have great variety Of
experience. rotating through the uni
verse, now rising, now falling, now
shot out in a straight line and now describ.
Ing a parabola, and on and on, n up and
up, and down and down, and round and
FOUND. Don't you see2 Now, that theosophic
tifeboat has been launched. 1t proposes to
AXE you of the rough sea Of doubt into ever
!asting quietude. How do you like the life
BOAT? Ny opinion is you had better Initiate
he mariners Of my text and cut of the ropes
+ that boat and let her fall eff.
Another lifeboat tempting US to enter is
male of many planks of good works. 1t il
'eauy a beautiful bo2t-almsgiving, practi-
cal sympathies for human suffering, right
sous words and righteous deeds. 1 must
admit l like the looks of the PROV, and oil
he rowlocks and of the paddles, and of the
Iteering gear, and of many who are think
NJ to trust themselves on her benches. But
he trouble about that lifeboat Is it leaks. ]
never knew q man yet good enough to earn
heaven by his virtues or generosities.
If 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 Of whose words have
always been right, let him stand up, or II al.
ready standing let him lift his hand, and ]
will know that he lies. Paul had 1t about
right when he said, "By the deeds Of the law
shall no flesh living be justified" David had
t abou right when he said, 'There is none
hat doeth good, no not one"
The old book had 1t about right when II
said, Gan nave sinned and come short Of the
glory of God" Let a mar get on that little
steamer called The Maid OF the Mist, which
Iails up to the foot of Niagara Falls, and then
,linnh 10 thaton of the falls onthe discerning
hoods, for he can do 1t easier than any mai
ever will be able to climb 10 heaven by hi
rood works.
II your thoughts have always been exactly
light, and your words exactly right. and
your deeds always exactly right, you can
20 up to the gate OF heaven, and you need
lot even knock tor admittance, but open II
Yourself and push the angels out OF your way
md 90 up and take n of the front seats.
But you would be SO unlike any one else thai
has gone up from this world that you would
Do a curiosity in heaven and more fit for 9
heavenly museum than for a place where the
inhabitants could look at you free OF charge.
Nc, sir, admire your good works, andtha
ifeboat you are thinking of trusting In Is
lgndsomer than any yawl or pinnace OF
Yacht or cutter that ever sped out ofa boat
house or hoisted sail fora race. But she LEAKS.
Trust your soul in that, n you Will go TO
he bottom. She leaks. So I initiate the
FARMERS OF the text. and with a cutlass strike
he ropes of the boat and let her fall of.
Another liteboat Is Christian Incon
,~Istencies. The planks OF this boat ART
composed OF the split planks OF shtpwrecks.
That Prov Is made out Of hypocrisy from
he life of a nan who protested one thing
md really was another. One oar OF this
iteboat was the falsehood Of a church mem
Der. and the other oar was the wickednsss
If some minister OF the Gospel, whose in
iduities were not for a long while found out.
Not one plank from the oak Of Gods
.ternal truth in all that nfeboat. ALI the
blanks. by universal admission, are decayed
md crumbling and fallen apart and rotten
md ready to sink.
tWeil, WE'LL yol say, mo one will want
% get into that lifeboat." oh, my friend,
you are mistaken. That is the most popuiat
ifeboat ever constructed. That ID the most
popular lifeboat ever launched. Millions oil
people want TO get into it. They iostle each
other to get the best seat in the boat. You
could not keep them back though you stood
al the gunwales with a club, as on our ship
Greece in a hurricane, and the steerage pas
sengers were determined to come up on deck.
where they would nave been washed of, ano
he 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 lifeboat mad
Of church member inconsistencies.
In times OF revival when sinners flock into
The inquiry room the most of them are KEEP
from deciding Alright because thsy know sc
many Christians who are a The inquiry
room becomes a Worlds Fair for exhibition
Of all the ~frailties oil church members, so that
IL YOU believe all is there told you you would
De afraid to enter a church lest you gel YOU
pockets picked or get knocked down.
This is the way they talk 81 was cheated
out OF $500 by a leader OF a Bible class" "a
Sunday-school teacher gossiped about mt
an, did her best to destroy my good name.
II had a partner in business who swampee
our business concern by his trickery and theI
rolled up his eyes in Friday night prayer
meeting, as though he were looking fol
Eiijah's chariot to make a second trip ano
take up another passenger"
But what a cracked and water logged anc
,aping scanned lifeboat the inconsistencie
Of others! Put me on shingle mid-Atlantic
and leave me there rather than In such Q
yayl OF spiritual confidence. God forbid that
/ should get aboard 1t, and lest some OF you
make the mistake of getting into 1t l do as
the mariners did on that Mediterranean shiI
W hen the sailors were about to get into the
unsafe lifeboat of the text and lose theil
lives in that way. "Then the soldiers cul
off the ropes OF the boat and let her fall oil.
well" says some one, ''this subject is
;ery discouraging, for we must have a life
Don't II we are ever to get ashore, and you
have already condemned three" All, 1t IL
because | wantto persuade you to take the
only safe Iifeboat. / will not allow you to be
deceived and get on to the wild waves and
then capsize or sink. Thank God, there is a
iifeboat that will take you ashore In safety,
a. 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 bluff back
of Jerusalem a good many years ago. Both
of the oars are made out of the same tree.
The roWlocks are made out OF the same tree.
The steering gear is made out OF the same
rec. The planks of 1t were hammered to-
yether by the hammers of executioners who
thought they were only killing a Christ, but
were really pounding together an escape ior
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
lost a passenger. These old Christians begin
10 smile because 1t Is dawning upon them
what 1 mean. The fact Is that In this way
gears e they got off a wreck themselves,
md | do not wonder they smile. II is not q
senseless giggle that means friyonty, but 1t
is a 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 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 llfeboat could live in a sea like
that?" Although the worst of it was over,
the captain replied, "No, I do not think 1t
could But this iifeboat Of which l speak
can live in any sea and defles all breakers,
and all cyclones, and all equinoxes, and all
earth, and all hell. In twenty years the life
saving apparatus along u Atlantic coast
saved the lives of over As, 900 OF the ship
wrecked, but this lifeboat that I commend
has saved in twenty years hundreds of mill
ions OF the shipwrecked, Like those newly
invented English ~lfeboats, 1t is unsubmerg-
ibIe, self rightiag and self baillng.
All along our rocky American coast thing
were left to chance for centuries, and the
shipwrecked crawIed up on the beach to an
unless some one happened to walk along d
some fshermsn's hut might be near. Brt
after the ship Ayrshire was wrecked al
sauan Beach, and the Powhattan left her SOC
Head strewn along our coast, and another
ressel went on the rocks, 400 lives perishine,
:ho United States Government woke up and
made an appropriation Of 500, 900 for
life stations, and life lines from fax
ng box are shot over the wild
surf, and hawsers are stretched from
wreck to shore and what with Lyles's gun
md six cared s%uriboat, with cork at the sides
o make II unsuitable, and patrolmen all
light long walking the beach until they meet
each other and exchange metal tickets, so as