The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1893-12-16

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boat. made of church-member inccn-
sistencies. In tunes of revival, when |
sinners dock lite the inquiry room. the
most of them are kept from deciding
Alright because they know SO many
Christians who are bad. The inquiry
room becomes a worlds fair for ex-
hibitioff of all the frailties Of church
members, So that II you believe
ali is there told you; you w5tld
be afraid to enter a Church
lest yoti get youf pockets picked or
get knocked down. This is the way
they talk: 81 was cheated out OF fvs
hundred dollars by a leader of Bible
Glass; ga Sunday-school teacher gos-
siped about me and did her best to de-
stroy my good name" II had part
ne who swamped our business con-
eeff by his triekery, and then rolled
Dip his eyes in Friday hight prayer
meeting. as though lie We're looking
for Elijah's chariot to make d second
trip and take up another passenger"
But what q cracked and water
logged and gaping-seamed lifeboat
the inconsistencies of others. Put
me on shinlge mid-Atlantic and leave
me there, rather than in such yawl
of spiritual confidence. God forbid
that / should get aboard 1t, and lest
some of you make the mistake OF get
ting into 1t, do as the mariners did
on that Mediterranean ship when the
sailors were about to get into the t1n-
| safe lifeboat 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.
But while in my text we stand watch
| ing the marines with their cutlasses,
preparing to sever the ropes OF the life
boat and let her fall off, notice the poor
equipment. Only one lifeboat. Two
hundred and seventy-six passengers, as
| Paul counted them, and only one life
boat. My text uses the singular and
| not the plural. s'Cut off the ropes of
the boat" 1 do not suppose it would
have held more than thirty people.
though loaded to the waters edge.
think by marine law all our modern
vessels have enough lifeboats to hold
all the crew and all the passengers in
case of emergency, but the marines OF
my text were standing by the only
boat. and that a small boat, and
and vet two hundred and seventy-six
passengers. But what thrills me
| through and through is the fact that
| though we are wrecked by sin and
trouble, and there is only one lifeboat.
that boat is large enough to hold all
who are willing to get into it. The
Gospel hymn expressesiti
All may come, whoever will,
This Man receives poor sinners still
Ny nearer, without asking any ques.
tions, get into the Gospel lifeboat.
Room! and yet there is room! The
| biggest boat on earth is the Gospel
| lifeboat' You must remember the pro-
portion of things, and that the ship
4 wrecked craft is the whole earth, and
the lifeboat must be in proportion.
You talk about your Companies, and
your Lucanias, and your Majestics, and
your City of New Yorks, but all of them
put together are smaller than an In
dams canoe on Schroon lake COM
pared with this Gospel lifeboat,
that is large enough to take in all ma
tions. Room for one and room for all.
Get in! slow? How?" you ask. Well,
know how you feel, for summer be-
fore last, on the sea of Finland, l had
the same experience. The ship in which
we sailed could not venture nearer than
mile from shore, where stood the Rus
sian palace of Peterhof, and we had to
get into a small boat and be rowed
ashore. The water was rough, and as we
went down the ladder at the side of the
ship we held firmly. on to the railing,
but in order to get into the boat we
had at last to let 60. How did know
that the boat was good and that the
oarsmen were sufficient? How did /
know that the Finland sea would not
swallow us with one opening of its
crystal jaws? We had to trust, and we
did trust, and our trust was well re-
warded. In the same way get into this
Gospel lifeboat. Let go! As long Us
you hold on to any other hope you
are imperiled and you get no advant-
age from the lifeboat. Let go! Does
some one here say: II guess will hold
on little to my good works, or to a
pious parentage, or to something can
do in the way of achieving my own sal
; walton. "No, no, let go! Trust the
Captain, who would not put you into a
rickety or uncertain craft.
For the sake of your present and
everlasting welfare, with all the
urgency. of an immortal addressing i'm
mortals, cry from the depth of my
soul and at the top of my voice: Let
go! Last summer the life-saving crew
| at East Hampton invited me to come
| lup to the life station and SEE
, the crew practice, for twice weel
they are drilled in the important worl
, assigned them by the United States
/ government. and they go through
i all the routine of saving thu
{ shipwrecked. But that would give lit
{ tie idea of what they would have to d.
, if some midnight next winter, thu
, wind driving backward, a -vesse
, should get in the grasp of |
hurricane. See the lights far
, from the ship in the break
| ers, and then responding light
I flaring from the beach, and hear tn
rockets buzz as they rise, and the life
S boat rumbles out, and the gun booms
e and the lifeline rises and falls acros
the splintered decks, and the hawse
tightens, and the life-boat goes to an
/ fro, carrying the exhausted mariners
- ooao,, - onnorQd h