The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1894-09-08

hurricane deck shakes ont is banner
OF smoke and darkness. Down
with the l~iteboats!" cries the captain.
Down with the lifeboats." Peo-
pie rush into them. The boats are
about full. Room only for one more
man. You are standing on the dock
beside the captain.
Who shall il be? You or the captain?
The captain says: You" You jump
and are saved. He stands there and
dies. Now, you believe that Capt.
B~raveheart sacrificed himself for his
passengers, but you believe it with love,
with tears, with hot and long-contin-
ucd ordinations; with grief at his loss
and Joy at your dcliverancc. That is saw
ing faith. In other words. what you be-
leve with all the heart. and believe in
regard 20 yourself. On this hinge turns
my sermon; aye, the salvation Of your
immortal soul. You often go across n
bridge You know nothing about. You
do not know who built the
bridge; you do not know what ma
terial it is made of; but you come to it,
and walk ovcr il, and ask no qucs-
tions. And here is an arched bridge
blasted from the Rock of Ages"
And built by the Architect of
the whole universe, spanning
the dark gulf between sin and right
c~ousncss, and all that God asks you is
to walk across IL; and You start, and
you come to it, and YOU go n little way
on. and you stop, and you fall back,
and Won experiment. You say: "How
do ! know that bridge will hold me?"
instead of marching m with firm step,
asking no questions, but feeling that
the strength of the Eternal God is I'M
der you.
What power is there in anthing to
chill me inthc last hour il Christ wraps
around me tine skirt of His own gar
mcnt? What darkness can fall upon
my cyclids then, amid the heavenly
daybrealI? O death, | will not fear
thee then. Back to thy cavern of
dark, thou robhcr of all the earth.
Fly, thou dcspoilcr of families. With
this battlc-ax ! hcw thee in twain.
from helmet to sandal, the voice of
Christ sounding all over the earth and
through the heavens: so death, I will
I've thy plague. q grave, | will be thy
destruction"
To bc saved is TO wake up in the pres
ence of Christ. You know when Jesus
was upon the earth how happy lie made
every house He went into, and when
He brings us up to His house
in Heaven how great shall be our
glee. His voice has more music in it
than is to be heard in all the o~ratories of
eternity. Talk not about banks dashed
with eiiioreScence. Jesus is the chief
bloom of Heaven. We shall see the
very face that beamed sympathy in
bethany, and take the very hand that
dropped its blood from the short beam
of the cross. Oh, l want to stand in
eternity with Him. Toward that har-
Dor steer. Toward that goal Il run.
/ shall he satisfied when l awake in
His likeness.
Oh, broken-hearted men and women,
how sweet it will be in that good land
to pour all your hardships and be
reavements and losses into the
loving ear of Christ, and then
have Him explain why it was best
for you to be sick, and why it was
best for o to be widowed, and WHY
it was best for you to be prosecuted,
and why it was best for you to be tired,
and ave Him point to an ~evelation
pr~oportionate to your disquictudc here,
saying, You suffered with me on
earth, come up now and be gloriied
with me in Heaven"
Some one went in n house where
there had been a good deal of trouble.
and said to the oma there: You
seem to be lonely YES" she said,
Il am lonely" How many in the
family?' 'Only myself" Have you
any children?" 1 had seven
children" where are they?'
"Gonc" "All gomez" AL" 'All
dead?" AL" Then she breathed a
long sigh into the loneliness, and said:
"Oh, sir, / have been a good mother to
the grave"
And so there are hearts here that are
utterly broken down by the bereave-
ments of life. | point you to-day to
the eternal balm of Heaven. Oh, aged
mcn and women, will not your decrepi-
tude change for the leap of n hart
when you comet to look face to face upon
Him whom having not seen you love?
Oh, hat will he the Good Shepherd,
not out in the night and watching ia
keep off the wolves, but with the lamb
reclining on the sunlit hill. That will
he the captain Of our salvation,
not amid the roar and crash and boom
of battle, but amid His disband-
ed troops keeping victorious fcstivity.
That will be the bridegroom of the
church coming from afar, the bride
leaning upon His arm while He looks
down into her face and says: Behold,
thou art fair, my love! Behold, thou
art fart"