The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1894-12-08

! which to founder, but seemingly no
! harbor into which to SAIL Sin must be
thrown overheard. or we ihust perish.
There are men who have tried for years
to become Christians. They believe all
I say in regard to future world. They
believe that religion is the first,
| the last, the infinite necessity.
They do everything but trust ii Christ.
They make sixty strokes in minute.
They bend forward with all earnest.
ness, and they lie back until the muscles
are distended, and yet they have not
made one inch iii ten years toward
Heaven; What is the reason? That is
| not the way to go to work. You might
as well take frail skin, and put it
down at the foot of Niagara, and then
head it up toward the churning thun-
bolt of waters, and expect to work
Your way up through the light
ming of foam into calm Lake
Erie as for you to try to pull
yourself through the surf of your sin
into the hope. and pardon, and
placidity of the Gospel. You can not
do it in that way. Sin is rough sea,
and longboat, yawl, pinnace and gon-
dola go down unless the Lord deliver;
but if you will cry to Christ and lay
hold of Divine mercy, you are as safe
from eternal condemnation as though
you had been twenty years in Heaven.
! wish could put before my unpar-
doned readers their own helplessness.
No human arm was ever strong enough
to unlock the door of Heaven. No foot
was ever mighty enough to break the
shackle of sin. No oarsman swarthy
enough to row himself into Gods har-
Dor. The wind is against you. The
tide is against you. The law Is
against you. Ten Thousand cor
rupting influences are against you.
Helpless and undone. Not so helpless
a sailor on a plank, midatlantic. Not
SO helpless traveller girded by twenty
miles prairie on FIRE. Prove it, you
say. will prove it. John vi, a.:
No man can come to me, except the
Father which had Sc MT me draw him. ;
But while have shown your help
lessness, want to put by the side of it
the power and willingness of Christ to
save you. think it was in 1856 yes
sci was bound for Portugal, but it was
driven to pieces ON an unfriendly
coast. The captain had his son with
him, and with the crew they wandered
up the beach, and started on the long
jou -ney to find relief. After awhile,
the son tainted by reason of
hunger and the length of the
way. The captain said to the
crew: Carry my boy Cor me on your
shoulders" They carried him on, but
the journey was SO long, that after
awhile the crew tainted from hunger
and from WEAKNESS, and could carry
him no longer. Then the father raj
lied his almost wasted energy and took
up his own boy, and put him on his
shoulder, and carried him on mile af-
ter mile, mile after mile, until, over
come himself by hunger and weari-
ness, he too tainted by. the way. The
boy lay down and died, and the father,
just at the time rescue came to
him, also persisted, living only
long enough to tell the story-and
story, indeed! But glory be to God
that Jesus Christ is able to take us up
out of our shipwrecked and dying con-
dition, and put us on the shoulder of
His strength, and by the omnipotence
of His Gospel bear us on through all
the journey of this life, and at last
through the opening gates of Heaven!
He is mighty to save. Though your
sin be long and black, and inexcusable,
and outrageous, the very moment you
believe will proclaim pardon-quick,
full, grand, unconditional, un-
compromising, illimitable, infinite Oh,
the grace of God! am overwhelmed
when ! come to think of it. Give
me a thousand ladders, dashed fast to
each other, that may scale the height.
Let the line, run out with the anchor
until all the cables of earth are ex.
hausted, that we may touch the depth.
Let the archangel fly in circuit of eter-
nal ages in trying to sweep around
this theme. Oh, the grace of God! It
is SO high. 1t is SO broad. 1t is SO
deep. Glory be to God, that where
mans oar gives out, Gods arm begins!
Why will we carry your sins and your
sorrows any longer when Christ offers
to take them? Why will you urestle
down your fears when this moment you
might give up and be saved? Do you
not know that everything is ready?
Plenty of room at the feast. Jesus
has the ring of His love all ready to
put upon your hand. Come now and
sit down, ye hungry ones, at the ban
quet. Ye who are in rags of sin. take
the robe of Christ. Ye who are
swamped by the breakers around you,
cry to Christ to pilot You into smooth,
still waters. On account of the
peculiar phase of the subject, L
have drawn my present illus
trations, you see, chiefly from the
water. 1 remember that a vessel went
to pieces on the Bermudas a great many
years ago. It had vast treasure on
board. But the vessel being sunk, no
effort was made to raise it. After many
years had passed company of adven-
turers went out from England. and,
after long voyage, they reached the
place where the vessel was said to have
sunk. They got into a small boat
and lowered over the place. Then
the divers went down, and they broke
through what looked like a limestone
covering, and the treasures rolled out
what was found afterwards to be, in
American money, worth one million
five hundred thousand dollars, and the
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