The Yale expositor., 1894-10-19


that God to whom the Mediterranean
oarsmen appealed-the God who could
silence the tempest and bring the ship
in safety TO the port. / tell you, my
friends. that there has got to be good
deal of praying before our families are
brought to Christ. Ahl it is an awful
thing to have half a household on one
side the line, and the other part the
household on the other side of the line!
Two vessels part on the ocean of
eternity, one going to the right and
the other to the left--farther apart,
and farther apart-until the signals
cease TO be recognized, and there are
only two specks on the horizon, and
then they are lost to sight forever!
l have to tell you that the unavail-
ing efforts of these Mediterranean oars
men have n counterpart in the efforts
some of us are making to bring our
children to the shore of safety. There
never were so many temptations for
young people as there are now. The
literary and the social influence seem
to be against their spiritual interests.
Christ seems to be driven almost en-
tirely from the school and the pleasur-
able concourse, yet God knows how
anxious we are of our children. We
can not think of going into heaven
without them. We do not want to
leave this life while they are tossing on
the waves of temptation and away
from God. From which of them could
20 ha a4a al ii
Would it be the son? Would it be the
daughter? Would it be the eldest?
Would it be the youngest? Would it
be the one that is we'll and stout, or
the one that is sick? Oh, l
hear some parent saying tonight,
Il have tried my best to bring
my children to Christ, l have
laid hold of the oars until they bent in
my grasp, and l have braced myself
against the ribs of the boat, and l have
pulled for their eternal rescue; but /
can't get them to Christ" Then ask
you to initiate the men of the text, and
cry nightly unto God. We want more
importune praying for children, such
as the father INDUCED in when he had
tried to bring his six sons to Christ,
and they had wandered off into dissi-
patton. Then he got down in his pray
ers, and said, 80, God! take away my
life, if through that means my sons
may repent and be brought to Christ"
and the Lord startlingly answered the
prayer, and in a few weeks the father
was taken away, and through the
solemnity the six sons fed unto God.
Oh, that father could afford to die for
the eternal welfare of his children! lie
rowed hard to bring them TO the land,
but could not, and then he cried unto
the Lord.
l wish l could put before my un-
pardoned readers, their own helpless
ness. No human arm was ever strong
enough 10 unlock the door of heaven.
No foot was ever mighty enough to
break the shacliles of sin. No oarsman
swarthy enough to row himself into
Gods harbor. 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 his plank, mid-Atlantic.
Not so helpless traveller girded by
twenty miles of prairie on FIRE. Prove
it you say. will prove it. John VI:
Al: mo man can come to me, except
the Father which hath sen. me draw
him."
But while 1 have shown your help
lessness, Iwant to put by the side of it
the power and willingness of Christ to
save you. l 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 journey
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 for me on
your shoulders" They carried him on;
but the journey was 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, AID
took up his own boy, and put
him on his shoulder, and carried him
on mile after mile, mile after mile, un-
til, overcome himself by hunger and
WEAKNESS, he too tainted by the way.
The boy lay down and died, and the
father, just at the time rescue came to
him, also perished, living only long
enough to tell the story-sad story,
indeed! But glory be to God that
Jesus Christ is able to take US up out
of our shipwrecl<ed and dying condi-
tion, 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! lie is
mighty to save. Though your sin be
long and black, and inexcusa-
BILE, and outrageous, the very
lnoment you believe will pro-
claim pardon-quick, full, grand, un-
conditional, uncompromising, illimit-
able, infinite. Oh, the grace of God! /
am overwhelmed when come to think
of it. Give me a. thousand ladders,
lashcd fast to each other, that may
| a tho haitrht ~ fhn l;nn