The Penn's Grove record., 1894-09-07

| you believe II with your head or your hearth
l will illustrate the difference. You are in
your own house. In the morning you open
a newspaper, and you read how Captain
Braveheart on the sea risked his life for the
salvation Of his passengers. You say "What
a grand fellow he must have been ! His FAM
lily deserves very we'll Of the country" You
fold the newspaper and sit down at the table
n perhaps do not think OF that incident
again. That is historical faith.
But now you are on the sea, and 1t is night
| and you are asleep, and you are awakened
the deck. You hear, amid the wringing of
the hands and the faintlng, the cry ono
! hope, no hopel We are lost, we are lost y
| The sail puts ott its wing OF fire, the robes
make a burning ladder in the night heavens.
the spirit Of wrecks Kisses In the waves, and
on the hurricane decks shakes out its banner
of smoke and darkness. 'Down with the
nfeboats r. cried the captain. HDown with
the nfeboats u People rush into them, The
boats are about full. Room for only one
mora man. You are standing on the deck
beside the captain.
Who shall it be? You or the captain?
h captain says, "You." You jump and
are saved. He stands there and dies. Now,
you believe that Captain Brayeheart sacri.
| feed himself for his passengers. but YOU
believe 1t with love, with tears, with hot
n long continued ordinations, with
grief at his loss and Joy at your deliyerance,
That is saving faith-in other words, what
you believe with all the heart and believe
in regard to yourself. On this hinge turns
my ~sermon-aye, the salvation OF your Inn
mortal soul. You often go across a bridge
you knc- nothing about. You do not
know who built the bridge, you do not
know what material 1t Is made of, but
you COM to it and walk over ii
and ask no questions. And here Is an
arched bridge blasted from the Crock of
Ages" and built by the Architect OF the
whole universe, spanning the dark gulf be-
tween sin and Righteousness, and all God asks
you Is to walk across 1t, and you start, and
you come to 1t, and you stop, and you go
q little way on, and you stop, and you fall
back, and you experiment. You say, Chow
do 1 know that bridge will hold msr' in
stead OF marching on with firm step, asking
no questions, but feeling that the strength
Of the eternal God is under you.
oh, was there ever a prize proffered so
| cheap as pardon n heaven are offered to
| you2 For how muoh2 A million dollars?
1t is certainly worth more than that. But
cheaper than that you can have 1t. Ten
| Thousand dollars? Less than that. Five
thousand dollars? Less than that. One
| dollar2 Less than that. One farth-
ing? Less than that. without money
and without price," No money to pay. No
| journey 10 take. NO penance 10 euHer.
Only Just one decisive action Of the soul,
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved"
Shall I try to tell you what it is to BIZ
saved2 I cannot tell you. No man, no
angel, can tell you. But I can hint at it. for
my text brings me up to this point. "Thou
shalt be saved" 1t means a happy life here,
| and a peaceful death, and a blissful eternity.
1t Is a grand thing to got to sleep at night,
and - pat nm In fha npornfn0 and IN do hUa.
iness all day feeling that all is right between
my heart and God. No accident, no sick
ness, no persecution, no peril, no sword,
can do me any permanent damage.
I am o forgiven child Of God, and
He Is bound to see me through. He has
sworn He will see me through. The mount
aims may depart, the earth may burn, the
blast Of the Judgment hurricane, but life and
| death, things present and things to come,
are mine. Yea, further than that, Il means
a peaceful death. Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. S.
courtney, DR.. Young and almost all the poets
have said handsome things about death.
There is nothing beautiful about It. When
we stand by the white and rigid features oil
those whom we love. and they give no an.
swering pressure Of the hand and no re
turning kiss OF the lip, we do not
want anybody poetizing round about
US. Death Is loathsomeness aud
midnight and the wrlnging of the heart un'
til the tendrlls snap and curl In the torture
unless Christ shall be with US. I confess to
you an infinite fear, a consuming horror Of
4 death unless Christ shall be with me. ]
would rather go down into a cave Of wild
beasts or a Jungle OF reptiles than into the
grave unless Christ goes with me-. VIII you
tell me that I am TO be carried out from my
bright home and put away IN the darkness7
I cannot bear darkness. At the first coming
of the evening I must have the gas lighted,
and the farther on In life I get the more like
to have my friends round about me.
And am I 10 be put of for thousands OF
years in a dark place, with no one to SPEAK
to? When the holidays come and the gifts
are distributed, shall I add no Joy to the
"Merry Christmas or the tHappy New
Year," Alb, do not point down to the hole
in the ground, the grave, and call II a beau
tiful place. Unlessthere be some supernatu-
raj illumination I shudder back from II. My
whole nature revolts ct II. But now this
glorious lamp is lifted above the grave, and
all the darkness Is gone, and tie way is
clear. I look into 1t now without @ single
shudder. Now my anxiety is not about
death my anxiety is that I may live Alright.
What power Is there In anything to chill
ne in the last hour II Christ wraps around
me the skirt OF His own garment What
darkness can fall upon my eyelids then, amid
the heavenly daybreakp o death, will not
fear thee then. Back to thy cavern of dark
ness, thou robber OF all the earth. Fly, thou
despoller Of families. With this battleax !
hew thee In twain from helmet to sandal,
the voice Of Christ sounding all over the
earth and through the heavens: 80 death,
viii be thy plague. o grave I will be thy
10 be saved is TO wake up in the presenct
OF Christ. You know when Jtsus was upon
the earth how happy He male every mouse
He went into, and when He brings us upt
His house In heaven how great shall be ous
gleel His voice has more music in it than is
TO be heard in all the oratorios OF eternity.
Talk not about banks dashed with enior'
escense. Jesus is the chief bloom OF heaven.
We shall see the very face that beamed sym.
patty In Bethany and take the very n
that dropped its blood from the short beam
OF the cross. Oh, 1 want to stan1 In eternity
with Him. Toward that harlor l steAr.
Toward that goal I run. l shall be satisfied
when I awake in His likeness.
Oh, broken hearted men and women, now
sweet it will pc in that gooi land to poar all
of your hardships and bereavements and
losses into the loving ear OF Christ and then
have Him explain why 1t was best for you
to be sick, and why 1t was best tor you to be
widowed, and why 1t was best for you to be
prosecuted, and why 1t was best for you to
be tried and have Him point to an elevation
proportionate to your disquietude here, say
ing, "You' suffered with Me on earth co
up now and be gloriled with Me in heavet
Some one went into a house where thets
had been a good deal Of trouble ami said 10
the woman there, ''You seem to be lonely
eyes" she said Il am lonely" "HoS
many In the iamily1" '0nly myself.
"Have you had any children" chad seget
children" ''Where are theyP 'Gone.'
"All gomez" GAN" "All deadI' ''All.
Then she breathed a long sigh into the lone
illness and said, "oa, sir, l havs been agooi
mother to the grave"
And so there are hearts here that are NJ
terly broken down by the bereavement oil
life. i point you to-day to -ae eternal balm
Of heaven. Oh, aged men and women who
have knelt at the throne OF grace for three
score years and ten will not your decrep,-
tude change for the leap OF a heart when
you come to look face TO face upon Him
whom having not seen you loye2 Ga, that
will be the Good Shepherd, not out in
the night and WATCHING to keep
of the wolves, but with the lamb re-
rlining on the eunlit hill. That will be the
Captain OF our salvation, not amid the roar
and crash and boom Of battle, but amid His
disbanded troops keeping victorious festiv-
lily. That will be the Bridegroom OF the
church coming from afar. the bride leanlne
I roon HE rDo vyhfla Ha iOnka dnwn tnFn has