The morning news., 1894-10-15

I rent saying tonight II have tried my
/ best TO bring my children to Christ I
F. have laid hold of the oars until they bent
I in my grasp, and / have braced myself
against the ribs Of the boat. and ] have
/ pulled for their eternal rescue; but 1
I can't get them TO Christ" Then I ask
/ YOU 10 initiate the men of the text and
/ cry nightly unto God. We want more
/ importunate 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 dissipation.
/ Then he got down i'm his prayers and
said, "Oh. God, take away my life II
I through that means my sons may re-
pcnt and be brought 10 Christ" and the
/ Lord startlngly answered the prayer.
] and in a few weeks the father was taken
/ away, and through the solemnity the six
/ sons fled unto God. Oh. that father
/ could afford to die for the eternal well
/ fare of his children, He rowed hard TO
/ bring them TO the land but could not
! and then he cried unto the Lord.
There are parents who are almost dis
couraged about their children. Where is
your son tonight? He has wandered OFF
perhaps, 10 the ends OF the earth. It seems
as if he cannot get far enough away from
your Christian counsel. What does he
care about the burrows that come to your
brow; about the quick whitening Of the
hair; about the fact that your back be-
gins to stoop with the burdens Why, he
would not care much if he heard you
were dead The back-edged letter that
brought the tidngs he would put in the
same package with other letters telling
the story of his shame. What are you go
ing to do2 Both paddles broken at the
middle of the blade how can you pull
him ashore? / throw you one oar now
with which ] believe you can bring him
into harbor. 1t is the glorious promise:
Il will be a God to thee, and to thy seed
after thee" Oh, broken-h hearted father
and mother, you have tried everything
else, now make an appeal for help and
omnipotence of the covenant keeping
God! and perhaps at your next family
neutrality-suspicious. on Thanksgiving day
perhaps next Christmas day-the prodi-
gal may be home; and if you crowd on
his plate more luXuries than on any other
plate at the table. ! am sure thb brothers
will not be jealous, but they will wake up
all the music in the house, because the
dead is alive again, and because the lost
Is found. ~ Perhaps your prayers have
been answered already. The vessel may
be coming homeward, and by the light OF
this nights stars that absent son may be
pacing the decks of the ship, anxious for
the time to come when he can throw his
arm around your neck and ask for for
Eiveness for that he has been wiring
ing your old heart so long. Glorious re
union! that viii be too sacred for out
siders to look upon; but ! would just like
to look through the window when you
have all got together again, and are
seated at the banquet
Though parents may in covenant be,
And have their heaven in view;
They are ont happy til they see
Their children happy too.
Again, | remark that the unavailing ef-
fort of the Mediterranean oarsmen has a
counterpart in the efforts which we are
making to bring this world back to God.
. "a n Il co FT.HWH = J.
have been saved by human effort, it would
have been done long ago. John Howard
took hold of one oar, and Carey took hold
OF another oar, and John Knox took hold
of another oar, and Adonram Judson took
hold of another oar and Luther took hold
of another oar and they pulled until they
fell dead from the exhaustion Some
dropped in the ashes Of martyrdom. some
on the scalptng-knives of saVages, and
some into the plague-struck room of the
lazaretto, and still the chains are not
broken, and still the despotisms are not
demolished, and still the world is unsaved.
What then? Put down the oars and make
no effort? l do not advise that. But |
want you, Christian brethren, to under
stand that the church, and the school
and the college and the missionary society
are only the instrumentalites and if
this work is ever done at all God must do
II. and he will do it in answer to our
prayer. They rowed hard to bring it to
land, but they could not; wherefore they
cried unto the Lord"
Again, the unavailing effort of those
Mediterranean oarsmen has a counterpart
in every man that is trying to row his own
soul into safety. When the eternal spirit
flashes upon us our condition, we try to
save ourselves. We say, Give me a stout
oar for my right hand, give me stout oar
for my left hand, and I win pun myself
INTO SAFETY No. a wave of sin comes and
dashes you one way, and a wave of temp
tation comes and dashes YOU in another
way, and there are plenty of rocks on
which to founder. but seemingly no har-
Dor into which to sail. Sin must be thrown
overheard, or we must perish. There are
men who have tried for years to become
Christians. They believe all I say in re-
gard to a future world They believe
that religion is the first. the last. tho in
finite necessity, They do everything but
trust in Christ They make sixty strokes
in a minute. They bend forward with all
earnestness, and they lie back until the
muscles are distended, and yet they have
not made one inch in ten years toward
heaven. What is the reason? That is not
the way to go to work You might as well
take frail sldff and put II down at the
foot Of Niagara and then head it up to-
ward the churning thunderbolt of waters
and expect to work your way up through
the lightning of the foam into calm Lake
y
through the surf of your sin into the hope.
and pardon and placidity of the GOSPEL.
You cannt do ii in that way. Sin is a
rough sea, and long boat, yawl. pinnace.
and gondola so down unless the Lord de-
liver; but if you win cry to Christ to Law
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 unpardoned
readers their own helplessness No hu-
man arm was ever strong enough to un-
lock the door of heaven. No foot was ever
mighty enough to break the shacllle 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 corrupt
| ing influences are against you HELPLESS
and Undone. Not so helpless Il sailor on a
plank, mid-Atlantic. Not so helpless a
traveller girded by twenty miles of prairie
/ on fire. Prove it, you say. l will prove IT,
/ John 6: A: NO man can come to me.
| except the Father which hath sent me
/ raw him.
But while I have shown your HELPLESS
/ ness, l want to put by the side Of il the