The free press., 1894-09-13

| / cry over my sins any moref Ies' .nio nno ~
ment Believe with all your heart, and you
| are saved. Why. Christ is only waiting to
/ get from YOU what you give to scores OF peo-
| ple every day. What is that? Confidence. Ii
these people whom you trust day by day are
more worthy than Christ, il they are more
faithful than Christ, II they have done more
than Christ ever did, then give them the
preference, but If you really think that Christ
Is rs trustworthy as they are then deal Win
| Him as fairly. 80
ooh" says some one in light way, III
believe that Christ was born In Bethlehem;
and believe that He died on the cross" DO
you believe it with your head or your hearth
| / will illustrate the difference. You are in
| your own house. In the morning you open
| newspaper, and you read how Captain
| Braveheart on the sea risked his life for the
salvation of his passengers. You say what
grand fellow he must have been His fam
lily deserves very well OF the country: You
fold the newspaper and sit down at the table
and 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
| by the shrek OF "Fire!" You rush out on
| the deck. You hear. amid the wringing OF
| the hands and the fainting, the cry; "No
nope. no hope! We are lost, we are lost ~
| The sail puts out its wing of fire, the robes
| make burning ladder in the night heavens.
the spirit of wrecks Kisses in the waves, and
hefs the ab afnss ak sh'fS S its wh h
| lfeboats !" cried the captain. "Down with
the lifeboats r People rush into them The
boats are about full. Room for only one
| more man. You are standing on the deck
| beside the captain.
| The 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
| and long continued exclamations, with
grief at his loss and Joy at your de eliverance.
| That is saving fafth-n 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 i'm
mortal soul. You often go across bridge
YOU know nothing about You 90 not not
know what material it is made of, but
you come to 1t and walk over it
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 it, and you stop, and you go
a little way on, and you stop, and you fall
back, and you experiment You say, "How
do know that bridge will hold men' in
stead OF marching on with firm step, asking
| no questions, Dut 1eellnS tnat tHe strength
of the eternal God is under you.
| Oh, was there ever u prize proffered so
cheap as pardon and heaven are offered to
you2 For how much2 million dollars?
| It is certainly worth more than that. But
cheaper than that you can have it. Ten
Thousand dollars? Less than that. Five
thousand dollars? Less than that One
ing? Less than that. without money
and without price" No money to pay. No
| Journey to take. No penance to suffer.
| Only Just one decisive action of the soul,
"Beliove on the Lord Jesus Christ and
| thou shalt be saved"
Shall I try to tell you what it is to be
| saved2 I cannot tell you. No man, no
| angel, can tell you. But can hint at it. for
| my text brings me up to this point. "Thou
| shalt be saved" 1t means happy life here,
| and peaceful death, and blissful eternity.
| It is grand thing to go to sleep at night,
and to get up in the morning, and to do bus
| mess all day feeling that all is night between
my heart and God. No accident, no sick
hess, no persecution, no peril, no sword,
| can do me any permanent damage.
| am a 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
| light of the stars may be blown out by the
| blast of the Judgment hurricane, but life and
death, things present and things to come,
| are mine. Yea, further than that, 1t means
| q peaceful death. Mrs. Hemans, Mrs. ST.
| gourney, 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 of
| 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
u.s. Death is loathsomeness and
midnight and the wringing of the heart un.
| til the tendrils snap and curl in the torture
unless Christ shall be with us. l confess to
you an infinite fear, a consuming horror of
| death unless Christ shall be with me. |
| would rather 90 down into cave of wild
beasts or jungle of reptiles than into the
grave unless Christ goes with me. VIII You
tell me that am to be carried out from my
bright home and put away in the darkness?
/ cannot bear darkness. At the first coming
of the evening l must have the gas lighted
and the farther on in life get the more like
to have my friends round about me-
And am to be put off for thousands of
years in IA dark place, with no one to speak
are distributed, shall / add no JOY to the
"Merry Christmas or the "Happy New
Year," All, do not point down to the hole
| in the ground, the grave and call 1t beau
tiful place. Unless there be some supernatu-
raj illumination I shudder back from 1t. My
| WnOIe nature reNOUS III IL. Dut uoW tuis
glorious lamp is lifted above the grave, and
nll the darkness is gone, and tie way is
clear look into it now without a single
ehudder. Now my anxiety is not about
death my anxiety is that l may live Alright.
What power is there in anything to chill
me in the last hour if Christ wraps around
| mo the skirt of His own garment? What
darkness can fall upon my eyelids then, amid
the heavenly daybreak2 death, will not
fear thee then. Back to thy cavern OF dark
ness, thou robber Of all the earth. Fly, thou
despoiler 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 10 death,
will be thy plague. o grave, will be thy
destruction"
To be saved is to wake up in the presence
| OF Christ You know when Jesus was upon
the earth how happy He 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 oratoros OF eternity
Talk not about banks dashed with efflor-
l tat tl,a ati of ~ han