The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1894-10-23

enb saying VonlBht haSo sr.cu
best TO bring my children 70 Christ.
/ Fave laid hold of the oar until they
bent in my grasp, and / 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 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
I'm his prayers and said, 80 G3d, take
away my life IL through that means
my sons may repent and be brought to
Christ" and the Lord s~tartlingly an
| swered the prayer, and In q few weeks
the father was taken away, and
through the solemnity the six sons
Hed unto God. Oh, that father could
| afford to die for the eternal welfare OF
| his children He rowed hare to bring
| them to the land, but could not, and
then he cried unto the Lord.
THE WANDERERS RETURN.
There are parents who arc almost
discouraged about their children.
Where Is your son tonight? He has
wandered of perhaps to the ends of
the earth. 1t seems as If he cannot
| gov IdT SuOuBh d"oy iio" youi Nhtho
tian 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 begins
to stoop with the burden? Why, he
would not care much If he heard you
were dead. The black edged letter
that brought the tidings he would put
81 the came package with other letters
telling the story of his shame. What
are you going to do? Both paddles
broken AZ the middle OF the blade, hoy
YOU one oar on which l believe you can
bring him into harbor. 1t Is the
GLORIOUS promise, 81 will be a God to
thee and to they seed after thee" oh,
broken hearted father and mother,
you have tried everything else, now
make an appeal for the help and
omnipotence Of the c%onvenant keeping
God, and perhaps at your next family
neutrality-suspicious. on Thanksgiving
day, perhaps next Christmas-the
prodigal may be home, and If you
crowd on his plate more luxuries than
on any other plate at tho table am
but they will wake up all the music in
| the house, Hbecause the dead is alive
again. and because the lost is found"
Perhaps your prayers haya been
answered already. The vessel may be
coming homeward, and by the light
of this nights stars that son may be
pacing the deck of the ship anxious
for the time to come when he can
throw his arms around your neck and
ask for forgiveness for that he has
been %wringing your old heart so long.
Glorious reunion that will be, too sacred
for outsiders 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 lave their heaven in view,
They are not happy till they see
Their children happy too.
Again l remark that tho unavailing
effort Of the Mediterranean oarsmen
has q counterpart in the effort which
we + making to bring this world
back to God, his pardon and safety.
If this world could have been saved by
human effort, it would have been lone
long ago.. John Howard took hold of
one oar and Carey took hold of another
oar, and Adoniram Judson took hold
of another oar, and John Knox took
hold Of another oar, and they all pulled
until they fell back dead from ex-
haustion. Some dropped in the ashes
OF martydom, some on the scalping
knives of savages and some into the
J plague struck room Of the lazaretto,
and still the chains r not broken,
and still the despotisms are not demol-
ished, and still the world is u nsaved.
What then? Put down the oars and
make no effort? | do not advise that.
But [ want you, Christian brethren,
to understand that the church, and the
school, and the college. and the mis-.
sionary society are only the instrument
talities, n If this work is over lone
at all God must do it, and. he will do it
in answer to u prayer. "They
rowed hard to bring it to the land, but
they could not, wherefore they cried
unto the Lord"
IT rs NOT IN HUMAN STRENGTH.
Again the unavailing effort of those
Mediterranean oarsmen has a counter
part 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 a " ourselves.
We say, "Give me q stout oar Cor my
right hand, give me a stout oar for my
left hand, and I will pull myself into
safety" No. A wave of sin comes
and dashes you n way, and q wave
OF temptation comes and dashes you in
another way, and there are plenty of
rocks on which to founder, but seem
ingly no harbcr 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 | say in regard to a future
world. They believe that religion is
the first, the last, the infinite neces-
sity. They do everything but trust in
Christ. They make 60 strokes in O
minute. They Oend forward with all
earnestness, and they lie back until
the muscles are defended, and yet they
have not made one inch in ten a
toward heaven. What is the reason?
That is not the way to go to work.
o might as we'll take q frail skif,
and put it down at the foot of Niagara
and then head it up toward the churn-
ing thunderbolt Of waters and expect
to work your way up through the
lightning of the foam into calm Lake
Erie, as for you to try to pull yourself
through the surf of your sin into hope
and pardon and placidity Of the gospel.
You cannot do it in hat way. Sin Ia
a rough sea, and longboat, yawl, pin
mace and gondola 60 down unless the
Lord deliver, but If you will cry to
Christ and lay hold of divine mercy
you are as safe from eternal condemna-
tion as though you had been 20 years
in heaven.
| wish L could put before my I'M
pardoned readers their own helpless