The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-12

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for You know not who may sail IN 10. II
you put a Bible in the trunk of your boy
. as he goes from home, let IL be heard IN
your prayers, for il may have a
mission as far reaching as the
book which the sailor carried
in his teeth to the Pitcairn beach.
The plainest mans life is an island be-
tween two eterniues eternity past rip
ling against his shoulders, eternity 10
come touching his brow. The casual, the
accidental, that which merely happened
so, are parts of great plan, ana the rope
that let's the fugitive apostle from the
Damascus wall is the cable that holds 10
its mOoring the ship of the church in tile
! northeast storm of the centuries.
Again, notice UnreCognlZed and uure-
/ corded services. Who spun that rope
I Who tied II TO the basket, Who steadicd
/ the illustrious preacher as he stepped
/ into IT, Who relaxed not muscle OF the
arm or dismissed an anxious look from
his face until the basket touched the
ground ana discharged It's magnificent
| cargoi Not one OF their names has come
/ 10 u.s. but there was no work done that
/ day in Damascus or in all the earth COM
! pared with the Importance OF their work.
! What if they had in their agitation tied
a knot that could slip. What if the sound
| of the mob at the door had led him TO
/ say: paul must take care of himself.
Z
no. They held the rope, and 10 doing so
did more for the Christian church than
| any thousand OF us viii ever ac-
complish But God knows and has
made eternal record of their UNI
dertaking. And they know. How cA-
ultaut they must have felt when they
read his letters to the Romans, to the
| Corinthians TO the GaiatiOns, TO the
| Ephesians, TO the Philippians, to the Co
| lOssians 10 the IhcssaiOniaus, to Timothy,
| to Titus, to Philemon. TO the Hebrews,
and when they heard how he walked out
of prison with the earthquake unlocking
| the door for him, and took command of
| the AleXaudriau coru-ship when tina
sailors were nearly scared to death, and
preached a sermon that nearly shook
| Felix of his Judgment seat l hear the
men and women who helped him down
| through the window and over the wall
! talking in private over the matter, and
saying. Glow glad | am that we effected
| that rescue! in coming times others may
get the glory of Paul's work but no one
| shall rob us of the satisfaction of know
ing that we held the rope. "
There are said to be about siNty-nine
| thousand ministers of religion IN this
country About fifty thousand I warrant
came from early homes which had to
! struggle for the neCessaries of life. The
| sons of rich bankers ana merchants gen
orally become bankers and merchants.
| The most of those who become ministers
are the sons Of those who had terrific
struggles to get their everyday bread.
| The collegiate and theological education
of that son took every luxury from the
parental table for eight years. The
other children We're more SCantily APP
parelled. The son at college every little
while got bundle from home In it
were the socks that mother had knit, sit
e lr,k, III
good as once it was. And there also
were some deliCacies from the sisters
hand for the voraciOus appetite of a
hungry student.
The years go by, and the son has been
ordained and is preaching the glorious
gospel, and d great revival comes, and
souls by scores and hundreds accept the
gospel from the lips of that young
preacher, and father and mother, quite
old now, are visiting the son at the village
parsonage and at the close of a Sabbath of
mighty blessing, father and mother retire
to their room the son lighting the way
and asking them if he can do anything To
make them more comfortable saying if
they want anything in the night just to
knock on the wall And then all
alone father and mother talk over
! the gracious influences of the day, and
| say: "Well, it was worth all we went
| through to educate that boy II was a
hard pull but we held on till the work
was done. The world may not know it.
but mother, we held the rope, didn't
Wen And the voice. tremulouse with.
| joyful emotion, responds: Yes, father,
we held the rope. ] feel my work is done
Now, Lord. lettest thou thy servant de
part in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy
salvation "Pshaw !" says the father,
II never felt so much like living in my
life as now. ! want to see what that
fellow is going on to do, he has begun so
we'll"
O, men and women here assembled, you
| brag sometimes how you have fought your
way in the world but / think there have
! been helpful influences that YOU have
never fully acknowledged. Has there
not been some influence in your early or
! present home that the world cannot see2
| Does there not reach to YOU from
among the New England hills or
! from western prairieS, or from
southern plantation, or from tng-
! lish or Scottish or Irish home, a cord
of influence that has kept you right
when you would have gone astray, and
which, after you had made a crooked
track, RECALLED you! The rope may be as
long as thirty years or five hundred miles
long or three thousand miles long, but
| hands that went out of mortal sight long
ago still hold the rope. You want a very
! swirl morse, ana you nCeQ To rOWel him
with sharpest spurs and to let the reins
lie loose upon the neck, and to give q
shout to a acer, if you are going to ride
out of reach of your mothers prayers
Why, a ship crossing the Atlantic il
| seven days can't sail away from them A
sailor finds them. on the lookout as he
takes his place, and finds them on the
mast as he climbs the ratlines to Olsen
/ tangle rope in the tempest. and finds
them swinging on the hammock when ht
turns in. Why not be frank and ackuOwl
edge 1.-THE most of use would long age
have been dashed to pieces had not gra
Cious and loving hands steadily and low
ingly and nigh tily held the rope.
But there must come a time when we
must find out who these DamasC enc.
were who lowered Paul in the basket
and greet them and all those who have
rendered to God and the worlc
unrecognized and unrecorded services
That is going to be one OF the glad eX
elements of heaven the hunting up and
picking out of those who did great GOOD
on earth and got no credit for it. Here The
church has been going on nineteen Centur
les, ana this is probably the first sermon
ever recognizing the services ofthe people
in that Damascus balcony. Charles O.
kinuey said to a dying Christian. Civ,
my love to ST. Paul when you meet him. e
When YOU and l meet him, as we will,
shall ask him to introduce me to those