Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1894-09-06

Jesus Christ lie says, "You believe;
take away your sins" and they are
all taken away. WHAT say You.
before pray any more? before I
read my Bible any more? before l cry
over my sins any more?'' Yes, this
moment Believe with all your heart
and you are saved. Why, Christ is
only waiting to get from you what
you give to scores of people every day.
What is that? Con fdence. If these
people whom you trust day by day
are more worthy than Christ if they
are more faithful than Christ, if they
have done more than Christ ever did,
then give them the preference; but if
you really think that Christ is as trust
worthy as they are then deal with
him as fairly.
"Oh," says some one in light way,
81 believe that Christ was born In
Bethlehem. and believe that he died
on the cross" Do you believe it with
your head or your heart? l will illus.
,rate the difference. You are in your
own house. In the morning you open
a newspaper and you read how Capt
Braveheart on the sea rislSed his life
for the salvation of his passengers.
You say, What grand fellow he
must have been! His family 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 histori-
ell faith.
But now you are on the sea, and it
is night. and you are asleep, and you
are awakened by the shrek of "Firew
You rush out on the deck. You hear,
amid the wringing of the hands and
the fainting, the cry: mo hope! No
hope! We are lost! we are lost!" The
sail puts out its wing of fire. the ropes
make a burning ladder in the night
heavens, the spirit of wreck Kisses in
the wave, and on the hurricane deck
shakes out it's banner of smoke and
darkness Down with the life
boats!' cries the captain. Down
with the life boatsw People rush into
them. The boats are about full Room
only for one more man You are stand
ing on the deck beside the captain,
Who shall it be? You or the cap
tain? The captain says, You" You
jump, and are saved. He stands
there, and dies. Now, you believe
that Captain Braveheart sacrificed
himself for his passengers, but you
believe it with love, with tears, with
hot and long continued EXPLANATIONS;
with great grief at his loss and JOY
at your deliverauca That is saw
ing 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 immortal soul. You often go
across a bridge you know nothing
about. You do not know who built
the bridge, you do not know what
material it is made of; but you come
to it and walk over it and ask no ques-
tions. 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
between sin and righteousness, and all
God asks you is to walk across it;
Anu yOu SJdTt. duo you CotuO ~ dho
you stop, and you go little way on
and you stop, and you fall back, and
you experiment You say, "How do
l know that bridge will hold me?" 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 prize proffered
so cheap as pardon and heaven are of
fered to you? For how much? A
million dollars? 1t is certainly worth
more than that. But cheaper than
that you can have it Ten thousand
dollars? Less than that Five thou
sand dollars? Less than that One
dollar? Less than that One farth-
ing? Less than that Without
money and without price" No money
to pay. No journey to take. No
penance to suffer. Only just one de-
cisive action of the soul: believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be Saved"