Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1894-06-29

| heather, that there is no future chance for
| those who have wasted this.
| Multitudes of men who are kept within
| bounds would say: $50 to. now Let me
| get all out of this life there Is In 1t. Come,
| gluttony and MEDITATION and uncleanness
| and revenge and all sensualittes, and wait
| upon me- My life may be somewhat short
| cned in this world by dissoluteness, but that
| will only make heavenly indulgence Of a
| larger scale the sooner possible l will over
take the saints at last and will enter the
| heavenly temple only a little later than
| those who behaved themselves here. l will
on my way TO heaven take little wider ex-
cIrsion than those who were on earth pIous,
and l shall go TO heaven via gehenna and
| via sheo?." Another chance in the next
| world means free license and wild abandon
ment in this
Suppose you were party in an important
case at law. and you knew from consultation
with judges and attorneys that 1t would be
tried twice, and the first trial would be of
| little importance, but that the second would
decide everything, for which trial would you
make the most preparation, for which retain
the ablest attorneys, for which be most anx-
Ious about the attendance of witnesses? You
would put all the stress upon the second
trial, all the anxiety, all the expenditure,
saying, "The first is nothing, the last is
everything" Give the race an assurance OF
a second and more important trial in the
subsequent life, and all the preparation for
eternity would be post mortem," post fu-
neral, post sepulchral and the world with
one jerk be pitched off into impiety and god
leSSneSS.
Furthermore, let me ask why a chance
should be given in the next world If We have
refused innumerabie chances in this? Sup
pose you & i've banquet, and you invite q
vast number of friends. but one man de-
clines to come or treats your invitation with
Indifference. You In the course of twenty
man Is invited to them all and treats them all
In the same obnoxious way. After a whila
you remove to another house larger and bet
ter, and you again invite your friends, but
send no invitation to the man who declined
DR. neglected the other invitations.
Are you to blame2 Has he right
20 expect to be invited after all
the indignties he has done your God in
this world has invited US all to the banquet
Of ECis grace. He invited us by His prov-
dence and His spirit 365 days of every year
since we knew our right hand from our left
II we declined 1t every time or treated the
invitation with Indifference and gave twenty
or forty or fifty years of tndignity on our
part toward the banqueter, and at last He
spreads the banquet in more luxurious and
kingly place, amid the heavenly gardens,
have we a right TO expect Him to invite US
again, and have we ght to blame Him If
He does not invite US?
Iftwelve gates of salvation stood open
twenty years or fifty years for our admis-
sion, and at the end of that time they are
closed, can we complain of 1t and say
"1hese gates ought to be open again Give
US another chance?" 1.-THE steamer is to sail
for Hamburg, and we want to get to Ger
many by that line, and we read In every
evening and every morning newspaper that
1t will sail on certain day, for two weeks
we have that advertisement before our eyes,
and then we go down to the docks fifteen
minutes after it has showed off into the
stream and say: "Come back Give me
another chance! 1t is not fair to treat me
In this way! Swing up to the dock again
and throw out planks and let me come on
board" Such behavior would invite arrest
as a mailman.
And If, after the gospel ship has lain at
anchor before our eyes for years and years,
nnd all the benign voices of earth and
heaven have urged US to get on board, as
she might sail away at any moment, and
after awhile she sails without US, is it
common sense to expect her to come back?
You might as well go out on the highlands
at Navesink and call to the Majestic after
SHE has been three days out and expect her
TO return as to call back an opportunity for
heaven when it once has sped away. All
heaven offered us as a gratuity. and for Il
lifetime we refuse to take it, and then
rush on the bosses of Jehovahs buckler de-
handing another chance. There ought to
be, there can be, there will be. no such
thing rs posthumous opportunity. Thus
our common sense agrees with my text, off
the tree fall toward the south or toward the
NORTH in the place where the tree falleth
there 1t shall be"
You see this idea lifts this world up from
an unimportant way station to platform OF
stupendous issues and makes all eternity
whirl around this hour. But Que trial for
which all the preparation must be made in
this world or never male at all. That piles
up all the emphases and all the climaxes and
all the destinies into life here. No other
chance. Oh, how that augments the value
and Importance of this chance!
Alexander with his army used to surround
a city and then would lift a great light in
token to the people that If they surrendered
before that light went out all would be well,
but If once the light went out then the bat
tering rams would swing against the wall,
and demolition and disaster would follow.
Well, all we need do for our present and
everlasting safety is to make surrender to
Christ, the King and Conqueror-surrender
of our hearts, surrender of our lives, sur
render of everything. And He keeps great
light burning, light Of gospel invitation, light
kindled with the wood of the cross and
flaming up against the dark night of our sin
and sorrow. Surrender while that great
light continues to burn, for after it goes out
there Will be no other opportunity of making
peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ. Talk Of another chance! Why, this
Is supernal chance!
In the time of Edward VI. at the battle of
Musselburg. a private soldier, seeing that
the Earl of Huntley had lost his helmet took
Off his own helmet and put 1t upon the head
OF the earl, and the head of the private sol
der, uncovered, he was soon slain, while
his commander rode safely out of the battle.
But in our case, instead OF q private soldier
Offering helmet to an earl, it is King put
ting His crown upon an unworthy subject,
the King dying that we might live. Toll It to
all points of the compass. Tell 1t to night
and day. Tell 1t to all earth and heaven.
Tell it to all centuries. all ages, all millenni-
ums, that we have such magnificent chance
In this world that we need no other chance
in the next.
am in tho BURNSIDE judgment hall CT the
last day. A great white throne is lifted,
but the judge has not yer taken IT. Whilo
we are waiting for his arrival | hear inmor-
tai spirits in conversation. "What are you
waiting here for?' says soul that went up
from Madagascar to soul that assembled
from America. The latter says, 81 came
from America where forty years I heard the
gospel preached and Bible read and from
the prayer that [ learned in infancy on my
mothers knee until my last hour I had Cos
pei advantage, but for some reason did not
make the Christian choice. and / am hero
waiting for the Judge to give me a new trial
and another chance" Strange !" SAYS the
other. 81 had but one gospel call In NADIA
another chance"
"Why are you here?" says ono who on
enrth had feeblcst intellect to one who had
great brain and silvery tongue and scepters
OF Influence. The latter responds COB, I
knew more than my follows. l mastered
libraries and had learned titles from col
leges, and my name was synonym for
eloquence and power. And yet neglected
my soul, and I am here waiting for new
trial. Strange" says the one of the
feeble earthly capacity. 81 knew bur little
of worldly knowledge, But 1 knew Christ
and made Him my partner, and have no need
of another chance"
Now the ground tremblcs with the ap-
proaching chariot. The great folding doors
OF the hall swing open. "Stand back?" cry
the celestial ushers. ''Stan1 back, aud lot
the Judge OF quick AMI dead pass throughr
He takes the throne. aud looking over the
throng of nations He says, "Come 10 iudg-
ment. the last judgment, the holy judg-
ment?' By one flash from the throne all the
n lah 40, ha vi