The Penn's Grove record., 1894-10-19
PENIS GROVE. N. J., FRIDAY. OCTOBER 10. 1894.

| glorious roTntse VI VIII De n Hod to tnet
and to thy seed after thee" oh, broken
hearted father and mother, you have triet
everything else now make an appeal for
the help and omnipotence Of the covenant
keeping God, and perhaps ut Jul next
family neutrality-suspicious. on THANKSGIVING
Day. perhaps next Christmas Day-the
prodiGal may be home, and IL you crowd
on his plate more luxurles than on any
other plate at the table 1 am sure the
brothers will not be Jealous. but they
will wake up all the music in the house,
'because the dead is alive again and because
the lost is found" Perhaps your prayers
have been answered already. The vessel
may be coming homeward, and by the light
of this nights stars that absent son may be
pacing the deck of the ship, anxious for the
time to some when he can throw his arm
around your neck and ask for forgiveness
for that he has been wringlng your old heart
so long. Glorious reunion, that will be too
sacred for outsiders to look upon, but I
would Just like to look through the window
when you lave all got together again IN
are seated at the banquet.
Though parents may in covenantbs
Aud have their heaven in view,
They are not happy till they see
This chill !ren happy too.
Again, l remark that the unavailing effort
| OF the Mediterranean oarsmen has q coun-
terpart in the effort which we are making to
bring this world back to God, His pardon
and safety. II this world could have been
saved by human effort, 1t would have been
done long ago. John Howard took hold of
one oar, and Careytook hold of another oar.
and Adoniram Judson took hold of another
oar, and Luther took hold OF another oar,
and John Knox took hold OF another oar and
| they pulled until they fell back dead from
the exhaustion. Some dropped In the ashes
of martyrdom, some on the scalping
knives of savages and some into the
plague struck room of the lazaretto,
and still the chains are not broken,
and still the despotisms are not demolished,
and still the world Is unsavei. What them
Put down the oars and make no effort? I
do not advise that. But l want you Chris
tian brethren, to understand that the church,
and the school and the college, and the mis-
sionary society are only the instrumentali-
ties, and II this work is ever done at all God
must doit, and He will do it in answer to
our prayer. ''They rowed hard to bring IT to
the land, but they could not, wherefore they
cried unto the Lord"
Again, the unavailing effort ofthose Medi-
terraRean oarsmen has a counterpart 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 save our
selves. We say, "Give mt n stout oar for my
right hand, give me a stout oar for my left
hand and will pull myself into safety" No.
Awave of sin comes and dashes you one way,
n a wave of temptation comes and dashe5
| you In another way, and there are plenty Of
rocks on which to founder, but seemingly no
harbor into whichto sail. Sin must be thrown
| overheard, or we must perish. There
are men who have tried for years to become
Christians. They believe all l say In regard
to future world. They believe that re-
| ligion is the first, the last, the infinite Ne
cessity. They do everything but trust in
Christ. They make sixty strokes In O min
ute. They bend forward with all earnest
ness, and they lie back until the muscles are
distended, and vet they have not made one
inch in ten years toward heaven. What is
the reason? That is not the way to go to
work. You might as we'll take q frail
skiff and put 1t down at the foot Of Nj
agara and then head 1t up toward the
churning thunderbolt of waters and ex-
pect 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 the hopeand pardon
and placldity of the gospel. You cannot do
1t In that way. Sin is a rough sea, an |
longboat, yawl, pinnsce and gondola 60
down unless the Lord deliver, but II you
will cry to Christ and lay hold of divine
| mercy you are as safe from eternal con-
demnation as though you had been twenty
| years in heaven.
I lOul kIolJ 10 W SOu kiuh OOoAo -
able to take us up out of our shipwreekei
| and dying condition and put US on the houl-
| der of His strength, and by the omnipotence
| OF His gospel bear us on through all the
Journey of this life and at last through the
opening gates of heaven +! He is mighty to
, save. Though your sin be long AMI black
, and i~nexcusable and outrageous, the very
moment you believe I will proclaim pardon
-quick, full, grand, unconditional, uncom-
promising. illimitible, infinite. oh, the grace
! OF God I Fam overwhelmed when l come to
| think oft. Give me a thousand ladders, LASH
| ed fast to each other, that / may scale the
height. Let the line run out with the an
| Choir until all the cables of. the earth are ex-
hausted, that we may touch the depth. Let
the a~rchangel fly in circuit OF eternal ages In
irving to sweep around this theme. oh, the
grace OF God! 1t is so high. 1t is so broad.
It is so deep. Glory be to my God, that
| where mans oar gives out Gods arm begins
| Why will ye carry your sins and your sor-
rows any longer when Christ offers to take
them? Why will you wrestle down your
fears when this moment yvu might give up
and be savedp Do you not know that every
thing Is ready?
Plenty of room atthe feast. Jesus has the
ring of His love all ready to put upon your
hand. Come now and sit down, ye hungry
ones, at the banquet. Ye who are in rags
OF sin, take the robe OF Christ. Ye who are
swamped by the breakers around you, cry
to Christ to pilot you into smooth, still
waters. On account of the peculiar phase
Of the subject 1 have drawn my present
Illustrations, you see. chiefly from the
water. / remember that a vessel went to
pieces on the Bermudas a great many years
ago. 1t had a vast treasure on board.
But, the vessel being sunk. no effort was
made to raise it. After many years had
passed a company OF adventurous went
out from England, AMI after a long voy-
age they reached the place where the vessel
| was said to have sunk. They got into a
small boat and lowered over the place. Then
The divers went down, and they broke
| through what looked like a limestone cover
| ing, and the treasures rolled out-what was
| found afterward to be, in American money,
worth 81, SOC. 200, and the foundation Of a
| great business house. At that int the
| whole world rejoiced over what was eallei
| the luck of these Adventures. o, ye who
nave been rowing toward the shore
and have not been able 10 reach
Il, l want to tell you tonight that your boat
hovers over infinite treasure! All the riches
Of God are at your feet-treasures that
never fail and crowns that never grow dim.
Who will go down now and seek them2 Who
will dive for the pearl of great price? VINO
will be prepared for life, for death, for
Judgment, for the long eternity2 See W
bands of blood stretched out toward thy
Boul as Jesus says, "Come unto me, all 70
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will