National Baptist world., 1894-10-26


ty" No. A wave of sin comes and
dashes you one way, and wave of
temptation comes and dashes you in
another way. and there are plenty of
} rocks on which to founder, but seem
} lngly no harbOr 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 future
world. They believe that religion is
the first, the last, the infinite
necessity. They do everything but
trust in Christ. They make sixty
strokes in minute. Thev
bend forward with all earnestness, and
they lie back until the muscles are dis
tended, and yet they have not made
one inch in ten years toward Heaven.
| What is the reason? That is not the
way to 60 to work. You might as we'll
take frail sl1iff, and put it down at
the foot of Niagara, and then head it
up toward the churning thunderbolt Of
waters, and expect to work your wav
up through the lightning of foam into
calm Lake Erie, as for you to try to
pull yourself through the surf of your
SIN into the hope, and pardon, and pla-
cldity of the gospel You cannot do it
in that way. Sin is a rough sea, and
longboat, yawl, pinnace and gondola
| go down unless the Lord deliver; but if
you will cry to Christ and lay hold of
Divine mercy, you are as safe from
eternal condemnation as though YOU
had been twenty years in Heaven.
wish | could put before my unpar-
| dOned readers their own helplessness.
No human arm was ever strong enough
to unlock the door of Heaven. No foot
was ever mighty enough to break the
shackle of sin. No OarSman swarthv
| enough to row himself into Gods har-
Dor. The wind is against YOU The
tide is against You. The law is against
you. Ten thousand corrupting influ-
ences are against you. Helpless and
undOne. Not 50 helpless d sailor on a
plank, midAtlantic. Not SO helpless a
traveller girdei by twenty miles of
prairie on fire. Prove it, you say. l
will prove it. John vi, "A: NO man
can come to Me, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him.
But while | have shown your help
lesSnesS. | want to put by the side of it
the power and willingness of Christ to
save you. | think it was in 1886 YES
sci was bound for Portugal, but it was
driven to pieces on an unfriendly coast
The captain had his son with him, and
with the crew they wandered up the
beach, and started on the long journey
to find relief. After awhile the son
tainted by reason Of hunger and the
length of the way. The captain said
to the crew: Carry my boy for me on
your shoulders" They carried him
on; but the journey was so
long that after awhile the crew
tainted from hunger and from
WEAKNESS, and could carry him no
longer. Then the father rallied his al
most wasted energy and took up his
own boy, and put him on his shoulder,
and carried him on mile after mile,
mile after mile, until, overcome by
hunger and WEAKNESS, he too tainted |
by the way. The boy lay down and
died, and the father, just at the time
rescue came to him, also perished, liv-
sii H. s y berg ac4s 81 stlf She ssor
sad story, indeed! But glory be to
God that Jesus Christ is able to take us
up out of our shipwrecl1ed and dying
condition, and put us on the shoulder
of His strength, and by the omnipo-
tence 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 and black, and inexcusa BILE,
you believe l will proclaim par
don-quicb, full, gand, uncon-
ditional. uncompromising, illimita ole,
infinite. Oh. the grace of God! | am
overwhelmed when | come to think of
it. Give me thousand ladders, lashed
fast to each other, that | may scale the
height. Let the line run out with the
anchor until all the cables of earth are
exhausted, that we may touch the
depth. Let the archangel fly in circuit
of eternal ages in trying to sweep
around this theme. Oh, the grace of
God. 1t is so high. 1t is SO broad. 1t
is SO deep. Glory be to God, that
where mans oar gives out, Gods arm
begins. Why will we carry your sins
and your sorrows any longer when
Christ offers to take them?
Plenty of room at the feast. Jesus
has the ring of His love all ready to
put upon your hand. Come now and
sit down, We hungry ones, at the BAN
quet. Ye who are in rags of sin, take
the robe of Christ. Ye who are
sTamped by the breakers around you,
cry to Christ to pilot you into smooth,
still waters. On account of the pecu-
liar phase Of the subject, have drawn
my present illustrations, you see,
chiefly from the water. l remember
that a vessel went to pieces on the
Bermudas a great many years ago. 1t
had vast treasure on board. But
the vessel being sunk, no effort was
made to raise it. After many years had
passed, company of adventurers went
out from England, and, after long
voyage, they reached the place where
the vessel was said to have sunk. They
got into small boat and hOvered over
the place. Then the divers went down,
and they broke through what looked
like a limestone covering and the
treasures rolled Out-what was found
to be, in American
worth S1.500,00O, and the
foundation of great business house.