The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-04-10
ON THE GOSPEL SHIP.
REV. DR.. TAlMAGE DRAWS A LESSON
FOM THE ARK.


Gift of Salvation Through ChriSt---A sure
Doe,oe r, Time of Trouble---The Load
stone of :, God Fearing Life.
NEW YORK, March 31.-Although
his oratory is all times magnetic and
e1oouent. there Is one theme With
which. whenever he makes 1t the
groundwork OF his sermon, DR.. Tai
MAGE never fails to communicate to
his auditors the enthusiasm he himself
feels. That theme is thegospel invita-
ton, and when, this afternoon, ne
took for his subject The Gospel
Ship the great audience that crowded
the Academy was in full sympathy.
The text selected was Genesis Vi, is,
Thou shalt come into the ark, thou
and thy sons and thy wife and thy
sons wives with thee.
In this day of the steamships Lucania
and Majestic and the Paris Twill show
YOU ship that in some respects
eclipsed them all and which sailed out,
an ocean underneath and another
ocean falling upon it. 1ntidel scent
ISIS ask us to believe that In the torma.
ton of the earth there have been halt
dozen deluges, and yet they are nos
will;nr to believe the Bible story OF
one deluge.
In what way the catastrophe came
we know not-whether oS Ine sItose
of a comet. or by flashes OF llghtn1ng,
changing the air into water, or oy d
stroke Of the hand of God, like the
stroke of the az between the horns OF
the OK the earth staggered. To meet
the catastrophe God ordered a great
ship built. 1t was to be without PROV,
for i was to sail to no shore. 1t was
to be without helm, for no human
hand should guide it. 1t was a vast
structure, probably as large as two or
three modern steamers: 1t was lhe
Great Eastern of olden time.
The ship is done. The DOORS open.
The lizards crawl IN. The cattle walk
in. The erasshoppers hop in. The
birds sv in. The invitation goes forlh
to Noah. Come thou and all thy
house into the ark" Just one human
family embark on the strange voyage,
and / hear the door slam shut. A
GREAT storm sweeps along the hills and
bends the cedars until all the branches
snap in the gale. There IS a moan IN
the wind like unto the moan OF oy-
mo world. The blackness Of the heav-
ems is shattered by the flare OF the
Gehtings that look down into the wat
ers and throw ghastllness on tne
face of the mountains. How strange
it looks, How sufocating the. ar
seems, The big drops of rain begin to
plash upon the upturned faces of those
Who are watching the tempest: Crash
90 the rocks in convulsion. Boom go
the bursting heavens. The inhabitants
of the earth, instead OF tying to mouse
top and mountain top, as men nave
fancie6, sit down in dumb, white nor
ror to die, for when God grinds noun
tains to pieces and lets the ocean slip
it's cable there is no place for men to
fiv to. See the ark pitch and tumble
in the surf, while from its WINDOWS
the passengers look out upon the snip
wreck of a race and the carcasses OF a
dead world. Woe to the mountains
Woe to the sea.
I am no alarmist. When, on the
goth of September, after the wind has
for three days been blowing from the
northeast, you prophesy that the equl-
noctial storm is coming, you simply
state a fact not to be disputed. Neither
am I an alarmist when say that a
storm is coming compared with wnlcn
Noah's deluge was but an April shower
and that it IS wisest and safest TOR you
and for me to get safely housed for
eternity. The invitation that went
forth to Noah sounds IN our cars,
ssCome thou and all thy house into
the ark"
Well. how did Noah and his family
come into the ark Did they climb in
at the window, orcome down the roof?
No. They went through the door:
And Just so. if we get into the ark OF
Gods mercy, it will be through Christ
the door. The entrance to the ark OF
old must have been very large en-
trance. We know that 1t was from
the fact that there were monster AMI
mails in the earlier ages. and IN order
to get them into the ark two and two,
according to the Bible statement, the
door must have been very vide and
yery high. So the door into the mercy
of God IS large door. We goin, not
two and two, but by hundreds, and oy
thousands, and by millions. Yea, all
the nations of the earth may go IN TO-
100000 abreast.
The door of the ancient ark was in
the side. So now it is through the
side of Christine pierced side, the
wide open side, the heart side-that
we enter. Aha. the Roman soldier,
thrusting his spear into the Savlour's
side expected only to let the blood out,
but he opened the way to let all the
world in. Oh, what a broad Gospel to
preach! If man is about to give an
entertainment, he issues 200 or 300 IN
vitations carefully put up and directed
to the particular persons whom he
wishes to entertain. But God, our
Father, makes a banquet, and goes
out to the front door of heaven, and
stretches out his hands over land and
sea, and with a voice that penetrates
the Hindoo Jungle, and the Greenland
ice castle, and Brazilian grove, and
English factory, and American home
cries out, Come, for all things are
now ready" It is a wide door. The
old cross has been taken apart, and its
two pieces are stood up for the door.
posts so far apart that all the world
can come in. Kings scatter treasures
on days of great rejoicing. So Christ,
our King, comes and scatters the jew
els of heaven. Rowland Hill said that
he hoped to get into heaven through
the crevices of the door, But he was
not obliged thus to go IN.
After having preached the gospel IN
Surrey chapel, going up toward heav-
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