The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-04-05
THE GOSPEL SHIP.
"conie Thou and All Thy Family
Into the Ark
Get Safely Bopsed for Eternity-If we
Got Into the Ark of Gods Mercy
it VIII De Through Christ, the
Door-Dr. TalmaEe's hermDn.

last Sunday 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 Luca.
min and Majestic and the Paris will
show yOu ship that in some respects
eclipsed them all, and which sailed out,
an ocean underneath and another ocean
falling upon it. Infidel scientists ask
US to believe that In the formation of
the earth there have been a half dozen
deluges, and yet they are not willing
to believe the Bible story of one del
uge.
In what way the catastrophe came
we know not-whether by the stroke
Of a comet, or by flashes of lightning,
changing the air into water, or by a
stroke of the hand OF God, like the
stroke of the AK between the horns of
the OK, the earth staggered. To meet
the catastrophe God ordered a great
ship bnilt. IL was to be without PROV,
FOR it was to sail TO no shore. 1t was
20 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 the
Great Eastern of olden time.
The ship is done. The door is open.
The lizards crawl in The cattle walk
in. The grasshoppers hop in. The
birds fly in. The invitation goes forth
to Noah, "Come thou and all thy house
into the ark" Just one human family
embark on the strange voyage, and 1
hear the doors 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 dying world. The
blackness of the heavens is shattered by
the flare of the lightnings, that look
down into the waters and throw a
ghastliness on the face of the mount
aims. How strange it looks! How suf-
locating the air seems! The big drops
of rain begin to splash upon the up
turned faces of those who are watch
ing the stempest. Crash! go the rocks
in convulsion. Boom! go the bursting
heavens. The inha bitants of the earth,
instead of flying to house top and
mountain top, as men have fancied, sit
down in dumb, white horror to die.
For when God grinds mountains to
pieces and let's the ocean slip its cable
there is no place for men to fly to.
See the ark pitch and tumble in the
surf, while from its windows the pas
sengers look out upon the shipwreck
of race and the carcasses of a dead
world. Woe to the mountain! Woe to
the seal
/ am no alarmist When on the goth
of September, after the wind has for
three days been blowing from the
northwest, you prOphesy that the equi-
noctial storm is coming, YOU simply
state a fact not to be disputed. Neither
am / an alarmist when I say that a
storm is coming, compared with which
Noah's deluge was but an April show
er, and that it is wiSest and safest for
you and for me to get safely housed for
eternity. The invitation that went
forth to Noah sounds in our ears,
Come thou and all thy house into the
ark"
Well, how did Noah and his family
come into the ark? Did they climb in
ut the window, or come down the roof?
No; they went through the door. And
just so, if we get into the ark of Gods
n
door. The entrance TO the ark of old
must have been a very large entrance.
We know that it was from the fact that
there were monster animals in the ear
lier ages, and in order to get them into
the ark, two and two, according to the
Bible statement, the door must have
been very wide and very high. So the
door into the mercy of God is n large
door. We go in, not two and two, but
by hundreds, and by thousandS and by
millions. Yea, all the nations of the
earth may go in, 10000, 600 abreastl
The door of the ancient ark was in
the side. So now it is through the side
of Christ-the pierced side, the wide
open side, the heart side-that we en-
ter Aha, the Roman soldier, thrust
ing his spear into the Saviour's side, ex-
pected only to let the blood out, but he
opened the way to let all the world in!
Oh, what broad Gospel to preach! If
a man is about to give an entertain
ment, he issues 200 or 800 invitations,
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
voice that penetrates the Hindoo jun
gle, and the Greenland ice castle, and
Brazilian grove. and English factory,
and American home, cries out, Come,
for all things are now readyr' 1t is
wide door, The old cross has been taken
apart. and its two pieces are stood up
for the doorposts, 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 jewels 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 Heaven the gate-keeper cried:
Lift up your heads, We everlasting
gates, and let this man come in!' The !
dying thief went in. Richard Baxter
and Robert Newton went in. Eu- |
rope, Asia. Africa, North and |
South America may yet go through !
this wide door without crowding. Ho! ,
every one-all conditions, all ranks, all !
peopleI Luther said that this truth !
was worth carrying on ones knees |
from Rome to Jerusalem, but think |
il worth carrying all around the globe /
and all around the heavens, that God |
so loved the world that He gave His |!
only begotten Sen, that whosoever be- |
lieveth in Him should not perish, but /
have everlasting life" Whosoever /