The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-01
NoAH'S ESCAPE IN THE ARK.
TALMAGE POINTS OUT LESSONS
TAUGHT BIZ THE DELUGE.

A storm Coming Compared With
which the Biblical Flood Was an
April Shower-Chrfst the Only
Door Through which the People
of the world Can Enter the Ark
of Gods Mercy-The Dangers of Di-
vision.
New York March a-Although his ora
tory is at all times magnetic ana eio-
Quent. there is one theme with which.
whenever he makes it tho groundwork Of
his sermon. DR.. Talmage never fails TO
communicate to his auditors the enthUs-
iasm be himself feels. That theme is the
Gospel invitation; and when. this after
noon. he took for his subject The Gospel
Ship" the great audience that crowded
the academy was in full sympathy. The
text selected was Genesis Sis: 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" 1 will
show you a ship that in some respects
eclipsed them all, and which sailed out
an ocean underneath. and another ocean
falling upon 1t. Infidel scientists ask US
20 believe that in the formation of the
earth there have been a half-dozen del
uges. and yet they are not willing to be-
aieve the Bible story of one deluge.
In what way the catastrophe came, we
know not; whether by the stroke Of
comet, or by flashes of lightning. changing
he al Ant cts Of
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 built. 1t was to be
without prov. for 1t 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 two
or three modern steamers. 1t was the
s'Great Eastern of olden time.
The ship is done. The door is open.
The lizards crawl in. The cat
tie walk in. The grasshopperes
hop in. The birds fly in. The invitation
goes forth to Noah: Come thou and all
thy house into the ark" Just one hui
man family embark ON the strange voyage,
and / hear the door slam shut. A great
storm sweeps along the hills, and bends
abe cedars until all the branches snap
Sn the gale. There is a moan in the wind
like unto the moan of a dying world. The
backness of the heavens is shattered by
the flare of the lightnings that look down
unto the waters and throw a ghastliness
on the face of the mountains How
strange II looksi How suffocating the air
seems! The big drops of rain begin to
plash upon the upturned faces of those
who are watching the tempest. Crash!
go the rocks In CONFUSION. BOoml go the
bursting heavens. The inhabitants 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 lets 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
ats windows the passengers look out upon
the shipwreck OF a race, and the carcases
of dead world. Woe to the mountains!
Woe to the sea!
I am no alarmist. When, on Sept. 90
after the wind has for three days been
blowing from the northeast, you prophesy
that the equinoctial storm is coming, you
simply state a fact not to be disputed
Neither am / an alarmist when / say that
storm is coming, compared with which |
Noah's deluge was but an April shower; 1
and that II Is wisest and safest for you !
and for me to get safely housed for etern- |
atty. 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 a. |
the window, or come down the roof? No: |
they went through the door. And just |
so, II we get into the ark of Gods mercy. |
1t will be through Christ the door. The |
entrance to the ark of old must have |
been a very large entrance. We know that |
1t was, from the fact that there were |
monster animals in the earlier ages; and, /
IN order to get them into the ark two |
and two according to the Bible statement. |
the dOnF har
very high. So the door into the mercy of |
God is large door, We go in, not two |
and two, but by hundreds, and by thou
sands. and by millions. Yea all the nations |
OF the earth may go in, ten million abreast
The door of the ancient ark was in the |
side. So now 1t is through the side OF
Christine pierced side the wide-open
side, the heart side--that we enter. Aha! |
the Roman soldier, thrusting his smear
into the Saviour's side, expected only to
let the blood out, but he opened the wav
20 let all the world in. oh what a broad |
Gospel to preach If a man is about 10
give an entertainment, he issues two or
three hundred invitations, carefully nut
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 readyp'
1t is 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
Jewels of heaven. Rowland Hill said that
he hoped to get into heaven through the
crevtces OF the door. But he was not oh
Nged thus to go in. After having preached
the Gospel in Surrey Chapel, going up to-
ward heaven, the gate-keeper cried. Lift
up your heads, We everlasting gates. and
let this man come i'm" The dying thief
went in. Richard Baxter and Robert New
ton vent in. Europe, Asia, Africa. North
and South America may yet go through
this wide door without crowding. Hoi
every one-al conditions, all ranks all
peop1ei Luther said that this truth was
worth carrying on ones knees from Rome
to Jerusalem; but think 1T is worth car
rying all around the globe, and all around
the heavens, that God so loved the world
that he gave his only begosten Son. that
whOsoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life" Who