Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-04-17
KEW. DR. TALMAGE
eHD BROOKLYN DIvHNE'S SUN.
DAY aERMGN.
Subject: ''The Gospel Ship"

Subject: ''The Gospel Ship"
thou an l thy sons and thy wife and thy sons
wives with thee."-Genesis vi, 1S.
In this day of the steamships Lucanis 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. Infldel scien.
lists ask US to believe that in the formation
| OF the earth there have been half dozen de-
luge9. and yet they are not willing to be-
| ueve the Bible story Of one deluge.
In what way the catastrophe came we know
aot-whether by the stroke Of q comet, or by
flashes of lightning, changing the air into
water, or By stroke Of the hand Of God, like
| the stroke OF the AK between the horns Of the
or, the earth staggered. To meet the catas-
trophe God ordered q great ship built. 1t
was to be without PROV, for it was to sail to
no shore. 1t was TO be without helm, for no
human hand should guide it. 1t was 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. ThS
| lizards crawl il. The cattle walk in. The
grasshoppers hop in. The birds fly in. The
invitation goes forth to Noah, "Ceme thou
and all thy house into the ark" Just one
human family embark on the strange voy-
age, 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 moan in the wind like
unto the moan Of dying world. The
blacknesS OF the heavens Is shattered by
| )ne fare Of lightnings, that look down into
| -.e waters and throw - Shastliness on the
zee OF themouptains. How strange 1t looks!
| low suffocating the ar seems! The big
drops of rain begin to plash upon the up
turned faces OF those who are watching the
, tempest. Crash! go the rocks In coavulsion.
| Boom! go the bursting heavens. Theinhabi-
| tants of the earth, instead Of flying to house
sop 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 tum-
bic in the surf, while from its windows the
passengers look out upon the shipwreck of a
| race and the carcasses Of dead world. Woe
to the mountains! Woe to the sea!
| am no alarmist. When on the goth OF
| September, after the wind has for three days
been blowing from the northeast, you proph-
esy that thu equinoctial storm is coming, you
| simply state fact not to be disputed.
Neither am an alarmist when say that q
storm is coming, compared with which Noah's
deluge was but an April shower, 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 bis fsntly come
nto the ark2 Did they climb in Il the win.
| Cow, or come down the roof? No: they went
| through the door. And Just 50, If we get in
| to 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 it 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 door must have been very wide and very
| high. So the door into the mercy of God is q
by hundreds, and by thousands and by mill.
ions. Yea. all the Nations Of the earth may
| 60 in, 10, ,000, GOO abreast!
The door of the ancient ark was in the
dde. So now it is through the side Of Christ
the pierced side, the wide open side the
| heart side-that We enter. Aha, the Roman
soldier. thrusting his spear into the Saviour 8
side, expected only to let the blood out, but
he opened the way to let all the world in
Oh, what bread gospel to preach II n
| man is about to give an entertainment, l.
issues 200 or 800 invitations, carefully put u p
and directed to the particular persons whom
he wishes to entertain. But God, our Father,
makes banquet and goes out to the front
Goor OF heaven and stretches out His hands
over land and sea, and with q voice that
penetrates the Hindoo jungle, and tho Green
land ice castle, and Brazilian grove, and Eng
lish factory, and American home, cries out,
"Come, Tor all things are now ready" 1t
Ii vide 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 dscatters the jewels ofheaven.
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
~ - l.
keeper cried, Lift up your heads, ye ever
| lasting gates. and let this man come in!'
The dying thief went in. Richard Baxter
and Robert Newton went in. Europe, Asia,
Africa, North and South America may yet
so through this wide door without crowd
ranks, all people! Luther said that this
truth was worth carrying on ones knees
from Rome to Jerusalem, but Think 1t worth
carrying all around the globe and all around
the heavens, that "God SO loved tho world
that He gave His only beSotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life" Whosoever
will, let him come through the large door.
Archimedes wanted a fulcrum on which to
place his lever, and then he said he could
move the world. Calvary is the fulcrum,
and the cross of Christ is the lever, and by
that power all Nations shall yet be lifted.
Further. it is a door that swings both
ways. I do not know whether the door Of
the ancient ark was lifted or rolled on
hinges, but this door Of Christ opens both
ways. Il swings out toward all our woes; 1t
swings in toward the raptures Of heaven. II
swings in to let US in; it swings out to let our
ministering ones comes out. All are one in
Christ-ChristianS on earth and saints in
heaven.
One army of the living God,
At His command we bow.
Fart Of the host have crossed the flood,
And part are crossing now.
Swing in, o blessed door, until all tn.
earth shall go in and live. Swing out until
all the heavens come forth to celebrate the
victory.
But, further, it is door with fastenings
The Bible says of Noah, "The Lord shut him
In" vessel without bulwarks or doors
would not be safe vessel to go in. When
Noah and his family heard the fastening Of
the door Of the ark, they were very glad.
| Unlsss these doors were fastened the first
heavy surge Of the sea would have whelmed
them, and they might as well have per-
'The Lord shut him in." Oh, the per-
| feet safety Of the ark! The surf Of the
sea and the hghtnings Of the sky may be
twisted into garland Of snow and fire
deep to deep, storm to storm, darkness to
| darkness-but once in the ark all is we'll
| "God shut him in." There comes upon the
good man deluge of financial trouble. He
\ had his thousands to lend. Now he cannot
borrow q dollar. He once owned a store In
New York and had branch houses in Boston.
Philadelphia and New Orleans. He owned
! four horses and employed a man to keep the
| dust of his coach, phaeton, carriage and cur
ROLE; now he has hard work to got shoes in
| which to walk. The great deep Of commercial
disaster was broken up, and fore and aft and
across the hurricane deck the waves struck
him. But he was safely sheltered from the
storm "The Lord shut him inn A food Of
domestic troubles fell on him." Sickness
and bereavement came. The rain pelted:
| tho winds blew. The heavens are atlame.
All the gardens Of earthly delight are washed
! away. The mountains Of joy are buried fif-
! teen cubits deep. But, standing by the
empty crib and in The desolated nursery and
. In the doleful hall. once airing with merry
yoices, now silent forever, he cried, "Ths
; Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away
blessed be the name Of the Lord" 1.-THE
Lord shut him in.
All the sins of lifetime clamored for his