Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1895-04-04

lieve that in the formation OF the ear'n
there have been half dozen deluses'
and yet they are not willing 10 peLeHe
the Bible story Of one deluge.
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, OF py
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 it was to sail to no shore. IL was
to be without helm, for no human mana
should guide it. 1t was vast struc-
ture, 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 blrds
fly in. The invitation goes forth TO
Noah: "Come thou and all thy mouse
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 a dying world.
The blackness of the heavens is shat
tered by the flare of the lightnings,
that look down into the water, ana
throw a ghastliness on the face of the
mountains. How strange it looks! How
suffocating the air seems! The Dig
drops Of rain begin to plash upon the
upturned faces Of those who are watch
ing the tempest. Crash! go the rocks In
CONFUSION. Boom! go the bursting
heavens. The inhabitants Of the earth,
instead of flying to house-top ana
mountain-top, as men have fancled, SIT
down in dunn, 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 it's windows the passengers
look out upon the shipwreck of race,
and the carcaSses of a dead world. woe
to the mountains! Woe to the sea!
am no alarmist. When, on the TWEEN
tieth of September, after the wind has
for three days been blowing from the
northeast, you prophesy that the equi-
noctial storm is coming, you simply
state fact not to be disputed. Neither
am I an alarmist when I say that
storm is coming, compared with which
Noahs deluge was but an April Show
err; 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 at
the window, or come 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 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 a 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, ten millions abreast.
There comes upon the good man a
deluge of financial trouble He had his
thousands to lend; now he cannot bor-
row dollar. He once owned a store
in New York. and had branch houses
in Boston, Philadelphia, and New Or
leans. He owned four horses, and en-
ployed man to keep the dust off his
coach, phaeton, carriage and curricle;
now he has hard work to get shoes in
which to walk. The great deep of COM
mercial 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
1.-THE Lord shut him in!' A flood Of
domestic troubles fell on him. Sick
ness and bereavement came. The rain
pelted, the winds blew. The heavens
are af1ame. All the gardens Of earthly
delight are washed away. The noun
tains of joy are buried fifteen cubits
deep. But standing by the empty crib,
and in the desolated nursery, and in
the doleful hall, once airing with merry
voices, now silent forever, he cried:
1.-The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken
away; blessed be the name of the
Lord The Lord shut him in" All
the sins of lifetime clamored for his
overthrow. The broken vows, the dis
honored Sabbaths, the outrageous pro-
families, the misdemeanors of twenty
years, reached up their hands to the
door of the ark to pull him out. The
boundless ocean of sin surrounded his
soul, bowling like a simoon raving like
an euroclydon. But, looking out of the
window, he saw his sins sink like lead
into the depths of the sea. The dove of
heaven brought an olive branch to the
ark. The wrath of the billow only
pushed him toward heaven. THE Lord
shut him in!'
The same door fastenings that kept
Noah in keep the troubles out. l am
glad to know that when a man reaches
heaven all earthly troubles are done
with him. Here he may have had it
hard to get bread for his family; there
he will never hunger any more Here
he may have wept bitterly; there "the
Lamb that is in the midst Of the throne
will lead him to living fountains of
water, and God will wipe away all the
tears from his eyes" Here he may
have hard work to get a house; but in
my Fathers house are many mansions,
and rent-day never comes. Here there
are deathbeds. and collins, and graves;
there no sickness, no weary watching,
no choking cough, no consuming fever,
no chattering chill, no tolling bell, no
grave. The sorrows of life shall come
up and knock at the door, but no ad-
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