Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1895-04-18
THE GOSPELS SHIP.
GODS COMMAND TO NOAH TO EN-
TER THE ARK.

GODS COMMAND TO NOAH TO EN-
| TER THE ARK.
The Door of Gods Mansion Wide
Open for All-Cnlvnry the Fulcrun
and the Cross the Lever by Which
All Nations Shall he Lifted.
New York, Special.-Although his
oratory is Mt all times magnetic and
eloquent, there is one theme With
which, whenever he makes it the
groundwork of his sermon, DR.. Tai
hage never fails to communicate to
his auditors the enthusiasm lie him
self feels. That theme is the Gospel
invitation: and when, this afternoon,
he took for his subject "Thc Gospel
Ship" the great audience that crowd
ed the Academy was in full sympa-
thy. 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"
cania, and Majestic. and the Paris, l
will show YOU ship that in some re-
spccts cclipsed them all, and which
sailed out, an ocean underneath and
an ocean falling upon it. lntidcl
scientists ask us to believe that in
the formation of the earth there have
been half dozen dclugcs yet they
aren OF willing to believe the Bible
story Of the dcluge.
In what way the catastrophe came.
we know not; whether by the stroke
of comet. or by flashes of lightning
changing the air into water, or by
stroke of the hand of God, like the
az between the horns of the OK. To
meet the catastrophe, God ordered
great ship built. 1t was to be without
PROV. for it was to sail to the shore.
1t was to be without helm, for no hu-
man hand should guide it. 1t was Il
vast structure, probably rs large as
two or three modern steamers. 1T
was the Great Eastern of olden times.
The ship is done. The door is open.
The lizards crawl in. The cattle walk
i'll. The grasshoppers mop 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 in 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
Il MOAN in the wind like unto the
moan of dying world. The black
ness of the heavens is shattered by tho
flare of the lightnings. that look down
into the waters. and throw ghastli-
ness on the face of the mountains.
How strange it looks! How sutrocat-
ing the air seems! The big drops of
rain begin to splash upon the up
turned faces of those who are watch
ing TN" tempest. Crash. go the rocks
i'll convlllsion. Boom! so the bursting
heavens. The inhabitants of the earth
instead of flying to the housctops and
the mollntaintops, as men have fam
cled, sit down i'll dumb, white horror
to die. For when God crinds noun
tains to pieces, and lets the ocean slip
It's cable. there is NJ place for men TO
ny to. Soc the ark pitch and tumble
III the surf: while flcm its windows
the passengers look cut upon the ship
wreck of race. and the carcasses of
n 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 orophcsy that ,hc
equinoctial storm is coming, you sim
ply state n 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; and that it is the wiscst
and safest for YOU and for me to get
safely housed for eternity. The invi-
tation 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
Mt 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 a very large
entrance. We know that it 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.
&tN>-CAN1 ihe W liC IolUlc StulcIlpnV, Inc !
door must have been very wide and
very high. SO the door into the mercy
of God is large door. We 20 in.
not two and two. but by hundreds.
and by thousands and millions. Yea.
all the nations of the earth nav 70
in. ten millions 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. The Roman soldier. thrustine
his spear into the Savior's side, expect
ed 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 entertain
ment, he issues 200 or 300 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 a
voice that penetrates tne Hindoo jur-
gle, and the Greenland ice castle, AMI
BRAZILIAN grove, ana English factory,