The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1895-05-25
THE GOSPEL SHIP.
"come Thou and All Thy Family
Into the Ark"
Get Safely Housed for Eternity-n We
Get Into the Ark of Gods Mercy
1t Will BE Through Christ. the
Door-Dr. Talmage's Sermon.

shalt come into the ark, thou and thy
sons and thy wife and thy sons wives
with thee"
MIA and Majestic and the Paris | will
show youta 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 half dozen
1deluges, 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 ii 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 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.
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 l
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 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 seemss The big drops
of rain begin to splash upon the up
turned 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 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 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 sea!
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 fact not to be disputed. Neither
am l an alarmist when l say that a
storm is coming, compared with which
Noah's 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 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 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, 900 abreast!
The door of the ancient ark was in
tho 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 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
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 jun
gle. and the Greenland ice castle, and
Brazilian grove. and English factory,
and American home, cries out, "Come,
for all things are now ready" 1t is
wide door! The old cross has been taken
apart, and its two pieces are stood up
for the doorIosts, so far apart that all
the world can come in. Kings scatter
treasures on days of greatrejoicing. 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-ail conditions, all ranks, all
people! Luther said that this truth
was worth carrying on ones knees
from Rome to Jerusalem Init think