Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-01-04
ACCOMAC G r. VA. SATURDAY. JANUARY 4 1896

her, as IL tNey uO uOl lucuil III. hdAo ~ az
urgent question and then you will have
it answered before an hour passes, before
minute passes When man with all
tho earnestness of his soul cries out for
God he finds him, and finds him right
away.
Oh, are there not in this house today
those who are postponing until the last
hour of living the attending to the
things of the soul? 1 give it as my
opinion that ninety nine cut of the ono
hundred deathbed repentances amount
to nothing. Of all the scores of persons
mentioned as dying i'll the Bible, of how
many do you read that they successfully
repented in the last hour? Of so? No.
OF 40? No OF 30? No. OF 202 No. Of
10? No. Of 5? No. Of 1? Only one,
barely one, as if to demonstrate the fact
that there is bare possibility of repent
ing in the last hour. But that is i'm
probable, awfully improbable, terrif-
ically improbable. One hundred to
one againss the man. If. my brother,
my sister, yon have ever seen man
Try to repent in the last hour, you
have seen something very sad. l do not
know anything on earth so sad as to see
q man try to repent on a deathbed.
There is not from tho moment that life
begins to breathe in infancy to the
last gasp such an unfayorable, COM
plotely unfavorable, hour for repentance
as the death hour, the last hour. There
are the doctors standing with the
medicines. There is the lawyer stand
ing with the half written will. There Is
the family in CONSERVATION as to what
is to become of them. All the bells Of
eternity ringing the soul out of the
body. All tho past rising before us and
all tho future. Oh, that man is an inf
mite fool who procrastinates to the
deathbed his repentance
This May BE Your Last Chance.
My text does not answer the question.
It only asks it, with deep and importu-
nate earnestness asks it, and according
to the rules of sermonizing you would
say, "Adjourn that TO some other time,
but dare not. What are the rules Of
sermonizing to me when l am after
souls? What other time could have
when perhaps this is the only time?
This might be my last time for preach
ing; this might be your last time for
hearing.
After my friend III Philadelphia died,
his children gave his church Biblo to
me, and 1 read it, looked over it with
much interest. I saw in the margin,
written in lead pencil, Mr.. Talma8e
said this morning that the most useless
thing in Gods universe is that any sim
ner should perish" did not remember
saying it, but it is true, and 1 say it
now whether I said it then or not-the
most useless thing in all Gods universe
is that any sinner should perish. 1--WE I've
gates wide open. Have you not heard
how Christ bore our sorrows, and how
sympathetic he is with all our woes !!
Have you not heard how that with all
the sorrows of heart and all the agonies
of hell upon him, he cried, Father,
forgive them, they know not what they
do?' By his feet blistered OF the noun
tain way, by his back whipped until
the skin came Off, by his death couch of
four spikes, two for the hands and two
for the feet; by his sepulcher, i'll which
for the first time for 33 years the cruel
world let him alone, and by the heavens
from which he now bends in compass
sion, offering pardon and peace and
life eternal to all your souls, beg OF
you put down your all at his feet.
saw one hanging on tree
In agony and blood,
Who fixed his lansuid eyes on me
As near his cross stood.
Oh, never till my latest breath
Will forget that look.
It seemed to charge me with his death,
Though not word he spoke.
Sir John Cochrane's Escape.
In tho troubled times of Scotland Sir
John Cochrane was condemned to death
by the king. The death warrant was on
the way. Sir John Cochrane was bid
ding farewell to his daughter GriZel at
the prison door, He said: Farewell,
my darling child! I must die His
daughter said, Ono, father, you shall
not die. But" he said, 1.-THE king is
against me, and the law is after me,
and the death warrant is on its way,
and I must die; do not deceive your
self. nv dear child" The daughter
said, Father, you shall not die" as
she left the prison gate. At night, on
the moors of Scotland, disguised way
farer stood waiting for the horseman
carrying the mailbags containing the
death warrant. The disguised way
farer, as the horse came by, clutched the
bride and shouted to the rider-to the
man who carried the mailbags, obs
mount!" he felt for his arms and was
about to shoot, but the wayfarer jerked
him from his saddle, and he fell fiat.
The wayfarer picked up the mailbags,
put them OIL his shoulder and vanished
in the darkness, and II days were thus
gained for the prisoners life, during
which the father confessor was plead
ing for the pardon of Sir John Cochrane.
The second time the death warrant is
sn its way. The disguised wayfarer
comes along and asks for little bread
and a little wine, starts on across the
moors, and they say: Poor man, to
have to go out on such a stormy night.
1t is dark and you will lose yourself on
the moors. " ooh, no, he says, ~ will
not. He trudged on and stopped amid
the brambles and waited for the horse
man to como carrying the mailbags
containing the death warrant Of Sir
John Cochrane. The mail carrier spur
red Oh his steed, for he was fearful be-
cause of what had occurred on the for
mer journey, spurred on his steed, when
suddenly through the storm and through
the darkness there was flash of fire
arms and the horse became unmanagc
able, and as the mail carrier discharged
bie ,,;c+o1 IL, resrOue Ga the horse flung