The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-02-26

exhausted you are, and all the redeemed
prodigals of heaven are on the beach
with new white robes to clothe all those
who come in on broken pieces of the
ship.
Ny sympathies are for such all the
more because 1 was naturally skeptical,
disposed to question everything about
this life and the next and was in dan.
ger Of being farther out to sea than any
of the 276 N the Mediterranean break
ers, and [ was sometimes the annoyance
of my theological professor because /
asked SO many questions. But | came
rl on a plank | knew Christ was tho
Saviour Of sinners and that l was a sin
ner and got ashore, and | Go not pro-
pose to go out Oh that sea again. l have
not for 80 minuees discussed the contro-
verified points Of theology in 30 years,
and during the rest of my life | do not
propose to discuss them for 80 seconds.
| would rather i'll a mud scow try to
weather the worst cyclone that ever
swept up from the Caribbean, than
risk my immortal soul in useless and
perilous discussions in which some of
my brethren i'll the ministry are indulg-
ing. They remind me of a company of
sailors standing on The Ramsgate pier
head, from which the lifeboats are
usually launched, and cOolly discussing
the different styles of OarlOcks and how
deep boat ought to set in the water
while hurricane is i'll full blast and
there are three steamers crowded with
passengers going to pieces in the offing.
An old tar, the muscles of his face work
ing with nervous excitement, cries out:
''This is no time to discuss such things.
Man the lifcbCat! Who will volunteer?
Out with her into the surf! Pail, my
lads; pull fer the wreck Ha, ha! Now
we have them. Lift thC1l in and lay
them down On the LCttom Ct the boat.
Jack, you try to bring them to. Put
these flannels around their heads and
feet, and will pull for the shore, God
help mel There! Landed! Huzzap
When there are SO many struggling i'll
the waves of sin and sorrow and wretch
edness, let all else go but salvation for
time and salvation forever,
Safe Plank.
I bethinl myself that there are some
here whose opportunity or whose life is
a mere wreck and they have only
small piece left. You started in youth
with all sails set, and everything prom
ised a grand voyage, but you have
sailed in the wrong direction or have
foundered on rock You have only a
fragment of time left Then come in ON
that one plank. "Some on broken pieces
of the ship.
You admit you are all broken up,
one decade Of your life gone by, two
decades, three decades, four decades, a
half century, perhaps three-quarters of
a century gone. The hour hand and the
minute hand Of your clock of life are
almost parallel, and soon it will be IL
and your day ended. Clear discouraged .
are you? l admit it is sad thing to
give all of our lives that are worth any
thing to sin and the devil and then at
last make God present of a first rate
corpse But the past you cannot recover.
Get on board that old ship you never
will. Have you only one more year left
one more month, one more week, one
more day, one more hour-come in on
that Perhaps if you get to heaven God
may let you go out on some great mis-
sion to some other world, where you
can somewhat atone for your lack Of
service i'll this.
From many a deathbed | have seen
the hands thrown up in deploration
like this: My life has been
wasted. | had good mental faculties
and fine social position and great oppor-
unity, but through worldiness and neg
ect all has gone to waste save these
Few remaining hours. now accept Of
Christ ana shall enter heaven through
lis mercy, but alas, alas, that when l
night have entered the haven of eternal
est with full cargo, and been greeted
~ the waving hands of a multitude i'll
whose salvation | had borne a blessed
Dart, l must confess l now enter the
larbor Of heaven ON broken pieces of
he ship