The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1897-09-08

| down with hands Of destruction? II, under
| such circumstances, he breaks away, there
will be no sport in the undertaking, nd
| holiday enjoyment, but struggle in whichN
the wrestlers move from side to side and
| bend and twist and watch for an oppor-
tunity to get in heavier stroke, until with
one final effort, in which the muscles are
| distended and the veins stand out and the
blood starts, the swarthy habit falls under
the knee Of the victor-escaped at last as
with the skin of his teeth"
The ship Emma, bound from Gottenburg
| to Harwich, was sailing on when the man
on the lookout saw something that he pro-
nounced vessel bottom up. There was
something on 1t that looked like sea gull,
but was afterward found to be waving
| handkerchief. In the small boat the crew
pushed out to the wreck and found that II
was capsized vessel, aud that three men
| had been digging their way out through
, the bottom of the ship. When the vessel
capsized, they had no means Of escape.
The captain took his penknife and dug
| away through the planks until his knife
broke. Then an old nail was found, with
which they attempted to scrape their way
up out Of the darkness, each one working
until his hand was we'll nigh paralyzed,
long and tedious work the light broke
through the bottom Of the ship. A hand
kerchief was hoisted. Help came. They
were taken on board the vessel and
saved. Did ever men come so near watery
grave without dropping into it2 How mar
rowly they escaped-escaped only with
the skin of their teeth" There are men
who have been capsized OF evil passions
and capsized midocean, and they are a
thousand miles away from any shore Of
help. They have for years been trying to
dig their way out. They have been digging
away and digging away, but they can never
be delivered unless now they will hoist
some signal of distress. However weak
! and feeble 1t may be, Christ will see 1t and
bear down upon the helpless craft and take
| them on board, and it will be known on
earth and in heaven how narrowly they
have escaped-"eseaped as with the skin OF
| their teeth"
There are others who In attempting to
come to God must run between a great
many business perplexities. II man go
ing and come away at o'clock in the after
| noon, he has some time for religion, but
how shall you find time for religious con-
temptation when you are driven from SUM-
rise to sunset and have been for five years
going behind in business and are frequent
| ly dunned by creditors whom you cannot
pay, and when from Monday morning until
| Saturday night you are lodging bills that
you cannot meet2 You walk day by day in
uncertainties that have kept your brain on
| fire for the past three years. Some with
less business troubles than you have gone
crazy. The clerk has heard noise In the
back counting room and gone in and found
the chief man OF the firm a ravfng maniac,
| or the wife has heard the bang Of a pistol
| in the back parlor and gone In, stumbling
| over the dead body OF her husbands
| suicide. There are men pursued, harassed,
| trodden down and scalped Of business per-
| plexities and which way to turn next they
do not know. Now God will not be hard on
| you. He knows what obstacles are In the
way Of your being Christian and your
crown with success. Do not let satan, with
| cotton bales, and kegs, and hogsheads, and
| counters, and stocks Of unstable goods,
block up your way to heaven. Gather up
all your energies. Tighten the girdle about
your loins. Take an agonizing look into
| the face Of God, and then say, "Here goes
one grand effort for life eternal" and then
bound away for heaven, escaping "as With
| the skin Of your teeth"
In the last day 1t will be found that
Hugh Latimer, and John Knox, and Huss
and Ridley were not the greatest martyrs,
but Christian men who went up incorrupt
from the contaminations and perplexities
of Pennsylvania avenue, Broad street, State
street and Third street. On earth they
were called brokers or stock jobbers, or re-
tailers, or importers, but In heaven Chris
tian heroes. No fagots were heaped about
their feet; no inquisition demanded from
them recsntation; no soldier aimed Pike
at their heart. but they had mental tor
ture compared with which all physical
consuming Is as the breath Of spring
morning.
find in the community a large class OF
men who have been so cheated, 80 lied
about. so outrageously wronged, that they
have lost their faith in everything. In.
world where everything seems so topsy
turvy they do not see how there can be any
God. They are confounded and frenz1ed
and misanthropic. Elaborate arguments
to prove to them the truth Of Christianity
or the truth Of anything else touch them
nowhere. Hear me, all such men. I preach
to you no rounded PERIODS. no ornamental
discourse, but put my hand on your shoul-
der and invite you into the peace OF the
gospel Here Is rock on which you may
stand firm, though the waves dash against
1t harder than the Atlantic, pitching its
surf clear above Eddystone lighthouse.
Do not charge upon God all these troubles
OF the world. AS long as the world stuck
to God God stuck to the world, but the
earth seeded from His government. ana
hence all these outrages and all these
woes. God Is good. For many hundreds
OF wears He has been coaxin9 the world to
come back to Him, but the more He mas
coaxed the more violent have men been In
their resistance, and they have stepped
back and stepped back until they nave
dropped into ruin.
Try this God, ye who have had the blood.
hounds after you, and who have thoughs
that God had forgotten YOU. Try him ana
see If He will not help. Try Him and see II
He will not pardon. Try Him and see II
He will not save. The flowers OF spring
have no bloom so sweet as the Towering OF
Christ's affections. The sun hath no
warmth compared with the glow OF HIS
heart. The waters have no refreshments
like the fountain that will slake the thirst :
of thy soul. At the moment the reindeer
stands with his lip and nostril thrust In the
cool mountain torrent, the hunter may pc
coming through the thicket. Without crack-
ling stick under. his foot, He comes CLOSE
by the stag, aims his gun, draws the ing
ger, and the poor thing rears IN i.s ah uestn
agony and falls backward Its autiers crasn.
ing on the rocks. But the painting hart tnas
drinks from the water brooks OF God's
promise shall never be fatally wounded ana
shall never die.
This world Is a poor portion OF your soul,
O business man! An eastern king had
craven on his tomb two fingers, represented
as sounding on each other with snap, ana
under them the motto, Cali is not worth
that" Apicius C9lius hanged himself oe-
cause his steward informed him that ne
had only ESQ 900 sterling left. All OF this
worlds riches make but small inheritance
for a soul. Robespierre attempted to win
the applause OF the world. but when he was
diving q woman came rushing through the
crowd, crying to him, Murderer OF my
kindred, descend to hell, covered with the
curses Of every mother in France!" Many =
who have expected the plaudits OF the Worlo
haya diad nnder ire anathema maranatha.