The Robesonian. [volume] (Lumberton, N.C.) 1870-current, 1897-02-24

loDaucneo anu inc llUeItiuo ~ 1850 -
lmong the families of heaven? wonder II
Herod is playing on the banks OF the river
If life with the children he massacred..
wonder if Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes
Booth are up there shooting at mark
10 not now controyert 1t, although must
,ny that for such Il miserable heaven
nave no admiration. But the Bible does no
say, believe in perdition and Do saved.
Because all are saved according to your
heory, that ought not to keep you from low
ing and serving Christ. Do not refuse to
come ashore because all the others, accord
ing to your theory, are going to get snore.
You may have different theory about chem
stry. about astronomy about the atmosphere
from that which others adopt. but you are
not therefore hindered from action.
Because your theory OF light is different |
from others do not refuse to open your eyes. |
Because your theory of air is different you |
do not refuse to breathe. Because your
theory about the stellar system is different
you do not refuse 10 acknowledge the north
star Why should the fact that your theolo-
gical theories are different hinder you from
acting upon what you know? If you have
not whole ship fastened in the theological
drydocks to bring you to wharfage, you have
at least plank. "Some on broken pieces
of the ship"
"But don't believe in revivals!" Then
go to your room, and all alone, with youl
door locked, give your heart to God, and
Join some church where the thermometer
never gets higher than fifty in the shade.
"But do not believe i'll baptism!' Come
in without it and settle that matter after.
ward. "But there are 50 many in
consistent Christians" Then come
in and show them by good example
how professors should act. "But I don't
believe in the Old TESTAMENT Their
come in on the New. "But I don't like the
boo nf in Of
thew or Luke. Refusing to come to Christ,
whom you admit to be the Saviour Of the
lost, because you cannot admit other things.
you are like man out there in that Meditcr-
ranean tempest and tossed in the Melita
breakers, refusing to come ashore until he
can mend the pieces of the broken ship. I
hear him say: 81 won't go in on any of these
plankS until l know in what part of the
ship they belong. When can get the wind
lass in tie right place, and the sails set, and
that keel piece where it belongs, and that
floor timber right, and the ropes untangled,
[ will go ashore. am an old sailor, and
know all about ships for forty years, and as
soon as I can get the vessel afioat in good
shape will come in" man drifting by on
piece of wood overhear. him and says: "You
will drown before you get that ship re-
constructed. Better do as l an doing. !
know nothing about ships, and never saw
one before 1 came on board this, and can
not swim q stroke, but am going ashore on
this shivered timber" The man in the
offing, while trying to mend his ship, goes
down. The man who trusted to the plank
is saved. Oh, my brother, let your smashed
up system OF theology go to the bottom.
while you come in on a splintered spar!
"Some on broken pieces of the Ship
If you eau believe nothing else, you GER
tainly believe in vicarious suffering, for you
gee it almost every day in some shape. The
steamship Knickerbocker, Of the Cromwell
line. running between New Orleans and New
York, was in great storms, and the captain
and crew saw the schooner Mary D. Gran
mer, of Philadelphia, in distress. The
weather cold, the waves mountain high, the
first officer of the steamship and four men
put out in a lifeboat to save the crew of the
schooner, and reached the vessel and
towed 1t out of danger, the wind shifting so
that the schooner was saved. But the five
men of the steamship coming back, their
bogt capsized, yet righted again and came
on, the sailors coated with Ice. The boat
capsized again, and three times upset and
was righted. and line was thrown the poor
fellows, but their hands were frozen so they
could not grasp it, and a great wave rolled
over their, and they went down, never
to rise again till the sea gives up its
dead. Appreciate that heroism and self
sacrifice of the brave fellows all who can
and can we not appreciate the Christ who
put out into more biting cold and into a
more overwhelming surge to bring US out Of
infinite peril into everlasting safety? The
wave of human hate rolled over him from
one side and the wave of hellish fury rolled
over him on the other side. Oh, the thick
ness of the night and the thunder of the
tempest into which Christ plunged for oul
rescue!
Come in on the narrow beam of the cross
Let all else go and cling to that; put tina
under you, and with the earnestness of
swimmer struggling for his life put out TO
! shore. There is great warm fire of vel
| come already built, and already many
who were as far out as you are
are standing in its genial an
heavenly glow. The angels of God
rescue are wading out into the surf to clutch
your hand, and they know how 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.
My sympathies are for such all thu
more because I was naturally skepticat
disposed to question everything abou
this life and the next, and was in dan
ger of being farther out to sea than any
of the 276 in the Mediterranean break
ers, and 1 was sometimes the annoyance
of my theological professor because
asked so many questions. But I cam
In on plank. knew Christ was the Saviou
of sinners and that was a sinner, and go
ashore, and I do not propose to go out O
that sea again. 1 have not for thirty minute
discussed the controverted points Of theolog
in thirty years, and during the rest of N
life do not propose to discuss them 10
thirty seconds.
would rather in a mud scow try
weather the worst cyclone that ever swel
up from the Caribbean, than risk my immo
tai soul in useless and perilous discussion
IN which some of my brethren in the mini
try are INDUCING. They remind me of
company Of sailors standing On the Ram
gate pier head. from which the lifeboats al
usually launched, aud coo!ly discussing tt
different styles of oarlocks and ho
deep boat ought to set in the water while
hurricane is in full blast and there ara thr
steamers crowded with passengers going
pieces in the offing. An old tar, the muscl
cries out: 'This is no time to discuss SUI
things. Man the lifeboat! Who will volu
! teer? Gu. with her into the surf! Pull, n
lads; pull for the wreck! Ha, ha! No
J we have them. Lift them in and lay the
down on the bottom of the boat. Jack, y,
try to bring them to. Put these flame
around their heads and feet, and l will pJ
for the shore. God help me! There! Lande
Huzza!' When there are SO many struggle
in the waves of sin and sorrow and wretc
J edness, let ali else 60 but salvation for til
/! ! and salvation forever.
l You admit you are all broken up, one
L cade of your life gone by, two decades, thu
: decades, four decades, a half century, perha
three-qut.rters of century, gone. T
d hour hand and the minute hand of yo
: clock of life are almost parallel, and soon
!. will be - and your day ended. Clear d
y couraged. are your admit it is sad thi
. to give all of our lives that are worth al
I thing to sin and the devil and then
last make God q present of first r
! es7pl GAGS elspM o. euoS seq lls ]
SOU pun sseuIlpIIoM q5noIql ana 'Gll
+ -loddo iseIS pun uon!sod IB!oos Guy
' sanInoBJ luluem pooS ppq .pels
uesq SOU OIL GN,, :s!ql eYH 5uEqlsU
, uo!lcIoId9p u! DIN uMolql spuBq
4 uses OAHU I reqQlrep Guem mo1.
b SUP u! .
e lies 10 HoBI Inoi IoJ euolB uso noG exc
v 'pIIoM Ieglo 9mos o. uo!ss!ta lBe1S emos
n lno % noA laI Gnm pop ueAB9q o. leS
n j! sdRQIed aqua no u! emoo-Inoq e1
J. quo 'Gpp eIom euo '4eeM eIom quo 'qlu
v eIom quo '1JeI 1904 eIom QUO A,uo noH GA
g lin IsAeu noG dlQs Pho leql plsoq no
v .I9AooaI louuBo noG lsBd eql lnd Esd
h few remaining hours. I now accept
81 Christ ard shall enter heaven throu