The L'Anse sentinel., 1897-03-06

ter afterward. but there are so many
inconsistent Christians!" Then come
In and show them by good example
how professors should act. But don't
believe in the Old Testament" Then
come in on the New. but dent like
the book of Romans" Then come in
on Matthew or Luke. Refusing to come
to Christ, whom You admit TO be the
Savious of the lost, because you cannot
admit other things, you are like man
out there in that Mediterranean tenn
pest and tossed in the Melita breakers,
refusing TO come ashore until he can
mend the pieces of the broken ship.
hear him say: II won't 60 in on any of
these planks until know in what part
of the ship they belong. When can get
the windlass in the right place, ond the
sails set, and that keel piece where il
belongs, and that floor timber right,
and these ropes untangled. ! will go
ashore. am an old sailor, and know all
about ships for 40 years, and as soon as
| can get the vessel afloat in good shape
will come in" man drifting by on y
piece of wood overhears him and says:
"You will drown before you get tha,
ship reconstructed. Better do as / am
doing. l know nothing about ships.
and never saw one before l came on
board this, and cannot swim stroke.
but am going ashore on this shivered
timber" The man in the ofIing. while
trying 10 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 10 the bottom
while you come in on splintered spar.
"Some on broken pieces Of the ship"
do not know how your theological
system went to pieces. 1t may be that
your parents started you with only one
plank. and YOU believe little or moth
ing. Or they may have been too rigid
and severe in religious discipline and
cracked you over the head with psalm
book. 1t may be that some partner in
business who was a member of an evan
Gelical church played on you trick
that disgusted you with religion. II
may be that you have associates who
have talked against Christianity in your
presence until you are 'all at sea-" and
YOU dwell more on things that you do
rot believe than on things you do be-
lievc. You are in one respect like Lord
Nelson, when signal was lifted that
he wished to disregard and he put his
sea glass to his blind eye and said: Il
really do not see the signal" Oh, my
nearer, put this fieldglass of the gospel
no longer to your blind eye, and say, |
cannot see, but put it to your other eye.
the eye of faith, and you will see
Christ, and He is all you need to see.
If you can believe nothing else. you
certainly believe in vicarious suffering,
for you sec it almost every day in some
shape. The steamship pKnickerbocker, of
the Cromwell line, running between
New Orleans and New York, was I
great storms, and the captain and crew
saw the schooner Mary ID. Cranmer, of
Philadelphia, in distress. The weather
cold, the waves mountain high. the first
officer of the steamship and four men
put out in lifeboat to save the crew Of
the schooner, and reached the vessel
and towed it out of danger, the wind
shifting so that the schooner was saved.
But the five men of the steamship COM
ing back, their boat 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
rot grasp it, and great wave rolled
over them, and they went down, never
to rise again till the sea gives up it's
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 a more biting
cold and into q 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
thickness of the night and the thunder
of the tempest into which Christ
plunged for our rescue!
Come in on one narrow beam of the
cross. Let all else go and cling to that;
put that under you, and with the ear
nestness Of a swimmer struggling for
his life put out for shore. There is
great warm fire of welcome already
built, and already many, who were as
far out as YOU are, are standing in its
genial and heavenly glow. The angels
of Gods rescue are wading out into the
surf to clutch your hand, and they know
how exhausted you are, and all the re-
deemed 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 the |
more because was naturally skeptical. |
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 in the Mediterranean break |,
crs, and was sometimes the annoyance
of my theological professor because |
asked SD many questions. But came |
in on plank. knew Christ was the |
Saviour OF sinners and that / was a sim |
ncr, and got ashore, and do not pro-
pose TO go out on that sea again. | |
have not for 30 minutes discussed tb,,