The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-08-23

have iron in their souls and can stand
IL. Make the way free to her OF the
broken heart. May God put into my
hand the cold. bitter cup OF privation
and give me nothing but a windowIess
hut for shelter for m.,ny years rather
han that after / am dead there should
go out from my home info the pitiless
world a woman's arm to fight the Get
sburg the Austerlitx. the Waterloo
OF life for bread. And yet o many
women there are seated between the
rock OF bereavement on the cue side
and TN rock OF restitution on tire 9TH
er. Bozez and Seneh i~nterlocking their
hadows and dropping them upon her
miserable way. There Is a sharp rock
the other side"
What are such to do? Somehow let
them climb UP into the heights Of tb,
glorious promise. Leave their father
less children, / will preserve them
awe and let thy widows trust I'm me"
OR get up into the heights OF that other
glorious promise. The Lord presery.th
the strange n reli-veth The widoy
n the fatherless.." oh. We sewing
women. on starving wages Oh Vc
widows, turned out from ;he once
beautiful home, Oh. We female teach
ers. kept on niggardly st.pcai' ON. We
despatr!ng women. seeking in rain for
work. wandering along the docks and
~thiHging to throw yourselves into the
river last night, oh. ye women or
weak nerves and aching sides. and
short breath. and broken heart. YOU
need something more than human SYM
pity. you need the sympathy CT God.
Climb up into his arms. He knows IL
all. INC he loves you more thar father
or mother or husband ever could or
ever did. and instead OF sitting down.
yNrf N N Nnhr hnpA- A. -
had better begin TO climb. There are
heights OF consolation for You. though
now there is n sharp rock on the one
side ana a sharp rock IN the other"
AN INVITATION.
Again, that man Is I'm the crisis OF
the text who has a wasted lie on the
one side and an unilluminated .terniay
on the other. Though n man may all
his life have cultured deliLeraticn and
self poise, II ale gets INTO that position.
all his self possession is gone. There
are all the wrong thoughts OF his exist
ence. all the wrong deeds. all the
wrong words-strata above strata,
granite ponderous, overshadowing.
That rock l call Bozek. or the other
side are all the retributlons OF the flu
ture, the thrones Of judgment, the
eternal ages, angry with his long de-
fance. That rock / call Seneh. Be
tween thes two rocks 10000 times TO-
000have persisted.
A mar immortal. a man redeemed.
man blood bought, climb up out OF
those shadows, Climb up by the way
of the cross. Have your wasted life :
forgiven; have your eternal life Sc
cured. This hour just take one look
to the past and see what IL has been,
and take one look to the future and
see what ii threatens 10 be. You can
afford to lose your health, you can af-
ford to lose your property, you can af-
ford to lose your reputation. but you
cannot afford To lose your soul That
bright, cleaning, glorious. precious.
eternal possession YOU must carry
aloft in the day when the earth burns
up and the heavens burst.
You see from my subject that when
a man gets into the safety and peace
Of the gospel he does not demean him
self. There is nothing in religion that
leads to or uninanliness The
gospel OF Jesus Christ only asks you
to climb as Jonathan did-climb to-
ward God, climb toward heaven. climb
into the sunshine Of Gods favor. To
become a Christian is not to go mean
ly down; 1t Is to come g~loriously UP
up into he communion OF saints; up
into the peace that passeth all under
standing: up into the compromising
Of angels. He lives upward; he dies
upward.
oh, then. accept the wholesale invi-
tation which / make this day to all
the people, Come up from between
your invalidism and financial embar-
easements. Come up from between
your bereavements and your destitu-
ton. Come up from between a wasted
life and an unilfumined eternity. like
Jonathan, climb up with all your
might instead OF sitting down to
wiring your hands In the shadow and
in the darkness-"a sharp rock on the
one side and a sharp rock on the other
side"