Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-06-04

tlOneer struck MIN uoWH 10 HliESe11-
done-done!
Purchased by Christ.
But by reason of sin we are poorer
than that African. We cannot buy our
own deliverance. The voices of death
are bidding for US, and they bid us i'll
and they bid us down. But the Lord
Jesus Christ comes and says: 81 will
buy that man. l bid for him my Bethle-
hem manager; bid for him my hunger on
the mountain; l bid for him my aching
head; 1 bid for him my fainting heart;
bid for him all my wounds. - A voice
from the throne Of God says: 1T is
enoughl Jesus has bought him. "
Bought with q price. The purchase
complete. 1t is done.
Tho great TRANSACTIONS DONE
am my Lords, and he is mne
He drew me- and l followed on,
Charmed to confess the voice divine.
Why, is not man free when he gets
rid Of his sins? The sins of tho tongue
gone; the sins of action gone; the sins
of the mind gone All the transgressions
of 30, 40, so, 70 years gone-no more
in the soul than the malaria that float
ed in the atmosphere 1000 years ago; |
for when my Lord Jesus pardons man
he pardons him, and there is no half
way work about it.
Here I see beggar going along the
turnpike road. He is worn out with dis
ease. He is stiff i'll the joints. He is
ulcered al over. He has rheum in his
eyes. EIe is sick and wasted. He is in
rags Every time he puts down his
swollen feet he cries "Oh, the painF'
He sees fountain by the roadside I'M
der tree, and he crawls up to that
fountain and says: II must wash. Here
may cool my ulcers. Here l may get
rested" He stoops down and scoops up
in the palm of his hands enough water
to Stake his thirst, and that is all gone.
Then he stoops down and begins to
wash his eyes, and the rheum is all
gone. Then he puts i'll his swollen feet,
and the swelling is gone Then, willing
no longer to be only half cured, he
plunges in and his whole body is laved
in the stream, and he gets upon the
bank well. Meantime the owner OF the
mansion up yonder comes down, walk
ing through the ravine with his only
son. and he sees the bundle of rags and
asks, Whose rags are thosc:' A voice
from the fountain says, 'Those are my
rags. Z" Then says the master to his son,
$50 up to the house and get the best
new suit you can find and bring it
down" And he brings down the clothes,
and the beggar is clothed in them and
he looks around and says: Il was filthy,
but now | am clean. was ragged, but
now | am ROBBED. | was blind, but now
see. Glory be to the owner of that
mansion. and glory be to that son who
brought ne that new suit OF clothes,
and glory te 10 this fountain where l
have washed and where all who will
may wash aid be cleann Where sin
abounded, grace doth much more
abound. The bird has been dipped now
let it fly away.
The Way Indicated.
The next thing | notice about this
bird when it was loosencd-and this is
the main idea-is that it flew away.
Which way did it go: When you let
bird loose from your grasp, which way
does it fly: Up. What are wings for?
To fly with Is there anything i'll the
suggestion of the direction taken by that
bird to Indicate which way we ought to
go?
Rise, my SOUL and stretch thy wings,
Thy better portion trace.
Rise frcm transi;ory things
To heaven, thy native place.
We should be going heavenward
That is the suggestion. But know that
we have great many drawbacks. You
had them this morning perhaps. You
had them yesterday or the day before,
and, although you want to be going
heavenward, you are constantly discour-
aged. But I suppose when that bird
went out of the priest S hands it went
by n1ections-sometimes STOPPING. a
bird does not shoot directly up, but this
is the motion of bird So the soul scars
toward God, rising up in love and some
lines depressed by trial. 1t does not al
NAYS 20 in the direction it would like
~ 90. but the main course. is right
There is one passage III the Bible which
quote oftener to myself than any 9TH
er, "He lnoweth our frame and he re-
membereth that we are dust F"
There is q legend in Iceland which
says that when Jesus was a boy, playing
with his comrades one Sabbath day, he
made birds Of clay and as these birds OF
clay were standing upon the ground an
old Sadducee came along @ld he was
disguised at the sport and dashed the
birds to pieces. But the legend says that
Jesus waved his hand above the broken
birds and they took wing and went sing
ing heavenward. Of course that is
fable among the Icelanders. But it Is
not fable that we are dust, and that,
the hand of divine grace waved over us
once, we go singing toward the skies.
I wish, my friends, that we could
live in higher atmosphere, If mans
whole life object is to make dollars, he
will be running against those who are
making dollars. If his.whole object IS
to get applause, he will run against
those who are seeking applause. But II
he rises higher thai that he will not be
interrupted in his fight heavenward
Why does that flock of birds, floating
up against the blue sky so high that you
can hardly see them, not change Its
course for spire or tower! They are
above all distractions. So we would
not have so often to change our Chris
tian course if we lived il higher at
mosphere nearer Christ, nearer the
throne of God.
Refuse Not.
Oh, ye who have been washed in the
blood of Christ, We who have been loos-
ed from the hyssop branch, start heav-
onward tt NAV be to some ct Won =