The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-17

IKE our arT1Vaf some gearS ago from
New Zealand at Sydney, people sur
prised that We got in at all, because
we were two days late, and some Of the
ships expected had gone 10 the bottom,
and We had passed dereiicts and aban-
crafts all up and down that aw-
ful chameleon arrival In heaven all
h more rapturousiy welcomed because
Of the doubt as TO whether We would
ever get there at all.
GODS PROMISE
Once there it Will be found that the
safety OF that precious bundle OF life
was assures because il was bound up
with the life OF God in Jesus Christ.
Heaven could not afford TO a that
bundle lost because il had been said in
regard TO its transportation and safe
arrival, Kept by the power OF God
through faith unto complete salvation"
The veracity CT the heavens is involved
in its arrival. II God should fail 10
keep his promise 10 just n ransomed
soul, the pillars OF Jehovah's throne
would fall and the foundation OF the
eternal city would crumble, and inf
mite poverties would dash down all the
chalices and close all the banQueting
halls, and the river OF life would change
its course, sweeping everything with
d~es0lation, and frost woul blast all h
gardens, and unreasonable sickness
slay the immortals, and the new Jerus-
alem become an abandoned city, with
no chariot wheel on the streets n no
worshipers in the temple-a dead Pom
peii OF the skies, a buried Herculaneum
OF the heavens. Lest n one should
doubt, the God who cannot lie smiteS
his omnipotent hand on the side of his
throne and takes affidavit, declaring,
AS / live, saith the Lord Gods / have
no pleasure in the death of him that
dieth." Oh l canno tell you how l
feel about it, the thought is so glorious.
Bound up with God. Bound up with
infinite mercy. Bound up with infinite
joy. Bound up with infinite purity.
Bound up with infinite might. That
thought is more beautiful and glorious
than was the heroic Abigail, who at
the foot Of the crags uttered il, Bound
in the bundle of life with the Lord thy
God"
Now, my hearer and reader, appreci-
ate the value of that bundle. See that
ii is bound up with nothing mean, but
with the unsullied and the immaculate.
Not with a pebble of the shifting beach,
but with the kohinoor of the palace;
not with some fading regalia of earthly
pomp, but with the robe washed and
made white in the blood of the Lamb.
Pray as you never prayed before that
by divine c~hirography written all over
your natur you may be properly ad-
dressed for a glorious destination. Turn
not over a new leaf of the old book,
but by the grace Of God open an en-
tirely new volume of experience and
put into practice the advice contained
in the peculiar but beautiful rhythm OF
some author whose name I know not:
If you've any task TO do,
Let me whisper, friend, to you,
Do it.
If you've anything to say,
True and needed, yea or nay,
Say it.
If you've anything to love
| AS a blessing from above,
Love it.
If you've anything to give,
That anOther's joy may live,
Give it.
If some hollow creed you doubt,
| Though the whole world hoot and shout
Doubt it.
If you've any debt to pay,
| Rest you neither night or day
Pay it.
If you've n joy to hold,
Near your heart, lest it grow cold,
Hold it.
If you've any grief to meet,
! At a loving Fathers feet
Meet it.
If you know what torch to light,
Guiding others in the night,
Light it.