Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-04-01

through Christendom and gathers up
the stings out of all the death pillows,
and he puts them under his own neck
and head. He gathers on his own tongue
the burning thirsts of many generations.
The sponge is soaked in the SORROWS of
all those who have died in their beds, as
we'll as soaked in the sorrows Of all those
who persisted in icy or fiery martyrdom.
While heaven was plying, and earth
was mocking, and hell was deriding, he
took the vinegar
To all those to whom life has been an
acerbity-a dose they could not swal-
low, a draft that set their teeth on edge
and a-rasping-I preach the omnipotent
sympathy of Jesus Christ The sister of
Herschel the astronomer used to spend
much of her time polishing the tele-
scopes through which be brought the
distant worlds nigh. and it is my ambi-
ton now this hour to clear the lens of
your spiritual vision. so that, looking
through the dark night of your earthly
troubles, you may behold the glorious
constellation of Saviour mercy and
a Saviour's love- Oh, my friends, do
not try to carry all your ills alonel Do
not put your poor shoulder under the
Apennines when the Almighty Christ is
ready to lift up all your burdens. When.
you have trouble Of any kind, you
rush this way and that way, and you
wonder what this man will say about
it and what that man will say about it,
and you try this prescription and that
prescription and the other prescription.
Oh, why do you not go straight to the
heart of Christ, knowing that for our
own SHINING and suffering race he took
the vinegar?
Cry For Water Answered.
There was vessel that had been
tossed on the seas for a great many
weeks and been disabled, and the sup
ply of water gave out, and the crew
were dying of thirst. After many days
they saw a sail against the sky. They
signaled it. When the vessel came
nearer, the people on the suffering ship
cried to the captain of the other vessel:
"Send us some water We are dying
for lack of waterl' And the captain on
the vessel that was hailed responded
"Dip your buckets where you are. You
are in the mouth of the Amazon, and
there are scores of miles of fresh water
all around about you and hundreds of
feet deepl' And then they dropped
their buckets over the side of the vessel
and brought up the clear, bright, fresh
water and put out the fire of their
thirst. So hail you today, after long
and perilous voyage, thirsting as you
are for pardon, and thirsting for COM
fort, and thirsting for eternal life, and
ask you what is the use of your going
in that death struck state while all
around you is the deep, clear, wide,
sparkling food of Gods sympathetic
mercy2 Oh, dip your buckets and drink
and live forever "Whosoever will, let
him come and take of the water of life
freely.
Yet there are people who refuse this
divine sympathy, and they try to fight
their own battles, and drink their own
vinegar, and carry their own burdens,
and their life, instead Of being a tri-
umphal march from victory to victory,
will be a hobbling on from defeat to
defeat until they make final surrender
to retributive disaster. Oh, I wish l
could today gather up in my arms all
the woes of men and women, all their
heartaches, all their Disappointment,
all their chagrins. and just take them
right to the feet of sympathizlng
Jesusl He took the vinegar. Mana
Sahib, after he had lost his last battle
in India, fell back into the jungles of
Ihe1i-jungles so full of malaria that
no mortal can live there. He carried
with him also a ruby of great luster
and of great value. He died in those
jungles His body was never found,
and the ruby has never yet been recov-
cred And l fear that today there are
come who will fall back from this sub
iect into the sickening, killing jungles
Of their sin, carrying gem of infinite
yalue-a priceless soul to be lost forever.
Oh, that that ruby might flash in the
eternal coronationl But, no, There are
some, i,ar, who turn away from this
offered mercy and comfort and divine
sympathy Notwithstanding that Christ,
for all who would accept his grace,
trudged the long way, and suffered the
lacerating thongs, and received in his
face the expectorations of the filthy
mob, and for the guilty, and the dis
couraged, and the disconnected of the
race took the vinegar May God Al
mighty break the infatuation and lead
you out into the strong hope, and the
good cheer, and the glorious sunshine
of this triumphal gospel