Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1899-03-30

he puts them under his own neck and
head. He gathers on his own tongue
| the burning thirsts of many genera
! tions The sponge is soaked in the
sorrows of all those who have died in
their beds, as well as soaked in the
sorrows Of all who persisted in icy or
| fiery martyrdom. While heaven was
| plying and earth was mocking and
hell was deriding, he took the vine
gar!
To all those to whom life has been
an acerbity-a dose they could not
swallow, draught that set their teeth
on edge and a-rasping-I preach the
omnipotent sympathy of Jesus Christ
The sister OF Herschel, the astrono-
mer, used to spend much of her time
polishing the telescopes through which
he brought the distant worlds nigh;
and it is my ambition 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 constella-
ton of Savior's mercy and Savior's
love. Oh, my friends, do not try to
carry all your fills alone. Do not put
your poor shoulder under the Apen-
mines when the Almighty Christ is
ready to lift up your burdens. When
you have a 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 pre-
scription. Oh, why do you not go
straight to the heart of Christ, know
ing that for our own SHINING and suf-
fering he took the vinegar?
There was a vessel that had been
tossed on the seas for great many
weeks, and been disabled, and the
supply 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 wa
ter. We are dying for lack OF wa
that was hailed responded: Dip your
buckets where you are. You are in
the Amazon, and there are scores OF
miles of fresh water all around about
you, and hundreds of feet Deep And
then they dropped their buckets over
the side of the vessel and brought up
the clear, bright, fresh water, and put
q ~ r
hail you today, after a long and per-
ilous voyage, thirsting as you are
for pardon, and thirsting for comfort,
and thirsting for eternal life; and
ask you what is the use Of your go
ing in that death-struck state. while
all around you is the deep, clear, wide,
sparkling flood of Gods sympathetic
mercy? 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 bur-
dens; and their life, instead Of be-
ing a triumphal march from victory to
victory, will be hobbling on from de-
feat to defeat, until they make final
surrender to retributive disaster. Oh,
l wish l could today gather up in my
arms all the woes of men and women,
all their heart-aches, all their disap-
pointments, all their chagrins, and
just take them right to the feet OF
sympathizing Jesus. He took the vim
egar. Mana Sahib, after he had lost
his last battle, in India, fell back into
the jungles of Iheri-jungles so full of
malaria that no mortal can live there.
He carried with him also a ruby OF
great lustre and of great value. He
died in those jungles and his body
was never found, and the ruby has
never yet been recovered. And 1 fear
that today there are some who will
fall back from this subject into the
sickening. killing jungles of their sin,
carrying a gem Of infinite value-a
priceless soul to be lost forever. Oh,
that that ruby might fash in the eter-
nal coronation! But, no. There are
some, l fear, who turn away from this
offered mercy, and comfort, and divine
sympathy, notwithstanding that Christ,
for all who accept his grace, trudged
the long way, and suffered the LAGER
ating thongs, and received in his face
the expectorations Of the filthy mob.
and for the guilty, and the discour-
aged, and the discomforted of the race,
took the vinegar. May God Almighty
break the infatuation, and lead you
out into the strong hope, and the good
cheer, and the glorious sunshine of
this triumphant Gospel!