Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1900-06-01
SAVANNAH, TENNESSEE, FRIDAY, JUNE 1 19OO
hey get weaklier and slcklier in their

exercise and then examine yourself,
and instead of Newton's saturnine and
bilious hymn that l first quoted you
will sing Newton's other hymn;
Amazing grace. how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
l once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now l sec.
What many of you Christians most
need is to get your graveclothes off. I
rejoice that you have been brought
from the death of sin to the life of
the Gospel, but you need to get your
hand loose, and your feet loose, and
your tongue loose, and your soul
loose. There is no sin that the Bible
so arraigns and punctures and flagel-
lates as the sin of unbelief, and that
is what is the matter with you. "0h,"
you say, 'if you knew what once was
and how many times have grievous.
ly strayed you would understand why
do not come out brighter!" Then l
think you would call yourself the
chief OF sinners. l am glad you hit
upon that term, for / have II promise
that fits into your case as the cogs of
one wheel between the cogs of anoth-
er wheel or as the key fits into the
labyrinths of lock.
A man who was once called Saul,
but afterward Paul, declared: This
is faithful saying and worthy of all
~ 20 tlnt (',,.ipt
into the world to save sinners, OF
whom / am chief" Mark that-"of
whom l am chief" "Put down your
overcoats and hats, and l will take
care of them while you kill Stephen"
So Saul said to the stoners of the
first martyr. 81 do not care to ex-
ert myself much, but i will guard
your surplus apparel while you do
the murder" The New Testament ac-
count says; "Thc witnesses laid down
their clothes at a young mans feet,
whose name was SAUL No wonder
he said: sinners, OF whom / am the
chief"
Christ is used to climbing, He
climbed to the top of the temple, He
climbed to the top of Mount Olivet.
He climbed to the top of the cliffs
about Nazareth. He climbed to the
top of Golgotha. And to the top of
the hills and the mountains of your
transgression He is ready to climb
with pardon for every one of you.
The groan of Calvary is mightier than
the thunder of Sinai. Full receipt is
offered for all your Indebtedness. II
one throws n stone at midnight into
a bush where the hedge bird roosts,
it Immediately begins to sing, and
into the midnight hedges of your
despondency these words | hurl, hop
ing TO awaken you to anthem. Drop
the tunes in the minor key and take
the major. Do you think it pleases
the Lord for you TO be carrying
around with you the debris and car
casses of old transgressions? You
make me think of some ship that has
had tempestuous time at sea and
now that it proposes another voyage
keeps on its davits the damaged life
boats and the splinters of a shiv-
cred mast and the broken glass of a
smashed skylight. My advice Isl:
Clear the decks, overheard with all
the damaged rigging, brighten up the
salted smokestacks, open a new log
book, haul in the planks, lay out a
new course and set sail for Heaven.
You have had the spiritual dumps
long enough. You will please the
Lord more by being happy than by
being miserable.
Heaven is 95 per cent. better than
this world, thousand per cent. bet
ter, million per cent. better. Take
the gladdest, brightest, most jubilant
days you ever had on earth and com.
press them all into one hour, and thai
hour would be n requiem, fast day
a gloom, a horror as compared with
the poorest hour they have had in
Heaven since its first tower was built
or its first gate swung or its first song
caroled. "Oh," you say that may
be true, but / am so afraid Of cross
| ing over from this world to the next
and | fear the swapping Of the cord
between soul and body Well, all the
surgeons and physicians and scientists
declare that there is no pang at the
parting of the body and soul, and al
the restlessness at the closing hour o.
life is involuntary, and no distress al
all. And ! agree with the doctors, fol
what they say is confirmed by th'
fact that persons who were drowned
or were submerged until all conscious
ness departed and were afterward re
suscitated declare that the sensation
OF passing into unconsciousness wa
pieasurablc rather than distressfu
The cage of the body has a door oil
easy hinges, and when tnat door o
the physical cage opens the sou
simply puts out its wings and scars.
"But," you say, 81 fear to go be
cause the future is so full of mystery.
Well, / will tell you how to treat th
mysteries. The mysteries have cease'
bothering me, for do as the judges o
your courts often do, They hear al
the arguments in the case and the,
say; 81 will take these papers ant
give you my decision next week" s.
| have heard all the arguments in re
gard to the next world, and som
things are uncertain and full of mys
terry and so ] fold up the papers an
reserve until the next world my de
cision about them. can there stud
all the mysteries to better advan sage
for the light will be better and m
faculties stronger, and | will ask tn
Christian philosophers, who have ia
all the advantages of Heaven for cen
turies. to help me. and ] may be pei
mitted myself humbly to ask the Lore
and | think there will be only on
mystery left; that will be how one S
unworthy as myself got into such a
enraptured place. Come up out of tn