The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1901-10-22

kn9ugu 10 teaQ 0tnefS Win an LII per
fuasive invitation.
But" says some one. "you Christian
people keep telling rs to come Jet you
do not tell US how TO come" That charge
shall not be true on this occasion. Come
believing! Come repenting, Come pray
ing, After all that God has been doing
for six thousand years, sometimes through
patriarchs n sometimes through proph-
cts and ut last through the culmina-
ton of all the tragedies on Golgotha, can
any one think that God will not welcome
your coming? Will a father at vast out
lay construct a mansion for his son and
lay out parks white with statues and
green with foliage and all a-sparkIe with
fountains and then not allow his son
to live in the house or walk in the parks?
Has God built this house Of gospel mer-
cy and will he then refuse entrance TO
his children? Will a government at
great expense build life saving stations
all along the coast and boats that can
hover unhurt like a petrol over the wild
est surge and then, when the lifeboat has
reached the wreck of a ship in the ofing,
not allow the drowning to seize the life
line or take the boat for the shore in
safety? Shall God provide at the cost
of his only Sons assassination escape
for a sinking world and then turn q deaf
ear to the cry that comes III from the
breakers?
Two Things to Believe.
"But," you say, "there are so many
things I have to believe and so many
things in the shape of a creed that / have
to adopt that l am kept back" No, no!
You need believe but two things-namely,
that Jesus Christ came into the world to
1890 81 @La+ za Of
them. But" you say, Il do believe
both of those things!" Do you really
believe them with all your heart? Yes"
Why, then, you have passed from death
into life. Why, then, you are a son or
a daughter of the Lord Almighty. Why,
then, you are an heir or an heiress of an
inheritance that will declare dividends
from now until long after the stars are
dead. Halleluiah. Prince of God, why
do you not come and take your c~oronet?
Princess of the Lord Almighty, why do
you not mount your throne? Pass up in
to the light. Your boat is anchored, why
do you not so ashore? Just plant your
feet down hard, and you will feel under
them the Rock of Ages. l challenge the
universe for one instance in which a man
in the rig spirit appealed for the saliva
ton of the gospel and did not get it.
Man alive, are you going to let all the
years of your life go away with you with
out your having this great peace, this
glorious hope, this bright expectancy?
Are you going to let the pearl of great
price lie in the dust at your feet because
you are too indolent or too proud to stoop
down and pick it up? Will you wear the
chain of evil habit when near by you is
the hammer that could with one stroke
z-1- A. .tanI1at VIII ~, 4 IT tho
prison of sin when here is 81 gospel key
that could unlock your Incarceration?
No, no!
As the one word Come" has some
times brought many souls to Christ, l
will try the experiment of piling up into
a mountain and then send down in an
avalanche of power many OF these gospel
Comes" Come thou and all thy house
into the ark" Come unto me all We who
labor and are heavy laden, and l will
give you rest" Come, for all things
are now ready" Come with us, and we
will do you good" "Come and see"
"The Spirit and the bride say Come
and let him that heareth say Come and
let him that is athirst come" The stroke
of one bell in a tower may be sweet, but
a score of bells well tuned and rightly
lifted and skillfully swung in one great
chime fill the heavens with music almost
celestial. And no one who has heard
the mighty chimes in the towers of
Amsterdam or Client or Copenhagen can
forget them. Now, it seems to me that
in this Sabbath hour all heaven is Chin
ing, and the voices of departed friends
and kindred ring down the sky, saying,
Gomez The angels who never fell,
bending from sapphire thrones, are chant
-. H--@ Ii a
heaven, tower of martyrs, tower Of
prophets, tower of apostles, tower Of
evangelists, tower of the temple of the
Lord God and the Lamb, are Ginning:
Come! Gomez Pardon for all and
peace for all and heaven for all who will
come.
When Russia was in one of her great
wars, the suffering of the soldiers had
been long and bitter, and they were wait
ing for the end of the strife. One day a
messenger in great excitement ran among
the tents of the army shouting, peace!
Peacei" The sentinel on guard asked,
"Who says peace?" And the sick man
turned on his hospital mattress and
asked, "Who says peace?' and all up
and down the encampment of the Rus
ian went the question, "Who says
peace?" Then the messenger responded,
1.-THE car says peace" That was
enough. That meant going home. That
meant the war was over. No more
wounds and no more long marches. So
today, as one Of the Lords messengers,
I move through these great encampments
Of souls and cry: peace between earth
M heaven! Peace between God and
man! Peace between your repenting soul
and a %pardoning Lord!' II you ask me,
"Who says peace?' L answer, Christ our
King declares it." MY peace I give IN
to you!" Peace of God that passeth
all understandings Everlasting peace!