The St. Mary banner., 1901-12-14
flow :, their subtraction. Five hundred

result OF your success. iHe "diii su,,
of prosperity brings into life swamp full
of annoving insects On the other hand,
the unfortunate classes have their strug-
g,ns for maintenance. To achieve a livell-
hood by one who had nothing to start
with and after awhile for family as well
and carry this on until children are reared
and educated and fairly started IN the
word and to do this amid all the rival.
ries Of business and the uncertainty OF
crops and the fckleness of tariff ,legls.a,,
ton, with an occasional labor strike and
here ard there financial panic thrown
in, is a mighty thing to do, and there are
hundreds and thousands of such heroes
and heroines who live unsung and die un-
honored
What we all need. whether up or down
in life or half way between. is the infinite
soace of the Christian religion. And so
we employ the word come 1t will take
all eternity to find out the number OF
business men who have been strength
ened by the promises of God and the peo-
pie who have been fed by the ravens
when other resources gave out and the
men and women who, going into this bat
tie armed only with needle or saw or axe
or yardstlck or pen or type or shovel or
shoelast, have gained victory that made
the heaven resound. With all the re-
sources OF God promised for every exi-
gency no one need be left in the lurch.
l ike the faith displayed years ego IN
Drury lane. London. in an humble home
where every particle of food had given
and other table supplies and found ket-
tie Oh the fire ready for the tea. The
benevolent lady said. fHow is that you
have the kettle ready for the tea when
you had no tea in the house?' And the
daughter in the home said: Mother
would have me put the kettle on the fire.
and when | said. What is the use of
doing so when we have nothing in the
house, she said: My child, God will pro-
videl for me through all pain and help
lessness, and He will rot leave me to
starve at last. He viii send Us help
though we do not see how. We have been
waiting all day for something to come,
but until we saw you we knew not how
it was to come" Such things the world
may call condolences, but I call them
Almighty dehverances, and, though you
do not hear of them, they are occurring
every hour of every day and in all parts
of Christendom.
Those who follow the advice of this
world in time of perplexity are in fear
fal round, for it is one bewildered soul
following another bewildered soul, an,
only those who have in such time got
their eye on the morning star of our
Christian faith can find their way out or
be strong enough to lead others with an
all persuasive invitation.
But" says some one, .''you Christian
people keep telling us to come yet you
do not tell Is how to come" That
charge shall not be true on this occasion
Come believing! Come -epenting! Come
praying! After all that God has been
doing for 5000 years, sometimes through
patriarchs ard sometimes through pro-
phets and at last through the culmina-
tion Of all the tragedies on Golgotha, can
any one think that God will not welcome
your coming? Will father at vast out
lay construct mansion for his son and
lay ont parks white with statues and
green with foliage and all a-sparkle with
fountains. and then not allow his son to
live in the house or walk in the parks?
Has God butt this house of gospel mercy
and will He then refuse entrance to His
children? VIII Government at great
expense build lfe-saving stations all
along the coast, and boats that can hover
unhurt like a petrel over the widest
surge and then, when the hfeboat has
reached the wreck of 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 deaf ear to
the cry that comes up from the breakers?
But" You say, "there are so many
things l have to believe and SO many
to adopt that am kept back" No, no!
You need believe but two things-name-
", that Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners and that you are one OF
them. But" you say, II 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
tsash,eS s al ae ber hGFd Amsy s3ys. WHY W
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 coronet?
Princess of the Lord Almighty, why do
YOU not mount your throne? Pass up
into the light. Your boat is anchored,
why DO you not go ashore? Just plant
under them the Rock of Ages.
l challenge the universe for one in
stance in which man in the right spirit
appealed for the salvation 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 without 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 snap the shackle? Will you
stay in the prison of sin when here is a
gospel key that could unlock your incar-
ceration? No, no!
As the one word come" has some
times brought many souls to Christ, 1
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 ye
who labor and are heavy laden, and I
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 we'll tuned
and rightly lifted and skillfully swung in
one great chime fill the heavens with
rnusic almost celestial. And no one who
mas heard the mighty chimes in the tow
ers of Amsterdam or Ghent or Copenha-
gen can forget them. Now, it seems to
me that in this Sabbath hour all heaven
is Ginning, and the voices of departed
friends and kindred ring down the sky,
saying, "Come!"
When Russia was in one of her great