The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-08-14

nearly drowned in that magazine room as rat might be drowned in his hole As with that gunner's mate, sometimes 1t Is our duty to face dangers. Some times, we must, as 1t were turn our backs upon our friends and slammed shut an iron door. called the door of the tomb, which separates us from our dear ones. Sometimes we must be separated from those we love, even as St. John on the is- land of Patmos was separated from his friends in Asia Minor But in heaven God will give us back our loved ones. Yes. there will be no separations, no partings there. For in heaven, according to the inspired Apocalypse, there is no more sea"
 Inward Spiritual Strife.
 But the Mediterranean waves beating against the Patmos rocks were not only symbolic of external troubles, but also of an inward spiritual strife. When St. John gave his heart to Christ in one sense he was emsneipated from sin. But satan never for an instant this side of the grave, leaves off hs struggles to cap ture gospel stronghold. The Bible de- clares Christian shall not be tempted by a sin greater than he can bear. But Christians always have to be going to Christ ion more spiritual strength in order to repel the satanic onslaughts which are daily being made against the strong holds of their hearts.
 Can we not find the symbol of spirit ual struggle in the never ending restless ness of the sea? oh" said a lady some time ago to me, q am so tired of hearing those waves beat up against the rocks. Yes, those waves have been beating up against those rocks for thousands of years When sailing upon the ocean, some days its surface seems as calm as Loon lake asleep as a smiling child in the broad lap of the Adirondack noun tains But that Is only a slumber With in a few hours she may awake with scowling face. with the fire of the light nings In her eye and with the shrfelSing of the tornadoes in her voice In our lives the spiritual struggles keep on to the end. We have the good angel whisper ing in one ear to be good; we have the bad angel" whispering in the other ear to be bad. St. John, even up to the end of his life. had to fight py the power of the holy spirit against the restless sea of temptations" So have we
 About the best illustration of my thought that I know Is the simple one which Dr. Frederick Goss told to his Cincinnati people a few months ago One day one of his Sunday school teachers was trying to explain to her class that there are two kinds of lives to live the good life and the bad life. Now, child ren." she said, "all those little girls who want to live the good life will please step over on this nice warm carpet, and those who want to live the bad life will stand on that cold, hard oicloth?" Much to the teachers surprise her own little girl put one foot upon the carpet and the other upon the oilcloth. My dear" said the mother in surprise. you are stand ing upon both" T know 1t mamma, ' said the child, but you know thome- times l want to be just little bad. So in every Christian life there has to be a continual war against the world, the flesh and the devil. And when St. John colSed off upon the troubled waters of the Mediterranean. he not only looked off upon his own spiritual struggles. but at the same time he looked off In vision to the time when those spiritual strug- gles should forever pass away, when there shall be no more sea-
 Thus my text means more than a mere figure of speech. It has more than as mere literal interpretation that heaven IS to be a place without atmospheric mois- ture. It means that the "mountains of Cavalry shall be large enough to hold all peoples who give their hearts to Jesus Christ It means that this mountain of Calvary" shall not only be a wide noun tain but a high mountain. It shall lift us up and up and up until 1t lifts us to the very gates of heaven it self. Oh. my brother and sister, will you not stand upon this mountain this blood red Calva- ry mountain? Will you not to day let the island of Patmos be to you a stepping stone to a heavenly throne? There you will never again hear the srrging waves of temptation beating against the rocks of sin and threatening to sweep you out into the unfathomable depths. May the sunrise of gospel hope shed today it's yellow beams over lifes troubled waters and have for you a golden boulevard which shall leap up to the streets of a new Jerusalem, where there shall be mo more sea"