| Show FAITH believe in the lord jesus christ and thou be saved savea acts acte xvi 81 jails wee am dark dull dump damp loathsome places even now but they were worse in the apostolic times I 1 imagine today we are standing in the Phil lippian dungeon do bo you not feel the chill do you not hear the groans of those incarcerated ones listen again I 1 it is the cough of a consumptive or the struggle of one in a nightmare of a great horror you listen again and hear bear a culprit his chains rattling as he rolls over in his dreams but there is another sound in that prison it is a song of joy and gladness the music comes winding through the corridors of the prison it JS is the song of paul and silas they cannot sleep they have been whipped very badly whipped the long gashes of their backs are bleeding yet they lie flat on the cold ground their feet fast in wooden sockets and of course they cannot sleep burthey can sing jailer what are you doing with these people why have they been put in here oh they have been trying to make the world better I 1 Is that all that is all I 1 A pit for joseph A lions bave for daniel A blazing furnace for shadrach bullets for jose joseph h and hyrum smith A dungeon for for paul and silas while I 1 am standing in the gloom of that Phil lippian dungeon and hear bear the mingling voices of sob and groan and blasphemy and halle lujah suddenly iud denly an earthquake the iron bars of the prison twist the pillars crack off on the solid masonry begins to heave and rock till all the doors swing open aud and the walls fall with a terrific crash the jailer feeling himself responsible for these thebe prisoners puts his sword to his own heart proposing with one strong keen thrust to put an end BO 80 his excitement cit ement and agitation but paul cries 0 oddi stop stop do thyself no harm ha we are all here 11 then I 1 see the jailer running through the dust and amid the ruin of that I 1 see lee him throwing himself down at the feet of these prisoners crying out I 1 what shall I 1 do what shall I 1 do compact thrilling tremendous answer answer rne memorable morable all through earth and heaven have faith in the lord jesus christ aud and thou be saved well we have all read of the earthquakes in lisbon in lima in ale aleppo apo and in Ca Carac cae but we live in a latitude where in all our memory there has not been one severe volcanic disturbance and yet we have seen fitly fifty earthquakes here is a man who has been building up a large fortune his bid on the money market was felt in all the world he thinks he has got beyond all annoying rivalries in trade and he says to himself now I 1 am free and safe from all possible perturbation but a national panic strikes the foundations of the commercial world and crash goes all that magnificent ent business establishment here is a raan man who has built up a beautiful home hoine his daughters have just come home from the college with w ith diplomas of graduation his sons have started in life honesty honest temperate mind and pure when the evening lights are re to is a happy and an unbroken atily domily circle but there has been an accident down at the beach the young man ventured too far out in the surf the telegraph hurled the terror up to the city an earthquake struck under the foundations of that beautiful home the piano closed the curtains dropped the laughter hus lied crash go all those domestic hopes and prospects and ana expectations so my dear reader we have all felt the shaking down don ol of some trouble and there was a time when we were as aa much excited as an the jailer in the prison 80 D and we cried out as ne fie did what shall I 1 do what WWI shall I 1 do the same mine reply that the apostle made to him is appropriate to us have faith in the lord jesus christ and thou be saved vv you cannot put your hearts confidence in a man until you know what stuff he is made of when then I 1 ask you who this is you want me to trust in you tell me he is a very attractive person oh how attractive his manner why when they saw christ coming along the street they ran into their houses and they wrapped up their invalids as quickly as they could and brought them out that he might look at them oh there was something so pleasant so 80 inviting so cheering in everything he did in his very look when these sick ones were brought out did desay he say takeaway jakeaway Take away those sores do not trouble me with those lepro sies no no there was a kind look there was a gentle word there was a healing touch they could not keep away from him in addition to this softness of character there was a fiery momentum men tuni lowthe how the old hypocrites po crites trembled before himl him how glow the kings of the earth turned pale here is a plain man with a few sailors at his back coming off the sea bea of galileo going up to the palace of the Cee sars making rai that palace quake to the foundations foundations and uttering a word of mercy and kindness which throbs through all the earth and through all the heavens and through all the ages oh ob he was a loving christ but it was not effeminacy or insipidity of character it was accompanied with majesty infinite and omnipotent christ is only wanting to get from us what we give to scores of of people everyday every day what is that faith if these people whom we trust day by day are more worthy than christ if they are more faithful than christ if they have done more than christ ever did then give them the preference but if we really think that christ is as trustworthy as they ar are then let us deal with him as fairly oh says pays some in a light way 1 I believe that christ was born in bethlehem and I 1 believe that he died on the crow cross but my dear reader do you believe it with your head or your heart I 1 will illustrate the difference you are in your own house hous in the morning you open a newspaper and you read how captain 04 04 the sea risked his life for the salvation of his passe passengers tigers you say what a grand fellow he must muse have been his family deserves very wem wein of the country you fold the newspaper and sit down at the table and perhaps do not think of that incident again that to is historical faith but now you are on the sea and it is night and you are asleep and are awakened by the shriek of firel you rush out on the deck you hear bear amid the wringing ringing of the hands and the fainting the cries no hopel we are bostl we are lost thestil the sail puts out its wings of fire the ropes make a burning ladder in the night heavens the spirit of wreck hisses in the waves and on the hurricane deck shakes out its banner of smoke and dar darkness knew down with the life boats cries the captain down with the life boats I 1 11 people rush into them the boats are about full room only for one more man you are standing on the deck beside the captain who shall it be you or the captain the captain says you you jump and are saved he stands there and dies now you believe that captain sacrificed himself for his passengers but you believe it with love with tears team with hot and long continued exclamations with grief at his low lass and with I 1 joy at your deliverance that is izing saving faith in other words that you belleve believe with all the heart and believe in regard to youra yourself elf on this hinge binge turn these lines aye the salvation of your immortal soul you often go across a bridge you yon know nothing about you do not know who built the bridge you do sot not know what material it is made of but you come to it and baia walkover over it and ask no questions and here Is i an arched bridge blasted from the rock of ages and built by the architect of the whole universe spanning the dark gulf between sin and righteousness and all god asks you is to walk across it and you start and you come to it and you stop and you go a little way on and you stop and you fall back and you experiment you say how do I 1 know that bridge will hold me instead of war marching ehing on with firm step asking no Do questions but feeling that the strength of the eternal to ie under you ohl oh was there ever a prize offered so go cheap as pardon and heaven are offered to us ue for how bow much A million do dollars llam it is certainly tainy worth more than that but cheaper than that we can haat it ten thousand dollars less lees than that five thousand dollars less than that one dollar less than that one cent less than that without money and without price il no money to pay n no P penance e nance to suffer only one ge decisive aisi vve a action atio of the soul have faith in the lord jesus christ and thou be saved DR da ED AMERICAN feb 8 1890 |
