010. A Broad Gospel

A Broad Gospel

Gen_7:1 : ’93Come thou and all thy house into the ark.’94

We do not need the Bible to prove the Deluge. The geologist’92s hammer announces it. Sea-shells and marine formations on the top of some of the highest mountains of the earth prove that at some time the waters washed over the top of the Alps and the Andes. In what way the catastrophe came, we know not; whether by the stroke of a comet, or by flashes of lightning, changing the air into water, or by a stroke of the hand of God, like the stroke of the ax between the horns of the ox, the earth staggered. To meet the catastrophe, God ordered a great ship built. It was to be without prow, for it was to sail to no shore. It was to be without helm, for no human hand should guide it. It was a vast structure, probably as large as two or three Cunard steamers. It was the Great Eastern of olden time.

The ship is done. The door is open. The lizards crawl in. The cattle walk in. The grasshoppers hop in. The birds fly in. The invitation goes forth to Noah: ’93Come thou and all thy house into the ark.’94 Just one human family embark on the strange voyage, and I hear the door slam shut. A great storm sweeps along the hills, and bends the cedars until all the branches snap in the gale. There is a moan in the wind like unto the moan of a dying world. The blackness of the heavens is shattered by the flare of the lightnings, that look down into the waters, and throw a ghastliness on the face of the mountains. How strange it looks! How suffocating the air seems! The big drops of rain begin to plash upon the upturned faces of those who are watching the tempest. Crash! go the rocks in convulsion. Boom! go the bursting heavens. The inhabitants of the earth, instead of flying to house-top and mountain-top, as men have fancied, sit down in dumb, white horror to die. For when God grinds mountains to pieces, and lets the ocean slip its cable, there is no place for men to fly to. See the ark pitch and tumble in the surf; while from its windows the passengers look out upon the shipwreck of a race, and the carcasses of a dead world. Woe to the mountains! Woe to the sea!

I am no alarmist. When, on the twentieth of September, after the wind has for three days been blowing from the northeast, you prophesy that the equinoctial storm is coming, you simply state a fact not to be disputed. Neither am I an alarmist when I say that a storm is coming, compared with which Noah’92s deluge was but an April shower; and that it is wisest and safest for you and for me to get safely housed for eternity. The invitation that went forth to Noah sounds in our ears: ’93Come thou and all thy house into the ark.’94

Well, how did Noah and his family come into the ark? Did they climb in at the window, or come down the roof? No; they went through the door. And just so, if we get into the ark of God’92s mercy, it will be through Christ, the door. The entrance to the ark of old must have been a very large entrance. We know that it was, from the fact that there were monster animals in the earlier ages; and, in order to get them into the ark two and two, according to the Bible statement, the door must have been very wide and very high. So the door into the mercy of God is a large door. We go in, not two and two, but by hundreds and by thousands and by millions. Yea, all the nations of the earth may go in, ten millions abreast.

The door of the ancient ark was in the side. So now it is through the side of Christ’97the pierced side, the wide-open side, the heart side’97that we enter. The Roman soldier, thrusting his spear into the Saviour’92s side, expected only to let the blood out, but he opened the way to let all the world in. Oh, what a broad Gospel to preach! If a man is about to give an entertainment, he issues one or two hundred invitations, carefully put up and directed to the particular persons whom he wishes to entertain. But God our Father makes a banquet and goes out to the front door of heaven and stretches out his hands over land and sea, and, with a voice that penetrates the Hindu jungle and the Greenland ice-castle and Brazilian grove and English factory and American home, cries out, ’93Come! for all things are now ready!’94 It is a wide door! The old cross has been taken apart, and its two pieces are stood up for the door posts, so far apart that all the world can come in. Kings scatter treasures on days of great rejoicing. So Christ, our King, comes and scatters the jewels of heaven. Rowland Hill said that he hoped to get into heaven through the crevices of the door. But he was not obliged thus to go in. After having preached the Gospel in Surrey Chapel, going up toward heaven, the gate-keeper cried, ’93Lift up your heads, ye everlasting gates, and let this man come in!’94 The dying thief went in. Richard Baxter and Robert Newton went in. Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America may yet go through this wide door without crowding. Ho! every one’97all conditions, all ranks, all people! Luther said that this truth was worth carrying on one’92s knees from Rome to Jerusalem; but I think it worth carrying all around the globe, and all around the heavens, that ’93God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’94 Whosoever will, let him come through the large door. Archimedes wanted a fulcrum on which to place his lever, and then he said that he could move the world. Calvary is the fulcrum, and the Cross of Christ is the lever; and by that power all nations shall yet be lifted.

Further, it is a door that swings both ways. I do not know whether the door of the ancient ark was lifted, or rolled on hinges; but this door of Christ opens both ways. It swings out toward all our woes; it swings in toward the raptures of heaven. It swings in to let us in. It swings out to let our ministering ones come out. All are one in Christ’97Christians on earth and saints in heaven.

One army of the living God,

At his command we bow;

Part of the host have crossed the flood,

And part are crossing now.

Swing in, O blessed door! until all the earth shall go in and live. Swing out until all the heavens come forth to celebrate the victory.

But, further, it is a door with fastenings. The Bible says of Noah, ’93The Lord shut him in.’94 A vessel without bulwarks or doors would not be a safe vessel to go in. When Noah and his family heard the fastening of the door of the ark, they were very glad. Without those doors were fastened, the first heavy surge of the sea would have whelmed them; and they might as well have perished outside the ark as inside the ark. ’93The Lord shut him in.’94 Oh, the perfect safety of the ark! The surf of the sea and the lightnings of the sky may be twisted into a garland of snow and fire’97deep to deep, storm to storm, darkness to darkness; but once in the ark, all is well. ’93God shut him in.’94

There comes upon the good man a deluge of financial trouble. He had his thousands to lend; now he cannot borrow a dollar. He once owned a store in New York, and had branch houses in Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. He owned four horses, and employed a man to keep the dust off his coach, phaeton, carriage, and curricle; now he has hard work to get shoes in which to walk. The great deep of commercial disaster was broken up, and fore and aft and across the hurricane-deck the waves struck him. But he was safely sheltered from the storm. ’93The Lord shut him in!’94 A flood of domestic troubles fell on him. Sickness and bereavement came. The rain pelted. The winds blew. The heavens are aflame. All the gardens of earthly delight are washed away. The mountains of joy are buried fifteen cubits deep. But, standing by the empty crib and in the desolated nursery and in the doleful hall, once a-ring with merry voices, now silent forever, he cried: ’93The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.’94 ’93The Lord shut him in.’94 All the sins of a lifetime clamored for his overthrow. The broken vows, the dishonored Sabbaths, the outrageous profanities, the misdemeanors of twenty years reached up their hands to the door of the ark to pull him out. The boundless ocean of his sin surrounded his soul, howling like a simoom, raving like an Euroclydon. But, looking out of the window, he saw his sins sink like lead into the depths of the sea. The dove of heaven brought an olive-branch to the ark. The wrath of the billow only pushed him toward heaven. ’93The Lord shut him in!’94

The same door fastenings that kept Noah in keep the world out. I am glad to know that when a man reaches heaven all earthly troubles are done with him. Here he may have had it hard to get bread for his family; there he will never hunger any more. Here he may have wept bitterly; there ’93the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne will lead him to living fountains of water, and God will wipe away all tears from his eyes.’94 Here he may have hard work to get a house; but in my Father’92s house are many mansions, and rent-day never comes. Here there are death-beds and coffins and graves; there no sickness, no weary watching, no choking cough, no consuming fever, no chattering chill, no tolling bell, no grave. The sorrows of life shall come up and knock at the door, but no admittance. The perplexities of life shall come up and knock on the door, but no admittance. Safe forever! All the agony of earth in one wave dashing against the bulwarks of the ship of celestial light shall not break them down. Howl on, ye winds, and rage, ye seas! The Lord’97’94 the Lord shut him in!’94

Oh, what a grand old door! so wide, so easily swung both ways, and with such sure fastenings! No burglar’92s key can pick that lock. No swarthy arm of hell can shove back that bolt. I rejoice that I do not ask you to come aboard a crazy craft with leaking hulk and broken helm and unfastened door; but an ark fifty cubits wide and three hundred cubits long, and a door so large that the round earth, without grazing the posts, might be bowled in!

Now, if the ark of Christ is so grand a place in which to live and die and triumph, come into the ark. Know well that the door that shut Noah in shut the world out; and though, when the pitiless storm came pelting on their heads, they beat upon the door, saying, ’93Let me in! let me in!’94 the door did not open. For one hundred and twenty years they were invited. They expected to come in; but the antediluvians said, ’93We must cultivate these fields; we must be worth more flocks of sheep and herds of cattle; we will wait until we get a little older; we will enjoy our farm a little longer.’94 But meanwhile the storm was brewing. The fountains of heaven were filling up. The pry was being placed beneath the foundations of the great deep. The last year had come, the last month, the last week, the last day, the last hour, the last moment. In an awful dash, an ocean dropped from the sky, and another rolled up from beneath; and God rolled the earth and sky into one wave of universal destruction.

So men now put off going into the ark. They say they will wait twenty years first. They will have a little longer time with their worldly associates. They will wait until they get older. They say, ’93You cannot expect a man of my attainments and of my position to surrender myself just now. But before the storm comes, I will go in. Yes, I will. I know what I am about. Trust me!’94 After a while, one night about twelve o’92clock, going home, he passes a scaffolding as a gust of wind strikes it, and a plank falls. Dead! and outside the ark! Or, riding in the park, a vehicle with a reckless driver crashes into him, and his horse becomes unmanageable and he shouts, ’93Whoa! Whoa!’94 and takes another twist in the reins and plants his feet against the dashboard and pulls back. But no use. It is not so much down the avenue that he flies as on the way to eternity. Out of the wreck of the crash his body is drawn, but his soul is not picked up. It fled behind a swifter courser into the great future. Dead! and outside the ark! Or, some night, he wakes up with a distress that momentarily increases, until he shrieks out with pain. The doctors come in, and they give him twenty drops, but no relief; forty drops, fifty drops, sixty drops, but no relief. No time for prayer. No time to read one of the promises. No time to get a single sin pardoned. The whole house is aroused in alarm. The children scream. The wife faints. The pulses fail. The heart stops. The soul flies. O my God! Dead! and outside the ark!

I have no doubt that derision kept many people out of the ark. The world laughed to see a man go in, and said, ’93Here is a man starting for the ark. Why, there will be no deluge. If there is one, that miserable ship will not weather it. Aha! going into the ark! Well, that is too good to keep. Here, fellows, have you heard the news? This man is going into the ark.’94 Under this artillery of scorn the man’92s good resolution perished.

And so there are hundreds kept out by the fear of derision. The young man asks himself, ’93What would they say at the store to-morrow morning if I should become a Christian? When I go down to the club-house they would shout, ’91Here comes that new Christian. Suppose you will not have anything to do with us now. Suppose you are praying now. Get down on your knees and let us hear you pray. Come, now, give us a touch. Will not do it, eh? Pretty Christian you are!’92’93 Is it not the fear of being laughed at that keeps, you out of the Kingdom of God? Which of these scorners will help you at the last? When you lie down on a dying pillow, which of them will be there? In the day of eternity, will they bail you out? Ah! they can keep you out of heaven; but can they keep you out of hell?

My friends and neighbors, come in right away. Come in through Christ, the wide door’97the door that swings out toward you. Come in, and be saved. Come and be happy. ’93The Spirit and the Bride say, Come.’94 Room in the ark! Room in the ark!

But do not come alone. The text invites you to bring your family. ’93Come thou and all thy house.’94 That means your wife and your children. You cannot drive them in. If Noah had tried to drive the pigeons and the doves into the ark, he would only have scattered them. Some parents are not wise about these things. They make iron rules about Sabbaths, and they force the catechism down the throat, as they would hold the child’92s nose and force down a dose of rhubarb and calomel. You cannot drive your children into the ark. You can draw your children to Christ, but you cannot coerce them. The Cross was lifted, not to drive, but to draw. ’93If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me.’94 As the sun draws up the drops of morning dew, so the Sun of Righteousness exhales the tears of repentance.

’93Come thou and all thy house into the ark.’94 Be sure that you bring your husband and wife with you. How would Noah have felt if, when he heard the rain pattering on the roof of the ark, he knew that his wife was outside in the storm? No; she went with him. And yet some of you are on the ship ’93outward bound’94 for heaven; but your companion is unsheltered. You remember the day when the marriage ring was set. Nothing has yet been able to break it. Sickness came, and the finger shrank, but the ring staid on. The twain stood alone above a child’92s grave, and the dark mouth of the tomb swallowed up a thousand hopes; but the ring dropped not into the open grave. Days of poverty came, and the hand did many a hard day’92s work; but the rubbing of the work against the ring only made it shine brighter. Shall that ring ever be lost? Will the iron clang of the sepulcher gate crush it forever? I pray God that you who have been married on earth may be together in heaven. Oh! by the quiet bliss of your earthly home; by the babe’92s cradle; by all the vows of that day when you started life together, I beg you to see to it that you both get into the ark.

Come in, and bring your wife or your husband with you’97not by fretting about religion, or ding-donging them about religion, but by a consistent life, and by a compelling prayer that shall bring the throne of God down into your bedroom. Better live in the smallest house in Brooklyn and get into heaven, than live fifty years in the finest house on Madison Square, and wake up at last and find that one of you, for all eternity, is outside the ark. Go home to-night; lock the door of your room; take up the Bible and read it together, and then kneel down and commend your souls to him who has watched you all these years; and, before you rise, there will be a fluttering of wings over your head, angel crying to angel, ’93Behold! they pray!’94

But this does not include all your family. Bring the children too. God bless the dear children! What would our homes be without them? We may have done much for them. They have done more for us. What a salve for a wounded heart there is in the soft palm of a child’92s hand! Did harp or flute ever have such music as there is in a child’92s ’93goodnight’94? From our coarse, rough life, the angels of God are often driven back; but who comes into the nursery without feeling that angels are hovering around? They who die in infancy go into glory, but you are expecting your children to grow up in this world. Is it not a question, then, that rings through all the corridors and windings and heights and depths of your soul, what is to become of your sons and daughters for time and for eternity? ’93Oh!’94 you say, ’93I mean to see that they have good manners.’94 Very well. ’93I mean to dress them well, if I have myself to go shabby.’94 Very good. ’93I shall give them an education, and I shall leave them a fortune.’94 Very well. But is that all? Don’92t you mean to take them into the ark? Don’92t you know that the storm is coming, and that out of Christ there is no safety? no pardon? no hope? no heaven?

How to get them in? Go in yourself!. If Noah had staid out, do you not suppose that his sons’97Shem, Ham, and Japhet’97would have staid out? Your sons and daughters will be apt to do just as you do. Reject Christ yourself, and the probability is that your children will reject him.

An account was taken of the religious condition of families in a certain district. In the families of pious parents, two-thirds of the children were Christians. In the families where the parents were ungodly, only one-twelfth of the children were Christians. Responsible as you are for their temporal existence, you are also responsible for their eternity. Which way will you take them? Out into the deluge, or into the ark? Have you ever made one earnest prayer for their immortal souls? What will you say in the judgment, when God asks, ’93Where is George or Henry or Frank or Mary or Anna? Where are those precious souls whose interests I committed into your hands?’94

A dying son said to his father, ’93Father, you gave me an education and good manners and everything that the world could do for me; but, father, you never told me how to die; and now my soul is going out in the darkness.’94

O ye who have taught your children how to live, have you also taught them how to die? Life here is not so important as the great hereafter. It is not so much the few furlongs this side the grave as it is the unending leagues beyond. O eternity! eternity! Thy locks white with the ages! Thy voice announcing stupendous destiny! Thy arms reaching across all the past and all the future! Thy heart beating with raptures that never die and agonies that never cease! O eternity! eternity!

Go home to-night and erect a family altar. You may break down in your prayer. But never mind, God will take what you mean, whether you express it intelligibly or not. Bring all your house into the ark. Is there one son whom you have given up? Is he so dissipated that you have stopped counseling and praying? Give him up? How dare you give him up? Did God ever give thee up? Whilst thou hast a single articulation of speech left, cease not to pray for the return of that prodigal. He may even now be standing on the beach at Hongkong or Madras, meditating a return to his father’92s house. Give him up? Never give him up! Has God promised to hear thy prayer only to mock thee? It is not too late.

In St. Paul’92s, London, there is a whispering-gallery. A voice uttered most feebly at one side of the gallery is heard distinctly at the opposite side, a great distance off. So, every word of earnest prayer goes all around the earth, and makes heaven a whispering-gallery. Go into the ark’97not to sit down, but to stand in the door, and call until all the family come in. Aged Noah, where is Japhet? David, where is Absalom? Hannah, where is Samuel? Bring them in through Christ the door. Would not it be pleasant to spend eternity with our families! Gladder than Christmas or Thanksgiving festival will be the reunion, if we get all our family into the ark. Which of them can we spare out of heaven?

On one of the lake steamers there was a father and two daughters journeying. They seemed extremely poor. A benevolent gentleman stepped up to the poor man to proffer some form of relief, and said, ’93You seem to be very poor, sir.’94 ’93Poor, sir,’94 replied the man, ’93if there’92s a poorer man than me a troublin’92 the world, God pity both of us!’94 ’93I will take one of your children, and adopt it, if you say so. I think it would be a great relief to you.’94 ’93A what?’94 said the poor man. ’93A relief!’94 ’93Would it be a relief to have the hands chopped off from the body? or the heart torn from the breast? A relief, indeed! God be good to us! What do you mean, sir?’94

However many children we may have, we have none to give up. Which of our families can we afford to spare out of heaven? Will it be the oldest? Will it be the youngset? Will it be that one that was sick some time ago? Will it be the husband? Will it be the wife? No! No! We must have them all in. Let us take the children’92s hands, and start now. Leave not one behind! Come, father! Come, mother! Come, son! Come, daughter! Come, brother! Come, sister! Only one step, and we are in. Christ, the door, swings out to admit us; and it is not the hoarseness of a stormy blast that you hear, but the voice of a loving and patient God that addresses you, saying, ’93Come thou and all thy house into the ark.’94

And there may the Lord shut us in!

Autor: T. De Witt Talmage