The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1881-10-04 00:00:00

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THE RECTORS FAREWELL.

The Rev. T. A. L Gruver, M.A.. rector of St. KaLe,
delivered two powerful sermons on Sunday last, this b
his last Sabbath as recto( of the pariah. The Doo
'Won. were large and attentive and the Rev. J. Killer.
of the Holcombe Heim Eishoel, assisted in the emeMe
The text in the morning was from grakiel xxxiv., last
ft of my immure. are men,
verse -'And ye me dock. the -twit . seid•-The
and I am your God. faith ttaahe Lord God. • •
are full of solemn startling
oimpepoturnt•towordimtnoisi toil
conorist , they denounce terrible
their selfeeeking, for neglect on
judgments upon them for God, o each they suffer
e Buck of y w
'heir
pmt towards
a'
us thing that the flock
1•••
It
•••'••
• "ran°
"nen°but so it is, if the
should ...utter for the shepherd's fault;
blind lead tee blind then bah the blind people, as wall
as the blind leviers, shall fall into the ditch. There
faithless pastor. and
"nu"
be
• "'ter calamity
thin
•e
Per bl sing than •
there can scarcely he • mae'"h.
faithful our, end «Moe that the faithless pastor, like the
un.skilful pilot, to denied the P ror Prieasto of Perish'
alone, the pastors here • strong chum upon the preyerel
the people collimate i to their chu But if the open-
gs.
cog words are flonsht with warning, to the shepherd.'
dock, the next words are fraught with comfort to the
dock of God. any precious Premi-ai-m are given to them,
moe of epoch r
but oneof the most precious is tie porno
shepherd, when fie says- ' I will set . pherd over
them, even my serves% David, he shall th Omo;
and
shalt be their sh•pberd• Goe cannot doubt FL:lh
Qin ,P:4;
dieted shepherd is June, the Good Shepherd
Hie UM for the sheep, David's Soo and David's Lord. Yet
you notice Mut in ths Portion" verses of the chapter.
lii
sue- ' Behold I, even I, will both march my sheep, and
seek them out ma shopuerd seeketh out his dock an ttiors
day that be is among his thesis that are Pm ;ee will
I seek out my sheep, sad will deliver them out _
a
plaoss where they have been scattered, in the cloudy and
dark day. And I will bring them out from tagos=
and gather th.m from the counties, and will bring
tains of
to their own land, and feed them upon the moo
Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited ether of the
couotry. I well feed them in • good putors. and. upon
the high mountains of Israel shall their fad be • there
shall they be is: • good fell and to a fat pastors shall they
feed upon the mounthies of tarsal I will feed my dock,
end I will cause them to lie down, shah the Lord God.. I
will seek that which wee lost, and britig MAUI that which
we/ driven away, I will bind up that which will brokenacid hI ,
strengthen the' which was sick ; but I will
destroy the fat sod the strong will tuo,d them with
judgment. h i
" So then David,
l-d•tiephera of n i Israel. s 110[1111
other than the Lied God. There cannot be a more
distinct and Positive proof of We Godhead of the Lord
Jesus, GA aroma will be the Seepherd of His niolt,
and yet Jesos is the Shepherd of His flock. Oh I
happy, happy dock, wits such a Bhepherd,sdeb • Prutoeto
reign over them, such • puma of renown vouch-
safed unto tumu. Oh I then, brethren, who are
His flock, where shall we find • dock worthy
of such • shepherd I Wean we go forth at night, and
sass upon the innumerable globes that lie scattered like
golden dust upon the sky of night, we nosy think we have
found the dock of such a shepherd, when we think of ten
thousand time. tan thousende sag is hymning his Probes,
we way thole we have found toe dOZIL of Jesus. Or when
we think of the numerous tribes of living things that
anima's nature, the very sparrow. that Hui Faber feeds,
we may think these are Le flock But oot amongst them
we find the flock of God. "Ye my flock, the dock of my
pasture, are men," not amongst angels that excel is
stronalh, mit amidst the starry bit that eloel in bright-
ness; but amidst Men, fallen, sou mated, and lost, like sheep
in nothing but their feebleness and their folly, we find
the beloved dock of God. Oto how wonderful, brethren,
tie love of G 4 to lost, ruined, guilty men I "All we, like
sheep, have gone astray, we nave turned everyone to his
own way; yet the Lord has laid upon Jam the in quay
of u. all" And he says "Ye, my dock, are men." We
might well dwell, as we have so often duos, upon the free
grace, the sovereign condescending love of God in choos-
tog men to be His dock, and not only so; but in that the
chief Shepherd, the King who cares for the flock, came
as a mu. For verily He took not on Him the nature of
tinsels : but lin took upon Him the seed of Abraham ; not
angels, but men are His Book. Pes.ing by other worlds,
mot other beings, some of whom did not need it, and
others of whom did not obtain salvation, the L ird Jesus
came to us. How great His love to us I And infidelity,
indeed, finds a stumbling-block, in the fact that the
Creator of si vest an universe should hare bestowed so
much care upon such a spot as ours. Infidelity Nike in a
very different spirit from that of the Psalmist-" What is
man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that
thou visiiest him r' But, !newton, it is en 'ugh for Us to I
know that it was upon this earth that the first Adam fell,
and the second Adam triumphed. If there is room enough
on thio earth for Rum and for Celvary we well under-
stand that this earth is the pivot of the universe, the
I fulcrum which sustains the whole moral government of
God, and, great a. the mystery is, let us believe it, and
wonder end adora Let Us believe that the great and
glorious Shepherd, who has millions of bright sheep filing
the universe., yet left tho.• ml lions in their sale beaventy
resting placu, and rain. to seek and to save the most help-
less, the piorest, the least of those who without His care
must utterly have perished. But surely, brahern, when
you come to look carefully at it, instead of there being any-
thing for infidelity to fasten upon, there is, iii the tut that
the flock of God are men, abundant cause to confirm our
faith. Where do we nee such a display of the omniscience
of God. If • thousand stars were blotted out of the my,
not an astronomer would miss them; but when the
light of holiness is quenched in one of the Infinite
numbers around His throne, he at once misses it, and
goes to the ninety-nine and says "One is miming. I must
seek it ; one is loot, I roust find it,' and in order to do
that he voluntarily lays aside His glory, quits His throne,
comae to this earth, and takes its restore and its punish-
ment. gives His precious blood to be a propitiation for
man's sin, and give. His Holy Spirit that we may receive
the adoption of SOW and now, turning to us poor lost
wanderer., the reconciled and reconciling Father exclaims
-"Ye my flock, the cheep of my posture, are men, and I
am your God, with the Lord God. Truly, bretoreco the
love of Christ pameth knowledge, the love of God in
Christ Jesus mouth all underetthding.
But this morning I desire to dwell upon the second
ministry. God never forgets that His flock are men; but,
strange to say, we ministers era very apt to forget that
our flock are men, ILIVI to this we may trace very many of
the failures and mistakes of our mini.try. God enema
to say to u.-Sirs, servants, your flocks, my dock that is
entrusted to you, are men; not angels, not devils, but
men, of like mammas with yourselves; ii you forget this
you MA
will be very narrow and hereto, unmoving, tinsympatbut-
log, or else it will be shallow and superficial, ivadequat,,
and powerless to reach the deep wants of the soul, wit as
we remember that our flocks are men. You know we
act according to our estimate.; we treat people just sews
esteem them. Form right estimates of them in your
mind, arid then your treatment of them will tuition
Itself accordingly. And so let us take God's own standard
in estimating our flocks-" Ye, my flock, the sheep of ray
Pasture, are men." ley brethren of the ministry, your
flocks are men, therefore beaM by treating them with
honour. You remember St. Peter gives us this precept, and
there is no more valuable inveigle for us in the treatment
of our flocks-" Honour all men," and the Greek word
means-" Value all men." Yea, brethren, we MUM never
hold cheap those who were mated in the image of God.
end on ehom, even when fallen and foul, the Son of God
set such store that He gave Himself for them, an offer-
ing and • sacrifice to God. How far fallen from his high
state as • holy creature Man was when Christ set His love
upon him, we shall never be able to comprehend, and yet
such store was set on fallen man in heaven that when
no other pees could buy the captive back, the Son of God
gave firmulf, toe Fon for the unjust, to bring me hone
to God. If • preci.u. jewel has dropped from the owner's
peek into • deep sod filthy sewer, the MOM loathes the
dirty obi. cr, and yet he loves it, and rather than Iced it,
he plunges Into the deep alto searches the Dewar. and if
he finds ie, and when it is washed and burnished again,
he rejoice more than if be had
again in his bosom, end receiving and giving back bright
glimmer' from the sum And so, brethren, if we may
venture to compare earthly things with heavenly-so
Jesus now rejoice with the host of angels deriding around,
over those wooto He lhas rescued and cleansed from filth
and pollution, and placed ratio in His own bosom. Just
as the father beneath the Cut and scum which defiled
him, recognised from • di.t ince his looa-loat son, so it is
for us to remember that the most sunken and degraded of
our flocks are men; they are (Alen from their high "attire :
but we shall look with akind f holy awe upon the mist
lot and ruined, remembering that they are the sons of •
king, the lorirs to a throne, and though by th-ir fall th-y
have luau thrown as penniless wanderers up 'flour shore..
Our be.r..o, are mon, rnortel men; they are human, and
Christ was human that they may become partakers of the
Divine nature; they are c tpable of great things, of high
destinies, men, though alienated from Obeid, redeemed
by Christ's blood, they may yet share Christ's throne.
God forbid we ehould despite one of them I If tbey be
lost, the lois is eternal; but they are worth gaining, and
the gain is greet to their Lard and t us.
How beautiful, how solemn, the address in our online-
Coo service-" Have always therefore, printed in your
remeobrance, how great • treasure is committed to your
charge. For they are the sheep of Chrio.which He bouebt
with Hi, death, and for wh..in He shad His blood. The
church and conoregation whom you must serve in Ins
spoors. and His body."
Then, again, our II cks are men, fallen, ruined by the
fall; therefore they reed salvation, they are real sinners,
and they need a real Saviour ; they are all weak, diseasd,
driven away by sin, lost upon tile dark mountain., and
they are in need, great need; they are, as far es poseible,
gone from original righteousness, they need, not mend log
I ut re-meking. "Hugest a man be born again, he cannot
see the Kingdom of GoO." "For that which is born of the
tiro': is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit."
It is from losing sight of this, it is from false or in ide
quite view, of the utast elate of man by nature, that
of the errors of the ministry spring; hence it is that
hearers are deceived and fiaterod by the superficil heal.
lug of the wound, while the deadly poison iemoasunrecooved. But may we never forget that your bes is
total, that your disease is deadly, that your wound, by any
balm of man, is absolutely incuralle. We must al ways
look upon man as a creature who can do nothing unless
God enables biro, as an ignorant creature who can know
, nothing unless G ed he pleased to teach him, as an helpleas
creature who can do nothing unless God be pleased, by
His effectual grace, to work uponhim. Oh, may we Ile,u
-
lose sight of this; may thou who shall minister to you
never lose sight of your reel state, that they may not
mock and deceive you by superficially dealing wyrK the
symptoms of the disease, while they Imo eight of its root'
may they never lope tight of the helpless sheep wandering
on the mountains, the soul lost in the dark maze, of theworld and sis, gazing in hopeless perplexity and &ma
into the abyss before him. This is the reality of my ear—
-1 am lost, lost I Else what means the oppremiye of
sin? What means the overwhelming feeling of inward
-
corruption I What mean the sad impulses towiroa
wandering I What means the dense broodin•a d rk
Because I am lost; it is because my feet are stumbline•csan
the dark mountains; my weer, Fainting soul
cries for His salvation, to hear the voith ofyearnsenli Shepherd calling me, to feel the arms of he Roothdes-h.n:
herd embracing me, and to know thataaasiwliamestarlctie- t, sol am
found of God. Oh, that thou who
minister as real sinners, needing a reel Saviour. you ,
call God to witness, haa been my end-nor rooaata-"in i
time in trifle*, not to mock your hung., woo,- ---- Your I
your thirst with pictures of the well of salvatil ons;t•bbnet.l' "t
to
tell you of the wondrous remedy, to tell you that "God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.
_tooth rallliaiawni might not perish, but
have
wealiacizavtiwger tali
fliae.!
lost, has pitied you. and has set cut aeatd4sl:odnelt•sto sseiseenkyro:r
you in the Son of His love Matte real just sa
know your own loss and misery, for GA n'4l as you
have all men to be saved, and . our Saviour will
' of the truth. Brethren, such t•
come
to
the
kn•w1•11.
have Many charms for the a itninistre is not likely to
ress ; I never expected it '
would. I never dreamt that such realities would please
tkinde who try to drown th
pleasure follow each other so Closely rh•aktiaterebuisannesso space
left between for serious th
fed upon the brawl of life°,albt But hungry souls have
water with dr am
salvation; poor bleeding
joy from the well, the
third'
on"
have
rifrimtkiilog_t_stemp coa.thzdark._ moo notable have bailed with
thicall=lio a ihwyjagersole molaticet of teak whisk

Once more; oar so*, are mese and therefore to be
doott with as rosoe.obie eog emotional beings, to be
swayed by human motives. Our desks are men. and they
are to be reasoned with. "Come DOW. and let us reams
together smith the Lord. Though year sins boa. scarlet,
they shall be se white am snow thollith they be red ire.
crimson, they shall be as wi oLc Ad 1 reason with yoe
of riehtemenese. of temperance, and judgment to c 01,.;
'' 1 sleek ai untie wise men ; judge ye weal I say." If
man leaves out of hie calculation the mast' r With tf
eternity, must not that vitiate the celcalatmn " Whet
shall It profit • man if he gain the whole world. and 1,80
his own soul! Or, what moan • Sean giVe exchange for
bia soul r You I:U.6th. memo ce sewn ; I ripped to tit.,
gems. Ls it rational to ieave ths iaterseta of the im-
mortal soul to the chan es of this short uncertyn 1.10
Kee seldom make each wonders in the business of this
world; the merchant 000. not oat until the raw nt I,so
risen, and the wreck Is on the rocks, before he insures the
cargo; but while the sun is shining, and the radii ta
the river, he goes mid makes to insurance 'tight Go
then, as reasonable living, but dying men, and make sure
of your souls rely& bin now— Behold now. the Mc.ipie.4
time; now I. the day of salvation." Y.. 0 have the reliMe
Of =ea Whom Latinist is the salvation of the innuortil
soul.
But chiefly, our &WU are Mee, Sad User, fore to be
iodueoced by tenderness, they are to be swayed by th,ir
itiectsens chiefly. Aye I What tearless siwrovro,
perking Cares, lie hid bene.th the ern ing
appointed how'.
Loose, the worldly busy lives of our hearers ! What alter.
not. hopes and fears, lights and shadow., crors lit.'s
pathway 01 1415)11 you are h .ngry and thirsty for
sympathy and love; how easily dawn, though refusing
to ho dnreo May ministers of Christ remenit er th.t
their Bucks are luso, and with to Imitate the to. 4,05e0
and considerate thoughtfulnes, of the Chief Shepherdwatch to
how tender the omit of Jam was, and never fir.
get that the sheep not he posture are men. •' Toe it tied
reed .hall He not brook; the ymoking flax s .all Ile Wit
ouverni." was the prophecy of Hi. iniali.try, and be tap—
"l have loved time with an everlasting i.,ye; thief e,
with loving eindoess hare I drawn thee." Oh ! we ne.ri
to remember that to cords 01 love a • the ir nir it
man ;other c rds may bind the brute; °toy love can hold I'm
men. Bien 10 procla.miug_the terror. ..t the I.w, we th,old
seek to persuade men. May the praetor eent you 1.,
who shall speak the truto In I ,vo and tru ti .bout • god
and loving Oue I—the matter of his doicourw• i cc, the
manner once more love. Minister, bee. fulfil . heir
miuistry in uniteting Ctuirt ; u 4, that the minist or of
His word Maf be large-treertied, tender-spir el, w.ny-
siued, atttheting every shads of character, like Him
says cot Hansel —and it is true of he ministry of Ills
word as it is of Hi. etonieg death—" I, if I be *dud up,
will draw all men unto me,*
Then brethren, if it be the ministies duty to
m reember that Vieir docks are men, it is the duty of the
docks to rem uther that their invitors are meta coo. Set
not the men on • pedestal, make him not en idol ; " stand
upon thy hit" will be the mesevi of :he fai hful pastor,
• oko oro a man." Again, rilltilimbhi that pistons are
moo of like pinball so your...i.e., subject to the same
infirmities, the tarns terriptetioas. lithe as toereenee• to
this inroads of deka- is, aka w.siing, ol mei. needing
your betty, your patience, your loth...mace suit pita
sytogthy. ad thirst tog for your love. And if you
wouM have a promoroul and heaven-bleseed mini try
hero, oh, remember that your pastor, your new taat,f,
Ilk, your old one, will be a man. I.)u not expeet in
roue from him, he much in prayer fur him, Cu to rhal
he both save Winegar and three that hear him. Just in
proportion as you shell rememcier that you both are
men fallen loot but redeemed men, sunk in MID, lot
capalela of being :Meted to spiritual life here and to glory
hereafter.
And now what shall I say morel I look back opt
• ministry of twenty-flee years ; the old last men-s
rim before my mind mac infused m .8. of joy and sorr.e,
conflicts sad struggles. succesees, vict .rios, many, oh, I
many sins an I shortcoming i.n my pert, and chiefly
perhaps because I have failed alvray to have in remon.
Pumice that ye, My flock, were men. Many bright cenes
fade away, like the gulden Weeds of cloud th it flet in
the sunset sky; great is the burden of sin, of fei ore, of
weeping ,and [admit y,which I have cat into that I ,uniein
which is open for unCivanuees ; and greet is It.. depth of
gratitude to the Giver 01 ail good, end the iltittor of a.l
spirituel grace. for the many souls eh .m H.. Ilea given
me, my joy and croon, the& eau never fthe swat —l,, the
love and patience and forbearance of the greater part of
you. I will Dot ray " Ferreerall,'' I hope once m..ro to
preach to you, CO meat CllatlY of you in prayer to.rnorrow
evening, and when, by God's help, I each have somewhat
arranered matters in my own church, I hope to days the
oppo tunity of returning to you, mid cloaking you one tiy
One by the hand, and wish ind you God speed. And si
May at 'instill forgiven—ED*, we be W.V.-sin
tb•i fountein for sin and unclesunems, and may the Great
Shepherd of the oh' op, thr Jugh the blo clot the everlaet.
lag covenant, lead cos and lead yew all into two., green
peetures and beside the. still waters, where He mthetli
His flock to reef.

In the evening the R irtor preached from Luke xviii„ 37
—"Jesus of Nazareth pmeetb by." Aliong hit retuatks
he said :—Fiv - and twenty years ago, on the ft it Sabbath
evening of my miniatry in tht• church. I preached from
this text, and I take it again t •night, for two masons—
one because God was pleased to bless the sermon, or rather
the text, to the conver.ion of many souls Only Islet week
G 4 was pleased to give me the encounignment ..f learn.
ing of two of whom I had not beard before, who had
learned Christ under the preaching of that sermon, and
perhaps God, in answer to prayer, will grant that -culla to-
night may be brought—if not by the sermon, yet by he
text—to Jesus. An, ther reason why I select it in that it
may lead myselt and you to consider how far the plan of
my ministry has been fulfilled amongst you. When I
commenced thet minietrv, young and i•iexperieno-d, my
yGodypose and prayer to G, was that the testimony o' Jesus
should be as an overfl..wing cream among.it you, that the
weary and thirsty might at wp down nil drink, and he
refresn-d. You can beet judge how far that has teen ful-
filled ; but this I can say—l have seen no reason to change
my ministry. If I had my time oval again I would try
to preach the gospel better; bit I Mai not have a htttiff
Gospel to preach. It must indeed lunge been • G ,spel to
thot• to whom this message was first addressed—" Jesus
of Nazareth paaseth by.' A certain blind man was sitting
by the wayside, and bearing • multitude peas by, he caked
what it meant, ant they simply told him Jesus of
• Nazareth purath by. Oh, brethi en, in that ~I.od man,
sitting by the wayside, listening to the tumult of the
multitude, and asking what it meant, what a living picture
we have of blind mankind, sitting by the ei waded
thoroughfares of this world, blind to the things of God, and
of the soul and of eterzity, but conscious, faint') conscious
of sotse strange mysterious movement io the moral sad
spiritual world, end asking what it means. Sometimes the
startiug provident's. of God utter their solemn y,tcs in
the sinner's ear, anmetimes the anovemeuti of his s.n
inner mind, • yearning of nis heart for some more Pati.fJ•
ing good, or the agonies of • conscience that knows no
rest, whilst at other times it is the great rush of ei.nere
to Jesus in aiday of spiritual awakening that will lead blot
to ask what it means. Hence the need •f • pastor's bee
to explain what theme strange diaturhanoss mean, and to
proelaion—"Jesus of Nazareth pareth by,“ ant that
explains alike all the movements of God in provide...a,
and all the movements of the Spirit in the hearts f men.
And now, beloved brethren, let your anxiety to hear the
Word of God for • moment give place tithe earnest stlnt
prayer that, as etc. more in the ministry, I endeavour to
GUI" Jello 2 of Nazareth t) pass by amongst Vnik many may
be led, like the blind man of old, to cry—' Jesus, mast,r,
have mercy on me.`
First we will &verve the aspect under which the Sm
of God now preathts himself to man. And then
The solemnity with which this invests the present
Position of man.

First. the impact under which the Lord Jeaus, tte Bin of
God,nowpreaentikimeel toms, Joon& of Nazareth pawe h
by. He paseeth by as man. Great without doib in the
mystery or Godlines% God 01 5.11 manifest in the fl oh.
In the marvellous suborns of redegaption the Son of GA
Pulled by as man—bone of our bone, and flesh of nut fle.h.
This, brethren, is what the fainting spirit of man snow
for. As we stood afar off, afraid to loak upon God, our
spirit cries "Oh I that he would pass by ass mac, not al
an angel, of whose nature I know but little, not as
unveiled Deity, whose terrors make me afraid; hut as
man. This wee what tho patriarch Job so longed for
--a &wanton, one also formed out of clay; wit 44
terrors should not make him afraid, nor hie hand
be heavy upon Min, and this what we enjoy. Wv
have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with be
feeling of our infirmities, but wee in all points tempind
like as were are, yet without sin." There is one G A and
one Mediator between God and man, the man Chris,
the man who bore our arida and carried our sorrows, Ih•
man who sat nasty on Jacob's will, and wept at Las is
grove, the man who was subject te all our inermiti,s
and temptations, our very lash and blood. our brother in
all but our gailt and our pollution, otretching ~ut vying
hands to us, saying " Gonne unto me, all ye that are heavy
laden, and I will give you rest. Yee, Jesuit of Nazareth
peeveth by; our loving and ever:butting brother, and yet
the Lord Jehovah In Whom is everlasting strength to bear
our sin, to subdue our iniquity, to sustain us while living,
and comfort us when dying, to ex our portion when this
oorruptible shall put on incarruotion—Jeous of Nazareth
paseeth by. And it is upon His work of buffering; lie
Its going:: to Jerusalem to die, the marl of sorrows and
sequoia with grief, despi-ed and rej,cted of men,
stricken. smitten if God, and afflicted, hin visage marred
more than any man, and his form more than the sous of
men. Ste him passing on to Calvary, besting as a
criminal his ponderous crow, his thorny crown on his
blending brow, the reed of inockery in his right hand.
Oh I con we raze upon that King of suffering, crowned
with hi.
..imperial thorns, unmoved.

" Oh. wondrous love I to bleed and die,
To bear the we and shame,
That guilty sinners such aa I
Might plead His glorious name."
But why these sufferings Why does JUDI' Mile on
upon the blood-stained pathway to cite? It is because be
tissme OD an errand of mercy_ to seek and to save that
which is log; and to give His life • ransom for manv.
Yes, it is GNI th• /36•10 Ir, it is Jesus nestling br. Pit
.you ask whence lI'S /14111/. file test,, His groans. His
bloody sweat? We almwer, surely He hath borne Our
grief., end carried our sorrows ; Ile was wounded for our
transgression., He was bruised f r our iniquities, the
chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with Ills
stripes are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;
we hays turned every one to his own was, and the Lori
bath laid upon Hint the iniquities of us all. Ni angers
strength could have hornet the burden, no angel's love
could tare made the satuilioe; but He loved us, ant gave
Himself for us. Are there any here who*. conaciento by sin sew abased lls there any one here to-night readv
to say "Mine iniou4ies are gone over toy heart ; ss a heavy
burien they are too heavy for me to bear r Behold, I bring yo 4 clad tills,.: Jesus of Nazsreth passeth by.
mighty to save; the blood of Jesus Christ,(l'd's Son.
cleanses from all sin. Wherefore, be it known onto you
men and brethren. that by this man is preached unto you
forgiven...sof sin, that by His. ell that believe er. inttifisd
from all things. Believe in the Luau? Jesus Cultist, and
thou shalt be saved. This shall be • halm for tort re
wound • cordial for our sears; this stall be the crown
of our hope, the ceaseless theme, the infinite strength ' f
our ministry, till the happy hour when we enter through
the gates into the city, and his in the anthem. "Thou
Walt slab, and heat redeemed WI to God by thy blood, ou!
of every nation, and kingdom, and Motu., and mop's,-
And now brethren, me, secondly Om roletunitT writh
which this invests the present condition of man— Jottue
Of Nthsreth Passeth by.` Oh, what solemn precious
ISlotnonte to that blind man I ft .Ds the very crisis ut
his life. Por • moment Jesus of Nazareth was ouch, for
• moment the recovery of sight was within his reach : but
if he lost the opportunity.tben the sound of the retrains
stops of Jenne will be as the knell to all hie hopes. How
true the picture of our Lord's personal ministry—" Jesus
of Nazareth passeth by." It was an itinerant ministry.
He tinsmith by from town to town, front village to village.
He Preached in their synagogues. He paused in their
streets to heal the sick and rase the deed; Be stood is
the mist of the mood, crying —•• If any man thirst, let
him come unto Me and drink, and then He passed on. If
they tried to stay Him, His answer wee—" I must preach
in other cities also, for therefore am I sent." How true
the picture spiritually, and on • large scale, of the beton'
of the Church of Jesus, how mysterious the steps of Him
who walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
The counts of His gospel has been more like the miens'
tines of • pilgriM than the establishment of • conqueror.
Where, for Instance, is that Church at Jerusalem. whet*
James presided in the wisdom of an apostle Jerusalem
is trodden noder foot of the Gentiles, and the crescent °I
the impostor waves over the lifeless form of Christianitr.
Were are those Seven Churches that mos encamp...ed.
as with • sone of light, the shores of Asia Minor? There
is hardly a westise of than left. Where is that once
POf rosperous Church of Rome, once noted for the simplicity
Its worship and the purity of it. faith? It still retains
the name of Church: but " Mother of Abominations" is
written on Its polluted brow. Jesus of Nazareth Pawed
on. Whore are the churches of Gerumuty and Geneva.
associated with Luther, Melanethon, and Calvin I It
could not be said of them that Jesus of Nazareth has
Passed oat. If His presence seemed to be obectired in
them by infidelity and sonsticism,. m It fa With ourselves.
"Jesus of Nazareth passelh by. We have Jesus in our
article., in our liturgy, M our bee,ille,; but if lame
Parishes have come out In sunshine of His erisPel
When have greased into ; tb• wed is nen aware
reislastl In the nom lowa on Sim aim somessiks ;