Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1846-04-08
Religious 1f1isrelIanp.
[BY REauEsr']
SELF DENIAL.
sY WILLIAM B. FuRNRs 8

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4 o,eat crowd had gathered, and were fol
low; ;nr Jesus of Nazareth, that strange youni
man. wrought up to the highest pitch Of ex
nectation by the astonishing things he wa
dong. and by the air of authority with which
he bore himself. "This is the man, they
beoan to say within themselves, "to lead vi
ON to conquest, and realize the glorious pre-
dictjons Of cur ancient prophets" Visions
of greatness were beginning to fft before the
excited inaQinations Of the Jewish multitude
But in the midst Of their glowing dreams
he. upon whom the public attention was sc
intensely fixed, and on whose steps this grea'
crowd was pressing, turned, and said, "Who'
soeyer doth not bear his cross, and come af>
ter me, cannot be my disciple" What a
seasation must these words have produced!
Methinks Isee the people turning one to an.
other with looks of astonishment and inquiry,
wondering what was meant, 'sWhat is it
that he saws? "No man can be follower of
his unless he take cross, that horrible in
strument of death, and follow this Jesus,
bearing it, on his shoulders, like a doomed
person carrying the CROSS on which he is te
suffer, to the place of execution"' What q
reyulsion must the language of Jesus have
caused in the minds of the crowd! How
deeply must they have been shocked!
And Judging as the world is accustomed
TO Judge, nowadays, we must say that bis
language was very indiscrect. The idea of
the present day is, that if one seek to reform
his fellow. men, he must be very cautious in
the language he uses. He must take good
care how he breathes word that shall Of
fend those whom he is trying to correct.
He must be careful not to waken tho evil
passions which he strives 10 chain. He must
contrive to lull men into soft of mesmeric
slumber, in which their darling pre]udices
and beloved sins may all be skilfully amputa-
ted, without their ever having the slightest
suspicion of it. Would to God there were
such way of getting rid of the evil that is
in US. of cutting out the diseased parts Of our
spiritual frame, without woundng any sensi-
bilitiss! There are many wonderful dlscov~
cries in these days, but this would be the
greatest discovery made yet. But there is no
such way. Yet we would fain dream other
wise. And accordingly we must pronounce
the language Of Jesus very injudicious. There
was he, trying to win people to listen to him;
and yet on public highway, in the presence
Of a promiscuous crowd, made up of wise and
simple, friends and foes, he declared that to
be friend Of bis, man must hate father and
mother, and consider hims elf condemned to a
most terrible death! What occasion did he
give to the evil-disposed to misrepresent,
and to the well>disposed to misunderstood
him.! "Why listen to him," might his enc,
mics exclaim-"he would abrogate the sa-
cred dictates of nature. He teaches people
to hate father and mother. He flies in the
face of the instinct Of preservation, the
first law of our being, telling men they must
hate themselves! He is crazy, why hear
ye himp' And his friends could only say:
'.He means well. 1t is a pity lie talks thus,he
only hurts his own cause"
But the words of Jesus, which to our igno-
rant way Of thinking seem SO unguarded. have
proved to be words of consummate prudence,
Of the soundest judgment. What though
they shocked all 'who heard them, although
few or none caught so much as shadow of
their meaning; what though they were utter-
ed, incidentally, in an obscure corner of the
earth, and no one stood by with pen in hand
TO write them down, and not an individual in
all that crowd thought of committing them
to memory; yet they fell like drops of fame,
and burnt themselve into the mind OF lthe
world. They,passed from the lips of Jesus
into the common air; and now, for ages, they
have foated like the air around the world,
mingling with the elements which are the
of all vitality, They could not but
be remembered. and they will never be for
gotten. They shall sound, as they have
sounded, in the ears of centuries Of men.
And it is because they are SO strong, be.
cause they are weakened by no qualifying
clauses, because they express great truth
greatly, with force of expression corres>
ponding in some degree to the importance of
the thought expressed, for this reason they
have been powerful enough to perpetuate
Had Jesus spoken with caution,
he would have spoken without force. If he
had started no prejudices, he would have made
no impression. 1t was needful that the
most depths, that the truth might penetrate to
their hidden springs.
Besides, Jesus could not have spoken 9TH
erwise. lie knew that what he had to say
was true, and that being true, it was invested
and had all the forces of nature, animate and
and aid it. While, therefore, he never need
lessly shocked human hearts, when occasion
came for the truth to be spoken, he smoke it
with commanding authority, without quali-
fication and without fear. Had he studied
tuu C0PtASCo Va hAShs A0u uC tltnluly 10
avoid MISREPRESENTATION, it would have implied
respect for the ignorance and willfuness of
men, which they do not merit, (for what are
these against the truth of GodT and dlstrust
Of the supremacy Of truth. which would have
i'll become one who knew that be was repre-
senting the majesty Of the Almighty, and who
had been foretold as one whose coming should
bo as with wind and FIRE from Heaven.
The occasion demanded strong language.
Those multitudes were following Jesus with
hearts thiobbing with hopes Of vengeance and
national renown. Had he shown the slight>
est disposition to avail himself Of the inter~
sst he had awakened, they would have rushed
o arms at his word. On other occasions he
,as forced to hide himself, SO bent were the
,sopls upon making him their leader. On
% present occasion, he was resolved, as it
seme, to cut up their false expectations by
he roots. They were hoping he would lead
hem TO throne. He saw before him the
grim figure of the cross. He was declaring
truths against which an unprincipled hierar>
cbv were leaged. He saw how the things
~ s.;3 mara at waY with the established cus-