The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-02-02
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
Christ, the Friend of Sinners.

J DN-~-NA VI ANg--
lyn, before his congregation. and reported in the In
d<psHdsat, and will serve TO illustrate his style and
manner. He avows his full belief in the salvation Of
all infants dying lie also advances the theory that
Tor ought we know, there may be some, and if a few,
why not many, even among the heather, who hav-
ing never heard the name OF Christ, may still be
saved oy igaoTGHt faith in him, if such a phrase
may De used, or IN q redeemer Of whom they have
never heard.
Not long ago n researcher Of art in Italy, who,
reading in some book that there was a portrait Of
Dante painted By Giotto, was led 10 suspect that he
had found where it had been placed. There WAS an
apartment usei NJ an out house for the storage ~
hay, and the like He besought and obtained per-
mission TO examine IT. Clearing out the rubbish,
and experimenting upon the rhite-washed wall. be
soon detected the signs Of The long-hidien portrait.
Little by little, with loving skill, he opened up the
Sad, thoughtful, stern fIce Of the old Tuscan poet.
Sometimes IL seems TO me that thus the very sane
tusry OF God has been hHed with wood, hay, and
sfubble, and the Divine lineaments Of Christ have
been swept over and covered by the painting hands
81 men; and I am seized with an inyincible ardor to
draw forth from its hiding place. and reveal 10 men
the glory Of Col as IL shines in the fce Of Christ
Jesus 10 matters little to me what school Of the
ology rises or what falls, so ouly that Christ may rise
and appear in all his Fathers glory, full-orbed,
upon the darkness Of this world I, IL matters little
10 me What church comes forth strong, or what be-
comes weak. so only that the poor, the sinful, the
neglected., the lost among men, may have presented
20 them, in the ch1rch, . savior accessible, reached
easily Dy me human understanding. and available
IN every hour Of temptation, of remorse or of want !,
. IL is this Christ that I would make personal to you
to-day He is not a Bepg that dweils in the inner
recesses Of the eternal world, inaccessible, ~incompre-
hensibIs.. lie is not the stern king. unbending, upon
n throne of justice, lifted up above the reach OF signs
aud sinful wants. He IL not rs one fortified behind
the bulwarks Of law, so that one must cannonade,
and breach the walls with prayers, and then rush in
20 take him captive Men never find Christ, but are
always found OF him. He goes forth 10 seek and to
save the lost Ii is not the outstretching Of our
thought, IL Is not the attraction Of our heart, it is
not the strong drawing Of our sympathy and yearn-
ing, that brings him TO US. 1t is the Astounding love
Of has heart that draws US toward him. HIS love
preoedes ours love him because he first loved
US" We klndIe our hearts at his. AS the sun is
up before the ~sluggard, so the twilight and dawn Of
his love is upon the hills when We wake and when
We sleep, even, his thoughts burn above us as the
stars burn through the night
Ii Is this willing, winning, pleading Christ. WELD
ing all the grandeur of justice and all the authority
OF. universal empire with such rare and sweet gen
tleness, that in all the earth there is none like unto
him, that 1 set before you az your personal Friend
He knows each Of you better than your mother knew
you !, He has called you by name. In your house
holds you are not so familiar to your most cherished
friend as you are TO the thought Of Christ Not 50
indelbly IS your name recorded In your fathers
memory. or in the baptismaI register Of the sanctu-
ary, or in the family Bible where the tabular leaf
for births holds your infants name, rs upon the ever
remembering heart OF the Lord Jesus Christ
He does not see before himself his holiness, his
hatred Of SIN, like mountains over which you may
nOt CuLnD ne docs not uOIge himself by the dignI-
ties and suDeriOrities Of divinity All the way from
his throne TO your heart is sloped and hope. and
love, and patience, and meekness, and long-sufer-
ing, and kindness, and wonderful mercies, and gen.
tleness, and 50 many banded helping angels, wait to
take you by the hand, and lead you up to God and
1 beseech you by his gentleness, too, that you fear
him no longer that you be no longer Indifferent to
him that you wound him by your unbelief no
more; but that, now aud henceforth, you follow him
$50 for there IS none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved"
can any be saved except those who voluntarily
and InteIligently believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Most GssaTedIy they can , One-half the human race
die IN infancy, before the child knows its right hand
from its left and is the blessed truth OF their saliva
ton to De aunihilated ? or. falling like sparks through
the lurid air Of hell, shall we believe they burn for
ever ? Does not universal Christendom believe that
they go straight in the bosoms Of angels, to their
Fathers kingdom /! So do 1 believe. So would I be-
lieve, IL there were not another man on the face of
the earth that thought so
let they ne too young to understand the name Of
Christ OF TO believe in him : Their ear has never
been formed to hear the very sound Of his name.
let blessed be God, the salvation Of Christ Jesus,
that they could not understand on earth, shall greet
them and giorify them in heaven : IL is settled,
then, that Christ saves men who Have never heard Of
him, and who cannot hear. But has this salvation
q wiler scope than infant children ! Are there any
others who will experience the grace Of him whom
they never knew? Let those answer that seem-O
know so much 4; who have searched out Gods whole
government, and know about it. / say again l do
not know Iyearn and hope and long. But 1 do
not know. As IN the case OF infants the DEMENT'S OF
Chri.,'s atonement is applied to their unknOwing
souls-so l hope that there are earnest and conscien-
tious men TO whom no gospel ever came, will yet be
made subjects OF redcmptive love May We not hope
tina. that which comes TO US through Jesus Christ,
clear and disclosed as the MONDAY sun, may have
fallen with reflex beams upon others before his day
and since ? And as we are led by the morning Star
or the SUN Of righteousness, may they not at least
have had some twilight leading . Is there an or
thodoxy so authoritative in this world that y man
may not hope these things
But for you TO whom the Gospel is preached; for you
upon whose cradle rested the dew of grace, and whose
earliest years were made acquainted with the sacred
name Of Jesus-the children Of piOus parents reared
within the sound of the sanctuary never beyond
the sound Of n Sabbath bell; surrounded and hedged
in by ten thousand influences CT religion, persuading
the understanding. importunate upon the conscience;
for such as you. if Christ be rejected. there is no SAL
vatiOn But for those who never heard him to
whom 10 SWEET sound of the Gospel ever came; whose
week vas one rolling surge, unbroken by the tran
quill shore Of any Sabbath; and who, IN this dark
ness and neglected, yet always CROPPED upward, en-
deavoring to live a life better than their times; yearn-
ing and longing to know n better way-may We not
hope, IN the inscrutable mystery Of Divine wisdom,
that there was some mode Of applying TO such
the benefit Of the death Of Christ that the vision
rose, at last, upon their eye, cleaned from the films
Of flesh ? and that among the myriad voices OF
heaven, there are some from the heather world, who,
though on earth they could give no name to that
after which their souls yearned and searched, no
sooner beheld the Divine glory of the Savior, than
they cried out, " This is he fo- whom we have wait
ed ~"
Yes, I firmly believe that it is by the power Of
Christ that every man is saved who shall touch the
shore Of heaven, but l am not authorized to say that
God uses no other channels of grace than those that
We know, and that in the sovereignty ofhis love, he
cannot make up to men who are in darkness that SAL
walton which we reject, and give them a reflected
light, at least, Of that glory which shines full on US
But for NIL those who have been clearly taught,
who have been moved by their wicked passions de-
Eberately to set aside him Of whom the prophet spake,
whom the apostles more clearly taught, whom the
Holy Spirit, by the Divine power, makes known now
20 the world, through the Gospel-for them, If they
reject their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, there re-
naineth nc more sacrifice for sin. II they delIber-
a,ely neglect, set aside, or reject the Savior, he will