St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-03-23

bear IN mind that II we are only faith
full the Lord will give us our reward by
and by. John, that prince of preachers,
confessed Christ: 81 bear record that
this is Son of GOd.n 'sBehold the Lamb
of God which taketh away the sins of
the world" The moment he saw Him
he began to confess Him. A great
many say, 81 can't confess Him as my
Lord, because | don't believe that He
was truly the Son of God in the sense
that great many take Him to be-"
A lady said to me, "Where did He ever
say that He was from Heaven and the
Son of God ~ Why it was on that
very testimony that they put Him to
death because He said that He was
the Messiah. In the fourteenth chapter
of Mark and sixty-first verse, it says:
"But He held his peace, and answered
nothing. Again the high priest asked
Him, art thou the Christ, the Son of the
Blessed? And Jesus said, am; and
We shall see the Son of Man sitting on
the right hand of power and coming in
the clouds of Heaven. The the high
priest rent his clothes, and saith, what
need we any further witnesses. Ye
have heard the blasphemy; what think
y
be guilty of DEATH" Why Because
He confessed that He was the Son of
God, that He had come from heaven,
that He was the true Messiah. 1t was
just upon that testimony they put Him
to death. You know the Father only
spoke three times while Christ was here.
A great many Bible readers think that
God the Father never spoke only at the
time Adam fell and when Christ came
up out of Jordan. The moment He
came up out of Jordan there was a
voice heard from heaven saying: "This
is my beloved Son in whom l am well
pleased" God was not ashamed to
confess Christ, but He owned Him as
His own Son. But again on the Mount
of TRANSPORTATION God the Father con-
fessed Him, in the same words. God
isn't ashamed of Jesus Christ; He is
willing to confess Him. There are
Thousand reasons why He should be
ashamed of you and |, but it seems to
me a wonder that we are ashamed to.
confess He who has loved and died for
us. Shall we be ashamed to confess
Him before scoffers and infdelsP
THAT WHEN PETER FELL,
he fell when he was ashamed to confess
Christ. You will find that more back
sliders fall in Boston at that place than
at any other. That is the first step
they take when they are leaving Christ
they are ashamed to own and confess
Him. The next thing we hear of Peter
is his denying Him. My friends, you
go out of this building and scatter to
your homes-confess Christ there; tell
your neighbors of the great things the
Lord has done for you. Perhaps some
some of you are in boarding houses
where they make ridicule of religious
meetings. If you find scoffer tell
them what the Lord is doing for you
In Philadelphia, there was Quaker
dentist, who came down to breakfast
one morning and found the family max
ing all manner of fun of the revival
meeting there. One man exclaimed
Il would like to see one man that has
been blessed at that depot; if | could,
| would believe in it." Straightway
this Quaker arose and quietly said Il
was converted around there night be-
fore last" 'What do You meanPr ''That
| was converted" That man was con-
WINGED, and he has ever since been
working for Christ. | heard him talk
ing in the Burkeley Street Church the
other night and | was amazed to see
how he had grown in faith. Ifyou find
any scoffer making light of religion
confess that you are on the Lords side
and what blessing it has been to your
own soul. Let me ask you just to be
true to the Lord Jesus Christ and see
what blessing you will get. There
are two men | want to call your atten-
ton to. They were secret Christians
Joseph of Arimath9a and NicOdemus.
We find in the third chapter of John
that NicOdemus had an interview with
Christ. When Christ died, Joseph of
ArimathRa, who was just, rich, hon
Orable and devout man, went boldly
into Pilates Judgment hall, or into the
presence of the monarch, and begged
the body of Jesus. The death of Jesus
Christ brought out this secret disciple
| can imagine Joseph of Arimath8a saw
Christ die. He saw Him when He cried, |
''Father, forgive them, for they know
not what they do" | can imagine that
he condemned himself for not taking
his stand before. But when he heard |
Him cry at is finished" Joseph said,
81 will no longer be secret disciple"
He could get no earthly gain out of it
by declaring himselfa Christian-Christ |
was then dead. He had died like a |
man you hang. Joseph had no nation
to claim, had no kingdom, no crown.
He could get no earthly advantage by |
cOnfessing Christ. Joseph might have
said, "He is dead now, and | will let |
the soldiers break His legs; if He were
alive l would entertain Him at nv |
house, but now He is dead. He will
never rise again we will never hear
more about Him. | won't 90
out and forfeit my position, because
the Jews said they would cast out anv |
one confessing Him." Thank God, |
Joseph of Arimath8a did nothing of the |
kind. He
WENT BOLDLY INTO THE PRESENCE OF
PLATE
and begged his body. You know Mat
thew, Mark, Luke and John, all four of
them, record what Joseph did. That
one act has lived down all these ages.
Blessed privilege. Joseph was laid
down in that sepulchre few years af-
ter, and how much sweeter the thought
must have been that Christ had risen
from that very spot. On that spot He
our last enemy. Don't you
think that Joseph got well rewarded
for that act of love, for coming out and
Christ ? 1t seems to me that
he was one of the first ones Christ met
and thanked, and to-day Joseph is in
glory. My friends, if you want bless
ing, come out boldly as Joseph, confess
Christ, let the world know whose side
you are on, and you will get great
blessing to your soul. Let me say a
word tn these LITTLE ri rio Won CON CON |