The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-03-23


when he thought he had made the
Euphrates, and the Amazon, and all the
fountains of earth and heaYenl No wa
ter! 1t is said in one place thatthey
offered him wine and myrTh-an intOX
icating draught-which he refused. He
wanted to die sober. Absence of water!
There was the absence of light also.
You know that darkness eXaspeTates
any kind of trouble. never shall for
get the summer Of 1873, when l was Oh
board the steamship Greece mid Al
lantic, and 1t seemed about to go down,
and all the lights in the cabin had been
blown out. The captain came i'll c!arl
ing as the steamer tossed, and said:
Light up! Light upp' The steward
said: We can't; the candles are gone,
and the holders are gomez He replied:
Il can't help that; light up" And by
an almost Superhuman effort lights
were kindled. Darkness eXaspeTates
any kind of trouble. Oh, how it added
to the gloom of Christ's last hour when
the lamp of the MONDAY sun had gone
out and left Him in darkness! Yes,
there was the absence also of nursing
attendants. When you are in suffering,
how pleasant 1t Is to have. the head
bathed or the hands or the feet RUBBED
! Look at Christ's hands and feet! Look
at his face! Did He have any such at
tendancep There were women there
who knew how TO take care of the sick,
but they could not come up. Christ's
mother could not come up. The chief
priests and the soldiers must have 1T
their own way. They had it their own
way. The hours are passing on. 1t is
one o'clock. 1t is half-past one O'Clock.
rake your last look of that sufferer
| His face wan and pinched; purple lips
drawn tight against the teeth; the eyes
red with fiery redness from weeping,
and sunken as if pushed back with
grief and blackness under the lower lid !;
His body adrOOp and shiyering with the
last chill; his breath feebler and feebler
until he gives one long, deep, last sigh
He is dead! He is deadl o my soul, he
is dead! Can you tell me why? Was he
a fanatic dying for principle that did
not amount to any thing? Was he in
| fatuated? No. To deliver your soul
| from sin, and to make heaven possible
to your immortal nature, Jesus perished
there that day. Some one must die to
atone for sin. "Let it be me-" said Je-
sus, ''let it be me" Do you not under
stand that idea of substitution? You
were drafted during the last war. Some
one went as your substitute. He fell at
| Gettysburg or Atlanta. He suffered
for yOu-.was your substitute-just as
| the Lord Jesus Christ was our substi-
| tute coming into this great battle of
| sin and falling for us-thTOugh His
| death we being saved. How do you feel
toward this Jesus Christ? Any sympa-
thy toward Him? Any going out of the
| hearts affection toward Him? Or have
| you been so hardened in sin, and are
| you so abandoned in transgressiOn, that
| you are fearless and unmOYed before all
| this scenep Oh, no! l hear a thousand
| people in the audience crying out: If
| Jesus did all that for me l must love
Him. will love Him. do love Him.
l surrender myself to Him this hour.
Here, Lord, L give myself away. 1t is
| all that can do"
But how are you going to test your
earnestness? My text gives a test.
Christ carried a cross for you; but in the
| text He sets forth the idea that you
have to carry cross for Him. You say,
"What is it?" You say, 81 hear a great
deal in prayer-meeting all over about
carrying a cTOss-what do you mean
sir, by it?" will tell yOu-any thing
that is unpleasant and hard that you
are called to do for Jesus that is a cross
well" says some one in the church.
81 am ready to do anything. Just show
me what cross | have to carry. Christ
has done so much for me, | am willing
to do any thing for Him." Will you
keep that pTOmiseP Well, 1 Will show
you cross that you may carry for Him.
1t is not tomorrow, it is not in your
home, nor in the store, nor the street.
Where is it? 1t is here. AT the close
of this sermon, get up and say, 81 am
on the Lords side. [ want the people
of God to pray for me. l take Christ
now to be my Savior" Get up and say
that at the close of this sermon. "Oh,
no." you say, 81 can't" Just as feared.
l have pointed out cross, and you can
not carry it. You finch at the idea of
the cross. Though Christ carried so
heavy a weight for you, you can not
carry pound or an ounce for him. You
dare not stand up and say: 81 am tired
| of sin and want Jesus for my SAVIOR"
and Christ says: "WhOsOeyer doth not
take up his cross and follow Me can not
be My disciple" Depend on it that Just
so long as you are ashamed of being Sc
riOus about your soul, just so long will
you never find Christ. But your cross,
perhaps, is in the dry goods store, in
the factory, in the social circle, where
most of the clerks, most of the opera
tives, most of your comrades make light
of religion. Are you earnest enough in
this matter tomorrow morning to go to
New York and go up to your jeering
companions and say: 81 am trying to
become 4 Christian. Won't you join me
on the road to heaVeng" "Oh, no." you
say, 81 couldn't do that" Can not do
that? Then you refuse a second cross.
Do you not mean to take any cross? If
you eau not do that the Savior says:
"YOu can not be My disciple"
But here is some one whose cross will
be to avow his, religious principles in
TIE family circle. Would you dare
kneel down by your bedside and say
yeur prayers if you knew your brother
or sister were looking at you? Would
you dare to ask the blessing of God at
the tea-table? "Oh," you say, 81 have
very quick temper. If 1 should pre-
tend to be a Christian in the family cir
Gle, and lose my temper, they would
say: You're pretty Christian And
they COW you down. They keep you
back from Christ and doing YOU
duty by their sarcasm, when, instead Of
being cOwed down, you ought to tax,
that whole family into heaven, Goo
helping you. mo-" you say, 81 can b.
] an avOWed Christian anywhere but a
home" Just as 1 feared for some o
you. have pointed out third cross
YOu2 can not carry it, and you can no
a., be Christ's disciple. There was a com
: pany of rough men together at one il
the morning, and a man said: IN
{ wife is a Christian, and if | should g