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


church to-day uncOnverted, simply be-
cause they have not made up their
minds to follow Christ publicly, and
have not the manliness and WOmanii-
ness to say, open and above bSaEd; 'tIa
presence of men and angels forever and
forever, am the Lords. He bought me
by His blood, and he shall have nv
ransOmed spirit" No; thew have not
done that. They have been lurking
around the Kingdom Of God, hoping to
crawl in when no one was looking for
gettul Of the fact that Christ has said:
w hOsoeyeT doth not bear his cross and
follow Me can not be My disciple" An
officer of neighbOring church said to
me that he was in a large store where
there were many young men, and gen
tleman came in and said to one of the
young men: "Ah, you are one of those
who arose in the prayer meeting and
asked for pTayerY" Yes" said he 81
am. l have been very bad man.
was bad man before that; but since
that, don't think l have been as bad as
| was And he said it in that way
that indicated that he was not ashamed
of Christ. l have not heard the subse-
quent history of that young man, but [
trust he is a Christian. God never
casts off any one who takes brave step
ahead like that. L am preaching this
sermon to-day to show you what light
cross you have to carry compared with
that Christ carried for you. Yours has
not torn off the flesh; Christ's made him
faint dead away. Yours has not fetched
blood; under His there was a pool of
carnage that FLASHED the horses fet-
lock. Your cross you have only to carry
little while; but into ChTist's there
was compressed an eternity of anguish.
There are many to sympathize with you
in your crOss-bearing; but Jesus, with
tho
press of the wrath of Almighty God
alone! He lifted a Himalaya for you,
and you can not lift an ounce for Him.
There has some one come here to-day
that you have not seen. You did not
see him come in at that door; nor
through any of these aisles did you see
Him come; but He is here. He started
in the East-the far East. He comes in
wan and weary; His feet blisteTed with
the way; His garments dTaggled with
the dust; His eyes dim with tears; His
cheeks red, not with health, but with
blood from the temples. take hold of
his coat and l say, 1T does not fit thee"
And he replies: ut is borrowed. For
my yestuTe did they cast lots" And
if from lack Of sleep" and he answers,
"Yes; the Son Of Man hath not where to
lay His head" Then l look at the log
on His back and l say: What is thisr'
And He says: "It is the cross carried
for thee and the world of sin; let all
these people take cross and follow
Me-" And He marches on, and the pro-
cessiOn is forming to-day, the great
| CTOss-beaTer going ahead, we who have
| smaller crosses coming on after in this
| great march to heaven; and as some of
| the people halt and say I'VE will not
| join a procession where we have to
carry burden or suffer shame" Jesus
| turns upon them majesty and Omnip-
! Otence that makes the very earth tTem-
BILE as He says: "WhOsOeyer doth not
| bear his cross and follow Me can not
| be my disciple" Who here to-day is
anxious for God and heaven? Who is
ready to start forth and say: LET 9TH
| ers do as they may. | will take Christ
in the presence Of heaven and earth and
| hell. In the strength of God now take
the first step forward. Farewell, my
sins! Farewell, inconsistent world!
| Farewell everything that would hinder
me from going forward Welcome, Je-
| sus! Welcome Him Of the torn foot
and the bleeding brow and the broken
| heart! Welcome, Jesus! What thou
cOmmandest me to do | will do. What
thou cOmmandest me to bear | will
bear. Only lead the way, thou great
cTOss-beareT, and 1 will follow with my
own burden" Are you willing to take
Who is on the Lords side? l wish to-
day we might divide off. Who is
ashamed of Christ? Who will turn his
back upon the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world?
Many years ago Roman Emperor
said to a Greek architect: Build me a
CollOssC um, and when it is done | will
crown you, and will make your name
famous through all the world, if you
will only build me grand colosseum
The work was done. The Emperor said:
"Now we will crown that architect.
We will have grand celebration" The
Colosseum was crowded with a great
host. The Emperor was there, and the
Greek architect who was to be crowned
for putting up this building. And
then they brought out some Christians,
who were ready to die for the truth,
and from the doors underneath were let
out the lions, hungry, three-fOurths
starved. The Emperor arose amid the
| shouting assemblage and said: "The
| Colosseum is done, and we have come
| to celebrate it to-day by the putting to
| death of Christians at the mouths of
| these lions, and we have come here to
! honor the architect who has construct
ed this wonderful building. The time
! has come for me to honor him, and We
| further celebrate his triumph by the
| Staying of these Christians" Where
| upon the Greek architect Sprang to his
| feet and shouted: 81 also am a Chris
tian." And they flung him to the wild
beasts, and his body, bleeding and dead,
was tumbled into the dust of the am
phitheater. Could you have done that
| for Christ? Could you have stood up
there in the presence of that great au
dience, who hated Christ, and hated ey-
cry thing about him, and said: II, too,
am Christian" Could you have done
it2 Could you to-day stand up in the
presence of this audience and say: "I
want to be on the Lords sideP" Have
you the ten-thOusandth part of the cOur-
age and enthusiasm for Christ that
Greek architect had? Are you willing
to avow just now the position you oc-
eupy in regard to Christi Are you will
ing to let the world know, as it looks
on, that-let others do as they may
come sickness OF health, come applause
: or abuse, come life OF death-yOu are
, for Christ now and Christ forever. j
have wondered if now in the midst of
this sermon, before prayer is offered,
there might be any here who desire an
interest in that prayer, and 1 have Won
dered if L should ask those who desire
| infaraqt in this CLOSING DraVpr tn