The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1884-03-11

3
from generation to generation. Now
that Christ is to be disrohed, who
shall have His coat! Joseph of
Arimathea would have liked to have
mad it. Mary the Mother of Jesus,
would have liked to have had it.
How fondly she would have lowered
over it. and when she must leave 1t
with what tenderness she would have
bequeathed it to her best friend! 1t
was the only covering of Christ in
darkness aud storm. That was the
very coat that the woman toucheu,
when from it there went out virtue
for her healing. That was the only
wedding garment he had in the mar
riage at Cana. and the storms that
swept GaIilee had drenched it again
and again. And what did they do
with it? They ratified for it We
have heard of men who gambled away
their own garments, who gambled
awav their childreu's shoes, who gam
bied away the family Bible, who
gambled away their wife's last dress.
but it adds 20 the CHA sf illness OF a
Ssvior's humiliation and The borror of
the crime, when [ hear Jesus in bis
last moments declaring: They par ted
my garments among tnsm. aud for
nv vesyure did they cast lots.
INTHIs ANrAGoNIsTIC GROUP
around the cross also were the rulers
and the scribes and The chief priest.
Lawyers and judges and ministers OF
religion in this day are expet. ed 20
have some respect for the offices. La
this land where the honors of the jul
dietary come to besotted politicians
aud men noted for drunkenness -
even in this land where We live, it is
an uuhsard of thing that a judge
comes down from the bench and strikes
a prisoner in the face. No minister
of religion would scof at or mock
condemned criminal. And yet the
great meu of that laud seemed to he
equal to any ruffianism. They were
vieipg with each Olher as TO how
much scorn and biilingsgate they
could cast Into the teeth of the dying
Christ. Whv, the worst teloa, when
his snemv hiss fallen, refuses to strike
him. But these men were not
ashamed 10 strike Jesus when he was
down. So it nas been in all ages o.
the world, that there have been men
IN high positions who despi.e Christ
and His gospel. What tyrants
have issued their anathemas7 What
Judgment seats have kiudled Their
f-esl What inquisitions have sharp
ened their swords Not this man
hdt Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a
robber." Against the Christian reli-
gion have been brought the historical
genius Of Gibbon and the polish OF
Shaftesbury and the &ingly authority
! of Frederick of Prussia AMI the bril-
liancy OF John Earl, of Rochester and
the stupendous intellect of Voitalre.
Innumerable pens have stabbed it,and
inpu merable books have cursed it and
that mob which bounded Christ from
Jerusalem 10 the place of skull has
never been dispersed, hut is augment
ing yet, as many of the learned men
Of the world and great men of the
world come cut from their studios and
their laboratories and their palaces
and cry, AWAY with the mani Away
with him The most bitter hostility
which many of the learned men OF
this day exercise in any direction, they
exercise against Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, the Savior of the world, with
out whom We will die forever.
in this group of enemies surround,
ing the cross | also find the railing
thief. 1t seems that he twisted him.
self on the spikes he forgot his own
pain in his antipsthy to Jesus.
do rot know what kind of a thief be
was. | do not know whether he had
been a burglar or a pickpOcket or 8
highwayman; but our idea of biz
Icrimes is aggravated when we hear
him disappearing the Redeemer. Oh
shame indescribable. Oh, ignominy
insupportable Kissed at by a thief
Ia that ridicuIe | find the fact tha'
there is hostility between sin and holi
ness. There can not be, there ha'
never been, any sympathy between
honesty and theft, between purify ant
righteousness, between zeal and indO.
lence, between faith and unbelief, be
tween light and darkness, between
heaven aud hell. And when / see 9
good man going out to discharge hi
duty, and he is enthusiastic for Christ
and | see persecution after him, ant
contempt after him, and scorn afte
him, l say, Hark another hiss of tn
dying thief And when | see holmes
going forth in her white robes, AM