The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-11-18


become ladder into the skies. That dying
head is easy which has under it the promise
This day thou shalt be with Me in Para
disc" Ye whose lips have been filled with
blasphemy, ye whose hands for many years
have wrought unrighteousness, ye who
have companioned with the unclean, we who
have scaled every height of transgression,
and fathomed every depth and passed every
extreme OF iniqnity-mercy. mercy!
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day;
And there may /, vile as he,
Wash all my sins away.
have Shown you the right hand cross and
the left hand cross; now come to the middle
cross. We stood at the one, and found
1t yielded poison. We stood at the other, and
found it yielded bitter aloes. Come now to
the middle cross, and shake down apples of
love. Uncover your head. You never saw
SO tender a scene as this You may have
seen father, or mother, or companion, or
child Gle. but never SO affecting a scene as
this. The railing thief looked from one way
and saw only the right side of Christ's face.
The penitent thief looked from the other way
and saw the left side of Christ's face But
from where you sit to-day, in the full blaze
OF Gospel, light, you see Christ's full face.
IL was suffering cross. If the weapons OF
torture had gone only through the fatty por-
$1,000
not have been SO great, but they
went through the hands, and feet and
temples; the most sensitive portions 1t was
not only the spear that went into His side
but the sins of all the race-a thousand
spears-plunge after plunge, deeper and
deeper, until the silence and composure that
before characterized Him gave way into a
groan, through which rumbled the sorrows
of time and the woes of eternity Human
In &c ,oIl Ir,l Ill
its sharpest javelin, and devils had vented
their hottest rage, when, with every nerve of
His body in torture, and every fibre of His
heart III excruciation, He cried out: MY God,
my God! why hast thou forsaken me!'
1t was a vicarious cross The right hand
cross suffered for itself, the left hand cross for
itself, but the middle cross for you. When a
KING was dying, a young man cried: Pour
my blood into his veins, that he die not"
The veins of the young man were tapped and
the blood transferred, SO that the king lived,
but the young man died. Christ saw the race
perishing. He cried: Pour my blood into
their veins, that they die not
My hand is free now, because Christ's was
crushed. Ny brow is painless now, because
Christs was torn. Ny soul escapes, because
Christ's was bound. 1 gain heaven, because
Christ for me endured the horrors of hell
When the Swiss were many years ago con-
tending against their enemies, they saw these
enemies arrayed in solid phalanx and knew
not how to break their ranks; but one of
their heroes rushed out in front of his regi-
ment and shouted: "Make way for liberty"
The weapons of the enemy were plunged
into his heart, but while they were Staying
him of course their ranks We're broken, and
through that gap in the ranks the Swiss
marched to victory. Christ saw all tina pow
ers OF darkness aSsailing men. He cried out:
All the weapons of internal wrath struck
Him, but as they struck him our race marched
out free
To this middle cross, my dying hearers
look, that your souls may live. 1 showed you
the right hand cross in order that you might
seq what an awful thing it is to be unbe-
ieving. I showed you the left hand cross,
that you might see what it is to repent. Now
l show you the middle cross, that you may
see what Christ has done to save your soul.
Poets have sung its praise, and sculptors have
attempted to commemorate it in marble, and
martyrs have chung to it in the fire, and
Christians dying quietly in their beds have
leaned their heads against it This hour
may all our souls embrace it with an
ecstasy of affection. Lay hold of that
cross. sinner! Every thing else will fail you.
Without strong grip on that you perish.
Put your hand on that and you are safe,
though world swing from beneath your
feet O., that might engrave on your souls
intellectually the three crosses, and that if in
your waking moments you will not heed
then that in your dream this coming night
you might see OH the hill back of Jerusalem
the three spectacles: the right hand cross show
ing unbelief dying without Christ, the left hand
showing what it is to be pardoned, while the
central cross pou,s upon your soul the sun
burst of heaven at it says: "By all these
wounds plead for thy heart. 1 have loved
thee with an everlasting love. Rivers cannot
quench it. Floods cannot drown it" And
while you look, the right hand cross will fade
out OF sight, and then the left will be gone;
nothing will remain but the middle cross, and
even that in your dream will begin to change,
until it becomes a throne; and tho worn face
of Calvary will become radiant with glad
ness; and instead Of the mad mob at the foot
of the cross will be a multitude kneeling.
And you and 1 will be among them.
But no! we will not wait for such q
dream In this our most aroused
mood we throw down at the foot
of that middle cross sin, sorrow, life, death,
everything. We are slaves: Christ gives
deliverancs to the captive. We are thirsty
Christ is the river of salvation to Stake our
thirst We are hungry; Jesus says: II am
the bread Of life." We are condemned to
die; Christ says: 'Save that man from going
down to the pit; am the ransom" We are
tossed on q sea of trouble: Jesus comes over
it, saying: at is L, be not afraid" We are
in darkness; Jesus says: Il the bright
and morning star" We are sick; Jesus
is tho balm Of Qilead.'' We arc
dead; hear the shrouds rend and the grave
hillocks heave, He cries: II am the
Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live" We want justification; Being j,lsti-
fled by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ" We want
to exercise faith; Believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved /
want to get from under condemnation
"There is now, therefore, no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus" The
cross-He carried it. The flames of hell-He
suffered them. The shame-He endured it.
The crown-He won it. Heights of heaven
sing it, and worlds Of light to worlds of light
all round the heavens cry: "Gloryl gloryl"