St. Landry democrat., 1886-11-06

agreement, IucS Jake OdtuS Ol 1cditS ullt
the more and complete the organization thu
more and complete the success. Here wa:
| one who went forth without any organiza
ton and alone. If men had d mind to ioir
in His company, all right; if they had {
| mind not to Join in His company, all well
If they came they were greeted with nt
loud salutation; if they went away the,
were sent with no bitter anathema Pete,
departed, and Christ turned and looked q
him. That was all
All this was against Him. Did any on
ever undertake such an enterprise amidsr
such infinite embarrassmcnts and by sucl
| modes! And yet | am here to say it endet
in a complete triumph. Notwithstanding
His worldly occupation. His poverty, Hk
plain face, His unpretending garb, the fac
that He was schoolless, the fact that HI
had brief life. the fact that He was no,
accompanied by any visible organization
notwithstanding all that, in an cXhilara
tiop which shall be prolonged in cverlast
ing chorals: Il have finished the Worl
| Thou gavcst me to do"
See Him victorious over the forces o
nature The sea is a crystal sepulcher. L
swallowed the Central American, the Pres
i,ient, the Spanish armada as easily as any
| fly that ever hoated on it. The inland lake.
are fully as terrible in their wrath Re
cent travellers tell rs that Galilee Whel
aroused in a storm is overwhelming, and
vet that sea crouched in His presence, and
licked His feet. He knew all the waves
and the wind When He beckoncd, they
same. When He frowned, they fed. The
leel of His foot made no ndentation on the
soliditied water. Medical science has
wrought great changes in rheumatic limbs
and diseased blood, but when the muscles
are entirely Withered. no human power can
restore them, and when a limb is once dead
it is dead But here is a paralytic-his
hand is lifeless. Christ says to him:
"Stretch forth thy hand,' and he stretches
it forth.
In the eye infirm~y, how n my diseases
Of that delicate organ have been cureds
But Jesus says to one blind: "Be open,"
and the light Of Heaven rushes through
gates that have never before been opened.
The frost of an axe may kill a tree, but
Jesus smites one dead with word. Chem
stry can do many wonderful things, but
what chemist at a wedding, when the wine
gave out, could change a pail of water into
u cask of wine.
What human voice could command
school of fish: Yet here is a voice that
marshals the scaly tribes, until, in place
where they had let down the net and raised
it up with no fish in it, they let it down
again, and the disciples lay hold and begin
TO pull, when, by reason of the multitude
of fish, the net broke
Nature is His servant. The fiowers-He
twisted them into His sermons: the winds
they were His lullaby when He slept in
the boat; the rant hung glitteringly on
the thick foliage of the parallels; the star
of Bethlehem-it sang Christmas carol
over his birth; the rocks-they beat dirge
at His death.
Behold His victory over the gravel The
hinges of the family vault become very
rusty, because they are never opened ex-
cept to take another in. There is a knob
on the outside of the door of the sepulcher,
but none ON the inside. Here comes the
conqueror of death. He enters that realm
and says: Daughter of Jalrus, sit up" and
she sits up. To Lazarus: "Come FORTH
and he came forth. To the widows son He
said: "Get up from that bier" and he goes
home with his mother. Then Jesus snatched
up the keys of death and hung them to His
girdle, and cried until all the graveyards
of the earth heard him: 80 death, will be
thy plague. o, grave, I will be thy de-
struction."
No man could go through all the obstacles
have described, you say, without having
nature adjoined that was supernatural.
That armand it's muscles, and nerves,
and bones, were intertwisted the energies
of Omnipotence. In the syllables of that
voice there was the emphasis of the eternal
God. That foot that eyalked the deck of
the ship in Gennesearet shall stamp king
doms of darkness into demolition. This
poverty struck Christ owned Augustus,
owned the sSanhedrinl, owned Liberals,
owned all the castles on its beach and all
the skies that looked down into its waters;
owned all the earth and all the heavens.
To Him of the plain coat belonged the
robes Of celestial royalty. He who walked
the road to Emmaus-the lightnings were
the tire-shod steeds to His chariot.
Yet there are those who look on and see
God turn water into wine, and they say:
Sleight of hand. And they see Christ raise
the dead to life, and they say: Easily&eN-
planned; not really dead; playing dead. |
blind man, and they say: Clairvoyant
doctor. o, what shallthey do on the day
when Christ rises up in Judgment, and hills |
shall rock, and the trumpets shall CALL peal
on peal!
In the time of Theodosius the Great there
was great assault made upon the divinity
of Jesus Christ, and during that time Theo-
dosius the Great called his own son to sit |
on the throne with him, and be co-partner
in the government of the empire and one
day the old Bishop came and bowed down
before Theodosius the Emperor, and passed
out of the room, and the Emperor was of
Tended, saying to the old Bishop: 'Why |
did you not pay the same honor to my son
who shares with me in the government"
Then the old Bishop turned to the young
man and said: "The Lord bless thee, my |
young man, but still paid him no such
honor as he had paid to the Emperor. And
the Emperor was still offended and dis
pleased, when the Bishop turned to Theo-
dosius the Great and said to him: '.You