Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1886-11-20

mother" The son arose and went home with
his mother. Then Christ picked up the Keys
of death and fastened them to His girdle.and
uttered voice which still resounds through
ali the graveyards OF tle earth: Oh, death,
/ will be thy plague! Oh, grave, VIII Do
thy destructionm
do not know any better illustration OF
the vicarious suffering and work OF Christ
than l could find in the Brotherhood TINS
day here presented AMI here welcomed with
ali our hearts. Vi,arious suffering. We
sometimes talk as though it were an abstract
word and we try to illustrate it this
way and that way. But it has
been illustrated in the lives OF
that profession and occupation perhaps
as in no other There is not railroad in
the United States that has not been the scene
of heroic endurance on the part OF railroad
engineers-a scene worthy of poets canto
and painters pen'il and sculptors chissl
aud legislators appropriation. There he IS,
passing along rapidly He is at his post.
There has been some wrong order
given, or there has been some reckles,ness,
somewhere, and there comes the train dJwn
on the same ura:k against him at the rate Of
Fl ty mile the hour Standing at his post be
says: "What shall dor for how much a
man can think in a second: "Shall jump
and save my lie and be the support of
nv helple IS family, or shall l stand
here and save my three hundred pas
sengers. Oh God, hel7." He comes to quick
decision, and he submits to the awful bap-
tis;n Of fire and scalding and whirlwind and
goes up to take his place among thu martyrs
before the throne. There is one book that
needs to he written, aud it needs to bs en-
titled: "The Martyr Locomotive Engineers
of America" l am glad they are
putting into noem beautiful scene enacted
on one of the Western praries An engin 'er
passing along day after day saw a little girl
come out in front of her fathers cabin and
L
day that was the Joy of the old engineers
heart, as passing along in his locomotive over
the prairies the little child anne and waved to
him and he waved back. But one evening the
train was belated and it was belatsd until
the darkness came on, aud by the headliy hit
Of the locomotive, the old en- yineor saw that
little child on the track. She had come out
looking for the old engineer She won
dered why so long he tarried. She
knew not her perl. When the old
engineer saw the little girl on the track a
great horror froze his soul. He reversed the
engine and leaned over on the cowcatcher,
and though the train was slowing N AID
slowing IN very much. it did seem to the
old engineer as if it were gaining in
velocity But staining there and wait
ing for tse right moment, with almost
supernai ural c,u b he sci ed her and fell
back on The cowcatcher. The train halted,
the rasse myers came around to see what was
tainted dead away, with the little child all
unhurt in his arms. He had saved her.
Bravo! You say, bravo for the cd engineer.
But behold my Christ the son of God.
When long trains of disaster were ccninG
down OH tho nations-long trains of ever
lasting woe and darkness and doom, Ha
went out in bis own Almighty strength and
snat he'd US out of the doom, and snatchei
us ont OF darkness Himself perish ng i'll tina
sacrifice. Oh, the grandeur of the vicari 1ul
81 fering of the Son of God who laid down
Hisli n you and for me. Oh, His e ace
1t is so hi H. it is SO deep it is so long it is so
broad. Yes, yes. We have sympathizer
in this Christ l know that. You cannot
tell, my brother, you cannot tell, my sister,
you cannot tell Christ anything about
suffering. He has been through it ALL
You will never have load as
heavy to carry as the load He carried up the
bloody mount You will never have any
suffering worse than that which Christ felt
when. with tongue hot and parched and
cracked and swollen, He cried out: 81
thirstw All, you viii never have any
worse enemies than Christ had
They hailed down His prayers and they
snufed VI with gee the s nell Of His blood
This day lay His crushed heart at your feet.
Oh, he must have been tremendo lsly in
earnest, or all the obstacles would have
driven Him bac'T. Bit, no, no. h comes
right on, and He is here more certainly than
you and are here, for He fills all the place
with His presence, AMI put His crushed
heartat your feet. Oh, let it not be told in
Heaven that after all your opportunities of
accepting this Christ, and after all that
Christ has done for you, you despised His
grace and put / this opportunity. Many of
you see for the first time and the last time
1t is SO every Sabbath morning aud it
is so every Sabbath night I see you
once and then never again until the great
throne of judgment is lifted and they shall
come from the North and the South and the
East and the West. We will all be there
However deep down in the earth we may
be buried we will hear the blast of the great
trumpet, and we shall cone up. we shall
come uo. And yet / have 10 tell Won this
morning-a1d it breaks my helrt to
tell yon-that Notwithstanding all that
Christ has done because of His rejection,
all His magnificent work AMI all the story of
cross anil crown and thOrnS are for so ne
people dead failure. Helena, the Empress.
went out TO find in the Holy Land q cross
the particular cross on which Christ was
cruclhed, and tradition says--of course thers
was superstition mingled with the ira litiop
tradition says three crosses were exhumsi.
They did not know which OF the three was
the cross Of Christ, SO they took deal oily
ana puS II upon one cross ana the body
moved not Then they took tho dead BODY
and put it upon the Second cross. but the
body moved not. Then they tlok the
dead body AMI thsy put it upon the
third cross and it sprang into life-it
sprang into life. 1t may have been--that
story may have been mere tradition or SUPER
Sutton; but 1t is not slperstiGion that in the
cross OF the Son of God there is life giving
power TO- your dead soul and mine Awake.
thou that sieepest, and arise from the deed
and Christ shall give thee life"