The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-10

he breaks your GooCn, you preaN MS IooIu,
sarcasm for sarcasm. persecution for perse.-
cut:on; pay a man in his own coin, wound
! for wound" Christ said: "Pray for them
who despitcfully use and torment you" Was
there ANYTHING so revolutionary? Was there
| ANYTHING that Struck the thrones of the world
SO violently back! They belt the solid earth
under them: but Christ said: ~ uphold the
| pillars of the earth" They looked at the
mocn. Christ said: II will turn it into
blood" They looked at the stars: re said; i
81 will shake them down like untimely figs. "
Do YOU wonder that the world was startled
and overwhelmed1 Were not all these
things against him! After the bat
tie Of Antietam, when the soldiers were
lying down, thor 5ughly exhausted, and one
Of thom told me he did not think he could
have lifted his hand to save his life, it was
told that a favorite general was coming
along the line, and he said they all got up
and nzzs they gave ba three Hbgsb fIqBng few
moments before they felt they cou'd hardly
lift a hand to save their life. So
great was the magnetism Of some
men. Napoleon after his first cap
tivity put his foot on the earth and it
shook all kingdoms, AMI 2j0,0O) men gath
cred to his standard. But Christ had more
wonderful magnetism than that Napoleon
had all around him the memories of Marengo
with no parade, no brandished sword. no
regularity of APPAREL, and compare
lively no reputation. I do not now think
of any remarkable person connected with His
name except his mother, and she so poor that
in the most solemn hour that ever comes to
womau's soul she must lie down among the
camel drivers grooming their beasts Of bur-
den. Ah! Notwithstanding all this, what DO
you sess A man meets Him on the street
some day and says: My father was in gov
9; ;nment, and my grandfather and great.
grandfather. Who was your fatherr
Christ says: "My earthly father was Jo-
seph, the carpenter" Another man meets
Christ and he unrolls his scroll AMI says:
'Here is diploma from the best school in
Athens Where did you graduate" Christ
says: IL never graduated. 1t was as though
scme little fishing village on Long Island
shonld arraign New York. Oh, what stir
He makes If you have amnd to call it
magnetism Of person call it that, but what
str he makes He comes into village and then
He steps out into the fields, and all the people
90 after Him, and though they had taken only
enough food to last day, they are so fas-
cinated with Christ they follow right clear
OUT into the wilderness, and in danger OF
starvation. A man falls fiat on the ground
before Christ, and says: "My daughter is
dead, my daughter is dead" A blind man
trios to rub the dimneSs out of his eyes, and
he says: Lord, that my eyes might be
opened" The light of day pours through
gates that has never before been opened.
And here comes sick AMI fainting woman.
She says: IF could just touch the hem OF
his garment-tbat is ALL" And the little
children who always liked their mothers be-
fore struggled to get out Of their mothers
arms. They wanted to go to Christ's arms
and they wanted to kiss his cheek,
and they wanted to run their fingers
through his hair, and they put Him so in love
with children that there is hardly homo on
earth from which Christ has not taken one.
"Oh," he says. Il must have them. am GO
ing to make Heaven of these. To one cedar
that plant in Heaven plant fifty white
lilies. The children loved me on earth, aud
now have come to a throne, ought not
to love Them Oh, weeping mother, ho.d not
back that child. Law it on my loving and
sympathetic bosom. OF such is the Kingdom
of Heaven"
Once more remark, lack of organization
was against Him. If men arc going to carry
out any grcat pro; ;ect they band together,
and their success is generally in proportion
to the completeness of the organization.
Who cap tell how much can be accom-
pliShed by large number Of men banded
together for a right object Christ had
no such association. no one to back
him up II people came into His
company; all right they, went away, all
we'll When they came. no loud salutation:
When they went away, no following Of
auathema, Peter left Him, and what did
Christ do: The Bible says He looked at him.
That is all. Oh, my trends, did anyone ever
start through such obstacles and run through
such obsta"les to achieve such success! Not
withstanding his worldly occupation
and His diet were against Him, and
His poverty was against Him, aud His lack
of Shooting was against Him, and the
brevity of His life was against Him, and the
reversal of public maximS was against Him,
and lack Of organization was against Him.
yet you hear His voice this morning ringing
through the ages in everlasting cadences:
II have finished the work which thou gavest
me to do!n Oh yes, Christ is
forces ofnature. The Atlantic Ocean-what
terrible shing it is in its wrath. How the
ocean will take down the Spanish Arma Ia,
or the President, or the Central America as
easily as it coulI swallow fly. But have
been told by those who have visited
Asia Minor that storm on those
inland LAKES is worse. And yet
greas inland seas in cyclone and the sea
crouched before Him AMI licked His feet
He knew all tho winds and the waves. He
beckoned and they came. He frowned
and they fed The heel Of His fooS
made no indentation on the solidifei
water as He walked it. In the back
pant of the boat sound asleep. "Oh," you
say, 'poor man, poor Christ, so tired, sound
asleep in the ba K part of the boat" But He
rouses up. He comes to the PROV of the
boat He looks out He has two words, one
for the winds and the other for the Sea. ard
he says: Peace, be STILL" and the waves
crouch like whipped spaniels at his feetl
Ecce Home, Ecce DeuS' Behold the man
Behold the God!
Medical science has done much for the al
deviation of rheumatic ailments and to cure
diseased blood; but when the muscles are all
withered up no human power can ever re-
store them. When the hand and the arm are
dead. they are dead But here is q paralytic
in tn, presence of Christ. Arm perfectly
c!eSs, helpless. Christ sees it. He could
no. see anything Of that kind without pity
ing it. He says to this man with tho
paralytic arm, 'sstretch forth thy hand" u"
He stretched it forth whole as the other.
Ecce Deus! Behold the God! And there is
the fish of the sea. No human voice ever
commanded school of fish, but Christ's
voice marshals the fnny tribe, and they
como in a place where little while
before people were 1shing and haul
ing in nothing; now tue people again
pull the net, aud they pull until the net
breaks There is the grave. The hinges OF
the family vault get very rusty because the
door is 50 seldom opsnel. 1t is only when
some of us go in to stay there for the last
sleep A knob on the outside OF the door OF
the family vault but no knob within: The
knob on the out lido we open to pass in, but
no knob ON the inside. They wac pass in
stay there until the resurrection. Chri1t came
through all that realm and He said: "Daugh-
ter of Jairus, rise up" She rose up. lie
said. lazarus, come FORTH" an he cane
forth. Aud He said to tho widows sou:
SCOT off that bier aud go home with thy
mother" The son arose and went home with