The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1888-06-14

nurses. When you are lift Is pleasant to
have the head bathod aud the hands and
feet rubbed. Look at the hands and feet OF
Christi Look at the face Of Christ. There
were women there who had cared for the
sick, but none of them might come up near
enough to help. There was Christ's mother,
but she might not come up near enough to
help. They said: .sStand backl stand
back! This Is no place for YOU" The high
priests and the soldiers wanted 1t their WI
way; they had it their own way.
The hours pass on, and it il II O'clock of
S-ylof's suffering, and it is / O'clock, and it
IS 2 o'clock. and it is almost 8 O'clock. Take
the last look at that suffering face; wan and
pinched, the purple lips drawn back against
the teeth, the eyes red with weeping and
sunkcn as though grief had pushed them
back, %blackness under the lower lid, the
wl.o.e Cody adroop and shivering with the
Ia sh;ll, the breath growing feebler, and
gives one long, deep, last sigh. He Is deadl
o, my soul, He is deadl Can you tell
why? Was lie a fanatic dying for d princi-
pie that He did not amount to anything?
Was He a nan infatuated? No; to save
your soul from sin, and mine, and make
be a substitute for sin. Who shall it be?
Let 1t be me?" said Christ. LET it be me-"
You understand the meaning of that word
substitution. You were drafted for the last
war, some one took your place, marched
your march, suffered your wounds, and died
at Gettysburg. Christ comes to us while
we are fighting Our battle with sin and death
and hell, and He is. our substitute. He
marches our march, fights our battle, suffers
our wounds, ana dies our death. Substitu.
ton! substitution! ...
How do you feel in regard to that scene
described in the text and in the region
around ABOUT the text? Are your sympathies
0npc 80 nyO -1rp r~ l~~I y --l 90
abandoned by reason Of your trans gressions
that you Can look upon all that fearless and
unmoyed! No, no ;there are thousands o fpeo-
pie here this morning, who can say, in the
depths Of their soul: "No. 10, no; if Jesus
endured that and all that for me, l ought to
love Him. Unjust love Him; 1 will love Him a;
I do love Him. Here, Lord, I give myslf to
Thee tits all that ! can do"
But how are you going to test your love
and test yoIr earnestness? My text gives a
test. 1t says that while Christ carried a
cross for you, you must be willing to carry a
eros for Christ. "Well," you say, II never
could understand that. There are no crosses
to be carried in this land; those prosecutions
have passed, and in all the land there is no
in the prayer-meetings you all keep talking
about carrying a cross. What do you mean,
sir?" mean this: That is a cross which
Christ calls you to do which lis unpleasant
and hard. 'Oh?' you say, "after hearing
the story Of this Christ and all that He has
endured for me l am ready 10 do anything
tor Him.. just tell me what l have 10 do and
I'll do it. I am ready to carry any crcss."
Suppose l should ask you at the close Of a
religious service to rise up announcing your
self on the Lords side-could you do it? "Oh,
noY' you say, 81 have a shrinking and a
sensitive nature, and it would be i'm
possible for me to rise before a large
ami 20 opnor1r,nfnn r,uSolf ar, TIM Z NrISo
side" Just as'I feared. You cannot stand
that cross. The first one that is offered you,
you reject. Christ carried a Himalaya,
Christ carried a world for you, and you can
not lift an ounce for him. :
But here is q man whose cross will be to
announce among his business associates to-
morrow morning on exchange that he has be-
gun a new life, that, while he wants to be
faithful in his.worldly duties, he is living for
another world, and he ought to advise all of
his associates, so far as he can influence
them, to begin with the Christian life. Could
you do that, my brother? ooh, no." you say,
mot just that. I think religion is religion,
and business is business, and 1t would be i'm.
possible for me to recommend the Christian
religion in places Of worldly business" just
as l feared. There is a second cross offered
you and you cannot carry it. Christ lifted a
mountain for you and you cannot lift an
ounce for Him.
There is someone whose cross it will be to
present religion in the home circle. Would
you dare to kneel down and pray if your
brother and sister were looking at you?
Gould you ask a blessing, at the tea table?
Could you take the Blblei and gather your
family around you and read of; Christ and
heaven and your immortal soul? Could you
then kneel and pray for a blessing on your
I couldn't quite do that, because I have a
very quick temper, and if l protested relig-
ion and tried to talk religion in.my house,
hold and after that / should lose my temper,
they would scott at me and say: You are
q pretty Christian = " So you are scowed
down and their sarcasm keeps you out of
heaven and away from Christ, when under
God you ought to take away your whole
family into the kingdom. Christ lifted a
mountain, lifted q whole world for you; you
can not lift an ounce for Him. / see how it
is; you want to be favorable to religion,
YOU want to support Christian institutions,
you like to be associated with those who love
the Lord Jesus Christ; but as to taking a pos.
tive step on this subject you can not-you
can not, and my text, like a gate of a hum
dred bolts, bars you away from peace IN
earth and glory in heaven.
There are hundreds of men and women
here, brave enough in other things Tin lite,
who simply for; the lackl of manliness stay
away from God. They dare not say: ''For.
ever and forever, Lord Jesus, I take Thee.
Thou hast redeemed he by Thy blood, here
Is m immortal spirit. Listen, all my friends.
Listen, all the world" They are lurking
around about the kingdom of God--they are
lurking around. about it, expecting to crawl
in some time when nobody is looking, tor
gettul OF the tremendous words of my text:
""W hosoever doth not bear His cross and
come after Me cannot be Ny disciple"
An officer OF q neighboring church told me
that he was in a store in New York-just
happened in-where there were many clerks,
and a gentleman came in and said to a young
the young man that arose the other night In
the Brooklyn tabernacle and asked for pray
ers?" Without any flush of cheek he replied:
81 am. / havn't always lone right, and I
have been quite bad; but since I arose for
prayers / think I am better than 1 was" 1t
was only his way Of announcing that he had
started for the higher life. God will not
cast out q mar who is brave enough to take
a step ahead like that.
I tell you these things this morning be-
cause, my dear friends, I want to show you
how light the cross Is that we have to carry
compared with that which Christ carried
for us. You have not had the flesh torn of
for Christ's sake in carrying your cross. He
tainted dead away under His cross. You
have not carried the cross until it fetched
the blood. Under His there was q pool OF
carnage that splaslled the horses fetlocks.
You have friends to sympathize with you
in carrying the cross. Christ trod the wine,
cross that YOU and I ought to carry repre-.
sents only a few days Or a few years of trial.
The cross that Christ carried for us had com.
pressed into 1t the agonies of eternity.
There has someone come here to-day
whom you have not observed. He did not
come through the front door; He did not
come down any OF these a~isles; yet i know
He is here. He is from the east, the far
east. He comes with blistered foot. and
with broken heart, and cheeks red not with
health, but with blood from the temples. r
take hold of His coat and I say: s.It does
Is not mine it is borrowed; it does not be-
long to Ne now. For NY Festure did they