The Nicodemus cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Graham County, Kan.) 1887-1888, 1888-06-15


His own hand. They offered him an intoxi-
eating draught made out of wine and myrrh,
but he declined it, He wanted to die sober
! No water:
Then, my friends, there was the absence Of
| light. Darkness always exasperates trouble.
l never shall forget the night in the summer
| of 1873, in the Steamer Greece, mid-Atlantic,
every moment expecting the steamer to go
down. All the lights in the cabin
were blown out The captain came
for he could not stand upright, so violent
| ~ was the vessel pitching and he cried cut
"Light up light up!" The steward said:
1--WE can't light up; the candles are gone ard
can't help that; light upp' The storm was
awful when the lights were burning, worse
! when the lighte tent out
Their there was the absence of faithful
| nurses When you are i'll. it is pleasant to
have the head bathed and the hands and feet
rubbed. Look at the hands and feet of Christ,
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
'Stand back, stand back; this is no place for
YOU" The high priests and the soldiers
wanted it their own ways they had it their
own way.
The hours pass on and it Is twelve O. CLOCK
Of the SAY iOurs suffering, and 1t is one o'clock,
| duu IL Is TWO D CLOCK, anu III Is almost IuI6c
| 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 sunken as though grief had
| pushed them back, blackness under the lower
| lid the whole body adrOOp and shiverlng with
the last chill, the breath growing feebler and
| feebler and feebler and feeber until He gives
one long, deep, last sigh. He is dead
0! my soul, he is dead. Can you tell why.
Was He fanatic dying for principle that
did not amount to anythingl Was He a man
infatuateda No; to save your soul from sin,
and NINE and make eternal life possible He
died. There has to be a substitute for sin.
| Who shall 1t bel "Let it 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,
and dies our death. Substitution Substitu-
| toni
| How do you feel in regard to that scene de-
scribed in the text, and in the region around
about the text Are your sympathies arOuseda
or are you so dead in sin, and so abandoned
| by reason of your transgressOns that you can
| look upon all that fearless and unmOved. No,
nos there are thousands of people here this
morning who can say in the depth of their
souls mo, no, no; if Jesus endured that
and all that for me, ought to love Him. /
must love Him, will love Him. do love Him
Here, Lord, l give myself to thee; tits all
that | can do"
But how are you going to test your love,
and test your earnestness? NV text gives a
test. 1t says shat while Christ carried cross
for YOU, YOU must be willing to carry a
cross for Christ. 'Well" you say, 81 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
one to be crucfed and yet in the pulpit and
in the prayer meetings you all keep talking
about carrying a cross. What do you mean
sirF' | mean this: that is a cross which
Christ calls you to do, which is unpleasant
and hard. "Op' you say, latter hearing the
story of this Christ and all that He has en-
| dured for me, am ready to do anything for
| Him. Just tell me what / have to do and
I'll do it, | am ready to carry any cross"
Suppose | should ask you at the close Of q
religious service to rise up announcing YOUR
self on the Lords side--could YOU do it?
80! no." you say, Il have shrinking and a
f Be- mposb e"tqG oi and to 4se S T9od
a large assemblage, announcing myself on
the Lords side" just as | feared. You
cannot stand that cross. The first one that
Is offered you, you reject Christ carried a
mountain, Christ carried a Himalaya, Christ
carried a world for yOu and you cannot lift
an ounce for Him.
But here is man whose cross will be to an
| nounce among his business associates to-
morrow morning on Exchange, that lie as
begun 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 ali
those who arc his associates, so far as he can
influence them, to begin with him the Chris
tian life. Could you do that, my brother
so! no." you say mot just that. think
religion is religion, and business is business,
and it would be impossible for me to recon-
mend the Christian religion in places of
worldly btisirEss." Just as | feared. There
is a second cross offered yCu, and you cannot
carry it. Christ lifted a mountain FOR you
you cannot lift an ounce for Him.
There is some one whose cross 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!
Could you ask a blessing at the ea-tabl e9
Could you take the Bible and gather you r
family around you, and read Of Christ and
heaven and your immortal sOuls Could you
then kneel and pray for blessing on your
| household "Or' you say, mot exactly
that. | couldn't quite do that because
have a very quick temper, aud if protested
religion ana tried to talk religion in my
! household, and then after that | should lose
my temper they would scott al me and say:
| You are a pretty Christianr " So you are
COwed down and their sarcasm keeps you
out of heaven and away from Christ, when
| u0upf zoo FIu Ou&nI 10 TAME your hHOlC
family into the kingdom. Christ lifted
a mountain lifted world for you; YOU eau
not lift an ounce for Him. | see how 1t is;
YOU want to be favorable to religion, YOU want
to support Christian institutions, You like to
&c associated with those who love Jesus
Christ but as 20 taking positive step on
this subject YOU CanHot-yOu cannot, and
nv text like gate of a hundred bots bars
YOU away from peace on earth and glory In
heaven.
There are hundreds of men and women
here brave enough in other things in life who
! simply for the lack of manliness aud woman
linrss stav away from God. They dare not
saw: "FOreter end forever, Lord Jesus,
take Thee Thou hast redeemed me by Thy
blood. here is nv immortal spirit. Listen all
nv friends Listen all the world They
are lurking around about the kingdom OF
God-they are lurking around about It, ex-
pecting - crawl in some time when nobody is
locking. forgetful of the tremendous words
nv of texts "Whosoever doth not bear hi:
cross, and come after Ne, cannot be Ny dis
ciple.
An officer of a neighboring church told me
that he was in a store In New 1OTk-iust hap
rsued n-where there are many clerks, aud
a gentleman came in aud said TO a young
man standing behind the counter: 'Are
{ haf the NJ her n iC n