The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-04

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, forgetful of the
tremendous words of my text: 'Whosoever
doth not bear his cross. and come after me,
cannot be my disciple"
An officer of a neighboring church told
me that he was in a store in New York
Just happened in-where there were many
clerks, and gentleman came in and said TO
Young man standing behind the counter
"Are you the young man that arose the
other night in the Brooklyn Tabernacle and
asked for prayersp Without any flush of
cheek, he replied: 81 am l haven't always
done right, and / have been quite bad; but
since / arose for prayers / think | am
better than | wasn 1t was only his way Of
announcing that he had started for the
higher life. God will not cast out a man
who is brave enough to take a step ahead
like that.
1 tell you these things this morning be
cause, my dear friends, | want to show you
how light the cross is that we have to carry,
compared with that which Christ carrie |
for us. You have not had the flesh torn Off
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 pool of
carnage that FLASHED the horses fetlocks.
You have friends to sympathize with you
in carrying the cross; Christ trod the. wine
press of Gods wrath alone, alonel The
cross that you and / ought to carry repre-
sents only few days or few years of trial.
The cross that Christ carried for us had
compressed into it the agonies of eternity.
There has some one come here to-day
whom you have not observed. He did not
come through the front door; he did not
Il Of hos icln vat lynn
he is here. He is from the east, the far
east. He comes with blistered feet, and
with broken heart. aud cheeks red not with
health, but with blood from the temples. |
take hold of his coat and say: at does not
seem to fit thee" mo" he says, "it is not
mine; it is borrowed; 1t does not belong to
me now. For my vesture did they cast
lots" And | say to him: Chime eyes are
red as though from loss of sleep" He says:
Eyes, the son of man had not where to lay
his head" And | touch the log on his back
and say: "Why earliest thou thisN "Ah!"
he says, shat is a cross | carry for thee and
for the sins Of the whole world. That Is a
cross. Fall into line; march on with me in
this procession. Take your smaller crosses
and your lighter burdens and jon me in
this march to heaven And we Join that
procession with our smaller crosses and our
Lighter burdens, and Christ looks back and
he sees some are hating because they can
not endure the shame or bear the burden,
and with voice which has in it majesty
and omnipotence he cries until all the
earth trembles: "Whosoever doth not bear
his cross and come after me cannot be my
disciple"
o! my brethren, my sisters-for l do not
speak professionally, l speak as a brother
would speak to a brother or sister-my
brother, can you not bear cross if at last
you can Wear a orownl Come now, let us
divide off. Who is on the Lords side! Who
is ready to turn his back upon the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the
world9
A Roman emperor said to a Greek archi-
tect: ''You build me coliseum, a grand
coliseum, and if it suits me | will crown
you in the presence of all the people, and |
will make great day of festival on your
account The Greek architect did his
work, did 1t magniicently, planned the
building, looked after its construction. The
building was done. The day for opening
arrived. In the coliseum were the emperor
and the Greek architect The emperor rose
amid the plaudits of a vast assembly and
said: ''We have gathered here to-day to
open this coliseum, and to honor the Greek
architect. 1t is a great day for the
Roman empire Let this building be pros
porous, and let honor be put upon
the Greek architect o. we must
have a festival to-day. Bring out those
Christians and let us have them put to
death at the mouth of the lions" The
Christians were put into the center of the
amphitheatre. 1t was to be a great cele-
bration in their destruction. Then the
lions, hungry and three-fourths starved,
were let out from their dens in the side of
the amphitheatre, and they came forth with
mighty spring to destroy and rend tbs
Christians, and all the galleries shouted:
''Huzza, huzza! Long live the emperor |"
Then the Greek architect arose in one of the
galleries and shouted until in the vast
assemblage all heard him: 81 too am a
Christianln and they seized him in their
fury and flung him TO the wild beasts.
until his body, bleeding and dead, was
tumbled over and over again in the dust of
the anphitheatre.
Could you have done that for Christ2
Could you, in a vast assemblage, all of
whom hated Christ, have said: II am a
Christian" or, II want to be a Christian?"
Would you have had the ten thousandth
part of the enthusiasm and the
courage of the Greek architect!
Nay. l ask you another question:
Would you in an assemblage where they
are nearly all Christians-in an assemblaoe
vast multitude of whom love Christ and
ere willing to live, and if need be, to die for
um-would you dare to say: 81 am
&nrlSUldn, OF, L want TO be a Christian r.
Would you say i'll the presence of the
friends of Christ as much as the Greek
architect said in the presence of the enemies
of Christi o. are there not multitudes here
this morning who are ready to say: LET
the world look on, let all the galleries of
earth and heaven and hell look on, | take
Christ this day. Come applause or abuse,
come sickness or health, come life or death,
Christ now, Christ forever"
Are you for Christ, are you against himl
The destinies of eternity tremble in the
balance 1t seems as if the last day had
come, and We We're gathered for the reck-
oning. behold. he cometn with clouds,
and every eye shall see him. What saw
to one | say to all. What are you doing for
Christ! What are you bearing for Christ :
Oh, Christian man Oh, Christian woman I!
Have you any scars to show in this conflict ?
When a war is over the heroes have scars to
show One hero rolls back his sleeve
and shows gunshot fracture, or he pulls
down the collar and shows where he
was wounded in the neck Another man
says: 81 have never had the use of my
limb since l was wounded at that great bat
tie" When the last day comes, when all
our battles are over, will we have anywounds
for Christi Some have wounds for sin.
wounds for the devil, wounds gotten in
fighting on the wrong side. Have we
wounds that we can show-wounds gotten
in the battle for Christ and for the truth Z
On that resurrection day Christ will have