New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1889-08-07
You say: If Christ has to die why not

/ You say: IF Christ has to die why not
let him take some deadly potion an lie on q
couch in some bright and beautiful home?
1 If he must die let him expire amid all kindly
Intentions No, the world must hear the
hammers on the heads of the spikes. The
| world must listen to che death rattle of the
| sufferer The world must feel his warm
blood dropping on each cheek while it looks
up into the face of his anguish. And so the
cross must be lifted and hole is dug on the
top fCalvary. 1t must be dug threefeet deep.
and then the cross is laid on the ground, and
| the sufferer is stretched upon it, and the nails
are pounded through nerve and muscle and
bone, through the right hand, through
the left hand, and then shake his
| right hand to see if it is fast, and
they heave up the wood, half dozen
shoulders under the weight, and they put
the end ofthe cross in the mouth of the hole.
and they plunge it in, all the weight of his
body coming down for the first time on the
spikes; and while some hold the cross up
right others throw in the dirt and trampie
1T down, and trample it hard. Oh plant
that tree well and thoroughly for it is to
bear fruit such as no other tree ever bore:
Why did Christ endure it? He could have
taken those rocks and with them crushed his
crucifers. He could have reached up and
grasped the sword of the ominipotent God
and with one clean cut have tumbled them
into perdition. But no; he was to- die. He
European city a young man died on the scat
fold for the crime of murder. Some time
after the mother of this young man was dy-
ing and the priest came i'll and she made con-
fesslon to the priest that she was the muir
derer and not her son; in q moment OF anger
she had struck her husband blow that
slew him. The son came suddenly into the
room and was washing away the wounds and
trying to resuscitate shis father when some
one looked through the window and saw
him and supposed him to be the criminal.
The young man died for his own mother
You say; 1T was wonderful that he never
exposed her" But tell you grander
his mother nor for his father, but for his
sworn enemies. Oh, such u Christ as that
SO loving, SO patient, SO sefsacrificing-
you not trust him? think there are many
under the influence Of the spirit OF God who
are saying; 81 will trust him if you will only
tell me how and the question asked by
thousands is: Glow? howl" And while 1
answer your question | look up and utter
the prayer which Rowland Hill SO often Mt
tered in the midst of his sermons: master.
help!' How are you to trust in Christ? Just
as you trust anyone. You trust your partner
in business with important things. If COM
mercal house gives you note payable three
months hence you expect the payment of
that note at the end of three months. You
have perfect confidence in their word and in
their ability. Or, again, you go home e1-
pecting there will be food on the table. You
have confidence in that. Now, ask you to
have the same confidence in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says: "You believe take away
your sins and they are all taken away"
What you say, "before pray any more?
Before l read my bible any more? Before
cry over my sins any more?" Yes, this mo-
ment. Believe with all your heart and you
are saved. Why, Christ is only waiting to
,=1.s,,o
pie every day. What is that? Confidence.
If these people whom you trust day by day
are more worthy than Christ, if they are
more faithful than Christ, if they have done
more than Christ ever did. then give
them the preference; but if you really think
that Christ is as trustworthy as they are.
then deal with him as fairly. "Oh," says
some one in a light way, 81 believe that
Christ was born in Bethlehem, and l believe
that he died on the cross" Do you believe
it with your head or your heart? Iwillillus-
trate the difference. You are in your own
house. In the morning you open a news
paper and you read how Capt Braveheart
on the sea risked his life for the salvation of
his passengers: You say: What grand
fellow he must have been! His family deserve
very well of the country You fold the
newspaper and sit down at the table and
perhaps do not think of that incident again
That is historical faith.
DuI now you are on Gne sea, ana IL Is
night. and you asleep, and you are awak-
ened by the shrek of ssFire!' You rush out
on the deck. You hear amid the wringing
of the hands and the fainting the cry ''No
hope! no hope! We are lost! we are lost!"
The sail puts out it's wings of fire, the ropes
make burning ladder in the night
heavens, the spirit Of wrecks Kisses in the
waves and on the hurricane-deck shakes out
its banner of smoke and darkness. "Down
with the lifeboats!'' cries the captain
:.Down with the lifeboats'' People rush
into them. The boats are aboutfull. Room
only for one more man. You are standing
on the deck beside the captain. Who shall
says ''You.' You jump and are saved. He
stands there and dies. Now, you believe
that Capt. Brayeheart sacrificed himself for
his passengers, but you believe it with love,
with tears, with hot and long-continued ex-
Carnations, with grief at his loss and JOY at
your deliverance. That's saving faith. In
other words, what you believe with all the
heart and believe in regard to yourself. On
this hinge turns my sermon; aye, the saliva
ton of your immortal soul. You often go
across bridge you know nothing about.
You do not know who built the bridge, you
do not know what material it is made
of, but you come to it and walk over it and
ask no questions. And here is an arched
bridge blasted from the Rock OF Ages and
built by the architect of the whole universe,
spanning the dark gulf between sin and
righteousness, and all God asks you is to
walk across it, and you start and you come
to it and you stop, and you fall back and
you experiment. You say, Glow do know
that bridge will hold me2'' instead OF march
ing on with firm step. asking no questions,
but feeling that the strength of the eternal
God is under you. Oh, was there ever a
prize proffered to you? For how much? A
million dollars? Its certainly worth more
than that. But cheaper than that you can
have it. Ten thousand dollars? Less than
that. One dollar? Less than that One
farthing? Less than that. without money
and without price," No money to pay. No
journey to make. No penance to suffer. On
" just one decisive action of the soul: sBe-
Geye ON the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved.
Prehistoric Skating.
AS is well known, the art OF skating
is a prehistoric one. In many parts
of Europe bones of domesticated