The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-08-08

the lett hand, and then shake hia
right hand to see il IL 10 fast, and
they heave up the wood, half . dozen
shoul3ars~ under the weight, and they put
theAdd OfthS cFOssjn the mouth OF the hole,
and they plungs itAn, all the weight of his
body coming 0owS Tor the drst time on the
spikes;s and while Some hold the cross up
I'D 4oWns and tfample 1t hard. Oh. plant
SsAA1 IT, ven and thoroughly for it IL to
n9Ge fruit such as no other tree ever bore
My ldld Christ endure 1t? He could have
tafe6 thOss rocks and with them crushed hie
Gfdcfhcrs. He could have reached up and
the sword of the ominipotent God
and with one clean cut have tumbled them
into ~perdition. But no; he was to die. He
must die. His life for your life. In a
European city ayoung man died OF the scat
fold for the crime of murder. Some time
after the mother of this young man was dy.
ing and the priest came in and she made con
fession to the priest that she was the muir.
derer and not her son; in . moment OF anger
she had struck her husband o blow that
slew him. The son came suddenly into the
room and was washing away the wounds and
trying to resuscitate his 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: at was wonderful that he never
exposed her" But / tell you Q grander
thing. Christ, the son OF God, died not for
sworn enemies. Oh, such u Christ as that
so loving, SO patient, SO acknowledgment
Won not trust him? I think there are many
under the influence Of the spirit OF God who
are saying; Il will trust him il you will only
tell me how" and the question asked BY
thousands is: "How? howl" n while |
answer your question l look up and utter
the prayer which Rowland Hill 30 often ut
tered in the midst of his sermons: master.
|-helpl,- How are you to trust in Christ? Just
as you trust anyone. 1on fkust your partner
n business MISUNDERSTANDING. If com
msrcial house gives you q pote pf bsymtHnSs
that note a. the ssnd 81 thfee months. You
have perfect confidence in,their word and in
their ability. Or, again. you go homo ex-
.pecting there win be food Sn the table. You
have confidence in that. Now, I ask you to
have the sam confidence in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says: "You believe l take away
your sins and they are all taken away"
What" you soy, 'before l pray any more?
Bel Before rel read mS linn; my , bible m any m9 Yss' tb Rs'o %o L
ment. Believe with all your heart and you
are saved. Why, Christ is only waiting to
get from you what you give to scores of peo-
pie every day. What il that? Confidence.
II these people whom you trust day by day
are more worthy than Christ, If they ore
more faithful than Christ, if they have done
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, ri believe that
Christ was born in Bethlehem, and I believe
that he died ON the cross" Do you believe
it with your head or your heart? l will illus
trate the difference. You are in your own
house. In the morning you open a news
paper and you reud how Capt. B%raveheart
on the sea risked his life for the salvation of
his passengers: You say: What q grand
fellow he must have beenl 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.
But now you are on the sea, and it is
night. and you are asleep, and you are awak-
ON the deck. You hear amid the wringing
Of the hands and tho ,fainting the cry "No
hopel no hope! We are lost! we are lost!"
The sail puts out it's wings of fire, the ropes
make O burning ladder in the night
heavens, the spirit of wrecks Kisses in the
waves and on the h~urricane-deck shakes out
it it,. banner 1ss Of smoke and darkness. Down
Will IL 1A0UO0SoI CIIc6 Tue CdpUdlIts
:"Down with the liieboatsl" 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
it be? You or the captain? The captain
says "You." You jump and are saved. He
stands there and dies. Now, you believe
that Capt. Braveheart 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 is saving faith. In
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 q bridge you know nothing about.
You do not know who built the bridge, you
not know what material it is made
of. but you come to it and walk over it and
ask no questions. And here ia 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
and all God asks you is to
it and you stop, and you fall back and
that bridge will hold meY' 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 O
prize profered to you? For how much? A
million dollars? It is certainly worth more
than that. But cheaper thar that you can
hsKe it ~TTCn J,Tt lsIHi doi.sss!? ~r13sess than
that. One dollar? Less than that. C1e
farthing? Less than that. without money
and without price," No money to pay. No
to make: No penanee to suffer. On
lieve on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
he Raved. 7>' "E. -%