The Russellville Democrat., 1889-08-08

I was not effeminacy or insipidity of char acter; It was accompanied with majesty 1 Infinite and Omnipotent. Lest the world 1 should not realize His earnestness, this Christ mounts the cross.
 1 You say: If Christ has to die, why 1 not let Him take some deadly potion and lie on couch in some bright and beauti- | ful home? If He must die, let Him expire amid all kindly intentions" No, the world must hear the hammers on the l heads of the spikes. The world must | listen to the 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 of Calvary. It must be dug three | feet 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 1 hand, and then they 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 of the 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 upright, others throw in the dirt and trample it hard. Oh, plant that tree we'll 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 cruoifers. He could have reached up and grasped the sword of the Omnipotent God, and with one clean cut have tumbled them into perdition. pttf Ha fp Ha ct life for your life.
 In a European city @ young man died on the scaffold for the crime of murder. Some time after the mother of this young man was dying and the priest came in, and she made confession to the priest that she was the murderer and not her son; in moment of anger she had struck her hus band blow that slew Him. The son came suddenly in 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 mother. You say: 1t was wonderful that he never exposed her."
 But l tell you of 8 grander thing. Christ, the Son of God, died not for His mother, nor for his Father, but for His sworn enemies. Oh, such Christ as that-so loving, so patient so self sacri- ficing-can you not trust Him? l think there are many under the influence of God who are saying: "I will trust Him; you will only tell me howl" and the great question asked by thousands is: How how" And while I answer your ques- ton look up and utter the prayer which Roland Hill so often uttered in the midst of his sermons:
 "Master, helpw
 How are you to trust in Christi Just as you trust any one. You trust your part ner in business with important things. Ii a commercial house gives you note pay able 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 expecting there will be food on the table. You have confidence in that Now, I 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"
 "WhatW you sav, ''before pray any more? Before read my Bible any more? Before I cry over my sins any more?"
 Yes, this moment. Believe with all your heart and you are saved. Why, Christ is only waiting to get from you what you give to scores of people 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 Hlm as fairly.
 "Oh," says some one in light way, 'T believe that Christ was born in Bethle- hem, and 1 believe that He died on the cross." Do you believe it with your head or your heart? Twill illustrate the differ ence. You are in your own house. In the morning you open newspaper and you read how Captain Bray eheart on the sea risked his own life for the salvation of his passengers. You say: "What grand fellow he must have beeni His family deserve very we'll of the coun- try" 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 awakened by the shriek of "Firev' You rush out on deck. You hear amid the wiring of the hands and the fainting, the cry: "No hope, no hopel We are lost! we are lostW The sail puts out it's wings of fire, the ropes make burning ladder ill the night h eayens, the spirit of wrecks misses in the wave, and on the hurricane deck shakes out it's banner of smoke and darkness.
 Down with tue l!fe- boatsl" cries the faf xrff ha ia
 People rush into them. The boats are about full. Room only for one more man. You are standing on the deck be- side the captain. Who shall it be? You or the captainS The captain says: You" You jump and are saved. He stands there and dies. Now. you believe that Captain Braveheart sacrificed himself for his passengers, but you believe it with love, with tears, with hot and long ex- clamations, with grief at his loss, and joy at your deliverance.
 That is 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 salva- ton of your immortal soul. You often go across a 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 aud ask no questions. And here is an arched bridge blasted from the Rock of Ages" and built by the arch itecture of the whole universe, spanning the dark gulf between sin and righteous ness, and all God asks you is to walk across it; and you start, and you come to 1t and you stop, and you go little way on and you stop, and you fall back, and you experiment..
 You say, "How do I know that bridge will hold mep instead of marching on with firm step, asking no questions, but feeling that the strength of the eternal God is under you. Oh, was there ever prize profered so cheap as pardon and Heaven are offered to you? For how much? A million dollars? It is certainly