The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1889-04-03

to the place where Jesus sat; where all
might come with their burdens of sin and
sorrow to Him who was ready to heal
and comfort and save
In another place we read that great
multitudes were gathered together unto
Him, so that he went into ship and
sat, and the whole multitude stood on the
shore" Here He made the ship His pull
pit, and the congregation stood listening
to One who knew how to calm the tu-
multi of the people and the angry waves
with word.
At another time we are told "there
followed Him great multitudes of people
from Galilee and from Decapohs, and
from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and
from beyond Jordan" Here you see
how "they came to Him from every quar-
ter Many of them came from long
distance, most Of them on foot, many on
crutches. Gslilee was in the far north,
Decapolis was a region of country on
the eastern side of the sea, and was so
called because there were ten cities in it,
and among them Damascus, one of the
oldest cities in the world. The people
hooked to Him from afsr, and in so do
ing had to leave their homes, their bust.
ness, their cattle and farms and shops, in
their eagerness to see and hear Him.
Pleasure, gain, worldly engagements
were all nothing to them compared with
the privilege of hearing a sermon from
His lips.
On another occasion we read that
when He was come into Jerusalem the
whole city was moved, saying, who is
| -,
salem was then very large city, and at
that particular time it was full of
strangers. And yet we are told "the
whole city was moved" There are
many things that can interest part of
the people of city, but usually what in
terests one class of citizens is something
the rest do not care for. A railroad con-
vention would attract crowd of rail.
road people. So would convention OF
bankers or farmers or lawyers or medical
men, bat thousands would take no notice
of either. The visit of great general or
of foreign prince would attract great
crowds. The news of a fire which con.
sumed city like New Orleans or New
York would move all the people.
TRAGEDY IN RICHMOND.
An event once occurred in Richmond
so startling, so mournful, so impressive,
that it might truly be said the whole city
was moved by it. 1t was what was called
1.-The falling of the Capitol" though the
whole building did not fall, only one
floor of it, yet that fatal floor was 80
crowded with people, many of them
widely known and greatly beloved, that
when it gave way and hundreds were
precipitated into the depths beneath, a
mangled, palpitating mass, crushed by
falling stones and timbers, the calamity
was one which sent thrill of horror in
all hearts, and there was probably not
one in all the city who was not deeply
moved. 1t was an emotion, too, that was
; long fell. On the following Thursday the
event was commemorated publicly, and
the Capitol Square filled with a vast
throng, while in the portico stood some
of our leading citizens, whose Office it
was to remind the people in the short,
affecting addresses they delivered of the
infinite Importance of eternal things. 1t
was an impressive sight, when banks and
stores and warehouses and manufactures
were shut when public offices and insti
tutions and places of amusement were
closed, and all business and all the ordi-
nary movements of social life were sus-
pended, that the people might gather on
a week day out in the open air, in an
assembly as hushed and solemn as a
church could be during funeral on the
Sabbath, that the entire population might
. bow before God in penitential grief
r 1t follows, therefore, that when a whole
city is moved it must be by some event
which affects not particular professions
t or trades, not one class or sex, but the
people of all ages, csllings, and oondi-
{ tions. Such an event was the arrival of
3 Our Lord in Jerusalem on that ever to be
remembered day. Why His coming
| should create such an impression will
explain presently; now l am only con-
| oerned with the single fact "All the
city was moved, saying, who is this2'
Once more we are told that such was
the growing fame of Jesus that His enc.
mics confessed their defeat and said
Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing; be
e hold all the world is gone after Him.
All the world Here my illustrations may
q well end of the important fact announced
in the text: "They came to Him from
! every quarter"
] WHY CHRIST so ATTRACTED MEN.
And now we are to find out why il
+ was that the people thus surrounded anC
e followed Him in such multitudes.
d /. There must have been something il