Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-08-08

up into TIE fses Ot His anguish. Ana 70 the
cross must Be lifted and Q hole dug
ON the top Of Calvary. Il must Be dug three
ground, and the sufferer is stretched mon hi
and the nails are pounded through nerve and
muscle and bone, through the right hand.
through the left hand, and then they shake
His eight band to see II it Is fast, and they
heave up the wood, half Q dozen shoulders
under the weight, and they put the end Of
the cross In the mouth of the hole,
and they plunge 1t In, all the weight
OF His body coming down for the
hrst time on the spikes; and while
some hold the cross upright, others throw In
the art and trauple itdown, and trample it
thoroughly, for n is to bear fruit such as NO
other tree ever bore Why did Christ
endure its He could have taken those rocks
and with them crushed His crucihers. He
could have reached M and Rrasped the
sword OF the omnipotent God. and with one
clean cut have tumbled them into perdition.
But no; He was TO die. He must die. His
LIE Tor your life. In O European city
q young man died on the scaffold
time after tie mother Of this yonne
man was dying and the priest came "a. and
sne emade confession to the priest that she was
the murderer and not her son; In q moment
OF anger she had struck her husband a blow
tnat slew him. Tho son came suddenly into
the room, and was washing away the wodnds
and trying to resuscitate his father when
some one looked through the window and saw
him, and supposed him to be the criminal.
T Tnat young man died for his own mother.
he never exposed her" " But 'nAi
tell you of a 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 pa
TENT so self-sacrihcing- you not trust
Himf think there are many under the in
fuence Of the Spirit Of God who are saying:
II will trust Him II you win only tell me
how" how an and g the great question asked by thou
answer your question 1 look up and
utter the prayer which Rowland Hill
SO often uttered In the midst Of his
sermons: master, helpF How are you to
trust in Christi just as you trust any
one. You trust your partner In business
with important things. If Q commercial
house gives you Q note payable three months
hence, you expect the payment Of that note
feet confidence In their word and In their
ABILITY. VI again, you go home expecting
there win 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 I take
away your sins, and they are all taken
away" "Whatp you say, ''before pray
any mores Before / read my Bible any
morei Before / cry over my sins any
moreT Yes, this moment. Believe with ali
your heart and you are saved. Why, Christ
is only waiting to get from you what you
give 10 scores of people every day What
is thatf Confidence. If these people whom
you trust day by day ave more
worthy than Christ If they are
more faithful than Christ il they
have done more than Christ ever did, then
give them the preferences; 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: II believe that
Christ was born in Bethlehem and believe
that He died on the Cross Do you believe
it with your head or your hearth / will illus
strate the difference. You are In your own
house. In the morning you open q news
paper and you read how Capt. Braveheart
his passengers. You say, "What q grand
fellow he must have beeni His family de-
serve 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 IL Is night,
and you are asleep, and you are awakened by
the shriek Of 'eFirer You rush out ON the
deck. You hear amid the wringing of the
hands and the fainting, the cry: mo hopeIl
no hopel We are lost! we are lost?n The sail
puts out its wings Of fire, the ropes make
burning ladder n.the night heavens the
spirit of wrecks Kisses in the wave, and on the
hurricane deck shakes out its banner of smoke |
and darkness. Down with the lifcboatsF' |
cries the captain. "Down with the lifeboatsp |
People rush into them. Tho boats are about |
full. Room only for one more man. You are |
standing on the deck beside the captain. Who |
tain? The captain says: "You." You jump |
and are saved. He stands there and dies. |
Now, you believe that Captain Braveheart |
himself for his passengers, but you |
believe it with love, with tears, with hot
and long continued exclamntions, with |
grief at his loss and joy at your
iehverance. 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 salvation
Of your immortal soul You often 60 across
q bridge you know nothing about. You do
not know who built that bridge, you do not
know what material it is made Of: but YOU
come to it and walk over it and ask no ques-
tions. And here is an arched bridge blasted
from the Crock of Age" And built by the
architect Of the whole universe, spanning the
dark gulf between sin and Righteousness, and
MI God asks you is to walk across it; and you
start, and you come to it, 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 map
instead OF marching on with firm step, ask
ing 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?
1t is certainly worth more than that. But
cheaper than that you can have it. Ten
thousand dollars? Less than that. Five
thousand dollars? Less than that One dol
lar? Less than that One farthing? Less
than that without money and with
out out price" No money to pay.
action Of the soul: believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved"
Shall I try to tell you what 1t is to
be savedp ! cannot tell you. No man, no
angel can tell you. But I can hint at
it. For my text bring me up to this
point. 'Thou shalt be saved" It means a
happy life here, and peaceful death and
a blissful eternity. It is a grand thing
to 60 to sleep at night and to get up in
the morning, and to do business all
day feeling that all is right between my heart
and God. No accident. no sickness, no per-
secution, 20 peril, no sword can do me any
permanent damage. ! am a forgiven child
of God and He is bound to see me through.
The mountains may depart, the earth may
burn, the light of the stars may be blown out