The national leader., 1889-02-09

eVa0gGllCal laDOrS. or all Gn0 Iiuo uO
can spare from other occupations. That
is regeneration that is regenerationl
Man all made over againl
"There is your absurd doctrine OF
vicarious sacrifice" say these men who
have chewed up the little book of creeds,
and have the consequent embittered
stomach.
"vICARIoUs SACRIFICE!
Let every man suffer for himself. Why
do 1 want Christ to suffer for me? I'll
suffer for myself and carry my own bur-
dens." They scoff at the idea of vicari-
Gus sacrifice, while they admire it every
where else except in Christ. People see
its beauty when mother suffers for
her child. People see its beauty when
a patriot suffers for his country. People
see its beauty when man denies him
self for a friend. They can see the
beauty of vicarious sacrifice in every
one but Christ.
A young lady in one of the literary
institutions was teacher. She was very
retlcent and retired in her habits, and
she formed no companlonships in the
new position she occupied, and her dress
was very plain-sometimeS it was very
shabby. After while she was dis
charged from the place for that reason,
but no reason was given. In answer to
the letter discharging her from the posi-
tion, she said: ''Well, If have failed
to please, l suppose it is my own fault"
She went here and there for employ
ment, and, found none, and in des-
peration and in dementia she ended her
life by suicide. Investigation was
made, and it was found that out OF her
small means she had
SUPPORTED HER FATHER,
eighty years of age, and was paying the
way for her brother in Yale College on
his way to the ministry. 1t was found
that she had no blanket on the bed that
winter, and she had no fire on the very
coldest day OF all the season. People
found it out, and there was a large
gathering at the funeral. the largest
over at any funeral in that place, and
the very people who had scoffed came
and looked upon the pale face of the
martyr. and all honor was done her; but
1t was too late. Vicarious sacrificed
All are thrilled with such instances as
that. But many are not moved by the
fact that Christ paid His poverty for
our riches, His self-abnegation for our
enthronement, and knelt on the sharp
edges Of humiliation, that we might
climb over His lacerated shoulder into
peace and heaven.
Be it ours to admire and adore these
doctrines at which others jeer. Oh,
the depths Of the riches both Of the
wisdom and knowledge of God! How
unsearchable is His wisdom, and His
ways are past finding out! Oh the
height, the depth, the length. the
breadth, the infinity, the immensity,
the eternity of that lovel Let our earn
est prayers go out in behalf of all those
who scoff at these doctrines of grace.
When
THE LONDON PLAGUE
was raging in the year 1865, there was
a hotel near the chief burial-place that
excited much comment. England was
in a fright and bereavement. The
dead-carts went through the streets day
and night, and the cry, bring out
your dead!' was answered by the bring
ing out of the forms of the loved ones,
and they were put twenty or thirty in
a cart, and the wagons went on to the
cemetery; and these dead were not
buried in graves, but in great trenches,
in great pitS-in one pit eleven hundred
and fourteen burials! The carts would
come up with their great burden of
twenty or thirty to the mouth of the
pit, and the front of the cart was lifted
and the dead shot into the pit. All the
churches in London were open for
prayer day and night, and England was
in great anguish. at that very time,
at hotel, at wayside inn near the
chief burial-place, there was
A GROUP OF HARDENED MEN,
who sat day after day and night after
night blaspheming God and initiating
the grief-struck who went by to the
burial-place. These men sat there day
after day and night after night, and
they scoffed at women, and they scoffed
at God. But after while one Of them
was struck with the plague, and in two
weeks all of the group were down in
the trench from the margin of which
they had uttered their ribdldry. My
friends. greater plague is abroad in
the world. Millions have died OF it.
Millions are smitten with 1t now.
Plague of sin, plague of sorrow, plague
of wretchedness, plague OF woe! And
consecrated women ana men from all
Christendom are going out trying to
stay the plague and alleviate the
anguish, and there is group OF men in
this country base enough to sit and
deride the work. They scott at the
Bible, and they scoff at Jesus Christ,
and they scoff at God. If these words
shall reach them, either while they are
sitting here to-day, or through the
printing press, let me tell them to re-
member the fate of that group in the
wayside inn while the plague spread its
two black wings over the doomed city
of London Oh, instead of being SCOT
fers let us be disciples! "Blessed is the
man that walketh not in the counsel of
the ungodly, nor standeth in the way Of
sinners, nor siLteth in the seat of the
scornful."
H.