Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-01-24

trouble me with these leprosiesT No, no;
there was kind look; there was gentle
word; there was a healing touch They could
not keep away from him.
A LOVING CHRIST.
In addition to this softness of character,
there was fiery momentum. How the old
hypocrites trembled before him. How the
kings of the earth turned pale Here is a
plain man with few sailors at his back,
coming off the sea of Galilec going up to the
palace of the Caesars, making that palace
quake to the foundations, and uttering word
Of mercy and kindness which throbs through
all the earth, and through all the heavens
and through all the ages! OF he was low
ing Christ But it was not effemnacy, or
insipidity of character; it was accompanied
with majesty, infinite and omnipotont. Lest
the world should not realize his earnestness,
! this Christ mounts the cross. You say: "lf
| Christ has to die, why not let him take some
deadly potion and lie on couch in some
bright and beautiful home! If he must die,
let him expire amid all kindly attentions.
No, the world must hear the hammers on the
heads of tho 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 the hole is dug on the top of Cal
vary. 1t must be dug tNIe 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
hand, and then they shake his right hand to
see if it is fast, and they shake his left foot to
see if it is fast, and then they heave up the
! wood half a dozen shoulders under the
! weight, and they put the end of the cross to
| 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 III the
dirt and trample it down, and trample it
/ hard Oh, plant that tree well and thor
oughly, 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
crucifers. He could have reached up and
grasped 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 life for my life. His life for
your life In one of the European cities a
young man died on the .catfod 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 u moment Of anger She had struck
her husband a blow that slew him. The son
came suddenly into the room, and was wash
ing away tn wounds and trying to resusci-
tate his father, when some one looked
through the window and saw him, and sup
posed him to be the criminal. That young
man died for his own mother. You say: 1t
was wonderful that he never exposed her"
But l tell you of a grander thing. Christ,
the Son of God died not for his mother not
for his father, but for his sworn enemies. O,
such a Christ as that-so loving, SO self sac
riGcing-can you not trust him!
HOW TO TRUST HIM
think there are many under the spirit Of
God who are saying: II will trust Him if
you will only tell me how and the great
question asked by thousands in this assem-
blage is: Glow; hows' And while | an
swer your question look up and utter the
prayer which Rowland Hill 50 often uttered
in the midst of his sermons: Master helpI'
How are you to trust in Christ? Just as you
trust any one. You trust your partner in
business with important things. If a COM
mercial house gives you a note payable 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. You go home today You ex-
pect there will be food on the table You
have confidence in that. Now, | ask you
to have the same confidence in the Lord
Jesus Christ. lie says: you believe; |
take away your SINS and they are
all taken away. "What,n You say, before
/ pray any more! Before / read my Bible
any moref Before | cry over my sins any
more" Yes, this moment. Believe with all
your heart and you are saved. Why, Christ
is ,lNrty fro
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 preferences but if you
really think that Christ s as trustworthy as
they are, then deal with him as fairly. "Oh,
says some one, in light way, II believe that
Christ was born in Bethlehem, and | believe
that he died on the cross" Do you believe il
with your head, or your heart
AN ILLUSTRATION.
/ will illustrate the difference. You are in
your house. In the morning you open q
newspaper and you read h.w Capt. Brave
heart on the sea risked his lie for the saliva
ton of his passengers. You say: what a
grand fellow lie must have been. His family
deserves very well Of the country You
loii Inc newspaper ana S(I down AT the
table, and perhaps do not think of that in
cident again. That is historical faith
But now you are on the sea, and it i,
night, and you are asleep and are awaken
ed by. the shrek of "Fire!n You rush out OF
the deck. You hear, amid the wrmging Of
the hands and the fantlng, the cries: INC
hope! We are lost! We are lost!' The sal
puts ont its wing of fire the ropes make
burning ladder in the night heavens, the
, spirit of wreck Kisses in the waves, ant
on the hurricane deck shakes out it
} banner of smoke and darkness. "DowI
: with the liieboatsm cries the captain
) Down with the lifeboatsn People rush
into them. The boats are full. Room only
2 for one more man. You are standing on the
deck beside the captain. Who shall it be
You or the captalns The captain says
, "You." You jump and are saved IL,
| stands there and dies, Now, you believe
that Capt Braveheart sacrificed himself for hi
5 passengers, but you believe it with love, will
5 tears, with hot and long continued exclama
tons; with grief at his loss, and with JOY a