The Opelousas courier., 1890-02-22

SSalS III GQ6 ledTC. lou SIC only A1Su 40 oASoS
walking. The grace of God in the heart is
a feeble spark, and Christ has to keep both
hands over it lest it be blown out. What an
humble %beginningl But look at that same man
when He has entered heaven. No crown able
I'd express His royalty. No palace able u ex-
press His wealth. No sceptre able to express
His power and His dominion. Drinking FROM
the fountain that drip5 from the everlasting
Rock. Among the harpsrs harping with their
harps. On a sea Of glass mingled with fire.
Before the throne Of God, to 60 no more out
forever. The spark of grace that Christ had
to keep both hands over lest it coma to ex-
~tinction, having hamei Up into honor and
glory and immortality. What humble start
ing! What glorious consuulmation!
The New Testament Church was on a
small scale. Fishermen watched it. Against
the uprising walls crashed internal englnery:
The world said anathsma. Ten thousand
people rejoiced at every seeming defeat, ana
sat-: "Aha! aha! SO we would have it,"
Martyrs on fire crie1: How long, o Lord,
how long?' Very humble starting, but see
the difference at the consummation, when
Christ with His almighty arm has struck of
the last chain Of human bondage, and
Himalaya shall ba Mount Zion; and
Pyrenees, Moriah; and oceans, the walking
place Of Hin. who trod the wave cliffs of
stornied Tiberias, and island shall call to
island, sea to sea, continent to continent, and
the song of the worlds redemption rising,
the heavens, like a great sounding board,
shall strike back the shout of salvation to
the earth until itrebounds again to the throne
of God, ana all heaven, rising on their
thrones, beat time with their scepters. oh,
what an humble beginning! What a glorious
endingl Throne linked to a manager, heavenly
mansions to a stable.
MY subject also impresses me with the eff
feet of Christs mission upward and down.
ward. Glory, to God, peace to man. When
God sent His Son into the world, angels dis
covered something new in God, something
they had never seen before. Not power, not
wisdom, not love. They knew all that be-
fore. But when God sent Ills Son into this
world then the angels saw the spirit of self
denial in God, the spirit of self-sacrifice in
God. 1t is easier to love an angel on His
throne than a thief on the cross, a seraph
in his worship than an aduiteress i'll her
crime. When the angels saw God-the God
who would not allow the most Insignificant
angel in heaven to be hurt-give up His Son,
His Son, His only, only Son, they saw
something that they had never thought of
before, and I do not wonder that when Christ
started out en- that pilgrimage the angels in
heaven clapped their wings in triumph and
called on all the hosts of heaven to help them
celebrate it, and sang so cloud that the Beth
lehem shepherds heard it: "Glory to God in
the highest
But it was also to be a mission Of peace to
man. Infinite holinesS-accumulated de-
pravity. How could they ever come to-
getheri The Gospel bridges over the dis
tance. 1t brings God to us. 1t takes us to
God. God in us, and we in God. Atone
ment! Atonement! Justice satisfied, sius
forgiven, eternal life secured, heaven built
on a mango
But it was also to be the paciication Of all
individual and international animosities.
What a sound this word of peace had In the
Roman Empire that boosted of the number
of people it had maSSacred, that prided itself
on the number of the slain, that rejoiced
at the trembling provinces. Sicily and Cor
sica and Sardinia aud Macedonia and Egypt
had bowed to her sword aud crouched at the
cry Of her war eagles. She gave her chief
| honor to Scipio and Fabius aud CRSar-all
! men of blood. What contempt they must
have had there for the %penniless, uuarmed
Christ in the garb of a Nazarine. starting out
to conquer all nations. There never was q
place on earth where that word peace sounded
so Extensively to the ears of the multitude as LII
the Roman Empire. They did not want peace.
The greatest music they ever heard was the
~clanking chains of their captives. 1t all the
blood that has been shed in battle could De
| gathered together it would upbear a navy.
| The club that struck Abel to Che earth has it's
echo in the butcherieS of all ages. Edmund
Burke, who gave no wild statistics, said that
;'hsre hal been sp3nt in sian glitter thlrty-ive
thousand millions of dollars, or what would
be equal to that; but he had not seen into
| our times. when in our own day, iii America,
we expended three THOUSAND millions OF dol
lars in civil war.
Oh. il we could now take our position on
| some high point and s3e the worlds armies
march pastl What aspectacle it would be!
| There go the hosts of Israel through a score
of Red seas-one Of water, the rest of blood.
There go Cyrus and his army, with lnfurlate
yell rejoicing over the fall of the gates OF
babylon. There goes Alexander, leading
forth his hosts and %conquering all the world
but himself, the earth resling with the bat
tie cash Of Arbala AMI Persepolis. There
poss Ferdinand Cortes, leaving his buthered
enemies on the t. ole lands once ira
grant with vanilla AMI covered over
With groves of Towering cacao. There
goas the great Fre1chman, Leading nus army
down through Egypt like one OF Its plaques,
! and up through Russia like one OF its W ICY
blasts. Yonder is the grave trench under the
shallow OF Sebastopol. There are the ruins
of Delhi and Allahabad, and yonder are the
inhuuan Sspoys and the brave regiments
under Havelock aveuging the lnsulted nag OF
Britain: while cut right through the hearEsof
nv native land is a trench in which there lie
one million Northern and Southern dead.
Oh. the tearsl Oh, the blood On, the Iong
marchesl Oh, the hospital woundsl Oh, the
martvrdoni Oh, the death! But brighter
than the light which flashed on all these
swords and shields and musketry Is the lght
chat fell on Bethlehem, aud louder than the
bray of the trumpets, and the neighlng OF tbe
chargers, and the crash Of the walls, aud the
grooming of the dying armies, is the song
chat unrolls this moment from the sky
sweet as though all the bells of HEAVIER
rung a Jubilee: 'sPeaee on earth, good vii
toward men" Oh, when will the day come
God hasten it!-when the swords shall b.
turned into plowshares, and the forSresse
shall be remodeled into churches, n tn
men of blood battling for renown shall be
come good soldiers Of Jesus Christ, and TIL
cannon now striking down whole columns o
death shall thunder the victories OF the
truth.
When we think of the whole world saved
we are apt to think of the few people that
now inhabit it. Only a very few compared
with the populations to come. And what
small part cultivated. Do you know 1t ha'
been automatically estimated that three
and that nine hundred and ninety-one
piebe IS uncultivated9 This is al
fo be- cultivated, all inhabited ant
all gospelized. oh, what tears Q
} repentance when nations begin to weep! Oh
what applications when continents begin I
urayi oh. what rejoicing when hemisphere
haoin to singh Churches win worship on tn
uIaces where this very hour smokes the bloc
ofhuman sacrifice, and wandering throug
fine snake infested iungles of Africa Christ
heel win bruise the serpents head. Oh, Whe
the trumpet of salvation shall be sounde
!. everywhere and the nations are re
deemed, a light viii ian . :
) every town brighter than that wLsc
fell upon Bethlehem, and more oyerwheln
ing than the song that fell On the pastur
q IA, rvbaro tI,a Aontc fed there will be