Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1891-09-05

Peter put it right in his great sermon be
fore the high priests when he thundered
forth: Neither is there salvation in any
other. There is no other name given under
heaven among men whereby we may be
saved Oh, anxious sinner Oh, dying
sinner Oh, lost sinner all you have got
to do is to take this Divine Benjamin along
with you. Side by side, coming to the
gate, all the store-houses of heaven will
swing open before your anxious soul. Am
] right in calling Jesus Benjamin Oh, yes.
Rachel lived only long enough to give
a name to that child, and with diving
kiss she called him Benoni Afterward
Jacob chan ed his name, and he called
him Benjamin. The meaning of the name
she gave was "Son of my PAIN The
meaning of the name the father gave was
Son OF my Right Hand" And was not
Christ the Son of Pain? All the sorrows
of Rachel in that hour, when sue gave her
child over into the hands of strangers, was
nothing compared with the struggle OF
God when He gave up His only Son. The
omnipotent God in birth throel And was
not Christ appropriately cailel ''Soa OF the
Right HandY' Did not Stephen look into
heaven and see Him staining at the right
hand of God? And does not not Paul spea5
of Him as standing at the right hand of God
making intercession for us; o Benjamin.
Jesusl Son of pangl Son of victory,
The deepest emotions OF our souls
ought TO be stirred at the sound OF
that nomenclature. In your prayers pleat
His tears, His sufferings, HIS sorrows and
His death. IL you refuse to do 1t, all the
corn-cribs and the palaces of heaven will be
bolted and barred against your SOUL and
voice from the throne shall stun you with
the announcement: you shall not see My
face, except your Brother be with you"
Ny text also suggests the reason why 81
many people do not get any real comfort
You meet ten people: nine OF them are in
need of some kind of confidence. Thers is
something in their health, or in their sta ,e.
or in their domestic condition that demands
sympathy. And yet the most of the worifs
sympathy amounts to absolutely moth
ing People go TO the wrong crib, or
they go in the wrong way. When the
plague was in Rome a great many years
ago, there were eighty men who chantea
themselves to death with the litanies OF
Gregory the Great--litcrally chantei them
selves to death, and yet it did not stop the
plague And all the music of this world
cannot halt the plague of the human
heart / come to some one whose ailments
are chronic, and say: 'tn heaven you will
never be sick" That does not give you
much comfort What you want is sooth-
ing power for your present distress. Lost
children have you? l come TO you and tell
you that in ten years perhaps you will
meet these loved ones before tho throne
of God But there is but little coincidence
in that One day is year without
them, and ten years is small eternity.
What you want is sympathy now-present
help. l come to those of you who have lost
dear friends, and say: FRY to forget them.
Donot keep the departed always in your
mind" How can you forget them when
every figure in the carpet, and every book,
and every picture, and every room calls
out their name? Suppose L come to you
and say by way of coincidence; God Is
wise" "0hr' you say, that gives me nc
help Suppose l come to you and say;
'God, from all eternity, has arranged this
trouble" "Ah" you say: that does me me
no good" Then | say; with the swift
feet of prayer go direct to the corn
crib for a heavenly supply" You go. You
say; Lord, help me; Lord, comfort me. -
But no help yet No comfort yet. 1t is all
dark What is the matter : / have found :.
You ought to go to God and say : " Here, q
Lord, are the wounds OF my soul, and ]
bring with me the wounded Jesus. Let Hi:
wounds pay for my wounds. His bereave-
ments for my bereavemeutS. His loneliness
for my loneliness His heartbreak for my
heart break o God for the sake of the Lord
Jesus Christine God, the Man, the Benja-
min. the Brother-deliver my agonizsd
soul. o Jesus of the weary foot ease my
fatigue o Jesus of the aching heal. hea
my aching heal o Jesus of the Bethany
sisters, roll away the stone from the doc
of our grave" That is the kind of praye
that brings help: AMI yet how many of you
ara getting no help at all for the reason that
there is in your soul, perhaps, a secret
trouble. You may never have mentioned
it to single human ear, or you may have
mentioned it 20 some one who is now gone
away, and that great sorrow is still in
your soul. After Washington Irving was
dead, they found little box that contained n
hBsaf1 p hnfr nd ,itNia f1ara nd
of Matilda Hoffman and a memorandum
of her death, and the remark something like
this: THE world after that was a blank
to me. / went into the country, but found
no peace in solitude. | tried to go into So
ciety, but found no peace In society. There
has been horror hanging over me by night
and by day, and am afraid to be alone"
How many unuttered troubles! No hui
man ear has ever heard the sorrow. Oh,
troubled soul ! want to tell you that thers
is one salve that can cure the wounds of
the heart. and that is the salve made out
of the tears of n sympathetic Jesus. And
yet some OF you will not take this s0lace:
AMI you try choral, and you try morphine,
and you try strong drink, and you try
change of scene, and you try new business
associations, and anything and everything
rather than take the Divine com oautonship
and sympathy suggested by the words of
my text when it says, You shall not see Ny
IdCs dStlu unless your DTOGOeT De WIFI
YOU Oh, that you might understand
something of the height and depth, and
length, and breadth, and immensity, AMI
infnity of Gods eternal consultations
go further, and find in my subject hint
as to the way heaven opens to the departing
spirit. We are told that heaven has
twelve gates, and some people infer from
tnat fact that all the people will go in
without reference to their past life; but
what is the use of having gate that is not
sometimes to be shut? Ihe swinging of a
gate implies that our entrance into heaven
is conditional. 1t is not monetary coadi-
tion. Ii we come to the door of an exqui.
site concert, we are not surprised that we
must pay fee for we know that fine earthly
music is expensive; but all the oratorios
of heaven cost nothing. Heaven pays
nothing for its music. 1t is all free. There
is nothing to be paid at that door for ell
trance: but the condition of getting
into heaven is cur bringing our Divine
Benjamin along with rs. Do you notice how
often dying people call upon Je'u'S 1t Is
the usual prayer offered-the prayer offered
more than all the other prayers put together
LORD Jesus receive my spirit" One of
our congregation, when asked in the closing
moments of his life, DO you know usy'
said: oh yes, l know you. God bloss you.
Goodbye. Lord Jesus receive my
SPIRIT" and he was gone. Oh. yes. in
tue NlDSibR IupulSusN Ut OuT me- we
must have a Christ TO call upon. IL jacobs
sons hal gone toward Egypt, aud hal gone
with the very finest eqa.page, and had not
taken Benjamin along with than, and to
the question they should have been obliged
to answer; Sir, we didn't bring him, as
father could not let him go; we didn't want
to be bothered with him. a voice from
within would have said: $50 away from
us. You shall not have any of this supply.
You shall not see my face because your
brother is not with you" And IL we come
up toward the door Of heaven at last, though
we come from all luxuriancs AMI brilliancy
of surroundings, and knock for Ambulance,
and it is found that Christ is not with
us, the police of heaven will beat US back
from tue bread house. saying: depart,
never knew you" If Jacobs
sons, coming toward Egypt, had lost every
thing on the way; if they had expended
their last sheke; il they hai come up Ut
terly exhausted to the corn-cribs of Egypt,
and it bad been founl that Benjamin was
with them, all the storehouses would have
swung open before them. And so, though
by fatal casualty we may be ushered into
the eternal world; though we may be
weak and exhausted by protracted sick
ness-if. in that last moment we can only
Just stagger and faint, AMI fall into the
gate of heaven-it seams that all tha corn
cribs of heaven will open for our need
and all the ptiaces will open for our recep-
ton; and the Lord of that place. seated at
His table, and all the angels of God seated
at their table, and the martyrs seatei at
their table. and all our glorified kindred
seated at our table, the King shall pass a
portion from His table to ours, and then
while we think of the fact that it was
Jesus who started US on the road and
and Jesus who kept us on thu way, and
Jesus who at last gained abundance for our
soul, we shall be gla il He has seen of the