Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-06

our Masters visitation there knew not the
| time. because they were so busy looking
| ahead to some future time. They were
anticipating the coming of the Lord, but
they had somehow made it up out of the
old prophecies that he would come in some
terrible and splendid way, to strike all be
holders with awe and veneration. Ant
when He came in qniet, human way, as &
man among other men, dressed in the gar
ments of His day and not in any shining
vesture. speaking in simple words whose
grandeur was not in any pomp OF utteranee
but in the unfathomable truth they taught
these expectant Jerusalemites did not know
him.
Their ewes were so wide open for some
| spectacular visitation down out of the glow
| ing sky, that when they looked that day
| out of all their windows and saw peasant
of Galilee, riding in the company of othel
| peasants along the city streets, and were
told that this was Jesus, the prophet Of
| Nazareth, they looked no longer. Not IN
such humble fashion would Messiah come.
Now Is the Accepted Time.
Tne truth is, Christ is always coming.
| The "time" is now. They failed to recog-
nize him in Thessalonica because they were
| looking over the head of the present into
the future. They did not see that ne stood
beside them in their daily tasks. They
| failed to recognize him in Jerusalem be-
cause they were looking for some sort OF
startling and uncommon advent. The time
| came, and thew did not 'know" il. The
| lesson is that Christ comes every day in
everybody's daily trouble, daily temptation.
Jesus spoke of the fall of the Jerusalem
as one of his comings. There were some,
He said, among His disciples, who should
not taste of death till they should see him
| come with power. If He came in the fall
| of Jerusalem He has come also in every
other crisis that has changed the course OF
nations. Yes; and in every crisis that
| comes into the common lives of common
| men. A great many biographies that will
| never be written have fall of Jerusalem in
them somewhere tina; nobody will ever hear
of. except the man or the woman, and their
| friends
We make great mistake when we set
Christ great way off. and look for him in
the long future, and think that the ''time"
of which this religious season reminds US is
at the end of the world, and that Christ s
coming will be only in that marvellous
blaze Of glory told of in the poetry of the
old prophecies, with the sun turned into
blackness and the moon into blood, with
the hills reel1ng and the sea and the waves
roaring, and mems hearts failing them for
fear.
Judgment Is Forever Going On.
1t is great deal more to us that the time
is the living present, that Christ comes
every Gav to each of us, that the judgment
is forever going on, and that the life eternal
begins down here and now.
sEKnowing the time" writes the apostle,
'sthat now it is high time to awake out of
sleep. Let us therefore cast off the works
of darkness and let us put on the armor of
light" That is the exhortation of Christ
Himself at his constant coming. That is
what He says to US in every crisis of our
lives. Now put the old away and begin
over new. Set that unworthy life behind
you, and look up and ahead. Here begins
another chapter; recognize the time; seize
opportunity; make it a better chapter than
anv that has vet been written in your life.
Christ came in that long, bitter sickness
that you had, out of which you were hardly
expected to recover Christ came in that
fearful peril in which you stood once, and
out of which you were SO wonderfully res
cued and restored. Christ came IN that great
loss tina. you suffered in your business. or in
that loss that you feared, but that never
actually happened. Christ came in that
grievous sin which left that black chapter
in your life which it frightens you to think
of. Christ came in that awful bereavement
which made that tragic difference IN your
whole life after it.
Opportunity of Temptation.
Christ comes in every moment of tempta-
tion. Temptation is an opportunity to show
our love for God. We have to make quick
decision for or against God. Every er-
counter with temptation is little Day OF
Judgment We set ourselves on the right
hand or on the left. Then we ought to
sknow the time to realize what it all
means, to appreciate the eternal Importance
of that moment of decision. Now is the
time! Now is the time to take the hand
of Christ and turn the back upon
the devil. Now is the time to
say stNo"' and 'iNo!" and again 'tNop'
God gives help straight out of heaven TO
every tempted man every time he says
'sNo''-a good deal of help the first time,
and twice as much the second time, and so
on; the harder it is to say it the greater the
strength that is given with the saying.
Christ comes in every time of spiritual
invitation Every man who feels stirring
in his heart, who is conscious of desire TO
live better than he has been living, is called
bv Christ. We make mistake If we think
that Christ will call us in any strange, un-
usual way. We need not listen for any
voice out of the sky We need not wait
for any singular experience, for any extra
ordinary tumult of feeling. The call of
Christ comes just as quietly to-day as it
came in Jerusalem. And it means now just
what it meant then.
Nothing Extraordinary in the Coming.
Christ comes along the way of our COM
mon lives. The voice divine speaks to US
in book that we are reading, in the con-
versation of friend, in the appeal of a ser
mon. And the call is simply to better
conforming of our will TO the will of Jesus
Christ. That is what it means to be .
Christian: to take the life OF Jesus Christ
as the ideal life, and day by day to try
harder and harder to live that life right
here and now. Whoever honestly deter
mines to do that, is Christian. And his
place is in the church of Christ.
The great thing in all these visitations, in
every crisis, every temptation, every call of
Christ, is to ''know the time," and then to
use the time. Time passes, ard opportunity
passes with it. Christ weeps over the city
that knew not the time, for at last it is too
late. Now is the accepted time, the only
time there is. Now Christ stands amongst
us, calling us into discipleship, into allegi-
ance, into obedience to Him. 'To-day, if
We will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts" To-morrow-who knows that he
will have any tomorrow.
GEORGE HODGES.
pEDJEC cva hPpTTR ATJnR