St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-10
Rev. James B. Freeman Lets
Up in His Criticism Of
City officials.
His Sermon Yesterday Was
Such as Is Expected From
a Christian Pulpit,
And Shows the Reverend
Gentleman Up in a More
Creditable Light.
The Problems of Success
The Rise and Decline on
Christian Spheres.

! Arlington Hills Presbyterian church,
| preached a stirring sermon yesterday
upon the problems of SUGGESTIVE rise
and the decline-in Christian spheres.
| The thesis is poetical and interestingly
! illustrated.
Contrary to popular expectation Mr..
Freeman made no further criticism of
the administrationiof st. PauPs munic-
ipal government.
The parting of the two WAYS, will We also
go away: john VII 81.
There is crisis in every life. Our
text includes two such crises-one on
the part of Jesus, and one on the part
of all who heard Him. 1t is said that
our life is an ascent up till twenty-five
years of age, a plain from twenty-five
till fifty, and descent from fifty to
seventy-fiye. A gentleman of broad eX-
perience said to me a few days ago. mo
man ought to attempt any great work
after he is forty years of age" But we
think this will not always hold good, for
if we are correct, Grover Cleveland was
the Youngest president of the United
States, and he was turning fifty,
and perhaps he might have
done some better if he had been
little older. Gen. Won MOltke was sew
enty years of age before his name was
heralded before the world. The other
day the presidency of VermllliOD col
lege was rendered to Prof. o. V. TouS-
ley, and he made what seems to US a
rather melancholy reply. IF were
ten years younger | would accept it,"
The time will come in all our lives, and
in one way it seems a rather sad one
to say if II were ten or fifteen years
younger | would undertake such
thingS;" when we will look back over
our lives and see the great turning
point. and then began slowly to de-
scend.
p Such turning point occurred in
the life of Jesus. We see how
The Wave OfPOpuIarity
rose higher and higher till the memora-
bic discourse at Capernaum. We see
how it started with John the Baptist.
We see how this wilderness preacher
stirred the people. Their messiamic
hopes, long slumbering, awOke to new
life and vigOr. And when Jesus did APP
pear, ''the way was prepared, the high
way was made straight" his teaching
drew like a magnet, the listening multi
tudes around Him. His miracles struck
them with wonder and amaZement.
Finally. when life and death met, over
the body of the widows son, and life
conquered, and again when He entered
the centurian'S home and turned sad
ness into joy. and sorrow INTO rejoicing,
the tide of popularity was wearing its
highest pitch. The climax came, on
that immortal afternoon at Capernaum.
Great crowds of people were going up
to the Passover. Capernaum was filled
with pilgrims. The great teacher was
in every body'S mouth. All were in eX-
pectancy, and so when he took the five
lOaves and the few little tShes and fed
the hungry thousands, the enthusiasm
burst forth and could not be controlled.
Had they not long looked forward TO
this time-the time when as the miShua
taught them, the fruit trees would bear
their cOpiOus fruits every month; Ordi-
nary trees would all be as fruit trees;
grain would be like palm trees, and
would be threShed and winnowed with
out labor; all kinds of produce would
appear in Palestine, and
The Millennium Would Dawn
upon them. Was not this the hour?
And was not this the Messiah King? |
The son of David the coming one. Yes,
It's heI Bring the olive wreath. the |
royal purple, and SPREAD the palm
bTancheSl Crown him Crown him. !
The Messiah Kingl
Here, then, is the turning point in the |
popularity of Christ. And here his di- |
vinity shines out reSplendent: Mark |
the godlike grandeur of his character. |
He knew well the effect of his refusal. |
He foresaw how many of his followers |
would 90 on up to Jerusalem. Many |
more would 90 to their homes, and how |
little few only would come back the |
next day to learn more of HIM. In |
the Feast OF Purpural Mark Anthony |
thrice presented to great Caesar klngly |
crown which he did thrice refuse, and |
at every refusal the wild crowds !
shouted themselves hOarSe. Cesar re-
fused the crown for their applause. |
But Jesus refused it for their anger, |
their i'll will and their desertion. And
tine glory of His nature, the sublimity
of His spirit appears still more; the
loftiness Of His soul appears in all its
beauty the next day, as He had feared
''many of His disciples" had gone
back to walk mo more with Him."
Only few were left. Would they also
leave Him? Must He decide between
His bosom friends and His sacred
cause? Must He go on alone?
But what could He do? Was He
not sealed with the seal of truth? Him
hath God, the Father, sealed" Well. if
it must be so, it must. He can never
separate Himself from His cause. If He
has to stand alone, it will not be in
| humlllatlon. put
In Solitary Grandeur
in the presence of His sacred cause.
And He will look up for help to the
eternal God. So He turns to the twelve
all that were left-and, with a voice
trembling with sadness, He says, ''Will
! ye also go away?"
Such a crisis occurred in the life of.
! Elijah when ne cried out. God, they
have forsaken Thy covenant, and
thrown down Thine affairs. and slain
! Thy prophets with the sword, and |
| only ain left, and they seek my lite to
destroy it. And he stood alone
upon Mount Carmel and called
upon his God. And such crisis
occurred in the life Of Paul as he stood
alone before Governor Festus and King
| Agrippa and all the courtly dignitaries,
and reasoned of righteousness, tenn
perance, and judgment to cOme.' And
the same occurred in the life of Luther
as he stood before Emperor Charles V.
| and said: 80 help me God, l cannot
do otherwise" And in the life of John
Knox as he stood before Queen Mary
and the privy council, and said that he
had spoken nothing but according to his
text, which was in Is. XVI. 1925, and
that he must obey God rather than men.
And but for Elijah, and Paul, and Luz
! lilcI, duu NUM- anu lllC liIiiuOlIcl Jesus,
where would be the cause of Christianity
to-day? and where would be the world?
and where would we be?
8. And this great turning point came
in the life of all who heard Him. They
had heard of Him through John the
Baptist. They had listened to His teach
ing. They
Had Seen His Miracles.
They had eaten from His hand. They
had enjoyed all the temporal blessings
of the gospel.and they were called upon
to decide. They had to make a choice
They had TO select the spiritual
or the material. They must be
willing to give up everything. 1t was a
matter of life and death. And when the
one great test came, when the great