The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-07-13
who put their trust in Him. Blasssi be His

ANYTHING so IN 1ecent or UNFAIR In any
criminal court as was witnessed at the trial
of Christ. Why, they hustled Him into the
courtroom at O'clock in the morning. They
! gave Him no time for counsel They gave
Him no opportunity for subpp paains wit
nessss. The ruffians who were wandering
around throuy uyh the midnight, of course they
saw the arrest and went into the court
room. But Jesus's friends were sober men,
were respectable men, and at that hour,
at home asleep. Consequently Christ entered
the courtroom with the rufians.
Oh, look at Himi No one to speak word
for Him. I lift thelantern until I IN look
into His face, and as my heart beats In sym.
pathy for this, the best friend the world
ever had, Himself now utterly friendless. an
| officer of the courtroom comes up and smltes
| Him on the mouth, and see the blood steal
| ing from gum and lip. Oh! it was farce
of trial. lasting only perhaps an hour, and
then the judge rises for sentence Stop! IL
| is against the law to give sentence unless
there has been an adjournment OF the court
between condemnation and sentence: but
what cares the judge for the law? The
man has no friends-let Him die" says the
| Judge: and the ruffians outside the rail- cry:
''Aha! aha! that's what we want. Pass Him
out here to US! Away with Him! Away
with Him~ :.
Oh! bless God that amid all the injustice
! that NAV have been inflicted upon US IN TINS
world we have divine sympathizer. The
| world cannot lie about you nor abuse you as
much as they did Christ, and Jesus stands to.
| day in every courtroom, in every house, in
every store, and says: "Couragel By all
my hours Of maltreatment and abuse, will
protect those who ara trampled upon." And
when Christ forgets that two o'clock morn.
Ing scene, and the stroke OF the ruff1an op
the mouth, ani the bowling of the unwashed
crowd, then He will forget you and me in
the injustices of life that may be inflicted
upon US.
Further, remark: The last great INSTALL
ment paid for our redemption was the de-
mise OF Christ. The world has seen many
dark days. Many summers ago there was
very dark day when the sun was eciipsed.
The fowl at MONDAY went to their perch,
and VIC felt q gloom as we looked at the as
Economical wonder. 1t was dark day in
London when the plague was at its height,
and the dead with uncovered faces were
taken in open carts and dumped IN the
trenches 1t was a dark day when the earth
! day since the creation of the world was
when the carnage Of Calvary was enacted.
1t was about noon when the curtain be.
| gan to be drawn. 1t was not the coming on
| of a night that soothes and refreshes; it was
| the swinging Of a great gloom all around
! the heavens. God hung it. As when there
| is dead one in the house you bow the shut
| tiers or turn the lattice, so God in the after
| noon shut the windows Of the world. As 1t
| is appropriate to throw black pail upon
the coffin as it passes along, so it was appro-
| pirate that everything should be somber
| that day as the great hearse Of the earth
rolled on, bearing the corpe Of the King.
The waves of mans hatred and Of helPs
vengeance dash up against the mangled feet.
and the hands Of sin and pain and torture
clutch for His holy heart. Had He not been
thoroughly fastened to the cross they would
| have torn Him down and trampled Him with
both feet. How the cavalry horses arched
| their necSs and champed their bits, and
reared and snuffed at the blood! Had
Roman officer called out for light his
voice would not have bsen heard in the tu-
multi; but louder than the clash Of spears,
and the wailing Of womanhood, and the
neiehing of the chargers, and the believing
OF the crucifers there came voice crashing
through-loud, clear, overwhelming, ter.
rifle. 1t is the groaning Of the dying Son OF
God Look! what q scenel LOOK, world,
at what you have done!
lit the covering from the maltreated
Christ to let you count the wounds and
estimate the cost. Oh, when the nails went
through Christs right hand and through
Christs left hand, that bought both your
hands with all their power to work and lift
and write! When the nails went through
Christs right foot and Christs left foot,
| that bought your feet, with all their power
to walk or run or climb. When the thorn
went into Christ's temple, that bought your
brain, with all its power to think and plan.
When the spear cleft Christs side, that
bought your heart, with all its power to
love anc repent and pray.
Oh. sinner, come, come backi If man IS
in no pain. il be is prospered, il he is well,
and he asks you to come, you take your time
and you say: II can't come now. FL come
after while. There is no haste" But II
he is in want and trouble you say: u must
90 right away. I must 60 now." To-day
Jesus stretches out before you two wounded
hands and he begs you to come. Go and you
live. Stay away and you die.
When the Atlantic cable was lost, In 1865,
do you remember that the Great Eastern,
and tae Meiway, and the Albany went ont
to find it! Thirty tic,es they sank the grap-
mel two and half mile: deep in water:
After awhile they found the cable and
brought it to the surface. No sooner had it
been brought to the surface than they lifted
a shout of e1ultalion, but the cable slipped
back again into the water and was lost.
Then for two weeks more they swept
the sea with the graphing hooks, and
at last they found the cable, and
they brought it up in silence. They
| fastened IL CnlS UlIne. lueu, WILL SEedo GA
citement, they took one end Of the cable to
the electricians room to see II there were
really any life in it. and when they saw a
spark and knew that a message could be
sent, then every hat was lifted, and the
rockets few and the guns sounded until all
the vessels on the expedition knew the WORK
was done, and the continents were lashed
together.
Gospel messengers have come searching
down for your souls. We have swept the sea
with the graphing hook Of Christs Cos
pei. Again and again we have thought
that you were at the surface, and we began
to rejoice over your redemption; but at the
moment of our gladness you sank back
again into the world and back again into
sin. To-day we come with this Gospel
searching for your soul. We apply the
cross of Christ first to see whether there is
any life left in You while all around the peo'
pie stand, looking TO see whether the work
will be done and the angels OF God bend
down and witness, AMI oh! II now we could
see only one spark of love and hope and faith,
we would send up shout that would be
heard on the battlements OF heaven, and
two worlds would keep jubilee because com
munication is open between Christ and the
soul, and your nature that has been sunker
in sin has been lifted into the Light and ths
joy Of the Gospel.
EVIDENTLY the modern muse has
fallen into the same sort OF error
which has deluded the feet Of bel
merely mortal sisters, for 4 recent