Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1892-08-26
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun
DAY SERMON.
Subject: useful Suffering"

There have ueen scholars who have ven
tured the assertion that the pains of our
Lord were unnecess airy. Indeed it was
shocking waste of tears and blood and az
ony, unless some great en1 were to be
reached. If men can prove that no goo re-
suit comes of it, then the character of God
Is lmpeached, and the universe must stand
abhorent and denunciatory at the fact that
the Father allowed the butchery OF His only
begotten Son.
we all admire the brave six hundred men
described by Tennyson as dashing into the
conflict when they knew they must die, and
knew at the same time that ''some one had
blunderd;" but we are abhorrent Of the man
who made the blunder and who caused the
sacrifice of those brave men for no use. But
L shall show you, if the Lord will help me-
this morning that for good reasons Christ
went through the torture. In other words,
lit behoOved Christ TO suffer-"
In the first place, / remark that Christ's
decorations were necessary, because mans
rescue was an lmpoSsibility except by the
payment of some great sacrifice. Outraged
law had thundered against iniquity. Man
must die unless substitute can Intercept
that death. Let Gabriel step forth. He re-
fuses. Let Michael the archangel step forth.
He refuses. No Roman citizen, no Athe-
man, no Corinthian, no reformer, no angel
volunteered. Christ then barred His heart to
the pang.. He paid for our redemption in
tears and blood and wounded feet and
scourged shoulders and torn brow. sit is
done" Heaven and earth heard the snap of
the prison bar. SINAI ceased to quake with
wrath the moment that Calvary began to
rock In crucifxion. Christ had suffered.
'Oh," says some man, 81 don't like that
doctrine OF substitution; let every man
bear his Swn burdens, and weep his own
tears, and fight his own battlesw Why, my
brother, there IS vicarious suffering all over
the world. Did not your parents suffer for
you? Do you not sometimes suffer for your
children? Does not the patriot suffer for
his country? Did not Grace Darling suffer
Tor the drowning sailors? Vicarious suffer-
ing on all Sides But how insi snificant COM
pared with this scene OF vicarous suffer-
ing!
Was 1t for crimes that had done
lie groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree.
Christ must suffer to pay the price Of our
redemption.
But l remark again, the sufferings of
Christ were necessary in order that the
worlds sympathies might be aroused. Men
are won TO the right and good through their
sympathes. The world must feel Alright
before it can act Alright. So the cross was
allowed to be lifted that the worlds sympa-
thles might be aroused. Men who have
been Obdurated by the cruelties they have
enacted the massacres they have inflicted,
by the horrors OF which they have been
guilty, have become little children in the
What the swords could not do, what Jug
gernauts could not suOdue, the wounded
hand of Christ has accomplished. There
are this moment millions of people held un-
der tue spell of that one sacrifice. The ham
mers that struck the spikes into the cross
have broken the rocky neart of the world.
Nothing but the agonles OF SaviOur'S death
throe could rouse the worlds sympathies.
L remark again, cit beloved Christ to
suffer, that the strength and persistence of
the divine love might be demonstrated. Was
At the applause OF the world that induced
Christ on that crusade from Heaven? Why,
all the universe was at His feet. Could the
conquest of this Insignificant planet have
paid Him for His career of pain If it had
been a mere matter of applause? All the
honors OF heaven surging at His feet.
Would your queen give up her throne that
she might RUE a miserable tribe In Africa?
WOulu the Lord Jesus Christ on the throne
of the universe come down to our planet If
1t were a mere matter OF applause and &C
clamatiOn?
Nor was it an expedition undertaken for
the accumulation of vast wealth. What
could all the harvests and the diamonds OF
our little world do for Him whose are the
glOrieS of infinitu lie and eternity? Nor was
1t an experiment-an attempt to show what
de could do With the hard hearted race. He
who wheels the stars in their courses and
holds the pillars of the universe on the tips
OF His fingers needed to make no experiment
TO find what He could do. On, will tell
you, my friends, what it was. 1t was I'M
disguised, unlimited all conquerlng, all con-
Stunning, infinite, eternal, omnipotent love
that opened the gate, that started the
star in the east, with finger or light
pointing down to the manager, that arrayed
the Christmas choir above Bethlehem. that
opened the stable door where Christ was
born that lifted Hin on the cross. Love
thirsty at the we'll. Love at the sick mans
couch Love at the cripple's crutch. Love
sweating in the garden. Love dying on the
cross. Love wrapped in the grave. You
cannot mistake it. The blindest eye must
see it. The hardest heart must feel it. The
deafest ear must hear it. Parable and
miracle wayside talk and seaside interview,
all the scenes of His life all the sufferings OF
His death, proving beyond controversy that
for our migrate earth God has yearned with
Stupendous and inextingu, shable love.
But remark again, sit beloved Christ to
suffer-" that the nature of human guilt
might be demonstrated. There is not com
mon sense man in the house to-day that will
not admit that the machinery of society is
out of gear, that the human mind and the
human heart are disorganized, that some
thing ought to be done right away for its re-
pair and readjustment. But the height and
depth and length and breadth and hate and
recklesSness and Internal energy OF the
human heart for sin would not have been
demonstrated if against the holy and inno-
cent one of the cross it had not been hurled
In one bolt of fire.
Christ was not the first man that had been
put to death. There had been many before
Him put to death, but they had their whims,
the follies, their sins their inconsistencies
But when the mob outside of Jerusalem
howled at the Son of God it was hate against
goodness it was blasphemy against virtue,
it was earth against heaven. What was it
in that innocent and loving face of Christ
that excited the vituperation and the con-
tered them to come on, if He had laughed
them into derision, if He had denounced