Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-08-25
USEFUL SUFFERING.
DR.. TALMAeE SPEAKS OF THE USES
OF ADVERSELY.

Why ''It Beloved Christ to Sufer"-There
Has Never Been Such an Example of
Enduring Patience as We Find on the
Cross.
LONDON, Aug. 14-Rev. DIR. Talmave,s
European preaching tour is drawing to
close. During the week he has
preached three or four times in different
,ities, following out the programme al
ready announced, and everywhere meeting
large and enthusiastic audiences. This
week be speaks at Leeds, Bradford, Shelf
aeld and Derby. The subject chosen for
today is useful Suffering" the text
taken being Luke xiv, 40, ''It beloved
Christ to suffer"
There have been scholars who have ven
tured the assertion that the pains of our
Lord were unnecessary. Indeed it was
shocking waste of tears and blood and
agony, unless some great end were to be
reached. If men improve that no good re-
suit comes Of it, then the character of God
is impeached and the universe must stand
abhorrent 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 where they knew they must die,
and knew at the same time that "some one
had blunder'd," but we are abhorrentof 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, "It beloved Christ to suffer-"
In the first place, remark that Christ's
decorations were necessary because mans
rescue was an impossibility 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
refuses. Let Michael the archangel step
forth. He refuses No Roman citizen, no
Athenian, no Corinthian, no reformer, no
angel volunteered. Christ then barred his
heart to the pang He paid for our re-
demption in tears and blood and wounded
feet and scourged shoulders and torn
brow. 1T 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 cruciixion.
Christ had suffered.
"Oh," says some man, "I don't like that
doctrine of substitution; let every man
bear his own burdens and weep his own
tears and fight his own battlesp' Why,
my brothers, there is vicarious suffering
all over the world. Did not your parents
suffer for youS Do you not suffer some
lines for your children? Does not the pa
riot suffer for his country2 Did not Grace
Darling suffer for the drowning sailors?
Vicarious suffering on all sides But how
insignificant compared with this scene of
vicarious sufferingl
Was it for crimes that had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree.
THE PRICE OF REDEMPTION,
Christ must suffer to pay the price of
our redemption.
But | 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 sympathies. The world must feel
Alright before it can act Alright. So the
cross was allowed to be lifted that the
worlds sympathies might be aroused.
Men who have been obdurated by the
crUelties they have enacted, by the mas.
sacres they have inflicted, by the horrors
of which they have been guilty have be-
come little children in the presence of this
dying Saviour. What the sword could not
do, what Juggernauts could not subdue,
the wounded hand of Christ has accom-
plished. There are this moment millions
of people held under the spell of that one
sacrifice. The hammers that struck the
spikes into the cross have broken the rocky
heart of the world. Nothing but the
agonies of Saviour's death throe could
rouse the worlds sympathies.
| l remark again, sit beloved Christ to
suffer" that the strength and persistence
of the divine love might be demonstrated.
Was it the applause of the world that in
| duced 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 rule miserable tribe in
| Africa? Would the Lord Jesus Christ, on
|
our planet If it were mere matter of ap-
plause and acclamation?
| Nor was it an expedition undertaken for
the accumulation of vast wealth. What
could all the harvests and all the diamonds
Of our little world do for him whose are
| the glories of infnitude and eternity? Nor
was it an experiment-an attempt to show
what he could do with the hard hearted
race. He who wheels the stars in their
courses and holds the pillars of the uni
verse on the tips of his fingers needed to
make no experiment to find what he could
do. Oh, will tell you, my friends, what
it was. 1t was the undisguised, unlim-
tied, all conquering, all consuming, in
finite. eternal, omnipotent love that
Opened the gate, that started the
star in the east, with finger of light
pointing down to the manger; that ar
rayed the Christmas choir above Bethle-
hem; that opened the stable door where
Christ was born; that lifted him on the
cross. Love thirsty at the well. Love at
the sick mans couch. Love at the Grip
ple's crutch. Love sweating in the gar
den. Love dying on the cross. Love
wrapped in the grave. You cannot mis-
take 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 inextinguishable love.
SOCIETY Is OUT OF GEAR
But remark again, SIT beloved Christ
to suffer" that the nature Of human guilt
might be demonstrated. There is not
common sense man in the house today that
will not admit that the machinery of soci-
ETY. is out of gear, that the human mind
and the human heart are disorganized,
that something ought to be done and done