The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1892-08-19
TALMAGE In EUROPE.
THE CRUClFlxlON OF CHRIST WAS
AN INFINITE NECESSITY.

If We Say That Any Lesser Sacrific,
with Folly-Redeeming Love Is Inf
mite Love-The Deceitful Heart.
LONDON, Aug. 14.-Rev DIR. Talmage's
European preaching tour is drawing tc
close. During the week he has
preached three or four times in different
cities, following out the programme
already announced and everywhere
meeting large and enthusiastic audi
ences. This week he speaks at Leeds,
Bradford. Sheffield and Derby. The
subject chosen for today is s'Useful
Suffering" the text taken being Luke
xiv, 46, at beloved Christ to suffer. -
There have been scholars who have
ventured 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. Ii men can prove that
no good result comes of it, then the
character of God is i1npeached, and the
universe must stand abhorrent and de-
mandatory at the fact that the Father
ten 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 blunder'd;' 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, at beloved Christ to suffer-"
In the first place, | remark that
Christ's decorations were necessary, be-
cause mans rescue was an impossibility
except by the payment of some great
sacrifice Outraged law had Numbered
against iniquity. Man must die unless
a substitute can intercept that death.
Let Gabriel step forth. He refuses. 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. at 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 crucihxion. Christ had suffered.
"Oh," says some man, 81 don't like
that doctrine of substitution; let every
man bear his own burdens, and weep
his own tears, and fight his own battles" |
Why, my brother, there is vicarious suf-
fering 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 coun-
try? Did not Grace Darling suffer for
the drowning sailors? Vicarious suffer
ing on all sides! But how insignificant
compared with this scene of vicarious
suffering!
! Was it for crimes that had done
+ He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown,
And love beyond degree.
Christ must suffer to pay the price of
our redemption.
THE HEALING SYMPATHY.
But l remark again, the sufferings
of Christ were necessary in order that
the world'ssympathies 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 massacres they have inflicted, by the
horrors of which they have been guilty,
have become little children in the pres
ence of this dying Saviour.
What the swords 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.
| remark again, sit beloved Christ !
to suffer" that the strength and persist '
ence of the divine love might be demon
strated. Was it the applause of the s
world that induced Christ on that cru ,
SADIE from heaven? Why, all the uni (
verse was at his feet. Could the con-
quest of this insignificant planet have
paid him for his career of pain if it had &
been mere matter of applause? All t
the honors of heaven surging at his feet. '
Would your queen give up her throne l
that she might rule a miserable tribe in 1
Africa? Would the Lord Jesus Christ '
on the throne of the universe come down +
to our planet if it were mere matter of S
applause and reclamation?
Nor was it an expedition undertaken Z
for the accumulation of vast wealth.
What could all the harvests and the t
diamonds of our little world do for him t
whose are the glories of infnitude and 9
eternity? Nor was it an experiment.
an attempt to show what he could do a
with the hard hearted race. He who s
wheels the stars in their courses and g
holds the pillars of the universe on the
lips of his fingers needed to make no u
experiment. to find what he could do. 8