The Portland daily press., 1892-07-02

Theme Of a Sermon Preached in
the City Temple at London.
The Worlds Darkest Day Was When tn.
Carnage of Calvary Was Enacted
The Great Debt That Humanity
Owes to the Saviour of
the World.

Parker, the celebrated English divine,
in the City Temple at London. He en-,
titled his sermon '"The Immense Cost, y,
and chose for his text, I. Cor, vi, 90:
aye are bought with price" The
eloquent preacher spoke as follows:
Your friend takes you through his
vnluable house. You examine the arches,
the frescoes, the grass plots, the fish
ponds, the Conservatives, the parks of
deer and you say within yourself or you
say aloud: "What did all this cost?"
You see costly diamond flashing in an
earring, orfyou hear costly dress rust
ling across the drawing-room, or you
see high mettled span of horse har-
messed, with silver and gold, and you be-
gin tofmake an estimate of the value.
The, man who owns large estate
cannot5instantly tell you all it is worth,
He says: ST will estimate so much for
the house, so much for the furniture, SO
much for the stock, so much for the
barn. so much for the equipage-adding
up all in making this aggregate"
Well, my friends, 1 hear SO much
about our mansion in Heaven. about its
furniture and the great surroundings,
that want to know how much it is all
worth, and what has actually been paid
for it. Tcannot complete in month
nor. yearsthe magnificent calculation,
but before get through to-day hope
to give you the figures. eye are bought
with a price"
With some friends went to your
Tower TO look at the crown jewels. We
walked around; caught one glimpse Of
them, and being in the procession were
compelled to pass out wish that I
could take this audience into the tower
of Gods mercy and strength, that you
might>waak around just once, at least
and see the crown jewels of eternity,
behold their brilliance, and estimate
their value. 'tYe are bought with a
price"
Now if you have large amount of
money to pay, you do not pay it all at
once, but you pay it by installments-
SO much the first of January, so much
the first of April, SO much the first of
July, so much the first of October, until
tell the audience that you have been
bought with a price" and that that
price was paid in different installments.
The first installment paid for the
clearance of our souls was the igno-
minious birth of Christ in Bethlehem.
Though we may never be carefully
looked after afterward, our advent into
the world is carefully guarded. We
come into the world amid kindly at.
D,,;- ci1a~oa Of
forded when God launches an immortal
soul into the world. Even the toughest
of men know enough to stand back.
But have to tell you that in the vii
lage on the side of the hill there was a
very bedlam of uproar when Jesus was
born. In village capable of accommo-
dating only few hundred people, many
thousand people were crowded; and
amid hostlers and muleteers and camel
drivers yelling at stupid beasts of bur
den the Messiah appeared. No silence.
No privacy. A better adapted place
hath the eaglet in the eyrie-hath the
whelp in the lions lair. The exile OF
Heaven lieth down upon straw. The
first night out from the palace of Heaven
spent in an outhouse! One hour after
laying aside the robes of Heaven,
dressed in wrapper of coarse linen.
One would have supposed that Christ
would have made a more gradual de-
scent coming from Heaven first to a
half way world of great magnitude,
then to Csssar's palace, then to mer.
chants castle in Galilee, then to pri.
vate home in Bethany, then to fisher
man'shut, and last of all to a stable.
No! It was one leap from the top to
the bottom.
Let us open the door of the caravan
sary in Bethlehem and drive away the
camels. Press on through the group OF
oilers and loungers. What, o Mary! nc
light? ''No light, she says, Save that
which comes through the door," What,
Mary! no food? ''None," she says. ''only
that which was brought in the sack on
the Journey" Let the Bethlehem
woman who has come in here with kind
~ attentions put back the covering from
the babe that we may look upon it.
Look! Look! Uncover your head. Let
all voices be hushed. Son of Mary! Son
of God! Child of a day-Monarch of
eternity! In that eye the glance of a
God. Omnipotence .sheathed in that
babes arm. That voice to be
changed from the feeble plant to the
tone that shall wake the dead. Hosan-
anna! Hosanna! Glory be to God that
Jesus came from throne to manger, that
we might rise from manger to throne,
and that all the gates are open, and
that the door of Heaven, that once
swung this way to let Jesus out, now
swings the other way to let us in. Let
all the bellmen of Heaven lay hold the
rope and ring out the news! Behold,
bring you glad tidings of great joy,
which shall be to all people: for to-day
is born in the city of David Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord!'
The second installment paid for our
souls clearance was the scene in Quar-
antania, a mountainous region, full OF
caverns, where there are to this day
panthers and wild beasts of all sorts,
SO that you must now go there armed
with knife, or gun, or pistol. 1t was
there that Jesus went to think and to
pray, and it was there that this monster
Of hell-more sly, more terrific, than
anything that prowled in that country