The Portland daily press., 1892-07-02

| pathlzer. 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, 'Courage By all my
hours of maltreatment and abuse, l
will protect those who are trampled
upon.'' And when Christ forgets that
o'clock morning scene, and the stroke
! of the ruffian on the mouth, and the
| bowling of the unwashed crowd, then
He will forget you and me in the in
| justice of life that may be inflicted upon
us.
Further I remark: The last great in
stallment paid for our redemption was
the demise of Christ. The world has
seen many dark days. Many summers
ago there was a very dark day when the
sun was eclipsed. The fowl at MONDAY
went to their perch, and we felt a
gloom as we looked at the astronomical
wonder. 1twas dark day in London.
when the plaugue was at its height
and the dead with uncovered faces were
taken in open carts and dumped in the
trenches. It was a dark day when the
earth opened and Lisbon sank; but the
darkest day since the creation of the
world was when the carnage of Calvary,
! was enacted.
1t was about noon when the curtain,
| began to be drawn. It 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 shutters
or turn the lattice, so God in the after
noon shut the windows of the world.
AS it is appropriate to throw black
pail upon the coffin as it passes along, so it
was appropriate that everything should
be somber that day as the great hearse Of
the earth rolled on, bearing the corpse of
the King. A mans last hours are ordi-
narily kept sacred. However you may
have caricatured a man, when you hear
he is dying silence puts its hands on
your lips and you would have a loath-
ing for the man who could stand by a
deathbed making faces and scoffing.
But Christ in His last hour cannot be.
left alone. What, pursuing Him yet
after SO long pursuit? You have been
drinking His tears. Do you want to
drink His blood? They come up closely;
SO that Notwithstanding the darkness
they can glut their revenge with the
contortions of His countenance. They
examine His feet. They want to feel
for themselves whether those feet are
|
and touch the spikes and bring them
back wet with blood and wipe them on
their garments. Women stand there
| and weep but can do no good. 1t is no
place for the tender hearted women. It
wants heart that crime has turned
into granite. 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 fas-
tened to the cross they would have torn
him down and trampled him with both
feet. How the cavalry horses arched
their necls and champed their bits and
reared and snuffed at the blood! Had a
Roman officer called out for light, his
voice would not have been heard in the
tumult; but louder than the clash of
spears and the wailing of womanhood,
and the neighing of the chargers, and,
the believing of the crucifyers there
comes voice crashing through-loud,'
clear, overwhelming, terrific. 1t is the
groning of the dying Son of God! Look!'
what scenei Look, world, at what
you have donel i
l lift the covering from the maltreateds
Christ to let you count the wounds and
estimate the cost. Obi when the nails
went through Christ's right hand and,
through Christ's left hand, that bought
both your hands with all their power to-
work, and lift, and write; when the
nails went through Christ's right foot.
and through 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 and
repent and pray.
o sinner, come, come back! If man
is in no pain, if he is prospered, if he is
well and he asks you to come, you take
your time and you say, II can't come,
now. Pll come after awhile. There is,
no haste.'' But if he is in want and.
trouble you say: 81 must go right away
/ must go 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. O, that to Him
who bought us we might give all our
time and all our prayers and all our
successes L would we could think of
nothing else but come to Christ. He is
so fair. He is so loving. He is SO SYM
pathizing. He is SO good. l wish we
could put our arms around His neck
and say: Chime, Lord, will 1 be for
ever. U, that you would begin to love
Him. Would that [ could take this
audience and wreathe it around the
heart of my Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Atlantic cable was lost in
65, do you remember that the Great
Eastern and the Midway and the Al
bany went out to find it? Thirty times
they sank the grappel two and half
miles deep in the water. After while
they found the cable and brought it to
the surface. No sooner had it been
brought to the surface than they
lifted shout of exultation, but the
cable slipped back again into the water
and was lost. Then for two weeks
more they swept the sea with the
grappling-hooks, and at last they found
the cable and they brought it up in
silence. They fastened it this time
Then with great excitement they took
one end of the cable to the electricians
room to see if there were really any
life in it, and when they saw a spark
and knew thata message could be sent,
then every hat was lifted and the
rockets few and the guns sounded, I'M
til all the vessels on the expedition
knew the work was done, and the con-
tinents were dashed together. 55