The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1892-08-25
'l.A,.:LM AGES SERMON.
The Eloquent American Divine Con
tlnues to Entertain the Euro
peaDs,
His Subject Was "Useful Suffering
Taken From the Text ut Behooy.
ed Christ to Suffer-

o4iiiaSe european preaching tour
IS drawing to q close. During the
week he has preached three or four
times in different cities, following out
the program already announced and
everywhere meeting large and enthusi.
astic audiences. This week he speaks
at Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and
Derby. The subject chosen for today
ls, useful suffering" the text being
Luke 24:46, ut behooved Christ to
suffer-"
There have been scholars who have
ventured the assertion that the pains
OF our Lord was unnecessary. In
deed, it was shocking waste OF tears
blood and agony, unless some great
end were to be reached.
Inlthe first place 1 remark, that
Christ's decorations were necessary,
because mans rescue was an impossi-
bility except by the payment OF some
great sacrifice. Outraged law had
Numbered against iniquity. Man
must die unless q substitute can inter-
cept 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
redemption in tears aud blood, and
wounded feet, and scourged shoulders,
and torn brow. Christ must suffer
to pay the price OF our redemp tlon.
But remark again: The suffering
OF Christ were necessary in order
that r..
l.. THE WORLD sYNlPATH1Es
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 wos allowed to be lifted so
that the world 8 sympathies might be
aroused. Men who have been obdur-
ated by the cruelties they have en-
acted, by the massacres they have in
ficted, by the horrors OF which they
have been guilty, have become little
children in the presence OF this dying
Savior. What the sword could not
do, what Juggernauts could not sub
due, the wounded hand of Christ has
accomplished.
/ remark again: cit behooved
Christ to suffer-" that the strength
and persistence of the divine love
might be demonstrated. Was it 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 insignifi-
can't planet have paid him for his
career of pain, it it had been mere
matter Of applause.
Oh! tell you, my friends, what twas.
It was undisguised, unlimited, all-con-
quering, all-consuming, infinite, eter-
nal, omnipotent love that opened the
gate, that started the star in the
East, with finger OF light pointing
down to the manger; that Aarrayed
the Christmas choir above Bethlehem,
that opened the stable door where
Christ was born, that lifted him on
the cross. 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 deaf
est ear must hear it. H...,E
But remark again: cit behooved
Christ to suffer" that.
THE NATURE OF HUMAN GUILT
might be demonstrated. There is not
q common sense man in the house to-
day that will not admit that the
machinery OF society is out of gear,
that the human heart are disorganiz-
ed. that something ought to be done
and done right away for it's repair
and re.adjustment. But the height,
and depth, and length and breadth,
and hate, and recklessness, and infer
nal energy of the human heart for sin
would not have been demonstrated if
against the holy and innocent One
Of the Cross it had not been hurled in
one bolt of fire. Oh list 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,
their follies, their sins, their inconsist-
encies. But when the mob outside of
Jerusalem howled at the Son Of God,
it was hate against goodness, it was
blasphemy againt virtue, it was earth
against heaven. When sin murdered
Christ on the cross, it showed what it
would do with the Lord God Almighty
if it could get at him. The prophet
had declared think it was jeremiah
-had declared centuries before, the
truth, but not until sin shot out it's
forked tongue at the crucifiXion and
tossed it's sting into the soul OF a mar
tyred Jesus was it illustrated that
"the heart is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked"
Again: cit behooved Christ to sui
fer" that our affections might be ex-
cited Christward. Why, sirs, the be-:
havior of our Lord
HAS sTIRRED. THE AFFEt TON.
Of all those who have ever heard of it.
Ithas hung the art galleries ofthe world
with such pictures as Ghirlandajo's
Worship OF the Mali" Giottos'
Baptism OF Christ" Holman Hunts
srSNG IH1 y sRvNp Z n ~