The Bossier banner., 1892-09-01

SympathiZer. The world can not lie
about you nor abuse you as much as
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 two o'clock morning scene
and the stroke of the ruffian on the
mouth, and the howling of the un-
washed crowd, then He will forget you
and me in the injustices of life that
may be inflicted upon us.
Further 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 noon
day went to their perch, and we felt a
gloom as we looked at the astronomical
wonder. 1t was a dark day in London
when the plague was at it's height, and
the dead with uncovered faces were
taken in open carts and dumped IN the
trenches. 1t 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. 1t was not the
coming on of 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 verything
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 hated or caricatured a man,
when you hear he is dying, silence puts
its hands on your lips, and you would
have loathing for the man who could
stand by a death-bed making faces and
scoffing. But Christ in His last hour
can not be left alone. What, pursuing
Him yet after so long a 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 wheter
those feet are really spiked. They
put out their hands and touch
the spikes, and bring them back wet
with blood and wipe them on their gar
ments. Women stand there and weep
but can do no good. 1t is no place for
the tender-hearted women. It wants a
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 fastened to
the cross they would have torn
Him down and trampled Him with
both feet. How the cavalry horses
arched their neclzs and champed
their bits, and reared and snuffed at
the bloodl Had Roman officer called
out for light, his voice would not have
been heard in the tumult; but louder
the clash of spears and the wailing of
womanhood, and the neighing of
charges, and the believing of the cru
offers there comes a voice crashing
through-loud, clear overwhelming,
terrific. 1t is the groaning of the dying
Son of God! Look! what a scene! Look,
world, at what you have done!
lift the covering from the maltreat-
ed Christ to let you. count the wounds
and estimate the cost. Oh, 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 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 it's power to think and
plan. When the spear cleft Christ's
side, that bought your heart with all its
power to love and repent and pray
When the Atlantic cable was lost in
1865, do you remember that the Great
Eastern and the Midway and the AL
bany went out to find it? Thirty times
they sank the grapnel two and half
miles deep in water. After awhile 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-hool1s, and
at'last they found the cable and they
brought it up in silence. They fastened
it this time. Then with great excite
ment they took one end of the cable to
the electricians room to see if there
were really any life in it, and wher
they saw a spark and knew that mes
sage could be sent, then every hat was
lifted and the rockets flew and the guns
sounded, until all the vessels on the ex
pedition knew the work was done ana
the continents were lashed together.
Well, my friends, Sabbath after Sab
bath Gospel messengers have come
searching down for your souls. We have
swept the sea with the graphing
of Christ's Gospel. Again and again we