Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-15
CAUSE OF THE CROSS.
Six Great Reasons Why II Behooved
Christ to Suffer For Us.
DIVINE LOVE AND HUMAN GUILT.
His Death Arouses Our Sympathiss and
Turns Cs Toward Him,
1T TEACHES Us TO ENDURE TRIALS

AONDONy aug IL - DE 1almdge
preached to-day from Luke 24:46, 'It Be-
hooved Christ to Suffer"
There have been scholars VINO have ven
tured the assertion that the paths of our
Lord were unnecessary. Indeed it was q
shocking waste Of tears and blood and
agony, unless some great end were to be
reached. If men can prove that no good re-
suit comes of il then the character of God is
impesched, and the universe must stand ab-
horrent and denunciatory at the fact that
the Father allowed the butchery of His only
begotten Son.
We all admire the brave 600 men described
by Tennyson as dashing into the conflict
when they knew they must die and knew at
the same time that someone had
blunder'd;" but weare abhorrent OF the man
who made the Dlunder and who caused the
sacrifice of those brave men for no use. But
shall show you, If the Lord will help me
this morning, that for good reasons Christ
went through the torture. In other words,
"it behooved Christ to suffer-"
The Debt of Man m ust Be Paid.
First-In the first place 1 remark that
Christs lacerations were necessary, because
mans rescue was an impossibility except by
the payment of some great sacrifice. Out
ragged law had thundered against infquity.
Man must die unless a substitute can inter-
CCpb ludI uOdIu. Leu OdDrlel eteD 1Ortl, ne
refuses. Let Michael, the Archangel, step
forth. He refuses. No Roman citizen, no
Athenian, no Corinthian, no reformer, no
angel volun teered.
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 Hnd earth heard the snap of the
prison bar. Sinai ceased to quake with
wrath the moment that Calvary began to
rock in crucifixion. 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 light his own battles" Why, my
brother, there is vicarious suffering all over
you? Do you not suffer sometimes Tor your
children? Does not the patriot suffer for his
country? Did not Grace Darling suffer for
the drowning sailors? Vicarious suffering
on all sidesi But how insignificant COM
pared 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 drgree.
Christ must suffer to pa, the price of our
But l remrrk again: The sufferings of
Christ were necessary in order that the
worlds sympathies might be aroused. Men
are won to the right and good through their
sympathies.
Under the Spell of the Great Sacrifice
Men who have been obdurated by the
cruelties they have enacted, by the mas
sacres they have inflicted, 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
JuCgernauts could not subdue, the wounded
hand of Christ has accomplished. There are |
this moment millions of people held under |
the spell of that one sacrifice. The ham |
mers that struck the spikes into the cross |
Nothing but the agonies of a Saviors death |
tnroe could arouse the worlds sympathies. |
Iremark again: sit behooved Christ to suf- |
fer" that the strength and persistence of
Was it the applause of the world that in /
duced Christ on that crusade from heaven? |
Why, all the universe was at His feet. Could |
the conquest of this insignificant planet /
have paid him for his career of pain, if it had |
been a mere matter of applause? All the 1
honors or heaven surging at His feet. Would |
your Queen give mp her throne that she |
might rule a miserable tribe in Africa? |
e Lord Jesus Christ, on the throne
on Tue unI, erse, come oown 90 our planet |
if it were a mere matter of applause and ac-
clamation?
Nor was it an expedition undertaken for
the accumulation of vast wealth. What |
could all the harvests and the diamonds of |
our little world do for Him whose are the |
glories of infnitude and eternity9 Nor was |
it an experiment-an attempt to show what |
He could do with the hard-hearted race. |
He who wheels the stars in their courses |
and hold the pillars of the universe on the |
tips of His fingers needed to make no ex- |
pertinent to find what He could do.
IL Was Love That Brought Christ Down.
Oh! will tell you, my friends, what it |
was. 1t was undisguised, unlimited, all |
conQuering, an-consuming, infinite, eternal. |
omnipotent love that opened the gate that |
started the star in the East, with finger of |
light pointing down to the manger: that ar |
rayed the Christmas choir above Bethlehem; |
that opened the stable door where Christ |
was born that lifted Him on the Cross. Love |
thirsty at the well. Love at the sick mans |
couch. Love at the cripple's couch. Love |
sweating in the gardsdn' IN L1ye tSe dying on the
cannot mistake it The blhdest eye must |
see il. The hardest heart must feel it. The |
deafest ear must hear it. Parable and mira.
Gle, wayside talk and seaside interview all |
the scenes of His life, all the sufferings of |
His death, proving beyond controversy that |
Ior our migrate earth God has yearned with |
stupendous and inextinguishable love.
But / remark again: '1t behooved Christ to |
suffer- that the nature of human guilt might |
be demonstrated. There is not a common |
admit that the machinery of society is out |
of gear, that the human mind and the human |
heart are disorganized, that something |
ought to be done, and done right away for |
height, and depth, and length, and breadth, |
and hate, and recklessness, ana internal |
energy OF the human heart for sin would not
and innocent One of the Cross it had not |
been hurled in one bolt of fire.
Christ 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 inconsisten- /
cies.
The Lowest Depth OF Depravitv.
But when the mob outside of Jerusalem |
howled at the Son of God, 1t was hate against |
goodness, it was blasphemy against virtue, |
it was earth against heaven. What was it in |
that innocent and loving face of Christ that |
excited the vituperation and the contumely. |
and scorn of men2 If he had bantered them |
TO come on, ii he had laughed them into de. |
rision, If be had denounced them as the vag- |
abonds they were we could understand their |
ferocity: but it was against inoffensiveness |
that they brandished their spears, and |
and howled, and scoffed, and jeered, and |
Knocked.
What evil had He doneH Whose eyesight
had He put out? None: but He had given |
vision TO the blind? Whose child had he |
slainf None; but He restored the dead
damsel to her mother. What law had He /
brokenf None; but He had inculcated obe-
dience to government. What foul plot had /
lie enacted against the happiness of the |
racer None; He had come to save a world. /
The only cruelty He ever enacted was to /
heal the sick. The only ostentation He ever
displayed was to sit with the publicans and
sinners, and wash the disciples feet. The
only seifishness He ever exhibited was to
give His life for His enemies. And vet, all /
the wrath OF the world surged against His |
holy heart Hear the red-hot scorn Of the |
world kissing in the pools Of savior's
bloodl
And standing there to-day, let us see what |
an unreasonable, loathsome, hateful, blast
ing, damning thing is the fniquity of the
human heart. Unloosed, what will not sin
do? 1t will scale any height, it will fathom |
the very depth of hell, it will reyel in all /