Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-08-19
PAUL'S CHALLENGE.
DR.. Talmage on the Fearlessness
of the Apostle.
Christ Is He That Condemneth-A Saviour
Dead, u Saviour Risen, Saviour In
terceding- Christ at the Right
Hand OF God.

~
Romans viii. 81: "Who is he that con-
demneth? Is it Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again, who is even
at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for u.s." DIR. Tai
mage said:
This is the last sermon / shall ever
preach" said Christmas Evans on the
18th of June, 1888. Three days after
wards he expired. l do not know
what his text was, but do know that
no man could choose n better theme
though he knew it was the last time he
should ever preach--than the subject
found in this text
Paul flung this challenge of the text
to the feet of all ecclesiastical and civil
authority. He feared neither words
nor lions. earth nor hell. Diocletian
slew uncounted thousands under his
administration, and the world has been
full of persecution; but all the perse-
cutors of the world could not alright
Paul. Was it because he was physical
" strong? Oh, no. / suppose he was
very much weakened by exposure and
maltreatment. Was it because he was
lacking in sensitiveness? No; you find
the most delicate shades of feeling
playing in and out his letters and
sermons Some of his communications
burst into tears. What was it that
lifted Paul into this triumphant mood?
The thought of a Saviour dead, a
-. Sn a
Saviour interceding.
Can you tell me how tender-hearted
Paul could find anything to rejoice at
in the horrible death scene of Calvary?
We weep ut funerals; we are syspathet-
ic when we see stranger die: when
murderer steps upon u scaffold we pray
for his departing spirit; and could Paul
the great-hearted Paul-find any
thing to be pleased with at the funeral
of God? Beside that, Christ had only
recently died, and the sorrow was
fresh in the memory of the world, and
how in the fresh memory of a Saviour's
death could Paul be exultant?
II was because Paul saw in that
death his own deliverance and the de-
liverance of race from still worse dis
aster; he saw the gap into which the
race must plunge. and he saw the
bleeding hands of Christ close it. The
glittering steel on the top of the eXecu-
toner's speer in his sight kindled into
torch to light men heavenward The
prosecutors saw over the cross i've
words written in Hebrew, Greek and
Latin; but Paul saw over the cross only
one word-''expiation!' He heard in
the dying groan of Christ his own
groan of eternal torture taken by an
other. Paul said to himself: Had it
not been that Christ volunteered in my
behalf those would have been my
mauled hands and feet, my gashed side,
my crimson temples"
Men of great physical endurance
have sometimes carried very heavy
burdens-30O pounds, 400 pounds-and
they have still said, "My strength is
not yet tested; put on more weight"
But after awhile they were compelled
to cry out, ''Stop! l can carry no
more" But the burden of Christ was
illimitable. First, there was his own
burden of hunger, and thirst. and be-
reavement, and thousand outrages
that have been heaped upon him, and
on top of that burden were the sor-
rows of his poor old mother, and on the
top of those burdens the crimes OF the
ruffians who were executing him.
"Stop! you cry, sit is enough;
Christ can bear no more" And
Christ says, Roll on more burdens;
roll on me the sins of this en-
tire nation, and after that, roll on me
the sins of the inhabited earth, and
then roll on me the sins of the 1000
wears past, SO far as those sins have
been forgiven" And the angels OF
God, seeing the awful pressure, cry,
.Stop! He can bear no more" And
the blood rushing to the nostril and
lip seems to cry out, Enough! lie can
endure no more" But Christ says,
Roll on a greater burden-roll on the
sins of the next 1900 years, roll on me
the sins of all the succeeding ages, roll
on me the agonies of hell, ages on ages
the furnaces and the prison houses and
the tortures." That is what the Bible
means when it says, "lIe bore our sins,
and carried our sorrows"
Now" says Paul, II am free; that
suffering purchased my deliverance;
God never collects debt twice; have
n receipt in full; if God is satisfied with
me. then what do all the threats of
earth and hell amount to? Bring on
all your witnesses" says Paul; "show
all your force; do your worst against
me; defy you; dare you; challenge
Won. Who is he that condemneth? 1t
is Christ that died" Oh, what strong
argument that puts in the hand OF
every Christian man! Some day all the
mast sins of his life come down on him
in a fiery troop, and they pound away
Mt the gate of his soul, and they say,
ssxUo have coma for VOur arrest.