The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1893-08-15
A BOLD CHALLENGE
WAS THE SUBJECT OF DIR. TIL
MAGE,S SUNDAY SERMON
Some Deeds of Heroic Christians-"It ls
Christ That Died'-The Strong Argu-
mont In the Hands Of Christians,

Brooklyn. n. Y, August 13.-(Special.)-
Rev. Dr. Talmage today chose for his sub
ject: a Bold Challenges" the text being
Romans viii, "a: "NVho is he that condemn
eth? Is it Christ that died, yea; rather
that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh inter-
cession for us
s'This is the last sermon ] shall ever
preach said Christmas Evans, on the
18th of June, 1888. Three days afterward
he expired. l do not know what his text
was, but | do know that no man could
choose Il better theme-though he knew 1t
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 au-
thority. He feared neither swords nor
lions. earth nor hell. Diocetian slew I'M
counted thousands under his administra-
ton, and the world has been full of perse-
cuton; but all the prosecutors of the world
could not alright Paul. Was it because
he was hysically 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 III
and his letters and sermons. Some ol hS
communications burst into tears. W nat
was it that lifted Paul into this triumphant
mood? The thought of Savior dead !;
Savior risen. II Savior exalted, Savior
interceding.
All the world has sung the praise of
Princess Alice One child having died of
contagious diseaSe-she was III the room
where another was dying. and the court
physician said 10 her: You must not
or you yourself will die But
seeing the child mourning be-
cause of the death of her brother, the
mother stopped down, and in sympathy
kissed the little one, caught the disease
ism and the self-sacritice of Princess AllcGs
but | have to tell you that when our race
was dying the Lord Jesus stopped down
and gave us the kiss of his everlasting
love. and persisted that we might I'VE. II
is Christ that died.
Can YOU tell me how tenderhcarted Paul
could find anything to rejoice at in the hor-
rble death scene of Calvary! we weep AT
funerals; we are sympathetic when we see
a stranger die; when murderer steps upon
the scaifod we pray for his departing spirit.
and how could Paul--the Sreat-hearted
paul-fnd anything 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 savlors death
could Paul be eXultant!
1t was because Paul saw in that death
his own delverance and the deliverance OF a
race from still worse disaster. lie saw the
gap into which the race must plunge ami
he saw the bleeding hands of Christ close
il. The gtteriug steel on the top of the
executioners spear in his sight kndled into
a torch to light men heavenward. The
prosecutors saw over the cross five words
written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. but
Paul saw over the cross of Christ only one
groan of Christ his own groan of eternal
torture taken by another. Paul said to
himself: Had it not been that Christ
volunteered in my behalf those would have
been my maulcd hands and feet, my
gashed side. my crimson temples"
Men of great physical endurance have
sometimes carried very heavy burdens
three hundred pounds, four hundred 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 can carry no more But the
burden of Christ was illimitable First,
there was his own burden of hunger and
thirst and bereavement and Il 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
rutans who were executing him. Stop
you cry, ut is enough; Christ can bear no
more" And Christ says. Roll on more
burdens; roll on me the sins of this entire
nation and after that roll on me the sins
Of the inhabited earth and then roll on me
the sins of the four thousand years past,
far rs 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 nostrl and
lip seems to cry out. Enough. He can
endure no more" But Christ says, Roll
on Il greater burden-roll on the sins of the
next nineteen hundred years, roll me the
sins of all the succeeding ages, roll me
the agoniea of hell, ages on ages, the fur
he bn
lures. That is what the Bible means
when it says, He bore our sins and car
ried our sorrows"
Now" says Paul, 81 am free; thar suf-
fering purchased by delverance; God never
collects 4 debt twice; | have L receipt III
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 my soul; | defy you; | dare you:
eth! 1t is Christ that died" Oh. what :,
strong argument that puts in the hands of
every Christian man! Some day all the
past sins of his life come down on him in
hery troop and they pound away at the
gate OF his soul and they say 1--WE have
come for your arrest. ANY one of Ms
could overcome you; we are ten thousand
strong; surrender. And you open the door
and >ngle-handed and alone you contend
against that troop; you fling this divine
those sins as quick as you can think il. ut
is Christ that died" Why then bring ND
to us the sins Of cur past life? What have
We to DO with those obsolete things? You
know how hard it is for wrecker
bring up anything that is lost near the
shore of the sea: but suppose something
be lost half way between Liverpool and
New York; it can't be found. it cannot be
fetched up. Now" says God, your sins
| have cast into the depths of the sea-
Mid-Atlantic. All the machinery ever
fashioned i'll foundries of darkness. and
launched from the doors of eternal death
working for ten thousand years cannot
bring up one of our sins forgiven and for
gotten and sunkcn into the depths of the
seal When n sin is pardoned, it is gone
it is gone out of the books, il is yon,, ont
of the memory, it is gone ont of existence
''rh"ir sins and their iniquities will | re-
member no more.
From other tragedies men have come
away exhausted and nervous and seepless:
but there is one tragedy that soothes and
Gains and saves. Calvary was the stage
on which it was enacted, the curtain of the
night falling at midnoon was the drop scene
the thunder of falling rocks the orchestra
angels i'll the galleries, and devils in the
pit the spectators. the tragedy a crucihx-
ion. 1T is Christ that died" Oh, trium-
plant thought
# you 90 through the pictur, galleries of
Versailles you will find great change