Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1893-08-18
REV. DIR. TALNAGE.
Che Eminent Brooklyn DivineS Sun.
day Sermon.
Subject; "a Bold Challenge"

preach, said Christmas Evans on the 18th
OF June, 1883. Three days afterward he ex-
pired. do not know what his text was.
out Know that no man could choose a bet
ter theme-though he knew 1t was the last
time he should ever preach-thaD the subject
found in this text.
Paul flung this challenge Of the text TO the
feet Of Gil ecclesiastical and civil authority.
he feared neither swords or lions, earth nor
nell. 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 II because he was physically strong?
Oh, no. suppose he was very much weak
ened by exposure and maltreatment Was
II 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 lifted Paul
into this triumphant mood2 The thought Of
q Saviour dead, Saviour risen, a Saviour
exalted, a Saviour intercedng.
All The world has sang the praise Of Prin.
cess Alice. One child having died OF a con.
tagious disease, she was in the room where
another was dying, and the court physician
said TO her you must not breathe the breath
OF this child, or you yourself will die" But
seeing the child mourning because OF the
death OF her brother, the mother stopped
down and in sympathy kissed the little one.
caught the disease and persisted. All the
world sang the heroism and the self-sacriice
OF Princess Alice, 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
live. at is Christ that died"
Can you tell me how tender hearted Paul
could lind anything TO rejoice at in the hor-
rible death scene OF Calvary? We weep ut
funerals we are sympathetic when we see a
stranger die when murderer steps upon
the scaffold we pray for his departing spirit,
and how could Paul-the great hearted Paul
find anything to be pleased with at the
funeral of God? Besides 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 death could Paul
be exutant?
1t was because Paul saw in that death his
own deliverancc and the deliverance OF q race
from still worse disaster. 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 execution.
er spear in his sight kindled into 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 word-"expiation ~ He
heard in the dying 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 mauled hands and feet, my
gashed side. my crimson temples
Men OF great physical endurance have
sometimes carried very heavy burdens-SO0
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 ilimitable. First. there was His own
burden Of hunger and thirst and bereave-
ment and thousand Outrages that have
been heaped upon Him. and on top Of that
burden were the SORROWS OF His poor old
mother, and on the top OF those burdens the
crimes Of the ruftlans who were executing
Him.
stop go you cry 1T is enough. Christ
can bear no more And Christ says, Roll
on more burdens roll on Ne 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 1000 years 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
10 cry out Enough He can endure no
more" But Christ saws 'Roll on greater
burden. roll on the sins OF the next 1900
wears, roll on Me the sins OF the succeeding
ages. roll on Ne the agonies Of he'll. ages on
ages. the furnaces and the prison houses and
the fortunes. That Is what the Bible
means when it says. He bore our sins and
carried our sorrows.
Now, says Paul. II am free That suf-
iering purchased my deliverance God never
collects debt twice. / have a receipt in
full. Ii 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.
/ challenge You. Who is he that condemn
eth? II is Christ that died. Oh, what a
strong argument that puts IN the hand Of ey-
cry Christian man Some day all the past
sins OF his life come down on him in a fiery
troop. and they pound away at the gate OF
his soul and they say I'VE have come Tor
your arrest. ANY one OF US could overcome
you We are 10000 strong Surrender.
And you open the door. and single handed
and alone YOU contend against that troop.
You fling this divine weapon into their midst.
You scatter those sins - quick as YOU can
think IT,
1T is Christ that died. Why, then. bring
mp to Us the sins Of our past lifeI What have
we to DO with those obsolete things? You
know how hard it is for wrecker to bring
up anything that is lost near the shore OF the
sea. but suppose something be- lost half way
between Liverpool and New York. 1t can
not be found it cannot be fetched up.
Now, says God your sins have been cast
into the depths Of the sea. Mid-Atlantic
All the machinery ever fashioned in foun
dries of darkness and launched from the
doors OF eternal death, working for 1909
years, cannot bring up one Of our sins for
given and forgotten and sunken into the
depths Of the sea. When a sin is pardOncd
IT is gone. It is gone out Of the books il Is
gone out OF the memory it is gone out Of ex-
istence. Their sins and their iniquities will
remember no more
From other tragedies men have come away
exhausted and nervous and sleepless, 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 fall
ing at midnoon was the drop scene. the
thunder offalling rocks the orchestra. angels
in the galleries and devils in the pit the
spectators, the tragedy cruciflxion. 1T is
Christ that died" Oh. triumphant thought
Ifyou go through the picture gallery Of
Versailles, you will find great change
there. | said to friend who had been
through those galleries, Are they rs they
were before the French warp and | was
told there was great change there that all
that multitude Of pictures which represented
Napoleonic triumphs had been taken away,
and in the frames were other pictures rep
resentative of German success and victory.
Oh that all the scenes OF satanic triumph In
our world might be blotted out. and that
the whole world might be a picture gallery
representing the triumphant Jesus Down
with the monarchy OF transgressiOn Up
with the monarchy OF our King Hail Jesus,
hail
But must give you the second cause OF
Pauls exhilaratiOD. II Christ had staid in
that grave, we never would have gotten out
of it. The grave would have been dark and
dismal as the conciergerie during the reign
OF terror. where the carts came up only TO
take the victims out TO the scaffold. do
not wonder that the ancients tried by en-
Of the body to resist the dissolution
OF death.
The grave is the darkest. deepest ghastli-
est chasm that was ever opened If there be
no light from the resurrection throne stream
ing into IT, but Christ staid in the tomb all
Friday night and all Saturday, all Saturday
night and part OF Sunday morn ng He
staid so long in the tomb that He might NJ It
for us when we go there He tarried two
whole nights in the grave. so that He saw
how important II was 10 have plenty OF
light. and He has flooded II with His own
glory.