Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-08-23
A FOLD CHALLENGE.
There is no Chance For an Abb in
Our Cas-.
We Must Throw Ourselves Christ's
Aicrcy There l. Only One Lawyer who
Can Pi--I our Case 81 Heavens
Bar Talnaer', sermon.

Rev. DR. 1'',mage sunday chose for
, his subject, 4 Bold Challenge" the
text being 'omans viii, %. ''Who is
/ lie that condemneth? II IS Christ that
died, yea, rather that is risen again,
who Is even az the ri-ht hand OF God,
who also malleth interccssion for US.
This is the last sermon shall ever
| preach" said Christmas Evans. on the
18th of June. 1888. Three days after
ward he expired. do not know what
lis text was but / know no man could
! choose a better though he knew
il was the last tirue he should ever
preach-than the subject found in this
text.
Paul flung this challenge of the text
at the feet of all ecclesiastical and civil
authority. He feared neither swords
nor lions, earth nor hell. Diocletian
slew uncoUnted thousands under his
administration, and the world has been
fun Of persecution; but all the pcrse-
cutors of the world could not alright
! Paul Was IL because he was physic-
/ ally strong? Oh, no. / suppose he was
/ very much weakened by exposure and
maltreatment Was it because he was
y
| the most delicate shades OF feeling
playing in and out OF his letters and
sermons. Some OF his communications
4 burst into tears What was IL that
/ lifted Paul into this triumphant mood?
| The thought of Saviour dead, a Sa-
4 viour risen, Saviour exalted. a Saviour
] intcrccding.
All the world has sung the praise of
1 4
( OF n contagious 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
I YOU yourself win die" But seeing the
I child mourning because of the death of
| her brother, the mother stopped down.
and in sympathy kissed the little one,
caught the disease and periehed. All
the world sang of the heroism and self
sacrifice of Princess Alice, but l have
to tell you that when our race was
( dying the Lord Jesus stopped down
and gave us the kiss of everlasting love.
and persisted that we might live. at is
| Christ that died"
Can You tell me how tender-hearted
Paul could find anything 20 rejoice at
! in the horrible death scene OF Calvary?
We weep at funerals, we are sympa-
, thctic when we see stranger die.
when murderer steps upon scaffold
we pray for his departing spirit and
how could Paul-the grcat-hearted
Paul-find anything to bc pleased with
nt the funeral of a 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
n Saviour's death could Paul be ex-
ultsnt?
Ii was because Paul saw in that death
his own deliverance, and the deliver
aucc Of a 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 eSecutioner's spear in
his sight lSindled into a torch to light
men heaveuward 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" lie heard in the
dying groan OF Christ his own groan of
eternal torture taken by. another
Pant said 20 himself: Had it not been
that Christ volunteered in my behalf.
those would have been my mauled
hands and feet, my gashcd side, my
crimson temples
Men of great physical endurance
have sometimes carried very heavy bur
dcnS- three hundred pounds. four hun
1rcd pounds-and they have still said;
My strength is not yet tested, put on
more weight But after a little while
they We're compelled TO CRY out: stop!
| can carry no more. But the burden
IF Christ was illimitablc First, there
MAS his own burden of hunger. and
thirst and bereavement and a thou
sand outrages that have been heaped
upon Him and on top of that burden
were the sorrows of His poor old moth
CT. and on top OF those burdens the
crimes Of the rufiians who were cXccut-
ing Him.
stop" you cry, cit is enough; Christ
san bear no more And Christ saws.
Roll on more burdens. roll on me the
sins of the 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. SO far as
those sins have been forgiven" And
Else angels of God. seeing the awful
pre- sure cry stop lie can bear no
more. And the blood rushing 20 the
no~tril and lip seems ~ cry out.
Enough. Tie can euiur, mo- more. 90
But thrist says "RoN on % greater
burden roll on the sins Of the next
nineteen hundred years. roll on me the
sins ~ Oh the succeeding ages: roll on
me the aEouies OF hell. ages on ages.
the furnaces and tho prison-houscs and
tue tartWc-' That is what the Bible
means when it -atvg "ffp baro our sims