National Baptist world., 1894-09-14

| NO, you must have the certificate
hung amidship, telling how many tons
it carries, and how long ago it was
built, and who built it, and all about
1t. And you can not expect me to risk
the cargo of my immortal interests on
board any craft till you tell me what it
is made of, and where it was made, and
| what it is
| When, then, ask you who this is
| you want me to trust in, you tell me
He is a very attractive person. Con-
| temporary writer's describe His whole
appearance as being resplendent.
There was no need for Christ to tell the
children to come to Him. Suffer lit
tie children to come unto me-" was not
| spoke to the children: it was spoken to
the disciples. The children came
readily enough without any invitation.
No sooner did Jesus appear than the
| little ones jumped from their mothers
| arms, an avalanche of beauty and
| love, into His lap. Christ did not ask
John to put His head down on His
bosom; John could not help but
put His head there. l suppose
| look at Christ was just to love Him.
| liz" dGUIdCCIFt Ills IldHuSI' w
when they saw Christ coming along the
street, they ran into their houses, and
they wrapped up their invalids as
quickly as they could, and brought
them out that He might look at them.
Oh, there was something SO pleasant,
SO inviting, so cheering in everything
He did, in His very look. When these
sick ones were brought out did He say:
''Do not bring before Me these sores;
do not trouble Me with these leprosies?"
No, no; there was a kind look, there
was gentle word, there was healing
touch They could not keep away
| from Him.
In addition to this softness of char
acter there was fiery momentum.
How the kings of the earth turned
pale. Here is a plain man, with few
sailors at his back, coming off the sea
Of Galilee, going up to the palace Of the
Caesars, making that palace shake to
| the foundations, and uttering a word
of mercy and kindness which th~obs
through all the earth, and thro,, n all
the heavens, and through all ages.
Oh, He was a loving Christ. But it
|
character; it was accompanied with
majesty, infinite and omnlpotent. Lest
the world should not realize His
earnestness, this Christ mounts the
| cross.
You say: eff Christ was to die, why
not let Him take some deadly potion
and lie on a couch in some bright and
beautiful home? If He must die, let
| Him expire amid all kindly attentions"
| No, the world must hear the hammers
on the heads of the spikes. The world
must listen to the death-rattle Of the
sufferer. The world must feel His
warm blood dropping on each cheek,
| while it looks up into the face of His
anguish. And so the cross must be
| lifted, and hole is dug on the top of
| Calvary.
1t must be dug three feet deep, and
| then the cross is laid on the ground,
and the sufferer is stretched upon it,
| and the nails are pounded through
| nerve and muscle and bone, through
the right hand, through the left hand
and then they shake His right hand to
see if it is fast, and they heave up the
wood, half dozen shoulders under the
weight, and they put the end of the
cross to the mouth of the hole, and
they plunge it in, all the weight of
His body coming down for the first
time on the spikes; and while some
hold the cross upright, others throw in
the dirt and trample it down, and
trample it hard
Oh, plant that tree well and thor
Oughly, for it is to bear such fruit as no
other tree ever bore. Why did Christ
endure it? He could have taken those
rocks. and with them crushed His cru
citiers. He could have reached up and
grasped the sword of the Omnipotent
God, and with one clean cut have tum-
bled them into perdition. But no; He
was to die. He must die. His life for
your life. In Europeon city young
man died on the scatfold for the crime
of murder. Some time after, the moth
er Of this young man was dying, and
the priest came in, and she
made confession to the priest
that she was the murderer, and
not her son; in moment of
anger she had struck her hus-
band blow that slew him The son
came suddenly into the room, and was
washing away the wounds and trying
to resuscitate his father, when some
one looked through the window and
saw him, and supposed him to be the
criminal. That young man died for
his own mother You say: SIT was
wonderful that he never exposed her"
But tell you of a grander thing.
Christ, the Son of God, died not for his
mother, not for His father, but for His
sworn enemies. Oh, such Christ as
that-so loving, so patient, so self
sacriticing-can you not trust him?
think there are many under the in
fuence of the spirit of God who are say
ing: Il will trust Him if you will only
tell Him how" and the great question
asked by many is: "How? how?" And
while I answer your question look up
and utter the prayer which Rowland
Hill so often uttered in the midst of
his sermons: Master, help" How are
YOU to trust in Christ?
Just as you trust anyone. You trust
your partner in business with impor-
tant things. If a commercial house