The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1894-09-07

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. | suppose
look at Christ was just to love Him.
How attractive His mannerl Why.
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 kind look, there
was gentle word, there was a healing
touch. They could not keep away
from Him.
In addition to this softness of char
acter there was a fiery momentum.
How the kings of the earth turned
pale. Here is 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 word
of mercy and kindness which throbs
through all the earth, and through all
the heavens, and through all ages.
Oh, He was a loving Christ. But it
was not effiminacy or insipidity of
character; it was accompanied with
majesty, infinite and omnipotent. Lest
the world should not realize His
earnestness, this Christ mounts the
cross.
You say: "If 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. F"
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 a 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
offers. 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 a Europeon city a young
man died on the scaffold 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
saw him, and supposed him to be the
criminal. That young man died for
his own mother. You say: 1T was
wonderful that he never exposed her"
But l 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 a Christ rs
that-so loving, so patient, so self
sacrificing-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: ''IIow? how?' And
while l 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 asyou trust anyone. You trust
your partner in business with impor-
tant things. If a commercial house
gives you a note payable three
months hence, you expect the
payment of that note at the
end of three months. You have per-
feet confidence in their ability. Or
again, you go home to-day. You ex-
pect there will be food on the table
You have confidence in that. Now, /
ask you to have the same confidence in
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says: You
believe; L take away your SINS" and
they are all taken away. What"
you say, ''before / pray any
more? before 1 read my Bible any
more? before l cry over my sins and
more?" Yes, this moment. Believe
with all your heart and you are saved.
Why, Christ is only waiting to get
from you what you give to scores of
people every day. What is that? Con-
fidence. If these people whom you
trust day by day are more worthy than
Christ, if they are more faithful than
Christ, if they have done more than
Christ ever did, then give them the
preference: but if You really think