The Bossier banner., 1894-04-19
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Christ the Conqueror and What
He Has Done.
His Work Being Accomplished, 1t Re-
mains With Us to Accept 1.-THE
Martyrs of Commercial
and Domestic Life.

Brooklyn tabernacle, Christ the Con-
queror," taking for his text:
Who is this that cometh from Edom with
dyed garments from Bozrah? this that is glori-
GUS in his apparel, travelling in the greatness
Of his strength?-Isaiah xiii.
Edom and Bozrah, having been the
scene of fierce battle, when those
words are used here or in any other
part of the Bible, they are figures of
speech setting forth scenes of severe
conflict. AS now we often use the
word Waterloo to describe decisive
contest of any kind, SO the words Boz
rah and Edom in this text are figures
of speech descriptive of scene of
great slaughter. Whatever else the
prophet may have meant to describe,
he most certainly meant to depict the
Lord Jesus Christ, saying: "Who is
that cometh from Edom, with dyed
garments from Bozrah, travelling in
the greatness of his strength?
When a general il about to go out
publicly presented to him, and the
maidens bring flowers, and the young
men load the cannon, and the train
starts amid a huzza that browns
the thunder of the wheels and the
shrek of the whistle. But all this
will give no idea OF the excitement
that there must have been in Heaven
when Christ started out ON the cam
paign of the worlds conquest. If they
could have forcseen the siege that
would be laid to Him, and the mall
fr-no f,Do l. i
burdens He would have to carry, and
the battles He would have to fight,
think there would have been a million
volunteers in Heaven who would have
insisted on coming along with Him;
but no, they only accompanied Him to
the gate, their last shout heard clear
down to the earth, the space be-
tween the two worlds bridged
with a great hosanna. You know
there is wide difference be-
tween mans going off to battle
and coming back again. When he goes
off, it is with epaulets untangled, with
banner unspecked, with horses sleek
and shining from the groom. All that
there is of struggle and pain is
to come yet. So it was with Christ.
He had not yet fought battle. He
was starting out, and though this
world did not give Him warm-hearted
greeting, there was a gentle mother
who folded Him in her arms; and
babe finds no difference between a
stable and a palace, between courtiers
and camel-drivers. AS Jesus stepped
on the stage of this world, it was
amidst angelic shouts in the galleries
and amidst the kindest maternal ad-
ministrations. But soon hostile
forces began to gather. They de-
ployed from the Sanhedrim. They
were detailed from the standing army.
They came out from the Cmsarean cas-
ties. The vagabonds in the street joined
the gentlemen of the mansion. Spirits
rode up from hell, and in long array
there came a force together that
threatened to put to rout this newly
arrived one from Heaven. Jesus now
seeing the battle gathering lifted His
own standard; but who gathered
about it? How feeble the re-
cruits! A few shoremen, blind beg
gar, woman with an alabaster box,
group of friendless, moneyless and
positionless people came to His stand
ard. What chance was there for Him?
Nazareth against Him. Bethlehem
against Him. Capernaum against Him.
Jerusalem against Him. Galilee
against Him. The courts against Him.
The army against Him. The throne
against Him. The world against Him.
All hell against Him. No wonder
they asked Him to surrender But He
could not surrender, He could not
apologize, He could not take any back
steps. He had come to strike for the
deliverance of an enslaved race, and
He must do the work. Then they sent
out their picl1ets to watch Him. They
saw in what house He went, and when
He came out. They watched what He
ate, and who with; what He drank,
and how much. They did not dare to
make their final assault, for they knew
not but that behind Him there might
be reinforcement that was not seen.
But at last the battle came. 1t was
to be more fierce than Bozrah, more
bloody than Gettysburg. involving
more than Austerlitz, more combat
ants employed than at Chalons, a
ghastlier conflict than all the battles
of the earth together, though Edmund
Burke's estimate of thirty-fve thou
sand millions of the slain be accurate
The day was Friday. The hour was
between IL and o'clock. The field
was a slight hillock northwest of Jeru-
salem. The forces engaged were earth
and hell, joined as allies, on one side,
and Heaven represented by solitary
inha bitant, on the other.
The hour came. Oh, what time it
was! l think that that day the uni
verse looked on. The spirits that
could be spared from the heavenly
temple, and could get conveyance of
wing or hsriot. came down from
above, and spirits getting furlouqh
from beneath came up, and they list
ened, and they looked. and they
watched. Oh. what an uneven battlel