The free press., 1895-10-31

| ines on the one side and the commands OF
| God on the other-takes that knife, ruhs
| the fiat of it on the palm Of his hand, cries
| to God for help, comes up to the slde OF
| the altar, puts parting kiss on the brow OF
| his boy, takes message from MN iof
mother and home, and then lifting the gilt
terinp weapon for the plunge OF the death
! stroke-=his muscles knitting for the WORK
| the hand begins to descend. 1t falls! Not
| on the heart of Isaac, but on the arm OF
God who arrests the stroke. making the
| wilderness quake with the cry, Abraham.
Abraham. lay not thy hand upon the iad,
nor do him any harm" -
What is this sound back in the woods! 1t
is cracking as of tree branches, a bleating
and O struggle. Go, Abraham, and see what
it Is. OH 1t was ram that, going through
the woods, has its crooked horns fastened
and entangled in the brusbwood and couid
not get loose, and Abraham scizes 1t gladly
and quickly unloosens Isaac from the altar,
puts the ram on his place. sets the lamp un-
der the brushwo0d Of the altar, and as the
dense smoke of the sacrifice begins to rise
the blood rolls down the sides of the altar
and drops Kissing into the fire, and 1 hear
the words, "Behold the Lamb OF God who
takes away the sins of the world"
Well, what are you going TO get out Oh
this? There is iii aged minister OF the gos-
pei. He says: "I should get out OF it that
when God tells you to do thing, whether it
seems reasonable to you or not, go ahead
and do it, Here Abraham couldn't have
been mistaken. God didn't speak so fndlstlnct-
ly that it was not certain whether ne called
Sarah or Abimelech or somebody else, but
with divine articulation. divine 1ntonatlon,
divine emphasis, he said, Abraham! Abrar
ham rushed blitdly ahead to do his duty,
knowing that things would come out right.
Likewise do so yourselves. There is mys-
tery of your life. There is some burden you
have to carry. You don't know why God
has nut 1t on you. There is some persecu-
ton. some trial, AID you don't know why
God allows it. There is work for you to
think. to DO it. Do as Abraham did. Ad-
vance and do your whole duty. Be willing
to give up Isaac, and perhaps you viii! not
have to give up anything. 'Jehovah-jiref'
the Lord will provide" A capital lesson
this old minister gives us.
Out yonder in this house is an aged
woman, the light of heaven in her face She
is half way through the door. She has her
hand on the pearl Of the gate. Mother. what
would you get out of this subject? "Oh,"
she says, ~ would learn that it is in the last
pinch that God comes to the relief. You see.
the altar was ready; end Isaac was fastened
on it, and the knifo was lifted, and Just at
the last moment God broke In and stopped
proceedings SO it has been in my life OF
seventy years. Why, sir, there was time
when the -four was all out OF the house, ana
/ set the table at noon and had nothing to
put on it, but five minutes of o'clock loaf
of bread came. The Lord will provide. My
son was very sick, and said Dear Lord,
YOU don't mean to take him away from
me. do YOU? Please, Lord, don't take
him away. Why, there are neighbors
who have three and four sons. This is my
only son. This is my Isaac. Lord, you
won't take him away from me, will YouT
But saw he was getting worse and worse
all the time, and turned round and prayed
until after awhile 1 felt submissive. and
could say, Thy will, o Lord. be done3 The
doctors gave him up, and we all gave him
up, And as was the custom in those times,
we had made the grave clothes, and we were
whispering about the last exercises, when l
looked and saw some perspiration on his
brow, showing that the fever had broken,
he was going to get well. He did get well,
and my son Isaac whom thought was 60
ing to be slain and consumed of disease. was
loosered from that altar. And, bless your
souls, that's been SO for seventy years, and
if my voice were not so weak, and If could
see better, could preach to you younger
people sermon, for though Ican't see much
I can see this-whenever you get into a
tough place and your heart is breaking, if
you will look little farther into the woods,
you will see, caught in the branches, sub
stitute and deliverance. My son. God will
provide Himself alamb.
Thank you, mother, for that short sermon.
I could preach back to you for II minute or
two and say. never do you fear! wish had
half as good hope of heaven as you have.
Do not fear, mother. Whatever happens, no
UP long fight Of stairs and 1 saw an aged
woman. very decrepit and with cane,
creeping on up. She made but very little
progress, and ] felt very exuberant, and l
saidto her, "Why, mother, that is no way to
go upstairs" and threw my arms around
her and I carried her up and put her down
on the landing at the top of the stairs She
said: "Thank you, thank you. 1 am very
thankful" o mother, when you get through
this life's work and you want to go upstairs
and rest in the good place that God has pro-
vided for you, you will not have to climb up,
you will not have to crawl up painfully. The
two arms that were stretched on the cross
will be flung around you, and you will be
hoisted with glorious lift beyond all weari-
ness and all struggle. May the God of Abra-
ham and Isaac be with you until you see the
Lamb on the hilltops.
Now, that aged minister has made a sug-
gestion, and this aged woman has made a
suggestion. I will make suggestion: Isaac
going up the hill makes me think of the
great sacrifice. Isaac, the only son of Abra-
ham. Jesus, the only son Of God. On those
two "onlys"I build a fearful emphasis. o
Isaac o Jesus! But this last sacrifice was
a more tremendous one. When the knife
was lifted over Calvary there was no voice
that cried "Stopl" and no hand arrested it.
Sharp, keen and tremendous it cut down
through nerve and artery until the blood
sprayed the faces Of the executioners, and
the midday sun dropped veil of cloud over
its face because it could not endure the
spectacle. o Isaac of Mount Moriah! o
Jesus Of Mount Calvary! Better could God
have thrown away into annihilation thou
sand worlds than to have sacrificed His only
Son. 1t was not one of the ten sons; it was
His only Son. If He had not given up Him,
you and I would have perished. "God so
loved the world that He gave His only" l
stop there, not because have forgotten the
quotation, but because l want to think
"God so loved the world that He gave His
only begotton Son that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish, but have everlast-
ing life." Great God break my heart at the
thought Of that sacrifice. Isaac the only,
typical Of Jesus the only.
have been told that the cathedral OF ST.
Mark stands in a quarter in the center Of the
city of Venice, and that when the clock
- l. Ill.