The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-09-06
You only have to present Christ in your

all these gospel themes Song has N
melody, flowers no sweetness, sunse
sky no color compared with these Clio
rious themes. These harvests of grac
spring up quicker than we can sickl
them. Kindling pulpits with their fire
and producing revolutions with thei
power, lighting up dying beds will
their glory, they are the sweetes
thought for the poet, and they are tn,
most thrilling illustration for the orator
and they offer the most intense seen,
for the artist, and they are to the EN-
bassador Of the sky all enthusiasm
Complete pardon for direst guilt. Sweet
est comfort for ghastliest agony. Bright
est hope for grimmest death. Grandest
resurrection for darkest sepulcher. Oh
what gospel to preach Christ the
Chief. His birth, his suffering, hi.
miracles, his parallels, his sweat, his
tears, his blood, his aRonement, his in.
tercession-what glorious themes Dc
we exercise faith? Christ is its object.
Do we have love? 1t fastens on Jesus.
Have we a fondness for the church? 1t
is because Christ died for it. Have we a
hope of heaven? 1t is because Jesus
went there, the herald and the forerun
ner. The royal robe of Demetrius was
so costly, so beautiful, that after be
had put it off no one ever dared to put
it on but this robe of Christ, richer
than that, the poorest and the weakest,
and the worst may wear, "Where sin
abounded, grace may much more
abound. "
"Oh, my sins, my sinsl" said Martin
Luther to Staupitz, my sins, my
sinsp' The fact is that the brawny
German student had found a Latin
Bible that made him quake, and moth
ing else ever did make him quake, and
when he found how through Christ, he
was pardoned and saved he wrote to a
friend, saying: Come over and join us
great and awful sinners saved by the
grace of God. You seem to be only a
slender sinner, and you don't much
extol the mercy of God, but we that
have been such very awful sinners praise
his grace the more now that we have
been redeemed. " Can it be that you
are so desperately egotistical that you
feel yourself in first rate spiritual trim,
and that from the root of the hair to the
tip of the toe you are scarless and i'm
maculate? What you need is a looking
glass, and here it is in the Bible. Poor
and wretched and miserable and blind
and naked from the crown of the head
to the sole of the foot, full of wounds
and putrefying sores. No health in us.
And then take the fact that Christ gath
cred up all the notes against us and paid
them and then offered Us the receipt
And how much we need him in our sor-
rows We are independent of circum
stances if we have his grace. Why, he
made Paul sing in the dungeon, and un-
der that grace ST. John from desolate
Patmos heard the blast of the apocalyp-
tic trumpets. After all other candles
have been snuffed out, this is the light
that gets brighter and brighter unto the
perfect day, and after, under the hard
hoofs of calamity, all the pools of
worldly enjoyment have been trampled
into deep mire at the foot of the eternal
rock the Christian, from cups of granite
lily trimmed, puts out the thirst of his
soul.
The Alienation OF Death.
Again, I remark that Christ is chief |
in dying alleviations. l have not any |
sympathy with the morbidity abroad |
about our demise. The emperor of Con
stantinople arranged that ON the day of
his coronation the stonemason should |
come and consult him about the tomb
stone that after awhile he would need
And there are men who are monomani-
1cal ON the subject of departure from
This life by death, and the more they
think of it the less they are prepared to
go. This is an unmanliness not worthy
If you, not worthy of me.
Saladin, the greatest oonqueror of his
lay, while dying, ordered that the
tunic he had on him be carried after his
Heath ON his spear at the head of his
army, and that then the soldier, ever
and anon, should stop and say "Be-
hold all that is left of Saladin, the en-
Deror and conqueror! Of all the states
ne conquered, of all the wealth he &C
nothing did he retain but
this shroud. have no sympathy with
such behavior, or such absurd demon
itration. or with much that we hear
uttered in regard to departure from this
life to the next. There is a common
'ensical idea ON this subject that you
need to consider-there are only two
styles of departure A thousand feet
by light of torch, toiling
n a miners shaft, ledge of rock may
all upon us, and we may die miners
Heath. Far out at sea, falling from the
slippery ratlines and broken ON the hal
iards, we may die a sailors death. On
mission of mercy in hospital, amid
broken bones and reezing leproSies and
aging fevers, we may die philan-
hropist's death. On the field of battle,
serving God and our country, slugs
through the heart, the gun carriage
nay roll over'us, and we may die pa
riots death. But, after all, there are
,nly two styles of departure-the death ,
# the righteous and the death of the ,
we all want to die the
ormer
God grant that when that hour comes
'ou may be at home. You want the ]
land of your kindred in your hand. ,