Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1896-03-04
REl. DR.. TaLuG6f.
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Sermon
SUBJECT: "Gathering Around Church.

TEXT: "Unto Him shall the gathering ofthe
people be."-Genesis Xix, 10.
Through n supernatural lens. Or what
might call a prOphescope, dying jacob lookl
down through the corridors OF the centuries
until be sees Christ the center of all popular
attraction and the greatest being in all the
world, SO everywhere acknowledged. 1t was
not always so. The world tried hard to put
Him down and to put Him out. In the year
12OO, while excavating for antiquities fifty
three miles northeast of Rome a copper plate
tablet was found containing the death war
rant of the Lord Jesus Christ. reading in this
wise:
''In the year II OF the empire Of Tiberius
Caesar, and on the 25th Of March, I, Pontius
PLATE, governor of the Pretore, condemn
Jesus OF Nazareth to die between two thieves.
Quihtius Cornelius to lead him forth to the
place OF execution"
The death warrant was signed bv several
names. First, by Daniel, rabbi Pharisee;
secondly, by Johannes. rabbi; thirdly by
Raphael; fourthly, by Capet, a private citi-
zen. This capital punishment was executed
according to law. The name OF the thief
crucified on the right hand side of Christ
was Dismas. The name OF the thief cruci-
fled on the left hand side OF Christ was Ges-
tus. Pontius PLATE describing the tragedy
says the whole world lighted candles
from noon until night Thirty-three years
OF matreatment. A wall Of the city, built
about those times and recently exposed by
srch@ologists, shows q caricature of Jesus
Christ, ,evidencing the contempt in which He
was held by many In His day, that caricature
on the wall representing a cross and u dom
SThis Is the Christ whom the people wor-
ship" But I rejoice that that day is gone
hy. Our Christ is coming out from under
the worlds abuse. The most popular name
on earth to-day Is the name Of Christ. Where
He had one friend Christ has a thousand
hn kovv honD Ah.axr
shippers. OF the twenty most celebrated in
fidelsi in Great Britain In our day sixteen have
come back to Christ. trying to undo the
blatant mischief OF their lives - six
teen out of the twenty. Every man
who writes a letter or signs a doc
Jesus Christ. We date everything as B. G.
or A. D.-B. c., before Christ; A. D., Ammo
Domini. in the year Of our Lord. All the
ages OF history on the pivot Of the upright
beam OF the ross of the Son of God. B: c.,
A. d. do not care what you call Him
whether Conqueror or King or Morning Star
or Sun of Righteousness or Balm of Gilead
or Lebanon Cedar or Brother or Friend OF
take the name used in the verse from which
take my text and call Him Shilo, which
means His Son, or the Tranquilator, or the
Peacemaker, Shiloh. only want to tell
you that ''unto Him shall the gathering Of
the people be-
In the first place. the people are gathered
around Christ for pardon. No sensible man
or healthfully ambitious man Is satisfied
with his past life. A fool NAV think he is all
right. A sensible man knows he Is not.
do not care who the thoughtful man Is the
review of his lifetime behavior before God
and man gives to him no especial satisiac-
tion- "Oh, he says, there have been SO
many things have done ought not to
have done; there have boon 50 many things
l have said ought never to have said: there
have been SO many things 1 have written
/ ought never to have written; there have been
so many things Ihave thought ought never
! to have thought I must somehow get
things readjusted. I must somehow
have the past reconstructed. There are days
! and months and years which cry out against
me in horrible vociferation." All. my brother,
| Christ adjusts the past by obliteraring it. He
/ does not erase the record of our misdoing
with dash of ink from q registers pen, but
/ lifting HIS right hand crushed, red at the
! palm. He puts it against His bleeding brow
and then against His pierced side, and with
the crimson accumulation of all those wounds
He rubs out the accusatory chapter. He
| blots out our iniuuities, Oh, never be anxious
! the pastl l put it not at the end Of my SER
| mon; must put it at the front-mercy and
| pardon through Shiloh. the sin pardoning
| Christ. unto Him shall the gathering of
have for forty years been as bad asI could
be, and is there any mercy for me?"
s one here. re' Il 'Ii had a grand ancestry, sy'
the holiest of fathers and the tenderest Of
, mothers, and for my perfidy there is no ex-
] cuse! Do you think there is any mercy for
! me?" Mercy for you. But" says another
| man. II fear I have committed what they
| call the objectionable sin, and the Bible
| says il a man commit that sin he Is neither
+; to be forgiven in this world nor the world to
come. Do you think there is any mercy for
,a1s hat ;,fk, ,la
| about the matter at all proves positively
that you have not committed the unpardon-
, able sim Mercy for you? Oh, the grace o.
| God which bringeth salvation!
! B The grace Of God! Let us take the sur
! veyor's chain and try to measure Gods
! vsyor take that chain and go to the north,
and another surveyor take that chain and go
to the south, and another surveyor take that
! chain and go to the east. and another sur
! veyor take that chain aud go to the west.
and then make report OF the square miles
of that vast kingdom OF Gods mercy. Aye,
you will have to wait to all eternity for the
1 report of that measurement. 1t cannot be
measured. Paul tried to climb the height Of
IT, and he went height over height, altitude
above altitude. mountain above mountain,
then sank down in disbursement and gave
it up, for he saw Sierra Nevadas beyond and
Natterhorns beyond, and waving his handa
back to US in the plains he says, Past find
ing out; unsearchable, that in all things he
might have the pre-eminence." You notice
that nearly all the sinners mentioned rs par
doned in the Bible were great sinners-David
great sinner, Paul great sinner,
Rahab a great sinner, Magdalene a
great sinner. the prodigal son q great
sinner. The world easily understood how
Christ could pardon a half and half sinner,
but what the world wants to be persuaded Of
Is that Christ will forgive the worst sinner,
the hardest sinner, the Oldest sinner, the most
tnexcusabie sinner. To the sin pardoning
Shiloh let all the gathering Of the people be-.
But, I remark again, the people Will
gather around Christ as sympathizer. oh,
we all want sympathy! hear people talk
as though they were independent of 1t.
None OF US could live without sympathy.
When parts Of our family are away, how
; lonely the house seems until they all get
home! But, alas. for those who never come
! home. Sometimes 1t seems as II 1t must be
/ impossible. What, will their feet never
again come over the threshoid2 VIII they
never again sit with US at the table? Will
they never again kneel with US at family
prayer? Shall we never again look into
on earth take counsel with them
for our work? Alas me. who can stand un-
der these griefs? Oh, Christ, Thou canst do
more for bereft soul than any one else! II
is He who stands beside US to tell Of the res
direction. 1t is He that came to bid peace.
II IS he tQat COMES 10 US 6uu UEcoIueS iuto
Us the spirit Of submission until We can look
! up from the wreck and ruin of our brightest
expectations and say: Father not my will,
but Thine, be done" Oh. ye who are bersft.
ye anguish bitten come into this refuge! The
roll of those who came for relief to Christ Is
larger and larger. Unto this Shiloh of om-
nipotent sympathy the gathering Of the peo.
ple shall be. Oh. that Christ would stand
BY all these empty cradles and all these desc
lated homesteads and all these broken hearti
and persuade us it is well!
The world cannot offer you any help a
uch time. Suppose tine world comes and
tners you money. You would rather live ol
lcrust in q cellar and have your departet
pved ones with you than live In palatisl sur
bundines and they away. Suppose tn
sorld offers you its honors to console you
What Is the Presidency to Abraham Lincoll
Then little Willie lies dead in the Whit
House? Perhaps the world comes and say1
Time will cure it ALL" All, there are grief