The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-03-04

f11ment of = Great rrom;se--A Mighty
Gathering.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.-This sermon
sounds the note of triumph, note
that all will be glad to hear in these
times, when so many utterng and
writing jeremiads of discouragement.
DIR. Talmage took as his text Genesis
xix, 10, Unto him shall the gathering
of the people be-
Through a supernatural lens, or
what I might call prophescope, dy-
ing Jacob looks down through the
corridors of the centuries until he sees
Christ the center Of all popular at
traction and the greatest being IN all
the world, so everywhere acknowl-
edged. It was not always so. The
world tried hard to put him down and
to put him out. In the year 1900,
while excavating for antiquities %
miles northeast OF Rome, a copper
plate tablet was found containing the
death warrant of the Lord Jesus
Christ, reading in this wise:
''In the year II OF the empire O.
Tiberius Caesar, and on the 25th of
March, 1, Pontius Plate, governor OF
the Pratore, condemn Jesus OF Naza-
reth to die between two thieves. GUM
thus Cornelius to tead him forth to the
place of execution"
The death warrant was signed by
several names. First, by Daniel, rao-
bi, Pharisee; secondly, by Johannes,
rabbi; thirdly, by Raphael; fourthly,
by Capet, a private citizen. The cap
ital punishment was executed accord
ing to law. The name Of the thief
cruci6ed on the ri ght hand side OF
Christ was Dismas; the name OF the
thief cruci6ed on the left hand side OF
Christ was Gestus. Pontius4 Plate,
describing the tragedy, SAYS the -%Thheesse>
ssEoc!G 1;g51 a1ea esro.es from noon until
night. Thirty-three years Of NAL
treatment. They ascribe his birth TO
bastardy and his death to excruciation.
A wall of the city, built about those
times and recently exposed by archie
ologists, shows caricature Of Jesus
Christ, eyidencing the contempt IN
which he was held by many IN his
day-that caricature on the wall rep
resenting cross and donkey nailed
to it, and under it the inscription,
'sThis is the Christ whom the people
worship" But I rejoice that that day
is gone by. Our Christ is coming out
from under the worlds abuse. The
most popular name on earth today IS
the name of Christ. Where he had
one friend Christ has thousand
friends. The scotfers have become the
worshipers. Of the 20 most celebrated
inidels in Great Britain in our day 16
have come back to Christ, trying to
undo the blatant mischief OF their
ives-16 out of the 20. Every man
who writes letter or signs docu-
ment, Willingly or unwittingly, hon.
orsJesus Christ. We date everything
as B. G. or A. D,-B. c., before Christ;
a. D., Anno Domini, in the year OF
our Lord. All the ages of history on
the pivot of the upright beam of the
cross of the son Of God, B. c., a. D.
I do not. care what you call him
whether Conqueror, or King, or Morn
ing Star, or Sun of Righteousness, or
Balm of Gilead, or Lebanon Cedar,
or Brother or Friend, or take the
name used in the verse from which l
take my text, and call him Shiloh,
which means hisSon, or the Tranquil
ator, or the Peacemaker, Shiloh: l
only want 10 ielIl yoa~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 ambl-
tious man is satisfied with his past Life.
a fool may think he is all right. A
sensible man knows he IS not. do
not care who the thoughtful man is,
thereview of his lifetime behavior be-
fore God and man gives to him no es'
pecial satisfaction. "Oh," he says,
ssthere have been so many things l
have done I ought not to nave done,
there have been so many things I have
said ought never to have said, there
have been so many things l have
written I ought never to have written,
there have been so many things have
thought I oughtnever to have thought.
I must somehow get things readJusted,
must somehow have the past recon
structed: there are days and months
and years which cry out against me
in horrible vociferation. All, my
brother, Christ adjusts the past by
ebhterating it. He does not erase the
record of our misdoing with dash of
ink from registers pen, but lifting
his right hand, crushed, red at the
palm, he puts it itagainst his bleeding
brow, and then against his pierced
side, and with the crimson accumula-
ton of all those wounds ne rubS out
the accusatory chapter. He blots out
our iniquities. Oh, never be anxious
about the future; better be anxious
about the past. put it not at the end
of my sermon; I put it at the front
mercy and pardon through Shiloh, the
sin pardoning Christ. Unto him
shall the gathering of the people be.
ssOh!' says some man, Il have for 40
years been as bad as I could be, and IS
there any mercy for me-" Mercy Tor
you. "Oh!" says some one here, L
had q grand ancestry, the hottest OF
fathers and the tenderest of mothers,
and for my perfdy there IS no excuse.
Do you think there is any mercy for
me?" Mercy for you. But, says
another man, II fear have commit
ed what they call the unpardonable
sin, and the Bible says if man com
NIT that sin, he is neither to be for
given in this world nor the world to
corne Do Won think there is any mer-
cy for me?" The fact that you have
any solicitude about the matter at all
proves positively that you have not
committed the objectionable sin:
Mercy for you2 Oh, the grace Of God
which bringeth salvation.
The grace OF God! Let US take the
surveyors chain and try to measure