The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-24
CLOSING IN ABOUT THE CROSS.
TALMAGE breaches ON GATHER
ING To THE STANDARD"


Pardon-They Are Also RaIIying
TO Him as n symPathizer-The See
ond Advent of Christ.
WASHINGTON. Feb. 23.-Rev. Talmage
chose as the subject of his sermon to-day;
gathering About the STANDARD" The ser
mon sounds the note Of tri-
umph. note that all will
be glad 10 hear in these times when so
many are uttering and writing jeremiads
of announcement Dr. Talmage took as
his text, Genesis 1910. Unto Him Shall
the Gathering Of the People Be-
Through a supernatural lens or what
might call a prophescope, dying Jacob
looks down through the corridors OF the
centuries until he sees Christ the center
of all popular attraction and the greatest
being in all the world, so everywhere ac-
knowledged. 1t was not always 50. The
world tried hard to put him down and to
nut him out. In the year 1870 While eX-
cavating for antiquities fify-three 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 Of Tiberius
Caesar, and on the 18th of March, 1. Pom
thus PLATE, governor Of the Praetore. con-
denim Jesus Of Nazareth to die between
two thieves, Quintius Cornelius TO lead
him forth to the palace of execution
The death-warrant was signed by sever
al names. First, by Daniel, rabbi Pharisee;
secondly, by Johannes, rabbi thlIuly' by
Raphael; fourthly, by Capet, private CIT
fzen. This capital punishment was exc
cuted according TO law. the name OF lhe
thief crucified on the right hand side OF
Christ was Dismas; the name Of the thle1
crucifed on the left hand side OF CHRIST
was Gestus. POntius PLATE describing the
tragedy, says the whole world llghteu can
dies from noon until night. Thirty-thre
years of maltreatment. They ascrlDe MS
birth 10 bastardy and his death TO eXcru-
citation. A wall of the city, bulit aDout
those times and recently exposed by arch
aeologists, shows a caricature OF Jesus
Christ, eVidencing the contempt IN Wnlch
he was held by many in his day-that carl
cature on the wall representing a cross
and donkey nailed to II, and under IL tne
inscriptions This is the Christ whom the
people worship" But l rejoice tnat thdt
dav is gone bv Our Christ is coming out
from under the world s abuse. Inc most
Dopular name on earth to-day is the name
of Christ. Where he had one friend CHRIST
has thousand friends. me scoleIS nave
become the worshppers. of the twenty
most celebrated inhdels in Great Britain
in our day, sixteen have come PACK 70
Christ trying to undo the blatant mischleI
of their lives-siXteen out OF the twenty
Every man who writes letter OF signs
document Willingly or unwittlngly' non
ors Jesus Christ. We date everything as
Il C. or A. Dbl. c., before CHRIST, a.
D., Ammo Domini, in the year of our LORD
Ali the ages of history on the pivot OF the
upright beam of the Cross of the Son OF
Cod b. c., A. ID. do not care what you
call him-whether Conquerer or King, OF
Morning Star, or Sun of Righteo9sness' OF
Balm of Gilead, or Lebanon Cedar, or
Brother, or Friend, or take the name used
in the verse from which take my
text, and call him Shiloh when means
4l,r la tn Peace
maker Shiloh. ! only want to tell you that
unto him shall the gathering OF the peo-
pie be- 80 .-,.,,
cred around Christ for pardon. No sem
sible man or BEAUTIFULLY ambitious man IS
satisfied with his past life. A 1901 may
think he is all right. A sensible man
knows he is not. / do not care who the
thoughtful man is, the review of his llfe-
time behavior before God and man gives
to him no especial satisfaction. On ne
says, there have been so many things
/ have done / ought not to have done,
there have been so many things l have
said l ought never to have said, there
have been so many things ! have written
/ ought never to have written, there have
been so many things | have thought |
ought never TO have thought. must
somehow get things readjuSted, | must
somehow have the past reconstructed;
there are days and months and years
which cry out against me in horrible Vo-
ciferation." All! my brother, Christ adj
justs the past by celebrating it. He does
not erase the record of our misdoing with
a dash of ink from a 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 RIBS out the accusatory
chapter. He blots out our iniquities. Oh!
never be anxious about the future; bet
ter be anxious about the past. l put ii
not at the end of my sermon; put it at
the front: Mercy and pardon through
Shiloh, the sin-pardoning Christ. Unto
him shall the gathering of the people be"
''Oh!' says some man, Il have for forty
years been as bad as l could be, and is
there any mercy for me?" Mercy for you.
"Ohi'' says someone here, Il had a grand
ancestry the hottest of fathers and the
tenderest of mothers, and for my perfidy
there is no excuse. Do you think there is
says another man, 81 fear have commit
ted what they call the objectionable sin.
and the Bible says if 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 me?" The
fact that you have any solicitude about
you have not committed the objectionable
sin Mercy for you? o! the grace of God
which bringeth salvation!
The grace of Cod Let us take the sur
veyors chain and try to measure Gods
mercy through Jesus Christ. Let one sur
Veyor 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
surveyor take that chain and go to the
west, and then make a report of the square
miles of that vast kingdom of Gods mer-
cy. Ay! you will have to wait to all eter-
nifty for the 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 dis
enlargement and gave it up, for he saw
Sierra Nevadas beyond and Matterhorns
beyond ana waving his hands back to US
in the plains, he says, Past finding out;
unsearchable, that in all things he might
have the pre-eminence." You notice that
nearly all the sinners mentioned as par
doned in the Bible were great sinners
David a great sinner, Paul a great sinner.
Rahab great sinner, Magdalen a great
sinner, the Prodigal Son. great
sinner. The world easily under
stood 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
inexcusable sinner. To the sin-pardoning
Shiloh let all the gathering of the people
be-
But. / remark again, the people will
gather around Christ as a sympathizer.
OH We all want sympathy. / hear peo-
pie talk as though they We're Independent
of it. None of us could live without sym
pathy. When parts of our family are