The Penn's Grove record., 1896-02-28
REf. DR.. TaLuHGE.
The Eminent Divine's Sunday
Sermon
SUBJECT: gathering Around Church. ?

SUBJECT: Gathering Around Church.
TEXT: Unto Him shall the gathering ofthe
people be. "-Genesis Xix, 10.
Through a supernatural lens. or what /
might call a prophescope, dying Jacob looks
down through the corridors OF the centuries
until be sees Christ the center of all popular
attraction and the greatest beingin all the
world, so everywhere acknowledged. It was
not always so. The world tried hard to put
Him down and to put Him out. In the year
l2OO, 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 Tiberiui
Cesar, and on the 25th OF March, I, Pontius
Plate, governor OF the PrRtore, condemn
Jesus OF Nazareth to die between two thieves.
Quintius 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, q private citi-
zen. This capital punishment was executed
according to law. The name OF the thfef
crucified on the right hand side OF Christ
was D!smas. The name of the thief cruel
fled on the left hand side of Christ was Gees.
tuSs IOutluS fhhtb u6ScrlDlnR ln6 tIhSouy
says the whole world lighted candles
from noon until night. Thirty-three years
OF maltreatment. A wall Of the city, built
about those times and recently exposed by
hreh@ologists, shows a c~aricature OF Jesus
Christ ,evidencing tho contempt in which He
was held by many in His day, that caricature
on the wall representing a cross AMI a dom
key nailed to 1t. and under tt b inscription,
ssThis is the Christ whom the people wor-
ship" But ~I'rejoice that that dav is gone
by. our Christ Is coming out from under
the worlds abuse. The most popular name
on earth to-day IL the lame of Christ. Where
he had one friend Christ has a thousand
friends. The scoffers have become the wor-
shippers. OF the twenty most celebrated In.
fidels 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
ument, Willingly or unwittingly, honors
Jesus Christ. We date everything as B. O.
or A. D.-B. c., before Christ; A. D., Ammo
Domihi, in the year of our Lord. All the
ages OF history on the pivot OF the upright
beam oil the cross OF the Son OF God, B. O.,
A, d. 1 do not care what you call Him
whether C~onqueror 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. I only want to tell
you that "unto Him shall the gathering OF
the people be-"
In tbs first place, the people are gathered
round Christ for pardon, No sensible man
or h%ealthfully ambitious man Is satisfied
with his past life. fool NAV think he Is all
right. A sensible man knows he is not. 1
do not care who the thoughtful man Ii the
review of his lifetime behavior before God
aud man gives to him no especial sattsfac-
tion. "Oh,h he says, ''there have been so
many things l have lone / ought not to
have done; there rave been so many things
l have said ought never to have said; there
have been so many things l have written l
so many things Lhave thought I 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 celebrating 1t. He
does not erase the record Of our misdoing
with a dash of ink from a registers pen, but
lifting His right hant crushed. red at the
palm, He puts 1t against His bleeding brow
and then against His pierced side, and with
the rimsona accumulation of all those wound
He rubs out the accusatory chapter. He
blots out ouriniquities, Oh. never be anxious
about the future; better be anxious about
the past! I put 1t not at the end Of my SER
mon; | must put 1t at the front-mercy and
pardon through Shiloh, the sin p~ardoning
Christ. .'Unto Him shall the gathering Of
the people BE-" .'0h," says some man, ~
have for forty years been as bad asI could
be, and is there ~ mercy for me2"
Mercy, for you. "oh," says some
the hottest OF fathers and the tenderest OF
mothers, and for my perfdy there Is nc ex-
cuse! Do you think there is any mercy for
me?" Mercy for you. 'But," says another
man. II fear / 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
me?" The fact that you have any solicitude
about the matter at all proves positively
that you have NOT committed the unpardon-
able Gin. Mercy for you2 oh, the grace o.
God which bringeth salvationi
The grace of Godl Let US take the sur
veyor's chain and try to measure Gods
mercy through Jesus Christ. Let one sur
veyor tai that chain and go to the north,
n another surveyor take that chain n go
to the south, and another surveyor take that
chain and go to the east, and another SUR
veyor take that chain and go to the west,
M then make a report of square miles
OF that vast kingdom OF Gods mercy. Aye,
you will ave to wait to all eternity for the
report OF that measurement. 1t cannot ba
measured. Paul tried to climb b height Of
II, and he went height over height, altitude
above altitude. mountain above mountain,
then sank down in encouragement and gave
1t up, for he saw Sierra Nevadas beyond and
Matterhorns beyond, and waving his handa
back to us In the plains he says, Past Ind.
ing out; unsearchable, that in all things he
might have the pre-eminence." You notics
shat .aanI.r . n ah.a adj n aFo F.aptfARR I az pAU
doned In the Bible were great sinners--Dayid
q great sinner, Paul . great sinner,
Rahab a great sinner, Msgdalene o
great sinner, the prodigal SON . 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,
lnexcusabie sinner. To the sin pardoning
Shiloh let all the gathering OF people be.
But, I remark again, the people will
gather around Christ as a sympathizer. oh,
we all want sympathy l 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
homel But. alas. for those who never come
home. Sometimes 1t seems as II IL must be
impossible. What, will their feet never
again come over the threshold? VIII they
never again sit with US at the tabief Will
they never again kneel with US at family
prayer? Shall we never again look into
their sunny faees2 Shall we never again
on earth take counsel with them
for our work? Alas me. who can stand I'M
der these griefs2 oh, Christ, Thou canst do
more for a bereft soul than any one else! II
Is He who stands beside US to tell Of the res
direction. 1t 10 He that same to bid peace.
II Is He that comes to US n breathes into
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, ys who are bereft.
70 anguish bitten come into this refugeI 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 PEG.
pie shall be. oh, that Christ would stand
BY all these empty cradles and all these DESC
lated homesteade and all these broken hearts
and persuade Us It Is WE'LL
The world cannot otier you any help at
uch a time. Suppose the world comes and
,fsrs you money. You would rather live OF
icrust in a cellar and have your departed
bved ones with you than live Az palatial sur
bundings and they away. suppose ths
Forld offers YOU its honors to console you,
What is the Presidency to Abb aham Lincoln
fhen little Willie lies dead in the White
house2 Perhaps the world d mes and seys,
t1tmA will eupa IL alln All there are Qri0f1