Semi-weekly independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-21

mOrsel. How many women Ike tnat
would it take to warm the cold world up!
Warmed by Christ
1t was his strong sympathy that brought
Christ from Il warm heaven To cold
world. The land where he dwclt had
serene sky, balsamic atmosphere, tropical
luXuriance; 10 storm blasts in heaven;
no chill fountains. On a cold December
night Christ stepped out of Il warm heaven
into the worlds frigidity. The thermem'
eter in Palestine never drops below zero.
but December is cherries month, and
the pasturage is very poor on the hllltops.
Christ stepped out of a warm heaven into
the cold world that cold December night.
The world reception was cold. The SURF
of bestormed Galilee was cold. Joseph
sepulcher was cold. Christ came, the
great warmer, to warm the earth, and all
Christendom today feels the glow. lie
will keep on warming the earth until the
tropic will drive away the arctic and the
antarctic. He gave an intimatiOn of what
he was going TO do when he broke up the
funeral ut the gate of Main and turned 1t
into Il reunion festival and when, with his
warm lips, he melted the Galilcan hurrl-
cane and stood on the deck and stamped
his foot crying, silence and the waves
crouched, and the tempests folded their
wings.
oh, it was this Christ who warmed the
chilled disciples when they had no food by
| giving them plenty to eat and who IN the
/ tomb of Lazarus shattered the shackles
| until the broken links of the chain or
| death ratified into the darkest crypt OF the
mausoleum. In his genial presence the
| girl who had fallen into the fire and the
water is healed of the catalepsy, and the
| withered arm takes muscular healthy
! action, and the ear that could not hear
| an avalanche catches leafs rustic, and
| the tongue that could not articuate trills
quatrain. and the blind eye was rcillum-
| ined and Christ, instead of staying three
days and three nights in the sepulcher, as
| was supposed, as soon as the worldly cur
tain of observation was dropped began the
! exploration of all the underground pass
ages of earth and sea. wherever a Chris
| tian's grave may after awhile be, and
started Il light of Christian hope, which
shall not go out until the last cerement
| is taken off and the last mausOlcum
| breaks open.
All, | am so glad that the Sun of Right
eousness dawned on the polar night of the
| nations, And if Christ is the great warm
err. then the church is the great dollhouse.
| with its plants and trees and fruits OF
righteousness. Do you know. my friends,
that the church is the institution that
proposes warmth? | have been for TWEEN
ty-seven years studying how to make the
church warmer Warmer architecture,
warmer hymnology. warmer Christian
salutation. All outside Siberian winter
we must have it 4 princes dollhouse. Tho
only institution on earth to-day that pro-
poses to make the world warmer. nj
versitics and observatOrics, they all have
their work. They propose to make the
world light. but they do not propose to
make the world warm. Geology informs
u.s. but it is as cold as the rock it ham,
mers. The telescope shows where the
other worlds are, but an astronomer is
| chilled while looking through it. Chris
tianity tells us of strange combinations
and how inferior affinity may be overcome
| by superior affinity, but it cannot tell how
/ all things work together for good. World
| ly philosophy has a great splendOr. but it
| is the splendor of moonlight on an iceberg.
| The church of God proposes warmth and
hope-warmth for the expectations,
warmth for the sympathies. Oh. / am; so
glad that these great altar fires have been
| llindleG. Come in out of the cold. Come
| in and have your wounds salved. Come
and have your sins pardoned. Come in by
the great gospel fireplace.
The Worlds Fireplace.
Notwithstanding all the modern inven-
| tons for heating l tell you there is moth
ing so full of geniality and sociability as
the old-fng Toned country fireplace. The
neighbors were to come in for winter
evening of sociabiity. In the middle OF
the afternoon, in the best room in the
house. some one brought in great back
log, with great strain. and put it down on
the back of the hearth. Then the lighter
wood was put on, armful after armful.
| Then q shovel of Goals was taken from an
other room and put under the dry pile,
and the kindling began, and the cracking,
and it rose until it became q roaring flame,
which filled all the room with geniality
and was reflected from the family pictures
on the wall. Then the neighbors came in
two by two. They sat down, their faces
to the fire, which ever and anon was stir
red with tongs and readjusted on the and
! irons, and there were such times of rustic
repartee and story telling and mirth as the
black stove and blind register never
dreamed of. Meanwhile the table was be-
ing spread, and so fair was the cloth and
SO clean was the cutlery they glisten and
glisten in our mind to-day. And then the
best luxury of orchard and farmyard was
roasted and prepared for the table to meet
the appetites sharpened by the cold ride.
oh, my friends, the church of Jesus
Christ is the worlds fireplace, and the
woods are from the cedars of Lebanon,
and the fires are fires of love, and with
the silver tongs of the altar we stir the
flame and the light is reflected from all
the family pictures on the wall-pictures
of those who were here and are gone now.
Oh, come up close to the fireplace. Have
your worn faces TRANSPORTED in the light.
Put your cold feet, weary of the journey,
close up to the blessed conflagration.
Chilled through with trouble and disap-
pointment, come close up until you can
get warm clear through. Exchange ex-
perience. talk over the harvests gathered
tell all the gospel news. Meanwhile the
table is being spread. On it bread of life
On it grapes of Eshcol On it new wine
, from the kingdom. On it a thousand lux
ures celestial. Hark as wounded hand
raps on the table and tender voice comes