Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1896-03-06
TALMAGE'S SERMON
INTERESTING THEME nv THE
N>HINGToN PREACHER.
Subject: "GstaH'u= ArOuad Christ"

Through supernatural lens. or what I
might call prophescope, diving Jacob looks
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. II was
not always so. The world tried hard 20 put
Him down and 20 put Him out. In the year
1900, while excayating for antiquities fifty
three miles northeast % Rome,a copper plate
tablet was found containing the death war
rant Of the Lord Jesus Christ. reading in this
wise:
I'm the year u o; the empire Of Tiberius
Caesar, and on the 18th 10 March. I, POntius
PLATE, governor Of the Pretore, 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, hv
Raphael, fourlhy, by Capet. q private citi-
zen. This capital punishment was executed
according to law. The name OF the thief
cruciled on the right hand side OF Christ
was Dismas. The name OF the thief cruci-
fed on the left hand side OF Christ was Ges-
tus. Poutius Plate describing the tragedy
says the whole world lighted candles
from noon until night. IhiIty-thre5 years
OF mRltrea,ment. A wall VI the city, built
about those times and recently exposed by
RrchPolOSists. shows a clrcature OF Jesus
Christ, evdencinS the contempt in which He
was held by many in His day, that car,cature
ON tue wall representing a cross ami dOn-
key nailed To it. AMI under II the inscription
This is the Christ whom the people wor-
ship" BIZ. rejoice that that day is gone
by. Our Christ is coming out from under
the worlds abuse. The most popular name
on earth to-day IS tho name 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 Britainin our day sixteen have
come back 10 Christ trying TO undo the
blatant mischief Of their lives - six
teen ont OF tho twenty. Every man
who writes letter or signs doe
ument. Willingly or uuwittingy, hOnors
jesus thriSt. We date everything as B. c.
or A. D.-B. c., before Christ; 4. D., Ammo
Domni, 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, ID. | dO not cure what you call Him
whether COuquerOr OF King or Morning 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
take my text and call Him Shilo. which
means His Son, or the TranQuilatOr, or the
Peacemaker, Shiloh. / only want 10 tell
You that unto Him shall the gathering OF
the people be-
In the first place, the people IRE gathered
around Christ for pardon, Nosensible man
or beautifully 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 give, to him no especial Satisac
tton. ION, he says. There have been so
many things | have done | ought not TO
hnV hi,
have said | ought never TO have said: there
have been so many things | have written
ought never TO have written; therchave been
so many things thava thought | ought never
10 have thought, | must somehow get
. things readjusted. | must somehow
have the past reconstructed. Therear days
and months and wears which cry out against
me in horrible vociicration.' All, my brother,
7 Christ adjusts the past by Obitcrating II. He
does not erase the record OF our misdoinV
with dash OF Ink from a registers pen, but
lifting His right hanl crushed. red al 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 ruhs out the accusatOry chapter. He
blots out our lutqutties, Oh, never be anxious
about the future; better be anxious about
the past, put it not at tho end OF my SER
mon; | must put 1t at the front mercy and
pardon through shiloh the sin parlonng
Christ. Unto film shall the gathering Of
the people be" oh" says some man, Il
have for forty years been as bad asI could
be, and IS there any mercy for me-
Mercy for YOU con says some
one here, II had a grand ancestry
the hottest Of fathers and the tcnderest or
mothers. and for my pertidy there is no 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 II man commit that sin he Is neither
10 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 sohcituie
about the matter at all proves positively
! that YOU have not committed the unpardon-
able sin Mercy for you? Oh, the grace OF
God which brinceth salvation
p The grace Of God! Let Us take the sur
veyOrs chain and try TO measure Gods
mercy through Jesus Christ. Let one sur.
veyor take that chain and 90 to the north
and another surveyor take that chain and z
to the south, and another surveyor take tha
chain and 90 to the east, and another sur
yeyor take that chain aud 90 to the west
and then make report OF the square mile
? OF that vast kingdom OF Gods mercy. Aye
2 you will have to wait to all eternity for th'
:, report of that measurement 1t cannot b.
| measured. Paul tried to climb the height o
: it, and he went height over height, attitude
= above altitude mountain above mountain
. then sank down in encouragement and CAV
, it up, for he SAW Sierra Nevadas beyond an
i Matterhorns beyond, and waving his hand
e back to US in the plains he says, Past find
/ ing OUT un5earchable, that in all things h
might have the pre-eminence.' You motto
' that nearly all the sinners mentioned as par
, dOned in the Bible were great sinnerS-Davi
Il y great sinner, Paul great sinner
I Rahab a great sinner, MaSdalene
great sinner, the prodigal son a grea
: sinner The world easily understood hoy
e Christ could pardon half and half sinner
but what the world wants to be persuaded {
is that Christ will forgive the worst sinner
the hardest sinner the oldest sinner, the mos
ineXcusab,e sinner. To the sin pardonin
Shiloh let all the gathering of the people bt
But, | remark again, the people wi
y gather around Christ as Il sympathizer. OF
y we all want sympathy. hear people tai
. as though they were independent OF Il
&c None of US could live without sympath'
e When parts OF our family are away, no
q lonely the house seems until they all e
II home! But, alas, for those who never com
home Sometimes it seems as If ii must /
d impossible. What, will their feet new,
Ii again come over the threshold? Will the
never again sit with us at the tablet Wi
they never again kneel with us at fami
- prayer! Shall we never again look I'M
their sunny faces? Shall We never aga
on earth take counsel with the
for our work? Alas me, who can stand III
der these griefs2 Oh, Christ, Thou canst
more for bereft soul than any one else!
is He who stands beside us to tell of the re
direction. 1t is He that came to bid peac
1t is He that comes to us and breathes in
US the spirit of submission until we can 10,
up from the wreck and ruin of our brighte
expectations and say: Father not my wi
but Thine, be done" Oh. ye who are bere
ye anguish bitten come into this refuge! II
roll of those who came for relief to Christ
larger ndlarger. Unto this Shiloh of o,
nipotent sympathy the gathering of the pc
pie shall be, Oh that Christ would stal
by all these empty cradles and all these DIES
lated homesteads and all these broken beal