The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1896-03-04

Help For the Hopeless Through the Name
-, ,cb,,st--.rhe Need OF Sympathy---Ful-
enmsnt of a Great Promise--A Mighty
Gathering.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.--This sermon
sounds the note of triumph, a note
that all will be glad to hear in these
times, when so many are utterlng and
writing jeremiads of Encouragement
DIR. Talmage took as his text Genesis
xix, 10, Unto him shall the gathering
of the people be-"
Through a supernatural lens, or
what hight call a 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
korld tried hard to put him down and
to put him out. In the year 1900.
while excavating for antiquities So
miles northeast of Rome, copper
plate tablet was found containing the
death warrant of the Lord Jesus
Christ, reading in this wise:
I'm the year II of the empire OF
Tiberius Caesar, and on the 25th of
March, I, Pontius Plate, governor of
the Pretore, 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, rab-
bi. Pharisee; secondly, by Johannes,
rabbi; thirdly, by Raphael; fourthly,
by Capet, private citizen. The cap
ital punishment was executed accord
ing to law. The name of the thief
crucifed on the right hand side of
Christ was Dismas; the name of the
thief crucifed on the left hand side of
Christ was Gestus. Pontius! !sPilate,
describing the tragedy, says the whole
world lighted candles 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 archa-
ologists, shows caricature of Jesus
Christ, evidencing the contempt in
which he was held by many in his
day-that caricature on the wall rep.
resenting q cross and a donkey nailed
to it, and under it the inscription,
'This 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 a thousand
friends. The sooffers have become the
worshipers. Of the 20 most celebrated
infidels 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 30. Every man
who writes letter or signs docu-
ment, willingly or unwittingly, hon.
ors Jesus Christ. We date everything
as B. G. or A. D.-B. O., before Christ;
A. D., Ammo 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. G., A. D.
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 his Son, or the Tranquil.
ator, or the Peacemaker, Shiloh. l
only want to tell you 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 ambi-
tious man is satisfied with his past life.
A fool may think he is all right. A
sensible man knows he is not. 1 do
not care who the thoughtful man is,
the review of his life-tim behavior be-
fore God and man gives to him no es.
pecial satisfaction. "Oh," he says,
''there have been so many things 1
have done I ought not to nave done,
there have been so many things l have
said I ought never to have said, there
have been so many things 1 have
written I ought never to have written,
there have been so many things I have
thought I ought never to have thought.
must somehow get things readJusted,
7 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
obiterating 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 against his bleeding
brow, and then against his pierced
side, and with the crimson accumula-
ton of all those wounds he rubs out
the accusatory chapter. He blots out
our iniquities. Oh, never be anxious
about the future; better be anxious
about the past. I put it 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. I"
"OhI' says some man, II have for 40
years been as bad as I could be, and is
there any mercy for me2" Mercy for
you. "Oh" says some one here, II
had grand ancestry, the holiest of
fathers and the tenderest of mothers,
and for my perfdy there is no excuse.
Do you think there is any mercy for
.me3 Mercy for you. But" says
another man, II fear I have commit
ed what they call the objectionable
sin, and the Bible says if man COM