The Lexington dispatch. [volume] (Lexington, South Carolina) 1870-1917, 1896-04-29

tQo year Jttet to4eIapio. VII, ~ " eo 'AA0
barren island of a world! Barren enough
for Christ, for it gave such. small wor-
ship and such inadequate affection, and
such little gratitude, Imperial exile on
the barren island Of q world
Tho Earth Against Him.
/ go farther and tell you that he was
an exile in a hostile country Turkey
was never 50 much against Russia,
France was never so much against Ger
many, as this earth was against Christ.
1t took him in through the door Of a
stable. It thrust him out at the point Of
aspear The Roman government against
him with every weapon of its arm, and
every decision Of its courts and every
beak Of its war eagles. For years after
his arrival the only question was how
best to put him out Herod hated him,
the high priests hated him, the Pharisees
hated him, Judas Iscariot hated him
Gestas, the dying thief, hated him. The
whole earth seemingly turned into de-
tective to watch his steps. and yet he
faced this ferocity. Notice that most Of
Christ's wounds were in frcnt. Some
scourging on the shoulders, but most Of
Christ's wounds in front. He was not
on retreat when he expired. Face to face
with the worlds ferocity. Face to face
with the worlds sin. Face to face with
the worlds woe. His eye on the raging
countenances Of his foaming antagonists
when he expired. When the cavalry off,
Ger roweled his steed so that he might
come nearer up and see the tortured WIS.,
age Of the suffering exile, Christ saw it
When the spear was thrust at his side,
and when the hammer was lifted for his
feet, and when the reed was raised to
strike deeper down the spikes Of thorn,
Christ watched the whole procedure.
When his hands were fastened to the
cross they were wide open still with
benediction. Mind yQH, his head was
not fastened He could look to the right
and he could look to the left, and he
could look up and he could look down.
He saw when the spikes had been driven
home, and the hard. round, iron heads
were in the palms Of his hands. He saw
them as plainly as yor ever saw any
thing in the palms Of your hands. No
ether, no chloroform, no merciful anes-
thetic to dull or stupefy, but, wide
awake, he saw the obscuration of the
heavens, the unbalancing of the rocks,
the countenances quivering with rage
and the cachinnation diabolic. Oh, it
~ I, Il f1,o Eo,-,
land Of world.
Far From Heaven.
I go farther and tell you that this
exile was far from home It is So, 000,-
900 miles from here to the sun, and all
astronomers agree in saying that our
solar system is only one Of the smaller
wheels Of the great machinery Of the
universe turning around some one great
center, the center so far distant it is
beyond all imagination and calculation,
and if, as some think, that great center
in the distance is heaven, Christ came
far from home when he came here.
Have yon ever thought Of the homesick-
ness Of Christ? Some of you know what
homesickness is when you have been
only few weeks absent from the do
mestic circle. Christ was SS years
away from home. Some Of you feel
homesickness when you are hundred
or thousand miles away from the do
mestic circle. Christ was more million
miles away from home than you could
count if all your life you did nothing
but count. You know what it is to be
homesick even amid pleasant surround
ings, but Christ slept in huts, and he
was athirst, and he was a-hungered, and
he was on the way from being born in
another mans barn to being buried in
another mans grave.
have read how the Swiss, when
they are far away from their native
country, at the sound Of their national
air get so homesick that they fall into
melancholy, and sometimes they die un-
der the homesickness. But, oh, the home
sickness Of Christ! Poverty homesick
fer celestial riches. Persecution home
sick for hosanna. WEAKNESS homesick
for rest. Homesick for angelic and arch
angelic companionship. Honesick to
get out Of the night, and the storm,
and the worlds execration. Homesick-
ness will make week seem as long as
q month, and it seems to me that the
three decades Of Christ's residence On
earth must have seemed to him almost
ipterminable. You have often tried to
measure the other pangs Of Christ, but
soI ta
magnitude and ponderosity of Saw
iour's homesickness.
I take a step farther and tell you that
Christ was in an exile which he knew
would end in assassination. Holman
Hunt, the master painter, has picture
in which he represents Jesus Christ in
the Nazarene carpenter shop. Around
him are the saws, the hammers, the
axes, the drills Of carpentry. The pic
ture represents Christ as rising from
the carpenters working bench and
wearily stretching out his arms as one
will after being in contracted Or unccm-
Portable posture, and the light Of that
picture is so arranged that the arms Of
Christ, YEARLY stretched forth, together
with his body, throw Oh the wall the
shadow Of the cross. Oh! my friends
that shadow was on everything in
Christ's lifetime. Shadow Of cross On
the Bethlehem swaddlipg clothes. Shad-
ow Of Cross on the road over which the
three fugitives fed into Egypt. Shadow
of a cross on Lake Galilee as Christ
walked its mosaic floor Of opal and
emerald and crystal. Shadow Of cross
on the road to Emmaus. Shadow Of
cross on the brook Kedron, and on the
temple, and on the side of Olivet. Shad-
ow of cross Oh sunrise and sunset.
Constantine, marching with his army,
saw just once a cross in the sky, but
Christ saw the cross all the time.
The End Was Death.
On a rough journey we cheer our
selves with the fact that it will end in
warm hospitality, but Christ knew that