The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1896-02-28

greatest being In
the world, so everywhere acknowl-
edged. 1t was not always so. The
world tried hard to put him down and
to put him out. In the year 1900, while
| eXcavating for antiquities fifty-three
| miles northeast of Rome. a copper
plate tablet was found containing the
| death-warrant of the Lord Jesus Christ,
reading in this wise:
In the year II of the empire of I'll
berius Caesar, and on the 25th of March,
l, Pontius PLATE, governor of the Prae-
tore, condemn Jesus Of Nazareth to die
between two thieves, Quintius Corne-
Illus to lead him forth to the place of
execution"
The death-warrant was signed by
several names. First, by Daniel rabbi
Pharisee; secondly, by Johannes, rabbi;
thirdly, by Raphael; fourthly, by Capet,
private citizen. This capital punish
ment was executed according to law.
The name of the thief crucified on the
right-hand side of Christ was Dismas;
the name of the thief crucified on the
left hand side OF Christ was Gestus.
! Pontius PLATE describing the tragedy
says the whole world lighted candles
from noon until night. Thirty-three
years OF maltreatment. They ascribe
his birth to bastardy and his death to
oxcruciation. A wall of the city, built
about those times and recently ex-
posed by psychologists, shows a carl
| cature Of Jesus Christ, evidencing the
contempt in which he was held by
many in his day-that caricature on the
wall representing a cross and a dom
key nailed to it, and under it the in
scription: This is the Christ whom
the people worship" But rejoice that
that day is gone by. Our Christ is COM
ing 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 thousand
friends. The scoffers have become wor-
shippers. or the twenty most celebrated
inf'nls in Great Britain in our day.
sixteen have come back to Christ, try
ing to undo the blatant mischief of their
lives-sixteen out of the twenty. Every
man who writes letter or signs a doc
ument, Willingly or unwittingly, hon
org Jesus Christ. We date everything
as b. c., or A. DID,. c., 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 e. c., A. ID. do not
care what you call him--whether Con-
queror, or King, or Morning Star. or
Sun Of Righteousness, or Balm of Gill
cad, 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 Tranquilator, 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 gath
ering around Christ for pardon. No
sensible man or BEAUTIFULLY ambitious
man is satisfied with his past lift. A
fool may think he is all right. A sens
IDLE man knows he is not. | do not
care who the thoughtful man is. the
review Of his lifetime behavior before
God and man gives to him no especial
satisfaction. "Oh," he says, there
have been so many things have done
/ ought not to have done, there have
been so many things have said I ought
never to have said, there have been so
many things l have written I ought
never to have written, there have been
SO many things have thought ought
never to have thought, l must somehow
get things readjusted, must somehow
have the past reconstructed; there are
days and months and years which cry
out against me in horrible vocifera-
tion." All, my brother, Christ adjusts
the past by celebrating 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 ac-
emulation Of all those wounds he rubs
out the accusatory chapter. lie blots
out our iniquities. Oh! never be anx-
ious about the future; better be anxious
about the past 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-" "Oh!"
says some man, Il have for forty years
been as bad rs I could be, and is there
any mercy for me?" Mercy for you.
"Oh!' says some one here, Il have q
grand ancestry, the hottest of fathers
and the tendercst of mothers, and for
my perfldy there Is no excuse. Do you
think there is any mercy for me?"
Mercy for you. But" says another
man, II fear l have committed what
they call the objectionable sin, and the
Bible says IL man commit that sin
he Is neither to BIO 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 un-
pardonable sin. Mercy for you. oh!
the grace Of God which bringeth saliva
ton!