Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1896-03-06
REV. DR. TALMAGE
The Eminent Washington pivine's
Sunday Sermon.
Subject: "Cathcring Around Christ"

through supernatural lens; or what
might call prophescope, dying Jacob looks
down through the corridors OF the centuries
until he sees Christ the center of all popular
attraction and the greatest beingih all the
world, so everywhere acknowledge |. 1t was
not always 80, 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, q copper plate
tablet was found containing the death war;
rant Of the Lord Jesus Christ, reading in this
wise:
"In the year II of the empire OF Tlberiua
Caesar, and on the 25th of March, I, Pontius
PLATE, governor of the Pr@tore, 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 by several
names. First, by Daniel, rabbi Pharisee;
secondly by Johannes, rabbi; thirdly. by
Raphael, fourthlN by Capet, private citl.
zen. This capital punishment was executed
according to law. The name OF the thief
crucfied on the right hand side Of Christ
was Dismas. The name OF the thief cruel
fed on the left hand side OF Christ was Ges-
tus. Pontius PLATE describing the tragedy
says the whole world lighted can lies
from noon until night. Thirty-three years
of maltreatment. A wall of the city, built
about those times and recently exposed by
psychologists, shows a caricature of jesus
Christ, evidencing the contempt in which He
was held by many in His day, that caricature
on the wall representing cross an | DON
key nailed to 1t, and under it the inscription,
"This is the Christ whom the people wor-
ship" But rejoice that that day is gone
by. Our Christ is coming out from under
the worldsabuse. The most popular name
on earth today is the name of Christ. Where
He had one friend Christ has q thousand
friends. The s2offers hays become the wor-
shippers. 0fthe twenty most celebrated in
fldels in Great Britain in our day sixteen have
come back to Christ. trying to undo the
blatant mischief of their lives - six
teen out of the twenty. Every man
who writes a letter or signs doc
ument, Willingly or unwittingiy, honors
Jesus Christ. We date everything as u. G.
or A. D.-B. c., before Christ; A, D., Anno
Domini, in he year OF our Lorh All the
ages Of history on thu pivot Of the upright
beam Of the ross Of the Son OF God. B. c.,
A, D, ] do not care what you call Him
whether Conqueror or 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 fro which
take my text and call Him Shilo, which
means His Son, or the Tranquilator or the
Peacemaker, Shiloh. 1 only waat to tell
you that "unto Him sbal the gathering OF
the people be-"
In the first place, the people are gathered
around Christ for pardon, No sensible 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. 1
do not care who the thoughtful man is the
review of his lifetime behavior before God
and man gives to him no especial satis;ac-
ton. COB, " he says, "there have been so
many things have done ought not to
have done; there have bten 50 many things
have said [ ought never to have said: there
have been so many things 1 have written
ought never to have written; there have been
so many things Ihave thought l ought never
to have thought! l must so mellow get
things readjusted. 1 must somehow
have the past reconstructed. There are days
and months and years which cry out against
me in horrible vocferation. All, my brother,
Christ adjusts the past by obitera!ing it. He
does not erase the record OF our misdong
with dash OF ink from registers pen, but
lifting H right haul crushed. red at the
palm, He puts it against His bleeding brow
aud then against His pierced side, aud with
the crimson accumulation of all those wounds
He rubs out the accusatory chapter. He
blots out our iniqulties, Ga, never be anxious
about the future; better be anxious about
the past! l put it not at the en- of my SER
mon; must put it at the fr0nt--mercy and
Iardon through Shiloh. the sin pardoning
Christ. 'UnO Him shall the gathering OF
the people be-" "O5." says some man, 81
have for forty years been az bad asI could
be, and Is there any mercy for me?"
Mercy for you. "Ob, says some
one here, ri had grand ancestry,
h. Ill; -
mothers, aud For my perady there is no ex-
cuse: Do you think there is any mercy for
me?" Mercy for you. But" says another
man. II fear 1 have committed what they
call the objectionable sin, and the Bible
says il q man commit that sin he is neither
TO 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 solicitude
about the matter at all proves positively
that you have not com nitted the unpardon-
abe sin. Mercy for you? Oh, the grace Of
God which bringeth salvatioDl
The grace OF God! Let US take the sui
veyors chain and try to measure Gods
mercy through Jesus Christ. Let one sur
veyor take that chain and 50 TO the north,
and another surveyor take that chain and go
to the south, aud another surveyor take that
chain and go to the east, and another sur
and then make report of the square miles
ef that vast kingdom OF Gods mercy. Aye.
you will have to wait to ali eternity for the
report OF that measurement. 1t cannot be
measured. Paul tried to climb the height of
IT, and he went height over height, altitude
above altitude. mountain above mountain,
then sank down in Encouragement and gave
1t up, for he saw Sierra Nevadas beyond and
Matterhorns beyond, aud waving his hands
back to US in the plains he says, "Past flnd-
Ing out; unSearchable, that in all things he
might have the pre-eminence. You notice
that nearly al the sinners mentioned as par
doned in the Bible were great sinners-,David
a great sianar, Paul a great sinner,
great sinner, the prodi%al son great
sinner. The world easily understoo how
Christ could pardon half AMI half sinner,
but what the world wants TO be persuaded OF
is that Christ will forgive the worst sinner,
the hardest nner, the oldest sinner, the most
ineXcusab Q sinner, To the sin pardonin9
Shiloh let all the gathering of the people be.
But, | remark again, tho people will
gather around Christ as 4 sympathizcr. Oh,
we all want sympathy. hear people talk
as though they were independent of II.
None of us could live without sympathy
When parts Of our family are away, bows
lonely tho house seems until they all get
home! But. alas for those wac never come
home. Sometimes il seems as il it must be
impossible. What, will their feet never
again come over the threshold? Will they
never again sit with Us at the taoe? Will
they never again kneel with us at family
Shall we never again look into
their sunuy faces? Shall We never again
OF earth take counsel with them
fer our work? Alas me. who can stand I'M
der these grie' s3, o., Christ Thou canst do
more for bereIt soul than any one else! 1t
is He who stands beside us to tell of the res
direction. 1t is He that came 10 BID peace