The herald., 1896-03-02
Some of the Many Sermons
That Were Delivered
CHRIST'S OWN STATEMENTS
About His Sufferings Upon Earth the
Subject at Unity
Nature Fights Thorn With Fester, Cold
With Q Cough, Poison With Nomit.
Echoes From New Era

Yesterday morning the pastor of Unity
church, J. S. Thomson, preached SER
mon upon Christs Own Statements About
His Sufferings Upon Earth, taking for the
text, This is My Blood Of the New Testa-
ment, Which is Shed for Many for the Re-
mission of Sins-Matthew 26:2S. The
gentleman said in part:
Christ suffered in order to be qualified
to be the spiritual leader of the race. He
told John, the Baptist, that He desired to
fulfill all righteousness, and that it was
necessary to Him to be baptized. The
captain of salvation is more perfect
through sufferings. Christ was in all
points tempted as we are, but without sin.
He is able to succour them that are
tempted. Christ came to do Gods will,
and 10 preach the gospel of heaven to the
inhabitants of earth. 1t was hard to
preach the gospel which condemned some
parts of the Old Testament and exposed the
sinfulness of some cherished doctrines. If
He had praised the popular leaders and
the popular theology of His time, He
would have had honors showered upon
Him; and no petty prosecutions would
have troubled Him, and He would not have
been crucified. Christ suffered for the gos-
pel. He suffered death in order to reveal
the resurrection. The doctrine of the
resurrection could not have been proved if
He had not died. He told His disciples
that He would suffer many things and rise
the third day. 1t is plainly stated that
Christ suffered in order to win glory.
'Ought not Christ to have suffered and to
enter into His glory?" Father, glorify
Thou Me with Thine own SELF For the
joy set before Him, He endured the cross"
Christ, in His sufferings, showed
us how to suffer and die. He bore
the cross and walked in the ways
of Gods commandments; and he is,
therefore, qualified to show us the way,
and to command us to bear our crosses
and to make us preachers of the gospel in
every calling upon EARTH 1t is mistake
to say that no one has ever suffered like
Jesus, the Christ; for surely Moses in his
long life suffered more than Christ Christ
suffered temptations. prosecutions. disap-
pointments. like all the rest of mankind;
and his last terrible suiferings did not last
longer than twenty-four hours. Before the
last supper he began to suffer mental
agonies. At tue supper he was depressed
and sorrowful. In Gethsemane his sor-
rows were bitter and awful. His trials and
crucifixion were painful in the extreme;
and yet all his suiTer!ngs were over in
twenty-four hours. Paul suffered every
kind of persecution and much physical
pain for many years. Christ's sufferings
are not to be compared with those of Paul.
When we read about the sutferngs and
heroism of St. Francis Xavier in preaching
the gospel to the heather, we are lost in
admiration and wonder. There are people
in this city who have suffered great pain.
from incurable diseases for many long
and weary years. They are dying by
inches. and praying for death to deliver
them from excrutiating pain. There are
millions of people that would gladly suffer
all that Christ suffered if they could bless
the rod, or if they could win his glory, or if
sufferings. But Christ glorified suf-
ferng for right. He revealed
his divine spirit in his agonies. He prayed
for no curse upon his murderers. No word
of vengeance ever escaped his lips. He
did not say word abou. his prosecutors
on the cross. Plate, the priests, the ccw-
ardiy disciples, the crowd that shouted for
his death, the false witnesses, were not de-
nounced by the Christ who came to love
and save men. He spoke about his be-
trayal by Judas in tone of pity and sor-
row, saying it would have been better for
Judas If he had not been born. He prayed
for his eXeculioners, he thought of his
mothers loneliness. and he spoke kind
words to one thief, anu he had no rebulxe
for the unkindness of the other, when he
was suffering physical agonies on the cross.
He loved the spirits of all those who had
injured him. He suffered all things, and
manifested the spirit of divine love for
saint and sinner. The grandest gift that
God ever gave to the world was the life of
Christ, and the dvinest part of tina. life
was the divine spirit which he manifested
in his last sufferings. 1t is law of life
upon our planet that one creature must
suffer for another. Animals must die to
give us food and clothes. Leonidas with
his 800 Spartans offered themselv es a sac
rifice to keep back the invading Persians.
In all ages martyrs have died that we
might live truer and happier lives. The
colonists fought and died in the days OF
the Revolution to give us our liberty.
Even the mother hen will face certain
death to save her chickens. The ancieuts
saw in the annual course of the sun suf.
fering god; and every goldman of every
great race has suffered and died to bless
the race. Mithras, Hercules, Hiram. Osi-
ris, are few of the suffering divnities.
The word testament means covenant
When Christ spoke of the testament in his
blood he referred to the gospel. There
was no part of the New Testament in
Christs day. 1t was written many years
after his death. The phrase remission of
sins" in the text signifies 'puttng sins
away from u.s. "forsaking Them" 'be-
ginning to live without sin;' for it does
not mean taking away from the sinner
punishment due to his sins, nor does it
mean washing black criminal in the
blood of murdered savior till he is as
white as an angel. The gospel tells us to
put away our sins and to fors AXE them. 1t
il the new revelation of the relations be-
tween God and man. telling us that man is
to be recCnciled to God. Chrst poured
out his life. his thoughts. his prayer his
blood, in the publication of this gospel. In
this passage blood signifies life. Christ
spoke of the cup to the two ambitious
brothers, he mentioned it to his disciples
at the last supper. and he prayed for its
removal from his lips In the garden. The
cup contained the conditions OF his mission,
tue sufferings of his life, the penalties
of his defiance of the representatives of
dying doguas. The disciples drank ont of
the cup symboically, and pledged them
selves therein 20 work ands suffer for the
gospel like Christ. 1t is knowledge, intel
lectual, moral and spiritual knowledge,
that will save the race from the commits.
sion of sins. 1t is eternal life to know
God as Christ. according to Christ's prayer
In John. Christ's life was a ransom of
many from ignorance, the mother of all
sins. mistakes and superstitions. Lord
Bacon. Horace Mann, Froebel, Moses. Paul,
socrates, were ransoms of many from
false systems of education. Christ never
said that his mission was to be murdered
for the past, present, or future sins of
mankind. That would be the doctrine of
indulgence, and it would encourage men to
sin with the hope of being able 20 escape
the result of their crimes. Indeed, it
seems that the only use some people have