The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-03-25
REV. 1llMl@'S SUNDAY SERMON
An ELOQUENT DISCOURSE.
Subject: "vicarious Sacrifice"

Subject: "Vicarious Sacrifice"
TEXT: without shedding OF blood Is NO
remission. Hebrews TX, %.
John G. Whittier, the last Of the great
school OF American poets that made the
last quarter OF a century brilliant. asked me
in the White Mountains one morning after
prayers, In which I had given out Cowper's
famous hymn about the 'fountain filled
with blood, sd you really believe there Is
a literal application Of the blood OF Christ to
the soul9' My negative reply then is my
negative reply nov The Bible statement
ogists aud a. scientists in saying that the
blood Is the life, n in the Christian
religion II means simply that Christ's
life was given for life. Hence all this talk
OF men who say tho Bible story OF blood Is
disgusting, and that they don't want what
they call a slaughter house religion" only
shows their incapacity or unwillingness to
look through the figure OF speech toward the
thing signiied. The blood that on the dark
est Friday the world ever saw oozed or
trlckled or poured from the brow. and the
side. and the hands, and the feet OF the
tllustrious sufferer. back OF Jerusalem, in n
few hours coagulated and dried up and for
ever disappeared, and II man had depended
on the application of the literal blood of
Christ there would not have bsen u soul
saved for the last eighteen centuries.
In order to understand this red word of
my text we only have to exercise as much
common sense In religion as we do In every
thing else. Pang for pang, hunger for
hunger. fatigue for fatigue. tear for tear.
blood for blood, life for life, we seq every
day illustrated. The act of substitution Is
no novelty, although l hear men talk rs
though the idea OF Christ's suffering sub
stituted for our suffering were something
abnormal, something distressingly odd.
something wildly eccentric, a solitary
episode In the worlds nistory-wheu l could
take you out into this city and before sun
down point you to five hundred cases OF sub
stitution aud voluntary sufrering o! one in
behalf Of another.
At 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon 60
among the places of business or toll. 1t will
be no difficult thing for you to find men who
ny their looks show you that they arc over
worked. They are prematurely old. They
are Fastening rapidly toward their decease.
They have gone through crises in business
that shattered their nervous system and
pulled on the brain. They have u shortness
OF breath and a pain in the back OF the head
and at night an insomnia that alarms them.
Why arc they drudging Mt business early and
latep For fun? No. II would be difficult
to extract any amusement out of that ey-
haustion. Because they are avaricious? In
many cases no. Because their own personal
expenses are lavish? No. A few hundred
dollars would meet all their wants. Tho
simple fact is the man is enduring all that
fatigue and evaporation and wear and tear
TO keep his home prosperous. There il an
invisible line reaching from that store, from
1hnf hnnE from that .lAa N.-.. A.. 80.
folding, to n quiet scene n few blocks away,
II few miles away. And there Is tho secret
OF that business endurance. He is simply
the champion OF q homestead for which he
wins bread and wardrobe and education and
prosperity, and In such battle 10. 900 men
iall. OFTEN business men whom | bury nine
die OF overwork for others. Some sudden
disease finds them with no power OF resist
ance, and they are gone. Life for life. Blood
for blood. Substitution!
AT o'clock tomorrow morning. tho hour
wnen slumber is most uninterrupted and
most profound. walk amid the dwelling
houses OF tho city. Here aud there YOU will
IND a dim light because 1t is the household
custom to keep a ubdued light burning, but
most OF the houses from base to top are as
dark AS though uninhabited. A merciful
God has sent forth the archangel Of sleep.
and he puts his wings over the city. But
yonder is a clear light burning, and outside
on the window easement is n glass or pitcher
containing food for II sick child. The food
Is set In the fresh air. This Is the sixth
night that mother has sat up with that suf-
ferer. She has to tho last point obeyed the
physicians prescription, not giving Il drop
too much or too little or u moment too soon
or too late. She is very anxious, for she has
buried three children with the same disease.
ana she prays AMI weeps, each prayer aud
sob ending with u kiss OF the pale cheek.
BY dint OF kindness she gets the little one
through the ordeal. After it Is all over the
mother is taken down. Brain or nervous |
fever sets in. aud one day she leaves the con-
child with n mothers blessing and
goes up 10 join tho three In the kingdom of
heaven. Life for life! Substitution. The
fact is that there are IN uncounted number
oil mothers who, after they have nuvigated Il
family of children through all the dis
easeso OF infancy and got them fairly started up
ne towering slope of boyhood and girlhood
have only strength enough left TO die. They
lade away. Some call II CONSUMPTION.
call 1t nervous prostrntion. Some call
intermittent or malarial indisposition. But
call 1t martyrdom of tho domestic circle.
Life for life. Blood for bloot. Substltu-
lion!
Or perhaps the mother fingers long enough
~ oh ~ WINS Ioiu. tlll Ills ]
kindness becomes rough reply
when she expresses anxiety about him.
But she goes right on. looking carefully al
,er his apparel, remembering his every birth
lay with some memento, and, when he is
home worn out with dissipation,
him till no gets well and starts him
aga'n aud hopes and expects and prays and
and sui rers until her strength gives
tut and she fails. She is going, and atten-
iants, bending over her pillow, ask her IL
he has any message to leave, and she makes
great effort to say something. but out OF
hree or four minutes OF indistinct ntterancs
hey can catch but three words, "My poor
Thu simple fact is she died for MIN.
Life for life. substitution!
About thirty-six yeats ago there went forth
rom our northern and southern homes hun
ireds OF thousands OF men to do battle for
heir country. All tho poetry Of war soon
and left them nothing but the ter
.ible prose. They waded knee deep In mud.
they slept In snow-banks. They marched
Ill their cut feet tracked the earth. They
we're swindled out OF their honest rations
nd lived on meat not fit for u dog. They
lad Jaws all fractured aud eyes e%xtinguished
ND limbs shot away. Thousands OF them
ried for water rs they lay dying on the field