The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-01-08

swinging out into darkness, with noun
tains and seas and islands, an awfu
centrifugal of sin seeming to overpowel
the beautiful centripetal of righteous
ness, and from it grOan reached heav
en-. such sound had never been heard
there Plenty Of sweet sounds, bat never
an cutlery of distress or an echo of agony.
At that one groan the Prince rose from
all the blis,ful circumjacence and start
ed for the outer gate and descended into
the night of this world. Out of what q
bright harbor into what rough sea
"Stay with us!" cried angel after angel
and potentate after potentate. mo, y
said the Prince: 81 cannot stay. must
be off for that wreck of world. | must
stop that groan. / must hush that dis
tress. must fathom that abyss. must
redeem those nations. Farewell, thrones
and temples, hosts cherubic, seraphic,
archangelici will come back again,
carrying on my shoulder a ransomed
world. Till this is done choose earthly
scott to heavenly reclamation, and a
cattle pen to king S palace, frigid zone
of earth to atmosphere of celestial radi-
ance. have no time to lose, for bark ye
to the groan that grows mightier while
I waitl Farewelll Farewell!' Eye
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
that, though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor.
Was there ever a contrast so overpow-
ering as that between the monday Of
Christ's celestial departure and the mid
night of his earthly arrival? Sure
enough, the angels were out that night
in the sky, and an especial meteor acted
as escort, but all that was from other
worlds, and not from this world. The
earth made no demonstration OF well
come. If one of the great princes of this
world steps out at depot, cheers re-
sound, and the bands play, and the flags
wave. But for the arrival of this mis-
sionary Prince of the skies not torch
Jared. not trumpet blew, not plume
futtered. All the music and the pomp
were overhead Our world opened for
him nothing better than barn door.
The rajah of Cashmere sent to Queen
Victoria bedstead of carved gold and
a canopy that cost $3.50, 900, but the
world had for the Prince of heaven and
earth only litter Of straw. The crown
jewels in the Tower of London amount
to SIS, 900, 900, but this member of eter-
nal royalty had nowhere to lay his head.
To know how poor he was, ask the camel
drivers, ask the shepherds, ask Mary,
ask the three wise men of the east who
afterward came to Bethlehem. To know
how poor he was, examine all the REQ
ords of real estate in all that oriental
country and see what vineyard or what
field he owned. Not one. OF what mort
gage was he the MORTGAGE? OF what
tenement was he the landlord? OF what
lease was he the lessee? Who ever paid
him rent? Not owning the boat on
which he sailed, or the beast on which
he rode, or the pillow on which he slept
he had so little estate that, i'll order to
pay his tax, he had to perform mir
acle, putting the amount of the ASSESS
ment in fish's mouth and having it
hauled ashore. And after his death the
world rushed in to take an inventory Of
his goods and the entire aggregate was
the garments he had worn, sleeping in
them by night and travelling in them by
day, bearing on them the dust of the
highway and the saturation of the sea-
ST. Paul in my text hit the mark when
he said of the missionary Prince, ''For
your sakes he became poor. "
A Succinct Biography.
The world could have treated him
better if it had chosen. 1t had all the
means for making his earthly condition
comfortable. Only a few years before,
when Pompey, the general, arrived in
Brindisi, he was greeted with arches |
and costly column which celebrated .
the IL, 1000 900 people whom he had
killed OF conquered, and he was allowed
to wear his triumphal robe in the sem
ate. The world had applause for impe-
rial butchers, but buffeting for the
Prince of Peace. Plenty of golden chal.
ices for the favored to drink out Of, but
our Prince must put his lips to the
bucket of the we'll by the roadside after
he had begged for drink. Poor2 Born
in another mans barn and eating at
another mans table and cruising the
lake in another mans fishing smack
and buried in another mans tomb.
Four inspired authors wrote his biogra-
ply, and innumerable lives of Christ
have been published, but he composed
his autobiography in a most compressed
way. He said, 81 have trodden the wine
press alone.
Poor in the estimation of nearly al
the prosperous classes. They called him
Sabbath breaker, wine bibber, traitor,
and ransacked the dictionary
Of opprobrium from cover to cover to
express their detestation. l can think ,
low of only two well to do men who
,spoused his cause, Nicodemus and Jo-
ieph of Arimathea. His friends for the |
most part were people who, in that eli {
nate where ophthalmia, or infamma-
ion of the eyeball, sweeps ever and anon ;
IS a scourge, had become blind, sick ,
people who were anxious to get well -,
md troubled people in whose family 1
here was some one dead or dying. If
Ie had purse at all, it was empty or
We would have heard what the soldiers
id with the contents. Poor? The pigeon /.
n the dovecot, the rabbit in its bur- :
ow, the silkworm i'll its cocoon, the
zee in it's hive is better provided for, !.
,atter off battar Sbalterpd Ava tba