The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1897-03-26


"foSeain filed with blood, " "Do 20
really believe there is a literal applica
ton Of the blood of Christ to the soul?'
My negative reply then is my negativ
reply now The Bible statement agree
with all physicians and all Psychologist
and all scientists in saying that tn
blood is the life, and in the Christian
religion it means simply that Christ
life was given for our life. Hence al
this talk of men who say the Bible stor.
of blood is disgusting and that the.
don't want what they call "slaughte
house religion" only shows their inca
pacity or unwillingness to look through
the figure of speech toward the thing
signifed. The blood that on the darkes
Friday the world ever saw oozed o.
trickled or poured from the brow, an(
the side, and the hands, and the feet o.
the illustrious sufferer, back of Jerusa
lem, in few hours coagulated anG
dried up and forever disappeared, and il
man had depended on the application Of
the literal blood of Christ there would
not have been soul saved for the last
IS 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 everything else Pang for pang,
hunger for hunger, fatigue for fatigue,
tear for tear blood for blood, life for
life, we see every day illustrated. The
act of substitution is no novelty, al
though I hear men talk as though the
idea of Christ's suffering substituted for
our suffering were something abnormal,
something Interestingly odd, something
wildly eccentric, a solitary episode in
the worlds history--when | could take
you out into this city and before sun
down point you to five hundred cases of
substitution and voluntary suffering of
one in behalf of another.
Overwork.
At 2 O'Clock tomorrow afternoon go
among the places of business or toll. It
will be no difficult thing for you to find
men who by their looks show you that
they are Overworked. They are prema-
turely 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 a, shortness of breath
and pain in the back of the head and
at night an insomnia that alarms them.
Why are they drudging at business early
and late? Fer fun? No. 1t would be
difficult to extract any amusement out
of that exhaustion. 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. The simple fact is the
man is enduring all that fatigue and ex
ASPIRATION and wear and tear to keep
his home prosperous. There is an invis-
ible line reaching from that store, from
that bank, from that shop, from that
scaffolding, to quiet scene few blocks
away, few miles away. And there is
the secret of that business endurance.
He is simply the champion of home
stead for which he wins bread and ward
robe and education and prosperity, and
in such battle 10, 900 men fall. Of ten
business men whom / lssry nine die of
overwork for others. Some sudden dis !
ease finds them with no power of resist
ance, and they are gone. Life for life.
Blood for blood. Substitution!
At O'Clock tomorrow morning, the
hour when slumber is most uninter-
rupted and most profound, walk amid |
the dwelling houses of the city. Here
and there you will find dim light be-
cause it is the household custom to keep
subdued 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 clear light burning, and |
outside on the window easement is a
glass or pitcher containing food for
sick child. The food is set in the fresh !
air. This is the sixth night that mother |
has sat up with that sufferer. She has
to the last point obeyed the physicians
prescription, not giving drop too much |
or too little or a moment too soon or too |
late. She is very anxious, for she has
buried three children with the same
and she prays and weeps, each
prayer and sob ending with kiss of the
pale cheek. BY dint of kindness she gets
AhO llAb4C OhO bnC h1tOl
1t is all over the mother is taken down.
Brain or nervous fever sets in, and one
day she leaves the convalescent child
with a mothers blessing and goes up to
Join the three in the kingdom of heaven.
Life for lifel Substitution! The fact is
that there are an uncounted number of
mothers who after they have navigated
a large family of children through all
the diseases Of infancy and got them
fairly started up the Towering slope of
boyhood and girlhood have only strength
enough left to die. They fade away.
Some call it consumption. Some call it
nervous prostration. Some call it in
termittent or malarial indisposition.
But call it martyrdom of the domestic
circle. Life for life. Blood for blood.
Substitution.
Or perhaps the mother fingers long
enough to see a son get on the wrong
road, and his former kindness becomes
rough reply when she expresses anxiety
about him. But she goes right on, look