The McCook tribune., 1897-08-13

anu Khan dt tnS same tlmc. JONI
says Christ was the Creator: al
things were made by him. and withou
him was not anything made" Matthew
says that he was omnlpresent: Where
TWO or three are met together in my
name, there am In the midst OF them.
Christ declares his own eternity. "a
am Alpha and Omega" How can he
be a lion. under his foot crushing king
doms, and yet lamb licking the hand
that siays him? At what point do the
throne and the manger touch? II
Christ was God, why fee into Egypt?
why not stand his ground? Why. In
stead OF bearing a cross. not lift up his
right hand and crush his assassns
why stand and be spat upon? Why
sleep on the mountain, when he owned
the palaces of eternity? Why catch
nsh for his breakfast on the beach in
the chill morning, when all the pome-
granates are his, and all the vineyards
MS, and all the cattle his, and all the
partrldges his? Why walk when weary,
ana MS feet stone bruised when he
mlght nave taken the splendors of the
sunset for his equipage, and moved
WIN horses and chariots of fire? Why
beg drink from the wayside, when out
Oh the crystal chalices of eternity he
poured the Euphrates, the Mississippi.
anu the Amazon, and dipping his hand
IN the fountains of heaven, and shak-
ing that hand over the world, from the
UPS OF his fingers dripping the great
lakes and the oceans? Why let the
hcman regiment put him to death,
"hen ne might have ridden down the
SKY followed by all the cavalry OF
heaven, mounted on white horses Of
eternal victory?
You can not understand Who can?
You try to confound me- l am con-
founded before you speak. Paul said
IL was unSearchable. He went climb
Ing up from argument to argument,
and from antithesis to antithesis, and
from glory to glory, and then sank
uoWn In exhaustion as he saw far above
MIN other heights of divinity unscaled.
might have the pre-eminence"
Again: Christ was wonderful in his
teaching. The people had been used to
formalities and technicalities; Christ
upset all their notions as to how
preaching ought to be done There was
this popularity about his preaching, the
people knew what he meant. His il
iustrations were taken from the hen
calling her chickens together; from
salt, from candles, from fishing tackle.
from the hard creditor collaring debt
or How few pulpits OF this day would
have allowed him entrance? He would
nave been called undignified and fami- |
liar IN his style of preaching. And yet
the people went to hear him. Those
Old Jewish rabbis might have preached |
on the sides of Olivet fifty years and |
never got an audience The philoso- !
piers sneered at his ministrations and |
said, This will never do" The law
yers caricatured, but the common peo- |
pie heard him gladly. Suppose you
that there were any sleepy people in his
audiences? Suppose you that any
woman who ever mixed bread was ig-
norant of what he meant when he COM
pared the kingdom of heaven with Ieay-
en- or yeast? Suppose you that the
sunburned fishermen. with the fish
scales upon their hands, were listless
when he spoke of the kingdom of heay-
en- as net? We spend three years in
college studying ancient mythology.
and three years in the theological sem
nary learning how to make a sermon,
md then we go out to save
he world; and if We can
lot do it according to Claude's
'Sermonizing," or Blair's Rhetoric"
'r Kames' Criticism" We will let the
world go to perdition. If we save
iothing else, We will save Claude and
Blair. We see wreck in sight. We
must go out and save the crew and
passengers. We wait until we get on
ur fine cap and coat, and find our shin
ng oars, and then we push out meth
ideally and scientifically, while soma
lain shoresman, in rough fishing
mack, and with broken oar lock. goes
ut and gets the crew and passengers
nd brings them ashore in safety. We
brow down our delicate oars and saw 7
What a ridiculous thing to save men l
i that way! You ought to have done g
scientifically and beautifully" "Ah," /
ays the shoresman, eff these suffer- '
rs had waited until you got out your r
ne boat, they would have gone to the a
ottom." f
The work of religious teacher is to =
ave men; and though every law of o
rammar should be snapped in the IN Il
and there be nothing but fl
and blundering in the a
ode, all hail to the man who saves a "
,ul. 80
Christ, in his preaching. was plain. c.
'rnest and wonderfully sympathetic 81
'e cannot dragoon men into heaven.
e cannot drive them in with the butt
i'd OF catechism We waste our time
trying to catch flies with acids in ST