Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1897-01-07

to atmosphere OF celestial radiance. have
no time TO lose for bark ye to the groan
that grows mightier while 1 waitl Fare
welll Farewellr' eye know the grace Of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was
rich, yet for Jour sakes he became poor"
Was there ever contrast so oyerpower-
ing as that between the MONDAY Of Christ's
celestial departure and the midnight 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 demonstra-
tion of welcome. If one of the great
princes of this world steps out at depot,
cheers resound, and the bands play, and
the flags wave. But for the arrival of this
missionary Prince of the skies not torch
fared, not trumpet blew, not plume
flutterod 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 a bedstead of carved gold and
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 sl5,-
900, 600, but this member of eternal 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 records of real estate in
all that oriental country and see what
vineyard or what field he owned. Not one.
OF what mortgage was he the mortgagee?
OF what tenement was he the landlord?
OF what lease was he the LESSER Who ever
paid him rent2 Not owning the boat on
which he sailed, or the beast on which he
rode, OF the pillow on which he slept He
had so little estate that in order to pay his
tax he had to perform a miracle, putting
the amount of the assessment in a 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"
Treading the Wine Press.
The world could have treated him better
If it had chosen. 1t had all the means for
making his earthly condition comfortable.
Only few years before, when Pompey, the
general, arrived in Brindisi, he was greeted
with arches and a costly column which
celebrated tho IL, 900, 900 people whom he
had killed or conquered, and he was al
lowed to wear his triumphal robe in the
senate. The world had applause for i'm
perial butchers, but buffeting for the
Prince of Peace; plenty of golden chalices
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 beg
ged for q drink. Poor Born in another
mans barn, and eating at another mans
table, and cruising the lake in another
mans fishing smack, and buried in anoth-
er mans tomb. Four inspired authors
wrote his biography, and innumerable
lives of Christ have been published, but
he composed his autobiography in most
compressed way. He said, II have trod-
den the wine press alone. "
Poor in the estimation Of nearly all the
prosperous classes. They called him Sab
bath breaker, wine bibber, traitor, bias
phemer and ransacked the dictionary of
opprobrium from cover to cover to express
their detestation. can think now Of only
two we'll to do men who espoused his cause
-Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.
His friends for the most part were people
who, in that climate where ophthalmia or
inflammation of the eyeball sweeps ever and
anon as scourge, had become blind, sick
people who were anxious to get well, and
! troubled people in whose family there was
some one dead or dying. If he had purse
at all, it was empty, or we would have
heard what the soldiers did with the con-
tents. Poor? The pigeon in the dovecot,
the rabbit in its burroW the silkworm in
its cocoon, the bee in it's hive is better pro-
| yided for, better off, better sheltered. Aye,
the brute creation has home on earth,
which Christ had not. A poet says:
If on windy days the raven
Gambol like dancing skitf,
Not the less he loves his haven
On the bosom of the cliff.
| II almost with eagle pinion
Der the Alps the chamois roam,
| Yet he has some small dominion
Which no doubt he calls his home.
But the Crown Prince of all heavenly
dominion has less than the raven, less
than the chamois, for he was homeless
Aye, in the history of the universe there il
no other instance of such coming down
Who can count the miles from the top o
the throne to the bottom of the cross
Cleopatra, giving a banquet to Antony
took a pearl worth 500, 900 and dissolved
1t in vinegar and swallowed it, But wher
our Prince, according to the evangelist, ir
his last hours took the vinegar, in it ha6
been dissolved all the pearls of his heavenly
royalty. Down until there was no othel
harassment to suffer, poor until there wat
no other pauperism to torture. Billions Of
dollars spent in wars to destroy men, who
will furnish the statistics of the value Of
that precious blood that was shed to save
us? aye know the grace Of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that though be was rich, yet fol
our sakes he became poor.
The Holy Land.
Only those who study this text in two
places can fully realize its power-the Holy
Land of Asia Minor and the holy land OF
heaven. wish that some day you might
go to the Holy Land and take drink out
of Jacobs well, and take sail on Galilee,
and read the sermon ON the mount while
uh clifCu3 alIu SSo VAiO NlibOliloSs
where Christ was tempted, and be some
afternoon on Calvary at about 8 O'Clock
the hour at which closed the cruciflxion-
and sit under the sycamores and by the side
of brooks, and think and dream and pray
about the poverty Of him who came oul
souls to save. But you may be denied
that, and SO here, in another continent
and in another hemisphere, and in scenes
rs different as possible we recount as well
we may how poor was our heavenly Prince.
But in the other holy land above we may
all study the riches that he left behind
when he started for earthly expedition.
Come, let us bargain to meet each other al
the door of the Fathers mansion, or on the
bank of the river just where it rolls from
under the throne, or at the outside gate.
Jesus got the contrast by exchanging that
world for this; we will get it by exchang