The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1897-08-13

"AASA hC Ilhcus put TIC OclcSCOPc VI
prophecy to his eye and saw, $50 years
ahead, one Jesus advancing to the res
cue. want to show that when Isaiah
called Christ the Wonderful he spoke
wisely.
In most houses there is picture of
Christ Sometimes it represents him
with face effeminate; sometimes with
face despotic. But l am convinced
that l shall never know how Jesus
looked until, on that sweet Sabbath
morning, / shall wash the last sleep
from my eyes in the cool river of
Heaven. take up this book of divine
photographs and l look at Luke's
sketch, at Marks sketch, at Johns
sketch and at PauPs sketch, and say,
with Isaiah, "Wonderfulr'
l think that you are all interested in
the story of Christ You feel that He
is the only one who can help you.
You have unbounded ambition for the
commander who helped his passengers
ashore while he himself persisted, but
have you no admiration for Him who
rescued our souls, Himself falling back
into the waters from which He had
saved us?
Christ was wonderful in the magnet
ism of His person.
After the battle of Antietam. when.a
general rode along the lines, although
the soldiers were lying down ex-
hausted, they rose with great enthu-
siasm and huzzaed. As Napoleon re-
turned from his captivity, his first
step on the wharf shook all the king
doms, and $50, 900 men Joined his stand
ard. 1t took 5000 troops to watch him
in his exile. So there have been men
of wonderful magnetism of person.
But hear me while | tell you of poor
young man who came from Nazareth
to produce thrill such as has never
been excited by any other. Napoleon
had around him the memories of Au-
sterlitz and Jena, and Badaios; but
here was a man who had fought no
battles; who wore no epaulettes; who
brandished no sword. He is no titled
man of the schools, for He never went
to school. He had probably never seen
prince, or shaken hands with a noble
man. The only extraordinary person
we know of as being in His company
was His own mother, and she was so
poor that in the most delicate and
solemn hour that ever comes to a
woman's soul she was obliged to lie
down amid camel drivers grooming the
beasts of burden.
l imagine Christ one day standing in
the streets of Jerusalem. A man de-
&c 80
beside Him, and says: MY father
was a merchant prince; he had a castle
on the beach at Galilee. Who was
your father" Christ answers: 10
seph, the carpenter" A man from
Athens is standing there uDrolling his
parchment of graduation, and says to
Christ: Where did you go to SCHOOL,"
Christ answers: Il never graduated"
Aha! the idea of such an unheralded
young man attempting to command
the attention of the world As well
some little fishing village on Long is
land shore attempt to arraign New
York. Yet no sooner does He set foot
in the towns or cities of Judea than
everything is in commotion. The peo-
pie go out on a picnic, taking only
food enough for the day, yet are so
fascinated with Christ that, at the
risk of starving, they follow Him out
into the wilderness. A nobleman falls
down fat before Him, and says, My
daughter is dead A beggar tries to
rub the dimness from his eyes. and
says, Lord, that my eyes may be
opened" A poor, sick, painting woman
pressing through the crowd, says, Il
must touch the hem of His garment"
Children, who love their mother better
than any one else, struggle to
get into His arms, and to kiss His
cheek, and to run their fingers through
His hair, and for all time putting Jesus
so in love with the little ones that
there is hardly a nursery in Christen-
dom from which he does not take one,
saving, L must have them; l will fill
Heaven with these; for every cedar
that plant in Heaven 1 will have 80
white lilies. In the hour when l was
a poor man in Judea they were not
ashamed of Me, and now that l have
come to throne do not despise them.
Hold it not back, oh weeping mother;
lay 1T Oh Ny WARM AcdEI vi SUCH II
the kingdom of Heaven"
Jesus was wonderful in the opposites
and seeming antagonists of His nature
You want things logical and consist
ent, and you say: How could Christ |
be God and man at the same time?"
John says Christ was the Creator: ''All |
things were made by Him, and with |
out Him was not anything made"
Matthew says that He was omnipres- |
ent: Where two or three are met to- |
gether in my name, there am in the |
midst of them" Christ declares His |
own eternity: II am Alpha and ONE
ga" How can He be lion, under His |
foot crushing kingdoms, and yet a lamb |
licking the hand that Stays Him? AT |
what point do the throne and the man
ger touch? If Christ was God, why |
fee into Egypt? Why not stand His
ground? Why, instead of bearing the
cross, not lift up His right hand and