The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-03

Il perfectly harmless, perfectly OeIenSe-
| less-type of him who said, Il have
trod the win press alone, and there
was none to help" None to help, The
murderers have it all their own way.
Where was the soldier in the Roman
regiment who swung his sword in the
defense of the divine martyr? Did
they put one drop Of oil on his gashed
feet? Was there one in all that crowd
manly and generous enough to stand
up for him.? Were the miscreants at
the cross any more interfered with in
their work of spiking him fast than
the carpenter in his shop driving a nail
through a pine board? The woman
cried, but there was no balm in their
tears None to help, none TO help!
o my Lord Jesus, none to help! The
wave Of anguish came up to the arch
of his feet, came up to his knee, 1oated
to his waist, rose to his chin, swept to
his temples, yet none to help. Ten
thousand times 10, 900 angels in the sky,
ready to command to plunge into the
bloods ARRAY and strike back the hosts
Of darkness, yet none to help, none to
help!
Oh, this love of the text, in its last
moment, clutched not with angry tall
ons. 1t plunged not a savage beak. 1t
was a dOve-helpless, defenseless. None
to help! None to help!
AS after a severe storm in the morn
ing you go out and find birds dead on
the snow, so this dead bird of the text
makes me think of that awful storm
hat swept the earth on crusifxion day
when the wrath of God, and the mall
ice of man and the fury Of devils
wrestled beneath the three crosses. AS
we sang just now:
Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ the mighty Maker died
For man, the creatures sin.
BLOOD ATONEMENT.
But I come now to speak of this Sec
Ond bird of my text. We must not let
that fly away until we have examined
1T. The priest took the second bird,
tied it to the hyssop branch, and then
plunged it in the blood of the first bird.
All, that is my soul, plunged for cleas-
ing in the S~aviOur's blood. There is
not enough water in the atlantic and
Pacific oceans to wash away our small
est. Sin is such an outrage on Gods
universe that nothing but blood can
atone for it. You NOV the life is in
the blood, and as the life had been for
feited nothing could buy it back but
blood. What was it that was sprinkl-
ed on the doOrposts When the Destroy
ing angel went through the landc
Blood. What was it that went stream
ing from the altar of ancient sacrifice?
Blood. What was it that the priest
carried into the holy of holes, making
intercession for the people? Blood.
What was it that Jesus sweat in the
garden of Gethsemane? Great drops
of blood. What does the wine in the
sacramento cup signify? Blood. What
makes the robes of the righteous
in heaven so fair? They are washed
in the blood Of the Lamb. What is it
that cleanses all our pollution? The
blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanseth
from all sin.
I hear somebody saying, II do not
like such s~anguinary religion a. that"
Do you think it is very wise for the pa
tient to tell the doctor, II don't like
the medicine you have given me?" If
he wants to be cured, he had better
take the medicine. My Lord God has
offered us a balm, and it is very fool
ish for us to say, II don't like that
balm" We had better take it and be
saved. But you do not oppose the she'd
ding of blood in other directions n
for other ends. If a hundred thousand
men go out to battle for their country
and lave to lay down their lives for
free institutions is there anything ig-
norable abou that? No; you say,
GLORIOUS sacrifice rather" And is
there anything ignorable in the idea
that the Lord Jesus Christ by the she'd
ding Of his blood delivered not only
one land but all lands and all ages
from bondage, introducing men by mil
lions and millions into the liberty of the
sons of God? Is there anything ignor-
able about that?
AS this second bird of the text was
plunged in the blood of the first bird
so we must be washed in the blood of
Christ or go polluted forever.
Let the water and the blood,
From thy side a healing flood,
Be of sin and double cure,
Save from earth and make me pure
SIN IS SLAVERY
I notice now that as soon as this
second bird was dipped in the blood Of
the first bird and priest unloOsened it
and it was free-free of wing and free
of foot. 1t could wheat it's beak On
any tree branch it chose. 1t could
peck the grapes of any vineyard it
chose. 1t was free-a type of our souls
after we have washed in the blood Of
the Lamb. We can go wher we will.
We can do what we will. You say,
Had you not better qualify that?"
No, for l remember that in conversion
the will is changed and the nan will
not will that which is wrong. There
is no straitjacket in our religion. A
state of pardon is a state Of emanci-
patton. The hammer of Gods grace
knocks the hopples from the feet,
knocks the handouts from the wrist,
opens the door into a landscape all
ashimmer with fountains and ablOom
with gardens. 1t is freedom.
If a man has become a Christian, he
is no more afraid of Sinai. The thun-
ders of Sinai do not brighten him. You
have, on some August day, seen two
hunder showers meet. One cloud from
his mountain and another cloud from
that mountain, coming nearer and
nearer together and responding to each
other rash to crash, thunder to thun-
der, boom, boom! And then the clouds
break n the torrents pour, and they
are emptied perhaps into the very
same stream that comes down so red
at your feet that it seems as if all the
arnag of the storm battle has been
emptied into it. So in this Bible I see
two storms gather, and they respond
me to the o~ther-f1ash to flash, thunder
to thunder, boom, boom! Sinai thun-
doris f'Tha Sonl that SjnOetb If shall