Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-06-15
SERMONS OF THE DAY
Subject: "sprinkled and Cleaused," in
Which the Story of tho Shedding OF
Blood For the Removing of Sin is
Dwelt Up0n-Chrlst and the Soul.

wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and
shall dip them and the living bird in the
running water; and he shall sprinkle upon
him that Is to be cleansed from the leprosy
seven times, and shall pronounce him clean
and shall let the living bird loose into the
open feld."-Leviticus xiv. ST.
The Old Testament, to very many people
Is a great slaughter-house strewn with
blood, and bones, and horns, and hoofs OF
butchered animals. 1t ofYends their sight;
1t disgusts their taste; it actually nauseates
the stomach. But to the intelligent Chris
tfan the Old Testament is magnificent
corridor through which Jesus advances.
As He appears at the other end of the cor
ridor we can only see the outlines of His
character; coming nearer, we can descry
the features. But when at last He steps
upon the platform Of the New Testament,
amid the torches OF evangelists and apos-
ties, the OrchestraS of heaven announce Him
with blast OF minstresly that wakes up
Bethlehem at midnight.
There were great many cages of birds
brought down to Jerusalem for sacrifice
sparrows, and pigeons, and turtle doves.
can hear them now, whistling, caroling
and singing all around about the Temple.
When leper was to be- cured of his lep-
rosy, in order to his cleansing two of these
birds were taken; one of them was slain
( over an earthen vessel of running water -
that Is, clear. fresh water, and then the
;
taken, tied to a hyssop-branch. and plunged
by the priest into the blood of the first bird;
and then, with this hyssop-branch, bird
dipp I'D, the priest would sprinkle the leper
seven times, then unite the bird from the
hyssop-branch, and it would go soaring
into the heavens.
/ Now open your eyes wide, my dear
brethren and sisters, and see that that first
bird meant Jesus and that the second bird
meant your own soul.
al, 80 A
was slain was a clean bird. The text de-
manded that it should be. The raven was
never sacrificed, nor the cormorant nor
the vulture. 1t must be n clean bird says
the text; and it suggests the pure Jesus
the holy Jesus. Although He spent His
boyhood in the worst village on earth,
although blasphemies were poured into
His ear enough to have poisoned any one
else He stands before the world a perfect
Christ.
1 remark, also. in regard to this Arst
( bird mentioned in the text that it was n
/ defenseless bird. When the eagle is as
/ saulted. with its iron beak it strikes like n
/ bolt against its adversary. This was a
/ dove or sparrow, we do not know lust
which. Take the dove or pigeon in your
hand, and the pecking of its beak on your
hand makes you laugh at the feebleness of
/ its assault.
| None to help! The murderers have it
| ali 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 out
! for Him? We're the miscreants ut the
| cross any more interfered with in their
work of spikng Him fast than the carpen-
/ ter in his shop driving nail through pine
board? The women cried, but there was
no balm in their tears. None to helpI
None to help! o my Lord Jesus, none to
/ help!
! Oh, this dove of the text. in its last mo-
! ment, c'utched not with angry talons. 1t
plungcd not savage beak. 1t was IA dove
/ x.iess. tfefenseiess. None to help!
4 4 NonssfdFk1pl
As, aft,R severe storm in the morning
you go out and find birds dead on the
| ground, so this dead bird of the text makes
me think of that awful storm that swept
I the earth on Crucitixion day, when the
wrath of God and the malice of man and
the fury of devils wrestled beneath the
| three crosses.
But come now to speak to this second
/ bird of the text. We must not let that fy
away until we have examinedit 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 cleansing in the Saviour's blood. There
is not enough water in the Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans to wash away our smallest
verse that nothing but blood can atone for
it. You know the life is in the blood, and
the life bad been forfeited, nothing
could buy it back but blood.
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.
L notice now that soon as this second
bird was dipped in the blood of the first
bird, the priest unloosened it and it was
free-free of wing and free of foot. 1t could
whet its beak on any tree branch it chose
1t could peck the grapes of any vineyard
it chose. 1t was free; type of our souls
after we have washed in the blood of the
Lamb. We can go where we will. We can
do what we will.
If a man has become n Christian, he is no
more afraid of Sinai. The thunders of Sinai
do not frighten him. You have, on some
August day, seen two thunder showers
meet. One cloud from this mountain, and
another cloud from that mountain, coming
nearer and nearer together, and responding
to each other, crash to crash, thunder to
thunder, boom! booml And then the clouds
break and 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 carnage of the storm
battle has been emptied into 1t. So in this
Bible 1 see two storms gather. one above
Sinai, the other above Calvary, and they re-
spond one to the other-fash to fash
thunder to thunder, booml boom! Sinai
thunders, ''The soul that sinneth. it shall
die;' Calvary responds: Save them from
going down to the pit, for 1 have found a
ransom Sinai says: 'WoeI woel'' Cal
vary answers: "Mercyl mercyl' and then
the clouds burst, and empty their treasures
into one torrent. and it comes flowing to
our feet red with the carnage of our Lord
in which, If thy soul be plunged, like the
bird in the text, it shall go forth free
freel
Why, is not a man free when he gets rid
of his sins? The sins OF the tongue gone;
the sins of action gone; the sins of the mind
gone. All the transgressions of thirty,
forty, fifty, seventy years gOne-no more in
the soul than the malaria that hoated in
the atmosphere n thousand years ago; for
when my Lord Jesus pardons n man He
pardons him, and there Is no halfway work
/ about it.
Here see a beggar going along the
turnpike road. He is worn out with dis
ease. He is stiff in the joints. He is ul-
cered all over. He has rheum in his eyes.
He is sick and wasted. He is in rugs.
Every time he puts down his swollen feet,
he cries, "Ohl the pain!' He sees a foun-
tai by the roadside under tree, and he
crawls up to that fountain and says: 81
| must wash. Here 1 may cool my ulcers.
Here may get rested He stoops down
and scoops up in the palms of his hands
| enough water to slack his thirst; and that
4
| gins to wash his eyes; and the rheum is all
gone. Then he puts in his swollen feet,
and the swelling is gone. Then, willing no
longer 10 be only half cured, he plunges in,
and his whole body is laved in the stream,
and he gets upon the bank we'll Mean
| time the owner of the mansion up yondel
| comes down, walking through the ravine
with His only Son, and He sees the bundle
of rags, and asks: "WhOse rags are these?
voice from the fountain says: "Those are
J my rags" Then says the Master to His
+ Son: go up to the house and get the best
new suit you can find and bring it down.
And He brings down thee lothes, and the
| beggar is clothed in them, and
! he looks around and says: 81
: was filthy, but now 1 am clean.
| was ragged, but now I am robed. 1 was
| blind, but nowI see. Glory be to the
! owner of that mansion; and glory be to
that Son who brought me that new suit
of clothes; and glory be to this fountain
whera I haya waahad and whaYo all uhf