The record-union., 1898-12-27

coarseness. It is purity embracing poll
luton, and by its crystalline tides Of
| love cleanses the soul Of all foulness.
and making it meet for the Inheritance
of the saints in light. Jesus has
ploughed His name deep in the
| friend of sinners The world has
Redeemer. Jesus ministered to mems
bodily wants. He relieved physical
distress. He healed the sick and
fed the hungry. He clothed the
mind with truth, and gave the soul the
bread of heaven. His entire life from
Bethlehem's manger to Bethany's
mount was spent in ministering to hu-
man wants, and as climax to such a
life of service He died on the cross for
us men and our salvation. " He died
for our sins and rose again for our
| justification"
When no eye its pity gave US,
/ Wnen there was no arm to save us,
| he, his love and power displayed;
By his stripes He wrought our healing,
By His death our life revealing,
| he Tor US the ransom paid
The half has not been told. I have
said nothing of His meekness, His gen.
tleness, His courage, His patient en-
durance of wrong. No man suffered IS
He suffered. No one was ever wronged
as He was wronged. But, being reviled,
He reviled not again. He blessed His
prosecutors, and prayed for the men
who nailed Him on the cross.
! Did you ever think Of the silence of
Christ? You have often thought of His
wondrous speech. Never man spake
like this man" Every sentence He ut
tered was germ of life from which
has sprung a harvest Of holy thought
and noble life. His words are the
sweetest, strongest wisest words ever
spoken by man to man. But have you
thought of His silence? His silence is
even more eloquent than His speech. In
Plates judgment hall, unjustly ac-
| cused, He was silent. In the high
priests palace, listening to false wit
| nesses, silent; before the impious Herod,
! silent; blindfolded and spit upon The
night of His betrayal, silent; surround
ed by the demoniac yells of a maddened
| mob, silent; fainting under the weight
of the cross on the way to Calvary, 81.
| lent. He was oppressed; He was af-
| flicted yet he opened not His mouth"
II to suffer without complaint and with
out retaliation reveals magnanimity of
| character. then no one ever exhibited
such moral greatness as Jesus Of Naza.
reth.
Jesus was great in every element Of
| character. Men and women in history
| have been eminent in particular virtues.
| We single out Moses for meekness, Job
| for patience, Paul for zeal, Aristides for
| justice, st. Francis Of Assist for saint
liness, Luther for courage, Lincoln for
sincerity, and Gladstone for integrity.
But all these elements of character and
more were in Jesus in symmetrical full
ness and perfection. You cannot think
of a single excellence He did not pos
sess. The heroic and the gentle
virtues, the active and the pass
i've, meet and blend in Him. All
strength of manly vigor, all beauty
of womanly grace, center in their
fullness in Him. He was coura-
geous as a soldier and gentle as a
woman. He was the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, and the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. Though Sc
verely intolerant of sin, He was tender
as a mother with the SHINING soul. He
|
all-mightiness was matched by His all
| lovingness. AT all times and in all
places he stands before US the embodi-
ment of our highest conception of di-
vine manhood His character is per-
feet. 1t is a picture without defect
an anthem without a discord, q sky
without a cloud, a life without a blem-
ish. He seems both human and divine
the purest among the mighty, the
mightiest among the pure. All earth
unites to day to chant His peerless
worth, and voice from the opened
heavens declares: This is my Beloved
Son; hear we Him" You and I look up
reverently into His face of love, and
call Him friend and brother. I must
go farther, and with Thomas confess
Him my Lord and my God" Oh, mag
Nifty the Lord with me- and let us exalt
His name together. May the Spirit of
God shine in hour hearts to-day anew.
"to give the light of the knowledge Of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus
| Christ
| I have dwelt on the character Of Je-
sus this morning because would honor
Him and have you honor Him. Too
much have our thoughts been turned
| away to tr1filng themes, and too little
have they been fixed on Him whose
/ perfections are the hope of humanity
and whose glory will be the song of
eternity. 1t is our shame as we'll as our
sin that we have SO long withheld from
Him the homage of our hearts and the
| worship of our souls. We have
wronged ourselves by refusing to enrich
our lives with His wisdom and beautify
| our characters by His grace. AS men
for ages tramped in poverty over rocks
rich with gold, unconscious of the hid
den treasures, so multitudes are living
| ignorant of the wealth of wisdom and
grace available to them in the words
and work of Jesus of Nazareth. We
have only begun to see the peerless
splendor of His divine character and the
1SA