The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-05-30

Roman regiment who swung his sword Il
J the defense Of the divine martyrP Did the
put one drop Of oil on his gashed feet
Was there one in all that crowd manly AM
generous enough to stand up for him
We're the miscreants at the cross any NOR
interfered with in their work Of spikin,
, him fast than the carpenter in his sho]
driving nail through pine boardp Th
women cried, but there was no balm IL
their tears. None to help, none to help
o my Lord Jesus, none to helpl The wav,
Of anguish came up to the arch Of his feet
came up to his knee, f1oated to his waist
rose to his chin, swept to his temples, ye
none to helpl Ten thousand times ter
thousand angels in the sky ready at com
mand to plunge into the bloody ARRAY ani
strike back the hosts Of darkness, yet mont
to help, none to helpl
oh, this dove Of the text In Its last mo
ment clutched not with angry talonsl II
plunged not savage beak. 1t was a dove
helpless, defenseless. None to help,
none to helpl
As after severe storm in the morning
you go out and find birds dead on the
snow, SO this dead bird OF the text makes
me think Of that awful storm that swept
the earth on crucifxion day, when the
wrath of God, and the malice 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.
But come now to speak Of this second
bird of the text. We must not let that fly
away until we have examined 1t. The
hyssop branch and then plunged it in the
blood of tho 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 SIM Sin Is such an outrage
on Gods universe that nothing but blood
con atone for 1t. You know the life is in
the blood, and as the life had been forfeit
cd, nothing could buy it back but blood.
What was 1t that was sprinkled on the
doorposts when the destroying angel went
through the land9 Blood. What was it
that went streaming from the altar Of an
cient sacrificed Blood. What was 1t that
the priest carried into the holy of holes,
making intercession for tho peopleP Blood.
What was 1t that Jesus sweat In the garden
Of Gethscmane2 Great drops Of blood.
What does the wine In the sacramental cup
signify Blood. What makes the robes
of the righteous in heaven so fairp They
are washed in tho blood Of the Lamb.
What is it that cleanscs all our pollution9
The blood Of Jesus Christ, that cleanseth
from all sin.
hear somebody saying, II do not like
you think it Is very wise for the patient to
tell the doctor, II don't like the medicine
you have given meS" II he wants to be
cured, heNad better take the medicine.
My Lord God has offered US balm, and
It is very foolish for us to say, II don't
like that balm" We had better take 1t
and be saved. But you do not oppose the
shedding of blood in other directions and
for other ends. II 100, 900 men go out to
battle for their country and have to lay
down their lives for free institutions, is
there anything ignoble about thatP No,
you say, GLORIOUS sacrifice rather" And
is there anything ignoble in the idea that
the Lord Jesus Christ, by the shedding Of
his blood, delivered not only one land but
all lands and all ages from bondage, intro
ducing men by millions and millions into
the liberty OF the sons of God? Is there
anything ignoble about thatp
As this second bird of the text was
plunged In the blood Of tho first bird, so
we must DO washed in tho blood Of Christ
or go polluted forever.
Let the water and the blood,
From thy side healing food,
Be of sin the double cure,
Save from earth and mako me pure.
Glorious Freedom.
I notice now that as soon as this second
bird was dipped in the blood of the first
bird tho priest unloosencd 1t and 1t was
free-free Of wing and free Of foot. 1t
could whct 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. You
say, Had you not better qualify thatf'
No; for l remember that In conversion the
will is changed, and tho man will not will
that which Is wrong. There is no strait
jacket in our religion. A state of sin Is
state of slavery. A state of pardon is a
state Of emancipation. The hammer of
Gods grace knocks the hopples from the
feet, knocks the handouts from the wrist,
opens the door into landscape oil ashim-
MGR with fountains and abloom with gar
dens, 1t is freedom.
If man has become Christian, he Is
no more afraid of Sinai. The thunders Of
Sinai do not frightcn him. You have on
some August day seen two thunder show
crs meet One cloud from this mountain
and another cloud from that mountain,
coming nearer and nearer together and re-
spending to each other, crash to crash,
thunder to thunder, boom, booml And
then the clouds break and the torrents
pour, and they are enptied perhaps into the
very same stream that comes down SO red at
your feet that it seems as II all the carnage
of tho storm battle has been empticd into
It, So in this Bible sec two storms gath
or, one above Sinai the other above Cal
vary, and they respond ono to the other
flash to flash, thunder to thunder, boom,
boom. Sinai thunders, 1.-The soul that
sinncth it shall die;" Calvary responds,
Save them from going down to the pit,
for have found ransome." Sinai says,
Woe! woel'' Calvary answers Mercy
mercyr' 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 tho bird in the text,
1t shall go forth frce-freo! Oh, Iwish all
people to understand this, that when II
man becomes q Christian he does not be-
come a slave, but that he becomes free
man; that he has larger liberty aftor no
becomes IL child Of God than before he be-
came a child Of God
General Fish said that he once stood at
o slave block where an old Christian min
lister was being sold. Tho auctionoer said
Of him: "What bid do l hear for this man2
He Is a very good kind of man; he is q
minister" Somebody said, "Twenty dol
lars" (ho was very old and not worth
much), somebody else, Twenty-Five"
"Thirty," "Thirty-fvo," Forty" The
aged Christian minister began to tremble.
He had expected to be able to buy his own
freedom, and he had just $40 and expected
with the $40 to get free AS the bids ran
up the old man trembled more and more.
q Forty - GEnrty-fya - hFiPtv " UTNiftu.