Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1899-05-05

but Jesus Christ so nightly stormed
the gates of that future world that !
they have never since been closely shut |
Christ knows what it is to leave this
world, of the beauty Of which He was
more appreciatiye than we ever could
be. He knows the eXquisiteness of the
phosphorescence Of the sea, lie trod
it He knows the glories OF the mid
night heavens, for they were the span.
gled canopy of His wilderness pillow.
He knows about the lilies. He twisted
them into His sermon, He knows about
the fowls of the air, They whirred
their way through His discourse. He
knows about the sorrows Of leaving
this beautiful world Not taper was
kindled in the darkness. He died
physicianless. He died in cold sweat
and dizziness and hemorrhage and
agony, that have put Him in sympathy
with all the dying. He goes through
Christendom, and He gathers up the
stings out of all the death pillows, and
lie puts them under His own neck and
head. He gathers on His own tongue
the burning thirsts of many genera
tions. The sponge is soaked in the
sorrow of all those who have died in
their beds, as well as soaked in the sor-
rows of all those who perished in icy
or fiery martyrdom. While Heaven was
plying, and earth was mocliing, and
hell was deriding, He took the vinegar.
To all those to whom life has been an
acerbity-a dose they could not swal-
low, draft that set their teeth on
edge and a-rasping-I preach the om-
nipotent sympathy Of Jesus Christ.
The sister of Herschel, the astrono-
mer, used to spend much of her time
polishing the telescopes through which
he brought the distant worlds nigh,
and it is my ambition now this hour
to clear the lens of your spiritual
vision, so that, looking through the
dark night of your earthly troubles,
you may behold the glorious constel-
lation of a Saviour's mercy and a Sa-
viour's love. Oh, my friends, do not
try TO carry all your ills alone. Do not
put your poor shoulder under the
Apennines, when the Almighty Christ
is ready to lift up all your burdens.
When you have trouble of any kind
you rush this way and that way, and
you wonder what TN man will say
about it, and you try this prescription
and that prescription and the other
prescription. Oh, why do you not go
straight to the Heart of Christ, know
ing that for our own SHINING and suf-
fering race He took the vinegar?
There was vessel that had been
tossed of the seas for great many
weeks and been disabled, and the sup
ply of water gave out, and the crew were
dying of thirst. After many days they
saw SAID against the sky. They sig
nailed it. When the vessel came nearer
the people on the suffering ship cried to
the captain of the other vessel: Send
us some water, We are dying for lack
of water" And the captain of the YES
sci that was hailed responded; dip
your buckets where you are. You are
in the mouth,of the Amazon, and there
are scores of miles of fresh water all
around about you and hundreds of feet
deep" And then they dropped their
buckets over the side of the vessel and
brought up the clear, bright, fresh wa
ter and put out the fire of their thirst,
So I hail you to-day, after long and
perilous voyage, thirsting for comfort
and thirsting for eternal life, and I
ask you what is the use of going in that
death-struck state while all around you
is the deep, clear, wide, sparkling food
Of Gods sympathetic mercy. Oh, dip
your buckets and drink and live for
ever. "Whosoever will, let him come
and take Of the water Of life freely"
Yet there are people who refuse this
Divine sympathy, and they try to fight
| their own battles, and drink their own
vinegar, and carry their own burdens,
and their life, instead of being a tri-
umphal march from victory to victory
will be n hobbling on from defeat tc
defeat, until they make a final sur.
render TO rctributive disaster. oh,
wish / could to-day gather up in my
arms all the woes of men and women
all their hcartaches, all their disap
pointmcnts, all their chagrins, and just
take them right to the feet of a sym
pathizing Jesus lie took the vinegar
Mana Sahib, after he had lost his last
battle in India, fell back into the jun
giles of Iheri-jungles so full Of malaria
that no mortal can live there. He car
ried with him also ruby Of great lus
ter and of great value. He died in those
jungles. His body was never found
and the ruby has never yet been recov
cred. And / fear that to-day there arr
some who will fall back from this sub
ject into the sickening, killing iunglei
of their sin, carrying a gem Of infinite
value--a priceless soul-~to be lost for
ever. Oh, that that ruby might flasl
in the eternal coronation But, no
There are some, fear who turn ava.
from this offered mercy and comfor
and Divine sympathy, Notwithstanding
that Christ for all who would accep
His grace, trudged the long way, ant
suffered the lacerating thongs, and re
ceived in His face the expectorations o
the filthy mob, and for the guilty, ant
the discouraged, and the discomfortet
of the race, took the vinegar. May Got
Almighty break the infatuation ant
lead you out into the strong hope, ant
the good cheer, and the glorious sun
shine of this triumphant Gospel!