The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1899-04-22

bit 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
he. He knows the eXquisiteness of the
phosphorescence of the sea. He 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
He puts them under His own neck and
head. He gathers on His own tongue
the burning thirsts of many genera
tons. 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 persisted in icy
or fiery martyrdom. While Heaven was
plying, and earth was mocking 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, a draft that set their teeth on
edge and a-rasping-T 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 Saviour's mercy and Sal
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 thu 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. A ter many days they
saw sal 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 l 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 flood
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 hobbling on from defeat TO
defeat, until they make a final sur
render to retributive disaster. Oh, /
wish ! could to-day gather up in my
arms all the woes of men and women,
all their heartaches, all their disap-
pointments, all their chagrins, and just
take them right to the feet of SYM
pathizing Jesus. He 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 are
some who will fall back from this sub.
ject into the sickening, killing jungles
of their sin, carrying gem of infinite
value-a priceless soul--to be lost for
ever. Oh, that that ruby might fash
in the eternal coronation! But, NOD
There are some, fear, who turn away
from this offered mercy and comfort
and Divine sympathy, notwithstanding
that Christ, for all who would accept
His grace. trudged the long way, and
suffered the decorating thongs, and re-
ceived in His face the expectorations OF
the filthy mob, and for the guilty, and
the discouraged, and the disconnected
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