The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-09-21

will not open it. A large door
generally has a ponderous key. 1 tax
the cross and place the foot of it in
the lock, and by h two arms o6 the
cross / turn the lock, and the door
opens.
This left hand cross was a ~pardoned
cross. The crosses were only two or
for Christ to hear. Christ might nave
turned away and said: How daresi
thou speak to me? / am the Lord OF
heaven and earth / have seen youI
violence. When you struck down that
man in the darkness, / saw you. Yoy
are getting a just reward Die il
darkness-die forever" But Jesus said
so, but rather, This day thot
shalt be with me in paradise" as mucl
as to say: Il see o there. Do not
worry. I Will not only bear my eros
but help you with yours.
Forthwith the ieft hand cross bA
comes the abode of contentment. Te
pillow of the malefactor, soak n
blood, becomes like the crimson uE
holstery of a kings couch. When the
body became still and the surgeons
feeling the pulse said one to anothe,
He is dead" h last mark of pan
had gone from his face. Peace had
Smoothed his forehead. Peace CLOSED
his eyes. Peace closed his lips. Nov
you see why there were two tram
verse pieces on the cross, for il hts
become a ladder into the skies. That
dying head is asy which has nde it
the promise, This day thou shalt je
with me in paradise" Ye whose lips
have been filled with blasphemy, Re
whose hands for many hare
wrought unrighteouSneSS, We who have
companioned with the unclean, We who
nave scaled every height of transgrts-
sion and fathomed every depth AID
passed every extreme of iniquit!-
mercy, mercy!
The dying thief rejoiced to see
That fountain in his day,
And there may I, though vile as he
Wash all my sins away.
THE FACE OF THE SAVIOUR
L have shown you the right hand
cross and the left hand cross; npw
come to the middle cross. We sttod
at the one end and found it yielied
poison; We stood at the other and
found it yielded bitter aloes. Come
now to the middle cross and shake
down apples of love. Uncover your
head. You never saw 81 tender a
scene al this. o may nave seen
father or mother or companion or child
die, but never so affecting a scene as
this. The railing thief looked from
one way and saw only the right side
of Christ's face; the penitent thief ltok-
ed from h other way n saw the
left side of Christ's face. But today,
in the full blaze of gospel light, you
see ChriStiS full face. 1t was a suffer
ing cross. If the weapons of torturehad
gone only through h fatty portions
of the body, the torture would not
have been so great, fbut they vent
through the hands and feet and tenn
Mas thn -pact cnncitix-a nArtinnc II
was not only the spear that went into
his side, but the sins of all the race
a Thousand S~pearS-plunge after
plunge, deeper and deeper, until the
silence and composure that before
characterized him gave way to a
groan, through which rumbled the
sorrows of time and the woes of eter-
nifty. Human hate had done it's worst,
and hell had buried it's sharpest jave-
lin, and devils mad vented heir hottest
rage when, with every nerve of his
body in torture and every fiber of his
heart in e~xcruciation, he cried out.
My God, my God, why hast thou for
Saken me?" 1t was a victorious cross.
The right hand cross suffered for itself
the left hand cross for itself, but the
middle cross for you. When a king
was dying, a young man cried, Pour
my blood into his veins that he die
not" The veins of the young mar
were tapped and the blood transferred
SO hal the king lived, but the young
man died. Christ saw the race perish
ing. He cried, Pour my blood into
their veins, that they die not My
hand is free now because Christ's was
crushed; my brow is painless now be-
cause ChriSt's was torn; my soul eS-
capes because Christ'S was bound:
gain heaven because Christ for me n
dured the horrors of hell.
When the Swiss were many years
ago ~contending against their enemies
they saw their enemies arrayed ir
solid phalanx and knew not how tC
break their ranks, but one of their he.
roes, Arnold Won Winkelried, rushed
out in front of his regiment and shout.
ed, Make way for liberty" The
weapons of the enemy were plunged
into his heart, but while they were
Staying him of course their ranks were
broken, and through that gap in the
ranks the Swiss dashed to victory
Christ saw all the powers of darkness:
assailing e He cried out, "Makt
way for the redemption of the worldi'
AL the weapons of Internal wrath
struck him, but as they struck him oul
race marched out free.
To this middle cross look, that your
souls nay live. I showed you tn
right hand cross in order that yol
might see what an awful thing it is t,
be unbelieving. I showed you the lef
hand cross that you might see what i