The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-09-14

| and the left hand cross; now come 10
the middle cross. We stood at the one
and found it yielded poison; we stood
al the other and found it yielded bitter
aloes. Come now to the middle cross
and shake down apples of love. I'm
cover your head. You never saw so
tender a scene as this. You may have
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 the left side of Christ's
face. But to-day, in the full blaze of
Gospel light, you see Christ's full face.
1t was a suffering cross. If the weapons
of torture had gone only through the
fatty portions of the body, the torture
would not have been so great, but they
went through the hands and feet and
temples, the most sensitive portions.
1t was not only the spear that went
into His side, but the sins of all the
race-a thousand spears-plunge after
plunge, deeper and deeper, until the
silence and composure that before char
acterized Him gave way to groan,
through which rumbled the sorrows of
time and the woes of eternity. Human
hate had done its worst, and hell had
buried its sharpest javelin, and devils
had vented their hottest rage when,
with every nerve of His body in torture
and every fiber of His heart in excru-
tiatiOn, He cried out: "My God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me?" 1t
was a vicarious cross. The right hand
cross suffered for itself, but the middle
cross for you. When king was dying,
/ cd \
into his veins, that he die not" The
veins of the young man were tapped
and the blood transferred, so that the
king lived, but the young man died.
Christ saw the race perishing. 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 because Christ's
was torn; my soul escapes because
Christ's was bound; gain Heaven be-
cause Christ for me endured the hor-
rors of hell.
To this middle cross look, that your
souls may live. showed you the right
hand cross in order that you might see
what an awful thing it is to be unbe-
lieving. 1 showed you the left hand
cross that you might see what it is to
repent. Now I show you the middle
cross that you may see what Christ has
done to save your soul.
Oh, that 1 may engrave on your
souls ineffaceably the three crosses,
so that if in your waking moments
you will not heed, then in your
dreams at night you may see on the
hill back of Jerusalem the three spec
tacles-the right hand cross showing
unbelief, dying without Christ; the
left hand showing what it is to be
pardoned, while the central cross
pours over your soul the sunburst of
Heaven, as it says: "By all these
wounds plead for thy heart. ] have
loved thee with an everlasting love.
Rivers cannot quench it. Floods can
not drown it." And while you look
the right hand cross will fade out
of sight, and then the left will be
gone, and nothing will remain but
the middle cross, and even that in
your dream will begin to change un-
til it becomes a throne, and the worn
face of Calvary will become radiant
with gladness, and instead of the mad
mob at the foot of the cross will be
a worshipful multitude, kneeling. And
you and [ will be among them.
But no; we will not wait for such
a dream. In this our most aroused
mood we throw down at the foot
of the middle cross sin, sorrow, life,
death everything. We are slaves;
Christ gives deliverance to the cap
tive. We are thirsty; Christ is the
river of salvation to slake our thirst.
We are hunghy; Jesus says: 81 am
the bread of life" We are condemned
to die; Christ says: "Save that man
from going down to the pit; am the
ransom" We are tossed on the sea
of trouble; Jesus comes over it, say
ing: ''It is I; be not afraid" We
are in darkness; Jesus says: ST am
the bright and morning star" We
are sick; Jesus is the "balm of Gil
cad" We are dead; hear the shrouds
rend and the grave hiIlocks heave as
He cries: 81 am the resurrection and
the life; he that believeth in Me,
though he were dead yet shall he
live" We want justification; Being
justified by faith. we have peace with
God through our Lord Jesus Christ
We want to exercise faith: "Believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved" I want to get from
under condemnation: ''There is now,
therefore, no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus" The cross;
he carried it. The flames of hell; He
suffered them. The shame; He en-
dured it. The crown; He won it.
Heights of Heaven sing it, and worlds
of light to worlds of light all round
the heavens cry: "Glory! Glory!"
Let us go forth and gather the tro-
phies for Jesus. From Golconda mines
we gather the diamonds, from Ceylon
shores we gather the pearls, from
all lands and kingdoms we gather
precious stones, and we bring the
gIittering burdens and put them
down at the feet of Jesus and say:
"All these are thine. Thou art wor-
thy" We go forth again for more
trophies, and into one sheaf we gath
er all the scepters of the Caesars, and
the Alexanders, and the czars, and
the sultans, and of all royalties and
dominions, and then we bring the
sheaf of scepters and put it down
at the feet of Jesus and say: "Thou
art King of kings. All these thou
hast conquered" And then we go
forth again to gather more trophies,
and we bid the redeemed of ages, the
sons and daughters of the Lord AL
mighty, to come. And the hosts of
Heaven bring crown and palm and
scepter and here by these bleeding