Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-06-01


beckoned. they came. When he frown-
ell. they fed. The heel of his foot
made no indcntation on the soIidified
water. Medical science has wrought
great changes in rheumatic limbs and
diseased blood. but when the muscles
are entirely withered no human power
can restore them. and when limb Is
once dead Il is dead. But here is
paralytie-his hand lifeless. Christ says
TO him. stretch forth thy hand" and
he stretches IL forth.
In the eye infirmary how many dis
eases of that delicate organ have been
cured? But Jesus says to one blind.
"Be open.' and the light of heaven
ruShes through gates that have never
before been opened. The frost or an
AK may kill a tree, but Jesus smites
one dead with n word. Chemistry may
do many wonderful things. but what
chemist. at wedding. when the wine
gave out. could change pail Of water
into a cask of wineI What human
voice could command a school of fish?
Yet here is n voice that marshals the
scaly tribes until. in place where they
had let down the net and pulled it up
with no fish in il. they let II down
again. and the disciples lay hold and
began 20 pull. when. by reason of the
multitude Of fish. the net broke. Ma
ture is his servant. The fiowcrs-he
twisted them into his sermons: the
windss they were his lullaby when he
slept in the boat; the rain-it hung
glitterirgly on the thick foliage of the
parallels; the star of Bethlehem - it
sang Christmas carol over his birth;
the rocks-they beat n dlrge at his
Heath. Behold his victory over the
gravel The hinges of the family vault
become very rusty because they are
never opened except 10 take another in.
There is a knob on the outside of the
door of the sepulcher, but none on the
inside. Here comes the conqueror of
death. lie enters that realm and says,
Daughter of Jairus, sit upr' and she
sits up. To Lazarus, Come forthp'
and he came forth. To the widows
son he said, Get up from that bierr'
and be goes home with his mother
Then Jesus snatched up the keys Of
death and hung them to his girdle and
cried until all the Graveyards of the
earth heard him: 30 death, l will be
thy plague! o grave. will be thy de-
struction!'
Supernatural Nature
No man could go through all the OBJ
ctacles have described, you say, with
out having n nature supernatural. In
that arm, amid its muscles and nerves
and bones were inteTtwisted the ener-
DF L., -
of that voice there was the emphasis
OF the eternal God. That foot that
walked the deck of the ship i'm Gennes-
aret shall stamp kingdoms OF darkness
into demolition. This poverty struck
Christ owned Augustus, owned the
sanhedrin. owned Tiberias, owned all
the castles on its beach and all the
skies that looked down into it's water
owned all the earth and all the heay-
ems. To him of the plain coat belonged
the robes Of celestial royalty. lie who
walked the road to Emmaus the light
nings were the fire shod stecds OF his
chariot Yet there are those who look
on and see Christ turn water into wine.
and they say. 1T was deight of handw
And they see Christ raise the dead to
life, and they say: Easily explained:
not really dead: playing deadr' And
they see Christ giving sight TO the
blind man. and they say, "Clairvoyant
doctor" Oh. what shall they do on
the day when Christ rises up I'm judy-
ment and the hills shall rock and the
trumpets shall call. peal on peal? In
the time OF Theodosius the Great there
WINS n err.not ocSo,,ls ,,,,.1, $780,, Al, n
vinity OF Jesus Christ. and during that
time Theodosius the Great called his
own son to sit on the throne with him
and be copartncr I'm the government
OF the empire. and one day the old
bishop came and bowed down before
Thcodoslus, the emperor, and passed
out OF the room, and the emperor was
offended, saying TO the old bishop.
why didn't you pay the same honor
To my son. who shares with me I'm the
government" Then the old bishop
turned TO the young man and said.
THE Lord bless thee. my young man."
hut sull paid him no such honor rs he
had paid TO the emperor. And the en-
peror was still offended and displeased
when the old bishop turned 10 Theodo-
sius the Great and said TO him, "You
are offended with me because / don't
pay the same honor TO your son. whom
you have made copartner In the. gov
eminent OF this empire, the same hon
or pay TO you, and yet you encourage
multitudes of people In your realm TO
deny the Son OF God equal authority,
equal power, with God the Father"
Live Forever.
My subject also treasures us of the
fact that in all our struggles we have
sympathizer You cannot tell Christ
anything new about hardship. | do
not think that wide ages OF eternity
will take the scars from his punctured
side and his lacerated temples and bis
sore hands. You win never have a
burden weighing so many pounds as
that burden Christ carried up the
bloody hill You will never have any
suffering worse than he endured when,
with tongue hot and cracked and in
hamed, and swollen, he moaned, IT
thirst" You will never be surrounded
by worse hostility than that which
stood around Christs feet, foaming. re-
Wiling, livid with rage, bowling down
his prayers and snufiing up the smell
or blood. ye faint hearted, o We
troubled. o We prosecuted one, here is
Il heart that can sympathize with you!
Again, and lastly, l learn from all
that has been said today that Christ
was awfully In earnest. If it had not
been a momentous mission, he would
have turned back from it Disguised and
discouraged. lie saw you in n captivi-
ty from which he was resolved To ex-
tricate you. though il cost him all
sweat, all tears, all blood. He came a
great way to save you. He came from
Bethlehem here. through the place Of
skulls, through the chanel house,
through Punishment There was not
among all the ranks OF celestials one
being who would do as much for you.
lay his crushed heart at your feet to- |