The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-12-29

-. "e'ei again be yeiledi n
1t to all the shining, suHerina leu
race; tell it in song and sermon s!lAs
vas and in marble, on arch ana can
tell 1t all around the earth |lar;
love-" 1od "a
Notice that the wlsest men Of 81
IONS Tor thousands of years dS ID
amid their idolatries, make nob
to represent this feeling. this em1lns
They had a Jove, represeptinnruoa'
Neptune, the god of the sea. uI'sa''
the goddess Of wisdom; Venus tbaIa
dess OF base appetite; Ceres ,bo sOa'
dess Of corn, and an Odin. and ar sOc'
and a Titan, and a Juggernan, is,
whole pantheons of gods and go5S ala
but no shrine, no carved imarsse''
sc%ulptured form has suggested 10
OF pure love. That was beyond brsa
brain. 1t took a God to think th".a
God to project that. a God LEI
from HEAVIER to achieve that.
Fear is the dominant though. T., -,
false religions. For that the devn.'"
cut themselves with lances and .mtN
on iron hooks and fall under wbeoLa
hold up the right arm so long tba,,I
cannot take it down. Fear. brn.,'9
fear! But love is the queen in onr"
ligion. For that we build temn,a.
For that we kneel at our affairs. E..
that we contribute our aims. For ~.
martyrs suffered at Brussels NAL.
place and at Lucknow and Caunan'
and Picking. That will vet beiswa,
the round earth and put il an ems,,n
on the great, warm, throbbing heart,
God.
The world has had many enac;n...
of slandered men and women. tbai'
motives slandered, their habits sl.n.
dered-siandered until they got on,
of the world, and then pertains hon.
ored by elaborate eulogium and ,.r
shaft of granite, all four sides cbi..
eled with the story of how good and
great they were. But no one nndo,
the heavens or over the heavens b.,
ever been so much slandered As Goa
Bad men have fought against Him and
have thought they heard His yoica
in the crash of a thunderstorm. bmt
have not seer Him in the sunshine n,
the spring morning. They have blamed
Him for wrongs which they had don.
themselves. The sight of a church
building excites their disgust. Tbev
like the madrigal of a saloon better
than the doxology of a temple. They
10 not want to live with Him in
Heaven, but would prefer on l~eayin,
this world to go into some realm
where God has abdicated the throps
and from which He is exiled forever.
The reason is they do not know Hin.
They do not realize the fact that God
is the best friend this world ever had
or ever will have, and that He would
do more for their happiness than any.
one in the wide universe; that He
would help them in the wear and tear
and tussle of this life: that He would
hush their sorrpws; that He would
help cure the evil habits with which
they sometimes struggle; that He
would at their request not only for.
give but forget the wrong things in
their life. Yes, forget! And that is
the only thing that God ever does for.
get-pardoned transgression. The bes.
memory in the universe is Gods mem
DRY, and He remembers all that has
TRANSFERRED in all time and in all
eternity save one kind of occurrence.
That passes completely out Of His
memory. He declares: Their sins
and their iniquities will l remember
no more"
Do you want more proof that God
is love?" Yea, disinterested love. No
compensation for its bestowal. No
reward for its sacrifices. But l call
that back. The world did pay Him.
1t paid Him on Calvary, paid Him with
brambles on the brow and four spikes,
two for the hands and two for the
feet, and n spear for the side near
the heart; paid Him in execration;
paid Him with straw pillow in a barn
and a cross on a hill; paid Him with
a third of a century of maltreatment
and hardship saw one year-yea, is
paying Him yet in rejection Of His
mission of mercy. Having dethroned
other kings, the world would like to
dethrone the King of kings. But He
knew what He was coming to when
He left the portals of pear and the
land where the sun never goes down.
Yes, He knew the world, how cold ii
is, and knew pain, how sharp it is,
and the night, how dark it is, and ex-
piation, how ex%cruciating il is. Out
of vast eternity He looked forward
and saw Pilates criminal courtroom,
and the rocky bluff with three crosses,
and the lacerated body in mortuary
surroundings, and heard the thunders
toll at the funeral of Heavens favor
lite, and understood that the palaces
of eternity would hear the sorrow OF
a bereft God.
What do the Bible and the church
liturgies mean when they say: He
into help" They mean that
His soul left His sacred body for
awhile and went down into the prison
of moral night. and swung back its
great door. and lifted the chain OF
captivity, and felt the awful lash that
would have come down on the worlds
back, and wept the tears of an eter-
nal sacrifice, and took the bolt of d.
- rNn-