The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-09-28

But notice once more, and more than
all, in my text, that God is so kind and
loving that when IT is necessary for |
him TO cut he has to go to others for
the sharp edged Weapon. I'm the
same day shall the Lord shave with a
razor that is hired" God is love. God
is pity. God is help. God is shelter.
God is rescue. There are no sharp
edges about him, no thrusting points,
no instruments of liberation II you
want divine salve for eyesight, he has
that. But If there is sharp and cut
ting work to do. which requires a ra-
zor, that he hires. God has nothing
about him that hurts, save when dire
necessity demands, and hen he has
TO go clear off to son n else 10 get
the instrument. This divine clemency
will be no novelty to those who have
pondered the Calvarean massacre,
where zoe submerged hiE1self in hu-
mar tears and crimsoned himself from
punctured arteries and let the terreS-
trial and internal worlds maui him un-
til the chandeliers Of the sky had TO
be turned out, because the universe
could not endure the outrage. Illus
trious for love he must have been to
take all that as our substitute, pay
ing out of his own heart the price of
our admission at the gates of heaven.
BREADTH OF DIVINE LOVE.
hllR t1tuTy IL I'll LuSld-lI wv
his son as king and on the day of coro-
nation put on a servants garb and
waited, he the king, at the sons table,
to the establishment Of all the princes.
But we know Of a more wondrous scene
the King of heaven and earth offer
ing to put On you, his child, the crown
of life and in the form of a servant
waiting on you with blessing. Extol
that love, all painting, all sculpture,
all music, all architecture, all worship,
In Dresdenian gallery le. Raphael hold
him up as a child, and in Antwerp
cathedral let Rubens hand him down
from the cross as a martyr, and Handel
make all his oratorio vibrate around
that one chord-"He wd5 wounded for
our transgressions, bruis ii for our in
EQUITIES" But not until all the redeem
ed get home, and from the counte-
nances in all the galleries of the ran
somed shall be revealed the wonders
of redemption, shall either man or Sc
raph or archangef m the height and
depth and length and breadth of the
love of God.
at our national capital a monument
in honor of him who did more than any
one to achieve our American independ-
ence was for scores Of years in build
ing, and most of us were discouraged
and said it never would be completed.
And how glad we all Were wnen in the
presence of the highest officials of the
nations the work was done! But will
the monument to him who died for the
eternal liberation of the human race
ever be completed? For ages the work
has been going up. Evangelists and
apostles and martyrs have been add
ing to the heavenly pile, and every one
of the millions of redeemed going UP
from earth has made to it contribution
of gladness, and weight Of glory
swung to the top of other weight of
glory, higher and higher as the centu-
ries go by, higher and higher as the
whole millenniums roll, sapphire on
the top of jasper, s%ardonyx on the top
of chalcedony and -chrysoprasus above
topaz, until far beneath shall be til
walls and towers and domes of our
earthly capitol, a monument forever
and forever rising and yet never done,
Unto him who hath loved us and
washed us from our sins in his own
blood and made us kings and priests
forever" Alleluia, amen.
Copyrighted, 1900, by Louis Klopsch.)