The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1901-04-24
will hold you. Besides. FL make you q

give YOU britain, LII give you di Ihe
world" What a temptation 1t must
have been!
Go tomorrow morning and get in an
alteration with some wretc crawling up
from gin cellar in the lowest part of
bemean myself by getting. into such con.
test" Then think of what the King of
heaven and Garth endured when He came
down and fought the great wretch OF
hell and fought him in the wilderness and
on top of the temple.
But I bless God that in the triumph
over temptation Christ gives. us the as.
ing Himself been tempted, He is able to
succor all those who are tempted.
In violent storm at sea the mate told
boy-for the rigging had become entan-
gled in the mast-to 90 up and right it.
A gentleman standing on the deck said:
Don't send that bov up. He will be
dashed to death" The mate said. IT
know what am about" The bov raised
his hat in recognition, OF the order and
work. And as he swung in the storm the
passengers wrung their hands and. ex.
pected to see him fall. The work done,
man said to him. "Why did you go down
in the forecastle before you went up?"
"Ah" eaid the boy, 'I went down to
pray. Ny mother always taught me, be,
fore I undertook anything great to pray
"What is that YOU have in your vest"
said. IT thought I would carrv it with
me if I really did go overheard" How
| we'll the boy was protected!
care not how great the height or how
vast the depth, with Christ within us
and Christ beneath us and Christ above
lis and Christ all around US, nothing can
befal US in the way OF harm. Christ Him
liver all those who put their trust in Him.
Blessed he His glorious name forever!
The third installment paid for our re.
demption was the agonizing prayer in
Gethsemane. As I sat in that garden:
Mt the foot of an old cnarled and twisted
olive tree. the historic scene came upon
me overwhelmingly. These old olive trses
are. the lineal descendants Of those under
which Christ stood and went and llnelt.
Have the leaves of whole hotanicsl gem
erations told the story of our Lords
agony to their successors?
Next to Calvary, the solennest place. in
Palestine is Gethsemane. While sitting
there it seemed as if I could hear our
Lords prayer. laden with sobs and'
groans. Can this be the Jesus who gath
cred fragrance from the frankincense
brought to His cradle and from the lilies
that flung their sweetness into His ser.
broke at His feet? Is this Jesus the COM
forter of Bethany, the resurrector at
Main, the oculist at Bethsaida? Is this the
Christ whose frown is the storm, whose
smile is the sunlight, the spring morning
His breath, the thunder His voice. the
ocean a drop on the tip of His fnrer,
heaven a sparkle on the bosom Of His
~. / e ,,l~o ~
wheel? Is this the Christ who is able
to heal heartbreak or hush tempest,
or drown world, or food immensely with
His glory? Behold Him in prayer. the
rlobules of blood bv sorrow pressed
through the skin of His forehead! What
an installment in part payment Of the
greatest price that was ever paid!
Further / remark, the last great install.
ment paid for our redemption was the de.
dark days. Many summers ago there
was verv dark day when the sun was
ecliDsed. The fowl at MONDAY went to
their perch. and we felt gloom as we
looked at the Astronomical wonder. 1t
was a dark dav in London when the
plague was at its height aud the dead
with uncovered faces were taken in open
cars and dumped in the trenches. 1t was
dark dav when the earth opened and
LlSDOH SdUh, DuU lIe pdl heSI OuJ
the creation of the world was when the
carnage of Calvary was enacted.
1t was about noon when the curtain be-
gan to be drawn. 1t was not the coming
on OF night that soothes and refreshes;;
it was the swinging of great gloom all
around the heavens. God hung it. As
when there is dead one in the house you
how the shutters, or turn the lattice, so
God in the afternoon shut the windows
kn 70
throw a. black pail upon the coffin as it
everything should be sombre that day
as the great hearse of the earth rolled
on bearing the corpse of the King. A
mans last hours are ordinarily kept
sacred. However you may have hated or
caricatured man, when YOU hear ne is
dying silence puts its hand on your lips,
and you would have a loathing for the
man who could stand by deathbed max.
ing faces and scoffing. But Christ in His
last hour cannot be left alone. What!
Pursuing Him yet after so long pursuit?
You have been drinking His tears. Do
you want to drink His blood? They come
up closely. 50 that Notwithstanding the
darkness they can glut their revenge
with. the contortions of His countenance.
Women stand there and weep, but can
do no good. 1t is no place for the. ten.
der-hearted women. IT wants a heart
that crime has turned into granite. The
waves Of mans hatred and Of hells ven
geance dash up against the mangled feet,
and the hands of sin and pain and torture
Clutch for His holy heart. Had He not
been thoroughly fastened to the, cross
pied Him with both feet. How the cav:
airy horses arched their necks and
champed their bits and reared and
snuffed at the blood! Had a Roman
officer called out for a light his voice
would not have been heard in the tumuit.
but louder than the clash OF spears, and
the wailing of womanhood. and the neigh.
ing through loud, clear, overwhelming,
Son of God! Look! What scene! Look,
world. at what you, have done!
I lift the covering from the maltreated
Christ to Jet you count the wounds and
estimate the, cost. Oh, when the, the nails s
through Christ's left hand. that bought
both your hands with all their power to
work and lift and write. When the nails
went through Christ's right foot and
Christ's left foot, that bought your feet,
with all their power to walk or run or
climb. When the thorn went into
Lhrist's temple, that bought your brain,
with all its power to think and plan.
When the spear cleft Christ's side, that
bought yonr heart, with all its power
to love and repent and pray.
When the Atlantic cable was lost in
1885, dc you remember that the, Great
Eastern and the Midway and the Al
bany vent out to find it? Thirty times
they sank the grapnel two and half
miles deep in water. After awhile they
found the cable and brought it to the
eurrace No sooner had If heen brought