The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1901-04-27

Jonathan Edwards preached Christ
| in the severest argument ever penned,
and John Bunyan preached Christ in
the sublimest allegory ever composed.
! Edward Payson, sick and exhausted,
leaned up against the side of the pull
pit and wept out his discourse, while
George Whitefeld, with the manner
and the voice and the start of an ac'
tor, overwhelmed his auditory. II
would have been a different thing II
Jonathan Edwards had tried to write
and dream about the pilgrims prog
ress to the celestial city or John Bun
van had attempted an essay on the
human will.
Brighter than the light, fresher
than the fountains, deeper than the
seas. are these Gospel themes. Song
has no melody, flowers have no sweet
ness, sunset sky has no color, com
pared with these glorious themes
These harvests of grace spring up
quicker than we can sickle them
Kindling pulpits with their fire and
producing revolutions with their
power, lighting up dying beds with
their glory, they are the sweetest
thought for the poet, and they are
the most thrilling illustration for the
orator, and they offer the most in
tense scene for the artist, and they
are to the ambassador of the sky all
enthusiasm. Complete pardon for the
direst guilt. Sweetest comfort for
ghastliest agony. Brightest hope for
grimmest death Grandest resurrec-
ton for darkest sepulcher. Oh, what
Gospel to preach! Christ over all
in it. His birth, His suffering, His
miracles, His parallels. His sweat, His
| tears, His blood, His atonement, His
intcrcession-what glorious themes!
Do we exercise faith. Christ is its
object. Do we have love? 1t fastens
on Jesus. Have we n fondness for
the church? 1t is because Christ died
for it. Have we hope of Heaven?
IL is because Jesus went ahead, the
herald and the forerunner.
The royal robe of Demetrius was
so costly, so beautiful, that after he
had put it off no one ever dared put
it on, but this robe of Christ, richer
than that, the poorest and the wan
nest and the worst may wear
"Oh, my sins, my SINS" said Mar
tin Luther to StaupitZ, "my sins, my
sins!" The fact is that the brawny
German student had found Latin
Bible that had made him quake, ano
nothing else ever did make hin
quake, and when he found how
through Christ he was pardoned ano
saved he wrote to friend saying;
"Come over and join us, great ant
awful sinners saved by the grace o
God. You seem to be only a slender
sinner, and you don't much extol the
mercy of God, but we who have beer
such very awful sinners praise Hi
grace the more now that we have
been redeemed" Can it be that you
are so desperately egotistical tina
you feel yourself in first-rate spir
itual trim and that from the root o
the hair to the tip of the toe you arr
| scarlcss aud irnnao,,i".~o Nt-%-y--
need is looking glass, and here !
is in the Bible. Poor and wretche,
and miserable and blind and Make
from the crown of the head to tn
sole of the foot, full of wounds an
putrefying sores. No health in u:
And then take the fact that Chris
gathered up all the notes against u
, and paid them and then offered II
the receipt.
And how much we need Him in on
sorrows! We are independent of Gil
cumstances If we have His grace
. Why, He made Paul sing in the dun
: geon. and under that grace st. job
from desolate Patmos heard the bias
: of the apocalyptic trumpets. Afte
all other candles have been snuffe
out this is the light that gets brigh,
!. er and brighter unto the perfect day
and after under the hard hoofs O
calamity all the pools of worldly en-
y joyment have been trampled int
I deep mire at the foot of the eterna
rock the Christian, from cups @
4 granite. lily trimmed and vine covered
h puts out the thirst of his soul
. thousand feet underground, b
I light of torch toiling in miner
n shaft, ledge of rock may fall upo
a us, and we may die miners deatl
Il Far out at sea, falling from the sill
? perry ratlines and broken on the ha
n yards, we may die sailors dealt
I On mission of mercy in hospital ami
G broken bones and reeking leprosie
4 and raging fevers we may die n phi
d lanthropist's death. On the field {
G battle, serving our God and our cour
}. try, slugs through the heart, the GU
n carriage may roll over us, and W
|, may die patriots death. But afte
r all there are only two styles of d,
l. parture, the death of the righteou
II and of the wicked, and we all want {
v die the former.
d God grant that when that hou
a comes you may be at home! Yo
e want the hand of your kindred |
?. your hand. You want your childre
r to surround you. You want the ligf
J. on your pillow from eyes that ha,
IS long reflected your .love. You war
e the room still. You do not want an
IS curious strangers standing aroun
II watching you. You want your xii
o dred from afar to hear your Ia,
It prayer. i think that is the wish {
all of us. But is that all? Can eartl
e ly friends hold us when the billow