Connecticut western news., 1901-04-04

all n1y Gc.:-s Vi Inairreatment ana
abuse | will protect those who are
trampled upon" And when Christ for
gets that o'clock morning scene, and
the stroke of the rutiian on the mouth,
and the bowling Of the unwashed
crowd, then he will forget you and me
in the injustices of life that may be in
fiieted upon us.
Further / remark, the last great in
stallment paid for our redemption was
the demise of Christ. The world has
seen many dark days. Many summers
ago there was very dark day when
the sun was eclipsed. The fowl at
monday went to their perch, and we
felt a gloom as we looked at the as
Economical wonder. 1t was dark day
In London when the plague was at its
height and the dead with uncovered
faces were taken in open carts and
dumped in the trenches. 1t was a dark
day when the earth opened and Lisbon
sank, but the darkest day since the
creation of the world was when the
carnage of Calvary was enacted.
On CaIvary's Cross.
1t was about noon when the curtain
began to be drawn. 1t was not the
coming on of a night that soothes and
refreshes; it was the swinging of a
great gloom all around the heavens.
God hung it. AS when there is a dead
one in the house you bow the shutters
or turn the lattice so God in the after
noon shut the windows of the world.
AS it is appropriate to throw black
pail upon the coffin as 1t passes along,
so 1T was appropriate that everything
should be somber 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. How
ever you may have hated or carica-
tured a man, when you hear he Is dy-
ing silence puts its hand on your lips,
and you would have loathing for the
man who could stand by a deathbed
making faces and soothing. But Christ
in his last hour cannot be left alone.
What! Pursuing him yet after so long
n pursuit? You have been drinking
his tears. Do you want to drink his
blood? They come up closely, so that
Notwithstanding the darkness they can
glut their revenge with the contortions
of his countenance. They examine his
feet; they want to feel for themselves
whether those feet are really spiked;
they put out their hands and touch the
spikes and bring them back wet with
blood and wipe them ON their gar
ments.
Women stand there and weep, but
can do no good. 1t is no place for the
tender hearted women. 1t wants a
heart that crime has turned into gran
lite. The waves of mans hatred and of
hell's vengeance 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 they would have
torn him down and trampled him with
both feet. How the cavalry horses
arched their necks and champed their
bits and reared and snuffed at the
bloodi Had a Roman officer called out
for a light his voice would not have
been heard in the tumult, but louder
than the clash of spears, and the wall
ing Of womanhood, and the neighing of
the chargers, and the believing of the
crucifiers there comes a voice crashing
through-loud, clear, overwhelming,
terrific. 1t is the groaning of the dying
son of God! Lookl What a scene!
Look, world. at what you have done!
/ lift the covering from the maltreat-
ed Christ to let you count the wounds
and estimate the cost. Oh, when the
nails went through Christ's right hand
and 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 Christ's temple, that
bought your brain, with all it's power
cleft Christ's side, that bought your
heart, with all its power to love and
repent and pray.
When the Atlantic cable was lost in
1865, do you remember that the Great
Eastern and the Midway and the Al
bany went out to find it? Thirty times
they sank the grapnel two and a half
miles deep in water. After awhile they
found the cable and brought 1t to the
surface. No sooner had it been brought
to the surface than they lifted a shout
of exultation, but the cable slipped
back again into the water and was
lost. Then for two weeks more they
swept the sea with the graphing hooks,
and at last they found the cable, and
they brought it up in silence. They
fastened it this time. Then with great
excitement they took one end of the
cable to the electricians room to see
If there were really any life In 1t, and,
when they saw spark and knew that
a message could be sent, then every hat
was lifted, and the rockets few, and
the guns sounded until all the vessels
on the expedition knew, and the con-
tinents were dashed together. Well,
my friends, Sabbath after Sabbath Cos
pei messengers have come searching
down for your souls. We have swept
the sea with the graphing hook of
Christs gospel. Again and again we
have thought that you were at the sur
face, and we began to rejoice over your
| redemption, but at the moment of our
gladness you sank back again into the
| world and back again into sin. Today
we come with the gospel searching for
your soul. We apply the cross Of
| Christ first to see whether there is any
| life left in you, while all around the
people stand, looking to see whether
| the work will be done, and the angels
| of God bend down and witness, and,
| oh, If now we could see only one spark
of love and hope and faith we would
| send up a shout that would be heard
| on the battlements of heaven, and two
worlds would keep jubilee because
communication is open between Christ
and the soul and your nature that has
been sunken in sin has been lifted into
| the light and the joy of the gospel.
copyright, 1901, by Louis Klopsch, n. VI
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