St. Tammany farmer., 1901-05-04

sympathizer. The world cannot lie
about you nor abuse you as much a.
they did Christ, and Jesus stands to-
day in every courtroom, in every
house, in every store, and says: "Cour.
age! BY all my hours of maltreatment
and abuse will pr otect those who are
trampled upon" And when Christ for
gets that two o'clock morning scene
and the stroke Of the ruffian ON the
mouth and the bowling of the un-
washed crowd then He will forget you
and me in the injustices Of life that
may be inflicted upon NJ.
Further I remark: The last great
installment paid for our redemption
was the demise of Christ. The world
has seen many dark days. Many sum.
mers ago there was a very dark day
when the sun was eclipsed. The fowl
at MONDAY went to their perch. and
we felt q gloom rs we looked at the
astronomical wonder. It was dark
day in London when the plague was
at its height, and the dead with uncov-
cred faces were taken in open carts
and dumped in the trenches. 1t was
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.
It. was about noon when the curtain
began to be drawn. 1t was the swing
ing OF. q great gloom all around the
heavens. God hung it. As when there
is dead one in the house you bow
the shutters or turn the lattice. so
God in the afternoon shut the windows
of the world. AS it is appropriate to
throw q black pail upon the coffin AZ
it passes along, SO it was appropriate
that everything should be somber that
day as the great hearse of the earth
rolled on, bearing the corpse of the
narily kept sacred. However you may
have hated or caricatureda man, when
you hear he is dying silence puts its
hands ON your lips, and you would
have q loathing for the man who could
stend by a deathbed making 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, SO that Notwithstanding the
darkness they can glut their revenge
with the contortions Of His counte-
nance. 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 garments.
Women stand there and weep, but can
do no good. 1t is no place for the ten
der-hearted women. 1t wants heart
that crime has turned into granite.
The waves of mans hatred and of hell's
vengeance dash up against the man
gled 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
tASAA WIS anu ANdAO0 uhA SIAACA -
the blood! Had Roman officer called
out for a light, his voice would not
have been heard in the tumult. but
louder than the crash of spears. and
the wailing of womanhood, and the
neighing of the chargers, and the bel
lowing of the crucifiers, there comes
voice crashing through-loud, clear,
overwhelming. terrific. 1t is the groan-
ing of the dying Son of God, Look,
what scene! Look, world, at what
you have done!
I lift the covering from the mall
treated Christ to let you count the
wounds and estimate the cost. Oh.
when the nails went through Christ's
right hand that bought 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 in
to Christ's temple, that bought your
brain, with all its power to think and
plan. When the spear 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 2H miles deep
in water. After awhile they found the
cable and brought it to the surface.
No sooner had it been brought to the
surface than they lifted a shout of ex-
ultation, 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 excite
ment they took one end of the cable
to the electricians room to see if there
were really any life in It, and when
they saw a spark and knew that mes
sage could be sent then every hat was
lifted, and the rockets flew and the
guns sounded, until all the vessels on
the expedition knew, and the conti-
nents were lashed together. Well, my
friends, Sabbath after Sabbath Gospel
messengers have come searching down
for your souls. We have swept the sea
with the graphing hook Of Christ's
Gospel. Again and again we have
thought that you were at the surface.
and we began to rejoice over your re-
demption, but at the moment of our
gladness you sank back again into the
world and back again into sin. To-day
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, il now we could see only one spark
of love and hope and faith we would
send up . shout that would be heard
on the battlements Of Heaven, and two
worlds would keep jubilee because
communication is open between Christ