Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1901-04-04

ley, but ii you are divine you can fly.
Jump of. 1t won't hurt you. Angels
VIII catch you. Your Father will hold
you. Besides, III make you a la GO
present II you will. I'll give you Asia
Minor, Ill give you China, III give you
Ethiopia. I'll give you Italy, I'll give
you Spain, I'll give you Germany, LII
give you Britain, I'll give you all the
world" What temptation 1t must
have been!
20 tomorrow morning and get in an
alteration with some wretch crawling
up from gin cellar in the lowest part
OF your city. NO" you say, Il would
not bemean myself by getting into
such contest" Then think OF what
the king Of heaven and earth 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 bless God that in the tri-
umph over temptation Christ gives us
the assurance that we also shall trl-
umph. Having himself been tempted.
he Is able to succor all those who a:e
tempted.
The Agony ut Gsthsemane.
The third installment paid for our
redemption was the agonizing prayer
in Gethsemane. AS sat in that gar
den at the foot of an old gnarled and
twisted olive tree the historic scene
came upon me overwhelmingly. These
old olive trees are the lineal descend
ants OF those under which Christ stood
and wept and knelt Have the leaves
OF whole botanical generations told
the story OF our Lords agony to their
successors? Next to Calvary the SOL
emnest place in Palestine is Gethse-
name. While sitting there it seemed
as IL l could hear our Lords prayer,
laden with sobs and groans. Can this
be the Jesus who gathered fragrance
from the frankincense brought to his
cradle and from the lilies that flung
their sweetness into his sermons and
from the box of alabaster that broke
at his feet? Is this Jesus the comfort
er 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 morn
ing his breath. the thunder his voice,
the ocean a drop on the tip of his
finger, heaven a sparkle on the bosom
Of his love. the universe the dust of
his chariot wheel? Is this the Christ
who is able to heal heartbreak or
hush a tempest or drown a world of
flood immensely with his glory? Be-
hold him in prayer. the globules of
blood by sorrow pressed through the
skin OF his forehead! What an in
stallment in part payment of the great
est price that was ever paid
The sham Trial,
The fourth installment paid for our
redemption was the Saviour's sham
trial. | call it sham trial--there has
never been anything SO indecent or
unfair in any criminal court as was
witnessed at the trial of Christ. Why,
they hustled him into the court room
at 2 o'clock in the morning. They gave
him no time for counsel. They gave
him no opportunity for subpoenaing
witnesses. The ruffians who were wan
dering around through the midnight,
of course they saw the arrest and went
into the court room. But Jesus friends
were sober men. were respectable men,
and at that hour, o'clock in the morn
ing, of course they were at home asleep.
Consequently Christ entered the court
room with the rufiians.
Oh, look at him! No one to speak
word for him. lift the lantern
until / can look into his face, and as
my heart beats In sympathy for this,
the best friend the world ever had,
himself now utterly friendless, an off,
Ger of the court room comes up and
smites him in the mouth. and see the
blood stealing from gum and lip. Oh,
it was farce OF trial, lasting only
perhaps an hour. and then the judge
rises for sentence! Stop. 1t is against
the law to give sentence unless there
has been an adjournment Of the court
between condemnation and sentence.
but what cares the judge for the law?
THE man has no friends. Let him
die," says the judge. And the ruff
fans outside the rail cry: AHA. aha.
that's what we want! Pass him out
here to US! Away with him! Away
with him!"
The Divine sympsthirer.
Oh, / bless God that amid all the
injustice that may have been inflicted
upon us in this world we have a d.
vine sympathizer. The world cannot
lie about you nor abuse you as much
as they did Christ. and Jesus stands
to-day in every court room, in every
house. in every store, and says: "Cour-
age! BY all my hours OF maltreat-
ment and abuse will protect those who
are trampled upon" And when Christ
forgets that 2 o'clock morning scene
and the stroke OF the rufiian on the
mouth and the bowling of the unwash-
ed crowd. then he will forget you and
me in the injustices of life that may be
inflicted upon us.
Further. remark: The last great
was the demise of Christ. The world
has seen many dark days. Many sum-
mers ago there was very dark day
/ when the sun was eclipsed. The fowl
at MONDAY went to their perch. and
We felt gloom as we looked at the
astronomical wonder. 1t was a 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 en-
acted.
Drawing b Cur'>in.