Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1902-07-18
1t seemed 20 charge me with his death
Though ne,er q word he smoke

Though neer word he spoke
John Newton said that when he first
saw Christ hanging there upon the
cross he himself was wallowing in the
lowest depths of sin. John Bunyan
the dreamer was John Bunyan the
blasphemer. John Summerfield the
saint, about whom we have already
spoken, was John Summerfeld the de-
PRAYED. Saul the chief of sinners be-
came Paul the martyred saint Oh,
my brother, if the grace Of God could
come into such sinful lives and recreate
and sustain them, surely the grace OF
God is sufficient to recreate and sus-
tain US, no matter how black may have
been our dissolute past.
And l bring to you who have an evil
past this message from the saints in
Caesars palace, because the man who
has publicly sinned, the man who has
been lOathsomely vile is the man who
has an especial mission TO save souls
for Jesus Christi You know as no one
else knows how awful is the power Of
temptation. You know as no one else
knows how difficult it is for one who
has been a social outcast to try to live
again among respectable social sur
roundings. You can speak as Mary
Magdalene could speak. You can plead
as st. Della could plead who was once
the noted Blue Bird, the fiend of the
New York slums. Although st. Della
had such an evil past, yet her life, I'M
der the power of the Holy Ghost, be-
came so pure and sweet and inhuen-
tial that the rich and the poor, the pure
and the depraved alike, the old as well
as the young, sobbed over her casket
You can speak from the heart. as John
B. Cough spoke to the drunkarls. be
cause you yourself have seen the plan
toms of delirium tremens moving them
selves Alright in the cup until ut last
they would bite like a serpent and sting
like an adder. Struggling Christians,
you who have had an evil past. you
can plead for Christ in the highways
and the hedges Of sin as the saints
who had an evil past could speak in
Caesars palace Those saints today
are now placing their hands of holy or.
dinntion upon YOUR head that you may
go forth and save your sinful fellow
men.
announcement Tor the Unfortunate.
would also encourage today those
Christians who are compelled by force
of circumstances to live and work with
evil associates. Perhaps the young
man who is standing behind the same
counter with you in the store is an in
fidel; perhaps some of your classmates
at school or in college are out and out
scoffers against the word of God; per-
haps your own father and brothers are
unbelievers and every day your faith
in Jesus Christ is made an object of
ridicule; perhaps, what is the worst of
all, you find that you are married to
man who never neglects an Opportu-
nifty to ridicule your Bible. You have
found out also that your husband is
| having a perniciOus and spiritually de-
| strOying influence over your children.
What are you going to do-leave these
| evil associates? Sometimes such a
course is possible; sometimes it is not
1t evidently was not possible for the
ancient saints to have left CGsar's pal.
ace. else they would have done so. 1t
! is most natural to suppose that those
| saints would have instantly fed from
the Roman capital during the time of
NerO's persecution if they could have
| run away with honor and self respect.
But in all probability most of those
saints said to themselves something
| like this: "NO; ! cannot, | will not, 90!
1t would be cowardly for me to desert
my Lord and Master. | will stay here
and keep on testifying for Christ. if
need be, until my body is burned ut
the stake or eaten by the wild beasts
in one Of the arenas. And stay IN
Rome these saints did, and die a mar.
| tyr's death most of them also did. Sc
it may be your Christian duty to keeI
on living for Christ and testifying Of
his love in a place of persecution anC
among companions who make Christ
an object of daily ridicule, as did the
prosecuted young Roman officer who's,
epitaph can still be read in one of tho
Roman cemeteries in these words: III,
lived long enough to shed his blood FOL
Christ"
Now, want you, my Christian
friends, you who are experiencing
these daily prosecutions, to fully real
ize that not one drop of blood which
fell from the Christian martyrs o.
Caesars ancient palace was ever sheC
in vain. From those prosecutions tn,
great influence of the church of Jesu
Christ was started. From those per
secutions were lighted the gospe
torches which are today shedding
their glorious rays all round the world
From those prosecutions came not s.
much Pauls death and the death o
the saints in CAESARS palace as tn
eternal life of millions upon million
of immortal souls. So if you, o pei
secuted Christian, only keep true t
the gospel faith in the difficult place
where you are stationed you may nc
> only win your father and mother an
! husband and children for God, but 70
may win thousands upon thousands G
immortal souls for Christ - being
whose names you have never rea
. and whose glowing faces perhaps 70
shall never see until you look upo
them among the redeemed before til
great white throne
i Familiar Faces In Csesar's Palace
= So, l repeat, this glorious text brins
!. the salutations of the saints in Caesar
palace to the rich and the poor. Il
= high and the low, the old and IL
= young alike. 1t brings its salutatio:
to the rich and the great men. The
:, were many great men and women
Caesars household who were withor
doubt members of the household
!. faith. NerO's household, intellectual
= and financially, was the noted court
= its day. And some of the saints
! Caesars palace must have been nuI
:, bered among the princes and pr
cesses Of the realm and among Il
;, great commanders of the Roman
= gion, the cabinet officials and the mel
bers of the privy council SO we fiji
today, among the great and the (
nous Of the earth. there have be
saints in Caesars palace. Witness w
- liam Mckinley. shot down by an
10 sassin's bullet. calmly turning his ia
80 toward his invalid wife. saying, "Got
- will, not ours, be done" Witne
- StOnewal jackson, leaving his arr
- hat outside Of his tent as a sign that
- did not wish to be interrupted becau
he was then on his knees to God
prayer. Witness Neal Dow and Ere
- erick Robertson and William e. Ola
y stone and Thomas Chalmers and 10