The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1902-07-11
To Whom o. Lord.

people. The love that drew Him down
from Heaven was maniteStedin His kind
ly lock, in His noble carriage and calm
dignity; it lent itself to the earnestness OF
His appeals, andfound itscl'in the honey
ed-wisdom of His speech for never man
spake as He. And-at the first hearing
marked Him. in the peoples eyes, as more
than legislator. more than 4 Rabbi,
more than prophet more than religi-
GUS enthusiast, a tanatic1l reiorm"r or an
incendiary political upstart. His words
reached ears that heard approvin@lv: His
wonders were seen by all land His fame
went throughout all Syria, and they pre-
scnted to Him all sick people that were
taken with divers diseases and tormcnts
and such as were possessed by devils and
lunatics, and those that had the palsy,
and he cured them. And much people
followed Him from Galilee, and Decapolis.
and from jerusalem and from Julea and
from beyond the Jordan"
Christ was, to all seeming, a popular
and public teacher. His audience seems
always a crowded one-and vet all these
crowds will soon disperse, and He will
not send some of them away, fasting lest
they faint on the way; and il they return
again to hear Him, it will be as seeking
| Him because they have eaten and have
|
us most fruitful of conversion-of giving
hunger and a thirst for the bread, that
is heavenly and that endurcth to eternal
lite-when He addresses Himself not to
the multitudes but to the few and to the
single soul. Witness His talks and re-
monstranc s to His chosen Twelve to the
paralytic, the Samaritan woman, Peter,
| Mary Magdalen. He was come to save
the whole world-yet all would not bt
| Savcd-tO cast fire on the earth, TCt it !
would not be enkindled III every heart, |
! to enlighten all mankind, and vet some |
still sit i'll darkness and in the shadow of
death-and He aimed not at conversion !
ell masse; it is Il work between Him and !
the individual, between the spirit of |
truth and justice and the soul of every |
man-an intimate personal operation be |
tween God and man.
The old order was to change giving |
place to the new. Not in the outward |
ObservanccS of the Law, given by Moses,
which none in Christ's time kept Uu!n
vii, 19) was the disciplcshp of Christ to
consist. Rather it was made up of pray
ing in secret, and giving i'll secret, and i'll
the worshipping in spirit and i'll truth,
having conversational heaven, observing
Ill things commanded, dead I o the world,
.Ilive to grace and to the spirit sprompt-
ings, expecting, daily, deliverance from
the body of corruption and to be clothed
with Immortality, and all the while work
ing out salvation with fear and trembling
In John vi-61, is recorded how finally
many who had beenlisteners of the word,
revolt and go away murmuring against
not all this doctrines, but only one-HiS
saying was hard, and who could hear it.
All those other discourscs are now of no
avail. The miracles He performed now
count for naught-and Jesus asks the
Twelve will you also go away ;" VIII
you whom have called my friends re-
main, to hear what is hard to hear, to
live lives that lay additional yokes and
burdens upon you, to take up my works,
where | shall leave it off, to preach my
doctrine, which lis not mine, but His that
sent me? If you remain you will be i'll
the world as sheep in the midst ofwolves.
You will be accused and scourged in the
synagogues, brought before governors
md kings for my sake" "Will you also
20 away" To answer, this meant that
they had come nearer to Him, than those
who had only heard and seen; that they
had even now weighed all things in the
balance of the promised, yet unseen, ever
lasting reward, that to them His yoke
was sweet, and His burden light, and
they answered through their spokesman,
Lord to whom shall we go?'
Once they had thought they gave up
much to follow Him, but His presence
was so sweet to them, and with Him and
His doctrine they had found peace. They
decide that life without Him now is empti-
ness. Heis their all. His views, doctrines,
applications have been ingrafted into
their souls The cement of mutual friend
ship binds them more than they know
whv !? He had raised them from humble
avocations. He had made them what
they were. He was food for their souls,
and light for their eyes. To leave Him
now meant cowardice, meant to leave
the eternal for the temporal, the certain
happiness for the deceittul, the promise of
peace eternal for that whichis shadow.
And they followed Him, all save one,
and he was traitor And SO they fol-
low Him in fervour and in zeal, and
again in doubt and fear. Sometimes
with drowsy spirits. and then again with
iiery enkindled souls of love and activity.
And towards the end, cons, antlv and
steadfastly, through labor, through suf-
terings, through endurance, through
death.
There is a percentage of the world to-
dav, built upon the foundation of the
Apostles and Prophets. Jesus Christ Him.
self being the chief corncr-stone'-and
that not a large percentage either-which
processes to have the same love for the
Master, since dead, but risen again and
in our midst and this time invisible, as
the chosen Twelve had when in the flesh.
And by that profession of Faith, and Love
and Hope in Him, through Whom we all
have redemption, the Christian world
promises unto Him lives of faithtulneSs
and Justice and sinlessness. He is still
the Master-and there is no one else to
whom we can go-"Thou hast the words
Of eternal life" He is the teacher of the
world, the custodian of morals, the cor
ner-stone ofjustice. the judge of personal
Sanctity, the guardian of society.
His saving are hard. Yet we profess
Him even amidst crosses and sutferings.
To possess Him-the pearl of great price
we do we'll to sell, forget and give up
all else. And by our union to Him by
faith we sometimes feel as if we were too
generous-perhaps because we do not dis
tinctly realize that if He expects great
things from US, great things should be
given. Perhaps we do His will grudging-
", are slow to docility and faithfulneSs.
Perhaps we rebel, when the following
after Him, works us hardships that fcl-
lowship with Him on earth means the
presence of affections and dcprivationS. |
His yoke seems hard and His burden |
heavy as often as we lose sight of our |
destiny, that through much tribulation
we must enter into the Kingdom OF God"
1t seems unnatural, when it reminds us
that the present time is flecting and tran |
STORY, and all the worlds pleasures are
vanities. The Christian is a warrior, |
against the world that is founded on |
iniquity, against hcevil one, and against |
the lower impulses of his nature. Hehas |
had all these crucifed in Christ and mo |
man that warreth entangleth himself
with the affairs of this life, that lie may
please Him, who hath chosen him To he a
soldier. Ifa man also strive tor masterics,
vet is he not crowned except he strive
lawfully. $50. day by day, must we die
to the world. retain fewer ties on earth
so that we will have larger treasure III
heaven. And so the Master tells us, that
our justice must abound and not SO as to
he seen by men, except for good examples
sake; that of ourselves and of the worlds
goods we must not have too much solicit
tude; that our labor, and worry, and
prospects and ambitions are of no avail.
unless they point to and lead to, and are
stepping stones to higher thngs-to the
reward exceedingly great, the crown i'm
pcrishable that comes not now, but i'll
Judgment, when we put off this body
of death" and "are clothed with immor-
= tality"