The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-06-01
CHRIST'S MENTAL SUFFERING
MORE THAN PHYSICAL.
The Reverend Earl HewsOn Points Out
Reasons for the Lord Being
Called "Wonderful."

The Reverend Earl Hewson preached yes,
! terday morning at the Congregational
Church of the Redeemer on the text his
Name Shall Be Called Wonderful" He said.
in part:
| First of all. and above all. Christ is a
wonderful Savior. He turns men from sin
the lowest depths of depravity and makes
them sanity in character and pure In life.
! He gives pardon 10 the guilty. hope to the
the sick and spiritual life to the dead. He
has put his spirit into men who were mali
cious. sinful and selfish and has trans
formed them into his own likeness. He is
taking men who are rude and vile and IS
transforming them into sanity. reti:ed and
courageous characters. men of sublime faith
and self-sacrificing love.
Christ has placed before sinners posi-
hilites that the angels might covet. Angels
know nothing of Christs power TO save.
but sinners may. Angels know nothing of
redeaming grace-Christ died to redeem men.
not angels. When redeemed humanity stands
before the throne, angels must remain ST.
lent while we sing t:,at grand anthem,
Amazing grace. how sweet the sound. that
saves n wretch like me.
Christ was wonderful in his death No
man ever faced death as Christ faced 1t.
To fallen man death Is not by anv means
fully death, for he is born with taste of 1t
in his soul Not so with Christ It was the
Lord of Life dying. II vas he who had no
experience of 1t. tasting dsath. emEtyfng the
cup to its bitter dregs. 1t was the Prince
of Life undergoing death by man and for
man.
NO one but Christ could know what
death was No one could taste its bitter
ness as he. He dsarmed death by burying
its shaft in his own heart
Notwithstanding the realistic colorinG
in which Christ's physical sufferings have
been 50 often presented from the pulpit it
must he said that they are scarcely worth
considering alone, since he gave no empha-
sis to them himself. and since the savage
Indian has been known to pass through
suffering equally as great without for a mo-
ment quailing. The cruel thorns pressed
upon his bleeding temples. the strokes of
the reed in his face. the nails driven into
his hands and feet, all these were mere in
cidents that scarcely attracted the attcn-
ton of our dying Lord, except as they re-
vealed more clearly to him the great cause
of his real sufferings.
His real sufferings We're not physical;
they were in the depths of his spiritual ma
ture. Jesus was SO sympathetic. so sensi-
could not come in contact with suffering.
SHINING humanity without suffering with
them. Every aching heart that came near
him caused his own heart to bleed; every
hurdened soul that touched him at once
transferred its burden to his loving SYM
pathetic heart. 1t is one of the laws of
animate life that the more highly organ
lied and refined life becomes the greater
the capacity for suffering.
The coarse-natured man may look upon
all sorts of human suffering. yet himself
suffer little. But the gentle-natured, re-
fined, ChriStianiZed man by his side suf-
fers exceeding pain. This was so, to an In
ttniteiy larger degree, with Jesus the per-
Jared upon his sensitive soul and gave him
pain. When he dies upon the cross the br,I-
tai mob that put him to death express their
surprise that he is 50 soon dead, but are
wholly unable to appreciate the significant
fact that it is broken heart that ends the
shocking tragedy