The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1903-01-08

to Christ One day being asked by hev
companions to go to certain place. she
refused on the ground that it was Com
munion Sunday in the church. In amaze
ment her friends asked her, care you a
communicate" If the world does not
know it, if our friends do not know it, we
arr taking up stones with which to stone
Him.
HATRED.
IT. On the part of those who are not
His followers, with some it is absolute
hatred; certainly it was so with the Jews.
You read in the text that they took up
stones again. The first time we read Of
their stoning Christ is in the eighth chap
ter of John, and it is supposed that they
were near place where stones abonnded,
and it was very easy to pick them up
The. second time they were near Solo
mons porch; and it is a question if thera
were any stones there to be found So it
is thought that they carried them all the
way, perhaps only dropping them as they
listened to His speech. by which they
were so enraged that they stopped and
Are you casting these stones at Christ?
Remember that He said, "He that is not
with Me is against Me-"
INDIFFERENCE.
Ill. With many it is the stone Of indic-
ference. 1t was one of the first cast at
Him in the world. It began at, the man
ger, going to the cross and it is still
being thrown. With curling lips and in
solent contempt men said Us this not
the carpenters SOM" When He was on
the cross, they said in derision, He saved
others; now LET Him save Himself" 1t is
| now the ninth hour and darkness is settled
about the place. Listen! His lips are
moving: "Eloi! E,oi" Surely this will
move them; but some one says, He is
calling for Elias: let us see if he will come
to Him. This is all like the gathering Of
storm to me: first the cloud was the
size of a man't hand, that is, at Bethle-
hem; it is larger at Egypt; heavier at
| Nazareth; darker in Jerusalem; then lie
comes up to the Mount of Olives, and the
| cloud seems to break as He cries out,
"Oh! Jerusalem, Jerusalem!"
Have you been Indifferent to Christ
| Anything is better than that; better out
| spoken opposition to Him than to be theo-
retically believer and to be practically
:. fyi I'm, How can you be Indifferent
A man working on one of tfie fa1fSoads
in the State of Indiana discovered, one
morning, that the bridge had fallen, and
he remembered that the train was due. He
started down the track to meet her. saw
her coming, and, raising his hands, pointed
to the bridge, but on she came. having no
time to lose. He threw himself across the
track, and the engineer thinking him a
mailman, stopped the train. The man
| arose and told his story and saved the lives
of hundreds. Christ did this for you; He
purchased your redemption by the giving
of Himself whether you have accepted this
salvation or not. Will you stone Him for
that?
UNBELIEF.
~. When He said: II and NY Father
are one," they cast another stone at Him.
That was unbelief. Indifference was hard
lief was the browning sin of the Jews.
Many are hurting it at Him to-day. He
has promised to save us il we only believe,
and we need only to trust Him to be
saved. A little girl in Glasgow who had
just found peace was heard counseling one
of her playmates in this way: II say, las
sic. do as | did, grip promise and hold on
salvation in the chiid's words.
Now read the verse that Immediately
follows the text: "Many good works have
l showed you from My Father: for which
of those works do you stone Me?" It is
supposed that some of the Jews had actu-
ally struck Him with a stone, and this
drew forth from Him words tender
hatred of one who had heart of stone.
DO NOT STONE HIM.
|. Because of what He was, they called
Him the bright and morning star; the
fairest of all the children Of men; the
chiefest among ten thousand. Oh, that we
might have our eyes open to behold Him!
2. Fifty years ago there was war in
India with England. On one occasion sew
eral English officers were taken prisoners;
among. them was one man named Baird.
One of the Indian officers brought letters
f<,, I'll o,.,1 i l.,
wounded and was suffering from his weak
ness. A gray-haired officer said, you will
not put chains on that man, surely?" The
answer was, Il have just as many letters
as prisoners, and they must all be worn"
Then said the old hero, "Put two pairs Oh
me-" Baird lived to cain his freedom,
but. the other man went down to his death
the letters of all in the prison, and what
if voluntarily he had left palace to wear
chains, TO suffer the stripes and endure
the agony? That would be poor illustra-
ton of all that Christ has done for you
and for me. Will you stone Him for that?
3. Because of what He is to-day. In
1917 there was a great riot in London, in
insurrection reigned; guns in the tower
were laundering against the insurgents
and armed bands were assailing them on
every side. Three hundred were arrested,
tried and hanged; five hundred were cast
into prison. and were to be tried before
the king, Henry VIII. As he sat in state
on the throne the door opened and in they
came, every man with rope about his
neck. Before sentence could be passed on
them three queens. entered, Catherine of
Aragon, wife of the king; Margaret of
Scotland, sister of the king, and Mary of
France. They approached the throne, knelt
at the feet of His Majesty and there re-
manned pleading until the king forgave the
five hundred trembling men.
But there is better intercession than
that going on for you and for me at this
moment. Will you stone Him for that?
Looking out from the windows of heaven
the Son of God behe,d people heavily bur-
dened, bearing the weight of their sins,
cropping about in their blindness, crying,
Peace! peace!" and there was no peace.
And He said, IT will go down aud become
bone of their bone and flesh Of their fesh
| will open their eyes and bear their bur
dens, forgive their sins and give them
peace. Between man and the Fathers
house was great gulf, wider than the dis
lance from east to west, deeper than the
distance from north to south, but Christ's
coming bridged the gulf over. Across the
chasm He cast His cross, and on the other
side ! see Him standing, His arms out
spread, His attitude one of pleading. Lis
fen YOU will hear Him saving ss(tOme INTO