Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-10-28
Caln1a9e
Sermon
By Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaee. ID. ID.

the distinction between real anu nonnl-
nal Christians. The text Is Matthew
xvii. %, "What shall l do then with
Jesus who is called Christi
The small, unpretentlous house In
which Abraham Lincoln died Is for the
tourist one Of the most interesting
places in all Washington. The same
fascination which draws the slghtseer
TO the tomb Of Mount Vernon hovers
about the little room in which the first
MARTYR president of the United States
breathed his last. There are many
Lincoln memorials gathered within the
modest house just across the street
from Ford's theater. One of the most
interesting Is a pile Of papers which
contain the Lincoln sermons" which
were preached by some 5000 different
ministers In the United States on the
Sunday after Lincoln was shot. But II
l could take you today into a room ana
show you all the sermons preached up
on the death of Abraham Lincoln
could say with truth they are as moth
ing in number compared to the SER
mons which have been preached upon
the trial and death Of Jesus Christ.
That event has inspired not only
preachers. but artists. Time and again
have those pathetic events been depict
ed on the canvas. Probably no artist
has succeeded In catching the spirit OF
the scenes so completely as the Hunga-
rian painter Munkacsy. His two pic
lures Christ Before PLATE" and
Christ on Calvary" have made the
whole civilized world bow in awe be-
fore the sufferings and the death OF our
Master and King.
Most of our older people have seen
the original painting called Christ Be-
fore PLATE" 1t was carried from city
to city in the United States and placed
on exhibition. You recOllect how the
people entered the room with silent
step. You remember how for hours
some OF US studied those wonderful
| typical faces. There were the long
boards and the prominent Hebrew fea-
tures: there were the Pharisees, with
their supercilious and condemnatory
Rlances: there were the strange looks
of others in a quandary, as much as
10 say, "What manner Of man Is thisT
There is Christ, oh, so silent and still!
You can hear the sneering voices or
the multitudes all about him, yet the
defendant himself Is saying nothing.
And above all others Is the great CEN
trail figure of that picture, PLATE him
self. 1t Is not here picture OF Plate
before the Judgment seat Of Christ"
but Of Christ before PLATE. What Il
he to do with this Christ? Here are
| Christ's enemies demanding his execu-
ton. Here are justice and right plead
! ing for Christ's vindication. When the
people commenced to cry, "Barabbas,
Barabbas, Barabbas - give US BaraD-
basv PLATE turned to them and said,
"What shall l do then with Jesus who
Is called the Christ" He had to do
something with him. He had to either
let him 90 orsto cruelty him. What
| PLATE had to do you and l must do.
What shall we do then with Jesus
who is called Christ?
What Shall We Do With Christi
What are you going to do with Jesus,
In the first place, as an intellectual
fact? Are you going to shut your eyes
to his very existence? Are you going
to act as if there never was such a
person as Jesus-that there never
was n being who came into this world
working his miracles and by these
miracles proving that he was the Son
of God? Are you going to declare
there never was a miraculous concep-
ton. that there never was any Easter
resurrection and that there never was
any ascension from Mount Olivet? All
these questions are continually fac
ing us and demanding an answer, the
same as the guilt or the innocence OF
q defendant is before the jury trying a
case or as the guilt or innoce- ee OF q
condemned murderer Is before the gov
ernor pardoning board.
In spit, If ourselves the facts OF
Chrlst's life ne before US, and we
must accept or reject the evidence. We
start with his birth. Intelligent men
and women as we are, we cannot shul
our eyes to the historical facts sur
, rounding the nativity Of Bethlehem II
we would. The facts may not have
been known to PLATE, but in all theil
impressive significance they confront
us. When a young officer at an Indian
mess table was ridiculing the idea OF
the divine birth Of Christ, Sir Arthur
Wellesley, who afterward became Ma
poleOn's conqueror, turned to him and
said: Young man, have you ever read
+ DR. Paley's Evidences of Christianity?
No? Then you had better read 1t before
you parade such evidence OF ignorance
In reference to Christ's birth as you are
doing now" These facts of Christs
birth were accessible to PLATE. There
were living In Pilates time the people
I who had talked to the wise men from
the east There were sages at that time
alive who had told HerOd that Chris
was to be born in Bethlehem Of Judaea
And there were men who were ready
to confess that this birth Of Christ haC
fulfilled all the predictions Of the proph
g ets. Evidences Of Christ's birth are
d within reach Of all. We must, like Pi
late. accept Chrlst's birth as the fulfill
ment Of prophecy, or, like PLATE, WI
must shut our eyes to the historical
facts.
9 Then the miracles. PLATE may have