Milford chronicle., 1905-10-27
Calr1aqe
sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talnlase, D. D.


sermon the preacher presses home til
great question of the ages ana mark
the distinction between real and nom
nal Christians. The text is Matthe1
xvii, %, what shall do then wit
Jesus who is called Christ?'
The small unpretendous house
which Abraham Lincoln died is for thr
tourist one Of the most interesting
places in all Washington. The same
fascination which draws the sightseei
to the tomb of Mount Vernon hovers
about Che 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
We're preached By some 5000 different
ministers in the United States on the
Sunday after Lincoln was shot. But if
could take you today into a room and
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
ell on the canvas Probably no artist
has succeeded in catching the spirit of
the scenes so completely as the Hung0-
rian painter Munkacsy. His two pic
tures, 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
she 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 |
slep. 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 conlemnatory
glances; there We're the strange looks
Of others in a quaudaTy, as much as
80 say, "What manner of man is this?"
There is Christ, OH, so silent and still!
You can hear the sneering voices of
the multitudes all about him, vet the
defendant himself is saying nothing.
And above all others is the great cen
tral figure Of that picture, PLATE him
self. 1t is not here a picture of PLATE
before the Judgment seat Of Christ"
but of Christ before PLATE What is
he to do with this Christ? Here are
Christ's enemies demanding his execu-
tion. Here are justice and right plead
Ing for Christs vindication. When the
people commenced to cry, "Barabbas,
Barabbas, Barabbas ~ give us Barab-
Oas." PLATE turned to them and said
what shall l do then with Jesus who
is called the ChristY He had to do
with him. He had to either
let him go or to cruelty him. What
PLATE had to do you and 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 intellectualt
fact? Are you going to shut your eyes .
10 his very existence? Are you going
10 act as if there never was such a
person as Jesus-that there never
1-os a I.oinss r,-hr .o,,,c int, fI,fs r,~owTd /
his miracles and by these l
miracles proving that he was the Son J
# God? Are you going to declare {
here never was a miraculous cOncep-
ion, that there never was any Easter
and that there never was
my ascension from Mount Olivet2 All
hese questions are continually fac
ng rs and demanding an answer, the
anne as the guilt or the innocence Of
defendant is before the jury trying |
ase or as the guilt or innocence of
ondemned murderer is before the gov d
rn0r or pardoning board
IN spite Of ourselves the facts Of
'hrist's life are before us, and we {
lust accept or reject the evidence. We !
tart with his birth. Intelligent men
nd women as we are, we cannot shut
ur eyes to the historical facts sur K
the nativity of Bethlehem if 1
7e would The facts may not have g
cen known to PLATE, but in all their s
Impressive significance they confront a
S. When a young officer at an Indian e
less table was ridiculing the idea Of q
le divine birth Of Christ, Sir Arthur f
Wellesley, who afterward became Ma Il
blooms conqueror, turned to him and u
lid: Young man, have you ever read g
+. Paley's Evidences of Christianity Z
o? Then you had better read it before
,u parade such evidence of ignorance e
reference to Chrlst's birth as you are y
ling now" These facts Of Chrlsts j
rth We're accessible to PLATE. There l.
ere living in Pilates time the people {
lo had talked to the wise men from t'
e east. There were sages at that time II
We who had told Herod that Christ g
IS to be born in Bethlehem Of Jndaea. v
i.