The Goodland republic., 1906-12-28

W. Q. y. b. COLUlrN.
christ or Barabbas.

w. 4. T. ~. ODLLL-S-
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Christ or BaFabbas.
Extract from sermon BY Mrs. Har-
rison Lee OF Australia at Hartford-)
Text: Hebrews II 25-''ChOOsing
rather to endure af7ictiou with the
people OF God than to enjoy the com
forts Of sin for a season"
To every individual and to every na-
ton come days OF decision. days OF
choice. when we have to decide fer
ourselves whether we viii take the
right hand or the left And there is
always a difficulty In the way II we
viii allow il to be a difficulty, always
a lion in the path, always a Red Sea
with the billOws rolling in FROM Of n
US but when we come TO the lion we \
find him chained; when we dip down 4
into the Red Sea the billOws part and \
we 60 over on dry ground It is be- /
cause the people OF God have not rec
ognized and used the mighty power /
that is theirs that evil has ever gain /
ed such dominion in the world
When 1 was little girl away in the /
Australian Alps where We had no /
church. no Sunday school, no Band Of
Hope, no temperance meetings, God |
met with me there when I was nine
years old, and gave my heart TO
Him After that the Bible was my
constant companion, and many a urne
/ did close the book and picture that
! scene in Jerusalem two thousand
| years ago, and see that strange con-
| trast that has been presented to ev-
| cry Christian since There is the
| balcony, there is the governor stand
/ inc, looking down on the surging
| crowd. We hear him say, 4 have
| examined all the evidence against this
man, and find in him no fault at all.
| What will you that I do unto him ~
/ The whole question was submitted TO
4 the people The governor Is peaking
/ again. Here is Barabbas-" What is
his character? 1t is all summed up in
! that terse sentence, Now BarabDaS
was a robber." Everybody admitted
| that Barabbas was a rObber- They
/ all knew his character. You all know
| what the decision was The rObber
| was allowed to go on, to rob and muir
der and hurt and wound, while One
| who would have done good to every
| living creature was taken away 10
| Calvary, and your heart was broken
as YOU have thought OF 1t 1t has been
too dreadful to comprehend, and you
/ have said, "Oh, If I had only been
there!' That was in Palestine two
thousand years before we were Great
ed.
Did you think Christ was born only
once2 He is born again and yet again
in every great reform throughout the
| world He is Graded in the arms Of
the Door and the lOwly, and He grows
and grows to be the power that nils
the world. Born as the friend OF lit
tie children, he gathers the little ones
up from the mines, and out from the
factories and blesses them sheltering
them in his arms and giving them a
little bit Of child life. The Christ was
born in that great reform where the
women were raised to their present
position; the Christ was born again IN
our great temperance reform His
swaddling clothes were a band OF rib
bon blue, and no one recognized the
little Christ king. There was no room
for Him in the inn, and there never
vr-TH "a
| King Of Glory will have to stay out
side Of the public house, outside OF the
| saloon, outside Of the inn He was
born and Graded and grew and be
came a mighty power, but he inteTter-
| ed with vested interests, just as he IN
/ terfered with the feeding Of the swine
| in days gone by The people began 10
| beseech Him that he was interfering
with their lawful gains He still! went
on growing by the love Of those whom
He blessed, and as we look along the
/ line OF His work what do we SeeE We
see the dead brother brought to -he
weeping sisters; we see those 0eaO II
trespass and sins brought into newness
| of life; We see blind men with the
vision before them OF Christ walkirg z
~ tow ard them; we see the sick made
well; and as we look at His glorious
work we say, What about the 9TH
er prisoner2" Before we make a de-
cision, before we choose one or the
other-what about the OtheTZ NOW
l
seen your saloons very much yet; L
don't know what you have IN your
windows, but all over Britain and al
over Australia in all Of our liquor
shops we have three letters IN the
window-BAR. As I look at those
three letters say, BAR, Bar. Spell
| il backwards, R-A-B, and add A for
alcohol and S for Satan, and you
have his name. "Barabbas was rob
Every Young man going into a bar
! is putting himself into the power OF
time Of eternity; he will be robbed
Of character, Of health; he viii be
robbed OF everything that makes life
worth living.
So we want you to present the con-
| trast to every man and woman you
meet. Here is the gentle Christ, the
lover Of the little ones, wanting 10
bless them, wanting to uplift them
helper Of the weak and the CTunkards
longing to save them He IS the
Christ By our neglect Of duty, by
our Indifference, or by our active sup
port of evil, are We going to send
| Barabbas through the length and
breadth OF our land, hurting and
wounding and destroying?
! So, beloved, as you 90 back, remenn-
Der that you are the message bearers oearesIs
| Of the Most High; go to the people
very lovingly, very winningly, but
very. faithfully-Iet them have no ex-
| cuse Of pretending they do not know
Just which side to take. Let them
have the truth, that the truth shall
set them free. And may there come
| to America such a national awaken
ing. that it shall find its way into the
votes OF the people, into the homes
I-of the people, into the statute avs
! OF the people, and their saloons shal
20. Barabbas the rObber be gone for