The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-04-10

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Preaching at the
Irving Square Presbyterian Church
on the theme, "Christ's Agony and
Ours" the Rev. Ira Wemmell Hen
derson, pastor, took as his text Luke
1894, And ye would not" He
said:
The lamentation of Jesus over the
City of Jerusalem was occasioned by
His clear vision of the depth of her
need, of the completeness of her re-
lection of Himself and the revelation
of and from the Father that He
brought, and by His firm conviction
that disdain for His Gospel meant
death for herself. Feeling in His
Utmost heart that His was the truth
that could save the city Of His people
from it's sin; knowing, as He did,
that He was the long-heralded Mes
siah who should lead His countrymen
into the liberty of that life within
Jehovah which should satisfy their
souls; and experiencing, as He had,
the temper of the minds of the &C.
clesiastical and clerical leaders OF
the synagogues, Jesus was sick at
heart over the spiritual doom that
was sure to overtake His people. To
Jesus sin was the most awful, the
most terrifying, the most fearful
thing in the world. For Him the
word "sin" summed up, short and
quick, all those agencies which were
anti-Godly and which led men far
from the Father. Sin meant destruc-
ton, disapproval in the eyes Of God,
and it's wages were the seeds OF
death. The Gospel, on the other
hand, held for Jesus the kernel and
the conclusion of all those forces that
should gain men life eternal and the
full, enthusiastic favor Of the King,
their Guide. Being born again OF
God and entering into the freedom
of the spiritual life divine, Jesus con-
ceived these men, His brethren, as
obtaining deliverance from eternal
death.
With this philosophy and this Wis
ion of the need and the issue-both
of which Jesus had direct from God
lis it any wonder that He wept over
the City of Jerusalem? Sin is death.
MY Gospel is the way Of sure saliva
tion-the only way-and the true
guide unto life that is eternal. Thus
reasons Jesus. These men are bound
in and unto sin. How gladly would
I teach to them those spiritual truths
that should save them, but they will
not. Sin is their choice, separation
from the Father is their self-willed
death. Do you wonder why the Saw
ior suffered unto bitter agony and
tears? His was the wide and COM
prehensive view Of the world, it's sin,
its need, it's salvation, its denial, its
destruction. Any smaller or less
comprehending insight would have
been Of none avail. A Great, limit
less, universal understanding of the
situation as it was-and is-was the
one e to stir the soul OF the
Christ to its depths. A weaker man
with a smaller horizon would have
become discouraged or disguised. A
big man, full of heart and grit, with
the richness Of Gods love flooding all
his being, was the only one who could
mourn. Jesus wept-not from dis
gust, or encouragement, but because
His whole soul yearned to lead His
dying brethren into life for evermore.
The weight Of their guilt, the GER
tainty of their dying, the uselessness
and the wickedness Of it all came
upon the soul of Christ with resist
less force and wrung His heart in
agony.
And now, beloved, this lesson from
the life Of our Lord points a three
fold duty for each Of us. The accept
ance by US of this triple obligation
which the agony Of the Master calls
to our attention, will prove to the
world about us that our Christ wept
not in vain. And the duties three
are these: First, we must be convict
ed Of the awfulness Of that sin whose
logical outcome is death. Secondly,
we must have an experimental n
distinct knowledge that the only sure
salvation from this death-dealing sin
is through Jesus Christ. Thirdly, we
must, with weeping hearts, go forth
into the world as living eVangels to
preach to all mankind salvation from
this deathly sin through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
The awfulness of sin Is a byword
rather than a belief among men to-
day. In our earnest and quite legiti-
mate endeavor to publish the glory
of the love of God for the sinner, we
have lost to a great extent u con-
seriousness and our former denunc1a-
ton of the hideousness OF sin. In
our endeavor to escape from the IN
reasonable curse of a bodily hell we
have, many of us, rushed to the other
extreme-that is to say, no hell at
all. In our earnest preaching OF the
love of God toward the sinner we
have become, I fear, too lenient with
sin. My friends, the love Of God is
a reality. The punishment and the
death Of man brings no Joy to the
Fathers heart. Jehovah wants every
man to live within the light of His
countepance of love. To the end that
we might have life and that more
abundantly He sent His Son our Saw
ior to reveal Himself to US. But sin
is always hateful to God. His whole
nature shrinks from it, as should our
natures, as from a thing unclean. He
can have no communion with it-nor
should we. Its pleasures are dead
fruit, it's enjoyments are transient
and a mockery, it's wages Is death.
Human experience has proved this
to be so, and the word of the living
| God sustains the charge. Sin is
| death. In strict union within God is
| life. Sin and God can have no COM
merce. Where sin is, God cannot be
Where the Father is, sin is eclipsed,
for with Him there is no evil, but
only the fullness of eternal life. Sin
is death. Death is the lack of life.
The rudy apple drops from the leafy,
living bough and dies. The seeds OF
quick consumption strike the human
hear and death ensues. In each case
the element of destruction has en-
tered And as with the nhYSical. so