The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-24

| ting there in the Roman barracks. His
| head is resting on his hand Then 1 hear
| him say: oh Is Jesus all that? Is his
| mission only to help the poor and the
sick and the suffering? Is his mission to
| cleanse sinful men from an evil past?
| How my dear mother would have loved
| him, How tame are the penates-the
| household gods of my old Roman home!
! Truly father and mother to the best of
| their spiritual light made our old home
| stead Virtuous and pure. But, oh, what
| would mother have been able to do had
she had this Christ for her Saviour
! Then methinks | see the centurion anx-
| iously look into Tiberius' face and say:
| Captain Tberius, do you believe that
this Jesus will forgive me, even me?
| Why, my mother died of broken heart
on account of the waywardness and vile
ness of my youth. VIII this Jesus for
| give me, even me?" Then 1 think 1 see
| Captain Tiberius place his hand upon
julius shoulder and say: yes. Julius.
This Christ can be your Christ, for in
my own hearing. after Jesus raised my
sick servant, | heard him say to a great
crowd of people who were focl,ing about
him near Lake Galilee, All that the Fa-
Their giveth me shall come to me. and
hia that coneth to me l will in nowise
cast out
But again the scene changes. We are
now standing at the foot of the cross.
This is the crucifixion. Here are the two
thieves, the one on the right. the other
on the left of the cross which bears the
| dying Lord. Yonder come the great null
| titude, sneering and staggering their
heads. Here are the soldiers gambling
! for the garments of the dying Saviour.
| BY a strange coincidence | find that this
| same Captain Julius, whose converse
! ton we were listening to the other night
| in the Roman barracks, has been detailed
| to see that the order of Plate In refer
ence to the three state criminals is car
ried out. Methinks I see him standing
in the foreground of the crucihxon scene
| looking up at the face of Jesus. This
Roman centurions countenance has
troubled look. "Is he God?" that coun-
tenance seems to say. IF he is God why
does he not come down from the cross
and save himself. the scoffers are
challenging him to do? Oh I wish l
could say he was my Lord! Then l
might go back to Rome and tell my
brothers and sisters and old sinful COM
panions about HIM" AS the Roman cen
turlon soiloquizes thus 1t is about u
o'clock noon. Suddenly the heavens be-
come as black midnight. Then there
is booming and crashing, as though
the rocks We're being spintered under our
feet and the firm mountains were shak-
ing from their foundations. There is a
great cry of agony. 1 hear the Saviour
which is Interpreted. MY God. my God.
WIZ hast thou forsaken mel Then I see
the Roman commander in fright tremble
and crouch If terror stricken. L see
him arise and stand straight up and
reach out his hands toward the cross and
cry cut, "Truly this was the Son OF
Cod"
Another Picture.
OF course in one sense this sermon is
lra1 ntrifa nat i've |
there may be more truth In it than many
of believe. AS 1 began 1t in an mag
NATIVE way, so l will end In the same
way When l think of this Roman CEN
turion, I never picture him as simply
acknowledging Christ as the Son or God
and then going back to his life OF sin.
picture him as resigning from the Roman
armJ and returning to the Roman capt.
tai Then | picture him as one or the
Christians of old Rome to whom Paul
later wrote. Then picture him as going
out to the old homestead, to the pure
home OF his youth, and telling his broth
ers and sisters about his new found
Christ. Then 1 picture the prosecutions
coming. Then l imagine him an old
man, bending under the weight or seven
ty-fiva years. but strong in faith and
fidelity to Christ. He may have been
among 1.-The saints in Caesars household'
of whom Paul writes. He may even have
been among the Christian martyrs who
were burned under Nero. The change
would not have been any more extra
ordinary than that which Transformed
Saul the prosecutor into Paul the apostle
You may say the story is imaginative,
but it is not unreasonable.
In the da.k catacombs of ancient Rome, |
where 5000. 900 bodies were entomed, there
is a martyrs grave which has on 1t this
epitaph: while on his knees in prayer
before the altar of the true God they |
took him and led him away to execu- |
ton" | wonder whose grave this was.
have never heard the name of the mar !
tyr who was buried there L wonder II
it was the grave of an old man. ] Won
der IL it was the grave of Captain Ju-
Illus l wonder if it was the martyrs !
grave of the Roman centurion whose |
company had charge of the crucifixion of |
Christ and the two thieves in the spring /
o. % A. d. 1t may have been that grave. |
When the death angel shall come to sum- /
mon us before the Judgment seat OF |
Christ would that. like that martyr I'm !
the catacombs of Rome. he might find |
us kneelng 'in prayer before the altar |
of the true God" Then will that death |
angel be able to lead us into the eternal |
life triumphant. Then we shall not stand !
at the foot of the cross, but We shall be |
seated upon a throne and wear a crown |
of eternal and triumphant reward May |
God bless this sermonic dream. Truly A,
this was the Son of Cod" Come, let us |