The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1913-07-04
SATURDAY NIGHT N +
SERMONS Err
.MA@ By
p REvSANUEL
!" WpURvISDl
the JERUSALEM JOURNEY OF LIFE

| J0NAhSS WHY shhe uoJo AhV'St WV
brief month, to the cruci6xion: yet
little while and the place that knew
him so long shall know him no more.
How quickly the almost two years Of
ministry there have gone by! Most
Of his work was done thereabouts. He
was called the prophet Of Galilee cen
turtles after the Christians were called
Galileans. Now he is done Farewell
Capernaum, Main and the little car
penter shop at Nazareth! Was he per-
fectly human? Was it hard to break
home ties? Surely. There's grip
ping of heartstrings, lump in his
throat, a burning at his eyes. little
more of tenderness to some of the old
neighbors, and his work is done. Now
his face is steadfastly set to go to
Jerusalem. His sacred lips speak of
dark days ahead, though his way. leads
through smiling valleys and rich fields
Nevertheless there's an ominous fore
cast to the sky. and the road is Via
Dolorosa.
Crossing the Rubicon.
Southwark from eager, simple Cali
lee, through inhospitable Samaria.
across the little brook at the base of
the city-the die Is cast He has cross
ed his Rubicon. His face was set to
CO." the record tells us, like the rightly
Of death mask-not the victim of
circumstances. but the master of them
He was able to escape the pain and
death If he cared to. but he had seen
Calvary! Multitudes are vending their
way to the city of the great king. No
group like this, however. The execu-
ton is as sure to the Man of Sorrows
as though the deathwatch we're fixed.
Charles l.. Marie Antoinette, John
Brown, are driven by their execution
ers. This mans execution was with
in-not legal compulsion, but spiritu-
al necessity. Behind him walk the
disciples in mingled feeling of awful
reverence and dread and hope. Twice
before had he told of his death and
resurrection. Coming events cast
their shadows before" The hour for
which all others is prepared is almost
here. The Nazarene is in the shadow
Of the cross. Only few more hours
before the great tragedy. The Jews
would fashion the nails; the Romans
would drive them. There is no blare
of trumpets, roll of drums, no cheer
ing crowd, not even the crash Of bat
tie to nerve him. He alone understands
it all. The disciples feel that some
how out of all this enigmatical ex-
preston will come his temporal king
dom. All this queer prophesying is.
Of course, figurative. Anything else is
frightfully impossible.
lover the Alps Lies Your Italy,"
On your way to your holy city? Ev-
cry true life has its Jerusalem, to which
it is always going up. Some of life
seems lightsome, care free, joyous, but
back Of the plain lies the mountain Of
your destiny. Jerusalem waits to test
the power you have gained In Galilee.
In it lies your hour of opportunity,
Centuries of agony and blood have
been spent in preparation for it. 1t Is
unthinkable that the process is to stop
with you, as though you were the last
Of earth's inhabitants. Any one can
start in a race. Beginners are as nu
merous as people. Anybody can quit.
Lord Randolph Churchill once said:
I'm going to stop trying to serve the
public. People are ungrateful My mo
ives are questioned. my conduct de-
nounced. my ideas ridiculed, my sanity
doubted I've had enough. I'm going
to give it up" How human that
sounds-and how useless! The only
thing gutter is certain of is the loss
of all he has done up to date. A loco
motive nine-tenths finished is no loco.
motive. No sea captain turns back
when he is In sight Of Fire island. A
homestead abandoned. forsaken a year
before the mortgage is paid, is as much
lost as II never settled Keep your
Jerusalem before you. Whether in
boat. grainfeld. In dusty synagogue.
along grassy road or glistening sea.
shore, Christ's Jerusalem was always
before him. All roads lead that way
"For this end was 7 born"
Ad Astra Per Aspera.
Unless one has a future he does not
live in the present. Our purpose is
our future; the man without 1t is dead.
Animals do not have purpose. They
have no sacred city calling from its
hilltop. Where is our jerusalem? II
is built of character and circumstance
"a saint In the first century, soldier
in the third. a discoverer in the ff-
teenth, an inventor in the twentieth
Know yourself and your surroundings.
Caesar won Rome at the Rubicon,
Hannibal at the Alps. Luther at the
diet Of Worms; Columbus discovered
his continent before he set sail. An
Edison 18th bis photograph, Mar
conf with his wireless, Wright with
his aeroplane, each has won his day
by having his face set steadfast to-
ward his goal You are none Of these.
only an earnest man with profession,
a family, a God, in view. Take God
flrst and last, your constant compan.
lon. He will help you when you are
sore tried. He will not ask the impos-
sfble. He never asks robin to swim