833
THE K I N G ’ S BUS I NE S S
me why! Twist the scourge around His naked shoulders till the great red welt comes up, but what is your reason for doing it? It pains Him. I do not pity Jesus half so much when they scourge Him and crown Him with thorns as when He heard Peter over yonder say, “ I know not the man.” Do you not know there is a question in this Old Testament that makes the tears start to the eyes. “ And one shall say unto Him, ‘What are these wounds in Thy hands?’ And He shall reply, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends’.” Oh Christ is like man in one thing. He is at the mercy of His friends. Who cares for what an enemy says? But when a friend says an unkind thing, how it cuts! Who cares though an enemy pass one on the street with averted glance? But when a friend does it, suddenly the air grows cold, and the skies get gray. It pains Christ. And it is a tragical, terrible thing to do, to go away from Jesus! Do you know there is a prayer I have commenced praying these last two or three years, “ God, don’t let me spoil it all.” I would say if He rent the heavens at this moment, I have been true to His Gospel. I have preached Him. I have- believed Him. I never put a bit of it behind my hack. I never cared though hell opened up. And I would sooner He would strike me dead on this platform than let me live to undo all of that. The tragedy of go ing away from Christ! Deeper than the tragedy of slapping the old mother's face; more ghastly than the tragedy of digging the heel of your boot in your father’s grave. “ They went away and walked no more with Him.” They went away from what? From the Bread of Life, to starve; from the Water of Life, to thirst; from the rest of God, to be storm-dfiven forever; from the light into the darkness; from the glory into the gloom; from heaven into hell; from God to the devil. They went away.
Which by and hy will make the music mute, And ever widening, slowly silence all.” I trust I. am within hounds when I say it was a dark day with lots of peo ple in Portland when they came into possession of an automobile. You see they go so far out in the country on Sunday afternoon they do not get hack in time for the Sunday night service, and now everybody knows them as “ oncers.” And then on Wednesday evening they go out to view nature. What is it they say? “We worshipped God in the cathedral of Nature?” Oh, the hypocrites! Is that what makes the trousers wet eighteen inches up the leg? Worshipping God in the cathedral of Nature! I would sooner be damned for fishing on Sunday than for lying about it! A little more money will do it. A woman had candor enough to tell me once in the years gone by that for the sake of getting up in society-she had left the Baptist church and gone over to the Episcopalian. So how small are the beginnings of this alienation of soul. But how slowly this does its deadly work. The old rules and prac tices observed; the bread lifted to the mouth, and the wine; only the heart is getting' chilled, and the enthusiasm is waning, and God have mercy on us all, the old verses that used to come to the lip volcanic with force are now said, yes, that is the right word, they are said. And there may be prayer, but it is perfunctory. And they nearly thank God that they find that they have got a short chapter to read! How terrible! And how causeless it all is on the part of Christ. I do not know to whom I am speak ing now, but I know the Man I am working for is bidding me speak to some person. What cause had you for turning away from Christ? What hurt did He ever do you? What blessing did He withhold from you? Push the thorns into,His brow, but in God’s name tell
Made with FlippingBook HTML5