28 



GLEANINGS INBEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



every knee should bow, and that 



every tongue should confess that Jesus 

 Christ is Lord." 



Now, friends, you have the picture that I 

 wish to place before you. Is it not enough 

 of itself, even though all the rest of the 

 Bible were dropped ? Are not these few 

 words enough to proclaim Christ as king ? 

 There are some other passages I want to 

 quote from — passages that were written be- 

 fore Christ came. A great part of the 

 world seems inclined to reject Christ be- 

 cause he, with the universe at his command, 

 should condescend to so low a position ; 

 that he should, when he came here on earth, 

 in obedience to the will of the Father, 

 choose a place among the lowly and humble. 

 Let us now go over some of the beautiful 

 words which are found in the 63d chapter of 

 Isaiah : " And when we shall see him, there 

 is no beauty that we should desire him. He 

 is despised and rejected of men ; a man of 

 sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we 

 hid as it were our faces from him. He was 

 despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely 

 he has borne our griefs and carried our sor- 

 rows. Tie was wounded for our transgres- 

 sions, he was bruised for our iniquities. 

 The chastisement of our peace was upon 

 him, and with his stripes are we healed. All 

 we like sheep have gone astray. We have 

 turned, every one to his own way." 



Suppose, now, when this good missionary 

 had come among these poor slaves they had 

 enn then refused to accept his proffered 

 help, or refused to listen. I presume likely 

 some of tliem did do that very thing; but 

 even if they did, should we be in haste to 

 judge and condemn y Haven't we, in fact, 

 done pretty much the same thing, alter he 

 " endured the cross and despised the shame" 

 for our sakes ? 



And now I come to the second part of my 

 talk this morning. A good manv think 

 they have no room for Jesus. In fact, when 

 God saw fit to send his only Son, Christ 

 Jesus, down to this w orld of ours, to live a 

 human life, to toil with us and by our sides, 

 that he might save us, at the very outset 

 the world decided there was no room for 

 Jesus. Instead of giving him a palace for 

 his birth, and the most gorgeously furnished 

 cradle that the world could procure for the 

 new-born babe, he was born in a stable and 

 cradled in a manger, "-because there was no 

 room for them in the inn." It is true, there 

 were good shepherds watching, and they 

 very soon found him out, for an angel led 

 them. This angel proclaimed, " Fear not, 

 for behold I bring you tidings of great joy, 

 which shall be to all the people ; for unto 

 you is born this day in the city of David a 

 Savior, which is Christ the Lord." You see, 

 the great God took pains to announce him 

 to the world, that the world might know 

 that the promised Messiah had come. Yes, 

 ahcarenly host 'pru.ls'wg God came with the 

 announcement, " Glory to God in the high- 

 est, and on earth peace, good will toward 

 men." Now, even though the above be 

 true, notice that nobody took any particu- 

 lar notice of it. We are told that the moth- 

 er " kept these sayings, and pondered them 

 in her heart," but the world at large forgot 

 all about it. 



Jesus grew as other poor children grow. 

 He doubtless went to school, and we know 

 he learned a trade. I once heard a carpen- 

 ter say that he always felt happy with his 

 calling, when he remembered that it was 

 the occupation of Christ Jesus when he 

 worked among men. Jesus toiled just as 

 we toil, until he knew every phase and 

 every temptation common to poor humanity. 

 When he went to take up his public minis- 

 try, again came the plea, " We have no 

 room for Jesus ; " and some said in plain 

 words, " We will not have this man to rule 

 over us." Were they excusable in refusing 

 to believe so strange and incredible a tale, 

 as that (foci himself had come to earthV 

 Why, they might laave been had not his 

 presence been daily attested by a series of 

 miracles— miracles performed in the open 

 air, and all before crowds of people. Ie 

 fact, at one time ^ ye thousand were fed. They 

 had a good dinner ; and if there is any 

 thing in this world that a man is sure of, 

 especially when he is hungry, it is in regard 

 to his dinner. You can not persuade him 

 that he has been fed, nor can you by any il- 

 lusion make him say he has had his dinner 

 when he has not. Jesus constantly, and 

 step by step, demonstrated to every intelli- 

 gent and thinking human being that he 

 held in his hand the power of God. In fact, 

 bystanders once said, " What manner of 

 man is this, that even the winds and the 

 sea obey him?" Notwithstanding all this, 

 he was at the same time the servant of the 

 people. He had so completely surrendered 

 his liberty and himself that he never per- 

 formed even one miracle for personal need. 

 He was often hungry and thirsty, and fa- 

 tigued and sleepv. yet he took his chances 

 just as we do. No miracle ever favored 

 him. One of the infidel writers said that 

 Jesus w^ent through life a poor, sad, and 

 sorrowful man, disappointed at every turn. 

 Now, I do not think this writer has stated 

 it quite truly; but for all that, there is a 

 pathos in the description of that unbeliever, 

 that to me is deeply touching. I like to 

 think of it— disappointed. Yes, he was dis- 

 appointed because of our unthankfulness 

 and ingratitude. He was truly disappoint- 

 ed, and rejected of men ; a man of sorrows, 

 and acquainted with grief. Why, some- 

 times I feel as if I could cry when I think 

 of it. But I think the cry would do me 

 good, because I should say, as I wiped my 

 eyes, " If this indeed be true, I think I 

 won't repine any longer. I won't mind it, 

 even if folks do forget how hard I have toil- 

 ed to give them a place where they might 

 earn their daily bread. I won't mind it, 

 even though I receive rude and unfeeling 

 words in recompense for my pains. Christ 

 Jesus did a thousand times more. I am go- 

 n g to be happy, and smile through my tears, 

 because it is my great and inestimable priv- 

 lege to follow "just a little in the Master's 

 ootsteps." Now, then, dear hearers, shall 

 we say in our hearts, " There is no room for 

 Jesus?" Shall we reject him, and refuse to 

 accept his love and his companionship when 

 he left his throne in heaven, to come and be 

 one among us? It seems to me I hear you 

 say, " Dear Bro. Root, we do not reject him, 



