Gospel Herald, 1860-04-28

              De-sroted. to Clii'isti.-H.riity, Morality, tlie Interests of Sa,t.-hath. Schools, Social Improvement, Temperance, Education, arret Oeneral News.
"BEHOLD,   I   BRING   TOU   GOOD   TIDINGS   OF    GREAT   JOY  ....  ON   EARTH   PEACE,   GOOD   WILL   TOWARD   MEN.'
VOL. Uy.
DAYTON, 0., SATURDAY, APRIL 28, I860.
NO. 50.
SELECT POETRY.
- From Beadle's tloitie Monthly.
The Homeless.
In au Arctic dosert, wi(.lfi and lone. In tho very lio.irt of the Fiigid Zone, A motlier and ciiildren aotb'd for breath, While the bleak -wind blcn- tlie  trumpet  of Death.
The children sobb'd and the wild wind blew. Till their cheeks were like the snow irt hue, And tlie tears upon either little face Froze to their tender rcsting-ijlace.
It thrilled our .spirits to think of Kane And his triiYe men, battlin;^ the icy main,— But sadder far 'twould havo been to see The shrinking group of these sufferers three.
'Twas froir. no -will or wish of their o-wn That they were here in thia cruel zone:fl' Scourged by the tyrant landlord,s haitd, They were "driven into this desolate land.
The children's feet were too weak and small To bear them out of this freezing thrall; Bruised and sore were their little forms Bending beforo tho power of its storin,s.
'Twas from no will or wish of their own,— Yet here they peri.sh'd, afraid and alone; No eye to weep for, nor even to see The dead hands clasp'd of tlieaesulforers three.
Dead in the descrti    What desert? where'? Were thoy left to perish in irute despair'?— In the Frigid Zone of a heartless city. In the Desert of Life-—no love, no pity!
Many were neartlieni, and yet not near— iSIany had hope, but tliev had fear—, Mnny feasted —the^' had not a crumb— Many laugl eii—thoy were striolcen dumt !
No shelter, no 1 ed, no food, no tire! The snow rose doi'p, the wind blow higher; The desert of sellishness spread around. And the snow grew over a little mound.
ORIGINALITIES.
Wriltm for the Gospel Herald.
Link, No- i-
Tho .Dotith of .lesus and tho oircum- 8tanco.s connected with it. We confo.ss we aro unable to describe this part of our subject. Had we language, and did we know how to nae it, word.y ¦vfould fail, to describe adequately, this touching theme, but we will prosoiit a few thoughts :
1. The arrest. It was at night. Christ and the Apostles had left tho crowded streets ofthe city, crossed the brook Kedron, and entered G-ethsomane. The smoke of the evening sacrifice.9 had as¬ cended, and passed away with the gen¬ tle breeze. The sun's last rays had ceased to dawn upon tho golden roof of the Temple of God. Twilight had mounted her dusky,car,and the shades of night had gathered upon the earth. A band of men issued from the gates of Jerusalem, "with lanterns and torch¬ es" armed witb "swords and staves," they enter the garden. They are sent by the chief priests, and led ou by one who knew well the recesses of Olivet, for Christ andhis disciples often re¬ sorted to this place. He perhaps to unfold, more fally, to them the princir pies He had taught in public, and they aK to offer up their devotion to God. 15at they have coine to arrest some one- Is it a robber? Some daring burglar, who had been commiitting dep¬ redations in the city and surrounding country ? who had pillaged the towns 'and murdered the inhabitants? the leader of a Banditta, who had made this place the rendesvous of his mur¬ derous elan ? 0, no 1 But to arrest Je¬ sus of JSfazareth. Where is he? In a thickly shaded grove of Olives,  there
He lies, prostrate upon the ground, pleading with heaven for strength to enable him to bear the sufferings that awaited him, and to drink the bitter cup that was about to be wrung out to him. " Father, if thou be willing, re¬ move this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will but thine be done;" was his agonizing prayer, Angels com- municated strength to his grief-strick¬ en spirit. He arises, and the calm of holy resignation settles upon his hetirt. He is now ready to be laid upon the altar, and otfered a sacrifice for the sins of the world. After a slight resistance by Peter, a severe, but affectionate rebuke to Judas, and an evidence ofhis power to tho soldiers; he resigned himself into their hands, and they let''l*?m away. But why ar¬ rest him at night? had He not taught publicly in theday time, iu the Temple, in the streets, and in the highways? Thoy feared tho people. " The com¬ mon people heard Him gladly;" they had no theory to support, no hypocri¬ sy to hide, no power to maintain; they exercised their common sense, and listened to the Savior without preju¬ dice, and hence they said, "never man spake like this man." But the haughty Scribe, tho proud Pharisee, and envious priests, just as con¬ scious of his innocence as tho people, they envy him, and seek the cover of the night, to carry out their malicious purposes upon the son of God.
2d. His trial. • Ho was brought be¬ fore the Sanhedrin, tho Jewish court, a court of Priests and Elders, whose wisdom should have enabled thorn to discern justice, and whose high and sa¬ cred position, should havo led them to execute judgment, yet whose passions blinded them to the one, and disquali¬ fied thom for the other. "In His hu¬ miliation, his Judgment was taken away," justice was not done to him, false witnesses were employed against him, yet, so false was their testimony that they only proved each other false and, even the moat plausible was a pervertion of his words, concerning tho destruction ofthe temple, when he meant tho temple of his body, which he would rear in threo days, and, which was so amply fiilfillod afterward. But who shall speak for him? Who will plead his cause? "Who declare his treneration ?" Who will prove his divine origin? Who recount his mighty acts, his noble deeds, his holy life, and his truthful teachings ? Who will "seek out ofthe book of the Lord and read" the prophesies concerning him, and the predictions with their fulfillment? where " are his follow¬ ers ? where is Peter; confident, boast¬ ing Peter? the only friend near Jesus, yet, even, he denies him, again and again, until one look, so full of pity and reproof, covers him with shame and remorse, he leaves the Saviour alono with his enemies. They ply him with questions, but he answers them noth¬ ing till they adjured him by theliving God to toll them, "If thou be the Christ, the Son of God?" He says, I am, and "hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds ot heav¬ en " This they pronounced blasphe¬ my, and judged him to be guilty of death. But they had not power to ex¬ ecute their own sentence,   hence thoy
led him away to Pilate. But they found it necessary here, to chancre tho accusation, it was no longer blasphe¬ my, but treason. "He makcfch him¬ self a King," setting up a Kingdom in opposition to that of Cesar. But Pilato was convinced that he had done no such thing. "He found no fault in him." "That the Jews had out of en¬ vy delivered him." Why not then re¬ lease him? Pilate said, "I have pow¬ er to crucify or release thee;" why then-notuse that power? Ah! here was the trouble. He was convinced that Jesus was not guilty of the charge of treason; yet if he released him, he would incite the enmity of tho Jews against him, and they would, probably complain of him to Cesar, and havo him removed from his office. Like an unprincipled politician, he would sacrifice his conscientious (ionvietions, for the sake of his popularity and of¬ fice. How contemptible his conduct? He washed his hands in the presence ofthe court, to indicate his innocence. How hypocritical 1 Had he condemn¬ ed Jesus upon the slightest evidence, and pronounced him guilty of death, it would not havo been so bad, as to acknowledge his innocence, and persist that he had done nothing worthy of death, and yet sacrifice him to the rage of an envious mob, saying, "take ye hiin and crucify him."
.3d. His execution. Thoy led him as a "L.imb to the slaughter." Little did the Jews think, that in doing so, thoy were fulfilling their own scrip¬ tures, and that the slaughtering of this Lamb was the great antitype of all the lambs that had been sacrificed, by the generations oftheir people. Howblind! their minds not to see, that, they wore stumbling upon a rock, that would roll on them, and "grind them to pow¬ der."
0, Israeli blind,  infatuated, Israel! Your Patriarchs  "were glad," as thoy looked into the distant future, and saw His day—the minds of your .Prophets glowed with heavenly light, and their hearts warmed with hallowed fire, as they caught a glimpse of His glory— and your own Prophetic King, swept the strings of his sticrcd harp, in uni¬ son with tho sweetest notes, and high¬ est praises, to God, for  the promise of the "Just One," yet you, their children whoso high privilege it was, to live in tho day, to which they looked by faith —to behold "with open faco the glory ofthe Lord" that they saw "through a veil darkly,"—and to look   upon that King, "that God had set upon his ho¬ ly hni of Zion"—you shut your eyes to the light cf that day, you saw not the glory  that  shone  from his God-like character, and the displays of his di¬ vine po-B'or, and you denied your King in the presence of Pilate, and "desireil a murderer to be.granted unto you." They led Him away  to  death, and such a death, tho crucifixion, so dis¬ graceful, that every one that "hangoth upon the tree is cursed."   A species of punishnient due only tp tho worst of oriminals, and  so painful  that out of pity to   the   sufferers,   a   mixture of myrrh and vinegar was given to them to stupify their senses,'that they might linger through   this  cruel death, and not feel all the acuteness of its tortur¬ ing pain.
But they nail him to tho wood, they
roar hira upon the cross, they watch with gratified malice, the ebbing out of His lifo, through His lacerated hands ancl feet; they taunt him for His irapo- tency, and mock Him, as He writhes in his anguish, and cries in tho bitter¬ ness of His spirit, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Butthe earth is convulsed, the rocks are bro¬ ken, tho vail of the temple is rent in twain, and darkness prevails "overtho land." The soldiers are amazed, the scribes stand aghast, and . amidst the consternation of earth and the frown of heaven, Jesus cries wilh a loud voice, "Itis finished," and gives up the,ghost.
Yes, the Prince of Glory dies. He who came to give life to the world, is dead. Ho who came to save sinners is crucified. Yet, thank God, through that very death, we shall find life, and through that crucifixion, salvation shiill como to us. Tho great redemp¬ tion is finished; all thtit He could do, is dono; the sacrifice is offered and ac¬ cepted; tho atonement is made; the promises of God are ratified; the mer¬ cy setit is disclosed, and salvation is freo. Tho fountain is opened in the House of David. A table is spread be¬ foro the face of all people, and divine love is calling upon the children of men, "Come and drive your wants away."
Written for tlie Gospel Her,, Id.
Saerifieea must be made.
In reviewing the past history ofthe Ohristian Denomination,her present aa well as future prosperity demands our most serious consideration. I am well assured that we are in the rear of many ofour Sister DenotQinations, in tho various religious enterprises of the dity. Not that we aro inferior in point of wealth and talent; butboeause the mind ofour great brotherhood has not been brought properly to bear on this important subject. In tho first place, we should consider that a far greater proportion of our substance than hag ever yet been thought of in general, should be devoted to the ser- viceofGod. Por God is the original proprietor ofour estates; from Him we derived them, and if, by the exertion of our own powers and activities, -w-e havo acquired the wealth we possess, we aro aware that the faculties which enatled us to acquire, were gifts be¬ stowed upon us by his bounty. We might, have been born destitute of both bodily and mental energies; we might have been phiced in other circumstan¬ ces, which would have prevented our acquisition of the means we have, and doomed ua to perpetual poverty ; or we might have commenced our" exis¬ tence in tho country of New Holland, or the wilds of Patagonia where we could never havo experienced the bless¬ ings and privileges we. now enjoy.— Over all such circumstances we ¦ had no control, and therefore we are indebt¬ ed to God fbr all these arrangements of his providence, which havoplacedus in the midst of our jjroaent comforts. It is God who hath given us power- to get wealth; for both riches and ,honor come fi'om Him. We aro bound by every rational and scriptural tie to oonseerato the wealth and influence we possess to His honor and glory.— He does not call upon ua to jiart with