The People's Christ''
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From Spurgeon's sermon, "The People's Christ"
Three days did that sleeper slumber there!
Death exulting cries, "I have slain him- the seed
of the woman who is to destroy me is now my captive!"
Ah! how grim death laughed!
Ah! how he stared through his bony eye-lids,
as he said, "I have the boasted victor in my grasp."
"Ah!" said Christ, "but I have you!"
And up he sprang, the lid of the sarcophagus lifted up; and he,
who has the keys of death and hell, seized death, ground his iron
limbs to powder, dashed him to the ground and said, "O death, I
will be your plague; O hell, I will be your destruction."
Out he came, sparkling with glory, radiant with light,
effulgent with divinity!
Rainbows shall be about his head; he shall hold the sun in his
right hand as the token of his government; he shall put the moon
and stars beneath his feet, as the dust of the pedestal of his
throne. Then the books shall be opened--those massive books,
which contain the deeds of both living and dead.
Ah! how shall the despised Nazarene sit triumphant over all his foes.
No more the taunt, the jeer, the scoff; but one hideous cry of misery,
"Hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne."
Oh, you, my hearers, who now look with contempt
on Jesus and his cross, I tremble for you.
Oh, fiercer than a lion on his prey, is love when once incensed!
Oh, despisers! I warn you of that day when the placid brow of
the Man of Sorrows shall be knit with frowns; when the eye
which once was moistened by dew-drops of pity, shall flash
lightning on its enemies; and the hand, which once was nailed to
the cross for redemption, shall grasp the thunderbolt for your
damnation; while the mouth which once said, "Come unto me,
you weary," shall pronounce in words louder and more terrible
than the voice of the thunder, "Depart you cursed!"
Sinners! you may think it a trifle to sin against the Man of
Nazareth, but you shall find that in so doing you have offended
the Man who shall judge the earth in righteousness; and for your
rebellion you shall endure waves of torment in the
eternal ocean of wrath.
From that doom may God deliver you! I warn you of it.
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