Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1882-03-13
THE CROSS.
The Scourging and Gruei6xion Of
Christ.
Forward to CalyaV-The woefi Journey
Painting on the Way-Ddying Home
the Nails-What our Crosses Are
in Everyday Life.
ELOQUENT AND PRACTICAL SERMON.
SpecSI 20 TIE Register.

| characteristic sermons at the tabernacle.
The house was densely filled, when the
! opening hymn,
| "Must Jesus bear the cross alone,
And all the world go free:"
was rendered, and at its conclusion. the
| Doctor announced his text as Luke xiv; 27:
'whosoever doth not bear his cross, and
come after me, cannot be my disciple" and
then proceeded:
A cross was gibbet on which criminals
were put to death. Sometimes it was the
shape of the letter T; sometimes it was the
shape OF the letter Y; sometimes it was the
shape of the letter Ia simple upright; but
always diSgraceful and always agonizing.
When Darius took Babylon he put 200 of
the captives on the cross. When Alexander
conquered Tyre he put 1000 on the cross.
So that you see 1t was common mode OF
punishment. Yet, | have TO tell you that
in the great forest of crosses that stand on
the hills and valleys of the earth there is
one cross that attracts the attention OF all
nations. IL was not any higher than the
others. The wood was not different. There
was nothing peculiar about the notch at
which the two pieces joined, and as to the
scene itself, they saw such things every
few weeks. So that | see reckless man
walking about that spot kicking about
skull and wondering what villain had so
fiat and so unshapely head. And here is
another skull and there is another. ln-
deed, the Bible says it was "a place OF
skulls" And yet, in regard to enc OF the
crosses in that place, all eyes cry out, Who
is he? Was he q man? Was he God?
Was he both man and GOd?' came up
through the darkness to that gloomy day
so. closely that l can see the face OF the
victim. and find who it is.
IL II Jesus
How did he come there? Had he saun-
tered out some afternoon with His friends
to stand on that hill and gave fine pros
pect and see a brialliant sunset? Oh, no!
He was i'll and exhausted before he came
there. We hear people wondering why
Christ died 50 quickly, when other victims
lasted 4S hours on the cross, Christ lasted
only or 7 hours. will tell you the reason.
He was sick and exhausted before he came
there He had been scourged. We cry
out against the old-time whipping post as
though il were very cruel; but that was
mercy compared with the Scourging OF
Christ. saw. in the cathedral at Antwerp,
Belgium, q picture OF the scourging OF
Christ. II was the most over-mastering
picture ! ever saw or ever expect to see.
The long frOCked official opened door that
hid this picture from our view and there
was Jesus. His back bare and bent; the
flagellator, with his teeth clenChed over
the under lip as if to give more violence To-
the blow: the swollen shoulders of Christ;
the black and blue marks that were denied
even the relief Of bleeding;
The Flesh Adhering TO the Whips
as they were lifted: the marks where the
knots OF the whip gouged out the flesh;
the prosecutor standing with the left foot
OH the calf of the leg of the Savior, balarrC-
ing himself: such furious. such tiendish
looks from those men grinning vengeance.
Oh the picture seized me, exhausted me
And yet Christ had not started for Calvary.
1t was only the whipping.
Are you ready for the journey to the
cross? The carpenters have cut and split
the timber into two pieces. they are very
heavy and very long beside, for onS OF the
pieces must go far down into the earth, lest
The struggles of the victim upset the struc-
ture. They bring out Christ, weeping and
| wan and bleeding from that awful whip
ming; and then they lift this timber and
then they let it down gradually on Him to
see whether He can carry 1t, and he sustain
it.
Forward Now TO Calvary.
He moves on, the hooting yelling crowd
following after He moves ON, but he IS
yery weary and very feeble and He falls
flat; and then they jerk at his robe and ask
him what he means by that stumbling:
| And then see Jesus getting up, one hand
| on the cross, the other hand on the ground
as he rises and looks in the face OF Mary,
| his mother, for sympathy; but the ruttianS
| tell her to stand back-She must not stand
| there CRYING. Jesus moves on again, boy
| by his side with q mallet and some nails.
! | wonder what they are for. Christ moves
on until after while, unable any longer
| TO bear the load, he staggcrs and falls again
| and faintS dead away. and then rufitan
comes up and puts his foot on him and
1 shakes him a. he would dead dog, ana
! then another looks down at him to see
whether he has really tainted or whether
he is pretending to faint, and says
PAINTED, Have YOu.'
| And then Jesus resuscitates, and they say
Get up Get up, Go on" And now We
| are at the foot of the hill or with his
| clothes. What, shall that loathesome and
| unclean mob look on the unrObcd body OF
! Christ Yes. The commanding officer
| saws: "OF with the girdle, OFF with the
| coat, Strip Him" The work is done.
Bring back the coat The gamblers are
tossing up coin on the grass to see who
shall have that coat 1t is mine cries a
ruf!ian as he rolls it up and puts it under
his arm, or puts his hands throughlt Then
| they put the CEOSS ldl Ou NllS 6AONi1A 'A'i''
they put Jesus on it and three or four men
hold him down while the Others
Drive Home the Nails.
AT every thump groan He has now only
one article OF apparel and that Is cap
and it is a cap OF thornS. No danger that
it fall off for the sharp ends have pune,
tured the temples and il is sure and
fast. Now lift the cross. One
man at the end OF the horizontal piece,
another man at the other end of the hori
zontal piece, another soldier puts his arm
around the waist of Christ, and another
soldier takes hold of the long beam and
they lift it together and with an awful
plunge it jars down with its burden Of woe
There he is, not the pictRre OF Christ
not the statue of a Christ as in Roman
Catholic cathedral, but the body Of q
Living. Dying Redeemer.
Some say that Christ had five wounds.
oh, they counted wrong, They counted
two for the hands and two for the feet anC
one for the side, and they make out tive
wounds. But they forgot to count the
worst of the wounds and the most OF the
wounds. Do you know anything about the
strength OF that cap Of thornS? L saw
man on the ferry boat with specimen
bramble brought from far country. L
was Just such a bramble as ChristS crown
1
cruel and stubborn that bramble. When
it was put upon Christ do you say that he
had only FIVE wounds? Aye. ten wounds
twenty wounds, thirty wounds. | cannot
count them.
There were two or three absences at that
time that made the scene worse. In tn,
first place there was absence OF water. Ih'
climate was hot, the fever, the inhamma
ton, the nervous prostration, the gangrent
had set in, and he terribly wanted water
These wounds of Christ were worse thar
any gunshot fracture, and he wanted watei
and could not get it. In the thirteenth
century Turk was crucified on the bank:
of a river, so that the water might tantalizC
his eyes. And oh, how the thirst of Chris
must have been tantalized when he though
he had made the Euphrates, and the ANA
zon, and all the fountains of earth anj
heaven.
| No Water!
1t is said in one place that they Offered
him wine and myrrh-an intoxicating
draught-whichsHe refused. He wanted