Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-11-25
THE THREE GREAT CROSSES.
Or. 'TACMAGE ExPOuNDS THE
LESSONS TAUGHT BY
' CALVARY.
The Right Hand Instrument of
Torture the Type Of HUI
man Unbelief
The Repenting Gross and the Rich Prom
Uses Held Forth to the Dying Robber.
All Mortals Like the Thieves in Many
Ways-The Mighty Ooss Of Christ
and Its Power.
Special to Tie Kansas city Times.

BROOKLYN, n. Y. Nov lin the Taber
nacle this morning the Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
mage, ID. d., after expounding some passages
of Scripture recording scenes in the life OF
Christ gave out the hymn beginning:
Rock Of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.
The subject Of the sermon was 1.-THE Or
chard on the HILL" and the text, Luke, xiii,
80: "And when they were come to the place,
which is called Calvary, there they crucifed
Him, and the malefactors, one on the right
hand, and the other on the left" The follow
ing is DR.. Talmage's discourse in full:
Just outside of Jerusalem is a swell of
ground, toward which crowd are ascending;
for it is the day of execution. What a mighty
assemblage! Some for curiosity to hear what
the maleiactors will say, and to see how they
will act The three persons to be executed
are already there. Some of the spectators
are vile Of lip and bloated of cheek Some
look up with revenge, hardly able to keep
their hands off the sufferers Some tear their
own halr in frenzy of grief Some stand in
silent horror. Some break out into uncon-
irollablc weeping. Some clap their hands in
delight that the offenders are to be punished
at last. The soldiers, with drawn swords,
drive back the mob, which presses on SO hard
There is fear that the proceedings may be in
terrupted, Let the German legion, now sta
toned at Jerusalem, on horseback dash along
the line, and force back the surging multi
tudc. Back with you" is the cry Have
you never seen a man die beforel"
THREE TIRES WITH STRANGE FRUIT.
Three crosses in row. An upright piece
and t,rN frTt, H.. Il
which the hands are nailed, and one at the
middle, on which the victim sat. Three trees
just planted. Yet bearing fruit; the one at
the right bearing poison and the one on the
left bitter aloes; the one in the middle apples
OF love. Norway pine and tropical orange and
Lebanon cedar would not make so strange a
grove as this orchard OF Calvary. Stand and
give look at the three crosses. Just look at
the one on the right It's victim dies soothing
More tremendous than his physical anguish
is his scorn and hatred of Him on the middle
cross. his one on the right turns half around
on the spikes to hiss at the One In the middle
If the scotfer could get one hand loose and He
were within reach he would smite the middle
sufferer in the face He hates him with per-
feet hatred. think he wishes he were down
on the ground that he might spear Him. He
envles the mechanics who with their nails
have nailed Him fast. Amid the settling
darkness, and louder than the crash of the
rocks, hear him jecr out these words: "Ah!
ah you poor wretch! | knew you were an i'm
poster! You pretended to be a God, and vet
you let these lcgions master you!n 1t was in
some such hate that Noltaire in his death
hour, because he thought he saw Christ in his
bedroom, got up on his elbow and cried out
Crush that Wretchr'
What had the middle cross done to arouse
up this right-hand CROSSE Nothing o the
enmity OF the natural heart against Christ !!
The world likes sentimental Christ. or a
DhilaOtbTpDip riS hDt rict bn
to snatch men away from their sins-away
with him!
TYPE OF HUMAN UNBELIEP.
On this right-hand cross to-day see typi-
fed the unbelief of the world. Men say:
Back with Him from the heart will not let
Him take my sins. If He will die, let Him die
Tor Himself, not for me- There has always
been war between this right-hand cross and
the middle cross, and wherever there is an un-
believing heart, thus the fight goes on. o, IL,
when that dying malefactor persisted, the
faithcssness of man had persisted then that
tree whicA yields poison would have budded
and blossoned with life for all the world
Look up into that disturbed cOuntenance of
the suffer and see what a CHASTITY thing it is to
reject Christ. Behold in that awful face in
that pitiful look, in that unbessed death hour
the stlnGs of the sinners departure. What q
plunge into darkness! Stadning high upon
tn" cross on the top of the hill so that all the
world may look at him, he says: "Here &C
out OF a miserable life into a wretched eterni-
~" One! Two! Three! Listen to the crash
o! the fall all We ages! So Hobbies, dying
alter he had seventy wears in which to prepare
for eternity, said "Were master of ali the
world, would give it all to live one day
longer Sir Frances Newport. lowering over
the brink, cried out; wretch that / am,
whittier shall fly from this beast! What
viii become of me' o, that l were to lie upon
the fire that never is quenched thousand
years 10 purchase the favor of God and to be
re"oncileI 10 Him again! o eternity!
eternity! Who can discover the ABYSS of eter.
Liiy' Who can paraphrase upon these words
FOR ever and for cver.n
DYING ON THE WRONG CROSS.
mat rght-hand crOSs-thOusands have per.
ished on it, in worse agonies. For what is
physical pain compared to remorse, at the
last. that life has been wasted and only a
Meeting moment stands between the soul and
its everlasting overthrow 0, God! let me
die anywhere rather than at the foot Of that
right hand cross, Let not one drop Of that
blood fall upon my cheek Rcnd not nv eal
with that cry. | see it now as never before
the lOathsomencss and horror of my unbelief
That dying malefactOr was not so much tC
blame as |. Christianity was not established
aud perhaps not until that day had that mar
heard the Christ But after Christ has stood
almost nineteen centuries, working the won
ders OF His grace, you reject him. That right
hand cross, with its long beam, oyershadow:
all the earth. 1t is planted in the heart of the
race. When will the time come when the
spirit of God shall with its axe hew dowr
that rlght-hand cross, until it shall fall at the
! foot OF that middle cross, and unbelief, the
| railing malefactor of the world, shall perish
from all our hearts, Away from me, thou
spirit OF unbclief! | hate theel With thi
sword OF God thrust thee back and thrus
thee through. Down to he'll; down most &C
cursed monster of the earth: and talk to tn
millions thou has already damned. Talk nj
longer to these sons of God, these heirs o
/ heaven.
TRULY THE SON OF GOD.
If Thou be the Son of God" Was Their
| any ''if'' about it, Tell me, thou star, that i
robe Of light did run to point out His birth
place. Tell me, Thou sea, that ddst put tn
hand over thy lip when he bid thee be still
Tell Inc, We dead, who got up to see Him die
Tell me, thou sun in mid-heaven, who for Hir
didst pail down over thy face the veil of dark
ness. Tell me- ye lepers who were cleansed
| We dead who were raised, is He the Son G
Code Aye! aye! responds the universe. tn
flowers breathe it, the stars chime 1t, the n
deemed celebrate it, the angels raise up O
their thrones to announce it, And yet on tina
miserable maefactor's ''f'' how many shall b
wrecked for all eternity! That little 'if'' ha
enough venom in its sting TO cause the deaf
Of the soul. No 'if'' about it. | know i,
Ecce Deus! | feel it thoroughly-throug
every muscle OF the body, and through ever
Of my soul. Living l will preach it, dying
will pillow my head before its consultations
Jesus the God.
Away then, from this right hand cross. Tn
red berries Of the forest are apt to be poison
GUS and around this tree Of carnage grow tn
red, poisonous berries of which many hav
tasted and died | can see no use for thi
right hand cross, except it be used as leve
with which to upturn the unbelief of tn
world.
Here, from the right hand cross / 90 to tn
left. Pass clear to the other side. That vic
tim also twists himself upon the nails to loo
at the center croSs-yet not TO scott. 1t is t,
worship. he, too, would like to get his han
loose; not to smite but to deliver the suffere
OF the middle cross. He cries to the raile
cursing on the other side. "Silence! betwee
US is innocense, is agony. We suffer for GU
crimes. Sience" Gather around this LEI
hand cross, o, we people! be not afraid. BIZ
ter herbs are sometimes tonic for the body
and the bitter alocs that you grow on this tire
shall give strength and life TO thy soul.
on THE REPENTING CROSS.
This left hand cross is repenting cross
men who have been neatly drowned tell u
that in one moment, while they were unde
the water, their whole life passed before then
so suppose in one moment the dying NAL,
factor thought over all his past life. OF ths
| night when be went into an unpuarded doc