Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-11-24
THE Orchard on the Hill.
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF TEE
GREAT EXECUTION.
THE LEFT-HAND CROSS.
THAT CRY OF THE DYING THIEF

THAT CRY OF THE DYING THIEF
YOU NEVER SAW so TENDER A
| SCENE AS THIS.
REV. Z. DE WITT TALMAGFS SER
| MON SUNDAY z, 14TH INST.
BROOKLYN, N. Y, November 14.-In the
Tabernacle this morning, the Rev. I. DE
Witt Talmage, DID,, pastor, after ex
pounding some passages of Scripture, re.
cording scenes in the life of Christ, gave out
the hymn beginning:
crock of ages, cleft for me.
Let me hide myself in thee"
The subject of the sermon was: "The Or
ehard on the Hill, }" and the text, Luke xiii,
33: "And when they were come to the place
which is called Calvary, there they crueified
Him, and the malefactOrs, one on the right
hand, and the other on the left" Follow
ing is DR.. Talmage's discourse in full:
Just outside of Jerusalem is a swell OF
ground, toward which crowd are ascend
ing; for it is the day of execution. What a
mighty assemblage9 some for curiosity to
hear what the malefactors 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 hair in a frenzy of
grief. Some stand in silent horror. Some
break out into uncomfortable 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 interrupt
ed. Let the German Legion, now station
ed at Jerusalem, on horseback dash along
the line, and force back the surging multi
tude. "Back with you," is the cry. "Have
you never seen a man die before?''
Three crosses in row. An upright piece,
and two transverse pieces-one on the top,
on 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
at the left bitter aloes; the one in the mid
die. apples of love. Norway pine, and
tropical orange, and Lebanon cedar, would
not make so strange grove as this orchard
of Calvary. Stand and give look at the
three crosses. Just look at the one on the
right. Its victim dies scoffing. More
tremendous than his physical anguish is his
scorn and hatred of Him on the middle
cross. This one on the right turns half
around on the spikes to hiss at the one in
the middle. If the scoffer could get one
hand leose, and He were within reach, he
would smite the middle sufferer in the face.
He hates Him with perfect hatred.
| think he wishes be we're down on the ground.
| that he might spear him. He envies the
mechanics who, with their pals have nail
ed Him fast. Amid the settling darkness,
and louder than the crash of the reczs. hear
him jeer out these words: s'Ah! All! you
poor wretch, knew you were an irnpostorl
You pretended to be God, and yet you let
these legions master you.' 1t was in some
such hate that Voltaire in his death hour,
because he thought he saw Christ in his
bedroom, got up en- his elbow, and cried
out, "Crush that wretch" What had the
middle cress done to arouse up this right
hand cross? Nothing. 0, the enmity of
| the natural heart against Christ! The world
| likes sentimental Christ, or a philanthropic
| Christ, but a Christ who comes to snatch
men away from their siDs-away with him!
| On this right hand cross to- day | see typified
| the unbelief of the world. Men say: s'Back
with him from the heart, will not let Him
take my sins: If He will die. let Him die
| for Himself, not for me-" There has al
ways been war between this right-hand
cross and the middle cross, and wherever
there is an unbelieving heart, thus the fight
goes On. o, If, when that dying malefactor
perished, the fathlessness of man had
perished, then that tree which yields poison
would have budded and blossomed with life
for all the world. Look up into that dis
turbed countenance of the sufferer, and see
what CHASTITY thing it is to reject Christ.
Beheld in that awful face, in that pitiful
look, in that unbiessed death hour, the
stings of the sinners departure. What
plunge into darkness! Standing high upon
the cross on the top of The hill, so that all
the world may look at him, he says: "Here
go out of a miserable life into wretehed
crash Of the fall, all ye ages So Hobbies,
to prepare for eternity, said: ''Were m as
ter of all the world l would give it all to
live one day lopger." Sir Francis New
port, lowering over the brink, cried out:
"Wretch that I am, whittier shall l fly
from this breast? What will become of
me? Oh, that were to lie upon the fre
that never is quenched a Thousand years,
to purchase the favor of God and to be re-
conciled to Him again ! Oh, eternity! Oh,
eternity! Who can discover the abyss of
eternity! Who can paraphrase upon these
words: "Forever and forever?"
That right hand cross-thousands have
perished on it in worse agones. For what
is physical pain compared to remorse, at
the last, that life has been wasted, and only
a heetiDg moment stands between the soul
and its everlasting overthrow Oh, 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. Rend
no. my ear with that cry. l see it now as
never before-the loathsomeness and horror
of my unbeief. That dying malefactor
was not SO much to blame as l. Christian
ity was not established, and perhaps not
until that day had that man heard the
Christ. But after Christ has stood almost
nineteen centuries. working the wonders of
His grace. you reject Him. That right
hand cross, with its long beam, overshadows
all the Garth. 1t is planted in the heart of
the race. When will The time come when
the spirit of God shall, with its axe, bew
down that right-hand cross, until it shall
fall at the foot Of that middle cross, and un-
belief, the railing nlalefactor of the world,
shall perish from all our hearts Away
from nae, thou split of unbelief! | hate
thee With this sword of God thrust
thee back and thrust thee through. Down
to hell; down, most acourssd monster of the
earth, and talk TO the millions thou hast
already damned. Talk no longer to these
sons of God-these heirs of heaven.
eff thou be the Son Of God.' Was there
any eff" about it? Tell me, thou star,
that in robe Of light didst run to point out
His birthplace. Tell me, thou sea. that
didst put thy hand over thy lip when He
bid thee be still. Tell me, thou sun in mid
heaven, who for Him didst pull down over
thy face thy veil of darkness. Tell me, ye
lepers who were cleansed, ye dead who were
raised, is He the son of God Aye! aye! re-
ponds the universe. The flowers breathe
it, the stars chime it, the redeemed cele-
brate it, the angels rise up Oh their thrones
to announce it. And yet on that miserable
malefaclor's 'if" how many shall be wreck
ed for all eternity! That little eff y has
enough venom in its sting to cause the death
of the soul. No ''if about it. / know it,
Ecce Deus! feel it thoroughly through
every muscle of the body, and through ev-
IIery faculty of my mind and through every