The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-11-18
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUBJECT Or HIS DISCOURSE: 1.-THE
ORCHARD ON THE HILL"


A Comparison of tho Two Thieves Who
Were Crueifea Beside tho Savior, the
Believer and tue Cnbelieving-The
Glory of the Middle Cross.
BROOKLYN, Nov 14-In the Tabernacle
this morning the Rev. Y. De Witt Talmage,
D. d., pastor, 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 'tThe Or
chard on the HILL" and the text Luke xiii,
SO: "And when they were come to the place,
which is called Calvary, there they cruclfied
Him and the malefactors, one on the right
hand and the other on the left" Following
is Dr. Talmage's discourse in full:
Just outside Of Jerusalem is a swell OF
ground toward which crowd ID ascending,
for it is the day of execution What
mighty assemblagel Some for curiosity to
hear what the malefactors will say and to
see how they win act. The three persons to
be executed are already there. Some OF the
spectators are vile of lip and blosted OF check
Some look up with revenge, hardly able TO
keep their hands off the sufferers. Some
tear their. own hair in q frenzy OF grief.
Some stand in silent horror. Some break out
into uncomfortable weeping Some slap 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
NAV be interrupted. Let the German legion,
now stationed at Jerusalem, on horseback
dash along the line and force back the surg
Ing multitude Back with you" is the cry.
"Have you never seen man die befores
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
lust planted Yet bearing fruit-the one at
the right bearing poison, and the one at 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 grove this orchard OF Calvary
Stand and give look at the three crosses.
Just look at the one on the right Its victim
dies soothing 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 ono in the middle If the scoffer could
get one hand loose, and He were within
reach he would srnite the middle sufferer In
the face. He hates Him with perfect
hatred. / think he wishes he were down on
the ground, that he might spear Him. he
envies the mechanics who, with their nalis,
have nailed Him fast Amid the settling
darkness and louder than the crash OF the
rocks hear him jesr out these words: "Ah!
ahl YOU poor wretch, / knew you were an
imposter! You pretended to be a God and
vet YOU let these legions master you" IL
was in some such hate that Voltaire, in his
death hour because he thought he saw Christ
in his bedroom, got up on his elbow and cried
out: "Crush that wretch" What mad tne
middle cross done to arouse up this right
hand CROSSE Nothing o, the enmity of the
natural heart against Christi The world
likes a sentimental Christ, or philan-
thropic Christ, but a Christ who comes to
snatch men away from their sins-away with
Him! On this right hand cross to-day see
typified the unbelief of the world. Men say:
aBack 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 mana
cross and the middle cross, and wherever
there is an unbelieving heart, thus the fight
goes on. o. if, when that dying malefactor
persisted, the faithlessness of man had per-
ished tAsn that tree which yields poison
would have budded and blossomed with life
for all the world! Look up into that disturbed
countenance of the sufferer and see what
a CHASTITY thing it is to reject Christ Behold
in that awful face, in that pitiful HOOK, IN
that unblessed death hour, the stings OF the
sinners departure. What a 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 I go out a miserable life into
wretcled etornityIs One Two! Threel
Listen to the crash of tho fall, all ye ages!
So Hobbies, dying after he had seventy years
in which to prepare for eternity, said: Were
master of all tho world would give it all
to live one day longer" Sir Francis New
port, lowering over the brink, cried out:
"Wretch that am, whittier shall fly from
this breast. What will become Of met Oh,
that were to lie upon the fire that never is
quenched, 900 years to purchase the favor
of God and to be reconciled to Him againi
Oh eterni.yi Oh etsrnityl Who can dis
cover the abyss Of eternitya Who can para
phrase upon these words: Forever and for
ever?"
That right hand cross-thousands have
persisted on it, in worse agonies. For what
is physical pain compared to renorse, at the
last, that life has been wasted, and only a
feeting moment stands between the soul and
its everlasting overthrows Oh Godl 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 not my
ear with that cry. I see it now as never be-
fore-the loathsomeness and horror of my
unbelief. That dying malefactor was not so
much to blame as 1. Christianity 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 earth. 1t is planted
in the heart of the race When will the time
come when the spirit of God shall, with its ak,
hew down that right hand GROSS, until it shall
fall at the foot of that middle cross, and unbe-
lief. the railing malefactor of the world, shall
perish from all our heartss Away from me,
thou spirit of unbeliefl 1 hate thee! With
this sword of God I thrust thee back end
thrust thee through Down to hell; down
most accursed monster of the earth, and talk
to the millions thou hast already damned.
Talk no longer to these sons of God, these