The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1888-06-15
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
The Brooklyn Preacher Discourses on
the Divine Assassination and
It's Lesson.
He Pictures n Cross Flaming with
suffering, Flaming with:TriEmph'
Flaming with Glory.


Rev. T. De witt Talmagc, y. D., TOOK
for his text the passage:
Whoever doth not bear His cross and
como after me Gun not be my disciple. Luke
xiv, 4-27.
He preached the following sermon:
The cross was a gibbet Oh which criminals
were put to death. 1t was sometimes made
in the shape Of the letter T., sometimes in
the shape OF the letter ", sometimes in thu
shape of the letter Ia simple upright !;
sometimes two cross pieces against the per-
pendicular bar, 50 that upon the lower closs
piece the criminal partially sat. But what
ever style Of cross always dlsgraccful,
always agoaizing.
Wien Darius conquered Babylon he put
two hundred caTtiycs to death On the cross.
When Alexander conquered Tyre he put
two thousand cul tiycs to death on the clO,.
So it was just an ordinary mole Of punish.
ment. But in all the forest Of crosses on the
hills and in the valleys Of the earth there is
one cross that attracts more attention than
any other. 1t is rot higher than the 9th rs,
it is not nude out Of different wood, there is
nothing peculiar in the Notch at which the
two pieces are joined, and as to the scene,
they witnessed urucitiNions every few weeks
so that l see 4 reckless man walking the
hill and kicking arclesSly aside a skull, and
wondering who the Villain wa Who had so
HAT and miSSh&pou a head; and here is an
other skull, and there IN the hillside is
another skull. Indeed the Bible says it
was "a place Of skulls" But about the vic
tim on one Of these crosses all ages are cry
ing: "WbO is lie: Was He 4 man? Was lie
q GodE" Was lie man and Gou?"
Through the darkness of that gloomy day
l come close up enough TO the cross to see
who 1t is. 1t is Jesus. How did He come
there? Had lie come up on the hill to look
of upon the beautiful landscape or upon a
brilliant sunset? No. He came there i'll
and exhausted. People sometimes wonder
in six or seven hours, while other victims
have been on the cross for tOTty-eight hours
before life was extinct. l will tell YOU the
reason. He was exhausted when he came
there. He had been sCOurgCd. We are
mortified at the CrUelties of tue whipping
post, but those CrueltIes were mercy as conf
pared with the ScOurglng of Jesus Christ.
lsaw at Antwerp u picture made by Ru-
bens-Rubens' picture of the scourgIng OF
Jesus CnTlst. 1t was the most OYermaSCer-
ing picture | ever looked at, or ever expect
TO see. AS the loug-trocked official opened
the door that hid tie picture there he was
Christ with back bent and barred. The flag
elator stood with the upper teeth clinched
over the lower lip, as though to give vio-
lenCe to the blows. There were the swollen
shoulders Of Christ. There were the black
and blue ridges, denied even The relief Of
bleeding. There was the flesh adherlng TO
the whips as they were lifted. There were
Hhn WR0Gha Vrrlnnen a. l,aA = 49, HI.
gouged out the flesh. There stood the per-
secutor, with his foot on the calf of the leg
of the Savior, balancing himself. On, the
furious and heliish look on those faces, grin
ming vengeance against the Son OF Gol. The
picture seized me-, it Oyerwhe med me; 1t
seemed as if it would kill me. 1 60 not think
/ could have looked at IL five minutes and
have lived.
But that, my friends, was before Christ
had started for Calvary. That was only the
whipping. Are you ready Tor the journey TO
the CROSSE
The carpenters lave split the timber into
two pieces. They are heavy and they are
long pieces, for one of them must he fas-
tened deep down in the earth lest che strug-
Cling OF the victim upset the structure.
They put this timber on the shoulder OF
Christ very gradually first, 10 see whether
He can stanl it, and after they ind He can
stanl it, they put the whole weight upon
Him. Forward, now, TO Calvary. The
hOoting ana the Yelling mob follow on.
Under the weight OF the cross. Christ being
weary and sick, He stambles and falls, anu
they jerk at his robe indignant that He
should have stumbled and fallen, and they
cry: ''Get up, get uplD Christ, putting one
hand on the ground aud the other hand on
the cross, rises, looking into the fee OF
Mary, lis mother, Tor sympathy, but they
tell her to stand back, it is no place for Il
woman-s'stand back and stop this crying.n
Christ moves on with His burden upon His
shoulders, and there is u boy that passes
along with Him, q boy holding i malIet and
a few nails. 1 wonder what they are for.
Christ moves on until the burden is so great
He staggers and fails fiat into the dust and
faints dead away, and d rufian puts His foot
on Him and shakes Him rs he would q dead
dog. while another rufian looks down at
Him, wondering whether He has fainted.
away or whether lie is only pretending 70
faint away, and with jeer and contempt I'M
discribabie says: PAINTED, haye.you! Faint
ed Get up, get OIL"
Now they nave arrived at the foot Of the
hill. OF with HIS clothes. Shall that loatn-
some mob look upon the unro5ed body OF
CHRISTI Yes. The commanding officers say.
"Unfasten the gIfdle, take off the coat, strip
Him. The work is done. Bring back the
coat, for here are the gamblers tossing up
coin on the ground, saying: .WhO
shall have the coatg' One rtlnan says: II
have II, l have it-it Is mine p He rolls it
up and puts il under his arm, or he
it to see what kind Oh fabric it is made OF.
Then they put the cross upon the ground,
and they stretch Christ upon il, and four or
i've men hold Him down while they drive
the spikes home: at every tlnImp Il groar, a
gr0anl Alas alasi the hour PAS ,es on and the
time comes when they must crutify Him.
Chris has only one garment Jeff now, q
cap, a cap OF tlt0rns. No danger that 1t will
fall on, for the sharp edges have punctured
hettempies ana it Is sure and last. One ruiz
1fan takes hold of one end OF the short beam
OF the Gloss, and another rutSan takes hold
of the other end or the sAort beam sof
the cross, and another Kulian put his arms
around the waist OF Christ, and another ruE,
fan takes hold Of the end 81 the long betm
Of the Gro 3, AMI I'LL together they move on
until they ONE to the hole digked In the
earth, and with awful plunge IL jars dorm
with its burden Of woe. IL is not the picture
OF q Christ, IL Is not the statue Of Christ, as
you sometimes see In i cathedral, but II U.s.
the body OF n bleeding, living, dying Christ.
They sometim8ssa he had I'VE wounds,
but they have counted wrong. Two wounds
for the hands, tyFeMVniIgts tor tho feet, one
wouesd for the side, they say, live wounds,
Nosthey haze missed the worst and they
have missed tire MOST Did YOU ever see the
brainDlc ont Of which that crown 81 thorns