Milford chronicle., 1888-07-13
SOUR EXPERIENCES.

SOUR EXPERIENCES.
REV. T. DE WITT TALMAGE
BREACHES IN BROOKLYN
In Some Lives the Saecharine
Seem to Predominate-A Gravel
in Almost Every Shoe-The Om-
nipotent sympathy of Jesus
Christ.
Brooklyn, July s.-The Rev r. De Witt
Talmage, d. D., had an enormous auditory.
His subject was "Sour Experiences" and
his text; ''When Jesus therefore had re-
ceived the vinegar. John, xix, 80. The
sermon was as follows
The brigands of Jerusalem had done their
work. It was almost sundowu. and Jesus
was dying. Persons in crucifxion often
fingered on from day to day-crying, beg
ging, cursing; but Christ had been exhausted
by years Of maltreatment. Pillowless,
poorly fed, logged-as bent over and tied to
low post, his bare back was inhamed with
the scourges intensified wish pieces of lead
and bone-and now for whole hours the
weight of his body hung on delicate tendons,
and, according to custom, violent stroke
under the armpits had been given by the
executioner. Dizzy, swooning, nauseated,
feverish-a world OF agony is compressed in
the two words: II thirstl" 0 skies Of Judea,
let drop of rain strike on his burning
tongue. o world, with rolling rivers, and
Barking lakes, and spraying fountains,
give Jesus something to drink. If there
be any pity in earth, or heaven, or hell,
let it now be demonstrated in behalf
of this royal sufferer. The wealthy women
of Jerusalem used to have fund of money
with which they provided wine for those
people who died in crucifixiOn--a powerful
opiate to deaden the pain; but Christ would
not take it. He wanted to die sober, and so
he refused the wine But afteTward they go
to cup of vinegar and soak a sponge in it,
and put it on a stick Of hyssop, and then
press it against the hot lips of Christ. You
say the wine was an an9sthetic and intended
to relieve or deaden the pain. But the vine
gar was an insult. l am disposed to adopt
the theory Of the old English commentators.
who believed that instead of its being an
opiate to soothe, it was vinegar to insult.
Malaga and Burgundy for grand dukes and
duchesses, and costly wines from royal watts
for bloated imperials; but singing acids for
a dying Christ. He took the vinegar.
dominate Life is sunshine on a bank Of
flowers. A thousand hands to clap approval.
In December or in January, looking across
their table, they sec all their family present.
Health rublcund Skies fiamboyant. Days
resilient. But in great many cases there
are not so many sugars as acids. The annoy
ances, and the vexations, and the disappoint-
ments Of life overpower the successes. There
is gravel in almost every shoe. An Arabian
legend says that there was a worm in Solo
mons staff, gnawing its strength away, and
there is a weak spot in every earthly support
that man leans on. King George of Eng
land forgot all the grandeurs of his throne
because one day, i'll an interview, Beau
Brummell called him by his first name and
addressed him as a servant, crying: George,
ring the belll" Miss Langdon, honOrcd
all the world over for her poetic
genius, is so worried over the evil
reports set afioat regarding her, that she
is found dead, with an empty bottle of pru-
sic acid in her hand. Goldsmith said that his
life was wretched being, and that all that
want and contempt could bring to it had
been brought, and cries out: "What, then, is
there formidable in a jailg' Correggio's fine
painting is hung up for tavern sign. Ho-
garth cannot sell his best paintings except
through a rattle Andrew Delsart makes the
great fresco in the church of the Annunciata,
at Florence, and gets for pay sack of corn;
and there are annoyances and vexations in
high places as well as in low places showing
that in a great many lives the sours are
greater than the sweets "When Jesus there
fore had received the vinegar"
1t is absurd to suppose that a man who has
always been we'll can sympathize with those
who are sick; or that one who has always
been honored can appreciate the sorrow of
those who are despised; or that ono who has
been horn to a great fortune can understand
the distress and the straits of those who are
destitute. The fact that Christ himself took
the vinegar makes him able to sympathize
today end forever with all those whose cup
is filled with sharp acids of this life He took
the vinegarl
In the first place, there is the sourneSs Of
betrayal The treachery of Judas hurt
Christ's feelings more than all the friendship
of his disciples did him good You have had
many friends; but there was one friend upon
whom you put especial stress. You feasted
him. You loaned him money. You be-
frended him in the dark passes Of life, when
he especially needed IA friend. Afterward,
he turned uDon you, and lac took advantage
of your former intimacies. He wrote against
you. He talked against you. He micrOscop-
lied your faults. He flung contempt at you
when you ought to have received nothing
but gratitude. At first, you could not sleep
at nights. Then you went about with a
sense Of having been seung That difficulty
will never be healed, for though mutual
friends may arbitrate in the matter until you
shall shake hands, the old cordiality will
never come back. Now l commend to all
such the sympathy of betrayed Christ.
Why, they sold him for less than our twenty
dollarsl They all forsook him, and led.
They cut him to tie quick He drank that
cup Of betrayal to the dregs. He took the
vinegar.
There is also the sourness of pain. There
are some of you who have not seen a well
day for many years By keeping out of
draughts, and by carefully studying dietetics,
you continue to this time; but o, the head
aches, and the sideaches, and the baehaches,
and the heartaches which have been
your accompaniment all the way through
You have struggled under heavy mortgage
of physical disabilities; and instead Of the
placidity that once characterized you, it is
now only with great effort that you keep
away from irritability and sharp retort,
Difficulties Of respiration, Of digestion, Of
eboAAA-Al
your life, and you tug and sweat along the
pathway, and wonder when the exhaustion
end My friends, the brightest crowns
in heaven will not be given TO those
who, in stirrups, dashed to the cav
airy charge, while the general applauded,
and the sound Of clashing sabers rang
through tho land; but the brightest crowns
in heaven, believe, viii be given to those
who trudged on amid chrome ailments which
unnerved their strength, yet all the time
maintaining their faith in God. T. is COM
paratively easy to fight in regiment Of
thousand men. charging up the parapets TO
the sound Of martial music, but it is not 50
easy to endure when no one but the nurse and
the doctor are the witnesses Of the Christian
fortitude Besides that you never had any
pains worse than Christ's. The sharpnesses
that stung through his brain. through his
hands, through his feet, through his heart,