Milford chronicle., 1888-06-08

at the Tabernacle sang this morning;
I'd sing the precious blood he split,
Ny ransom from the dreadful glIlt.
This is Sacramental day, and large
number of persons joined the church,
making the communicant membership
4, 1914. But this is only part of the great
attendance that Sunday mornings and
evenings overflow the immense audience
room. The Rev. I. De Witt Talmage,
ID. D., took for his text the passage:
ssWhosoever doth not bear his cross, and
come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luke xiv, %. He preached the fol
lowing sermon:
The cross was a gibbet on which Grim
inals were put to death. It was some
times made in the shape of the letter I,
sometimes in the shape Of the letter X,
sometimes in the shape Of the letter la
simple upright; sometimes two cross
pieces against the perpendicular bar. so
that upon the lower cross piece the Grim
inal partially sat. But whatever the
style Of the cross, it was always disgrace
full and always agonizing.
When Darius conquered Babylon he
put eco captives TO death on the cross.
When Alexander conquered Tyre he put
1900 captives to death ON the cross. So
it was Just an ordinary mode 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 at
tention than any other. It is not higher
than she others; it is not made out of
different wood; there is nothing peculiar
in the notch at which the two pieces are
joined; and, as to the scene, they wit
messed crucifixions every few weeks, so
that l see a reckless man walking about
the hill and kicking carelessly aside a
skull, and wondering who the villain was
that had so fiat and misshapen head;
and here is another skull, and there on
the hillside is another skull Indeed, the
Bible says it was "a place of skulls. y
But about the victim on one of these
crosses all ages are crying; "WhO is he?
Was he mani Was he a God? Was he
man and Godl"
Through the darkness of that gloomy
day, I come close up enough to that
cross to see what it is. 1t is Jesus. How
did he come there? Had he come up on
the top of the hill to look off upon the
beautiful landscape, or upon a brilliant
sunset? No. He came there i'll and eX-
hausted. People sometimes wonder why
Christ expired so quickly on the cross. in
six or seven hours, while other victims
have been on the cross for forty-eight
hours before life was extinct. will tell
you the reason. He was exhausted when
he came there He had been scourged.
We are Mortified at the cruelties Of the
whipping post, hut those cruelties were
mercy as compared with the scourging Of
Jesus Christ.
saw at Antwerp picture made by
Rubens- -Rubens' picture Of the scourg-
ing of Jesus Christ. 1t was the most
overmastering picture ever looked at
or ever expect to see As the long
frocked official opened the door that hid
the picture, there he was-Christ with
back bent and barred. The fagellatOr
stood with the upper teeth clinched over
the lower lip, as though to give violence
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
adhering to the whips as they were lifted.
There were the marks where the knots
in the whips gouged out the flesh. There
stood the prosecutor with his foot on
the calf of the leg of the Saviour, bal
ancing himself. o. the furious and
hellish look on those faces, grinning ven
geance against the Son of God The
picture seized met overwhelmed me;
it seemed as if it would kill me. I do
not think I could have looked at it five
minutes and have lived
@l..N N..s.. 90.
Christ had started for Calvary That
was only the whipping. Are you ready
for your journey to the CROSSE
The carpenters have split the timbers
into two pieces. They are heavy and
they are long pieces, for one of them
must be fastened deep down in the earth
lest the struggling of the victim upset
the structure. They put this timber
upon the shoulder of Christ very gradu-
ally; first, to sec whether he can stand it,
and after they find he can stand it, they
put the whole weight pom him. Forward
now. to Calvary. The hoOting and the
yelling mob follow on. Under the weight
of the cross, Christ being weary and sick,
he stumbles and falls. and they jerk at
his robe indignant that he should have
up, get upl" Christ, putting one hand
on the ground and the other ON the cross,
rises. looking into the face of Mary, his
mother, for sympathy, but they tell her
to stand back, it is no plack for a woman
-''Stand back and stop this crying
Christ moves ON with his burden upon
his shoulders, and there is a boy that
passes along with him, boy holding a
mallet and few nails. l wonder what
they are for Christ moves ON until the
burden is so great he staggers and falls
Cat into the dust and faints dead away,
and a ruffian puts his foot on him and
shakes him as he would dead dog, while
another rufiian looks down at him Won
dering whether he has tainted away, or
whether he is only pretending to faint
away. and with jeer and contempt inde-
scribable says: ''Fa! nted, have youl
tainted! get up, get or
Now they have arrived at the foot Of
the hill. OF with is clothes. Shall
that loathsome mob look upon the un-
robed body Of Christi Yes. The conf
manding officers say "Unfasten the
girdle, take off the coat, strip him.
The work is done But bring back the
coat, for here are the gamblers tossing
up coin on the ground, saying; 'WhO
shall have the coatl" One ruffian says:
Il have it, have it--it is minep' He
rolls it up and puts it under his arm, or
he examines it to see what fabric it is
made Of Then they put the cross upon
the ground, and they stretch Christ upon
it, and four or five men hold him down
while they drive thu spikes home, at
every tnumn a groar groanl Alas'
alas! the hour passes on and the time
comes when they must cruelty him.
Christ has only one garment left now,
a cap, a cap of thorns. No danger that
it viii fall off, for the sharp edges have
punctured the temples and it Is sure and
fast. One ruffian takes hold of one end
of the short beam Of the cross, and
another ruffian takes hold Of the other
end of the short beam Of the cross, and
another ruflian puts his arms around the
waist of Christ, and another rufiian takes