Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-07-20
TALMAGE'S SERMON,
Tbe Weekly Discourses Of the Grea
Brooklyn Preacher.
Subject: "SOur Experiences"
Delivered AT Chicago, Ill.,


His bare back was inflamed with the scourges
intensified with 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 81 thirst!n
O skies of Judea, let drop of rain strike ON
His burning tongue. . world, with rolling
rivers, and sparkling lakes, and spraying
fountains, give Jesus something to drink Ii
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 a fund Of money with
which they provided wine for those people
who died in crucitXion-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 afterward they go to
a cup of vinegar and soak sponge in it, and
put it on stick of hyssop, and then press it
against the hot lips of Christ. You say
the wine was an anaesthetic, and intended
to relieve or deaden the pain But the vine
gar was al insult. | am disposed to adopt
the theory of the old English commentator,
who believed that instead of It's being an
opiate 10 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
In some lives the saccharne seems to pre-
dominate. Life is sunshine on a bank of
flowers A thousand hands to clap approval.
In December or in January, looking across
their tables, they see all their family present.
Health rubicund. Skies tlamboyant Days
| resilient But in a great many cases there
are not so many sugars as acids
The annoyances, and the vexations,
and the djsappointments of life
| nVprnnwpr 6ha Ibnla n
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 in an interview, Beau Bum
nell called him by his first name,
and addressed him as servant,
crying: George, ring the bell!'
Miss Langdon, honored all the world
over for her poetic genius, is so worried over
the evil reports set afloat regarding her,
that she is found dead with an empty bottle
of prussic acid in her hand. Goldsmith said
that his life was a 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 jail" Correg
| gios fine painting is hung up for a tavern
sign. Hogarth cannot sell his best paintings
! except through a rattle. Andrew Delsart
/ =
Annunciata, at Florence, and gets for pay a
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 therefore had received the vinegar"
1t is absurd to suppose that man who has
| always been well can sympathze with those
who are sick; or that one who has always
been honored can appreciate the sorrow of
| those who are despiSed; or that one who has
been born to goeat 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 syGl-
pBthiZe to-day and forever with all those
whose cup is filled with sharp acids of this
life. He took the vinegar.
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
befriended him in the dark passes of life, when
he especially needed a friend. Afterward he
turned upon you, and he took advantage of
your former intimaces. He wrote against
( you. He talked against you. He microsco-
pized 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 stung. That difficulty will
never be healed, for though mutual friends
may arbitrate in the matter until you shall
shake hands, the old cordially will never
come back Now, commend to all such the
sympathy of a betrayed Christ Why, they
sold Him for less than our twenty dollars!
They all forsook Him, and fed. They cut
Him TO the quick. He drank that cup of be-
| trayal to the dregs He took the vinegar.
There is also the sourpess of pain. There
are some of you who have not seen 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 backaches,
and the heartachea which have been your
accompaniment all the way through You
have strugg ed under heavy mort
gage Of physical disal ilit'es, and in
stead Of the placidity that once char
acteri7ed you, it is now only with great
effort that you keep away from irritability
and sharp retort Difficulties of respiration,
of digestion, of locomotion, make up the
great obstacle in your life, and you tug and
sweat along the pathway, and won lei
when the exhaustion will end. Ny
friends, the brightest crowns in heaven will
not, be given to those who, in sstirrups,
dashed to the cavalry charge, while the
general applauded, and the sound Of clashing
sabres rang through the land; but the
brightest crowns in heaven, / believe,
will be given to those who trudged on
amid chronic ailments which unnerved
their strength, yet all the time main
tanning their faith in God. 1t is
comparatively easy to fight in a regiment Of
a thousand men, charging upon the parapets
to the sound of martial music; but 1t is not sc
easy to endure when no one but the nurse
and the doctor are the witnesses of the
Christian forttude. 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, were as great as yours certainly
He was az sick and as weary Not nerve,
or muscle, or ligament escaped. All the
pangs of all the nations of all the ages com
pressed into one sour cup. He took the vine
garl
There is also the sourness of poverty, Yom
income does not meet your outgoings, aud
that always gives an honest man anxiety
There is no sign of restitution about you
pleasant appearance, and cheerful home
for you; but God only knows what time
you have had to manage your private
finances just as the bills run up
the wages seem to run down. But
you are not the only one who ha,
not been paid for hard work The great
Wilkie sold his celebrated piece "The Blind
Fiddler" for fifty guineas, although after
ward it brought its thousands. The world
hangs in admiration over the sketch Of
Gainsborough, yet that very sketch hung fol-
years in the shop window because
there was not any purchaser Oliver
Goldsmith sold his "Vicar of Wake
field" for a few pounds in order to
keep the bailiff out of the door; and the vast
majority of men in all occupations and pro
fessions are not fully paid for their work
You may say nothing, but life to you is
hard push; and when you sit down with youl
wife and talk over the expenses you both rise
up discouraged You abridge here, anC
you abridge there, and you get thing,
snug for smooth sailings. aud lol suddenly
have lost your pocket book, or some creditor
has failed and you are thrown a-beam end
Well, brother, you are in glorious company
Christ owned not the house in which he