The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-07-13
TALMAGE'S SERMON.

gar."-John, xix, 30. The sermon was a.
follows:
The brigands Of Jerusalem had done their
work. 1t was almost shutdown, 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, flogged-as bent over and tied to
a low post, his bare back was infiamed 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 tho
executioner. Dizzy, swooning, nanseated,
feverish-a world Of agony Is compressed In
the two words: II thirstis o skies Of Judea,
let drop Of rain strike on his burning
tongue. o 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 1t 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 30
he refused the wine. But afterward they go
to a cup Of vinegar and soak sponge in 1t,
and put it on a stick Of hyssop, and then
press it against the hot lips Of Christ. You
say the wine was an anasthetic and intended
to relieve or deaden the pain. But the vine
gar was an insult. am disposed to adopt
the theory Of the old English commentators.
who believed that instead Of its being an
opiate to soothe, 10 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
dying Christ He took the vinegar.
!. In some lives the saccharine seems to pre-
dominate Life is sunshine on q bank of
flowers A thousand hands to clap approval.
In December or in january, looking across
their table, they see all their family present
Health rubicund. Skies famboyant. Days
resilient . But In a 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 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
Brummell called him by his first name and
addressed him as a servant, crying: George,
ring the bellp' Miss Langdon, honored
all the world over for her poetic
genius, is SO worried over the evil
reports set afoat regarding her, that she
is found dead, with an empty bottle Of pru-
sic acid in her hand Goldsmith said that his
life was a wretched being, and that all that
want and contempt could bring to 1t had
been brought, and cries out: "What, then, Is
there formidable In jailF 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 well 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 one who has
been born to 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 and forever with all those whose cup
is filled with sharp acids Of this life Hetook
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 Toasted
him. You loaned him money. You be-
friended him in the dark passes of life, when
he especially needed friend. Afterward,
he turned upon you, and he 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
ut nights. Then you went about with a
sense of having been stung. That difficulty
win 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 / commend to all
such the sympathy Of a betrayed Christ.
Why, they sold him for less than our twenty
dollarsl They all forsook him, and fed.
They cut him to she 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 backaches,
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
locomotion, make up the great obstacle in
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 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
maintaining their faith in God. It Is COM
paratiyely easy to fight in a regiment of q
Thousand men, charging up the parapets to
the sound of martial music, but 1t Is not SO
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. Tho sharpnesses
that stung through his brain, through his
hands, through his feet, through his heart,
were as great as yours, certainly. He was
as sick and as weary. Not nerve, or
muscle, or ligament escaped. All the pangs
Of all the nations of all the ages compressed
into one sour cup. He took the vinegarl
There is also the sourness Of poverty. Your
income does not meet your outgoings, and
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 a 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
VINO has not been paid FOR hard work. The
great Wilkie sold his celebrated piece, "The
Blind Fiddler" for fifty guineas, although
afterwards it brought its thousands. The
world hangs in admiration over the sketch Of
Gainsborough, yet that very sketch hung for
years in the shop window because there was
not any purchaser. Oliver Goldsmith sold
his "Vicar Of Wakefieldn for o few pounds,
In order to keep the bailiff out Of
the door; and the vast majority of
men in all occupations and professions
are not fully paid for their work. You may
say nothing, but life to you Is hard push;
and when you sit down with your wife and
talk over the expenses, you both rise up dis
couraged. You abridge here, and you
abridge there, and you get things snug for
smooth sailings, and loi suddenly there IL
large doctors bill to pay, or you have lost
your pocketbook, or some creditor has failed,
and you are thrown abeam end. Well,
brother, you are In glorious company. Christ
owned not the house In which he stopped, or
the colt on which he roie or the boat In