The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1888-06-08

comes when Iuey IIlust cTucay uiul.
Christ has only one garment left now
a cap, a cap of thorns, No danger tina
it will fall off. for the sharp edges hav
punctured the temples and 1t is sure ant
fast One rufiian takes hold Of one ent
of the short beam Of the cross, ant
another ruffian takes hold of the othe
; end of the short beam of the cross, an(
another rufiian puts his arms around tn
waist of Christ, and another ruffian take
hold of the end of the long beam of TIN
cross, and altogether they move on unit
they come to the hole digged in thu
earth, and with awful plunge it jar.
down with its burden of woe. 1t is moi
the picture of a Christ, it is not the statue
of Christ, as you sometimes see in cathe
dral; but it is the body Of a bleeding,
living, dying Christ.
They sometimes say he had five
wounds, but they have counted wrong.
Two wounds for the hands. two wounds
for the feet, one wound for the side, they
say, five wounds. No. they have missed
the worst and they have missed the
most. Did you ever see the bramble out
of which that crown of thorns was
made? saw one on Brooklyn ferry
boat. in the hands of a gentleman who
had just returned from Palestine, a
bramble just like that out of which the
crown of thorns was made. Oh! how
cruel and how stubborn were the thorns.
And when that cap of thorns was put
upon Christ, and it was pressed down
upon him, not five wounds, but ten,
twenty, thirty cannot count them.
There were three or four absences that
made the scene worse. First, there was
the absence of water. The climate was
hot, the fever, the inflammation, the
nervous prostration, the gangrene had
seized upon him, and he terribly wanted
water. His wounds were worse than
gunshot fractures, and yet no water. A
Turk in the Thirteenth century was cru
cited on the banks of river SO that the
sight of the water might tantalize him.
And oh! how the thirst of Christ must
have tantalized as he thought of the Eu-
pirates and the Jordan and the Amazon
and all the fountains of earth and heaven
poured out of his own hand. They Of
fered him an intoxicating draught made
out of wine and myrrh, but he declined
it. He wanted to die sober. No water.
Then, my friends, there was the alb
sence of light. Darkness always exas-
perates trouble. never shall forget the
night in the summer Of 1878, in the
steamer Greece, mid-Atlantic, every
moment expecting the steamer to go
down. All the lights in the cabin were
blown out. The captain came crawling
in on hands and knees, for he could not
stand upright, so violently was the YES
sci pitching, and he cried out: Light
up, light upl' The steward said: 1--WE
can't light up; the candles are gone and
the holders are gone The captain said:
II can't help that; light up" The storm
was awful when the lights were burning,
worse when the lights went out.
Then there was the absence of faithful
nurses. When you are ill, it is pleasant
to have the head bathed and the hands
and feet rubbed. Look at the hands and
feet of Christ, look at the face of Christ.
There were women there who had cared
for the sick, but none of them might
come up near enough to help. There
was Christ's mother, but she might not
come up near enough to help. They said:
'Stand back, stand back lthis~is no
place for YOU The high priests and
the soldiers wanted it their own way;
they had it their own way.
The hours pass on and it is 10 o'clock
Of the Saviour's suffering, and it is /
o'clock, and it is o'clock, and it is al
most 8 o'clock. Take the last look at
that suffering face, wan and pinched,
the purple lips drawn back against the
teeth, the eyes red with weeping and
sunken as though grief had pushed them
back, blackness under the lower lid, the
whole body adroop and shivering with
the last chill, the breath growing feebler
and feebler and feebler and feebler until
he gives one long, deep, last sigh. He is
dead!
O! my soul, he is dead Can you tell
why2 Was hea fanatic dying for prin-
ciple that did not amount to ANYTHING?
Was he a man infatuated? No; to save
your soul from sin, and mine, and make
eternal life possible, he died. There had
to be substitute for sin. Who shall it
be9 'Let it be me-" said Christ; .slet it
be me-" You understand the meaning
of that word substitution. You were
drafted for the last war; some one took
your place, marched your march, suf-
fered your wounds and died at Gettys.
burg. Christ comes to us while we are
fighting our battle with sin and death
and hell, and he is our substitute. He
marches our march, fights our battle,
suffers our wounds, and dies our death,
Substitution! Substitution!
How do you feel in regard to that scene
described in the text, and in the region
round about the text2 Are your sympa.
thies aroused9 or are you SO dead in sin,
and so abandoned by reason of your
transgressions that you can look upon all
that fearless and unmoved? No, no:
there are thousands of people here this
morning who can say in the depths of
their soul: mo, no, no; if Jesus en-
dured that, and all that for me, l ought
to love him. I must love him, ! will
love him, l do love him. Here, Lord, I
give myself to thee; it's all that I
can do
But how are you going to test your
love, and test your earnestness? My text
gives a test. 1t says that while Christ