Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1888-06-14
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
Inc brooklyn Preacher Discusses on
the Divine Assassination and
Its Lesson.
ne Fietures n Croes Flaming with
sunerinE. Flaming wIth.rrfumph,
Flaming with Glory.

Rev. T. De Witt Talmasc, ID. d.. loo,
for his text the passage.
Whosoever doth not bear His cro.s az
come after me can not be my disciple. Lux,
xiv, AT.
ne preached the following sermon:
The cross was a gibbet on which criminal,
were put to death. 1t was sometimes mad,
In the shape Of the letter L. someiimas a.
the shape Of the letter Y, sometime. in IN.
shape of the letter Ia simple unr;cht
sometimes two cross pieces against the per.
penaicuiar bar, so that upon the lower eros
piece the criminal partially sat. But what
ever style OF cross always dlsrraeeful
always agonizing.
When Darius conquered Babylon no mn,
Two hundred captives to death on the cross
When Alexander conquered Tyre he pul
TWO thousand captiyes to death ON the crosS
so IL was just an ordinary mode of punish,
ment. But In all the forest Of crcs, es on the
hills and In the valleys OF the earth there 4
one cross that attracts moro attention sb,r
any other. II is not higher than the o,hers
u Is rot 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 witnessed e~rucinxions every few weeks
50 that l see a reckless man walking ,be
NIL and kicking car elessly aside n skull, and
wondering who the villain was who mad ~
nat ana misshapen a head; and here i an.
othcr skull, and there On the hillside l.
anosneI SKULL. lpdehd the Bible saws il
was "a place Of skulls But about ths We.
tim on one OF these crosses ali aces arm crv.
lhg. ny no Is Her Was He a man1 Wa lie
u Goo9p was lie man and Godf',
through the darkness Of that gloomy dav
4 come close up enough 10 the cross 10 see
mho itls, lt Is Jesus. How did He come
s1eres Iiao lie come up On the hill to look
on upon the beautiful landscape or up1n 4
brilliant sunset! No. lie came there I'M
anu Exhausted. People sometimes wonder
why Christ expired so quickly on the cross.
IN siN or seven hours, while other Victims
nave been on the cross for forty-eight hours
before NE was extinct L will tell YOU the
.eason. lie Was exhausted when he came
.nere. lie had been scourged. We are
Mortified at the eruelties of the whipping.
posl, put those eruelties were mercy as CON-
pared with the scourgIng Of Jesus Christ.
saw az Antwerp \ picture made by Ru.
constituents picture of the scourging of
Jesus Christ 1t was the most overinaster.
ing picture 4 ever looked at, or ever expes It
a. AettE-AAbNhGu Oultldi OIenRH
me door that hid the picture there lie was
Shrlst with back bent and barred. The nag.
elator stood with the upper teeth rlinched
pNer the lower lip, as though 10 give yio-
tenee 70 the blows. There were The swollen
shoulders OF Christ. There were the black
anu 9iue ridges, denied even tho relief of
needing. There was the flesh adhermy 10
tne whips as they were lifted. There were
the marks where the knots IN the wl,ips
gouSed out the flesh. There stood the per.
secutor, with his foot on the calf OF the leg
OF the Savior, balancing himself. Oh. the
furious and heliish look on those faces, grim
nlng vengeance against the Son OF Col. The
picture seized me, it oyerwhe. med me: II
seemed as II it would kill me. l DO not think
1 could have looked at IL five minutes aud
have lived.
But thai, my friends, was before Christ
had started for Calvary. That was only the
whipping, Are you ready for the journey to
The carpenters have split the timber into
two pieces. They are heavy and they are
long pieces, for one of them must be fas-
tened deep down In the earth lest the strug-
cling OF the victim upset the structure.
They put this timber on the shoulder of
Christ very gradually first, 10 see whether
lie can stand II, and after they find He can
stani II, they put the whole weight upon
him. Forward, now, TO Calvary. The
hooting ana the yelling mob follow on.
Under the weight of the cross. Christ being
weary and sick, lie stumbles and falls, anu
they jerk ut his robe indignant that He
should have stumbled and fallen, and they
cry: sect up, get upe' Christ, putting one
hand on the ground aud the other hand ON
the cross, rises, looking into the fee of
Mary, HIS mother, tor sympathy, but they
tell her 10 stand back, IL is no place for a
woman-.stand back and stop this crying.v
Christ moves on with His burden upon His
EIOrldAr. and thar Il N 49,. NA.V -.a...
aloag with Him, a boy holding a mallet and
a few nails. 1 wonder what they are for.
Christ moves on until the burden Is so great
He s,aggers and fails fat into the dust and
faints dead away, and a rufiian puts His foot
On Him and Stakes Him rs he would a dead
dog, while another rdiian looks down at
Him, wondering whether He has tainted
away or whether He is only pretending TO
faint away, aud with ieer and contempt ia
discribable says: PAINTED, have you? Faint
ed Get up, get MP
Now they have arrived at the foot Of the
hill. of with His clothes. Shall that loati-
some mob look upon the unrobed body Of
Christ! Yes. The commanding officers say:
"Unfasten the girdle, take off the coat, strip
Him. The work Is done. Bring back the
coat, for here are the gamblers tossing UP
com on the ground, saying: "Who
shall have the eoat.,' Ono rufian says: 81
have it, l have it-it is mine 70 He rolls 1t
~ 1ltl Bbto ~ uutCf Ills dfLis VI lit tAalilltS
1t TO see whas kind Of fabric il Is made OF.
Then they put the cross upon the ground,
and they stretch Christ upon il, and four or
five men bold Him down while they drive
the spikes home: at every thump 4 lroan, u
groan! Alas, alas! the hour passes on and the
time comes when they must erneify Hin.
Christ has only one garment left now, a
cap, q cap Of thorns. No danger Mat 1t will
fall of, for the sharp edges have punctured
the temples and il Is sure and last One ruff
fan takes hold Of one end Of the short beam
of the cIoss, and another rufian takes hold
of the other end of the short beam Of
the cross, and another ruffian put his arms
around the waist Of Christ, and another ruf-
fian takes hold of the end OF the long beam
OF the cios, and all together they move on
until they come TO the hole digged in the
Garth, and with awful Plunge IL jars down
with its burden of woe. 1t Is not the picture
OF q Christ, IL is not the statue OF Christ, as
you sometimes see in a cathedral; but IT is
the body OF 4 bleeding, living, dying Christ.
They sometimes say He had i've wounds,
hut 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? i saw one on a Brooklyn ferry
boat, In the hands Of a gentleman who had
Just returned from Palestine, a bramble Just
IKE mar u OF winch the crown OF thorns
was made. o how cruel and how stubborn
were the thorns! And when tnat cap OF
thorns was put upon christ IL was pressed
down on Him., not nye WOUNDS oul ten'
twenty. thirty-I can not count them.
There were three or four absences that
made that scene worse. First there was the
absence of water. The climate was hot;
the fever, the inflammation, the nervous pros
tration, the gangrene had seized upon him,
and He terribly wanted water. HIS wounds
were worse than gunshot fractures, and yet
M water. A Turk in the thirteenth century
was cruciied on the banks OF a river 30 that
The SIGHT of the water might tantalize him
And q how the thirst Of Christ must have
tantalized as He thought OF the Euphrates
and the Jordan and the Amazon ana az inc
fountains OF earth and heaven poured out OF
His own handl They offered Him an lntoS-
icating draught made cut OF wine and myrrn'
INT he declined IL. He wanted to die sober.
No water.
Then, nv friends, there was the absence
of Jioht. Darkness always exasperatss trou-
Bile. / never shall forget the nightln wy
summer OF 1873, In the steamer greece, lhiu-
Atlantic, eyery.momentexpectins.tn seeain,
or 10 60 down. All the lights IN the CABIN
were blown OUT, The captain came crawl
ing on his hands and knees, for he could no,
stand upright, so violently was the YesscI
pitching. and he cried out: Light up. ign.
The steward said: cant hght
mn: the candles are gone and the holders
are gone" The captain said: Il can F,
helm fBat; light upr" The storm was awfui
when the lights were burning, worse wheh
the lights went u
Then there was the absence Of Isi.nit ~
nurses. When you are Ill IL Is pleasant 70
have the head bathed and the hands ana
feet rubbed. Look at the hands and feet OIL
Christ! Look at the face Of Christ Ihere
we're women there who had cared for the
sick. but none Of them might come up near
enough to help. There was Christsm otneI,
but she might not come up near enoosn n
barE, This is n o place for you."' The high
urissts and the soldiers wanted IT their own
Wv. they had Il their own way.
~ LoS,,s mss ON. and il is II O'Clock OF