Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-06-04
THE ASSASSINATION.
SACRAMENTAl DAY SERVICES IN
THE BROOKLYN TABERNACLE.


scription of the scourging and Cruel
fxion OF Our saviour-Ths Terrible
Crown Of Thorns.
BROOKLYN, June 3-The congregation at
the Tabernacle sang, this morning:
I'd sing the precious blood he split,
My ransom from the dreadful guilt.
This is Sacramental day, and a large num-
bcr of persons Joined the church, making
the communicate membership 4,l94. But
this is only a part Of the great attendance
that, Sunday mornings and evenings, over
flow the immense audience room. The Rev.
T. De Witt Talmage, d. D., took for his text
the passage: "Who@sever doth not bear his
cross, and come after me, csnnot be my dis
ciple. Lake xiv, "a. He preached the fol-
lowing sermon:
The cruss was gibbet on which criminals
were put TO death. 1t was sometimes made
in the shape of the letter 7, sometimes in the
shape of the letter X, sometimes in the shape
of the letter Ia simple upright: sometimes
two cross pieces against the perpendicular
bar, so that upon the lower cross piece the
criminal partially sat. But whatever ths
style of the cross, it was always disgraceful
and ALWAYS agonizing.
When Darius conquered Babylon he put
zoe captives to death on the cross. When
Alexander conquered Tyre, he put 1000 cap
tiyes to death on the cross. So it was just
an ordinary mode of punishment But In
all the forest of crosses on the hills and in
the valleys of the earth, there is one cross
that attracts more attention than any other.
1t is not higher than the 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 witnessed
cruciixions every few weeks; so that l see
a reckless man walking about the hill and
kicking carelessly aside skull, and wonder.
ing who the villain was that had so fiat and
misshapen a head; and here is another skull,
and there on the hillside is another skull In
deed, the Bible says it was "a place Of skulls" :"
But about the victim on one Of these crosses
all ages are crying: "Who is hei was he a
mani was he a Godi was he man and Godr
Through the darkness of that gloomy day
| come close up enough to the cross to see
who it is 1t is Jesus How did he come
therel Had he come up on the top of tho hill
to look off upon the beautiful landscape or
upon brilliant sunseti No. He came there
i'll and exhausted 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 1 will tell you the
reason He was exhausted when he came
there He had been scourged. We are hor-
rified at the cruelties Of the whipping post,
but those cruelties were mercy compared
with the scourging of Jesus Christ
Isaw at Antwerp picture made by Rubens
-Rubens' picture of the scourging of Jesus
Christ. 1t was the most overmastering pict-
| ure 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 clenchei 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 tine relief Of bleeding There
| was the flesh sdhering to the whips as they
| we're 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, balancing himself
| o, the furious and hellish look on those faces,
grinning vengeance against the Son Of God.
| The picture seized me, it overwhelmed me;
| it seemed as if it would kill me. / do not
think | could have looked at it five minutes
| and have lived.
But that, my friends, was before Christ had
| started for Calvary. That was only ths
whipping. Are you ready for your journey
| to the cross.
The carpenters have split the timber into
two pieces They are heavy and they ara
long pieces, for one of them must be fastened
deep down in the earth, lest the struggling of
1 81, ha Thav f.,at
| this timber upon the shoulder of Christ -ery
gradually first, to see whether he can stand
| it, and after they find he can stand it they
put the whole weight upon him Forward
now, TO Calvary The hcotipg and the yell
ing mob follow on. Under the weight of the
cross. Christ being weary and sick, he STUN
bles and falls, and they jerk at his robe in
d;ynant that he should have stumbled and
! fallen, and they cry: Get up, get upl'
Christ, putting one hand on the ground and
the other hand on the cross, rises, looking
| into the face of Mary, his mother, for sym
pathy: but they tell her to stand back, it Is
no place for q woman. STAND back and stop
| this crying"
Christ moves on with his burden upon his
shoulders, and there is boy that passes
along with him, boy holding a mailet and
/ lew uttlis. WouutT Nudk tucy AOi
Christ moves on until the burden is SO grea,
! he staggers and falls fiat into the dust and
| faints dead away, and ruffian puts his foot
Oh him a nd shakes hun as be would dead dog
| while another ruffian looks down at him
wondering whether he has tainted away. Oh
whether hs is only pretending TO faint away
and with jeer and contempt indescribable
says: PAINTED, have youi Faintedl Ge1
up! get on"
Now they have arrived at the foot Of ths
hill. OF with his clothesl Shall that loath
some mob look upon the unrobed body o
Christi Yes The commanding officers say
"Unfasteu the girdle, take of the coat; striI
himr The work is dons But bring bacl
the coat, for here are the gamblers tossing
up coin on the ground, saying: II have it,
have it. it is miner He rolls it up and put.
il under his arm, or he examines it to Sc,
what fabric it is made Of Then they pu
the cross upon the ground and they stretct
Christ upon it, and four or five men hole
him down while they drive the spikes home
At every thump a groan-a groan- Alas
alasl The hour passes on and the TIM
comes when they must cruelty him
Christ has only one garment left now,
cap, a cap Of thorns. No danger that it vii
fall OFT, for thc sharp edges have puncturet
the temples d it is .ure and fast. One ruf
fan takes bold of one END Of the short bean
of the cross, and another ruffian takes hol,
of the other end Of the short beam of tn
cross, and another rdffian puts his arm
around the waist OF Christ, and another ruf
fan takes hold of the END of the long bean
of the cross, and altogether they move OF
until they come to the hole digged in tn
earth, and with awful plunge it jars dow
with its burden of woe. 1t is not the ptctur
of a Christ, it is not the statue Of Christ, q
you sometimes see in cathedral; but it /
the body of bleeding, living, dying Christ.
They sometimes say he had five wounds
but they hsve counted wrong. Two wound
for the hands, two wounds for the feet, on
wound for the side, they say; five wounds
No; they have missed the worst and the,
| n, "a. rl;s.a1 the most hid Won ever see th