The Forrest City times., 1888-06-09
SACRAMENTAL DAY.
New Converts Ransomed From
 the Guilt

aN" Rt7AANf~t Nroh the AssAs-1n-
 auon- Thrilling Narrative Of the Cruci-
 hsioi. of Our Saviour.
 bRoaKLrN, June a-The congregation st 'he Tabernacle sang this morning.
 la chg tte r-sciaus Mood He spiit
 " ransurn ffum the dreadful ruiit-
 ihA h Sacramcntsl Day. and large aumoer Of persons iolaed the church, making he eonmunieant membership four thousand. one hundred and ninety-four. But ihls ls only part Of the great attendance that Sun. Hay mornings aud evenings overflow ths in. pense audience room. The Rev T. Dewitt lslmage, D. D., took for bis text the pas.aeel "Nhosoever doth not bear hls cross. and come after Me cannot be My disciple p Luke ch is, '. p. He preached the follow. nE sermon;
 The cross was a gthbet on which criminals were put to death. ft was sometimes made n the shape of the letter T, sometimes ln the 'hape Of the letter X, sometimes in tue shape 't Inc letter I--a simple upright; sometimes Two cross pieces against the perpendicuar bar, so that upon the lower cross piece the criminal partially sat But whatsoever the style of cross, 1t was always disgraeefnl and slaays sgoniziug. i.
 When Darius conquered Babylon, he put TWO hundred eaptlves 10 death on the cross When Alexander conquered Tyre, he put two thousand captive- 10 death on the cross. so t was iust an ordinary mode of punish. ment But in all the forest of crosses o~ ... hills and in the valleys of th. earth nh.,a |, one cross mat at'racc.s more attention than any o'her' is not higher eian the others. u .s not made out of different wood, there s nothing peculiar in the notch at which the two pieces. are joined, and as to the scene. they witnessed cfucidxions every few weeks. so that see a reckless man walking about the hii and kicking carelessly aside a skull, and wondering who the villain was that had 50 nat and mishapen head. and here is an Diner skull, aud there on the hillside is an other skull Indeed, the Bible says 1t was "a place of skulls" But about the victim on one of these crosses all ages are crying, ''Wbo Is hei was He mani was He gody was He man and Godlt
 |. Through the darkness ot that gloomy day. come close up enough 10 tue cross to see sho II is " is Jesus How did he come ineref Had He come up on the hill to look o1 upon the beautiful landscape, or upon a brilliant sunsett No. He came there ill and exhausted. People sometimes wonder why Christ expired so quickly on the cross. fin six pr seven hours while other victims have been on the cross for forty-eight hours before ilfe was extinct l wifi tell you tEe reason ie was exhausted when he came there He had been seourged. We are mortified at the crueities of the whipping post but those erueities were mercy as compared with the seourging of Jesus Christ
 saw at Antwerp picture made by Rubens -Ruben's picture of the scourgirg of Jesus Christ It was the most overlnas tering pict- lre ever looked at, or ever expect to see As the iongfrocked official opened the door that bid Sbe picture there He was-Chrlst with back bent and barred. The iagellator itood with the upper teeth clenched over the ower lip, as though to give violence to the blows. There were the black and blue ldges, denied even the relief of bleeding There was the flesh adhering to the whips as they were lifted. There were the marks where the knots in the whips gouged out the flesh. There stood the prosecutor, with his feet on the calf of the leg of the Saviour. bal. aneing himself Ol the furious and hellish look on those faces, grlnning vengeance against the Son of God. The picture seized me, it overwhelmed me; 1t seemed as if 1t would kill me. do not think could have looked at 1t five minutes and have lived
 But that, my friend was before Christ has started for Calvary. That was only the to the crossl
 The carpenters have split the timber into two pieces They are heavy and they are long pieces, for oue of them must be fastened deep down in the earth lest the struggling Of the victim upset the structure. They put this timber upon the shoulder of Christ very gradually, first to see whether He can stand It. and after they find he can stand it they put the whole weight upon Him. Forw ard uow, to Calvary. The hooting and the yell fl.st falld Al. the cross, Christ being weary and sick, He stumbles and falls, and they jerk at Ills robe Indignant that He should have stumbled and tallen, and they cry: "Get up. get up!n Christ, putting one hand on the ground and the other hand on the cross, rises, looking Into tue face of Mary, His mother, for sympa- thy; but they tell her 10 stand back, il is no place for woman stand back and stop this crying,n
 Christ moves on with Ills burden upon Ills and there is boy that passes along with Him, boy holding a mallet and few nails. l wonder what they are for. Christ moves on until the burden Is so great He staggers and falls fiat into the dust and faints dead away, and ruffian puts his loot on Him and shakes Him as he would a dead dog. while another ruftian looks down at Him wondering whether He has tainted away or whether He is only pretending 10 faint away, and with jeer and contempt
 
 tainted get up, get onl"
 Now. they have arrived at the foot of the hill. of with His clothes. Shall that loath- some mob look upsn the unrobed body of Christi Yes The commanding officers say: 'Unfasten the girlle, take of inc coat, strip Him" TEe work is done. But bring back the coat for here are the gamblers tossing up coin on the ground, saving: ''Who shall have the costl" One rufIian says: ''I have it, have it--it Is minem He rolls it up and puts 1t under his arm. or he examines t to see what fabric it Is made Of. Then they put the cross upon the ground, and they stretch Christ upon it, and four or five men hold Hm down while they dr,ve the spikes home, at every thump a groan, a groanl Alas Alas the hour passes on and the time comes when they must cruelty Him.
 Christ has only one garment left now, a cap, cap of thorns. No danger that 1t will fall of, for the sharp edges have punctnred the temples and it is sure and fast. One ruff fan takesIlold of one end of the short beam of the cross, and another ruilian takes hold nf the other end of the short beam of the eros and another rufiiau puts his arms around the waist of Christ and another ruff fan takes hold of the end of the long beam of the cross and altogether they move on un- til they come to the hole dgged in the earth. snd with awful plunge 1t jars down with Its burden of woe. IL is not the picture of Christ tt IS not me sthiue ol kufist, hS you sotue- times see in a cathedral; but it Is the body of a bleeding, living dying Christ
 They sometimes say He had Ave 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 thorus was mades l saw one on a Brooklyn ferry boat, in the hands of A gentleman who had just returned from Pal estine, a bramble just like that out of which the crown of thorus was made. O. how cruel and how stubborn were the thorns. And when that cap of thorns as put upon Christ, and it was pressed down upon Him, not five wounds, but ten, twenty, thirty-I cannot count them.
 There were three or four absences that made that scene worse. First, there was the abseuce of water. The climate was hot, the fever the inflammation, tine nervous prostra- lion. 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 crucitied on the banks of river so that the sight of the water might tantalze him. And Ol how the thirst of Christ must have tantal zed as He thought of the Eupbrates and the Jordan and the Amszon and all the fountains of earth and Heaven poured out of His own hand. They offered him an intoxi- eating draught made out of wine and myrrh but he declined it He wanted to die sober No water.
 Then. my friends, there was the absence Of lIpht. Darkness always exasperates trouble.