The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-07-09
THORNS OF LIES PATH.
TALMAGE TAKES A LESSON FROM
THE BITTER CUP OF CHRIST.

The Vinegar of Crucitixion Day an IN
suit and a Torment Every Human
in the Universe Has u Gravel in His
Shoo-Draughts from the River of
Eternal Life.
CHICAGO, ILL.,, July S.-The Rev. T. De-
Witt Talmage, d. D., of Brooklyn, preached
| in this city this evening. He is here on his
way home from tour Of the Chautauquas
IN Missouri, Kansas and Minnesota. The
| doctor had an enormous auditory. His sub
ject was "Sour Experiences" and bis text;
when Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar. John xix, 80. The sermon was
| as follows:
The brigands of Jerusalem had done their
| work. 1t was almost sundown, and Jesus
was dying. Persons in crucifxion often
fingered on from day to day-crying, beg
! ging, cursing; but Christ had been exhaust
ed by years Of maltreatment. Pillowless,
! poorly fed, fiogged-as beat over and tied
to low post his bare back was infaned
with the scourges intensified with pieces of
lead and bone-and now for whole hours,
| the weight of bis body hung on delicate
! tend0ns, and, according to custom, vio-
| lent stroke under the armpits had been
given by the executioner. Dizzy,
swooning, nauseated feversh - a
| world Of agony is compressed
in the two words: 81 thirstW 0 skies of
Judea, let drop of rain strike on his burn
ing tongue. o world, with rolling rivers,
and sparkling lakes, and spraying foun-
! tains, give Jesus something to drink. If
there be any pity in earth, or heaven, or
| hell, let it now he 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 cruciixiou--a powerful
Opiate to deaden the pain but Christ would
not take it. He wanted to die sober, aud so
he refused the wine. Bnt afterward they
go to a cup of vinegar and soak a sponge in
/ it, and put it on stick of hyssop, and then
| press it against the hot lips of Christ You
say the wine was anaesthetic, and intended
| to relieve or deaden the pain. But the
| vinegar was an insult. | am disposed to
| adopt the theory of the old English com
mentators, who believed that instead of its
being an opiate to soothe, it was vinegar to
| insult. Malaga and Burgundy for grand
| dukes and cuchesses, and costly wines from
royal watts for bloated imperials; but sting
ing acids for dying Christ He took the
| vinegar.
| ! lin some lives the sacchaTine seems to
| predominant, Life is sunshine on a bank
| of flowers. A thousand hands to clap ap-
proval. In December or in January, look
| ing across their table, they see all their
| family present. Health rubicund. Skies
| fiamboyant. Days resilient. But in
great many cases there are not so many
sugars as acids. The annoyances, and the
vexations, and the disappointmonts of life
| overpower the successes There isa gravel
in almost every shoe. An Arabian Legend
says that there was a worm in Solomon's
staff, gnawing its strength away and there
is weak spot in every earthly support that
man leans on. King George of England
forgot all the grandeurs of his throne be-
cause one day in an interview, Beau Brum-
nell called him by his first name, and ad-
| dressed him as a servant, crying: George
! ring the bellgn Miss Langdon, honored all
the world over for her poetic genius. is so
worried over the evil reports set afloat re-
/! gardmg her, that she is found dead. with
an empty bottle of prussic acid in her hand
! Goldsmith said that his life was wretched
! being and that all that want and contempt
could bring to it had been brought, and
cries out; "What, then, is there formidable
in jailW Corroggio's fine painting is hung
up for tavern sign. Hogerth cannot sell
his best paintings except through a rattle
Andrew Delsarte makes the great fresco in
the Church Of the Annunciata, at Flor
ence, and gets for pay a sack of corn; and
there are annoYances and vexations in high
in great many lives tho sours are greater
than the sweets. "When Jesus therefore
had received tho 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 a great fortune
can understand the distress id the straits
of those who are destitute. The fact that
Christ himself took the vinegar makes him
able 70 sympathize to-day and forever with
all those whose cup is filled with sharp
acids Of this life. He took the vinegarl
In the first place, there is the sourness of
betrayal. The treachery of Judas hurt
Christs feelings more than all the friend
ship Of his disciples did him good You
have had many friends; hut there was one
friend upon whom you put especial stress.
You feasted him. You loaned him money
You befriended him in the dark passes Of
life, when he especially needed a friend
Afterward, he turned upon you, aud he
took vantage of your former intimacies
lie wrote against you. He talked against
you. He microscopized your faults He
flung contempt at you when you ought TO
have received nothing but gratitude At
first, you could not sleep at nights. Then
you went about with a sense of having been
stung That difficulty will nev n DO he iled.
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 sucn the sympathy
Of betrayed Christ. Why, they sold him
for less than our twenty dollars They all
forsook him and hed. They cut him to tho
quick. He dra 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 well
day for many years. By keeping out Of
draughts, and by carefully studying
dietetcs, you continue to this tina, but O,
the headaches and the sideacbes and tho
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 tnat once char
acterized you, it is now only with great ef-
fort that you keep away from irritability
and sharp retort Difficulties of respiration,
Of digestion, Of locomotion, make up tie
great obstacle in your life, end you tug and
sweat along the pathway ana wonder when
the exhaustion will eud Ny friends, the
brightest crowns IN heaven will not be given
to those who, in stirrups, dashed 10 tho
cavalry charge, while the general applaude1
and the sound Of clashing sabres rang
through the land; but the brightest
crowns in heaven, believe,
will be given to those VINO trudged on amid
chronic ailmeuts which unnerved their
strength, yet all the time maintaining their
faith in God 1t is comparatively easy to