St. Landry democrat., 1888-07-21
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
a Homily on the Sour Portion of
Lies Experiences.
The Successes of Life CounterbaIanced
sy the Observation-Disclosures Saw
tours Love and Sympathy
VIII Sweeten All.

ences," his text being:
When Jesus, therefore, had received the
vlnegar.--John, xix, 81.
The brig ands Of Jerusalem had done
their work. It was almost shutdown. and
Jesus was dying. Persons in crucifxion
often fingered on from day to day-cry-
ing, begging, cursing; but Christ had
been exhausted by years of maltreat.
ment. Pillowless, poorly fed, logged
as bent over and tied to a low post, His
bare back was inhamed with the
scourges, intensified with pieces of lead
and bone-and now for whole hours the
weight Of His body hung on delicate
tendons, and, according to custom, vio-
lent stroke under the arm-p pits had been
given by the executioner. Dizzy, swoon.
ing, nauseated, feverish-a world of agony
Is compressed in the two words, 81
thirstw o skies of Judea, let a drop OF
rain strike His burning tongue. o, world,
with rolling rivers and sparkling lakes,
and sparkling fountains, give Jesus
something to drink. If there is any pity
In earth or Heaven, or hell, let it now be
demonstrated in behalf Of this
royal sufferer. The wealthy wo-
men Of Jerusalem used to have a
fund of money with which they provided
wine for those people who died in cruci-
h1ion-a powerful opiate to deaden the
pain; but Christ would not take it. He
wanted to die sober, and so he refused the
wine. But afterward they go to a cup of
vinegar and soak sponge in 1t, and put
st on stick of hyssop, and then press it
against the hot lips of Christ You say
the wine was an anasthetic. and INTENDED
to relieve or deaden the pain. But the
vinegar was an insult. I am disposed to
-, 4lax H.. e u Ty ls.t
mentators, who believed that, instead of
its being an opiate to soothe, it was vim
egar to insult. Malaga and Burgundy for
Grand Dukes and Duchesses, and costly
wines from royal watts for b1oated impe-
rialists; but singing acids for dying
Christ. He took the vinegar.
In some lives the sacchar1ne seems to
predominate. Life is sunshine on a bank
of flowers. A thousand hands to clap ap-
proval! In December or in January,
looking across their table, they see all
their family present. Health rubicund.
Skies famboyant. Days resilient But
In a great many cases there are not So
many sugars as acids. The annoyances,
and the vexations, and the disappoint-
ments of life overpower the successes.
There is a. gravel in almost every shoe.
An Arabian legend says that there was
worm in Solomon's staff, gnawing its
strength away; aud there is weak spot
in every earthly support that a man leans
on. King George of England forgot all
the grandeurs of his throne because, one
day, in an interview, Beau Brumme1,
called him by his first name and addressed
him as servant, crying: George,
ring the bell!" Miss Langdon, honored
all the world over for her poetical genius,
is so worried over the evil reports set
afoat regarding 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 all that want
and contempt could bring to it had been
brought, and cries out: "What, then, is
there formidable in jail!'' Corregg1o's
fine painting is hung up for a tavern sign.
Hogarth can not sell his best painting,
except through rattle. Andrew Delsart
makes the great fresco in the Church of
the Annunciation, at Florence, and gets
for pay sack of corn; and there are an
noyance and vexations in high places as
well as in low places, showing that in a
great many lives the sours are greater
than the sweets
When Jesus, therefore, received the vim
egar.
1t Is absurd to suppose that man who
has always been we'll can sympathize
with those who are sick; or that one who
has always beer lonored can appreciate
the SORROWS of those who are despised; or
that one who has been born to great
fortune can understand the distress and
the straits of those who are destitute.
The fact that Christ Himself took the vim
egar makes Him able to sympafhize 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 |
Christ's feelings more than all the friend |
ship of His disciples did Him good. You |
have had many friends; but there was |
one friend upon whom you put especial |
stress. You Toasted him. You loaned |
him money. You befriended him |
in the dark passes Of life, when |
he especially needed a friend After |
ward, he turned upon you, and he took |
advantage of your former intimacies. He |
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 I
you went about with a sense of having |
been stung. That difficulty will never be I
healed. for, though mutual friends may
arbitrate in the matter until you shall |
shake hands, tine old cordially viii never
come back. Now, commend to all such
the sympathy of a betrayed Christ. Why, /
they sold Him for less than our twenty
dollars. They all forsook Him and fed.
They cut Him to the quick. He drank 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
b well day for many years. By keeping
out OF draughts, and by carefully study
Ing dietetics, you continue to thus time;
but oh, the headaches, and the sideaches,
and the backaches, and the heartaches
which have been your accompaniment all
he way through You have struggled
nnder heavy mortgage Of physical dis
Abilities: and instead Of the placidity that
,nce characterized you, it is now only
With great effort that you keep away
rom lrritability and sharp rstort. Diff
iculties of respiration, of digestion, of
ocomo ton, make up the great obstacle
ID your life. and You tug and sweat along
he pathway. and wonder when the ex-
aaustion will end. My friends, the
brightest crowns in Heaven will not be
,iven to those who, in stlrrups. dashed