The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-06-07
alasi the hour passes on and the time

alaS! tne nOur passes Oh anu tiio taluo
comes when they must cruelty him.
Christ has only one garment left now,
a cap, a cap of thorns. No danger that
it will fall off, for the sharp edges have
punctured the temples and it Is sure and
fast One ruffian takes hold of one end
of the short beam of the cross, and
another rufiian takes hold of the other
end of the short beam of the cross, and
another ruffian puts his arms around the
waist of Christ, and c.nother rufian takes
hold of the end of the long beam Of the
cross, and altogether they move on until
they come to the hole digged in the
earth, and with awful plunge it jars
down with its burden of woe. 1t Is not
the picture of Christ, it is not the statue
of Christ, as you sometimes see in q cathe-
dral; but it is the body of bleeding,
living, dying Christ.
They sometimes say he had five
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 thorns was
made? I saw one on Brooklyn ferry
boat, in the hands of a gentleman who
had just returned from Palestine, a
brambie just like that out of which the
crown of thorns was made. Ohl how
cruel and how stubborn were the thorns.
And when that cap of thorns was 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 the scene worse. First, there was
the absence of water. The climate was
hot, the fever, the inflammation, the
nervous prostration, 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 cru
CITED on the banks of river SO that the
sight Of the water might tantalize him.
And ohl how the thirst of Christ must
have tantalized as he thought of the Eu-
pirates and the Jordan and the Amazon
and all the fountains of earth and heaven
poured out of his own hand. They Of
fered him an Intoxicating draught made
out of wine and myrrh, but he declined
it. He wanted to die sober No water.
Then, my friends, there was the alb
sence of light. Darkness always exas-
perates trouble. / never shall forget the
night in the summer of 1878, in the
steamer Greece, mid-Atlantc, every
moment expecting the steamer to go
down. An the lights in the cabin were
blown out. The captain came crawling
in on hands and knees, for he could not
stand upright, SO violently was the ves-
sci pitching, and he cried out: Light
up, light upl" The steward said: 1--WE
can't light up; the candles are gone and
the holders are gone" The captain said
81 can't help that; light up" The storm
was awful when the lights were burning,
worse when the lights went out
Then there was the absence of faithful
nurses. When you are i'll, it is pleasant
and feet rubbed. Look at the hands and
feet of Christ, look at the face of Christ.
There were women there who had cared
for the sick, but none of them might
come up near enough to help. There
was Christ's mother, but she might not
come up near enough to help. They said:
''Stand back, stand back; this is no
psaes for YOU" The high priests and
the soldiers wanted 1t their own 'wav
they had it their own way.
The hours pass on and it is 10 O'Clock
of the Saviour's suffering, and it is
o'clock, and it is Q o'clock, and it is al
most O'Clock. Take the last look at
that suffering face, wan and pinched,
the purple lips drawn back against the
teeth, the eyes red with weeping and
sunken as though grief had pushed them
back, blackness under the lower lid, the
whole body adroop and shivering with
the last chill, the breath growing feeble1
and feebler and feebler and feebler until
he gives one long, deep, last sigh. He is
dead!
O my soul, he is dead Can you tel
why? Was he a fanatic dying for prin-
ciple that did not amount to anything
Was he a man infatuated? No; to save
your soul from sin. and mine, and make
eternal life possible. he died There hat
| to be substitute for sin. Who shall i
be2 ''Let it be me-" said Christ; ''let i
be me-" You understand the meaning
Of that word substitution. You were
drafted for the last war; some one tool
your place, marched your march, suf
fered your wounds and died at Gettys
burg. Christ comes to us while we al,
fighting our battle with sin and dealt
and hen, and he is our substitute. IL
marches our march, fights our tattlo
suffers our wounds, and dies our death
Substitution! Substitution,
How do you feel In regard to that seen
described in the text, and in the regiol
round about the text2 Are your sympa
thies arousedf or are you so dead in sin
and SO abandoned by reason Of you
transgressions that you can look upon al
that fearless and unmoved? No, no
there are thousands of people here thi
morning who can say in the depths 0
their soul: mo, no, no; if Jesus en-
iured that, and all that for me, l ough
10 love him. / must love him, vii
bve him, do love him. Here, Lord,
give myself to thee; tits all that
can do"
But how are yos going to test you
love, and test your earnestness9, My tex
gives test. It says that while Chris
carried cross for you, you must be will
ing to carry cross for Christ. "Well,
you say, Il never could understan
that. There are no crosses to be carrie,
in this land; those prosecutions hav
passed, and in all the land there is no on
to be crucifed, and yet in the pulpit an
in the prayer meetings you all keep talk
ing about carrying cross. What d
you mean, sir?" l mean this: THAI is
cross which Christ calls you to do, whicl
Is unpleasant and hard. "Oh," you say
''after hearing the story of this Chris
and all that he has endured for me, / an
ready to do anything for him. Just tel
me what / have to do and III do it.
am ready to carry any cross"
Suppose should ask you at the clos
of religious service to rise up announc
ing yourself ON the Lords side-coul
you do itq "Ohi no., you say, al hav
a shrinking and a sensitive nature, an
it would be impossible for me to ris
before large assemblage, announcin
myself on the Lords side." Just as
feared. You cannot stand that cross
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