The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-07-25
REV. DIR. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S SUN
DAY SERMON.
Subject: "Sour Experiences" Doliv
cred at Chicago, ILL.,

was dying. Persons IN cruclhctlOn often lin
gered on from day to day-crying, begging,
years of maltreatment. Pillowless, poorly fed
hogged-as bent over and tied to 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,
nauseated, feverish-a world Of agony is
: compressed in the two words: II thirst!"
o skies of Judea, let drop Of rain strike on
His burning tongue. @, world, with rolling
rivers, and sparkling lakes, and spraying
fountains, give Jesus something to drink: II
there be any pity in earth, or heaven, or hell,
let it now be 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 cruci6xion-a powerful oPlate
to deaden the pain; but Christ would not
take it. He wanted to die sober, and 80 He
: refused the wine. But afterward they go to
! q cup Of vinegar and soak 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 an eneesthetic, and intended
to relieve or deaden the pain. But the vine
gar was an insult. I am disposed to adopt
the theory Of the old English commentator,
who believed that instead OF It's being an
opiate to soothe, it was vinegar to insult.
Malaga and Burgundy for grand dukes and
duchesses, and costly wines from royal rats
for bloated imperials; but singing acids for
dying Christ. He took the vinegar.
In some lives the saccharine seems to pre-.
dominate Life is sunshine on bank OF
flowers A thousand hands to clap approval.
In December or in January, looking across
their tables, 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 disappointments Of life
gravel in almost every shoe. An Arabian
legend says that there was worm IN Solo,
mons staff, gnawing its strength away; and
there is weak spot in every earthly support
that man leans on. King George, of Eng.
land, forgot all the grandeurs Of bis throne
because, one day in an interview, Beau Bum
nell called him by his first name name
crying: George, ring the bell"
Miss Langdon, honored all the. world
over for her poetic genius, is so worried over
the evil reports set ahoat 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 that
all that want and contempt could bring to it
then, is there formidable in jail!" Correg-
gios fine painting is hung up for tavern
sign. Hogarth cannot sell his best paintings
except through a rattle. Andrew Delsart
makes the great frescoe in the Church OF the
Annunciata at Florence, and gets for pay
sack of corn; and there are annoyances and
yexations in high places as we'll as in low
places, showing that in a great many lives
the sours are greater than the sweets. when
Jesus therefore had received the vinegar"
It is absurd to suppose that man who has
ALWAYS been well can Sympathlze with those
who are sick; or that one who has always
been honored can appreciate the sorrow or
those who are despised; or that one VINO has
been born to goeat fortune can understand
the distress and the straits of those who are
destitute. The fact that Christ Himself,
took the vinegar, makes Him aple TO SYM
psthize to-day and forever with all those
whose cup is filled with sharp acids OF this
life. He took the vinegar.
In the first place, there is the sourness OF
betrayal The treachery Of Judas hurt
Christ's, feelings more than all the friendship
of His disciple did Him good. You have
had many friends; but there was one friend
upon whom VOC put especial stress. You
feasted him. You loaned him money. You
befriended him in the dark passes OF life, when
he especially needed friend. Afterward he
+, turned upon you, and he took advantage OF
YOU. He talked against you. He microsco-
pized your faults. He flung contempt at you
when you ought to have received nothing but
gratitude At first, you could not sleep at
3iehts. Then you went about with sense Of
having been stung. That difficulty will
never be healed, for though mutual frlenas
may arbitrate in the matter until you shall
come back. Now, l commend to all such the
sympathy Of 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 be-
trayal 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 dieteticss,
you Continue to this time; but, o, the head
aches, and the sideaches, and the backaches,
and the heartaches which have been your
accompaniment all the way through! You
have strugg ed under a heavy mort
gage of -. physical disal ilites, and in
stead off the placidity that once char.
acterized you, it is now only with great
effort that you keep away from irritability
Of digestion, Of locomotion, make up the
great obstacle in your life, and you tug and
sweat along the pathway. and wonder
when the exhaustion will end. MY
friends, the brightest crowns in heaven will
not be given to those who, in stirrupS,
dashed to the cavalry charge, while the
general applauded, and the sound of clashlng
sabres rang through the land; but the
brightest crowns in heaven, believe,
will be given to those who trudged on
amid chronic ailments which unnerved
their strength, yet all the time main
tanning their faith in God. 1t is
comparatively easy to fight in regiment OF
thousand men, charging upon the parapets
to the sound of martial music; butlt IS not so
EASY to endure when no one but the nurse
and the doctor are the witnesses of the
Christian fortitude Besides that you never
aad any pains worse than Chrlst's Inc
sharpnesses that stung through His BRAIN
through His hands, throug ID His feet, through
His heart, were as great as yours certainly.
He was az sick and as weary Not nerve,
Or muscle, or igament escaped. All the
oangs of all the nations OF all the ages COM
pressed into one sour cup. He took the vine
gar
There IS also the sourness of poverty. Your
income does not meet your outgolngS, ana
that always gives an honest man anxiety,
There is no sign of destitution about you
for you; but God only knows what time
you have had to manage your private
finances. Just as the bills run up.
the wages seem to run down; But
gou are not the only one who has
uot been paid for hard work. The great
Wilkie sold his celebrated piece, ''The Blind
Fiddler" for fifty guineas, although after
ward it brought its thousands. The world
bangs in admiration over the sketch of
Gainsborough. yet that very sketch hung for
years in the shop window because
Goldsmith sold his "Vicar of Wake
6eldn for a few pounds in order to
keep the bailiff out of the door; and the vast
IL in, oM arnd