Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-06-04
Tia Ancient Mode Of Capital Punish
msnt--The Snaps and Con-
struction Of the Cross.
>, gas an Ordinary M5ds Of Punish
s.ut Ia OIdan Timer, but Always
nIsgrsctfui aud AgeniZ!ng.
s,rsy,ngs Endured By Christ to Save
the world, and Those he ASKS
Us to Endarc.
urHE ASSASSINATION. )"

pgnoxLYN, N. Y, June 8 The con-
-.,,t,on at the Tabernacle sang this
corning
NJ ransom from the dreadful gailt.''
This IS sscrsmentsI Gay, and large
.rn,ber Of persons j0iued the church,
-,Iiug the communicate membership
Tol But this is only part OF the great
.,,endsnce that Sunday mornings and
Jennings oveIfi Nv the immense audience
.oom, The Rgv. T. Dewitt Talmage, D.
n TOOK for his text the passage: "Who-
.oavsr doth NOT bear his cross and come
tier Me, cannot be My disciple. Luke,
T,y: u. He then preached the following
The croqs wss 8 gibbet on which crlmi-
I'D we're put to death. 1t was some
ines made in the shape Of the letter T,
.omet!mes in the shape OF the letter \ :,
.9meumes in the slepe OF the letter Ia
simple uprigh'; sometimes two cross
njeces sgsinst ina perpendicular bar, SO
hat upon the lower cross piece the Grim
,n,l partially sat. But whatever the style
NJ me cross, i: was always disgraceful
ard sl9sys agonizing.
when Darius conquered Babylon, he
nus TWO hundred esptlves to death on the
syoss. When Alexander Conquered Tyre
he %. two thousand csptives to death on
the Cross. So it was just an ordinary
mode Of punishment. But in all the for
at Of crosses on tns hills and in the val
Isys Of the esrth, there is one cross that
,ttrscts more attention than any other.
Tislot higher than the Others, 1t is not
made out of different wood, there
"a nothing peculiar in the notch at which
tie TWO pieces are joined, and as 70 the
,cene. they witnessed crucifXions every
few weeks, so that gee reckless man
waking about the hill and kicking care
lessly aside skull, and wondering who
the william was that had
so FLAl AND NIssHAPEE
head and here Is another skull, and
there on the hillside is another skull. In
deed, the Bible says it WAS "a place Of
skulls" But shout the victim on one OF
these crosses ali ages are crying: "Who
s he? was he man? Wss he God? wss
Hesman and G0G?"
Through the darkness of that gloomy
dsY, come cIose up enough to the cross
10 see VINO II is. II is Jesus. How did
he come there? Had He come up on the
TOP OF the hill to look eff upon the beau
tiiul landscape, or upon brilliant sun
SET? No. He came there Ill and exhaust
ed, People sometimes wonder why
C1FAt expired so quickly on the cross, in
six or seven hours, while other victims
ha {OhS
hours before life was extinct. 1 will tell
you the reason. he was exhausted when
BE came there. He had been scourged.
We are horriled at the cruelties of the
whipping post, but those cruelties were
mercy IS compared with the scourging of
Jesus Christ.
saw at Antwerp 8 picture made by
Ru0ens-Ruben's picture Of the scourg-
ing Of Jesus Christ. It Was the most over
mastering picture ever looked at, or
ever expect to see. As the long-frocked
Official opened'the door that hid the pic
ture, there He Was-Christ with back
bent and barred. The fagellator stood
with the upper teeth clenched over the
lower lip, as though to give violence to
the blows. There were the swollen
shoulders Of Christ. There were the
black and blue ridges, denied even the re-
LEI Of bleeding. There was the flesh
idlerng to the whips IS they
were lifted. There were the marks
Where the knots in the whips gouged ont
the hesh. There stood the prosecutor,
with his foot on the cal: of the leg of the
Savior, balancing himself. o! the fur
lous and hellish look on those faces,
gfinning vengeance sgsinst the Son OF
Tod. The picture seized me, 1t over
saelmed me; it seemed IS II 1t would
I'll! ne. do not think l could have
locked st 1t I've MINUTES and have lived.
But that, my frlends, was before Christ
hAd started for Calvary. That WAS only
me whipping. Are you ready for your
journey TO the cross?
The carpenters have split the timber
INTO two pieces. They are heavy and
they are long pisces, for one of them
nus! De fastened deep down in the earth
les.
The STRUGGLING CT THE VICTIM
Upset. the structure. Trey put this tim
Der upon the shoulder Of Christ very
gradually, first, % see whether He can
stand it, and after thsy find He can stand
!, they pus the whole weight upon Him.
FofTasd now, 70 Calvary. The hooting
and the yelling mob follow on. Under
Tie weight OF tae c-oss, Christ being
weary ard sick, He stumbles and falls,
Nd they jerk a. His robe indignant that
de should have stumbled and fsllep, and
tney cry: "Get up, get up" Christ,
putting one hand on the ground and the
CHER hand on the cross, rises, locking
INTO the face Of Mary, His mother, for
sympathy; but they tell her to stand back,
IS 10 place for woman-"S.and back
AID stop this crying"
Christ moves on with His burden upon
bis shoulders, and there is boy tha,
passes slong with Him, boy holding q
Msi!et and few nails. l wonder what
itasy are for. Christ moves on until the
burden is SO great He s:aggers and falls
aat INTO the aust and taints dead away,
ana fufiisn puts his foot on Him and
snakes him as he would a dead dog,
Vile spother ruffi&n looSs down st
aim wondering whether He has tainted
away or whether He is only pretending
% iaiut away, sid With ieer and contempt
.auescribable ssys: "Fainted, have you?
Ainted! get up, get on!"
Now, they have arrived st the foot OF
!9e nil. OF with his clothes. Shall
mat losthsome mob look upon the IN
tooed BODY OF Ch,isi? Yes. The con-