National Republican., 1888-06-04
THESCARSOF THE CONFLICT.
REV. Il. DEWITT TALMAGE'S
SUNDAY SERMON.
On the Great Judgment Day All the
Martyrs VIII Show the Scars Re
ccived in the Battle for Christ ana
Religion.
BRooKLYN, June 3.--The congregation at the
Tabernacle sang this morning:
I'd sing the precious blood lie split
NV ransom from the dreadful guilt.

bcr OF persons joined the Churcn, making tne
communicant membership four thousand one
hundred and ninetyfour But this is only
part of the great attendance that Sunday
mornings and evenings overflow the immense
audience room The Rev. T. De witt Talmage,
d. D., took for his text the passage, whose
ever doth not bear his cross and come after Nc
cannot be My disciple" Luke, xiv e. He
preached the following sermon:
The cross was gbbet on which criminals
were put to death II was sometimes made |
in the shape of the letter T, sometimes In the |
shane of the letter y, sometimes In the shape |
OF the letter Ia simple upright; sometimes |
cross pieces AGAINST Re sse Se
criminal partially sat. But whatever the
style of cross, II was ALWAYS diseraceful and |
always agoniZing
hundred captives 90 death on the cross. When
Alexander conquered Tyre he put two thou.
sand captiyes to death on the cross. Soft was
Just an ordinary mode of punishment. But IN
all the forest of crosses on the hills and In the
valleys of the earth, there is one cross that
attracts more attention than any other, II Is
not higher than the others, II is not made out
of different wood, there Is nothing peculiar IN
the notch at which the, two pieces are Joined,
and as to the scene, they, witnessed cruciiix.
man walking about the hill and kicking care
lessly aside u skull, and wondering who the
villain was that had so Nat and misshapon
the hillside Is another skull. Indeed, the Bible
says II was "a place of skulls" But about
the victim on one of these crosses all ages are
crying: "Who Is heI was He q mann was He
Gods was He man and God ~
Through the darkness of that gloomy day, i
come close up enough to cross to see who "
Is. IL Is Jesus. How did he come thereS Had
he come up on the top pof the hill look off upon
the beautiful landscape, or upon brilliant
sunsetY No. He came there i'll and exhausted.
People sometimes wonder why Christ expired
IN m hours.
while other victims have been on the cross
for forty.eight hours before life was extinct.
when lie came there lie had been scourged.
We are horrihed at the cruelties of the whip
pngpost, but those cruelties were mercy as
compared with the scoursins of Jesus
saw at Antwerp picture made by Rubens
-Rubcns's picture OF the scourging of Jesus
Christ ltwas the most oyermastering picture
hid the the picture, there lie was-..Christ with
back bent and barred The flagellator stood
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 relief Of bleeding. There was the
flesh adhcring to the whips as they were lifted.
There were the marks where the knots IN the
whips gouged out the flesh. There stood the
of the Saviour, balancing himself. o! the
furious ard hellish look on those faces, grin.
ming vengeance against the Son OF God. The
seemed as il IL would kill me. | do not think
! could have looked at 1t five minutes and
have lived.
started for Calvary. That was only the whip
ping. Are you ready for your journey to the
CrossY
The carpenters have split the timber into
two pieces. They are heavy and they are
long pieces, for one of them must be fastened
deep down in the earth lest the struggling OF
the victim upset the structure; They put this
timber upon the shoulder of Christ very grad
ually, first, to see whether lie can stand II,
and after they find lie can stand II they put
the whole weight, upon Him; Forward, now,
follow on. Under the weight of the cross;
Christ being weary and sick. He stumbles and
falls, and they jerk at Ills robe indignant that
lie should have stumbled and fallen, and they
cry: "Get up, get ub!'' Christ, putting one
hand on the ground and the other hand on the
cross rises, looking into the face of Mary, His
ee bofS r psse PSt tSes S
back and stop this crying" -
Christ moves on with burden burr upon Ills
few nails. wonder what they are for. Christ
moves on until the burden is so great lie
staggers and falls fiat into the dust and faints
| and shakes Him as he would a dead dog,
| while another rufiian looks down at Him Won
| dering whether lie has tainted away, or
|
| and with jeer and contempt indescl b.a5lc says:
"Fainted, have you! Tainted! Get up, get
onr'
| hill. of with His clothes. Shall that loath.
some mob look upon the unrobed body of
| Christ? Yes The commanding officers say
ht the gd taSe aans on mi 1he brnr GGst
| the coat, for here are the gamblers tossing up
coin on the ground, saying; Who shall have
she sH2e e9at & is @se 1Rs f"1h liz Tos up anG puts
II under his arm, or he examines 1t to see what
fabric It is made Of. Then they put the cross
upon the ground and they stretch Christ upon
they drive the spikes home, at every thump a
| groan, groan. Alas! Alas the hour passes
on and the time comes when they must cruelty
Him.
Christ has only one garment left now q cap
cap of thorns No danger that 1t Will fall
off. for the sharp edges have punctured the
temples and II is sure and fast. One rntiiar
takes hold of one end Of the short beam of the
cross, and another ruilian takes hold of tht
other end of the short beam of the cross, and
another ruflian put his arms around the waist
Of Christ, and another rufiian takes hold Of
the end of the long beam of the cross and
altogether they move on until they come tt
the hole digged IN the EARTH ana WIN a avn
Is not the picture of Christ, II Is not tht
statue of a Christ, as You sometimes see in {
cathedral, but i Is the body of bleeding
They Sometimes say He had five wounds
but they have counted wrong. Two wounds
for the hands, two wounds for the feet, on'
wound for the side, they say, five wounds
No, they have missed the worst and they hav'
missed the most. Did you ever see the braun
Bile out of which that crown OF thornS wa
madeS saw one on a Brooklyn ferry boat
In the hands of gentleman who had Just re
turned from Palestine, n bramble Just lik'
that out of which the crown OF thorns wa
the thorns And when that cap of thorn
was put upon Christ and 1t was pressed dow
upon Him, not five wounds, but ten, twenty
thrty--I cannot count them.
that scene worse. First, there was the ab
sence Of water. The climate was hot, IN
fever, the Inflammation, the nervous prostrt
He terribly wanted water. His wounds wcr
worse than gunshot fractures, and yet n
water. A Turk In the thirteenth century wa
crucihed on the banks of river so that tn
sight of the water might tantalize him. An
O, how the thirst of Christ must have tanta
lied as lie thought Of the Euphrates and III
Jordan and the Amazon and all the fountain
of earth and heaven poured out of His ow
hand. They offered lin an intoN catin
draught made out of wine and myrrh, but II
declined II. lie wanted to die sober. y
Then, my friends, there was the absence q
light. Darkness always eNaSpCrateS trouble
never shall forget the night In the summc
of 1873, in the steamer Greece, mid-Atlanti'
every moment expecting the steamer TO Z
down. All the lights In the cabin were blow
| OUT IHt thllllu Nhlllt NTuNllHe pH MS manu-
and knees, FOR he could not stand upright, $
violently was the vessel pitching, and he erie
out; Light up, light up!' The steward saiC
Eve can't light up; the candles are gone an
the holders are gone " The captain said:
, can't help that light up" The storm wa
awful when the lights, were burning wor'
when the lights went ont
Then there was the absence Of tho faithfl
nurses, when you are III, II is pleasant
have the head bathed and the hands and fo,
rubbed. Look al the hands and feet of Chris
I look at the face of Christ, There We're womt
there who had cared for the sick, but none
81. them might come up near, enough TO hel
1 There was Christ's mother, but she might n,
I come up near enough to help, They sal
"Stand back, stand back; this is no place f
you The high priests and the sOldic
wanted II their own way, and they had II the
! own way. %,