New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-07-18
SOUR EXPERIENCES.
That the Subject of Rev. nr. TaImages, Ser.
mon to Hinge Congregation at Chicago.

~
from a tour of the Chautauquas in Missouri
and Kansas. The doctor had an enormous
audience. His subject was ssSour Experien.
ees, and his text: When Jesus therefore
had received the yinegar..-John XIX, 80.
The sermon was as follows:
The brigands. of Jerusalem had done their
work. 1t was almost sundown and Jesus
was dying. Persons on crucifxion often lin
gered on from day to day-crying. begging.
cursing; but Christ had been exhausted by
years ofmaltreatment Pillowless, poorlyfed,
hogged-as bent over and tied to a low post
His bare back was infamed with the scourges
1nterstlced with pieces of lead and bone
and now for whole hours the weight of His
body hung on tendons and, according to
custom, O violent stroke under the arr1pits
had been given by the executioner Dizzy,
sWoonlng, nauseated, feverish-a world of
agonyis compressed in the two words: II
thirst, y skies of Judea, let drop of rain
strike on His burning tongue o world. with
rolling rivers, and sparkling lakes, and spray
ing fountains, give j. sus something to drink
II there De any pity in earth, or heaven. or
hell, let 1T now be demonstrated in behalf of
this royal sufferer. The wealthy women of
Jerusalem used to have q fund of money
with which they provided wine for those
people who died in crucifxion-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
afterWaad they go to a cup of vinegar and
soak sponge in it, and put it on stick of
hysop, and then press it against the hot lips
OF Christ You say the wine was an anes-
thetlc, and intended to relieve or deaden the
pam But the vinegar was an insult. I am
disposed to adopt the theory of the old En-
ghsh commentators, who believed that in
stead Gifts being an opiate to sooth it was
= vinegar to insult Malaga and Burgundy
for grand dukes and duchesses, and costly
wines from royal watts for bloated imperials;
but singing acids for d 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 APP
prevail In December or in January, looking
across their table, they see all their family
present Health rubicund. Skies iamboy-
ant. Days resilient. But in q great many
cases there are not so many sugars as acids.
The annoyances, and the vexations, and the
disappointment life overpower the sue
cesses. There is gravel in almost every
shoe An Arabian legend says that there
was worm IN Solomon>s staff, knawing it's
strength away; and there is weak spot in
every earthly support that a man leans on.
King George of England forgot all the
one day in an interview, Beau
Brummell called him by his first name and
addressed him as a servant crying, George,
ring the bell!'' Miss Langdon, honored ali
the world over for her poetic genius, is so
worried over the evil reports set afoat re
garding her, that she is found dead, with an
empty bottle of prussic acid in her hand.
goldsmith said that his life was a wretched
being, and that all that want and contempt
could bring to it had been brought, and cries
out: What, then, is there formidable in
la1l?" Correggio's fine painting is hung up
for tavern sign. Hogarth cannot sell his
best paintings except through a rattle An
drew Delsart makes the great fresco in the
church OF the Annunciata, at Florence, and
gets for pay sack ofcorn; and there are
annoyances 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 had received
the vinegar" e
1t is absurd to suppose that man who
has always been well can sympathize with
those who are sick; or ths+ che who has al
ways been honored can appreciate the
sorrow OF those who are despised; or
that one who has been born to 81
great fortune can understand the dis
tress and the straits of those who are
destitute. The fact that Christ Himself took
the vinegar makes Him able to sympathize
to-day and forever with all those whose cup
is filled with sharp acids of this life He took
the vinegar!
betrayal. Thetreachery Judas hurt Christ's
feelings more than all the friendship of His
disciples hid Him good. You have had MANY
friends; but there was one friend upon whom
you put especial stress. You feasted him.
You loaned him money. You befriended
him in the dark passes of life, when he espe-
cially needed friend. Afterward he turned
upon you, and he took adyan-
tage of your former intinacies. He
wrote against you. He talked against Won.
He microscopized your faults He flung con
tempt at you when you ought to have re-
ceived nothing but gratitude At first, you
could not sleep at nights Then you went
about with a sense of having been stung.
That difficulty will never be healed for though
mutual friends may arbitrate in the matter
until you shall shake hands the old cordiaIity
will never come back. Now commend to all
such the sympathy ola betrayed Christ Why,
they sold him for less than our twenty dollars.
They all forsook Him, and fed. They chi,
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 a well
day for many years. By keeping out of
draughts, and by carefully studying diete-
tics, you continue to this time; but o, the
headaches, and the sideaches and the back
aches, and the heartaches which have been
your accompaniment all the way through
You have struggled under heavy mortgage
of physical disabilities; and instead of the
placidity that once characterized you, it is
uOW Oily Will great eHOFU CudU YOU Keep
away from irritability and sharp retort
Difficulties of respiration, of digestion. Of
Iocomotion, makeup 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 mot be given to those who, in stirrups
dashed to the cavalry charge, while the gen,
eral applauded and the sound of elashing
sabres rang through the land; butthe bright.
est crowns in heaven. / believe will be given
to those who trudged on amid chronic all
ments which unneryed their strength, vet all
the time maintaining their faith in God. IT
is comparatively easy to fight in regiment
of a thousand men, charging up the parapets
to the sound of martial music; but it is not
so easy to endure when no one but the nurse
and the doctor are the witnesses of the Chris
tian fortitude. Besides that Won never
had any pains worse than Christ's.
The sharpness that stung through His
brain, through His hands, through His feet.
through His heart, were as great as yours
certainly. He was as sick and as weary Not
nerve, or muscle, or igament escaped. All
the pangs of all the nations of all the ages
compressed into one sour cup. He took the
ylneoarl