Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1888-06-16

coin on the ground. say ing: "Who shall
have the coat?' Nnc yuilian says: 81
have il, | have tit : mine He roll>
il up and puts il under his arm. or he ex.
amincs II to see what fabric il is made of.
Then they put the cross upon the ground,
and they stretch Christ upon il. and fou,
or five men hold Him down while they
drive the spikes home, at every thump a
groan, Alas! Alas. the hour passes OH
and the time comes when they must cru
city Him.
Christ has only one garment left now,
a cap, q cap Of thorns. No danger tina,
1t viii fall of, for the sharp edges have
%puncturod The temples and it is sure and
fast, One rutiian takes mold Of the short
beam of the cross, and another ruiiian
puts his arms around tn 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
10 the hole diggcd in the earth, and with
awful plunge ii jars down with its bur
den of woe. 1t is not the picture Of
a Christ, it is not the statue of "A Christ,
as o sometimes see in IA cathedral; but
it is the body of a bleeding, living dying
Christ.
They sometimes say He had five
wounds, bat they have counted wrong.
Two wounds for the hands, two wOun9s
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 bramblc on OF
which that crown of thorns was made?
| saw one on a Brooklyn Ecrryhoat, IN the
hands Of a gentleman who had Just re
s..-l r.. b1..s,n h. 1yan,lln- inst
like that out Of which the crown Of
thorns was made. OH 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 cannot count them.
There were three q. four absences that
made the scene worse. First, there was
the absence of water. The climate was
hot, the fever. the inflammation, the ncr-
you proslrati0n, The gangrene had seized
upon Him, and He terribly wanted
water. His wounds were worse than
gunshot fractures, and yet no wafer. n
Turk in the thirteenth century, was cruel
fed on the banks of a river SO that the
sight OF the water might tantailZc HIM.
And O, how the thirst Of Christ must
have been tantali2ed as lie thought of the
Euphrates and the Jordan and the Anna
ION and all the fountains Of earth and
Heaven poured out Of His own hand.
They offered Him an Intoxicating draught
made out of wine and myrrh, but He de
clincd it. He wanted To die sober. No
water,
thcn, my friends, there was the absence
Of light. Darkness always cXasperatcs
tronblc. ! never shall forget the night
in the summer Of 1878, in the steamer
Greece, mid Atlantic, every moment cX-
pccting the steamer to go down. All the
lights in the cabin were blown out, The
captain came crawling in on his hands
and knees, for he could not stand upright,
SO violently was the vessel pitching, and
he cried out: Light up, light up TIE
steward said: eve can't light up; the
candles are zone and the holders are
gone" The cap'ain said: 81 cant help
that. light upr' The storm was awful
when the lights were burning, worse
when the light went out.
Then there was the absence Of faithful
nurses. When You are i'll, ii is pleasant
To have the head bathcd and Tie hands
and feet rubbed. Look at the hands and
feet of Christ, look at the face Of Christ.
There were women there who cared for
the sick, but none0f them might come Up
near enough 10 help. There was Christs
mother. but she might rot come up near
enough to help. They said; stand
back, stand back; this is no place for
you" The high priests and the soldiers
wanted il their own way; they had it
their " way.
The hours pass on and it is twelve
o'clock of the Saviour's suffering. and It
is one o'clock, and it is two o'clock, and
il is al most three o'clock. Take the last
look at that suffering face; wan and
pinchcd, the purple lips drawn back
against the teeth, the eyes red with weep
ing and sunken as through grief had
pushed them back, blackness under the
lower lid, the whole body adroop and
shivering with the last chill, the breath
growing feebler and fecblcr until He
gives one long, deep, last sigh. He is
dead!
O. my soul. He is dead. Can YOU tell
why? Was He a fanatic dying for a
principle that did not amount toanything?
Was He a man infatuated? No; to save
yoursoul from sin. and NINE, and make
eternal life possible He died. There had
TO be a substitute for sin. Who shall it
be? Let it be me- said Christ, "let it
be me" You understand the meaning
Of that word substitution. You were
drafted for the last war; some one took
y0ur place, marched your march, suffered
YOUR wounds, and died at Gettysburg,
Christ comes to us while we are fighting
our battle with s'n and death and hell,
and he is our SO ~ .tutc. He marches
our march. fights our battle, suffers our
wounds. and dies our death. Substitu.
ton! Substitution
How do you feel in regard to that scene
described in the text. aud in the region
around about the text? Are your sym
pathies aroused? or are you SO dead in
sin, and so abandoned by reason Of your
transgressions that YOU can look upon all
That fearless and unmoved. No, no;
there are thousands Of people here this
morning who can say in the depths of
their soul: No. no., no; if Jesus endured
that, and all that for me, | ought to love
Him. must love Him, will love Him.
| do love Him. Here, Lord, | give my
self to Thee; It's all that | can do"
But how are you gong 10 test your love,
and test your earnestncss? My text gives
n text. 1t says that while Christ carried