Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-04-01
FIFTH LENTEN discourse
OF RI. REV. BISHOP DONAHUE
At THE CATHEDRAL
On 1.-THE Wounds Of Christ's Body.
Rev. jeremiah Engle's Sermon
at the Zane Street Church.

ten sermons to an overlooking congre-
CATION, filling every foot Of space,
both pews and aisles, in St Joseph's
Cathedral. He took as mis- text Isaiah
chap. l, Sc: From the sole of the foot
unto the top Of the head, there is no
Isoundness therein; wounds and bruises
and swelling sores; they are not
bound up, nor dressed nor fOmented
with oil"
It is impossible to give more than
the heads of the discourse, which &C.
cupied nearly an hour in delivery, and
was listened to with unnagging atten-
ton. The Bishop spoke OF the in
sumciency OF the Olden sacrifices
which Injured only to exterior jusJitica-
ton. Sacrifices and oblations thou
wouldst not, then behold l come
He dwelt upon the divine origin on
the one side. and on the other the
lspotless purity Of the blood that flowed
in Christ's veins. 1t was a body fash
toned for suffering. united 10 a soul the
noblest human work Of God. An eX-
/ quisite, delicate, virginia. body OF
sensitiveness TO PAIN which we can
hardly comprehend A god became
man to suffer with the royal love and
( largess. of divinity. to pour forth his
/ blood in a red tide, and TO feel in
every member eXCruciating pangs. he
passed for the present his interior SUI
/ ferings, as also the mysterious bloody
sweat, and began with the scourging
| at the pillar. All readers Of the sacred
/ books know of the antiquity Of this
/ form of punishment. In Deuteronomy
chap. 20. we read that III the offender
/ be worthy of stripes. they shall lay
| him down and shall cause him to be
beaten. According to the measure OF
| the sins shall the measure also y the
stripes be: yet so that they exceed not
the number OF forty, lest thy brother
depart shamefully torn before thy
eyes
/ In Roman times there was the Fla
Igrum-one heavy lash like the modern
/ Russian knout-and there was the
/ Flagellum or scourge proper, consist
/ ing of several thinner cords, often, as
we read in the Acts of the Martyrs.
weighed down and interviewer with
I
could be scOurged with the Flageilum,
1 though he could be beaten with rods.
| The scOUrge. which Horace calls the
horrible scOurge,' was the torture OF
slaves. There was no limit except
often death TO the number Of stripes.
Experts could stand Off and tear the
flesh piecemeal from the frame, turn
ing the victim to make the faying
complete. Such was the punishment
Of Christ. There was no stint of men
or strokes All through the night, till
gray dawn. they piled their lusty
arms, taking turns when wearied, till
there was not a fingers breadth of the
white, virginia., Quiyering flesh un-
wounded They stood on a raised
platform to gain more sweep and pur-
chase. The number of the strokes was
about six thousand. Long before the
close must the Lamb Of God have sunk
/ in death but that il was foreordained
/ he must die the death OF the cross,
| Long before they put the ch1amys
upon his shoulders the eTsiwhilc
/ beautiful one was Tobed from shoulder
to heel in the royal garment of His
sacred blood Thus was the innocent
| of our guilty crimes of the flesh. All
we like sheep have gone astray every
one into his own path, and he bore the
| iniquities of rs all, Great though the
number of the stripes, there was not
one for each Of our grievOus sins OF
| SeuSuality. If we but scourged our
/ bodies and scoWged our hearts as the
saints of Old if we like St Paul bore
upon us some of the wounds of the
Crucifed one. what a change, what q
revolution in cur livesl
Next the speaker treated of the
crowning with thOrns-long, llinty
| thorns. sixty in number. according 10
/ st. Anselm. but by change and re-
| placing producing hundreds of
Wounds Like the teeth of wild
| beasts. they tore through the skin,
/ penetrated almost to the brain and
transfXed the eyelids so that by
/ glances he could provoke no pity or
relentinC. With staff and reed and
spear the thorns were driven home
/ till the blood ooZed from every point,
and the prophecy Of Isaiah's was then
/ literally fulfilled. "From the sole of
the foot unto the top Of the head there
| is no soundness therein; wounds and
bruises and swelling sorest'
Next, in vivid phrase, the Right
| Rev Bishop described the cross larger
than ordinary fifteen feet long
trailing along over the rocky accliv-
| ity. constituting the way Of the cross
to Golgotha. some three-ffths of a
mile from Pilates judgment hall, and
at each Jolt digging deeper the wound
of the right shoulder. Thrice he fell
heavily. The Lamb Of God willingly
laid himself down upon the altar of
sacrifice in that same spot where the
bones of the first Adam repOsed after
his goo years Of heroic penance. and as
that first Adam at the sixth hour,
stretched forth his right hand to grasp
knowledge and power and God-head.
so the second Adam stretched forth
| his hand to receive the cruel nail in
precipitation. BY miscalculation. or
of malice afOrethOught. the spaces be-
tween the nails was much too wide
but the brutal Roman soldier, kneel-
inc upon the sacred breast dragged
the left arm by main force till it was
dislocated. but the Quiyering victim
made no moan.
cannot attempt any account Of
the three hours agony, the gradually
waning strength and especially the
feverish. eXcrUciadns thirst. Let us
look upon him whom We have pierced.
Let him fulfill in our hearts his low
ing purpose Of being lifted up so as TO
draw all things TO him. His cross is
an altar. but a pulpit, too, and he
Infinitely the greatest preacher the
world has seen. He calls us to him
10 rest and find mercy beneath the
shadow Of the cross. Is there one