The morning times., 1896-12-07
THIS LIFE AND ITS ACIDS
DR.. TaImage Finds That Christ
Tasted of Them ALI.
HE CAN THUS BRING PEACE
Eloquent Description Of the Cruel
fixion and the Presentation OF
the Vinegar-Sorrows Which
Come With Bereavement and
Betrayal.


Rev. I Dewitt Talmage preached at
Tt First Presbyterian Church yesterday
on The Acids of This Life lie took for
his text, John xix:3o: wv hen Jesus, there
fore, had received the Vinegar" He said
in part:
The brigands OF JerusaIemhad donetheir
work. Ii was almost SHUTDOWN, and Jesus
was dying. Persons in crucifixion often
linger onfron dayt o day-cryin begging
and CursIng; but Christ bid been exhausted
by years OF maltreatmcnt. PlllOwless, poor
ly fed, flogged-as bent over and tied TO a
low post, his bare back was infiamed with
the scourees intensified with pieces of lead
and bone-and now for whole hours, the
weight orhiS body hung NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
and, according TO custom, violent stroke
under the armpits had been given by the
eXecutiOner. Dizzy, swuoninG, nauseated,
feverish-a world of agony is compressed in
the Two words, l thirst
20 skies OF Judea, let drop of rain
strike on his burning tongue! . world,
with rolling rivers and sparkling lakes, and
spraying fountains, give Jesus something
TO drink! If there be any pity in earth, or
heaven, or hell, let ii now be demonstrated
in behalf OF this royal sufferer. Thewealthy
women of Jerusalem used To have q fund
OF money with which they provided wine
forthose who observation-disclosures powerful
opiate to deaden the pain but Christ would
not take it. He wanted to die sober, and
so he refused the wine.
But afterward they go to cup of
vinegar, and soak a sponge in IL, and put
II on stick of hyssup, and then press il
against the hot lips of Christ You say the
wine was an anaesthetic, and intended TO
relieve or deaden the pain But the vinegar
Vas an insult. l am disposed to adopt the
theory OF the cid English commentators,
who believed that instead OF its being an
opiate u sUothe, IL was vinegar to insult.
Malaga and burgundy for grand dukes and
duchesses, and costly wines from royal
watts for bluated iInperials; but singing
acids for a dying Christ. He took the
vinegar.
SWEET pREDOMINATES.
In some lives the saccharine seems to
predominant. Life Is sunshine on Il bank
OF flowers. 4 thousand hands to clap
approval. In December or in January.
looeHg across their table, they see all
their family present. Health rubicund.
Skies flaniboyant. Days resilient. But
IN great many cases there are not 50
many sugars as acids. The annoyances,
and the vCNatlonS, and the disappuintments
OF life OyerpOwer the successes. There
Is a gravel ia almost every shoe. An
Arabian legend SAYS that there was q
worm in Solomon's staff, gnawing its
strength away; and there is a weak spot
in every. earthly support that man
leans on.
king George OF Engla nd forgot al the
Grandcurs Of his throne because, 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 all the
world over for her poetic genius, is so
worried with the evil reports set float
regarding her, that she Is found dead
with an empty bottle OF prussic acid in
Her hand. Goldsmith said that his life
was a wretcf1vd being, and that ali that
want and contempt could bring to it
had been brought, and cries out: What
then, i there formidable in a jail?' Cor
rc@giO's fine painting is hung up for a
tavern sign HugarLn ca mot sell lis
best paintings except through a rattle
Andrew DelSart makes the great fresco
iu the church Of the AEnunciata, at Flor
enCc Az gets for pay sack OF corn
ana there ale anBoyanceS and yeXations
in high places as wen as in low places,
showing that in a great many lives the
ssgrS are greater than the sweets. When
jcSns, therefore, had received the vine
gar
III Is ABSURD 10 suppose that man who
has always been well can sympathiZe
with those WHO are SICK; or that one who
has always been honored can appreciate
the sorrow OF those who are despiscd; or
that one WHO has been born to great
fortune can understand the distress and
the straits OF those who are destitute
The fact that Christ himself took the
vinegar makes him able to sympathiZe
today and forever with all those whose
cup is filled with sharp acids of this
life. He took the vinegar