The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1899-03-31
LAST HOUR OF CHRIST
Lessons of Comfort in the Scenes
Found by DR.. Talmage.
Heavens brightest Crowns shall
Adorn the Brows OF Those Who
hear LIES Burdens with
Christian Fortitude.


this sermon draws lessons of comfort
for people in trouble; text, John 1880;
"When Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar
The brgauds of Jerusalem had done
theirw work. II was almost shutdown, and
Jesus was dying. Persons in crUcifiNion
often fingered on from day TO day, cry
ing. begging, cursirg, but Christ had
been exhausted by years of maltreat-
ment. Pillowless, poorly fed, iiogged,
as bent over and tied TO a low post his
bare back was inhamed with the
scourges intensified with pieces of
| lead and bone, and now for whole hours
the weight of his body hung on delicate
| tendons, and. according TO custom, a
violent stroke under the armpits had
been given by the executioner. Dizzy,
nauseated, feverish, a world of agony is
compressed in the two words: Il
thirst" Oh, skies of Judea, let drop
| of rain strike on His burning tongue!
Oh, world, with rolling rivers and
| sparkling lakes and spraying fountains,
give Jesus something TO drink! III
there be any pity in earth or Heaven or
| hell, let il now be demonstrated in be-
half of this royal sufferer.
The wealthy women Of Jerusalem
used TO have a fund of money with
which they provided wine for those
people who died in crucifixion-a pow
erful opiate TO deaden the pain-but
| Christ would not take il. He wanted to
| die sober. and so he refused the wine.
| But afterward they 60 to a cup of vim
egar and soak sponge and put it on a
stick of hyssop and then press it against
the hot lips of Christ. You say the wine
was an anaesthe,ic and intended TO re-
lieve or deaden the pain. But the vine
gar was an insult.
In some lives the saccharine seems to
predominant. Life is sunshine on a
bank of flowers. 4 thousand hands TO
clap approval. In December or in Jan
uary, looking across their table, they
see all their family present Health
rubicund skies famboyant, days re-
silent. But in great many cases there
are not so many sugars as acids. The
cnnoyances and the vexations, and the
disappointing of life overpower the
successes. There is a gravel in almost
every shoe. An Arabian legend says
that there was a worm in Solomon S
staff gnawing its strength away, and
there is a weak spot in every earthly
support that u man leans on. King
xesS.i rferssf "; Ny; eau Hrrmmei caiYec
e him by his first name and addressed
/ him as a servant, crying: George, rinG
the be,l!" Miss Langdon, honored al
! the world over for her poetic genius, j:
so worried over the evil reports SCI
afioat regarding 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
ell that want and contempt could bring
to ii had been brought, and cries out
what, then, is there formidable IN c
jail?' Correggio's fine painting is hung
up for a tavern sign. Hogarth cannot
sell his best painting except through a
rattle. Andrea del Sarto makes the
great fresco i'm the Church of the An
nunciata at Florence and gets for pay
sack OF corn. and there are annoy
ances and vexations in high places as
well as in low places, showing that in a
great many lives are the sours greater
than the sweets. when Jesus there
fore had received the vinegar"
1t is absurd 10 suppose that a man
who has always been well can sympa-
thize with those who are sick, or tina,
one who has always been honored can
appreciate the sorrow Of those who are
despised, or that one who has been born
10 great fortune can understand the
distress and the straits of those who are
destitute. The fact that Christ Himself
took thc vinegar makes Him able to
sympathize to-day and forever with all
those whose cup is filled with the sharp
acids of this life. He took the vine
gar
In the first place, there was the sour
ness OF betrayal. The treachery OF
Judas hurt Christ's fee lings more than
all the friendship of His disciples did
Him good. You have had many friends.
but there was one friend upon whom
you put special stress. You Toasted
him. You loaned him money. You be-
friendcd him in the dark passes of life
| ~ NoP'NiSiis a
Afterward, he turned upon you, and he
took advantage Of your former intima-
cies, He wrote against you. He talked
against you. He microscopized your
faults lie flung contempt It you, when
you ought TO have received nothing but
gratitude. At first you could not sleep
AT night. Then you went about with a
sense of having been stung. That diff
Guilty will never be healed, for though
mutual friends may arbitrate in the
matter until you shall shake hands.
the old cordiality will never come back
Now j commend 10 all such the sympa-
thy OF n betrayed Christ. Why, they
sold Him for less than our $50! 1'heyall
forsoo': Him and fed. They Gu, Him to
the quick. lie drank that cup TO the
dregs. He took the vinegar.
There is also the sourness OF pain.
There are some Of you who have not
seen well day for many years. BY
keeping out Of drafts, and by carefully
studying dietetics, you continue TO this
time, but. oh, the the headaches, and
| the side ncheS and the bac oches and