Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-04-20
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.

Subject: "rhe AcIdities of Life"-Thc Cup
of Vinegar Which Christ Took is Typi-
cal of Life's Bitterness--This 10 the Lot
of the Distressed.
TEXT: "When Jesus therefore had re-
ceived the vinegar. john xix, 80.
The brigands of Jerusalem had done their
work. 1t was almost sundown. and Jesus
was dying. Persons in crucihxion often
fingered on from day to day, crying, beg
ging, cursfng, but Christ had been ex-
hausted by years of maltreatment. Pillow
less, poorly fed, fiogged-as bent over and
tied to a low post His bare back was in
famed with the scourges intensified with
pieces Of lead and bone-and now for whole
hours the weight of His body hung on deli
cate tenaons, and, according to custom,
violent stroke under the armpits had been
given by the executioner. Dizzy, nausea
ted, feverish-a world of agony Is COM
pressed In the two words, II thirst" 0
skies of JudRa let drop Of rain strike on
His burning tongue! o world, with rolling
rivers and sparkling lakes and spraying
II there be 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 fund of money with which they
provided wine for those people who died
III CIuSluAlOu, u pOWoIlul oplhlC " oCduCh
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 sponge in it and put it
on stick of hyssop and then press it
against the hot lips OF Christ. You say the
wine was an an@sthetic and intended to re-
lieve or deaden the pain. But the vinegar
was an insult.
In some lives the saccharine seems to
predominate. Life is sunshine on a bank
of flowers. Athousand hands to clap ap-
proval. In December or in January, look
ing across their table, they see all their
family present. Health rubicund. Skies
iamboyant. Days resilient. But in a
great many cases there are not so many
sugars as acids. The annoyances and the
vexations and the disappointments of life
overpower the successes. There is q
gravel In almost every shoe. An Arabian
legend says that there was worm in
Solomon's staff, gnawing its strength
away, and there is a weak spot in every
earthly support that q man leans on. King
George OF England forgot all the grandeurs
OF his throne because one day, in an inter.
view, Beau Brummel called him by his first
name and addressed him as servant, cry
ing, "George, ring the bell!' Miss Lang
don, honored all the world over for
her poetic genius is so worried over the
evil reports set afioat regarding her that
she is found dead, with an empty bottle of
prussic acid in her hand. Goldsmith said
that his life was 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 Jail?" Cor
reggios fine painting is hung up for u
tavern sign. Hogarth cannot sell his best
painting except through u rattle. Andre
del Sarto makes the great fresco in the
Church of the Annunciata ut Florence and
gets for pay u sack of corn, and there are
annoyances 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 therefore had re-
ceived the vinegar!"
1t is absurd to suppose that man who
has always been well can sympath thize with
those who are sick, or that one who has al
ways been hcnored can appreciate the sor-
row OF those who are despised, 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 to-day and forever with
the sharp acids of this lie. He tool; the
vinegar
In the first place, there was the sourness
OF betrayal The treachery OF Judas hurt
Christ's feelings more than all the friend
ship of His disciples did 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 especially needed a friend. After
ward he turned upon you, and he took ad-
vantage of your former intimacies. He
wrote against you. He talked against you.
He mcroscopized your faults. He flung
contempt at you, when you ought to have
received 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 cordiality will never come back.
Now commend to all such the sympathy
OF a betrayed Christ. Why, they sold Hin
for less than our $40! They all forsook Him
and fed. They cut Him TO the quick. He
drank that cup to the dregs. He took the
vinegar.
There Is also the sourness of pain. There
nre some of you who have not seen n we'll
day for many years. By keeping out OF
drafts and by carefully studying dietetics
you continue to this time, but, oh, the
headaches, and the side aches, 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,
aud instead OF the piacidity that once
characterized you it is now only with
great effort that you keep away from ir-
ritabiity and sharp retort. Difficulties of
respiration, of digestion, OF locom otion,
make up 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 not be given to those who in
stirrups dashed to the cavalry charge,
while the General applauded and the sound
of clashing saber5 rang through the land,
but the brightest crowns in heaven, l be-
lieve, will be given to those who trudged
on amid chronic ailments which unnerved
their strength, yet all the time maintain
ing their faith in God. 1t is comparative
ly easy to fight in regiment of 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
Christian fortitude. All the panSs of all
the nations of all the ages impressed in
to one sour cup. He took the vim
egarl
There is also the sourness of poverty
Your income does not meet your outgoings,
and that always gives an honest man anX-
iety. There is no sign of destitution about
you-pleasant appearance and n cheerful
home for you-but God only knows what "A
time you have had to manage your private
finances. Just as the bills run up the