The Penn's Grove record., 1899-03-31

TEXT. when Jesus therefore had re-
ceived the vinegar."-John xix, 80.
The brigands of Jerusalem had done their
work. 1t was almost shutdown, N Jesus
wa dying. Persons in crucihxion often
fingered on from day to day, crying, beg
ging, cursing, but Christ had been ex-
hausted by years of maltreatment. Pillow
less, poorly fed, hogged-as bent over and
tied to a low post His bare back was in
famed with the scourge intensified with
pieces OF lead and bone-and now for whole
hours the weight of His body hung on deli
cate tendons, and, according to custom, a
violent stroke under the armpits had been
given by the %exeeutioner. Dizzy, nausea
ted, feverish-a world Of agony is COM
Pressed in the two words, 81 thirstl' o
skies of JudBa, let a drop of rain strike on
His burning tonguel o world, with rolling
rivers and sparkling lakes Il spraying
fountains, give Jesus something to drink
IL 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 a fund of money with which they
provided wine for those people who died
in cruciaxion, a 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 a cup of
vinegar and soak a sponge In 1t sod put it
on q 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-
lleve or deaden the pain. But the vinegar
was an insult.
In SOME lives the ~saceharIne seems to
predominant. 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
fiamboyant. 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 a
gravel In almost every shoe. An Arabian
legend says that there was a worm in
Soiomon'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 a 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 aloat 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 hat
all that want and contempt could bring to
1t had been brought and cries out: "What,
then, is there formidable in a lail?' Cor
reggio's fine painting is hung up for a
tavern sign. Hogarth cannot sell his best
painting except through a rattle. Andre
del Sarto makes the great fresco in the
Church of the Annunciata at Florence and
gets for IA a sack of corn, and there are
a~nnoyances 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 vinegarl''
1t is absurd to suppose that n man who
has always been well can sympathize with
those who are sick, or that one who has al
ways been honored can appreciate the sor-
row Of those who are despised, or that one
who has been born to a 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 life. He took the
vinegar.
In the first place, there was the sourness
OF betrayal. The t%reachery 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 lie especially needed a friend. After
ward ne turned upon you, and he took ad-
vantage of your former intimacies. He
wrote against you. He talked against you.
He mic~roscopized you faults. He flung
contempt at you, when you ought to have
received nothing but gratitude. Al first,
you could not sleep at nights. Then you
went about with a sense of having been
stung. That difficulty will never be hoaled,
for, though mutual friends may arbitrate
in the matter until you shall shake hands,
the old cordially will never come back.
Now 1 commend to all such the sympathy
OF a betrayed Christ. Why, they sold Hin.
for less than our s2Oi They ali forsook Him
and fled. They cut Him TO the quick. He
drank that cup to the dregs. He took the
vinegar.
There Is also the ourness of pain. There
are some OF you who nave not seen a well
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 YOU accompaniment all the way
through You have struggled under u
heavy mortgage of physical disabilities,
and Instead Of the placidity that once
characterized you 1t is now only with
great effort that you keep away from ir-
.ritabilfty and sharp retort. Difficulties of
respiration, of digestion, of locomotion,
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
will not be given to those who in
~stirrups dashed to the cavalry charge.
while the General applauded and the sound
clashinS sabers rang through the land,
but the brightest crowns in heaven, l be-
will be given to those who trudged
on amid chronic ailments which unneryed
their strength, yet all the time maintain
ing their faith In God. 1t is comparative
iy easy to fight in a regiment of a thousand
men, charging up the parapets to the
sound of martial music, but 1t Is not so
easy to endure when no one but the nurse
and the doctor are the witnesses of the
fortitude. All the pangs of all
the nations of all the ages compressed in
one sour cup. He took the vim
egGrl
There is also the souraess OF poverty.
four income does not meet your outgoings,
and that always gives an honest man anx-
iety. There is no sign of restitution about
you-pleasant appearance and a cheerful
home for you-but God only knows what n
time you have had to manage your private
Jus as the bills run up the
wages seem to run down. You may say
nothing, but life to you is a hard push, and
when you sit down with your wife and talk
over the expenses you both rise up dis
eouraged. You abridge here, and you
abrldge there, and you get things snug for
smooth sailing, ard, 10, suddenly there is a
doctors bill to pay, or you nave lost
your pocketbook, or some debtor has failed,
and you are thrown abeam end. Well, broth
err, you are in glorious company. Christ
not the house in which He stopped,
or the colt on which He rode, or the boat
in which He sailed. He lived in a bor-
rowed house. He was buried in a bor-
rowed grave. Exposed to all kinds OF
weather, yet He had only one suit OF
He breakfasted in the morning,
and no n could possibly tell where He
could get anything to eat before night.
He would have been pronounced a anan-
cial failure. He had to perform a miracle
get money to pay a tax bill. Not IA dol
lar did He own. Privation of domestlcity;
privation of nutritious food; privation OF a
comfortable couch on which to sleep; pri-
walton OF ALI worldly :%resourcesl The
kings OF the earth had chased ehaliees out
of which to drink, but Christ had nothing
but a plain cup set before Him, and 1t was
very sharp, and 1t was very sour. He took
the vinegar.
There were years that passed along be-
fore your family circle IS invaded by
death, but the the charmed circle
was broken everything seemed to dissolve.
Hardly have you put the black apparel in
the wardrobe before you have again to
it nut, Great n rapid chaDges in