The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1899-04-01
LAST HOUR OF CHRIST
Lessons of Comfort in the Scenes
Found by DR.. Talmage.
Heavens brightest Crowns Shall
Adorn the Drows OF Those Who
Bear ILfe's burdens with
Christian FortItudc.

INST uOuI VI Is' -
this sermon draws lessons of comfort
for people in trouble; text, John 10: 30:
~When Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar"
The brigands of Jerusalem had done
theirwork. II was almost shutdown, and
Jesus was dying. Persons in cruclfixion
often fingered on from day to day, cry
Ing, begging, cursing, but Christ had
been exhausted by years Of maltreat'
ment. Pillowless, poorly fed, logged,
as bent over and tied to n low post his
bare back was infamed with the
scourges intensified with pieces of
lead and bone, and now for whole hours
the weight of his body hung on delicate
tcndons, and, according to custom, a
violent stroke under the armpits had
been given by the eXccutioner. Dizzy,
nauscated, feverish, n world of agony is
compressed In the two words: II
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! If
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 fund of money with
which they provided wine for those
people who died in cruciiiXion--a pow
erful opiate to dcaden the pain-but
Christ would not take ii. He wanted to
die sober, and so he refused the wine.
But afterward they go to cup of vim
egar and soak n sponge and put ii on
stick of hyssop and then press it against
the hot lips of Christ. You say the wine
was an anacsthetic and intended to re-
1icvc or dcaden the pain. But the vine
gar was an insult
In some lives the saccharinc seems TO
prcdomiDatc. Life is sunshine on n
bank Of flowers. A thousand hands to
clap approval. In December or in Jan
nary, looking across their table. they
see all their family present. Health
rubicund, skies flamboyant, days re-
silent. But in 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 gravel in almost
every shoe. An Arabian legend says
that there was worm in Solomon's
staff gnawing it's strength away, and
there is weak spot in every earthly
support that man leans on. King
George of England forgot all the
;grandcurs of his throne because one day
I'm an interview Beau Brummel called
him by his first name and addressed
him as a servant, crying: George, ring
the bcll!" Miss Langdon, honored all
the world over for her poetic genius, is
so worried over the evil reports set
afloat regarding her that she is found
dead with nm empty bottle Of prussic
acid in her hand. Goldsmith said that
his life was wrctched being, and that
all that want and contempt could bring
to il had been brought, and cries out:
H'What, then, is there formidable iE n
jail?" Corrcggio's fine painting is hung
up for n tavern sign. IIogarth cannot
sell his best painting except through a
rattle. Andrea del Sarto makes the
great fresco in the Church Of the An
nunciata at Florence and gets for pay
q sack Of corn, and there are annoy
ances and vexations in high places us
well as in low places, showing that in n
great many lives are the sours greater
than the sweets. "When Jesus there
fore had received the vinegar"
1t is absurd to suppose that man
who has always been well can sympa-
thize with those who are sick, or that
one who has always been honored can
appreciate the sorrow Of those who are
despised, or that one who has been born
TO n 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 all
those whose cup is filed with the sharp
acids of this life. lie took the vine
gar!
In the first place, there was the sour
ness of betrayal. The treachery of
Judas hurt Christ's feelings 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,
when he especially needed friend.
Afterward, he turned upon you, and he
cook advantage of your former intima-
cies. He wrote against you. He talked
against you. He microscopized your
faults. lie flung contempt Mt 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 nrbitrate in the
matter until you shall shake hands,
the old cordially will nevercome back.
Now commend to all such the sympa-
ehy of a betrayed Christ. Why, they
sold Him FOR less than our $50! They all
forsooL Him md fed. They cut Him TO
che quick. He drank that cup to the
aregs. He took the vinegar.
There is also the sourness OF pain.
There nre some of you who have not
peen a well day for many years. BY
keeping out of drafts, and by carefully
studying dictetics. you continue to this
time, but, oh, the the headaches, and
he side aches, and the backaches, and