Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-06-01
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.


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The subject Of the lesson for June 4,
which IL found in John 70: 1870. 10
I"Christ Cruci6ed."i We have now come
to the final scene in the mortal life Of
Jesus; "A lesson not 70 be entered upon
lightly or uh1eteutlyl 1t Vas been wisely
said by some Of the true religious leaders
0f the time thatswe are in danserof max
Ing the cross not too precious, but too
| common. Itfhas In some circles become .
symbol OF an aesthetic and nerveless de-
| votion, rather than of strenuous and stu
pendous sacrifice. No teacher should ap-
proach this chapter IN the history Of re-
dernption without a pause, and a reHec-
ton what IL all means for his own per-
sonaI life, and the salvation of mankind;
remembrance that ali the history Of the
world leads up tos'and down from that
hour on Calvary. The heart should teach
the tongue reverence; too great glibness
in rchearsing such a .storysis not neces-
sarilysa mark of piety.s The hymns that
recount in most detail the sanguinary suf-
ferings Of our Savior, in all their physi-
cal horror, may indeed promote a certain
kind Of devotion, but the piety, that talks
most freely and confidently about ''the
blood" is perhaps in no wise superior to a
| more reserved type. Death in Its gentlest
aspects is rebuke to loquacity; and death
in its most terrible form, the cruel death
| ~ Sac
thoughts first of all. Then il the words
come, they will be true words, not parrot
speech. ~ tr
| Crucifxion, it should be understood was
the seyerest of all Roman punishment
| Though the death by wild beasts or by
burning might cause more intense pain
for few minutes, those punishments
could not be compared with the prolonged
| agony of crucifxion, under which the vic
tim usually suffered from twelve to TWEEN
| ty-fOur hours, and often for days. The
| cross was reserved for the lowest GRIM
| inals; it was symbolic Of an ignominy
equal to that of the gallows in modern
times. No Roman citizen could be cruci-
fed for any crime whatever under Roman
law; and.wheu. Nerres. governor Of Sicily,
broke this law in his outrageous career,
the horror of the Roman people rose
against such infamyv Cicero's famous
Grafton against Verres contains the we'll
known climax: '"To bind a Roman citizen
/ is a crime; to scourge him is an outrage;
to put him to death is almost parricide;
to cruelty, him-7what shall l call it? There
is no name to describe such an unspeaka-
bic act" @Tat
; 20 Explanatory. !
Called the place of a skulp': rocky hill
lock northwest of Jerusalem is now al
most universally believed by scholars to
be Golgotha, the site of the cruciixion. 1t
is an outcropping of the limestone that lies
beneath the most Of Judea, and on one
side, some distance beneath the rounded
summit Of the rock, arc three cavities or
small grottoes whose black mouths are
easily made to represent the eye-sockets
and nasal cavity of skull. This hill an
swers in every way to the requirements Of
the gospel narrative, being outside the
wall, and its natural features affording an
excellent explanation Of the name; so that
the old traditional site of the crucifxion
and burial of Christ, within the modern
city Of Jerusalem and covered by gaudy
shrines, is now left to- the superstition Of
Roman and Greek Catholics to maintain,
while Bible students hold to this other
hill. The name Calvary" is from the
Latin Calvara, which simply means a
skull-like place. ~ ana
The title usually indicated the crime
for which the victim was executed Ac-
cordingly the natural inscription in the
case of Jesus would have been "blas-
phemer' or TRAITOR" But PLATE had his
revenge on the Jews. He was not enough
of man to release Jesus, but he deied
the prejudices Of the Jews by setting up
over the cross an inscription which as
cribed TO the victim, whether sarcastical-
! ly or not the spectator might judge for
i himself, title which Jesus had been ac-
cused of claiming. ",rhc king of the
Jews"-what rage this must have caused
among the Jews The chief priests appeal
could not change it. The obstinacy Of
Plate would permit no correction. And
there was in the title deep truth that
none could have understood at that time,
but which has come to light since. He was
the king of the Jews, though a rejected
Il king. Il"
The three languages were necessary; for
Latin was the official language and hence
used in criminal proceedings and SEN
fences; Greek, the language Of commerce,
generally understood by city people and all
the thousands Of visitors fpm many lands
in Jerusalem at this time; while Aramaic,
called Hebrew in the text, was the lam
guage of the country. 1t may be Interests
ing to present these three titles as they
probably stood:
Yeshu'a Natsri Melek Yehudaya lara
maic). 81 Ispa setE
Iesous no Nazoraios no Basileus ton
Iudaion Greek.
Jesus Nazarenus Rex Judaeorum LAT
I'M. supite
1t is from the initials of the last, Jnrj.
or Inri, that the familiar Roman Catholic
inscription on crucifxes and in pictures is
l taken. M4s
The clothes of the criminal or person
executed belonged to the executioner, and
in this case the Roman soldiers distributed
the outer robe, sandals, head dress, etc,
but disputed oyer the tunic or undergar-
ment ("coat'l and cast lots to decide its
ownership. The evangelist explains that
the soldiers unconsciously fulfilled scrip
turc In so doing Psa. %: 49,.
What a guest to have in ones home
the mother of Jesus. There is an unwrit-
ten chapter in sacred history that would