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
Bear LIES burdens with
Christian Fortitude.

From the pathetic scene of Christ's
last hour of suffering Dr. Talmadge in
this sermon draws lessons of comfort
, for people in trouble; text, John 1880:
"When Jesus therefore had received the
vinegar
The brigands of Jerusalem had done
their work II was almost shutdown, and
Jesus was dying. Persons in crucifiNion
often fingered on from day TO day, cry
ing, begging, cursing, but Christ had
been exhausted 10y years of maltreat-
ment. Pillowless, poorly fed, fiogged,
as bent over and tied TO 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 eyecutioner. Dizzy,
nauseated, feyerish. 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! IL
there be any pity in earth or Heaven or
hell, let it 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 crucifxion-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 GO to cup of vim
? egar and soak a sponge and put ii on
stick of byssop and then press il against
the hot lips of Christ. You say the wine
, was an anaesthetic and intended TO re-
, lieve or deaden the pain. But the vine
gar was an insult
In some lives the saccharine seems TO
: predominate. Life is sunshine on a
3 bank of flowers. 4 thousand hands 10
D clap approval. In December or in Jan
J uary. looking across their table, they
4 see all their family present. Health
rubicund skies famboyant, days re-
:, silent. But in great many cases there
5 are not so many sugars as acids. The
D annoyances and the vexations, and the
b disappointment of life overpower the
5 successes. There is a gravel in almost
every shoe. An Arabian legend says
a that there was worm in Solomon
I staff gnawing it's strength away, and
+ there is a weak spot in every earthly
n support that man leans on. King
,sesS~, W. y; A.,
he him by his first name and addressed
Oh him rs e servant, crying: George rims
y the bell!" Miss Langdon, honored al
~ the world over for her poetic genius, IL
y so worried over the evil reports Sc
!" ahoat regarding her that she is found
dead with an empty bottle Of prussi,
!, acid in her hand. Goldsmith said tha
his life was a wretched being. and tha
:, ell that want and contempt could bring
. TO il had been brought, and cries out
what, then, is there formidable In
y jail?" Correggo's fine painting is hung
up for tavern sign. Hogarth cannot
= = sell his best painting except through {
= rattle. Andrea del Sarto makes tn,
y great fresco in the Church of the An
!. nunciata at Florence and gets for pay
a 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"
a 1t is absurd 10 suppose that a mar
|, who has always been well can sympa
:. thize with those who are sick, or thai
O one who has always been honored car
appreciate the sorrow of those who are
@ despised, or that one who has been borr
Q TO great fortune can understand tn,
n distress and the straits of those who ar,
q destitute, The fact that Christ Himself
u took the vinegar makes Him able &c
!, sympathize to-day and forever with al
y those whose cup is filled with the sharI
acids OF this life. He took the vine.
gar!
!. In the first place, there was the sour.
, ness of betrayal. The treachery O,
h Judas hurt Christ's feelings more than
;, all the friendship of His disciples did
I 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.
I friendcd him in the dark passes of life
e when he especially needed a friend
S Afte-ward, he turned upon you, and he
q took advantage of your former intima.
S cies. He wrote against you He talked
against you. He microscopized your
, faults. He flung contempt AT you, when
you ought to have received nothing but
e gratitude. At first you could not sleep
r 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 ] commend TO all such the sympa-
thy of betrayed Christ. Why, they
sold Him FOR less than our $50! r'heyall
forsool; 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