The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-04-07
THE CUP OF VINEGAR.
DIR. TALMAGE DIsCOURsEs ON THE
ACIDITIES OF LIFE.

ACIDITIES OF LIFE.
Lessons Drawn From the Bitter Tx.
perienees of the Saviour's Crucffx-
fon-Comfort and Peace for the Poor,
Distressed and Unfortunate.
From the pathetic scene of Christs
last hour Of suffering Dr.. Talmage in
this sermon draws lessons Of comfort
for people in trouble; text, John xix,
so, when Jesus therefore had received
the vinegar"
The brigands Of Jerusalem had done
their work. 1t was almost shutdown.
and Jesus was dying. Persons in cruel
fxion often fingered on from day to
day, crying, begging, cursing, but
Christ had been exhausted by years
of maltreatment. Pillowless, poorly
fed, f1ogged-as BEN over and tied to a
low post his bare pack was infiamed
with the scourges intensified with
pieces of lead and bone-and now Tor
whole hours the weight of his body
hung on delicate tendons, and, accord
ing to custom, a violent stroke under
the armpits had been given by the exc
c%utioner. Dizzy, nauseated, feverish-
a world of agony is compressed in the
two words. Il thirst" O skies of
Judea, let a drop Of rain strike on His
burning tongue! o world, with rolling
rivers and sparkling AXE and spray
ing fountains, Civ Jesus something to
drink! If there be any pity in earth
or heaven or hell, let it now be dem
onstrated in behalf of His ropal suf-
ferer.
The wealthy women of Jerusalem
used to have a fund of money with
which they provided wine for those
people who died in crucifixion, a pow
erful 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 it n
put it on a stick of hyssop and then
press it against the hot lips Of Christ.
You say the wine was an anaesthetic
and intended to relieve or deaden the
pain. But the vinegar was an insult.
In some lives the saccharine seems to
predominant. Life is sunshine on a
bank of flowers. A thousand hands TO
clap approval. In December or in jan
uary, looking across their table, they
see all their family present. Health
rubicund. Skies flamboyant. Days re-
silent. But in a great many cases
there are not so many sugar as acids.
The annoyanceS and the veXationS and
CUH ulSdpDOlIIIHeIllS OIL HE
tn successes. There is a gravel in al
most every shoe. An Arabian legend
says that there was a worm in Solo
mons staff, gnawing it's strength
away, and there. is a weak spot in ev-
cry earthly support h a a man leans
on. King George of England forgot all
the grandeurs of his throne because
one day, in an interview, Beau Brum-
mel called him by his first name and
addressed him as a servant, crying,
George, ring the bell!" Miss Lang
don, 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 an empty
bottle of prussic acid in her hand. Gold
smith said that his life was a wretch
ed being and that all that went and
contempt could bring to it had been
brought and cries out, What then, is
there formidable in a jai1?" COrreg-
gio's fine painting is hung up for a
tavern sign. Hogarth cannot sell his
best painting except through a rattle.
Andr del SartO makes the great freS-
co in the Church of the Annunciation
at Florence and gets for a a sack of
corn and there are and
vexations in high places as we'll as in
low places, showing that in a great
many lives are the sours greater than
the sweets. when Jesus therefore
had received the vinegar"
CHRlSTS MPAIH
1t is absurd to suppose that a mar
who has always been we'll can sym
pathize with those who are sick, OF
that one who has always been hon
ored can appreciate the sorrow OF
those who are despaired, or that one
who has been born to a great fortune
can understand the distress n the
straits of those who are destitute. The
fact hat Christ himself took the vim,
H. ill., Ill . $1,000 xo 4Ls- -
day and forever with all those who's
cup is filled with the sharp acids o
this life. He took the vinegar!
In the first place, there was tn
~SournesS of betrayal. The treachery o
Judas hurt Chirst's feelings more thar
all the frienship of his disciples di'
him good. You have had many friends
but there was one friend upon whom
you put especial stress. You feasteC
him. You loaned him money. You be
friended him in the dark passes o
life, when he especially needed
friend. Afterward he turned upon you
and he took advantage of your forme
intimacies. He wrote against you. H
talked against you. He microscopic
your faults. He flung contempt at you
when you ought to ave received moth
ing but gratitude. AT first you coul
not sleep at nights. Then o wen
about with a sense of having bee
stung. That difficulty will never b
healed, for, though mutual friends ma
arbitrate in the matter until you sha
shake hands, the old cordially wi
never come back. Now 1 commend t
all such the sympathy of a betraye
Christ. Why, they sold him for les
than our 500! They all forsook hin an
fled. They cut him to the quick. II
drank that cup to the dregs. He too
the vinegar.
There is also the urnes of pail
There are some of you who have ne
seen a we'll day for many years. B
keeping out of drafts N by CAREFUL
studying dietetics o continue to tn
time, but, oh, the headaches, and tt
side aches, and the back aches, and tt
heart aches which " been your a.
compartment all the way through! YC
lave struggled under a heavy NOR
gage of physical disabilities, and IL
stead of the placidity that once cha
acterized o it is now only with gre
effort that you keep away from irr
liability and sharp retOrt. Difficult