Connecticut western news., 1899-03-30
THECUP OF VINEGAR.
DR TALMAos olscouRSES ON THE
 AcIDiTlES OF LIFE.

AclDiTIES OF LIFE
 Lessons Drawn From the Bitter Ez- persences of the saviour's Crucihx- ion = Comfort and Peace For the
 Poor, Distressed and Unfortunate. lcoryright. 1sss by American Press Asso-
 ciation.l
 WASHINGTON. March 2s.-From the pathetic scene of Christ's last hour of suffering Dr. Talmage in this sermon draws lessons of comfort for people in trouble: text John xix, 30. When Jesus therefore had received the vine gar.
 The brigands of Jerusalem had done their work It was almost sundown, and Jesus was dying Persons in cruel. fixion often fingered on from day to day. crying. begging. cursing. but Christ had been exhausted hy years of maj treatment Pillowless. poorly fed. fog ged-as bent over and tied to low post his bare back was infiamed with the scourges intersticed with pieces of lead and bone-and now for whole hours the weight of his body hung on delicate tendons. and according to cus- tom. violent stroke under, the armpits had been given by the executioner Dizzy. nauseated. feverish-a world of agony is compressed in the two words, II thirstl o skies of Judea. let drop of rain strike on his burning tonguei o world, with rolling rivers and spar king lakes and spraying fountains. give Jesus something to drinkl If there be any pity in earth or heaven or hell, let it now be demonstrated in behalf of his royal sufferer.
 The wealthy women of Jerusalem used to have fund of money with which they provided wine for those people who died in crucifixion, 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 cup of vinegar and soak sponge in it and put it on stick of hyssop and then press it against the hot lips of Christ You say the wine was an an@sthetic and intended to relieve or deaden the pain. But the vinegar was an insult.
 In some lives the saccharine seems to predominate Life is sunshine on bank of flowers A thousand hands to clap approval In December or in January, looking across their table. they see all their family present Health rubicund Skies flamboyant Days resilient. But in great many cases there are not so many sugars as acids The annoyances and the vexations and the disappoint- ments of life overpower the successes. There is q gravel in almost every shoe. Au Arabian legend says that there was a worm in Solomon's staff, gnawing it's strength away. and there is weak spot in every earthly support that a man leans on. King George of England forgot all the grandeurs of his throne because one day, in an interview, Beau Brummel called him by his first name and addressed him as servant, cry ing. George. ring the bellr" Miss Lapgdon, honored all the world over for her poetic genius, is so worried over the evil reports set afioat regarding her that, she is found dead. with an empty bottle of prussic acid in her hand. Gold smith said that his life was wretched being and that all that want and con- tempt could bring to it had been brought and cries out, "What. then, is there formidable in a jailf" Correggio's fine painting is hung up for tavern sign- Hogarth cannot sell his best painting except through raff1e. An dre del Sarto makes the great fresco in the Church of the Annunciata at Flor ence and gets for pay sack of corn. and there are annoyances and vexations in high places as well as in low places, showing that in a great many lives are When Jesus therefore had received the vinegarl''
 Christ's Sympathy.
 1t is absurd to suppose that a man who has always been we'll can sym pathize with those who are sick, or that one who has always been hon. ored can appreciate the sorrow of those who are despised. or that one who has been born to 8 great fortune can
 
 of those who are destitute. The fact that Christ himself took the vinegar makes him able to sympathize today and forever with all those whose cup is filed with the sharp acids of this life He took the vinegarl
 In the first place, there was the sour nees 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 es- pecial stress You feasted him You loaned him money You befriended him in the dark passes of life. when he es- pecially needed friend Afterward he turned upon you. and he took advantage of your former intimacies. 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 gratitude At first. you could not sleep at nights. Then you went about with a sense of having been stung That difficulty will never be healed. for. though mutual friends may arbitrate in the matter un- til you shall shake hands. the old cor diality will never come back. Now commend to all such the sympathy of a betrayed Christ Why. they sold him for less than our $20I They all 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 sourness of pain. There are some of you who have not seen 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 sches and the back aches and the heartaches which have been your. ac- compartment all the way through You have struggled under a heavy mortgage of physical disabilities. and instead of the placidity that once characterized