The Penn's Grove record., 1900-09-14
DIR. TALMAGES SERMON.
SUNDAYS DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
DIVINE.
Subject: Lessons to BE Learned From the
Three Crosses-On Right UnbeAief and
Remorsc, ON Left Penitence and Con-
tent, In the Centre Everlasting Love-.
Copyright 1901

Three Cr0sses-On Right UnbeAief and
Remorse, ON Left Penitence and Com
tent. In the Centre Everlasting Love.
Copyright 1901
WASHINGTON, D. G. = The famous
paintings in the picture galleries of Mu
mich seem to nave suggested the topic of
this discourse, which DR.. Talmage sends
from the quaint Bavarian town, but the
theme which inspired the painters awak.
the redemption Of the human race, which
was the supreme design Of that scene of
suffering and death. The text is Luke
xiii, 80, "There they crucified Him and
the malefactors, one on the right hand
and the other on the left"
Just outside of Jerusalem is a swell of
ground, toward which a crowd are ascend
ing, for it is the day of execution. What
a mighty assemblage! Some for curiosity
to see how they will act. The three per-
sons to be executed are already there.
Some Of the spectators are vile Of lin and
bloated of cheek. Some look up with re-
venge, hardly able to keep their hands
off the sufferers. Some tear their W
hair in a frenzy of grief. Some stand in
silent horror. Some break out into un-
comfortable weeping. Some clap their
hands in delight that the offenders are to
DC pullISuCu dt ld6t. LIE SOlutcTS WIFI
drawn swords drive back the mob, which
presses on SO hard. There is fear that the
proceedings may be interrupted. Let the
legion, now stationed at Jerusalem. on
horseback, dash along the line and force
back the surging multitude. "Back with
you!" is the crv. "Have you never before
seen a man die?"
Three crosses in a rowan upright
piece and two transverse pieces, one at
the top, on which the hands are nailed,
and one at the middle. on which the vic
bearing fruit-the one at the right bear
ing poison, and the one at the left bitter
aloes; the one in the middle. apples of
love. Norway pine and tropical orange
n Lebanon cedar would not make so
strange a grove as this orchard of Cal
vary. Stand back and give a look at the
three crosses.
Just look at the cross on the right. It's
victim dies ~scof6ng. More awful than his
of Him on the middle cross. This wretched
man turns half around on the spikes to
hiss at the One in the middle. IF the SCOT
fer could get one hand loose. and he were
within reach. he would smite the middle
sufferer in the face. He hates Him with
a perfect hatred. I think he wishes he
were down on the ground that he might
spear Him. He envies the mechanics who
with their nails nave nailed Him fast.
Amid the settling darkness and louder
than the crash of the rocks hear him jeer
out these words: "Ah, you poor wretch!
| knew You were an imposter! You pre-
tended to be a God. and yet you let these
legions master you" 1t was in some such
hate that Voltaire in his death hour. be-
cause lie thought he saw Christ in his bed
room, got up on his elbow and cried ont,
Crush that wretch" What had the
middle cross done to arouse up this right
hand cross? Nothing. Oh, the enmity
of the natural heart against Christ! The
world likes a sentimental Christ or a phi
lanthropic Christ, but a Christ who comes
to snatch men AWAY from their sins-away
with Him! On this right hand cross to-
day. | see typifed the unbelief of the
world Men say: "Back with Him from
the heart! l will not let Him take my
sins. Ii He will die. let Him die for Him
self, not for me-" There has always been
a war between this right hand cross and
the middle cross, and wherever there is
an unhelieving heart. there the fight goes
on. On, + when that dying malefactor
persisted, the faithlessness Of man had
persisted, then that tree which Yields poi.
son You'd have budded and blossomed
with life for all the world.
Look up into that disturbed counte-
nance of the sufferer and see what a
CHASTITY thing it is to reject Christ. Re-
hold In that awful face. in chat nitiful
look, in that unblessed death hour. the
stings of that sinners departure! What
a plunge into darkness! Standing high
upon the cross on the top of the hill, so
that all the world may look at him, he
says, Here | go out of a miserable life
into a wretched eternity" One, two.
three! Listen to the crash of the fall, all
We ages! So Hobbies, dying after he had
seventy years in which to prepare for
world | would give it all to live one day
longer" Sir Francis Newport, lowering
over the brink, cried out: Wretch that I
am, whittier. shall 1 H. from this breast?
What will become of me? Oh, that |
were to lie upon the fire that never is
quenched a thousand years, to purchase
the ravor of God and to be r~econciled to
HIM again. Oh, eternity; oh, eternity!
Who Can discover the abyss of eternity?
Who can paraphrase these words, For
ever and forever""
hat right hand cross-thousands have
perished on it in worse agonies. For
what is physical pain compared to re-
morse at the last, that life has been
wasted and only a ieeting moment stands
between the soul and its everlasting over
throw? 0 God, let me die anywhere
rather than at the foot of that right hand
cross! Let not one drop of that blood
fall upon my cheek. Rend not my ear
with that cry. / see it now as never be-
fore-the loathsomeness and horror of my
unbelief. That dying malefactor was not
80 much to blame as I. Christianity was
not established, and perhaps not until
that day had that man heard the Christ.
But after Christ had stood almost 1900
years, working the wonders of His grace,
you reject Him.
That right hand cross, with its long
beam, .overshadows all the earth. 1t is
planted in the heart of the race. When
will the time come when the spirit of God
shall, with it's ak, hew down that right
hand cross until it shall fall at the foot of
that middle cross and unbelief, the rail-
ing malefactor of the world, shall perish
from all our hearts? Away from me, thou
spirit of unbelief! I hate thee! With
this sword of God I thrust thee back and
thrust thee through! Down to hell!
Down, most accursed monster of the
earth, and talk to those thou hast already
damned! Talk no longer to these sons Of
God, these heirs of heaven!
IF Thou be the Son of God" Was
there any "i" about it? Tell me, thou
star, that in robe Of light did run to
point out His birthplace. Tell me, thou
sea, that didst put thy hand over thy lip
= ooAC ShCC NC still. lei liz, We
dead, who got up to see Him die. Tell me,
thou sun in mid-heaven, who for Him
didst pull down over thy face the veil of
darkness. Tell me, We lepers who were
cleansed, We dead who were raised. is He
the Son Of God? Aye, aye! respond, the
universe. The flowers breathe it; the
stars chime it; the redeemed celebrate IT.;
the angels rise on their thrones to an
u it. And yet on that miserable
malefactor's 'if" how many shall be
wrecked for all eternity! That little 'sif''
has enough venom in its sting to cause the
death of the soul. No "if" about it. |
know it. Ecce Deus! l feel it thoroughly
through every muscle of the body and
through every faculty of my mind and
through every energy of my soul. Living,
| will preach it.; dying, l will pillow my
head upon its consolations-Jesus the
God.
Away, then, from this right hand cross.
The red berries Of the forest are apt to
bC poisonous, and around this tree OF car
mage grow the red, poisonous berries of
which many have tasted and died. l can
see no use for the right hand cross, except
it be used as a lever with which to upturn
the unbelief of the world.
Here from the right hand cross | 60 to
the left hand cross. Pass clear to the
other side. That victim also twists him
self upon the nails to look at the centre
1~~c~ Sod --A ~n-E IL 81. - 80