St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-10-13
THE THREE CROSSES.
Dr.. Talmage Discourses on Redemp-
ton Of the Race,
Copyright, 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l

A0AGx0&tOE0s
Copyright, 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington,
The famous paintings in the pic.
ture galleries of Munich seem to have
suggested the topic of this discourse
which DIR. Talmage sends from the
quaint Bavarian town, but the theme
which inspired the painters awakens
In the great preacher thoughts of the
redemption of the human race, which
was the supreme design of that scene
of suffering and death. The text il
Luke xiii, 50: There they cruel
fed Him and the malefactors, one on
the right hand and the other on the
left"
just outside of Jerusalem Is swell
of ground, toward which q crowd are
ascending, for it is the day of execu-
ton. What mighty assemblage!
Some for curiosity to hear what the
Indicators will say and how they
will act. The three persons to be ex-
ecuted are already there. Some OF
the spectators are vile of lip and
bloated of cheek. Some look up with
revenge, hardly able to keep their
hands off the sufferers. Some tear
their own hair in frenzy OF grief.
Some stand in silent horror. Some
break out into uncomfortable weep
ing. Some clap their hands in delight
that the offenders are to be punished
at last. The soldier, with drawn
swords, drive buck the mob which
presses on SO hard. There is fear
that the proceedings may be inter
rupted. Let the legion, now sta
toned at Jerusalem, on horseback
dash alcng the lire and force back
the surging multitude. Back with
you!" is the cry. Have you never
before seen man die?"
Three crosses in a rowan upright
piece and two transverse pieces, one
on the top, on which the hands are
nailed, and one at the middle, on
which the victim sat. Three trees
Just planted, vet bearing fruit-the
one at the right bearing poison and
the one at the left bitter aloes, the
one in the middle apples Of love. Nor
way pine and tropical orange and
Lebanon cedar could not make SO
strange q grove a. this orchard at
Calvary. Stand and give a look at
the three crosses.
just look at the cross on the right.
Its victim dies scoffing. More awful
than his physical anguish il his scorn
and hatred of Him on the middle
cross. This wretched man turns half
around on the spikes to hiss at the
One in the middle. II the scoffer
could get one hand loose and he were
within reach, he would smite the
middle sufferer in the face. He hates
Him with perfect hatred. / think he
wishes he were down on the ground
that he might spear Him. He envies
the mechanics who with their nails
have nailed him fast. Amid the set
ting darkness and louder than the
crash of the rocks hear him ieer out
these words: "Ah, you poor wretch!
! knew you were an imposter! You
pretended to be . God, and yet you
let these legions master you!" Il was
In some such hate that Voltaire IN
his death hour, because he thought
he saw Christ in his bedroom, rot
up on his elbow and cried out:
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 sentimental
Christ or a philanthropic Christ, but
. Christ who comes to snatch men
away from their sins - away with
Him! On His right hand cross to-
day | see typified the unbelief Of the
world Men say: Back with Him
from the heart! I will not let Him
take my sins. II He will die, let Him
die for Himself, not for me-" There
has always been a war between this
right hand cross and the middle cross.
and wherever there is an unbeliev-
Ing heart there the fight goes on. Oh,
K when that dying malefactor per
[shed the faithlessness OF man had
persisted, then that tree which yields
poison would have budded and bios
somed with life for all the world!
Look up into that disturbed coun-
tenance of the sufferer and see what
ghastly thing it is to reject Christ.
Behold in that awful face, in that
pitiful look, in that unblessed death
hour, the stings Of the sinners de-
parture. What . plunge into dark
ness! 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 wretched eternity!" One! Two!
Three! Listen to the crash OF the
tall, all We ages! So Hobbies, dying
after he had 20 years in which to
prepare for eternity, said: "Were /
master of all the world. / would give
I all to live one day longer" Sir
Francis Newport, lowering over the
brink. cried out: wretch that I am,
shall ! fly from this breast?
What will become Of me? Oh, that
were to lie upon the fire that never
5 quenched a thousand years to pur-
.hase the favor of God and to be rec
,nciled to Him again! Oh, eternity!
Oh, eternity! Who can discover the
lbyss of eternity? Who can para
phrase these words: Forever and
That right hand cross-thousands
nave persisted on it in worse agonies.
For what is physical pain compared
% remorse at the last that life has
been wasted and only q fleeting mo-
nent stands between the soul and
Is everlasting overthrow? o God.
ct me die anywhere rather than at
he foot of that right hand cross:
Let not one drop of that blood fall
lpon my cheek. Rend mot my ear
With that cry. I see it now a. never
loathsomeness and hor-
-or of my unbelief. That dying male
actor was not 50 much to blame as
|. Christianity was mot established,
md perhaps mot until that day had
hat man heard the Christ. But after
Christ has stood almost 10 centuries,
the wonders OF His grace,
rou reject Him.
That right hand cross, with its long
,aan, nrorxh0 1nw~ III xh0 ~e~<h -