Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-09-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
~ur EMINENT DIvINE's SUNDAY
DISCOURSE.
Subject: Lessons to BE Learned From the
Three Crosses--On Right Unbeiief and
Reinorse, on Left Penitence and Con-
tent, in the Centre Everlasting Love.

Subject: Lessons to BE Learned From the
Three Crosses--On Right Unbelief and
Reinorse, on Left Penitence and Con-
tent, in the Centre Everlasting Love.
copyright 1901
WASHINGTON. ID. G. - The famous
paintings in the picture galleries OF Mu,
mich seem to have suggested the topic OF
this discourse. which DR.. Talmage sends
from the quaint Bavarian town, but the
theme which inspired the painters awak.
eus in the great preacher thoughts OF
the redemption of the human race, when
was the supreme design of that scene OF
suffering and death. The text is Luke
xiii. SO. "There they crucifed 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 a crowd are ascend
inc. for it is the day of execution. What
q mighty assemblage! Some for curiosity,
to hear what the malefactors will say and
to see how they will act. The three, per-
sons to he executed are already there;
Some of the spectators are vile OF lip and
bloated of cheek. Some look up with re-
yenqe 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 I'M
comfortable weeping. Some clap their
hands in delight that the offenders are to
he punished at last The soldiers. with
drawn swords drive back the mob, which
nresses 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 cry. Have you never before
Gecn a man de-!
Three crosses in rowan upright
niece and two transverse pieces, one at
the top, on which the hands are nailed,
and one at the middle, on which the VIC
!. tim sat. Three trees just planted, yet
Nearing fruit-the one at the right bear
poison and the one at the left bitter
aioes; the one in the middle, apples OF
love Norway pine and tropical orange
and Lebanon cedar would not make so
strange grove as this orchard of Cal
vary Stand back and give look at the
three crosses.
, Just look at the cross on the right Its
victim dies soothing More awful than his
physical anguish is 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 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 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 settling darkness and louder
thar the crash of the rocks hear him jeer
out thesS~ words: "Ab, you poor wretch
J knew YOU were ali imposter! You pre-
tended to be 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 out,
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 phi
anthropic Christ. but Christ who comes
TO snatch men away from their sins--away
with Him. On this right hand cross to-
LAY | see typi6ed the unbelef OF the
korld. Men say: Back with Him from
e heart / will not let Him take my
ms. If He will die, let Him die for Him
self, not for me- There has always been
war between this right hand cross and
the middle cross, and wherever there ls
an unbelieving heart, there the tight goes
on Oh, if when that dying malefactor
perlsneu, tne ldlenieeohoes VI man ~"
persisted, then that tree which yields pol
son would have budded and blossomed
with life for all the world.
Look up into that disturbed counte'
rance of the sufferer and see what a
CHASTITY thing it is to reject Christ. BE.
. hold lu< that awful face, in that pitlfuI
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 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
eternity. said, Were | master of all the
world ! would give it all to live one day
Aionger." Sir Francis Newport, towering
over the brink, cried out: Wretch that
am, whittier shall | fly from this breast j:
What will become of me? Oh, that l
were to lie upon the fire that never is
quenched thousand years, to purchase
the favor of God and to be reconciled to
linn again, Oh. eternity; oh, eternity
Who can discover the abyss of eternity?
Who can paraphrase these words, For
ever and forever"
That right hand cross-thousands have
persisted on it in worse agonies. For
what is physical pain compared to re-
morse at the last, that life has been
wasted and only feeting moment stands
throw? o God, let me die anywhere
rather than at the foot of that right hand
cross Let not one drop of that blood
iall upon my check. Rend not my ear
with that cry. | see it now as never be-
tore-the loathsomeness and horror OF my
unbelief That dying malefactor was not
so much to blame as |. Christianity was
not established, and perhaps not until
that day bad 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 unbehef! | hate thee! With
this sword of God J 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!
eff Thou be the Son of Cod" Was
there any eff" 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
when He babe thee be still. Tell me, 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! responds the
universe. The flowers breathe it; the
stars chime it; the redeemed celebrate it,;
the angels rise on their thrones to an
nounce it. And yet OH that miserable
malefactor's eff" how many shall De
wrecked for all eternity! That little If
has enough venom in its sting to cause the
Joa+h of tba sou1 No "if' ahout If