Connecticut western news., 1900-09-13
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 for Christ to hear. Christ might have turned away and said: How darest thou speak to me? I am the Lord of heaven and earth. I have seen your violence. When you struck down that man In the darkness, l saw you. You are getting a just reward. Die in darkness-die forever" But Jesus said not so, but rather. This day thou shalt be with me in paradise" as much as to say: "I see you there; do not worry. I will not only bear my cross, but help you with yours."
 Forthwith the left hand cross be comes the abode of contentment. The pillow of the malefactor, soaked In blood, becomes like the crimson uphol- stery of kings couch. When the body became still. and the surgeons feeling the pulse said one to another, He is dead" the last mark of pain had gone from hls face. Peace had smoothed his forehead. Peace closed his eyes. Peace closed his lips. Now you see why there were two transverse pieces on the cross, for 1t has become a lad der into the skies. That dying head Is easy which has under 1t the promise, "This day thou shalt be with me In paradise" Ye whose lips have been filled with blasphemy, ye whose bands for many years have wrought un- righteousness. ye who have companion ed with the unclean, ye who have seal ed every height of transgression and fathomed every depth and passed ev- cry extreme of iniquity-mercy. mercy!
 The dying thief rejoiced to ses
 That fountain in his day.
 And there may ]. though vile as he.
 Wash all my sins away
 This Cross Was For You.
 I have shown you the right hand cross and the left hand cross; now come to the middle cross. We stood at the one and found 1t yielded poison. We stood at the other and found 1t yielded bitter aloes. Come. now, to the middle cross and shake down apples of love. Uncover your head. You nev- CT saw so tender a scene as this. You may have seen father or mother or companion or child die, but never so affecting a scene as this. The railing thief looked from one way and saw only the right side of Christ's face. The penitent thief looked from the other way and saw the left side of Christ's face. But today, in the full blaze of gospel light, you see Christ's full face. It was a suffering cross. If the weap- ons of torture had gone only through the fatty portions of the body, the tor ture would not have been so great, but they went through the hands and feet and temples-the most sensitive DOT tons. It was not only the spear that went into his side, but the sins of all the race-a thousand spears-plunge after plunge, deeper and deeper. until | the silence and composure that before characterized him gave way to groan, | through which rumbled the sorrows of time and the woes of eternity. Hu- man hate had done its worst and hell had hurled its sharpest javelin and | devils had vented their hottest rage when, with every nerve of his body in | torture and every fiber of his heart in excruciation, he cried out, My God | my God, why hast thou forsaken mer | It was a vicarious cross; the right hand cross suffered for itself, the Jeff hand cross for itself, but the middle | cross for you. When a king was dy Ing, a young man cried, Pour my blood into his veins, that he die not. 7 The veins of the young man were tap ped and the blood transferred; so that | the king lived but the young man | died. Christ saw the race perishing He cried. Pour my blood into theil | veins, that they die not" My hand is free now, because Christ's was crush ed My brow Is painless now, because Christs was torn. My soul escapes | because Christ's was bound. I gair heaven, because Christ for me endured the horrors of hell.
 | When the Swiss were many year ago contending against their enemies they saw these enemies arrayed II solid phalanx and knew not how t break their ranks, but one of thei heroes, Arnold von Winkelried, rushet out in front of his regiment and shout ed, Make way for libertyw Tn, weapons of the enemy were plunged into his heart, but while they wer, staying him. of course their ranks wer broken, and through that gap In tn ranks the Swiss dashed to victory Christ saw all the powers of darkness assailing men. He cried out, "Mak way for the redemption of the world. All the weapons of internal wratl struck him, but as they struck him ou race marched out free.
 A Cross to Cling To.
 To this middle cross look, that you souls may live. I showed you tn right hand cross in order that yo might see what an awful thing 1t Is t be unbelieving. I showed you the lief hand cross that you might see what Is to repent. Now I show you the middl cross that you may see what Chris has done to save your soul. Poets hay sung It's praise. sculptors have attempt ed to commemorate 1t In marble, mal tyrs have clung to 1t in the fire an Christians dying quietly in their bed have leaned their heads against i This hour may all our souls embrac 1t with an ecstasy of affection. La hold of that cross! Everything els will fail you. Without a strong grip O that you perish. Put your hand O thnt and you are safe, though a worl swing from beneath your feet.
 Oh, that I might engrave on you souls ineffaceably the three crosses, s that If In your waking moments 70 will not heed, then in your dreams 6 night you may see on the hill back ( Jerusalem the three spectacles-th right hand cross showing unbelief, d.
 ing without Christ; the left hanC
 showing what 1t is to be pardonet
 while the central cross pours upo your soul the sunburst of heaven as
 says: By all these wounds plead fc thy heart. I have loved thee with a everlasting love. Rivers cannot quenc
 1t. Floods cannot drown It." An
 while you look, the right hand cros
 will fade out of sight, and then tt | loft will ba pona and nofhinO will n