Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1902-11-14
TALMAGE
SERMON
By Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE, DID,.
Pastor OF Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago

ieorhths t'hu feliSlon Is asserted Oy lev.
Frank De Witt Talmage in this SER
mon ON the test Luke xiii. IS. "And a
superscription also was written over
him in letters Of Greek and Latin and
Hebrew, This is the King OF the Jews"
Capital punishment has been in
vogue among all nations, both civilized
and barbaric. But Of all modes of cap
ital punishment, whether by the hang
mans moose, or by decapitation, or
slow strangClation, or by burning at
the stake. the most horrible way for
any criminal to die is by the crucifix-
ion mode-that form Of public eNecu-
ton which was practiced among the
Jews. Yet we see Christ as n common
criminal, hanging upon the cross and
dying by the most intense and agoniz-
ing form of suffering, mental and phys
ical
But though Jesus Christ is dying
upon the cross as a common criminal
there is one vivid distinction which sim
giles his death out from among all the
crucifxions. That exception Is the
style OF the superscription nailed above
the cross. 1t was customary among
the dying q written statement descrip-
tive OF the crimes for which they were
being executed. But instead of declar-
ing that Jesus Christ was dying an ig-
nominious death for the sin of murder,
or Of blasphemy, or of insurrection
against the throne of Caesar, the board
over the head of Christ had written
upon ii in three different languages this
one striking sentence: "This is the King
Of the Jews" Even in his degradation,
humiliation and death God seems TO
have so ordered events that the very
man who condemned him to death
should have acknowledged his royalty,
and thus proclaimed to all the genera
tions Of all times the great purpose for
which Christ was born as a babe in
Bethlehem OF Jud9a. for which he lived
as q boy in Nazareth, and for which he
died upon the cross for the salvation
of men.
Let me describe how the three Ian
guages-the Greek, the Latin and the
Hebrcw-which were united in the SUI
prescription upon the cross are symbol
ic OF the universally of Christ's reign.
The Intellectual Realm.
Greek was the language Of learning.
In that realm our Divine Saviour is
king-lord OF the intellect. besides be-
ing ruler Of the heart. He is to be the
dominating power in our great univer-
stiles and institutions OF learning as
well as in our Christian Endeavor so
cieties and humble meeting houses In
the backwoods; he Is to be the COM
panion Of the scientist, like Henry
Drummond, who goes forth into the
great temple OF nature TO find "a Nat
ural Law In the Spiritual World" as
well as the companion OF David Liv-
ingstone. whose greatest ambition was
to tell the simple story Of the nativity
TO the ignorant black man living among
the African swamps or upon the banks
OF the Kongo; he is to be the inspira-
ton OF Hugh Miller's geological crow
bar and Agassiz's laboratory and Isaac
Newton's scientific Instruments and
William Herschel's telescope as we'll
rs the hope Of the poor young girl dy-
Ing In the springtime OF youth who ac-
cepts him as 'the evidence OF things
not seem" The superscription must be
In Greek because Christ has q mission
TO the learned. the cultured. the refined.
The Greek language has always been
the symbol OF culture and refinement
1t is the language OF the poet and
sculptor and architect and musician
md philosopher and statesman; IL is
the language OF intellectually, because
in the time OF Christ II was exclusively
the tongue OF the llteratl, as the French
language during the nineteenth CEN
fury was the court language OF all En-
rope. So IN the Greek superscription
written over the cross in symbol Christ
seems to say, THE gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ shall successfully appeal
20 the Intellectual man as well as to
the ignorant, to the calm, cold, care
fully weighing, scientific mind as well
as TO the impulsive love OF the little
child"
But though the superscription over
the cross had the sentence. This is the
King Of the Jews" written In tho
Greek language, there are thousands
and tens of thousands OF infidel scott
ers who continually sheer at Christ's
name and at the word OF God. They
pretend to think that the religion OF
the Lord Jesus never appeals to the
brain. They assert that the gospel Is
only relic OF the superstitious and
barbaric ages, fit only for shallow, ef-
Terminate men, sentimental women and
sick children. They assert that the
Bread or Life is only fit for the one
purpose OF being rolled up into small,
harmless pellets to be fed to invalids
10 calm their nerves when they are
very sick or hopelessly dying. These
scotfing infidels seem able to study
nberately and inteIligently, and yet
are not able to intelligently investigate
the religion Of the Lord Jesus Christ
These scoffers, who refuse to read the
Greek superscription over the cross
are, to great extent, In the mental
condition in which the French infidel
Duroc lived. One day, when he was
making bitter attack upon the reli-
gion OF the Lord Jesus Christ and sheer
Ing Mt 1t as gospel fitted only for the
ignorant and superstitious, Napoleon
Bonaparte turned to him and said.
Duroc, L am mucn SURPRISE er yc.:-
statements. You seem to be an In
teiligent man, and yet you shut your
eyes to every one Of the evidences of
Christianity. Though you charge
Christians with being unreasonable in
their beliefs, you yourself are so I'M
reasonable that you are willing to
accept any theory and believe any abb
surdity as long as 1t is not found in
the Bible" Such Is the mental and
spiritual conditions OF many OF those
men who will not read the Greek su-
prescription above the cross.
The Bible stands Every Test.
III the Bible does not satisfy the In
teliect how can you account for the
fact that 1t has commanded the ad-
miration Of the greatest thinkers OF the
agesr If this book, which acclaims
Christ, does not bear the Investigation
OF the mind, how was it that Sir VIII
liam Jones, the greatest linguistic hui
man encyclopedia who ever lived, once
Sa Ia I'm l.aforonI.I, 70, tl,a4 -