Milford chronicle., 1902-11-14

Pastor Of Jefferson Park Presby-
terrain Church, Chicago
Chicago Nov. 0.-The supremacy of
Christ in the realms of government
learning and religion is asserted by Rev.
Frank Dc Witt Talmage in this ser
mon on the text Luke xiii, 80, "And a
superscription also was written over
him in letters of Greek and Latin ami
Hebrew, This is the King Of the Jews.
Capital punishment has been III
vogue among all nations, both civilized
and barbaric. But Of all modes of car
ital punishment, whether by the hang
mans moose, or by decapitation. or
slow strangulation, or by burning at
the stake, the most horrible way for
any criminal to die is by the crucifi2-
ion mode-that form of public execJ-
ton which was practiced among the
Jews. Yet we see Christ as a common
criminal, hanging upon the cross and
dying by the most intense and agoni;.-
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 sin
giles his death out from among all tie
crucifxions. That exception is tie
style of the superscription nailed above
the cross. 1t was customary among
the Jews to place above the heads of
the dying a 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 instruction
against the throne of Caesar, the board
over the head of Christ had written
upon it 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.
tons Of all times the great purpose for
| which Christ was born as babe in
Bethlehem of JudEa. for which he lived
MS 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
Hebrew-which were united in the su
prescription upon the cross are symbol
ic Of the universally of Chrlst's reign.
The intellectual Realm.
Greek was the language of learning
In that realm our Divine Saviour
king-lOrd Of the intellect, besides be
ing ruler of the heart. He is to be tn
dominating power in our great univeI
stiles and institutions of learning a
well as in our Christian EndeavOr SC
cieties and humble meeting houses i
J. the backwoods; he is to be the con
{ panion of the scientist, like Herr
= Drummond. who goes forth into tR
great temple of nature to find "A Ma
ural Law In the Spiritual WOrld,' a
well as the companion of David I.i1
ingstone, whose greatest ambition wa
to tell the simple story of the natiVit
to the ignorant black man living anon
the African swamps or upon the bar
of the KOngo; he is to be the inspire
4 ton of Hugh Miller's geological CROW
y bar and Agassiz's laboratory and IsaG
NewtOn's scientific instruments m
= William Herschel's telescope, as we
as the hope of the poor young girl d
Ing in the springtime Of youth who a
cepts him as ''the evidence of tn nj
d. not SEEN" The superscriptiOn must
or I'm Greek because Christ has a missit
n n TO the learned, the cultured, the refine
&c The Greek language has always be,
Isl the symbol of culture and refnemeI
p. It is the language of the poet al
- sculptor and architect and musieii
and philosopher and statesman; 1t
the language of intellectually, becau
in the time of Christ 1t was exclusiv sc
the tongue Of the llterati. as the Fr6n
ler language during the nineteenth c.
ich fury was the court language of all I
Tvs rope. So in the Greek superscripti
i written over the cross in symbol Chr
= seems to say, 1.-THE gospel of the I4C
Ii Jesus Christ shall successfully app
~ to the intellectual man as well as
on. the ignorant, to the calm, cold, ca
fully weighing. scientific mind as W
as to the impulsive love Of the lit
child"
Del. But though the superscription O.
. the cross had the sentence, "This is
e King of the Jews" written in
Greek language, there are thOusal
and tens of thousands of infidel Sc
ers who continually sneer at ChIil
name and at the word of God. III
pretend to think that the religion
the Lord. Jesus never appeals to
NC brain. They assert that the gospe
- only a relic of the superstitiOus
-AT barbaric ages fit only for shallow,
eisti,, Terminate men, sentimental women
&c or sick children. They assert that
ther Bread of Life is only fit for the
noes purpose Of being rolled up into sn
ord harmless pellets to be fed to inva
to calm their nerves when they
very sick or hopelessly dying. III
" soothing infdels seem able to st
every science and law. calmly and
liberately and iutelligently, an6
are not able to intelligently invesli
SEI. the religion Of the Lord Jesus Oh
These scOffers. who refuse to read
Greek superscriptiOn over the c
- are, to a great extent, in the ME
condition in which the French in
Imel Duroc lived. One day, when he
abov making a bitter attack upon the
John gion of the Lord Jesus Christ and 81
erats ing at it as a gospel fitted only fol
g i ignorant and superstitious, NapC
resses BOnaparte turned to him and
w " rs "Duroc, l am much surprisd at
Offins statements. You seem to be a
,tons telligent man, and yet you shut
e for eyes to every one of the eviderC
D' Christianity. Though you C
surni Christians with being unreasonll
iNs =" their beliefs, you yourself are S
DRr. reasonable that you are willh
accept any theory and believe al
0AI IrdiS as long as it is not fOu
UN, the Bible" Such is the menta
spiritual conditions of many or
men who will not read the Gre,
prescription above the cross.