Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-11-15
TALRqAGE
SERMON
Py Rev.
FRANK DE WITT TALMAGE. DID,.
Pastor # Jefferson Park Presby-
terian Church, Chicago

learning and rc.. sion Is asserted by Rev
Franz, D. Witt Talmage in this ser
mon ON the text Luke xiii, 3S, And I
superscriptlon also was written owe
him In letters Of Greek and Latin an(
Hebrew, This is the King Of the Jews.
Capital punishment has been IL
vogue among all nations. both civilized
and barbaric But Of all modes Of cap
ital punishment, whether by the hang
mans moose, or by decapltation, OF
slow strangulation, or by burning al
the stake, the most horrible way FOL
any criminal to die is by the crucihx
ion mode-that form of public execu'
ton which was practiced among the
Jews. Yet wa see Christ as a common
criminal. hanging upon the cross and
dying by the most intense and agoniz-
ing form OF suffering, mental and phys
lcal.
But though Jesus Christ is dying
upon the cross us a common criminal
there is one vivid distinction which sim
giles his death out from among all the
crucihXions. That exception Is the
style Of the superscription nailed above
the cross. II 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 WIS diving an ig-
nominious death for the sin OF murder
or Of blasphemy. or Of insuTection
against the throne Of Caesar, the board
over the head OF Christ had written
upon 1t 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,
md thus proclaimed to all the genera
tlons Of all times the great purpose for
which Christ was born as q babe in
Bethlehem Of Judea. for which he lived
as a boy in Nazareth. and for which he
died upon the cross for the salvation
OF men.
Let me describe how the three Ian.
Hebrew-whIch were united in the su.
upon the cross are symbol
lc Of the universally of Chrlst'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
'RmnTiiaf aoInTna1ins af rs taea ds-ldsd to ask
sites and institutions Of learning -
well as In our Christian Endeavor so
clctles 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-
lngstone. whose greatest ambition was
TO tell the simple story Of the nativity
TO the ignor:. ut black man living among
the African swamps or upon the banks
Of the Kon1o: he Is to be the insplra-
ton of Hugh Miller's geological crow
lar and Agassiz's laboratory and Isaac
Newton's scientific Instruments and
William Hcrschel's telescope, as well
as 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 superscriptlon must be
In Greek because Christ has a 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 ana
and architect and musician
and philosopher md statesman; 1t Is
the language OF intellectually. because
in the time Of Christ 1t was exclusively
the tongue OF the llterati. as the French
language during the nineteenth CEN
tury was the court language OF all Eu-
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
to the intellectual man as well as to
the ignorant. to the calm, cold, care
fully weighing. scientific mind as well
as to the impulslve love of the little
child"
But though the superscription over
the cross had the sentence, This Is the
King of the Jews" written In the
Greek language, there are thousands
and tens Of thousands Of in6del scoff'
ers who continually sneer at Christie
name and at the word Of God. They
pretend to think that the religion OF
the Lord Jesus never appeals to the
brain. They nssert that the gospel 10
only q relic OF the superstitious ane
barbaric ages, 6t only for shallow, ef-
Terminate men, sentimental women and
sick children. They assert that the
Bread of Life is only ft for the one
purpose Of being rolled up into small,
harmless pellets to be fed to invalids
to calm their nerves when they are
very sick or AOpelcssly dying. These
scohing infdels seem able to study
every science and law. calmly and de-
liberately and lntellig"i.Iy, and yet
are not able to intellgently investigate
the religion Of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These scoffers. who refuse to read the
Greek superscrIption over the cross
are, to n great extent. In the mental
condition In which the French inf1del
Duroc lived One day, when be was
making & bitter attack upon the reli-
gion OF the Lord Jesus Christ and sneer-
ing Mt II as a gospel fitted only for the
ignorant and supcrstitious Napoleon
Bonaparte turned to him and said:
"Duroc, am much surprisd at your
statements. You seem to be an In
telligent man, and yet you shut your
eyes to every one Of the evidences OF
Christianity. Though you charge
Christians with being unreasona BILE In
their beliefs, you yourself are 81 un-
-