The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-08

count of the incomparable tragedy now enacting, drapes herself in veil of | impenetrable blacknes5
 In that darkness. the seventh work ] from the cross Is heard The Son. hay. ing drunk. to its dreRs the cup the Father had given Him. TOW, in the very hour and article of death, con- fidently comments His soul to that Father.
 i Key and Analysis. i Two incidents on the way to cruel ' fixion
 i CD Jesus words to the w,men i CD The impressing of simon of Cyrene.
 3. Arrival at Golgotha.
 The mailing to the cross: anesthe- tics refused.
 3. Cross erected first word from the cross Forgive"
 4. 'sanhedrists offended at inscription on the cross. Change refused. 5. Ridicule and reviling. 6. Conversation of crucified thiet Second word addressed to b:m. '. Gambling at the foot oe the cross Filial piety prompts inc third word" in which Jesus commends Ills mother to John.
 g. Fourth word" inexplicable cry Of the sufferer. 'Twhy am fo.saken." | 10. Fifth word" 'T thirst" II. sixth word" It is finished 12. Seventh word. the committaI; Soul given to God.
 The Teachers Lantern, Pilates ironical inscription has a germ of truth in it. Jesus IS king. Hi, dominion is wider than the most ant bilious Caesar ever dreamed of.
 What a tribute to Jesus. Pilate would fain acknowledge Him a kingly spirit of whom the Jews were not worthy. To this covered eulogy of the procurator the dying thief added his Thy king dom"
 study of Calvary reve6is the ia- tensive forcefulness of the expression, | Cruelty the Son of God aeresh." In dt ference. unbelief, and apostasy are doing this daily
 It Is inconceivable that the spirit uf Jesus, just mingled with common air. was dissipated and lost, as to It's iden- tity, when He breathed 1t forth. He commended 1t sas an inconceivabIy precious thing to the care of-a personal God, the Father of Spirits. The Lord of Life helped the dying penitent at His side to stand the shock of dissolution by the assurance of ! perpetuation of conscious life beyond, and an immediate entrance to paradise. The cross is always divisiVe. It once separated a believer from an unbe- lieYer. It does so vet whenever 1t is preached. People range themselves Tn two classes. The cross is th9 divisor.
 When Jesus entered pHra,'ise 1t was This trophy of His redeeming love, this evidence of the power of His cross He presented to ail the intelligence of the sky.
 It is a common error that the man wio was impressed to bear the cross was a negro. The presence of a Jew | from Africa can be easily accounted for. Ptolemaeus Lagi forcibly colonized l Cyrene NorthAfrica, with a great mum | Der of Jews, who built for themselves synagogue in Jerusalem to which they might resort at feast times.
 The thoughts of Jesus, even in His mortal agonies, were upon tthers. as indicate. Father forgive :hem;" and to the 'penitent thief, This day." and to His mother, Woman, behold thy i Son" Gambling is that one horrid vice that | could intrude upon even the crucifixion scene The rattle of the 6ice box was | heard at the foot of the cross. It is the dehumanizing vice. At Monte Carlo, today. the suicides revolver Cften rings | at the table. Inverted servants throw a
 sheet over the corpse ard carry t
 out, and the game goes on!
 Crucifixion was abolished by Cor | stantine. out oc sacred regard for the cross as the instru ent of the Savior's passion. Thus for fifteen centuries the l world has henn id O. this crueist mole of capital punishment. And the spread of the humanizing Gospel h2s reduced to the minimum the pain and indini- ties of those who must suffer the ex- treme penalty.
 The twenty second Psalm. written. as Hengstenberg affirms. in the greatest heat of David's conflict with Saul g also strikingly minute in is portrayal of the last agony of Jesus. The agoniz ed cry, the derision, the pierced hands and feet, the parting of he garments , and many other circumstances, are
 here. They are directly ruoted, or 9t least alluded to, in the New Testament. --------------- ---------=