The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-12-07
THE
CRUCIFIXION
Sunday School Lesson for Dec. IL, 1910
Specially Arranged for This Paper

our iniquities."-Isa 5S:5.
TIME-Friday morning. April Z, A.. D.
:, from six o'clock A. M. till three
o'clock P. NJ.
PLACE-O Pilates judgment hall eth
n in Herod's Palace in the western part
If the city; or in Castle Antonio adjoin-
ng the Temple area on the north.
The. Roman trial, before PLATE,
was in the palace of PLATE, opening
into a large court. See place. In the
Jewish court the charge brought
against Jesus was blasphemy, that is
treason against God and the Jewish
commonwealth. The penalty was
death.
When the leaders brought Jesus be-
fore PLATE they hoped that the gov
ernor would accept their verdict, and
simply countersign their sentence
without inquiring further, taking for
granted that they would not have con-
iemned a mar to death unless he de-
served it. But PLATE asked: What
accusation bring We, against this
NAM"
The verdict of Plate was, II find no
FAULT in this man."
From the mockeries in Pilates
court Jesus was led away to be cruel
fed.
Jesus was so weak from his long
and intense sufferings that an African
from Cyrene was compelled to help
him bear the cross.
The distance was from half a. mile
to a mile, according to the place Of
starting (the tower Of Antonio, or
Herod's palace and the location OF
Calvary. In advance was a soldier
carrying a white wooden board on
which was written the nature Of the
crime. Next came four soldiers, un-
der a centurion, with the hammer and
the nails, guarding Jesus, who bore,
as always in such cases, the cross on
which he was to suffer John 1917,
{. W. Then came two robbers, each
bearing his cross and guarded by four
soldiers. AS they went forth into the
street they were followed by a great
nultitude-many with eager curiosi-
ty; priests exulting I'VE their en-
envy; Mary, with other women, weep
ing duke 1920.
This scene is wildly described in
Ben Hur:" He was nearly dead.
Every few steps he staggered as if he
would fall. A stained gown, badly
torn, hung from his shoulders owe a
seamless undermine. An inscription
On a board was tied to his neck. A
crown of thorns had been crushed
hard down upon his head. The mob
sometimes broke through the guard
and struck him with sticks, and spit
upon him. Yet no sound escaped him"
The seven words from the cross: T.
/. Father, forgive them; for they
know not what they do, was probably
spoken in the. height Of the agony,
when the cross with the victim upon
it was dropped with a sudden wrench
INTO it's place in the ground.
2. Today shalt thou be with me in
paradise. To the penitent robber. to-
ward noon.
8. Woman, behold thy son. Behold
thy mother! Toward noon, when com
hitting his mother to the loving care
Of John.
4. Flo |, Flo /, la ma sabach THANH.
Aramaic for My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? Spoken IN
the darkness and depression of spirit
near his death, about three o'clock in
The afternoon. The SIZE expression of
spiritual suffering.
5. I thirst, in the intense thirst of
his dying hour. The sole expression
Of bodily suffering.
6. 1t is finished. "The Workers.
Cry of Achievement, the Sufferers
Cry of Relief"
7. Father, into thy hands 1 com
mend my spirit. His dying cry, 1.-THE
triumphant note of a c%onquerer."
Redemption through his blood" SO
frequently referred to in the New
Testament, gives the highest possible
expression of love. Blood is life, the
life he gave to save us. But this in
cludes the whole life Of Christ, his
coming. his life work, his death on
the cross, and his reSurrection-it was
this Christ who expressed his SUI
preme love and his Fathers love by
giving his life that we might live. The
sacrifice on the cross was the highest
proof and the strongest expression OF
the love of God to a Christ proved
the greatness of his love by what he
was willing to suffer for those he
loved. Ruskin says that "the fountain
in which sins are indeed washed away
is that of love, not of agony" But the
agony was the measure and the proof
Of love. 1t declares Gods love to
man Gin letters that can be read from
the stars" The fact is that there Is
20 other way to express in language
that all can understand the highest
degrees CT heroism, courage, self-sac.
rifice, and love. 1t is these qualities
we see rather than the agony, as we
do not see the particles of matter in
the air by which the sunlight is diff
fused, but we see the light.
Every power and every motive that
can touch the heart of man to lift
him out of sin into the kingdom OF
heaven radiates from the cross, as the
completion Of the sacrifice of Christ.
It shows to us the evil of sin, since
redemntion from sin demanded such a