Cross of Christ

“ The cross of Christ is composed of many other crosses—is the centre, the type, the essence of all crosses. We must suffer with Christ whether we believe in Him or not. We must suffer for the sin of others as for our own; and in this suffering we find a healing and purifying power and element. ”

“ In the Cross is health, in the Cross is life, in the Cross is protection from enemies, in the Cross is heavenly sweetness, in the Cross strength of mind, in the Cross joy of the spirit, in the Cross the height of virtue, in the Cross perfection of holiness. There is no health of the soul, no hope of eternal life, save in the Cross. Take up therefore, thy cross and follow Jesus and thou shalt go into eternal life. He went before thee bearing His Cross and died for thee upon the Cross, that thou also mayest bear thy cross and mayest love to be crucified upon it. ”

“ Having therefore such an high priest; having in this cross unsearchable riches; who shall make our glorying void? What shall hinder us from rejoicing and saying, Blessed be God for the opening beauties of spring! Blessed be God for the expected fruits of autumn! Blessed be God for ten thousand thousand gifts of his indulgent providence! but above all, blessed be God for the cross of Christ.
As ministers of the gospel, we are not left to set before our hearers a system of refined heathenism ”

“ As Christians, we have, in the Cross of Christ, the richest provision for our own spiritual wants. This is a foundation of the sublimest hope, and a fountain of the most exuberant joy: this affords matter for the deepest humility, and yields fuel for the most flaming love. ”

“ The view of Jesus Christ, said a great servant of God, makes the cross so sweet, that it seems to me impossible to be happy without it. I feel disposed to remain all my life without any consolation, even spiritual. The love of Jesus Christ is everything to me. The cross has its charms, and whoever loves Jesus Christ perfectly, finds ineffable delight in crosses. ”

“ Hence we learn that the saints in all ages have esteemed the reproach of the cross of Christ as their greatest treasure. And we may depend upon it, that no man can be admitted to the joys of the next world, who has not fought manfully under the banner of the cross in this world. How can we imagine that those blessed spirits will own us to be of their company in heaven, if we did not bring with us the sign of the cross? ”

“ Dear children, I have had much sorrow since we last met and talked of the joys of heaven—a beloved brother has, I trust, through Christ’s merits, joined the bright hosts rejoicing there. But should not I meekly bear the cross which my heavenly Father sees good to send me? To every one passing through this life is given a cross—a trial to bear. To some it is so light that they scarcely feel it; with others so heavy that it bows them to the dust. Each of you knows, or will know, its weight. But let none be afraid nor cast down. The cross prepares for the crown. ”

“ This is the life of the blessed Cross of Christ, which is the subject of the following discourse, and what thou, O man, must take up, if thou intendest to be the disciple of Jesus. Nor canst thou be said to receive Christ, or to believe in him, whilst thou rejectest his cross. For, as receiving of Christ is the means appointed of God to salvation, so bearing the daily cross after him is the only true testimony of receiving him, and therefore it is enjoined by him as the great token of discipleship, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." ”

“ The sign of the Cross should always be dear to you as the sign of a Christian, the badge of a Christian, and the glory of a Christian — as the distinctive mark of Christ’s true followers, — as a memorial of the sufferings of Christ on the Cross, and of your own deliverance from eternal death by and through those sufferings. ”

“ Through his cross we enjoy the favour of God, which is better than life. His love is manifested to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.
The cross of Christ procures our spiritual life—We are raised from a death in trespasses and sins, in consequence of the Redeemer's death for us. The end of his dying for us, we are assured, was, that we might live unto God; that divine life might be imparted to us from the living head. ”

“ Let us carry about the cross of Christ as a crown, and let no one blush at the ensign of salvation. By it is every thing in religion done: the cross is employed if a person is regenerated, or fed with the mystical food, or ordained ”

“ The second of our two reasons for the choice of the Cross of Christ as our subject, is the failure on the part of those who believe in it, trust in it, and even build their lives upon it, to realise the true vastness of its meaning. ”

“ To Thy service and to the honour of Thy most sacred Cross, I dedicate this true man. Bless Thou this shield of his, that it may be between him and his enemies, and his arms, also, that he may go before our host, and save many, and lead us to Thy holy place in Jerusalem! Endue him with grace, fill him with strength, enlighten his heart. Hear me and help me, O Christ, a sinful, loving woman!
"Holy Spirit of God, Most High, Creator, Comforter, let Thy pure gifts descend upon this clean-hearted man, that his courage fail not in life, nor in the hour of death. ”

“ What conclusions do our brothers, sisters, children, friends draw from our lives? Our true self-denial, self emptying, and giving for Christ’s cause practically show our real estimate of the value of the Cross of Christ, our real love for the Christ who was crucified for us. ”

“ I glory only in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, namely, in the faith, in grateful remembrance and contemplation of the benefactions of the Cross, through which we were redeemed and have received the grace to lead a devout: life and to strive for eternal happiness. In the Cross we recognize thoroughly the enormity of our guilt and the boundless love of God. ”

“ Adhering to this banner, you may boldly and triumphantly say, O death, where is thy sting! O grave, where is thy victory? When that great tremendous day shall come, which puts an end to time and terrestrial things; when that awful, that majestic, voice is heard, which commands all the race of Adam to appear at the bar; then, my dear brethren in Christ, then also shall you glory in the cross. When others, in an agony of terror, call upon rocks to fall on them and mountains to overwhelm them ”

“ Every disciple of Christ hath his cross, and must count upon it; as each hath his special duty to be done, so each hath his special trouble to be borne, and every one feels most from his own burthen. Crosses are the common lot of God's children, but of this common lot each hath his particular share. That is our cross which Infinite Wisdom has appointed for us, and a Sovereign Providence has laid on us, as fittest for us. It is good for us to call the cross we are under our own, and entertain it accordingly. We are apt to think we could bear such a one's cross better than our own ”

“ That is certainly better. It is here not our own crosses but the Cross of Christ, the actual event that took place on Calvary, that is spoken of, and that event is celebrated as the centre of all history. Certainly the Christian man can sing that hymn. But one misses even there the full Christian sense of the meaning of the Cross; the Cross is celebrated, but it is not understood. ”

“ However, therefore, the cross might be to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness; God forbid that we should glory in any thing else! Let this be the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and ending, of all our public ministrations. Let us leave a favour of this knowledge, which is far better than precious ointment, in every private company. Let it appear, from all our conversation, that the affections of our heart, and the labours of our life, are devoted, wholly devoted, to our adored Redeemer's cross. ”

“ Why will you perish for ever who have an all-sufficient propitiation in the cross of Christ? Fly to this sanctuary: fly, before it be too late: fly without a moment's delay. It is an inviolable sanctuary. None ever perished that fled by faith to the compassionate, the divinely compassionate Redeemer, his death shall be a full satisfaction for your iniquities. A sense of his immensely rich goodness shall win your affections; shall incline (what all the threatenings of damnation could never effect) shall smooth your path, and expiate your progress, to the regions of immortal honour and joy. ”

“ Behold everything dependeth upon the Cross, and everything lieth in dying; and there is none other way unto life and to true inward peace, except the way of the Holy Cross and of daily mortification. Go where thou wilt, seek whatsoever thou wilt, and thou shalt find no higher way above nor safer way below, than the way of the Holy Cross. Dispose and order all things according to thine own will and judgment, and thou shalt ever find something to suffer either willingly or unwillingly, and thus thou shalt ever find thy cross. ”

“ To say that the cross, emblazoned with the papal arms, which is set up [by the preachers of indulgences] , is of equal worth with the Cross of Christ, is blasphemy. ”

“ Let no man therefore be ashamed of the honored symbols of our salvation, and of the chiefest of all good things, whereby we even live, and whereby we are; but as a crown, so let us bear about the cross of Christ. Yea, for by it all things are wrought, that are wrought among us. Whether one is to be new-born, the cross is there ”

“ This gives to the cross all its glory and efficacy. It is on the supreme Deity of Christ—on the expiation made for sin by the Maker and Sovereign of worlds—that the whole fabric of evangelical truth rests. On any other supposition, the sacrifice of the cross was a very ordinary affair. If the Saviour of sinners be not God—if he be a created being, of whatever grade,—where is the mystery of Godliness?—Where those unfathomable depths of divine love, into which the angels desire to look? ”