True Cross

“ In Christ's teaching he found many of the moral and social truths that were dearest to him. "Does not every word of the Gospel breathe the spirit of liberty and equality, of that war with evil and injustice and falsehood, that inspires our work?" The cross was the symbol of "the one true immortal virtue, the sacrifice of self for others." ”

“ I, poor though I be and an exile on earth, propose to lay down laws for the whole human race, and so to change the face of the world, that, although I shall be crucified, men shall adore Me as true God, One with the Father and the Holy Ghost. And it is My will that the cross and nails and thorny crown, and all the other instruments of My Passion, shall be honoured and held in veneration as most precious treasures. ”

“ Did we but know how efficacious the cross is in bringing us to God, driving away the devil from us, and entitling us to future glories, we should not only expect it with patience, but run out vigorously to meet it. For so great is the dignity, so transcendent are the benefits of the cross, that God has allotted it as the inseparable companion of all his chosen servants. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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. ”

“ Yet by that they would be thought his disciples, who never did his own will, but the will of his heavenly Father.
VIII. This is such a cross as flesh and blood can carry, for flesh and blood invented it; therefore not the cross of Christ, that is to crucify flesh and blood. Thousands of them have no more virtue than a chip: poor empty shadows, not so much as images of the true one. Some carry them for charms about them, but never repel one evil with them. They sin with them upon their backs ”

“ For the Cross then becomes His great means of winning men to Himself, and the very throne of His power. On the historical fact of a Resurrection depend all the worth and meaning of the death of Christ. 'If He be not risen our preaching is vain, and your faith is also vain.' 'If Christ be not risen, ye are yet in your sins.' But if what this day commemorates be true, then upon all His earthly life is thrown a new light; and we first understand the Cross when we look upon the empty grave. ”

“ It is the cross that is first seen and always burning in the centre of the temple, and every dome and hollow of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised in power, or returning in judgment.” The true power of the cross is not artistic or literary or political, but moral. It is a spiritually transforming force that penetrates and guides every form of human progress. ”

“ Go to dying beds there you will learn its true worth. Ask some agonizing friend; he, and he alone, can tell you, what a blessing it is to have the king of terrors converted into a messenger of peace.
One blessing more I would mention, and earnestly with it, in due time, to all my hearers; An entrance into heaven. This too is the produce of our Redeemer's cross. ”

“ Since, therefore, the first-born Word of God thus fortified the manhood in which He tabernacled with the armour of righteousness, He overcame, as has been said, the powers that enslaved us by the figure of the cross, and showed forth man, who had been oppressed by corruption, as by a tyrant power, to be free, with unfettered hands. For the cross, if you wish to define it, is the confirmation of the victory, the way by which God to man descended, the trophy against material spirits, the repulsion of death, the foundation of the ascent to the true day ”

“ Carrying the Cross is both necessary and meritorious. It was to all men that our Lord said (Mat. 16, 24) : “If any man will come after Me, let him deny Himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” Whoever, therefore, wishes to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ must take up his cross daily and follow our Lord, or, in other words, he must patiently bear all labours, burdens, and sufferings. The story of Simon of Cyrene shows us what a blessed and meritorious thing it is to carry the cross after Jesus. ”

“ Let all that desire to be the true disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, bear their cross in this world, be it what it may; for if thou flee from one, another will meet thee; and do what thou wilt, thou must bear it. But under every cross the hand of God is with us, to lighten it and make it easy, and by his assistance we may bear it with pleasure. ”

“ They, therefore, who are acquainted with no other cross than the tribulations and afflictions of this life, greatly err; being ignorant of that true cross, which we ought to bear after our Lord daily; namely, inward repentance, and the mortification of the flesh; submitting to our enemies with great patience; and overcoming the malice of slanderers by humility and mildness, after the pattern which the Lamb of God has left us. For it becomes us to follow the example of Christ, who renounced all worldly splendor and glory, and everything that is commonly esteemed great and noble. ”

“ XI. Nor is a recluse life, the boasted righteousness of some, much more commendable, or one whit nearer to the nature of the true cross: for if it be not unlawful as other things are, it is unnatural, which true religion teaches not. ”

“ True morality is the image of the blessed God: it is most charmingly delineated throughout the whole Bible: it is the beginning of heaven in the human soul; and its proper origin is from the Cross of our divine Master. For, through the merits of his death, sinners are made partakers of the holy Spirit; who writes upon their hearts, and makes legible in their conversation, what was anciently written upon the mitre mitre of the high-priest, Holiness to the Lord.———And oh! what a motive is the Cross of Christ to the exercise of every virtue! ”

“ So deep, so close is this union, that I am actually and properly possessed of all the blessings which our head Christ Jesus has diffused through all his members, whether men, or angels, in heaven and earth. And the effect of this inward love is patience, by which a man readily and willingly takes up his cross, as a preparation for very exalted gifts of God. For no cross comes without its special grace. ”

“ We are, alas! so tender and delicate that the smallest cross is now complained of as an insufferable burden, and a little trouble and toil undergone for the sake of God and our neighbor, seems a sufficient plea why men should start back into the smooth way, and forsake the Lord; whereas he sends such trials upon men for the purpose of promoting thereby the recovery of their own souls, and the glory of his name. ”

“ True, there still remained the exterior forms of worship and a nominal and oral reverence to God and Christ, but that was all; for the offence of the holy cross ceased, the power of godliness was denied, self-denial lost, and, though fruitful in the invention of ceremonious ornaments, yet barren in the blessed fruits of the Spirit. And a thousand shells cannot make one kernel, or many dead corpses one living man. ”

“ Plates G and H represent the story told in the Golden Legend, of Heraclius bearing the Cross into Jerusalem, how the gate miraculously closed, and an angel appeared in the heavens and reproved Heraclius for riding in state on the very spot where Jesus had gone in all meekness, and lowliness, to His passion. The legend is erased in parts, the unmutilated portion reading, “As the nobul kynge eraclyus com rydyng towarde ye cytte of Ierusalem beryng ye crosse so grete pryde . . . where ye . . . .”
Naturally, the possession of a piece of the true Cross would be esteemed as a most precious property. ”

“ I. Though the knowledge and obedience of the doctrine of the cross of Christ be of infinite moment to the [2] souls of men, for that is the only door to true Christianity, and that path the ancients ever trod to blessedness; yet, with extreme affliction let me say, it is so little understood, so much neglected, and what is worse, so bitterly contradicted by the vanity, superstition, and intemperance of professed Christians, that we must either renounce to believe what the Lord Jesus hath told us, that whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after him, cannot be his disciple ”

“ For the soul that aspires naught else than the keeping of the law of the Lord perfectly and the bearing of the Cross of Christ will be a true Ark, containing within itself the true manna, which is God, when that soul attains to a perfect possession within itself of this law and this rod, without any other thing soever. ”

“ So that the cross is, as it were, the light by which we see and discover the true value of divine blessings, and who it is that bestows them. For ingratitude is the greatest degree of blindness, and the highest affront against God. And since the whole world is full of the glory of God, much more ought the heart of man to be full of it. ”

“ Now Christ, by means of the folly and the ignominy of the Cross, has imparted to men sublime wisdom, true wisdom, which can only be acquired by the teaching of the Cross, wisdom, compared to which all human learning is foolishness. ”

“ They have not been contented with their station in the body; they have not kept to their own gift, nor to their own place in the church. Walking loose from the holy cross there can be no such thing as concord and fellowship in the church of Christ. ”

“ When the last lot went, I prepared for the Holy Communion on the theatre stage, and nearly a hundred came back to receive the Blessed Sacrament—officers, non-commissioned officers, and men kneeling on the muddy floor, remembering, worshipping, receiving into their hearts by faith, the vital power to fight, and, if need be, to suffer and die for the righteous cause. The Cross of Christ seemed to be so real, and its meaning so clear, to men who are really living away from the world's conventionalities, and up against death and the other life. ”

“ Glory be to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men.
“By the birth of this wonderful Child, and the death he shall sustain, peace is made between heaven and earth: and not peace only, but a divine friendship commences. God regards the poor apostate race of men, not only without indignation, but with complacency and delight. He rejoices over them to do them good.”
Another benefit is holiness; or, if you please, the true, the Christian morality. Let none think, the believer in Jesus disparages true morality. ”

“ Our conversation stands in temperance, and that stands in righteousness, by which we have obtained that kingdom, your latitude and excess have no share or interest in. If none, therefore, can be true disciples but they that come to bear the daily cross, but those who follow the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, (Phil. iii. 10; 1 Pet. iv. 13; Tit. ii. 11-13; John, i. 9; Rom. vi. 6; Gal. ii. 20; v. 24; vi. 4,) through his baptism, afflictions, and temptations ”

“ And for this blessed work of reformation did Christ endue his apostles with his spirit and power, that so men might not longer sleep in a security of sin and ignorance of God, but awake to righteousness, that the Lord Jesus might give them life; that is, that they might leave off sinning, deny themselves the pleasure of wickedness, and, by true repentance, turn their hearts to God in well doing, in which is peace. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every wound of the precious body, every expression of the godlike features, calls up some act of divine love and mercy! Silently, sadly, solemnly, the holy cross has borne its sacred burden to all nations, through long ages of culture and light, of darkness and ignorance, of civilization and barbarism—a pioneer and potent agent in all good works—a talisman and solace for the poor and oppressed, as well as for the rich and powerful, a beacon of heavenly light, and a rallying-point for all Christendom! ”

“ We are to conquer “by the Cross.” We are to conquer by the power of love. For the Cross means love—love at its best, love in the glory of sacrifice. The Cross is the power of God. It is by the story of the Cross that men’s hearts are to be broken, and their affection and allegiance won. “By this conquer” is the charge given to us. Preach the Cross! Exalt the dying Redeemer of men! When we lift Him up He will draw all men unto Him.
“Thy kingdom come.” It is a prayer to-day; but the time will come when the prayer shall be changed into praise, and we shall be able to say, “Thy kingdom has come!” ”