THE CROSS. The Cross the Cause of Faith. Sit down and The cross, which is the object of faith, is also, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the cause of it. watch the dying Savior till faith springs up spontaneThere is no place like Calvary for ously in your heart. creating confidence. The air of that sacred hill brings The Cross the Cure for Trouble. What is the cure for all this social chaos, domestic trouble, secret pain-this wrong-doing as between kings. and subjects, fathers and children, man and man? The one cure is the cross of Christ. Have I not preached that with some consistency ever since you knew me? Have I ever given a second prescription for this malady of the world? If I ever have, allow me now to tear it up-publicly tear it up-so that nobody can ever patch it together so as to make one word of it through all time. The prescription I will give is given to me. The prescription by which I would abide according to the exhortation of Scripture-the prescription which I would preach to all mankind-is this: "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from sin.”—JOSEPH PARKER. The Meaning of the Cross. Far westward, where the venerable mountains rise as if to greet the stars, the traveler sees a solemn sign in snow-it is the Holy Cross. The sailor in summer seas looks up at night and beholds in the heavens the Southern Cross. In cathedral shades, where prayers echo through the aisles and sweet child-voices chant anthems half divine, the worshiper adores the Roman Cross. There is a lovely flower in whose heart the hand of God. has set the Passion Cross. The Knights of the Middle Ages bore on their blazoned banners the Red Cross. And we may behold them all, and even wear upon our breasts the Cross in gold or pearl; but not until we clasp hands in brotherhood of sorrow have we seen the real sign of the cross-not until we feel the pain, the joy, of loving sacrifice do we know the deepest meaning of the Cross of Christ.-CHARLES C. ALBERTSON. Christ with Us Means the Cross for Us. When God breaks up your plans, and throws you to the very ground, and breaks all the threads in the loom which you are weaving, and says to you, "Begin again," is there any Christ for you at that point of your overthrow? Can you go forth unto your Savior marking that place in His life where He was overthrown, identifying it in some way with your own overthrow? Can you stand rejoicing with Christ at that very point of humiliation and crucifixion? Christ may be followed in two ways-victorious, and in disgrace and ignominy; and we are called to follow, first, not Christ as He is set forth in all the royalty of philosophy and reason, but a Christ humiliated, a Christ despised; a Christ hated, a Christ crucified. Before we stand with Christ upon Olivet we must stand with Him upon Calvary—must walk with Him thither.-Beecher. The Three Crosses. The Cross! Poets have sung its praise; sculptors have attempted to commemorate it in marble; martyrs have clung to it in fire; and Christians, dying quietly in their beds, have leaned their heads against it. May all our souls embrace it with an ecstacy of affection! Lay hold of that cross, O dying sinner! Everything else will fail you. Without a strong grip of that you perish. Put your hand on that, and you are safe, though the world swing from beneath your feet. Oh, that I might engrave on your souls ineffaceably the three crosses, and that if in your waking moments you will not heed, then that in your dream tonight you might see on the hill back of Jerusalem the three spectacles-the right-hand cross, showing unbelief and dying without Christ; the lefthand cross, showing what it is to be pardoned; while the central cross pours upon your soul the sunburst of Heaven as it says: By all these wounds I plead for thy heart. I have loved thee with an everlasting love.. Rivers can not quench it. The floods can not drown it."-TALMAGE. ་་ |