The Attraction of the Cross # 2

The Attraction of the Cross # 2

But we being of one mind with Paul, and looking upon the souls of mankind in the light which his inspired writings have thrown upon their destiny, have imbibed his temper, and feel our spirits grieved within us, over the multitudes that are given to idolatry. We cannot help thinking that men without Christ are in the very depths of misery, though they may stand in other respects upon the summit of civilization, literature, and science; and for such an opinion we can plead the authority of the apostle, who, as we have seen, bewailed a city of philosophers with more intense and piercing grief than any of us ever did a horde of idolatrous savages.

Here, then, is the object of our zeal - to bring to Christ those who are afar off. "To turn men from dumb idols to serve the living and the true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven." To induce them, by the power of persuasion, in humble dependence upon the blessing of God, to renounce all their systems of error for the revelation of Christ as our divine Prophet; to abandon their rites, sacrifices, and penances, for his one oblation as our great High Priest; and to forsake their wicked customs and immoral habits, for obedience to His laws as King in Zion. In fact, to accomplish in the happy experience of the heathen, the descriptions which the pen of prophecy has given of the Messiah and His Kingdom; to achieve the victory announced in the mystic terms of the first promise, and bruise the head of the serpent; to circulate the blessing of Abraham's seed through all the families of the earth. In seeking to save the souls of the heathen by bringing them to Christ, we raise ourselves into the dignity of a partnership with the Son of God in these mighty designs of His; we enter into the fellowship of that Cross which is destined to occupy eternity with the development of its wonders, and to fill the universe with the brightness of its glory.

II. Let us now consider the grand INSTRUMENT of Missionary exertions. This is the doctrine of the CROSS, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw men unto me."

It was evidently our Lord's intention to represent the conversion of the nations not merely as a circumstance that would follow His death in the mere order of time, but as a consequence connected with it in the order of cause and effect.

This day do we see something resembling the splendid fable told of Constantine's conversion. You armies of Christ, marshaled around this pulpit, and confederated in the mighty enterprise of wresting the empire of the world from the prince of darkness, behold the Cross suspended in the firmament of revelation, radiant with its own brightness, and inscribed with the auspicious motto, "By this conquer!" Yes, this is the emblem which must wave alone in our banner, "and to it shall the Gentiles seek." I preach another and a true crusade to the heathen world; far different from the convulsive mania which, in the midnight of superstition, disturbed  the slumbers of the globe, and like a volcano, precipitated all Europe in a state of merger upon the valleys of Judea. Our object is not to recover the holy sepulcher from the possession of heretics, but to make known the death of Him who descended to it to wrest the keys of empire from the king of terrors. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, as the sword, the spear, and the battle axe - but spiritual, as the doctrines of the gospel exhibited in the sermons of our missionaries. The line of our march will not be marked by ensanguined fields, and the reign of desolation - but by the comforts of civilization and the blessings of Christianity. We shall not be followed in our career by the groans of dying warriors, and the shrieks of bereaved widows - but by the songs of redeemed sinners, and the shouts of enraptured  angels. Our laurels will be stained with no blood - but that of the Lamb of God, and be dropped with no tears but those of penitence and joy. Our spoils will consist not of bits of the true Cross, or shreds of the Virgin's robe - but rejected idols and the regenerated souls of those who once adored them.

1. It will be important under this head of discourse, first, to state what is essentially included in the doctrine of the Cross. It includes, of necessity, the MANNER of Christ's death. The sacred historian having conducted us to Calvary, and pointed to its summit, exclaims with pregnant simplicity, "and there they crucified Him." Crucifixion was not only the most agonizing, but the most ignominious death. By the Jewish law it was pronounced accursed, and by the jurisprudence of Rome it was employed as the broom of destruction, by which the vilest of slaves and criminals might be swept from the face of the earth. And did You, who are the brightness of Your Father's glory, humble yourself to the death of the Cross? Yes, You did, but by that Cross you shall conquer the world!

The design of Christ's death, as an atonement for sin, is essentially included in this doctrine. It appears to me to be one of the mysteries in the world of mind, that the doctrine of the atonement should be disputed by any who profess assent to the testimony of Scriptural revelation. Have they ever read with attention thee language of Paul? "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an atoning sacrifice by His blood, to be received by faith." This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins. It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." (Romans 3:23-26).

How is it possible to avoid seeing the great truth for which we are now contending in this most convincing passage, where, in the compass of two verses, it is thrice affirmed that the end of Christ's death was a declaration of justice? For in what other way than as an atonement His blood can be a manifestation of justice, it must confound even the ingenious spirit of error to inform us. The atonement is not, so much a doctrine of Scripture, as the very Scripture itself, and if it be removed, leaves all that remains as incoherent and unmeaning as the leaves which the Sybil dispersed to the wind.

~John Angell James~

(continued with # 3)