New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-09-17

OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE UNITED STATES
OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS
..PREACHING OF THE CROSSE,

.PREACHlNG OF THE CROsss'
Sermon i'm New Jersey b. a New Orleans
Divine.
The Newark New jersey Register, Of the
twentieth ultimo, reports sermon by Rev
William Robinson, of New Orleans. The
Register thus introduces it:
The distinguished stranger who preached
at the North Baptist church yesterday
morning, was listened to with great atten
ton by the congregation. Had there beer
notice given Of his coming, the church
would have been entirely too small for the
audience. The discourse was pronounced
by those who listened to it as one Of the
finest ever delivered in this city. 1t wa
from Cor, j. ID:
The preaching of the Cross is to them that perish
foOlishness but to who saved it Is the powell
OF God.
1.-THE preaching Of the Cross What an
expression Is thatl How condensed the
meaning which crowds it ! and how the
power slumbers in it like the latent light
ming in the lap of the thunder cloud! AL
preaching is not ''the preaching Of the
Cross" nor even all gospel preaching: MOI
yet all preaching which speaks about the
Cross. There are (so-called) Christian pull
pite, which, on this Sabbath day, will send
out to the gathered worshippers thoughts
of beauty and words of stirring power,
amid all which there will not be so much as
lingering echo Of that grand theme which
Paul calls "The Cross" There are other
northumberland they the ones which love
best to carve the cross upon the stone and
lift it to the summit of the tapering spire-
in which sweet odOrs will mingle with
strains of exquisite harmonies, and gOr-
rvonuu ~r,;1v hv;Drr <bo;r host dave
tion, and vet amid The pomp and beauty
the breath Of rising incense and the an
them's lofty swell-one would listen vainly
for those themes which Of old rang SO
grandly through the awakening world as
apostles went everywhere preaching the
Cross. And yet, wherever that is lacking.
the gospel is an empty shell from which the
kernel has been dropped; an untitled cup is
pressed to the thirsty lip which mocks the
gospel preached by the great Apostle who
described his work in the language-"We
preach Christ Jesus our Lord" and who
here seizes on the central idea which fred
his heart to describe the spirit Of
all his sermons nay, all sermons
themselves-as 1.-THE preaching of the Cross"
would not be understood to question the
propriety of frequent addresses to the
Church on themes which only incidentally
atonement. Christians need to be stirred
up to a recognition of duty, and to be
aroused to activity in the Masters service;
and if Timothy was charged by the Holy
Spirit to ''reprOve, rebuke and exhort with
all authority" go may, nay. so must the
servant of Christ to-day. Yet, I think,
never should servant run along so low and
level plane of thought that there is in it
no elevation from which the listener may
catch view of Calvary, no height on which
for moment the tired soul may inger to
battle itself in the glory streaming from the
cross Of expiatiOn. But while this is to
preach the gospel, and to preach Christ in
the gospel, Paul had a more specific thought
before him when he wrote the language of
the text. The occasion, which was one of
partisanship and incipient hecesy in the
Church, demanded that he should recall
these Corinthians to the first principles OF
the gospel, and he reminds them how among
them he had preached, mot with wisdom Of
words, lest the Cross of Christ should be
made Of none effect but in simplicity, with
plainness directness and power, he had
preached the sacrifice of Jesus as the expia-
ton for human guilt-itseH sufficient and
alone-and that preaching, he tells them,
was power to some, fOolishness to others.
Let Us new consider as our theme:
/. The preaching of the Cross: and
II. The two classes to whom it was ad-
dressed.
In its widest meaning, the preaching Of
the Cross is the holding up of Christ to the
Of the life of Jesus was destitute Of those
elements Of humiliation and voluntary suf-
fering which belonged to the work of atone
ment. His whole life on earth was en-
ployed in expiating human guilt. The
manger cradle at Bethlehem. the agony Of
years Of rejection, poverty and insult, the
suferings of Gethsemane, and the igno-
miny and shame Of the judgment hall, all
had the elements of humiliation, suffering
and shame which eliminated in the cruel
fxion scene. Calvary was but higher
wave of the sea of sorrows which rolled
around the ever-suaering Christ,
80 that, in its widest sense; he who holds
up ''the man of s0rrows' in any portion Of
his work Of redemption, breaches the Cross.
The sweat Of the garden, wrung from the
brow Of Jesus by that inner agony Of SOUL,
and the crimson drops which trickled down
MS cheeks as the sharp thorns Of the mock
ng crown pierced his brow, were as truly
the precious blood Of Jesus as was that
We know, may have been as etiicacious in
atoning for the sins of the world. Yet. as
The glory of the day intensifies toward its
close, SO the work of expiation grew in
solemn majesty and grand impressiveness
rs it swept on to its final act, and no scene |
in the matchless life Of Jesus SO attracts and |
saddens, none SO cheers and animates, as |
does the closing one in which he land down |
his life for us. Gods justice there ASSUMES |
It's sternest face. We seem to hear the voice |
that rang through the prophets vision.
Awake, o sword, against my shepherd |
and a solemn awe fills the soul as it gazes |
Upon Calvary. There, literally, is the Cross.
and there, with pierced hands and feet, and
side, hangs the beloved Son Of God |
smitten by his Fathers hand-smitten for
as! We lind that this stupendous scene 80
itself upon the Apostles minds as
70 weave its solemn grandeur through all
their addresses to men. ''We preach Christ
,rucitied,' said Paul. Not simply Christ.
but Christ crucitied." ..Ye are not re-,
deemed with cnruptihle things. as silver
md gold, said Peter. but with the precious
blood OF Christ" They emblazoned the
'laln Lamb on the banner of the Church. and
n the power Of that doctrine they CON
luered! think, then, what Paul means by
the preaching Of the Cross is the holding
orth In all Its meritei prominence Of
Ihristt's atoning work-the pressing on hui
nan hearts Of this central fact Of Gods
yrace-that God gave his Son to be the
)rOpitiation for our sins; that Jesus died
n the sinners stead, and that life can
low to man only through the death of
Jesus. And there are reasons for this.
)nly at the Cross can men learn the height
md depth of Gods unsearchable love. The
Cross, and only the Cross, can solve that
mystery of ages, how God can be just and
'et justify the guilty. At the Cross, and
My there, door Of hope is opened for the
'utcast ones of earth, and hence he who
would win men to God by the revelation of
lis love- or who would bring peace to a
oul oppressed by its SINS or who would in
pire hope in the bosom OF despair, must do
ach by the sweetness, the argument and
he nosrer which thrill in the story of the |