Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1885-08-14
Sermon.

A Sermon
But God forbid thatI should glory save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ
THIS sublime resolution of Paul not
to glory in anything save the cross of
Jesus Christ, made him the hero of the
ages. Apart from Him who suffered
on it, there certainly has been no be-
lever in the cross, comparable to that
apostle whc made it his solitary glory.
He who glories in the cross is elorifed
by it. As, of old, one knelt to become
q knight, and kneeling was smitten by
the sword that knighted him, SO that
while he knelt soldier, he arose a
knight, so Paul arose by the cross the
world called ignomin1ous, unto the
highest orler of Immortality The sin
ner, and also the saint is the creature
of his shrine, whatever be it's origin
"They that make them are like unto
them, = said the psalmist, speaking of
the gods If the heather. They are like
them, for, though they make them they
are in time made by them, as the fonn-
tain and its source rise OF sink to the
same level. The stream of humanity
rises to the unspeakable glories of the
heavens, when it can ascend through
the cress as it's fountain co-mingling
with the current that issues there
When Nero ruled the Eternal City
and lived in golden palace, and ruled
in the luxurious splendors of the court
and rolled in unlimited wealth, the
crossbeam languished in his prison;
anon, he passes the lofty walls of Rome
and treads with trembling steps the
Appian Way to the place of decapita-
ton. Whose place would YOU chose,
oh, brother! Paul has already chosen,
and wri ten bis +, solution in ill. lible
letters, s.Gol forbid ttsat should glo-
ry save III the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Time has indicated the wisdom Of his
decision. fhe, glory Of Rome has van
ished, the church grows young with the
flight Of ine reasing ages.
Paul sits crowned among the shinin,
md glorilied, and Gol shield Us from
knowing the doom of the soal of Nero
Nero wore for time the diadem OF
the Caesars, Paul wears for eternity the
crown Of righteousness which fadeth
not away through oncomins myriads
of ages.
The r.ame Of Nero is the synonym for
everything mean aud vile, the name of
Paul leads all the trains of earth's no
biltv. The choice of Paul ''raise,l Il
mortal to the skies, that of Nero
drought an augel down"
By the cross men rise to the zenith;
by the throne Of pride, they fall to the
na,lir, and like Lucifer, never to rise
again. 1t seems to me that in making
the choice fer Christ and the cross, we
must ut ourselves in imagination, III
the times Of the apostles, and decide
as between Paul and Il Nero; between
Man of Sorrows and Pontius Plate.
Did we all do this would there be
Christians now? Yes, men chose the
cross then; they would to-day under
similar circumstances.
But the circumstances are similar,
yea, identical; not In their outward
form, but in their essential character.
The impulses, the motives, the incl
nations of men are the same to-day as
they were when Paul went on his mis-
sionary journeys; or when Jesus dis
coursed to the multitudes on the shol e,
of Galilee. As then, we confess ] esus
determined If necessary to die with
him; or we are ashamed of him and OF
his words before sinful and an adul-
ferrous generation. Sull, We fall on
the stone and are broken, or it falls on
US and we are ground to powder.
There IS the same power LII the cross
to-day as there was when Paul, by bear
ing it, and glorying in it, was trans6g
ured by it into the likeness of Him who
is the efulgence of Jehovah's glory.
How abject and mean seem all othe
objects of glorying when compared tc
the cross of Jesus Christ. The heathen
abroad, glory in hideous idols, grim
images of debasing and imaginary pow
| er, and the heather at home worship al
shrines as vile. There are many things
in which men glory. Such is human
nature that each individual select.
some object of worship to which his
sonl bows in homage. Christianit,
does not destroy, but regulates human
nature.
1t cleans the cerroded wheels of our
mental and moral clock-work that w,
keep truer time; it restores the soul.
lost harmonies that the music of life il
sweeter; out of the manifold voices ot
earth, 1t enables the ear to select tht
voice of truth and beauty. The valu
of such corrective as Christianity j
the mole apparent when We perceiv,
the false object of glorying AMI thei
soul-killing tendencies; false, becausr
while they are good in themselves the,
are turned aside from their lesitimat
use and exalted into objects of worship
Some glory in the beasts that wer