The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1893-04-11
ONE CENT.
THE CRUC1FrXrON.
The Subject of Rev. rowicls's Discour
Last sunday.

NuhIttL OF Kew BONiCht's Discourse
Last sunday.
The sermon in the NJ. f.. church ON Sunday
morning was from Galations POO "T am
crucifed with Christ, nevertheless ] live, vet
not ], but Christ liveth in me'' This is one
of Paul's %profoundest utterances. 1t is the
testimony Of his own experience to the truth
of the doctrine he ~expouuds. To grasp the
scope Of his argument We must bear in mind
he is contrasting the respective merits of law
and grace as the means of salvation. His
argument is that "a man Is not justified by
the works Of the law, but by the faith Of
Jesus Christ" Having been crucided with
Christ he was dead to law. 1t was ordained
TO life but through transgression it became
powerless to confer it. Like the convicted
murderer, it was not justice but mercy he
needed. He found no hope nor help in
violated law. His c%rucifxion with Christ
attested the dissolution of all his relations
with law so far as they had been his sphere
of life or ground of hope. A ruling idea in
ancient thought regarded ones p~osterity as
existing in his loins and s|haringin his actions
and their consequences. Hence we read
wv pun 'AA"No III AhldldlH ilAOIEu nc
was not born for four hundred years after
for he was in the loins of his father when
Melchiledec met him" And again, AS in
Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made
alive" So in this sense Paul regarded him
self as having been crucifed with Christ.
As the death Of Jesus met the obligations
of the law Of Moses and put an end to his
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free from the law. Not that they are with.
out law to God, but under the law to Christ
"the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus"
But all this is only the scaHolding Of the
ultimate truth involved. His mystical
crucifxion with Christ to law carried with it
a real crucifxion to sin. Our old man is
crucifed with Him that the body Of sin
might be destroyed" Hence we are ex-
horted to put Off the old man which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and
be renewed in the spirit of your mind"
Thus the corrupt nature-the baser selt-is
personiied and nailed to tle cross of Jesus,
while the better self survives and thrives.
This is the meaning Of the latter part of the
text, which says nevertheless l live" This
double sellhood of man is frequently re-
ferred to in the Bible. OF King Saul it was
said, "the spirit of God shall come upon thee
and thou shalt be turned into another man."
So men are spoken Of as being both dead and
alive at the same time-"dead unto sin aud
alive unto God"-and you hath He made
alive who were dead in trespasses and sins'-
the hour is coming and now is when the
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and they that hear shall live'-tnat is the
spiritually dead-for the physically dead are
spoken Of in the verse following. So Paul
claimed to have experienced this sin-kiIling
and soul saving power which has its source in
the cross.
Christ liveth in me" Here is the
mystery Of the gospel: Christ in you the
hope of glory" But P ul had no monopoly
Of this blessed experience. Multitudes who
walk he earth to-day share 1t. Here is
piously trained youth away from the mother
who put a bible in his trunk when he left
home and babe him read it every day and to
beware Of company and drink He is ex-
posed to innumerable temptations, but the
memory Of that parting counsel saves him
his mother lives in him and though far away
She has a mighty grip upon his heart and
conscience. Here is a man in active bust
ness. He sees so much Of evil that he loses
faith in both man and God. He begins to
yield to the suggestion that there never was
anything in religion. But his thoughts are
turned back and he recalls the pious parents
who long since Joined the ranks Of the
spirits Of just men made perfect, - and he
says to himself, 81 am sure there were two
good persons, my parents'-they live in him
yet, and the memory of their holy life is a
sheet anchor to his soul. So Jesus lives and
reigns in human hearts to-day. "And al
though we see him not, yet believing, we
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full OF
glory"