The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1896-07-25
THE STORY OF THE CROSS.


the several Evangelists, with such
minute particularly and vivid pathos
and, withal, the story is so full of in
terest and appeal to human nature,
that nothing in all the scope of Scrip
ture is more familiar. The story of
the cross belongs to the world. From
childhood to the ripest old age, it
finds wide acceptance. and nothing
is so wildly wrought into the general
consciousness of the church, or so ex-
tensively woven into the web of sa-
cred literature, or so broadly and
feelingly interspersed through the
sermons of the pulpit, the exhorta-
tions of the lecture room, or the de-
votions of the closet.
The Crossl The death of the Sa
viourl The holy Passion! The Agony
of Calvary! With what scenic art
and tender fervor are they pictured.
Genius vies with love to place in
dramatic and effective lights this
tragedy of the ages. The priest
finds peer in the painter, and the
painter in the poet, and the poet in
the unlettered and devoted peasant,
for all alike show forth-each with
peculiar merit of success-this scene
of suffering and this climax of lovel
With the shadow of coming events
already falling, like the shadows of
approaching night, upon the pathway
before him, and REFRESHING the JOY of
his heart, he calls his little band of
beloved into that upper chamber"
to hold long interview of parting
affection and counsel. He breaks
bread with them, and passes the cup
in fultllment of familiar ideal of
intimacy and hospitality. He draws
them around the humble board in
gracious circle of goodwill-himself
the central figure to which all eyes
and hearts are turned.
He leads their thoughts to the great
themes of his religion, and wins their
hearts to the sweetness of communion,
and gradually, and with consummate
skill, fortifies them for the reception
of the tidings he must needs break to
them, of his betrayal and crucifxion.
He tells them that he must "go
away" and leave them, but treasures
them that he will come again and be
with them even unto the end. He
tells them not to he troubled, for he
goes to prepare place for them in a
"house of many mansions" where
they shall be with him in yet closer
and nobler relation than they have
yet known, or can know while the
veilings of flesh and sense intervene.
Though serious, his tone is full of
good-cheer; and though sorrowful,
the inspiring glow of a great hope
beams out of his heart full upon
them.
Swiftly the holy hour passes, as
ever it must with friends in the
presence of a great trial; and he leads
forth the silent band, through the
hush of the evening-shadows with
shadows moving-to his favorite
place, the garden of Gethsemane.
He then seeks a greater solitude-a
wider withdrawal from society and
nearer communion with God,. for in
the words of the record his spirit is
"sorrowful and very heavy" He
would pray; he coyets sense of
those relations that are enduring and
of those things that are eternal"
He would rise above the temporal
drift and transformers OF mortal af-
fairs, and cast an anchor in the
placid sea of the spiritual and immor-
tai, as the bird, with native instinct,
rises above the commotion of some
lower current he is called to buffet
to find brief repose in cloudless
skies.
Taking with him "Peter and the
two sons of Zebedee," whom he bids
to starry" and swatch" with him, he
prays that, if it be Gods will, the
soup might pass from him." His
flesh, acutely sensitive, in its delicate
and perfect poise, to the thrill Of pain
and the throe of agony, recoils and
cries out for quarter; but his con-
science is loyal and his heart sover-
eign, and sense is soon subdued by
spirit, the lower repressed by the
higher, and his prayer swiftly passes
from misgiving to victory. He bravely
and nobly surrenders self to the will
of God and the service of religion
and humanity.
While he prays, the three chosen
watchers lose themselves in sleep. 1t
is night and WEAKNESS weighs down
their eyelids. And with that charac-
teristic tenderness, so often seen in
the life of the Saviour, he excuses