The record-union., 1899-04-03
ON THE SIGN or THE CROSS.
SERMON LAST NIGHT BY REV
j. b. SILCOx.
Annual Easter Ceremony in Which
the Local Knights Templar
Participated.


Participated.
evening, Rev ]. B. Silcox preached the
annual sermon to the Sacramento Com
mandery, Knights Tenplar. The COM
nandery attended in a body.
The church was filed to the doors,
and many corners could not find seating
accommodations. The sermon receive
the closest attention throughout.
Mr. Silcox spoke from the text: THE
Som of Man came not to be ministered,
out to minister, and to give His life a
ransom for many" Mark 10, 4o.) He
uied for all that they who live should
no longer live unto themselves, but
unto Him who for their sakes died and
rose again. Second Corinthians o,1o)
AS Christian church, said Mr.. Sill
cox, we welcome to this service of divine
worship, our brothers of the Comman-
derry of Knights Templar. You come
to us as the open and avowed friends
OF Jesus You make prominent the
cross of Jesus. 1t is the insignia of
your order. BY this sign we conquer"
The church of Christ cannot do other
than welcome with warm cordiality. any
body of men, marching under that sa-
cred banner. The sign of the cross
makes us all brothers. 1t bands us to-
gether in a holy crusade for the things
that elevate and refine mankind 1t
bands us together to live as the
knight of old who took a SOL
emn vow to Follow the Christ,
the King, live pure, speak true,
right wrong, else wherefore born
Knighthood, if it means anything at
all, means eminent Christian manhood.
The cross that you wear commits you
to holy life and humane service.
The fact that your order exalts the
cross, the fact that you make it the
center and source of adj you are and
do, the fact that you say to all the
world, by this sign we conquer leads
me to attempt to interpret as SIAM
mering lips may, what the cross means.
1t is we'll for US all to devoutly consid-
er what the cross stands for, and what
those must stand for, who stand by it.
There are nights and depths here that
We cannot touch. The most profound
thinking of the worlds great theolo-
gians, has been centered on the cross
of Jesus. The world-age problems of
sin and salvation are all clustered
around that "Wondrous cross on which
the Prince of glory died. The death
of Jesus on the cross is the center fact
of human history and divine revela-
ton. The cross is the highest manifes-
tation of the gracious purpose of God
toward the human race. God so loved
the world that He gave His only be-
gotten son to be the worlds redeemer.
The cross is the place where man in
his sin may meet God in His mercy.
The explanation of the cross given by
those who lived with Jesus and best
understood Him is that He His own
self bare our sins in His own body on
the tree, that we being dead to sins
should live unto righteousness, by
whose stripes we are healed" We
cannot give too large place in our
thought to the fact that Jesus died
for our sins and rose again for our justi-
fication.' He who ignores or misses
this meaning of the cross, misses its
great saving gospel message. Here
in is love, not that we loved God but
that God loved u.s. He loved us and
blood" Brothers, the cross that you
wear, this service that we hold, this
Easter day that we celebrate does not
mean anything, if it does not mean that
He died, the just for the unjust, that
He might bring us to God"
We may not know, we cannot tell
What pains He had to bear;
But we believe it was for US,
He hung and suffered there
He died that we might be forgiven,
He died to make good,
That We might go at last to heaven,
Saved by His precious blood.
We are saved, not by our good deeds,
NOR nv olir~ good oharactor Wa no
saved by the mercy of God, revealed by
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. God
grant that every one who wears the
cross may share in the grace of Him
who died on it. God grant that every
one of US may be able to say from the
heart God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom the world is crcifed
unto me and 1 unto the world
But the cross has other meanings. II
means service as we'll as salvation He
died for all that they who live, should
no longer live unto themselves, but
unto Him who died for them and rose
again. The cross that was once the
symbol of shame, has been TRANSFORMED
by our Lord into a symbol of noble SER
vice. The red cross wherever lifted is
the pledge of helpful love, the symbol
of ministering mercy. The cross says
to all men, be We kind one to another
Ye are the children of one father there
fore live as brothers of one family The
cross of Jesus is the revelation Of the
Fatherhood of God, and the creative
source of the brotherhood of man. il
is only as men draw near the cross that
they draw near to one another 1t is
fact of history, that nothing has done
SO much to break down the social and
racial barriers, and unite men in one
fraternity, as the spread of the truth
that on the cross, Jesus died for al
men alike. We are eoualized before
the cross. One father created us, one
Savior redeemed us, one heaven awaits
us. The spirit of the cross is the sDir-
1t of fraternity. Under its shadow
man must be humane and helpful to his
brother man, for the great word thai
comes from the cross is Love one an.
other. as l have loved YOU
Knighthood from its earliest day.