The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1902-05-23
THE CROSS.
Its Significance, Power and Meaning
Dwell Upon,

Yesterday morning at the Methodist
church Dr. Cowgirl preached an inter
esting sermon on the following text /:
"And /, if l be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me- -
John 10 :32. In part he said:
By so speaking Jesus signified the
manner of his death. Let us get the
scene before us. The great passover
feast is at hand. Jerusalem is solemn
with the memory of that night, ages
ago, when the death angel passed over
the land, and when the clans of Jacob
rallied and fed. Since then what an
eventful history To the devout and
meditative Jew it must have seemed
as though the ages had come back,
and through all these memories of
divine providence and promise swells
the undying and glorious hope of the
Messiah.
While eating the passover with his
disciples, Jesus utters words of ad-
monition and farewell to them for
the shepherd will soon be smitten and
the sheep scattered. Having finished
supper, the disciples follow the master
through the city gate, across the brook
of Kedron, into the shades of Geth-
semene. Here the soul of the redeem
er is bowed to the earth with great
sorrow that is almost unto death. The
earth feels his agonizing heartbeat,
and the cry of his entreaty and sub
mission enters into the ear of God.
The arrest follows, the examination
/ before Annas and Caiphas, and the
morning by his trial before PLATE.
A Iso lot
who knows him to be innocent, con-
dennis him TO die. Patiently the
Savior submits to the fortunes to
which the death warrant delivers him,
and after much abuse, he staggers
beneath his CROSS toward the hill OF
death. They nail him to the cross
between thieves, they gamble for his
seamless robe, they ridicule his claims
and mock his woe, until he bows his
head and dies.
Why has this scene upon Golgoths
burned itself so deeply into the con-
seriousness of the human racer We're ju-
dicial crimes never committed before
Is this the first or the last time that
innocence has entered Into deadly
woe2 Why then is.+this sufferer distin-
guished from all others, and Calvary
sacred above every other hill where
crosses have been planted and hearts
been broken?
We find our answer when we con-
slider the wonderful personality and
character of Jesus. and the whole his
tory of his life on earth. What other
sufferer, derided and Knocked and spit
upon, SCARED and blistered by human
hatred, ever looked down upon his
tormentors and said, "Father, forgive
them; they know not what they do. y
Above what other cross did the
heavens grow dark, and beneath what
other did the strong earth shudder
Whose birth beside did angels herald
with the song of "peace on earth and
good will to men. Who else ever 80
commended himself to men by....words
of grace and deeds of power2 Who
else was 30 related to the ages that
went before him and those that fol-
lowed2 Who else ever claimed, with
so little promise then, so bright pros
pect afterward, the ages and the
nations for his own heritagef Well may
we, and certainly does history endorse
the judgment of that centurion who
beat his breast as he looked upon thai
cross, and said, "Surely this was the
Son of God. !"
Let me call your attention to tht