The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-10-09
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"cRoss BEARING"
The REV. james n. Holmes Urges Ha 60
Have tho Paul Spirit Of Courage and
Contonbnent. Even When NYo Stngger
Under q Load Of Adversely.

Contontlnents Even When We ntngger
Under a Load Of Adversely.
BROOKLYN, N. YIN the Symmetrical
Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday morn.
ing the pastor, the Rev. James r.. Holmes,
had for his subject Gross Bearing" He
tool, as his text Matthew xXyii: 80. "AHd
as they came ont they found q man of
Cyrene, Simon by name; him they CONF
PEELED to bear His cross" Mr.. Holmes
said:
Three kinds Of crosses were in use in the
days of Jesus, the s0-c1lled ST. Andrews
cross, the cross i'm the form of the letter
TT and the ordinary Latin cross. 10 was
on the last of these that Jesus suffered
CrucihXlon This consisted OF q strong up-
right post which was carried beforehand
70 the place OF execution, and two cross
pieces, which were born by the victim. 1t
was these transverse pieces which proved
too heavy for the Master. IL was prob.
aoly between the hours of 8 and 10 O'Clock
In the morning that that memorable pro.
ccssion OF which Jesus was the central fig
ure, set forth for the place of execution;
a place outside the city walls. Ordinarily
such a procession was IN charge OF a cen
turion, and preceded by a public crier,
who from time TO time proclaimed aloud
the nature of the crime. He also carried
a white wooden board on which this was
written. The longest route was always
selected, and the most crowded streets, to
attract the attention of the people. Each
OF the condemned would be accompanied
by guard of four soldiers, and, as a mat
ter of course great crowd would follow,
The weight OF the cross soon proved too
heavy for the exhausted strength of Jesus
You must remember He has not tasted
food or drink since the Paschal supper the
night before, and that events had occurred
since then in quick succession, every one
of which must have stirred His soul with
deepest emotions. The betrayal by Judas.
and the farewell to His disciples had oc!
Cured, after which He had spent some
hours alone in GethsemOne, engaged in a
terrific mental and spiritual struggle. II
was then, as YOU remember. that His ne
emies found Him, since which time He
has stood surrounded by enemies, practi-
cally alone; for His disciples had all for.
saken Him Meanwhile He has been hur.
ried from place TO place and from one
official to another; from Annas to Caiphas,
then to PLATE, then to Herod, and then
again to PLATE. Indignity upon indignity,
torture upon torture have been heaped
upon Him all that livelong night and all
that morning, 80 that it Is not to be Won
dered at that tie weight Of the cross
was too great for Him. Up to the last
gate, however, He managed to drag IL. but
here He sank exhausted beneath the heavy
load. It happened just then that this
man, Simon Of Cyrene, came upon the
scene, and him the Roman soldiers seized
and compelled to carry the cross the re.
mainder of the way.
On first thought it might seem strange
| that the people would permit such an in,
! dignity put upon a fellow jew, but thi;
! Simon was undoubtedly foreigner, which
his dress would indicate, and the soldiers
would know that it was safer to put this
humiliation on q foreigner than upon a
native of Jerusalem As it was, the PEG,
! pie do not seem to have resented it, that
a fellow jew had to suffer the de6ement
| OF bearing a heather cross, and this may
have been the explanation that Simon was
a foreigner, and only a prOselyte Jew. How
! greatly surprised and chagrined he must
! have been, to be thrust so unexpectedly
! into such a predicament. How it hap
! pened that he was there walking abroad
on a fast day we do not know. He may
have been idly stroliing along that country
! road without any particular aim or purpose
III view, or he may have lived outside the
| city walls and was entering the city on
business or to worship or merely on pleas
ure bent. We cannot know how to explain
his presence there on that road between
Calvary and Jerusalem just at that moment
when some one was needed to bear the
CPOss of Christ, but It happened that he
appeared on the scene just as Jesus sank
beneath His load, and he finds himself
seized by the Roman soldiers, and despite
his circumstances, compelled to bear the
cross of Christ. 1t is all so sudden, and Sc
unexpected, that he can scarcely know
whether it is not all dream.
We see it all as he did not. We see il
Simon's experience that for which We
would gladly give all that we have, Anc
why could he not appreciate it? Was il
ignorance on his part? Had he never
heard the name of Jesus of Nazareth
Had he not heard of those strange anC
startling events that had been stirring Jer
usalem of late? To him it only appears al
an unfortunate accident that he happened
to cross the path of this man Christ OF
4 the way to execution, just as He sani
down under the weight of His cross. Al
it is, he considers himself abused, humli
ated, disgraced, and now he longs for thu
moment of release, that he may hide him
self from the gaze of the people and beal
in silence the defilement that has come
upon him and upon his house.
And now l wish to place alongside o
this, and in contrast to it, the words o
the apostle Paul God forbid that SHOULD
glory save in the cross of Christ" T,
Simon the cross of Christ means disap
pointment, disgrace and loss; to Paul j
is the one thing glorious and worth re
joicing over. How explain the diFereuc,
in sentiment? 1t will not do to say Pau
is simply dealing in a figure of speech
while Simon actually suffered the weigh
and the disgrace of an actual cross TO
Paul bore the cross Of Christ as actual.
as Simon.
1t was the cross that brought him int
conflict with the authorities and witt
mobs; it was the cross that drove hin
from place to place. a vagabond on tn
face Of the earth; it was the cross tina
brought him into prison, and into dan
ger; it was the cross that made him a dis
grace, and his name an execration wher
evere there was Jewish synagogue. Pau
suffered loss and pain and humiliation owe