The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1903-09-18
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE sNTITl so
"cRoSs seARlNc."
The Rev. James l.. Holmes Urges VS. Ia
Have the Paul spirit of Courage and
Contentmen,, Even when We stagger
Under "a Load OF AdNersity.

.iethodist Episcopal Church Sunday morn
inc the pastor. the Rev. James T.. Holmes,
had Tor his subject Gross Bearing He
took as his text Matthew XVII: b; And
as they came out they found a man OF
Cyrene Simon by name; hlm they com
pelled TO bear HIS cross" Mr.. Holmes
sand
Three kinds Of crosses were IN use IN the
DAYS OF Jesus. the so-called 81. Andrews
cross, the cross IN the form OF the letter
IT. and the ordinary Latin cross. IL was
on the last of these that Jesus suffered
crucitixion. This consisted OF a strong up.
right post, which was carried beforehand
20 the place of execution, and two cross
pieces. which were born by the victim. IL
was these transverse pieces which proved
I too heavy for the Master IL was prob
ably between the hours of q and 10 o'clock
IN the morning that that memorable pro-
cession. of which Jesus was the central fie'
ure, set forth for the place OF execution;
n place outside the city walls. Ordinarily
! such procession was IN charge of n cen
turion, and preceded by a public cr,er,
who from time 20 time proclaimed aloud
the nature OF the crime lie 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 n guard of four soldiers, and, as 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 lie 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 Gethsemane. engaged in a
| terrific mental and spiritual struggle. 1t
| was then, rs 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 20 another; from Annas To Caiphas,
| then to PLATE, then to Herod, and then
! again 10 Plate. lndignlty upon indignlty,
| torture upon torture have been heapcd
upon HIM all that livelong night and all
that morning, so that IT Is not to be won
was too great for Him. Up to the lest
| gate, however, lie managed 10 drag II. but
| here He sank exhausted beneath the heavy
| load. 1t happened Just then that this
man, Simon OF Cyrene, came upon the
scene. and him the Roman soldiers seized
and compelled 10 carry the cross the re-
| mainder OF the way.
On first thought Il might seem strange
| that the people would permit such an IN
| dignity put upon a fellow jew, but this
| Simon was undoubtedly foreigner. which
| his dress would indicate, and the soldiers
! would know that II was safer TO put this
| humiliation on foreigner than upon n
native Of Jerusalem. As IL was, the peo'
! pie do not seem 90 have resented II, that
a fellow Jew had TO suffer the dehlement
| of bearing a heather cross. and this may
| have been the explanation that Simon was
foreigner. and only prose,yte jew. How
| greatly surprised aud chdgrned he must
! have been, to be thrust so Unexpectedly
! into such a piedicament' How II hap
pened that he was there walking abroad
| on n fast day We do not know. lie may
have been idly strolling along that country
| road without any particular aim or purpose
in view, or he may have lived outside the
| city walls and was entering the city on
| business or 10 worship or merely on pleas
ure hsut 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 tho
cross of Christ, but II happened that hC
| appeared on the scene Just az Jesus sanl
! beneath His load. and he finds himself
seized by the Roman soldiers, aud despite
| his remonstrancos. compelled 20 bear tho
cross of Christ. II IL all so sudden, and ~
! uneNDected. that he can scarcely know
| whether It Is not all dream.
We see 1t all as he did not. We see in
! Simon's experience that for which W,
would gladly give all that we have. And
| why could he not appreciate IT. Was II
| ignorance on his part? Had he never
| heard the name OF Jesus OF Nazareth
! Had he not heard Of those strange and
startling events that had been stirring Jer
usalem OF late? To him II only appears a.
an unfortunate accident that he happened
! TO cross the path of this man Christ on
hn 70 "a ftnu anEt no A. uflI
! down under the weight Of His cross. ~
! IT ~, he considers himself abused, humlli
| ated, disgGccd, and now he longs for the
moment of release, that he may hide him
! sef from the gaze Of the people and bear
1 in silence the deflemcnt that has come
| upon him and upon his house.
And now ] wish 10 place alongside OF
! this, and IN contrast 20 II. the words OF
! the apostle Paul God forbid that ] should
/ glory save M the cross Of Christ TO
/ Simon the cross OF Christ means disap.
| pointment, disgrace and loss; TO Paul -
! y the one thing glorious and worth re-
! loiclng over. How explain the difference
! IN sentiment; II will not do 20 say Paul
J - simply dealing IN a figure OF speech
/ while Simon actually suffered the weight
/ and the disgrace Of an actual cross, for
! Paul bore the cross Of Christ ~ actually
/ az Simon
II was the cross that brought him into
/ mobs, II was the cross that drove HIM
! from place to place. n vagabond on the
! face Of the earth, II was the cross that
! brought him into prison, and INTO dan.
ger: lt was the cross that made him a dis.
/ grace, and his name an execration wher-
eyere there was n Jewish synagogue. Paul
suffered loss and pein and humiliation over
and over again on account of the CrOss.
! Call II figure Of speech II you VIII, but
his back was bent, and broken: his bodily
! pains were az genuine, ms humiliation was
/ - deep and his loss az great az came 20
| Simon Of Cyrene and far more so. The
I experiences OF the two men were very
! similar almost identical: for n was on q
| country road leading into Damascus that
| Paul first came face 10 face with Jesus
| Christ, and u was then and there that
| the cross OF Christ was laid upon hm.
And that from that moment until he died
/ he bore that cross, feeling Eeenly the
weight Of IL, the humiliation Of IT, the
I loss 10 occasoned him but. unlike the
other men; RloryIng IN i and rejoicing on
account of u. Why the conyastt All
! Paul understood the crOss. It's meaning. It's
purpose, It's power; Simon did not. Paul
saw that that cross instead Of being the
instrument of torture aud shame. was on
the contrary Gods saving and sanctifyng
INSTRUMENT among men. in that cross
Paul beh.ld the method aud the means
whereby thc transcendent plan of the Al
mighty 20 ave this sinful world was made
possible. Now any accident, or any prOyi-
dental occurrence that linked him 10 that
crosS. and thus 20 the glorious purposes ot
the Lord. Paul Tejoiced IN and counted
moat fortunate
And now, my friends. ] ask you 10 con
slider for a little while these two niethOds
81 crOss bearing The world is divided
into Simons and Pauls: ] am almost tempt.
90 10 say equally divided but perhaps not