Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-09-24
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
An ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"c7oss BEARING"

AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"c7oss BEARING"
The Eov. James E. Holmes Urges Us TO
11aye the Paul Spirit of Courage and
C-ontentnent. Even When we Staseef
Under . Load of Adversely.
RRooKLYN. N. Yin the Summerfield
Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday morn
ing the pastor, the Rev. james Il: Holmes,
had for his subject Gross Bearing lie
took as his text Matthew XVI: %. any ~
az they came out they found a man OF
Cvrene Simon by name; him they com
nelled to bear His cross" Mr.. Holmes
Three kinds of crosses were in use in the
DAYS of Jesus, the so-called st. Andrew
cross, the cross in the form OF the letter
''T'' and the ordinary Latin cross It was
cruciixion. This consisted OF a strong up,
right post, which was carried beforehand
to 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. 1t was prob
ably between the hours of 8 and 10 o'clock
in the morning, that that memorable pro
cession. of which Jesus was the central hg-
ure. set forth for the place OF execution;
a place outside the city walls. Ordinarily
such a procession was in charge OF q cen
turion, and preceded by a public crler,
who from time to time proclaimed aloud
the nature Of the crime. He also carried
a white wooden board on which tins was
Written IT The th longest mest c ro~td Ta Streets et@at to
attract the attention of the people. Each
of the condemned would be accompanied
by a guard of four soldiers, and, as a mat
ter Of course, a 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
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 &C.
Cured, after which He had spent some
hours alone in Gethsemane. engaged in a
terrific mertal and spiritual struggle. It
e waS sh foan sI HIM. Hin re since Which; eaa' times nas H. H.
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 Aunas to Caiphas,
then to PLATE, then to Herod, and then
again to PLATE. Indignity upon indignity.
torture upon torture have been heaped
upO LII all GXot AtClOhE 1lIKllV ~ oAA
that morning, so that it is not to be won
dcred at that tie weight of the cross
was too great for Him. Up to the last
gate, however, He managed to drag it. but
here He sank exhausted beneath the heavy
load. It happened just then that this
man, Simon of Gyrene, 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 this
Simon was undoubtedly a foreigner, which
his dress would indicate, and the soldiers
would know that it was safer to put this
humiliation o n a foreigner than upon a
native of Jerusalem. As it was, the peo-
pie do not seem to have resented it, that
a fellow jew had to suffer the deGlement
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
road without any particular aim or purpose
in view. or he may nave 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 o. that road between
Calvary and Jerusalem just at that moment
when some one was needed to bear the
cross 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 remonstrances, compelled to bear the
cross Of Christ. It is all so sudden, and so
unexpected, that he can scarcely know
whether it is not all a dream.
We see it all as he did not. We see in
Simon's. experience that for which we
would gladly give all that we have: And
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 it only appears as
an unfortunate accident that he happened
to cross the path of this man Christ on
the way to execution, just as He sank
down under the weight Of His cross. AS
it is, he considers himself abused, humili-
ated, disgraced, and now he longs for the
moment of release, that he may hide him.
self from the gaze of the people and bear
in silence the defilement that has come
upon hin and upon his house.
And E;ow l wish to place alongside OF
the apostle Paul, 'God forbid that 1 should
glory save in the cross of Christ" To
Simon the cross of Christ means disap-
pointment, disgrace and loss; to Paul it
is the one thing glorious and worth re.
loicing over. How explain the difference
in sentiment? It will not do to say Paul
is simply dealing in a figure of speech,
while Simon actually suffered the weight
and the disgrace of an actual cross, fo1
Paul bore the cross of Christ as actually
as Simon.
It was the cross that brought him into
conflict with the authorities and with
mobs; it was the cross that drove him
from place to place. a vagabond on the
face Of the earth; it was the cross that
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 q Jewish synagogue. Pau
suffered loss and pain and humiliation owe,
and over again on account of the cross
Gall, 1t a figure of speech if you will, bui
his back was bent, and broken: his bodily
pans were as genuine, his humiliation was
as deep AND his loss as great as came te
Simon of Cyrene and far more so. The
experiences OF the two men were very
similar, almost Identical; for it was on :
country road leading into Damascus tha1
Paul first came face to face with ,Jesns
Christ, and it was then and there MAI
the cross of Christ was laid upon him
And that from that moment until he d;ef
he bore that cross, feeling keeniv u tbe
weight Of it, the humiliation of & ~
loss it occasioned him. but. unlike ~.
other men: glorying in it and rejoicing or
account nf # N11r-