The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-09-17
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"caosS BEARING"

The Ecv. James f. Holmes Urges Ts to
lave the Paul Spirit of Courage and
Contentment, Even When We stasser
Under Load OF Adversely.
BROOKLYN, \. Yin the Summerfeld
Methodist Episcopal Church Sunday morn
inc the pastor, the Rev. James +. Holmes,
had for his subject Gross Bearing he
took as his text Matthew XVII: 81: ana
as they came out they found man OF
Cyrene, Simon by name; him theE com,
PEELED to bear His cross" Mr.. Holmes
said: ~,
Three kinds of crosses were in use IN the
dave of Jesus. the so-called St. Andrews
cross. the cross in the form OF the letter
"T0' and the ordinary Latin cross. 1t was
on the last of these that Jesus suffered
crucihxion. This consisted or strong up,
right post, which was carried beforehand
to the place of execution, and two cross.
pieces. which were born by the victim. IL
was these transverse pieces which proved
too heavy for the Master: 1t was prop
ably between the hours of 8 and 10 o'clock
in the morning that that memorable Pro
cession, of which Jesus was the central nS-
ure, set forth for the place of execution;
a place outside the city walls. Ordinarily
Sucn pToceSSlou Mas III SHotSS
turiop, and preceded by public cricr;
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 a 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 Gethsemane. engaged IN
terrific meI al and spiritual struggle. 1t
was then, as you remember. that His ne
emies found Him. since which time lie
has stood surrounded by enemies, practi'
cally alone; for His disciples had all tor
saken Him. Meanwhile He has been hur-
ried from place to place and from one
official to another: from Annas to Caiphas,
again to PLATE. Indignity upon indlgnlty:
torture upon torture have been heaped
upon Him all that iveloug night and all
that morning, so that it is not to be won
dered at that tie weight OF the cross
was too great for Him. Up to the last
cate. however, He managed to drag 1t. 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 selzed
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 nut upon 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 a foreigner than upon
native of Jerusalem. As it WAS, the peo-
ple do not seem TO have resented 1t, that
a fellow Jew had t. suffer the detilement
of bearing a heather cross. and this may
have been the explanation that simon was
a foreigner. and only prose:yte Jew. How
greatly surprised and chagrned he must
have been, to be thrust SO unexpectedly
into such a predicament. How 1t hap,
pened that he was there walking abroad
On a fast day we do not. know. He 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 to worship or merely on pleas
ure bent. I'VE 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
cross OF Christ, but it happened that he
appeared on the scene just as Jesus sank
beneath His load, ard he finds. hlmsel!
seized by the Roman soldiers, and despite
his remonstrances, compelled to bear she
cross of Christ. 1t is all so sudden, and so
unexpected. that. he can scarcely know
whether it is rot all dream
we see it all IS he did not. We see II
Simon's experience that for which we
would gladly give all that we have: And
why coa,d he not appreciate 1t! 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'
usa,em Of late2 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, humli'
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 de6lement that has come
upon him and upon his house.
And now I wish to place alongside OF
this, and in contrast to it. the words OF
the apostle Paul, God forbid that / should
glory save in the cross of Christ" To
Simon the cross OF Christ means dleap-
pointment. disgrace and loss; to Paul It
is the one thing glorious and worth re-
ioicing over How explain the difference
in sentiment 1t will not do to say Pau!
is Simply dealing in figure or speech.
while Simon actually suffered the weight
and the disgrace of an actual cross. for
Paul bore the cross of Christ as actually
es Simon.
1t was the cross that brought him into
conflict with the authorities and with
mobs; it was the cross that drove him
from pace to place. a vagobond 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 dis
grace, and his name an execratlon wher,
evere there was Jewish synagogue. Pau!
suffered loss and pain and humiliation over
and over again on account of the cross.
Call it figure of speech if you will, but
his back was bent, and broken: his bodily
pains were as genuine, his humiliation was
as deep and his loss as great as came to
Simon of Cyrene and far more so. The
experiences of the two men were very
similar, almost identical; for it was on
,o,,tr,, wal Loo dio1 intn DamacnuS that