Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1921-03-16

seen some historic battle heldS; but
never any like that green hilltop,
Calvary. Other conflicts settle the
destiny of cities, of nations, of con-
tinents; this conflict settled the des-
tiny of a world.
JESUS, THE VICTOR
One Friday, in the month of April,
,utside the walls of Jerusalem, in
the presence of men, angels and
ievils, heaven STOPPING from above,
hell swarming up from below, great
nature turning out the lights, out
ragged earth trembling for the iniqui-
~ shown it's maker, the black flag
IF Satan unfurled over the city like
a pail, the Second Adam fought the
great fight of redemption and won
to the last syllable of recorded time.
When that conflict ended it was
with a LOUD VOICE" a triumph,
not a feeble wall of defeat that Jesus
proclaimed the victory in the worlds,
at is finished" 1t was not Satan who
cried out with a loud voice at the
end of. the conflict; he was defeated.
1t was Jesus the Victor.
The ordinary view of the crucifix-
ion is to dwell upon the sufferings
of the victim, to stand awestricken at
the spectacle of physical distress and
to stop there. But that is not the
teaching of Cavalry. TO count the
sufferers wounds of head, and hands
and feet and go no farther is to put
a low estimate on the issues of that
day. To sympathize and to pity the
Bozrah conqueror is all wrong. He
does not ask for pity. He wants no
sentimental tears shed over him, as
though he was a felon dragged to the
gallows against his will. Jesus was
not murdered on Calvary. He was
not the victim of lynch law. Twelve
legions of angels lowered above him
with drawn swords of judgment, on
tiptoe to descend and wipe out his
executioners, impatient to get the
signal. But they waited in vain.
Hear his ringing declaration; 81 lay
down my life of myself; no man taketh
it from me, I have power to lay it
down and / have power to take it
again." Christ was not a martyr
hustled to the cross and nailed there
against his will.
The cross stands for victory. It
is a mistake wide as the universe to
use the cross to excite the lachrymal
glands. Never dare to arouse pity
for Jesus as victim of the cross.
He was nobody's victim. He was vic
tor on that battle field. The cross
stands for suffering, to be sure, keen
and terrible enough to break the
stoutest heart that ever beat in the
breats of man, but that suffering
achieved glorious end.
THE CHANGED CROSS
Up to that April afternoon the
cross was the emblem of shame and
disgrace. But this conqueror trans
formed it. And the cross now, always
and everywhere, stands for victory.
That is what Constantine thought of
it as he saw it emblazoned on the
night sky, with it's significant pro-
phecy; "By this sign We shall con-
quer." That is what Peter the Her
NIT thought of it is he bore it aloft
over Europe, until he had infamed
continent with the ambition to rescue
the Holy Sepulchre from the Turk.
Men, women and children flocked to
that standard and put the holy en-
blem on their shoulders, shouting; cit
is the will of God" That cross today
is mightier than fleets and armies.
Before it all other signets and banners
bow. Even the Roman centurion who
had charge Of the executioners, read
victory in that scene. and declared,
"Surely this was righteous man.
The cross is the all conquering sign,
the true scepter of Christ's kingli-
ness. And this mark must be upon
his church, if she is to prevail over
the world. Not simply the cross upon.
the steeple, but the cross in her spirit,
is the sign of the church's servicable-
ness. Not merely the crucifix as a
personal adornment, but the cross as
the symbol of service.
THE CROSS THE KEY TO CHRIS
TIANITY
key to christianity is the cross. Take
that chapter out of it's history and all
the others lose their significance and
vitality. The gospel of Christ is the
story of a crucifixion. That simple
William T. Ellis truly says: "The
message is the hammer which breaks
down all the walls of opposition.
That scene shook heaven and earth,
stopped all the worlds clocks, des-
troyed all the worlds calenders, and
gave a new birth to time.
INFIDELITY'S TRIBUTE
Jean Jacques Rousseau, in spite of
himself, places crown of universal
dominion on the head of Christ when
he puts into the month of the godly
parish priest these words; "The
death of Socrates, peacefully philoso-
phizing with his friends, appears the
most agreeable that could be wished
for; that of Jesus, expiring in the
midst of agonizing pains, abused, in
suited, cursed by whole nation, is