No Cross, No Crown by Chas. L. Boyd

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Sep 20, 1883

No Cross, No Crown.

By Chas. L. Boyd

BEARING the cross of Christ has come practically to be a mere name. Every age has its peculiar crosses. I have heard of a young disciple who on starting for the Celestial City thought the cross laid upon him heavier than that borne by any of his fellow-pilgrims. "Any cross but this I would willingly bear," was the sentiment of his soul. He was permitted to lay aside his own cross, and to choose from a large collection of crosses. But, alas! each was unendurable, and with a heart weary with disappointment he again received the cross assigned by the divine Master.

The name of Christ has ceased to be a reproach. The cross is painted by the artist, and framed as an ornament. Made of gold, it is worn by the gay, pleasure-seeking youth. The cross is carved upon the monument of the nominal Christian, and raised above the temples of an apostate church. But is this the cross which separates us from the world?—No; for the world is bearing it with us. Is there, then, no cross for us to bear?—Yes; and, strange as it may seem, even here, in our own enlightened land, which makes the highest boast of Christianity of any nation on earth, in which every town has its church-spires towering heavenward as evidence of our loyalty to God, the heaviest cross which can be presented to rich or poor is the keeping of the commandments of God.

This is the cross for the present generation. Dear reader, do you wish for some more pleasant test of loyalty, some lighter cross to bear? Is the Sabbath to you a "delight"? or have the scoffs and scorns of the world and of a sleeping church caused you to blush with shame? The time has been when to acknowledge faith in the resurrection of Christ (who was reported as stolen from the grave by the designing disciples) by being buried in the likeness of his death, was as heavy a cross as it now is to keep God's Sabbath.

The privilege of drinking the bitter cup of suffering, and, if faithful, of sitting with Christ in his kingdom was offered to James and John. The certainty of the cross, and the possibility of the crown was held out before the great apostle to the Gentiles. Our blessed Pattern bore the cross, and drank the bitter cup to the dregs.

I said, "This is the cross for us to bear;" I would rather say, "The privilege which is offered to us."

With too much of truth the poet says,— "Some with Jesus are delighted When he speaks of joys to come, Thinking that for them is plighted, After death, a happy home; But the cross—when he declares it— 'None but he who takes, and bears it, Can my true disciple be.' Few—how few!—to this agree." CHAS. L. BOYD.