THE CROSS by Jos. Clarke

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 15, 1877

THE CROSS.

By Jos. Clarke

The great central idea of Christianity is the offering made for sin upon the cross, where our adorable and gracious Lord gave up his life for man. Such has ever been the idea of salvation. The Old Testament church looked forward to this; and the New Testament church points to the cross as the only hope for man.

Some twenty-eight years since, on a Sunday afternoon, as I was returning from church, where I had heard an excellent (ly written) sermon, as I thought, I fell in with an Englishman, who, I found, was wholly dissatisfied with the essay, as he termed it. I had been charmed with its pith and good sense and learning. He was displeased, because, as he said, it left out Christ and him crucified. Said this strong, positive, but apparently good, man, “No sermon is complete which does not point out Christ crucified to all. No sermon is complete that does not warn the hypocrite, invite the sinner, and comfort the saint; and each sermon, be it upon any subject whatever, may be ingeniously turned at its close so as to include the practical part of Christianity, so that all classes may be reached; for it may be the last sermon that some poor soul may hear. Some humble inquirer may be listening eagerly for some word of instruction that will tell him how he may find the way to God; and it is only by the cross that man may find salvation.” I do not recollect the man's name. I do not know that I quote his words exactly; but, as nearly as I can remember, these were his ideas; and his earnest manner and strong anglo-saxon good sense, left a deep impress upon my mind. Not only this, but to-day I can say that his ideas are indelibly impressed upon my memory; while the very subject of the pleasing essay is forgotten, and only the memory of the beauty of its style, its polished sentences, and its methodical and finished arrangement, remains.

The cross of Christ, yes, the cross upon which Jesus died, has a charm for poor sinners who feel that they are lost while out of Christ. It has a charm for those whose hearts are hardened by contact with formalism; for it makes the heart tender to think of those agonies endured for our sakes.

All the considerations connected with this fearful scene are affecting, and would do well to adorn the most abstruse essays upon the most knotty questions in theology; or the deepest inquiries into prophecy may leave a little margin for this interesting and all-absorbing subject. We would respectfully entreat every good man to give this subject the place it demands in every plea for the truth. Jos. Clarke.