From the earliest times the Cross has been the special sign of Christians. St. Paul tells us his great hope, his great business, what God had sent him into the world to do, was this -- to make people know the love of Christ; to look at Christ's Cross, and take in its breadth and length and depth and height.

And what is the breadth of Christ's Cross? My friends, it is as broad as the whole world, for He died for the whole world; as it is written, "He is a propitiation not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world." And that is the breadth of Christ's Cross.

And what is the length of Christ's Cross? Long enough to last through all time. As long as there is a sinner to be saved; as long as there is ignorance, sorrow, pain, death, or anything else which is contrary to God and hurtful to man in the universe of God, so long will Christ's Cross last. And that is the length of the Cross of Christ.

And how high is Christ's Cross? As high as the highest heaven, and the throne of God and the bosom of the Father -- that bosom out of which for ever proceed all created things. Ay, as high as the highest heaven; for, if you will receive it, when Christ hung upon the Cross heaven came down on earth, and earth ascended into heaven. And that is the height of the Cross of Christ.

And how deep is the Cross of Christ? This is a great mystery which people are afraid to look into, and darken it of their own will. But if the Cross of Christ be as high as heaven, then it must be as deep as hell, deep enough to reach the deepest sinner in the deepest pit to which he may fall, for Christ descended into hell, and preached to the spirits in prison. Let us hope, then, that is the depth of the Cross of Christ.

"The Measure of the Cross,"
Sermons (Good News of God).

Good Friday.

Listen! and our God shall whisper, as we hang upon the cross, {97} "Children! love! and loving, faint not! great your glory, light your loss!
Ye are bound -- ye may be loosed -- I was nailed upon the tree, Of the pangs I suffered for you -- bear awhile a few for me! Fear not, though the waters whelm you; fear not, though ye see no land! Know ye not your God is with you, guiding with a Father's hand? Cords may wring, and winds may freeze you, shivering on the sullen sea, Yet the life that burns within you liveth ever hid with Me!"

MS. 1842.

Christ must suffer before He entered into His glory. He must die before He could rise. He must descend into hell before He could ascend into heaven. For this is the law of God's kingdom. Without a Good Friday there can be no Easter Day. Without self-sacrifice there can be no blessedness.

My Saviour! My King! Infinite, Eternal Love -- alone of all beings devoid of self-love! Glory be to Thee for Thy humiliation, for Thy Cross and Passion!

MS.

Easter Even.

Christ went down into hell and preached to the spirits in prison. It is written that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive;" and again, "When the wicked man turns from his wickedness he shall save his soul alive." And we know that in the same chapter God tells us that His ways are not unequal. It is possible, therefore, that He has not one law for this life and another for the life to come. Let us hope, then, that David's words may be true after all, when, speaking by the Spirit of God, he says not only "if I ascend up to heaven, thou art there," but "if I go down to hell, thou art there also."

MS. Sermon.

Easter Day.

The Creed says, "I believe in the Resurrection of the flesh." I believe that we, each of us, as human beings, men and women, shall have a share in that glorious day; not merely as ghosts and disembodied spirits, but as real live human beings, with new bodies of our own, on a new earth, under a new heaven. "Therefore," David says, "my flesh shall rest in hope;" not merely my soul, my ghost, but my flesh. For the Lord, who not only died but rose again with His body, shall raise our bodies according to His mighty working, and then the whole manhood of us -- body, soul, and spirit -- shall have our perfect consummation and bliss in His eternal and everlasting glory.

National Sermons.

APRIL 25.
St. Mark, Evangelist and Martyr.

God's apostles, saints, and martyrs are our spiritual ancestors. They spread the Gospel into all lands, and they spread it, remember always, not only by preaching what they knew, but by being what they were. Their characters, their personal histories, are as important to us as their writings.

Sermons.