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VIII

NO CROSS, NO CROWN

"A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" "therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.' -Isa. 53:3, joined to Ps. 45:7.

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HIS is a conjunction of a part of the fiftythird chapter of Isaiah and of the forty

fifth Psalm, and upon this text I wish to present four thoughts-first, a picture; then a principle; then, an exemplification of that principle; and then, an application of that principle and example to us here to-day.

First, the picture. In every man's soul there is a picture gallery. There, on the walls of his memory, he hangs the images of his heroes and the semblances of the things which have charmed and inspired him. All these pictures are by one artisthis own fancy-and none of them excel or fall below his own conceptions of men and things. This picture gallery is an index of the man's character. It is a revelation of his loves and of his hates. It shows what things he likes to look at; of whom and on what he delights to meditate when left to himself; and to whom and to what he is being conformed and assimilated.

Among these various pictures there are some royal ones that take precedence of others, occupying the central places, and around them the other pictures are grouped, subordinated and made correlative. I have such a picture gallery in my soul. If I am capable of judging what is there, two such royal pictures are hanging on the walls of my memory, around which two all other pictures in my mind are grouped, subordinated and correlated. They are life-size portraits, and are complements to each other. I mean that the first, seen by itself, demands that the second shall be, and the second, seen by itself, requires that the first has been.

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The first picture is suggested by the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and as soon as the eye of the beholder falls upon it he is startled into unspeakable astonishment, because the face of that portrait is marred more than the visage of any man. other face on this earth was ever marred like that; it looks like a root out of dry ground; it has no form nor comeliness nor beauty to be desired; it is the picture of a slave who had been free, now emptied of all former glory and stripped of all former favor. The picture of a scourged slave, covered with wounds and bruises and stripes. The picture of a scorned slave, whose ear was familiar with hisses and gibes and jeers, and whose cheek had been acquainted with spittle, with buffeting and with smiting. It is the picture of a male factor, condemned to death, and yet a malefactor who had done no ill.

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As you look at that picture it impresses upon your mind that it is the face of one who has been betrayed by his familiar friend—that agony suggests it. It is the face of one who has been sold. It is the face of one who has been sold unto degradation. The loneliness suggested by that picture is appalling. Of the people, there are none with him, not one. It is the picture of one whom nature had repudiated. That sun which did not refuse its light to Pilate and Herod and Judas refuses to shine for him. A supernatural and palpable and horrible darkness wraps him about. It is the picture of one whom God has smitten and whom God has forsaken. It is the picture of a sufferer-earth's greatest sufferer. You look at it and you know those lips have been familiar with strong crying and those eyes with tears. That from those lips anguish has exclaimed, "My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why hast thou forsaken me? Why hast thou forsaken me? What hast thou forsaken me for? Why hast thou forsaken me? Why hast thou forsaken me?" It is the face of the saddest man on earth, in the universe; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

The most startling of all the thoughts suggested by this picture is this: That these pains and sufferings have not come upon him by surprise-he foresaw them. They have not been forced on him— he voluntarily assumed them. They have not been measured out to him over his protest, but with de

liberate purpose and foreknowledge of all their depth and agony he steadfastly set his face toward them and steadfastly approached them, and steadfastly took them upon himself.

That is why I say that when you look at the first it demands that there shall be another. It is a book which calls for a sequel. It is only the part of a keystone, of an arch, of a column. You cannot look at a face like that and be content to know no more. You say, "There must be a beyond." Now, right over against that face is the other face. "Therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows." And there you have the face of a king who had been a slave. There you have the face of one who had been lonely, now girdled by uncounted and uncountable legions. of flashing angels and surrounded by interminable hosts of white-robed, blood-washed men and women, crying, "Hosanna" and falling before him, and ascribing to him honor and power and glory and dominion forever. What a company contrasted with the former loneliness! You see that face from which the smiles of God had once departed, leaving it beclouded, now with a halo of light around it. The eyes which had been dimmed with tears are now like flames of fire. The feet which had been pierced now glow like fine brass in the furnace. The head, on which cruel thorns had been pressed, now wears a royal diadem. The hand that had hung limp and pulseless now grasps the scepter of universal em

pire. But over and above all is the transcendent thought of his happiness, gladness, ineffable joy, unspeakable satisfaction. As the oil, poured from the sacred horn upon the head of Aaron descended his beard to the skirts of his garments and dispensed the perfume of that holy mixture, so the gladness radiates from his person and fills the world with the thrills and vibrations of his joy. It is the face of the gladdest man in the universe. That is the

second picture.

2. Now, let us look at the principle. The principle suggested by the text is this: That in the government of God, in his methods of work, though

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sorrow endureth for a night, joy cometh in the morning;" that the cross must precede the crown; that discipline must precede strength; that self must be sacrificed before self is glorified; that to find your life you must first lose it. That is the principle that runs through the whole economy of God— that we cannot take genuine and lasting joy into our hearts unless sorrow has been experienced; that we cannot take honor unless the things which precede honor have been borne; that you cannot be great until you have been a servant; that you must serve before you can be great; that greatness cannot be thrust upon anyone; and that no selfish man, no man who fixes his eyes upon his own glory, no man who reaches out for crowns to put upon his own head, no man who is quick to demand that everything due to him shall be given to him, has taken the first

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