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minded men to whom the truth was dearer than their lives. There is nothing more marked than the contrast between their rapid, and sometimes bare, mention of facts and the string of legends, piled up with miraculous events, of other writers. Here, at this tragic stage of the progress to Calvary, was an oppor- tunity, had they wished it, of intensifying the drama by giving prominence to the touching picture of this unknown Simon and Christ. But no, the central figure to them is Christ ; they are too eager to follow Him to the end to think of pausing by the way. From their ample stores of knowledge and experience they have selected just what was needed to fulfil their great purpose in writing, which was to lift up Christ crucified, worthily and as He really was, to the view of the world through all ages,
^ Have you ever thought what a number of people there are whose names we know, and in whom we are interested, but of whom we should never have heard if they had not had something to do with Christ ? At this time of day, the names of kings and governors, say of Herod and Pontius Pilate, might indeed have been known to a few scholars and students, but who outside of the circle of the learned would have known of their existence save for the fact that they crossed Christ's path ? Even men and women who made a great stir in their own day would have been utterly forgotten if it had not been that their names are mentioned along with that of Christ, or along with those of His Apostles. But of course this strikes us more when we think of those people who were quite obscure, and who led quite unnoticed lives in their own generation, but whose names are embalmed in the Gospel history, and who, though never heard of during their lifetime out- side their native town or their small circle of friends, are quite well known now over the whole Christian world. Is it not strange that we to-day should be interesting ourselves in a humble man belonging to a town in the north of Africa, who lived nearly two thousand years ago, and all because, by what seems the merest accident, he happened to meet Christ on the way to Calvary, and was forced to carry His cross for a few minutes in the hot noontide sun? ^
We may consider the subject in three parts — I. Simon the Cross-Bearer. II. Christ the Sin-Bearer. III. Simon and Christ.
1 E. B. Spein.
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Simon the Cross-Bearer.
i. Simon the Cyrenian.
Who was he ? What does history tell us about him ? Beyond his name, the name of his native town, the name of his two sons, and this one fact that he helped to carry Christ's cross, we know absolutely nothing, at least with any certainty, of this man Simon ; and yet that little is quite enough to make him interesting to us.
1. Cyrene received a Jewish settlement in the time of Ptolemy i., and the Jews formed an influential section of the inhabitants. At Jerusalem the name of Cyrene was associated with one of the synagogues (Acts vi. 9), and Jewish inhabitants of Cyrenaica were among the worshippers at the Feast of Pentecost in the year of the Crucifixion (Acts ii. 10), whilst a Lucius of Cyrene appears among the prophets and teachers of the Church of Antioch about A.D. 48 (Acts xiii. 1). Whether this Simon had become a resident at Jerusalem, or whether he was a visitor at the Passover, it is impossible to decide. St. Mark alone further describes him as " the father of Alexander and Eufus."
2. This additional statement of St. Mark adds greatly to our interest. He speaks of the sons, Alexander and Eufus, as if they were well-known disciples of the Lord ; and St. Paul, in his greetings to the Christians at Eome from Corinth, sends special words of love to Eufus and his mother, who had acted in a peculiarly tender and motherly manner to him : " Salute Eufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine."
Some, too, have thought that Symeon, surnamed Niger, might be identified with the cross-bearer of Christ — for Symeon and Simon are the same name — and he is noticed with Lucius of Cyrene as one of the prophets and teachers in the Church at Antioch. If this were true, he would assume the new name of Christian, which we know originated in that city. Well might Simon extol the strange arrangement of Providence which brought him to the place where he should meet Jesus, at the very time when they were leading Him out to be crucified. Well might he bless
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the rough violence of the Eoman soldiers, who compelled him to bear the cross for his weary and fainting Master. The bondage of man proved to him the liberty of Christ ; the shame of earth turned into the glory of heaven. How grateful must he have felt afterwards that he had this unique honour; that it was given to him to alleviate in some small degree the unparalleled sufferings of his adorable Eedeemer — to share with Him the ignominy and the degradation of the cross. When he was afterwards called by the name of Christ at Antioch, he could indeed clothe himself with the shame of the cross as with a royal robe, and say with the great Apostle of the Gentiles, " God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."