' H. E. Mackintosh.
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from them. In each life meriting the Christian name there will be found self-denial, sacrifice, loss, humiliation, that would have been impatiently, or even indignantly, thrust aside, had Christ not chosen them, but which are made welcome, even if it be falteringly, for His sake. Do we understand what these things mean ? Have we learnt that they are no accident in the devout life, but its essence ? Is it even now dawning on us that there is a price to pay for fellowship with Christ ? Well, if we are wakening to these vast, but sometimes forgotten, truths, and if at times the price seems very costly, let us not fail to recollect what it means for Christ that we should pay it. Simon of Cyrene bore the cross, and thus spared the Lord some pain; let us bear ours as He appoints it, in the world, and in the redeeming toil of His Kingdom ; and that too will spare Him pain — the pain of seeing others lost whom we might have helped to save, and the pain of beholding our so fruitless and barren lives. Nay, rather, it will fill the cup of joy that was set before Him when He Himself endured the bitter cross, "despising the shame."
I think of the Cyrenian
Who crossed the city-gate
When forth the stream was pouring
That bore Thy cruel fate.
I ponder what within him The thoughts that woke that day, As his unchosen burden He bore that unsought way.
Yet, tempted he as we are; 0 Lord, was Thy cross mine? Am I, like Simon, bearing A burden that is Thine ?
Thou must have looked on Simon; Turn, Lord, and look on me, Till I shall see and follow And bear Thy cross. for Thee.*
^ H. E. Mackintosh.
ST. MARK 475
ii. The Symbol of Shame turned into Glory.
Behold one of life's divines b transfigurations. When they placed the end of the cross upon the shoulders of the slave, they meant to put fresh dishonour on the Christ. But the cross has grown to be the supreme uplifting power of all those of whom that slave was the representative and type. Not only has it rescued the name of Simon the Cyrenian from oblivion, but it has done far more, for it has broken the fetters of the slave well-nigh throughout the world. When these men made the slave the helper of the Saviour, they unconsciously pro claimed " liberty to the captive."
The Christian freedom which Simon found in his degrading bondage, may be regarded as the earnest and the guarantee that similar Christian freedom will be enjoyed by all in the dark lands who have been compelled by their fellow-creatures to carry the cross of toil and shame. The transportation of the slave to other countries, in a manner as providential as the coming of Simon to Jerusalem, has often been the means of bringing him within the reach of Christian influences, so that his bondage has proved to him life from the dead. In bearing his compulsory cross, he has heard of the Crucified One, and now knows Jesus of Nazareth as his own Eedeemer, and the truth has made him free indeed. And so it will go on — until there shall be no compulsory labour under the sun, and every oppressed one shall enjoy the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Christianity has put its own higher meanings and purposes into the common language of men. The wild weeds brought into its garden, under the culture of grace, display a beauty and fruitfulness before unknown. The use of the Angareion, or compulsory service, of the Persians is ennobled in the service of the Christian religion. Like the other Persian word " para- dise," which signified originally a park or pleasure-garden, in which wild beasts were kept and beautiful foreign trees grew, but which our Lord employed to describe the blessed heavenly world into which the dying thief should be immediately trans- lated— "To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise," — so the original Persian word for " compel " is transformed by being used in connection with the cross-bearing of Christ. In this
476 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
Divine usage it becomes the vehicle of far higher truth than any which it knew at first, and is divested of all its former disagree- able associations. Blessed are those who are compelled to bear the cross of Christ, for in so doing they are bearing the instru- ment of their own redemption ; and the following of Christ that is at first enforced, that is done in pain and shame and toil, ends in walking with Him at liberty, running with enlargement of heart in the way of His commandments.
^ Do you see that young Jewish Kabbi flashing along the Damascus Eoad, hating the very name of Christ, and loathing the story of His cross ? His life is all laid out, his position is secure, his renown is safe among the generations of Israel. But there comes one blinding flash, one awful, crushing revelation, that sweeps away the purpose and the dream of Saul for ever, and Paul stands upon his feet, the bondsman of Jesus Christ, chained for ever to the cross he once despised. Henceforth he lives a life " constrained," " compelled," but it is glorious living, and the mighty influence of that man, compelled to bear the cross of Christ, will last longer than the world.^