1 Dora Greenwell.
38 THE SUM OF SAVING KNOWLEDGE
If In a letter to a friend, Elinslie describes his experience among the children in an Edinburgh east-end Sabbath School : " When I was ending I spoke of how Jesus deserved to be loved, and that they should ask to be made to love Him. One little girlie whispered, ' I will ask Him, for, oh, I do want to love Him ! ' and when I said it was time to go away they cried, ' Oh, dinna send's away yet, tell's rnair about Jesus ' ; and then they came round me, and made me promise to tell them ' bonnie stories about Jesus ' next Sabbath. I have found that nothing interests them more than what is directly about Jesus. I could not help telling you all these little things, but I never had the same sort of feeling in teaching a class before, and I would like you to remember sometimes my poor little children down in the Canongate. I wish I could take them all into a better atmosphere, for it is sad to think of their chances of ever becoming good in such an evil, wretched place. Harper and I have been having many nice talks. I mean to preach often in the summer — I want to." x
1. To know Christ crucified is to know the meaning of life.
(1) In the Cross of Christ we come to understand the mystery of human suffering. Sorrow and pain pass no man by ; and no reasoning can argue them out of existence, or reduce our fight with disease and suffering to a phantom battle. Living in a world where the blows of misfortune are constantly falling ; where the ravages of suffering are nowhere long absent; where every joy is every moment exposed to blight; where development yields new pain; where increasing knowledge, increasing refine- ment, increasing goodness and sympathy mean increasing sorrow, and men and women suffer, not for being worse, but for being better than their fellows, it is no wonder that the Cross appeals to human hearts everywhere as a symbol of human life, and holds us under the spell of a solemn fascination. Rejoice as we may, — and we ought to rejoice — in all that brightens and sweetens life, yet the fellowship of suffering is wider and deeper than the fellowship of happiness. A German poet has said that the image of humanity, broken in all its limbs, transfixed in hands and feet and sorrowful unto death, has become distasteful to men ; but that can be true of men only in their light, careless, self-indulgent hours. In all our deeper experiences our feet tread the path that leads to Calvary, and we seek the Man of Sorrows acquainted
1 W. Robertson Nicoll, W. G. Elrnslie, 41.
i CORINTHIANS n. 2 39
with grief. Christ has not diminished the suffering of the world, but He has given it a new and nobler meaning, made it appear to be no longer God's wrath and curse, but God's love and
blessing.
If The Cross is the supreme instance of the law that no moral or spiritual victory is won, no glorious thing can be done, without suffering, and here suffering was borne to its farthest verge in death.1
(2) In the Cross of Christ we learn the meaning and power of self-sacrifice. The Cross, as the revelation and symbol of redemption through sacrifice, needs to be brought back to our common life. So far as the principle is concerned, it is right to apply, and we do instinctively apply, all the New Testament phraseology of redemption to parents sacrificing themselves for the good of their children, to patriots suffering and dying for the sacred causes of justice and freedom, to the vast army of labourers who procure for us our necessities and luxuries at the cost of their nobler growth and comfort. Without shedding of blood — blood of body, blood of brain, blood of heart — there has been no remission of sins, no redemption from evil conditions, no progress from a lower to a higher state of society. Figuratively, if not literally, men have been crucified, their hands torn, their hearts pierced through with many sorrows, in the interest of every onward step and movement of mankind. The work which really helps the world — work of statesman and philanthropist, work of poet and painter and doctor, work of teacher and preacher — is work into which men put their life, their heart's blood. It is this power to give without counting the cost to one's self, this power of suffering and sacrifice, that is the secret of all redeeming work.
If There are elements of suffering for sin which are not only possible to the guiltless, but which only they are capable of. Not only can a good man suffer for another's sin, but it is just in proportion to his goodness that he will suffer. The sin of a clearly loved child will give pain to a saintly mother far more keen than the child himself will feel. The child's sin blunts his sensitiveness to holiness and to the evil of sin. The mother's holiness and love will be the measure of her suffering. No suffer-
1 r. A. Ellis.
4o THE SUM OF SAVING KNOWLEDGE