Christ liveth in me." And inasmuch as, like his dear Lord, he had been uplifted into the higher life of union with the Divine on the cross of suffering, as he was conscious that what was foreshadowed for all in the sacrifice and glorification of the human nature of our Lord was being accomplished in himself, he could also say, " Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."
^ If we have not got a cross, alas ! we may conclude that we have not got Christ, for it is the first of His gifts.^
^ Crucify the rebellious self, mortify yourself wholly, give up all to God, and the peace which is not of this world will descend upon you. For eighteen centuries no grander word has been spoken ; and although humanity is for ever seeking after a more exact and complete application of justice, yet her secret faith is not in justice but in pardon, for pardon alone conciliates the spotless purity of perfection with the infinite pity due to weakness — that is to say, it alone preserves and defends the idea of holiness, while it allows full scope to that of love. The Gospel proclaims the ineffable consolation, the good news, which disarms all earthly griefs, and robs even death of its terrors — the news of irrevocable pardon, that is to say, of eternal life. The cross is the guarantee of the gospel. Therefore it has been its standard.^
Thy Cross cruciferous doth flower in all
And every cross, dear Lord, assigned to us: Ours lowly-statured crosses; Thine how tall, Thy Cross cruciferous.
Thy Cross alone life-giving, glorious :
For love of Thine, souls love their own when small,
Easy and light, or great and ponderous.
Since deep calls deep. Lord, hearken when we call;
When cross calls Cross racking and emulous : — Remember us with him who shared Thy gall. Thy Cross cruciferous.^
* " Rabbi " Duncan, in Recollections by A. Moody Stuart, 219. ^ AmieVs Journal (trans, by Mrs, Humphry Ward), 168.
* Christina G. Rossetti, Poetical Works, 167.
The Marks of Jesus.
479
Literature.
Barrett (G. S.), Musings for Quiet Hours, 44.
Brooks (P.), The Candle of the Lord, 356.
Brown (A. Q.), Thou Remainest, 88.
Burrell (D. J.), God and the People, 189.
Christopherson (H.), Sermons, 213.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women and Children, iii. 281.
Dawson (W. J.), The Reproach of Christ, 167.
Findlay (Q. G.), Galatians (Expositor's Bible), 448.
Grimley (H. N.), Tremadoc Sermons, 103.
Horan (F. S.), A Call to Seamen, 148.
Inge (W. R.), in SerTnonsfor the People, New Ser. vi. 125.
Jones (J. D.), The Gospel of Grace, 236.
Knight (Q. H.), Divine Upliftings, 157.
Lightfoot (J. B.), St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 225.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : 2 Corintliians, etc., 189.
Maggs (J. T. L.), The Spiritual Experience of St. Paul, 23.
Mantle (J. G.), God^s To-morrow, 33.
Morgan (J.), The Sacrament of Pain, 199.
Paget (F. E.), Sermons for Special Occasions, 127.
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Williams (I.X Sermons on the Epistles and Gospels, ii. 230.
British Weekly Pulpit, ii. 81 (A, Goodrich).
Christian World Pulpit, lixxi, 145 (C. Brown).
Churchman's Pulpit ; Lenten Season, v. 214 (H. C. Potter) ; 15th Sunday
after Trinity, xii. 128 (H. N. Grimley), 130 (C. W. Furse), 136
(J. C. Chambers). Church Pulpit Year Booh, 1910, p. 197.
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The Marks of Jesus
From henceforth let no man trouble me : for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus. — Gal. vi. 17.
The Apostle was growing an old man. He was stamped and marked by life. The wounds of his conflicts, the furrows of his years, were on him. And all these wounds and furrows had come to him since the great change of his life. They were closely bound up with the service of his Master. Every scar must still have quivered with the earnestness of the words of Christian loyalty which brought the blow that made it. See what he calls these scars, then. " I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus." He had a figure in his mind. He was thinking of the way in which a master branded his slaves. Burnt into their very flesh, they carried the initial of their master's name, or some other sign that they belonged to him, that they were not their own. That mark on the slave's body kept any other but his own master from touching him or compelling his labour. It was the sign at once of his servitude to one master and of his freedom from all others. St. Paul says that these marks in his flesh, which signify his servitude to Jesus, are the witnesses of his freedom from every other service. Since he is responsible to his Master, he is responsible to no one else.
^ The stigmata are the marks of ownership branded on the Apostle's body. These stigmata were used : (1) In the case of domestic slaves. With these, however, branding was not usual, at least among the Greeks and Eomans, except to mark out such as had attempted to escape or had otherwise misconducted them- selves, hence called " stigmatized (literati)," and such brands were held to be a badge of disgrace. (2) Slaves attached to some temple or persons devoted to the service of some deity were so branded. (3) Captives were so treated in very rare cases. (4) Soldiers sometimes branded the name of their commander on some part of their body. The metaphor here is most