CROSS, THE
The hill of comfort is the hill of Calvary; the house of consolation is builded with the
wood of the cross; the temple of heavenly cordials is founded upon the riven rock,
riven by the spear which pierced its side. No scene in sacred history ever gladdens the
soul like the scene on Calvary. Nowhere does the soul ever find such consolation as
on that very spot where misery reigned, where woe triumphed, where agony reached
its climax. 126.153
The cross is the focus of all human history—I was almost going to say it is the
centre of the life of God, if such a thing can be. All the ages meet in Calvary. Jesus is
the central Sun of all events. 786.700
Oh! down, down, down, with everything else, but up, up, up, with the cross of Christ!
Down with your baptism, and your masses, and your sacraments! Down with your
priestcraft, and your rituals, and your liturgies! Down with your fine music, and your
pomp, and your robes, and your garments, and all your ceremonials. But up, up, up,
with the doctrine of the naked cross, and the expiring Saviour. 826.464
O cross, whatever of shame there was about thee shall be wiped out for ever among
the sons of men, for this man shall sit upon the throne of judgment! 1476.305
All historians must confess that the turning point of the race is the cross of Christ. It
would be impossible to fix any other hinge of history. From that moment the power of
evil received its mortal wound. 1708.124
The cross is the standard of victorious grace. It is the light-house whose cheering
ray gleams across the dark waters of despair and cheers the dense midnight of our
fallen race, saving from eternal shipwreck, and piloting into everlasting peace. 1859.501
Nothing provokes the devil like the cross. Modern theology has for its main object the
obscuration of the doctrine of atonement. These modern cuttle-fishes make the
water of life black with their ink. They make out sin to be a trifle, and the
punishment of it to be a temporary business; and thus they degrade the remedy by
underrating the disease. 1896.224
“I came, I saw, I conquered,” is a line which will be quoted to the end of time. Such is
the life of our Lord Jesus, from the cross onward. 1928.602
I wish that our ministry—that mine especially—might be tied and tethered to the
cross. I have no other subject to set before you but Jesus only. 1940.25
Leave out the cross, and you have killed the religion of Jesus. Atonement by the
blood of Jesus is not an arm of Christian truth; it is the heart of it. 1971.375
When you have done your best, and have not succeeded, bring out this last
hammer—the cross of Christ. I have often seen on pieces of cannon, in Latin
words, this inscription, “The last argument of kings.” That is to say, cannons are the
last argument of kings. But the cross is the last argument of God. If a dying Saviour
does not convert you, what will? 2059.702
God made the world without any suffering, but he could not redeem even one soul
without agonies unknown. 2880.195
Beloved, there is a cure for every spiritual disease in the cross. 2281.529