NOTE BY THE ARTIST
Oft-repeated words are apt, for this very reason, to lose the force of their significance; and the Cross of Calvary has furnished so frequent a theme for Christian literature and Christian art, that it is by an effort only, which we do well to exert, that the anguish of that lingering death can even dimly be appreciated. The harrowing details have often been recounted, and it is sufficient here to state in brief, that it comprised, in one awful agony, well-nigh every pang which the human body can be called upon to suffer; withholding for long the boon of death itself, and even the pitiful mercy of isolation. For that “lifting up,” by which artists have striven to indicate the loneliness of Jesus, is not in accordance with the facts of the case. No timber in Palestine is of sufficient size to furnish crosses such as are generally represented, and we are forced instead to picture the patient sufferer during those many fatal hours, as raised but slightly above the level of the ground, and literally face to face with his tormentors.
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“The Influence of the Love of Christ.” We are so accustomed to hear of the blessed Saviour, and his amazing love, that it often gets to be a familiar story to us, and so it does not have its proper influence on our hearts. But it is different with the missionaries of the gospel. When they tell the heathen about Jesus, and his love, it is new to them, and sometimes it has a strange effect upon them. Here is an instance of this:
The Rev. Mr. Nott, an English missionary in the South Sea Islands, was reading the third chapter of the gospel of St. John to a number of the natives. Presently he came to that wonderful statement in the 16th verse, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life.” When he heard this, one of the natives said, “What words were those you read? Let me hear those words again.” The missionary read the verse again, slowly and deliberately. On hearing them again, the native rose and said, “Is that so? Can it be true that God loved the world, when the world did not love him?” “It is true,” said the missionary. “And this is the message we bring you. If you believe in Jesus, and his love, it will save your soul, and make you happy forever.” This wonderful love of Jesus won that heathen’s heart, and he became a Christian.
This illustrates what the apostle Paul means when he says, “the love of Christ constraineth us.” To constrain, means to draw. The power which the gospel has to draw men’s hearts to God is in the love of Christ.
“The Power of Love.” A teacher was giving a lesson to a class of children, on metals and minerals. They were told that gold could be melted, and that all metals could be melted. Then the teacher asked: “Can stones be melted?”
“Yes,” said a little boy; “stones are melted in volcanoes.”
“That is true; and now, can you tell me what can melt a heart as hard as stone?”
After thinking for a few minutes, the little boy said: “I think it is God only who can melt a hard heart.”