SUNDAY CIRCLE.

Southland Times, Issue 17305, 29 March 1913, Page 9

SUNDAY CIRCLE.

EASTER MEDITATION. 9 am H* that llveth, and was dead ; and behold, I am alive for evermore. John was In the spirit on the Lord's Day. Around him the desolation of a barren Isle and the weary waste of tumbling waters : but within a heart vising beyond all the limitations of environment. and soaring on the wings of ■'ll*. "His head and his hairs were ka wool, as. white as snow, and U' ■ were us a flame of dro and his feet dike unto fine brass as if they burned In a furnace, and his voice as the Bound of many waters.” This was the radiant vision that came to the lonely ■eer in the isle of exile. And he records that before its glory he fell on tils face as one dead. The voice like the sound of many waters speaks to him. John knows then that the Risen Ascended Christ has drawn near. The radiant figure sums up His history in a sentence ; I am He that llveth and was dead, and behold, i am alive for evermore. That is Christ's epitome. His aummlng up of His work for the salvation of mankind. I. Tho Ascended Lord lays stress first Bf all in His death. " 1 am He that was dead.” As Christ looks back it is tho Cross that stands clear cut against the •ky. During His life on earth, it was the Cross He looked forward to as the Completion of His sacrifice for sin. ; As His' head drooped upon the Cross, with Bis last breath He cried “It Is finished.”' And now, recalling to John what He has done. He does not speak of the miracles, or of the gracious words of wisdom that He spake. It is not the Sermon on the Mount, nor the Parable of the Sower, not tho stilling of the tempest, not the raising of Lazarus. Christianity would stand without any or ail of these ; but Christianity without the Cross, Christ without Calvary, salvation Without the supreme sacrifice it Is Inconceivable. It is a true instinct thit has made the Cross tho distinctively Christian symbol. So first let us tallow Christ's example, and take our Stand at the Cross. And then let us le*fn again the exceeding sinfulness of Bin. The spirit of the ago Is against a developed sense of >dn. We are no worse than our fallows, better perhaps than moat, we flatter ourselves. God would never dream of punishing for sin. Jt Is. natural and necessary so why Wprjy about it ? And anyway, sin helps DS so much ! tor do we not rise on stepping atones of pur dead selves to higher things. And so the tale runs on. But look at the centre Cross on Calvary. If sin has ceased to be the hateful' hideous thing it once was to you. Look at that mortal agony and tho Father's averted fane. And He that suffered thus was God’s only son. He that though Ho were ylcb, yet for our sakes became poor. And why ? Because there was no other way. Do we think He would have suffered thus had there been another way ? "WfOuld He have hung through those long dark hours and endured the final agony U aln, were a negligible thing ? Look, and see there God’s judgment on sin and the sinner. Humbly, reverently, let us draw near and see again what God thinks of sin. But here Is also the takOn of Gdd’s infinite love. Why has fie loved ns so m uch that He has rfint His heart in twain for us ? What is there loveable in this wilfully deliberately rebellious human nature of ours ? Who can say ? Tet we are Inflnltely

precious ‘unto Him. We judge of earthly lava, not by what It says or promises, but by what it does and by what It ia willing to sacrifice. And God has loved us even unto the death of His son,

Bead that love again on the Cross. Let that love enfold you. Lift your heart to meet it in glad and free response. “ O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee : I give thee back the life I owe That in thine ocean depths Its flow May richer.' fuller be.”

11. But Christ speaks further : " I am •live for evermore.” If the Cross were all, then are we of all men moat miserable, for death ia still king triumphal--; there is none that has gained the final Viqtory. And all our hopes are vain, Ohd we grope in a never th Inning peas, and the shadow of the tomb and the mystery of the life beyond press inqre heavily than ever. But Christ hurst asunder the bars of death, and Christ Is alive for evermore. There is the Joy and hope of the Raster message. Christ lives. ~‘"Our Christianity is not centred wholly In the Cross. We look beyond. The Cross saw him droop, heard the last sigh. The grave received Him. but eould not hold Him. Christ Xoso triumphant o’er the gravel No longer la the grave the tomb of our hopes. No longer do the dying go out Into the darkness, but into His marvellous light. We are one with Him upon the Cross, and one with Him in that supreme victory when the bonds of the last great tyrant were'snapped asunder. Thttt Is the very core of our Christian faith. Calvary and the empty tomb, the Cross, and the Resurrection must always be Inextricably linked. Christ lives, and as living, is able to come Into touch with other living spirit-*. There la confidence and strength In the day of battle, comfort and solace in the hour Of sorrow. For ’Us no God enthroned en high Olympus that we worship, but a living Christ, nearer than breathing and Closer than hands and feet ; a living Christ waiting now to establish ■weet relation of friendship, wherever a heart is willing to receive Him. “ r am- He that liveth and was dead ; and behold, I am alive for evermore.”

Jesus Ghrlst came Into this world to do things which only He could do. He came to make men know things that ' were not certainly known : He came to make certain the serious care of God for mankind, to make certain His moral character, to make certain immortality and judgment. Further. He came to Introduce ideas governing thought and 1 conduct, which He only could Introduce, by what He was. and by what Ho did Ideas of the moral law deeper and more powerful than any In the world : the Idea of sin, of pardon, of restoration : the reality of a new Ideal, the Christian character. And more, Ha came to create a new tie and union among human ■onls, between them and God, between them and Himself as the son of man, ■between themselves, one with another. —Dean Church.