The cross once seen

From “The Progress of Error” by William Cowper

But if the wanderer his mistake discern,

Judge his own ways, and sigh for a return,

Bewilder’d once, must he bewail his loss

For ever and for ever? No–the cross!

There and there only (though the deist rave,

And atheist, if Earth bear so base a slave);

There and there only is the power to save.

There no delusive hope invites despair;

No mockery meets you, no deception there.

The spells and charms, that blinded you before,

All vanish there, and fascinate no more.

I am no preacher, let this hint suffice–

The cross once seen is death to every vice;

Else He that hung there suffer’d all his pain,

Bled, groan’d, and agonised, and died, in vain.

Christ and his cross is all our theme

This hymn first appeared as hymn 119 in Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II. It is a common meter hymn with the heading “The different Success of the Gospel.” It has been set with many tunes, including St. Agnes by John B. Dykes.

1. Christ and his cross is all our theme;
The mysteries that we speak
Are scandal in the Jew’s esteem,
And folly to the Greek.

2. But souls enlightened from above
With joy receive the word;
They see what wisdom, power, and love
Shine in their dying Lord.

3. The vital savour of his name
Restores their fainting breath;
Believing, they rejoice in him,
The Antidote of death.

4. Till God diffuse his graces down,
Like showers of heavenly rain,
In vain Apollos sows the ground,
And Paul may plant in vain.

Isaac Watts
Gadsby’s Selection #165

Sweet the moments, rich in blessing

“Sweet the moments, rich in blessing” (or “Looking unto Christ”) was written by Walter Shirley, and appears as follows in A Select Collection of Hymns, Universally Sung in the Late Countess of Huntingdon’s Chapels (1820 printing).

193 Looking unto Christ. 8.7. (p. 293)

1. Sweet the moments, rich in blessing,

Which before the cross I spend;

Life and health and peace possessing

From the sinner’s dying Friend.

Here I’ll sit, forever viewing,

Mercy’s streams in streams of blood;

Precious drops, my soul bedewing,

Plead and claim my peace with God.

2. Truly blessèd is the station,

Low before his cross to lie;

While I see divine compassion

Floating in His languid eye;

Here it is I find my heaven,

While upon the Lamb I gaze;

Love I much? I’ve much forgiven,

I’m a miracle of grace.

3. Love and fear my heart dividing,

With my tears his feet I’ll bathe:

Constant still in faith abiding,

Life deriving from His death.

May I still enjoy this feeling,

In all need to Jesus go,

Prove his wounds each day more healing,

And himself more deeply know!

We often sing this in The Sacred Harp and The Christian Harmony, with Shirley’s first stanza and a second stanza that was added to The Christian Harmony 1958 revision:

2. Had I heart to hold its pleasure,

Had I tongue to tell its bliss;

Could I share with all my treasure,

O that all my friends were his.

Nothing else could quite so charm me,

Nor my ev’ry idol hold.

Satan now no more can harm me,

I’ve a home in realms of gold.

Listen to Palmetto HERE (tune by William Hauser, 1859; 54t in The Sacred Harp, Revised Cooper Edition, 2012).

Another stanza that sometimes appears with Shirley’s “Sweet the moments” is:

Lord, in ceaseless contemplation

Fix my heart and eyes on Thee,

Till I taste Thy full salvation,

And unveiled Thy glories see.

For Thy sorrows I adore Thee,

For the griefs that wrought my peace;

Gracious Savior, I implore Thee,

In my heart Thy love increase.

Shirley’s hymn is an adaptation of “While my Jesus I’m possessing” by James Allen. It is printed in A Collection of Hymns for the Use of Those that Seek, and Those that Have Redemption in the Blood of Christ, by James Allen and Christopher Batty; commonly known as the Kendal Hymn Book (1757).

LIV, p. 60

1. While my Jesus I’m possessing,

Great's the happiness I know;

And while him I am caressing,

Sweetest odours round me flow:

Happy I’m in his embraces,

Proving all his kisses sweet;

Singing never-ceasing praises,

Mary-like before his feet.

2. Oh! how liappy are the moments,,

Which I here in transport spend;

Life deriving from his torments,

Who remains the Sinner’s Friend:

Here I’ll sit for ever viewing,

How the blood flows from each vein,

Ev’ry stream, my soul bedewing,

Mortifies the carnal flame.

3. Really blessèd is the portion

Destin’d me by sov’reign grace;

Still to view divine compassion

In the Saviour’s bruisèd face:

’Tis my fixèd resolution

Jesus Christ my Lord to love;

At his feet to fix my station,

Nor from thence a hair’s breadth move.

4. Here it is I find my heaven,

While upon my Lamb I gaze;

Love I much, I’ve more forgiven;

I’m a miracle of grace:

Filled with sinner-like contrition,

With my tears his feet I’ll bathe;

Happy in the sweet fruition

Of my Saviour’s painful death.

5. From his pierc’d and wounded body

Issued streams of sacred gore;

From his hands and feet so bloody

Flow’d a med’cine for each sore:

From his side, that fountain precious,

Pardons with the blood did flow;

This to taste is most delicious,

Causing all within to glow.

6. May I still enjoy this feeling,

In all need to Jesus go;

Prove his wounds each day more healing’

And from hence salvation draw:

May I have the Spirit’s unction

Filling me with holy shame;

Still retain a close connection

With the person of the Lamb.

Carl Price tells the following concerning Walter Shirley’s writing of “Sweet the moments.”

In its present form this hymn was wrought out of a bitter experience in the life of Sir Walter Shirley, who was at the time Rector of Loughrea in the County of Galway, Ireland. His brother, the Earl of Ferrars, a man of evil habits, engaged in a quarrel with one of his servants, who had long been in his employ, and in the passion of his anger he murdered the old man. He was at once imprisoned; and Shirley, though mortified by the terrible disgrace which the revolting crime had brought upon his family, journeyed to his brother’s prison and remained near him during the distressing weeks that followed. The Earl was tried, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged at Tyburn. After the execution Shirley, worn out by his long vigil and humiliated in spirit, returning to his parish, finding comfort only in the cross of Jesus Christ.

Discovering an imperfect expression of his emotions at that time in a hymn, “O How Happy Are the Moments,” by the Rev. James Allen, he adapted and revised the hymn so completely that it became practically a new composition, truly poetic in language and form, and tenderly eloquent of his own experience.

From “Christmas” to the “Cross”

Many people love babies and stories about babies. It seems to me that to many folks the “Christmas” story is an enjoyable baby story that blissfully abandons the babe in the manger. We need to go on from “Christmas” to the “Cross”. The “Cross” (Galatians 3:13) is the backstory of why the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14).

Who was made flesh? Jesus Christ, the creator and eternal son of God (John 1:1-4; 1 John 5:7).

How was he made flesh? The virgin birth (Matthew 1:18-23).

When was he made flesh? In the days of Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1), when Cyrenius was governor of Syria (Luke 2:2), when Herod was king in Judæa (Matthew 2:1).

Where was he made flesh? In Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7).[i]

Why was he made flesh? Made in the likeness of men, to be obedient to the death of the cross (Philippians 2:5-7); Made under the law, to redeem those under the law (Galatians 4:3-5); To suffer for sins and bring sinners to God (1 Peter 3:18); To make peace through the blood of his cross (Colossians 1:20).

Galatians 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…

---

[i] Here I refer only to where Jesus was born. He put on flesh when Mary conceived of the Holy Ghost.

Shall Simon bear the cross?

Thomas Shepherd (1665-1739) was a minister in England. He preached for a church in Essex for 40 years. The church began meeting in a barn. He published several books, including Penitential Cries, in 1693, a book of poetry "begun by the Author of the Songs of Praise [John Mason, rlv], and carried on by another hand [Shepherd, rlv]. Stanza 3 of hymn No. XXIII called "Universal Obedience" in Penitential Cries appears as follows:

Shall Simon bear the cross alone,
And other saints be free?
Each saint of thine shall find his own
And there is one for me:
Whene'er it falls unto my Lot,
Let it not drive me from
My God; let me ne'er be forgot
Till thou hast lov'd me home.

Rather than the familiar "Must Jesus bear the cross alone," Shepherd was writing about an incident mentioned in only one verse in three gospels. A man named Simon was forced by Roman soldiers to bear the cross of Jesus.

The three texts
Matthew 27:32 And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross.
Mark 15:21 And they compel one Simon a Cyrenian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to bear his cross.
Luke 23:26 And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

Considering John's information in 19:17 ("And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha:"), from Pilate's hall, going out of the city of Jerusalem, Jesus began carrying the cross towards Golgotha, or Calvary, but soon Roman soldiers compelled into service one Simon, a man in Jerusalem from Cyrene (a city in Libya, cf. Acts 2:10). The soldiers, bent on efficient execution, probably compelled this man into service to make sure (in their minds) that Jesus did not collapse die before reaching Golgotha, or to speed up the pace of the march to the location of the crucifixion. As hardened executioners, they did not do it as a favour to Jesus. Perhaps their motive was to mock this king as too weak to carry his own cross. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." (Proverbs 12:10 )

The texts combined
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John combined yield us this story of the compelling of Simon: And he (Jesus) bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull; And as they led him away, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, the father of Alexander and Rufus, passing by, coming out of the country; they laid hold upon him, and on him they laid the cross, and they compel him that he might bear it after Jesus.

What we know about Simon
He was a man from Cyrene, a city or region in Libya (Libya in North Africa). He was probably a Jew who came to Jerusalem for the Passover, who was staying outside the city. He was passing by, perhaps to get a glance at the sight of prisoners led to crucifixion. By the time Mark wrote his Gospel, Simon's sons Alexander and Rufus were well known to those to whom Mark wrote his Gospel.

The suffering Saviour, the ordained offering for man's offense
The text teaches us of the humanity of Jesus Christ. Jesus was God, who foreordained and controlled the situation. "Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin." (John 19:11; cf. also John 18:6) Jesus the eternal Word, the Son of God, submitted himself to the frailty of humanity and identified completely with man.  "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." (Philippians 2:8) "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9) As God Jesus could have launched the cross by his word into the very place he would be lift up between heaven and earth. As man, beaten, battered and bloody, he struggled under the weight of the cross. "As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:" (Isaiah 52:14; cf also John 19:1-3; Matthew 26:67; 27:26, 29-30).

The harried hamal, a coincidentally constrained carrier of Jesus's cross
The lesson is ironic, as Jesus freely goes to the cross as man's substitute, the Romans press into service a man to substitute for Jesus carrying his cross. May it teach us some lessons about "bearing the cross."

• Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
• Matthew 16:24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
• Philippians 3:10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
• 2 Timothy 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
• Galatians 5:11; 6:12 the offence of the cross...suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

Matthew Henry wrote, "We must not think it strange, if crosses come upon us suddenly, and we be surprised by them."

The incident is also illustrative of the providence and purpose of God -- what we humanly refer to as "being in the right place at the right time (positively, or the wrong place at the wrong time, negatively)." We speak of things that "just happen," "was an accident," and so forth, and the Bible recognizes our form of speech (Cf. e.g. Ruth 2:3; 1 Samuel 6:9; 2 Samuel 1:6; 20:1; Luke 10:31). These things we attribute to happenstance for we have made no plans regarding them. Just because we have made no plans, it does not follow that God has made none. Simon was in God's place at God's time!

It seems God designed Simon to carry the cross to demonstrate that Jesus was physically fully human, that Christians are to be cross-bearers, and that nothing is too minor to miss the purpose of God (and no doubt other designs that I am too dull to notice). 

Thomas Shepherd did not find this incident too minor to notice! "Shall Simon bear the cross alone?"

The True Cross

By W. F. Bell 

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thessalonians 5:21)... 

Is the cross "the Latin cross," and is it the symbol of Christianity? Scripture is silent, and so must we be! Not one word is said about what kind of cross Jesus died upon. Further, we read nothing about making "the sign of the cross" which many practice. The Greek word for "cross" is "stauros," simply meaning "stake, post."...Most people still believe that accepting "the Latin cross" is tantamount to accepting the true cross of Scripture, so in this sense "the Latin cross" has become an idol. 

What is the real meaning of "the cross" in the New Testament?...The work of the cross and resurrection of Christ is the Christian's "triumph" and "victory" (Acts 13:29-30; Romans 8:31-33, 37), and is the very cornerstone of our faith. It matters not what kind of wood it was, or its shape, or its symbolism.

...There is no scriptural "symbol" of Christianity (not a cross, a fish, a triangle, or a trefoil)...It is not a piece of wood that we proclaim, or a trinket, or a superstition, but the glorious person of our precious Savior, the incarnate God who gave His life for poor sinners! 

Save me from this bewitching world, 
That has to death ten thousand hurled; 
Whose charms enchant, and lead astray, 
From Jesus Christ, the living Way. 
[Hymn --Henry Fowler in Gadsby's Selection #954]

Excerpts from "The True Cross," by W. F. Bell (via Mike McInnis)

Glorying Only In The Cross

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” Galatians 6:14

"I cannot, and, God helping me, I will not, while the Lord gives me strength to open my poor mouth, but speak well of love in God and the Holy Spirit, for it was He that laid hold of me in my mad career of sin, put a cry into my heart to cry unto God, and stopped me from going about to establish a righteousness of my own. His invisible hand kept me from being my own murderer. He revealed in my heart pardoning blood and IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS; and some scores of times, when the enemy has come into my poor soul with such a tremendous flood of awful blasphemies against the Holy Trinity, especially against the Holy Spirit, that I have been sunk so low that at times I could see no more hope that God would ever appear in love and mercy for me than He would appear for devils, He has, bless His dear Name, lifted up again a glorious standard, and brought me up again out the horrible pit, and set my feet again upon the Rock of ages."

John Warburton (1776–1857), English Baptist, as quoted in Shreveport Grace Church Bulletin - August 16, 2009

Repentance at the cross

HYMN 106 C. M. Repentance at the cross.

O, if my soul were formed for woe,
How would I vent my sighs!
Repentance should like rivers flow
From both my streaming eyes.

'Twas for my sins my dearest Lord
Hung on the cursed tree,
And groaned away a dying life
For thee, my soul, for thee.

O, how I hate those lusts of mine
That crucified my God!
Those sins that pierced and nailed his flesh
Fast to the fatal wood!

Whilst, with a melting, broken heart,
My murdered Lord I view,
I'll raise revenge against my sins,
And slay the murd'rers too.

Isaac Watts (1674-1748)
Hymns and Spiritual Songs, Book II, 1707