And here I would dwell for a little on the cross of Christ in its two grand, fundamental phases, or in other words, the cross as the basis of our worship and our discipleship, our peace and our testimony, our relation with God, and our relation with the world. If as a convicted sinner I look at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, I behold in it the everlasting foundation of my peace. I see my "sin" put away, as to the root or principle thereof, and I see my "sins" borne. I see God to be, in very deed, "for me," and that, moreover, in the very condition in which my convicted conscience tells me I am. The cross unfolds God as the _sinner's_ Friend. It reveals him in that most wondrous character as the righteous Justifier of the most ungodly sinner. Creation never could do this. Providence never could do this. Therein I may see God's power, his majesty, and his wisdom: but what if all these things should be ranged against me? Looked at in themselves abstractedly, they would be so, for I am a sinner; and power, majesty, and wisdom, could not put away my sin, nor justify God in receiving me. The introduction of the cross, however, changes the aspect of things entirely. There I find God dealing with sin in such a manner as to glorify himself infinitely. There I see the magnificent display and perfect harmony of all the divine attributes. I see love, and such love as captivates and assures my heart, and weans it, in proportion as I realize it, from every other object. I see wisdom, and such wisdom as baffles devils and astonishes angels. I see power, and such power as bears down all opposition. I see holiness, and such holiness as repulses sin to the very farthest point of the moral universe, and gives the most intense expression of God's abhorrence thereof, that could possibly be given. I see grace, and such grace as sets the sinner in the very presence of God,--yea, puts him into his bosom. Where could I see all these things but in the cross? Nowhere else. Look where you please, and you cannot find aught that so blessedly combines those two great points, namely, "glory to God in the highest," and "on earth peace."