The Cross: A Tract for the TimesRyle, J. C. (John Charles)
Religion
The Cross: A Tract for the Times
Ryle, J. C. (John Charles)
Atonement
_Are you inquiring the way toward heaven_? Are you seeking salvation but
doubtful whether you can find it? Are you desiring to have an interest
in Christ but doubting whether Christ will receive you? To you also I
say this day, “Behold the cross of Christ.” Here is encouragement if you
really want it. Draw near to the Lord Jesus with boldness, for nothing
need keep you back. His arms are open to receive you. His heart is full
of love towards you. He has made a way by which you may approach Him
with confidence. Think of the cross. Draw near, and fear not.
_Are you an unlearned man_? Are you desirous to get to heaven and yet
perplexed and brought to a stand-still by difficulties in the Bible which
you cannot explain? To you also I say this day, “Behold the cross of
Christ.” Read there the Father’s love and the Son’s compassion. Surely
they are written in great plain letters, which none can well mistake.
What though you are now perplexed by the doctrine of election? What
though at present you cannot reconcile your own utter corruption and your
own responsibility? Look, I say, at the cross. Does not that cross tell
you that Jesus is a mighty, loving, ready Saviour? Does it not make one
thing plain, and that is that if not saved it is all your own fault? Oh!
get hold of that truth, and hold it fast.
_Are you a distressed believer_? Is your heart pressed down with
sickness, tired with disappointments, overburdened with cares? To you
also I say this day, “Behold the cross of Christ.” Think whose hand it
is that chastens you. Think whose hand is measuring to you the cup of
bitterness which you are now drinking. It is the hand of Him that was
crucified. It is the same hand that in love to your soul was nailed to
the accursed tree. Surely that thought should comfort and hearten you.
Surely you should say to yourself, “A crucified Saviour will never lay
upon me anything that is not for my good. There is a needs be. It must
be well.”
_Are you a believer that longs to be more holy_? Are you one that finds
his heart too ready to love earthly things? To you also I say, “Behold
the cross of Christ.” Look at the cross. Think of the cross. Meditate
on the cross, and then go and set affections on the world if you can. I
believe that holiness is nowhere learned so well as on Calvary. I
believe you cannot look much at the cross without feeling your will
sanctified, and your tastes made more spiritual. As the sun gazed upon
makes everything else look dark and dim, so does the cross darken the
false splendour of this world. As honey tasted makes all other things
seem to have no taste at all, so does the cross seen by faith take all
the sweetness out of the pleasures of the world. Keep on every day
steadily looking at the cross of Christ, and you will soon say of the
world as the poet does,—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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