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The Origin of Heresy A History of Discourse in Second
Temple Judaism and Early Christianity 1st Edition
Robert M. Royalty Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Robert M. Royalty
ISBN(s): 9781138921917, 1138921912
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Year: 2013
Language: english
 ROUTLEDGE STUDIES IN RELIGION

The Orig inot Heresy

-A History of Discourse in Second Temple _ 4
Judaism: and Early a oe
.
Robert M. Royalty, Jr.

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The Origin of Heresy
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The Origin of Heresy he
A History of Discourse in Second Temple
Judaism and Early Christianity

Robert M. Royalty, Jr.

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Royalty, Robert M., 1961—
The origin of heresy : a history of discourse in Second Temple Judaism
and early Christianity / by Robert M. Royalty, Jr.
p. cm. — (Routledge studies in religion ; 18)
Includes bibliographical references (p. 209) and index.
1. Christianity—Origin. 2. Christianity and other religions—Judaism.
3. Judaism—Relations—Christianity. 4. Church history—Primitive and
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For Anne Beeson Royalty
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Contents

Preface
Abbreviations xl

PART I
Genealogy of a Discourse

1 The Origin of Heresy

2 The Rhetoric of Difference in Israel 30

3. Reform and Revolution in the Roman Empire:

John the Baptist and the Disciples of Jesus 53

4 Paul and the Rhetoric of Difference 64

5 The Christian Gospels as Narratives of Exclusion 89

PART II
The Politics of Heresy

6 Policing the Boundaries: The Politics of Heresiology 119

i The Politics of Orthodoxy 147

Conclusions 172

Notes 177
Bibliography 209
Index DOM
ai
Preface

This book has two points of origin in my graduate studies at Yale Uni-
versity: seminars on Justin Martyr and the second century with Bentley
Layton; and extensive research on the Book of Revelation, guided by Susan
Garrett and Wayne Meeks. I was fortunate to have these excellent teach-
ers at Yale. As I finished my first book on Revelation, I became intrigued
by how the harsh polemics of the Apocalypse were directed against other
Christians, demonized as satanic enemies within the churches. In fact, the
entire New Testament is full of such rhetoric—the rhetoric against intimate
enemies that becomes heresy. Although Justin has been credited with creat-
ing the rhetoric of heresy, it was clear to me that this discourse began much
earlier and developed throughout the first century. This book began as my
attempt to connect the ragged edges of what became the New Testament
texts, including Revelation, to the heresiological discourses of the second
century, from Justin onwards.
A Nationa! Endowment for the Humanities Research Fellowship and a
Stanford Humanities Center External (Visiting) Fellowship in 2005-2006
were essential for getting this project off the ground. I am very grateful for
the support of the NEH and Stanford. We enjoyed a wonderful year at the
Humanities Center, discussing ideas of all sorts, including my own, with
a lively and stimulating group of fellows, including John Bender, Marcus
Folch, Jehangir Malegam, Steven Justice, and Johannes Fabian; the Reli-
gious Studies Department at Stanford, including Arnold Eisen, Hester Gel-
ber, and Brent Sockness; and the Empires and Cultures Workshop in the
History Department. I would also like to thank Robert Gregg, Dale Martin,
and William Placher (RIP 2008) for their early support of this project. In
addition, |am thankful for a sabbatical and research support from Wabash
College and the resources of Lilly Library, including the invaluable support
of Susan Albrecht and Deborah Polley. And I am thankful to Laura Sterns
and the editorial and production staff at Routledge for accepting this book
and for their assistance in bringing it to publication expeditiously.
Several portions of this book have been presented at conferences of the
European Association of Biblical Studies (Lisbon 2008 and Lincoln 2009,
with special thanks to Moshe Lavee and Ronit Nikolsky), the Oxford
x Preface
Patristics Conference (2007), and meetings of the Society of Biblical Lit-
erature in Boston (2008) and Rome (2009), as well as the Wabash College
Humanities Colloquium. Conversations with colleagues including Denise
Buell, Stephen Davis, Nicola Denzey Lewis, Rebecca Lyman, Outi Lehtipuu,
Elaine Pagels, Gary Phillips, and Greg Snyder have been very helpful along
the way. Colleagues kind enough to comment on earlier drafts include
Christopher Frilingos, Susan Garrett, Michael Penn, William Placher, and
James Watts. I am very thankful for their time and insights, as well as
the comments of the anonymous readers of the manuscript. All mistakes
remain my own.
Above all I am thankful for the support of my children, Nolen and
Ginna, and my wife, Anne Beeson Royalty, during the years of hard work
on this project. | dedicate this book to her with much love and affection.

PERMISSIONS

Quotations from the Bible are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible,
copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of
the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission.
All rights reserved.
Portions of Chapter 6 were originally published in “Dwelling on Visions: The
Nature of the So-Called ‘Colossians Heresy,” Biblica 83 (2002): 329-57.
Used by permission.
Abbreviations

Abbreviations are from The SBL Handbook of Style for Ancient Near East-
ern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies, ed. Patrick H. Alexander et al.
(Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1999).

LQ, 2Q, 4Q, 5Q Scrolls from Qumran Caves 1, 2, 4, 5

Ps.-Clem. Pseudo-Clementines
Dio Nicom. Dio Chrysostom, To the Nicomedians
Ep. Barn. Epistle of Barnabas
Haer. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses
Ign. Ignatius
Jos. Ant., ].W. Josephus Antiquities, Jewish War
Jus. Apol., Dial. Justin, Apology, Dialogue with Trypho
LSJ Liddell, Scott and Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon
Luc. Lucian
MT Masoretic Text (of the Hebrew Bible)
orp Charlesworth, Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
Plat. Apol. Plato, Apology
Pliny Ep. Pliny the Younger, Letters
Suet. Claud. Suetonius, Claudius
Wis. Sol. Wisdom of Solomon
Xen. Xenophon
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Part I

Genealogy of a Discourse
H
1 The Origin of Heresy

There are so many ways to commit heresy these days as to suggest the old
adage that it’s getting hard to commit an original sin. One can commit
heresy by serving the wrong wine at dinner, breaking with your political
party ona policy, running on third-and-long, or changing a business plan.
Every business, group, club, and organization seems to have its “heretics”
who challenge the “reigning orthodoxy” of the system. One can still, of
course, commit heresy the old-fashioned way—in a religious community.!
Christians invented this concept still used so widely today. While shared
among several religions, the idea of “heresy” is central to the history of
Christianity, from the fourth-century ecumenical councils of Nicea and
Chalcedon, to the Medieval Inquisition and Reformation, to recent clashes
over sexual practice and critical church histories.
The word “heresy” comes from the ancient Greek word bhairesis,
meaning a choice, school of thought, sect, or party, which was itself
derived from the verb haired, which meant to choose or prefer one thing
over another. The word hairesis had wide, fairly common, and non-pe-
jorative meanings in the ancient Hellenistic world.? The meaning of the
word changes, however, from the late first century CE, when it appears
in writings of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and the Acts of
the Apostles to designate what we might call denominations or sects of
Judaism, to the middle of the second century, when Christian writers
start to employ it with the technical sense of incorrect doctrine, religious
deviance, or error.*
That significant ideological shift in the meaning of hairesis is the focus
of this book: the origins of “heresy” in early Christianity and the devel-
opment of heresiology, the Christian genre of polemical rhetoric against
“heretics.” The development of heresiology in orthodox Christianity from
the second century CE onwards has been well studied by historians of the
early Church; I will begin with a summary of that story. But going deeper
into the origins, or genealogy, of the idea of heresy takes me to the rhetoric
of difference and disagreement in the first-century texts of the New Testa-
ment and the writings of Second Temple Judaism. Here, I argue, we find the
origin of what comes to be labeled “heresy” in the second century. In other
4 The Origin of Heresy
words, there was such a thing as “heresy” in ancient Jewish and Christian
discourse before it was called “heresy.”
This discourse, the rhetoric of difference that becomes orthodox Chris-
tian heresiology, can be located in political conflicts between Christian
groups of the first century. I argue that the orthodox project of political
hegemony under the ideological banner of Christian unity begins, as with
all the different aspects of Christianity, in the first century among Jesus’
earliest followers. This book joins the larger historical project among
scholars of early Christianity to recover lost and suppressed Christian
voices. In addition to expressing my commitment to an ethic of theologi-
cal diversity within Christianity, this book should call into question the
demonizing, destructive heresiological patterns that continue to mark our
religious and political rhetoric. Such correlations might be hard to break,
since they are integral to the Christian notion of heresy. As a regime of
knowledge and technology of power within early Christian social forma-
tions, the notion of heresy has had a political function, from its origins
in apocalyptic Judaism and contested identities of “Israel” to its central
polemical role in early Christian discourse. By the beginning of the second
century, the notion of heresy was central to the political positioning of the
early orthodox Christian party within the Roman Empire against a range
of other Christian groups.
In this chapter, I introduce that claim by reconsidering traditional con-
structions of the origins of Christianity in a framework of truth preceding
error, or “orthodoxy” before “heresy”; the thorny problems in construct-
ing the history of earliest Christianity from the New Testament, which was
assembled much later than the first century; and the methodological issues
in reading these early texts as “Christian.” I will describe my methodology
of reading these texts by means of the rhetoric of difference and exclusion,
with attention to Christian communities as colonial locations within the
Roman Empire. I conclude with an outline of the book, my thesis, and the
rhetoric of early Christian heresiology.

SPEAKING CHRISTIAN

The notion of heresy, I maintain, is integral to how people “speak Chris-

tian” and thus to Christian identity. This specifically Christian way of
identifying and dealing with ideological difference has had long-lasting
and profound effects on both Christian and later Islamic cultures. But it
is important to clarify that |am using the word “Christian” as shorthand
for one type of ancient Christianity, the party (a term I prefer because of its
political connotations) that chose the term “orthodox” or “right-thinking”
for themselves. Christian churches and denominations today, from Greek
Orthodox (which retains the ancient name) and Roman Catholic to Bap-
tist and Pentecostal churches, are theological descendants of the ancient
Other documents randomly have
different content
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Cross: A
Tract for the Times
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: The Cross: A Tract for the Times

Author: J. C. Ryle

Release date: May 3, 2020 [eBook #62001]

Language: English

Credits: Transcribed from the 1851 Hunt & Son edition by David
Price

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CROSS: A

TRACT FOR THE TIMES ***
Transcribed from the 1851 Hunt & Son edition by David Price, email
[email protected]

THE CROSS.

A TRACT FOR THE TIMES.

BY THE
REV. J. C. RYLE, B.A.,
CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD,
RECTOR OF HELMINGHAM, SUFFOLK.
Author of “Living or Dead?”
“Assurance,” &c.

“By thy cross and passion, good Lord deliver us.”

Liturgy of the Church of England.

IPSWICH:
HUNT & SON, 12, TAVERN STREET.
LONDON:
WERTHEIM & MACINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER ROW;
NISBET & Co., 21, BERNERS STREET.
 Price Two Shillings per Dozen.

M.DCCC.LI.

“Christ crucified and Christ glorified is all that we are to study;

the one we are to study as long as we are on earth, and the
other we shall be admitted to study when we get well to
heaven. * *
“That faith which is not built on a dying Christ is but a perilous
dream: God awaken all from it that are in it!”—Robert Traill.
1690.
 THE CROSS.

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ.”—Galat. vi. 14.

Reader,
What do you think and feel about the cross of Christ? You live in a
Christian land. You probably attend the worship of a Christian
Church. You have perhaps been baptized in the name of Christ. You
profess and call yourself a Christian. All this is well. It is more than
can be said of millions in the world, But all this is no answer to my
question, “What do you think and feel about the cross of Christ?”
I want to tell you what the greatest Christian that ever lived thought
of the cross of Christ. He has written down his opinion. He has
given his judgment in words that cannot be mistaken. The man I
mean is the Apostle Paul. The place where you will find his opinion,
is in the letter which the Holy Ghost inspired him to write to the
Galatians. And the words in which his judgment is set down, are
these, “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ.”
Now what did Paul mean by saying this? He meant to declare
strongly, that he trusted in nothing but Jesus Christ crucified for the
pardon of his sins and the salvation of his soul. Let others, if they
would, look elsewhere for salvation. Let others, if they were so
disposed, trust in other things for pardon and peace. For his part
the apostle was determined to rest on nothing, lean on nothing,
build his hope on nothing, place confidence in nothing, glory in
nothing, except “the cross of Jesus Christ.”
Reader, let me talk to you about this subject. Believe me it is one of
the deepest importance. This is no mere question of controversy.
This is not one of those points on which men may agree to differ,
and feel that differences will not shut them out of heaven. A man
must be right on this subject, or he is lost for ever. Heaven or hell,
happiness or misery, life or death, blessing or cursing in the last day,
—all hinges on the answer to this question, “What do you think
about the cross of Christ?”
I. Let me show you what the apostle Paul did not glory in.
II. Let me explain to you what he did glory in.
III. Let me show you why all Christians should think and feel about
the cross like Paul.

I. What did the apostle Paul not glory in?

There are many things that Paul might have gloried in, if he had
thought as some do in this day. If ever there was one on earth who
had something to boast of in himself, that man was the great apostle
of the Gentiles. Now if he did not dare to glory, who shall?
He never gloried in his national privileges. He was a Jew by birth,
and as he tells us himself,—“An Hebrew of the Hebrews.” He might
have said, like many of his brethren, “I have Abraham for my
forefather. I am not a dark unenlightened heathen. I am one of the
favoured people of God. I have been admitted into covenant with
God by circumcision. I am a far better man than the ignorant
Gentiles.” But he never said so. He never gloried in any thing of
this kind. Never for one moment!
He never gloried in his own works. None ever worked so hard for
God as he did. He was more abundant in labours than any of the
apostles. No living man ever preached so much, travelled so much,
and endured so many hardships for Christ’s cause. None ever
converted so many souls, did so much good to the world, and made
himself so useful to mankind. No Father of the early church, no
Reformer, no Puritan, no Missionary, no Minister, no Layman,—no
one man could ever be named, who did so many good works as the
Apostle Paul. But did he ever glory in them, as if they were in the
least meritorious, and could save his soul? Never! never for one
moment!
He never gloried in his knowledge. He was a man of great gifts
naturally, and after he was converted the Holy Spirit gave him
greater gifts still. He was a mighty preacher, and a mighty speaker,
and a mighty writer. He was as great with his pen as he was with
his tongue. He could reason equally well with Jews and Gentiles.
He could argue with infidels at Corinth, or Pharisees at Jerusalem, or
self-righteous people in Galatia. He knew many deep things. He
had been in the third heaven, and heard unspeakable words. He
had received the spirit of prophecy, and could foretell things yet to
come. But did he ever glory in his knowledge, as if it could justify
him before God? Never! never! never for one moment!
He never gloried in his graces. If ever there was one who abounded
in graces, that man was Paul. He was full of love. How tenderly and
affectionately he used to write! He could feel for souls like a mother
or a nurse feeling for her child. He was a bold man. He cared not
whom he opposed when truth was at stake. He cared not what risks
he ran when souls were to be won. He was a self-denying man,—in
hunger and thirst often, in cold and nakedness, in watchings and
fastings. He was a humble man. He thought himself less than the
least of all saints, and the chief of sinners. He was a prayerful man.
See how it comes out at the beginning of all his Epistles. He was a
thankful man. His thanksgivings and his prayers walked side by
side. But he never gloried in all this, never valued himself on it,
never rested his soul’s hopes on it. Oh! no! never for a moment!
He never gloried in his churchmanship. If ever there was a good
churchman, that man was Paul. He was himself a chosen apostle.
He was a founder of churches, and an ordainer of ministers.
Timothy and Titus, and many elders, received their first commission
from his hands. He was the beginner of services and sacraments in
many a dark place. Many a one did he baptize. Many a one did he
receive to the Lord’s table. Many a meeting for prayer, and praise,
and preaching, did he begin and carry on. He was the setter up of
discipline in many a young church. Whatever ordinances and rules
and ceremonies were observed in them, were first recommended by
him. But did he ever glory in his office and church standing? Does
he ever speak as if his churchmanship would save him, justify him,
put away his sins, and make him acceptable before God? Oh! no!
never! never! never for a moment!
And now, reader, mark what I say. If the apostle Paul never gloried
in any of these things, who in all the world, from one end to the
other, who has any right to glory in them in our day? If Paul said,
God forbid that I should glory in anything whatever except the cross,
who shall dare to say “I have something to glory of,—I am a better
man than Paul?”
Who is there among the readers of this tract, that trusts in any
goodness of his own? Who is there that is resting on his own
amendments, his own morality, his own performances of any kind
whatever? Who is there that is leaning the weight of his soul on
anything whatever of his own in the smallest possible degree?
Learn, I say, that you are very unlike the apostle Paul. Learn that
your religion is not apostolical religion.
Who is there among the readers of this tract that trusts in his
churchmanship for salvation? Who is there that is valuing himself on
his baptism, or his attendance at the Lord’s table,—his church going
on Sundays, or his daily services during the week,—and saying to
himself, What lack I yet? Learn, I say, this day, that you are very
unlike Paul. Your Christianity is not the Christianity of the New
Testament. Paul would not glory in anything but the cross. Neither
ought you.
Oh! reader, beware of self-righteousness. Open sin kills its
thousands of souls. Self-righteousness kills its tens of thousands.
Go and study humility with the great apostle of the Gentiles. Go and
sit with Paul at the foot of the cross. Give up your secret pride.
Cast away your vain ideas of your own goodness. Be thankful if you
have grace, but never glory in it for a moment. Work for God and
Christ with heart and soul and mind and strength, but never dream
for a second of placing confidence in any work of your own.
Think, you who take comfort in some fancied ideas of your own
goodness,—think, you who wrap up yourselves in the notion, “all
must be right, if I keep to my church,”—think for a moment what a
sandy foundation you are building upon! Think for a moment how
miserably defective your hopes and pleas will look in the hour of
death, and in the day of judgment! Whatever men may say of their
own goodness while they are strong and healthy, they will find but
little to say of it, when they are sick and dying. Whatever merit they
may see in their own works here in this world, they will discover
none in them when they stand before the bar of Christ. The light of
that great day of assize will make a wonderful difference in the
appearance of all their doings. It will strip off the tinsel, shrivel up
the complexion, expose the rottenness, of many a deed that is now
called good. Their wheat will prove nothing but chaff. Their gold
will be found nothing but dross. Millions of so-called Christian
actions, will turn out to have been utterly defective and graceless.
They passed current, and were valued among men. They will prove
light and worthless in the balance of God. They will be found to
have been like the whitened sepulchres of old, fair and beautiful
without, but full of corruption within. Alas! for the man who can
look forward to the day of judgment, and lean his soul in the
smallest degree on anything of his own! [9]
Reader, once more I say, beware of self-righteousness in every
possible shape and form. Some people get as much harm from their
fancied virtues as others do from their sins. Take heed, lest you be
one. Rest not, rest not till your heart beats in tune with St. Paul’s.
Rest not till you can say with him, “God forbid that I should glory in
anything but the cross.”

II. Let me explain, in the second place, what you are to understand
by the cross of Christ.
The cross is an expression that is used in more than one meaning in
the Bible. What did St. Paul mean when he said, “I glory in the
cross of Christ,” in the Epistle to the Galatians? This is the point I
now wish to make clear.
The cross sometimes means that wooden cross, on which the Lord
Jesus was nailed and put to death on Mount Calvary. This is what
St. Paul had in his mind’s eye, when he told the Philippians that
Christ “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
(Phil. ii. 8.) This is not the cross in which St. Paul gloried. He would
have shrunk with horror from the idea of glorying in a mere piece of
wood. I have no doubt he would have denounced the Roman
Catholic adoration of the crucifix, as profane, blasphemous, and
idolatrous.
The cross sometimes means the afflictions and trials which believers
in Christ have to go through if they follow Christ faithfully, for their
religion’s sake. This is the sense in which our Lord uses the word
when He says, “He that taketh not his cross and followeth after me,
cannot be my disciple.” (Matt. x. 38.) This also is not the sense in
which Paul uses the word when he writes to the Galatians. He knew
that cross well. He carried it patiently. But he is not speaking of it
here.
But the cross also means in some places the doctrine that Christ
died for sinners upon the cross,—the atonement that He made for
sinners, by His suffering for them on the cross,—the complete and
perfect sacrifice for sin which He offered up, when He gave His own
body to be crucified. In short this one word, “the cross,” stands for
Christ crucified, the only Saviour. This is the meaning in which Paul
uses the expression, when he tells the Corinthians, “the preaching of
the cross is to them that perish foolishness.” (1 Cor. i. 18.) This is
the meaning in which he wrote to the Galatians, “God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross.” He simply meant, “I glory in
nothing but Christ crucified, as the salvation of my soul.” [10]
Reader, Jesus Christ crucified was the joy and delight, the comfort
and the peace, the hope and the confidence, the foundation and the
resting-place, the ark and the refuge, the food and the medicine of
Paul’s soul. He did not think of what he had done himself, and
suffered himself. He did not meditate on his own goodness, and his
own righteousness. He loved to think of what Christ had done, and
Christ had suffered,—of the death of Christ, the righteousness of
Christ, the atonement of Christ, the blood of Christ, the finished
work of Christ. In this he did glory. This was the sun of his soul.
This is the subject he loved to preach about. He was a man who
went to and fro on the earth, proclaiming to sinners that the Son of
God had shed His own heart’s blood to save their souls. He walked
up and down the world telling people that Jesus Christ had loved
them, and died for their sins upon the cross. Mark how he says to
the Corinthians, “I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received, how that Christ died for our sins.” (1 Cor. xv. 3.) “I
determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and
him crucified.” (1 Cor. ii. 2.) He, a blaspheming, persecuting
Pharisee, had been washed in Christ’s blood. He could not hold his
peace about it. He was never weary of telling the story of the cross.
This is the subject he loved to dwell upon when he wrote to
believers. It is wonderful to observe how full his epistles generally
are of the sufferings and death of Christ,—how they run over with
“thoughts that breathe, and words that burn” about Christ’s dying
love and power. His heart seems full of the subject. He enlarges on
it constantly. He returns to it continually. It is the golden thread
that runs through all his doctrinal teaching and practical
exhortations. He seems to think that the most advanced Christian
can never hear too much about the cross. [12]
This is what he lived upon all his life, from the time of his
conversion. He tells the Galatians, “The life that I now live in the
flesh I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me and gave
himself for me.” (Galat. ii. 20.) What made him so strong to labour?
What made him so willing to work? What made him so unwearied in
endeavours to save some? What made him so persevering and
patient? I will tell you the secret of it all. He was always feeding by
faith on Christ’s body and Christ’s blood. Jesus crucified was the
meat and drink of his soul.
And, reader, you may rest assured that Paul was right. Depend upon
it, the cross of Christ,—the death of Christ on the cross to make
atonement for sinners,—is the centre truth in the whole Bible. This
is the truth we begin with when we open Genesis. The seed of the
woman bruising the serpent’s head is nothing else but a prophecy of
Christ crucified. This is the truth that shines out, though veiled, all
through the law of Moses and the history of the Jews. The daily
sacrifice, the passover lamb, the continual shedding of blood in the
tabernacle and temple,—all these were emblems of Christ crucified.
This is the truth that we see honoured in the vision of heaven before
we close the book of Revelation. “In the midst of the throne and of
the four beasts,” we are told, “and in the midst of the elders, stood a
Lamb as it had been slain.” (Rev. v. 6.) Even in the midst of
heavenly glory we get a view of Christ crucified. Take away the
cross of Christ, and the Bible is a dark book. It is like the Egyptian
hieroglyphics, without the key that interprets their meaning,—
curious and wonderful, but of no real use.
Reader, mark what I say. You may know a good deal about the
Bible. You may know the outlines of the histories it contains, and
the dates of the events described, just as a man knows the history
of England. You may know the names of the men and women
mentioned in it, just as a man knows Cæsar, Alexander the Great, or
Napoleon. You may know the several precepts of the Bible, and
admire them, just as a man admires Plato, Aristotle, or Seneca. But
if you have not yet found out that Christ crucified is the foundation
of the whole volume, you have read your Bible hitherto to very little
profit. Your religion is a heaven without a sun, an arch without a
keystone, a compass without a needle, a clock without spring or
weights, a lamp without oil. It will not comfort you. It will not
deliver your soul from hell.
Reader, mark what I say again. You may know a good deal about
Christ, by a kind of head knowledge. You may know who He was,
and where He was born, and what He did. You may know His
miracles, His sayings, His prophecies, and His ordinances. You may
know how He lived, and how He suffered, and how He died. But
unless you know the power of Christ’s cross by experience,—unless
you know and feel within that the blood shed on that cross has
washed away your own particular sins,—unless you are willing to
confess that your salvation depends entirely on the work that Christ
did upon the cross,—unless this be the case, Christ will profit you
nothing. The mere knowing Christ’s name will never save you. You
must know His cross, and his blood, or else you will die in your sins.
[14]

Reader, as long as you live, beware of a religion in which there is not

much of the cross. You live in times when the warning is sadly
needful. Beware, I say again, of a religion without the cross.
There are hundreds of places of worship, in this day, in which there
is every thing almost except the cross. There is carved oak, and
sculptured stone. There is stained glass and brilliant painting.
There are solemn services, and a constant round of ordinances. But
the real cross of Christ is not there. Jesus crucified is not proclaimed
in the pulpit. The Lamb of God is not lifted up, and salvation by
faith in Him is not freely proclaimed. And hence all is wrong.
Reader, beware of such places of worship. They are not apostolical.
They would not have satisfied St. Paul. [15]
There are thousands of religious books published in our times, in
which there is everything except the cross. They are full of
directions about sacraments, and praises of the church. They
abound in exhortations about holy living, and rules for the
attainment of perfection. They have plenty of fonts and crosses
both inside and outside. But the real cross of Christ is left out. The
Saviour and His dying love are either not mentioned, or mentioned
in an unscriptural way. And hence they are worse than useless.
Reader, beware of such books. They are not apostolical. They
would never have satisfied St. Paul.
Reader, St. Paul gloried in nothing but the cross. Strive to be like
him. Set Jesus crucified fully before the eyes of your soul. Listen
not to any teaching which would interpose anything between you
and Him. Do not fall into the old Galatian error. Think not that any
one in this day is a better guide than the apostles. Do not be
ashamed of the old paths, in which men walked who were inspired
by the Holy Ghost. Let not the vague talk of men who speak great
swelling words about catholicity, and the church, and the ministry,
disturb your peace, and make you loose your hands from the cross.
Churches, ministers, and sacraments, are all useful in their way, but
they are not Christ crucified. Do not give Christ’s honour to another.
“He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

III. Let me shew you why all Christians ought to glory in the cross
of Christ.
I feel that I must say something on this point, because of the
ignorance that prevails about it. I suspect that many see no peculiar
glory and beauty in the subject of Christ’s cross. On the contrary,
they think it painful, humbling, and degrading. They do not see
much profit in the story of His death and sufferings. They rather
turn from it as an unpleasant thing.
Now I believe that such persons are quite wrong. I cannot hold with
them. I believe it is an excellent thing for us all to be continually
dwelling on the cross of Christ. It is a good thing to be often
reminded how Jesus was betrayed into the hands of wicked men,—
how they condemned Him with most unjust judgment,—how they
spit on Him, scourged Him, beat Him, and crowned Him with thorns,
—how they led Him forth as a lamb to the slaughter, without His
murmuring or resisting,—how they drove the nails through His hands
and feet, and set Him up on Calvary between two thieves,—how
they pierced His side with a spear, mocked Him in His sufferings, and
let Him hang there naked and bleeding till He died. Of all these
things, I say, it is good to be reminded. It is not for nothing that the
crucifixion is described four times over in the New Testament. There
are very few things that all the four writers of the Gospel describe.
Generally speaking, if Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell a thing in our
Lord’s history, John does not tell it. But there is one thing that all
the four give us most fully, and that one thing is the story of the
cross. This is a telling fact, and not to be overlooked.
People seem to me to forget that all Christ’s sufferings on the cross
were fore-ordained. They did not come on Him by chance or
accident. They were all planned, counselled, and determined from
all eternity. The cross was foreseen in all the provisions of the
everlasting Trinity, for the salvation of sinners. In the purposes of
God the cross was set up from everlasting. Not one throb of pain
did Jesus feel, not one precious drop of blood did Jesus shed, which
had not been appointed long ago. Infinite wisdom planned that
redemption should be by the cross. Infinite wisdom brought Jesus
to the cross in due time. He was crucified by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God.
People seem to me to forget that all Christ’s sufferings on the cross
were necessary for man’s salvation. He had to bear our sins, if ever
they were to be borne at all. With His stripes alone could we be
healed. This was the one payment of our debt that God would
accept. This was the great sacrifice on which our eternal life
depended. If Christ had not gone to the cross and suffered in our
stead, the just for the unjust, there would not have been a spark of
hope for us. There would have been a mighty gulf between
ourselves and God, which no man ever could have passed. [17]
People seem to me to forget that all Christ’s sufferings were endured
voluntarily and of His own free will. He was under no compulsion.
Of His own choice He laid down His life. Of His own choice He went
to the cross to finish the work He came to do. He might easily have
summoned legions of angels with a word, and scattered Pilate and
Herod and all their armies, like chaff before the wind. But He was a
willing sufferer. His heart was set on the salvation of sinners. He
was resolved to open a fountain for all sin and uncleanness, by
shedding His own blood.
Reader, when I think of all this, I see nothing painful or disagreeable
in the subject of Christ’s cross. On the contrary, I see in it wisdom
and power, peace and hope, joy and gladness, comfort and
consolation. The more I keep the cross in my mind’s eye, the more
fulness I seem to discern in it. The longer I dwell on the cross in my
thoughts, the more I am satisfied that there is more to be learned at
the foot of the cross than anywhere else in the world.
Would I know the length and breadth of God the Father’s love
towards a sinful world? Where shall I see it most displayed? Shall I
look at His glorious sun shining down daily on the unthankful and
evil? Shall I look at seed time and harvest returning in regular
yearly succession? Oh! no! I can find a stronger proof of love than
anything of this sort. I look at the cross of Christ. I see in it not the
cause of the Father’s love, but the effect. There I see that God so
loved this wicked world, that He gave His only begotten Son,—gave
Him to suffer and die,—that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have eternal life. I know that the Father loves us
because He did not withhold from us His Son, His only Son. Ah!
reader, I might sometimes fancy that God the Father is too high and
holy to care for such miserable, corrupt creatures as we are. But I
cannot, must not, dare not think it, when I look at the cross of
Christ. [19]
Would I know how exceeding sinful and abominable sin is in the
sight of God? Where shall I see that most fully brought out? Shall I
turn to the history of the flood, and read how sin drowned the
world? Shall I go to the shore of the Dead Sea, and mark what sin
brought on Sodom and Gomorrah? Shall I turn to the wandering
Jews, and observe how sin has scattered them over the face of the
earth? No! I can find a clearer proof still. I look at the cross of
Christ. There I see that sin is so black and damnable, that nothing
but the blood of God’s own Son can wash it away. There I see that
sin has so separated me from my holy Maker, that all the angels in
heaven could never have made peace between us. Nothing could
reconcile us short of the death of Christ. Ah! if I listened to the
wretched talk of proud men, I might sometimes fancy sin was not so
very sinful. But I cannot think little of sin, when I look at the cross
of Christ. [20]
Would I know the fulness and completeness of the salvation God has
provided for sinners? Where shall I see it most distinctly? Shall I go
to the general declarations in the Bible about God’s mercy? Shall I
rest in the general truth that God is a God of love? Oh! no! I will
look at the cross of Christ. I find no evidence like that. I find no
balm for a sore conscience, and a troubled heart, like the sight of
Jesus dying for me on the accursed tree. There I see that a full
payment has been made for all my enormous debts. The curse of
that law which I have broken has come down on One who there
suffered in my stead. The demands of that law are all satisfied.
Payment has been made for me, even to the uttermost farthing. It
will not be required twice over. Ah! I might sometimes imagine I
was too bad to be forgiven. My own heart sometimes whispers that
I am too wicked to be saved. But I know in my better moments this
is all my foolish unbelief. I read an answer to my doubts in the
blood shed on Calvary. I feel sure that there is a way to heaven for
the very vilest of men, when I look at the cross.
Would I find strong reasons for being a holy man? Whither shall I
turn for them? Shall I listen to the ten commandments merely?
Shall I study the examples given me in the Bible of what grace can
do? Shall I meditate on the rewards of heaven, and the
punishments of hell? Is there no stronger motive still? Yes! I will
look at the cross of Christ. There I see the love of Christ
constraining me to live not unto myself, but unto Him. There I see
that I am not my own now;—I am bought with a price. I am bound
by the most solemn obligations to glorify Jesus with body and spirit,
which are His. There I see that Jesus gave Himself for me, not only
to redeem me from all iniquity, but also to purify me and make me
one of a peculiar people, zealous of good works. He bore my sins in
His own body on the tree, that I being dead unto sin should live
unto righteousness. Ah! reader, there is nothing so sanctifying as a
clear view of the cross of Christ! It crucifies the world unto us, and
us unto the world. How can we love sin when we remember that
because of our sins Jesus died? Surely none ought to be so holy as
the disciples of a crucified Lord.
Would I learn how to be contented and cheerful under all the cares
and anxieties of life? What school shall I go to? How shall I attain
this state of mind most easily? Shall I look at the sovereignty of
God, the wisdom of God, the providence of God, the love of God? It
is well to do so. But I have a better argument still. I will look at the
cross of Christ. I feel that He who spared not His only begotten Son,
but delivered Him up to die for me, will surely with Him give me all
things that I really need. He that endured that pain for my soul, will
surely not withhold from me anything that is really good. He that
has done the greater things for me, will doubtless do the lesser
things also. He that gave His own blood to procure me a home, will
unquestionably supply me with all really profitable for me by the
way. Ah! reader, there is no school for learning contentment that
can be compared with the foot of the cross.
Would I gather arguments for hoping that I shall never be cast
away? Where shall I go to find them? Shall I look at my own graces
and gifts? Shall I take comfort in my own faith, and love, and
penitence, and zeal, and prayer? Shall I turn to my own heart, and
say, “this same heart will never be false and cold?” Oh! no! God
forbid! I will look at the cross of Christ. This is my grand
argument. This is my main stay. I cannot think that He who went
through such sufferings to redeem my soul, will let that soul perish
after all, when it has once cast itself on Him. Oh! no! what Jesus
paid for, Jesus will surely keep. He paid dearly for it. He will not let
it easily be lost. He died for me when I was yet a dark sinner. He
will never forsake me after I have believed. Ah! reader, when Satan
tempts you to doubt whether Christ’s people will be kept from
falling, you should tell Satan to look at the cross. [22]
And now, reader, will you marvel that I said all Christians ought to
glory in the cross? Will you not rather wonder that any can hear of
the cross and remain unmoved? I declare I know no greater proof
of man’s depravity, than the fact that thousands of so-called
Christians see nothing in the cross. Well may our hearts be called
stony,—well may the eyes of our mind be called blind,—well may our
whole nature be called diseased—well may we all be called dead,
when the cross of Christ is heard of, and yet neglected. Surely we
may take up the words of the prophet, and say, “Hear O heavens,
and be astonished O earth; a wonderful and a horrible thing is
done,”—Christ was crucified for sinners, and yet many Christians live
as if He was never crucified at all!
Reader, the cross is the grand peculiarity of the Christian religion.
Other religions have laws and moral precepts,—forms and
ceremonies,—rewards and punishments. But other religions cannot
tell us of a dying Saviour. They cannot show us the cross. This is
the crown and glory of the Gospel. This is that special comfort
which belongs to it alone. Miserable indeed is that religious teaching
which calls itself Christian, and yet contains nothing of the cross. A
man who teaches in this way, might as well profess to explain the
solar system, and yet tell his hearers nothing about the sun.
The cross is the strength of a minister. I for one would not be
without it for all the world. I should feel like a soldier without arms,
—like an artist without his pencil,—like a pilot without his compass,
—like a labourer without his tools. Let others, if they will, preach
the law and morality. Let others hold forth the terrors of hell, and
the joys of heaven. Let others drench their congregations with
teachings about the sacraments and the church. Give me the cross
of Christ. This is the only lever which has ever turned the world
upside down hitherto, and made men forsake their sins. And if this
will not, nothing will. A man may begin preaching with a perfect
knowledge of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. But he will do little or no
good among his hearers unless he knows something of the cross.
Never was there a minister who did much for the conversion of souls
who did not dwell much on Christ crucified. Luther, Rutherford,
Whitefield, M’Cheyne were all most eminently preachers of the
cross. This is the preaching that the Holy Ghost delights to bless.
He loves to honour those who honour the cross.
The cross is the secret of all missionary success. Nothing but this
has ever moved the hearts of the heathen. Just according as this
has been lifted up missions have prospered. This is the weapon that
has won victories over hearts of every kind, in every quarter of the
globe. Greenlanders, Africans, South-Sea Islanders, Hindoos,
Chinese, all have alike felt its power. Just as that huge iron tube
which crosses the Menai Straits, is more affected and bent by half an
hour’s sunshine than by all the dead weight that can be placed in it,
so in like manner the hearts of savages have melted before the cross
when every other argument seemed to move them no more than
stones. “Brethren,” said a North American Indian, after his
conversion, “I have been a heathen. I know how heathens think.
Once a preacher came and began to explain to us that there was a
God; but we told him to return to the place from whence he came.
Another preacher came and told us not to lie, nor steal, nor drink;
but we did not heed him. At last another came into my hut one day
and said, ‘I am come to you in the name of the Lord of heaven and
earth. He sends to let you know that He will make you happy, and
deliver you from misery. For this end He became a man, gave his
life a ransom, and shed his blood for sinners.’ I could not forget his
words. I told them to the other Indians, and an awakening begun
among us. I say therefore, preach the sufferings and death of
Christ, our Saviour, if you wish your words to gain entrance among
the heathen.” Never indeed did the devil triumph so thoroughly, as
when he persuaded the Jesuit missionaries in China to keep back the
story of the cross!
The cross is the foundation of a church’s prosperity. No church will
ever be honoured in which Christ crucified is not continually lifted
up. Nothing whatever can make up for the want of the cross.
Without it all things may be done decently and in order. Without it
there may be splendid ceremonies, beautiful music, gorgeous
churches, learned ministers, crowded communion tables, huge
collections for the poor. But without the cross no good will be done.
Dark hearts will not be enlightened. Proud hearts will not be
humbled. Mourning hearts will not be comforted. Fainting hearts
will not be cheered. Sermons about the Catholic Church and an
apostolic ministry,—sermons about baptism and the Lord’s supper,—
sermons about unity and schism,—sermons about fasts and
communion,—sermons about fathers and saints,—such sermons will
never make up for the absence of sermons about the cross of
Christ. They may amuse some. They will feed none. A gorgeous
banquetting room and splendid gold plate on the table will never
make up to a hungry man for the want of food. Christ crucified is
God’s grand ordinance for doing good to men. Whenever a church
keeps back Christ crucified, or puts anything whatever in that
foremost place which Christ crucified should always have, from that
moment a church ceases to be useful. Without Christ crucified in
her pulpits, a church is little better than a cumberer of the ground, a
dead carcase, a well without water, a barren fig tree, a sleeping
watchman, a silent trumpet, a dumb witness, an ambassador
without terms of peace, a messenger without tidings, a lighthouse
without fire, a stumbling-block to weak believers, a comfort to
infidels, a hot-bed for formalism, a joy to the devil, and an offence to
God.
The cross is the grand centre of union among true Christians. Our
outward differences are many without doubt. One man is an
Episcopalian, another is a Presbyterian,—one is an Independent,
another a Baptist,—one is a Calvinist, another an Arminian,—one is a
Lutheran, another a Plymouth brother,—one is a friend to
establishments, another a friend to the voluntary system,—one is a
friend to liturgies, another a friend to extempore prayer. But after
all, what shall we hear about most of these differences in heaven?
Nothing most probably: nothing at all. Does a man really and
sincerely glory in the cross of Christ? That is the grand question. If
he does, he is my brother;—we are travelling in the same road. We
are journeying towards a home where Christ is all, and everything
outward in religion will be forgotten. But if he does not glory in the
cross of Christ, I cannot feel comfort about him. Union on outward
points only is union only for time.—Union about the cross is union
for eternity. Error on outward points is only a skin-deep disease.
Error about the cross is disease at the heart. Union about outward
points is a mere man-made union. Union about the cross of Christ
can only be produced by the Holy Ghost.
Reader, I know not what you think of all this. I feel as if I had said
nothing compared to what might be said. I feel as if the half of
what I desire to tell you about the cross were left untold. But I do
hope that I have given you something to think about. I do trust that
I have shown you that I have reason for the question with which I
began this tract, “What do you think and feel about the cross of
Christ?” Listen to me now for a few moments, while I say
something to apply the whole subject to your conscience.
Are you living in any kind of sin? Are you following the course of
this world, and neglecting your soul? Hear, I beseech you what I say
to you this day: “Behold the cross of Christ.” See there how Jesus
loved you! See there what Jesus suffered to prepare for you a way
of salvation! Yes! careless men and women, for you that blood was
shed! For you those hands and feet were pierced with nails! For
you that body hung in agony on the cross! You are those whom
Jesus loved, and for whom He died! Surely that love ought to melt
you. Surely the thought of the cross should draw you to
repentance. Oh! that it might be so this very day. Oh! that you
would come at once to that Saviour who died for you and is willing
to save. Come and cry to Him with the prayer of faith, and I know
that He will listen. Come and lay hold upon the cross, and I know
that He will not cast you out. Come and believe on Him who died on
the cross, and this very day you shall have eternal life. How will you
ever escape if you neglect so great salvation? None surely will be so
deep in hell as those who despise the cross!
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,—
Its pleasures now no longer please,
No more content afford;
Far from my heart be joys like these,
Now I have seen the Lord.
As by the light of opening day
The stars are all conceal’d.
So earthly pleasures fade away
When Jesus is reveal’d.
Are you a dying believer? Have you gone to that bed from which
something within tells you you will never come down alive? Are you
drawing near to that solemn hour when soul and body must part for
a season, and you must launch into a world unknown? Oh! look
steadily at the cross of Christ, and you shall be kept in peace. Fix
the eyes of your mind firmly on Jesus crucified, and He shall deliver
you from all your fears. Though you walk through dark places, He
will be with you. He will never leave you, never forsake you. Sit
under the shadow of the cross to the very last, and its fruit shall be
sweet to your taste. “Ah!” said a dying missionary, “there is but one
thing needful on a death-bed, and that is to feel one’s arms round
the cross.”
Reader, I lay these thoughts before your mind. What you think now
about the cross of Christ I cannot tell; but I can wish you nothing
better than this, that you may be able to say with the apostle Paul,
before you die or meet the Lord, “God forbid that I should glory save
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hunt & Son, Printers, Ipswich.

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