sense a cry of
victory. Yet, if what has just been said be true, this, which was the
extreme moment of suffering, was also the supreme moment of
achievement. As the flower, by being crushed, yields up its fragrant
essence, so He, by taking into His heart the sin of the world, brought
salvation to the world.

In point of fact, all history since has shown that it was in this very
hour that Christ conquered the heart of mankind. Long before He had
said, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me."
And the correctness of this anticipation is matter of history. Christ
on the cross has ever since then been the most fascinating object in
the eyes of mankind. The mind and heart of humanity have been
irresistibly attracted to Him, never weary of studying Him. And the
utterance of this cry is the culminating moment to which the inquiring
mind specially turns. Theology has its centre in the cross.
Sometimes, indeed, it has been shy of it, and has divagated from it in
wide circles; but, as soon as it becomes profound and humble again, it
always returns.

Yes, when it becomes humble! Penitent souls are drawn to the cross,
and the deeper their penitence the more are they at home. They stand
beside the dying Saviour and say, This is what we ought to have
suffered; our life was forfeited by our guilt; thus our blood deserved
to flow; we might justly have been banished forever into the desert of
forsakenness. But, as they thus make confession, their forfeited life
is given back to them for Christ's sake, the peace of God is shed
abroad in their hearts, and the new life of love and service begins.
The supreme Christian rite brings us to this very spot and to this very
moment: "This is My blood of the New Testament, shed for many for the
remission of sins."

It was not, however, merely in this profound sense that this fourth
word of the dying Saviour was a cry of victory. It was so, also,
because it liberated Him from His depression. It has been said that
when, at His encounter with the Greeks, He groaned, "Father, save Me
from this hour," He immediately checked Himself with "Father, glorify
Thy name"; likewise that in Gethsemane, when He prayed, "If it be
possible, let this cup pass from Me," He hastened to add,
"Nevertheless, not My will, but Thine be done"; but that on this
occasion the cry of despair was followed by no word of resignation.
This, however, is a mistake. The cry itself, though an ut