THE CONTINUITY OF THE CROSS 

" ALWAYS bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, 
 that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our 
body. For we which live are always delivered unto death 
for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested 
in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in 
you " (2 Corinthians 4: 10, 12, R.V.). 

The Keswick Convention of 1897 was opened with an 
address by Dr. — later Bishop — Handley Moule, who spoke on the tenth 
verse of this passage. He said that the word used in the 
original was precisely not " death ", but " dying ". It 
meant the process of dying, the process leading up to death. 
Their carrying about in the body the death-process of the 
Lord Jesus was the giving themselves up, by the grace of God, 
to a death which would assent and consent to a crucifixion, 
in which the Lord would be glorified in His people. Later 
in the week Mr. Hopkins spoke on the same theme. He 
pointed out (1) that " the new life cannot be lived triumph- 
antly unlit the old life is terminated"; (2) that " it is only by the 
power of Christ's death that the old life can be terminated ". 
" There is only one holy life " — the life of the Lord Jesus; and 
" only one holy death "—the death of the Lord Jesus. "The 
death of Christ " is the termination of your old life. What 
was laid upon the Lard Jesus Christ ? Your sins ? Yes, and 
yourself . . . You were laid upon Christ when He died upon 
the Cross. That is where death takes place. That is where 
the great transaction was done, where this death-pardon was 
obtained, where this death-deliverance was secured from that 
old life of yours. It terminated the old natural life. 

" But we take a step further in connection with the same 
thought: that we need the death of Jesus every moment;, we 
need the power of that death continually. You say: ' Is it once 
for all ? ' Well, He died once for all in the eye of God. And 
you died in the eye of God with Christ once for all. BuL the 
power, the efficacy of that death needs to be perpetually 
appropriated and applied, that you may be perpetually 
delivered. ... ! Always bearing about in the body the 
putting to death,' about which we have been speaking, ' of 
the Lord Jesus '—shall I call it the essence of the Cross ? Not 
a dead Christ, but the putting to death, that which took place 
in Him when He died, not only for sin but unto sin. There is 
needed the perpetual application of that to the sou] — getting 
down Into His death, being brought into conformity to His 
death. It is not difficult now. You need not struggle or fight 
against the old life now, or try to tame it or conquer it, or try 
to ignore it; but you can claim your deliverance because it 
has been purchased, obtained for you by that death and your 
identification with it always. 

" What follows ? The life springs up spontaneously. ' That 
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. . . ,' 
* Bearing about in the body the putting to death/ receiving, 
feeding upon the death, getting down into the death, con- 
formed to the death. Drink, in His death, feed upon His 
death. It is that which terminates the old life, which is the 
source of ail our trouble. . . . Let everything which belongs 
to the old course of life be cut off. . . . Many of us are trying 
to yield the life to God before we are really Cut off from the 
old, and nothing but the perpetual application of the Cross 
can do that. . . . Rest upon the death of Christ on the 
Cross. ..." 

I'b.'LS -sj-iv|. the ve:-; aspect .1 Calvary which the people oi 
God are needing, for many apprehend very clearly their death 
With. Christ on Calvary, but it is the perpetual application of 
the Cross which will keep in the place of death the " old " 
life which Satan can effectively play upon with subtle attacks 
as an angel of light. The "termination" of the old life by 
the apprehension of our death with Christ on the Gross must 
be followed, as Bishop MouJe pointed out, by the M carrying 
about in the body the death-process of the Lord Jesus " ; or, 
as Mr. Hopkins so strikingly says, by tile " getting down into 
His death >J . The sinking down into the death of Jesus is Lhe 
faith-action, of the believer, and then spontaneously and 
unconsciously the Risen Life of Jesus springs up in gentle, 
silent power. 

How wondrously the Spirit teaches the children of God the 
same thing is illustrated by some words written by Jacob 
Boehme in 1622, words full of divine beauty and life + " I 
never desired," he wrote, " to know anything of the divine 
mystery, much less understand the way to seek and find it. 
I knew nothing of it, as irx the condition of poor laymen in 
their simplicity. I sought only after the heart of Jesus Christ, 
that I might hide myself therein from the . . . violent 
assaults of the devil. And I besought the Lord earnestly for 
His Holy Spirit, and His grace that He would please to bless 
and guide me in Him; and I resigned myself wholly to Him, 
that I might not live to my own will, but His, and that He 
might lead and direct me, to the end that I might be His child 
in Christ Jesus, 

' 1 1 can of my own ability do nothing before Thee ; I wholly 
sink myself down into Thy wounds and death. ... I have no 
refuge in anything, but only in Thy holy wounds and death I 
sink down, . . . Do with me what Thou wilt. . . . Bury me 
in Thy death. Break Thy judgments in me in the blood of 
Thy love. I wholly sink myself down in Thee; and though 
body and soul should this hour faint and perish, yet I will not 
let Thee go. Though my heart saith utterly No, no ! yet the 
desires of my soul shall hold fast On Thy truth, and neither 
death nor devil shall pull me out of my Saviour's wounds. 
Thou must at length be confounded in me, thou malicious 
devil, and thy fort of prey must be forsaken, for I will drown 
it in the love of Jesus — and then dwell in it if thou canst 1 

" I beseech Thee, O Christ, Thou patient Lamb of God, 
grant me patience in this my way of the Cross . . , and bring 
me, as a patient lamb to Thee in Thy victory. Let me live 
with Thee — in Thee." 

The cry to be wholly conformed, to the death of the Lord 
Jesus, so that His own life may be manifested day by day, and 
as the " death, works in us '% life go forth to others as rivers 
of living water, is the true path of progress for the child of Cod. 
In the life of Paul the Apostle as described in the Acts of the 
Apostles, we need to read the second Epistle to the Corinthians 
alongside of the life of power described by Luke the physician ; 
for the one gives the story as it appeared to other eyes, and 
his own letters tell of his inner life as known to himself alone. 
In the Acts we see Paul baptized with the Holy Ghost (Acts 
9: 17), and then, not long after, sent away by God for three 
years to Arabia, where he was given by the Risen Lord 
Himself the deep insight into the meaning of His Cross which 
ever afterwards characterized his ministry. We read of mighty 
things wrought by God through His servant but what his own 
experience was we are shown in his letter to the Corinthians, 
when he spoke of the " weakness and fear and much 
trembling," alongside of the " demonstration of the Spirit 
and power ". We see him. " caught up into Paradise ", but 
glorying not in the visions and revelations but in his weakness. 
" Anguish of heart and many tears " over children of God 
sinning against their Lord. Commending his message by his 
life, in '" much patience . . . long-suffering, and kindness ". 
Life, blessing, power for others; weakness, suffering, patience, 
endurance, gentleness In himself — this is the true fruit of the 
power of the Holy Ghost. " The Cross leads to the Spirit, 
and the Spirit to the Cross " (Dr. A. Murray). 

As a glimpse into the inner life of those whom Gad is thus 
teaching, a letter from the daughter of a rector will lift the veil. 
She writes: " Two years ago I had a new vision of Calvary, 
and what Christ achieved there. This was followed by a 
definite baptism of the Holy Spirit. My soul was filled with 
such burning love to Christ and souls, as I had never known 
before. For years previous to this I had been surrendered to 
the Lord's service, and He had allowed me to win souls for 
His kingdom. But two years ago a new epoch began in my 
life. I resolved to know nothing but * Clurist and Him 
crucified '. The result has been a fiercer conflict with the 
invisible powers of darkness, than I could have believed 
possible. Misunderstanding, fake judgment, envy and strife 
— and that amongst Christian workers— seemed to surround 
one. The strain of what I have passed through would have 
driven me from my senses had I not learned the secret of the 

* hiding place '. In olden days I was constantly running to 
the doctor for a tonic to brace up my nerves, and lie would 
shake his head, and say I was wearing myself out, recom- 
mended rest, change, etc. This winter I have not needed a 
tonic at all. In spite of being pressed upon ail sides, and 
there has been keen suffering, too, at times — yet in the midst 
of all, one knows the secret of victory, and the mind is at rest, 
and there is His peace within the soul, too deep to express. 
In consequence, the body is kept in health, there is restful 
sleep at night, and one wakes in the morning refreshed and 
with renewed strength. Perhaps these are trivial matters to 
mention, but I find with the mind set free from harassing care 
and worry, I am at liberty to minister to others as never before 
in my life, I am learning to say with Paul; ' I take pleasure 
in infirmities; reproaches, etc., for Christ's sake \ There is 

* grace to suffer long and be kind ', to pour out one's life, and 
expect nothing in return, only that He may be glorified ! 
Oh, the wondrous joy of it ! To Him be all the praise. . . ." 

In this Story we have the order of spiritual progress and 
growth very clearly outlined. The old life "terminated" 
by the apprehension of the death deliverance at Calvary; the 
incoming of the Holy Spirit in love and passion for souls ; then 
the u death process " of ever deeper sinking down, by faith 
into that death, for the manifestation of the IoiigsufJering love 
and sacrifice of the Lamb of Calvary.