We Are to Glory Only in the Cross, August 12

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. Galatians 6:14.

The cross of Christ,—how many believe it to be what it is? How many bring it into their studies, and know its true significance? There could not be a Christian in our world without the cross of Christ.... Turn from the examples of the world, cease to extol the professedly great men; turn the mind from the glory of everything save the cross of Christ. Said Paul, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let all, from the highest to the lowest, understand what it means to glory in the cross of Christ. That cross is to be bravely and manfully borne. Christ declares, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” And to all who will lift it, and bear it after Christ, the cross is a pledge of the crown of glory that can never fade away....

This is the highest science that we can learn,—the science of salvation. The cross of Calvary, rightly regarded, is true philosophy, pure and undefiled religion. It is eternal life to all who believe. By painstaking effort, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, it should be impressed upon the minds ... that the cross of Christ is just as efficacious now as in Paul’s day, and should be as perfectly understood by them as it was by the great apostle....

Know that the only thing in which you can safely glory is that which will open to you the gates of the city of God. Learn from the Word of God how to form characters fitted for the country you are seeking. Know that Christ is to be set forth among you, and that all that was lost in Adam the cross of Christ fully restores to every believing soul.