Letters and Manuscripts — Volume 7 (1891-1892)
Ms 45, 1892
The Sufferings of Christ
NP
1892
Previously unpublished.
“God is love.” [1 John 4:8.] He showed us that He loved us by giving His well-beloved Son to die for our sins. The angels wondered at God’s love when they saw that He “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish (come to nothing) but have everlasting life.” [John 3:16.] Jesus said, “The Father himself loveth you.” [John 16:27.] God loves us, not because He gave His Son for us, but He loves us so much that He gave His well-beloved Son, so that we might believe in His tender love toward us. God gave His Son to suffer with us and for us, but in the pain that Christ suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary, the great God, the Father of all, the Heart of unmeasured love, suffered also, and in Christ paid the price of our salvation. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 1
The Son of God became the Son of man. He was born of a woman. To Mary the angel said, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” [Matthew 1:21.] For thirty years Jesus lived a quiet, busy life at His home in Nazareth. His hands were hardened with toil, and His brow was wet with sweat. He lived among the sorrowing and the poor and was one with them. He knows how to pity the poorest and the most sorrowful. Though He was the Son of God, the maker of the worlds and all things, yet He took the part of a servant, so that we might believe that He loved us and gave Himself to us and for us. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 2
No one is so poor, so lowly, so sorrowful but that Jesus can feel for him. He walked in the most lowly and humble ways of our human life. He suffered shame from His earliest youth and passed through the experience of the poorest, the most despised and sorrowful. At thirty years of age He began to preach to the people. He healed the sick, raised the dead, comforted the mourning, and forgave the sins of those who were sorry for breaking the law of God. But every day the shadow of the cross fell on His pathway. Every day that He did His deeds of love to the people brought him nearer to Calvary’s cross, where He laid down His life for us. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 3
There was a quiet garden near Jerusalem where Jesus used to take His disciples, and where He often prayed to His heavenly Father for strength. The night upon which He had broken the bread and given it to His disciples, saying, “This is my body,” and had given them the cup of wine, saying, “This is my blood” [Matthew 26:26, 27], He entered this garden with His disciples. But never before had He come to the place with a heart so full of sorrow. It was not because He was in dread of the pain of having His hands and His feet nailed to the cross. This was not what made Him say to His disciples, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” [Verse 38.] It was our sins, the sins of the world, that pressed upon His soul and bowed Him to the earth. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 4
He had come to this world to bear the sins of men; but now that they were laid upon Him, He feared that they were so hateful in the sight of His Father, that because He had become sin for man, God would no longer love Him. It was this painful thought that filled His heart with grief, that seemed [to be] crushing out His life. Darkness, like the pall of death, seemed to shut Him in, and filled His soul with horror and grief. It seemed that His Father was withdrawing His presence from Him, and leaving Him alone in the midst of fallen men and evil angels. He turned to His disciples in His sorrow and said, “Tarry ye here, and watch with me.” [Verse 38.] Then He went on a little farther into the garden, and fell upon the ground, and began to weep and pray, saying, “O my Father, if it is possible (and save a lost world), let this cup pass from me.” [Verse 39.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 5
In deep woe and grief He prayed, for some time, and then came back to where His disciples were, hoping that they would speak to Him some word of love that would strengthen and comfort Him in His sorrow; but He found them asleep. He had asked them to watch with Him, but they failed to do that which He had asked. Satan and His evil angels were on the ground, and had caused them to fall asleep, when love for their suffering Master should have kept them awake. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 6
If the disciples had watched with Christ in His hour of pain, they would have better understood the sorrow that pressed upon Him in the Garden of Gethsemane, and would have been fitted to behold His death on Calvary’s cross. Had they watched with Him they would have remembered what He told them about His suffering [and] death, and His rising again from the dead, and rays of hope would have shone to them amid the gloom; and their faith would have been strengthened even when it seemed that Satan and his angels were gaining the victory. Christ had told them many times before that the people would turn against Him, that they would put Him to death, but that He should rise again from the grave. But they would not understand His words. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 7
Jesus bent over His sleeping disciples and roused Peter, saying to Him, “Simon, sleepest thou?” [Mark 14:37.] Was it possible that Peter, who had said he would go to prison and to death with Christ, was unable to watch with Him one hour? In pitying tenderness, Jesus said, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” [Matthew 26:41.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 8
The disciples had hoped that Christ was about to set up a kingdom on the earth, and they had thought that all nations would bow before Him, and that He would make them His chief rulers and officers; but instead of this He was nearing the time when He would be put to death, as slaves were, on a cross of shame. His death would be a blow to their earthly hopes, and He desired them to watch with Him that they might understand that He had come to suffer and die for the sins of the world. He had come to set up a kingdom of love, peace, and purity in the hearts of men, until they should be fitted for a place in the kingdom of heaven. Had the disciples watched and prayed as He had asked them to do, they would have been ready and able to bear the scorn and mockery that fell on Christ, and would not have left Him alone in the hour of His bitter trial. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 9
But though the disciples slept, the angels watched in silent grief as the Father withdrew His beams of light and love and glory from His Son. Jesus felt that the Father was withdrawing His presence from Him, and as He bowed in prayer, His soul was filled with such agony that He sweat great drops of blood. A horror of great darkness closed Him in; the sins of the world were laid upon Him. He was suffering in man’s stead, as a transgressor, as a breaker of His Father’s law. The light of God was being withdrawn from His spirit, and He was passing into the hands of the powers of darkness. In the agony of His soul, He lay upon the cold earth. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 10
Christ had taken the cup of suffering from guilty man to drink Himself, while He gave to man the cup of blessing. Jesus knew it would be hard for us to understand how dreadful a thing sin is, how hateful it is in the sight of God. He knew that because we were sinners, and dwelt among sinful people, that we would not know how fearful a thing is sin and how a holy God cannot look upon it with anything but pain. Jesus knew that few would take pleasure in doing right; few would receive the good news of salvation with joy and accept of the eternal life which He gave His precious life to obtain for lost souls. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 11
But it was not only the thought that few would receive Him and accept His love that made all His grief. The load of the world’s sin was upon Christ, and doubts rent His soul in regard to His oneness with the Father. He felt that because of sin He was forsaken of God, and in His hour of fearful sorrow, He longed for human sympathy. A second time He rose from the earth and made His way to where His disciples tarried; but again He found them sleeping. They were not in a deep sleep. They knew something of their Lord’s suffering and anguish. Jesus stood for a moment bending over them, looking upon them with feelings of mingled love and pity. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 12
The disciples roused from their sleep to find their Master bending over them with a pale, wan face stained with bloody sweat and bearing marks of grief and agony such as they had never before seen, for His face “was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” [Isaiah 52:14.] The disciples could not speak for grief and surprise, and although they saw their Master in such agony, it seemed as if they could not shake off the stupor that was upon them. They could not speak a word of comfort or pity. In the trial of our Saviour the words of the Psalmist were fulfilled, “I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.” [Psalm 69:20.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 13
Again evil angels pressed their darkness upon Christ, trying to lead Him to give up the thought of saving the world. Giving His disciples one look of tenderest love, He left them, and for the third time bowed in prayer. The divine Sufferer shuddered with horror as the battle went on between Him and the hosts of sin. He poured out the burden of His soul in strong crying and tears. He was pressed with an agony greater than any man could bear and live. But Jesus willingly suffered all this for guilty man, though He knew that few would thank Him for His love, or receive the salvation that He died to bring to men. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 14
It is impossible for us to fully understand the pain and sorrow that hurt the soul of our Redeemer. The holy Son of God had no sins or griefs of His own to bear; He was bearing the griefs of others, for on Him was laid the iniquity of us all. He felt such pity for man that He laid aside His glory and became a man, so that He might represent our fallen race. He was willing to be treated as a sinner, in order that we might be treated as sinless. He looked into the gulf of woe which sin had made between man and God, and by His sinless life and painful death He bridged the chasm between humanity and the throne of God. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 15
It was the grief and pain that filled His soul that wrung from the lips of God’s dear Son this cry of woe, “My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.” [Matthew 26:38.] He saw the work of ruin that sin had made. He bore the load of man’s guilt, took upon Him the burden of our sin (and sin is the transgression or breaking of God’s holy law), and it was so heavy that human nature could not have borne it. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 16
The suffering of the martyr’s was far less than the suffering of Christ. Though they died in the flames, on the rack, and amid dreadful pains, yet they suffered not as did our Saviour, for God was with them in their hour of trial, while from Christ the face of the Father was turned away, and He was hidden from His beloved Son. It was this that brought from the trembling lips of Christ, “Now is my soul troubled,” “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” [John 12:27; Matthew 26:39.] Again He prays, willing to do just as His Father would have Him, saying, “O my Father, if this cup may not pass from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” [Verse 42.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 17
The awful moment had come that was to decide whether the world was to be saved or lost. The fate of the human race trembled in the balance. The Son of God might even now refuse to drink the bitter cup; He might wipe the bloody sweat from His brow and leave men to perish in their sins. Will the Son of the infinite God drink the cup of humiliation and agony? Will He who did no sin suffer the curse of sin to save the guilty? 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 18
But now the story of the human race comes up before the world’s Redeemer. He sees the power of sin, and the utter helplessness of man to save himself. The woes and sorrows of a lost world rise up before Him. He hears the cries and lamentations of men. He beholds the day of doom, sees the end of sinful humanity, and He decides to save all that will come to Him, at any cost to Himself. He accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the heavenly courts, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by sin. And He will not be turned from the work He has chosen. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 19
But under the weight of sin, He falls as though dying to the earth. Where now are His disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their suffering Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men? Our Saviour trod the winepress alone, and of all the people there was none with Him. The angels who had done Christ’s will in heaven wanted to comfort Him. But what can they do? Such sorrow, such agony, is beyond their power to ease. They have never borne the sins of a ruined world, and they are astonished to see their beloved Master lying as one in dying agony under the weight of the world’s sin. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 20
The Father does not remove the cup from the trembling hand and pale lips of His Son; but He sends an angel from His presence to strengthen Him. The angel raises the Son of God from the cold ground and comforts Him with measures of love from His heavenly Father. He is strengthened, He is assured that He is gaining eternal joys for all who will accept redemption. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 21
The fearful hour in Gethsemane is past. Jesus has accepted the cup, to drain it to the dregs. In behalf of man, He has come off a victor from the hour of temptation. Peace is now seen in His pale, bloodstained face. The third time He comes to His disciples and finds them sleeping. Sorrowfully and pityingly He looks upon them and says, “Sleep on now, and take your rest.” Even while these words were upon His lips, He heard the footsteps of the mob that were coming in search of Him, and He continued, “Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.” [Verses 45, 46.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 22
Christ’s face was calm and peaceful, and He walked forth as though He had no fear of what man should do unto Him. His manner and looks were like those of one who was conscious that He was the Son of God. There were no traces of His agony visible as He went forth to meet the one who was to betray Him, and to go into the hands of His enemies. Judas, one who had said he was His disciple, led the priests and those who hated Christ to the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus stood forth in front of His disciples and inquired the throng, “Whom seek ye?” They answer, “Jesus of Nazareth.” The Saviour replies, “I am he.” [John 18:4, 5.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 23
At these words the mob stagger backward, and the priests, the elders, the hardened soldiers, and even Judas, fall powerless to the ground. The angel who had ministered to Him in the garden had moved between Him and murderous mob. The throng see a divine light glorifying the Saviour’s face, and a dovelike form hovering over Him. Their sinful hearts are filled with terror. They cannot stand for a moment in the presence of divine glory, but fall as dead men to the ground. Jesus stands as one glorified amid that coarse and hardened band, but He does not try to flee away from His enemies although they are powerless. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 24
When the Roman soldiers start again to their feet, they gather about Christ as though ashamed of their weakness, and fearful that He will flee from them. Again the question is asked by the Redeemer, “Whom seek ye?” Again the answer, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said, “I have told you that I am he. If therefore ye seek me, let these (pointing to His disciples) go their way.” [Verses 7, 8.] In the hour when the cruel mob came to take Christ, He thinks not of Himself, but of His beloved disciples. He does not wish them to have to suffer, even though He is to be taken to prison and to death. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 25
Judas, the false disciple, does not forget the part he is to act, but comes close to Jesus, takes His hand as a familiar friend, and bestows upon Him the traitor’s kiss. Jesus said to him, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” [Matthew 26:50.] His voice trembled with sorrow as He spoke to Judas saying, “Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?” [Luke 22:48.] His gentle words should have touched the heart of Judas and aroused his conscience; but it seemed that all honor and human tenderness had passed from his nature. He stood boldly before his Lord and had not one wish to save Him from the cruel hands of those who thronged about Him. Judas had given himself up to Satan to work wickedness, and he had no will to resist his temptations. Jesus did not refuse the traitor’s kiss. In this He gives us an example of forbearance, love, and pity. As His disciples we are to treat our enemies in the same way in which He treated His. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 26
Though the murderous throng are surprised and awed by what they have seen and felt, yet they are ready to lay hands upon Him as they see the boldness of Judas, who dared to touch the person of Him whom they had just seen glorified. But the disciples did not think that He would give Himself up into the hands of His enemies, and they were offended when they saw that He did not intend to free Himself from their hands. Then they forsook Him and fled, leaving their Master alone. Christ has told them in the upper chamber that they would forsake Him in this manner. He had said, “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” [John 16:32.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 27
Betrayed by a kiss into the hands of His enemies, He was dragged to the judgment hall, where sinful men mocked Him, derided Him, spit upon Him, and smote Him. He was taken from place to place, sent to Annas, Herod, and Pilate, and unjustly condemned to death. The glorious Son of God “was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” [Isaiah 53:5.] He meekly bore insult, mockery, and shameful abuse, until His “visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.” [Isaiah 52:14.] With wonder and grief the angels looked upon Him who had been the Majesty of heaven, Him who had worn the crown of glory, and now [they] see Him crowned with thorns, wounded, bleeding, suffering beneath the rage of men who were filled with satanic madness. The Psalmist says, speaking of Christ’s sufferings, “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion.” [Psalm 22:12, 13.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 28
Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished O earth! Behold the oppressor and the oppressed! A wild mob enclosed the Saviour of the world. They mingled coarse oaths with their mockings and jeerings. They hold up in jest His lowly birth and humble life. The chief priests and rulers make sport of His claim to be the Son of God, and vulgar jests and insulting sneers are passed from lip to lip. Satan spoke through his servants and filled the chief priests and elders with the most bitter hatred. The learned men gathered the mobs together and led them on to words and deeds of the most vile and cruel character, and priests and people were united in bitter hatred against the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 29
After scourging Christ, the precious Son of God, they lead Him forth and lay the cross upon His bleeding shoulders. His footsteps to Calvary are marked with blood. On every side of Him walk bitter enemies as He is led away to be crucified. “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” [Isaiah 53:7.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 30
He is nailed to the cross and hangs between the heavens and the earth. His sorrowing disciples have followed Him a long way off, behind the murderous throng, but their hearts are bursting with grief as their beloved Teacher suffers as the lowest of criminals. Close to the cross are the priests and elders, mocking and jeering and saying, “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.” “Likewise also the chief priests mocking him with the scribes and elders said, He saved others: himself he cannot save; If he be the king of the Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God: let him deliver him now, if he will have him; for he said, I am the Son of God.” [Matthew 27:40-43.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 31
Not one word did Jesus answer to all this. Even while the nails were being driven through His hands and His feet and the sweat drops of agony were thick upon His brow, He breathed a prayer of pardoning love for His murderers, saying, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” [Luke 23:34.] Was there ever suffering and sorrow like that which was borne by our dying Saviour! But it was not physical suffering alone, it was the thought that God’s love was withdrawn that made His cup so bitter. It was not pain of body that so quickly ended the life of Christ upon the cross. It was the crushing weight of the sins of the world that broke His heart. The Father’s glory, the Father’s love, had left Him, and it was this that forced from His lips the anguished cry, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” [Matthew 27:46.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 32
With deepest pain the angels saw the despairing agony of the Son of God. Though there were few of our human race that felt pity for His sufferings, yet nature groaned with her bleeding, dying Author. The earth trembled. The sun refused to behold the scene. The heavens gathered blackness, and the angels hid their faces from the awful sight. The innocent, suffering man of Calvary felt the woe that sin makes by cutting off the soul from God. The powers of darkness pressed their temptations upon Him. Satan boasted that Christ was now in his hands, that he was stronger than the Son of God, and that God no longer owned Him as His Son. If God still loved Him, why did He not save Him from death? 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 33
Such were the thoughts that Satan pressed upon the Son of God. There were hosts of evil angels thronging about the cross, and the holy angels were not permitted to break their ranks and put to flight the reviling foe. Jesus could not see through the portals of the tomb. Bright hope did not present to Him the fact that He would come forth from the grave, a victor over death, or tell Him that His Father accepted of His sacrifice. All that He felt during this time of darkness was that the sins of the world were laid upon Him, and that their penalty, death, might forever shut Him away from the face of His Father. The temptation to think that His Father had forever left Him caused that fearful cry from the cross, “My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?” [Verse 46.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 34
But when, in His dying agonies, despair pressed upon the soul of the Redeemer, He remembered that tokens had been given to Him of His Father’s love, and as He yielded up His precious life, by faith alone He rests in Him whom it had been His joy to obey. Though surrounded by gloom, yet amid the awful darkness, which was felt even by nature, the Redeemer drained the cup of suffering to the dregs. By faith He dimly believes that He shall triumph over death, and He cries with a loud voice, “Father, into thine hand I commend my spirit.” [Luke 23:46.] He knows that His Father is full of mercy, justice, compassion, and love, and in trustful confidence, He yields Himself to God. There is a great earthquake, and the people hear the man of Calvary say with His last breath, “It is finished!” [John 19:30.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 35
The heaving earth, the rent rocks, and the dense darkness all say that it was the Son of God who died. At the mighty earthquake, the veil of the temple was rent in twain. Fear and terror seized those who had so lately mocked and sneered at Him. As Christ yielded His spirit into the hands of the Father, the mocking and jeering of the priests and elders is hushed. The astonished throng begin to withdraw and in terror seek to grope their way through the darkness back to the city. As they went, they smote upon their breasts, and speaking scarcely above a whisper, said among themselves, It is an innocent man that has suffered. What if indeed He were the Son of God? 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 36
Jesus did not yield up His life until He had done the work which He came to do. With His latest breath He had said, “It is finished.” [Verse 30.] Angels rejoiced as they heard the words that told them that the mission of Christ had been successful. They knew that Satan was defeated, his kingdom lost. Christ had not shunned death to carry out the plan of salvation, and there was joy in heaven because, through faith in Christ, the sons of Adam could finally be raised to a seat upon the throne of God. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 37
Christ left His glory, laid aside His royal robe, stepped down from the throne, and clothed His divinity with humanity in order to save humanity. Think of the difference between Christ in glory, listening to millions of voices of angels as they sing anthems in His praise, and Christ in His humiliation and sorrow, listening to the mockery, sneers, and insult of the race for which He died. O what love has He had for us! As a member of the human family, He was mortal; but as God, He was the fountain of light to the world. He could have withstood death; He might have refused to go into the grave; but for our sakes, He lay down His life, that He might bring light and immortality to light. He yielded up His life in order that man should not suffer eternal death. He was not compelled to die; it was by His own choice that He bore the sin of the world and endured the bitter penalty. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 38
It was because of His great, redeeming love for us, which will ever remain a mystery, that Christ left His throne in heaven and came to a sinful world to be scorned, to be set aside, to be jeered at, to be rejected, and finally to die upon the cross. O, what love! What amazing love! That the Son of God could come to earth to be made sin for us, in order that we might be brought back to God, and given a place with Him in the mansions of glory. And O, what is man that such a price should be paid for his redemption! 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 39
The more fully we understand the great sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven in dying for man, the more will the plan of salvation be glorious to us, and the thought of Calvary will awaken love and peace and joy in the Christian’s heart. Praise to God and to the Lamb will be in our hearts and on our lips, for pride and self-worship cannot live in the heart that keeps fresh in memory the scenes of Calvary. 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 40
At what a cost has salvation been given to us! What will be the portion of those who heed not the voice of mercy? What will those deserve who will not walk in the path of obedience to God’s commands? What will be the fate of those who profess to be followers of Christ, yet who do not take up the cross as humble disciples? How many set aside the Word of our loving Saviour, and because they want their own way, they close the door of their hearts against the Son of God? He was eternally rich, “yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.” [2 Corinthians 8:9.] He was clothed with light and glory, hosts of heavenly angels were glad to do His pleasure, yet He took upon Him the nature of man, and was made “in the likeness of sinful flesh,” and became sin for us, “that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” [Romans 8:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21.] We are “accepted in the Beloved.” [Ephesians 1:6.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 41
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!” [1 John 3:1.] Here is love that no language can express. He who beholds and yields to this matchless love will have noble thoughts, become pure in heart, and be changed in character, and will go forth to be a light to the world, to shed the light of this love to those who are in darkness. Let us contemplate the cross of Christ and say with the apostle, “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.] 7LtMs, Ms 45, 1892, par. 42