The Lessons Of Calvary

Chronicle (Levin), 1 August 1949, Page 4

The Lessons Of Calvary

"Teachers of geography used to teach that Calvary was a hill at the very centre of the world. Geographically they were wrong. Religiously they were right," said Rev. A. Salmond, preaching in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church yesterday. "The sternest and most loving word of God' to the soul of man was spoken from The Cross on Calvary. The three crosses on that hill still speak of the hideous and ugly things that plague our world, and bring darkness and pain and death into our experience. "Christian faith knows no easy optimism that shuts its eyes to ugly facts. A Christian knows that it is not a pretty world he lives in, but a world in which dreadful things do and can happen. Of the two men, who writhed in agony on either side of the crucified Jesus one cried, 'Save thyself and us.' His one thought was eseape from searing pain. He could think of God only as The one who could save men from pain and sorrow and disaster. He had no thought for deliverance from godlessness and sinful selfishness. Forgiveness meant nothing-to him. • He gave no sign of self-criticism and a turning back to God.. "The other man in the presence of a suifering Jesus felt a need not only for deliverance from pain, but also for inner change in the soul and the forgiveness of God. Deliverance from an evil self must be experienced before a change to happier circumstance means an'ything. "The cry, 'Lord remember me When Thou comest into Thy Kingdom,' - whatever the dying man meant by it, was heard and graciously answered by Him who hung on the central Cross."