CONCERNING JAPAN'S early persecution of the Koreans, an old missionary said: "Japan could not have planned better for the Korean Christians if she had tried." The worst which befalls us often proves to be the best.  It will finally prove to be true, that the sufferings of the saints in the furnace heated seven times hotter, in the dungeon and concentration camp, in the Coliseum at the mercy of wild beasts, before the shooting squad, at the stake, and under the thumb-screw, were actual steps to the throne.

It is said that a Bohemian nobleman was brought to execution for his Protestant faith.  Ere he suffered under the executioner's axe, the Jesuits made a last plea.  "No," he said, as he pushed them aside: "I have finished my course; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." The Jesuits rebuffed him: "Those words were true for the apostle, not for 11 "Nay," rejoined the faithful soul; "you forget the rest--'and not only to me, but also to all them that have, loved his appearing!"'

As sinners, our call is to salvation.  As saints, our call is to suffering.  There is the Cross for Christ.  And there is also the cross for the believer.  In His work of atonement, Christ stands absolutely alone with none to compare.  But in a life laid down, Christ is the first, the supreme, the model, in a long train of martyrs who have "loved not their lives unto the death." Every follower of His has been "born crucified." He is there-fore a potential martyr.  Christ always associated together His sufferings and His glorification.  There is no crown without the Cross.  Golgotha and glory are forever wedded in the mind of the Saviour, so that those who sink into Calvary's depths are assured of the heights of glory.  The rewards are sure.  Crucifixion with Christ predestines the glory.  For, there is life, and there is the crown of life; there is righteousness, and the crown of righteousness.  It is the difference between being the child of the kingdom and being crowned with reward in the kingdom.  Crowns are for those who have borne their cross.  This law is so in-flexible that the call to the Cross is truly a call to the crown.

According to the old Latin Vulgate, Psalm 96:10 should read: "Tell it out among the heathen, that the Lord reigneth from the Tree." Justin Martyr accuses the Jews of having deliberately erased the words "a ligno," lest they establish the rule of the Crucified "from the tree." But to us who are saved, it is from that place of shame, and suffering, and death, Christ holds sway.  To us, the Cross is "the power of God and the wisdom of God." There, the King, the King of the curse--"he that is hanged is accursed of God"--has captured us and fastened us to His chariot wheels.  In His utmost weakness and loss, Christ there slaughtered our pride, unseated vain self, and reigns a King.  From that throne high and lifted up He holds sway.  The "Lion of the tribe of Judah" is "the Lamb slain in the midst of the throne." His reign is from the Tree.

The Jews were nonplussed over the apparent contradiction in Old Testament Scripture.  They saw there a suffering, dying Messiah.  They saw also a ruling, reigning Messiah.  Must there be two?  They wondered.  Of course the death and resurrection of Christ solve the mystery.  Omnipotence has been crowned-"from the Tree."

But we repeat, the Cross is not only atoning; it is also exemplary.  What is more logical than a crucified Christ so that He may have crucified followers?  Head and members must be one.  Let us not divorce the doc-trine of His Cross from the endurance of our cross.  God forbid that we should be "saved by crucifixion and yet saved from crucifixion." The disciple is not above his Lord.  Let him then "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ."

Bishop Pearson once proved the divine origin of Christianity by showing that its doctrines were such that they could not naturally command success.