trument of death was as revolting to
him as it would be to us to handle the hangman's rope; perhaps more so,
because it was Passover time, and this would make him ceremonially
unclean. It was a jest of the soldiers, and he was their
laughing-stock. As he walked by the side of the robbers, it looked as
if he were on the way to execution himself.

This is a lively image of the cross-bearing to which the followers of
Christ are called. We are wont to speak of trouble of any kind as a
cross; and doubtless any kind of trouble may be borne bravely in the
name of Christ. But, properly speaking, the cross of Christ is what is
borne in the act of confessing Him or for the sake of His work. When
anyone makes a stand for principle, because he is a Christian, and
takes the consequences in the shape of scorn or loss, this is the cross
of Christ. The pain you may feel in speaking to another in Christ's
name, the sacrifice of comfort or time you may make in engaging in
Christian work, the self-denial you exercise in giving of your means
that the cause of Christ may spread at home or abroad, the reproach you
may have to bear by identifying yourself with militant causes or with
despised persons, because you believe they are on Christ's side--in
such conduct lies the cross of Christ. It involves trouble, discomfort
and sacrifice. One may fret under it, as Simon did; one may sink under
it, as Jesus did Himself; it is ugly, painful, shameful often; but no
disciple is without it. Our Master said, "He that taketh not his cross
and followeth after Me is not worthy of Me."

III.

The one thing which makes Simon an imperfect type of the cross-bearer
is that we are uncertain whether or not he bore the burden voluntarily.
The Roman soldiers forced it on him; but was it force-work and nothing
else?

Some have supposed that he was an adherent of Christ; but it is
extremely improbable that, just at the moment when the soldiers needed
someone for their purpose, one of the very few followers of Jesus
should have appeared. The tone of the narrative seems rather to
indicate that he was one who happened to be there by mere chance and
had nothing to do with the proceedings till, against his will, he was
made an actor in the drama.

He is said by the Evangelist to have been a Cyrenian, that is, an
inhabitant of Cyrene, a city in North Africa. Strangers from this
place are mentioned among those who were present soon after at the
Feast of