He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him.

I came alone to my Calvary,

And the load I bore was too great for me;

The stones were sharp and pierced my feet,

And my temples throbbed with the withering heat.

But my heart was faint with the toil that day,

So I sat down to think of an easy way;

Loomed sharply before me that tortuous trail—

No use to try—I would only fail.

I turned back in sorrow, clothed with defeat,

For my load was too heavy; I would retreat

To easier highways, with scenery more fair—

Yet a moment I lingered watching there.

As I held my gaze on that flinty side,

A man came up to be crucified;

He toiled all the way of that painful road,

And the cross that he bore far surpassed my load:

His brow with thorns was pierced and torn;

His face had a look of pain and was worn;

He stopped for a moment and looked on me—

And I followed in rapture to Calvary!

“MY CALVARY” BY MATTHEW BILLER

Haunt the place called Calvary.

Be content; ye are the wheat growing in our Lord’s field; and, if wheat, ye must go under our Lord’s threshing instrument on His barn floor, and through His sieve; and through His will be bruised, as was the Prince of your salvation (Isaiah 53:10); that ye may be found good bread in your Lord’s house. SAMUEL RUTHERFORD

When the wheat is carried home And the threshing time has come, Close the door.

When the flail is lifted high, Like the chaff I would not fly; At His feet, oh, let me lie, On the floor!

All the cares that o’er me steal, All the sorrows that I feel Like a dart, When my enemies prevail, When my strength begins to fail— ’Tis the beating of the flail, On my heart!

It becomes me to be still, Though I cannot all His will Understand.

I would be the purest wheat Lying humbly at His feet, Kissing oft the rod that beats, In His hand!

By and by I shall be stored In the garner of my Lord Like a prize; Thanking Him for every blow That in sorrow laid me low, But in beating made me grow For the skies!

VOICE OF TRIUMPH Look at God’s method of producing corn, and see something of His method of producing saints.

Our Lord Jesus has not died in vain. His death was sacrificial: He died as our substitute, because death was the penalty of our sins. Because His substitution was accepted of God, He has saved those for whom He made His soul a sacrifice. By death He became like the corn of wheat which bringeth forth much fruit. There must be a succession of children unto Jesus; He is "the Father of the everlasting age." He shall say, "Behold, I and the children whom Thou hast given me."

A man is honored in his sons, and Jesus hath His quiver full of these arrows of the mighty. A man is represented in his children, and so is the Christ in Christians. In his seed a man's life seems to be prolonged and extended; and so is the life of Jesus continued in believers.

Jesus lives, for He sees His seed. He fixes His eye on us, He delights in us, He recognizes us as the fruit of His soul travail. Let us be glad that our Lord does not fail to enjoy the result of His dread sacrifice, and that He will never cease to feast His eyes upon the harvest of His death. Those eyes which once wept for us are now viewing us with pleasure. Yes, He looks upon those who are looking unto Him. Our eyes meet! What a joy is this!

He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; . . . the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all . . . For the transgression of my people was he stricken . . . It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.

Jesus our Lord . . . was delivered for our offences.—Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.—Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

Being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

For I came down from heaven, not to do mine will, but the will of him that sent me.

The cup which my father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.

My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased,

Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth.

It pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

We thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.

Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you, who by him do believe in God.