Look! The King of misery!

[color=CC0000][b]Look! The King of misery!
[/b][/color]
[i]From Spurgeon's sermon, "CONSOLATION IN CHRIST"[/i]

Come, see him in the garden of Gethsemane--
behold him as his heart is so full of love that he cannot
hold it in, so full of sorrow that it must find a vent.

Behold the bloody sweat as it distils from every pore of his
body, and falls in gouts of gore upon the frozen ground.

See him all red with his own blood, wrapped in a bloody mantle
of his own gore, as he is brought before Herod and Pilate and
the Sanhedrim.

See him now as they scourge him with their knotted whips, and
afresh encrimson him, as though it were not enough for him to be
dyed once in scarlet, but he must again be enwrapped in purple.

See him now that they have stripped him naked.

Behold him as they drive the nails into his hands and into his feet.

Look up and see the sorrowful image of your dolorous Lord.

O mark him, as the ruby drops stand on the thorn-crown,
and make it the blood-red diadem of the King of misery.

O see him as his bones are out of joint, and he is poured
out like water and brought into the dust of death.
Behold and see, was there ever sorrow like unto his sorrow?
All you that pass by, draw near and look upon this
'spectacle of grief'.

Behold the 'Emperor of woe' who never had an
equal or a rival in his agonies!

[b]I am persuaded brethren, that we have only to sit
more at the Cross to be less troubled with our doubts,
and our fears, and our woes.[/b]

We have but to see his sorrows, to lose our sorrows.

We have but to see his wounds, to heal our own.

If we would live, it must be by contemplation of his death.

If we would rise to dignity it must be by considering his
humiliation and his sorrow.

I am persuaded brethren, that we have only to sit more at the Cross to be less troubled with our doubts, and our fears, and our woes.

Amen

[b][color=CC0000]The most accessible and precious spot[/color][/b]

[i]"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother." John 19:25[/i]

Take your place with Mary, by the cross of Jesus. There meet and blend suffering and love—sorrow and sympathy. Standing in faith by the cross, you are near the suffering Savior, the loving Son, the sympathizing Brother born for your present grief. Jesus, in the depth and tenderness of His love, is at this moment all that He was when, in soul travail, He cast that ineffable look of filial love and sympathy upon His anguished mother.

Likewise, He can enter into your circumstances, understand your grief, sustain and soothe your spirit as one only can, who has partaken of the cup of woe which now trembles in your hand. Drink that cup submissive to His will—for He drank deeply of it before you—and has left the fragrance of His sympathy upon its brim. Your sorrow is not new to Christ. Stand close to the cross of Jesus! [b]It is the most accessible and precious spot this side of heaven—the most solemn and awesome one this side of eternity![/b]

The cross of Jesus is the focus of divine love, sympathy, and power. Stand by it in suffering, in persecution, in temptation. Stand by it in the brightness of prosperity and in the gloom of adversity. Go to Christ's cross in trouble, repair to it in weakness, cling to it in danger, hide beneath it when the wintry storm rushes fiercely over you. Near to the cross, you are near a Father's heart, a Savior's side. You seem to enter the gate of heaven—to stand beneath the vestibule of glory.

Nothing but love will welcome your approach to the cross of Jesus—love that pardons all your sins—flows over all your unworthiness—heals all your wounds—soothes all your sorrows—and will shelter you within its blessed pavilion until earth is changed for heaven, and you lay down the warrior's sword for the victor's palm, and spring from the foot of the cross to the foot of the throne, forever with the Lord!

[i]-taken from CHRIST'S SYMPATHY TO WEARY PILGRIMS

by Octavius Winslow (1808 - 1878)[/i]

He can enter into your circumstances, understand your grief, sustain and soothe your spirit as one only can, who has partaken of the cup of woe which now trembles in your hand.

I walk through dark valleys and shadows for HE has already done so and redeemed me eterally from such.