A Sermon Preached by the Rev. W. E. Wilkinson, M.A., in Holy Prinity Cathedral, Shanghai on Sunday, February 19, 1928.
"Hebrews 12:2-—Looking write Jesus, the perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy th was set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the sham."
We approach the season of Lent. Wednesday next is Ash Wednesday, the first day- of Lent, Let me begin with a picture, the picture of Lent as I sce it. In'my mind's eye, Tsee the season of Lent as a great moorland scene, rugged, inspiring, noble. We leave the plain, and mount the moorland foothills, into the bracing nir of the heights; around us stand the hills, through which and over which we must, walk. Across the little valleys, winding their way through the hills, are many tracks, trodden by the feet of men, Along one of those tracks we must walk, following the foot steps of Jesus, who first walked that way. The way is hard, we make many stumbles, but the air is invigorating, tingling, after the duller air of the. plains, Our way, not the Via Dolorosa, but the way of the upland heights Towards the end of Lent, we win our way to a hill whereon stand three crosses; on one, the figure of Jesus, crucified. It is the hill of Good Friday, the of: the Christian Which Jesus died for that hill we see, lying as it were Delow our feet, a noble valley bathed the sunlit plain of Easter; where Jesus walks in His risen glory. If we wish to meet Jesus in the wonder of his Resurreetion, in the garden of the empty tomb on Easter morning, we must live through Lont, passing through that death unto sin which brings us glorified, into the presence of Jesus, risen and
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.