as though we were feeling its powerful influence for

service of some kind?

There are many things to be met with among professing Christians which cannot be explained as being in harmony with the conviction that the glory of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ and the salvation of men rests with us! What about our slumbering, our numerous divisions, our numberless haltings, nameless inconsistencies and backslidings? Assuredly, every right-minded Christian will say, it is high time for us to awake out of sleep.

We may also learn that our work for Christ must be carried on with self-denial and sacrifice, if we wish to fulfil our mission as our Saviour fulfilled His. How was Christ's work accomplished? it may be asked. Could He not have remained in heaven, sharing all the glory with His Father, and yet have saved sinners? Assuredly not! It was necessary for Him to humble Himself, to take the form of a servant, to be found in fashion as a man, in order that He might face the foe. It was necessary that He should come into our world so that He might be wounded, and bruised, and make His soul an offering for sin on the cross.

In the presence of such facts as these it may be asked, Can we sit still in our homes, in a soft and easy life of self-indulgence, and fulfil our mission as having been sent into the world by our Saviour? Can we, by retiring to some cloister, nunnery, retreat,

or conference, make people believe that we consider ourselves to have been sent into the world by Christ, in the same manner as He was sent by the Father, for the purpose of carrying on the work commenced by Him? Assuredly not. To convince men that we recognise our responsibility, and are earnest in our endeavours to fulfil our mission, we must take up our cross and follow Jesus, and do whatever we feel persuaded is in accordance with His will. It was selfish and thoughtless of Peter to say on the mount of transfiguration, "Lord, it is good for us to be here : if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles." The work of God was not to be done there; the good fight, because ultimately victorious, was not to be waged there, but down on the rough and sin-stained plains of the world. There was enough in Jesus, and flowing from His loving heart, to gladden the hearts of others as well as Peter's. If Christ has done great things for us, by reason of which our hearts have been made glad, let us remember that there is a fulness in Him, of which others may also become partakers. May we never think that we have fulfilled our mission unless, by our daily life and conversation, we compel men to admit that we have been with Jesus and learnt of Him!

The Church of Christ is often compared to a flock, a name which suggests sweet pastoral retreats, sunny slopes and quiet glens. There is, however, another side to the Christian life. We have soldiering to

engage in, the hardships of the camp and tented field to face, the strongholds of evil to storm, gigantic systems of error to attack, and outworks of wrongdoing to carry. When, we ask, was such work done with ease? When were such feats accomplished without self-denial and self-sacrifice? It is absolutely impossible to make a pastime out of Christian life and work! It needs a heavenly consecration, it requires an enthusiasm of love, kindled in the heart by the Holy Spirit, that yearns for souls in a Christ-like spirit, in order that the work entrusted to us may be properly accomplished, and the warfare brought to such a termination as shall result in glory to God and blessing to our fellow men. It ought not to be overlooked that the glory which belongs to Christ is abiding. His prayer, "Glorify Thou Me, with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was," has been granted. Is not the glory of being "workers together with God" of sufficient value to induce us to take our share in the great work? Is not our being taken into partnership with Christ sufficient to incite us to undertake service for Him? Assuredly there is nothing comparable in glory to going down to suffer and work for Christ, and afterwards going up and sharing His kingdom and glory with Himself! The first Adam was turned out of paradise, but the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, leads His people from the place of testimony, service, and suffering, into the paradise of God.

With such prospects, and in anticipation of such a glorious hope as being with the Lord for ever, may we be constrained to tell out to the world what we know of the preciousness of Christ, and seek the blessing of the Holy Spirit, while we, in Christ's stead, beseech men to be reconciled to God! If, in the path of duty and active service we have to encounter temptation and opposition, we may remember that we are not sent forth at our own charges; "My grace is sufficient for thee." He is able to make grace to abound, and to preserve us from falling, so as to be able by-and-by to present us without fault before the throne of His glory, and confer whatever rewards He may consider appropriate to services which have been rendered.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHRIST SANCTIFYING HIMSELF FOR THE GOOD OF HIS PEOPLE.

"And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth."-JOHN xvii. 19.

THIS portion of our Saviour's remarkable prayer leads us to regard Him as the self-consecrated servant of God, and also on man's behalf. He was consecrated, or set apart, for His great work by the Father, it is true; but in this verse it is His own act to which reference is made: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified in truth." He had done this throughout life, and now, that the sacrifice of life is about to be consummated in death, He intimates that the fruits of His victory are communicated to His disciples. "By union with Him,” as Westcott well observes, "they are also 'themselves sanctified in truth,' through the Spirit, whose mission followed on His completed work, and who enables each believer to appropriate what Christ has gained. Christ does for Himself that which is done for the disciples."