He had no form nor

and rejected of men. comeliness, and when men saw him there was in him no beauty that they should desire him. So also, we may believe, it would be again to-day. If Jesus Christ should reappear upon the earth, as he was and as he is, he would not gratify the taste nor command the admiration and approval of the sons of men generally. Neither in his personal presence and appearance, in his conduct, nor in his spirit, would he be deemed lovely by many of those who call themselves by his name, but who lack the capacity to perceive true spiritual beauty in Christ, or in the reflection of Christ. While they are what they are, Christ could never seem beautiful to them, he being what he is.

As the perception of beauty outside of one's self can never precede the existence within one's self of a measure of correspondence with the ideal thus recognized; as a certain degree of likeness to, or at least of sympathy with, the object admired, is essential to the perception of beauty in that ob

ject; so is it unmistakably true that until Christ is formed within us as our loved and adored spiritual ideal, we can never hope to recognize the true spiritual beauty of Christ. If we are to have our desire of seeing the beauty of the Lord, the beauty of the Lord must first be upon us-through being within It is not until we are like him that we can see him as he is.

us.

V.

RECOGNIZING NOBLENESS.

Next to being noble is the ability to recognize nobleness in others. In fact, the ability to recognize nobleness in others indicates a measure of nobleness in one's self; the recognition is a proof of kinship. It is in this as it is in every other line of observation and of outreaching: one's perceptions and attractions and repulsions are the truest test of one's personal character.

There is a sense in which we always measure a man by his own standards of measurement, even if we do not always agree with a man's measurement of himself. When we are told that the Arabs of the desert have absolutely no apprehension of the beauties of natural scenery, that they see nothing in a mountain but a barrier to easy travel, and nothing in a sunset across the sea except a

sign that it is almost time for sleep, that does not lower our estimate of the scenery, but it does of the Arabs. The little boy who, when asked whom he should wish to see first in heaven, answered promptly "Golia'h," showed convincingly that size and muscle made up his standard of greatness. And he who proclaims as his ideal hero a military chieftain, or a successful explorer, or a man of large riches, or a shrewd schemer, or an unselfish patriot, or a devoted missionary, in thus passing judgment on others gives to others the material for a proper judgment of himself. So, also, in pointing out the beauties or the flaws of a work of literature or of art, or of a human career, any man shows what he is by showing what he approves. His measure of criticism is so far the measure of himself.

Our Lord did not hesitate to adopt this method of judgment when he was on earth. When he found a scribe looking through the mere letter of the law, and recognizing its inner spirit of love, Jesus said unto him,

"Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." What the scribe recognized in the law, proved what was in the scribe. It was because the poor Syrophenician mother recognized in Jesus more of sympathy and tenderness and readiness to give her help than showed on the surface in his word and manner at the first, that Jesus commended her spirit and granted her request. What any one recognizes in Jesus is the test-not of Jesus, but of the one who observes Jesus. When Jesus seemed to the scoffing throng at Calvary only a condemned felon, the Roman centurion, who had charge of the executioners, perceived enough below and beyond the surface to cry out, “Truly this was the Son of God;" and in that recognition of the Messiah the centurion won the world's recognition of his personal nobleness and worth.

No act of royal David ever showed more of his innate nobleness of character than his quick recognition of nobleness in the three mighty men who were glad to risk their