world in which we now are will become to us no longer an unholy place, but, as it were, the vestibule of God's great sanctuary, through which we are going forward towards that inner fane, which is radiant with the brightness of His unveiled face, and where pealeth the celestial music.

с

JOHN xiii. 15-"For I have given you an example, ye should do as I have done to you."

OUR Lord had just girded Himself with a towel, washed the disciples' feet. This was the action said He had done for an example. Of cours cannot be supposed that this example is to be co literally that this same action, an action suitabl the climate and according to the customs of Ju but which would be wholly inappropriate in m other countries, is to be repeated in a mechan manner. Unquestionably that is not what our I meant. What He meant was, not to call for mechanical repetition of an action, but to illust a spirit; to teach His disciples to be humble serviceable to one another, and to deem it an hon and privilege to minister to one another. No do this was His intention-this the kind of imitat He desired. By an action suitable to the time

place, He sought to illustrate a spirit which His true followers would require to preserve in all times and places down to the end of the world, though in each time and each place it might find a different expression. It may be, perhaps, that an action so inconsistent with the manners and customs of many parts of the world was made choice of by our Saviour for this purpose, just that we might see distinctly that what is required at our hands is a copying of the spirit and not a barren and formal imitation of details.

Many of the things which Christ did were things in respect of which it is not in our power to copy Him literally. He healed the sick, and cleansed the lepers, and raised the dead, and cast out devils. No such miraculous powers are in our possession. But are Christ's miracles no example to us? Are they to be excluded from the catalogue of things in respect of which we are to follow His steps? Not so. Though we cannot work miracles, yet in the working of His miracles, Christ displayed a spirit into which we can enter, and which we can exhibit in the common affairs of life. He displayed a sympathy with the afflicted, which we can likewise shew in a thousand forms by deeds of kindness and compassion. He shewed a desire to abate the evils

that afflict humanity, which we too can exhibit by a thousand different manifestations, as circumstances emerge. He shewed a goodness and a love which may be embodied in even so small an action as the giving of a cup of cold water in His name.

St Peter tells us that "He suffered for us, leaving us an example." Now, in one aspect, there is nothing in Christ's whole history that can less be repeated in the lives of His followers than His sufferings. They were propitiatory sufferings; but the sufferings of men who are themselves sinful can never have that character. Yet, in another point of view, there is nothing in the history of Christ we should rather regard as an example. What a specimen they afford us of meekness under injury— of single-hearted and most child-like, yet most manly submission to the will of God-of patient, self-sacrificing love! We therefore can copy Christ in respect even of His sufferings, by striving to maintain a patient, unmurmuring spirit under the various griefs and trials which come upon us from time to time. Nor only so; but in a still higher sense we can, as it were, partake in His very sufferings themselves by entering into those of the needy and the afflicted; and, though at an immeasurable distance, we can imitate His sacrifice, by

sacrificing ourselves, in those countless ways for which daily life is ever affording opportunity, for the mitigation of the sorrows and the advancement of the welfare of our fellow-creatures. It would seem to be of this kind of fellowship in the sufferings of Christ that St Paul was thinking, when, in writing to the Colossians, he used the memorable words-"I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church."

With a view, then, to such a copying of Christ as we have thus attempted to describe, it is necessary, first, that by frequent and reverent meditation upon His character, as set forth in Holy Scripture, we should endeavour, with God's help, to understand its principles, appreciate its beauty, and take up its tone.

No man ever became a good poet or a good artist by mere mechanical imitation. At the same time, it does not follow that the study of the best models is therefore of no use. On the contrary, it is in many respects of high advantage. In the case of the poet, it accustoms the ear to the rhythm of poetic numbers, and the taste to the graces of poetic expression; while it aids the whole mind towards that