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X 
 
o9. 
 
 >^' /• 
 
 '*.<C-C 
 
 
 ^1 
 
 LIKE CHRIST. 
 
i mi | lj i ; ii ui,- i j <)Hpym » ii ui iy i i )in. i i,n', i n i i )m iiiiii i i ii i» nimi 
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 Uniform witli this Volume, price 2s. 6d. each, 
 
 ABIDE IN CHRIST: 
 
 QTfrouigtfjts Drt tfje BlesseU %iU at JFdlo&rs^ip &jitfj 
 tfic 5on of ©oil. 
 
 THIRTY-EIGHTH THOUSAND. 
 
 WITH CHRIST 
 
 IN THE SCHOOL OF PRAYER : 
 
 ^fyougfjts on ®ur Zxmxins for tfre iHinistrg 
 of Entcrccgston. 
 
 EIGHTH THOUSAND. 
 
 LoNDOx: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 Berners St. 
 
LIKE OHEIST: 
 
 TLbowQhts on tbc Mcsscb %itc of Confotmttg 
 
 to tbc Son of ao^ 
 
 A Sequel to 'ABIDE LY CHRISTY 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. ANDREW MURRAY, 
 
 WELMNOTON, CAPK OF GOOD HOPE. 
 
 *Even as /, ye also.^ 
 
 NINETEENTH THOUSAND. 
 
 TORONTO, CANADA: 
 
 S. R. BRIGGS, 
 
 TORONTO WILLARD TRACT DEPOSITORY, 
 
 COR. YONGE AND TEMPERANCE STREETS. 
 1886. 
 
Morrison and Gibb, EdinhursK 
 Punters to Her Majesty's Stationety Office. 
 
 ^ ' i ' * ^ r* (i 
 
PllEPAOE. 
 
 In sending forth this little book on tho Image of 
 our blessed Lord, and the likeness to Him to which 
 we are called, I have only two remarks by way of 
 preface. 
 
 The one is that no one can be more conscious 
 than myself of the difficulty of the task I have 
 undertaken, and its very defective execution. There 
 were two things I had to do. The one was to draw 
 such a portrait of the Son of God, as * in all things 
 made like unto His brethren,' as to show how, in 
 the reality of His human life, we have indeed an 
 exact Pattern of what the Father wants us to be. 
 What was wanted was such a portrait as should 
 make likeness to Him infinitely and mightily 
 attracti/e, should rouse desire, awaken love, inspire 
 hope, and strengthen faith in all who are seeking 
 to imitate Jesus Christ. And then I had to sketch 
 another portrait, — that of the believer as he really, 
 with some degree of spiritual exactness, reflects 
 
6 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 this Image, and amid the trials and duties of daily 
 life proves that likeness to Christ is no mere ideal, 
 but through the power of the Holy Ghost a most 
 blessed reality. 
 
 How often and how deeply I have felt, after hav- 
 ing sought to deUneate some one trait of the blessed 
 Life, how utterly insufficient human thoughts are to 
 grasp, or human words to express, that spiritual 
 beauty of which one at best only has seen faint 
 glimpses ! And how often our very thoughts de- 
 ceive us, as they give us some human conception in 
 the mind of what the Word reveals, while we lack 
 that true vision of the spiritual glory of Him who 
 is the brightness of the Father's glory ! 
 
 The second remark I wish to make is a sug- 
 gestion as to what I think is needed reaUy to 
 behold the glory of the blessed Image into which 
 we ^e to be changed. I was very much struck 
 some time ago, in an infant school examination, 
 with the practice a little class in object-lessons was 
 put through. A picture was shown them, which 
 they were told to look at carefully. They then 
 had to shut their eyes, and take time to think and 
 remember everything they had seen. The picture 
 was now removed, and the little ones had to tell all 
 they could. Again the picture was shown, and 
 they had to try and notice what they had not ob- 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 served before ; again to shut their eyes and think, 
 and again to tell what more they had noticed. 
 And so once more, until every line of the picture 
 had been taken in. As I looked at the keen 
 interest with which the little eyes now gazed on the 
 picture, and then were pressed so tightly shut as 
 they tried to realize, and take in, and keep what 
 they had been looking at, I felt that if our Bible 
 reading were more of such an object-lesson, the 
 unseen spiritual realities pictured to us in the 
 Word would take much deeper hold of our inner 
 life. We are too easily content with the thoughts 
 suggested by the words of the Bible, though these 
 are but forms of truth, without giving time for the 
 substantial spiritual reality, which the Word as the 
 truth of God contains, to get lodged and rooted in 
 the heart. Let us, in meditating on the Image of 
 God in Christ, to which we are to be conformed, 
 remember this. Whon some special trait has oc- 
 cupied our thoughts, let us shut our eyes, and open 
 our hearts ; let us think, and pray, and believe in 
 the working of the Holy Spirit, until we really see 
 the blessed Master in that special light in which 
 the Word has been setting Him before us, and can 
 cairy away for that day the deep and abiding im- 
 ])ression of that heavenly beauty in Him which we 
 know is to bo reproduced in us. Let us gaze, and 
 
• ® PHEFACE. 
 
 gazengain, let us «orsl>i,, and adoro; the more w« 
 see H™ as ire is, the liker Him wo m«st become. 
 To study the image of God in the man Christ 
 Jesus, to yield and set open our inmost being for 
 that image to take possession and live in us, and 
 hen to go forth and let the heavenly likeness 
 eflcct Itself and shine out in our life among our 
 
 tor, lot this be what we live for. 
 
 And now I entrust the little book to the gracious 
 care of «>„ blessed Lord of whose glory it seeks to 
 toll. May He give us to see that there is no 
 beauty or blessedness like that of a Christ-like life 
 May He teach us to believe that in union with 
 n™ the Christ-like life is indeed for us. And as 
 each day we listen to what His Word tells us of 
 H.S image may eaeh one of us have grace to say, 
 my father ! even as Thy beloved Son lived in 
 Th e, with Thee, for Thee on earth, even so would 
 1 also Jive. 
 
 A. M. 
 
 Wellington, Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 P.S.-~As the tone of the meditations is mostly 
 personal, I have, at the close of the volume, added 
 some more general thoughts, 'On Preaching Christ 
 as our Example.' 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 DAY 
 
 1 . necau^o <vc abide in Ilim, 
 
 2. llu Ilinisulf calls us to it, 
 8. As one that serveth, 
 4. Our Head, 
 6. In sufibring 'Wroiini 
 
 6. Crucified with Him, 
 
 7. In His Self-denial, 
 
 8. In His Self-sacrifice, 
 
 9. Not of the World, 
 
 1 0. In His Heavenly Mission, 
 
 11. As the Elect of God, 
 
 12. In doing God's Will, 
 
 13. In His Compassion, 
 
 14. In His Oneness with the Father 
 
 15. In His Dependence on the Fath 
 
 16. In His Love, , 
 
 17. In His Praying, 
 
 18. In His Use of Scripture, 
 
 19. In Forgiving, . 
 
 20. In beholding Him, 
 •21. In His Humility, 
 
 r, 
 
 PAOI 
 11 
 
 18 
 25 
 32 
 40 
 47 
 56 
 63 
 71 
 78 
 85 
 92 
 100 
 108 
 114 
 121 
 127 
 135 
 143 
 149 
 158 
 
10 
 
 C:'NTENT&. 
 
 DAY 
 
 22. In the Likeness of His Death, . 
 
 23. In the Likeness of His Resurrection, 
 
 24. Being made conformable to His Death, 
 
 25. Giving His Life for Men, 
 
 26. In His Meekness, 
 
 27. Abiding in the Love of God, . 
 
 28. Led by the Spirit, 
 
 29. In His Life through the Father, 
 
 30. In glorify'.nf; tlie Father, 
 
 31. In His Glory, . 
 
 PAGE 
 
 16G 
 176 
 187 
 
 194 
 !202 
 208 
 21G 
 223 
 232 
 241 
 
 On preaching Christ our Example, r 
 
 248 
 
LIKE CHRIST : BECAUSE WE ABIDE IN IILM. 11 
 
 First Day. 
 
 LIKE CHKIST: 
 
 JSecause ijoe a^ttie in l^lm. 
 
 ♦ He that saith he abideth in Him, onght himself also so to 
 walk, even as He walked.'-— 1 John 11, 6. 
 
 J^BIDING in Christ and walking like Christ : these 
 are the two blessings of the new life which are 
 here set before us in their essential unity. The 
 fruit of a life in Christ is a life like Christ. 
 
 To the first of these expressions, abiding in Christy 
 we are no strangers. The wondrous parable of the 
 Vine and the branches, with the accompanying 
 command, ' Abide in me, and I in you,' has often 
 bee^ to us a source of rich instruction and comfort. 
 I. though we feel as if we had but very imper- 
 fectly learned the lesson of abiding in Him, yet we 
 have tasted something of the joy that comes when the 
 soul can say : Lord, Thou knowest all things. Thou 
 kiiowest that I do abide in Thee. And He knows 
 too how often the fervent prayer still arises : Blessed 
 Lord, do grant me tho complete unbroken abiding. 
 
 The second ei?:pression, walking like Christ, is not 
 less significant than the first. It is the promise of 
 the wonderful power which the abiding in Him will 
 exert. As tlie fruit of our surrender to live wholly 
 
12 
 
 LIKE ciirasT: 
 
 H< 
 
 iti Him, His life works so mightily in us, that 
 our walk, the outward expression of the inner life, 
 becomes like Kis. The two are inseparably con- 
 nected. The abiding in always precedes the walk- 
 ing like Him. And yet the aim to walk like Him 
 must equally precede any large measure of abiding. 
 Only then is the need for a close union fully realized, 
 or is the Heavenly Giver free to bestow the fulness 
 of His grace, because He sees that the soul is pre- 
 pared to use it according to His design. When the 
 Saviour said, * If ye keep my commandments, ye 
 shall abide in my love,' He meant just this : the 
 surrender to walk like me is the path to the full 
 abiding in me. Many a one will discover that just 
 here is the secret of his failure in abiding in Christ ; 
 he did not seek it with the view of walking like 
 Christ. The words of St. John invite us to look at 
 the two truths in their vital connection and depen- 
 dence on each other. 
 
 The first lesson they teach is: He that seeks 
 to abide in Christ must ivalk even as He walked. 
 We all know that it is a matter of course that a 
 branch bears fruit of the same sort as the vine to 
 which it belongs. The life of the vine and the 
 branch is so completely identical, that the manifesta- 
 tion of that life must be identical too. When the 
 Lord Jesus redeemed us with His blood, and pre- 
 sented us to the Father in His righteousness. He 
 did not leave us in our old nature to serve God aa 
 best we could. No ; in Him dwelt the eternal life, 
 the holy divine life of heaven, and every one who 
 is in Him receives from Him that same eternal life 
 
 II 
 
BECAUSE WE ALIDE IN HIM. 13 
 
 in its holy heavenly power. Hence nothing can be 
 more natural than the claim that he that abides in 
 Him, continually receiving life from Him, must also 
 so walk even as He walked. 
 
 This mighty life of God in the soul does not 
 however, work as a blind force, compelling uJ 
 ignorantly or involuntarily to act like Christ. On 
 the contrary, the walking like Him must come as 
 the result of a deliberate choice, sought in stronrr 
 desire, accepted of a living will. With this view"^ 
 the Father in heaven showed us in Jesus' earthly Ufe 
 what the life of heaven would be when it came 
 down mto the conditions and circumstances of our 
 human life. And with the same object the Lord 
 Jesus, when we receive the new life from Him, and 
 when He calls us to abide in Him, that we 'may 
 receive that life more abundantly, ever points us to 
 His own life on earth, and tells us that it is to 
 walk even as He walked that the new life has been 
 bestowed. ' Even as I, so ye also : ' that word of 
 the Master takes His whole earthly life, and very 
 simply makes it the rule and guide of all our con- 
 duct. If we abide in Jesus, we may not act other- 
 wise than He did. 'Like Christ' gives in one 
 short all-inclusive word the blessed law of the 
 Christian life. He is to think, to speak, to act as 
 Jesus did ; as Jesus was, evm so is he to be. 
 
 The second lesson is the complement of the first : 
 
 He that seeks to walk like Christ, must abide in Him. 
 
 There is a twofold need of this lesson. With 
 
 some there is the earnest desire aiid eflbrt to Ibllow 
 
14 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 Christ's example, without any sense of the impossi- 
 bility of doing so, except by deep, real abiding in 
 Him. They fail because they seek to obey the 
 high command to live like Christ, without the only 
 power that can do so — the living in Christ. With 
 others there is the opposite error ; they know their 
 own weakness, and count the walking like Christ an 
 impossibility. As much as those who seek to do it 
 and who fail, do those who do not seek because they 
 expect to fail, need the lesson we are enforcing. 
 To walk like Christ one must abide in Him; he 
 that abides in Him has the power to walk like 
 Him ; not indeed in himself or his own efforts, but 
 in Jesus, who perfects His strength in our weakness, 
 rt is just when I feel my utter impotence most 
 deeply, and fully accept Jesus in His wondrous 
 union to myself as my life, that His power works 
 in me, and I am able to lead a life completely 
 beyond what my power could obtain. I begin to see 
 that abiding in Him is not a matter of moments or 
 special seasons, but the deep life process in which, 
 by His keeping grace, I continue without a moment's 
 intermission, and from which I act out all my 
 Christian life. And I feel emboldened really to 
 take Him in everything as my example, because I 
 am sure that the hidden inner union and likeness 
 must work itself out into a visible likeness in 
 walk and conduct. 
 
 Dear reader ! if God give us grace, in the course 
 of our meditations, truly to enter into the meaning of 
 these His words, and what they teach of a life in very 
 
BECAUSE WE ABIDE IN HIM. 
 
 15 
 
 deed like Christ's, we shall more than once come 
 into the presence of heights and depths that will 
 make us cry out, How can these things be? If 
 the Holy Spirit reveal to us the heavenly perfec- 
 tion of the humanity of our Lord as the image of 
 the unseen God, and speaks to us, * so, even so ouqht 
 ye also to walk,' the first effect wiU be that we 
 shall beg^xi to feel at what a distance we are from 
 Him. We shall be ready to give up hope, and to 
 say with so many, It avails not to attempt it : I 
 never can walk like Jesus. At such moments we 
 shall find our strength in the message, ffe that 
 dbideth in Rim, he must, he can, also so walk even 
 as He walked. The word of the Master will 
 come with new meaning as the assurance of strength 
 sufficient: He that abideth in me beareth much fruit. 
 Therefore, brother, abide in Him ! Every 
 believer is in Christ; but not every one abides in 
 Him, in the consciously joyful and trustful surrender 
 of the whole being to His influence. You kngw 
 what abiding in Him is. It is to consent 
 with our whole soul to His being our life, to 
 reckon upon Him to inspire us in all that goes to 
 make up life, and then to give up everything most 
 absolutely for Him to rule and work in us. It is 
 the rest of the full assurance that He does, each 
 moment, work in us what we are to be, and so 
 Himself enables us to maintain that perfect 
 surrender, in which He is free to do all His will. 
 
 Let all who rin inrloorl lo'^o" ^" tw^^IU i:i— r^i-.? j 
 
 take courage at the thought of what He is and 
 
16 
 
 TIKE CHRIST: 
 
 Will prove Himself to be if they trust Him. He 
 is the True Vine; no vine ever did so fully for 
 its branches what He will do for us. We have 
 only to consent to bo branches. Honour Him by a 
 joyful trust that He is, beyond all conception, the 
 True Vine, holding you by His almighty strength, 
 supplying you from His infinite fulness. And as 
 your faith thus looks to Him, instead of sighing 
 and failure, the voice of praise will bo heard 
 repeating the language of faith : Thanks be to God ! 
 he that abideth in Him does walk even as He 
 walked. Thanks be to God I I abide in Him, and 
 I walk as He; walked. Yes, thanks be to God ! in 
 the blessed life of God's redeemed these two are 
 inseparably one: abiding in Christ and walking 
 lika Christ. 
 
 If 
 
 Blessed Saviour ! Thou knowest how often I 
 liave said to Thee, Lord, I do abide in Thee! 
 And yet I sometimes feel that the full joy and 
 power of life in Thee is wanting. Thy word this 
 day has reminded me of what may be the reason 
 of failure. I sought to abide in Thee more for my 
 own comfort and growth than Thy glory. I did 
 not apprehend fully how the hidden union with 
 Thee had for its object perfect conformity to Thee, 
 and how only he who Avholly yields himself to 
 serve and obey the Father as completely as Thou 
 didst, can fully receive all that the heavenly love 
 can do for him. I now see something of it: the 
 entire surrender to live and work like Thee must 
 
 I 
 
BECAUSE WE ABIDE IN HIM. 
 
 17 
 
 m 
 
 precede the full experience of the wondrous power 
 of Thy life. 
 
 Lord, I thank Thee for the discovery. With my 
 whole heart I would accept Thy calling, and yield 
 myself in everything to walk even as Thou didst 
 walk. To be Thy faithful follower in all Thou wort 
 and didst on oarth be the one desire of my heart. 
 
 Blessed Lord ! he that truly yields himself to 
 walk as Thou didst walk, will receive grace wholly 
 to abide in Thee. my Lord ! here I am. To 
 walk like Christ! for this I do indeed consecrate 
 myself to Thee. To abide in Christ! for this I 
 trust in Thee with full assurance of faith, Perfect 
 in me Thine own work. 
 
 And let Thy Holy Spirit help me, my Lord I 
 each time I meditate on what it is to walk like 
 Thee, to hold fast the blessed truth: as one who 
 abides in CJirist, I liavc the strength to walk li/a 
 Christ, Amen, 
 
 D 
 
18 
 
 LIKE curvisT; 
 
 Second Day. 
 
 J^ 
 
 WJ 
 
 I 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 ^t J^imself calls ug to it. 
 
 ' I have given you an example, that ye also should do even as I 
 have done to you.' — John xiii. 15. 
 
 IT is Jesiis Christ, the beloved Redeemer of our 
 souls, who speaks thus. He had just, 
 humbling Himself ta do the work of the slave, 
 washed His disciples' feet. In doing so His love 
 had rendered to the body the service of which it 
 stood in need at the supper table. At the same 
 time He had shewn, in a striking symbol, what 
 He had done for their souls in cleansing them from 
 sin. In this twofold work of love He had thus set 
 before them, just before parting, in one significant 
 act, the whole work of His life as a ministry of 
 blessing to body and to soul. And as He sits 
 down He says: '/ have given you an example, that 
 YE ALSO should do, EVEN AS I have done to you.' All 
 that they had seen in Him, and experienced from 
 Him, is thus made the rule of their life : ' Even 
 AS I have done, do ye also.' 
 
 The word of the blessed Saviour is for us too. 
 To each one who knows that the Lord has washed 
 
HE uimjself calls us to it. 
 
 19 
 
 euen as I 
 
 of our 
 i just, 
 i slave, 
 'is love 
 hich it 
 e same 
 il, what 
 m from 
 ihus set 
 nificant 
 istry of 
 He sits 
 oZe, that 
 
 u: All 
 
 3d from 
 
 *EVEN 
 
 us too. 
 washed 
 
 away liis sin the command comes with all the 
 touching force of one of the last words of Him who 
 is going out to die for us : ' Even as I have done 
 to you, so DO YB ALSO.' Jesus Christ does indeed 
 ask every one of us in everything to act just as we 
 have seen Him do. What He has done to ourselves 
 and stiU does each day, we are to do over again to 
 others. In His condescending, pardoning, '^savincr 
 love, He is our example ; each of us is to be the 
 copy and image of the Master. 
 
 The thought comes at once : Alas ! how Httle 
 have I Uved thus ; how little have I even known 
 that I was expected thus to live ! And yet. He is 
 my Lord ; He loves me, and I love Him ; 'l dare 
 not entertain the thought of living otherwise than 
 He would have me. What can I do but open my 
 heart to His word, and fix my gaze on His example 
 until It exercises its divine power upon me and 
 draws me with irresistible force to cry : Lord 'even 
 as Thou hast done, so will I do also. 
 
 The power of an example depends chiefly on two 
 things. The one is the attractiveness of what it 
 gives ^ us to see, the other the personal relation 
 and influence of him in whom it is seen Iij 
 both aspects, what power there is in our Lord's 
 sxample ! 
 
 Or is there really anything very attractive in 
 our Lord's example? I ask it in all earnest, 
 because, to judge by the conduct of many of His 
 
 n?w^l'^ T"^"^ ""^^^^ '^^°' ^« ^f i<^ were not so. 
 that the Spirit of God w vj ^peu our eyes to 
 
20 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 800 tlio lioavcnly beauty of the likeness of the 
 only-begotten Son ! 
 
 We know who tlio Lord Jesus is. He is tlio 
 Son of the all-glorious God, one with the Father 
 in nature and glory and perfection. When He had 
 been on earth it could be said of Him, ' We show 
 you that eternal life which was with the Father, 
 and was manifested unto us.' In Him we see God. 
 In Him we see how God would act were He here 
 in our place on earth. In Him all that is beautiful 
 and lovely and perfect in the heavenly world is 
 revealed to us in the form of an earthly life. If 
 wo want to see what is really counted noble and 
 glorious in the heavenly world, if we would see 
 what is really Divine, we have only to look at 
 Jesus; in all He does the glory of God is shown 
 forth. 
 
 But oh, the blindness of God's children : this 
 heavenly beauty has to many of them no attraction; 
 there is no form or comeUness that they should 
 desire it. 
 
 The manners and the way of living in the court 
 of an earthly king exercise influence throughout 
 the empire. The example it gives is imitated by 
 all who belong to the nobility or the higher classes. 
 But the example of the King of heaven, who came 
 and dwelt in the flesh, that we might see how we 
 might here on earth live a God-like life, alas! 
 with how few of His followers does it really find 
 imitation. When we look upon Jesus, His 
 obedience to the will of the Father, His humilia- 
 
HE niMSULF CALLS US TO IT. JJ 
 
 tion to bo a servant of tlio most iiiiwortliy Hi., 
 lovo as mauifosted in tlio entire giving uo and 
 sacrifice of Himself, we see the Lst\ZZt 
 and glorious thing heaven has to show ; in lieaven 
 Itself wo sliall see nothing greater or brighter, 
 feurely such an example, given of God on vorv 
 purpose to n«ako the imitation attractive and 
 l«jssible. ought to win „s. Is it not enough to stir 
 all that IS wuhm us with a holy jealousy and with 
 joy unutterable as we hear the message ' I have 
 given you an example, that even as I havi done, ye 
 should also do '? ^ 
 
 This is not all. The power of an example 
 consis s not only in its own intrinsic excellent 
 but also in the personal relation to him who ^ives 
 It. Jesus had not washed the feet of othera in 
 presence of His disciples; it was when He had 
 washed their feet that He said: 'Even as I have 
 done to you, ye should also do.' It is the conscious- 
 ness of a personal relationship to Christ that 
 enforces the command : Do as I Lave done. It is 
 the experience of what Jesus has done to me that 
 
 IT''^, "/'"' ' ^^" «"° -^ ''^ *e same 
 to others. He does not ask that I sliall do more 
 
 I sh'Ill 1 r ''""' ,'° y°"- "« ^°^' °«' '''k that 
 I shall humble myself as servant deeper than He 
 
 S T, .?• ''''"^' ""' "^'^^ '^«'^» strange if le 
 '^. :^^f. *^ °^, -;»' ^ -™- But this is not 
 
 demands 
 
 and he what He, tlie King, has done and 
 
 shall hi fit rln 
 
 been. He 
 
32 
 
 LIKE OIIRLST: 
 
 U f 
 
 s 
 
 Immbled Ilimsclf as low as humiliation could go, 
 to love and to bless me. He countod this Ilia 
 highest honour and blessedness. And now Ho invites 
 me to partake of the same honour and blessedness, 
 in loving and serving as He did. Truly, if I 
 indeed know the love that rests on nic, and the 
 humiliation through which alone that love could 
 reach me, and the power of the cleansing which has 
 washed me, nothing can keep me back from 
 saying : * Yes, blessed Lord, even as Thou hast done 
 to me, I will also do.' The heavenly loveliness of 
 the great Example, and the Divine lovingness of 
 the great Exemplar, combine to make the example 
 above everything attractive. 
 
 Only there is one thing I must nob forget. It is 
 not the remembrance of what Jesus has once done 
 to me, but the living experience of what He is now 
 to me, that will give me the power to act like Him. 
 His love must be a present reality, the inflowing of 
 a life and a power in which I can love like Him. 
 It is only as by the Holy Spirit I realize what Jesus 
 is doing for me, and now He does it, and that it is 
 He who does it, that it is possible for me to do to 
 others what He is doing to me. 
 
 'Even as I have done to you, do ye aloO-' 
 What a precious word 1 What a glorious prospect ! 
 Jesus is going to show forth in me the Divine 
 power of His love, that I may show it forth to 
 others. Fi tHessp- me, that I may bless others. 
 He loves Die tiiat I may love others. He becomes 
 servant to me^ that I may become a servant to 
 
HE I.IMSKLF CALLS U8 TO IT, 23 
 
 otiicrs. He auves «„d cleanses mo that I may save 
 and cleanse others. lie gives Hi„,self whofly 1 ,r 
 
 «r TT > ""* '"''^*'' •>" doins over to others 
 vliat H„ IS clo,„K to me-„othmy more. I can do 
 
 It, JUS because He is doiu« it to n>e. What ? do 
 -yotlunjj but tl,e repeating, tl,e showing forth of 
 «'lint I am receiving from Him ' 
 
 Wondrous gr.aco ! which thus calls us to be lil;, 
 
 Slo ly. Wondrous grace! which fits us for this 
 
 vha we are to be to others. Shall not our whole 
 >eart joyously respond to His command S 
 
 Gracious Lord ! what can I now do but nmi^P 
 and pray? My heart feels overwhelmed wLtb' 
 wondrous offer, that Thou wilt revei llS'it 
 and power m me, if I will yield myself tn i.V^! 
 
 ov i °' ^f/" ^"'^ '"''' S^'^'^f"' adoration, with 
 
 y Here" ar% """' '"^^^ ''^« "^^ -^ 
 rne 'and j ^7 ', "" """ '^"^ '""'^'^ ^'^^^-^ Invest 
 evenTo '""^ '' '" "'^''^ ^^ '"-"S them 
 
 «•'-« ?vc, uic; .var/ze ?^i« we do unto tliee 'J ^ """"' **" 
 
ii « 
 
 M 
 
 ■^ 
 
 24 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 And that I may be aLle to do this, blessed Lord^ 
 grant me these two things. Grant me, by Thy 
 Holy Spirit, a clear insight into Thy love tc me, 
 that I may know how Thou lovest me, how Thy 
 love to me is Thy delight and blessedness, how in 
 that love Thou givest Thyself so completely to mo, 
 that Thou art indeed mine to do for me cdl I need. 
 Grant this. Lord, and I shall know how to love 
 and how to live for others, even as Thou lovest and 
 livest for me. 
 
 And then grant me to see, as often as I feel how 
 little love I have, that it is not with the love of 
 my little heart, but witli Thy love shed abroad in 
 me, that I have to fulfil the command of loving like 
 Thee. Am I not Thy branch, my heavenly 
 Vine ; it is the fulness of Thy life and love that 
 Hows through me in love and blessing to those 
 around. It is Thy Spirit that, at the same moment, 
 reveals what Thou art to me, and strengthens me 
 for what I am to be to others in Thy name. In 
 this faith I dare to say. Amen, Lord, even as Thou 
 doest to me, I also do. Yea, Ameii. 
 
AS ONE THAT SEKVETII. 
 
 26 
 
 Third Day. 
 
 LIKE CHRIST; 
 
 y as one tijat ster&etij. 
 
 •If I then, yonr lord and Master, have washed v«„r <„„» 
 «fao ought to wash one another's feet.>-Jo™ xW u ' "' 
 
 ^ am among yon as He that serveth.._LuKE";i?/2;; 
 
 YJ^SM^RDAY we thought of the right that the 
 A lord has to demand and expect that H s 
 
 ^void of which we want to understand the full 
 mea„u>g. The form of a sen-ant in which we see 
 ii-im the ckanszng which was the object of that 
 service, the lou which was its motive power -these 
 are the three chief thoughts. 
 
 First, the form of a servant. All was readv for 
 he last supper, to the very water to w h the'fe 
 
 no sla^e to do tlie work. Each one waits for thf. 
 
 s:ii\ri"i^f.-^-'^^"'-nmJSit 
 
 self to do the work. Even a. .ne 
 lull ol the thought, who should be 
 
 at the table tb 
 
 ^J VV CI C 
 
 greatest in tlie 
 
. ■■"■'^^*'-" '"■'-'- -^ ■ 
 
 fit 
 
 I 
 
 26 
 
 LIKE ClIUIST: 
 
 kingdom tliey wore expecting (Luke xxii. 2G, 27). 
 All nt once Jesus rises (they were still reclining 
 at the table), lays aside His garments, girds Himself 
 with a towel, and begins to wash their feet. 
 wondrous spectacle! on which angels gazed with 
 adoring wonder. Christ, the Creator and King 
 of the universe, at whose beck legions of angels 
 are ready to serve Him, wlio might witli one Avord 
 of love have said which one of the twelve must do 
 the work, — Christ chooses the slave's place for His 
 own, takes the soiled feet in His own holy hands, 
 and washes them. He does it in full consciousness 
 of His divine glory, for Jolni says, ' Jesus knowing 
 that the Father had given all things into His hands, 
 and that He was come from God and went to God, 
 rose.' For the hands into which God had given 
 all things, nothing is common or unclean. The 
 meanness of a work never lowers the person ; the 
 person honours and elevates the work, and imparts 
 his own worth even to the meanest service. In 
 such deep humiliation, as we men call it, our Lord 
 finds divine glory, and is in this the Leader of His 
 Church in the path of true blessedness. It is as 
 the Son that He is the servant. Just because He 
 is the beloved of His Father, in whose hands all 
 things are given, it is not difficult for Him to stoop 
 so low. In thus taking the form of a servant, Jesus 
 proclaims the law of rank in the Church of Christ. 
 The higher one wishes to stand in grace, the more 
 it must be his joy to be servant of all. * Whosoever 
 will bo cliior among you, let him lie your servant * 
 
A3 ONK TIIA.T SliliVKTir. 
 
 27 
 
 (Matt XX. 27); 'He tlmt is greatest among you 
 slmll be your servant' (Matt, .xxiii. 11) The 
 liiglier I rise in the consciousness of boiu" like 
 Clmst, God's beloved cliild, the .Icepcr shall f stoop 
 to serve all around me. 
 
 A servant is one who is always earing for tlio worlc 
 and interest of Jiis master, is ever ready to let his 
 master see that he only seeks to do what will i.lease or 
 pront him. Thus Jesus lived : • For even tlie Son' of 
 man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister 
 
 and to give His life a ransom for many' (Mark x 45)' 
 'I am among you as he that sorveth.' Thus I 
 must live, moving about among God's children as 
 the servant of all. If I seek to bless others, it 
 must be m the humble, loving readiness with which 
 I serve them, not caring for my own honour or 
 interest It I can but be a blessing to then,. I 
 mast follow Christ's example in wasliing the dis- 
 cp es feet. A servant counts it „o humiliation, 
 and IS not ashamed of being counted an inferior: 
 It IS his place and work to serve others. The rea 
 son why we so often do not bless others is that we 
 wish to address them as their superiors in grace or 
 g.fts, or at least their equals. If we first learnt 
 irom our^ lord to associate with others in the 
 bles,sed spirit of a servant, what a blessing we should 
 
 iZdt H^f'-'. '^'"" -- *is%xample s 
 admitted to the place it ought to have in the Church 
 
 "Sift lt.'°"" °^ «•« P— --M soon 
 
 And what is now the work tlie discipL 
 
 e lias to 
 
BiP 'l. ' tW ^IIWI>>I U 
 
 i 
 
 28 
 
 LIKE CIIUIST : 
 
 ! f 
 
 perform in tin's spirit of lowly sorvico ? The foot- 
 washing spejiks of a double work — the one, for the 
 cleansing and refreshing of the body ; tlie other, the 
 cleansing and saving of the soul. During tlic whole 
 of our Lord's life upon eartli these two things were 
 ever united: 'The sick were healed, to the poor 
 the gospel was preaclied.' As with the paralytic, 
 so with many others, blessing to the body was tlie 
 type and promise of life to the spirit. 
 
 The follower of Jesus may not lose sight of tliis 
 when he receives the command, * Ye ought also to 
 wash one another's feet' Eemembering that the 
 external and bodily is the gate to the inner and 
 spiritual life, he makes the salvation of the soul the 
 first object in his holy ministry of love, at the same 
 time, however, seeking the way to the hearts by tlie 
 ready service of love in the little and common things 
 of daily life. It is not by reproof and censure that 
 he shows that he is a servant; no, but by the 
 friendliness and kindliness with which he proves 
 in daily intercourse that he always thinks how he 
 can help or serve, he becomes the living witness 
 of what it is to be a follower of Jesus. From such 
 a one the word when spoken comes with power, 
 and finds easy entrance. And then, when he 
 comes into contact with the sin and perversencss 
 and contradiction of men, instead of being dis- 
 couraged, he perseveres as he thinks with how 
 much patience Jesus has borne with him, and still 
 daily cleanses him ; he realizes himself to be one 
 of God's appointed servants, to stoop to the lowest 
 
AS ONK TItAT SKEVJSTII. 29 
 
 clcpth to servo and save men, even to bow at the 
 leet of others if tliis be needed 
 
 The spirit wi.ich will enabl'e ono to live such a 
 1 fe of lov ng service, can be learned from Jesus 
 alone. Jo ni writes, 'Having loved Eis own wh 
 were rn the world. He loved them to the Id' 
 (John x,u. 1). For love nothing is too hard We 
 never speaks of sacrifice. To bless the loved onT 
 however unworthy, it willingly gives up all. It 2 
 We made Jesus a servant. It is love alone wm 
 make the servant's place and work such b es dnTs 
 to us, that we shall persevere in it at all co.sts w' 
 may perhaps, lilce Jesus, have to wash the feet^f 
 
 « wf °, T'^l "^ ^'''^ -gratitude and 
 
 then is dissatisfied when VdVS o mT'^^th 
 
 ^ZZJ'^^f',''' ^-'' -' «'- "- S 
 a u tnc jiands. Only love, a heavenly unquench- 
 able love, gives tl,e patience, the courage and tit 
 wisdom for this great work the Lord has^ft'before t 
 
 S f' "T"''" ■ ' ^^* y« °"« another's eer- 
 ily above all to understand that it is onlv .7; 
 
 S to7tl^ r^ ^~'' I' --"^e Son' 
 
 u uie seciet of willing, happy service W^ll- 
 
 among men as a Son of tke MoImjU Got Ith 
 
 A -i- 
 
 blessGd it is to live only 
 
 way for love to the hearts oFthebTt; 
 
 ana ao any cost to fiud a 
 
■NttiiiikHMM 
 
 30 
 
 LIKE CHRIST : 
 
 my soul, thy love cannot attain to this; 
 therefore listen to Him who says, 'Abide in mij 
 love* Our one desire must be that Ho may show 
 us how He loves us, and that He Himself may 
 keep us abiding in * His love.' Live every day, 
 as the beloved of the Lord, in the experience that 
 His love washes and cleanses, bears and blesses you 
 all the day long. This love of His flowing into 
 you, will flow out again from you, and make it 
 your greatest joy to follow His example in washing 
 the feet of others. Do not complain much of the 
 want of love and humility in others, but pray 
 much that the Lord would awaken His people to 
 their calling, truly so to follow in His footsteps 
 that the world may see that they have taken Him 
 for their example. And if you do not see it as 
 soon as you wish in those around you, let it only 
 urge you to more earnest prayer, that in you at 
 least the Lord may have one who understands and 
 proves that to love and serve like Jesus is the 
 highest blessedness and joy, as well as the way, 
 like Jesus, to be a blessing and a joy to others. 
 
 My Lord, I give myself to Thee, to live this 
 blessed life of service. In Thee I have seen it, 
 the spirit of a servant is a kingly spirit, come from 
 heaven and lifting up to heaven, yea, the Spirit of 
 God's own Son. Thou everlasting Love, dwell in 
 me, and my life shall be like Thine, and the lan- 
 guage of my life to others as Thine, ' I am in the 
 midst of you as he that serveth.' 
 
AS ONE THAT SERVETH. 
 
 a; 
 
 lun ^f'^T/f*?'.'^ !°" "*■ «"''• Thou knowcst how 
 Lttle of Thy Spmt dwelis in us, how this life of a 
 servant 13 opposed to ail that the world reckon,, 
 honourable or proper. But Thou hast come to 
 teach us new lessons of what is right, to show us 
 what IS thouglit in heaven of the glory of being the 
 least, of the blessedness of serving. Thou who 
 dost not only give new thoughts but implant new 
 eelmgs give mo a heart like Thine, a heart full ct 
 Uie Holy Spmt, a heart that can love as Tliou dost 
 lord. Thy Holy Spirit dwells within me; Thy 
 fulness IS my inheritance; in the joy of the Holy 
 Spmt I can be as Thou art. I do yield myself to 
 . hfe of service like Thine, let the same mind b 
 m me which was also in Thee, when Thou dids 
 
 Thee the form of a servant, and being found in 
 fashion as a man, didst humble Thyself Tea 
 lord, that very same mind be in me too by Thv 
 grace. ^As^a^son of God let me be the servant 0^ 
 
32 
 
 UKK chkist: 
 
 Fourth Day. 
 
 H 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 (But Jgeatr. 
 
 *For even hereunto were ye called; because Christ afso 
 suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow Uii 
 steps : who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the 
 tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteous- 
 ness.'— 1 Pet. ii. 21. 
 
 THE call to follow Christ's example, and to walls 
 ill His footsteps, is so high that there is evcr;^ 
 reason to ask with wonder. How can it be expected 
 of sinful men that they should walk like the Son 
 of God? The answer that most people give is 
 practically, that it cannot really be expected : the 
 command sets before us an ideal, beautiful but 
 unattainable.^ 
 
 The answer Scripture gives is different. It points 
 us to the wonderful relationship in which we stand 
 to Christ. Because our union to Him sets in opera- 
 tion within us a heavenly life with all its powers, 
 therefore the claim may be made in downright 
 earnest that we should live as Christ did. The 
 realization of this relationship between Christ and 
 
 ^ See note. 
 
 ^iili^ 
 
OUR HEAD. 
 
 83 
 
 His people is necessary for every one who is in 
 earnest in following Christ's example. 
 
 And what is now this relationship ? It is three- 
 fold. Peter speaks in this passage of Christ as 
 our Surety, our l^xample, and our Head. 
 
 Christ is our Surety. < Christ suffered for us '— 
 ' Wiio His own self hare our sins in His own body 
 on the tree/ As Surety, Christ suffered and died 
 in our stead. He bore our sin, and broke at once 
 Its curse and power. As Surety, He did what we 
 could not do, what we now need not do. 
 
 Christ is also our Example too. In one sense 
 His work is unique ; in another wo have to follow 
 Him in It; we must do as He did, live and suffer 
 like Him. 'Christ suffered for us, leaving us an 
 ^xample that we should follow in His footsteps 
 His suffering as my Surety calls me to a suffering 
 like His as my Example. But is this reasonablel 
 In Hi« suffering as Surety He had the power of 
 the Divine nature, and how can I be expected in 
 '- ness ot the flesh to suffer as He did ? Is 
 
 ther. an impassable gulf between these two 
 
 thing, .ach Peter unites so closely, the suffering 
 as Surety and the suffering as Example ? No, there 
 IS a blessed third aspect of Christ's work, which 
 bridges that gulf, which is the connecting link 
 between Christ as Surety and Christ as Example, 
 which makes it possible for us in very deed to take 
 
 SiikSr ^""''^^ '"' '"^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ -^ 
 
 Christ is also our Head. In this His Suretyship 
 
ii! 
 
 34 
 
 LIKK CIIlviST: 
 
 I'll' 
 
 and His Example luivo their root aud uuity. 
 Christ is the second Adam. As a believer I am 
 spiritually one with Him. In this union He lives 
 in me, and imparts to me the power of His finished 
 work, the power of His sufferings and deatli and 
 resurrection. It is on this ground we are taught 
 in Eomans vi. and elsewhere that the Christian is 
 indeed dead to sin and alive to God. The very life 
 that Christ lives, the life that passed through death, 
 and the power of that death, worlc in the believer, 
 so thc'it ho is dead, and has risen again with Christ. 
 It is this thought Peter gives utterance to when ho 
 says : ' Who His own self bore our sins upon the tree,' 
 not alone that we through His death might receive 
 forgiveness, but * that we, being dead to sins, sJmdd 
 live mnto righteousness.' As we have part in the 
 spiritual death of the first Adam, having really died 
 to God in Him, so we have part in the second 
 Adam, having really died to sin in Him, and in 
 Him being made alive again to God. Christ is not 
 only our Surety who lived and died for us, our 
 J^xample who showed us how to live and die, but 
 also our Head, with whom we are one, in whose 
 death we have died, with whose life we now live. 
 This gives us the power to follow our Surety as 
 our Example : Christ being our Head is the bond 
 that makes the believing on the Surety and the 
 following of the Example inseparably one. 
 
 These three are one. The three truths may not 
 be separated from each other. And yet this 
 happens but too often. There are some who wish 
 
OUR HEAD. 
 
 Sff 
 
 to Mow Clirist's example without feith in His 
 atonement They seek vvitliin themselves the power 
 to live hke Him; their efforts must be vai,u 
 Ifcore are others who hold fast to the Suretyship 
 but neglect the Example. They believe in redemp! 
 tion through tlie blood of the cross, but neglect the 
 footsteps of Him who bore it. Faith in the atone- 
 ment is iiideed the foundation of the building, but it 
 IS not aU. Theirs too is a deficient Christianity 
 with no true view of sanotification. because they 
 do not see how, along with faith on Christ's atone- 
 ment, following His example is indisponsaUy 
 necessary. ^ J 
 
 Tliere are still others who have received these 
 two truths : Christ as Surety and Christ as Example 
 and yet want something. They feel constrained to 
 follow Christ as E.xample in what He did as Surety 
 but want the power. They do not rightly unde^.' 
 s and how ftis following His example ^an rely be 
 attained What they need is, the clear uliZ 
 - to what Scripture teaches of Christ as H^ 
 Bocauso the Surety is not some one outside oFme 
 
 t IS that I can become like Him. His very life 
 hves in me. He lives Himself in me, whom He 
 bought with His blood. To follow His foots ^si, 
 
 of the wonderful union between Head and members 
 
 Messed truth of Christ's examole wiU t,ak» it- -i~>,- 
 place. If Jesus Himself through Hi; 11^%;:^ 
 
3G 
 
 LIKE chuist: 
 
 li! 
 
 i-? I 
 
 will work in mc the life likeness, then niy duty 
 becomes phiin, but glorious. I have, on the one 
 Bide, to gaze on His example so as to know and 
 follow it. On tlie other, to abide in Him, and opt>n 
 my heart to the blessed workings of His life in me. 
 As surely as Ho conquered sin and its curse for one, 
 will He conquer it in its power in me. What Ho 
 began by His death for me, He will perfect by His 
 life in me. Because my Surety is also my Head, 
 His Example must and will be the rule of my life. 
 
 There is a saying of Augustine that is often 
 
 quoted : ' Lord ! give wliat TIiou commandest, and 
 
 conmiand what Thou wilt.' This holds good here. 
 
 If the Lord, who lives in me, f/ives wliat He requires 
 
 of me, then no requirement can be too high. Then 
 
 I have the courage to gaze upon His holy example 
 
 in all its height and breadth, and to accept of it as 
 
 the law of my conduct. It is no longer merely a 
 
 command telling what I must be, but a promise of 
 
 what I shaU be. There is nothing that weakens 
 
 the power of Christ's example so much as the 
 
 thought that we cannot really walk like Him. Do 
 
 not listen to such thoughts. The perfect likeness 
 
 in heaven is begun on earth, can grow with each 
 
 day, and become more visible as life goes on. As 
 
 certain and mighty as the work of surety which 
 
 Christ, your Head, completed once for all, is the 
 
 renewal after His own Image, which He is still 
 
 working out. Let this double blessing make the 
 
 cross doubly precious: Our Head suffered as a 
 
 Suretv. that in nninn \v\th na TTo pn*r<]i<- i^^or ^'^ f^v 
 
OUR HEAD. 
 
 $7 
 
 lis. Our Iloaa sun'crcd as an Example, that Ifo 
 might show us what the patli is in wliich, in union 
 witli Himself, Ho would lead us to victory and to 
 giory. The suftcring Christ is our Head, our Surety 
 and our Example. ^* 
 
 And so the great lesson I have to learn is the 
 wonderful truth that it is just in that mysterious 
 path of suffering, in which He wrought out our 
 atonement and redemption, that we are to follow 
 His footsteps, and that the full experience of that 
 redemption depends upon the personal fellowship in 
 that suffering. < Christ suffered for us, leaving us 
 an example.' May the Holy Spirit reveal to me 
 wiiat this means. 
 
 Precious Saviour! how shall I thank Tlwo for 
 the work that Thou hast done as Surety ? Standing 
 m the place of me a guUty sinner, Thou hast borne 
 my sms j„ Tliy body on the cross. That cross was 
 my due. Thou didst take it, and wast made lil^ 
 unto mo, that thus the cross might be changed into 
 a place of blessing and life. 
 
 And now Thou callest me to the place of cruci- 
 fixion as the place of blessing and life, where I 
 
 ri. LT'; '''^'/^^«' ^"-i ^^y fi"d in Thee 
 power to suffer and to cease from sin. As my 
 
 Head Thou ,vert my Surety to suffer and die with 
 
 might suffer and die with Thee 
 
 Precious Saviour ! I confess that I have too little 
 
 understood this. Thv R^^r.Ur.l,i^ ..... ,1 . 
 
 *' - ^-nijj wao niufe tome 
 
am* 
 
 lift 
 
 I ;. 
 
 jfli 
 
 i ! 
 
 't ■► 
 
 
 
 38 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 thau Thy Example. I rejoiced much that Thou 
 hadst borne the cross for me, but too little that I 
 like Thee and with Thee might also bear the cross. 
 The atonement of the cross was more precious to 
 me than the fellowship of the cross ; the hope in 
 Thy redemption more precious than the personal 
 fellowship with Thyself. 
 
 Forgive me this, dear Lord, and teach me to find 
 my happiness in union with Thee, my Head not 
 more in Thy Suretyship than in Thine Example. 
 And grant, that in my meditations as to how I am 
 to follow Thee, my faith may become stronger and 
 brighter : Jesus is my Example because He is my 
 life. I must and can be like Him, because I am 
 one with Him. Grant this, my blessed Lord, for 
 Thy love's sake. Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 'Thomas a Kempis has said, "All men wish to be 
 with Christ, and to belong to His people ; but few are 
 really wilhng to follow the life of Christ." There are 
 many who imagine that to imitate Jesus Christ is a 
 specially advanced state in the Christian life, to which 
 only ri few elect can attain ; they think that one can be 
 a real Christian if he only confesses his weakness and 
 sm, and holds fast to the Word and Sacrament, without 
 attaining any real conformity to the life of Christ ;■ they oven 
 count It pride and fanaticism if one venture to say that 
 conformity to the likeness of Jesus Christ is an indispensable 
 sign of the true Christian. And yet our Lord says to all 
 
 without eYcenti^n • <'TJ^ fi,^* j^au _-j- . i i*'. 
 
 -n-ut c..t,rj.!U!,^u . xic iiiau uuwi iioD take ins cross, 
 
OUR HEAD. 
 
 3d 
 
 ■/ 
 
 and folbw after me is not worthy of me ; " He mentions 
 expressly the most difficult thing in His life-the cross, 
 that which includes all else. And Peter writes not to 
 some, bnt to the whole Church: Christ hath left us an 
 exampld that ye should follow His footsteps. It is a 
 sad sign that these unmistakeahle commands have been 
 so darkened m our modern Christianity that cur lead- 
 ing mm^ters and church members have quietly as bv 
 common consent, agreed to rob these words of their 
 stmg A false dogmatic must bear no small share of 
 the bladie To defend the Divinity of our Saviour 
 against inbelief, men have presented and defended His 
 Divine Mture with such exclusiveness, that it became 
 impossible to form any real living conception of His 
 humaniiy. It is not enough that we admit that Christ 
 was a tf ue nian ; no one can form any true idea of this 
 humanty who is ever afraid to lose the true Christ 
 It he does not every moment ascribe to Him Divino 
 powerfand omniscience. For, of a truth, if Christ's 
 suffering and cross be only and altogether something 
 
 S- ' r """'* ''T *^ '^'^^ «f *^« i^^itation of 
 wA ''''V'^''^ ""^ ^'^^ «^^s« «f tl^e word. Oh the 
 ?nd l!Tf^ r^T^ • '^ ^«^^^between the life of Christ 
 and thd life of Christians, when the relation between 
 fufT Ph^ T -f ernal one! And how dow and sS 
 ful the Church of our days is to apply the great and 
 distmctrule so clearly laid down in the life oVchrist 
 to the Ilmg of these gulfs and the correcting of "he 
 
 tZ'ii '^ IT "^'.^"'^ ^^'' Tlie Church of Ch^rist wHl 
 not be fought again out of its confusions until themt 
 ftdactjl irmfahcm of her Lord and Head agaXl 
 the banjr round which she rallies His discvples'i 
 
'' i 
 
 '"''"■'"'''^^■^''■1'fiffliaHKiiillMiMiiii'i n. , , i, 
 
 •I - rmi -|hi^>B 
 
 40 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 T, i 
 
 I'H 
 
 'i , 
 
 Fifth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 In suffertttfl TOrong. 
 
 • For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience tottard God 
 endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it,lf, when 
 ye be buffeted for your faults, -e shall take it patiently \ but if, 
 when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently this ia 
 acceptable with God.'— 1 Pet. ii. 19. 20. 
 
 I 
 
 IT is in connection with a very everyday matter 
 that Peter gave utterance to those yeighty 
 words concerning Christ as our Surety and Eiample. 
 He is writing to servants, who at that time were 
 mostly slaves. He teaches them 'to be Subject 
 with all fear/ not only to the good and genjle, but 
 also to the froward. For, so he writes, if aiy one 
 do wrong and be punished for it, to >ear it 
 patiently is no special grace. No ; but if one do 
 well, and suffer for it, and take it patiently, this is 
 acceptable with God; such bearing of wong is 
 Christ-like. In bearing our sins as Surety.Christ 
 suffered wrong from man; after His exam»le we 
 must be ready to suffer wrongfully too. i 
 
 There is almost nothing harder to bea' than 
 injustice from our fellow-men. It is not oiry the 
 
 k 
 
IN SUFFERING WRONG. 4^ 
 
 loss or pain; there is the feeling of humiliation 
 and injustice, and the consciousness of our ric^hts 
 asserts itself. In what our feUow-creatures do to 
 us. It IS not easy at once to recognise the will of 
 God, who thus aUows us to be tried, to see if we 
 have truly taken Christ as our example. Let us 
 study that example. From Him we may learn 
 what It was that gave Him the power to bear 
 injuries patiently. 
 
 Christ lelieved in suffering as the will of God 
 He had found it in Scripture that the servant of 
 God should suffer. He had made Himself familiar 
 with the thought, so that when suffering came it 
 did not take Him by surprise. He expected 'it 
 He knew that thus He must be perfected ; and so' 
 His first thought was not how to be delivered from 
 It, but how to glorifj^ God in it. This enabled 
 Him to bear the greatest injustice quietly. He 
 saw God's hand in it. . 
 
 Christian! would you have strength to suffer 
 wrong m the spirit in which Christ did ? Accustom 
 yourself in everything that happens, to recognise 
 the hand and will of God. This lesson is of mo le 
 consequence than you think. Whether it be some 
 great wrong that is done you, or some little offence 
 that you meet in daily life, before you fix your 
 thoughts on the person who did it, first be still and 
 
 see zf I shall glorify Him in it. This trial be it 
 
 the greatest or least, is nllnwod w n^ - i • W 
 .„•]! ^^ . ' -- ^"^ ^j \xQ\x, una is Ilia 
 
 will conoerniDs «e. Let i.e first recognise and 
 
i; 
 
 42 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 ill 
 
 li 
 
 s 'i: 
 
 ] IV ! 
 
 '■ !| 
 
 
 J 
 
 ^!| 
 
 I i ^>i. 
 
 ' I." 
 
 m Mlif i 
 
 m. 
 
 submit to God's mil in it. Then in the rest of 
 soul which this gives, I shall receive wisdom to 
 know how to behave in it. With my eye turned 
 from man to God, suffering wrong is not so hard as 
 it seems. 
 
 Christ also helieved that God would care for His 
 rights and honour. There is an innate sense of 
 right within us that comes from God. But he who 
 lives in the visible, wants his honour to be vindicated 
 at once here below. He who lives in the eternal, 
 and as seeing the Invisible, is satisfied to leave the 
 vindication of his rights and honour in God's hands ; 
 he knows that they are safe with Him. It was 
 thus with the Lord Jesus. Peter writes, ' He com- 
 mitted Himself to Him thatjudgeth righteously.' 
 It v/as a settled thing between the Father and the 
 Son, that the Son was not to care for His own 
 honour, but only for the Father's. The Father 
 would care for the Son's honour. Let the Christian 
 just follow Christ's example in this, it will give 
 him such rest and peace. Give your right and 
 your honour into God's keeping. Meet every 
 offence that man commits against you with the firm 
 trust that God will watch over and care for you. 
 Commit it to Him who judgeth righteously. 
 
 Further, C/wz's^ believed in the power of suffering love. 
 We all admit that there is no power like that of 
 love. Through it Christ overcomes the enmity of 
 the world. Every other victory gives only a forced 
 submission ; love alone gives the true victory over 
 an enemy, by converting him into a friend. We 
 
 i 
 
IN SUFFEEIKG WRONG. 4J 
 
 all acknowledge the truth of this as a principle 
 but we shrink from the application. Christ believed 
 It, and acted accordingly. He said too, I shall hive 
 my revenge; but His revenge was that of k^ 
 brmg,ng enemies as friends to His feet. He believed 
 thatby silence and subr.ission, and suffering a„d 
 bearing wrong. He would win the cause because 
 thus love would have its triumph 
 
 And this is what He desires of us too. u 
 our siuful nature there is more faith in might and 
 right than ,n the heavenly power of love. But he 
 
 To Zn^ ^*^ f ^"«* --' f°«o- Him in thi 
 also, that He seeks to conquer evil with good The 
 
 more another docs hin .orong, the rn^e llfeds calM 
 
 to love A«. Even if it be needful for (he pubS 
 
 welfare that justice should punish the offender he 
 
 loves '' co^<^erneA, he forgives and 
 
 Ah, what a difference it would make in Christen 
 
 ilLTdV^r"''^'^^ C^'-''^ exampletre 
 
 notTain • . f '"'', °"' ^^° """^ revHed, ' reviled 
 not again ; if each one who suffered, • threatened 
 not, but committed himself to Win, fi, , . "^"7 
 righteously.' Fellow-ChrS ians ^h"s t /v ^"f 
 what the leather would hatus do St ' "S 
 and read again the words of Peter „„ffl , 
 
 be filled with the thousht ■ Tf wf ' . °"f '°"' 
 snffer for \t v„ . , "!f ' "' ^hen ye do well, and 
 
 ' Sco uote. 
 
■-:>i'Ji.&^,ii.'^-«fe8 
 
 u 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 In ordinary Christian life, where we mostly =eek 
 to fulfil our calLng as redeemed ones in our own 
 strength, such a conformity to the lord's image is 
 an impossiMity. But in a life of full surrender 
 where we have given aU into His hnuds, iu the 
 faith ha. He will work all ir .ere the glorious 
 
 expeet.rt.on IS awakened, that th. .mitatioj of Christ 
 in this IS indeed within our reaeh. For the command 
 to suffer like Chnst has come m connection with 
 he teaching, Christ also suffered for us, so that we 
 being dead t, sins, might live unto righteousness.' ' 
 Beloved fellow-Christian ! wouldst thou not love 
 to be like Jesus and in bearing injuries act as He 
 Himself would have acted in thy place ? Is it not 
 a g onous prospect in everything, even in this too 
 to be conformed to Him? For our strength it ia 
 too high ; in His strength it is possible. Only 
 surrender thyself day by day to Him to be in all 
 things just what He would have thee to be. Believe 
 that He lives in heaven to be the life and the 
 strength of each one who seeks to walk in His 
 footsteps. Yield thyself to be one with the suffer- 
 ing, crucified Christ, that thou niayest understand 
 what it IS to be dead to sins, and to live unto 
 righteousness. And it will be thy joyful experi- 
 ence what wonderful power there is in Jesus' death 
 not only to atone for sin, but to break its power ^ 
 and in His resurrection, to make thee live unto 
 righteousness Thou sh^lt &nd it enmlhj Kcsscd to 
 (ollaw fully tlie footsteps of the suffcriw, Saviour, as 
 It has been to trust fully and only in that sufforinji 
 
 lit 
 
 I* 
 
IN SUITEKING WRONG. 45 
 
 for atonement and redemption. Christ will bo ia 
 preeious as thy Example as Ho has over been as thy 
 Surety Because He took thy sufferings upoa 
 Himself, thou wilt lovingly take His sufferings ujon 
 
 part of the fellowship with His holy suffedn^s • a 
 glorious mark of being conformed to His most'hdy 
 likeness ; a most blessed fruit of the true life of faith. 
 
 Lord my God, I have heard Thy precious word: 
 It any man endure grief, suffering wrongfully and 
 take It patiently, this is acceptable with God Th", 
 IS indeed a sacrifice that is well-pleasing to Thee a 
 work that Thine own grace alone hatli wrou.\t 
 a fruit of the suffering of Thy beloved Son, of °tha 
 
 of ffisL f r' *'" P°"^^ He gives in virtu 
 of His having destroyed the power of sin 
 
 .im »7 ^fv "■' ,*'"''' ""' ''°'* '''I Thy children to 
 X' fjT'"^- ^''t *"° ^°'"Pl<=t« conformity to 
 Thy dear Son in thi- trait of His blessed ima^e 
 lord my God I would now, once for aJl, give up 
 the keeping of my honour and my rights iSto Tlw 
 hands, never more again myself to take charge of 
 them. Thou wilt care for them most perfectly 
 
 my W^^ """■' ^ *''' ''°"°"' '"'^ '^''^Shts of 
 I specially beseech Thee to fill me with faith in 
 tlie conquenng power of suffering love Give me 
 to apprehend fully how the sufferfng Iamb of G^d 
 teaches us that ratifin^e an-' -V-,- - " i- • 
 avail more with God, and therefore with man too! 
 
, J » «SV*: ^^ •".i;,fl(*»t- , 
 
 ■^^ ''rin'riilWiifflll 
 
 
 16 
 
 I^IKE CHRIST: 
 
 m 
 
 than might or right. my Father, I must, I would 
 walk 111 the footsteps of my Lord Jesus. Let Thy 
 Holy Spmt, and the light of Thy love and presence, 
 be my guide and strength. Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 r.io;^^'^* '"i"* *^^?^ sayest, my son ? Cease from com- 
 pl^ning, when thou considerest my passion, and t\w 
 sufferings of my other saints. Do not say, " To sufl' ■ 
 Uns from such a one, it is more than I can or may do. 
 r L .' .?^ T ^'■J''* "^^^"S' ^"^ accused me of thin-s 
 thoulhf t'^ ^' '^ Of another I might hear it, ifl 
 thought I deserved it, but not from him!" Sudi 
 houghts are very foolish; instead of thinking o 
 patience m suffering, or of Him by whom it will be 
 ZZT/k^^ ''''^y '"''^ ''^^''Vied with the injury done to 
 us and the person who has done it. Fo, he deserves 
 not tne name of patient who is only willmn to suffer as 
 m^ch as he thnks prober, and from lom he ^^leaseT The 
 truly patient man asks not from whom he suffers, his 
 
 Z^Z'AY'^'''^' '' ^"^ ^^^^"^^^ ^^^'^^^ from a 
 WW t^JJ^^''^ ^." ^^^ ^^0 is perverse and un- 
 worthy But from whomsoever, how much soever, or 
 
 fromfhrhrnT'fTT ^' ^'^' ^^' ^' ^'''^^' it ^^^ 'a« 
 r^.-M ^ -^.^i^' ^""^ '^"^*« i* gain. For with 
 .hniu '^P^ff ^^! *^at anything suffered for His sake 
 snouid pass without its reward. 
 
 '0 Lord, let that become possible to me bv Thv crace 
 which by nature seems iiSpossible. Grant that the 
 suffering wrong may by Thy love be made pleasant to 
 me To sulier for Thy sake is most healthful to my 
 
 dfm iicsiijcumjof wrong IS the proof of true patience. ' 
 
CRUOIFIED WITU UIM. 
 
 47 
 
 SrxTH Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 dtxntim fajittj iim. 
 
 •I am crncified with Christ: nevertheless I live • vet im+ T h«* 
 Christ liveth in me. God forbid that I should gl^/n h 
 cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world rcriLified 
 unto me. and I unto the world.'-GAL. ii. 20, vi. U. 
 
 mAKING up the cross was always spoken of by 
 
 71 ^^""''^ ^^ *^® ^^^^ °^ discipleship. On three 
 different occpsions (Matt. x. 38, xvi. 24; Luke 
 XIV 27) we find the words repeated, 'If any man 
 will come after me, let him take up his cross and 
 follow me. While the Lord was still on His way 
 to the cross, this expression— taking up the cross-1 
 Nvas the most appropriate to indicate that conformity 
 to Him to which the disciple is called.^ But now that 
 He has been crucified, the Holy Spirit gives another 
 expression, m which our entire conformity to Christ 
 
 ' See note Christians entirely miss the point of the Lord's 
 
 o^ror ;tis i^rrV"' ^^'^^^ ^^ ^^ '^« -- -^^^ot: 
 
 Zth T I A'' ^* "^''^^ ^"'^ "^°^«- The cross means 
 
 tl e L« f "^ "^ '^: 'T "^'^^^ «°^"S out to die. It is just in 
 «ie time of prosperity that we most need to bear the cross 
 Taking up the cross and fnlloVni? xr^'m U -.hi ; - ^' - 
 ev.rv 1,;„,UT, .,,:\.~r^.^v'^.t^^ '^ ^"^^^^S ^^ss tnau living 
 
 every day with our own life and will 
 
 given up to death. 
 
11 II! 
 
 ""■^■tfiiiiiwa i,ijjMnmigg||,,||j| 
 
 
 'h S 
 
 j^iil!1 
 
 48 
 
 LIKE CHRIST 
 
 is still more powerfully set fortli, — the believing 
 disciple is himself crucified with Christ. The cross 
 is the chief mark af the Christian as of Christ ; the 
 crucified Christ and the crucified Christian belong to 
 each other. One of the chief elements of likeness to 
 Christ consists in being crucified with Him. "Who- 
 ever wishes to be like Him must seek to understand 
 the secret of fellowship with His cross. 
 
 At first sight the Christian who seeks conformity 
 to Jesus is afraid of this truth; he shrinks from 
 the painful suffering and death with which the 
 thought of the cross is connected. As His spiritual 
 discernment becomes clearer, however, this word 
 becomes all his hope and joy, and he glories in the 
 cross, because it makes him a partner in a death and 
 victory that has already been accomplished, and in 
 which the deliverance from the powers of the flesh 
 and of the world has been secured to him. To 
 understand this we must notice carefully the 
 language of Scripture. 
 
 ' I am crucified with Christ,' Paul says ; ' never- 
 theless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' 
 Through faith in Christ we become partakers ot 
 Christ's life. That life is a life that has passed 
 through the death of the cross, and in wliich the 
 power of that death is always worhing. When I 
 receive that life, I receive at the same time the 
 full power of the death on the cross working in 
 me in its never-ceasing energy. 'I have been 
 crucified with Christ; yot I live; and yet no 
 longer I, but Christ liveth in me.' CE. V.') : the 
 
 •; 
 
CRUCIFIED WITH HTM. 
 
 49 
 
 !:fo T now live is not my own life, but the life of 
 the Crucified One, is the life of the cross. The 
 being crucified is a thing past and done : ' Knowincr 
 this, that our old man was (II. V.) crucified with 
 Ilim;^ 'They that are Christ's have crucified the 
 
 nu [ J ?''^ '"^ ^^'^ ^'^'^ °^ «^r ^ovd Jesus 
 Christ, by whom the world hath been (R. V ^ crucified 
 unto me, and I unto the ^.orld.' These 'texts all 
 speak of something that has oeen done in Christ 
 and into which I am admitted by faith. 
 
 It is of great conseciuence to understand this 
 and to give bold utterance to the truth: I have 
 been crucified with Christ; I have crucified the 
 iesh I thus learn how perfectly I share in the 
 finished work of Christ. If I am crucified and 
 dead with Him, then I am a partner in His life 
 and victory. I learn to understand the position 
 I must take to allow the power of that cross and 
 that death to manifest itself in mortifyina or (E V ) 
 making dead the old man and the flesh, in^'destroyina 
 the body of sin (Eom. vi. 6). " 
 
 For there is still a great work for me to do 
 But that work is not to crucify myself: I have 
 been crucified; the old man was crucified, so the 
 Scripture speaks. But what I have to do is 
 always to regard and treat it as crucified, and not 
 to suffer It to come down from the cross.' T must 
 maintain my crucifixion position; I must keep tlie 
 hesh m the place of crucifixion. To realize the 
 force of this I must notice an important distinction. 
 ^ Have been crucified and am dead ; t 
 
 old Adam 
 
 D 
 
'11 
 
 i » 
 
 " till 
 
 I I 
 
 A 
 
 \0 
 
 If i 
 
 50 
 
 LIKE OURIST: 
 
 wa3 crucified, but is not yet dead. When I gave 
 myself to my crucified Saviour, sin and flesh and 
 all. He took me wholly; I with my evil nature 
 was taken up with Him in His crucifixion. But 
 liere a separation took place. In fellowship with 
 Him I was freed from the life of the flesh; I 
 myself died with Him; in the inmost centre of 
 my being I received new life : Christ lives in me. 
 Hut the flesh, in which I yet am, the old man that 
 was crucified with Him, remained condemned to an 
 accursed death, but is not yet dead. And now it is 
 my calling, in fellowship with and in the strength 
 of my Lord, to see that the old nature be kept 
 nailed to the cross, until the time comes that it is 
 entirely destroyed. All its desires and affections 
 cry out, ' Come down from the cross, save thyself 
 and us.' It is my duty to glory in the cross, and 
 with my whole heart to maintain the dominion 
 of the cross, and to set my seal to the sentence 
 that has been pronounced, to make dead every 
 uprising of sin, as already crucified, and so not 
 to suffer it to have dominion. This is what Scrip- 
 ture means when it says, ' If ye through the spirit 
 do make to die (R. V.) the deeds of the body, 
 ye shall live' (Rom. viii. 13). 'Make dead there- 
 fore your members which are upon the earth.' Thus 
 I continually and voluntarily acknowledge that in 
 my flesh dwells no good thing ; that my Lord is Christ 
 the Crucified One ; that I have been crucified and am 
 dead in Him ; that the flesh has been crucified and, 
 though not yet dead, has been for ever Given over 
 
ORUOIFIED WITH HIM. 
 
 fll 
 
 to tLe death of the cross. And so I live like Christ, 
 in very deed crucified with Hira. 
 
 In order to enter fully into the meaning and the 
 power of this fellowship of the crucifixion of our 
 Lord, two things are specially necessary to those 
 who are Christ's followers. The first is the clear 
 consciousness of this their fellowship with the 
 Crucified One through faith. At conversion they 
 became partakers of it without fully understandiii'.' 
 it. Many remain in ignorance all their life lonn 
 through a want of spiritual knowledge. Brother, 
 pray that the Holy Spirit may reveal to you your 
 union to the Crucified One. ' I have been crucified 
 with Christ ; ' ' I glory in the cross of Christ, through 
 which I have been crucified to the world.' Tak(3 
 6uch words of Holy Scripture,and byprayer and medi- 
 tation make them ^ our own, with a heart that expect:^ 
 and asks the Holy Spirit to make them living and 
 effectual within you. Look upon yourself in the light 
 of God as what you really are, 'crucified with Chri^st/ 
 Then you will find the grace for the second 
 thing you need to enable you to live as a crucified 
 one, in whom Christ lives. You will be able 
 always to look upon and to treat the flesh and the 
 world as nailed to the cross. The old nature seeks 
 continually to assert itself, and to make you feel as 
 if It is expecting too much that you should always 
 hve this crucifixion life. Your only safety is in 
 fellowship with Christ. 'Through Him and His 
 cross.' savs Pnnl *T hn-^^a h^ov, ^^„„:^,-j i_ ., 
 
 world.' In Him the crucifixion is an accomplisliud 
 
52 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 til '-^ 
 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 1 ' ' 
 
 
 ^r - 
 
 reality ; in Him you have died, but also have been 
 made alive : Christ lives in you. With this fellow- 
 ship of His cross let it be with you, the deeper the 
 better : it brings you into deeper communion with 
 His life and His love. To be crucified with Christ 
 means freed from the power of sin: a redeemed 
 one, a conqueror. Eemember that the Holy Spirit 
 has been specially provided to glorify Christ in you, 
 to reveal within you, and make your very own all 
 that is in Christ for you. Do not be satisfied with 
 so many others only to know the cross in its power 
 to atone : the glory of the cross is, that it was not 
 only to Jesus, but is to us too, the path to life, but 
 that each moment it can become to us the power 
 that destroys sin and death, and keeps us in tha 
 power of the eternal life. Learn from your Saviour 
 the holy art of using it for this. Faith in the power 
 of the cross and its victory will day by day make 
 dead the deeds of the body, the lusts of the flesh. 
 This faith will teach you to count the cross, with its 
 continual death to self, all your glory. Because 
 you regard the cross, not as one who is still on the 
 way to crucifixion, with the prospect of a painful 
 death, but as one to whom the crucifixion is past, 
 who already lives in Christ, and now only bears the 
 cross as th-' blessed instrument through which the 
 body of sill is done away (Eom. vi. 6, E. V.). The 
 banner under which complete victory over sin and 
 the world i.^ to be won is the cross. 
 
 Above all, remember what still remains the chief 
 
 thiji 
 
 ing= It is Jesus, the living? loving S 
 
 aViOur, WliO 
 
CRUCIFIED WITH HIM. 
 
 53 
 
 have been 
 ;his fellow- 
 deeper the 
 mion with 
 ^ith Christ 
 
 redeemed 
 [oly Spirit 
 ist in you, 
 ry own all 
 isfied with 
 its power 
 it was not 
 10 life, but 
 the power 
 us in the 
 ir Saviour 
 the power 
 day make 
 the flesh. 
 s, with its 
 
 Because 
 ill on the 
 a painful 
 n. is past, 
 bears the 
 vhich the 
 v.). The 
 r sin and 
 
 the chief 
 LOur, who 
 
 Hnnself enables you to be like Him in all thin-s 
 His sweet fellowship. His tender love, His heavenly 
 power, make it a blessedness and joy to be like 
 Him, the Crucified One, make the crucifixion life a 
 life of resurrection-joy and power. In Him the two 
 are inseparably connected. In Him you have the 
 strength to be always singing the triumphant sonc. • 
 God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world 
 hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world. 
 
 Precious Saviour, I humbly ask Thee to show me 
 the hidden glory of the fellowship of Thy cross 
 The cross was my place, the place of death and 
 curse. Thou didst become like us, and hast been 
 crucified with us. And now the cross is Thy place 
 the place of blessing and life. And Thou callest 
 me to become like Thee, and as one who is crucified 
 with Thee, to experience liow entirely the cross has 
 made me free from sin. 
 
 Lord, give me to know its full power. It is lon<T 
 since I knew the power of the cross to redeem from 
 the curse. But how long I strove in vain as a 
 redeemed one to overcome the power of sin, and to 
 obey the Father as Thou hast done ! I could not 
 break the power of sin. But now I see, this comes 
 only when Thy disciple yields himself entirely to 
 be led by Thy Holy Spirit into the fellowship of 
 Thy cross. There Thou dost give him to see how 
 the cross has hrohe7i for ever the power of sin, and 
 aas made him free. There Thou, the Crucified One 
 
mmm 
 
 04 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 m :1, 
 
 t 
 
 1 I 
 
 il 
 . If 
 
 If 
 
 ■ I i 
 
 ^1 
 
 
 '1 
 
 dost live in him and impart to him Thine own 
 Spirit of whole-hearted self-sacrifice, in casting out 
 and conquering sin. Oh, my Lord, teach me to 
 understand this better. In this faith I say, ' I have 
 been crucified with Christ.' Oh, Thou who lovedst 
 me to the death, not Thy cross, but Thyself the 
 Crucified One, Thou art He whom I seek, and in 
 whom I hope. Take me, Thou Crucified One, and 
 hold me fast, and teach me from moment to moment 
 1 look upon all that is of self as condemned, and only 
 worthy to be crucified. Take me, and hold me, and 
 teach me, from moment to moment, that in Thee I 
 have all I need for a life of holiness and blessing. 
 Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 * Jesus hath now many lovers of His heavenly king- 
 dom, but few bearers of His cross. He hath many who 
 desire His consolation, few His tribulation ; many who 
 are willing to share His table, few His fasting. All are 
 willing to rejoice with Him, few will endure anything 
 lor Him. Many follow Jesus into the breaking of bread, 
 l)ut few to drink of the cup whereof He drank. Many 
 glory in His miracles, few in the shame of His cross.' ^ 
 
 * To many it seems a hard speech, "Deny thyself, take 
 up thy cross, and follow Jesus." But it will be much 
 liarder to hear that other word, " Depart from me, ye 
 cursed ; " for only they who now hear and follow the 
 word of the cross shall then have no fear of the word of 
 condemnation. For the sign of the cross will be seen in 
 the heaven when the Lord cometh to judgment, and all 
 the servants of the cross, who in their lifetime have been 
 conformed to Christ crucified, will then draw near to 
 
 ' From Thomas h Kempis, OftTie Imitation of Christ, ii. 11. Thai 
 (kf, lorfva r/ •'/.'<' Cross of Jems are few. 
 
CRUCIFIED WITH HIM. 
 
 55 
 
 Christ their judge with great confidence. Why, then, 
 dost thou fear to take up the cross which fitteth thee for 
 the kingdom 1 In the cross is life, in the cross is salva- 
 tion ; the cross defends against all enemies ; in the cross 
 there is the infusion of all heavenly sweetness ; in the 
 cross is strength of mind, joy of spirit ; the cross is the 
 height of virtue and the perfection of sanctity. There 
 is no happiness for the soul but in the cross. Take up, 
 therefore, thy cross and follow Jesus, and thou shalt live 
 for ever. 
 
 ' If thou bear the cross cheerfully, it will bear thee. 
 If thou bear it unwillingly, thou makest for thyself a 
 burden which still thou hast to bear. What saint was 
 there ever who did not bear the cross? Even Christ 
 must needs suffer. How then dost thou seek ar^ other 
 way than this, which is the royal way, the way of the 
 sacred cross 1 
 
 ' He that willingly submits to the cross, to him its 
 whole burden is changed into a sweet assurance of 
 ilivine comfort. And the more the flesh is broken down 
 by the cross, the more the spirit is strengthened by 
 inward grace. It is not in man by nature to bear the 
 cix)ss, to love the cross, to deny self, to bring the body 
 into subjection, and willingly to endure suffering. If 
 thou look to thyself, thou canst accomplish nothing of 
 all this. But if thou trust in the Lord, strength shall 
 be given thee from heaven, and the world and the flesh 
 shall be made subject to thy rule. Set thyself, there- 
 fore, to bear manfully the cross of thy Lord, >7ho out of 
 love was crucified for thee. 
 
 ' Know for certain thou oughtest to lead a dying life, 
 for the more any man dieth unto himself, the more he 
 liveth unto God. Surely, if there had been any better 
 thing, and more profitable to man's salvation, than bear- 
 ing the cross, Christ would have showed it us by word 
 and example. But now He calleth all who would follow 
 Him plainly to do this one thing, daily to bear the cross.' i 
 
 ^ From Thomas a Kempis, Oflhe ImUation of Clirlst. ii, 12. Oi 
 iheJioyat Way of the Sacred Cross. " - ' • ^ 
 
;:!€r"*f^ 
 
 66 
 
 LIKE chiust: 
 
 ill »i 
 
 Seventh Day. 
 
 "h 
 
 IM « 
 
 t 
 
 § 
 
 . ,.it 
 
 
 \ ' '? 
 
 4' .1 
 
 , ji 
 
 ::!f 
 
 ;l|| 
 
 1 
 
 1 li- : 
 
 
 f;i ' !"i5 
 
 1'^ : ^ 
 
 
 LIKE CHKIST: 
 
 In Jgis Sel&tiental 
 
 ' We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of tbo 
 weak, and not to please ourselves. Let every one of us please 
 his neighbour for his good to edification. For even Christ 
 pleased not Himself, as it is written, The reproaches of them 
 that reproached thee fell upon me. Wherefore receive ye one 
 another, even as Christ also received us to the glory of God.'— 
 Rom. XV. 1-3, 7. 
 
 * If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and 
 take up his cross, &:idfollouj me.'— Matt. xvi. 24. 
 
 TIVElSr Christ phased not Himself: He bore the 
 -AJ reproaches, with which men reproached and 
 dishonoured God, so patiently, that He might glorify 
 God and save man. Christ pleased not Himself: 
 with reference both to God and man, this word is 
 the key of His life. In this, too. His life is our rule 
 and example; we who are strong ought not to 
 please ourselves. 
 
 To deny self — this is the opposite of pleasing 
 self. When Peter denied Christ, he said : I know 
 not the man ; with Him and His interests I have 
 nothing to do ; I do not wish to be counted His 
 friend. In the same way the true Christian denies 
 
I^f HIS SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 67 
 
 himself, the old man : I do not know this old man ; 
 I will have nothing to do with him and his interests! 
 And when shame and dishonour come upon him, or 
 anything be exacted that is not pleasant to the old 
 nature, lie simply says : Do as you like with the old 
 Adam, I will take no notice of it. Through the 
 cross of Chi'ist I am crucified to the world, and the 
 flesh, and self ; to the friendship and interest of this 
 old man I am a stranger ; I deny him to be my 
 friend ; I deny his every claim and wish ; I know 
 him not. 
 
 The Christian who only thinks of his salvation 
 from curse and condemnation cannot understand 
 this ; he finds it impossible to deny self. Althougli 
 he may sometime ...y to do so, his life mainly con- 
 sists in pleasing himself. The Christian who has 
 taken Christ as his pattern cannot be content with 
 this. He has surrendered himself to seek the most 
 complete fellowship with the cross of Christ. The 
 Holy Spirit has taught him to say, I have been 
 crucified with Christ, and so am dead to sin and 
 self. In fellowship with Christ he sees the old 
 man crucified, a condemned malefactor; he is 
 ashamed to own him as a friend; it is his fixed 
 purpose, and he has received the puwer for it too, 
 no longer to please his old nature, but to deny it! 
 Because the crucified Christ is his life, self-denial is 
 the law of his life. 
 
 This self-denial extends itself over the whole 
 domain of life. It was so with the Lord Jesus, and ' 
 is so with every one who longs to follow Him per- 
 
'fill 
 
 I ' ' ' 
 
 It ' 
 
 I! , I 
 
 1 m 
 
 58 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 fectly. This self-denial has not so mucli to do with 
 what is sinful, and unlawful, and contrary to the 
 lav;s of God, as with what is lawful, or apparently 
 indifferent. To the self-denying spirit the will and 
 glory of God and the salvation of man are always 
 more than our own interests or pleasure. 
 
 Before we can know how to please our neighbour, 
 self-denial must first exercise itself in our own 
 personal life. It must rule the body. The holy 
 fasting of him who said, Man shall not live by bread 
 alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
 mouth of God ; and who would not eat until His 
 Father gave Him food, and His Father's work was 
 done, teaches the believer a holy temperance in 
 eating and drinking. The holy poverty of Him 
 who had not where to lay His head, teaches Him so 
 to regulate the possession, and use, and enjoyment 
 of earthly things, that he may always possess as not 
 possessing. After the example of the holy suffering 
 of Him who bore all our sins in His own body on 
 the tree, he loams to bear all suffering patiently : 
 even in the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit, 
 he desires to bear about the dying of the Lord 
 Jesus; with Paul he keeps under the body and 
 brings it into subjection; all its desires and 
 appetites he would have ruled by the self-denial of 
 Jesus. He does not please himself. 
 
 This self-denial keeps watch over the spirit too. 
 His own wisdom and judgment the believer brings 
 into subjection to God's word ; he gives up his own 
 thoushts to the teaching of the Word and the 
 
 m 
 
IN HIS SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 ^1 
 
 Spirit. Towards man he manifests the same self- 
 denial of his own wisdom in a readiness to hear and 
 learn, in the meekness and humility with which, 
 even when he knows he is in the right, he gives his 
 opinion, in the desire ever to find and to acknow- 
 ledge what is good in others. 
 
 And then {-elf-denial has special reference to the 
 heart. All the affections and desires are placed 
 under it. The will, the kingly power of the soul, 
 is specially under its control. As little as self- 
 pleasing could be a part of Christ's life, may 
 Christ's follower allow it ever to influence his 
 conduct. * We ought not to please ourselves. For 
 even Christ pleased not Himself,' Self-denial is 
 the law of his life. 
 
 Nor does he find it hard when once he has truly 
 surrendered himself to it. To one who, with a 
 (liNTided heart, seeks to force himself to a life of 
 self-denial, it is hard indeed ; but to one who has 
 yielded himself to it unreservedly, because he has 
 with his whole heart accepted the cross to destroy 
 the power of sin and self, the blessing it brings 
 more than compensates for apparent sacrifice or 
 loss. He hardly dare any longer speak of self- 
 denial, there is such blessedness in becoming 
 conformed to the image of Jesus. 
 
 Self-denial has not its value with God, as some 
 think, from the measure of pain it causes. No, for 
 this pain is very much caused by the remaining 
 loluctance to practise it. But it has its highest 
 worth in that meek or even joyful acquiescence 
 
Ilia 
 
 B m 
 
 m 
 
 i m 
 
 % 
 
 ill! 
 
 i 
 
 LIKE CHKIST; 
 
 which counts nothing a sacrifice for Jesus' sake, and 
 feels surprised when others speak of self-denial. 
 
 There have been ages when men thought they 
 must fly to the wilderness or cloister to deny them- 
 selves. The Lord Jesus has shown us that the 
 best place to practise self-denial is in our ordinary 
 intercourse with men. So Paul also says here, ' We 
 oiigJit not to please ourselves, let every one please his 
 ■neiahhour unto edification. For even Christ pleased 
 not Himself. Therefore receive ye one another, even 
 as Christ has received you.' Nothing less than the 
 eelf-denial of our Lord, who pleased not Himself, is 
 our law. What He was we must be. What He 
 did we must do. 
 
 What a glorious life will it be in the Church of 
 Christ when this law prevails ! each one considers 
 it the object of existence to make others happy. 
 Each one denies himself, seeks not his own, esteems 
 others better ^than himself. All thought of taking 
 offence, of wounded pride, of being slighted or 
 passed by, would pass away. As a follower of 
 Christ, each would seek to bear the weak and to 
 please his neighbour. The true self-denial would 
 be seen in this, that no one would think of himself, 
 but live in and for others. 
 
 ^ ' If any man will come after me, let him deny 
 himself, take up his cross, and follow me: This 
 word not only gives us the will, but also the power 
 for seK-denial. He who does not simply wish to 
 reach heaven through Christ, but comes after Him 
 for His own sake, will follow Him. And in his 
 
IN Ills SELF-DENIAL. 
 
 61 
 
 heart Jesus speedily takes the place that self had. 
 Jesus only becomes the centre and object of such a 
 life. The undivided surrender to follow Him is 
 crowned with this wonderful blessing, that Christ 
 by His Spirit Himself becomes his life. Christ's 
 spirit of self-denying, love is poured out upon him, 
 and to deny self is the greatest joy of his heart, and 
 the means of the deepest communion with God. 
 Self-denial is no longer a work he simply does as 
 a means of attaining perfection for himself. Nor is 
 it merely a negative victory, of which the main 
 feature is the keeping self in check. Christ has 
 taken the place of self, and His love and gentle- 
 ness and kindness flow out to others, now that self 
 is parted with. No command becomes more blessed 
 or more natural than this : ' We ought not to please 
 ourselves, for even Christ pleased not Himself: ' If 
 any man come after me, let him deny himself, and 
 
 FOLLOW ME.' 
 
 Beloved Lord, I thank Thee for this new call to 
 follow Thee, and not to please myself, even as Thou 
 didst not please Thyself. I thank Thee that I 
 have now no longer, as once, to hear it with fear. 
 Thy commandments are no longer grievous to me ; 
 Thy yoke is easy, and Thy burden light. What I 
 see in Thy life on earth as my example, is the 
 certain pledge of what I receive from Thy life in 
 heaven. I did not always so understand it. 'Lone* 
 after I had known Thee, I dared not think of self- 
 denial. But for him who has learned what it is to 
 
l' I 
 
 i 
 
 62 
 
 LIKE OHRIST : 
 
 take up the cross, to be crucified with Thee, and to 
 see the old man nailed to the cross, it is no longer 
 terrible to deny it. Oh, my Lord ! who would not 
 be ashamed to be the friend of a crucified and 
 ax^ursed criminal ? Since I have learned that Thou 
 art my life, and that Thou dost wholly take charge 
 of the life that is wholly entrusted to Thee, to work 
 both to will and to do, I do not fear but Thou wilt 
 give me the love and wisdom in the path of self- 
 denial joyfully to follow Thy footsteps. Blessed 
 Lord, Thy disciples are not worthy of this grace ; 
 but since Thou hast chosen us to it, we will gladly 
 seek not to please ourselves, but every one his 
 neighbour, as Thou hast taught us. And may Tljy 
 Holy Spirit work it in us mightily. Ameu. 
 
IN HIS SEH-yACItlFIC 
 
 63 
 
 Eighth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 In f&fe MtmtxiUct. 
 
 ♦Walk in love, even as Christ alao hath loved ub, and hata 
 given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a 
 sweet-smelling savour.'— Eph. v. 2. 
 
 • Hereby perceive we the love of God, )iecause He laid down 
 His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the 
 brethren.'~l John iii. 16. 
 
 WHAT is the connection between self-sacrifice 
 and self-denial? The former is the root 
 from which the latter springs. In self-denial, self- 
 sacrifice is tested, and thus strengthened and pre- 
 pared each time again to renew its entire surrender. 
 Thus it was with the Lord Jesus. His incarnation 
 was a self-sacrifice ; His life of self-denial was the 
 proof of it ; through this, again. He was prepared 
 for the great act of self-sacrifice in His death on the 
 cross. Thus it is with the Christian. His conver- 
 sion is to a certain extent the sacrifice of self, 
 though but a very partial one, owing to ignorance 
 and weakness. From that first act of self-surrender 
 arises the obligation to the exercise of daily self- 
 denial. The Christian's efforts to do so show him 
 his weakness, and prepare him for that new and 
 
c\ 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 •\''i' 
 
 M- 
 
 ^nrm 
 
 more entiro self-sacrifice in which lie first findg 
 strength for more continuous self-denial. 
 
 Self-sacrifice is of the very essence of true love. 
 The very nature and blessedness of love consist in 
 forgetting self, and seeking its happiness in the 
 loved one. Where in the beloved there is a want 
 or need, love is impelled by its very nature to offer 
 up its own happiness for that of the other, to unite 
 itself to the beloved one, and at any sacrifice to 
 make him the sharer of its own blessedness. 
 
 Who can say whether this is not one of the 
 secrets which eternity will reveal, that sin was per- 
 mitted because otherwise God's love could never 
 so fully have been revealed ? The highest glory of 
 God's love was manifested in the self-sacrifice of 
 Christ. It is the highest glory of the Christian to 
 be like his Lord in this. Without entire self- 
 sacrifice the new command, the command of love, 
 cannot be fulfilled. Without entire self-sacrifice 
 we cannot love as Jesus loved. * Be ye imitators 
 of God,' says the apostle, *and walk in love, 
 even as Christ hath loved us, and given Him- 
 self a sacrifice for us.' Let all your walk and 
 conversation be, according to Christ's example, in 
 love. It was this love that made His sacrifice 
 acceptable in God's sight, a sweet-smelling savour. 
 As His love exhibited itself in self-sacrifice, let 
 your love prove itself to be conformable to His in 
 the daily self-sacrifice for the welfare of others, so 
 will it also be acceptable in the sight of God. * We 
 ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.' 
 
 i-t;! 
 
IN niS SELF-SACRIFICE. 
 
 cn 
 
 Down even into tlio daily afiiiirs of liomo life, in 
 the intercourso between husband and wife, in tlie 
 relation of master and servant, Christ's self-sacrifice 
 must bo the rule of our walk. ' Likewise, yo 
 liusbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the 
 Church, and gave Himself for it* 
 
 And mark specially the words, 'ITath given 
 Himself /(;r us an offering to God' Wo see that 
 self-sacrifice has here two sides. Christ's self- 
 sacrifice had a God ward as well as a man ward 
 aspect. It was for its, but it was to God that He 
 offered Himself as a sacrifice. In all our self- 
 sacrifice there must be these two sides in union, 
 though now the one and then again the other may 
 be more prominent. 
 
 It is only when we sacrifice ourselves to God 
 tliat there will be the power for an entire self- 
 sacrifice. The Holy Spirit reveals to the believer 
 the right of God's claim on us, how we are not our 
 own, but His. The realization of how absolutely 
 we are God's property, bought and paid for with 
 blood, of how we are loved with such a wonderful 
 love, and of what blessedness there is in the full 
 surrender to Him, leads the believer to yield him- 
 self a whole burnt-offering. Ho lays himself on the 
 altar of consecration, and finds it his highest joy to 
 be a sweet-smelling savour to his God, God-devoted 
 and God-accepted. And then it becomes his first 
 and most earnest desire to know how God would 
 have him show this entire self-sacrifice in life and 
 walk. 
 
 E 
 
CO 
 
 LIKE CHRIST; 
 
 ill' .iV 
 
 "■'H l' 
 
 God i^oints liim to Christ's example. He was a 
 sweet-smelling savour to God when He gave Him- 
 self a sacrifice for xis. For every Christian who 
 gives himself entirely to His service, God has the 
 same honour as He had for His Son, He uses him 
 as an instrument of blessing to others. Therefore 
 John says, ' He who loveth not his brother whom 
 he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath 
 not seen ? ' The self-sacrifice in which you have 
 devoted yourself to God's service, binds you also to 
 serve your fellow-men ; the same act which makes 
 yen entirely God's, makes you entirely theirs.-^ 
 
 It is just this surrender to God that gives the 
 powTr for self-sacrifice towards others, and even 
 makes it a joy. When faith has first appropriated 
 the promise, ' Inasmuch as ye have done it to the 
 least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto 
 me,' I understand the glorious harmony between 
 sacrifice to God and sacrifice for men. My inter- 
 course with my fellow-men, instead of being, as 
 many complain, a hindrance to unbroken communion 
 with God, becomes an opportunity of offering myself 
 unceasingly to Him. 
 
 Blessed calling ! to walk in love even as Christ 
 loved us, and gave Himself for us a sacrifice and 
 sweet-smelling savour to God. Only thus can the 
 Church fulfil its destiny, and prove to the world 
 that she is set apart to continue Christ's work of 
 self-sacrificing love, and fill up that which remaineth 
 behind of the afflictions of Christ. 
 
 But does God really expect us to deny ourselves 
 
 ^ Si:e note. 
 
IN HIS SELK-SACRinCE. 
 
 67 
 
 so entirely for others ? Is it not asking too rrmcli ? 
 Can any one really sacrifice himself so entirely? 
 Christian ! God does expect it. Nothing less than 
 this i3 the conformity to the image of His Son, to 
 which He predestinated you from eternity. This is 
 the path by which Jesus entered into His glory and 
 blessedness, and by no other way can the disciple 
 enter into the joy of his Lord. It is in very deal 
 our calling to become exactly like Jesus in His love and 
 self-sacrifice. 'Walk in love, even as Christ loved.' 
 It is a great thing when a believer sees and 
 acknowledges this. That God's people and even 
 God's servants understand it so little is one great 
 cause of the impotence of the Church. In^'this 
 matter the Church indeed needs a second reforma- 
 tion. In the great Eeformation three centuries 
 ago, the power of Christ's atoning death and rinht- 
 eousness were brought to light, to the great coml^ort 
 and joy of anxious souls. But we need a second 
 reformation to lift on high the banner of Christ's 
 example as our law, to restore the truth of the 
 power of Christ's resurrection as it makes us par- 
 takers^ of the life and the likeness of our Lord. 
 Christians must not only believe in the full union 
 with their Surety for their reconciliation, but with 
 their Head as their example and their life. They 
 must really represent Christ upon earth, and let 
 men see in the members how the Head lived when 
 He was in the flesh. Let us earnestly pray that 
 God's children everywhere may be taught to see 
 their holy calling. 
 
.'..,.,, ?! 
 
 M' , ii 
 
 i;'iiii 
 
 K I 
 
 i ' *• 
 
 mh 
 
 III ( 
 
 I ' 
 
 ,1 ' » 
 
 I 
 
 flHlWiitf, 
 
 08 
 
 LIKE CHRIST 
 
 And all yo who already long after it, oh, fear not 
 to yield yourselves to God in the great act of a 
 Christ-like self-sacrifice ! In conversion you gave 
 yourself to God. In many an act of self-surrender 
 since then you have again given yourselves to Him. 
 But experience has taught you how much is still 
 wanting. Perhaps you never knew how entire the 
 self-sacrifice must be and could be. Come now 
 and see in Christ your example, and in His sacrifice 
 of Himself on the cross, ivhat your Father cxj)Gcts of 
 you. Come now and see in Christ — for He is your 
 head and life — tvhat He luill encible you to he and 
 do. Believe in Him, that what He accomplished 
 on earth in His life and death as your example, Ho 
 will now accomplish in you from heaven. Offer 
 yourself to the Father in Christ, with the desire to 
 be, as entirely and completely as He, an offering 
 and a sacrifice unto God, given up to God for men. 
 Expect Christ to work this in you and to maintain 
 it. Let your relation to God be clear and distinct ; 
 you, like CJirist, wholly given up to Him. Then it 
 will no longer be impossible to walk in love as 
 Christ loved us. Then all your intercourse with 
 the brethren and with the world will be the most 
 glorious opportunity of proving before God how 
 completely you have given yourself to Him, an 
 offering and a sacrifice for a sweet-smelHng savour. 
 
 my God, who am I that Thou shouldest have 
 chosen me to be conformed to the image of Thy 
 Son in His self-sacrificing love ? In this is His 
 
IN HIS SELF-SACRIFICE. 
 
 69 
 
 divine perfection and glory, that He loved not His 
 own life, but freely offered it for ns to Thee in 
 death. And in this I may be like Him ; in a walk 
 in love I may prove that I too have offered myself 
 wholly to God. 
 
 my Father, Thy purpose is mine; at this 
 solemn moment I affirm anew my consecration to 
 Thee. Not in my own strength, but in the strength 
 of Him who gave Himself for me. Because Chiist, 
 my example, is also my life, I venture to say it \ 
 Father, in Christ, like Christ, I yield myself a 
 sacrifice to Thee for men. 
 
 Father, teach me how Thou wouldest use me to 
 manifest Thy love to the world. Thou wilt do it 
 by filling me full of Thy love. Father, do it, that 
 r may walk in love, even as Christ loved us. May 
 I live every day as one who has the power of Thy 
 Holy Spirit to enable me to love every one with 
 whom I come into contact, under every possible 
 circumstance, to love with a love which is not of 
 me, but of Thyself. Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 One of the most earnest and successful labourers in the 
 work of saving the lost writes as follows : 'If I had 
 not been led to a clearer and fuller experience of what 
 salvation is I never could have gone through the work 
 ot the last few years. But, at the same time, one thincr 
 lias continually been becoming clearer, that we cannot 
 speak of unbroken felloic^hip with our Lord unless we 
 give up ourselves, and that ivithout ceasing, to a world 
 
I iH 1 
 
 iw 
 
 I J 
 
 70 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 lying in the wicked one, to save in the strength of our 
 Lord what He gives us to save. A consecration to the 
 Lord ivUhout a consecration to our neighbour becomes an 
 Illusion or leads to fanaticism. It is this giving up of 
 ourselves to the world to be its light and salt, to love it 
 even when it hates us, that constitutes for all really con- 
 secrated souls the true battle of life. To find in labour 
 our rest, and in fighting the sin around us in the power 
 of Jesus our highest joy, to rejoice more in the happiness 
 of others than our own, and so not to seek anything for 
 ourselves, but everything for others, this, this is oui 
 holy calling.' 
 
 May God help us not only to admire such thoughts, 
 but at once to join the little bands among His children 
 who are really giving up everything, and making theiff 
 Jife-work the winning of souls for Jesu.% 
 
 I • ;( 
 
 ' IS 
 
NOT OF THE WORLD. 
 
 n 
 
 Ninth Day. 
 
 us IS OUI 
 
 LIKE CHPtlST: 
 
 y Not Of t!je Simorltr. 
 
 'Theso n,ro in the world.' 'The world hath hated them 
 becausa they are not of the world, euen ai I am not of the 
 vrorld.' 'They are not of the world, euen as I am not of the 
 world.'— John xvii. 11, 14, 16. 
 
 'Euen as He is, so are we in this world.'— 1 John iv. 17. 
 
 TE Jesus was not of the world, whv was He in 
 J-- the world ? If there was no sympathy between 
 Him and the world, why was it that He lived in it, 
 and did not remain in that -high and holy and 
 blessed world to which He belonged ? The answer 
 is, The Father had sent Him into the world. In 
 these two expressions, ' In the world,' ' :N^ot of the 
 world,' we find the whole secret of His work as 
 Saviour, of His glory as the God-man. 
 
 'In the luorld;' inhuman nature, because God 
 would show that this nature belonged to Him, and , 
 
 not to the god of this world, that it was most fit to ' 
 
 receive the divine life, and in this divine life to 
 
 reach its highest glory. 
 
 *■ l7i the world ; ' in fellowship with men, to enter 
 
 into loving relationship with them, to be scon and 
 
72 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 n it 
 
 11 !l 
 
 known of tlisiii, and thus to \vin them back to tlio 
 Father. 
 
 ' In the world ; * in the struggle with the powers 
 which rule the world, to learn obedience, and so to 
 perfect and sanctify human nature. 
 
 * JVot of the world,' but of heaven, to manifest and 
 bring nigh the life that is in God, and which man 
 had lost, that men might see and long for it. 
 
 ' JV^ot of the luorld;' witnessing against its sin 
 and departure from God, its impotence to know and 
 please God. 
 
 * JVot of the world ; * founding a kingdom entirely 
 heavenly in origin and nature, entirely independent 
 of all that the world holds desirable or necessary, 
 with principles and lawp the very opposite of those 
 that rule in the world, 
 
 ' Not of the ivorld ; ' in order to redeem all who 
 belong to Him, and bring them into that new and 
 heavenly kingdom which He had revealed. 
 
 * In the icorldl ' Not of the ivorld.' In these two 
 expressions we have revealed to us the great 
 mystery of the person and work of the Saviour. 
 'Not of the world,' in the powei of His divine 
 holiness judging and overcoming it; still in the 
 world, and through His humanity and love seeking 
 and saving all that can be saved. The most entire 
 separation from the world, with the closest fellow- 
 ship with tliose in the world ; these two extreme? 
 meet in Jesus, in His own person He has recou- 
 ciled them. And it is ihe calling of the Christian 
 in his life to prove that these two dispotiit'ons, 
 
 ' I 
 
NOT OF THE WORLD. 
 
 73 
 
 however much they may seem at variance, can in 
 our life too be united in perfect harmony. In each 
 behever there must be seen a heavenly lifa shinina 
 out through earthly forms. ° 
 
 To take one of these two truths and exclusively 
 cultivate it, is not so difficult. So you have those 
 who have taken 'Not of the world' as their motto 
 irom the earliest ages, when people thought they 
 must fly to cloisters and deserts to serve God to 
 our own days, when some seek to show the earnest- 
 ness of their piety by severity in judging all that is 
 in the world, there have been those who counted 
 this the only true religion. There was separation 
 from sm, but then there was also no fellowship 
 with sinners. The sinner could not feel that he 
 was surrounded with .ne atmosphere of a tender 
 heavenly love. It was a one-sided and therefore a 
 detective religion. 
 
 Then there are those who, on the other side lav 
 stress on 'In the world,' and very specially appeal 
 to the words of the apostle, Tor then must ye 
 needs go out of the world.' They think that, by 
 showing that religion does not make us unfriendly 
 or unfit to enjoy all that there is to enjoy, they 
 wiU mduce the world to serve God. It has often 
 happened that they have indeed succeeded in 
 making the world very religious, but at too hiah a 
 price ; — religion became very worldly. "" 
 
 The true Mower of Jesus must combine both 
 It he does not clearly show that he is not of the 
 world, and prove the greater blessedness ■. 
 
 \ 
 
 u 
 
74 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 PI ! 
 
 li 
 
 
 :MI 
 
 
 I, Hi 
 
 I ; 
 
 ti .tl I 
 
 II 
 I' 
 
 hoavcnly life, how will lie convince the world of 
 sin, or prove to her that there is a higher life, or 
 teach her to desire what she does not yet possess ? 
 Earnestness, and holiness, and separation from the 
 spirit of the world must characterize him. His 
 lieavenly spirit must manifest that he belongs to a 
 kingdom not of this world. An unworldly, an 
 other-worldly, a heavenly spirit must breathe in 
 him. 
 
 And still he must live as one who is ' in the 
 world.' Expressly placed here of God, among those 
 who are of the world, to win their hearts, to 
 acquire influence over them, and to communicate to 
 them of the Spirit which is in him, it must be the 
 ^reat study of his life how he can fulfil this his 
 mission, Not, as the wisdom of the world would 
 teach, by yielding, and complying, and softening 
 down the solemn realities of religion, will he 
 succeed. I^o, but only by walking in the footsteps 
 of Hnn who alone can teach how to be in the .world 
 and yet not of it. Only by a life of serving and 
 suffering love, in which the Christian distinctly 
 confesses that the glory of God is the aim cf his 
 existence, and in which, full of the Holy Spirit, he 
 brings men into direct contact with the warmth 
 and love of the heavenly life, can he be a blessing 
 to the world. 
 
 Oh, who will teach us the heavenly secret, of 
 uniting every day in our lives what is so difficult 
 to unite, — to be in the world, and not of the world ? 
 He can do it who Las said : ' They are not of the 
 
NOT OF THE WORLD. 
 
 75 
 
 world, EVEN AS I am not of the world/ That 
 ' EVEN AS ' has a deeper meaning and power than 
 we know. If we suffer the Holy Spirit .^o unfold 
 that word to us, we shall understand what it is to 
 be in the world as He was in the world. That 
 ' EVEN AS ' has its root and strength in a life union. 
 In it we shall discover the divine secret, that the 
 more entirely 07ie is not of the world, the more fit he 
 is to he in the world. The freer the Church is of 
 the spirit and principles of the world, the more 
 influence she will exert in it. 
 
 The life of the world is self-pleasing and self- 
 exaltation. The life of heaven is holy, self-denying 
 L^ve. The weakness of the life of many Christians 
 who seek to separate themselves from the world, is 
 that tiiey have too much of the spirit of the world. 
 They seek their own happiness and perfection more 
 than ought else. Jesus Christ was not of the 
 world, and had nothing of its spirit ; this is why 
 He could love sinners, could win them and save 
 them. The believer is as little of the world as 
 Christ. The Lord says : ' Not of the world, even 
 AS I am not of the world.' In his new nature he 
 IS born from heaven, has the life and love of heaven 
 m him; his supernatural heavenly life gives him 
 power to be in the world without being of it. The 
 disciple who believes fully in the Christ-likeness of 
 his mner life, will experience the truth of it. He 
 cultivates and gives utterance to the assurance: 
 VEVEN AS Christ, so am I not of the world, because 
 I am in Christ.' He understands that alone in 
 
^_— -«lll 
 
 I: I 
 
 : \ 
 
 r =ii' 
 
 I- 
 
 7G 
 
 LIKE CHKIST: 
 
 cluso union wiih Christ can his separation from the 
 world he maintained, in u^ Ikr as Clirist lives in 
 him can iie lead a heavenly life. He sees tha^ tho 
 only way to answer to his calling is, on the one 
 side, as crucified to the world to wiOKlrnw himself 
 from its power ; and, on the other, as living in Christ 
 to go into it and bless it. He lives in heaven and 
 walks on earth. 
 
 Christians ! see here the true imitation of Jesus 
 Christ. ' Wherefore come out from among them, 
 and he ye separate, saith the Lord.' Tiien the 
 promise is fulfilled, * I will dwell in them and walk 
 in them.* Then Christ sends you, as the Father 
 sent Him, to be in the world as the place ordained 
 of your Father to glorify Him, and to make known 
 His love. Not so much in the desire to leave earth 
 for heaven, as in the willingness to live the life of 
 heaven here on earth, does a truly unworldly, a 
 heavenly spirit, manifest itself. 
 
 * Not of the world ' is not only separation from 
 and testimony against the world, but is the living 
 manifestation of the spirit, and the love, and the 
 power of the other world, of the heaven to which 
 we belong, in its divine work of making this world 
 partaker of its blessedness. 
 
 Thou great High Priest ! who in Thy high- 
 priestly power didst pray for us to the Father, as 
 those who, no more than Thyself, belong to the world, 
 and still must remain in it, let Thy all-prevniling 
 intercession now be effectual in our behalf. 
 
NOT OF THE WOULD. 
 
 17 
 
 The world lias still ciitnuicc to our lioarts, its 
 sulfisli spirit is still too much witliiu us. Through 
 unbelief the now nature has not always full power 
 LoTa, wo beseecli of Thee, as fruit of Thy all- 
 powerful intercession, let that word be fully realized 
 m us : ' Kot of the world, even as I am not of the 
 world.' In our likeness to Thee is our only power 
 agamst the world. 
 
 Lord, we can only be like Thee when we are one 
 with Thee. We can only walk like Thee when wo 
 abide in Thee. Blessed Lord, we surrender our- 
 selves to abide in Thee alone. A life entirely givc.n 
 to Thee Thou dost take entire possession of. Let 
 Tliy Holy Spirit, who dwells in us, unite us so 
 closely with Thyself that we may alv^ays live as not 
 of the world. And let Thy Spirit so make known to 
 us Thy work in the world, that it may be our joy in 
 deep humility and fervent love to exhibit to all 
 what a blessed life there is in tlie world for tliose 
 who are not of the world. May the proof that we 
 are not of the world be the tenderness and fervency 
 vvith which, like Thee, we sacrifice ourselves for 
 tliose who are in the world. Amen. 
 
78 
 
 LIKli ciiuisx: 
 
 Tenth Day, 
 
 M '- 
 
 LIKE CHIUST: 
 
 ' Ab Tlicu liact Bcnt luo into tho world, euen so have I alac 
 oant them into the world.'— John xvii. 18. 
 
 'As my Father hath sent nio, euen so send I you.*— .Toiix xx. 21. 
 
 TTIE Lord Jesus lived here on earth under a 
 deep consciousness of having a mission 
 from His Fatlier to fulfil. He continually used 
 the expression, 'The Fatlier hath sent me.' ^ He 
 knew what this mission was. He knew the Father 
 had chosen Him, and sent Him into the world with 
 the one purpose of fulfilling that mission, and He 
 knew the Father would give him all that Ho 
 needed for it. Faith in the Father having sent 
 Him was the motive t^nd power for all that He did. 
 In earthly things it is a great help if an 
 amhassador knows clearly what his mission is; 
 
 1 It will repay tlie trouble to compare carefully tho following 
 passaf^es : John v. 24, 30, 37, 38, vi. 38, 39, 40, 44, vii. 16, 28, 
 29, 33, viii. 16, 18, 26, 29, 42, ix. 4, xi. 42, xii. 44, 45, 49, 
 xiii. 20, xiv. 24, xv. 21, xvi. 25, xvii. 8, 18, 21, 23, 25, 
 XX. 21. Christ wanted men to know that He did not act indepen- 
 dently, but on behalf of Another who had sent Him. The 
 consciousness of a mission never l'.-fi Iliiu fur a luunicnt. 
 
HIN XX. 21. 
 
 IN Ills IIEAVKNLY .IIISSION. 79 
 
 that lie lm.s notbiijg to Jo but to cavo for its 
 accomplishment ; and that ho has given i,imsoir 
 undividodly to do this one thing. For the 
 Christian it is of no less consequence that ho 
 should know that he has a mission, what its nature 
 13, and how he is to accomplish it. 
 
 Our heavenly mission is one of the most glorious 
 part.s our conformity to our lord, ll s„y, 
 it plainly in the most solemn moments of His 
 life; that even as the Father sent Him' so H. 
 
 ]rs high- priestly prayer, as the ground „,„,„ 
 -Inch He asks for their keeping and Lctificatl, 
 esa^s it to the disciples after His resurrection 
 as the ground on whicli they are to receive the 
 
 and fulfil our mission than to realize how perfectly 
 >t corresponds to the mission of Christ, how thev 
 are, in fact, identicaL ^ 
 
 Our mission is like His in its oJmct. Why did 
 he Father send His Son? To make knlnH 
 love and His will in the salvation of sinners. He 
 was to do this, not alone by word and precept, but 
 in Hs own per.,on, disposition, and conduct to 
 exhibit the Father's holy love. He was so to 
 represent the unseen Father in heaven, that me^ 
 on earth might know what like the Fath;r was 
 
 After the Lord had Tulfilled His mission" He 
 ascended into heaven, and became to the worid 
 W.e the Father, the Unseen One. And now He C 
 made over His mission to His disciples, after havin.. 
 

 i :-! I' 
 
 i!:- . ; 
 
 80 
 
 LfKG CHRIST: 
 
 shown them how to fulfil it. They must so 
 represent Him, the Invisible One, that from seeing 
 them men can judge what He io, Every Christian 
 must so be the image of Jesus — must so exhibit in 
 his person and conduct the same love to sinners, 
 and desire for their salvation, as animated Christ, 
 tliat from them the world may know what like 
 Christ is. Oh, my soul ! take time to realize these 
 heavenly thoughts : Our mission is like Christ's in 
 its object, the showing forth of the holy love of 
 heaven in earthly form. 
 
 Like Christ's in its origin too. It was the 
 Father's love that chose Christ for this work, and 
 counted Him worthy of such honour and trust. 
 We also are chosen by Christ for this work. 
 Every redeemed one knows that it was not he who 
 sought the Lord, but the Lord who sought and 
 chose him. In that seeking and drawing the Lord 
 had expressly this heavenly mission in view. * Ye 
 have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and 
 ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit.' 
 
 Believer ! whoever thou art, and wherever thou 
 dwellest, the Lord who knows thee and thy sur- 
 roundings has need of thee, and has chosen thee 
 to be His representative in the circle in which 
 thou movest. Fix thy heart on this. He has 
 fixed His heart on thee and saved thee, in order 
 that thou shouldest bear and exhibit to those who 
 surround thee the very image of His unseen glory. 
 Oh, think of this origin of thy heavenly mission in 
 His everlasting love, as His had its origin in the 
 
IN HIS HEAVENLY MISSION. 
 
 «1 
 
 I 
 
 love of the Father. Thy niission is in very truth 
 just like His. 
 
 Like it, too, in the fitting for it. Every 
 ambassador expects to be supplied with all that he 
 needs for his embassy. 'He who hath sent me is 
 with me. The Father hath not left me alone;' 
 that word tells ns how, when the Father sent tho 
 Son, He was always with Him, His strength and 
 comfort. Even so the Church of Christ in her 
 mission: 'Go ye and teach all nations,' has tho 
 promise: 'Lo, I am with you alway.' The Christian 
 need never hold back because of unfitness. Tho 
 Lord does not demand anything which He docs not 
 give the power to perform. Every believer may 
 depend on it, that as the Father gave His Holy 
 Spirit to the Son to fit Him for His work, so the 
 Lord Jesus will give His people too all the prepara- 
 tion they need. The grace to show forth Christ 
 evermore, to exhibit the lovely light of His example 
 and likeness, and like Christ Himself to be a 
 Fountain of love and life and blessing to all around, 
 is given to every one who only heartily and believ- 
 ingly takes up his heavenly calling. In this too, 
 that the sender cares for all that is needful for the 
 sent ones, is our mission like His. » 
 
 And like also in the consecration which it 
 demands. The Lord Jesus gave Himself entirely 
 and undividedly over to accomplish His work; 
 He lived for it alone. ' I must work the work of 
 Him that sent me while it is day: the night cometh 
 •— x^^ maii cau wuik. me Fathers mis.^iou 
 
 F 
 
82 
 
 LIKi: CHRIST 
 
 H,j 
 
 was the only reason of His being on earth; for 
 that alone He would live; to reveal to mankind 
 what a glorious blessed God the Father in heaven 
 was. 
 
 As with Jesus, so with us. Christ's mission is the 
 only reason for our leing on earth ; were it not for 
 that, He would take us away. Most believers 
 do not believe this. To fulfil Christ's mission is 
 with them at best something to be done along with 
 other things, for which it is difficult to find time 
 and strength. And yet it is so certainly true : to 
 accomplish Christ's mission is the only reason of 
 my being upon earth. Then first when I believe 
 this, and like my Lord in His mission consecrate 
 myself undividedly to it, shall I indeed live well- 
 pleasing to Him. This heavenly mission is so 
 great and glorious, that without an entire consecra- 
 tion to it we cannot accomplish it. Without this, 
 the powers which fit us for it cannot take posses- 
 sion of us. Without this, we have no liberty to 
 expect the Lord's wonderful help and the fulfilment 
 of all His blessed promises. Just as with Jesus, 
 our heavenly mission demands nothing less than 
 entire consecration. Am I prepared for this ? 
 Then I have indeed the key through which the 
 holy hidden glories of this word of Jesus will be 
 revealed to my experience : * As the Father sent me, 
 even so send I you.' 
 
 brothers ! this heavenly mission is indeed worthy 
 that we devote ourselves entirely to it as the only 
 thing we live for. 
 
IN HIS HEAVENLY MISSION. 
 
 83 
 
 Lord Jesus ] Tliou didst descend from heaven 
 to earth to show us what the life of heaven 
 is. Thou couldst do this because Thou wert of 
 heaven. Thou didst bring with Thee the image 
 and Spirit of the heavenly life to earth. Therefore 
 didst Thou so gloriously exhibit what constitutes 
 the very glory of heaven : the will and love of the 
 unseen F^ithor. 
 
 Lord! Thou art now the Invisible One in heaven, 
 and sendest us to represent Thee in Thy heavenly 
 glory as Saviour. Thou dost ask that we should so 
 Jove men that from us they may form some idea of 
 how Thou lovest them in heaven. 
 
 Elessed Lord I our heart cries out : How canst 
 Thou send us with such a caUing ? How canst 
 Thou expect it of us who have so little love? How 
 can we, who are of the earth earthy, show what the 
 life of heaven is ? 
 
 Precious Saviour ! our souls do bless Thee that 
 we know that Thou dost not demand more than 
 Thou givest. Thou who art Thyself the Life of 
 lieaven, Thou livest Thyself in Thy disciples. 
 Blessed be Thy holy name, they have from Thee 
 Thy Holy Spirit from heaven as their life-breath. 
 He is the heavenly life of the soul: whoever 
 surrenders himself to the leading of the Spirit 
 can fulfil his mission. In the joy and power 
 of the Holy Spirit we can be Thy image-bearers, 
 can show to men in some measure what Thy like- 
 ness is. 
 
 teach me and all Thy people to under- 
 
 
 'rm¥. 
 
'•"*'i*^;i=.4««Mtf,. -..^U 
 
 84 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 stand that we arc not of tne world, as Thou 
 wert not of the worlds and therefore are sent 
 of Thee, even as Thou wert sent of the Father, 
 to prove in our life that we are of that M'orld, full 
 of love, and purity, and blessing, of which Tbou 
 wert. AmeiL 
 
 # 
 
AS TUE ELECT OF GOD. 
 
 85 
 
 Eleventh Day. 
 
 LIKE CHKIST: 
 
 ^^ tlje lElect of (SJotr, 
 
 •Predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that 
 fle might be the iirstbom among many brethren.'— Rom. viii. 20. 
 
 CjCEIPTUEE teaches us a personal election. It 
 f^ does this not only in single passages; its 
 whole history of the working out here in time of 
 the counsels of eternity proves it. We see continu- 
 ally how the whole future of God's kingdom depends 
 upon the faithful filling of his place by some single 
 perscn; the only security for the carrying out'^of 
 God's purpose is His foreordaining of the individual. 
 In ])rcdestination alone the history of the world and 
 of God's kingdom, as of the individual believer, has 
 its sure foundation. 
 
 There are Christians who cannot see this. They 
 are so afraid of interfering with human responsi- 
 bility, that they reject i), .''octrine of divine pre- 
 destination, because it vipioars to rob man of his 
 liberty of will and action. Scripture does not share 
 this fear. It speaks in one place of man's free will 
 as though there were no election, in another of 
 eluciion a:^. though there were no free will. Thas 
 

 ■»% ..a;*;jiiUi'-B«>»»^' . 
 
 86 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 ■M m 
 
 I ' 
 
 it teaches us that we must hold fast both these 
 truths alongside each other, even when we cannot 
 understand them, or make them perfectly to har- 
 monize. In the light of eternity tlie solution of 
 the mystery will he given. He who grasps both in 
 faith will speedily experience how little they are in 
 conflict. He will see that the stronger his faith is 
 in God's everlasting purpose, the more his courage 
 for work will be strengthened ; while, on the other 
 side, the more he works and is blessed, the clearer 
 it will become that all is of God. 
 
 For this reason it i^< of so mucli consequence foi 
 a believer to make his election sure. The Scriptures 
 give the assurance that if we do this, 'we shall 
 never stumble' (E. V.). The more I believe not 
 only in general that I am elected of God, but see 
 how this election has reference to every part of my 
 calling, the more shall I be strengthened in the 
 conviction that God Himself will perfect His work 
 in me, and that therefore it is possible for me to be 
 all that God really expects. With every duty 
 Scripture lays upon me, with every promise for 
 whose fulfilment I long, I will go to find in God's 
 purposes the firm footing upon which my expecta- 
 tions may rest, and the true measure by which they 
 are to be guided. I shall understand that my life 
 on earth is to be a copy of the heavenly life-plan, 
 that the Father has drawn out, of what I am to 
 be on earth. Christian! make your calling and 
 election sure ; let it become clear to you that you 
 are eieoteu, aiiu i^u wiitiu j ii yc uu uncow vxxux^r^i 
 
AS THE ELECT OF GOD. 
 
 87 
 
 ye sliall never stumble/ Quiet communion with 
 God on the ground of His unchangeable purpose 
 imparts to the soul an immoveable firmness that 
 keeps from stumbling. 
 
 One of the most blessed expressions in regard to 
 God's purpose concerning us in Christ is this word : 
 ' Predestinated to be conformed to the image of His 
 Son/ The man Christ Jesus is the elect of God ; 
 in Him election has its beginning and ending. ' In 
 Him we are chosen;' for the sake of our union 
 with Him and to His glory our election took place. 
 The believer who seeks in election merely the 
 certainty of his own salvation, or relief from fear 
 and doubt, knows very little of its real glory. Tlie 
 purposes of election embrace all the riches that are 
 prepared for us in Christ, and reach to every 
 moment and every need of our lives. * Chosen in 
 Ilim that we should be holy and blameless before 
 Him in love/ it is only when the connection between 
 election and sanctification is rightly app^-ehended in 
 the Church that the doctrine of election will bring 
 its full blessing (2 Thess. ii. 1 3 ; 1 Pet. i. 2). It 
 teaches the believer how it is God who must work 
 all in him, who will work all in him, and how he 
 may rely even in the smallest matters upon the un- 
 cJiangeable purpose of God to work out itself in the 
 accompUshment of everything that He expects of 
 Hif people. In this light the word ' Predestinated to 
 be conformed to the image of His Son ' gives new 
 strength to every one who has begun to take what 
 
 Ohrisf. lis pa fl-io t-jiIp r>f «..!■, ^* z.-. t.J ijf •- j r 
 
 — ^„ a^ ^.^i^, iUiC vi M,/K.ct, foc looumccj IS to 06. 
 
88 
 
 LIKE ciimsr: 
 
 isiiiii 
 
 1 ji 
 
 Cliiistian ! would you in very deed be like Christ, 
 fix your mind upon the thought of how certainly 
 this is God's will concerning you ; how the whole 
 of redemption has been planned with the view of 
 your becumin- so; how God's purpose is the 
 guarantee that your desires must be fulfilled. 
 There, wliere your name is written in the book of 
 life, there stands also, 'Predestinated to be con- 
 formed to the image of His Son.' All the powers 
 of the .iJcity w'hich have already wrought together 
 in the iircomplishment of the first part of the 
 eternal purpose, tlie revealing of the Father's perfect 
 likeness in the man Christ Jesus, are equally en- 
 .c;aged to accomplish the second part, and work that 
 likeness in each of God's children. In the work of 
 Christ there is the most perfect provision possible 
 for the carrying oub of God's purposes in this. Our 
 union to Christ, lield fast in a living faith, will be 
 nil all-prevailing power. We can depend upon it 
 as something ordained with a divine certainty, and 
 that must come if we yield ourselves to it. Has 
 not God elected us to be conformed to the image of 
 His Son ? 
 
 It can easily be understood what a powerful in- 
 iliience the living consciousness of this truth will 
 liave. It teaches us to give up ourselves to the 
 internal Will, that it may, with divine power, effect 
 its purpose in us. It shows us how useless and 
 impotent our own efforts are to accomplish this 
 work ; all that is of God must also be through Him. 
 He who is the beginning, must be the middle and 
 
AS THE ELECT OF (JOD. 
 
 89 
 
 the end. In a very wonderful manner it strengthens 
 our faith with a holy boldness to glory in God alone, 
 and to expect I'rom God Himself the fulfdment of 
 every promise and every command, of every part of 
 the purpose of His blessed will. 
 
 And where does this likeness to Christ consist ? 
 
 In Sonship. It is to the image of His Son we are 
 
 to be conformed. All the different traits of a 
 
 Christh'ke life resolve themselves into this one as 
 
 their spring and end. We are ' predestinated unto 
 
 the adoption of children by Jesus Christ.' It was 
 
 as the Son Christ lived and served and pleased the 
 
 Father. It is only as a son with the spirit of His 
 
 own Son in my heart, that I can live and serve and 
 
 please the Eather. I must each day walk in the 
 
 full and clear consciousness: like Christ, I am a 
 
 son of the Most High God, born from above, the 
 
 beloved of the Father. As a son the Father is 
 
 engaged to provide my every need. As a son I 
 
 live in dependence and trust, in love and obedience, 
 
 in joy and hope. It is when I live with the Father 
 
 as a son, that it becomes possible to make any 
 
 sacrifice and to obey every command. 
 
 Believer ! take time and prayer to take in this 
 truth, and let it exercise its full power in your soul. 
 Let the Holy Spirit write it into your inmost being] 
 that you a-e predestinated to be conformed to the 
 image of His Son. The Father's object was the 
 honour of His Son, ' that He might be the firstborn 
 among many brethren.' Let this be your object too 
 m all your life, so to show forth the image of your 
 
90 
 
 LIKE CHRIST 
 
 
 
 
 I III 
 
 ^■tT iiMii 
 
 
 If 
 
 P 
 
 
 1 Hi 
 
 linl 11 
 
 
 I 1 !; 
 
 iil ^ 
 
 !l 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 ijl 1 
 
 m ;, ■ .k1i '111 
 
 ■vm 
 
 Elder Brother, that other Cliristians may be pointed 
 to Him alone, may praise Him alone, and seek to 
 follow Him more closely too. Let it be the fixed 
 and only purpose of j^our life, the great object of 
 your believing prayer, that * Christ be magnified in 
 iny body/ This will give you new confidence to 
 ask and expect all that is necessary to live like 
 Christ. Your conformity to Christ will bo one of 
 the links connecting the eternal purpost^ of the 
 Father with the eternal fulfilment of it in the 
 glorifying of the Son. Your conformity to Christ 
 becomes then such a holy, heavenly, divino work, 
 that you realize that it can come only from the 
 Father, but that from Him j^ou can and shall most 
 certainly receive it. What God's purpose has de- 
 creed, God's power will perform. What God's love 
 has ordained and commanded, God's love will most 
 certainly acccomplish. A living faith in His eternal 
 purpose will become one of the mightiest powers in 
 urging and helping us to live like Christ. 
 
 Thou incomprehensible being, I bow before 
 Thee in deepest humility. It has been such a 
 strength to know that Thy Son hast chosen me, in 
 order to send me into the world as Thou hadst sent 
 Him. But here Thou hast led me still higher, and 
 shown that this mission to be as He was in the 
 world was from eternity decreed by Thyself. 
 my God, my soul bows prostrate in the dust before 
 Thee. 
 
 Lord God, now that Thy child comes to Thcc for 
 
AS TIIK ELECT OF GOD. 
 
 91 
 
 the fulfilment of Thy own purpose, he dares conll- 
 dentl} luok for an answer. Thy will is stronger than 
 every hindrance. The faith that trusts Thee will 
 not be put to shame. Lord, in holy roverence and 
 worship, but wi^^i childlike confidence and hope, I 
 utter this prayer : Father, give me the desire of my 
 soul, conformity to the image of Thy Son ; Father, 
 likeness to Jesus, this is what my soul desires of 
 Thee. Let me, like Him, be Thy holy child. 
 
 my Father, write it in Thy book of remem- 
 brance, and write it in my remembrance too, that 
 I have asked it of Thee as what I desire above all 
 things, conformity to the image of Thy Son. 
 
 Father, to this Thou hast chosen me ; Thou wilt 
 give it me, to Thine own and His glory. Amen. 
 

 
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92 
 
 LIKE CilltlST 
 
 Twelfth Day. 
 
 •0- 
 
 u-i 
 
 i; h 
 il 
 
 LIKE CHPJST: 
 
 i 
 
 In tioincj to*s amill 
 
 *For I came down from licaven, not to do my own will, but 
 the will of Him that sent mo,'— John vi. 38, v. 30. 
 
 TN the wi]l of God we Lave the highest expression 
 X of His divine perfection, and at the same time 
 the highest energy of His divine power. Creation 
 owes its being and its beauty to it ; it is the mani- 
 festation of God's will. In all nature the will of 
 God is done. In heaven the angels find their 
 highest blessedness in doing God's will. Tor this 
 man was created with a free will, in order that he 
 might have the power to clioose, and of his own 
 accord do God's will. And, lo ! deceived by the 
 devil, man committed the great sin of rather doing 
 his own tlian God's will. Yes, rather Us own than 
 GocVs ivill 1 in this is the root and the wretchedness 
 of sin. 
 
 il I 
 
 I'M 
 
 : ! 
 
IN DOING god's WlLlu 
 
 93 
 
 Jesus Christ became man to bring us back to 
 the blessedness of doinff God's will. The ^reat 
 object of redemption was to make us and our will 
 ree from the power of sin, and to lead us again to 
 live and do the will of God. In His life on earth 
 He showed us what it is to live only for the will of 
 C^od ; in His death and resurrection He won for us 
 the power to live and do the will of God as He had 
 done. 
 
 'Lo, I come to do Thy will, God.' These 
 words, uttered througli the Holy Spirit by the 
 niouth of one of His prophets long ages before 
 Christ 9 birth, are the key to His life on earth. At 
 Nazareth in the carpenter's shop, at the Jordan 
 with John the Baptist, in the wilderness with 
 batan in public with the multitude, in livin" 
 and dying, it was this that inspired and auided 
 and gladdened Him; the glorious will of the 
 leather was to be accomplished in Him and by 
 
 Let us not think that this cost Him nothino- 
 He says repeatedly, ■ Mt my wUl, but the will of 
 the Father,' to let us understand that there was in 
 very deed a denial of His own will. In Cxethsemane 
 the sacrifice of His own will reached its height but 
 what took place there was only the perfect expres- 
 sion of what i,ad rendered His whole life acceptable 
 to the Father. Not herein is sin that man has a 
 creature-will different from the Creator's, but in 
 this, that he clings to his own wiU when it is seen 
 
94 
 
 LIKE CIIIIIST : 
 
 '. 1 
 
 1/ "ifflii 
 
 to be contrary to the will of the Creator. As man, 
 Jesus had a human will, the natural, though not 
 sinful desires which belong to human nature. As 
 man. He did not always know beforehand what the 
 will of God was. He had to wait, and be taught 
 of God, and learn from time to time what that will 
 was. But when the will of His Father was once 
 known to Him, then He was always ready to give 
 up His own human will, and do the will of the 
 Father. It was this that constituted the perfection 
 and the value of His self-sacrifice. He had once for all 
 surrendered Himself as a man, to live only in and 
 for the will of God, and was always ready, even to 
 the sacrifice of Gethsomane and Calvary, to do tliat 
 will alone. 
 
 It is this life of obedience, wrought out by the 
 Lord Jesus in the flesh, that is not only imputed to 
 us, but imparted through the Holy Spirit. Through 
 His death our Lord Jesus has atoned for our self- 
 will and disobedience. It was by conquering it in 
 His own perfect obedience that He atoned for it. 
 He has thus not only blotted out the guilt of our 
 selfwill before God, but broken its power in us. In 
 His resurrection He brought from the dead a life 
 that had conquered and destroyed all selfwill. And 
 the believer who knows the power of Jesus' death 
 and resurrection, has the power to consecrate him- 
 self entirely to God's will. He knows that the call 
 to follow Christ means nothing less than to take 
 and speak the words of the Master as his own 
 
 i 
 
IN DOING god's will. 
 
 95 
 
 solemn vow, ' I seek not my own will, but the will 
 of the Father.' 
 
 To attain this we must begin by taking the same 
 stand that our Lord did. Take God's will as one 
 great whole, as the only thing for which you live on 
 earth. Look at the sun and moon, the grass and 
 flowers, see what glory each of them has, only 
 because it is just doing God's will. But they do it 
 without knowing it. Thou canst do it still more 
 gloriously, because knowing and willing to do it. 
 Let thine heart be filled with the thought of tlie 
 glory of God's will concerning His children, and 
 concermng thee, and say that it is thy one purpose 
 that that will should be done in thee. Yield thy- 
 self to the Father frequently and distinctly with 
 the declaration that with thee, as with Jesus it is a 
 settled thing that His beautiful and blessed will 
 must and shall be done. Say it frequently in thy 
 quiet meditations, with a joyful and trusting heart : 
 Praise God ' I may live only to do the will of 
 God. 
 
 Let no fear keep us back from this. Think not 
 that this will be too hard for us to do; God's 
 will only seems hard as long as we look at it from 
 a distance, and are unwilling to submit to it. Just 
 look again how beautiful the will of God makes 
 everything in nature. Ask yourself, now that He 
 loves and blesses you as a child, if it is right to 
 distrust Him. The will of God is the will of His 
 love, how can you fear to surrender yourself to it ? 
 
96 
 
 LIKE CHRIST : 
 
 Nor let the fear that vou will not he ahle to 
 obey that will, keep you back. The Son of God 
 came on earth to show what the life of man must 
 and may become. His resurrection life gives us 
 power to live as He lived. Jesus Christ enables 
 us, through His Spirit, to walk not after the flesh, 
 but according to the will of God. 
 
 'I come to do Thy will, God:' before ever 
 the Lord Jesus was come down to earth, a believer 
 in the Old Testament was able, through the Spirit, 
 to speak that word of himself as well as for Christ. 
 Christ took it up and filled it with new life-power. 
 And now He expects of His redeemed ones that, 
 since He has been on earth, they will even more 
 heartily and entirely make it their choice. Let us 
 do so. We must not first try and see whether, in 
 single instances, we succeed in doing God's will, in 
 the hope of afterwards attaining to the entire con- 
 secration that can say: 'I come to do Thy will.' 
 No, this is not the right way. Let us first recognise 
 God's will as a whole, and the claims it has upon 
 us, as well as its blessedness and glory. Let us 
 surrender ourselves to it as to God Himself, and 
 consider it as one of the first articles of our creed : 
 I am in the world, like Christ, only to do the 
 Father's will. This surrender will teach us with 
 joy to accept every command and every providence 
 as part of the will we havQ already yielded ourselves 
 to. This surrender will give us courage to wait for 
 God's sure guidance and strength, because the man 
 
 I 
 
IN DOING god's will. 
 
 97 
 
 wl>o lives only for God's will may depend upon it 
 tl.;.t God takes luni for his reckoniu- This 
 surrender will load us deeper into the cons°ciousness 
 of our utter impotence, but also deeper into the 
 fellowship and the likeness of the beloved Son and 
 make us partakers of all tho blessedness and 'love 
 that tlie Son has prepared for us. There is nothin.- 
 that will bring us closer to God in union to Christ 
 rtian loving and keeping and doing the will of 
 uocl. 
 
 , ^1'".'^/.^ ^°'^ ■ °"« °f ">o fi'-st marks of conformity 
 C lirist IS obedience, simple and implicit obedience 
 to all the will of God. Let it be the most marked 
 hing m thy life. Begin by a willing and whole- 
 hearted keeping of every one of the commands of 
 God s holy Word. Go on to a very tender yielding, 
 to everything that conscience tells thee to be rioht° 
 even when the Word does not directly command" it! 
 bo Shalt tliou rise higher ; a heartv obedience to the 
 commandments, as far as thou knowest them, and a 
 ready obedience to conscience wherever it .speaks 
 are tlie preparation for that divine teaching of the 
 Spirit which will lead thee deeper into the meaning 
 and application of the Word, and into a more direct 
 and spiritual insight into God's will with regard to 
 thyself personally. It is to those toho obey Him God 
 gives the Holy Spirit, through whom the blessed 
 wU of God becomes the light that shines ever more 
 brightly on our path. ' If any man will do Hi, 
 mil, he shall know.' Blessed will of God ! blessed 
 
 c 
 
98 
 
 LIKE CHRIST : 
 
 obedience to God's will ! oh t]\at we knew to count 
 and keep these as our most precious treasures ! 
 
 And if ever it appear too hard to live only for 
 God's will, let us remember wherein Christ found 
 His strength: it was because it was the Father's 
 will that the Son rejoiced to do it. 'This com- 
 mandment have I received of my Father: This 
 made even the laying down of His life possible. 
 Our union to Jesus, and our calling to live like Him, 
 ever point us to His Sonship as the secret of His 
 life and strength. Let it be our chief desire to say 
 each day : I am the Father's beloved child, and to 
 think of each commandment as the Father's will ; a 
 Christlike sense of sonship will lead to a Christ- 
 like obedience. 
 
 my God, I thank Thee for this wondrous gift, 
 Thy Son become man, to teach us how man may do 
 the will of his God. I thank Thee for the glorious 
 calling to be like Him in this too, with Him to 
 taste the blessedness of a life in perfect harmony 
 with Thy glorious and perfect will. I thank Thee 
 for the power given in Christ to do and to bear 
 all that will. I thank Thee that in this too I may 
 be like the first-begotten Son. 
 
 1 come now, my Father, afresh to take up this 
 my calling in childlike, joyous trust and love. 
 Lord, I would live wholly and only to do Thy will. 
 I would abide in the Word and wait upon the 
 Spirit. I would, like Thy Son, live in fellowship 
 
 H«{nii(|jj 
 
I.V DOING god's will. 
 
 99 
 
 with Tliee in prayer, in the firm confidence that 
 lliou wilt day by day make me to know Thy will 
 more clearly. my Father, let this my desire be 
 acceptable m Thy sight. Keep it in the thoughts 
 of my heart for ever. Give me grace with true joy 
 con inually to say : Not my will, but the will of my 
 l-ather must be done: I am here on the earth only 
 to do the will of my God. Amen. 
 
tmm 
 
 ym 
 
 100 
 
 LIKE cimiST: 
 
 Thirteenth Day. 
 
 .it.:,b.:y 
 
 LIKE CHKIST: 
 
 In fttis Compagjsion* 
 
 ♦Then Jesui said, I ha'^e compassion on the multitude.' 
 
 'Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy follow. 
 servant, even as I had compassion on thee ? '—Matt, xviii. 32. 
 
 OK three different occasions Matthew tells us 
 that our Lord was moved with compassion on 
 the multitude. His whole life was a manifestation 
 of the compassion with which Ho had looked on 
 the sinner from everlasting, and of the tenderness 
 with which He w\as moved at the sight of misery 
 and sorrow. He was in this the true reflection of 
 our compassionate God, of the father who, moved 
 with compassion towards his prodigal son, fell on 
 his neck and kissed him. 
 
 In this compassion of the Lord Jesus we can see 
 how He did not look upon the will of God He 
 came to do as a duty or an obligation, but had that 
 Divine will dwelling within Him as His own, in- 
 sjuring and ruling all His sentiments and motives. 
 After°He had said, 'I came from heaven not to do 
 my own will, but the will of Him that sent me,' He 
 
 p 
 
IN HIS COMPASSION. 
 
 101 
 
 nt once added, ' And this is the will of tlio Father, 
 that of all He hath given me, I should lose nothing, 
 but should raise it up again at the last day/ ' And 
 this is the will of Him tliat sent me, that every one 
 which believeth on the Son may have everlasting 
 life.'^ For the Lord Jesus the will of God consisted 
 not in certain things which were forl3idden or com- 
 manded. No, He had entered into that which truly 
 forms the very heart of God's wiU, and that is, that 
 to lost sinners He should give eternal life. Because 
 God Himself is love. His will is that love should 
 have full scope in the salvation of sinners. The 
 Lord Jesus came down to earth in order to manifest 
 and accomp:ish this will of God. He did not do 
 this as a servant obeying the will of a stranger. In 
 His personal life and all His dispositions Ho proved 
 that the loving will of His Father to save sinners 
 was His own. Not only His death on Golgotha, 
 but just as much the compassion in which He took 
 and bore the need of all the wretched, and the 
 tenderness of His intercouse with them, was the 
 proof that the Father's will had truly become His 
 own. In every way He showed that life was of no 
 value to Him but as the opportunity of doing the 
 will of His Father. 
 
 Beloved followers of Christ, who have offered 
 yourselves to imitate Him, let the will of the 
 Father be to you what it was to your Lord. The 
 will of the Father in the mission of His Son was 
 the manifestation and the triumph of Divine com- 
 passion in the salvation of lost sinners. Jesus 
 
\frnm 
 
 102 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 I ir FT^ 5 
 
 could not possibly accomplish this will in any other 
 way than by having and allowing this compassion. 
 God's will is for us what it was for Jesus : the salva- 
 tion of the perishing. It is impossible for us to 
 fulfd that will otherwise than by having, and bear* 
 ing about, and showing in our lives the compassion 
 of our God. The seeking of God's will must not 
 be only denying ourselves certain things which God 
 forbids, and doing certain works which God com- 
 mands, but must consist specially in this, tliat we 
 surrender ourselves to have the same mind and 
 disposition towards sinners as God has, and that we 
 find our pleasure and joy alone in living for this. 
 By the most personal devotion to each poor perish- 
 ing sinner around us, and by our helping them in 
 compassionate love, we can show that the will of God 
 is become our will. With the compassionate God 
 as our Father, with Christ who was so often moved 
 with compassion as our life, nothing can be more 
 just than the command that the life of every 
 Christian should be one of compassionate love. 
 
 Compassion is the spirit of love which is awakened 
 by the sight of need or wretchedness. What abun- 
 dant occasion is there every day for the practice of 
 this heavenly virtue, and what a need of it in a 
 world so full of misery and sin ! Every Christian 
 ought therefore by prayer and practice to cultivate 
 a compassionate heart, as one of the most precious 
 marks of likeness to the blessed Master. Everlast- 
 ing love longs to give itself to a perishing world, 
 and to find its satisfaction in saving the lost. It 
 
 I !'! 
 
IN HIS COMI'ASSION. 
 
 103 
 
 seeks for vessels which it may fill with the love of God, 
 and send out among the dying that they may drink 
 and live for ever. It asks hearts to fill with its 
 own tender compassion at the sight of all the need 
 in which sinners live, hearts that will reckon it 
 their highest blessedness, as the dispensers of God's 
 compassion, to live entirely to bless and save 
 Tinners. my brother, the everlasting compassion 
 which has had mercy on thee calls thee, as one 
 wlio has obtained mercy, to come and let it fdl thee. 
 It will fit thee, in thy compassion on all around, to 
 be a witness to God's compassionate love. 
 
 Tlie opportunity for showing compassion we have 
 all around us. How much there is of temporal 
 want ! There are the poor and the sick, widows and 
 orphans, distressed and despondent souls who need 
 nothing so much as the refreshment a compassionate 
 heart can bring. They live in the midst of 
 Christians, and sometimes complain that it is as if 
 tlicre are children of the world who have more 
 sympathy than those who are only concerned about 
 their own salvation. brothers, pray earnestly for 
 a compassionate heart, always on the look-out for 
 an opportunity of doing some w^ork of love, always 
 ready to be an instrument of the Divine compas- 
 sion. It was the compassionate sympathy of Jesus 
 that attracted so many to Him upon earth; that 
 same compassionate tenderness will still, more 
 than anything, draw souls to you and to your 
 Lord.^ 
 
 * See Note, 
 
'1 if 
 
 IJ' I 
 
 104 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 And how miioli of spiritual misery surrounds 
 on all sides ! Here is a poor rich man. There 
 
 U9 
 
 is 
 
 ^ foolisL ...vu^Mtics^ youm. uiere is again a poor 
 drunkard, or a hopeless unfortunate. Or perhaps 
 none of these, but simply people entirely^ wrapt 
 up m the follies of the world which surround them 
 How often are words of unloving indifference, or 
 harsh judgment, or slothful hopelessness heard con- 
 cerning all these ! The compassionate iieart is 
 wanting. Compsssion looks upon the deepest 
 liusery as the place prepared for her by God, and is 
 attracted by it. Compassion never wearies never 
 gives up hope. Compassion will not allow itself to 
 be rejected, for it is the self-denying love of Christ 
 which inspires it. 
 
 ^ Tlie Christian does not confine his compassio- to 
 his own circle; he has a large heart. Hi. Lord 
 has shown him the >viiole heathen world as his field 
 ot labour. He seeks to be acquainted with the 
 circumstances of the heathen: he carries their 
 ourden on bis heart ; he is really moved with com- 
 passion, ana means to help them. Whether the 
 iieathcnism is near or far off, whether he witnesses 
 It in all Its filth and degradation, or only hears of 
 It. compassionate love lives only to accomDlish 
 (-'0(i s will in saving the perishing. 
 
 Like Christ m His compassion : let this now be 
 our motto. After uttering the parable of the Com- 
 passionate Samaritan, who, 'moved svith compassion' 
 lielped the wounded stranger, the Lord said, 'Go 
 and do likewise.' He is Himself the compnssionate 
 
nrroimds us 
 There is 
 :gain a, poor 
 Or perhaps 
 rely wrapt 
 cimd them, 
 fference, or 
 heard con- 
 e iieart is 
 le deepest 
 jod, and is 
 tries, never 
 w itself to 
 
 of Christ 
 
 1 passion to 
 Hiu Lord 
 
 IS his field 
 with the 
 ries their 
 vith com- 
 LCther the 
 witnesses 
 ^ hears of 
 ccomplish 
 
 IS now be 
 tlie Coni- 
 npassion/ 
 said, 'Go 
 >nssioi)ate 
 
 IN HIS COMPASSION. 105 
 
 1 as saved, Go and do likewise.' Even as I have 
 th ng to His compassion, who profess ourselves His 
 
 works in ,t ? . -^ ^ ^'^*' '" "' ; His Spirit 
 
 it t look to ^ "' ""f' """'^ l''-''y«^ «"d firm 
 
 b e iov if H. fi , ' ""' '^'^ '° «»^ ''^ "-P««k- 
 show H^;l "' P'^P-^'^'l ^°' '*' no' o"ly to 
 
 "01 a. And ours will be the unutterable iov nf 
 
 hiX T„S;"'^'=''.'"^S ^« becoming almost too 
 am' iwUnf ^ compassionate love, too, I must follow 
 
 ^Pi^i:ual miser,, in L:;:,ttteSa' 
 
 ™-df j oL r 7' "''" °* ^'^^ compassion. Most 
 
 oil f ^'^'^^ ""^ ">^' the world has seen 
 
 » little of It m me. Most mighty liednemernet 
 
 l-sion towards m^ i .JtlL^ a Sfng i;";: 
 Of compassion towards others, '' ^ountaia 
 
 Lord Jesi ' ' 
 
 I knov. Thou canst only give this 
 
 on 
 
lOG 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 one condition, that I let go my own life and my 
 efforts to keep and sanctify that life, and suffer Thee 
 to live in me, to be my life. Most merciful One, 
 I yield myself to Thee ! Thou hast a right to me, 
 Thou alone. There is nothing more precious to me 
 than Thy compassionate countenance ; what can be 
 more blessed than to be like Thee ? 
 
 Lord, here I am. I have faith in Thee, that 
 Thou Thyself wilt teach and fit me to obey Thy 
 word : ' Thou shouldest have had compassion, even as 
 I had compassion on thee.' In that faith I go out 
 this very day to find in my intercourse with others 
 the opportunity of showing how Thou hast loved 
 me. In that faith it will become the great object 
 of my life to win men to Thee. Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 * Evil can only be overcome by the contact of a most 
 personal self-devotion, never by a love that stands at a 
 distance. " Ye are the salt of the earth," Jesus said; ye 
 yourselves inst as you are, in the midst of society ; in every 
 place and every moment a sanctifying power must flow 
 out from you and your presence. Christ Himself is the 
 life and the light. In all that He does, c^ says, or suffers, 
 it is always Himself; whoever separates ought from Him- 
 self no longer preserves it, it vanishes in his hands. And 
 just this is the radical error of our modern Christianity. 
 Men separate the words and works of Christ from Himself, 
 and so it comes that many, with all they do as Christians, 
 have never found Christ Himself. So there are many 
 who trust in His suffering and merit, who cannot 
 
 fibow thati fhpv Tiflvn nnv rf^nl fpllnwsliin whh Him. 
 
 I 'I , I 
 
IN HIS COMPASSION. 
 
 107 
 
 or truly follow Him. Christ had His abode not only in 
 Cana of Galilee, but also in Gethsemane and on Calvary. 
 Alas ! are there not many who make their boast of the 
 cross, and yet are more afraid of the real cross than they 
 are of the devil ? They have so wisely arranged their 
 profession of Christ's cross, that no loss to their honour, 
 their goods, or their liberty can ever come from it. 
 Christ's true and actual imitation must once again, as 
 in the olden times, become the standard of Christen- 
 dom. ^ Only and alone in this way will faith again conquer 
 unbelief and superstition. Many are labouring hard at 
 l)rcsent to prove to a doubting world the inspiration of 
 I loly Scripture, the truth of the words and the life of the 
 Lord Jesus. It is .labour in vain, to try and prove by 
 words and argument that which can alone he made known 
 hj its own self-evidencing power and its actual presence ! Let 
 the proof be given in your deeds, that the spirit of the 
 miracles dwells in you ; prove above all in your life, that 
 Jesus Christ is continuing in you His heavenly eternal life; 
 and your words will bring many to believe. But if you 
 are wanting in this demonstration of the Spirit and of 
 }iower, be not surprised if the world bestow little atten- 
 tion on your eloquent arguments. The liour is come that 
 all Christendom must rise up as one man, and in the 
 imcer of Christ repeat over again tohat Christ Himself did to 
 a perishing world. This is the need there is for the 
 imitation of Jesus Christ ; this is the only valid proof for 
 the truth of Christianity.' i ^ 
 
 J- From M. Diemer, Een nieuw hoei van de navolfmg van Jcsua 
 Chnstua* 
 
108 
 
 LIKE CHRIST 
 
 Fourteenth Day. 
 
 -0-- 
 
 1 ' : 
 
 II i 
 
 LIKE CHPvIST: 
 
 3n 3Sts; (Bntnm tottfj tfie Jatfjer. 
 
 • Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou 
 haat given me, that they may be one, euen as we are. That they 
 all may be one ; euen as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in Thee, 
 that they also may be one in us : that the world may believe 
 that Thou hast sent me. And the glory which Thou gavest me 
 I have given them ; that they may be one euen as W' are one. 
 I in them, and Thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; 
 and that the world may know that Thou hast sent me, and 
 hast loved them, euen as Thou hast loved me.'— John xvii. 11 
 21, 22. ' 
 
 TI/^HAT an unspeakable treasure we have in this 
 *» high-priestly prayer! There the heart of 
 Jesus is laid open to our view, and we see what 
 His love desires for us. There the heavens are 
 opened to us, and we learn what He as our Inter- 
 cessor is continually asking and obtaining for us 
 from the Father. 
 
 In that prayer the mutual union of believers has 
 a larger place than anything else. In His prayer 
 for all who in future shall believe, this is the chief 
 petition, vers. 20-26. Three times He repeats this 
 prayer for their unity. 
 
 I Ml I 
 
IN HIS ONENESS WITH THE FATHER. 109 
 
 The Lord tells us plainly why He desires it so 
 strongly. This unity is the only convincing proof to 
 the world that the Father had sent Hivi. With all 
 its blindness, the world knows that selfishness is 
 Uio curse of sin. It helps but little that God'3 
 children tell that they are born again, and that they 
 are happy, that they can do wonders in Jesus' 
 name, or can prove that what the Scriptures teach 
 is the truth. When the world sees a church from 
 which selfishness is banished, then it will acknow- 
 ledge the divine mission of Christ, because He has 
 wrought such a wonder, a community of men who 
 truly and heartily love one another. 
 
 The Lord speaks of this unity three times as the 
 reflection of His own oneness with the Father. 
 He knew that this was the perfection of the God- 
 head : the Father and Son, as persons separate, and 
 yet perfectly one in the living fellowship of the 
 Holy Spirit. And He cannot imagine anything 
 higher than this, that His believing people should 
 with Him and in Him be one with each other, even 
 AS He and the Father are one. 
 
 The intercession of the Lord Jesus avails much ; 
 it is all-prevailing. What He asks He receives of 
 His Father. But lo ! the blessing which descends 
 finds no entrance in hearts where there is no open 
 door, no place prepared, to receive it. How many 
 believers there are who do not even desire tj "'ja 
 one even as the Father and the Son are one ! They 
 are so accustomed to a life of selfishness and im- 
 perfect love, that they do not even long for such 
 
no 
 
 UKE CHRIST: 
 
 ■: ;'S{ 
 
 li. 
 
 f:|;'i .|:^f 
 
 perfect love : they put off that union until thev 
 meet in heaven And yet the Lord tliought of a 
 
 m know • ''""" ''''"' ' ^'"' *'' ''"'^'^ 
 
 T.,Jpt '*u'^ """l ^' °"''''^'^'' ^« ''^ '-"e one.' 
 Iho Church must be awakened to understand and 
 to value this prayer aright. This union is one of 
 hk and love at once. Some explain it as having 
 reerenee to the hidden . life-union which binds all 
 believers even under external divisions. But this 
 13 not what the Lord means; He speaks of some- 
 hing that the world can see, something that 
 resembles the union between God the Father and 
 God the Son. The hidden unity of life must be 
 manifest m the visible unity and fellowship of love 
 Only when it becomes impossible for believers, in 
 the different smaller circles in which they are 
 associated, not to live in the full oneness of^ove 
 with the chilaren of God around them; only when 
 they earn that a life in We to each other, such as 
 
 2tv .1 °1 "'•' ? *' ^"^'^'^ *° Him, is simple 
 duty, and begin to cry to God for His Holy Spirit 
 to work at in them, then only will there be a hope 
 of change m this respect. The fire will spread 
 from circle to circle and from church to church 
 until all who truly do the will of God will con-' 
 seorate themselves to abide in love, even as God is 
 
 And what are we to do now, while we wait for 
 and wish to hasten that day ? Let every one who 
 fcikes up earnestly the word of the Master, ' Evek 
 
IN Ills ONENESS WITH THE FATHER. lH 
 
 AS I, SO also ye/ let him begin with his own circle. 
 And in that circle with himself first. However 
 weak or sickly, however perverse or trying the 
 members of Christ's body may be with whomlie is 
 surrounded, let him live with them in close fellow- 
 ship and love. Whether they are willing for it or 
 not, whether they accept or reject, let him love 
 them with a Christlike love. Yes, to love them as 
 Christ does must be the purpose of his life. This 
 love will find an echo in some hearts at least, and 
 awaken in them the desire, too, to seek after the 
 life of love and perfect oneness. 
 
 But what discoveries such effort will bring of the 
 impotence of the believer, who has been hitherto 
 satisfied with the ordinary Christian life,at all to reach 
 this standard ! He will soon find that nothing will 
 avail but a personal, undivided consecration. To 
 have a love like Christ's, I must truly have a life 
 like Christ's : / must live with His life. The lesson 
 must be learnt anew, that Christ in the fullest sense 
 of the word will be the life of those who dare to 
 trust Him for it. Those who cannot trust with a 
 full trust, cannot love with a full love. 
 
 Believer, listen once more to the simple way to 
 such a life. First of all acknowledge your callincr 
 to live and love just like Christ. Confess your 
 mabiHty to fulfil this caHing, even in the very least 
 Listen to the Word, that Christ is waiting to fit you 
 to fulfil this calling, if you will give yourself unre- 
 servedly to Him. Make the surrender in this, that, 
 conscious of beiniz utterly iinablp to An anvfi^.V- i-- 
 
112 
 
 LIKE CIIKIST: 
 
 I I 
 
 y^ .1 
 
 your own strengtli, you offer yourself to your Lord 
 to work in you both to will and to do. And count 
 then most confidently upon Ilim, who in tlic power 
 of His unceasing intercession can save completely, 
 to work in you what Ho has asked of His Father 
 for you. Yes, count on Him who has said to the 
 Father, ' Thou in me and I in them, that they may 
 be one, even as we are one,' that He will manifest 
 His life in you with heavenly power. As you livj 
 with His life, you will love with His love. 
 
 lieloved fellow- Christians, the oneness of Christ 
 with the Father is our model : even as they, so must 
 wo be one. Let us love one anotlier, serve one 
 another, bear with one o.nother, help one another, 
 live for one another. For this our love is too small: 
 but we will earnestly pray tliat Christ give us His 
 love wherewith to love. With God's love shed 
 abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, we 
 shall be so one that the world will know that it is 
 indeed the truth, that the Father sent Christ into 
 the world, and tliat Christ has given in us the very 
 life and love of heaven. 
 
 Holy Father, we know now with what petitions 
 He, who ever liveth to make intercession, continually 
 approaches Thee. It is for the perfect unity of 
 His disciples. Fatlicr, we too would cry to Thee 
 for this blessing. Alas, how divided is Thy Church! 
 It is not the division of language or country that 
 wo deplore, not even the difference of doctrine or 
 teaching that so much grieves us. But, Lord ! the 
 
IN niS ONENESS WITH THE FATHER. 
 
 Uo 
 
 want of that unity of spirit and love wl:ercby Tliy 
 Church should convince the world that she is from 
 heaven. 
 
 Lord! we desire to confess before Thee with 
 deep shame the coldness, and selfishness, and dis- 
 trust, and bitterness that is still at times to be seen 
 among Thy children. We confess before Thee our 
 own want of that fervent and perfect love to which 
 Thou hast called us. forgive, and have mercy 
 upon us. 
 
 Lord God ! visit Thy people. It is through the 
 one Spirit that we can know and show our unity 
 in the one Lord. Let Thy Holy Spirit work power- 
 lully in Thy believing people to make them one. 
 Let it be felt in every circle where God's children 
 meet each other, how indispensable a close union in 
 the love of Jesus is. And let my heart, too, be 
 delivered from self, to realize, in the fellowship with 
 Thy children, how we are one, even as Thou, Father, 
 and Thy Sou art one. Amen. 
 
 II 
 

 'V 
 
 ilH, 
 
 n if 
 
 114 
 
 LIKE CIIIIIST: 
 
 
 Fifteenth Day. 
 
 
 i- < 
 
 ij I 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 In ?&fe ©cpcnticncc on tfjc jFatfier. 
 
 • Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of 
 Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing: for what things 
 Boever Ho doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. For 
 tJie Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things that 
 Himself doeth: and greater works than these wiU He show Him, 
 tlmt ye may marvel.'— John v. 19, 20. 
 
 ' I know mine own, and mine own know me, euen as the Father 
 knoweth mo and I know the Father.'— Jonx x. 15 (R.V.). 
 
 /^UR relation to Jesus is the exact counterpart of 
 " His to the Father. And so the words in 
 which He sets forth His intercourse with the 
 Father have their truth in us too. And as the 
 words of Jesus in John v. describe the natural 
 relation between every father and son, whether 
 on earth or in heaven, they are applicable not only 
 to the Only-begotten, but to every one who in and 
 like Jesus is called a son of God. 
 
 We cannot better catch the simple truth and 
 force of the illustration than by thinking of Jesus 
 with His earthly father in the carpenter's shop 
 learning his trade. The first thing you notice is 
 the entire dependence : ' The son can do nothing of 
 
IN HIS DEPENDENCE ON THE FATHER. 115 
 
 himself, but what he seeth the father doiurr' Then 
 you are struck by the implicit ohedience^lmt lust 
 seeks to imitate the father; 'for whatsoever thinrrs 
 tlie father doeth, these doeth the son in like manner' 
 You tlien notice the loving intimaaj to wlucli the 
 father admits him, keeping back none of his secrets • 
 lor the father loveth the son, and showeth him all 
 tilings that himself doeth.' And in this dependent 
 obedience on his son's part, and the loving teachin- 
 on the father's part, you liave the pledge of an 
 ever-growing advance to greater works: step bv 
 step the son will be led up to all that the father 
 himself can do : 'Greater works than these will ho 
 show him, that ye may marvel.' 
 
 In this picture we have the reflection of the 
 relationship between God the Father and the Son 
 m His blessed humanity. If His human nature is 
 to be something real and true, and if we are to 
 understand how Christ is in very deed to be our 
 example, we must believe fully in what our blessed 
 Lord here reveals to us of the secrets of His inner 
 life. The words He speaks are literal truth. His 
 dependence on the Father for each moment of His 
 lite was absolutely and intensely real : ' The Son 
 can do noUiing of Himself, but what He seeth the 
 father doing.' He counted it no humiliation to 
 wait on Him for His commands : He rather con. 
 sidered it His highest blessedness to let Himself 
 be led and guided of the Father as a child And 
 .'tccordingly He held Himself bound in ^f^i^te^. 
 obedience to say and do only what the Father 
 
11 
 
 ncy 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 Bliowcd ITim: * Whatsoever tliinj,'s the Father doeth, 
 these the Son also doeth in like nuinnei-.* 
 
 The proof of this is the exceeding carefuhiesa 
 with which in everything He seeks to keep to Holy- 
 Scripture. In His sufferings He will endure all in 
 order that the Scriptures may be fuKilled. For this 
 He remained the wliole night in prayer. In such 
 continued prayer He presents His thoughts to the 
 Father and waits for the answer, that He may know 
 the Father's will. No child in his ignorance, no 
 slave in his bondage, was ever so anxious to keep to 
 what the lather or master had said, as the Lord 
 Jesus was to follow the teaching and guidance of 
 His Heavenly Father. On this account the Father 
 kept nothing hid from Him : the entire dependence 
 and willingness always to learn were rewarded with 
 the most perfect communication of all the Father's 
 secrets. ' For the Father loveth the Son, and 
 showeth Him all things, and will show Him greater 
 works than these, that ye may marvel.' The Father 
 had formed a glorious life plan for the Son, that in 
 Him the Divine life might be shown forth in the 
 conditions of human existence: this plan was shown 
 to the Son piece by piece until at last all was 
 gloriously accomplished. 
 
 Child of God, it is not only for tlie only-begotten 
 Son that a life plan has been arranged, but for each 
 one of His children. Just in pi)portion as we live 
 in more or less entire dep iidevce on the Father 
 will this life plan be more oi less perfectly worked 
 out in our lives. The nearer the believer comes to 
 
 "m 
 
 I III * 
 
IN IIW DEPENDENCE ON TICE FATIIEfl. 117 
 
 Ihis entire dependence of the Son, ' doing nothinrj 
 but what He sees the Father do/ and tlicn to His 
 implicit obedience, 'whatsoever Ho doeth, doing 
 these in like manner,* so much more will the pro° 
 miso be fullilled to us : ' The Father showeth Him 
 all things that He Himself dooth, and will show Him 
 greater works than tlicse.' Like Ciikist ! that word 
 calls us to a life of conformity to tlie Son in His 
 blessed dependnico on the Father. Each one of ua 
 is invited thus to live. 
 
 To such a life in dependence on the Father, the 
 first thing that is necessary is a firm Itiitli that Ho 
 will make known His will to us. I tliink this is 
 something that keeps many back: they cannot 
 believe that the Lord cares for them so nmch that 
 He will indeed give Himself the trouble every day 
 to teach them and to make known to them His will 
 just as He did to Jesus. Christian, thou art of 
 more value to the Father than thou knowest. Thou 
 
 art as much worth as the price He paid for thee, 
 
 that is, the blood of His Son ; He therefore attaches 
 the highest value to the least thing that concerns 
 thee, and will guide thee even in what is most in- 
 sigiiiiicaat. Hr bngs more for close and constant 
 iULcroouise with thee than thou canst conceive. He 
 can use thee for His glory, and make something of 
 thee, higher than thou canst understand. The 
 Father loves His child, and shows him what He 
 does. That He proved in Jesus : and He will prove 
 It in us too. There must only be the surrender to 
 exnect His fpaphinrr Tf>^nno'i- tr;^ tt„i,^ o. _•.-. xt 
 
 ^ ... liiiiQ. xiiiUU^ii ixia xxK>iy opiiit, J_iQ 
 
A .^' 
 
 118 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 n I 
 
 Ml 
 
 J ' ' 
 
 gives tins moot tenderly. Without removing us 
 from our circle, the Father can so conform us 
 to Christ's image, that we can be a blessing and joy 
 to all. Do not let unbelief of God's coinpassioncte 
 love prevent us from expecting the Father's 
 guidance in all things. 
 
 Let the unwillingness to submit yourself as little 
 keep you back. This is the second great hindrance. 
 The desire for independence was the temptation in 
 paradise, is the temptation in each human heart. 
 It seems hard to be nothing, to know nothing, to 
 will nothing. And yet it is so blessed. This 
 dependence brings us into most blessed communion 
 with God : of us it becomes true as of Jesus, * The 
 Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things 
 whatsoever He doeth.' This dependence takes from 
 us all care and responsibility; we have only to 
 obey orders. It gives real power and strength of 
 will because we know that He works in us to will 
 and to do. It gives us the blessed assurance that 
 our work will succeed, because we have allowed 
 God alone to take charge of it. 
 
 My brother, if you have hitherto known but 
 little of this life of conscious dependence and simple 
 obedience, begin to-day. Let your Saviour be your 
 example in this. It is His blessed will to live in 
 you, and in you to be again what He was here on 
 earth. He only longs for your acquiescence: He 
 will work it in you. Offer yourself to the Father 
 this dav. after the examr)lfi of th^ Trir«f.->>pfrnt,tPTi to 
 do nothing of yourself but only what the Father 
 
IN HIS DEPENDENCE ON THE FATHER. 119 
 
 sliows you. ri.\ your gaze on Jesus as also in this 
 the Example and Promise of what you shall he. 
 Adore Him wlio, for your sake, humbled Himself, 
 and showed how blessed the dependent life can be. 
 
 Blessed dependence ! it is indeed the disposition 
 which becomes us towards such a God. It gives 
 Him the glory which belongs to Him as God. It 
 keeps the soul in peace and rest, for it allows God 
 to care for all. It keeps the mind quiet and 
 prepared to receive and use the Father's teaching. 
 And it is so gloriously rewarded in the deeper 
 experience of holy mtercourse, and the continued 
 ever-advancing discoveries of His will and work 
 with which the Father crowns it. Blessed depen- 
 dence ! in which the Son lived on earth, thou art 
 the desire of my soul. 
 
 Blessed dependence ! it was because Jesus knew 
 that He was a Son that He thus loved to be depen- 
 dent on the Father. Of all the teaching in regard 
 to the likeness to Christ this is the centre and sum : 
 I must live as a Son with my Father. If I stand 
 clear in this relationship, as a son realizing that the 
 Father is everything to me, a sonlike life, living 
 through the Father, living for the Father, will be its 
 natural and spontaneous outcome. 
 
 my IVither, the longer I fix my gaze upon 
 the image of the Son, the more I discover the fear- 
 ful ruin of my nature, and how far sin has estranged 
 me from Thee. To be dependent upon Thee : there 
 can be no higher blessedness than this ; to trust in 
 

 120 
 
 LIKE CIIllIST: 
 
 all things in a God such as Thou art, so wise and 
 good, so rich and powerful. And lo ! it has become 
 the most diflicult thing there can he; we would 
 rather be dependent on our own folly than the God 
 of all glory. Even Thine own children, most 
 blessed Father ! often think it so hard to give up 
 their own thoughts and will, and to believe that 
 absolute dependence on God, to the very least 
 things, is alone true blessedness. 
 
 Lord! I come to Thee with the humble prayer: 
 teach me this. He who purchased with His own 
 blood for me the everlasting blessedness, hath 
 shown me in His own life wherein that blessedness 
 consists. And 1 know He will now lead and keep 
 me in it. my Father ! in Thy Son I yield my- 
 self to Thee, to be made like Him, like Him to do 
 nothing of myself, but what I see the Father doing. 
 Father ! Thou wilt take even me too, like the First- 
 born, and for His sake, into Thy training, and show 
 me what Thou doest. my God 1 be Thou a Father 
 unto me as unto Christ, and let me be Thy son, as 
 He was. Amen. 
 
 i F: 
 
 V. 1 
 
 
IN ills LOVE. 
 
 121 
 
 Sixteenth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 In Ms iLotre. 
 
 *A new commandment I give unto you, that yo love one 
 nnoMicr; cucn as I have loved you, that ije a/so love otio 
 another.'— John xiii. 34. 
 
 ' This is my commandment, that yo love one another, even aa I 
 have loved you, ' — John x v. 12. 
 
 TjlVEN AS: We begin to understand somewhat of 
 -L^ the blessedness of that little word. It is not 
 the command of a law which only convinces of sin 
 and impotence ; it is a new command under a new 
 covenant, that is estabhshed upon better promises. 
 It is the command of Him who asks nothing that 
 He has not provided and now offers to bestow. 
 It is the assurance that He expects nothing from 
 us, that He does not work in us : Even as I have 
 loved you, and every moment am pouring out that 
 love upon you through the Holy Spirit, even so do 
 ye love one another. The measure, the strength, 
 and the work of your love you will find in my love 
 to you. 
 
 Even as I have loved you : that word mves us 
 the measure of the love wherewith we must love 
 
II!) 
 ■ I 
 
 'I i 
 'I 
 
 III 
 
 III , 
 ' } id 
 
 I > 
 
 ■^m 
 
 
 122 
 
 LUiE CHRIST : 
 
 eacli other. True love knows no measure : it ^ives 
 
 Itself entirely. It may take into consideration" the 
 
 time and measure of showing it ; but love itself is 
 
 ever whole and undivided. This is the greatest glory 
 
 of Divme Love that we have, in the Father and^'son 
 
 two persons, who in love remain One Being, each 
 
 losmg Himself in the other. This is the glory of 
 
 the love of Jesus who is the image of God, that Ho 
 
 loves us even as the Father loves Him. And this 
 
 IS the glory of brotherly love, that it will know of 
 
 no other law, than to love even as God and Christ 
 
 He who would be like Christ, must unhesitatincdy 
 accept this as his rule of life. He knows how 
 difficult, how impossible it often is thus to love 
 brethren, in whom there is so much that is offen- 
 sive or unamiable. Before going out to meet them 
 m circumstances where his love may be tried he 
 goes in secret to the Lord, and with his eye fixed 
 on his own sin and unworthiness asks : How much 
 owest thou thy Lord ? He go.s to tlie cross and 
 seeks there to fathom the love wherewith the Lord 
 has loved him. He lets the light of the immeasur- 
 able love of Him who is in heaven, his Head and 
 his Brother, shine in upon his soul, until he learns 
 to feel Divine Love has but one law : love seeks not 
 Its own, love gives itself wholly. And he lays 
 himself on the altar before his Lord : even as Thou 
 liast loved me, so will I love the brethren. In 
 virtue of my union with Jesus, and in Jesus with 
 them, there can be no question of anything less : I 
 love them as Christ did. Oh that Christians would 
 
IN HIS LOVE. 
 
 123 
 
 close their ears to all the reasonings of their own 
 hearts, and fix their eyes only on the Law, which 
 lie who loves them has promulgated in His own 
 example ; they would realize that there is nothing 
 for them to do but this — to accept His commands 
 and to obey them. 
 
 Our love may recognize no otlier measure than 
 His, because His love is the strciigth of ours. Tiie 
 love of Christ is no mere idea or sentiment ; it is a 
 real divine life powder. As long as the Christian 
 does not understand this, it cannot exert its full 
 power in him. But when his faith rises to realize 
 that Christ's love is nothing less than the imparting 
 of Himself and His love to the beloved, and he 
 becomes rooted in this love as the source whence 
 his life derives its sustenance, then he sees that his 
 Lord simply asks that he should allow His love to 
 flow through him. He must live in a Christ-given 
 strength : The love of Christ constrains him, and 
 enables him to love as He did. 
 
 From this love of Christ the Christian also learns 
 what the work of his love to the brethren must be. 
 AVe have already had occasion to speak of many 
 manifestations of love : its loving service, its self- 
 denial, its meekness. Love is the root of all these. 
 It teaches the disciple to look upon himself as really 
 called upon to be, in his little circle, just like Jesus, 
 the one who lives solely to love and help others. 
 Paul prays for the Philippians : ' That your love 
 may abound more and more in knowledge, and in 
 all judgment ' (Phil. i. 9). Love does not compre- 
 
*, I., 
 
 124 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 ;i 
 
 
 ■ f! J ' " 
 
 henci at onco what the work is that it can do 
 The believer who prays that his love may aboun(i 
 in knowledge, and really takes Christ's example as 
 his rule of life, will be taught what a great and 
 glorious work tliere is for him to do. The Church 
 of God, and every child of God, as well as the world 
 has an unspeakable need of love, of the manifesta- 
 tion of Christ's love. The Christian who really 
 takes the Lord's word, < Love one another, even as I 
 have loved you,' as a command that must be obeyed 
 carries about a power for blessing and Hfe for all 
 with whom he comes in contact. Love is the 
 explanation of the whole wonderful life of Christ 
 and of the wonder of His death: Divine LovJ 
 m Gods cliildren will stiU work its miirhtv 
 wonders. ° -^ 
 
 'Behold what manner of love !' 'Behold how 
 Ke loved!' These words are the superscription 
 over the love of the Father and of the Son. They 
 must yet become the keywords to the life of every 
 Christian. They will be so where in living faith 
 and true consecration the command of Christ to 
 love, even as He loved, is accepted as the law of 
 life. As early as the call of Abraham this principle 
 was deposited as a living seed in God's kingdom 
 that what God is for us, we must be for others 'I 
 will bless thee,' 'And thou shalt be a blessin-' If 
 'I have loved you' is the highest manifestation of 
 wliat God is for us, then 'Even so love ye' must be 
 the first and highest expression of what the child 
 of God must be. In preaching, as in the life of the 
 
 J mill 
 
IN HIS LOVE. 
 
 125 
 
 church, it must be uiidcrstood : The love wldch loves 
 nice Christ is the sign of true disciijleship. 
 
 Beloved Christians ! Christ Jesus longs for you 
 in order to make you, amid those who surround 
 you, a very fountain of love. The love of Heaven 
 would fain take possession of you, in order that, in and 
 through you, it may work its blessed work on earth. 
 Yield to its rule. Offer yourself unreservedly to its 
 indwelling. Honour it by the confident assurance 
 that it can teach you to love as Jesus loved. As 
 conformity to the Lord Jesus must be the chief 
 mark of your Christian walk, so love must be the 
 chief mark of that conformity. Be not disheartened 
 if you do not attain it at once. Only keep fast 
 hold of the command, * Love, even as I have loved 
 you.' It takes time to grow into it. Take time in 
 secret to gaze on that image of love. Take time in 
 prayer and meditation, to fan the desire for it into 
 a burning flame. Take time to survey all around 
 you, whoever they be, and whatever may happen, 
 with this one thought, ' I must love them.' Take 
 time to become conscious of your union with your 
 Lord, that every fear as to the possibility of thus 
 loving, may be met with the word : ' Have not I 
 commanded you : Love as I have loved ? ' Chris- 
 tian, take time in loving communion with Jesus 
 your loving example, and you will joyfully fulfil 
 this command, too, to love even as He did. 
 
 Lord Jesus, who hast loved me so wonderfully, 
 and now commandest me to love even as Thou, 
 
 ! I 
 
m 
 
 126 
 
 1 1' 
 
 LIKE CHIilST: 
 
 behold me at Thy feet. JoyfuUy would I accent 
 Thy commands, and now tro nnf ;„ Tt, . , ^ 
 manifest Thy bve to aT ^ ^^ '"''^"Sth to 
 
 am the beloved of~ " *' '^P*™"'=« *at I 
 lord, let me understand that I can love nnf ^Uh 
 
 Thy Spint dwells and works i„ me; from TW 
 
 lorotrsir? t 'r -^•^^'^"^ i - 
 
 understnTand a"ccep?m"v' t "' "^ ^''^^ ' 
 auu. dccept my callmcf, and f-lnf- T 
 
 surrender myself to live as Thou didst Thnn 
 :X'f '*'•-' /look upon my old natut with it^ 
 elfishness and unlovingness as cruciiied Id in 
 faith prepare to do as Thou commandest 
 , ,™'.^ ''o/*- In tlie strength of my Lord I 
 would Uve to love even as Tkou lull lovedZ. A^l 
 
 III! 
 
IN HIS PliAYING. 
 
 127 
 
 Seventeenth Day. 
 
 .-0- 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 In fife ilrasfng. 
 
 'And in the morning, rising up a great while before day. he 
 
 -MAKK 1.^5 *" '''*' " '^''''' '''"'"' "^'^ *^^^^ I'^^y^^-' 
 
 'And he saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a 
 desert place, and rest awhile.'— Mark vi. 31. 
 
 TN- His life of secret prayer, too, my Saviour is my 
 -^ example. He could not maintain the heavenly 
 hfe m His soul without continually separatinc. 
 Himself from man, and communing with His 
 Father. With the : -^hr life in me it is no 
 otherwise: it has the i oed of entire separa- 
 
 tion from man, the ne a.t only of sinc^le 
 moments, but of time enough for intercourse with 
 the Fountain of Life, the Father in Heaven. 
 
 It was at the commencement of His public 
 ministry that the event happened which so 
 attracted the attention of His disciples that they 
 wrote it down. After a day full of wonders and 
 of work at Capernaum (vers. 21-32), the press in 
 the evening became still greater. The whole town 
 is. before the door; sick are healed, and devils are 
 
128 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 HI 1 1; 
 
 cast out. It is late before they get to sleep; in 
 the throng there is little time for quiet or 'for 
 secret prayer. And lo, as they rise early in the 
 mornincT, they find Him gone. In the silence of 
 the night He has gone out to seek a place of 
 solitude in the wilderness; when they find Him 
 there, He is still praying. 
 
 And why did my Saviour need these hours of 
 prayer? Did He not know the blessedness of 
 silently lifting up His soul to God in the midst 
 of the most pressing business? Did not the 
 Father dwell in Him? and did He not in the 
 dcptli of His heart enjoy unbroken communion 
 with Him ? Yes, that hidden life was indeed His 
 portion. But that life, as subject to tlio law of 
 humanity, had need of continual refreshing and 
 renewing from the fountain. It was a life of 
 dependence; just because it was strong and true, 
 it could not bear the loss of direct and constant 
 intercourse with the Father, with whom and in 
 whom it had its being and its blessedness. 
 
 What a lesson for every Christian! Much 
 intercourse with man is dissipating, and dangerous 
 to our spiritual life: it brings us under the 
 influence of the visible and temporal. Nothing 
 can atone for the loss of secret and direct inter^ 
 course with God. Even work in the service of 
 God and of love is exhausting: we cannot bless 
 others without power going outVrom us; this must 
 be renewed from above. The law of the manna, 
 that what is lieavenly cannot remain ^ood lon^ 
 
IN ins riMYmn. 
 
 12!) 
 
 upon earth, but must day by day be renewed afresh 
 from heaven, still holds good. Jesus Christ toaehes 
 iti.s: I need every day time to have communiou 
 
 n ■ KM , ' '" '"'""'■ ^^y I'fe '■« like His, 
 a hie hid in heaven, in God ; it needs time day by 
 cay to be fed from heaven. It is fron kIaZ 
 alone that the power to lead a UaLly life o 
 earth can come. '' 
 
 And what may have been the prayers that 
 occupied our Lord there so long ? If i could hear 
 Him pray, how I might learn how I too must pray - 
 God be praised ! of His prayers wo have more than 
 one recorded, that in them too we might learn to 
 follow His holy example. In the high-priestlj 
 prayer (John xvii.) we hear Him speak.lis in the 
 deep calm of heaven, to His Father; in His 
 Gethsemane prayer, a few hours later, we see 
 Him call out of the depths of trouble and darkness 
 unto God. In these two prayers we have all : the 
 highest and the deepest that there is to be found 
 mjhe communion of prayer between Father and 
 
 CoJ" '';*,"f « Pf^y«''« "•« s«e how He addressee 
 God. Each time it is mimr! my Father! In 
 
 ktV7 . T? ' '''''' °^ "" ^'^y^'- The lord 
 knew aiat He was a Son, and that the Father 
 
 Z^^Z^YT''''^ ^^' ^^'"^ Himself in 
 the full light of the Father's countenance. This 
 
 Inlt ? ^"^ 8'«"'«^' "eed and greatest blessnig 
 of prayer, to enter into the full enjoyment of t.h° 
 Fathers leva Let it be thus with me too." Let 
 
 I 
 
: m 
 
 no 
 
 LIKi: CHRIST: 
 
 L-;] luff's 
 
 tlie principal part ol' my prayer be, tlio holy silence 
 and adoration of faith, in which I wait upon God, 
 until He reveals Himself to nie, and gives mn, 
 through His Spirit, tlie loving assurance that He 
 looks down upon nio as a Father, that I am well- 
 pleasing to Him. He who in ])rayer has not 
 time in quietness of soul, and in full consciousness 
 of its meaning, to say Abba Father, has missed 
 the best part of prayer. It is in prayer that the 
 witness of the Spirit, that we are children of God, 
 and that the Father draws nigh and delights in 
 us, must be exercised and strengtliened. 'If our 
 heart condemn us not, we have confidence toward 
 God; and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, 
 because we obey His commandments, and do tho 
 things that are pleasing in His sidit.' 
 
 In both these prayers I also see what Ho 
 
 desired: tJiat the Father may he glorified. lie 
 
 speaks: 'I have glorified Thee; glorify Thy Son, 
 
 tliat Thy Son also may glorify Thee! That will 
 
 assuredly have been the spirit of every prayer; 
 
 the entire surrender of Himself only to live for 
 
 the Father's will and glory. All that He asked 
 
 liad but one object, ' That God might be glorified.' 
 
 In this too He is my example. I must seek to 
 
 have the spirit of each prayer I offer: Father! 
 
 bless Thy child, and glorify Thy grace in me, only 
 
 that Thy child may glorify Thee. Everything in 
 
 the universe must show forth God's glory. The 
 
 Chiistian who is inspired with this thought, and 
 
 avails himself of prayer to express it, until ho is 
 
in HIS I'llAYINO. 
 
 131 
 
 tl.oroughly imbued with it, will l.avo power in 
 prayer. Even of His work in heaven our Lord 
 says: 'Wlmtsoovor ye shall ask in my name, that 
 Will I ^o.t/uct the Father may be glorijkd in 
 tlic bon. my soul, learn from thy Saviour 
 ore ever thou pourest out thy desires in prayer] 
 hrst to yield thyself as a whole burnt-oireriu./ 
 with the one object that God may bo glorifl>.d in 
 tiieo. 
 
 Then thou ha«t sure ground on which to pray 
 Thou wdt feel the strong desire, as well as the full 
 liberty, to a.sic the Father that in each part of 
 Umsts exaujple, in each feature of Christ's ima"c 
 thou mayest be made like Him. that so God may 
 bo glorified. Thou wilt understand how, only in 
 continually renewed prayer, the soul can surrender 
 itsolUo wait that God may from heaven work in 
 It what will be to His glory. Because Jesus 
 surrendered Himself so entirely to the glory of 
 His Father, He was worthy to be our Mediatoi', 
 and could lii His high-priestly prayer ask such 
 ;,'reat blessings for His people. Learn like Jesus 1 
 only to seek God's glory in prayer, and thou shalt 
 become a true intercessor, who can not only 
 approach the throne of grace with his own need.s 
 but can also pray for others the effectual fervent 
 prayer of a righteous man that availeth much. 
 The words which the Saviour put into our mouth 
 in the Lord's Prayer: 'Thy will be done,' because 
 „ iiK^ ^^,^^ ^^jy uretoren in all thinirs, 
 lie took from our lips again and made His own 
 
13L> 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 I' 1 
 
 in Getlisemanc, that from Him we might recoivo 
 them back again, irx the power of His atonement and 
 intercession, and so be able to pray them even as 
 He had done. Thou too shalt become Christlike in 
 that priestly intercession, on which the unity and 
 prosperity of the Church and the salvation of 
 sinners so much depend. 
 
 And he who in every prayer makes God's glory 
 the chief object will also, if God calls him to it, 
 have strength for the prayer of Gethsemane. Every 
 prayer of Christ was intercession, because He had 
 given Himself for us ; all He asked and received 
 was in our interest; every prayer He prayed was 
 in the spirit of self-sacrifice. Give thyself too 
 wholly to God for man, and as with Jesus so with 
 us, the entire sacrifice of ourselves to God in every 
 prayer of daily life is the only preparation for 
 those single hours of soul-struggle in which we 
 may be called to some special act of the surrender 
 of the will that costs us tears and anguish. But 
 he who has learnt the former will surely receive 
 strength for the latter. 
 
 my brother! if thou and I wouldst be like 
 Jesus, we must especially contemplate Jesus pray- 
 ing alone in the wilderness. There is the secret of 
 His wonderful life. "What He did and spoke to 
 2nan, was first spohen and lived through with the 
 Father. In communion with Him, the anointing 
 with the Holy Spirit was each day renewed. He 
 wlio would be like Him in his walk and conversa- 
 tion, must simply begin here, that he follows Jesus 
 
IN HIS PIIAYING. 
 
 133 
 
 into solitude. Even though it cost the sacrifice of 
 night rest, of business, of intercourse with friends, 
 the time must he found to he alone with the Father, 
 Besides the ordinary hour of prayer, he will feel* 
 at times irresistibly drawn to enter into the holy 
 place, and not to come thence until it has anew 
 been revealed to him that God is his portion. In 
 his secret chamber, with closed door, or in the 
 solitude of the wilderness, God must be found 
 every day, and our fellowship with Him renewed. 
 If Christ needed it, how much more we ! What it 
 was to Him it will be for us. 
 
 What it was to Him is apparent from what is 
 
 written of His baptism: 'It came to pass tha*-,, 
 
 Jesus also being baptized and praying, tlie heaven 
 
 was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a 
 
 bodily shape like a dove upon Him : and a voice 
 
 came from heaven which said. Thou art my 
 
 beloved Son, in Thee I am well pleased.' Yes, 
 
 this will be to us the blessing of prayer: the 
 
 opened heaven, the baptism of the Spirit, the 
 
 father's voice, the blessed assurance of His' love 
 
 and good pleasure. As with Jesus, so with us ; from 
 
 ahove, from above, must it all come in answer to 
 
 2')rayer. 
 
 Christlike praying in secret will be the secret 
 of Christlike living in public. let us rise 
 and avail ourselves of our wonderful privilege 
 —the Christlike boldness of access into the 
 Father's presence, the Christlike liberty with God 
 in prayer. 
 
I ' 
 
 134 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 O my blessed Lord, Thou hast called me, and I 
 have followed Thee, that I may bear Thy imago iu 
 all thmgs. Daily would I seek Thy footsteps, that 
 I may be led of Thee whithersoever Thou goest. 
 This day I have found them, wet with the dew of 
 night, leading to the wilderness. There I have 
 seon Thee kneeling for hours before the Father 
 There I have heard Thee, too, in prayer. Thou 
 
 fr V ^,"'' f .'" ,*' ^'''^'''' SW, and from 
 the Father dost ask, and expect, and receive all 
 
 Impress, I beseech Thee, this wonderful vision deep 
 
 i>i my soul: my Saviour rising up a great while 
 
 Dofore day to seek communion with His Father 
 
 needed for His life and work 
 
 to?i,7/°v ■' ""^ "^ ^ ^''^'^ ^ -"^y*-^^ listen 
 to Thee ? Yea, who am I that Thou dost call me 
 
 to pray even as Thou hast done ? Precious Saviour 
 Irom the depths of my heart I beseech Thee 
 .waken in me the same strong need of secret 
 prayer. Convince me more deeply that, as with 
 Thee so with me, the Divine life cannot attain its 
 full growth without much secret communion with 
 niy heavenly Father, so that my soul may indeed 
 dweU m the light of His countenance. let this 
 conviction awaken in me such burning desire that 
 I may not rest until each day afresh my soul has 
 been baptized in the streams of heavenly love 
 O Thou, who art my Example and Intercessor! 
 teach me to pray like Thee. Amen 
 
 I iJ, 
 
 1*1 ' 
 
 :i! 
 
IN HIS USE or SCRIPT UIIE. 
 
 135 
 
 Eighteenth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 In fgfe ®se of Scripttirc^ 
 
 'That all things must be fulfilled which were written in the 
 law of Moses, and the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning 
 mc'—LuKE xxiv. U. 
 
 "WHAT the Lord Jesus accomplished liere on 
 ' earth as man He owed greatly to His use 
 of the Scriptures. He found in them the way 
 marked in which He had to walk, the food and 
 the sti^ngth on which He could work, the weapon 
 by which He could overcome every enemy. The 
 Scriptures were indeed indispensable to Him througli 
 all His life and passion : from beginning to end His 
 life was the fulfilment of what had been written 
 of Him in the volume of the Book. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to adduce proofs of this. 
 In the temptation in the wilderness it was by His-. 
 ' It is written ' that He conquered Satan. In His ' 
 conflicts with the Pharisees He continually appealed 
 to the Word : ' What saith the Scripture ? ' ' Have 
 ye not read V 'Is it not written .? ' In His inter- 
 course with His disciples it was always from tho 
 Scnptures that He proved the certainty and 
 

 136 
 
 i ri 
 
 |1 
 
 ui\ ilf 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 necessity of His sufferings and resurrection : 'Row 
 otherwise can the Scriptures le fulfilled V And iu 
 His intercourse with His Father in His last suffer- 
 ings, it is in the words of Scripture that He pours 
 out^ the complaint of being forsaken, and then 
 again commends His spirit into the Father's hands. 
 All this has a very deep meaning. He was Him- 
 self the living Word. He had the Spirit without 
 measure. If ever any one. He could have done 
 witliout the written Word. And yet we see that it 
 IS everything to Him. More than any one else He 
 thus shows US that the life of God in human flesh 
 and the ivord of God in human speech are inseparably 
 connected. Jesus would not have been what Ho 
 was, could not have done what He did, had He not 
 yielded Himself step by step to be led and sustained 
 by the Word of God. 
 
 ^ Let us try and understand what this tcaclies us. 
 The Word of God is more than once called Seed \ 
 it is the seed of the Divine life. We know what 
 seed is. It is that wonderful organism in whicli 
 the life, the invisible essence of a plant or tree, is 
 so concentrated and embodied that it can ' be 
 taken away and made available to impart the life 
 of the tree elsewhere. This use may be twofold. 
 As fruit wc eat it, for instance, in tlie corn that 
 gives us bread ; and the life of the plant becomes 
 our nourishment and our life. Or we sow it, and 
 the life of the plant reproduces and multiplies 
 itself. In both aspects the Word of God is 
 seed. 
 
IN HIS USE OF SCIIII'TUHE. 
 
 137 
 
 True life is found only in God. But tliat life 
 cannot be imparted to us unless set before us in 
 some shape in which we know and apprehend it. 
 It is in the Word of God that the Invisible Divine 
 life takes shape, and brings itself within our reacli, 
 and becomes communicable. The life, the thr;igjits, 
 the sentiments, the power of God are embodied in His 
 words. And it is only through His Word that the 
 life of God can really enter into us. His Word is 
 the seed of the Heavenly life. 
 
 As the bread of life we eat it, we feed upon it. 
 In eating our daily bread, the body takes in the 
 nourishment which visible nature, the sun and 
 the earth, prepared for us in the seed-corn. We 
 assimilate it, and it becomes our very own, part of 
 ourselves, it is our life. In feeding upon the Word 
 of God, the powers of the Heavenly life enter into 
 us, and become our very own ; we assimilate them, 
 they become a part of ourselves, the life of our 
 Hie. 
 
 Or we use the seed to plant. The words of God 
 are sown in our heart. They have a Divine power 
 of reproduction and multiplication. The very life 
 that is in them, the Divine thought, or disposition, 
 or powers that each of them contains, takes roots in 
 the believing heart and grows up; and the very 
 thing of which the word was the expression, is 
 produced within us. The words of God are the 
 seeds of the fulness of the Divine life. 
 
 When the Lord Jesus was made man. He becamo 
 entirely dependent upon the Word of God, He sub- 
 
13 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 m] 
 
 mitted Himself wholly to it. His mother taiiglit it 
 Him. The teachers of Nazareth instructed Him in 
 it. In meditation and prayer, in the exercise of 
 obedience and faith, He was led, during His silent 
 years of preparation, to understand and appropriate 
 it. The Word of the Father was to the Son the life 
 of His soul. What He said in the wilderness was 
 spoken from his inmost personal experience : * Man 
 shall not live by bread alone, but by every word 
 that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.' He felt 
 He could not live but as the Wore! brought Him the 
 life of the Father. His whole lif<3 was a life of faith, 
 a depending on the Word of the Father. The Word 
 was to Him not instead of the Father, but the 
 vehicle for the living fellowship with the living God. 
 And He had His whole mind and heart so filled 
 with it, that the Holy Spirit could at each moment 
 find within Him, all ready for use, the right word to 
 suggest just as He needed it. 
 
 Child of God! would you become a man of God, 
 strong in faith, full of blessing, rich in fruit to the 
 glory of God, be full of the Word of God. Like 
 Christ, make the Word your bread. Let it dwell 
 richly in you. Have your heart full of it. Feed on 
 it. Believe it. Obey it. It is only by believing 
 and obeying that the Word can enter into our inward 
 parts, into our very being. Take it day by day as 
 the Word that proceedeth, not has proceeded, but 
 proceedeth, is proceeding out of the mouth of God, 
 as the Word of the living God, who in it holds 
 living fellowship with His children, and speaks to 
 
IN HIS USE OF SCRIPTURE. 
 
 139 
 
 them in living power. Take your thoughts of God's 
 will, and God's work, and God's purpose with you, 
 and the world, not from the church, not from 
 Christians around you, but from the Word taught 
 you by the Father, and like Christ, you will be able 
 to fulfil all that is writ ,n in the Scripture concerning 
 
 you. 
 
 In Christ's use of Scripture the most remarkable 
 thing is this : He found Himself there ; Ee smo there 
 His own image and likeness. And He gave Himself 
 to the fulfilment of what He found written there. 
 It was this that encouraged Him under the bitterest 
 sufferings, and strengthened Him for the most 
 difficult work. Everywhere He saw traced by 
 God's own hand the Divine waymark: through 
 suffering to glory. He had but one thought : to bo 
 what the Father had said He should be, to have 
 His life correspond exactly to the image of what He 
 should be as He found it in the Word of God. 
 
 Disciple of Jesus, in the Scriptures thy likeness too 
 is to Is found, a picture of what the Fathei means 
 thecj to be. Seek to have a deep and clear impres- 
 sion of what the Father says in His word that thou 
 shouldest be. If this is once fully understood, it is 
 inconceivable what courage it will give to conquer 
 every difficulty. To know : it is ordained of God ; I 
 have seen what has been written concerning me in 
 God's book ; I have seen the image of what I am 
 called in God's counsel to be : this thought inspires 
 the soul with a faith that conquers the world. 
 
 The Lord Jesus found Hig own image not only 
 
1l 
 
 140 
 
 innin 
 
 LIKE CHIUST: 
 
 m the institutions, but specially in the believers of 
 the Old Testament. Moses and Aaron, Joshua 
 David, and the Prophets, were types. And so He is 
 Himself again the image of believers in the New 
 Testament. It is especially in Rim and His 
 example that we must find our own image in the 
 Scriptures. ' To be clianged into the same image 
 from glory to glory, by tlie Spirit of the Lord,' we 
 must m the Scripture-glass gaze on that image aa 
 our own. In order to accomplish His work in 
 us, the Spirit teaches us to take Christ as in very 
 deed our Example, and to gaze on every feature aa 
 the promise of what we can be. 
 
 Blessed the Christian who has truly done this • 
 vvho has not only found Jesus in the Scriptures, but 
 also in His image the promise and example of what 
 he IS to become. Blessed the Christian who yields 
 himself to be taught by the Holy Spirit not to 
 indulge in human thoughts as to the Scriptures and 
 what it says of believers, but in simplicity to accept 
 what It reveals of God's thoughts about His 
 children. 
 
 Child of God! it was ' according to the Scriptures ' 
 that Jesus Christ lived and died ; it was ' according 
 to the Scriptures ' that He was raised again : all tha't 
 the Scriptures said He must do or suffer He was 
 able to accomplish, because He knew and obeyed 
 them. All that the Scriptures had promised that 
 the Father should do for Him, the Father did 
 give thyself up with an undivided heart to learn in 
 the Scriptures what God says and seeks of thee. 
 
IN HIS USE OF so: inURR. 
 
 141 
 
 Let the Scriptures in wliich Jesus found every day 
 the food of His life, be thy daily food and meditation. 
 Go to God's Word each day wiih the joyful and con- 
 fident expectation, that through the 'blessed Spirit, 
 who dwells in us, the Word will indeed accompHsh 
 its Divine purpose in thee. Every word of God is 
 full of a Divine life and power. Be assured that 
 when thou dost seek to use the Scriptures as Christ 
 used them, they will do for thee what they did for 
 Him. God has marked out the plan of thy life in 
 His Word ; each day thou wilt find some portion of 
 it there. Nothing makes a man more strong and 
 courageous than the assurance that he is just livincr 
 out the will of God. God Himself, who had thy 
 image portrayed in the Scriptures, will see to it that 
 the Scriptures are fulfilled in thee, if like His Son 
 thou wilt but surrender thyself to this as the highest 
 object of thy li-fe. 
 
 Lord, my God ! I thank Thee for Thy precious 
 Word, the Divine glass of all unseen and eternal 
 realities. I thank Thee that I have in it the image 
 of Thy Son, who is Thy image, and also, wonde^r- 
 ful grace ! my image. I thank Thee that as I gaze 
 on Him I may also see what I can be. 
 
 my Father ! teach me rightly to understand 
 what a blessing Thy Word can bring me. To Thy 
 Son, when here on earth, it was the manifestation 
 of Thy will, the communication of Thy life and 
 strength, the fellowship with Thyself. In the 
 acceptance and the surrender to Thy Word He w 
 
 C<^>J 
 
fUl 
 
 142 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 able to fullil all Thy counsel. May Thy Word be all 
 this to me too. Make it to ine, each day afresh 
 through the unction of the Holy Spirit, the Word 
 proceeding from the mouth of God, the voice of Thy 
 living presence speaking to me. May I feel with 
 each word of Thine that it is God coming to im- 
 part to me somewhat of His own life. Teach me to 
 keep it hidden in my heart as a Divine seed, which 
 m Its own time will spring up and reproduce in me 
 in Divme reality the very life that was hid in it 
 the very thing which I at first only saw in it as a 
 thought. Teach me above all, my God, to find in 
 It Him who is its centre and substance, Himself the 
 Eternal Word. Finding Him, and myself in Him 
 as my Head and Exemplar, I shall learn like 
 Hiin to count Thy Word my food and my life 
 
 I ask this, my God, in the name of our blessed 
 Christ Jesus. Amen. 
 
 smi 
 
IN I'OllGiVlNa. 
 
 H:j 
 
 Nineteenth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 In JForsi&ins. 
 
 'Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if anv 
 man have a quarrel against any: euen as Christ forgave you 4 
 a/so(/ot/e.'— Col. iii. 13. j i -" 
 
 TN the life of grace forgiveness is one of the first 
 ■A. blessings we receive from God. It is also one 
 of the most glorious. It is the transition from the 
 old to the new life ; the sign and pledge of God's love • 
 with It we receive the right to all the spiritual gifts 
 which are prepared for us in Christ. The redeemed 
 saint can never forget, either here or in eternity, 
 that he is a forgiven sinner. Nothing works more' 
 mightily to inflame his love, to awaken his joy, or to 
 strengthen his courage, than the experience, continu- 
 ally renewed by the Holy Spirit as a living reality of 
 God's forgiving love. Every day, yes, every thought 
 ot God reminds him : I owe all to pardoning grace. • 
 This forgiving love is one of the greatest marvels 
 in the manifestation of the Divine nature. In it 
 God finds His glory and blessedness. And it is in 
 this glory and blessedness God wants His redeemed 
 
 people to shnrp w]imi TTo ^^11^ ,-, ^l 
 
 * r - - ~ ^, Triivit lie .^aiiS upuii uiem, as soon 
 
H 
 
 144 
 
 LIKE cirrasT: 
 
 an.l as mueli as tliey liuvo rcceivod forgiveness, also 
 to bestow it upon others. 
 
 Have you ever noticed how often and liow ex- 
 pressly tlie Lord Jesus spoke of it ? If we read 
 tlionolitfully our Lord's words in Matt vi 12 15 
 xviii. 2-25, Mark xi. 25, we shall understand 'how 
 inseparably the two are united : God's forgiveness of 
 ns and our forgiveness of others. After the Lord was 
 ascended to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins 
 the Scriptures say of Him just what He had said of 
 the Father, we must forgive like Him. As our text 
 expresses it, even as Christ has forgiven you, so also do 
 ye. We must be like God, like Christ, in forgiving 
 It IS not difficult to iind the reason for this 
 When forgiving love comes to us, it is not only to 
 rleliver us from punishment. Ko, much more ; it 
 seeks to win us for its own, to take poss'^ssion of ug 
 and to dwell in us. And when thus it has come 
 down dwell in us, it does not lose its own 
 heavenly character and beauty : it still is for-ivin^r 
 love seeking to do its work not alone towards 
 us, but m us, and through us, leading and enablina 
 us to forgive those who sin against us. So much 
 so IS this the case, that we are told that not to 
 lorgive IS a sure sign that one has himself not been 
 lorgiyen. He who only seeks forgiveness from 
 selfishness and as freedom from punishment, but has 
 not truly accepted forgiving love to rule his heart 
 and life, proves that God's forgiveness has never 
 really reached him. He who, on the other hand, 
 lias really accepted forgiveness will have in the joy 
 
IN FOUlilVINO. 
 
 146 
 
 with wliich he forgives others, a continual confirma- 
 tion, tliat his faith in God's forgiveness of liimself 
 13 a reality. From Christ to receive forgiveness, and 
 like^ Christ to hestow it on others : these two are' one. 
 Thus the Scriptures and the Cliurch teach: hut 
 wliat do the lives and experience of Christians say ? 
 Alas ! how many tliere are who liardly know that 
 tlius it is written, or who, if they know it, tliink it is 
 more tlian can bo expected from a sinful being ; or 
 wlio, if they agree in general to what has been°s'aid, 
 always find a reason, in their own particular case, 
 why It should not be so. Others mi^dit bo 
 strengthened in evil; the offender would" never 
 forgive had the injury been done to him ; there are 
 very many eminent Christians who do not act so ; 
 such excuses are never wanting. And yet tlio 
 command is so very simple, and its sanction so very 
 solemn : ' Even as Christ has forgiven you, so also 
 do ye ; ' ' If ye forgive not, neither will your Father 
 forgive you.' With such human reasonings tlio 
 Word of God is made of none effect. As tho'^gh it 
 were not just through forgiving love that God seelvs 
 to conquer evil, and therefore forgives even unto 
 seventy times seven. As though it were not plain 
 that not what the offender would do to me, hutivhat 
 Christ has done, must be the rule of my conduct. 
 As though conformity to the example not of Christ 
 Himself, but of pious Christians, were the sign that 
 I have truly received the forgiveness of sins. ^ 
 
 Alas ! what Church or Christian circle in which 
 the law of forgiving love is not grievously trans- 
 
 K 
 
UQ 
 
 LIKE CHRIST 
 
 gressed ? How often in our Chui.h assemblies, in 
 philanthropic undertakings as Avell as in ordinary 
 social intercourse, and even in domestic life, proof is 
 given that to many Christians the coll to forgive, 
 just as Christ did, has never yet become a ruling 
 principle of their conduct. On account of a diffei^ 
 once of opinion, or opposition to a course of action 
 that appeared to us right, on the ground of a real 
 or. a fancied slight, or the report of some unkind or 
 thoughtless word, feelings of resentment, or contempt, 
 or estrangement, have been harboured, instead of 
 loving, and forgiving, and forgetting Uke Christ. 
 In such the thought has never yet taken possession 
 of mind and heart, that the law of compassion 
 and love and forgiveness, in which the relation of 
 the head to the members is rooted, must rule the 
 whole relation of the members to each other. 
 
 Beloved foUowers of Jesus! called to manifest 
 His likeness to the world, learn that as forgiveness 
 of your sins was one of the first things Jelus did 
 for you, forgiveness of others is one of the first that 
 you can do for Him. And remember that to the 
 new heart there is a joy even sweeter than that of 
 being forgiven ; even the joy of forgiving others. 
 The joy of being forgiven is only that of a sinner and 
 of earth : the joy of forgiving is Christ's own joy, 
 the joy of heaven. Oh, come and see that it is 
 nothing less than the work that Christ Himself does, 
 and the joy with which He Himself is satisfied that 
 thou art called to participate in. 
 
 It 13 thus that thou canst bless the world. It is 
 
IN FORGIVING. 
 
 147 
 
 as the forgiving One that Jesus conquers His 
 enemies, and binds His friends to Himself. It is 
 as the forgiving One that Jesus has set up His 
 kingdom and continually extends it. It is through 
 the same forgiving love, not only preached but shown 
 in the life of His disciples, that the Church will con- 
 vince the world of God's love. If the world see 
 men and women loving and forgiving as Jesus did, 
 It wiU be compelled to confess that God is with' 
 them of a truth. 
 
 And if it still appear too hard and too high 
 remember that this will only be as long as wo 
 consult the natural heart. A sinful nature has no 
 taste for this joy, and never can attain it. But in 
 union with Christ we can do it : He who abides 
 in Him walks even as He walked. If you have 
 surrendered yourself to follow Christ in everythin-^ 
 then He will by His Holy Spirit enable you to d'^o 
 this too. Ere ever you come into temptation, 
 accustom yourself to fix your gaze on Jesus, in the 
 heavenly beauty of His forgiving love as your 
 example : ' Beholding the glory of the Lord, we are 
 changed into the same image, from glory to glory.' 
 Every time you pray or thank God for forgiveness, 
 make the vow that to the glory of His name you 
 will manifest the same forgiving love to all around 
 you. Before ever there is a question of forgiveness 
 of others, let your heart be filled with love to 
 Christ, love to the brethren, and love to enemies : a 
 heart full of love finds if. hlpacpri f ^ ff^>.f,,' — t „i. 
 in each little circumstance of daily life when the 
 
148 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 temptaion not to forgive .night arise, the oppor- 
 tmiity be joyfully welcomed to show how truly you 
 ive m God's forgiving love, how glad you are to 
 lot IS beautiful light shine through you on others, 
 and how blessed a priviLge you feel it to be thu^ 
 too to bear the image of your beloved Lord. 
 
 To forgive like Thee, blessed Son of God ! I take 
 this as the law of my life. Thou who hast given 
 tlie command, givest also the power. Thou who 
 hadst love enough to forgive me, wilt also fill me 
 with love and teach me to forgive others. Thou 
 who diast give me the first blessing, in the joy of 
 having my sins forgiven, wilt surely give me t'la 
 second blessing, the deeper joy of forgiving others 
 
 . w L . '■8'''*° '"^- ^^' fill »« to this end 
 with faith in the power of Thy love in me, to make 
 
 me like l.^yself, to enable me to forgive the seventy 
 tiines Severn, and so to love and bless all around me. 
 O my Jesus! Thy example is my law: I must 
 be like Thee And Thy example is my gospel too: 
 I can be as Thou art. Thou art at once my Law 
 and my Life. What Thou demandest of me by TIiv 
 example. Thou workest in me by Thy life. I shall 
 lorgive like Thee. 
 
 Lord, only lead me deeper into my dependence 
 on Thee, into the all-suificiency of Thy grace and 
 the blessed keeping which comes from Thy indwell- 
 mg. Then shall I believe and prove the all-pre- 
 va.hng power of love. I shall forgive even aa 
 v-ij.xww iidr, iui^ivuii me. Amen. 
 
IN BEHOLDING HIM. 
 
 no 
 
 Twentieth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 in befjoltims 3&im. 
 
 rf 'f^"* r f' ^^*\°P^^ f^c« beholding as in a glass the glory 
 cf the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory lo 
 glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. '-2 Coliii. 18. 
 
 "MOSES had been forty days on tlie mount in 
 ^TX communion with God. When he came 
 down, his face shone with Divine glory He did 
 not know it himself, but Aaron and the people saw 
 It (Ex. xxxiv. 30). It was so evidently God's -lorv 
 that Aaron and the people feared to approach him " 
 
 In this we have an image of what takes place in 
 the New Testament. The privilege Moses there 
 alone enjoyed is now the portion of every believer 
 \\ hen we beliold the glory of God in Christ, in the 
 glass of the Holy Scriptures, His glory shines upon 
 us, and mto us, and fills us, until it shines out from 
 lis again. By gazing on His glory the believer is 
 changed through the Spirit into the same image 
 JjG/wlding Jesus makes ^is like Him. 
 
 It is a law of nature that the eye exercises a 
 mighty influence on mind nnrl nTiovn«f^« t^^ 
 education of a child is carried on greatly through 
 
150 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 the eye ; he is moulded very much by the mauncrg 
 and habits of those he sees continually. To form 
 and mould our character the Heavenly Father shows 
 us His Divine glory in the face of Jesus. He does 
 It m the expectation that it will give us great joy 
 to gaze upon it, and because He knows that, gazing 
 on It, we shall be conformed to the same imacre 
 Let every one who desires to be like Jesus note how 
 he can attain to it. 
 
 Look continually to the Divine glory as seen in 
 Christ. What is the special characteristic of that 
 glory ? It is the manifestation of Divine perfection 
 m human form. The chief marks of the image of 
 the Divine glory in Christ are these two : "^ His 
 humiliation and His love.) 
 
 There is the glory of His humiliation. AVhen you 
 see how the eternal Son emptied Himself and became 
 man, and how as man He humbled Himself as a 
 servant and was obedient even unto the death of the 
 cross, you have seen the highest glory of God. The 
 glory of God's omnipotence as Creator, and the glory 
 of God's holiness as King, is not so wonderful as this • 
 the glory of grace which humbled itself as a servant 
 to serve God and man. We must learn to look upon 
 this humiliation as really glory. To he humllcd like 
 Christ must he to us the only thing worthy the name of 
 glory en earth. It must become in our eyes the 
 most beautiful, the most wonderful, the most 
 desirable thing that can be imagined ; a very joy 
 to look upon or to think of. The effect of thus 
 gazmg upon it and admiring it will be that you 
 
IN BEHOLDING IIDr. 
 
 151 
 
 as seen m 
 
 will not bo able to conceive of any glory greater 
 than to bo and act like Jesus, and will loner to 
 humble yourself even as He did. Gazing on Jesus, 
 admiring and adoring Him, will work in us the 
 same mind that there was in Him, and so wo shall 
 be changed into His image. 
 
 Inseparable from this is the glory of His love 
 The humiliation leads you back to the love as its 
 origin and power. It is from love that the humilia- 
 tion has Its beauty. Love is the highest glory of 
 God. But this love was a hidden mystery, until it 
 was manifest in Christ Jesus. It is only in His 
 humanity, in His gentle, compassionate, and loviu<' 
 mtercourse with men, with foolish, sinful, hostile 
 men, that the glory of Divine love wac .. ..L really 
 seen. The soul that gets a glimpse of this glory 
 and that understands that to lorn like Christ is alone 
 worthy the name of glory, will long to become like 
 Christ m this. Beholding this glory of the love of 
 God m Christ, he is changed to the same ima^e 
 
 You would be like Christ? Here is the%ath. 
 Gaze on the glory of God in Him. In Him, that 
 IS to say; do not look only to the words and the 
 thoughts and the graces in which His glory is seen 
 but look to Himself, the living, loving Christ. Behold 
 Him, look into His very eye, look into His face, as 
 a loving friend, as the living God. 
 
 Look to Him in adoration. Bow before Him as 
 God. His glory has an almighty living power to 
 impart itself to us. to mss nv^r inf^ „. ^^a *.^ 
 
 fill 
 
 us. 
 
152 
 
 I'Uiv: ciriiisT: 
 
 
 ■ : ] 
 
 i.fl 
 
 tiust thut lie IS yours, that IIo I,as give. llnusM 
 to you, iuul tliiit you havo a claim to all that is in 
 ilim. It 13 His purpose to work out His inia.'o in 
 yo... Jiehold Ilin. with the joymi nn.l cmiain 
 oxiiocla ion : the glory that I behold in l[j„, i, 
 destine,! ior lue. He will give it n,o ; as I g,u„ 
 and wonder and trust, I beeonio like Christ 
 
 look to Him with strong desire. Do not yield 
 to the sloth uluoss of the Hesli that is satisfied with- 
 
 rr V '" " ^''"'° °^ <=°"'"">"ity to the Lord, 
 liay God to Ireo you from all carnal resting con- 
 tent with present attainments, and to fill you with 
 tho <leep unquench,ihle longing for Uis glorv. 
 I ray most fervently the pr.ayer of Muses, 'Show nf^ 
 il>y«loj2, L«t nothing discourage you, not ^ 
 tTIo apparently slow progress you make, but i>ress 
 onwards willi ever growing desiro after tho blessed 
 prospect that God's Word holds out to you • ' wo 
 are changed into the same image, from glory to 
 
 And ns you behold llim, above all, lot tho look of 
 love not be w.inting. Tell Him continually how Ho 
 has won your heart, how you do love Ilim, how 
 entirely you belong to Him. Tell Him that to 
 I-loase Him, tho beloved One, is your highest, your 
 only joy. Let the bond of love between you and 
 Him bo drawn continually closer. Love unites 
 and m.ikes like. 
 
 _ Zike Christ ! we can bo it, wo shall bo it, each 
 m our measure. The Holy Spirit is the pledge 
 
IN IIEIIOLDINO IIIM. 
 
 153 
 
 that It shall bo. God's Holy Word has aai.l, < Wo 
 aro changed into tlie eamo image, frcu glory to 
 g ory, oven aa by tt. ^int of the L^d.' This is 
 the bp>nt that was in Jesus, and through Whoin tho 
 piviiio glory hved ond shono on llin,. Tliis Spirit 
 IS called -Tho Spirit of glory.' This Spirit is in ns 
 as in tho Lord Jesus, and it is His wo>lc, in our 
 sdont adormg contemplation, to bring over into us 
 and work witlnn us, what wo see in our Lord Jesu,s. 
 liirough tins .Spirit wo havo already Chri.st's life in 
 us, with all tho gifts of His grace. ]?ut that life 
 must bo stirred up and developed : it must grow 
 up pass into our whole being, take possesion of our 
 entire nature, penetrate and pervade it all. We 
 can count on the Spirit to work this in us, if we 
 but yield ourselves to Him and obey Him. As we 
 gaze on Jesus in tho Word, He opens our eyes to 
 see tho glory of all that Jesus docs and is Ho 
 makes us willing to be like Him. He strengthens 
 our laith, that what wo behold in Jesus can be in 
 us, because Jesus Himself is ours. Ho works in us 
 unceasingly tho life of abiding in Christ, a whole- 
 liearted union and communion with Him. He does 
 according to the promise: ' The Spirit shall glorify 
 me : for He shall take of mine and shall show it 
 "uto you. We are changed into the image on 
 which wo ga.e, from glory to glory, «s hj tU Spirit 
 of tli^ Lord Let us only understand, that tho 
 ulness of the Spirit is given to ns, and that ho 
 wlio beliovmgly surrenders himself to bn fi11„,l ,„jti, 
 Uim, will experience how gloriously Ho accomJJ 
 
f I 
 
 154 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 lt\ 
 
 ' < ,i 
 
 I f^ 
 
 I 
 
 JiJf'W' 
 >) , 
 
 pllsbos His work of stamping on our souls and 
 lives the image and likeness of Christ. 
 
 Brotlior ! beholding Jesus and His glory, you 
 can confidently expect to become like Him :' only 
 trust yourself in quietness and restfulnesG of soul to 
 the leading of the Spirit. ''The Spirit of glory rests 
 upon you " Gaze on and adore the glory of God m\ 
 Christ; you will be changed with Divine power 
 from glory to glory; in the power of the Holy 
 Gliost the mighty transformation will be wrouglif 
 by which your desires will be fultilled, and Uh 
 Christ will be the blessed God-given experiencG 
 of your life. 
 
 my Lord ! I do thank Thee for the glorious 
 assurance tliat while I am engaged with Thee in 
 my work of beholding Thy glory, the Holy Spirit 
 IS engaged with me, in His work of changing me 
 into that image, and of laying of Thy glory on me. 
 
 Lord! grant me to behold Thy glory aright. 
 Moses had been forty days witli Thee when Thy 
 glory shone upon him. I acknowledge that my 
 communion with Thee has been too short and passing, 
 tliat I have taken too little time to come under th^J 
 full impression of what Thine image is. ) Lord ! teach 
 me this. Draw me in these my meditations too, to 
 surrender myself to contemplate and adore, until 
 my soul at every line of that image may exclaim : 
 This IS glorious 1 this is the glory of God 1 my 
 God, sliow me Tliy glory. 
 
 And strengthen my faith, blessed Lord ! that, even 
 
IN BEIIOLDINO HIM. 
 
 155 
 
 When I am not conscious of any special experience, 
 the Holy Spmt will do His work, Moses knew 
 not that his face shone, lord! keep me from 
 looking at self: May I be so taken up only with 
 Ihee as to forget and lose myself in Thee. Lord ' 
 It IS he who is dead to self who lives in Thee 
 
 my Lord, as often as I gaze upon Thine ima"o 
 and Thine example, I would do it in the faith, th^t 
 Ihy Holy Spirit will fill me. will take entire 
 possession of me, and so work Thy likeness in me, 
 that the world may see in me somewhat of Thv 
 glory. In this faith I will venture to take Thv 
 precious word, Teom gloev to gloky,' as my watch- 
 word, to be to me the promise of a grace that grows 
 Mcher every day, of a blessing that is ever readv 
 to surpass itself, and to make what has been given 
 only the pledge of the better that is to come. 
 Ireoious Saviour! gazing on Thee it shall indeed be 
 so, From glory to glory.' Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 I have left tlie preceding piece as it was oriffinalW 
 published in Dutch. Tho° English Revised &» 
 translates: 'But we all, with unveiled face r^fe^ras 
 
 Lord the Sff'' ^^ ® "'J' *? S'»'7. «ven as from the 
 ijora the bpirit,' and gives m the marein 'beholdiiw 
 
 Zf ? ""i"™-'-' ^' '^ "^iffi"-" to settle^whicht the 
 
 "e'-^f-*:'!'^''?';' f *'• ' ""g-""' "»" bear both meanint 
 
 me" thrrXi?*"^ T'^'' *° ""^ ''^*tor to suit the 
 passage . the reflectmg the image can only come after 
 
156 
 
 m 
 
 MM 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 
 I 
 
 we have been, or at least as we are being, 'transfomod 
 n to the .an.e ,mage.> It is only as we a e tra..sf«rmed 
 
 SI ;• ''i^ '''n'O'i' better expressed by beholding than 
 rejlecln!,. however ibis may be, even if we prefer to 
 tonslato reflecting, what has beLn said on bSdin" 
 does not Icse its force: it is the intent, longinR, loviL ? 
 adormg ga^e on the glory of God in'theVe of th°e 
 Beloved bon that transforms. 
 
 What rich instruction in regard to the Divine 
 Photography of which the text speaks there is in Xa 
 we see m the human art ! In the practice of the 
 photo^apher we see two things: faitfi in the power 
 and effects of hght, and the wi^e adjustment of everv- 
 thing m obedience to its laws. With what care the 
 tenderly sensitive plate is prepared to receive tl e 
 KnrV :"',!' "''■^' Feciiion^ts relative posit on 
 
 ■mdk^rte,- °^l''"'i''fr.'' "^ ^''j"^'^'!^ how still and 
 undisturbed it ,s then held face to face with that obiect i 
 
 Ha,^ng done this, the photographer leaves the lig.t to 
 
 M.ay we learn the precious lessons. Let us believe in 
 
 Chr f'^ ;™V'" l'"'™"^ °l *'"^ '■'«''' "^ ««!• '" transcribe 
 Lhrists imago on our heart. 'We are channed into 
 
 the s,ame image as by the Spirit of the Lord.' Let us 
 
 not seek to do the work the Spirit roust do : let us 
 
 simply trus„ Him to do it. Our duty is, to seek the 
 
 LT'^tY'"' ^^»\"''&l«"gi--'& praying for the lik" 
 ness; to take our place face to face with Jesus, study. 
 
 b?wf ^7f , °^'"*^' T''''''PP'''S' ''"d believing th.at 
 the wonderlul vision of that Crucified One is the sure 
 promise of what we can be; and then, putting aside ill 
 that can distract, m stillness of soul, silent unto God 
 just to allow the Blessed Spirit as the Light of God to 
 do the work. Not less surely or wonderfully th.n in 
 the light-printing which is done here on earth, ,v H 
 onr souls receive and show the impress of that wonderful 
 
 ixn.6nCS3. 
 
' M 
 
 IN BFIIOLDING IIIM. 
 
 157 
 
 transformed 
 transformed 
 nsformation 
 lolding than 
 'e prefer to 
 1 beholding 
 ;ing, loving, 
 face of the 
 
 ihe Divine 
 3 is in what 
 ;ico of the 
 the power 
 t of every- 
 tt care tlie 
 •eceive the 
 'e position 
 w still and 
 hat object ! 
 he light to 
 id a work 
 
 I feel tempted to add one thonglit : wliat a solemn 
 calling that of ministers as the servants of this Heavenly 
 riiotography, 'ministers of the Spirit' in His work 
 (see 2 Cor. iv. 6) : to lead believers on, and point them 
 to Jesus and every trait in that blessed face and life as 
 what they are to bo changed to ; to help them to that 
 wistful longing, that deep thirsting for conformity to 
 Jesus, which is the true preparation of soul ; to teach 
 them how, both in public worship and private prayer, 
 they have just to place themselves f<ice to face with their 
 Lord, and give Him time, as they unbare and expose 
 their whole inner being to the beams of His love and 
 His glory, to come in and take possession, by His Spirit 
 to transform them into His own likeness. 
 
 'Who is sufficient for these things 1 Our sufficiency is 
 of God, who hath made us able ministers of the Spirit.' 
 
 believe in 
 transcril>e 
 'uged into 
 Let ii3 
 io : let us 
 seek the 
 the like- 
 5US, study- 
 ving that 
 ! the sure 
 \ aside all 
 into God, 
 3f God to 
 y than in 
 irth, will 
 vonderful 
 
■ 
 
 ■ ' 
 
 fl 
 
 m "' 
 
 1 
 
 M '^^ ' 
 
 1 
 
 lii' 
 
 1 
 
 ■I 
 
 1 
 
 ^M* 
 
 158 
 
 ^ ' 
 
 
 H ' 
 
 i ', 
 
 ■ j 
 
 I'M! 
 
 I^^Ki IMMH 
 
 . MJ J It 
 
 ^H|. ^^Bl 
 
 If r! 
 
 |H? IPII 
 
 jii 
 
 UKK CHRIST; 
 
 Twenty-first Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 In ms Igumilttg. 
 
 hJ™ '"""°.''° "' "l"'l ^"t^h '=<"mHng other better than huiisolf 
 Havo UiM mind ,„ y„u, which was a/so /„ Christ JesuT^Z 
 
 seivant, being made in the likeness of men ; and beinp found in 
 lasliion as a man, He humbled Himself, beeoming obefient unto 
 death, yea, the death of the cross.'-PH,i,. ii. 3-8 (I! v!) 
 
 TN tliis wonderful passage we have a summary of 
 ^ all the most precious truths that duster round 
 the person of the Blessed Son of God. There is 
 first, His adorable Divinity : -in the form of God' 
 yual with God: Then comes the mystery of Hi's 
 moarnation, in that word of deep and inexhaustible 
 meaning: 'He emptied Himself: The atonement 
 foUows, with the humiliation, and obedience, and 
 suffering and death, whence it derives its worth : 
 Be humlled Rxmself leeoming oledient ^nto death 
 <^m th^ death of the cross.' And aJl is crowned by' 
 His g orious exaltation : ' God hath highly exalted Him.' 
 Christ as God, Christ becoming man, Christ as man 
 m humiliation working out our redemption, and 
 
IN MIS IIUMILITV. 159 
 
 Christ in glory as Lord oC all ; such are the treasures 
 ot wisdom this passage contains. 
 
 some of the words the passage contains. And yet 
 Buihcient attention has not always been given to 
 the connection m which the Holy Spirit gLs tli s 
 wondrous teaching. It is not in the first place a 
 a statement of truth for the refutation of erro. o 
 ho strengthening of faith. The object is a ve^y 
 cbfferen one Among the I'hilippi'ans there wis 
 still pnde and want of love: it is with the disttoc 
 view of setting Christ's example before hem and 
 tching them to humble themselves as He did that 
 m^. t '"'P"""*'"" "^^ S'^«"- ' In lowliness 
 
 !eJus' kwt '"/"" ^^'"'^ ^'' "'^^ » Christ 
 r^T ™r . ", '^°'' ""' ^'"''y tWs portion of 
 Gods Word with the wish to become lowly as 
 Christ was, has never nsed it for the one great 
 purpose for which God gave it. Christ descend 
 hom the throne of God, and seeking His way back 
 there as man through the humiliatfon of thTcro's 
 reveals the only way by which we ever can rea;h 
 
 0^^: ^'^ /"'' "'"''^' "^* S'« ^tonemlt 
 accepts His example too, is alone true faith. Each 
 
 soul that would truly belong to Him must in 
 mnon with Him have His SDirit- TtT=^- !• 
 and His image. ^ ' " ' disposition, 
 
 'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ 
 
ICO 
 
 lii 
 
 ■li,. 
 
 t i 1l 
 
 tii 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 must be like Christ in His self-emptying and self, 
 humiliation. The first great act of self-abnegation 
 m which as God He emptied Himself of His Divine 
 glory and power and laid it aside, was followed up 
 by the no less wondrous humbling of Himself as 
 man, to the death of the cross. And in this 
 amazing twofold humiliation, the astonishment of 
 the universe and the delight of tlie Father, Holy 
 Scripture with the utmost simplicity tells us we 
 must, as a matter of course, be like Christ. 
 
 And does Paul, and do the Scriptures, and docs 
 God really expect this of us ? Why not ? or rather, 
 how can they expect anything else ? They know 
 indeed the fearful power of pride and the old 
 Adam in our nature. . But they know also that 
 Christ has redeemed us not only from the curse but 
 from the power of sin, and that He gives us His 
 resurrection life and power to enable us to live 
 as He did on eartli. They say that He is not only 
 our Surety, but our Example also ; so that we not 
 only live through Him, but like Him. And 
 furtlier, not only our Example but also our Head, 
 who lives in us, and continues in us the life He 
 once led on earth. With such a Christ, and such 
 a plan of redemption, can it be otherwise ? The 
 follower of Christ must have the same mind as was 
 in Christ ; he must especially be like Him in His 
 humility. 
 
 Christ's example teaches us, that it is not sin 
 that must humble us. This is what many Christians 
 think. Thnv nop«!idpr d^il" ^^lu ^--, 
 
IN HIS HUMILITY. 
 
 161 
 
 keep us humble. This is not so. There is indeed! 
 a humihty that is very lovely, and so of great 
 worth, as the beginning of something more, ^eo7 
 isting m the acknowledgment of transgression and 
 shortcomings. But there is a humify which is / 
 more heavenly still, even like Christ, which con- 
 sists, even when grace keeps us from sinning, in 
 the self-abasement that can only wonder that God 
 should bless us, and delights to be as nothing 
 before Hun to whom we owe all. It is grace we^ 
 need and not sin, to make and keep liiT^iHr) 
 Ihe heaviest- laden branches always bow the W^ 1 
 The greatest flow of water makes the deepest river- 
 bed. The nearer the soul comes to God, the more 
 His majestic Presence makes it feel its littleness. 
 It IS this alone that makes it possible for each 
 to count others better than himself Jesus Christ 
 the Holy One of God, is our example of humility : it 
 was, knowing that the Father had given all thit-s 
 into His hands, and that He was come from God and 
 went to God, that He washed the disciples' feet. It 
 IS the Divme presence, the consciousness of the 
 Divine life and the Divine love in us, that will 
 make us humble. 
 
 It appears to many Christians an impossibility to 
 
 ^ay : I will not think of self, I will esteem others 
 
 better than myself They ask grace to overcome 
 
 he worst ebullitions of pride and vainglory, but 
 
 an entvre self-renunciation, such as Christ's, is too 
 
 uauexotoou die deep truth and blessedness of the 
 
 L 
 
162 
 
 m 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 4: 
 
 '8 f i 
 
 word, ' Ho who bumbles bimself sball be exalted,' 
 * He who loses his life shall find it,' they would not 
 be satisfied with anything less than entire con- 
 formity to their Lord in this. And they would find 
 that there is a way to overcome self and self- 
 exaltation : to see it nailed to Christ's cross, and 
 there keep it crucified continually through the 
 Spirit (Gal. v. 24; Eom. viii. 13). He only can 
 grow to such humility, who heartily yields himself 
 to live in the fellowship of Christ's death. 
 
 To attain this, two things are necessary. The 
 first is a fixed purpose and surrender henceforth to 
 be nothing and seek nothing for oneself: but to 
 live only for God and our neighbour. The other 
 is the faith that appropriates the pov>rer of Christ's 
 death in this also, as our death to sin and our deliver- 
 ance from its power. This fellowship of Christ's 
 death brings an end to the life, where sin is too strong 
 for us ; it is the commencement of a life in us where 
 Christ is too strong for sin. 
 
 It is only under the teaching and powerful working 
 of the Holy Spirit that one can realize, accept, 
 and keep hold of this truth. But God be thanked, 
 we have the Holy Spirit. Oh that we may trust 
 ourselves fully to His guidance. He will guide us, it 
 is His work ; He will glorify Christ in us. He will 
 teach us to understand that we are dead to sin and 
 the old self, that Christ's life and humility are ours. 
 
 Thus Christ's humility is appropriated in faith. 
 This may take place at once. But the appropriation 
 in experience is gradual. Our thoufrhtH mid feplinfrq 
 
IN HIS HUMILITY. 
 
 163 
 
 our very manners and conversation, have been so 
 
 takes time to imbue and permeate and transfi-^ure 
 
 At first the conscience is not perfectly enlightened 
 the spin ual taste and the power of discLment 
 have not yet been exercised. But with each 
 believing renewal of the consecration in the depth 
 of the soul: 'I have surrendered myself to be 
 humble like Jesus/ power will go out fL H m, to 
 fil the whole being, until in face, and voice ;nd' 
 action the sanctification of the SpMt wil be^ 
 
 STuX' '"' '''^'^" ^"^ '"^^ '' '''^^^' I 
 
 The blessedness of a Christlike humility is un- 
 speakable^^ It is of great worth in the sight of Gd- 
 He giveth grace to the humble.' In the spiritual" 
 e It IS the source of rest and joy. To the LSI 
 all God does is right and good. Humility is 
 always ready to praise God for the least of His 
 mercies. Humility does not find it difficult to trSt 
 I submits unconditionally to aU that God says 
 Ihe two whom Jesus praises for their great faith' 
 are just those who thought least of themseC tS 
 
 shoiZt ''''; '' ''""'°' ^°^*y *at Thon 
 
 shouldest come under my roof;' the Syrophenician^ 
 
 woman was content to be numbe/d S ZJ 
 hW; f^'""''^'^ ^ia nien it is the secret of 
 
 offen? '"f °^'- ''^'' ''"""'^^ '^'^ <^°«« '•o' take 
 ottence, and is verv rarfifnl Tint to fr-"- -•- -r • 
 
 ever ready to serve his neighbour, because he h^ 
 
164 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 learnt from Jesus the Divine beauty of being a 
 servant. He finds favour with God and man. 
 
 Oh what a glorious calling for the followers of 
 Christ! To be sent into the world by God to 
 prove that there is nothing more divine than sell- 
 humiliation. The humble glorifies God, he leads 
 others to glorify Him, he will at last be glorified 
 with Him. Who would not be humble like 
 Jesus ? 
 
 Thou, who didst descend from heaven, and didst 
 humble Thyself to the death of the cross, Thou 
 callest me to take Thy humility as the law of my 
 life. 
 
 Lord, teach me to understand the absolute need 
 of this. A proud follower of the humble Jesus, 
 this I cannot, I may not be. In the secrecy of my 
 heart, and of my closet, in my house, in presence of 
 friends or enemies, in prosperity or adversity, I ^ 
 would be filled with Thy humility. J 
 
 my beloved Lord ! I feel the need of a new, 
 a deeper insight into Thy crucifixion, and my part 
 in it. Eeveal to me how my old proud self is 
 crucified with Thee. Show me in the light of Thy 
 Spirit how I, God's regenerate c^'ld, am dead to 
 sin and its power, and how in communion with 
 Thee sin is powerless. Lord Jesus, who hast 
 conquered sin, strengthen in me the faith that Thou 
 art my life, and that Thou wilt fill me with Thy 
 humility if I will submit to be filled with Thyself 
 
IN HIS HUMILITY. 
 
 of being a 
 i man. 
 followers of 
 by God to 
 le than self- 
 )d, he leads 
 
 be glorified 
 lumble like 
 
 165 
 
 Lord, my hope is in Thee. In faith in Tliee I 
 go into the world to show how the same mind that 
 was m Thee is also in Thy children, and teaches us 
 111 lowliness of mind each to esteem others better 
 than himsdf. May God help us. Amen 
 
 en, and didst 
 
 cross. Thou 
 
 J law of my 
 
 bsolute need 
 mble Jesus, 
 crecy of my 
 presence of 
 adversity, I ^ 
 
 d of a new, 
 nd my part 
 roud self is 
 ight of Thy 
 am dead to 
 union with 
 who hast 
 h. that Thou 
 e with Thy 
 ^ith Thyself 
 
I. ' i 
 
 'IJ 
 
 ;(, 
 
 166 
 
 LIKE CIiniST: 
 
 Twenty-second Day 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 In i^t Uktnm ot Jgfe Qeatlr* 
 
 *For if we have been planted together in the likeness of Hia 
 death, we shall bo also in the likeness of His resurrection.— For 
 in that He died, He died unto sin once.— Liicewise reckon ye 
 also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. '—Rom. vi. 5, 10, 11. 
 
 TT is to the death of Christ we owe our salvation. 
 -A- The better we understand the meaning of that 
 death, the richer will be our experience of its power. 
 In these words we are taught what it is to be one 
 with Christ in the likeness of His death. Let 
 every one who truly longs to be like Christ in his 
 life, seek to understand aright what the likeness of 
 His death means. 
 
 Christ had a double work to accomplish in His 
 death. The one was, to work out righteousness for 
 us, the other to obtain life for us. When Scripture 
 speaks of the first part of this work, it uses the 
 expression, Christ died for our sins: He took sin 
 upon Himself, bore its punishment; sc He made 
 atonement, and brought in a righteousness in which 
 we could stand before God. When Scripture 
 
IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH 107 
 
 speaks of the second part of this work, it uses the 
 expression: He dud to ,m. Dying for sm has 
 reference to the judicial relation L^ei Z. 'nd 
 
 Z:,^. t °"' ''"^ "P°" Him : through His 
 
 death atonement is made for sin before God 
 Byxru, toJ^nhz& reference to a personal relation- 
 hrough His death the connection in which He stood 
 to sin was entirely dissolved. During His life sin 
 lad grea power to cause Him conflict and suffering- 
 His death made an end of this. Sin had now no 
 more power to tempt or to hurt Him. He was 
 
 Seen h""'. ^'""^ ^"^ <=°"'P'«*«^y -P»-ted 
 between Him and sin. Christ died to sin 
 
 J^ike Christ, the believer too has died to sin- lie 
 
 AnHsTN ""'",• i" '''' '"^'^^'^ - His de'ai,! 
 And as the knowledge that Christ died for sin as 
 
 our atonement is indispensable to our justiiication 
 the knowledge that Christ, and we with Him in 
 the likeness of His death, are dead to sin. is indis" 
 pensab e to our sanctification. let us endeavour to 
 understand this. ^vour lo 
 
 Wi?h r/'. *a! ''"''"^ ^^^"^ *^* Christ died. 
 With the first Adam we had been planted together 
 
 L and r^' °' ^"^ ^'^'^-- ""' '"«''' «"d wealth 
 urn, and the power of his death works in us - we 
 
 himself died. We understand this. Just so we 
 
 death'^T? ".' f'' ^"^"^^ ^ '"^^ ^*--« «f His 
 death: He died to sin, and we in Him; and now 
 
 the power of His d^qt*- -rrl-o - rt- 
 
 . , ~ji 1 li^rtLii T(OiKs 111 US. vVe are 
 
 '"deed dead to sin, as tnily so as He Himself is. 
 
1G8 
 
 LIKE cnniST: 
 
 l»". 
 
 Through our first birth we were made partakers 
 in Adam's death; through our second birth we 
 become partakers in the death of the second Adam. 
 Every believer who accepts of Christ is partaker of 
 the power of His death, and is dead to sin. But a 
 believer may have much of which he is ignorant. 
 Most believers are in their conversion so occupied 
 with Christ's death for sin as their justification, that 
 they do not seek to know what it means, that in 
 Him they are dead to sin. When they first learn 
 to feel their need of Him as their sanctification, 
 then the desire is awakened to understand this like- 
 nt;3s of His death. They find the secret of holiness 
 in it ; that as Christ, so they also have died to sin. 
 
 The Christian who does not understand this always 
 iniagines that sin is too strong for him, that sin has 
 Btill power over him, and that he must sometimes 
 obey it. But he thinks this because he does not 
 know that he, like Christ, is dead to sin. If he 
 but believed and understood what this means, his 
 language woiUd be, * Christ has died to sin. Sin 
 has nothing more to say to Him. In His life and 
 death sin had power over Him; it was sin that 
 caused Him the sufferings of the cross, and the 
 humiliation of the grave ; but He is dead to sin : it 
 has lost all claim over Him, He is entirely and for 
 ever freed from its power. Even so I as a believer. 
 The new life that is in me, is the life of Christ 
 from the dead, a life that has been begotten through 
 death, a life that is entirely dead to sin! The 
 believer as a new creature in Christ Jesus can glory 
 
 ' \ 
 
IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH. 1G9 
 
 and say : ' Like Christ I am dead to sin. Sin has 
 no right or power over mo whatever. I am freed 
 from it, therefore I need not sin.' 
 
 And if the believer still sins, it is because he 
 does not use his privilege to live as one who is 
 dead to sm. Through ignorance or unwatchfulness 
 or unbelief, he forgets the meaning and the power 
 of this likeness of Christ's death, and sins. But if 
 he holds fast what his participation with Christ's 
 death signifies, he has the power to overcome sin 
 He marks well that it is not said, ' Sin is dead.' No, 
 sm is not dead ; sin lives and works still in the 
 flesh. But he himself is dead to sin, and aUve to 
 God ; and so sin cannot for a single moment, with- 
 out his consent, have dominion over him. If he 
 Bin, it is because he allows it to reign, and' submits 
 himself to obey it. 
 
 Beloved Christian, who seekest to be like Christ 
 take the Hkeness of His death as one of the most 
 gloiious parts of the life you covet. Appropriate 
 It first of all in faith. Reckon that you are indeed 
 dead to sm. Let it be a settled thing ; God says 
 It to every one of His children, even the weakest • 
 say It before Him too : ' Like Christ I am dead to 
 sm' Fear not to say it; it is the truth. Ask the 
 Holy Spirit earnestly to enlighten you with regard 
 to this part of your union with Christ, so thc^t it 
 may not only be a doctrine, but power and truth. 
 
 Endeavour to understand more deeply what it 
 says to live as dead to sin, as one who, in dyin^ 
 has been freed from its dominion, and who can*'now 
 
170 
 
 LIKR CHRIST: 
 
 reign in life through Jesus Christ over it. Then 
 tlierc will follow upon the likeness of "^Tis doath, 
 accepted in faitli, tlie conformity to llis deatli 
 (Philip. 3)/ something that is gradual ly and increas- 
 ingly appropriated, as Christ's death manifests its 
 full power in all the faculties and powers of your 
 life. 
 
 And in order to have the full benefit of this 
 likeness of Christ's death, notice particularly two 
 things. The one is the obligation under which it 
 brings you, ' How shall we who are dead to sin live 
 any longer therein?* Endeavour to enter more 
 deeply into the meaning of this death of Christ 
 into which you have been baptized. His death 
 meant : liather die tlian sin : willing to die in order 
 to overcome sin : dead, and therefore released from 
 the power of sin. Let this also be your position : 
 ^ Know ye not, that as many of us as were baptized 
 into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death ? ' 
 Let the Holy Spirit baptize you continually deeper 
 into His death, until the power of God's Word, dead 
 to sin, until the conformity to Christ's death, is 
 discernible in all your walk and conversation. 
 
 The other lesson is this : The likeness of Christ's 
 death is not only an obligation but a power. 
 
 ^ The likeness of Christ's death in Eom. vi. precedes the Jikeneos 
 of His resurrection ; no one can be made alive in Him who has 
 not given himself up to die with Him. The conformity to Christ's 
 death in Philip. . 3 is spoken of as coming after the knowing Him 
 in the power of His resurrection: the growth of the resurrection 
 life witliin us leads to a deeper experience of the death. The two 
 coutiuuallv act and tcaot.^ 
 
IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH. 
 
 171 
 
 Christian, longing to be Christliko, if there be one 
 thing you need more than and above all else, it is 
 this : to know the exceeding greatness of God's power 
 tliat worketh in you. It was in the power of 
 eternity that Clirist in His death wrestled with the 
 powers of hell and conquered. You have part with 
 Clirist m His death; you have part in all the 
 povvers by which He conquered. Yield yourself 
 joyfuUy and believingly, to be led more deeply into 
 the confoimity to Christ's death, then you cannot 
 but become like Him. 
 
 my Lord ! how little I have understood Thy 
 grace. I have often read the words, ' planted into 
 the likeness of His death,' and seen that as Thou 
 didst die to sin, so it is said to Thy believing people, 
 ' Likewise also ye.' But I have not understood its 
 power. And so it came that, not knowing the 
 hkeness of Th- death, I knew not that I was free 
 from the power of sin, and as a conqueror could 
 have dominion over it. Lord, Thou hast indeed 
 opened to me a glorious prospect. The man who 
 believingly accepts the likeness of Thy death, and 
 according to Thy Word reckons himself dead to sin 
 — sm shall not have dominion over him : he has 
 power to live for God. 
 
 Lord, let Thy Holy Spirit reveal this to me 
 more perfectly. I wish to take Thy word in 
 simple faith, to take the position Thou assignest me 
 as one who in Thee is dead to sin. Lord, in Thee 
 
 
 dead to sin. Teach me to hold it fast, or 
 
 
I I ',..1 
 
 U I' 
 
 172 
 
 LIKE curist: 
 
 rather to liolj Thco fast in faith, until my wholo 
 life be a proof of it. Lord, take me up and 
 keep me in communion with Thyself, that, abiding 
 in Thee, I may find in Thee tlio death unto siu 
 and the life unto God. Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 ^ At a meeting of ministers, where these words in Rom 
 VI. 11 were being discussed, the question was asked 
 by the leader, which of the five different thoughts of tlio 
 verse was tlie most important. He pointed out wliat 
 these thoughts were. The first, likewise also ye, suggestinf» 
 the complete likeness to Him of whom it had just been 
 said, ' In that He died, He died unto sin once ; in that 
 He hveth, He liveth unto God.' The second, reckon your- 
 selves, the command in which the duty of a large but 
 simple faith is laid upon us. Then, dead indeed to sin, 
 the truth in which the teaching of the previous verses 
 is summed up. Next, alive unto God, the never-failin^ 
 accompaniment and the blessing of the death to sim 
 And then, through Jesus Christ our Lord, in Him who is 
 ever root and centre of all Scripture teaching. Which 
 of these clauses must be considered as that, the riglit 
 understanding of which is most essential to the fuU 
 experience of the whole ? 
 
 The first answer was at once given, * dead unto sin.' 
 It IS certainly this expression, the leader remarked, that 
 above all has created such deep interest in this verse, 
 and stirred so much earnest striving to realize what it 
 implies. And yet it does not appear to me the most 
 important. 
 
 * Alive unto God^ was the answer of a second. For ifc 
 is the life of Jesus given to us in regeneration that 
 makes us partakers of His death and its power over 
 
IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH. 
 
 173 
 
 sin. * Dead unto sin ' is only the negative aspect of what 
 we have as a positive reality in being alive unto God. 
 It' we looked more at the ' alive unto God,' the * dead 
 unto sin ' would be better understood. 
 
 * Reckon yourselves ' was suggested by a third. Is not 
 this command to act faith in what has been prepared us 
 of God the chief thought of the verse, and that, there- 
 fore, to which our chief attention must be given ] 
 
 Another brother now said, ' Through Jesus Christ our 
 Lord.' Our leader said : I think I have lately been 
 taught that this is indeed that on the right apprehension 
 of which the power of the whole verse depends. 
 
 How many have l)een looking most earnestly for the 
 full insight into the blessedness of being dead unto sin 
 and alive unto God, and yet have failed ! How often wo 
 have heard them pray, ' Lord, we are not yet utterly dead, 
 but we long to be so ' I How many others who have 
 better understood the text and have seen that everything 
 depends upon the 'lieckon yourselves to be dead,' upon 
 the faith that accepts God's statement of what is already 
 true and sure, yet confess that their faith is not followed 
 by the power and the blessing they hoped for ! 
 
 The mistake has been this: they have been more 
 occupied with the blessings to be had in Jesus, ' dead 
 unto sin,' * alive unto God,' and the question as to their 
 experience of them, or even with the effort to exercise 
 a strong abiding faith in these blessings as theirs, than 
 with Jesus Himself, in whom both the blessings, and 
 the faith that sees them, are ours. The death unto sin, 
 the life unto God, are His (see ver. 10), are in Him, 
 accomplished, living, actual, mighty realities ; it is as we 
 are in Him, and know ourselves to be in Him, and so 
 come away out of ourselves to be and abide in Him only 
 and always, that the blessings which there are in Him 
 will, in the most simple and natural way possible, 
 spontaneously become ours in experience, and that we 
 shall be strengthened in faith to claim and enjoy them. 
 It must be Christ Jesus first and Christ Jesus last. Ho 
 
 fiiust be all. 
 
,4'J'I ! 
 
 S I ' 
 
 ' If 
 
 f]l< 
 
 It 
 
 
 k < 
 
 174 
 
 LIKE CUEIST : 
 
 Seo how clearly tliis comes out in the third vcrsfl of 
 the chapter: 'Know yo not that so many of S ^ 
 
 ^JW aeath? ilio baptism into Jesus Christ vas tlm 
 first thmg-tkat they had understood and accented 
 the baptism mto His death followed from it-Shev 
 were now yet to learn the meaning of. The Lor Jesns 
 had been baptized witli water and^with the Holy Spirit, 
 and yet He spoke of a baptism yet to come; the fU 
 
 cr"osT'"El?" '"f >P'?r ™^ '" ^'^ *h« death of ?he 
 cross Lven so it is with us. When baptized unto 
 
 Clmstwe 'put on Ci-ist' (Gal. iii. 27), we are m^d^ 
 
 100 jjut it IS only in course of time that we eei in 
 understand this, and really to claim the powlr of-^t 
 death unto sm and Hi. living unto God.^ But wl fan 
 do this successfully only as we hold fast the initial 
 
 itert^f ™ ^^'""'"S' ^'^P*'^^<i ''"•TO CHRIST. It is 
 the faith that goes away out to take its abode consciously 
 and permanently m ,/«„. that will have the powe? 
 
 .ilivo unooGod; ' m Christ Jesus,' we do boldly reckon 
 ourselves dead un to sin and alive unto God 
 
 ±iaptized mto His deatii : ■ what a word i The death 
 
 ^ veTffim'H'T """ "'S-^'"<^^ «™S about Him -it 
 
 priXe of th? p"?,^^? '""'■"'^^'y *^ '^'''' *e Wghest 
 privilege ot the Christian consists. To be immersed 
 
 plunged into, steeped in the death of Christ, t~ole 
 being penetrated with the spirit of that death? = 
 obedience its self-sacrifice, its utter giving up of eve.^ 
 thing that IS <f nature, that has been in cott^t with sin 
 to pass through the death into the new life that God 
 Hlha- beenTnt-' f- I''S^^'°'>g-g of the Christian 
 to the HoTv%^P-f f u*-" *'',? ''f "* ■■ H« y'«lds himself 
 
 ™d LS T A''T ''" ,*'' '' <""^*^°« ""folded 
 and applied And he does this in simple faith • he 
 
 untTcT 1 ^'r\(^T. ^' " ^'^ unto^in and ilive 
 
 unto Uod. Jnsf-, as th'^ lif" 'i»i^- ^--1 ic « ^ •> • ^ 
 LJ!.. jii^. urlu vTua IS a complete ami 
 
IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS DEATH. 
 
 175 
 
 perfect thing, and yet subject to the law of growth and 
 increa&e, so that he goes on to life more abundant, so 
 with the death to sin. In Christ he is dead unto sin 
 completely and entirely, and yet the full enjoyment of 
 what that death means and works in all its extent ia 
 matter of growmg intelligence and experience. 
 
 But let us beware of wearying ourselves— how often 
 we have done so !— with trying more to comprehend 
 exactly, and to realize feelingly, what this death to sin 
 IS, and what the conscious reckoning ourselves dead is 
 than to remember that all this comes only as we are 
 and abide in Christ Jesus, in whom alone these 
 blessings are ours. I may be so occupied with the 
 blessings and their pursuit, that T lose sight and hold 
 ot Him m whom I must be abiding most entirely if 
 I am to enjoy them. Let my first aim be in whole- 
 hearted faith and obedience to dwell in Jesvs, in whom 
 are the death unto sin and the life unto God : the whole 
 state of being which is implied in these words is His— 
 He lives it, it is His alone — as I lose myself in Him I 
 may rest assured that the blessing I long for will come 
 or, rather, I shall know that in Him I have the thin^ 
 itself, that Divine life out of death working in me, even 
 when I know not exactly to describe it in words. And 
 I shall see how the whole power and blessedness of the 
 command gathers itself into the closing clause, * Likewise 
 also ye, reckon yourselves to be indeed dead unto sin 
 and ahve unto God, in Christ Jesus.' In Christ is 
 the root of Like Christ. 
 
ii'f : 
 
 176 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 Twenty-third Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 hx tfie Mmm of Jiis Resurrection. 
 
 *For if wc have been planted together in the likeness of His 
 death, wo should be also in the likeness of His resurrection, that 
 {ib6 as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of Hia 
 Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. '— Kom. 
 vi. 5, 4. 
 
 r\N tlie likeness of His death there follows neces* 
 ^ sarily the likeness of His resurrection. To 
 speak alone of the likeness of His death, of bearing 
 the cross, and of self-denial, gives a onesided view 
 of following Christ. It is only the power of His 
 resurrection that gives us strength to go on from 
 that likeness of His death as what we receive at 
 once by faith, to that conformity to His death which 
 comes as the growth of the inner life. Being dead 
 with Christ refers more to the death of the old life 
 to sin and the world which we abandon ; risen with 
 Christ refers to the new life through which the 
 Holy Spirit expels the old. To the Christian who 
 earnestly desires to walk as Christ did, the know- 
 ledge of this likeness of His resurrection is indispens- 
 ably Let us see if we do not here get the answer 
 
IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION. 177 
 
 to the question as to where we shall find strength 
 to live in the world as Christ did. 
 
 We have already seen how our Lord's life before 
 His death was a life of weakness. As our Surety, 
 sin had great power over Him. It had also pDwer 
 over His disciples, so that He could not give them 
 the Holy Spirit, or do for them what He wished. 
 But with tlie resurrection all was changed. Eaised 
 by the Almighty power of God, His resurrection life 
 was full of the power of eternity. He had not only 
 conquered death and sin for Himself but for His 
 disciples, so that He could from the first day make 
 them partakers of His Spirit, of His joy, and of His 
 heavenly power. 
 
 When the Lord Jesus now makes us partakers 
 
 of His life, then it is not the life that He had 
 
 before His death, but the resurrection life that He 
 
 won througli death. A life in which sin is already 
 
 made an end of and put away, a life that has 
 
 already conquered hell and the devil, the world and 
 
 the ilesh, a life of Divine power in human nature. 
 
 This is the life that likeness to His resurrection 
 
 gives us : 'In that He liveth. He liveth unto God. 
 
 Ye also lilceivise, reckon yourselves alive unto God 
 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord.' that through 
 
 the Holy Spirit God might reveal to us the glory 
 
 of the life in the likeness of Christ's resurrection ! 
 
 In it we find tlie secret of power for a life of 
 
 conformity to Him. 
 
 To most Christians this is a mystery, and there- 
 fore their life is iull of sin nnrl wpnL-nooo on/i Ar.fr.r.*. 
 
178 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 I'?; fii 
 
 \m 
 
 1 
 
 They believe in Christ's resurrection as tlie sufficient 
 proof of their justification. They think that He 
 had to rise again, to continue His work in heaven 
 as Mediator. But that He rose again, in order that 
 His glorious resurrection life miglit now be the very 
 IJower of their daily life, of this they have no idea. 
 Hence their hopelessness when they hear of follow- 
 ing Jesus full>, and being perfectly conformed to 
 His image. They cannot imagine how it can be 
 required of a sinner, that lie should in all things act 
 as Christ would have done. They do not know 
 Christ in the power of His resurrection, or the 
 mighty power with which His life now works in 
 those, who are willing to count all things but loss 
 for His sake (Phil. iii. 8 ; Eph. i. 19, 20). Come, 
 all ye who are weary of a liie unlike Jesus, and long 
 to walk always in His footsteps, who begin to see 
 that there is in the Scriptures a better fife for you 
 than you have hitherto known, come and let me try 
 to show you the unspeakable treasure that is yours, 
 in your likeness to Christ in His resurrection. Let 
 me ask three questions. 
 
 The first is : Are you ready to surrender your 
 life to the rule of Jesus and His resurrection life ? 
 I doubt not that the contemplation of Christ's 
 example has convinced you of sin in more than one 
 point. In seeking your own will and glcry instead 
 of God's, in ambition and prid(», and selfishness 
 and want of love towards man, you have seen how 
 far you are from the obedience and humility and 
 love of Jesus. And now it is the question, whether 
 
sufficient 
 that He 
 n heaven 
 ►rder that 
 e iliG very 
 } no idea. 
 )f follow- 
 brmed to 
 t can be 
 hings act 
 Lot know 
 I, or the 
 rt'orks in 
 1 but loss 
 Come, 
 and long 
 n to see 
 i for you 
 it me try- 
 is yours, 
 3n. Let 
 
 ier your 
 ion life ? 
 Christ's 
 jhan one 
 ^ instead 
 Ifishness 
 een how 
 ility and 
 whether 
 
 IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS RESURRECTION. 179 
 
 in View of all these things, in which you have 
 ^icknowlcdged sin, you are willing to say: If Jesus 
 will take possession of my life, then I resign all 
 light or wish ever in the least to have or to do my 
 own will T give my life with all I have and am 
 entirely to Him, always to do what He throu-h His 
 Word and Spirit commands me. If He will live 
 and rule ',,i mo, I promise unbounded and hearty 
 obedience. "^ 
 
 For such a surrender faith is needed ; therefore 
 he second question is: Are you prepared to beheve 
 that Jesus will take possession of the life r ^trusted 
 to Him, and that He will rule and keep it ? When 
 the believer entrusts his entire spiritual and 
 temporal life completely to Christ, then he learns to 
 understand aright Paul's words : ' I am dead • I live 
 no more: Christ liveth in me.' Dead with Christ 
 and risen again, the living Christ in His resurrec- 
 tion life takes possession of and rules my new life 
 The resurrection life is not a thing that I may have 
 If I can undertake to keep it : No, just this is what 
 I cannot do. But blessed be God 1 Jesus Christ 
 Himself is the resurrection and the life, is the resur 
 rection life. He Himself will from day to day and 
 hour to hour see to it and ensure thail ly,e as one 
 u^o zs risen with Him, He does l^ f,rough that 
 Holy Spirit who is the Spirit of Hi.. H-^pn life The 
 Holy Spirit is in t;.s, and will, if we trust Jesus for 
 It, maintain within us every moment the presence 
 
 Tl ^TJ^l *^' "^'^"^ ^?'^' ^« ^eed ^ot fear, 
 
 1 leading such a holy 
 
 vaat we never can succeed 
 
i m\ 
 
 m 
 
 ISO 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 life as becomes those who are temples of the living 
 God. We are indeed not able. But it is not 
 required of us. The living Jesus, who is the resur- 
 rection, has shown His power over all our enemies ; 
 He Himself, who so loves us, He will work it in us. 
 He gives us the Holy Spirit as our power, and Ho 
 will perform His work in us with Divine faithfulness, 
 if we will only trust Him ; Christ Himself is our 
 life. 
 
 And now comes the third question. Are you 
 ready to use this resurrection life for the purpose 
 for which God gave it Him, and i^^ivcs it you, as a 
 power of blessing to the lost. All desires after the 
 resurrection life will fail, if we are only seeking 
 our own perfection and happiness. God raised up 
 and exalted Jesus to give repentance and remission 
 of sins. He ever lives to pray for sinners. Yield 
 yourself to receive His resurrection life with the 
 same aim. Give yourself wholly to working and 
 praying for the perishing : then will you become a 
 fit vessel and instrument in whioh the resurrection 
 life can dwell and work out its glorious purposes. 
 
 Brother ! thy calling is to live like Christ. To 
 this end thoic hast already been made one with Him 
 in the likeness of His resurrection. The only 
 question is now, whether thou art desirous after the 
 full experience of His resurrection life, whether 
 thou art willing to surrender thy whole life that 
 He Himself may manifest resurrection power in 
 every part of it. I pray thee, do not draw back. 
 Offer thyself unreservedly to Him. with all tliv 
 
 — 'm - at 
 
IK THE LIKENESS OP HIS RESURRECTION. 181 
 
 weakness and unfaithfulness. Believe that as His 
 resu»ection was a wonder above all thought and 
 expectation, so He as the Eisen One will sUll work 
 
 IhiSforTe:- 1"' ^'""'^""^ ""'"'^ ^" *•'- -"^^^^ 
 
 What a difference there was in the life of the 
 
 disciples before Jesus' death and after His resnrre: 
 
 with th J T T''"''' ^"'^ ^°^'- ««" »nd «i" = 
 
 with the resurrection all was power and joy, life and 
 
 love, and gloiy. J„st as great will the chan^eTe 
 when a believer, who has known Jesus' resurrection 
 
 knowl?.VTr' °' '"^ J"^''''^'^"-' but has tot 
 known of the bkeness of His resurrection, discovers 
 how the Eisen One will Himself be his 1 fe, andl^ 
 very deed take on Himself the responsibility for th" 
 whole of that life. Oh, brother, who hasfno y 
 experienced this, who art troubled and weaj 
 6ecause thou art called to walk like Christ, and 
 canst not do it, come and taste the blessedness of 
 giving thy whole life to the Eisen Saviour in the 
 assurance that He wiU live it for thee. 
 
 life^ ^£L""^ soul adores Thee as the Prince of 
 We I On the cross thou didst conquer each one of 
 my enemies, the devil, the flesh, the world, and sin 
 As Conqueror thou didst rise to manifest a^d mail": 
 tam he power of Thy risen life in Thy peopl" 
 
 ; r 'rT.'""'" *''"" °"^ ^"'^ ^'^y^^^" >" ^he iL 
 
 Kss of Thy resu, reotion ; now Thou wilt live in 
 
 V 
 
d »i 
 
 182 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 ■I 
 
 Praised be Thy name for this wonderful grace. 
 Blessed Lord, I come at Thy invitation to offer and 
 surrender to Thee my life, with all it implies. Too 
 long have I striven in my own strength to live like 
 Thee, and not succeeded. The more I sought to 
 walk like Thee, the deeper was my disappointment. 
 I have heard of Thy disciples who tell how blessed 
 it h to cast all care and responsibility for their life 
 on rhee. Lord, I am risen with Thee, one with 
 Tliee in the likeness of Thy resurrection ; come and 
 take me entirely foi Thy own, and be Thou my 
 life. 
 
 Above all, I beseech Thee, my Eisen Lord, 
 reveal Thyself to me, as Thou didst to Thy first 
 disciples, in the power of Thy resurrection. It 
 was not enough that after Thy resurrection 
 Thou didst appear to Thy disciples; they knew 
 Thee not till 2'ho7o didst make Thyself known. 
 Lord Jesus ! I do believe in Thee ; he pleased, 
 he pleased to make Thyself knoiim to me as my Life, 
 It is Thy work ; Thou alone canst do it. I trust 
 Thee for it. And so shall my resurrection life be, 
 like Thine own, a continual source of light and 
 blessing to all who are needing Thee. Amen. 
 
IN TIIK LIKENLSS OF HIS llESLTvIlECTIOX. 
 
 1 ?!•> 
 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 ^ I add Iiere an extract from Marshall On Sanctificatioiu 
 111 which the reality of our being partakers with Jesus of 
 the^ very nature in which He lived and died and rose 
 again, is YQvy clearly put. 
 
 I have often regretted that the somewhat antiquated 
 style of this writer, and the introduction of questions not 
 ot immediate interest to the soul seeking the path of 
 holiness, prevents his book from being as well known as 
 It deserves to be. It is on all hands acknowledged to bo 
 the one standard work on the subject. It has been given 
 him by God s Spirit with wonderful simplicity to set forth 
 the great truth that holiness is a new life, a new nature, 
 prepare.! for us m ChriF.t Jesus, and that therefore every 
 step m the pathway of holiness, whether in the use of 
 the means of grace or in obeying God's commands, must 
 be one of faith I have thought that an abridgment of 
 the work, in which all that is essential is provided in the 
 author s own words, would supply a real want, and might 
 be a blessing to many. I have prepared such an abridg-^ 
 ment, whicli has been issued by the publishers of the present 
 work, under the title of The Highway of Holiness. ^ 
 
 'The end of Christ's incarnation, death, and resurrection 
 was to prepare and form an holy nature and frame for us in 
 Hmse^, to be communicated to us by union and fellowship 
 with Him ; and not to enable us to produce in ourselves 
 the hrst original of such an holy nature by our own 
 endeavours. "^ 
 
 ' 1. By His incarnation there was a man created in a new 
 holy frame, after the holiness of the first Adam's frame 
 had been marred and abolished by tlie first transgression ; 
 
Iff.:? mi 
 
 184 
 
 LIKE CIIllIST: 
 
 iiiid tliis neto frame, was fur moro excollnnt tlian ever the 
 first Adam's was, because man was really joined to God 
 by a close, inseparable union of the divine and human 
 nature in one person— Christ ; so that these natures had 
 communion each with other in their actings, and Christ 
 was able to act in His human nature by power proper 
 to the divine nature, wherein He was one God with the 
 Father. 
 
 ' Why was it that Christ set up the fallen nature of man 
 in such a wonderful frame of holiness, in bringing it to live 
 and act hy communion ivith God living and acting in it? 
 One great end was, that He might communicate this excellent 
 frame to His seed that should by His Spirit be born of 
 Him and be in Him as the iast Adam, the quickening 
 Spirit ; that, as wo have borne the image of the earthly 
 man, so we might also bear the image of the heavenly 
 (1 Cor. XV. 45, 49), in holiness here and in glory here- 
 after. Thus He was born Emmanuel, God with us; 
 because the fulness of the Godhead with all holiness did first 
 divell in Him bodily, even in His human nature, that wo 
 niight be filled with that fulness in Him (Matt. i. 23 ; 
 Col. ii. 9, 10). Thus He came down from heaven as living 
 bread, that, as He liveth by the Fcither, so those that 
 eat Him may live by Him (John vi. 51, 57); by the 
 same life of God in them that was first in Him. 
 
 ' 2. By His death He freed Himself from the guilt of 
 our sins imputed to Him, and from all that innocent 
 weakness of human nature which He had borne for a 
 time for our sakes. And, by freeing Himself, Hcimpared 
 a freedom fr- us from our whole natural condition ; which is 
 both weak , is His was, and also polluted with our guilt and 
 sinful corruption. Thus the corrupt natural state which 
 is called in Scripture the ''old man" was crucified together 
 with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed. 
 And it is destroyed in us, not by any wounds which we 
 ourselves can give it, but by our partaking of that 
 freedom from it, and death unto it, that is already wrmght 
 out for us by the death of Christ ; as is signified by 
 our baptism, wherein we are buried with Christ by 
 
IN THE LIKENESS OF HIS llESURRECTION. 185 
 the application of His «lcath to us (Rom. vi. 2, 3, 4, 
 
 *Gocl "sending His ow Son in tlio likeness of sinful 
 flesh, for sin (or 'by asai.rifico for sin,' as in the man^in) 
 conaomned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness oflhe 
 law might be fulfilled in ns, who walk not after the flesh 
 but after the spir;t" (Kom. viii. 3- 4). Observe here,' 
 that though Christ died that we i. .ght be justified by 
 the righteousness of God and of faith, not by our own 
 righteousness, which is of the law (Kom. x. 4-G ; Phil, 
 iii. 9), yet He died also^ that the right eousness of the law 
 might be fulfilled in us, and that by walking after His 
 Spirit, as those that are in Christ (Kom. viii. 4). He is 
 resembled in His death to a corn of wheat dying in the 
 earth that it may propagate its own nature by brino-in^' 
 forth much fruit (John xii. 24); to the passover that°was 
 slain, that a feast might be kept upon it ; and to bread 
 broken that it may be nourishment to those that eat it 
 (1 Cor. V. 7, 8, and xi. 24); to the rock smitten that 
 water might gush out of it for us to drink (1 Cor. x. 4) 
 
 'He died that He might make of Jew and Gentile one 
 new man in Himself (Eph. ii. 15); and that He mi^^ht 
 s^e His seed, i.e. such as derive their holy nature from 
 Him (Isa. liii. 1 0). Let these Scriptures be well observed, 
 and they ivill sufficiently evidence that Christ died, not 
 that we might be able to form an holy nature in' our- 
 selves, but that we might receive one ready p-ejyared and 
 formed in Christ for us, by union and fellowshii) with 
 Him. 
 
 ' 3. By His resurrection He took possession of spiritual life 
 for us, as now fully procured for us, and made to be our 
 right and property by the merit of His death, and there- 
 fore we are said to be quickened together with Christ. His 
 resurrection was our resurrection to the life of holiness, as 
 Adam's fall was our fall into spiritual death. And 'wo 
 are not ourselves the first makers and formers of our new 
 holy nature, any more than of our original corruption, 
 but both are formed ready for us to ])artahe of them. 
 And, by union with Christ, we j^miake of that spiritual 
 
 m% 
 
wmm 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
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 M 116 
 
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 Corporation 
 
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 (716) 872-4503 
 
 ^: 
 
 
 
 
 <^ 
 
 6^ 
 
 
 'ij. 
 

 
 i/.x 
 
186 
 
 LIKE CHRIST ; 
 
 life iliat lie took possession of for us at His resurrection, 
 and thereby we are enabled to bring forth the fruits of 
 it; as the Scripture showeth by the similitude of a 
 marriage union. Rom. vii 4, "We are married to Him 
 that is raised from the dead, that we mieht brins? forth 
 fruit unto GofL"' ° 
 
 M 
 
BEING MADE CONFORMABLE TO HIS DEATH. 187 
 
 Twenty-fourth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 3imQ matre conformalile to fgfe ©eatfj. 
 
 • That I may know Him, and the power of ffis resurrection, and 
 the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His 
 death.'— Phil. iii. lo. 
 
 'WE know that the death of Christ was the death 
 ' " of the cross. We know that that death of 
 the cross is His chief glory. Without that death 
 He would not be the Christ. The distinguishing 
 characteristic, the one mark by which He is 
 separated here in earth and in heaven, from all 
 other persons, both in the Divine Being and in 
 God's universe, is this one : He is the Crucified Son 
 of God. Of all the articles of conformity, this 
 must necessarily be the cliief and most glorious one 
 — conformity to His death. 
 
 This is what made it so attractive to Paul. 
 What were Christ's glory and blessedness must be 
 his glory too: he knows that the most intimate 
 likeness to Christ is conformity to His death. 
 What that death had been to Christ it would be to 
 him, as he grew conformed to it 
 
188 
 
 LIKS CHRIST: 
 
 ^ Christ's death on the cross Iiad been tlie end of 
 sm. During His life it could tempt Him: when 
 He died on the cross, He died to sin ; it could no 
 more reach Him. Conformity to Christ's death is 
 the power to keep us from the power of sin. As I 
 by the grace of the Holy Spirit am kept in my 
 position as crucified with Christ, and live out my 
 crucifixion life as the Crucified One lives it in me 
 I am kept from sinning. 
 
 Christ's death on the cross was to the Father 
 a sweet-smelling sacrifice, infinitely pleasing. if 
 I want to dwell in the favour and love of the Father 
 and be His delight, I am sure there is nothing gives 
 such deep and perfect access to it as being conform- 
 able to Christ's death. There is nothing in the 
 universe to the Father so beautiful, so holy so 
 heavenly, so wonderful as this sight, the Crucified 
 Jesus. And the closer I can get to Him, and the 
 liker, the more conformed to His death I can become, 
 the more surely shall I enter into the very bosom 
 ot His love. 
 
 Christ's death on the cross was the entrance to 
 the power of the resurrection life, the unchanoincr 
 life of eternity. In cur spiritual life we often have 
 to mourn the breaks, and failures, and intervals that 
 prove to us that there is still something wanting 
 that prevents the resurrection life asserting its full 
 power The secret is here : there is still some subtle 
 selt-life that has not yet been brought into the perfect 
 conformity of Christ's death. We can be sure of it 
 nothing IS needed but a fuller entrance into the 
 
BEING MADE CONFORMAIILE TO HIS DEATH. 189 
 
 fellowship of the cross to make us to the full 
 partakers of the resurrection joy. 
 
 Above all, it was Christ's death on the cross 
 that made Him the life of the world, gave Him the 
 power to bless and to save (John xii. 24, 25). In 
 the conformity to Christ's death there is an end of 
 self: we give up ourselves to live and die for 
 others ; we are full of the faith that our surrender 
 of ourselves to bear the sin of others is accepted of 
 the Father. Out of this death we rise, with the 
 power to love and to bless. 
 
 And now, what is this conformity to the death of 
 
 the cross that brings such blessings, and whereiu 
 
 does it consist ? We see it in Jesus. The cross 
 
 means entire self-abnegation. The cross means the 
 
 death of self — the utcer surrender of our own will 
 
 and our life to be lost in the will of God, to let 
 
 God's will do with us what it pleases. This was 
 
 what the cross meant to Jesus. It cost Him a 
 
 terrible struggle before He could give Himself up to 
 
 it. When He was sore amazed and very heavy, 
 
 and His soul exceeding sorrowful unto death, it was 
 
 because His whole being shrank back from that 
 
 cross and its curse. Three times He had to pray 
 
 before He could fully say, ' Not my will, but Thine 
 
 be done.' But He did say it. And His giving 
 
 Himself up to the cross is to say : Let me do anyt 
 
 thing, rather than that God's will should not be 
 
 done. I give up everything— only God's wiU must 
 
 be done. 
 
 ^ And this is being made conformable to Christ's 
 
190 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 death, that we so give away ourselves and our 
 whole life, with its power of willing and acting, to 
 God, that we learn to be and work, and do nothing 
 but what God reveals to us as His will. And such 
 a life is called conformity to the death of Christ, 
 not only because it is somewhat similar to His, but 
 because it is Himself by His Holy Spirit just 
 repeating and acting over again in us the life that 
 animated Him in His crucifixion. Were it not for 
 this, the very thought of such conformity would be 
 akin to blasphemy. 
 
 But now it is not so. In the power of the 
 Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of the Crucified Jesus, the 
 believer knows that the blessed resurrection life 
 has its power and its glory from its being a cruci- 
 fixion life, begotten from the cross. He yields 
 himself to it, he believes that it has possession of 
 him. Realizing that he himself has not the power 
 to think or do anything that is good or holy ; nay, 
 that the power of the flesh asserts itself and defiles 
 everything that is in him, he yields and holds every 
 power of his being as far as his disposal of them 
 goes in the place of crucifixion and condemnation. 
 And so he yields and holds every power of his 
 being, every faculty of body, soul, and spirit, at the 
 disposal of Jesus. The distrust and denial of self 
 in everything, the trust of Jesus in everything, 
 mark his life. The very spirit of the cross breathes 
 through his whole being. 
 
 And so far is it from being, as might appear, a 
 matter of painful strain and weary effort thus to 
 
BEING MADE CONFORIUBLE TO HIS DEATH. 191 
 
 maintain the crucifixion position-to one who knows 
 Christ m the power of His resurrection, for Paul 
 puts this first, and so is made conformed to His death • 
 
 f r'^'^f '"'"Sth and victory. Because it i.' 
 ^ not the dead cross, not self s self-denial, not a work- 
 in his own strength, that he has to do with, but the 
 living Jesus, m whom the crucifixion is an accom- 
 plished thing, abeady passed into the lifo of resur- 
 rection. ' I have been crucified with Christ : Christ 
 liveth in me; ' this it is that gives the courage and 
 the desire for an ever-growing, ever deeper entrance 
 into most perfect conformity with His death. 
 
 And how is this blessed conformity to be attained? 
 Paul will give us the answer. ' What things xocn 
 ffatn to me. these I counted loss for Christ. Yea 
 doubtless, I count all things but loss for the excel- 
 ency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord 
 W / T^ ^^^ ^^- ^'^S "'^de conformed to' 
 
 ?T ^11: .J^' ^'""'^ ^ "^ Sre^' Pri«« ; but oh ! 
 It IS worth the purchase, let us give up all ves 
 
 all, to be admitted by Jesus to a place with Him' 
 on the cross. 
 
 And if it appear hard to give up aU, and then as 
 our reward only have a whole lifttime on the cross 
 oh leo us listen again to Paul as he tells us what 
 made him so willingly give up all, and so intently 
 choose the cross. It was Jesus-Christ Jesus, my 
 M. The cross was the place where he could get 
 into fuUest umon with his Lord. To know ffivt 
 to win Hxm, to be found in ffim, to be made liJce 
 to mm-this was the burning passion that made it 
 
102 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 easy to cast away all, that gave the cross such 
 mighty attractive power. Anything to come nearer 
 to Jesus. All for Jesus, was his motto. It contains 
 the twofold answer to the question. How to attain 
 this conformity to Christ's death? The one is. 
 Cast out all. The other, And let Jesus come in. 
 All for Jesus. 
 
 Yes, it is only knowing Jesus that can make the 
 conformity to His death at all possible. But let 
 the soul win Him, and be found in Him, and know 
 Him in the power of the resurrection, and it becomes 
 more than possible, a blessed reality. Therefore, 
 beloved follower of Jesus, look to Him, look to 
 Him, the Crucified One. Gaze on Him until thy 
 soul has learnt to say, my Lord, I must be like 
 Thee. Gaze until thou hast seen how He Himself, 
 the Crucified One, in His ever present omnipotence, 
 draws nigh to live in thee and breathe through thy 
 being His crucifixion life. It was through the 
 Eternal Spirit that He offered Himself unto God ; 
 that Spirit brings and imparts all that that death on 
 the cross is, and means, and effected, to thee as thy 
 life. By that Holy Spirit Jesus Himself maintains 
 in each soul, who can trust Him for it, the power 
 of the cross as an abiding death to sin and self, and 
 a never-ceasing source of resurrection life and power. 
 Therefore, once again, look to Him, the living 
 Crucified Jesus. 
 
 But remember, above all, that while thou hast to 
 seek the best and the highest with all thy might, 
 the full blessing comes not as the fruit of thy 
 
IIEIXG MADE COMOIIMABLE TO HIS DEATH. 103 
 
 em.rts but unsought, a free gift to whom it is ftivcn 
 from above. It is as it pleases the Lord Jos^s to 
 reveal Himself, that we are made conformable to 
 
 llniSEu" ^''"■"""'' '"'■' ""^ '^"^ " ^■'"-^-« 
 
 Lord, such knowledge is too Mondorful for me- 
 IS high, I cannot attain to it. To know Thee in' 
 be power of Thy resurrection, and to be madecon 
 ormable to Thy death : these are of the things IS 
 are hid from the wise and prudent, and are revea Id 
 «nto babes unto those elect souls alone to whom it 
 IS given to know the mysteries of the kin"dom 
 O my Lord! I see more than ever what'uttei. 
 
 m nV .r f "' "' '^'''''' '" '"'^'^ "^^ - atS 
 ment through my effort. I cast myself on Thy 
 
 of Ihy lovmg-kmduess ; and of Thy free favonr 
 reveal Thyself to me. If Thou wilt be p ased to 
 come forth from Thy heavenly dwelling-X:, „nd 
 to draw nigh to me, and to prepare nfe, and take 
 me up into the full fellowship of Thy life and 
 
 death, my Lord, then will f Uve and t for 
 Thee, and the souls Thou hast died to save. 
 
 Blessed Saviour ! I know Thou art willin... Thv 
 
 ove to each of Thy redeemed ones is infinite. 
 
 teach me, draw me to give np all for Thee, and take 
 
 eternal possession of me for Thyself. And 0)1 ' let 
 
 some measure of conformity to Thy death, in its 
 
 Uif'Tmen '''' ^'"*'°^' ^' '^' ""^^ °^ '">' 
 
194 
 
 LIKE cmusT: 
 
 >l!l 
 
 Twenty-fifth Day. 
 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 ffiifains fgis Me for Mtn. 
 
 • WliOBoever will be great among you, let him bo your servonft ; 
 aud whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your slave : 
 euen as the Son of man came not to bo ministered unto, but to 
 minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.' — Mait. 
 )cx. 26, 27, 28. 
 
 « Hereby know we love, because He laid down His lifo for us : 
 And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.* — 1 John 
 ui. 16. 
 
 TN speaking of the likeness of Christ's death, and 
 -*- of being made conformable to it, of bearing the 
 cross and being crucified with Him, there is one 
 danger to which even the earnest believer is 
 exposed, and that is of seeking after these blessings 
 for his own sake, or, as he thinks, for the glory of 
 God in his own personal perfection. The error 
 would be a fatal one ; he would never attain the 
 close conformity to Jesus' death he hoped for ; for 
 he would be leaving out just that which is the 
 essential element in the death of Jesus, and in the 
 self-sacrifice it inculcates ; that characteristic is its 
 absolute unselfishness, its reference to others. To 
 be made conformable to Christ's death implies a 
 
GIVINO III8 IIFK FOR MK^J. 
 
 I9S 
 
 dying to self, a losing sight of self altogether in 
 pving up and laying down our life, for ot£ To 
 the question, how far we are to go in livinc. for in 
 lovu,g, ,„ serving in saving ^ent the Scriprures do 
 not hesitate to give the unequivocal answer Wo 
 are to go as far as Jesus, even to the laying down 
 ot our bfe We are to consider this so entfrely as 
 the object for which we are redeemed, and a e left 
 m the world, the one object for which we li^ t a 
 the laying down of the life in death folIoJs a « 
 matter of course. Like Christ, the only th Z that 
 keeps us in this world is to be the glory of God 
 m tlie salvation of sinners. Scriptu^ doe not 
 hesitate to say that it is in His path of sufferL as 
 He goes to work out atonement and redemSon 
 that we are to follow Him.' '="emption, 
 
 How clearly this comes out in the words of th« 
 Master Hi,,elf: 'Whoever will be chS alt 
 you, let him be your bond-servant, even as th^ 
 Son of man came not to be ministered unto but 
 
 many The highest in glory will be He who was 
 1 west in service, and Kkest to t:.e Master in It 
 giving His life a ransom. And so again, a few days 
 
 r 7/u ^ °"'' '' <="'"'' '•'a* the Son of man 
 Bhould be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto yZ 
 
 'Compare Matt. xx. 28 with Eph. v 2 2^5 9fi • ptt •• r o 
 
196 
 
 LIKE CIIUIST: 
 
 ill 
 
 
 Kxccpt a corn of wliciit lull into tlie ^Tound and die, 
 it abideth alone ; hut if it die, it bringcth Ibrth 
 much fruit;* He at once applied to His disciples 
 what He had said by repeating what they had ahead/ . 
 iieard spoken to themselves, 'He that loveth his 
 life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this 
 world shall keep it unto life eternal.' The corn 
 of wheat dying to rise again, losing its life to regain 
 it nmltiplied manifold, is clearly set forth as the 
 emblem not only of the Master but of each one of 
 His followers. Loving life, refusing to die, means 
 remaining alone in selfishness : losing life to bring 
 forth much fruit in others is the only way to keep it 
 for ourselves. There is no way to find our life but as 
 Jesus did, in giving it iip for the salvation of 
 others. Herein is the Father, herein shall we be 
 glorified. The deepest underlying thought of 
 conformity to Christ's death is, giving our life to 
 God for saving others. Without this, the longing 
 for conformity to that death is in danger of being 
 a refined selfishness. 
 
 How remarkable the exhibition we have in the 
 Apostle Paul of this spirit, and how instructive the 
 words in which the Holy Spirit in him expressed 
 to us its meaning ! To the Corinthians he says : 
 * Always bearing about the dying of the Lord Jesus, 
 that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest 
 in our body. For we which live are alway delivered 
 to death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus 
 might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So 
 tlien death workeih in us, hit life in you.' * Thougli 
 
OIVINf} ins LIFK roU MKN-. 
 
 107 
 
 TTe was crucified through weakness, ykt Hk livetii by 
 tho power of God. lor lue also arc weak in Hint 
 but we sliall live with Him by the poweu of God 
 TOWARD lou' (2 Cor. iv. 10-12, xiii. 4). 'I now 
 rejoice t?t mij sufferings for you, and fdl up tliat 
 winch IS behind of the afflictions of Christ in niv 
 ilesh for His body's sake, which is the Churcli ' 
 (Col. 1. 24). These passages teach us how tho 
 vicarious element of the suffering that Christ boro 
 in His body on the tree, to a certain extent still 
 characterizes the sufferings of His body the Church 
 Believers who give themselves up to bear tho 
 burden of the sins of men before the Lord, who 
 suffer reproach and shame, weariness and pain in 
 the effort to win souls, are filling up that which is 
 lacking of the afflictions of Christ in their flesh 
 The power and the fellowship of His suffering and 
 death work in them, the power of Christ's life 
 through them in those for whom they labour in 
 love. There is no doubt that in the fellowship of 
 His sufferings, and the conformity to His death in 
 Ihihp. o, Paul had in view not only the inner 
 spiritual, but also the external bodily participations 
 in the suffering of Christ. 
 
 And so it must be with each of us in some 
 measure. Self-sacrifice not merely for the sake of 
 our own sanctification, but for the salvation of our 
 iellow-men, is what brings us into true fellowship 
 with the Christ who gave Himself for us. 
 
 The practical application of these thoughts is 
 very simple. Let us first of all try and see the 
 
 fill 
 
 M'Um 
 
198 
 
 LIKE CIIKIST: 
 
 truth the Holy Spirit seeks to teach us. As the 
 most essential thing in likeness to Cinist is likeness 
 to His death, so the most ossential thing in likeness 
 to His death is the giving up our life to win others 
 to God. It is a death in which all thought of 
 saving self is lost in that of saving others. Let us 
 pray for the light of the Holy Ghost to show us 
 this, until we learn to feel that we are in the world 
 just as Christ w^as, to give up self, to love and 
 ser\ e, to live and die, ' even as the Sou of man 
 came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and 
 to give His life a ransom for many/ Oh ! that God 
 would give His people to know their calling, that 
 they do not belong to themselve:. but to God and 
 to their felloiv-men, that even as Christ they are 
 only to live to be a blessing to the world. 
 
 Then let us iehtce in the grace that is waiting tc 
 make our experience of this truth a reality. Let 
 us believe that God accepts of our giving up of our 
 whole life for His glory in the saving of others. 
 Let us believe that conformity to the deatii of Jesus 
 in tliis, its very life principle, is what the Holy 
 Ghost will work out in us. Let us abovo all 
 believe in Jesus : it is He Himself who will take 
 up every soul that in full surrender yields itself tc 
 Him, into the full fellowship of His death, of His 
 dying in love to bring forth much fruit. Yes, 
 let us believe, and believing seek from above, as the 
 work and the gift of Jesus, likeness to Jesus in this 
 too. 
 
 And let us at once begin and act this faith. 
 
GIVING HIS LIFE FOR MEN. 
 
 199 
 
 L6t MS put ,t into practice, looking upon ourselves 
 now as wholly given up, just like Christ, to live 
 and die for God in our fellow-men. let us with new 
 zeal exercise the ministiy of love in winning souls 
 As we wait for Christ to work out His likeness, as 
 we trust the Holy Spirit to give His mind in its 
 more perfectly, let us in faith begin at once to act 
 as followers of Him who only lived and died to be 
 a blessing to others. Let our love open the way 
 to the woA it has to do by the kindness, and gentle- 
 ness, and helpfulness, with which it shines out on 
 all whom we meet in daily life. Let it give itself 
 to the work of intercession, and look up to God to 
 use us as one of His instruments in the answering 
 oi those prayers. Let us speak and work for Jesus" 
 as those who have a mission and a power from on 
 high which make us sure of a blessing. Let us 
 majce soul-winning our object. Let us band our- 
 selves with the great army of reapers the Lord is 
 f ■' .ing out into His harvest. And ere we thought 
 • • It. we shall find that giving our l^e to win 
 others lor God U the most blessed way of dying to 
 self, of being even as the Son of man was, a servant 
 and a Saviour of the lost. 
 
 most wonderful and inconceivably blessed like- 
 ness to Christ ! He gave Himself to men, but could 
 not wally reach them, until, giving Himself a sacrifice 
 ■0 God wr them, the seed-corn died, the life was 
 poured out; then the blessing flowed forth in 
 might- power. I may seek to love and serve men • 
 i can only really influence and bless them as I yield 
 
200 
 
 LIKE CimiST: 
 
 myself u7ito God and give up my life into His hands 
 for them ; at? I lose myself as an offering on the altar, 
 I become in His spirit and power in very deed a 
 blessing. My spirit given into His hands, He can 
 use and bless me. 
 
 ii 
 
 O most blessed God! dost Thou in very deed 
 ask me to come and give myself, my very life, 
 wholly, even unto the death, to Thee for my 
 fellow-men? If I have heard the words of 
 the Master aright. Thou dost indeed seek nothing 
 less. 
 
 O God ! wilt Thou indeed have me ? Wilt Thou 
 in very deed in Christ permit me, like Him, as a 
 member of His body, to live and die for those 
 around me ? to lay myself, ]. say it in deep reverence, 
 beside Him on the altar of death, crucified with 
 Him, and be a living sacrifice to Thee for men? 
 Lord! I do praise Thee for this most wonderful 
 grace. And now I come. Lord God ! and give my- 
 self. Oh for the grace of Thy Holy Spirit to make 
 the transaction definite and real. Lord ! here I am, 
 given up to Thee, to live only for those whom Thou 
 art seeking tc save. 
 
 Blessed Jesus ! come Thyself, and breathe Thine 
 own mind and love within me. Take possession of 
 me, my thoughts to think, my heart to feel, my 
 powers to work, my life to live, as given away to 
 God for men. Write it in my heart : it is done, I 
 am given away to God, He has taken me. Keep 
 Thou me each day as in His hands, expecting and 
 
GIVING HIS LIFE FOR MEN. 
 
 201 
 
 assured tliat He will use me. On Thy giving up 
 Thyself followed the life in power, th3 outbreaking 
 of the blessing in fulness and power. It will be 
 so in Thy people too. Glory be to Thy name. 
 Amen. 
 
II L 
 
 202 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 Twenty-sixth Day, 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 « Behold, thy King cometh, meek.'— Matt. xxi. 5. 
 'Learn ox Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, 'and ye eliaU 
 uud rest for your souls.' —Matt. xi. 29. 
 
 TT is on His way to the cross that we find the 
 -*- first of these two words written of our Lord 
 Jesus. It is in His sufferings that the meek- 
 ness of Jesus is specially manifested. Follower of 
 Jesus ! who art so ready to take Thy place under 
 the shadow of His cross, there to behold the Lamb 
 slam for thy sins, is it not a precious thought, that 
 there is one part of His work, as the Suffering Lamb 
 of God, in which Thou mayest bear His image and 
 be like Him every day : Thou canst be meek and 
 gentle even as He was. 
 
 Meekness is the opposite of all that is hard or 
 bitter or sharp. It has reference to the disposi- 
 tion which animates us towards our inferiors. 
 ' With meekness,' ministers must instruct those that 
 oppose themselves, teach and bring back the errin<T 
 (Gal. vi. 1; 2 Tim.ii. 25). It expresses our dis^ 
 position towards superiors : we must ' receive the 
 
IN HIS MEEKNESS. 
 
 203 
 
 word with meekness' (Jas. i. 21); if the wife is 
 to be in subjection to her husband, it must be in a 
 meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God 
 of great price (1 Pet. iii.). As one of the fruits of 
 the Spirit, meekness ought to characterize all our 
 daily intercourse with fellow- Christians, and extend 
 to all with whom we have to do (Eph. iv 2 • Gal 
 V. 22; Col. iii. 12; Tit. iii. 2). It is mentioned 
 in Scripture along with humility, because that is 
 the inward disposition concerning oneself, out of 
 which meekness towards others springs. 
 
 There is perhaps none of the lovely virtues which 
 adorn the image of God's Son, which is more seldom 
 seen in those who ought to be examples. There 
 are many servants of Jesus, in whom much love to 
 souls, much service for the salvation of others, and 
 much zeal for God's will, are visible, and yet who 
 continually come short in this. How often, when 
 offence comes unexpectedly, whether at home or 
 abroad, they are carried away by temper and anger, 
 and have to confess that they have lost the perfect 
 rest of soul in God ! There is no virtue, perhaps, for 
 which some have prayed more earnestly : they feel 
 they would give anything, if in their intercourse 
 with partner, or children, or servants, in company 
 or m business, they could always keep their temper . 
 perfectly, and exhibit : h.o meekness and gentleness 
 of Christ. Unspeakable is the grief and disappoint- 
 ment experienced by those who have learnt to long 
 for it, and yet have not discovered where the secret 
 of meekness lies. 
 
 II 
 

 204 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 
 Tlie self-command needed for this seems to some 
 BO impossible, that they seek comfort in the belief 
 that this blessing belongs to a certain natural 
 temperament, and is too contrary to their character 
 for them ever to expect it. To satisfy themselves 
 they find all sorts of excuses. They do not mean 
 It so 1 1 : though the tongue or the temper be 
 sharp, there is still love in their hearts : it would 
 not be good to be too gentle; evil would be 
 strengthened by It. And thus the caU to entire 
 conformity to the holy gentleness of the Lamb of 
 God IS robbed of all its power. And the world is 
 B rengthened in its belief, that Christians are after 
 all not very much different from other people 
 because though they do indeed say, they do not 
 Bhow, that_ Christ changes the heart\.„d hfe after 
 Wis own image. And the soul suffers itself, and 
 causes unspeakable harm in Christ's Church, throu<di 
 Its unfaithfulness in appropriating this blessing of 
 salvation : the bearing the image and likeness of God 
 T Ti!" ?;f f i' °^ Si'eat price in the sight of God." 
 In the Old Testament there are many gloriojs 
 promises for the meek, which were by Jesus 
 gathered i^ into this one. 'Blessed are the meek 
 for they shall inherit the earth' (see Ps. xxv 9 
 Ixxvi 9; Prov. iii. 34; Jer. ii. 3). In the New' 
 lestament, its praise consists in this, that it is 
 His meekness that gives its supernatural incom- 
 parable beauty to the image of onr lord. A meek 
 spirit is of great price in God's sight ; it is the 
 choicest ornament of the Beloved Soa The Father 
 
IN HIS MEEKNESS. 
 
 205 
 
 could surely offer no higher inducement to Ilia 
 children, to seek it above all things. 
 
 For every one who longs to possess this spirit, 
 Christ's word is full of comfort and encouragement ; 
 * Learn of me that I am meek.' And what will it 
 profit us to learn that He is meeJc ? Will not just 
 the experience of His meekness make the discovery 
 of our want of it all the more painful ? What we 
 ask, Lord, is that Thou shouldest teach us how we 
 may be meek. The answer is again : * Learn of 3Ie, 
 
 that I AM MEEK.' 
 
 We are in danger of seeking meekness and the 
 other graces of our Lord Jesus as gifts of which we 
 must be conscious, before we practise them. This 
 is not the path of faith. ' Moses knew not that his 
 face shone,' he had only seen the glory of God. 
 The soul that seeks to be meek, must learn that 
 Jesus is meek. We must take time to gaze on His 
 meekness, until the heart has received the full 
 impression : He only is meek : with Him alone can 
 meekness be found. When we begin to realize this, 
 we next fix our hearts upon the truth : This meek 
 One is Jesus the Saviour, All He is, all He has, is 
 for His redeemed ones ; His meekness is to be com- 
 municated to us. But He does not impart it, by 
 giving, as it w^ere from Himself, somethmg of it 
 away to us. No ! we must learn that He alone 
 is meek, and that only when He enters ^nd 
 takes possession of heart and life, He brings His 
 lueekness with Him. It is with the meekness of 
 Jesus that we can be meek. 
 
 i\ 
 
20C 
 
 IIKB CHRIST: 
 
 \\c know how little He succeeded in makin- His 
 disciples meek and lowly while on earth, it was 
 because He had not yet obtained the new life, and 
 could not yet bestow, through His resurrection, the 
 HoySpmt But now He can do it. He has been 
 exalted to the power of God from thence to rei^n 
 m our hearts, to conquer every enemy, and continue 
 m us His own holy life. Jesus was our visible 
 Example on earth, that we might see in Him, what 
 ike the hidden life is that He would give us from 
 heaven, that He Himself would be within us 
 
 'learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart •' 
 without ceasing the word sounds in our ears as our 
 Lords answer to all the sad complaints of His 
 redeemed ones, as to the difficulty of restraining 
 
 your life and your strength, why is He the meek 
 and lowly One, if it be not to impart to you to 
 wljom He so wholly belongs. His own meekness? 
 
 Iherefore, only believe ! Believe that Jesus is able 
 to fill your heart with His own spirit of meekness. 
 Beheve that Jesus Himself will, through His own 
 bpint, accomplish in you the work that you have 
 in vain endeavoured to do. 'Behold! thy Kino 
 COMETH TO THEE, MEEK.' Welcome Him to dwell 
 m your heart. Expect Him to reveal Himself to 
 you Everything depends on this, learn of Him 
 that He IS meek and lowly of heart, and you shall 
 find rest to your soul. 
 
 Precious Saviour, grant me now mH^v fh 
 
 
IN HIS MEEKNESli 
 
 207 
 
 shadowing of Thy Holy Spirit, to draw near unto 
 Thee, and to appropriate Thy heavenly meekness as 
 my life. Lord, Thou hast not shown me Thy 
 meekness as a Moses who demands but does not give. 
 Thou art Jesus who savest from all sin, giving in 
 its stead Thy heavenly holiness. Lord, I claim Thy 
 meekness as a part of the salvation that Thou hast 
 given me. I cannot do without it. How can I 
 glorify Thee if I do not possess it ? Lord, I will 
 learn from Thee that Thou art meek. Blessed Lord, 
 teach me. And teach me that Thou art. always 
 with me, always in me as my life. Abiding in 
 Thee, with Thee abiding in me, I have Thee^^the 
 meek One to help me and make me like Thyself. 
 
 O holy meekness ! Thou art not come down to 
 earth only for a short visit, then to disappear again 
 in the heavens. Thou art come to seek a home. 
 I offer Thee my heart ; come and dwell in it. 
 
 Thou Blessed Lamb of God, my Saviour and 
 Helper, I count on Thee. Thou wilt make Thy 
 meekness to dwell in me. Through Thy indwelling 
 Thou dost conform me to Thy image. come, and 
 as an act of Thy rich free grace even now, as I 
 wait on Thee, reveal Thyself as my King, meek, 
 and coming in to take possession of me for Thyself.' 
 
 * Precious, gentle, holy Jesus, 
 
 Blessed Bridegroom of my heart, 
 In Thy secret inner chamber, 
 Thou wilt show me lohnt Thou art. Amen.* 
 
208 
 
 LIKE CliUIST: 
 
 Twenty- SEVENTH Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 aiiitiintj in tift ILobc of ©otr. 
 
 'Buen aa the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you • 
 abide in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide 
 in my love ; euen as I have kept my Tathcr's commandments 
 and abide in Uis love. '—John xv. 9, 10. 
 
 QUE blessed Lord not only said, 'Abide in Mc,' 
 ^ but also, ' Abide in my love.' Of the abiding 
 m Him, the principal part is the entering into and 
 dwelling and being rooted in that wonderful love 
 with which He loves us and gives Himself to us. 
 * Love seeketh not its own ; ' it always goes out of 
 Itself to live and be at one with the Beloved ; it 
 ever opens itself and stretches its arms wide' to 
 receive and hold fast the object of its desire; Christ's 
 love longs to possess us. The abiding in Christ is 
 an intensely personal relationship, the losing our- 
 selves in the fellowship of an Infinite Love, finding 
 our life in the experience of being loved by Him° 
 being nowhere at home but in His love. 
 
 To reveal this life in His love to us in all its 
 Divine beauty and blessedness, Jesus tells us that 
 this love of His to us in which we are to abide. 
 
ABIDING IN THE LOVE OF GOD. 
 
 200 
 
 is just the same as the Father's love to Him in 
 which He abides. Surely, if anything were needed 
 to make the abiding in His love more wonderful 
 and attractive, this ought to do so. ' Even as the 
 Father loved me, so have I loved you : abide in my 
 love.' Our life may be Christlike, unspeakably 
 blessed in the consciousness of an Infinite Love 
 embracing and delighting in us. 
 
 We know how this was the secret of Christ's 
 wonderful life, and His strength in prospect of 
 death. At His baptism the voice was heard, the 
 Divine message which the Spirit brought and un- 
 ceasingly maintained in living power, ' This is my 
 Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' More 
 than once we read : * The Father loveth the Son * 
 (John iii. 35, V. 20). Christ speaks of it as His 
 highest blessedness: 'That the world may know 
 that Thou hast loved them, even as Thou hast 
 loved Me ; ' ' Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of 
 the world ; ' ' That the love wherewith Thou lovedst 
 Me may be in them.' Just as we day by day 
 walk and live in the light of the sun shining 
 around us, so Jesus just lived in the light of the 
 glory of the Father's love shining on Him all the 
 day. It was as the Beloved of God that He was 
 able to do God's will, and finish His work. He 
 dwelt in the love of the Father. 
 
 And just so we are the beloved of Jesus. 
 Even as the Father loved Him, He loves us. And 
 what we need is just to take time, and, shutting 
 our eyes to all around us, to worship and to wait 
 
 
 
210 
 
 LIKE CHKIST : 
 
 ■ 
 
 11 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 ^^1 
 
 ii 
 
 Hill 
 
 ■ 
 
 1 
 
 llli 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 llij 
 
 p 
 
 1 
 
 III 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 
 
 unta we see the Infinite Love of God in all its 
 power and glory streaming forth upon us tlirough 
 the heart of Jesus, seeking to make itself knowli, 
 and to get complete possession of us, offering itself 
 to us as our home and resting-place. Oh, if the 
 Christian would but take time to let the wondrous 
 thought fill him, ' I am the beloved of the Lord 
 Jesus loves me every moment, just as the Father 
 loved Him,' how the faith would grow, that one 
 who w loved as Christ was, must walk as He 
 walked I 
 
 But there is a second point in the comparison. 
 Not only is the Love we are to abide in like that 
 m which He abode, but the wp.y to our abidinrr ig 
 the same as His. As Son, Christ was in 'the 
 Father's love when He came into the world ; but it 
 was only through obedience He could seoure'its con- 
 tmued enjoyment, could abide in it. Nor was this 
 an obedience that cost Him nothing ; no, but it was 
 m giving up His own will, and learning obedience 
 by what He suffered, in becoming obedient unto the 
 death, even the death of the cross, that He kept 
 the Father's commandments and abode in ^li^. hoe. 
 'Therefore doth my Father love me, lee-.M I .ay 
 down my life. This commandment have I re- 
 ceived of my Father.' 'The Father hath not left 
 me alone; for I do always those things that please 
 Him.' iiiid having thus given us His example, 
 and p.ovco Low surely the path of obedience takes 
 us up into the presence and love and glorv of God, 
 He invites us to follow Him 'V ^-"1-0^ ^l 
 
ABIDING IN THE LOVE OF OOD. 21 1 
 
 commandments, yo shall abide in my love, even as 
 Hia love"'^ ' commandmenU, and abide in 
 
 Christliko obedience is the way to a Christlike 
 enjoyment of Ix,ve Divine. How it secures our 
 boldness of access into God's presence! 'Let us 
 Ic ve m deed and in truth, herehj shaU we assure 
 our hearts before Him.' < Beloved! if our hcnri 
 condemn us not, then have we confident tov^ards 
 t^od; and whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him 
 ta. wc keep His commandments, and do those 
 things that are pleasing in His sight.' How it 
 gives us boldness before men, and lifts us above 
 
 Gods biddmg, and feel that we have but to obey 
 orders And what boldness too in the face of 
 difficulty or danger !_we are doing God's will, and 
 dare leave to H.m all responsibility as to failure 
 or success The heart filled with the thought of 
 dnect and entire obedience to God alone, rises 
 above the world into the will of God, into the 
 place where God's love rests on him: like Christ he 
 has his abode in the love of God. 
 
 let us seek to learn from Christ what it means 
 to have this spirit of obedience ruling our life. It 
 mplie^ the spirit of dependence; the confession 
 hat we have neither the right nor the desire in 
 anything to do our own will. It involves teach- 
 aMeness of spirit. Conscious of the blindin.. 
 influence of tradition, and prejudice, and hS " 
 It takes Its law not from men but from God Him- 
 
"^^:-^ 
 
 212 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 self. Conscious of how little the most careful 
 study of the Word can reveal God's ydU in its 
 epirituai power, it seeks to be led, and for this end 
 to be entirely under the rule, of the Holy Spirit. 
 It knows that its views of truth and duty are very 
 partial and deficient, and counts on being led by God 
 Himself to deeper insight and higher attainment. 
 
 It has marked God's word, ' If thou wilt diligently 
 hcarJcen to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt 
 do that which is right in His sight,' and understood 
 that it is only when the commands do not come 
 from conscience, or memory, or the book, but from 
 the living voice of the Lord heard speaking through 
 the Spirit, that the obedience will be possible and 
 acceptable. It &ees that it is only as a following 
 out of the Father's personal directions, and as a 
 service rendered to Himself, that obedience has its 
 full value and brings its full blessing. Its great 
 care is to live on the altar, given up to God ; to 
 keep eye and ear open to God for every indication 
 of His blessed will. It is not content with doing 
 right for its own sake: it brings everything in 
 personal relation to God Himself, doing it as unto 
 the Lord. It wants every hour and every step in 
 life to be a fellowship with God. It longs in little 
 things and daily life to be consciously obeying the 
 Father, because this is the only way to be prepared 
 for higher work. Its one desire is the glory of 
 God in the triumph of His will : its one means 
 for obtaining that desire, with all its heart and 
 strength to be working out that will each moment 
 
ABIDIKG IN THE LOVE OF GOD. 213 
 
 Of the day. And its one but sufficient reward is 
 this. It knows that through the will of God lies the 
 road, opened up by Christ Himself, deeper into the 
 
 hinl; '^'7' ""'"^ "'y commandments, ye 
 Shall abide m my love.' ' '^ 
 
 O this blessed Christlike obedience, leading to a 
 Chnsthke ahdmg in the Divine love ! To "attain 
 It we must just study Christ more. He emptied 
 amsdf, and humbled Himself, and lecan^ ollient. 
 May He empty us and humble us too ! He harncd 
 Munce m the school of God, and being made 
 per ect became the author of eternal salvation to 
 all tha. obey mm We must yield ourselves to be 
 
 to what He has told us how He did nothing of Him- 
 self, but only what He saw and heard from the Father- 
 how entire dependence and continual waiting on the' 
 Father was the root of implicit obedience, ^nd this 
 again the secret of ever-growing knowledge of the 
 Fathers deeper secrets. (John v. 19, 20. See 
 Fifteenth Day.) God's love and man's obedience 
 there are as the lock and key fitting into each other. 
 It is Gods grace that has fitted the key to the lock, 
 it^ IS man who uses the key to unlock the treasures 
 
 lu the Hght of Christ's example and words, what 
 new meaning comes to God's words spoken to His 
 people from of old ! • In blessing I will bless thee, 
 and m multiplying I will multiply thee, te„; 
 
 .'■•^ '^^^ "^'^^^- -li ye Will indeed 
 obey my voue, ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto 
 
 j H nip' 
 
 m 
 
 \i\ 
 
 i , 
 
 i 
 
 ilitwiiiiii iiiiiritl 
 
 iiii 
 

 214 
 
 LIKE CHRIST : 
 
 me.' 'The Lord sliall ffreatly hless thee, if thou 
 only carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord 
 thy God, to observe to do all these commandments.* 
 Love arid obedience indeed become the two great 
 factors in the wonderful intercourse between God 
 and man. The Love of God, giving Himself and 
 all He has to man ; the obedience of the believer 
 in that Love, giving himself and all he has to 
 God. 
 
 We have heard a good deal in these later years 
 of full surrender and entire consecration, and 
 thousands praise God for all the blessmg He has 
 given them through these words. Only let us 
 beware that we be not led too much, in connection 
 with them, to seek for a blessed experience to be 
 enjoyed, or a state to be maintained, while the 
 simple downright doing of God's will to v^hich they 
 point is overlooked. Let us take hold and use this 
 word which God loves to use: obedience. 'To 
 obey is better than sacrifice:' self-sacrifice is 
 nothing without, is nothing but, obedience. It 
 was the meek and lowly obedience of Christ, as of 
 a servant and a son, that made His sacrifice such 
 a sweet-smelling savour: it is humble, childlike 
 obedience, first hearkening gently to the Father's 
 'coke, and then doing that which is right in Eis 
 sight, that will bring us the witness that we please 
 Him. 
 
 Dear reader! shall not this be our life? so 
 simple, and sublime : obeying Jesus, and abiding in 
 His Love. 
 
ABIDING IN THE LOVE OF COD. 
 
 91 fi 
 
 15 
 
 ^ my God ! what shall I say to the wonderful 
 interchange between the life of heaven and the life 
 of earth Thou hast set before me ? Thy Son, our 
 blessed Lord, has shown and proved to us how' it is 
 possible on this earth of ours, and how unspeakably 
 blessed, for a man to live with the love of God 
 always surrounding him, by just yielding himself to 
 obey Thy voice and will. And because He is ours, 
 our Head and our Life, we know that we can indeed 
 m our measure live and walk as we see Him do ; 
 our souls every moment abiding and rejoicing in 
 Thy Divine Love, because Thou acceptest our feeble 
 keeping of Thy commandments for His sake. my 
 God, it is indeed too wonderful, that we are called 
 to this Christlike dwelling in love through the 
 Christlike obedience Thy Spirit works ! 
 
 Blessed Jesus ! how can I praise Thee for coming 
 and bringing such a life on earth and making me a 
 sharer in it. my Lord ! I can only yield myself 
 afresh to Thee to keep Thy commandments, as Thou 
 didst keep the Father's. Lord ! only impart to me 
 the secret of Thine own blessed obedience ; the open 
 ear, the watchful eye, the meek and lowly heart ; 
 the childlike giving up of all as the beloved Son 
 to the beloved Father. Saviour ! fill my heart with 
 Thy love ; in the faith and experience of that love I 
 wiU do it too. Yes, Lord, this only be my life : 
 keeping Thy commandments, and abiding in Thy 
 love. Amen. 
 
 I !' 
 
216 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 Twenty-eighth Day. 
 
 
 I 
 
 Ti I 
 
 in 
 
 I ,; 
 
 if HI 
 ill 
 
 II r 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 ^tti 62 ti}t Spirit 
 
 T^d^n^Zl^i^H"'-'!"^*^'"''^ ^P'"'*' returned from Jordan. 
 'Be;7//e(/ with the Spirit. '~Eph v 18 
 
 of s^s'^rr"'''"^ "''''' °'°'"'- '"^^"^ '•"^ »- 
 
 ■piBOM His very birth the Lord Jesus had the 
 *■ Spmt dweUing in Him. But there were 
 times when He needed special communications of 
 the Spirit from the Father. Thus it was with His 
 baptism; the descent of the Holy Spirit on Him 
 the baptism of the Spirit, given in the baptism' 
 with water, was a real transaction: He was filled 
 with the Spirit. He returned from the Jordan full 
 ot the Holy Spirit, and experienced more manifestly 
 than ever the leading of the Spirit. In the wilder- 
 ness He wrestled and conquered, not in His own 
 JJivine power, but as a man who was strengthened 
 and led by the Holy Spirit. In this also 'He was 
 m all things made like unto His brethren ' 
 
 The other side of the truth also holds good: the 
 brethren are in all things made like uuto Him 
 
LED BY THE SPIRIT. 
 
 217 
 
 are the sons 
 
 They are caUed to live like Him. This is not 
 demanded from them without their having the same 
 power. This power is the Holy Spirit dwelling in 
 us, whom we have of God. Even as Jesus was filled 
 with the Spirit, and then led by the Spirit, so must 
 we be also filled with the Spirit and be led by the 
 opirit. 
 
 More than once, in our meditations on the 
 different traits of Christ's character, it has seemed to 
 us almost impossible to be like Him. We have 
 lived so little for it : we feel so little able to live 
 ^us. Let us take courage in the thought : Jesus 
 Himself could only live thus through the Spirit 
 It was after He was filled with the Spirit that He 
 was led forth by that Spirit to the place of conflict 
 and of victory. And this blessing is ours as surely 
 as it was His : we may be filled with the Spirit • 
 we may be led by the Spirit. Jesus, who was 
 Himself baptized with the Spirit, to set us an 
 example how to live, has ascended into heaven to 
 baptize us into the likeness with Himself. He who 
 would live Hke Jesus must begin here : He must be 
 baptized with the Spirit. What God demands from 
 His children He first gives. He demands entire 
 likeness to Christ because He will give us, as He 
 did Jesus the fulness of the Spirit. We must be 
 filled with the Spirit. 
 
 ^ We have here the reason why the teaching of the 
 imitation and likeness to Christ has so little 
 prominence in the Church nf niirisf ]v/r.„ -o— ^^f 
 It m their own strength, with the help of some 
 
 i •', I" 
 
 ■i 
 
218 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 
 workings of the Holy Spirit ; they did not under- 
 stand that nothing less was needed than being filled 
 with the Spirit. No wonder that they thought 
 that real conformity to Christ could not be expected 
 3f us, because they had mistaken thoughts about 
 being filled with the Spirit. It was thought to be 
 the privilege of a few, and not the caUing and duty 
 of evei-y child of God. It was not sufficiently 
 realized that * Be ye filled with the Spirit ' is a 
 command to every Christian. Only when the 
 Church first gives the baptism of the Spirit, and 
 Jesus, as the Saviour who baptizes with the Spirit 
 each one who believes in Him, their right place, 
 only then wiU likeness to Christ be sought after and 
 attained. People wHl then understand and acknow- 
 ledge: to be like Christ we must be led by the 
 same Spirit, and to be led by the Spirit as He was, 
 we must be fiUed with the Spirit. Nothing less 
 than the fulness of the Spirit is absolutely necessary 
 to live a truly Christian, Christlike life. 
 
 The way to arrive at it is simple. It is Jesus 
 who baptizes with the Spirit : he who comes to 
 Him desiring it will get it. AU that He requires 
 of us is, the surrender of faith to receive what He 
 gives. 
 
 The surrender of faith. What He asks is, 
 whether we are indeed in earnest to follow in His 
 footsteps, and for this to be baptized of the Spirit. 
 Do not let there be any hesitation as to our answer. 
 First, look back on all the glorious promises of His 
 love and of His Spirit, in which the blessed privilege 
 
LED BY THE SPIRIT. 
 
 219 
 
 is set forth : Even as I, ye also. ReniGmber that 
 it was of this likeness to Himself in everything He 
 said to the Father : ' The glory which Thou gavest 
 me have I given them.* Think how the love of 
 Christ and the true desire to please Him^ how the 
 glory of God and the needs of the world, plead with 
 us not through our sloth to despise this heavenly 
 birthright of being Christlike. Acknowledge the 
 sacred right of ownership Christ has in you, His 
 blood-bought ones: and let nothing prevent your 
 answering : ' Yes, dear Lord, as far as is allowed to 
 a child of dust, I will be like Thee. I am entirely 
 Tliine ; I must, I will, in all things bear Thy image, 
 It is for this I ask to be filled with the Spirit.' 
 
 The surrender of faith : only this ; but nothing 
 less than this He demands. Let us give what He 
 asks. If we yield ourselves to be like Him in all 
 things, let it be in the quiet trust that He accepts, 
 and at once begins in secret to make the Spirit 
 work more mightily in us. Let us believe it 
 although we do not at once experience it. To be 
 filled with the Holy Spirit, we must wait on our 
 Lord in faith. We can depend upon it that His 
 love desires to give us more than we know. Let 
 our surrender be made in this assurance. 
 
 And let this surrender of faith be entire. The 
 fundamental law of following Christ is this: 'He 
 who loses his life shall find it.' The Holy Spirit 
 comes to take away the old life, and to give in its 
 place the life of Christ in you. Eenounce the old 
 life of self- working and self-watching, and believe 
 
230 
 
 MKE CHRIST: 
 
 ttiat, as tho m-r you breathe renews your life cverv 
 moment naturally and continually tlj Ho v 
 |pmtw;ll renew your life. I„ the work of £ 
 Holy Spint in you there are no breaks or interrun! 
 tions : you are in the Spirit as your vital air he 
 
 fSin. to t' " f",''"'^ *" -'" and to do 
 have a deen e°°d pleasure. Oh, Christian, 
 
 ftave a deep reverence for the work of the Snirit 
 who dwells within you. Believe in God's pow 
 
 ie IS f^ '"/ '"""Se moment by moment, 
 
 which s at J>7f !•"' '"' ""'^ "'^' *''^' lif« 
 Tenath ,n T TT *™' y°" ^^a-^Pl^ »nd your 
 strength, in the full assurance that the Holv Soirit 
 
 knows in deep quiet to fulfil His office of commun 
 ot the Spmt IS yours in Jesus, a real gift which 
 
 noTsuTLT' '°'' '" ^^^*' «^- whe^ thtt 
 JoS count t"^ -s you could wish, and on which 
 you count to work m you all you need The 
 feeling may be weakness and L and m^ch 
 
 •ombhng and yet the speaking, and working 3 
 hving :n demonstration of the Spirit and of ;'ower 
 
 e !t o • ■• ^- ^^"^ "' *« faith that the fulness 
 
 ITinif'^^Jr'" ^'''''' y'^" '•''J°'«« every 
 day in the blessed trust that the care of your 
 
 .pni ual hfe is in the hands of the Holy Spirit^ 
 m you. the living likeness to Je«us will be seen on 
 
IflifirHH 
 
 LED BY THE SPIRIT. 
 
 221 
 
 you; the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus dwelling 
 within, the likeness of the life of Christ Jesuo will 
 shine around. 
 
 And if it do not appear that in thus believing 
 and obeying your desires are fulfilled, remember that 
 it is in the fellowship with the members of Christ's 
 body, and in the full surrender to Christ's service 
 in the world, that the full power of the Spirit is 
 made manifest. It was when Jesus gave Himself 
 to enter into full fellowship with men around Him, 
 and like them to be baptized with water, that He 
 was baptized with the Holy Ghost. And it was 
 when He had given Himself in His second baptism 
 of suffering, a sacrifice for us, that He received the 
 Holy Spirit to give to us. Seek fellowship with 
 God's children, who will with thee plead and believe 
 for the baptism of the Spirit : the disciples received 
 the Spirit not singly, but when they were with one 
 accord in one place. Band thyself with God's 
 :n around thee to work for souls ; the Spirit 
 i.^ :^ower from on high to fit for that work : the 
 prt^.se will be fulfilled to the believing, willing 
 servants, who want Him not for their enjoyment', 
 but for that work. Christ was filled with the 
 Spirit that He might be fitted to work and live 
 and die for us. Give thyself to such a Christlike 
 living and dying for men, and thou mayest depend 
 upon it, a Christlike baptism of the Spirit, a Christ- 
 like fulness of the Spirit, will be thy portion. 
 
 Blessed Lord I how wondrously Thou hast pro- 
 
222 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 Will 
 
 vided for our growing Hkeness to Thyself, in givino 
 us Thine own Holy Spirit. Thou hast told us that 
 It IS His work to reveal Thee, to give us Thy Keal 
 Presence within us. It is by Him that all Thou 
 ha^t won for us. all the life and holiness and 
 strength we see in Thee, is brought over and 
 imparted and made our very own. He takes of 
 Thme, and shows it to us, and makes it ours 
 Blessed Jesus ! we do thank Thee for the "ift of 
 the Holy Spirit. 
 
 And now, we beseech Thee, fill us, oh fill us full 
 with Thy Holy Ghost! Lordl nothing less is 
 sufficient. We cannot be led like Thee, we cannot 
 hght and conquer like Thee, we cannot love and serve 
 like Thee, we cannot Hve and die like Thee, unless 
 like Thee we are full of the Holy Ghost. Blessed 
 blessed be Thy name ! Thou hast commanded. Thou 
 hast promised it ; it may, it can, it shall be. 
 
 Holy Saviour! draw Thy disciples together to 
 wait and plead for this. Let their eyes be opened 
 to see the wondrous unfulfilled promises of floods 
 of the Holy Spirit. Let their hearts be drawn to 
 give themselves, like Thee, to live and die for men 
 And we know it will be Thy delight to fulfil Thine 
 office, as He that baptizeth with the Holy Ghost 
 and with fire. Glory be to Thy Name. Amen. 
 
IN HIS LIFE THBOUGH THE FATHER. 223 
 
 Twenty-ninth Day. 
 
 LIKE CHEIST: 
 
 In f&ts iLife tlirouglj tfje JFatfier* 
 
 'Euen as I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even h« 
 shall live by Me.'— John vi. 57. 
 
 "VjlVERY contemplation of a walk in the footsteps 
 J-^ of Christ, and in His likeness, reveals anew 
 the need of fixing the eye on the deep living union 
 between the Forerunner and His followers. Like 
 Christ: the longer we meditate on the word, the 
 more we realize how impossible it is without that 
 other: In Christ The outward likeness can only 
 be the manifestation of a living inward union. To 
 do the same works as Christ, I must have the same 
 life. The more earnestly I take Him for my example, 
 the more I am driven to Him as my Head. Only 
 an inner life essentially like His, can lead us to a 
 visible walk like His. 
 
 What a blessed word we have here, to assure us 
 that His life on earth and ours are really like each 
 other : ' Even as I live by the Father, so he that 
 eateth me, even he shall live by me.' If you 
 desire to understand your life in Christ, what He 
 will be for you and how He will work in you, you 
 
224 
 
 LIKE CHRIST; 
 
 
 
 have only to contemplate what the Father was for 
 Ilim, and how Ho worked in Him. Christ's life 
 in and througli tlie Father is the image and the 
 measure of what your life in and through the Son 
 may be. Let us meditate on this. 
 
 As Christ's life was a life hidden in God in 
 heaven, so must ours be. When He emptied Him- 
 self of His Divine glory, He laid aside the free use 
 of His Divine attributes. He needed thus as a man 
 to live by faith ; He needed to wait on the Father 
 for such communications of wisdom and power, as 
 it pleased the Father to impart to Him. He was 
 entirely dependent on the Father ; His life was hid 
 in God. Not in virtue of His own independent 
 Godhead, but through the operations of the Holy 
 Spirit, He spoke and acted as the Father from time 
 to time taught Him. 
 
 Exactly so, believer, must your life be hid with 
 Christ in God. Let this encourage you. Christ 
 calls you to a life of faith and dependence, because 
 it is the life He Himself led. He has tried it and 
 proved its blessedness ; He is willing now to live 
 over again His life in you, to teach you also to live 
 in no other way. He knew that the Father was 
 His life, and that He lived through the Father, and 
 that the Father supplied His need moment by 
 moment. And now He assures you that as He 
 lived through the Father, even so you shall live 
 through Him. Take this assurance in faith. Let 
 your heart be filled wdth the thought of the blessed- 
 ness nf tbia fnlnpca O^ b'^'O wliiVh i^ -^^^y. j r — 
 
 '^^^.4m 
 
IN TITS LTFR THROUfJH THE FATIIEi;. 
 
 2'>'i 
 
 you in Christ, and will be abundantly .supplied as 
 you need it. Do not think any more of your 
 spiritual hfe, as something that you must watch over 
 and nourish with care and anxiety. Kojoice every 
 day that you need not live on your own strenKth 
 but in your lord Jesus, even as He lived throuM 
 Ills lather. ° 
 
 Even as Christ's life was a life of Divine power, 
 although a life of dependence, so ours will also he 
 He never repented having laid aside His glory, to 
 iive before God as a man upon earth. Tho Futhor 
 never disappointed His confidence. He gave Hi.u 
 all He needed to accomplish His work. Clirist 
 experienced that blessed as it was to be like God in 
 heaven, and to dwell in the enjoyment of Divii.o 
 perfection, it was no less blessed to live in tho 
 relation of entire dependence on earth, and to 
 receive everything day by day from His hands. 
 
 Believer, if you will have it so, your life can be 
 the same. The Divine power of the Lord Jesus 
 wiU work in and through us. Do not think that 
 your earthly circumstances make a holy life to 
 Gods glory impossible. It was just to manifest, in 
 tho midst of earthly surroundings which were even 
 more difficult, the Divine life, that Christ came and 
 hved on earth. As He lived so blessed an earthlv 
 life through the Father, so may ye also live your 
 earthly life through Him. Only cultivate L^^ 
 expectations of what the Lord will do for you. Let 
 It be your sole desire to attain to an entire union 
 with Him. It is impossible to say what tlu: lord 
 
226 
 
 LIKE CHRIST : 
 
 
 If! 
 
 f Mi 
 >' I, tft* 
 
 ^!| I, . I* 
 
 ■If 
 
 ■fit' 
 
 Jes2is umilcl do for a soul %vJw is truly williufj to live 
 as entirely through Him as He through the Father. 
 Because just as He lived through the Father, and 
 the Father made that life with all its work so glorious, 
 so will you experience in all your work how entirely 
 He has undertaken to work all in you. 
 
 As the life of Christ w\as the manifestation of His 
 real union with the Father, so ours also. Christ says, 
 'Even as the Father has sent me, and I live by 
 the Father.' When the Father desired to manifest 
 Himself on earth in His love. He could entrust 
 that work to no one less than His beloved Son, who 
 was one with Him. It was because He was Son 
 that the Father sent Him : it was because the 
 Father had sent Him that it could not be other- 
 wise, but He must care for His life. In the union 
 upon which the mission rested, rested the blessed 
 certainty that Jesus would live on earth through 
 the Father. 
 
 ' Even so,' Christ said, ' He that eateth me, liveth 
 by me.' He had said before, * He that eateth my 
 flesh and drinketh my blood dweUeth in me, and I 
 in Him.' In death He had given His flesh and 
 blood fur the life of the world ; through faith the 
 soul partakes of the power of His death and resur- 
 rection, and receives its right to His life, as He had 
 a right to His Father's life. In the words ' Who- 
 soever eateth Me,' is expressed the intimate union 
 and unbroken communion with the Lord Jesus, which 
 is the power of a life in Him. The one great work 
 for the soul, who truly longs to live entirely and 
 
 'vlii^J 
 
IN HIS LIFE THROUGH THE FATHEK. 227 
 
 only by Christ is to eat Him, daily to feed on Him. 
 
 to make Him liis own} ' 
 
 To attain this, seek continually to have vour 
 
 that all _ Christ's fulness of life is triUy yours 
 
 Rejoice m the contemplation of His humanity in 
 
 heaven and the wonderful provision God hag mad. 
 
 hi-ough the Holy Spirit for the communication of thi 
 
 iinhindered down upon you. Thank God nnoens 
 mgly for the redemption in which He opened tho 
 way to the life of God, and for the wonderful life 
 now provided for you in the Son. Offer yourself 
 unreservedly to Him with an open heart and con- 
 secrated life that seeks His service alone. In such 
 trust and consecration of faith, in the outpouring of 
 love and cultivation of communion, with His words 
 abiding in you, let Jesus be your daily food. He 
 who eateth Me shall live by Me : even as the 
 Father has sent Me, and I live by the Father 
 
 Beloved Christian ! what think you 2 Does not 
 the imitation of Christ begin to seem possible in 
 the light of this promise ? He who lives through 
 Christ can also live like Him. Therefore fet 
 this wonderful life of Christ on earth through 
 the Father be the object of our adoring contempla- 
 tion, until our whole heart Understands and accepts 
 the word '^^e» so. he who eateth Me shall live 
 through Me.' Then we shall dismiss all care and 
 nnxiety, ^ecause the same Christ who set us the 
 • For the application of our text to tho Lord'., Snpper, see Note. 
 
». 
 
 228 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 example works in us from heaven that life 
 which can live out the example. And our life 
 will become a continual song : To Him who lives 
 in us, in order that we may live like Him, be tho 
 love and praise of our hearts. Amen. 
 
 my God ! how shall I thank Thee for this 
 wonderful grace ! Thy Son became man to teach 
 us the blessedness of a life of human dependence 
 on the rather ; He lived through the Father. It 
 has been given us to see in Him how the Divine 
 life can live and work, and conquer on earth : And 
 now He is ascended into heaven, and has all power 
 to let that life work in us, we are called to live 
 even as He did on earth : we live through Him. 
 God, praised be Thy name for this unspeakable grace. 
 
 Lord, my God, hear the prayer that I now offer 
 to Thee. If it may be, show me more, much more 
 of Christ's life through the Father. I need to know 
 it, my God, if I am to live as He did ! Oh, give 
 me the spirit of wisdom in the knowledge of Him. 
 Then shall I know what I may expect from Him, 
 what I can do through Him. It will then no longer 
 be a struggle and an effort to live according to Thy 
 will and His example. Because I shall then know 
 that His blessed life on earth is n >w mine, accord- 
 ing to the word, ' Even as I throu, h the Father, so 
 ye through Me.' Then shall I daily feed upon 
 Christ in the joyful experience : T \lyq through Him. 
 O my Father ! grant this in full measure for Hia 
 name's sake. Amen. 
 
IN HIS LIFE THROUGH THE FATHER, 
 
 229 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 Though the words of our Lord Jesus in the sixth 
 of John were nob spoken directly of the Lord's Supper, 
 they are yet applicable to it, because they set forth that 
 spiritual blessing of which the Holy Supper is the 
 communication in a visible form. In eating the bread 
 and drinking the wine, our spiritual life is not only 
 strengthened because therein the pardon of our sins 
 is signified and sealed to us, but because the Holy Spirit 
 does indeed make us partakers of the very body arid 
 blood of our Lord Jesus as a spiritual reality. So one 
 of our Eeformed Church Catechisms, the Heidelberg 
 (Qu. 78), puts it, * What is it then to eat the broken 
 body and drink the shed blood of Christ V ' It is not 
 only to embrace with a believing heart the sulTerings and 
 death of Christ, and so to obtain the pardon of sin 
 and life eternal; but 7noreover also that we are united 
 to His sacred hody by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in 
 Christ and in us, so that we, though Christ be in heaven 
 and we on earth, are nevertheless flesh of His flesh and 
 bones of His bones.' 
 
 It is known that there are in our Protestant Churches 
 three views of the Lord's Supper. On the one hand the 
 Lutheran with its consubstantiation, teaching that the 
 body of our Lord is so present in the bread, that even an 
 unbeliever eats no longer only bread, but the body of 
 the Lord. On the other the Zwinglian view, according 
 to which the effect of the Sacrament is a very impressive 
 exhibition of the truth that the death of Christ is to us 
 what wine and bread are to the body, and a very 
 expressive confession of our faith in this truth, and so 
 of our interest in the blessings of that death. As the 
 Holy Spirit in the Word speaks to us through the ear, 
 so in the Sacrament through the eye. Midway between 
 these views is that of Calvin, who strongly urges that 
 there is in it a mysterious blessing, not well to be 
 expressed in words ; that it is not enough to speak of 
 the life which the Spirit gives to our spirit through faith, 
 
230 
 
 LIKE CHRIST; 
 
 bu. that there is a real communication by the Holv 
 Spmt of the very flesh and blood of Jesus in heaven W 
 our very body, so that in virtue of this we are called 
 members of His body, and have His body L us as ho 
 seed of the spiritual body of the resurrect on WhL 
 avoiding on the one hand the sacramentarian ;iew of a 
 c lange m the bread, it seeks to hold fast on Ihe othe? 
 the reality of a spiritual substantial participation of the 
 veiy body and blood of our Lord Jesus. 
 
 Ihis IS not the place to enter on this more fully But 
 I am persuaded that, when a more scriptur^ view 
 prevails as the relation between body lilirTl 
 7\lTn" "'""S^ ''™"8e to believe that witl/u any 
 thing like a real presence in the bread itself, we SI 
 
 e us tI'T'^ "'? ^^"-y body and blood of our Lo^ 
 Jesus The hoiy of our Lord is now a spiritual bodv 
 transfigured and glorified into the spirit-lifrof the 
 heavenly world, the spirit and the body in perfect unitv 
 and harmony, so that now the Holy Si^rit can freely d J 
 pense and comniunicate that bodyL He wia Onlll 
 IS the temple of the Holy Ghost which dwelletU in us^ 
 our Wtesare members of Christ; our mortal Zdks^rL 
 even now being quickened and prepared by the indweS 
 Spirit for the resurrection (Rom. viii. 11) : whyTou"d 
 It bo thought strange that by the Holy Sp r rSie com 
 munion of th hody of Christ, so distinctly premised 
 should be not an Old Testament symbol or shidow but 
 a blessed heavenly reality ? ^'"uow, out 
 
 Calvin's words are as follows: 'I am not satisfied 
 with the view of those who, while acknowlX ,K tha 
 wo have some kind of communion with Christ^nly 
 make us partakers of the Spirit, omitting all ment on 
 
 of life resides, so that every one who communicates in 
 His flesh and blood, at the same time enjoys the par 
 ti ipation of hfe. The flesh of Christ is like a perennial 
 fountain which transfuses into us the life flowing forth 
 from the Godhead into itself Th» "0"imi'n--'"i -f "- 
 Hesh and blood of Christ is necessary t^i X "asi^^: 
 
IN HIS LIFE THROUGH THE FATHER. 
 
 ,231 
 
 to the Cliristian life. Hence these expressions: "The 
 church is ' the body of Christ.' » « Our bodies are * the 
 members of Christ.' " " We are members of flis body, of 
 His flesh, and His bones." What our mind does not 
 comprehend let faith receive, that the Spirit unites 
 things separated by sr^ace. That sacred communion 
 ot llesh and blood by which Christ transfuses His life 
 mto us, just as if it penetrated our bones and marrow 
 He testifies and seals in the supper, not by renresenting 
 
 '''7^!^ ^o ^^^^7 ®'S"' ^^* ^y *^^se exerting an efiicacy 
 of the Spirit by which He fulfils what He promises.' 
 1 willingly admit anything which helps to express the 
 true and substantial communication of the body and 
 blood of the Lord, as exhibited to believers under the 
 sacred symbols of the Supper, understanding that they 
 are not received by the imagination or the intellect 
 ??7 -^N^"^ ^^^ enjoyed in reality as the food of eternal 
 lite. *We say that Christ descends to us, as well by 
 the external symbol, as by His Spirit that He may truly 
 quicken our souls by the substance of His flesh and 
 blood. *Such is the corporeal presence which the 
 sacrament requires, and which we say is here displayed 
 in such power and efficacy that it not only gives our 
 miuds undoubted assurance of heavenly life, but also 
 secures the immortality of our flesh.' i 
 
 T?^i.*^®T,^^^i^^^'' ^^''^^'^ ^"^^^y^o iive by Christ as Ho 
 
 did by the Father, the sacrament is a real spiritual 
 
 blessing, something more than what faith in the word 
 
 gives. Let all the praying and believing and living 
 
 m which we seek to realize the wonderful blessing- of 
 
 living just as Christ did by the Father ever culmiSate 
 
 m our communion of the body and blood at the Lord's 
 
 table. And let us go forth from each such celebration 
 
 with new confidence, that what has been dven and 
 
 confirnied on the great day of the feast, will by Jesus 
 
 Himself be maintained in power in the daily life throudi 
 
 the more ordinarv ohflnnpla of H^'« c-i-p ^-h- vi-.i 
 
 fellowship with Himself m the word and prayer. 
 
 » Calvin's Institutes, iv. 17, § 7, 9, 10, 19, 24. 
 
O'XO 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 Thirtieth 
 
 ) * V. 
 
 I 
 
 
 ■Ml 
 
 ml 
 
 p- 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 ?n Qloxif^ivLQ ti}t jFatftcr. 
 
 'Father, ihe hour is como; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son 
 a/80 may glorify Thee. I have glorified Thee on the earth '— 
 John xvii. 1, 4. 
 
 * Herein is my Father glorified, that ye hear much fruit: bo 
 Bhall ye be my disciples.'— John xv. 8. 
 
 rpHE glory of an object is, that in its sort its 
 J- intrinsic worth and excellence answers per- 
 fectly to all that is expected of it. That excellence 
 or perfection may be so hidden or unknown, that 
 the object has no glory to thoso who behold it. To 
 fflorify is to remove every hindrance, and so to 
 reveal the full worth and perfection of the object, 
 that its glory is seen and acknowledged by all. 
 
 The highest perfection of God, and the deepest 
 mystery of Godhead, is His holiness. In it righteous- 
 ness and love are united. As the Holy One He 
 hates and condemns sin. As the Holy One He also 
 frees the sinner from its power and raises him to 
 communion with Himself. His narae is, ' The Holy 
 One of Israel, thy Redeemer.' The song of redemp- 
 tion is : ' Great is the Holy One of Israel in the 
 
IN GLOEIFYING THE FATHER. 
 
 233 
 
 midst of thee/ To the Blessed Spirit, whose 
 special work it is to maintain the fellowship of God 
 with man, the title of Holy in the New Testament 
 ^lelongs more than to the Father or the Son. It is 
 this holiness, judging sin and saving sinners, which 
 IS the glory of God. For this reason the two words 
 are often found together. So in the song of Moses : 
 ' Who is like Thee, glorious in holiness ? ' So in 
 the song of the Seraphim : ' Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord 
 God of hosts ; the whole earth is full of His glory! 
 And so in the song of the Lamb : ' Who shall not 
 glorify Thy Name ? for Thou only art Holy: As has 
 been well said: 'God's glory is His manifested 
 holiness ; God's holiness is His hidden glory.' 
 
 When Jesus came to earth, it was that He 
 might glorify the Father, that He might again show 
 forth in its true light and beauty that glory which 
 sin had so entirely hid from man. Man himself had 
 been created in the image of God, that God might 
 lay of His glory upon him, to be shown forth°in 
 him— that God might be glorified in him. The 
 Holy Ghost says, ' Man is the image and glory of 
 God.' Jesus came to restore man to his high 
 destiny : He laid aside the glory which He had with 
 the Father, and came in our weakness and humilia- 
 tion, that He might teach iis how to glorify the 
 Father on earth. God's glory is perfect and 
 infinite : man cannot contribute any new glory to 
 God, above what He has : he can only serve as a 
 
 „ „,,^ bi^-ij 01 vjuu Is reiiecLRd. liods 
 
 holiness is His glory : as the holiness of God is seen 
 
 I -I if 
 
 t'.'i 
 
 i: 
 
 I 
 
234 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 in him, God is olorified ; His glory as God ia 
 shown forth. 
 
 r Jesus glorified God hj oleying Him. lu rriving 
 His commandments to Israel, God continually said 
 ' Be ye holy, for I am holy : ' in keeping them they 
 would be transformed into a life of harmony with 
 Him, they would enter into fellowship with Him as 
 the Holy One. In His conflict with sin and Satan 
 m His sacrifice of His own will, in His waiting for 
 the Father's teaching, in His unquestioning obedience 
 to the Word, Christ showed that He counted nothin- 
 worth living for, but that men might understand 
 what a blessed thing it is to let this holy God really 
 BE God, His will alone acknowledged and obeyed 
 Because Ho alone is holy. His will alone should be 
 done, and so His glory be shown in us. 
 - Jesus glorified God hy confessing Him. He not 
 only m His teaching made known the message God 
 had given Him, and showed us who the Father is. 
 There is something far more striking. He con- 
 tinually spoke of His own personal relation to the 
 father. He did not trust to the silent influence of 
 His holy hfe ; He wanted men distinctly to under- 
 stand what the root and aim of that life was. Time 
 after time He told them that He came as a servant 
 sent from the Father, that He depended upon Him 
 and owed everything to Him, that He only sought 
 the Father's honour, and that aU His happiness was 
 to please the Father, to secure His love and favour. 
 -Jesus glorified God ly giving Himself for the work 
 of His redeeming love. God's glory is His holiness, 
 
IN GLORIFYING TUE FATHER. 
 
 235 
 
 and God's holiness is His redeeming love: love 
 that triumphs over sin by conquering the sin and 
 rescumg the sinner. Jesus not only told of tlio 
 leather being the Eighteous One, whose condemna- 
 tion must rest on sin, and the Loving One who saves 
 every one who turns from his sin, but He gave 
 Himself to be a sacrifice to that righteousness, a 
 servant to that love, even unto the death. It was 
 not only in acts of obedience, or words of confession 
 that He glorified God, but in giving Himself to 
 magnify the holiness of God, to vindicate at once 
 His law and His love by His atonement. He gave 
 Himself, His whole life and being. Himself wholly 
 to show how the Father loved, and longed to bless,' 
 how the Father must condemn the sin, and yet 
 would save the sinner. He counted nothing too 
 great a sacrifice, He Hved and died only for this 
 that the glory of the Father, the glory of His 
 hoHness, of His redeeming love, might break through 
 the dark veil of sin and flesh, and shine into the 
 hearts of the children of men. As He Himself 
 expressed it in the last week of His life, when the 
 approaching anguish began to press in upon Him • 
 ' Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say 
 —Father, save me from this hour ? But for this 
 came I unto the world : Father ! glokify Thy 
 Name.' And the assurance came that the sacrifice 
 was well-pleasing and accepted, in the answer : ' I 
 have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.' 
 
 It was thus Jesus as man was preparp.rf to h'Ov« 
 part in the gbry of God : He sought it in the 
 
236 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 'M' 
 
 
 humiliation of earth ; He found it on tho throne 
 of heaven. And so He is become our forerunner 
 eadmg many children to glory: He shows us that 
 the sure way to the glory of God in heaven is to hvo 
 only for tlie glory of God on earth. Yes, this is the 
 glory of a life on earth : glorifying God here, we 
 are prepared to be glorified with Him for ever 
 
 IJeloved Christian ! is it not a wonderful calling 
 blessed beyond all conception, like Christ to live' 
 only to glorify God, to lot God's glory shine out in 
 every part of our life ? Let us take time to take in 
 the wondrous thought : our daily life, down to its 
 most ordinary acts, may be transparent with the 
 glory of God. Oh ! let us study this trait as one 
 
 that makes the wordrous 
 
 image of our Jesus 
 
 specially attractive to us : He glorified the Father 
 Let us listen to Him as He points us to the high 
 aim, that your Father in heaven may le glorified 
 and as He shows us the way. Herein is my Father 
 glorified. Let us remember how He told us that 
 when m heaven He answers our prayer, this would 
 still be His object, and let in every breathincr of 
 prayer and faith it be our object too: < That the 
 leather may he glorified in the SonJ Let our whole 
 life, like Christ's, be animated by this as its rulin- 
 pnnciple, growing stronger untH in a holy en° 
 thusiasm our watchword has become : All All to 
 THE Glory of God. And let our faith hold fast the 
 confidence that in the fulness of the Spirit there is 
 the sure provision for our desire being fulfilled: 
 ' Know ye not that your body is the temple of the 
 
IN GLORIFYINQ THE FATHER. 
 
 237 
 
 Holy Spirit, which is in you ? — therefore glorify God 
 in your body and in your spirit.' 
 
 If we want to know the way, let us again study 
 Jesus. He obeyed the Father. Let simple down- 
 right obedience mark our whole life. Let an 
 humble, childlike waiting for direction, a soldier-like 
 looking for orders, a Christliki^ dependence on the 
 Father's showing us His way, be our daily attitude. 
 Let everything be done to the Lord, according to 
 His will, for His glory, In direct relationship to 
 Himself. Let God's glory shine out in the holiness 
 of our life. 
 
 He confessed the Father : He did not hesitate to 
 speak often of His personal relationship and inter- 
 course, just as a little child would do of an earthly 
 parent. It is not enough that we live right before 
 men: how can they understand, if there be no 
 interpreter ? They need, not as a matter of preach- 
 ing, but as a personal testimony, to hear that what 
 we are and do is because we love the Father, and 
 are living for Him. The witness of the life and 
 the words must go together.-^ 
 
 And He gave Himself to the Father's work. So 
 He glorified Him. He showed sinners that God has 
 a right to have us wholly and only for Himself, that 
 God's glory alone is worth living and dying for, and 
 that as we give ourselves to this, God will most 
 wonderfully use and bless us in leading others to 
 see and confess His glory too. It was that men 
 might glorify the Father in heaven, might find their 
 
 * See Note. 
 
238 
 
 I.TKE CHRIST; 
 
 i 
 
 i 
 
 ( ; ' 
 
 III 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 bio. sodne3s al.,0 in knowing and serving tl,;.s c,]oriou3 
 God, that Jesus lived, and that we nn.st live too oT 
 let ns give ourselves to God for men, let us plea] 
 and work, and live, and die, that men, our fe'low' 
 non, may see that God is glorious in holiness tl It 
 the whole earth may be filled with His ^C ' ' 
 Believer! 'the Spirit of God and o? gW the 
 Spmt of holiness, rests upon you.' Jesus" det ,t 
 ^ do in you His beloved work of glorifying Ue 
 
 ?f 7 7 ^rr' '" '^y-- O W i-:ther, in li; 
 Son, hkc Thy Son, I will only live to glorify Thee 
 
 gloiy ! I feel deeply how utterly impossible it i.^ 
 by any resolution or effort of mine, to lift myseH 
 
 It Ihou wilt reveal unto me Thy glory if Thou 
 w.lt make all Thy goodness pass before me and 
 show me how glorious Thou art, how therT s no 
 gory but Thine; if, my Father- Thou wi le 
 Ihy glory shme into my heart, and take nossesion 
 
 1.7- '7?','"='"^' ^ "^^«'- ^^'" "« '-'We to CO 
 anything but glorify Thee, but live to make known 
 
 what a glorious holy God Thou art. 
 
 the k1^''"- ■' "'^'^ ^''^'^ ""-"^ *° '^'^^h to glorify 
 the Father m our sight, and aseend to heaven 
 leaving us to do it now in Thy name and stead oh" 
 
 lidl " tf,^ ^t 'P"^* "^ '''''' ^' »-- Thou 
 tVvI lu' ^^' ""'""'"S °^ '^'y obedience 
 to the Father, Thme acknowledgment that, at any 
 cost. His will must be done. Tonoh „„ f. „»i 
 
 tin 
 
IN GLORIF\'IN(; THE FATHER. 
 
 239 
 
 Thy confession of the Tatlier, and how Thou didst 
 in personal testimony toll men of what He was to 
 Tlieo, and what Thou didst feel for Ilim, and let 
 our lips too tell out wliat we taste of the' love of 
 the Fatlier, that men may glorify Him. And above 
 all oh ! teach us that it is in saving sinners that 
 redeeming love has its triumph and its joy, that 
 It IS m hohness casting out sin, that God has His 
 highest glory. And do Thou so take possession of 
 our whole hearts that we may love and labour, live 
 and die, for this one thing, ' That every tongue 
 should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to tub 
 Glory of God the Father.' 
 
 my Father ! let the wliole earth, let my heart 
 be filled with Thy glory. Amen. 
 
 NOTE. 
 
 * Let us begin by considering wliat was the gimnd- 
 work of the whole be^auty and harmony of our blessed 
 baviour H character. Love to the Father was the ruHng 
 motive of His life. It so pervaded His nature as tZ 
 fand expression, directly or indirectly, in every word as 
 well as every action. It will be well if we try to reahze 
 somethmg of the perfect simplicity with which that love 
 was so continually shown forth in daily life 
 
 ' We especially need to remind ourselves of how entirely 
 this was the case, because, in these days of artificial 
 manners, and of false shame, we are so frequently tempted 
 to conceal our true motives, and to think it a disgrace 
 11 we are^ led into any sign of betraying our deenesfc 
 leiigious leelmgs. We conceal them 'from those who 
 
 .Limsi 
 
240 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 
 would not understand them, lest porclianca fl.ov =i, 1 1 
 scorn our judgment, .nd woind ou"^ self respec ^anr'"^ 
 too frequently even hide them from those who^r„ 1 
 hke mmd with ourselves, lest they too m'ht think f. 
 acbng m good taste. Self fears the sSest rebukp 
 the merest breath of disapproval. So long a^ our love 
 to God IS weak enough to allow of its beinf hidd«„ I i1 
 wi 1 carefu ly hide it^ rather than run tKl w^^'f 
 being considered deficient in discretion ""^ °^ 
 
 shpll fii7\^"T'i°'"' "^^'"^ '" I"''* a different thin- we 
 tW f I ^'^""'•?.°* "^^P''^^ '" °°r Master's life °But 
 that false discretion, which strives to divest notW w 
 from ourselves, but from the deepest Spies of «.- 
 
 unhesitatindv referred to it IT. • /-ord simply and 
 
 the slighteft^ocea^n^ord<^:g^:'^te''1ttrT 
 avowed oMect m tke u-orU skouulZm i Zed^Z 
 Father He frequently and emphatically alludedTo flV^ 
 personal cmncdmiroUh the i-^/Jas the means by whfh 
 
 * Jes'is Christ made known the Fathpr'<5 Iniro . tt 
 
 mouy to God. Even so are we sent, each one of ns intn 
 
 t'Zi' "" "'f' "'"Vr ""^y "^^^ *e Saviour known 
 to those around us. Through our own intimate and 
 persona] connection with Himself we ar^/Joh^TJ 
 to reveal the Son even a. He revea7ed?he Mer Ind 
 this we can only do by acting as He did by continutSv 
 provmghou, alUuficient is the tense ofuniok wuTh^/x 
 
 i/oKnm nnto III K By A W jfS Vv -^^'T" ^'"*' <"•' 
 ran. jjjr A. M. James. Eelijious Tract Socisty. 
 
IN HIS GLORV. 
 
 241 
 
 ' . I 
 
 Thirty-first Day. 
 
 LIKE CHRIST: 
 
 In Ws (Slorg. 
 
 (JOB'S glory is His holiness. To glorify God is 
 
 W), TT ^f °"''"'^^'' *^' *3'"J i» "s may show 
 forth H,s glory. It is only by yielding ourseies to 
 be holy, to let His holiness fill our life, that His 
 g^ory can shine forth from us. The on wo ,f 
 Christ was to glorify the Father, to reveal what a 
 gknous Holy God He is. Our one work Is Ike 
 Umst s, so by our obedience, and testimony, and life 
 to make known our God as 'glorious in'^koline s/ 
 that He may be glorified in heaven and earth. 
 
 e^r? the P ^k'^ ^T ^'"^ ^^"''''"^ *« ^^'h'^' on 
 
 heaven tm' ^^°""''* ^''^ "^''' ^^'^'^^^ - 
 heaven. This was not only His just reward; it 
 
 ^'as a necessity in the veiy nature of things 
 There is no other nlace fr- '- • ° 
 
 -1 ci ^j.1^ yivCii up 10 Lho 
 
 glory of God. as Christ's waVtha^rth^tgC 
 
 liifl 
 
242 
 
 LIKE CHRIST:, 
 
 
 Jl., : 
 
 ' iil I 
 
 The law holds good for us too : a heart that yea-na 
 and thirsts for the glory of God, that is ready \o 
 live and die for it, becomes prepared and fitted to 
 live m It. Zivinj to God's glory on earth is the ^^ate 
 to living in GocVs glory in heaven. If with Christ 
 we glorify tlie Father, the Father will with Christ 
 glorify us too. Yes, we shall be like Hira in His 
 glory. 
 
 We shall be like Him in His spiritual glory the 
 glory of Kis holiness. In the union of the\wo 
 words in the name of the Holy Spirit, we see that 
 what is HOLY and what is spikitual stand in the 
 closest connection with ea-jh other. When Jesus 
 as man had glorified God by revealing, and honour- 
 mg, and giving Himself up to His holiness, he was 
 as man taken up into and made partaker of the 
 Divine glory. 
 
 And so it will be with us. If here on earth we 
 have given ourselves to have God's glory take posses- 
 sion of us, and God's hoKness, God's Holy Spirit 
 dweU and shme in us, then our human nature with 
 all our faculties, created in the likeness of God, shall 
 have poured into and transfused through it, in a 
 way that passes all conception, the purity and the 
 hoHness and the life, the very brightness of the 
 glory of God. 
 
 We shaU be like Him in Eis glorified hody. It 
 has been well said ; Embodiment is the end of the 
 ways of God. The creation of man was to be God's 
 masterpiece. There had previously been spirits with- 
 
 out bodifis nnrl .qnirnq^-pfl 'hn'^' ,"fi ' • •■ ' . 
 
 .-_, ^tiuiiictuta 00uii;e witiiuuc spirits, but 
 
 I 
 
 ■ft; 
 
IN HIS GLORY. 
 
 243 
 
 in man there was to be a siiirit in a body, lifting up 
 and spiritualizing the body into its own heavenly 
 purity and perfection. Man as a whole is God's 
 image, his body as much as his spirit. In Jesus a 
 human body — mystery of mysteries !— is set upon 
 the throne of God, is found a worthy partner and 
 container of the Divine glory. Our bodies are 
 going to be the objects of the most astonishing 
 miracle of Divine transforming power: 'He will 
 fashion our vile body like unto His glorious body, 
 according to the working whereby He is able -ven 
 to subdue all things unto Himself.' The glory of 
 God as seen in our bodies, made like Christ's 
 glorious body, wiU be something almost more 
 wonderful than in our spirits. We are ' waiting foi 
 the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' 
 
 We shall be like Him in Mis place of honour 
 Every object must have a fit place for its glory to 
 be seen. Christ's place is the central one in the 
 universe: the throne of God. He spake to His 
 disciples, 'Where !• am, there shall my servant be. 
 If any man serve me, him will my Father honour: 
 ' I appoint you a kingdom, even as my Father hath 
 appointed me ; that ye may eat and drink at my 
 table, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes 
 of Israel.' To the Church at Thyatira He says: 
 • He that overcometh and keepeth my words unto 
 the end, to him will I give power over the nations, 
 EVEN AS I received of my Father.' And to the 
 cliurch at Laodicea : ' To him that overcometh will 
 I grant to sit on my throne, even as I overcame, 
 
 !i'/ 'I 
 
244 
 
 LIKK CUIIIST: 
 
 and am se down ^vith my Fatl.er on His throne' 
 H>gl,er and closer it cannot be: 'EvEj. as we havo 
 borne the image of the earthly, we shall alsolf 
 th^eavenly.' The lihenesa will be complete and 
 
 revt^l\o'f' ^°^'"^T S'^-^P^^' '»*" *« future 
 reveal to «s, more than all our thinking, what 
 
 intense truth, what Divine meaning ther^ is fn 
 Gods creative word: -Let us make\ian in O^r 
 image after Our likeness.' To show forth the Ife 
 ness of the Invisible, to be partaker of the Biv ne 
 l^ature, to share with God His rule of the universe 
 IS man's destiny. His place is indeed one of 
 unspeakable glory. Standing between two eternities 
 the eternal purpose in which we were predestinated 
 to be conformed to the image of the first-born Son 
 and the eternal realization of that purpose when we' 
 shall be hke Him in His glory, we hear the voL 
 from every side: ye image-bearers of God ■ on 
 the way to share the gloiy of God and of Christ 
 live a Godlike, live a Christlike life ! 
 
 'I sh.aU be satisfied when I awake with Thy 
 LIKENESS so the Psalmist sung of old. Nothin. 
 can satisfy the soul but God's image, because for 
 
 external to i , only seen but not possessed ; it is as 
 partaker of that likeness that we shall be satisfied. 
 Blessed they who here long for it with insatiable 
 hunger; they shall be filled. This, the very like- 
 ness of God, this will b. the ghvy, streaming down 
 on them from God Himself, streamin.. thrr.,,1 f.,„,-. 
 
IN HIS GLORY. 
 
 241 
 
 wliole being, streaming out from them through the 
 universe. • When Christ who is our life sl^aU be 
 manifested, we also sliall be manifested with Him 
 in glory. 
 
 Beloved fellow-Christians ! nothing ean be made 
 
 here in this hfe. If the gloiy of God is not our 
 Me here, it cannot bo hereafter. It is impossible • 
 him alone who glorifies God here, can God glorifv 
 hereafter. 'Man is the image and glory of Goi' 
 It IS as you bear the image of God here, as you 
 hve m the likeness of Jesus, who is the brightness 
 of His glory and the express image of His person, 
 ^lat you wil be f -^ for the glory to come. If 
 vve are to be as the image of the heavenly, the 
 Christ in glory, we must first bear the imago of the 
 earthly, the Christ in humiliation 
 
 CnT^i"^ ^°V- ^^'"'' '' *« "°'=^'^^'«d ™age of 
 God. Man is His created image. On the throne in 
 
 whip?- ' r!5T """^ ^' ''*™^"'^ °°«- You know 
 what Christ did, how He drew near, how He sacrificed 
 
 all, to restore us to the possession of that ima^-e. 
 
 Oh shall we not at length yield ourselves to this 
 
 wondeifu love to this glory inconceivable, and 
 
 the glory of Christ. Shall we not, like Him, mdco 
 ti^e lathers glory our aim and hope, living to His 
 glory here as the way to live in His gloiy there. 
 
 The Father sjlory : it is in this that Christ's "lorv 
 and ours have their common origin. T,,>t tl,.. Wat].;, 
 be to us what He was to Him, and tlie Fathe'r's 
 
246 
 
 LIKE CHHIST; 
 
 hfe of Christ converge to this as their centre h! 
 was Son; He lived as Son; God was o hS 
 Fatheb^ As Son He sought the Father's gW 
 
 to the image of the Son, that the Father is the 
 
 th„?f°''-^ ''r"''''"' ^"^^ ''""« accompanied me 
 T ^ ^"^'^ *'^« meditations on the image of Z 
 lord and the Christ-like life in which it is to be 
 reilected the time is now come for ns to part 
 Let US do so with the word, 'We shall be like 
 Him, for we shall see Him as He is. He who 
 hath this hope in Him purifieth Himself, even as 
 He is pure.' Like Christ ! let ns pra^ for each 
 other, and for all God's children, that n ever 
 growing measure this may be the one aim of our 
 iaith, aie one desire of our heart, the one joy of our 
 Me. Oh what will it be when we meet in 21 
 
 £an ll HimT ^^"^ - ^^ ^^' -' - -^ 
 
 Ever blessed and most glorious God- what 
 thanks shall we render Thee for the glorious gospe 
 ithf fV °, '' *' ^"''^SO of Godt and for the 
 
 S . ?!i.°'T ^"* ^'""^^ »P°'' "^ in Him 
 And what thanks shall we render Thee, that ta 
 
 Jesus we have seen the image not only of Thine b^t 
 J. nee through eternity » 
 
IN HIS GLORY. 
 
 247 
 
 God ! fo: 
 
 ^clK( 
 
 ve us, forgive us for Jesus blood's 
 lave so little believed this, that we 
 have so little lived this. And we beseech Thee 
 that Thou wouldst reveal to all who have had 
 fellowship with each other in these meditations 
 what THE GLORY is in which they are to live' 
 eternally, in which they can be living even now as 
 they glorify Thee. Father! awaken us and 'all 
 Thy children to see and feel what Thy purpose 
 with us is. We are indeed to spend eternity in 
 Thy glory : Thy glory is to be around us, and on 
 us, and in us ; we are to be like Thy Son in His 
 glory. Father! we beseech Thee, oh visit Thy 
 church ! Let Thy Holy Spirit, the Spirit of glory, 
 work mightily in her ; and let this be her one desire,' 
 the one mark by which she is known : the glory 
 of God resting upon her. 
 
 Our Father ! grant it for Jesus' sake. Amen. 
 
218 ON PKEACIIING CIIKIST OUIl EXAMI yi 
 
 ©1 Vtmms mtist our ©jample. 
 
 •T ET us „,ake man in ora image, after our 
 
 -*-' IIKENESS:' iu tliesfi wnvWo „f *1, ^ 
 
 wako a Goblike CEEAimf « ,' • r°P°''' ^ 
 TT, • ^J^tJiAruKE, a beincf who shall Ka 
 
 hLse f IM, lu °"'° '••'^^ *°i«« '• l^e must make 
 C..ea./^S:f;al\reSS^^ 
 
 -ived. A3 'a 'cSr: God" ^^^e" tH^ ^f 
 
 VOW. a;;u - c:;l\-s ::.^ 
 
ON PltEACUING CIIUIST OUll liXAMI'LE. 249 
 
 l.oIy „s likeness to Ood cau really become las very 
 
 rev nK '^'^ """ ^'™ "P His purpose. Of Hi" 
 
 rev lation m Israel the central thought was : 'Be 
 ye holy, as I am holy.' Likeness t," God n tint 
 wlneh oonstitutes His highest perfection is to be 
 Israel s hope. Eedemption had no higher idea! 
 Ian Creation had revealed; it could onh. take ,n 
 and work out the Eternal purpose. ^ ^ 
 
 It was with this in view thnf tli<. v„n 
 tliP Por.fl, fi, o , "® Father sent to 
 
 the earth the Son who was the express Ima-^e of 
 as Person. In Him the God-likeness to wW h Je 
 had been created, and which we had personX to 
 appropriate and make our own, was'reve ff n 
 
 We STod T *° ^'^°" '° - ^' -- the 
 upon Hii ?h ,'" °? °''" '-"^S^- I" l°°king 
 God w! t'n .' "'. '^''' °"'' ^°"8-l°^' l*e"e«B *» 
 
 begotten which give us courage to yield ourselves to 
 
 be renewed after that Image. To accomplisirthf 
 
 here was a twofold work He had to do. The one 
 
 we might know what a life in that Hkeness wa, 
 and understand what it was we had to expect Im 
 accept from Him as our Eedeemer. WheS had 
 done this, and shown us ike likeness of tkel^eo} S 
 m human form. He died that He might win for us 
 
 f / ff« . that m Its power we might live in the 
 W^cuess Ql what we had seen in Him. And when 
 
260 ON PREACHING CHULST OUR EXAMPLE. 
 
 He ascended to heaven, it was to give us in iho 
 Holy Spirit the power of tliat life He had first set 
 before us and then won to impart to us. 
 
 It is easy to see how close the connection is 
 between these two parts of the work of our Lord 
 and how the one depends upon the other For 
 what as our Example He had in His life revealed 
 He as our Redeemer by His death purchased the 
 power. His earthly life showed the path His 
 heavenly life gives the power, in which we are to 
 walk. What God hath joined together no man may 
 separate. Whoever does not stand in the full faitli 
 of the Redemption, has not the strength to follow 
 the Example. And whoever does not seek confor- 
 mity to the Image as the great object of the 
 Eedemption, cannot fully enter into its power 
 Christ lived on earth that He might show forth the 
 image of God in His life: He lives in heaven that 
 we may show forth the image of God in oitr lives 
 
 The Church of Christ has not always maintained 
 the due relation of these two truths. In the 
 Eoman Catlioiic Church the former of the two was 
 placed in the foreground, and the following of 
 Christ's example pressed with great earnestness 
 As the fruit of this, she can point to no small 
 number of saints who, notwithstanding many 
 errors, with admirable devotion sought literally . nd 
 entirely to bear the Master's image. But to the 
 great loss of earnest houIs, the other half of the 
 truth was neglected, that only they who in the 
 power of Christ's death receive His life within 
 
ON PREACHING CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 251 
 
 them, are able to imitate His life as set before 
 them. 
 
 The Protestant churches owe their origin to the 
 revival of the second truth. The truth of God's 
 pardoning and quickening grace took its true place 
 to the great comfort and joy of thousands of anxious' 
 souls. And yet here the danger of onesidedness 
 was not entirely avoided. The doctrine that Christ 
 lived on earth, not only to die for our redemption, 
 but to show us how we were to live, did not 
 receive sufficient prominence. While no orthodox 
 church will deny that Christ is our example, the 
 ahsolute necessity of following the example of His 
 life is not preached with the same distinctness as 
 that of trusting the atonement of His death. 
 Great pnins are taken, and that most justly, to lead 
 men to accept the merits of His death. As great 
 pains are not taken, and this is what is not Hght, 
 to lead men to accept the imitation of His life° as 
 the one mark and test of true discipleship. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to point out what influence 
 the mode of presenting this truth will exercise in 
 the hie of the church. If atonement and pardon 
 De everything, and the life in His likeness some- 
 thing secondary, that is to follow as a matter of 
 course, the chief attention will be directed to the 
 former. Pardon and peace wiU be the great 
 objects of desire ; with these ^tttained, tliere will be 
 a tendency to rest content. If, on the other hand 
 conformity to the image of God's Son be the chief 
 object, and the atonement the means to secure 
 
 w 
 
252 
 
 ON rKEACUINO CUItlST OUll EXAMIXE. 
 
 this end, as the f„llil„,ent of God's purpo.o in 
 crenfon then in all tho preaching of 'ro pem.n o 
 
 loreground (aith m Josus and conformity to Hi, 
 character wm be regarded as inseparable. "^ Such ^ 
 church wm produce real followers of the Lord 
 
 In tins respect the Protestant churches need still 
 to go on unto perfection. Then only will the cbnr! 
 put on her beautiful garments, and' 3/ sht 
 the hght of God's glory, when these two ^.t 
 are held :n that wondrous unity i„ which v 
 appear in the life of Christ Himself. TnJ^, 
 -fr-l/or us m left ns an e.a,npU thi fo 
 should follow in His footsteps. As the banner of 
 he cross is Lfted high, the atonement of tU ^2\1 
 tke fcllo^osh^ of the cross must equally be Zl^^ 
 as the condition of true disoipleship. ^ 
 
 It IS remarliable how distinctly this comes ont 
 m the teaching of the Blessed Master Him "f T„ 
 
 hipmorr'"'-°' "" "'"''' H« 8-- i'«^"o- 
 ship more prommence than its atonement. How 
 
 often He told the disciples that they must bear 
 
 t with Him and like Him; only thus could t^iev 
 
 he disciples, and share in the blessings His croZ 
 
 Ue spoke of His being crucified, He did not argue as 
 to the need of the cross in the salvation of men bu 
 s.mply masted on its being borne, because to Hi u 
 
 He of God i^/'f "" "'« ""^y P»* '° «- 
 He t.Z t •? '^r^'" """'' ^' "^ «« Master. 
 He spoke of it as tho instrument of ...If-sacrifu.e, 
 
ox I'REAciiiNa cnitrsT oun exam-w. 2.->3 
 
 the mrk and ti.e mens of giving up our own life 
 to the death the only path for the entrance upon 
 the new Divme life Ho can.e to bring. It is net, 
 only I who must die, He said, but y'ou too; the 
 cross, the spirit of daily self- acriflee, is to be the 
 badge of your allegiance to me. How well Peter 
 learnt the lesson we see in his Epistle, lioth the 
 remarkable passages in which he speaks of the 
 Saviour suffering for „s_C Christ suffered for m ■ 
 who bare our sins upon the tree ;' • He suffered, the 
 just/«r m unjust O-are brought in almost inciden- 
 tally m connection with our suffering like Him 
 ue tells us that as we gaze upon the Crucified 
 One, we are not only to think of the cross as the 
 path in which Christ found His way to glory but 
 as that m which each of us is to follow Him 
 
 The same thought comes out with great promin- 
 ence m the writings of the Apostle Paul. To take one 
 Epistle that to the Galatians; we find four passages 
 m which the power of the cross is set forth. In one 
 we have one of the most striking expressions of the 
 blessed truth of substitution and atonement : • Bein<. 
 m^>\^acurscfor us, as it is written. Cursed is ever^ 
 one that hangeth on a tree.' This is indeed one of 
 the foundation stones on which the faith of the 
 Church and the Christian rests. But a house needs 
 more than foundation stones. And so we find that 
 no less than three times in the Epistle the fellow- 
 ship of the cross, as a personal experience, is spoken 
 of as the secret of the Christian life. ' I have been 
 crucified witli f!I„.;„f> .rp, „,, . „ ">« ot-'-ii 
 -""oC. IJicy that are Christ's have 
 
/^ 
 
 254 
 
 Ox\ PrEACHING CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 
 
 crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts/ 
 God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
 crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' Thai 
 Christ bore the cross for us is not all ; it is but the 
 beginning of His work It does but open the way to 
 the full exhibition of what tiie cross can do as we are 
 taken up into a lifelong fellowship with Him the 
 Crucified One, and in our daily life we experience 
 and prove what it is to be crucified to the world 
 And yet how many earnest and eloquent sermons 
 have been preached on glorying in the cross of 
 Christ, m which Christ's dying on the cross for us 
 has been expounded, but our dying with Him in 
 which Paul so gloried, has been forgotten ! 
 
 The church does indeed need to have this second 
 truth sounded out as clearly as the first. Christians 
 need to understand that bearing the cross does not 
 m the first place refer to the trials which we call 
 crosses, but to that daily giving up of life, of dying 
 to self, which must mark us as much as it did 
 Jesus, which we need in times of prosperity almost 
 more than in adversity, and without which the ful- 
 ness of the blessing of the cross cannot be disclosed 
 to us. It is the cross, not only as exhibited on 
 Calvary, but as gloried in on account of its 
 crucifying us, its spirit breathing through all our 
 ife and actions, that will be to the Christian and 
 the church as it was to Christ, the path to victory 
 and to glory, the power of God for the salvation 
 01 men. 
 
ON PBEACHING CHRIST OUB EX^UlrLE. 255 
 
 parts'" Srf "" °1, "" ''"'' "'"'''''' of t-« 
 
 oflil „, T"'°*' *' "P'^""^ "P of the way 
 oUife, our crucifixion, our bearing the cross with 
 Chnst, as our sanctification, our walldng i„ the patTof 
 
 But Im' ^fr^l^J""^' -l"^lly be preached.^ 
 But It wiU not be sufficient that these two truths 
 
 their fuU power only as their inner unity is found 
 m the deeper truth of Christ our Head As we 
 
 has Its life and how the one Saviour makes us 
 partakers both of the atonement and the followship 
 of His cross, we shall understand how wonderful 
 heir harmony is, and how indispensable both te 
 Uie welfare of the church. We shall see that^a 
 It IS Jesus who opened up the way to heaven Z 
 nuch U, tMfootsters He left us to tLd inlZ Z 
 
 Jesus who gives us pardon through His blood and 
 coni^^rmity to Himself through Hi: Spirit. iJ'd we 
 shall understand how for both, faith is th7 onTv 
 possible path. The life.power of this atonemS 
 comes through faith alone; the life-pow ~he 
 
 truT nf \ '"''™° ™"' «'« grand central 
 truth of salvaiwn by faith alone has been fullv 
 applied not only to justification, but t„ .,,..'1*? 
 too, tuat is, to the confonnity to the ]iken;;s of };s:r 
 
3'*' i 
 J.'f 
 
 ii:: 
 
 
 r 
 
 ifi 
 
 itfi 
 
 250 ON PREACHING CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 
 
 ^ The preacher who desires in this matter to lead 
 his people in tlie path of entire conformity to the 
 feaviour's likeness, will fmd a very wide field indeed 
 opened up to him. The Christlike life is like a 
 tree, m which we distinguish the fruit, the rool, and 
 the skm that connects the two. As in individual 
 effort, so m the public ministry, the fruit will pro- 
 bably first attract attention. The words of Christ 
 'Do ye even as I have done,' and the frequent 
 exhortations in the Epistles to love, and forgive 
 and forbear, even as Christ did, lead first to a 
 comparison of the actual life of Christians with 
 His, and to the unfolding and setting up of that 
 only rule and standard of conduct which the 
 Saviour's example is meant to supply. The need 
 wm be awakened of taking time and lookina 
 distinctly at each of the traits of that wonderful 
 Portrait, so that some clear and exact impressions 
 be obtained from it of what God actually would 
 have us be. Believers must be brought to feel that 
 the life of Christ is in very deed the law of their 
 life, and that complete conformity to His example 
 1? what God expects of them. There may be a 
 difference in measure between the sun shinino- in 
 the heavens and a lamp lighting our home here on 
 earth ; still the light is the same in its nature, and 
 m its little sphere the lamp may be doing its work 
 as beautifully as the sun itself. The conscience of 
 the church must be educated to understand that 
 the humility and self-denial of Jesus, His entire 
 devotion to His Father's work and will. His ready 
 
ON PREACHING CHRIST OtJIl EXAMPLE. 257 
 
 obedience, His self-sacrificing love and kindly 
 beneficence, are nothing more than what each 
 believer is to consider it his simple duty as well as 
 his privilege to exhibit too. There is not, as so 
 many think, one standard for Christ, and another 
 for His people. No ; as branches of the vine, as 
 members of the body, as partakers of the same 
 spirit, we may and therefore must bear the image 
 of the Elder Brother. 
 
 The great reason why this conformity to Jesus is 
 so little seen, and in fact so little sought after 
 among a large majority of Christians, is undoubtedly 
 to be found in erroneous views as to our impotence 
 and what we may expect Divine grace to work in 
 us. Men have such strong faith in the power of 
 sm, and so little faith in the power of grace, that 
 they at once dismiss the thought of our being 
 expected to be just as loving, and just as forgiving 
 and just as devoted to the Father's glorv as Jesus' 
 was, as an ideal far beyond our reach ;" beautiful 
 indeed, but never to be realized. God cannot 
 expect us to be or do what is so entirely beyond 
 cur power. They confidently point to their own 
 lailure in earnest attempts to curb temper and to 
 live wholly for God, as the proof that the thincr 
 cannot be. ^ 
 
 It is only by the persistent preaching of Christ 
 our Example, in all the fuliiess and glory of this 
 blessed truth, that such unbelief can be overcome 
 Believers must be taught that God does not reap 
 wliere He lins not sown, that the fruit and the 
 
253 ON PREACHLXG CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 
 
 ROOT are in perfect harmony. God expects us to 
 strive to speak and think and act exactly like 
 Christ, because the life that is in us is exactly tlie 
 same as that which was in Eim. We have a life 
 like His witliin us ; what more natural than that 
 the outward life should be like His too? Christ 
 living in us is the root and strength of Christ's 
 acting and speaking through us, shining out from 
 us so as to be seen by the world. 
 
 It is specially the preaching of Christ our 
 Example, to he received hy faith alone, that will be 
 needed to lead God's people on to what their Lord 
 would have them be. The prevailing idea is that 
 we have to believe in Jesus as our Atonement and 
 our Saviour, and then, under the influence of the 
 strong motives of gratitude and consistency, to strive 
 to imit ite His example. But motives cannot supply 
 the strength; the sense of impotence remains; we 
 are brought again under the law : we ought to, but 
 cannot. These souls must be taught what it means 
 to believe in Christ their Example. That is, to claim 
 by faith His Example, His Holy Life, as part of the 
 salvation He has prepared for them. They must be 
 taught to believe that this Example is not a some- 
 thing, not ev.v a some one outside of them, but the 
 living Lord Himself, their very Life, who will work 
 in them what He first gave them to see in His 
 earthly life. They must learn to believe that if 
 they will submit themselves to Him, He will mani- 
 fest Himself in them and their life-walk in a way 
 passing all their thoughts; to believe that the 
 
 i i 
 
ON PREACHING CHIUST OUR EXAWLX 259 
 
 Example of Jesus aU the conformity to Ilhn is a 
 part of that Eternal Life which came dorftom 
 
 It ^s because we are one with Christ, and abide in 
 Him because we liave in us the same Divine life 
 Ti V f •"" "' '•^P''='^'^ '" ^alk like Him 
 
 acceptance of it, is no easy matter. Christians 
 have become so accustomed to a life of conttuj 
 s umbhng and unfaithfulness, that the very thourhl 
 of their being able with at least such a measure o 
 esemb ance as the world must recognize, to show 
 
 t them" ' rr " °', '''"'^'' ''^ '^--« ^'- g^ 
 to them. The preaching that will conquer their 
 
 unbelief and lead God's people to victory must b 
 
 animated by a joyous and triumphant fait^i X i 
 
 .s only to faith, a faith larger and deeper than 
 
 Christians ordinarily think needful for s'a va tion 
 
 that the^power of Christ's example takin. pos ""' 
 
 Ohrisf i! V?^ ^'^ :? '^ ^^-»' ^^'""" 
 Lite of the believer, is preached, this deeper faith 
 
 S S' V' ^"^ ^""^ °^ °"' oneneLoS 
 rnife^Thallk""^' ^"' "^'^ " '"^^ ^^^ ^° 
 
 vary much. To some it may come in tlie course of 
 quiet persevering waiting upon God. To others it 
 may come as a sudden revelation, after sclnT 
 effort of struggling and failure ; just onn f„n ,^2 
 oi ^vhat JesuB a. the E.an,ple really is, R^^J^ 
 
260 
 
 ON PREACHING CHRIST OUR EXAMPLE. 
 
 being and giving aU He claims. To some it may 
 come in solitude— wliere there is none to help but 
 the living God Himself alone. To others it will be 
 given, as it has been so often, in the com.munion of 
 the saints, where amid the enthusiasm and love 
 which the fellowship of the Spirit creates, hearts ar<« 
 naelted, decision is strengthened, and faith is stirred 
 to grasp what Jesus offers when He reveals and 
 gives Himself to make us like Himself. But, in 
 whatever way it come, it will come when Christ iu 
 the power of the Holy Spirit is preached as God's 
 revelation of v/hat His children are to be. And 
 believers will be led, in the deep consciousness of 
 utter sinfulness and impotence, to yield themselves 
 and their life as never before into the hands of an 
 Almighty Saviour, and to realize iu their experience 
 the beautiful harmony between the apparently con- 
 tradictory words: 'In me, that is in my flesh, 
 dwelleth no good thing ; ' and, ' I can do aU thinga 
 through Christ who strengtheneth me.' 
 
 But root and fruit are ever connected by a stem, 
 with its branches and leaves. In the life of Christ 
 this was so too. The connection between His 
 hidden life rooted in God, and that life manifesting 
 itself in the fruit of holy words and works, was 
 maintained by his life of conscious and continual 
 personal fellowship with the Father. In Hi.- wait- 
 ing on the Father, to see and hear what lie had to 
 make known, in His yielding Himself to the lead- 
 ings of the Spirit, m His submission to the teachings 
 of the Word which He came to fulfil, in lih watch- 
 
ON rREA(;iiiNG CHRIST ouh example. 2G1 
 
 ing unto prayer, and in His whole life of depend- 
 ence and faith, Christ became our Example. He 
 had so truly been made like unto us in all thin-g 
 become one with us in the weakness of the fleslii' 
 that it was only thus that the life of the Father 
 could be kept flowing freely into Him and mani- 
 festmg itself in the works He did. And just so it 
 will be with us. Our union to Jesus, and His Hfe 
 m us, will most certainly secure a life like His 
 This not, however, in the way of an absolute 
 necessity, as a blind force in nature works oat its 
 end; but in the way of an intelligent, willing 
 lovmg co-operation— a continual coming and receiv- 
 mg from Him in the surrender of faith and prayer 
 a continual appropriating and exercising of what we 
 receive in watchful obedience and earnest effort, a 
 continual working because we know He works 'in 
 us. The faith in the vitality and the energy of the 
 hfe m which we are eternally rooted will not lead 
 to sloth or carelessness, but, as with Christ rouse 
 our energies to their highest power. It is the faith 
 m the glorious possibilities that open up to us in 
 Christ our life, that will lead to the cultivation of 
 all that constitutes true personal fellowship and 
 waiting upon God. 
 
 It is in these three points of similarity that tha 
 Christlike life must be known; our life like Christ's 
 hidden in God, maintained like His in fellowship 
 with God, will in its external manifestation be like 
 His too, a life for God. As believers rise to appre- 
 
2G2 ON PREACHING CIIIIIST OUR EXAMl'LLl 
 
 life we have in God through Him; we cun he like 
 UiHHt in the keeping up and strengthening of that 
 life m fellowsliip with God; we shall be like Christ 
 in the fruits which such a life must bear; the name 
 of followers of Christ, the imitation of Christ will 
 not bo a profession but a reality, and the world will 
 know that the Father has indeed loved us as He 
 loved the Son. 
 
 I venture to suggest to aU ministers and 
 Christians who may read this, the inquiry whether 
 m the teaching and the thought of the Church we 
 have sufficiently lifted up Christ as the Divine 
 Model and Pattern, in likeness to whom alone we 
 can be restored to the Image of God in which we 
 • were created. The more clearly the teachers of the 
 church realize the eternal ground on which a truth 
 rests, its essential importance to other truths for 
 securmg their complete and healthy development 
 and the share it has in leading into the full enjoy-' 
 ment of that wonderful salvation God has prepared 
 for us, the better will they be able to guide God's 
 people into the blessed possession of that glorious 
 life of high privilege and h.ly practice which will 
 prepare them for becoming such a blessing to the 
 world as God meant them to be. It is the one 
 thing that the world needs in these latter days- 
 men and women of Christlike lives, who prove 
 that they are in the world as He was in the world, 
 that the one object of their existence is nothing 
 other than what was Christ's object— the glorifying 
 of the Father, and the saving of mea 
 
 §m 
 
ON PREACniNO CHItlST OUU EXAMI'LE. 
 
 203 
 
 One word more. Let us above all beware leat in the 
 preaching and seeking of Christlikeness that secret 
 but deadly selfishness creeps in, which leads men to 
 seek it for the sake of getting for themselves as 
 much as is to be had, and because they would fain 
 be as eminent in grace and as high in the favour of 
 God as may be. God is love ; the image of God is, 
 Godlike love. When Jesus said to His disciples ; 
 ' Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is 
 perfect,' He tolJ them that perfection was loving and 
 blessing the unworthy. His very names tell us that 
 all the other traits of Christlikeness must be sub- 
 ordinate to this one: seeking the will and glory of 
 God in loving and saving men. He is Christ the 
 Anointed: the Lord hath anointed Him, — for whom? 
 for the broken-hearted, and the captive ; for them 
 thafc are bound and them that mourn. He is Jesus* 
 living and dying to save the lost. There may be a 
 great deal of Christian work with little of true 
 holiness or of the spirit of Christ. But there can be 
 no large measure of real Christlike holiness without 
 a distinct giving up oneself to make the salvation of 
 sinners for the glory of God the object of our life. 
 He gave Himself for us that He might claim us 
 FOR Himself, a peculiar people, zealous of good works. 
 Himself for us, and us for Himself : an entire 
 exchange, a perfect union, a complete identity in 
 interest and purpose. Himself for us as Saviour, 
 us for Himself still as Saviour ; like Him and for 
 Him to continue on earth the work He be^an. 
 Whether we preach the Christlike life in its dee^ 
 
CG-1 
 
 SUli'LKMENTAIlY NOTES. 
 
 inner sprinj^s, v; 1 ♦ • 'j »t has its origin in our oneness 
 with Him in Gvd, v.r in its growth and maintenance 
 by a life of faith and prayer, of dependent and fellow- 
 ship with the Father, or in its fruits of humility 
 and holiness and love, let us ftv^r keep this in the 
 foreground. The one chief mark and glory of the 
 Christ is that He lived and died and lives again for 
 this one thing alone : the will and the glory of 
 THE God of love in the salvation of sinners. 
 And to be Christlike means simply this : To aeek 
 the life and favour and Spirit of God only, that we 
 may be Entirely given up to the same object : the 
 will and the glory of the God of love in the 
 salvation of sinners. 
 
 Till-: END. 
 
 MOnFTSON ANT) GIKR, FDINBURGH, 
 PElMBKe I'O l<KB V.AJEMTJr'!* STATIONKRV UKflQS. 
 
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