1 Tlv>. Life, and Work of the Seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, 175. 1 W. C. Bennett.
ST. MATTHEW xxv. 40 417
learned to practise it an inner peace and glory which nothing else can produce. It is this that determines the value and quality of every action — is it done for Christ and for His glory alone ? Our debt to Him is payable at the bank of humanity's need, and He estimates at its eternal worth all that is done to alleviate that need, even though it be unattended with blare of trumpets and the limelight of self-advertisement. " By Him actions are weighed."
TJ It is said that when Thorwaldsen, the Danish sculptor, returned to his native land with those wonderful works of art which have made his name immortal, chiselled in Italy with patient toil and glowing inspiration, the servants who unpacked the marbles scattered upon the ground the straw which was wrapped around them. The next summer flowers from the gardens of Eome were blooming in the streets of Copenhagen, from the seeds thus borne and planted by accident. While pursuing his glorious purpose, and leaving magnificent results in breathing marble, the artist was, at the same time, and un- consciously, scattering other beautiful things in his path to give cheer and gladness.
So Christ's lowly workers unconsciously bless the world. They come out every morning from the presence of God and go to their work, intent upon their daily tasks. All day long, as they toil, they drop gentle words from their lips, and scatter little seeds of kindness about them; and to-morrow flowers from the garden of God spring up in the dusty streets of earth and along the hard paths of toil on which their feet tread. The Lord knows them among all others to be His by the beauty and usefulness of their lives.1
Tf There is one motto which is more Christian than Mr._ G. F. Watts' saying, " The utmost for the highest," and that is, " The utmost for the lowest." Life's biggest and bravest duties are, according to the teaching of Jesus, owed to " the least of these my brethren." While we are all applauding the sentiment that God helps those who help themselves, the one outstanding Christian teaching is that God helps those who cannot help themselves; and that when Christ thrust into the foreground of His pro- gramme the weak, the helpless, the morally, spiritually, and economically insolvent, and told an astonished world that the last should be first, the least should be greatest, and the lost should be found, He was " setting the pace " for all who aspire to follow Him.2
1 J. R. Miller, Glimpses Through Life's Windows, 11.
2 C. Silvester Horne, Pulpit, Platform, and Parliament, 81, ST. MATT. 27
418 UNTO ME
Wherever now a sorrow stands, Tis mine to heal His nail-torn hands. In every lonely lane and street, Tis mine to wash His wounded feet — 'Tis mine to roll away the stone And warm His heart against my own. Here, here on earth I find it all — The young archangels, white and tall, The Golden City and the doors, And all the shining of the floors!
The Blood of the Covenant,
Literature.
Barry (A.), The Atonement of Christ, 59.
Brown (C. J.), The Word of Life, 86.
Hammond (J.), The Forgiveness of Sins, 91.
Hoare (J. G.), The Foundation Stone of Christian Faith, 199.
Horton (R. F.), The Teaching of Jesus, 109.
Ives (E. J.), The Pledges of His Love, 91.
Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, New Ser., i. 109.
McGarvey (J. W.), Sermons, 56.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : St. Matthew xviii.-xxviii., 243.
Moody (D. L.), Sermons, Addresses, and Prayers, 156.
Salmon (G.), The Reign of Law, 37.
Smith (D.), The Feast of the Covenant, 41.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxxiii. (1887), No. 1971.
Stewart (E. A.), The City Pulpit, iv. 25.
Vaughan (C. J.), Liturgy and Worship of the Church of England, 225.
Wheeler (W. C), Sermons and Addresses, 138.
Church Times, July 2, 1909 (F. G. Irving).
The Blood of the Covenant.
This is my blood of the covenant, which is shed for many unto remission of sins. — Matt. xxvi. 28.
1. This verse is intensely interesting, because it contains one of our Lord's rare sayings about the purpose of His death. For the most part the New Testament teachings on that great theme come from the Apostles, who reflected on the event after it had passed into history, and had the light of the resurrection upon it. Still, it is not just to say that the Apostles originated the doctrine of the atonement. Not only is that doctrine foreshadowed in Isa. liii. ; in the institution of His Supper our Lord also distinctly sets it forth. Before this He spoke of His life being given as a ransom for many (Matt. xx. 28), and He called Himself the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John x. 15).
2. In the institution of the Supper, Christ distinctly tells us in what aspect He would have that death remembered. Not as the tragic end of a noble career which might be hallowed by tears such as are shed over a martyr's ashes ; not as the crowning proof of love ; not as the supreme act of patient forgiveness ; but as a death for us, in which, as by the blood of the sacrifice, is secured the remission of sins. And not only so, but the double symbol in the Lord's Supper — whilst in some respects the bread and wine speak the same truths, and certainly point to the same cross — has in each of its parts special lessons intrusted to it, and special truths to proclaim. The bread and the wine both say, " Eemember Me and My death." Taken in conjunction they point to that death as violent ; taken separately they each suggest various aspects of it, and of the blessings that will flow to us therefrom.