2. We must seek daily release from the incipient defilements which fasten upon the regenerate personality without at first bringing upon it specific marks of guilt and wrong-doing. The neglected stain, however extenuating the circumstances in which it affixed itself, may end in a disfigurement that will be more than skin-deep in its results. Forgetfulness of the solemn lesson taught by the feet-washing may make the apostate. A lapse of temper, an unwatched desire provoked by our converse with the world, often incubates into a flagrant sin. " Let not the sun go down upon your wrath " ; and may we not add, upon any thoughtless mood or unchastened temper which has settled upon us whilst moving through secular scenes ? The feet that have trod the hot, foul highways, or that perhaps have not even crossed the threshold of the home, must be washed. Do not slight the little shortcomings which befall you, and allow them to accrete into blemishes which may vitiate the life.
^ To become indifferent or insensitive to the stains of daily sin is one of the saddest things that can befall us. Little by little
* Marcus Dods.
ST. JOHN XIII. lo 23
it puts a space between us and the Saviour, as begrimed windows seem to put the light further and further off. We must keep the glass clean if we would have the cheerful light; and we must keep close touch with the pardoning blood if we would maintain the joy of salvation.^
^ In describing the different habits of the people of two adjacent provinces the Chinese say, " A Hupeh man does not sleep unless he has first cleansed his feet ; but a Honan man only washes his feet on the day when he fords a river."
Up the long slope of this low sandy shore
Are rolled the tidal waters day by day ;
Traces of wandering feet are washed away, Relics of busy hands are seen no more. The soiled and trampled surface is smooth'd o'er
By punctual waves that high behests obey ;
Once and again the tides assert their sway, And o'er the sands their cleansing waters pour. Even so. Lord, daily, hourly, o'er my soul
Sin-stained and care-worn, let Thy heavenly Grace — • A blest, atoning flood — divinely roll.
And all the footsteps of the world efface. That like the wave-washed sand this soul of mine, Spotless and fair, smooth and serene, may shine ! ^
» J. R. Howatt, Jesus the Poet, 273. 2 Richard Wilton.
The New Commandment.
*i
Literature.
Abbott (L.), Sigyis of Promise, 232.
Alford (H.), Quebec Chapel Sermons, iv. 223,
Bernard (T. D.), The Central Teaching of Jesus Christ, 113.
Eadie (J.), The Divine Love, 242,
Goodwin (H.), Parish Sermons, iii. 258.
Greenliougb (J. G.), in Great Texts of the NT, 97.
Henson (H. H.), Godly Union and Concord, 153.
Home (W.), Religious Life and Thought, 13.
Horton (R. F.), The Commandments of Jesus, 319.
Hughes (H. P.), The Philanthropy of God, 15.
Jack (J. W.), After His Likeness, 13.
Kuypcr (R.), The Work of the Holy Spirit, 570.
Lee (W.), From Dust to Jewels, 85.
Lewis (F. W,), 2'he Unseen Life, 13.
Lilley (J. P.), The Pathway of Light, 79.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : John ix.-xiv., 226.
„ „ Last Sheaves, 56.
Mantle (J. G.), According to the Pattern, 75, Marjoribanks (T.), The Fulness of the Godhead, 77. Morgan (G. C), The Ten Commandments, 203. Robertson (F. W.), Sermons, 1st Ser., 234. Senior (W.), God's " Ten Words," 345.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, li. (1905), No. 241. Stanford (0.), Central Truths, 153.
Vaiighan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit) xiii. (1876), No. 1008. Wilson (J. H.), The Gospel and its Fruits, 233.
„ (J. M.), Rochdale Sermons, 239. Wordsworth (E.), Omoard Steps, 123. Christian World Pulpit, xlvii. 166 (Klein) ; Ix. 305 (Henson) ; Ixxvi. 49
(Ronald). Church of England Pulpit, Iii. 290 (Henson) ; 1x1. 322 (Plumiuer). Churchman's Pulpit : Holy Week : vi. 490 (Robertson).
i6
The New Commandment.
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another ; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. — John xiii. 34.
When the Lord spoke to His disciples the words of the text, Judas had just left the company for the purpose of carrying out his plans. It was a night much to be observed, the events of which are recorded in the chapter from which the text is taken; it was the night upon which the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was instituted, in which Judas joined ; it was the night upon which Christ gave that remarkable lesson in humility to His disciples by washing their fee.t,. the feet of Judas apparently amongst the rest ; it was the night, too, on which the Lord gave distinct warning to this same Judas of the treachery which he was about to commit; and it was after receiving this warning that Judas went out to do his work, leaving the eleven faithful disciples behind. Any lesson, s/ therefore, given on such a night would be likely to be well remembered, to sink deeply into the heart, and one cannot be surprised that the Lord should take advantage of such an occasion to impress some important precepts and doctrines upon His disciples; one might expect that some things which the Lord would desire to say to the Apostles before His passion, and which could scarcely be said in the presence of Judas, would now be uttered without reserve, v And indeed it does seem as though the departure of Judas had taken (if one may venture to say so) a weight from off the heart of the Lord, for He enters at once into some of His deepest and most affectionate conversations with the faithful eleven.