1 J. W. Burgon, The Lives of Tivelve Good Men, i. 17. ■■* The Journal of John Wesley, ii. 8.
I PETER II. 4, 5 "]"]
the ideal that he proclaims with his lips aud cherishes in his heart and sets forth in his life ; by contributing to the creation of a Christian public opinion, and by impressing and (so far as may be) enforcing that opinion upon the whole society in which he lives, and so taking his part in the Church's fundamental task of binding and loosing. It is of the essence of all true communion with God to diffuse itself to other men.
^ The Archbishop said that as a child he had been very much puzzled by the words of the marriage service — " With my body I thee worship." He went to his mother and asked, " How can one worship with one's body ? " His mother explained that worship was not used here in the usual spiritual sense, but meant that the husband would do such things for his wife as opening the door for her, fetching her a chair, etc. The little boy secretly made up his mind to watch his father, to see whether he performed these little services for his wife. " But it was no use," added the Archbishop, " for he always did." ^
(3) Service. — The materials of sacrifice are all around us, in our common work, in the little calls of Providence, in the trivial crosses we are challenged to take up ; even in the very recreation of our lives. The great point is to have the mind set upon seeking and seeing in all things the service of Christ and the glory of God, and then every trifle which that mind touches, every piece of work it handles, every dispensation it encounters, becomes at once a sacrifice.
^ A young Chinese girl was brought to the Presbyterian Mission Hospital at Canton. She was doomed to blindness and lameness, so her mistress abandoned her. The doctors amputated her leg, and gave her little tasks to perform and taught her the love of the Saviour. She developed leprosy, and was forced to leave the kind friends about her, and betake herself to the darkness and horror of a leper settlement. But she went a Christian, and in two years that blind crippled leper built up a band of Christians in that leper settlement and in five years a Church grew out of her work. That poor crippled invalid life is to-day a centre of joy and service, and other leper villages are sending to her to ask about the wonderful good news which can bring joy even to outcasts.
^ Frederick Temple, Archbishop of Caiiierlury, i. 80.
A Propitiation and a Pattern.
79
Literature.
Brown (C), Trial and Triumph, 89. Davies (J. LL), Social Questions, 114.
„ „ The Work of Christ, 104.
Edgar (S.), Sermons at AurMa7id, N.Z., ii. 27. Farrar (F. W.), Bells and Pomegranates, 133. Fraser (J.), Parochial Sermons, 115. Gibson (J. G.), Stepping Stones to Life, 96. Hamilton (J.), Works, iv. 217. Hickey (F. P.), Short Sermons, ii. 94. Kuegele (F.), Country Sermons, New Ser., ii. 286. Liddon (H. P.), Easter in St. PauVs, 346.
Mackennal (A.), The Eternal Son of God and the Human Sonship, 81. Meyer (F. B.), Tried by Fire, 105. Mortimer (A. G.), Lenten Preaching, 142. Eussell (A.), The Light that Lighteth Every Man, 122. Sauter (B.), The Sunday Epistles, 242. Vaughan (R.), Stones from the Quarry, 87. Watkinson (W. L.), The Education of the Heart, 186. Wells (J.), Bible Echoes, 153, Wilson (J. M.), Truths Nexo and Old, 260.
„ „ Rochdale Sermons, 10.
„ (S.), Lenten Shadows and Easter Lights, 71. Wiseman (N.), Children's Serm,oiis, 302. Cambridge Review, xiv. Supplement No. 350 (Ridgeway). Christian World Pulpit, xviii. 142 (Tatton) ; xlv. 241 (Fairbairn) ;
Ivii. 164 (Body) ; Ixiii. 193 (Fairbairn). Church of England Pulpit, xlvi. 5 (Henslow) ; xlix. 290 (Body) ; 1. 2
(Rawnsley). Churchman's Pulpit : Lenten Season : v. 140 (Carter).
„ 2nd Sunday after Easter: viii. 19 (Liddon), 23
(Cotton), 27 (Henslow), 29 (Fairbairn), 31 (Edger), 34 (Davies). „ Sermons to the Young : xvi. 256 (Garbett).
Contemporary Pulpit, 1st Sev., i. 330 (Cross). Keswick Week, 1899, 84 (Webb-Peploe).
8o
A Propitiation and a Pattern.
Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps. — i Pet. ii. 21.
These words are a striking illustration of the way in which the Gospel brings Christ's principles to bear upon morals and duty. The Apostle is doing nothing more than exhorting a handful of slaves to the full and complete and patient acceptance of their hard lot, and in order to teach a very homely and lowly lesson to the squalid minds of a few captives, he brings in the mightiest of all lessons by pointing to the most beautiful, most blessed, and most mysterious fact in the world's history — the cross of Christ.
There are two things in the text —
I. Christ as a Propitiation — " Christ suffered for you." II. Christ as a Pattern — " leaving you an example." But more important than either of these things, highly important as they are, is their connexion. Christ is of little avail as an example if He is not first a propitiation ; and again the propitiation is of little worth if we do not follow the example. We shall take the two separately, but first of all let us take them together.