by the exhibition of a contentious and an ambitious spirit. It was a. l!a<l failure on their part. How often do his disciples fail him now! How often do they let the opportunity of loving and effective service pass unused I When the hour strikes for faithfulness, or for courage, or for self-sacrifice, or for humility, or for energetic action, i~ there not found unraithfulness, or timidity, or selfish time-scrvin"', or pride, or a culpable inactivity, that loses everything and leaves behind nothing ''but failure and rogret? II. WORLDLY VANITY. (Ver. 25.) What a poor thing indeed is mere official dignity, or even arbitrary power, or servile flattery! Official dignity without morn I worth is a miserably hollow thing. Arbitrary power, exercised in caprice and apart f.rom a pure desire to do good and to enrich, is an evil thing; it is injurious to the possessor and it is burdensome to the objects of it. Servile flattery is a false thing. It is simply contemptible on the pa.rt of those who pay it; it is morally ruinous to those who accept it, Let the" Gentiles" act thus if they must; but "ye shall not be so." Ye who care to be true, to be loving, to be humble-ye shall noL sit on that seat of honour, ye shall not run into that serious temptation, ye shall uot pursue such a worthless prize, Otber and better things are within your reach ; for you there is- III. CHRISTIAN GREATNESS, (Vere. 26, 27.) 1. Jesus Christ, tho greatest One, wa~ the Servant of all. He C(lffM to serve; it was his holy, heavenly errand; he came to seek and to save the lost. He lived to serve. That act of menial service in which he had just been engaged (John xiii. 1-5) wM only a picture and illustration of the whole spirit and substance of his life; to bear the bnrden of others was the law of his life (Gal. vi. 2). He lived to heal, to help, to comfort, to enlighten, to redeem; his life from end to end was a loving ministry, a gracious and generous service (Mark x. 45). He suffered to serve. He died to serve. He had a perfect right to say, "I am among you as he that serveth." 2. We are nearest to our Lord as we live to serve ; we rise towards the spiritual stature of Jesus Christ as we are filled with this his spiric and as we live this his life. 'l'here is a path for ambition to tread in the kingdom of Christ; but it is not the path that leads to high office and official dignity and popular npplause: these things may come unsought, and be used for good. But the one road along which true Christian greatness travels is the way of self-forgetting service. 'l'o be touched ancl moved by the sorrows and the sins of our fellow-men ; to be stirred to helpful, earnest, sacrificial effort on their behalf; to pity the poor and needy; to seek nnd to save the lost; to breathe the air and to do the work of an unpretentious but effective kindness, to have the right to say," lam among you as he twit serveth; "- lilat is greatness alter Christ himself.-C.
Vers, 28-30.-Fidelity and its reward. The lesson of the text is the bonntiful reward of faithfulness to Jesus Christ; but taking these words of his in connection with the position in which he well knew himself to be, they speak to us of- L 'l'HE MAJESTIO CONFIDENCE OF ous LORD, "l appoint [bequeath] unto you o. kingdom •.. that ye mny sit on thrones." And who is this thus calmly disposing of kingdoms and thrones ?-a reigning emperor, e. brillh\Ilt conqueror? Only a poor, homeless, soldieries~ Prophet I One who knew that he was about to be taken, tried, convicted, scourged, crucified I Yet he meant it all. What majestic confidence in God, in the power of his gospel, in his own integrity! With what reverent homage sliall we bow before him who could make such royal offers when the shadow of tho cross already rested on his path I And what nobler sight is there to be seen among men than that of one (missionary, minister, teacher, reformor, etc.) calmly goiug ou his way when every one and when everything: is against him, confident in the triumph of the cause for which he pleads I 'l'aking these words of Christ in connection with tile preceding verses, we see- n. 'fHE QUICKNESS Wl'l'Il WHICH Hl': PAB!>ED FnOM CORRECTION TO COMMENDATIOX. Secine1 that his apostles were not only silenced, but humbled by the rebuke he h,\,l aJ1Lh~istered to them (vers, 24-26), and wishing to reassme and revive them, our Lord turned to the fidelity they had shown toward himself, and spoke words of praise and of promise. "You are wrong altogether in yonr spirit and behaviour in tlii~ matter; I blame you for this. But bo not cast duwn; I do not forget your consta1;cy 220 THE GOSPEL ACC01lb1NG TO ST. LUKt. [ctt. xt.1t. 1-11.