But we need not confine attention to this passage alone. "The mind of Christ" is truly inclusive of all Christian graces. Search through the writings of the apostle, and arrange in order all exhortations and precepts looking to the development of a Christian character and a godly life, nay, treat in like manner the writings of the other apostles, the Gospels, the books of the Old Testament, and they will be all summed up in this one. Such a spirit as brought Jesus Christ from the skies and led him through the humiliation of his earthly career, embraces every possible form of good. No precept of piety can send its roots beyond its circumference. No Christian grace can transcend it. This is the whole of which they are parts.

II. It is the badge of greatness and worth.

The spirit of Christ was love manifesting itself in humility and sacrifice. It was self-forgetfulness, self-surrender, a voluntary submission to death of "the just for the unjust," of the highest for the lowest.

According to the Scriptures, this was the wonder of heaven. It gave a new lustre to the character of the Son of God. It is and ever will be, to angels and the redeemed, the crown of the Saviour's glory.

And this spirit, working itself out in similar lines on the human plane, is the badge of man's highest dignity and worth. Like his Master, he touches the height of greatness when he sounds the depths of sacrifice. Humility is nobility. To be stripped of self is to be clad in regal dignity.

How different is this from the world's estimate! To be great in its eyes is to be conspicuous, on high, in the front rank; to command the obedience, secure the service, and use the resources of many. It is accompanied with noise

and parade. Unless seen and known, it is nothing. It is self above and before others.

But real worth looks outward, not inward; upon the things of others, not on its own; puts others first, itself last; asks, What can I give? not, What can I get? walks in paths of humility; is full of benefaction, labor, sacrifice. It knows it is more blessed to give than to receive, and acts accordingly. It is content to be like the Master, to minister and not to be ministered unto. It is satisfied if only good is done, whether known or unknown. It has learned

"To prize the quiet lightning-deed,

Not the applauding thunder at its heels."

It knows that pride is folly, self-seeking is littleness, lowliness of mind is wisdom, and sacrifice is divine. Nothing so likens to God. He humbles himself to his creatures. Benevolence fills his heart, benefaction rules his hand.

And the works which grow out of this spirit are the noblest and best. There are things which sacrifice alone can accomplish. There are chasms which refuse to be closed until they have swallowed up the armed knight. Christ must needs give himself. Nothing else would avail to meet the case. Only by the sight of the suffering Son of God have men been convinced of the divine love, and turned to its embrace. So the mightiest appeals of the early church to the heathen world came out of the martyr fires, the dungeons, the amphitheatres, where she vindicated her faith and her love with her blood. It was patient endurance that won. It was love quenching hatred in the greatness of her own sacrifice, and triumphing by the might of unresisting goodness. And the circling centuries have oft repeated the sight. The walls of Christianity

have been cemented by the tears and the blood of its adherents.

And the same law holds good. There is no new rule. Loving, cheerful self-sacrifice is now, as it ever has been, the most powerful motive which acts upon the reluctant hearts of men. This touches what nothing else can reach. The Christian mother who patiently sacrifices herself to her children; the Sabbath-school teacher who lovingly pursues her wayward scholars; the pastor who gives himself in the totality of his being for the salvation of his flock; the brother who follows the tempted and fallen until he wins them to the firm ground of Christian sobriety and virtue; the missionary who abandons home, friends, and country, that he may carry the news of salvation to the perishing, yea, all humble, obedient, self-sacrificing, suffering ones for Christ's sake and humanity's sake are doing. the noblest work which men can do. Just as Christ, by infinite abasement and sacrifice, put his heart underneath the race and raised it up by the strength of his love, so do these put their hearts underneath the hearts of their fellows, and raise them up by the strength of their love. Herein is greatness, and herein also is joy. Entering thus sufferings, they

into the fellowship of Christ's labors and

enter also into the fellowship of his joy. His was the joy of sacrifice. So is theirs. No joy so sweet as this. And the greater the sacrifice the greater the joy.

III. It is the ground of reward.

We traced the steps of Christ's self-abasement. We left him in the hand of death. But he could not be holden of death. Everything forbade it. His own divinity, held in abeyance for a season, must reassert itself. In the nature of things it could not be. Moral nature and moral govern

ment would be outraged were such sacrifice to come to naught. "Wherefore God highly exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name." Mark the meaning and the vigor of the words. "Wherefore"; because of humiliation and obedience. "Highly exalted"; made him not only eminent, but supereminent. "Name above every name," the well-earned name of Saviour! And why so exalted? "That in the name of Jesus every knee should bend," of angels and of men living and dead, “and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

How blessed the thought that it is a human name which is most loved and revered in heaven as well as on earth! Angels speak it with holy rapture. They know by what sacrifice it was won. Men joy in it, for they know from what sin and wretchedness he has saved them. How blessed the thought that Jesus, our brother man, is Head over all things, the constituted and rightful Ruler, not only of the world which he has redeemed, but by virtue of that redemptive work, of all worlds! That humiliation gave him new dignity and claim to the adoration of all ranks of heavenly hierarchies. He is to them no longer the divine Logos, as they had ever known him, glorious “in the form of God," but unspeakably more glorious as Jesus, the incarnate Logos, the suffering Son of God. The sight of Jesus forever suggests how immeasurable is the love of God, and to what depths of self-abnegation and sacrifice it will descend to exhibit itself. That love and sacrifice rightfully put him on the throne as first and most glorious, and draw to him the unquestioning homage of all creatures.

Observe, it was "the mind of Christ," exhibited in humiliation and obedience, which was the ground of the

exaltation. And what is true of the Master is true of the servant. Such a spirit and such conduct are sure of the divine approval and reward. The world may not heed, but God sees and will honor. They who walk the paths of Christ's humiliation will climb the steps of his exaltation. To surrender self, give up ease, comfort, bear burdens, endure trials, through love to God and men, is to weave a crown of fadeless glory. When the day of final award shall come, not the great, the conspicuous, the powerful of the world, but the humble, the patiently enduring, the laboring, the suffering ones, great in the greatness of their love and sacrifice, will receive honor, advancement, and glory. "So the last shall be first, and the first last." "Faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things" Then will be made triumphant these unfailing laws of moral being, humility is the badge of nobility; self-forgetfulness best secures remembrance; the path of service is the road to honor, and self-sacrifice is self-enrichment.

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Look up, then, O burden-bearer, for the day of thy redemption and reward is at hand. Carry thy load bravely. Endure patiently, labor cheerfully. "Lift up the hands that hang down." The way is short.

God sees and knows.

Soon wilt thou hear the blessed words, "Enter thou into