Christ, and the man who has been healed in the name of Christ. As long as the Church can show the man that is healed it will abide; for he is the living witness of the power of the Name. The power of the Church is measured by its beneficence. It is strong in proportion as it serves. If it is the body of Christ ruled by his Spirit, it must minister. If it ceases to minister, it is no longer his. "This commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also."

(d) Sacrifice. He offered himself a sacrifice for his Church and the Church in turn must offer itself a sacrifice for him. Commentators have been much perplexed by Paul's words in Col. 1:24" Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church." And at first sight the words are strange. Think of Paul, little Paul, making good the deficiency in Christ's sufferings! We may be moved to say with Festus, "Paul, thou art mad; thy much learning is turning thee mad." But a little thought will make it clear that here, too, Paul is speaking forth words of truth and soberness. In the atoning sacrifice of Christ, Paul, of course, claims no part. But he means that the Kingdom which was established by the suffering and sacrifice of Christ must be continued and completed by the suffering and sacrifice of his disciples. And in this work he claims a part. Sacrifice was an essential part, rather it was the heart and soul of Christ's ministry; and it must

hold the same place in the ministry of his Church. The spiritual body must be offered in sacrifice as the body of his flesh was offered on Calvary. "Present your bodies a living sacrifice." It is only as the Church answers the sacrifice of Christ with the sacrifice of self, giving life for life, that it is truly his. Where there is no spirit of sacrifice, there is no Christ.

What limit may be set to the sacrifice which he requires? There is none. "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." Our love, our sacrifice must respond to his. This spirit was in Moses when he cried, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin-; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written." Ex. 32:31, 32. This was the spirit of Pau! when he said, "I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Rom. 9:3. Words of this kind cannot be interpreted by rules of logic. They are the overflowing of a heart of love which is prepared for the utmost measure of sacrifice, if the desire of love may be fulfilled.

Martin of Tours was seated in his cell when some one knocked at the door. He bade him come in, and a stranger entered with lordly air. "Who art thou?" asked the saint. "I am the Lord Jesus," was the answer. But Martin was suspicious, as saints have reason to be in this evil world. And looking sharply

at him he inquired, "Where is the print of the nails?" and the Tempter fled abashed. No false Christ may stand that test. Jesus is known by the print of the nails. By this the disciples recognized him after his resurrection, and in heaven he appears as the Lamb that has been slain.

A young girl was charged by her dying mother to care for her younger brothers and sisters. She gave herself to the task with rare devotion, but it was too great for her slender frame, and she broke down beneath the burden. As she lay upon her deathbed, she said to the nurse: "I am afraid to meet the Lord Jesus. I have not attended church and Sunday school, and I fear that he will be displeased." The nurse smiled, and said, "When you meet Jesus, just show him your hands." Poor little hands worn and wasted with loving service in his name, will he not rejoice when he sees them, and bid her welcome to his Kingdom? Well the Master knows the print of the nails.

Such is the relation of the Church to Christ. It draws its life from him, and renders that life to him again in service and sacrifice. This life the Church receives, this service and sacrifice the Church renders, through its members. For the Church has nothing but what we give, does nothing but what we do, is nothing but what we make it. If these marks of unity, holiness, beneficence, and sacrifice which characterize his fleshly body are reproduced in his spiritual body, the Church, it will be only as they are reproduced in us, as the Spirit that dwelt in

Christ dwells in us, and we seek to follow him. The duty that is laid upon the Church rests upon us. It becomes us every one to ask ourselves, Am I, as a professed member of the body of Christ, living at peace with all who bear his name? Am I living a life of holiness, of beneficence, of sacrifice, for the good of man and the glory of God? He who to these questions may gratefully and humbly answer: "Yes. By the grace of God I am trying to live the life of Christ," is a member of the true Church, which is the body of Christ, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

XV

THE PROVERBS

"The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel."

Prov. 1:1

The Psalms and the Proverbs live side by side upon the pages of Scripture. They represent the component parts of religion, the inner and the outer, the spiritual and the practical, the soul and the body. An old divine well said, "He that would be wise, let him read the Proverbs; he that would be holy, let him read the Psalms." One book is therefore fitly ascribed to David, the man after God's own heart, and the other to Solomon, the wisest of the sons of men. A great scholar aptly reminds us that in turning from the Psalms to the Proverbs we pass from David's closet of prayer to Solomon's school of wisdom.

On the threshold wisdom herself meets us, and bids us enter; a noble and benignant figure, arrayed in all the dignity and grace that may commend her to the admiration and the love of men; prophetic of the Christ, who is the word and the wisdom of God. In the Old Testament and in the New wisdom is clad in flesh and blood, and speaks with human lips. The wisdom of Proverbs is the Christ of the Gospels.

Sometimes religion puts on her beautiful garments, moves with stately step to the house of God. kneels before the altar with humble confession, with