are there wanting thousands of Christian souls who do so use, and so profit by this holy day; thousands who, in this weekly commemoration of their Saviour's resurrection, are enabled themselves to rise above the cares and anxieties which occupy their minds during the week, and to set their affection more firmly on things above, where He sitteth at the right hand of God, who is gone before that He might teach them to follow Him. And if their hearts have, during the foregoing days of secular toil, been too much enchained by earthly thoughts, too apt to forget that this is not their continuing city, then how blessed for them to be reminded, at such intervals, of those better things in store for them; how sweet such an awakening from their worldly dream! For at such times of meditation and prayer, their eyes become purged to view more clearly the unseen realities which surround them, and, like the Hebrew prophet, they behold the common scenes in which they move filled with the manifestations of God's presence, and crowded with heavenly witnesses and champions of their Christian warfare. Above all, when they join with their brethren in the public ordinances of religion, how strongly is that most comforting recollection forced upon them, that their citizenship is in heaven, and that even here they are surrounded by fellow-citizens of that heavenly city, whose outward and visible union with them may prevent their forgetting its invisible end and object. Oh that we might all of us more fully realize these benefits, by a more spiritual observance of this holy day!—that we might make each Sunday as it passes us a new step in our progress towards heaven, and that so each week something might be gained of love and holiness, some nearer approach made to the perfect model which is set before us! Let us then pray that it may be So, more and more; that we may ever grow in our love for these days of rest, and fill them with less of worldly, and more of heavenly thought. So shall we find them the most effectual antidote against the cares of life, the best specific for its happiness. In the deepest sorrow they will have power to charm away our grief, by thoughts of Him in whose presence there is fulness of joy; they will give us a foretaste of that heavenly rest from suffering, which will be the eternal portion of His redeemed; and enable us to use His chastenings as those who know them to be but proofs of His love. And in the time of our earthly joy, when the heart beats highest with the excitement of happiness, most useful will it be for us to have our rapture, not checked or quenched, but exalted and purified, by the influence of those thoughts of higher and more lasting joys, in comparison of which these are but as a drop in the ocean. Thus, in all states of mind, and all conditions of life, will these days of rest be days of blessing; thus will their influence rob sorrow of its enduring, and joy of its transitory character; appropriate alike to the time of our tribulation, and the time of our wealth; preparing us by their solemn stillness for the hour of death, and leading us evermore to Him who will be our only refuge in the day of judgment. SERMON XI. HUMILITY. ST. JOHN XIII. 14. IF I THEN, YOUR LORD AND MASTER, HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET, YE ALSO OUGHT TO WASH ONE ANOTHER'S FEET. It is difficult to imagine a stronger example of moral sublimity than that which St. John has given us, in his description of the scene which embodied the lesson of our text. The contrast between the infinite majesty and infinite condescension of our Redeemer is nowhere else so impressive; for the simple narrative of the act of servile humiliation to which He submitted, follows so unexpectedly upon the declaration of His true character and essential glory, as even to surprise and well nigh startle us. "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God,". Such is the prelude of the scene; and what follows? what stupendous miracle, what transcendent deed of - Almighty power, is ushered in by so lofty an introduction? Is the Evangelist about to describe some act of creative energy, like that which made the water wine, or multiplied the five loaves into food for five thousand men? or some fresh instance of empire over the wind and the sea, some command obeyed by the elements? or perhaps another of those still more awful achievements of Omnipotence, some new victory over Death himself? Yet on consideration we remember, that all these mighty works of supernatural Power were told in the Gospels simply and without preface, as if they were nothing surprising, when proceeding from Him, whose history is one continued miracle. The action, then, which is introduced in so high a strain must be something more wonderful than any of these, some more amazing exhibition of Christ's character even than walking on the sea, or raising the dead. And so of a truth it is, however opposite to all that is human estimation. Let us listen, then, to the few simple words in which it is related, and observe the impressive meaning of their connexion with the foregoing description of Christ's eternity and omnipotence. "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded." Well might Peter, great and heroic in horror-struck at seeing his Lord and Master perform for him a function so base and servile, exclaim with passionate eagerness, "Thou shalt never wash my feet!" It is not to our present purpose to enter into the infinitely important truth conveyed in the words by which our Saviour overcame the scruples of his apostle, "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me;" nor to dwell upon the answer, in which we ought all so fervently to sympathize, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." Let us rather fix our attention on the moral lesson which Christ himself drew from the act He had performed, as it is thus related by St. John. "So, after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done unto you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them." Such then was the meaning, such the object, of this marvellous self-abasement. He who was with God, and was God, not only took upon Him the form of a servant, but performed the lowest and meanest office of a slave, that so, by an example speaking with more living force than a thousand precepts, He |