tive to wrong
and evil as they affect us, as anxious for the stain they leave on the
offender. It is of comparatively small consequence how much we suffer;
it is of much importance that none of Christ's disciples should be
allowed to go on for a moment longer, with unconfessed and unjudged
wrongs clouding their peace, and hindering the testimony which they
might give. Let us therefore watch for each other's souls: let us
consider one another to provoke to love and good works; let us in all
sincerity do as Christ has done, washing each other's feet in all
humility and tender love. But this spirit is impossible save through
fellowship with the Lamb of God, and the reception of His holy, humble
nature into the inmost heart, by the Holy Ghost.

II

Thrice Bidden to Love

"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have
loved you, that ye also love one another."--JOHN xiii. 34.

Anacreon complains that when they asked him to sing of heroic deeds, he
could only sing of love. But the love with which he fills his sonnets
will bear as much comparison with that of which Jesus spoke in His last
discourse, as the flaring oil of a country fair with the burning of the
heavenly constellations. Even the love that binds young hearts is too
selfish and exclusive to set forth that pure ray which shone from the
heart of the Son of Man, and shines and will shine. What word shall we
use to describe it?

_Charity?_--The disposition denoted by this great word does not fulfill
the measure of the love of Christ. It is cold and severe. It can be
organized. It casts its dole to the beggar and turns away, content to
have relieved the sentiment of pity. By being employed for one
manifestation of love, charity is too limited and restricted in its
significance to become an adequate expression of the Divine love which
Drought Jesus from the throne, and should inspire us to lay down our
lives for the brethren.

_Philanthropy?_--This is a great word, "the love of man." And yet the
philanthropist is too often content with the general patronage of good
works, the elaboration of schemes, the management of committees, to do
much personal work for the amelioration of the world. The word is
altogether too distant, too deficient in the personal element, too
extensive in its significance. It will not serve to represent the
Divine compassion with which the heart of Christ was, at the moment of
speaking, in tumul