the work of the
indwelling Spirit.

Our meditations this morning on the Seven Words in which Christ made some
partial disclosure of His Mind and Will, will form some part of that co-
operation, one little stage in the accomplishment of our life-long task.

II
THE FIRST WORD

"Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." ST. LUKE
XXIII. 34.

1. Here we are watching the behaviour of the Son of God, the Ideal and
Ground of Divine Sonship in humanity.

Is this supreme example of forgiveness an example to _us_? Is it not
something unnatural to humanity as we know it?

We must recall, from a former address, the distinction which we then drew
between the animal in us, with its self-assertive instincts, and the
Divine in us, that which constitutes us not animal merely, but human, of
which the very essence is the self-sacrifice of perfect love. Christ
came to reveal God in our manhood. And I need this revelation, just
because the animal in me has won so many victories in the past over the
Divine, because in me the spiritual fire habitually burns so low and dim.

It is a very different thing to say that forgiveness of all serious
injury is a hard thing. It is hard, but not impossible. That which
makes it to be possible is the serious intention of discipleship,
co-operating with the indwelling Spirit of Christ transforming us into
His likeness.

To assert, on the other hand, that forgiveness of serious wrong is
impossible, is to ignore the fact that He Who uttered these wonderful
words is the true self of me, and of every man who breathes. He Who hung
on the Cross, and spoke these seven words, is the Son of man, the
Representative to all ages, to all varieties of human character, of true
humanity.

2. Christ-like forgiveness is no weak thing, but the strongest thing in
the world.

Yet, for its true effect to be produced, its true character must be
recognised. No suspicion of cowardice or impotence must cleave to it.
The man who being obviously able to resent an injury, and not lacking in
the capacity of resentment, yet for Christ's sake forgives, exercises on
earth no inconsiderable share of the moral power of Christ. God now, as
of old, "has made choice of the weak things of the world," those things
which the world accounts weak, "to confound the strong." "The meek"
still "inherit the earth."

We are dealing, all through, with the injury which is personal, with the
resentment whic