than
ours.[14] Yet the ideas of spiritual despotism are only the distortion
or parody of ideas which are as true and sacred as the Gospel can make
them; the ideas of self-abnegation for the good of others, and of
resolute denial of the miserable spirit which prefers self to others
and talks about rights when we should be intent on duties. The
Christian man, and _a fortiori_ the Minister of Christ, is called (as
we have seen in earlier pages) to nothing less than a life in which,
while conscience is inviolable, self is surrendered to Christ, in that
practical sense of the words which means surrender, for His sake, _to
others_, in all things which concern not right and wrong but our
self-will.

[14] I owe this remark to my friend the Rev. H.E. Brooke.

"CLOTHED WITH HUMILITY."

"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder." [1 Pet. v. 5.]
I never forget how the Apostle finishes the passage; "Yea, _all of you_,
be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility," [Greek:
egkoubosasthe ten tapeinophosynen], "tie humility round you" as the
servant ties on his apron. Most characteristic of the Bible is the
impartiality of the precept, so given; the Elders in the Church of God
will not forget it on their side. But nevertheless the stress of the
precept bears upon the younger man. He, in the Lord's order, is
especially to recollect the sacred duty of a willing, loyal, and
open-eyed humility.

A NOBLE SUBORDINATION.

All the instincts of our time are against this. But for the true
disciple of Jesus Christ there is something stronger than any spirit of
the age; it is the Spirit of God, dwelling in the inmost soul. By that
wonderful power the Christian Curate, who walks with the Lord in secret,
and finds in Him his way of purity and consistency in the more general
aspects of his "walk with others," will daily be enabled for a bright
and glad consistency in the path of ministerial subordination. He will
not cease to be a man, who must observe and think; nor will he
necessarily hold it his duty never, in all loyalty and respect, to
express to his Vicar a differing wish or opinion. But his bias will be
against himself, and for his chief, if he indeed lets the Spirit of God
lead him, and rule him, and fill him. For the Lord's sake, [Greek: dia
tou Kyrion], and by the Lord's power, [Greek: dia tou Kyriou], he will
carry the principle of a watchful "submission" not only into greater
things, but even into the small