t about doing
good, and as He went up to Jerusalem to suffer; and these 'blessed steps
of His most holy life,' both as substitution and example, were 'for
thee.' Our place of waiting and learning, of resting and loving, is at
His feet. And still those 'blessed feet' are and shall be 'for thee,'
until He comes again to receive us unto Himself, until and when the word
is fulfilled, 'They shall walk with Me in white.'

5. _His Voice_ 'for thee.' The 'Voice of my beloved that knocketh,
saying, Open to me, my sister, my love;' the Voice that His sheep 'hear'
and 'know,' and that calls out the fervent response, 'Master, say on!'
This is not all. It was the literal voice of the Lord Jesus which uttered
that one echoless cry of desolation on the Cross 'for thee,' and it will
be His own literal voice which will say, 'Come, ye blessed!' to thee. And
that same tender and 'glorious Voice' has literally sung and will sing
'for thee.' I think He consecrated song for us, and made it a sweet and
sacred thing for ever, when He Himself 'sang an hymn,' the very last
thing before He went forth to consecrate suffering for us. That was not
His last song. 'The Lord thy God ... will joy over thee with singing.'
And the time is coming when He will not only sing 'for thee' or 'over
thee,' but with thee. He says He will! 'In the midst of the church will I
sing praise unto Thee.' Now what a magnificent glimpse of joy this is!
'Jesus Himself leading the praises of His brethren,'[footnote: See A.
Newton on the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. ii. ver. 12.] and we ourselves
singing not merely in such a chorus, but with such a leader! If 'singing
for Jesus' is such delight here, what will this 'singing _with_ Jesus'
be? Surely song may well be a holy thing to us henceforth.

6. _His Lips_ 'for thee.' Perhaps there is no part of our consecration
which it is so difficult practically to realize, and in which it is,
therefore, so needful to recollect?--'I also for thee.' It is often
helpful to read straight through one or more of the Gospels with a
special thought on our mind, and see how much bears upon it. When we read
one through with this thought--'His _lips_ for me!'--wondering, verse by
verse, at the grace which was poured into them, and the gracious words
which fell from them, wondering more and more at the cumulative force and
infinite wealth of tenderness and power and wisdom and love flowing from
them, we cannot but desire that our lips and all t