a hard, an incredible saying to many among the Hebrew Christians.
In all its deep meaning it is a hard, an incredible saying to us. Do we
believe in our heart of hearts that the life of daily denial,
cross-bearing, and Divine ministry, missing all earthly honour, golden
treasure, and worldly joy, is the life which the Lord God of heaven
lived on earth, and glorified earth by living it? Have we an eye for
that inner glory? Is that tear-stained path He trod, beautiful,
transcendently beautiful, in our sight, as it is to the angels and the
white-robed choir on high? Shame on our lives then, if this is the
belief of our hearts about it. If we believe that He who was in the
form of God, and "_thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant and
was made in the likeness of men_" (Phil. ii. 6-8), left us an ensample
that we should follow in His steps, what are our lives like before Him
and before the angels, filled as they are with selfish aims and
passions, strivings after things that perish, that crumble to dust as we
grasp them; contemptuous as they are of celestial things and powers, of
all that made His life luminous to the eye of spirits, of all that He
came through shame and anguish to set palpably before the vision of our
souls. "_Lay aside the sin that doth so easily beset you_"--this sin of
light thoughts of Christ, of the intense reality of His human life, and
all the high meanings and inspirations with which it is charged for you,
for me, for all mankind. Open wide the gates of your spirit, and let
this King of Glory in. "_Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift
up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in._" Who is
this King of Glory? The Man of Sorrows, He is the King of Glory.
Believe, faint heart, and live.

III. Unbelief in the future.

We cannot believe that this is purely a seed-time. Like children, we are
for reaping where we have not sown, and gathering where we have not
strawed. Or, if by chance we drop a seed into the earth and leave it for
a moment, next morning we are digging about it to see if it is growing,
and are sick at heart if it promises no immediate fruit. The Hebrew
Church demanded the instant fruitage of the death of Christ. "_And Jesus
answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be
glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall
into the ground and d