ory traits of character, as
little as the different manifestations of God's power and goodness in
the tempest and the sunshine, in the towering alps and the lily of the
valley, in the boundless ocean and the dewdrop of the morning. They are
separated in imperfect men, indeed, but united in Christ, the universal
model for all.

CHRIST'S PASSION.

Finally, as all active virtues meet in him, so he unites the active or
heroic virtues with the passive and gentle. He is equally the highest
standard of all true martyrdom.

No character can become complete without trial and suffering, and a
noble death is the crowning act of a noble life. Edmund Burke said to
Fox, in the English Parliament: 'Obloquy is a necessary ingredient of
all true glory. Calumny and abuse are essential parts of triumph.' The
ancient Greeks and Romans admired a good man struggling with misfortune
as a sight worthy of the gods. Plato describes the righteous man as one
who, without doing any injustice, yet has the appearance of the greatest
injustice, and proves his own justice by perseverance against all
calumny unto death; yea, he predicts that if such a righteous man should
ever appear, he would be 'scourged, tortured, bound, deprived of his
sight, and, after having suffered all possible injury, nailed on a
post.' No wonder that the ancient fathers saw in this remarkable passage
an unconscious prophecy of Christ. But how far is this ideal of the
great philosopher from the actual reality, as it appeared three hundred
years afterward! The great men of this world, who rise even above
themselves on inspiring occasions, and boldly face a superior army, are
often thrown off their equilibrium in ordinary life, and grow impatient
at trifling obstacles. Only think of Napoleon at the head of his
conquering legions and at the helm of an empire, and the same Napoleon
after the defeat at Waterloo and on the island of St. Helena. The
highest form of passive virtue attained by ancient heathenism or modern
secular heroism is that stoicism which meets and overcomes the trials
and misfortunes of life in the spirit of haughty contempt and unfeeling
indifference, which destroys the sensibilities, and is but another
exhibition of selfishness and pride.

Christ has set up a far higher standard by his teaching, and example,
never known before or since, except in imperfect imitation of him. He
has revolutionized moral philosophy, and convinced the world that
forgiving lov