of the glorification of life which we have seen in the physical world round about us, which we have seen obtaining in the being of God, the Creator of all, which we see in the physical, intellectual and moral life of manwe find that this law was perfectly manifest in him.

Oh, how completely he gave himself to God. He could say, "I and the Father are one; "All mine are thine, and thine are mine." And in that awful agony amid the gnarled oaks of Gethsemane's garden, when his agony expressed drops of blood, he could say, "Not my will, but thine be done." How completely he gave himself to the world. The four gospels are the divine record of that self-giving. If Jesus of Nazareth was grander in his life than any other man it was because the currents of his life flowed out farther and freer than those of any other man. He bathed with his heart-tides every class and condition of man. He touched with sympathy and helpfulness the high and low, the rich and the poor, the bond and the free, both Lazarus and Dives, both publican and Pharisee, both the aged Nicodemus, and the little, prattling babes that anxious-hearted mothers pressed into his arms for a blessing. Jesus literally lost himself in the world. And when he sees the cross yonder he looks upon the time when he shall hang upon it as the time when that process which has been going on in him from his infancy to the present time shall be consummated, and he shall stand forth before the world and his Father as completely glorified. Then turning to his disciples he said, "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 die it abideth alone, but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, but he that hateth his life in this world shall save it unto life eternal." And then he

walked through dark seas of hate, and breasted the billows of malice and scorn, and going to the heights of Calvary hung there between two thieves as an expiation for your sins and mine.

Yes, the one perfect human life was one of perfect self-giving, and the Howards who have gone down into our prisons with the sweet, cleansing words of the gospel; the Grace Darlings who have plunged into the seething seas to rescue ship-wrecked mariners; the Whitmores, Booths, and Toynbees who have spent their days and nights in the reeking slums looking for the jewels that have fallen from the Master's crown; the Queen Louisas who have left their palaces of luxury and fashion and have gone down amid their subjects to carry hope and inspiration to them; the Livingstones and Pattons who have given themselves to cannibals and savages, because they saw in them the possibilities of divine sonship,-all these have gained the beauty and sublimity of their lives from self-giving, and they have gained the inspiration for that self-giving from looking to him who died for men in his self-giving.

Let me say in closing that this law also holds good in the spiritual life of man. We give our souls to God, and he gives them back to us clothed with beauty and filled with eternal life, his own life. We die unto self and live unto God. When we truly give ourselves to God he takes us and puts us into the world of things and persons round about us, and thus gives us back to ourselves, through things and persons, beautified and glorified.

LIFE IN DEATH.

BY REV. E. K. STRONG,

*

Pastor Westminster Presbyterian Church, West Bay City.

Text: "He saved others; himself he cannot save." Matt. 27:42.

Jesus of Nazareth is on the cross. Why? The great prophet of Galilee is dying. Why?

The rulers of the Jews are exultant. For here is their enemy. Here is the man they could neither lead, nor force into silence. Here is the man who had repeatedly proved himself more than a match for their greatest scholars and keenest debaters, and whose fearless words had brought them-the Scribes and Pharisees-into contempt before the people. At last this man is trapped. He is doomed. He hangs on the terrible cross. How could these priests and scribes conceal their triumph? So they gather about Jesus in his agony and taunt him with failure. They contrast his wonderful words and deeds with his present helpless and hopeless condition, and laugh as they fling in his face what he had declared was his mission on the earth, "not to judge the world, but to save the world."

* Edward Kellogg Strong was born in Otisco, N. Y., spending his childhood in Monroe, Mich., where his father, Rev. A. K. Strong, D. D., was pastor eight years. He graduated from Princeton University, 1874, and from Auburn Seminary, 1879. Pastor at Homer, Mich., 1881-85; at Beaver Dam, Wis., 1885-87; of First Presbyterian Church, Bloomington, Ill., 1887-96; of Westminster Church, West Bay City, 1896–.