The record-union., 1899-04-03

caught this message from the cross and
sought to give it practical expression.
The knights in far off days, "a glorious
company, the flower of men," banded
together
To reverence their King as if he were
Their conscience, and their conscience as
their King;
To break the heather and uphold the
Christ,
To ride abroad redressing human wrongs,
TO speak no Islander, no nor listen to 1t,
70 honor his own word as If his God s,
70 lead sweet lives in pufest chastity
This is the spirit and purpose of
knighthood. 1t means a high order
of manhood. 1t means service and de-
votion to ones country. 1t means an
intelligent interest in everything that
.minisie rs to the uplift of humanity.
Two young men came to Jesus on one
occasion, asking that they might oc-
'cupy the highest places of honor in His
Kingdom. Like the modern office
seeker, they did not seem much con-
lcerned about their fitness for the posi-
lions they applied for. Jesus took
their ambitious request as a text for a
sermon on the greatness of service. lie
said the Son of Man came not to be
ministered unto, but to minister and
give His life a ransom for many. Jesus
held up His own life as the model of
what their life should be. The object
of His life was service to humanity He
came not to be served, but to serve.
He consecrated all His powers, human
and divine, to the betterment OF uni
versal humanity. His life was spent
m ministering to the needs of human
ity The three years of His active miu-
lstry among men and for men were in
one sense a greater benefit to mankind
than His atoning death on the cross.
The truth We need to remember is.
Jesus lived for men before He died for
men. We understand His death for
men better, by remembering that He
lived for men. The element of saCri-
flee was in the life He lived as truly
as in the death He died.
The truth to emphasize is this, Jesus
used His life for others. He made
Himself the servant and slave of hui
mainly. The one thing He was ever
intent on was to benefit and elevate
mankind. The enthusiasm of human
ity'' reaches it's highest levels in him.
Altruism finds it's highest fulflmeut in
Him. He would do for Others what
He would not do for Himself. Ills
enemies paid Him a high tribute and
spake wiser than they knew when they
said, as He hung on the cross, He
saved others, Himself He cannot save -
The mother in her passionate desire to
save her child undergoes severest SUI
fering. She cannot save herself so
anxious is she to save her child.
haf ics 70 bc 1yc Tc
to believe some particular doctrine? Is
it to sign a creed? Is it to join a
church? is it to conform to a cere-
mony? Is it to observe an ordinance?
A man can do all this and not be with
in astronomic distance Of Christianity
1t is written, III any man have not
the spirit of Christ he is none of His. p"
We bear the name of Jesus, the real
question is, Do we possess the spirit OF
Jesus? Are we modelling our life after
His life? Have we made the principles
of His life the principles of our life?
To be a Christian is to duplicate the
character of Jesus in our own. 1t is
to live for the same end that He lived
for His sacrifice on the cross is not
merely an object of pious meditation.
1t is rather the revelation of law of
life. To be Christian is to live for
men as Jesus lived for men. 1t is to
be unselfishly consecrated to the ser
vice of humanity. We are in the world
for the same purpose that Jesus was
in it, We are in it to save it. Father,
as Thou hast sent me into the world,
even SO have 1 also sent them into the
world" The mission of Jesus is to be
our mission According to our ability
and opportunity we are as responsible
for the worlds redemption as Jesus
was. We have no more right to carry
on our business for personal profit than
Jesus had to- live His life on earth for
personal profit. You cannot think of
Jesus living in city Indifferent to the
physical and moral conditions of the
people. 1t is as obligatory on US to
better the physical and moral condi-
lions of mankind as it was on Jesus.
To be Christian is to duplicate Jesus
in service to humanity.
When Jesus was on earth there gath
cred about Him all sorts of folks. He
did not belong to any set or sect. Those
high up and those low down found in
Him a genial friend and helpful brother.
He was the meeting place of the rich
and poor. the learned and the illiterate.
He manifested personal sympathy with
and loving interest in all who came.
He did not seem to notice the social
and racial differences that separated
man. He welcomed the wealthy noble
man and the impoverished prodigal
with equal cordially.
Jesus loved His kind. He called Him.
self the Son of Man. He was not
ashamed to call men His brethren. He
loved men, not becuse of their wealth
or culture or position, but because they
were men. men made in the image of
God, His Father. His sympathies went
out in every direction. He looked on
every man as His brother, on every
woman as His sister. He fraternized
with everybody. He brothered and
mothered all kinds of folks.
Jesus went down to the lowest levels
of life. He got down under the sub
merged He came into this world not
| through the golden portals of wealth,
but in the swaddling clothes of poverty
He came in by the manger. He went
out by the cross He lived a poor man
among poor men. He knew by expert
ence what the limitations and suffer
ings of the poor were. He had not where
to lay His head When He died he
was buried in a borrowed tomb.
Jesus ran through the whole gamut
| of human experimentation a manager
on earth to a mansion in heaven, from
a convicts scaffold to a. Kings throne,
! from the weakness of a babe to the
| omnipotence of a God. He was tempted
! in all points as we are. He is able to
sympathize with humanity in every ex-
| perience. What l ask you to remember
| about HiS divinelv human life is He