"But 'mid thy countless forms of being, One shines supreme o'er all beside, And man, in all thy wisdom seeing, In Him reveres a sinless guide. "In Him alone, no longer shrouded * Sterling. XII. The Model Life. "The word fulfilled was He, for ever shown A certain hope-a rest secure from strife." STERLING. UT man not only needs a God-man to be to BUT him a model of a perfect man, he also needs that this God-man should be to him a pattern in every relation of life. He must feel all the burdens of life, experience all its pains, suffer all its miseries, drink of all its woes, meet all its difficulties, and overcome them all in his own person. He must be "One Who sees all sufferings, comprehends all wants, serve He must be all this, or he cannot as a model to all men. No one individual of the race, whatever may be his state or condition, can serve as a true example to all men in gaining their final aim, if they can turn from him and say, "I am in doubt and in perplexity how to act." What does Jesus say in regard to man's relations with God? He tells us that in all things he did not his own will but the will of Him who sent him. That it was his meat and drink to do the will of his heavenly Father. And what he taught was by him practised, and practised before he taught. "Jesus began to do and to teach." In regard to man's duty to himself, he declares that the gaining of the whole world is nothing compared to the loss of one's own soul. That we should seek first the kingdom of heaven, and that all other needful things will be added unto us. He places before men the highest ideal * Wordsworth. " of life, and demands, on their part, heroic truthfulness. In his sight an aimless word is not without sin. And in walking the path of his own destiny he falters not, though he sees before him from the beginning of his career the death of the cross. "I am in labors from my youth." "And my sorrow is continually before me." † As to man's duty to his fellow-men he also presents to us a sublime model for imitation. Herein he shows the stamp of his divinity most clearly. He lived not for his own country alone, but for the whole world,—not for his own people alone, but for entire humanity; not for his followers alone, but for his enemies, his calumniators, and even his executioners. His object was to restore man to his original dignity, to aid him in securing true happiness, in a word, to obtain the salvation of all mankind. So warm are his affections for men that all who love and keep the truth he calls his mother, his brethren, his sisters, his friends, and he identifies his interests and happiness with theirs so intimately, that he is ready to lay down his life for them. In all the relations of life, "though tempted in all things like as we are," he is found free from fault. Such is the purity of his conscience, the uprightness of his intentions, and the truthfulness of his life, that he ventures to do what man never did before or since his time, and never will do again. He stands before his enemies and challenges them to accuse him of deviating from truth in any of his actions. "Which of you shall accuse me of sin ?"† In nothing does he seek his own honor, and the praises of man have no attraction for his mind. He is a true speaker; he calls the proud, proud; the hypocrites, hypocrites; and whitened sepulchres, whitened sepulchres; this his enemies acknowledge: "Master," they say, we know that thou art a true speaker and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man; for thou dost not regard the persons of men." 66 He is the Saint of saints, yet he walks with sinners, converses with blasphemers, talks with the adulterer and the miser, gives the kiss of peace to Judas the traitor, offers pardon to the * Heb. iv. John viii. + Matt. xxii. |