his heartfelt piety, humility, and gratitude did, "Of thine own have we given thee." The moment we attempt to make anything ours without him, without Christ, as the beginning and end of all our being, it is a forgery and fraud; the beginning of a process of hypocrisy and ruin, not only in individual character, but in Society, in States, Kingships, and the World, till there comes again the Deluge, and no Ark, and then all is over!

CHAPTER XXIII.

EXAMPLE, GRACE, AND GLORY.

Now, said John, all this is done only through the power of his Cross; yet there be some who affirm that Christ Jesus came only to be our example, to lead us on to goodness and to heaven. Do you not remember how many such there were in that country of Self-Conceit, where we were once so bogged and entangled, and nigh unto ruin?

Well now, answered Peter, that is just as good as counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing,' a perfectly waste thing; and a strange enmity it is that such persons have to the great and precious truth of our dear Lord's sacrifice of himself for dying sinners. 'Tis the sacrifice, and the grace attending it, that does all. No example could ever have done anything without that. Besides, the wonderful greatness and glory of the example itself is in Christ

1 Heb. x. 29. '

DYING to save us. They who believe in his death, and trust to that, follow his life, and are saved by his life, and none others. His death for us had to come first, that we might be reconciled to God, and then, and not till then, we can be saved by his life, or drawn by his example.

JOHN. And that is what it means, when it says, I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.* "Tis the lifting up of Christ upon the cross, and the preaching of his blood, his grace, for salvation. Anything but this, hides the gospel, instead of revealing it. Yea, if the example itself be lifted up before this, or without this, 'tis a hiding of it; and if the gospel be hid, then the soul is lost; or if any other gospel be preached than that which is preached in the Word of God, and the soul trusts to that, then it cannot be made a partaker of the Spirit of Christ, nor be changed into his image.

PETER. No, my brother, it is by manifestation of the truth alone that the Spirit works this blessedness in us, and if the truth be darkened, or the Word of God handled deceitfully, especially in reference to Christ, then, and in that same degree this blessedness becomes impossible; for all imagined blessedness, without the truth as it is in Jesus, is a mere delusion. It is not light, unless it is seen in God's light; and it 2 John xii. 32.

is not the fountain of life, except in Him, and in Him only, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.3

JOHN.-Well, I wish that all the blind would see

it so.

But seeing any other way than through the death of Christ only makes men proud. The gospel of the example is poor stuff indeed, without the gospel of the cross.

PETER. A man must come with the heart; no man can see with the understanding merely. Did you never see a man with his spectacles raised upon the top of his head, and lodged in his hair, going about anxiously after his spectacles, declaring that he cannot find his spectacles, and cannot see without them? Just this is the case with many a man who thinks he is searching for truth. Men put their spectacles 'on their heads, and then leave their hearts behind them, and wonder that they cannot see, or perhaps deny what they do not see. A great many men carry their faith in the understanding merely, and then run about, looking after their Christ and their religion externally, when, if faith were in the heart, the kingdom of God, and Christ who is its life and light, would be found within them. And until it is there within them, what can they know of a Saviour's dying love?

JOHN. That is the very thing, for as I was saying, some of them do not care to know; they think little

3 John xiv. 6.

or nothing of the death, and yet seem to make much ado about the example.

PETER.-Example! And what effect did that alone ever have with self-willed, obstinate sinners? Why, it did not even prevent the very men, who saw the glory of a divine example before them, from putting the Saviour himself to death. Example! Set example before Behemoth! He snuffeth at it. Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not; he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.* Canst thou bind the unicorn with the band of example in the furrow, or will he harrow the valleys after thee? Wilt thou trust him, and leave thy labor to him, and believe him, that he will gather thy corn into thy barn?

5

JOHN. Well, it is the same old unwillingness to owe all to Christ. These men cannot bear to confess and feel that they have nothing but sin to bring to God; they will have it that they can obey the example of Christ, and make such obedience their Saviour.

PETER.—But the example of Christ can do nothing for us except by the grace of Christ. Those who rejoice in Christ as their Saviour, by his sufferings and death, and those only, love to follow his example; and they do it, not to purchase heaven, for the

4 Job xl. 23.

5 Job xxxix. 10-12.