just been reminded by that portion of Ephesians ii. which our chairman read, that the starting-point for service is on the heaven-side of the grave. In the risen Christ, quickened together with Him, raised together with Him, seated together with Him-is our position. Before we were in Christ we had no life; the moment of the quickening from the grave with Christ was the first moment of the life, the spiritual life, of the believer. Prior to that there was death, the crucifixion of the old man. We were crucified with Jesus. Crucifixion, death, burial; then came the quickening, the first point of the risen life; union with Christ, baptism by the Holy Ghost into the body of Christ, the eternally-blessed membership with Christ, power in Christ, life in Christ, and the service of eternal liberty in Christ, Christ being all in all.

Now in looking at the arrangement-paper for to-night, we find the pathway of service marked out for us thus: In the first place, "After Christ." As He trod the pathway so should we tread it. The text brought before us especially is taken from John xii. 26: "If any man serve Me, let him follow Me.” I ask you to open your Bibles at that chapter, because I would read a few verses of the context in connection with the verse

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brought before us. You know the little story. "There were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast the same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, 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; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honour. Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say ? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify Thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again."

What see we here? Our minds are directed to the cross, and we know that any man who wants to serve Him must follow Him there. But the whole passage breathes the thought

that in thorough consecration we are to follow Him. So we read that without the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying it cannot bring forth fruit. It must be by the crucifixion if we are to follow Him thus; yet "Where I am, there shall also My servant be," also must be in resurrection life. Let us view thus for a moment the pathway our Saviour trod as the pathway of thorough consecration to God. Beloved, this is what we need undoubtedly, the yielding up all of self, of power, of opportunity, of talent, all we have and all we are, to Him.

What

But here is involved separation from what is evil, a thorough emptying of the old self. You see this emptying in the life of Christ. Let us turn to Phil. ii. (I thank God for the rendering of our new version here.) In verse 5, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, grasped not that equality with God firmly [there is an idiom here], but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant [a slave], and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross." did He do? He who made heaven and earth, thrones, principalities, powers and dominions, all things above and all things below, and not only made them, but made them for Himself; nor only so, but, as it is written, "He upheld all things by the word of His Father's power, yea, so that by Him all things consist?" Picture Him, if you can, seated in eternal majesty, God of God, Life of Life, very God of very God, the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of the Father's reality. Picture Him there, and then hear the voice in the councils of heaven, "Who will go for us to redeem this sinful world?" "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God;" and at the appointed time He emptied Himself. Do not let us explain the expression away; take it as it stands. He emptied Himself. And to what an extent? We read that "Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favour with God." How remarkable! How could that be? "Jesus increased in wisdom." "Jesus increased "-the great God who created heaven and earth, visible and invisible, thrones and dominions, principalities and powers-that great God increased in wisdom and in favour with God! What is the answer? He had emptied Himself; that is the only answer we can give. Moreover we read, “Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, not the angels of heaven, neither the Son." How so? Had not He appointed it,

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together with the Father, from all eternity? We can but answer again, He had emptied Himself.

The first point in all sanctification is separation; and it is necessary to that dedication which, together with separation, makes the consecration full and entire. So Christ emptied Himself, and took upon Him our nature, and then set Himself to fulfil the whole will of God and to reveal it. It is written, "Be ye followers of God, imitators of God, as dear children." How can you? for "No man hath seen God at any time." Nay, but the Son, "the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, hath revealed Him;" and that Son has shown us what is the holiness of the great God, the eternal Father of all. Look at Him in His excellence of service, and follow His footsteps hour by hour.

What do we know of such consecration as this?-emptying ourselves, and being wholly dedicated? How do we stand with the world? How do we stand with the things of this world, upon which perchance we have set a high, such a high value? Have we emptied ourselves? Does the world sit lightly upon us? Have we emptied ourselves that we might give ourselves unreservedly to God, to serve Him with fulness of heart, and yield ourselves to Him in whole consecration? God grant it may be so. Then we shall be always like our Master, and seek most the things which please our God. Oh, will that not be blessed? But where is the power? Well, we will speak of that again; but let it pass for a moment. The passage before us speaks of the crucifixion of our Lord, and compares it to a grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying, and bearing much fruit. What? Could not He who made heaven and earth bear all fruit if He chose without dying? The mystery of the justice of the Most High, the mystery of the perfection of the character which would manifest justice in all perfection and integrity, which would let it abide side by side with love without let or hindrance, will explain this. He must be crucified for us, in our stead, in our place. Yes; but in such wise in our stead and place, that when the Father looked down upon the crucifixion of the Son in death, He might behold in that death which He died, the whole company of His redeemed people who by grace through His Holy Spirit have laid hold upon that death and appropriated it, so that condemnation is impossible, unless justice can demand satisfaction twice.

Blessed doctrine that Jesus died for me! and for me there is

therefore now no condemnation. The judgment may sit, and the books be opened, but there is no condemnation for this soul of mine. A poor sinner I have been, but the punishment has passed; a poor wretched sinner steeped in iniquity and guilt; but God has said Let him be seated with Christ in the heavenlies. Let me be content when God Himself, seated upon the throne of the highest heaven, is content. Christ said, "It is finished!" He did it for me. God made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for me, and He hath taken the whole burden of my iniquity, and put it away, that it may rise against me no more for ever. Blessed doctrine, truly! What more is required?

Look for a moment at Gal. v. 24, and as we look at it bear in memory that there is not a single doctrine brought before us in God's Word which has not its experimental side. With every doctrine there is personal responsibility, so therefore with the doctrine of Christ crucified. Hence "they that are Christ's ". not some of them only-"they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh." It is not do crucify, but have crucified, the flesh. This might be a merely substitutional and forensic matter if it stopped there. But it does not stop there. "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." It is a serious thing to be a Christian; it is no light matter; it is not getting doctrines by rote, or being thoroughly, and staunchly, and properly orthodox; it is not being acquainted with the interpretation of God's Word concerning Christ crucified. The cross of Christ must be so grasped that there may be the reality of the death of the old man and of the former state, so that all the affections and lusts of a sinful kind shall have received their death-blow.

Now take the passage in Gal. vi. 14, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Let us ask here a little personal question. We have spoken about the crucifixion of the flesh, or rather God's Word has spoken about it, and it has spoken of the crucifixion of the old man and of the world, so that we are dead to it. Well, how does this stand with us? It is very nice to come to Conferences; it is very nice to lay hold of a Christian brother's hand, and rejoice in what we call Christian fellowship; it is very nice to look back together to the wondrous work Christ did for us, and rejoice therein; but touching the service of God, how do we stand with the world, and how does the world stand with us?

It may be the world of wealth, or the world of pleasure, or the world of gain, or the world of business; it may be the religious world of the Orthodox, the Churchmanship world, or the Dissenting world, or the world in whatever way it may affect you and me. How do we stand with it? What is it to us who are Christians? Would men lead the new life? Would they abide in the risen estate of their Redeemer? Would they be enabled to rejoice before God in the power of the new birth through the spirit of the living God? Then the world to them must be a dead thing, and the crucifixion of their own selves must be that which shall make them dead to the world. That is how it should be with us; that is how God would have it. Is it so with you and me? Is the crucifixion of Christ a reality to us? This is deeply important.

Now let us pass from the crucifixion to the resurrection. Would we follow Christ, and tread in His footsteps, and behold the pathway of service, and walk in it as He trod it? Oh, then, what stress we should lay upon the resurrection-life! Turn to Rom. i. 4; it is a very remarkable verse. The Gospel is spoken of in the first verse, and in the third verse Christ is brought before us as our Lord, made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared or determined "to be the Son of God with power, that we may walk therein, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Mark that word "power.' We often come across the word "power" as connected with Christ, and spoken of by Himself when on earth. In every such case power means authority. But here it is another word altogether, and it means force, might. The risen Christ has received it in our human nature, in which He sits at the right hand of that great Lord of power in heaven and earth. Why did He receive it in that humanity? For the Church's sake, which is His body, as we read in Eph. i.-for the Church's sake He has received this power, that you and I may have it in membership with Him for our daily walk and service.

Oh, beloved, the moment we come to Christ we are beheld by God as dead as to the old nature; but we are not left in the arms of death; nay, we are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the very person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and from that moment we become members of His body, in closest alliance with the Head, so that, joined to the Lord, we have one name with Him; and we are required to tread in that pathway of service, and to do what we do in that name; and moreover, as in 1 Cor. vi., we