June 28

1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,

2 Faith ye my joy, that ye be likenanded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.

3 Let nothing be done through strife or van-glory, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.

7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted

him, and given him a name which is above every name:

10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and dis-pairings;

15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

The key-note of this lesson is verse 5. To be a Christian is to be in our sphere what Christ was in His sphere. He circumscribed Himself, bowed down to the captivity of the human flesh, and submitted to the hated death of the cross; and He says, "As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you." He does not ask you to go to the cross, but He does ask you to take this as the idea of your life—namely, the supreme serving of others. Unless you can do this, then the offence of the cross is the same to you that it was to the Jews.

"That ye may be blameless and harmless." Verse 15.—"It is not hard for a man to die for Christ, nor for his faith, nor for his party. It is ten thousand times harder to live right than to die right. It is not difficult for a man to give his life up through the chamber of death. But to give your life while you hold it—yes, and to use it so that it is a perpetual benefaction all through—that is hard, and that is the special Christian duty. To live in such a way that, as from the stars by night and from the sun by day, light and guidance are issuing, so from you shall proceed an influence that comforts, cheers, instructs, and alleviates the troubles and sufferings of life—this is a true following of the Lord Jesus Christ."—H. W. Beecher.

Closet Promise.—The meek will He guide in judgment; and the meek will He teach His way.—Psalm xxv. 9.

The wind may rend the mighty oak Upon the mountain side; Yet not too rudely touch the flowers That in the forest hide.

While God doth law the stubborn heart With threatening from above, "The meek and lower" only feel The breathings of His love —Adelaide Steut.