October 10

Declaring what . . . God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. — ACTS xv. 12.

As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. — JOHN xvii. 18.

THE Christian is not then an anchorite. By his high calling in Christ Jesus he is not withdrawn from the world, he is sent into the world. And it may startle him a little to hear his Master saying that the errand of the disciple in this world is the same as that of the Master. But the statement could not be stronger; "as," "even so," — the parallel is as perfect as language can make it.

Jesus Christ never forgot that he was one sent. "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me." "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me." He says the same thing over and over; and he never forgot the nature of his errand.

He came to learn: from the beginning he "increased in wisdom" as well as in stature. "Though he was a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered."

He came to work: "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."

He came to suffer: "Ought not Christ to have suffered?" he asked the bewildered pair on the road to Emmaus.

He came to save: "The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost;" "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me."

The servant bears the same commission. "Even so" is he sent to learn, to labor, to suffer, to save.

Washington Gladdin

O Lord and Master of us all,

Whate'er our name or sign,

We own thy sway, we hear thy call,

We test our lives by thine!

JOHN G. WHITTIER.