s
a lamb to the slaughter.

But though this spectacle stirs the hearts of men, there is one still
more illustrious--when the sufferer bends to a fate which he might
easily avoid, but confronts for the sake of others. The former is
submission to the inevitable, this to the evitable. That is bearing a
yoke which is imposed by superior authority; this taking a yoke which
might be evaded without blame, as judged by the tribunal of public
opinion. And this is the sublimest spectacle on which the eye of man
or angel can rest; for thus the sacrifice of Christ finds its noblest
counterpart and fulfillment.

When a missionary, with ample means and loving friends, deliberately
spends among squalid and repulsive conditions, the precious years which
might have been passed among congenial society and luxurious comfort in
the homeland; chooses a lot from which nature inevitably shrinks
instead of that to which every conclusion but one points, and stays at
his post, though his return, so far from being resented, would actually
be favored by all whose opinion is of weight--this is a voluntary
submission to the evitable.

When a home pastor stays by his poor flock because they need him so
sorely, and sets his face toward grinding poverty and irksome toil when
the city church invites him to a larger stipend and wealthier
surroundings--this again is a voluntary surrender to the evitable.

When a wealthy bachelor is willing to forego the ease and quiet of his
beautiful home in order to welcome the orphans of his deceased brother,
who might have been sent to some charitable institution or cast on
strangers, that they may be beneath his personal supervision, and have
a better chance in life--this again is voluntary submission to the
evitable.

In each such case, it is not inevitable that the cross should be borne,
and the hands yielded to the binding thong. The tongue of scandal
could hardly find cause for criticism if the easier path were chosen.
Perhaps the soul hardly realizes the kindredness of its resolve with
the loftiest that this world has seen. But it is superlatively
beautiful, nevertheless. And let it never be forgotten, that nothing
short of this will satisfy the standard of Christ. No Christian has a
right to use all his rights. None can claim immunity from the duty of
seeking the supreme good of others, though it involve the supreme cost
to himself.

II. THE RECOGNITION OF GOD'S WILL IN HIS PERMISSIONS.--In th