e good.

Does it need any word to emphasise the force of that motive to a
Christian heart that loves the Master? Surely this is the great and
blessed peculiarity of all the morality of Christianity that it has
all a personal bearing and aspect, and that just as the sum of all
our duty is gathered up in the one command, 'Imitate Christ,' so the
motive for all our duty lies in 'If you love Me, keep My
commandments,' and the reward which ought to stimulate more than
anything besides is the one thought, not, of what I shall get because
I am good, but of what I shall give Him by my obedience, a joy in the
heart that was stabbed through and through by sorrow for my sake.
That we may please Him 'who pleased not Himself,' is surely the
grandest motive on which the pursuit of holiness, and the imitation
of Jesus Christ can ever be made to rest. Oh! how different, and how
much more blessed such a motive and aim is than all the lower reasons
for which men are sometimes exhorted and encouraged to be good! What
a difference it is when we say, 'Do that thing because it is right,'
and when we say, 'Do that thing because you will be happier if you
do,' or when we say, 'Do it because He would like you to do it.' The
one is all cold and abstract. To stand before a man and simply say:
'Now go and do your duty,' is a poor way of setting his feet upon a
rock and establishing his goings. Duty is not a word that stirs men's
hearts, however it may awe their consciences. It rises up before us
like some goddess statuesque and serene, with purity, indeed, in her
deep and solemn eyes, but with nothing appealing to our affections in
her stern lineaments. But when the thought of 'You ought' melts into
'For my sake,' and through the dissolving face of the cold marble
goddess there shine the beloved lineaments of Him who 'wears the
Godhead's most benignant grace,' the smile upon His face becomes a
motive that touches all hearts. Transmute obligation into gratitude,
and in front of duty and appeals to self put Christ, and all the
harshness and difficulty and burden and self-sacrifice of obedience
becomes easy and a joy.

Then let me remind you that this one supreme aim of pleasing Jesus
Christ can be carried on through all life in every varying form,
great or small. A blessed unity is given to our whole being when the
little things and the big things, the easy things and the hard
things, deeds which are conspicuous and deeds which no eye sees, are
a