irmed to us by such words as those
remarkable ones of the Apocalypse, which speak of Him as 'the Living
One,' who, by His own will, 'became dead.' He died because He would,
and He would die because He loved you and me. And in dying, He showed
Himself to be, not the Victim, but the Conqueror, of the Death to
which He submitted. The Jewish king on the fatal field of Gilboa
called his sword-bearer, and the servant came, and Saul bade him
smite, and when his trembling hand shrank from such an act, the king
fell on his own sword. The Lord of life and death summoned His
servant Death, and He came obedient, but Jesus died not by Death's
stroke, but by His own act. So that Lord of Death, who died because
He would, is the Lord who has the keys of death and the grave. In
regard to one servant He says, 'I will that he tarry till I come,'
and that man lives through a century, and in regard to another He
says, 'Follow thou Me,' and that man dies on a cross. The dying Lord
is Lord of Death, and the living Lord is for us all the Prince of
Life.

Brethren, we have to take His yoke upon us by the act of faith which
leads to a love that issues in an obedience which will become more
and more complete, as we become more fully Christ's. Then death will
be ours, for then we shall count that the highest good for us will be
fuller union with, a fuller possession of, and a completer conformity
to, Jesus Christ our King, and that whatever brings us these, even
though it brings also pain and sorrow and much from which we shrink,
is all on our side. It is possible--may it be so with each of
us!--that for us Death may be, not an enemy that bans us into
darkness and inactivity, or hales us to a judgment-seat, but the
Angel who wakes us, at whose touch the chains fall off, and who leads
us through 'the iron gate that opens of its own accord,' and brings
us into the City.

SERVANTS AND LORDS

'All things are yours; 22. Whether Paul, or Apollos,
or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things
present, or things to come; all are yours; 23. And ye
are Christ's.'--1 COR. iii. 21-23.

The Corinthian Christians seem to have carried into the Church some
of the worst vices of Greek--and English--political life. They were
split up into wrangling factions, each swearing by the name of some
person. Paul was the battle-cry of one set; Apollos of another. Paul
and Apollos were very good friends, their admirers bitter
foes--accordin