His kingdom,
its nature and its aims. Yet surely some of the crowd must have felt
ashamed of themselves, and been uneasy till they got rid of their
unsuitable weapons, stealthily dropping their sticks as they walked or
hurling them deep into the shade of the garden.

This, then, is the result produced by our Lord's labours of love and
wisdom. His conduct had been most conciliatory--conciliatory to the
point of meekness unintelligible to those who could not penetrate His
motives. He had innovated certainly, but His innovations were blessings,
and were so marked by wisdom and sanctioned by reason that every direct
assault against them had broken down. He did not seek for power further
than for the power of doing good. He knew He could lift men to a far
other life than they were living, and permission to do so was His grand
desire. The result was that He was marked as the object of the most
rancorous hatred of which the human heart is capable. Why so? Do we need
to ask? What is more exasperating to men who fancy themselves the
teachers of the age than to find another teacher carrying the
convictions of the people? What is more painful than to find that in
advanced life we must revolutionise our opinions and admit the truth
taught by our juniors? He who has new truths to declare or new methods
to introduce must recognise that he will be opposed by the combined
forces of ignorance, pride, self-interest, and sloth. The majority are
always on the side of things as they are. And whoever suggests
improvement, whoever shows the faultiness and falseness of what has been
in vogue, must be prepared to pay the price and endure misunderstanding,
calumny, opposition, and ill-usage. If all men speak well of us, it is
only while we go with the stream. As soon as we oppose popular customs,
explode received opinions, introduce reforms, we must lay our account
for ill-treatment. It has always been so, and in the nature of things it
must always be so. We cannot commit a crime more truly hated by society
than to convince it there are better ways of living than its own and a
truth beyond what it has conceived, and it has been the consolation and
encouragement of many who have endeavoured to improve matters around
them and have met with contempt or enmity that they share the lot of Him
whose reward for seeking to bless mankind was that He was arrested as a
common felon.

When thus treated, men are apt to be embittered towards their fellows.
W