l that the Father willed his sorrows
in order to the world's salvation, and that the object dearest to
the Father's heart was the recovery of lost souls. He himself has
told us of the angels' joy over such. And he has described the
whole object of his appearing to man by these matchless words: "God
so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting
life." And therefore his love of God the Father, no less than his
love of man, made him hail with especial joy such an opportunity as
this. We may fairly say that Christ followed the lead of
providence. He did himself what he requires of us; he was quick to
recognize opportunities. He heard in them a divine call; and by all
his sense of his mission among men, by all his desire to please the
Father, did he hail the rising faith of that Samaritan and rejoice
in bringing to her the message of salvation. Hence I say his
evident excitement, if we may use the phrase. Hence his
obliviousness to hunger. Hence his forgetfulness of his former
fatigue. "Lift up your eyes," he cried to his disciples, "and look
on the fields, for they are white already unto harvest." The
Father's will would be accomplished, and in the joy of service his
soul found its food. He wanted nothing else. Such fruitful
obedience was to him its own reward.

I say again, therefore, what a spiritual life was this! Praise itself
seems almost to defile it. It was perfect. It was sublime. Thus can we
understand his sinlessness. We can imagine no higher ideal; and
marvelous to say, here was the ideal realized. We cannot wonder any
longer that over this Jesus of Nazareth God should say, "This is my
beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

II. And now, while admiring, we are to ask if it is possible for us to
imitate in principle this spiritual life, of which the Master gave so
fine an example. Possibly, you may say, we may imitate some of the
least remarkable traits, but scarcely this. And yet this lies at the
root and soul of the rest: imitation of them is but external and
spurious if it does not reach this. Only by this can we have real
fellowship with him.

We are met at the outset by man's natural reluctance to even think of
regarding the will of God as aught but repulsive. Very often objection
is openly made to the spiritual view expressed by Christ. God,