--
Shall he, whose very breath is debt on debt,
Refuse, forsooth, to see what God has made him?
No, let him shew himself the creatures' lord
By freewill gift of that self-sacrifice
Which they, perforce, by nature's law must suffer;
Take up his cross, and follow Christ the Lord."

And thus Passion-week tells all men in what true goodness lies. In self-
sacrifice. In it Christ on His Cross shewed men what was the likeness of
God, the goodness of God, the glory of God--to suffer for sinful man.

On this day Christ said--ay, and His Cross says still, and will say to
all eternity--Wouldest thou be good? Wouldest thou be like God? Then
work, and dare, and, if need be, suffer, for thy fellow-men. On this day
Christ consecrated, and, as it were, offered up to the Father in His own
body on the Cross, all loving actions, unselfish actions, merciful
actions, generous actions, heroic actions, which man has done, or ever
will do. From Him, from His Spirit, their strength came; and therefore
He is not ashamed to call them brethren. He is the King of the noble
army of martyrs; of all who suffer for love, and truth, and justice'
sake; and to all such he says--Thou hast put on my likeness, and followed
my footsteps; thou hast suffered for my sake, and I too have suffered for
thy sake, and enabled thee to suffer in like wise; and in Me thou too art
a son of God, in whom the Father is well pleased.

Oh, let us contemplate this week Christ on His Cross, sacrificing Himself
for us and all mankind; and may that sight help to cast out of us all
laziness and selfishness, and make us vow obedience to the spirit of self-
sacrifice, the Spirit of Christ and of God, which was given to us at our
baptism. And let us give, as we are most bound, in all humility and
contrition of heart, thanks, praise, and adoration, to that immortal
Lamb, who abideth for ever in the midst of the throne of God, the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world, by Whom all things consist; and
Who in this week died on the Cross in mortal flesh and blood, that He
might make this a good week to all mankind, and teach selfish man that
only by being unselfish can he too be good; and only by self-sacrifice
become perfect, even as The Father in heaven is perfect.

SERMON III. THE SPIRIT OF WHITSUNTIDE.

ISAIAH XI. 2.

The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him; the spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the spirit of counsel and mi