ery definite thing _done_, and it illustrates the central
idea of the verse which I have read to you.

Some time ago I went with The General to Stockholm, where the Swedish
Officers were gathered together for their annual Congress. At the close
of the Councils I asked an Officer how he liked the Meetings, and what
the result would be. He replied, 'Commissioner, it's just like this. It
is as if The General during these days builded an altar, and to-night
we all climbed upon that altar offering ourselves a sacrifice unto God,
and the fire came down and sanctified the offering.'

_The true worship and service of God_--it need not be told--_involves
sacrifice_. If any one here feels that religion is all a question of
how much he can get out of God by saying so many prayers or offering so
many donations, he has a totally wrong conception of what it is. I know
that there are many who regard their vows to God very lightly. They
seem to think they can get through their religion without much
self-denial. Religion of that sort, however, is worth nothing either to
those who possess it or to the Lord whom they profess to serve. Without
self-sacrifice, without self-denial, religion comes to nothing, or, at
any rate, amounts to very little.

I do not desire that you should imitate the senseless practices
prevailing in some countries, where the people are allowed to build
their hopes of Salvation upon penance and self-torture. And yet we are
sometimes put to shame by the things we hear and see.

A short time ago I received a letter from a young Officer in India.
After describing some pleasing scenes, he said, 'One sees some awful
things out here. I saw a man the other day literally walking upon
nails. It made me shiver. He imagined that by this he could save his
soul. With what passion I wished that man could only understand that
other nails were pierced in other feet for him! But you see how in
earnest the people here are about their religion, and in all these
things they are seeking for Salvation.'

There are not many who are prepared to do what that poor Indian devotee
did. They are a long way off that. But unless they are prepared to
include sacrifice in their religion, they are not on the lines either
of their Lord's example or their Lord's words. The cross, the
following, the denial of self, the Calvary path, cannot be excluded
from the life of Christ's follower.

Whilst true service must always be a spiritual thing, do no