, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ, lies all that men need for conduct and
character. In Him we have the 'realised ideal,' the flawless example,
and instead of a thousand precepts, for us all duty is resolved into
one--be like Christ. In Him we have the mighty motive, powerful enough
to overcome all forces that would draw us away, and like some strong
spring to keep us in closest contact with right and goodness. Instead of
a confusing variety of appeals to manifold motives of interest and
conscience, and one knows not what beside, we have the one all-powerful
appeal, 'If ye love Me, keep My commandments,' and that draws all the
agitations and fluctuations of the soul after it, as the rounded fulness
of the moon does the heaped waters in the tidal wave that girdles the
world. In Him we have all the helps that weakness needs, for He Himself
will come and dwell with us and in us, and be our righteousness and our
strength.

Live 'worthy of the gospel,' then. How grand the unity and simplicity
thus breathed into our duties and through our lives! All duties are
capable of reduction to this one, and though we shall still need
detailed instruction and specific precepts, we shall be set free from
the pedantry of a small scrupulous casuistry, which fetters men's limbs
with microscopic bands, and shall joyfully learn how much mightier and
happier is the life which is shaped by one fruitful principle, than that
which is hampered by a thousand regulations.

Nor is such an all-comprehensive precept a mere toothless generality.
Let a man try honestly to shape his life by it; and he will find soon
enough how close it grips him, and how wide it stretches, and how deep
it goes. The greatest principles of the gospel are to be fitted to the
smallest duties. Indeed that combination--great principles and small
duties--is the secret of all noble and calm life, and nowhere should it
be so beautifully exemplified as in the life of a Christian man. The
tiny round of the dew-drop is shaped by the same laws that mould the
giant sphere of the largest planet. You cannot make a map of the poorest
grass-field without celestial observations. The star is not too high nor
too brilliant to move before us and guide simple men's feet along their
pilgrimage. 'Worthy of the gospel' is a most practical and stringent
law.

And it is an exclusive commandment too, shutting out obedience to other
codes, however common and fashionable they may be. We are