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im keep his commandments. This ceremony is suggestive of submissiveness and reliance upon God. It is natural for the Spirit-born child of God to imploringly lift his hands to God in petition or praise and thanksgiving. In the time when the spiritual battles wax hot we seek God in earnest imploring prayer, and the lifting up of our hands adds strength to our faith and draws God nearer. But, oh, let us make sure that our hands and hearts are holy. It is but mockery to spread forth your hands unto God when they are full of blood. From such the Lord hides his eyes, and closes his ears against their prayer. Isa. 1:15. Feet-Washing. To the proud heart the commandment to "wash one another's feet" is perhaps the most ridiculous ever given by the Son of God. In the semi-theatrical church entertainments men may pay a large sum for the privilege of kissing the most handsome lady, and for similar or more shameful indulgences, but to humbly wash a brother's feet would be shocking in the extreme. "If a man love me he will keep my words." John 14:23. Where true love exists there is no disposition to spurn any of the Lord's commandments, however humiliating they may be. The ordinance of feet-washing was instituted by the Savior, and is recorded in the thirteenth chapter of John. One objection that many bring against this sacred ordinance is that it is so seldom mentioned in the Bible. If a man does not love God deeply enough to obey him when he speaks but once, he would not obey him should he speak a dozen times. Jesus says, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead." Luke 16:31. It is never difficult to persuade a humble heart to believe the Word of God, though there be but one single commandment; but the proud in heart will not be persuaded by any number if they are not according to their inclinations. About the first objection offered against this humble ordinance is that it was a custom among the Jews to wash feet, and the feet-washing recorded by John was nothing more than the Jewish custom. There was more here than the mere custom of washing feet. We will carefully weigh this objection. Bathing is a custom, naturally so, for cleanliness and health, and is observed by people of every civilized nation, and has been in every age of the world. Pharaoh's daughter went down to the river to bathe when she found the babe in the ark of bulrushes. Ex. 2:5. Bathin
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