enough. But look above: "_We see Jesus who was made a little lower than
the angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour;
that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man._" Then
"_lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset you,
and run with patience the race that is set before you, looking unto
Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set
before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God_."

Behold in Him the perfect image of a man, in His life the beauty of a
perfect human life. Believe in that image; gaze on it, meditate on it,
till contemplation kindles sympathy, and sympathy grows into love.
"_Consider the apostle and high-priest of your profession, Christ
Jesus_"; and if you tread in His footsteps of present sorrow and
humiliation, glory in it, and pray that you may go on to know it more
perfectly, "_the power of his resurrection, the fellowship of his
sufferings, being made conformable unto his death_." Believe that all
that a man was meant to be, to do, to become, can only grow out of this
vital fellowship with Jesus. Believe in Him rather than in the world's
ideas, maxims, and hopes. Leave them to the Pagans. You, sons of God,
heirs of God, joint-heirs with Christ, learn nobler lessons out of the
book of His life, aim at loftier marks, thirst for purer and perennial
joys.

II. Poor belief about God--unbelief in the Incarnation, and all its
blessed meanings to mankind.

The low and slavish idea of man's character and destiny inevitably
infects our views of God and of God's action and purpose in the world.
Having poor hope ourselves, we cannot understand God's hope, the hope
which lit the path to Calvary, and shed a flood of glorious light around
the saddest and most shameful passage of man's sad and painful history.
To those who believe that man is the serf of the creation, the
Incarnation is incredible. God would be ashamed to be called the God, in
any high Christian sense, of such beings as some men believe themselves
to be and act as if they were. The Hebrew Christians could not believe
in the Incarnation; that is, they were beset with unbelief about it.
Their fathers could not believe in their angel guide. A glorious
triumphant King, coming to the world in splendour, scattering the hosts
of His foes by His thunders, and leading His armies to rapid and easy
victory, they