him what he was: Stainless uprightness, child-like simplicity,
business-like precision, tenacity of purpose, boldness of faith,
habitual prayer, and cheerful self-surrender. His _holy living_ was a
necessary condition of his _abundant serving,_ as seems so beautifully
hinted in the seventeenth verse of the ninetieth Psalm:

"Let the _beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,_
And _establish Thou the work of our hands upon us."_

How can the work of our hands be truly established by the blessing of
our Lord, unless His beauty also is upon us--the beauty of His holiness
transforming our lives and witnessing to His work in us?

So much for the backward look. We must not close without a forward look
also. There are two remarkable sayings of our Lord which are complements
to each other and should be put side by side:

[Transcriber's note: The following two paragraphs are printed
side-by-side in two columns.]

"If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his
cross and follow Me."

"If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall
also my servant be. If any man serve Me, him will My Father honour."

One of these presents the cross, the other the crown; one the
renunciation, the other the compensation. In both cases it is, "Let him
follow Me"; but in the second of these passages the following of Christ
_goes further than the cross of Calvary;_ it reaches through the
sepulchre to the Resurrection Life, the Forty Days' Holy Walk in the
Spirit, the Ascension to the Heavenlies, the session at the Right Hand
of God, the Reappearing at His Second Coming, and the fellowship of His
final Reign in Glory. And two compensations are especially made
prominent: first, the _Eternal Home with Christ;_ and, second the
_Exalted Honour from the Father._ We too often look only at the cross
and the crucifixion, and so see our life in Christ only in its oneness
with Him in suffering and serving; we need to look beyond and see our
oneness with Him in recompense and reward, if we are to get a complete
view of His promise and our prospect. Self-denial is not so much an
_impoverishment_ as a _postponement:_ we make a sacrifice of a present
good for the sake of a future and greater good. Even our Lord Himself
was strengthened to endure the cross and despise the shame by the joy
that was set before Him and the glory of His final victory. If there
were seven steps downward in humiliation, there are