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the gates of the city. And in this the great Antitype was conformed to the type. "Jesus, also, that he might sanctify or atone for the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate." The sentence that he should die was pronounced within the gate, in the heart of the city, not far from the Holy of Holies, but it was executed without the gate. Let us therefore go forth to Him to His Calvary, beyond the camp, beyond the gate, bearing his reproach. Let us not shrink from bearing Him company as he traverses with weary step that via dolorosa which leads from the judgment hall to Golgotha. Let us not shrink from standing by His cross on Golgotha, like the three Marys of immortal fame, and share with Him His reproach. Very easy will it be for us to go forth and meet Him on the slopes of Mount Olivet, with branches of palm trees in our hands, when He approaches Jerusalem as her long-predicted king, and when the welkin rings with the hosannas of the multitude, exclaiming, "Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest." But a very different thing will it be for us to stand by Christ when the sound that echoes through the air is not "Hosanna," but "Crucify Him," when palm branches are exchanged for a crown of thorns, and when the way we have to go is the way to shame and death. And yet this it is that Paul exhorts us to. Not to join yon 'jubilant throng who are praising God with loud voice, and spreading their garments in the pathway of the King; but to join that sorrowing, weeping company who go with Jesus to Calvary, some of them, alas, only a far off;

and to take the place, it may be, of Simon the Cyrenian, in bearing His cross; and then unfalteringly to stand by Him when priest, and scribe, and elder, and multitude, pour on Him the meanness and bitterness of their scorn. This is what Paul exhorts,

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"Let us go forth unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach."

It will be asked how we, in our circumstances, are to go forth and bear Christ's reproach. We are not to court shame or peril, we are not to plait crowns of thorns for our own heads, we are not to make crosses for ourselves, we are not to invite the world to spit on us and buffet us. How then shall we go forth and bear His reproach? Into what modern duties shall we translate this going forth, and this bearing of reproach for Christ?

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I. We find the extremest form of it in that exile from home and society which fidelity to Christ and conscience may require. Going forth from the city beyond the gate," represents the leaving of that home and society which we enjoy in the city, to encounter whatsoever may be found in the uncultivated and unprotected wilderness beyond. It may be a going forth to die, or a going forth to endure want and privation, or a going forth into distant exile, where the sweets of home and the advantages of society will be enjoyed no more. Such going forth has often been required by fidelity to Christ and to conscience. And were fidelity to Christ to require it now, were we forbidden by law or by violence to hold what we believe to be the truth concerning Christ, and to obey what we believe to be the law of Christ, it would be our duty to go forth unto Christ beyond the gate, to

abandon home and society, to submit

to exile or even to death, as much as it was the duty of our English fathers in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and as it was of the Christians of the first and later centuries. Much as we may shrink from the cross on which Peter died, or the block on which Paul died, or the wild beasts in the amphitheatre by which others have died, or the fiery stake by which still others have died, we are under the very law which these confessors and martyrs obeyed when they went forth to their Golgotha, and suffered death for Christ's sake.

II. But seeing that in the good providence of God we now enjoy the protection of free and equal laws, this going forth without the camp should represent to us the enduring of any difficulty or extremity in which fidelity to Christ may involve us in our circumstances. It may be such persecution at home as no law can take any cognisance of, or such persecution in the shop or workshop, or it may be loss in business, or it may be the forfeiture of honour and reputation, or it may be vexations and annoyances, which, though in themselves small, are to a sensitive soul as a perpetual thorn. Now the health and strength of our Christian principle will be seen in the calm, patient constancy with which we do the will of Christ, and bear whatsoever of evil the faithful doing of that will may entail upon us. If we compromise the claims of Christ and His will, or fret because of the social pains and penalties to which they subject us, we are not fulfilling the Apostle's requisition: "Let us go forth unto him without the gate, bearhis reproach."

III. I may add this further idea

That this going forth without the camp requires under all circumstances a spiritual and practical separation from the evils that exist within the camp. Christ prayed not that His disciples should be taken out of the world, either by death or by local separation, but that they should be kept from the evil that is in the world. He lived in the world Himself; He was no ascetic; no anchorite; He did not court the solitudes of the desert, but sought the haunts of men in city and hamlet; sat at their tables, ate and drank with them; and yet it is said of Him not only that He was holy, harmless, and undefiled, but also that He was separate from sinners, separate from them while mingling with them, separate from them while talking with them, working with them, eating with them. And such separation as this must be

ours.

We must go forth beyond the camp, beyond the gates of the city, not in the sense of forsaking men to live with the beasts of the wilderness, or forsaking the family to live in the cloister, but in the sense of separating ourselves from the evils that are found within the gates of the city; that is, in one word, in society, in the family, and in business. Against these evils our practical testimony must be clear and decisive; we must shake off the dust of our feet against them. And thus only shall we act in the spirit of the exhortation : "Let us go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach."

So much as to our 66 'going forth unto Christ." But what of "bearing His reproach?"

Christ Himself was reproached of men-as prophecy foretold, and history relates. He was despised as well

as rejected of men. And this perhaps is the strangest part of His painful lot on earth. I can understand far better how He was hated and put to death than how He was despised. That His purity should be hated by the impure, that His lovingness should be hated by the selfish, that His devotion to God should be hated by the ungodly, that His heavenliness should be hated by the earthly, I can understand. But that one so pure, so loving, so devout, so heavenly, should be despised, this is a mystery. I can understand it only as I understand how all the objects that a jaundiced eye looks upon appear to be yellow. Those who despised Christ looked upon Him through diseased eyes. When they put on Him the purple robe, and put into His hands the sceptre of a mock royalty, and buffeted Him, they were under the influence of a stranger delusion than when they nailed Him to the accursed tree.

But be the explanation of the shame and contempt that were thrown on Christ what it may, the fact remains that shame and contempt were thrown on Him; and we must not be surprised, nor must we rebel against our lot, if we should have to bear reproach for His sake. What the Master suffered, the servant must expect to suffer likewise, and he must expect to suffer it for the Master's sake. But one who himself knew how hard it was thus to suffer, and who knew at the same time the consolations which such a sufferer may enjoy, has said, "If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified." (1 Peter iv. 14.)

We may look at this bearing of the reproach of Christ in another aspect. We have to bear, if need be, the reproach which Christ bore-the same kind of reproach-reproach for the same reasons--that is, such reproach as in this evil world follows godliness and purity; such reproach as a devout man would meet with in the society of the profane, or a temperate man in the society of the drunken, or a pure man in the society of the licentious, or an honest man in the society of thieves, or a loyal man in the society of rebels, or a man of God in the society of the impious or of devils. Jesus when in the world was not of the world, and He was reproached by a world which could not appreciate His divine virtues. His followers are likewise not of the world though in it; and in the very measure in which they are not of it, they must expect to bear the world's reproach.

We may still further vary the aspect of this bearing of Christ's reproach, while the idea is substantially the

same.

It was the reproach of Christ that His kingdom was spiritual and heavenly. The Jews expected an earthly Messiahship with an earthly princedom; and in their disappointment with Jesus, they hypocritically charged him before Pilate with usurping the province of Cæsar. Pilate therefore said to him, "Art thou the king of the Jews?" And Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence." Pilate therefore said unto Him, " Art thou a king then?" And Jesus answered,

"Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." (John xviii. 36, 37.)

This was the very reproach of Jesus among the Jews. Their hearts were set on the earthly and visible: He witnessed for the heavenly, and the spiritual, and the unseen. Just as in the beginning they desired of God to have a king set over them, that they might be like the kingdoms round about them, so now they desired a king that should restore them to their place among the kingdoms, and should even set them over the kingdoms of the world, and should be a Jewish Cæsar, having temporal dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. And it was the reproach of Jesus of Nazareth that He would not be such a king. He stood among men a witness for God, who claimed spiritual dominion over the wills and hearts and consciences and lives of men, a witness for that spiritual world in which our redeemed and regenerate nature attains its perfection.

And in

His witnessing for the spiritual and the unseen, He said to a generation that was steeped in earthliness and covetousness, "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." And all this was the reproach of Christ.

Now we must go forth unto Him, bearing His reproach likewise. They

that are of the truth hear His voice, and are His fellow-witnesses for God, for the spiritual, for the heavenly. They may work in the carpenter's shop as He did; they may eat and drink, and work that they may eat and drink, as He did. But likewise as He did, so must they witness unto the truth, unto the truth of God, unto the truth of our spiritual nature, unto the truth of our eternal destiny. With their lips when occasion serves, with their lives at all times, they must approve themselves citizens of heaven, heirs and expectants of its perfection and its glory. It must be seen of them that they seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, that their ambition is to lay up for themselves not treasures on earth, but treasures in heaven.

And if they are thus fellow-witnesses with Christ, there is no doubt but that they will be fellow-sharers of His reproach. The world will call them visionaries and enthusiasts, perhaps fools and fanatics. It will hurl its wise maxims at their heads, and remind them that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush, and that the solid gold which the eye sees and the hand handles is better than the crown of gold which faith dreams of. Earthly possessions are things of this terra firma; heavenly possessions are things of cloudland. This is the reproach which those must bear who are practical and faithful witnesses for unseen realities, and who set their affections on the things that are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. And they surely can well afford to bear it who are the expectants of an inheritance which is incorruptible, and undefiled, and which fadeth not away.

Let not Christians then shrink from

the cross of our profession. With all its painfulness, happy shall we be in bearing it; happy shall we be to be found faithful to Him, faithful as the salt that is full of saltness, as the light that maketh the darkness flee away, faithful in our practical witnessbearing against worldliness, and covetousness, and earthliness, and selfishness-so faithful that the world cannot mistake us, and imagine that we are of it. Happy shall we be if we are thus so Christlike in character that those who have hearts in them to reproach Christ, will be sure to reproach us likewise. We may be sure of this,

that if we take our place by Christ with constant devotion, when the path we tread leads to Calvary and a cross, we shall have His society and companionship on the way to Emmaus as well. And if we weep on the road to Calvary, our hearts will burn within us with divine joy on the road to Emmaus. He will make Himself known to us in the breaking of bread, and finally He will lead us forth to Mount Olivet, not to be parted from us, but to take us with Him to His glory, that where He is there we may be also-"for ever with the Lord.” Stepney.

MARAH AND ELIM.

From Poems by the Author of "The Three Awakings.”
THREE long days of desert sunshine, toiling 'neath those scorching beams,
Three long nights of heavy silence, gladdened by no sound of streams.
Hear the waters now around us! see them sparkling in the sun!
Surely now our trial ceaseth!-surely now our goal is won!
Lips long parched and sealed in silence press the joyous waves to kiss
Eyes whose tears were dried by anguish overflow with tears of bliss ;
Toil-worn men, themselves untasting, leave to dearer lips the prize,
Drinking draughts of deeper pleasure from the smile of grateful eyes.
But a moment! but a moment may the rapturous dream remain ;
But a moment! from the nation bursts a sob of wildest pain.
Children dash the bitter waters from them with a moaning cry;
Mothers, by the mocking fountains, lay their little ones to die.

Hearts that bore the trial bravely, with this shattered hope have burst;
Streams for which we prayed and waited, bitter streams, but mock our thirst.
Was it but for this the ocean, parting, bent our feet to kiss,

Fiercely then our foes o'erwhelming? Were our first-born spared for this?
Better to be slaves in Egypt! better to have perished there!
Better ne'er a hope have tasted, than to sink in this despair.

Israel! Israel! hush thy murmurs, hide thy guilty head in dust!

He who is the Joy of heaven feeleth grief in thy distrust.

Gently to thy wails He answers, "I am He that healeth thee;"
E'en to-day the streams thou loathest shall thy best refreshment be.

And to-morrow, but to-morrow, He thy sins so often grieve,
Trains thee for, and storeth for thee, joys thy heart can scarce conceive.
Coolest waters leaping, gushing 'neath the shade of many a palm!
Let no memory of murmurs mar for thee that blessed calm.

So thy Marah shall be Elim, and thy Elim know no fears,
For the fount of deepest gladness springeth near the place of tears.

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