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JESUS WASHING HIS DISCIPLES' FEET.

BY THE REV. HENRY RAIKES.

CHANCELLOR OF THE DIOCESE OF CHESTER

"Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet."-JOHN xiii. 8.

How little do men understand the nature of their own feelings! How ignorant are they, not of others only, but of themselves; and how much must man receive of light and knowledge from above, before he can understand himself!

When Peter, for instance, felt shocked at the humiliating office which our Lord assumed, and shrinking from the sight of his Master's condescension, exclaimed, in a sort of paroxysm of zeal, "Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet," he doubtless thought, that it was humility which revolted from the honour that was about to be paid to him, while his Master acted as his servant; and that

he alone of all the Apostles, felt as he ought to do, the degradation to which their blessed Master was submitting.

Little did he think at the moment, that the feeling to which he then gave utterance was pride, rather than humility; and that he was yielding to the workings of a carnal self-sufficient spirit, while he flattered himself with the idea that he was lowlier than others. was this, you ask? How are we justified in reversing the general opinion, and in discerning the work of pride, when the voice is the voice of meekness and self-abasement.

But how

My brethren, there was pride in that opposition to the will of Christ, which was evinced by the Apostle's resistance to his purpose; for when Peter said, "Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet," he indirectly impeached the wisdom of his Master, and showed that he doubted the expediency of that which Christ saw fit to do.

Again, there was pride in declining the offered service. The Apostle felt, perhaps, that he did not need that washing; that he could do without it; he regarded it as a superfluity, a form, a ceremony, with which he might dispense, though his blessed Master had seen fit to recommend it.

Again, he showed that he disliked that which had a

tendency to glorify the goodness and the mercy of his Master, in his dealings with his servants; and while he deprecated the washing, as degrading to his Lord; in the secret workings of his heart, he was unwilling to incur the additional obligation to Christ, and the additional obligation to man, which resulted from his example.

And is there not reason to fear the existence of similar errors, similar self-deception, in our own cases? Is there not much of will-worship, where men are thinking of devotion? Is there not love of self, where zeal for God's glory is professed? Is there not dislike of the sinner, where sin is vehemently condemned? And is there not a studious endeavour to rob the Redeemer of the real honour of his work, by making our own feelings the standard by which that work is to be estimated? How many have virtually said to Christ, "Lord, thou shalt never wash my feet," while they thought that they were actuated by nothing but zeal for his honour, in rejecting his mediation, because that mediation implied condescension; and have thus forfeited all the privilege of faith by judging the work of God by the rule of man.

O let us not forget that His ways are not as our ways, neither His thoughts as our thoughts. That which is the real essential glory of God, strikes man as being his degradation; and the unbelieving world shrinks from

the notion of a God incarnate, of a suffering crucified Redeemer, because it cannot see that the moral majesty of God is exalted, not lowered, by the humiliation that was endured for the sake of men's salvation.

The same spirit of unbelief glides into other parts of our conduct, and affects the integrity of our faith, where it does not absolutely destroy it. Men carry their own rules into the consideration of things that are above them, and judge of their fitness or their expediency by reference to standards established in the world. The infinite goodness, the infinite justice of God, are measured by the stinted shadows which these attributes cast on the earth's surface; and men dare to say, a thing cannot be, merely because they have met with nothing like it in their own experience.

But let us not forget that, in our relations with God, everything must be infinite; and to place limits, or to imagine degrees, in that which is infinite, is a contradiction in terms. We have in this case, infinite goodness on one side, infinite guilt on the other; a spotless righteousness in Him who comes to save, and a soul lost beyond the reach of hope in man who is to be saved. There can be no gradations here, where there can be no proportion. Man must be saved in God's way, if he is to be saved at all. He must therefore cease to reason as to