that a man should keep out of his life all that insults and hurts the soul, and that he should hold the interests of others as dear as he holds his own.  It was a protest against all ambition, and cruelty, and luxury, and self-conceit.  It showed that a man should accept his temperament and his place in life, as gifts from the hands of his Father; and that he should then be peaceful, pure, humble, and loving.  Christ brought into the world an entirely new standard; He showed that many respected and reverenced persons were very far indeed from the Father; while many obscure, sinful, miserable outcasts found the secret which the respectable and contemptuous missed.  Never was there a message which cast so much hope abroad in rich handfuls to the world.  The astonishing part of the revelation was that it was so absolutely simple; neither wealth, nor intellect, nor position, nor even moral perfection, were needed.  The simplest child, the most abandoned sinner, could take the great gift as easily as the most honoured statesman, the wisest sage—­indeed more easily; for it was the very complexity of affairs, of motives, of wealth, that entangled the soul and prevented it from realizing its freedom.

Christ lived His human life on these principles; and sank from danger to danger, from disaster to disaster, and having touched the whole gamut of human suffering, and disappointment, and shame, died a death in which no element of disgust, and terror, and pain was wanting.

And from that moment the deterioration began.  At first the great secret ran silently through the world from soul to soul, till the world was leavened.  But even so the process of capturing and transforming the faith in accordance with human weakness began.  The intellectual spirit laid hold on it first.  Metaphysicians scrutinized the humble and sweet mystery, overlaid it with definitions, harmonized it with ancient systems, dogmatized it, made it hard, and subtle, and uninspiring.  Vivid metaphors and illustrations were seized upon and converted into precise statements of principles.  The very misapprehensions of the original hearers were invested with the same sanctity that belonged to the Master Himself.  But even so the bright and beautiful spirit made its way, like a stream of clear water, refreshing thirsty places and making the desert bloom like the rose, till at last the world itself, in the middle of its luxuries and pomp, became aware that here was a mighty force abroad which must be reckoned with; and then the world itself determined upon the capture of Christianity; and how sadly it succeeded can be read in the pages of history; until at last the pure creature, like a barbarian captive, bright with youth and beauty, was bound with golden chains, and bidden, bewildered and amazed, to grace the triumph and ride in the very chariot of its conqueror.