and self-forgetful devotion of women to imprisoned fathers, husbands, sons, or brothers was to him a constant marvel. He told of a poor old mother who had been neglected and cruelly beaten by a drunken and criminal son, who at last fetched up in the penitentiary. Nevertheless the old mother, apparently forgetful of all this brutality, continued to make the most pitiful intercession for his parole. She lived to make intercession for him.

The vicarious principle in human life, however, is not confined to the domestic relations. Have not soldiers always died for their tribe or their country, losing self for the welfare of the social organism? The story of Regulus, of the three hundred Spartans at Thermopylæ, of Arnold von Winkelried, of Nathan Hale, and thousands of others, attest the existence of the vicarious principle in the history of patriotism.

Sacrifice equally heroic shines resplendent in many a tale of scientific and professional devotion. Dr. Thompson remained alone all night on the battlefield of Alma trying to alleviate the sufferings not only of his countrymen, but of

their foes. Dr. Hay displayed the same heroism at Benares when the terrible Sepoys were advancing to the massacre of every foreigner. He did not desert the patients in the hospital, even though he knew to stay was to die. Time would fail me to tell of martyrs to truth, of heroes and heroines who have suffered and died for others, actuated by principles of patriotism, duty, and religion. These loving deeds of selfsacrifice are daily performed with no thought of notoriety or personal glory. All ages and nations have been adorned with these "Golden Deeds" done in obedience to the vicarious principle.

Vicariousness is a cosmic principle-the very word of God, writ large on the face of the whole earth, graven deep into the whole creation. But, like the law of required fitness, this law of love is not fulfilled until "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" in the Divine Man, Christ Jesus, who was the very incarnation of these two principles. In His life He "went about doing good" with never a thought of escaping pain Himself, but ever with the purpose of relieving

the physical and spiritual pain of others. Other folks and their needs filled His thoughts. For others He lived and died. From first to last He lost His life in the lives of others. He identified Himself with the race, putting Himself atone with us. Christ in His very nature is atone-ment: in His holiness at one with God, in His love at one with us, identifying Himself on one hand with the Father in the matter of character, and with us on the other in the matter of need. His saying, "Inasmuch as ye did it unto these My brethren, even these least, ye did it unto Me," shows how completely He identified Himself with us. He is accordingly the Son of God and Son of man, for He is identified both with God and man. Those who live selfish lives, neglecting to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, visit the suffering, put themselves out of harmony with Christ and with the universal law of vicarious sacrifice. They are the unreconciled, the unforgiven. Christ died for these selfish folk, but they refuse to make any sacrifice for Him and His brethren. They refuse the cross. Thus they become outsiders in the universe and are

cast into outer darkness like wandering meteors that have lost their orbit. They are the real anti-Christs, opposing themselves to the cosmic law of love; and their destiny is that of the unfit.

The cross is where the vicarious principle comes to its climax. It is the fulfillment of the cosmic law. The death of the Incarnate Word on the cross is the supreme manifestation of the struggle for the life of others, the love-principle at high tide. It is God putting His seal on the universal law-sealing it in His own blood. At Calvary we see the enlargement-the completion -of the vicarious spirit that has been traced from inanimate matter up to man. We have seen its scope widening as we came up to the cross. There we see the horizon enlarge to infinity so as to comprehend every sinner. In the sub-human world we have seen it operating temporarily, and mostly in connection with the function of reproduction. In the human world it enlarges in duration and scope, so as to include relations outside those involved in reproduction. In the cross of Christ self-sacrifice

reaches a depth of suffering beyond our natural experiences, and leaps beyond the limit of family, friends, and nation, until it embraces a rebellious and unholy race. "For the good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth His own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

The sign of the cross is on every molecule, on every living cell, on every organism, on every soul; but it is more or less blurred and indistinct. On Calvary the cross-principle glows with supernatural light, with the very glory of God. There we begin to "apprehend what is the breadth and length and height, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."

God, by the cross of Christ, shows that He, too, is in harmony with the principle of suffering for others. Obviously, therefore, the only way in which we can become reconciled to God is to take up the cross of self-denying service and follow Jesus. The moment one makes choice of such a life and abandons selfishness as the ruling motive of life, he is born anew, becomes “partaker of the divine nature," is reconciled