wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter; and Peter said unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, ye are not all clean." How one is tempted here to notice and enlarge upon a number of things But we are forbidden by what follows: "So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet."

Let us observe two things for our improvement this evening; first, the title they ascribe to him; and, secondly, the obligation they impose upon themselves.

First, THE TITLE THEY ASCRIBE to him. Nothing can be more honourable; and yet he acknowledges that it was but just and true. "Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well: for so I am."

He is, then, the Master and the Lord of his people. They learn in his school as disciples, and they serve in his house as attendants. He is their Master, as he teaches them; and he is their Lord, as he governs them. You will observe, that, in both these titles, the main idea, the leading idea is authority; only with this difference between them, the one is the authority of the master over his pupils, and the other, the authority of the lord over his servants. The latter is here principally, though not exclusively, intended, as we may infer from the words following, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord, neither he that is sent greater than him that sent him." So for a few moments let us consider it.

He is their lord by the claims of creation. He made them. We require no other testimony than the language of revelation here: "All things were made by him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." As he is their Maker, he has an infinitely greater property in them than one creature can ever have in another creature; for they derive their possessions, their power, yea, their very existence itself from him. In him, they live, and move, and have their being. He is the framer of their bodies, and the former of their spirits within them; and his life, and favour, and visitation, preserve and indulge them. If, therefore, he were to call into his presence a monarch or a philosopher, a Boyle or a Newton, and say, " Take that thine own is, and go thy way," what could either of them take away with him? Why not even his existence; he would relapse instantly into his original nothing.

But he is their Lord by the claims of redemption. "Know ye not," says the Apostle to the Corinthians," that ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price?" And we are not left to conjecture what that price was, for we are told, that we are redeemed "with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."

"A price, all price beyond;"

a price to which nothing can ever be added, and in comparison with which, of all the privileges we ever enjoyed or the duties we ever performed, we shall say, with the Apostle, if we are in a proper frame of mind, "Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord." Now redemption gives him a greater claim than even creation. Redemption delivers us from greater evils than creation. Redemption advances us to greater blessings than creation. Redemption is accomplished by a much more expensive process than creation. When he had to make us, he had only to speak; when he had to redeem us, he had to suffer: he made us at the expense of his breath; he redeemed us at the expence of his blood. This, therefore, is not only a very great, but O, what a powerful claim! Where, Christian, where is he, when he makes the demand, My Son, give me thine heart? Why, in the manger at Bethlehem; in the garden of Gethsemane; on the cross of Calvary. How is he apparelled, when he comes effectually to rule in you? Dressed in a garment, clothed in a garment dipped in blood. We must concede that he is the Lord of all as Mediator, and even as a partaker of our flesh and blood. "The Father loveth his Son, and hath given all things into his hands." Yea, "when he bringeth his first-begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship him." There is not at this moment a being in the universe, that is not either his servant or his slave. Devils are all under his control. He is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. They are all raised by his power, and governed by his providence, and amenable to his authority; and they all subserve his purposes: the very wrath of man praises him, and the remainder of wrath will he restrain. Canaan was given to the Jews, and therefore it was called the land of promise; and, being promised, nothing could hinder their possession of it in due time; they marched forward, therefore, with God at their head. "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language, Judah was his sanctuary and Israel was his dominion. The sea saw it, and fled; Jordan was driven back: the mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye little hills, like lambs?" Thus, through all difficulties and dangers, they entered more than conquerors. It is the same here. God has given his own Son the heathen for his inheritance, the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. It is therefore a matter of promise; and therefore he will be able to realize it in due time. He will crush, as he goes forward, every power that would withstand him. He has all the resources of nature and providence at his disposal. The nation and the kingdom that will not serve him must perish. He will overturn, overturn, overturn, until he shall come whose right it is, and he will give it him. Every valley must be exalted, and every mountain and hill must be laid low, and the crooked be made straight, and the rough places plain, that the glory of the Lord may be revealed, and that all flesh may see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

But you will observe that he is "head over all things unto the church, which is his body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all;" he reigns over them particularly. Let us, therefore, observe, that he is their Lord by their own choice and submission. Once he bare not rule over them; that is, as he does now; they were not called by his name. But he opened a passage into their

hearts; he made them willing in the day of his power. A look, a word from him was enough; and he knew where to find you, and how to call you. He turned and looked upon Peter, and his poor heart was melted, and he went out and wept bitterly. He said to Matthew, as he was sitting at the receipt of custom, "Follow me," and he arose and followed him. He said to Saul of Tarsus, only "I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest," and he was disarmed of his enmity, and the lion became a lamb, and the raven a dove, and at his dear feet he exclaimed, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Thus they gave up themselves to his service. And the glory of his dominion is here, that he reigns over the souls of his people, that he does not govern them only by external rule, but by internal influence; that he enthrones himself in their consciences, and that he puts his laws into their minds, and writes them in their hearts, and so renders their obedience wholly natural, and pleasant, and delightful. He illuminates their understandings, and displays to their view his loveliness as well as his power. And thus they run after him; for he draws, and draws them with the cords of a man, and with the bands of love. Thus they call him their Master and Lord, in their addresses to himself. Thus they call him Master and Lord, in speaking of him to each other. Thus they call him Master and Lord, in their profession of his name, and in joining with his church in holy communion.

But all this will be vain, unless it be practical not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And this brings us, therefore, to the obligation, which they hereby impose upon themselves. "Ye call me Master and Lord and ye say well; for so I am: If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet."

Secondly, Let us consider THE OBLIGATION AT LARGE, and take the instance before us as only one of the exemplifications.

First, "Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am; if I, then, am your Master and Lord," you ought to renounce connexion with every other. This, you remember, the church did of old; they said, in their confession to him, "Other lords beside thee have had dominion over us; henceforth by thee only will we make mention of thy name." And you must remember that this is not only becoming, but it is absolutely necessary; for "no man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other; ye cannot serve God and mammon." "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Here you find that our Saviour excludes us from all other dominion but his own, in religion. We say religion, because his dominion is spiritual; and, therefore, it does not interfere with, nor invade, the relation of ranks and grades subsisting between man and man. Your rendering unto God the things that are God's, does not prevent your rendering unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's; yea, you are commanded to be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake, and to submit yourselves to every ordinance of man, for the Lord's sake. But even this service is regulated by his authority too. "Children," says the Apostle," obey your parents, in the Lord, for this is right in the Lord." If any superior, therefore, requires of you what he forbids, why, you are previously engaged; and you must say with Peter and John, "We ought to obey God rather than man." You will remember the address of our Saviour to his disciples, when he said, " Call no man master upon earth, for one is your Master

even Christ, and all ye are brethren." Thus he releases his subjects from all authority as to conscience but his own; and if we stand fast in the liberty wherewith he has made us free, we shall never implicitly resign our understandings, or our creed, or our credence to any man, nor shall we follow him farther than we find he follows Christ. But there is another part of his address not always remembered: he not only said, "Call no man master upon earth, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren," but, said he, "Be not ye called masters, for one is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren." There are those, who refuse dominion, who are ready enough to require it. What is radicalism but another name for tyranny? If we obey the royal law, we shall see, too, that we do not exert an undue authority over the mind of another. We shall not refuse communion with them, we shall not unchurch them, nor unchristianize them, because they differ from us in minor things. We shall remember the language of Paul and his companions; "We," says he, have no "dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith ye stand." Remember, therefore, to draw this particular to a conclusion, that your Saviour designs to set you free from the yoke of bondage to custom, to tradition, to councils, to superstition, to will-worship, and to all authority in religion but his own.

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Secondly, "Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye do well, for so I am; if, then, I am your Lord and Master," you ought to obey my commandments. There cannot be a better evidence of sincerity than this. "If ye love me,' says he, in another place, keep my commandments." His servants ye are, to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey. You are not your own masters, and therefore you are not to live to yourselves, and you are not to live to the lusts of men, but to the will of God, ever saying, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." For a knowledge of his orders, you must repair to the Scriptures, and to these only; "To the law and to the testimony, for if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them;" and "if ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them," and do them impartially. You will observe, here, that, though imperfect obedience may be sincere, partial obedience cannot be so. He that said, "Do not commit adultery," said also, "Do not kill;" now, if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art a transgressor. He that says, "Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is," says also, "Enter into thy closet ;" if you are always in the sanctuary, therefore, and yet never alone with God, you are a transgressor. He who says, "Provide things honest in the sight of all men," equally says, "Give alms of that which ye have ;" if, therefore, you never run in debt, yet if you are not liberal, you are a transgressor. You must shun all that he forbids, and you must pursue all that he enjoins, esteeming all his commandments concerning all things to be right, and hating every false way. Thus, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should afterward receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and went out, not knowing whither he went. And thus, when he received that awful command, "Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest, and offer him up for a burnt-offering, upon one of the mountains which I shall tell thee of," he arose early in the morning in order to show his ready obedience.

Thirdly, Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am; but if I am your Lord and Master, you ought to submit to my appointments. As he

gives us our work, so he must determine when, and where, and how, we shall labour and serve him. We are not at our own disposal here, but at our Master's, and must say, or endeavour to say, with David, "Here I am; let him do what seemeth him good." You must not, therefore, complain if he restrains you. You must not murmur if he tries you. You must not repine if he bereaves you. The gardener, having a rare and beautiful flower, feels interested in it, and views it with pleasure; when he goes down by the parterre some day, he finds it is gathered, and he says, angrily, Who has gathered this flower? looking around. One says to him, “The master, he gathered it ;" then he is silent. So was another when he sustained such loss; "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." "Be still, and know that I am God." He has a right to determine your connexions, the bounds of your habitations, the way in which you are to glorify him; and he never exercises this right, but for your own welfare, because he is infinitely wise and infinitely kind; and therefore, you may well resign yourselves to him. He calls some to move in public stations; he orders others to walk in the shade. Some at his bidding cross o'er land and sea; they also serve him that wait, and they also serve that suffer. And, frequently, Christians have been the most useful, in glorifying their Lord in the fire; thus they have awakened attention; and when their temper and their demeanour have said, in their sorrows, Though I mourn I do not murmur; "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted;" "Let thy loving-kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant;""Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt," what an impression has been often made! How it has displayed the excellency and the efficacy of the Gospel, in showing its rich supports and consolations, inducing others to say, with Young,

"Now see the man immortal; him I mean

Who lives as such; whose heart full bent on heav'n

Leans all that way, his bias to the stars

The world's dark shades, in contrast set, but raise
His lustre more

Observe his awful portrait, and admire ;

Nor stop at wonder; initate and live.

Fourthly, "Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well, for so I am; but if I am your Master and Lord," you ought to imitate me. "If any man serve me," says he in another place, "let him follow me." If any man will be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. You see this specified here; "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." This does not regard the letter, but the spirit of the action. Why, the letter may be maintained without the spirit, as you know the pope annually washes the feet of a few paupers in a silver vessel. And on the other hand the spirit may be maintained without the letter. We are to distinguish between the principle and the expression; the one remains always the same; the other will vary in a thousand cases according to times, and places, and conditions. What our Saviour, therefore, requires in your imitation of him, here, is that you be always ready for the performance of the duty he requires. What is this duty? then, you ask. Why, this, that