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was about their giving him the names he was entitled to. V. 15. If I, your Lord and Master, washed your feet. He had humbled himself to do them a menial service, so they ought to be willing at any time to humble themselves to do one another any service in their power, no matter what its character. Humility is not a low estimate of one's powers, but a willingness to use them in a lowly service for another. The dis ciples had been disputing as to who would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. What they ought to have been doing, and what we need to do, is to strive to see who can be most help ful and most considerate. Man's first duty and greatest privilege is to serve. "We could understand the record if it had read: Jesus remembering that he was human and this was his hour of humiliation; Jesus knowing that he was the Son of Man, a few months ago a village carpenter; Jesus knowing that as humanity's repre sentative he was about to be crucified for sin; Jesus in his human nature poured water, girded himself and washed hiB disciples' feet. We cannot account for it on the ground of Christ's humanity, but it reads: Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, took a basin and towel; Jesus knowing that he came from God, became servant of all; Jesus, because he went to God, washed the disciples' feet. Jesus chose the slave's place and cleansed the soiled feet with his own holy hands in full consciousness of his di vine glory and full assurance that he was God's representative. God's glory in his unselfish service. God lives to serve. God loves to serve. Now and then man has served God. Ever and always God serves man. God's angels are ministering spirits. Heb. 1:14; Ps. 103:20, 21. God's children should be serving spirits. Gal. 5:13." ? Wil liam E. Barton. V. 15. An example. There are some who interpret this literally and think that they are actually to prac tice washing one another's feet. There are some churches that teach this. Of course the Saviour only used this as an illustration of the lesson that he wanted them to learn ? that they were to be ready to serve whenever there was need, no matter how humble the service. V. 16. Servant is not greater than Ids lord. It Is against human nature for anyone to admit that another is greater than he. The great lesson for us all to learn is that of true humility. V. 17. Happy are ye If ye do them. Mere knowledge of God's will is not enough. To receive the promised re ward we must do God's will. THE ANGEL IN THE KITCHEN. Humble Service. In a small Western city where I was pastor I met a young woman who had been educated and trained to teach; but somehow she failed to ob tain the position for which she was en tirely competent. The next best thing was to take a place as a nursery gov erness. By and by that failed, and she took a housemaid's place. Bit terly she resented the providence that so constrained her. With this her Christian life grew sour and morose. She fretted,* chafed and complained; never gave thanks to God. This Irri tability of temper soon lost her her place as an upper servant, and when I knew her she was a common servant girl. Pots and kettles, brooms and dust-pans, scrubbrlng-brushes and dish-cloths, were the Implements of her calling. As pastor I soon noticed her sullen and morose face In the meetings; for though she came to the church she looked as if she would be more In place anywhere else, so far aa any spirit of worship was concern ed. I sought her out, and attempted to ascertain her trouble and to help her Into a better state of mind. For a long time I was not successful. But one night, at the close of a prayer meeting at which there were but few present, it being a bleak, cold and wet night 1 sought her again and asked her the ground of her unhappiness. She would not tell me. I proposed that we kneel and pray. This she re used, on the ground that God did not and would not, hear her prayers. She had ceased to pray many months ago Now thoroughly aroused to the girl s spiritual peril, I pressed her to tell me what it was that was making shipwreck of her Christian life. Fin Mail' 8he told me the story substan tially as I have related it. I saw that frI,W,Uh a Pr?ud nature, compe tent to take a good position in the worl Vanlbit,OU8 ?f doIn* 80me good work for herself and others, her pres ent position must be galling. Her complaint was: "When I know I am fitted for higher, better and more hon orable work, why is it that God has nlH < dOWn ,nt0 the very meanest uZ I WOrld' t0 earn a miserable living by washing pots and kettles'" And she brought out the last end of that question like the snapper on the aroused h ^ The VCry mentlon aroused her to anger. Her face flush ed and angry tears sprang to her eyes. ould in some measure appreciate the mortification and chagrin she was experiencing. But God helped me to say the right word to her. Waiting a moment, till the storm of anger had somewhat subsided, I said: "Annie, perhaps God wants to find out first whether you are willing to serve Him In a lowly place before He can promote you to a better one it may be that you had ambitious desires to please yourself only in your pro posed calling, and God knew that that would not be good for you, nor hon tleDLt0mt\m\ S?' perhaps' He h*s Ht 7 little let you down until you can learn that all work done for Him however lowly, i8 honorable. Paul' you know, though he was the chief worked and a maD ?f flDest culture' worked among the dirty and stinking goats hair, making tent cloth, even whne he was doing the work of an of Cortnth.?he HCh and CU,tiVated C,ty tuJhen \ t0ld her the legend of the angels; how God once called two comm.8 f ang6lS and ?ave them commission to the earth; one was to rule an empire, and the other to sweep a crossing. The one charged with the business of sweeping the crossing went with the same glad alacrity to his task as did the other to take his place on the throne; not because he was going to sweep a crossing, but because it was just as joyous to that heavenly being to serve God and do His will in one place as n another, it was the will of God filled m'. I.1"? thiDg t0 bS done' tha* filled his heart. "Now," said I to my poor Annie, "do you not think you can, to please and honor God, take your place in the kitchen as the angel did at the crossing, and be glad to do anything for Him who loved you and gave Himself for you?" This thought of serving God In a kitchen and glorifying Him with a dish-cloth and broom had never en tered her head before; Indeed, she had never thought of serving God in connection with every-day "secular" work. But now the truth came to her and with tearful eyes she fen on her knees before God, and in a trembling voice begged forgiveness for her past pride and ingratitude, and solemnly consecrated herself and her kitchen implements to His glory. The sequel is very interesting. The next day An nie went back to her work m the kitchen with a happy heart. She ac companied her work with a song, and from that day the tins began to Bhine; her kitchen was as neat as a lady's parlor; no speck of dust escaped her vigilant oye. Pleasant and cheerful to her mistress, she did with alacrity whatever she was bid to do. In a word, she was serving God, and not man. Her Lord was ever before her, and to Him she rendered all. That made work sweet, and transformed her kitchen into a palace In which the King of Glory dwelt with her. It was not long before her mistress, an un converted and somewhat proud wo man, came to her and said: "Annie, I want to ask you a ques tion. What has come over you the last week or two? You seem so happy, and are so pleasant spoken. You do your work so cheerfully that it is a real pleasure to see you about the house. And I never knew that you had so pleasant a voice until I have of late been hearing you sing. I must tell you that I was on the eve of dis charging you; for you must admit that until lately you have not had the pleasantest of tempers, nor the most respectful tongue. But now all seems so changed! Would you tell me about it, for all in the house have noticed and remarked about it as well as my self?" Annie was very much broken down over this remarkable commendation. So with a trembling voice she told her story. She told her mistress of her disappointments and trials, and of her bitterness of spirit; confessed her past faults; and at the same time stated how she had learned that it was her privilege to ser7e her Lord in the kitchen as well as in the school room. The testimony of Annie's re cent life made so profound an impres sion on her mistress that she pres ently accompanied her to church and soon became a Christian. And not long afterwards the Lord said to An nie: "Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things." And in the course of a few months the faithful scullery maid became the principal of a school in the city. ? Dr. G. F. Pentecost. YOUNG PEOPLE'S SOCIETIES LOVE. M., Apr. 30. Forgiving love. 2 Sam. 18:1-5, 27 33. T., May 1. Patient love. 1 Pet. 4:12-10. W., May 2. Pardoning love. John 3:14-17. T., May 3. Serving love. Gal. 5:1-16. F., May 4. Seeking love. Luke 15:1-10. S., May 5. Yielding love. Gen. 13:1-11. S., May 6. Topic ? Love. 1 Cor. 13:1-13. (Con secration meeting.) How does Christian lore manifest itself? What classes most need our lotel How can we develop a spirit of lotel Love is the greatest thing in the world. It is the distinguishing char acteristic of God. Yea, more, "God is love." Love in the heart of man is of God. Love manifests Itself in many ways. Indeed, it is hard to conceive of love that does not manifest itself in some way. As well try to think of a fire that does not give out any heat. Forgiving Love (2 Sam. 18:1-5, 22 33): This is one of the most dramatic and pathetic incidents in the history of Israel. Absalom, the wayward and untrained son of David. He traitor ously won the hearts of^the people from his father, and heaped many in dignities upon him as he rebelled against him. But David could never forget that Absalom was his son. When the battle began between the two armies, the one supporting the king and the other fighting to place the young man on the throne of his father, David gave orders that Absa lom's life must be spared, no matter what happened. When he found out that his orders had not been obeyed and that Absalom had been slain, he gave way to the most pathetic weep ing. David overlooked all the evil deeds of his wicked son, and forgave him so completely that he was willing to overlook them all. He would have willingly died in the place of his son. The son did not deserve to have the father show him any consideration. The father just loved him. Jesus, the Son of God, loves us with so great a love that he was willing to overlook all of our sins and forgive us so com pletely that he was willing to die for us. Patient Love (1 Pet. 4:12-19): God exercises the most patient love to wards His children, and they ought to bear patiently anything that He sends upon them. One of the moat import ant verses in this passage is the 18th "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sin ner appear?" "The righteous" are those whose sins are forgiven and who have received the righteousness of Christ. "The ungodly" are those who are living without God in the world. "The sinner" is one who is openly wicked. "Scarcely" means with diffi culty. We say of some hard task, "I could scarcely do it," meaning that it was done with difficulty. The Chris tian is one who has been saved with difficulty. We often Bay it is easy to become a Christian, and this is true so far as man is concerned. It merely requires faith in Jesus as the Saviour. But to provide salvation for the sin ner was not an easy matter. Think of the tremendous sacrifice made by the Father when He gave His only Son to die for sinners. Think of all the Son endured to provide salvation, the great burden of the sins of the world borne on his heart, his death on the cross. Think of the work of the Holy Spirit in the sinful heart of man, which the apostle says is per formed "with groanings that cannot be uttered." All this and much more had to be done in order to provide sal vation. It was all absolutely neces sary. We cannot conceive of God's doing in such a case more than was necessary. If all this was necessary for the salvation of him who accepts God's plan, what can any one else find that will be a substitute for it, that will bring him salvation? Padoning Love (John, 3:14-17) Every human being is a sinner under condemnation. But God loves him and wants him saved. The penalty of the law must be met. So God sends His Son to take the sinner's place and pay the penalty for him. He offers the sinner forgiveness for his sins and eternal life, If he will only take Jesus as his substitute and Saviour; and he does this because he loves the sinner. Serving Liove (Gal. 6:1-15): "By love serve one another." (Vs. 13.) Our Saviour gives as the first com mandment that we are to love God. The second is to love our fellowmen. Love must find expression, Just as the water of the spring must find an out let. We should cultivate love in our hearts and then continually seek op portunities to show this love. Seeking Love (Luke 15:1-10): The shepherd loved his sheep, but he was not satisfied with having that love in his heart. One of his sheep was lost from the flock and was out in danger. His love prompted him to go at once and seek to give it all the help pos sible, no matter what it might cost him. So the woman when she lost the piece of money from her bridal necklace, did not sit down and mourn over the loss of that which she prized very highly, but went to work dili gently to seek for it. We ought to love our fellowmen, but we ought also to seek for opportunities to show our love to any who are in need of any thing that we can do for them. Yielding Love (Gen. 13:1-11): We