him (his reverence for his Lord), and all that was worst in him (his pride), made him draw up his foot as if the Hand had stung it. But there was one thing that was all the world to Peter. It was the friendship of his glorious Master. And his Master (who is the unrivalled Master of the heart) touched, with His exquisite tenderness, that chord. If I wash thee not, Peter, thou hast no part with Me.' The very suggestion stabbed like a dagger. Peter thrust out his hands and bent down his head to Jesus: 'Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and head.' Then Jesus teaches the lesson of the bath (v. 10). If a man has bathed, and then has soiled his feet, must he plunge his whole body into the bath again? Will he not be truly cleansed (after his bath) if the particular defilement be removed? So, once and for all, a man is justified; once and for all, he is regenerated. And it is the stain here and the defilement there (contracted on the hot and dusty highway) that the risen Saviour cleanses every sunset.

NOW let us note three lessons in the story. And first, we may not understand Christ at the time (v. 7). There is not a child but must do a hundred tasks that she cannot see the worth and meaning of. There is not a mother but might croon to her little baby, 'What I do, thou knowest not now.' Do not wonder, then, if Christ acts as our mothers do. All children live by faith and not by sight. Next notice Christ's condition of having part with Him. If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.' It is not, 'If I teach or lead thee not '—far less is it, 'If I love thee not.' The one condition of partnership with Jesus is to be cleansed by His spirit and His blood. Last, note Christ's call to loving and lowliest service. That is the centre and sum of the whole story. 'If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet' (v. 14). We sometimes talk of the language of the hands. And sometimes of

the language of the eyes. But I think there is also a language of the feet, and I could translate the whole Gospel into it. For first comes Jesus (when we are bowed with sin) and He says: 'Son of man, stand upon thy feet.' And then comes Jesus (when we wish to serve Him), and He says to us, 'Wash one another's feet.' And then in the morning, when we are His for ever, it is at His feet that we shall cast our crowns.

THIRTY-FOURTH SUNDAY

THE

Morning

NABOTH'S VINEYARD

Passage to be read: 1 Kings xxi. 1-20.

HE public ministry of Elijah was now practically over. He had stood for God on Carmel, and won

the nation to its old allegiance. He had gained, at Horeb, such a new insight into the character of the Eternal, that the name of God would be richer ever after. He had cast his mantle on Elisha the son of Shaphat, in token that Elisha was to take up the work. But just as Jesus, before He left the earth, had a last word of warning and of prophecy to speak, so Elijah comes back into view again to utter a doom upon Ahab and his house. Many great preachers have begun with fiery sermons, and closed their ministry with a sweeter and gentler message. They have had their vision in some Horeb mystical, and have never forgotten, since, the still small voice. But Elijah, after his vision on the mount, was made the herald of this awful doom; and just because of the still small voice at Horeb, it must have been doubly hard to execute it. Sometimes, then, our growing experience of God makes it not easier but harder to be faithful. There are some plain duties that only grow more irksome as our vision of the eternal things enlarges. It is when the sky is blue and the summer birds are singing that the schoolroom and the lesson-books are most odious. And there are tasks that never seem so harsh as when the love of heaven has begun to flood our world. I am sure that Elijah must

have felt that here. Obedience to this terrible call was hard. Like Jesus very near the end of His journey, he may have prayed that the cup might pass from him, yet 'Not my will, but Thine, be done.'

NABOTH, then (and his name perhaps means fruits),

was a native of the little town of Jezreel. He was not a wealthy man, but he owned a vineyard that lay on the sloping hillside to the east of the city. It had been handed down from sire to son; it was the cherished inheritance of Naboth's family; the earliest memories of Naboth's childhood were linked with these climbing and clustering vines. Now on the same side of the city of Jezreel, and forming part of the city-wall, was King Ahab's palace; and the royal pleasure-grounds stretching down the hill and forming a pleasant prospect from the palace-windows, touched on, and probably to some extent enclosed, the strip of land that was so dear to Naboth. I hardly think we should call it greed in Ahab to wish to add that vineyard to his policies. He was perfectly willing to pay good value for it, or to give Naboth a better vineyard in exchange. It is not an uncommon thing for great proprietors to effect little excambions like that. But in Israel the land was held from God in a way more direct than we can realise. The law denounced the selling of inheritances just because Jehovah was proprietor. The land shall not be sold for ever, said the Lord, for the land is mine' (Lev. xxv. 23). It was not, then, family pride or ancestral feeling or any happy memories of childhood-it was not these that made Naboth balk the king. It was the fear of disobeying the Lord who had so often spoken to him among his vines. And doubtless, resting in his vineyard, he had had glimpses of strange sights in the king's palace. He had seen with his own eyes what idolatry led to, whenever the queen was at home in her palace at Jezreel. And Naboth felt that his little plot of ground, so rich in prayer and fellowship

with God, so sanctified with sweet and holy memories, would be tainted and befouled and cursed for ever if it came into the hands of Jezebel.

So Ahab was refused by a brave man, and took his

refusal like a silly child. He went to bed and sulked like a great baby. The Roman Tacitus says about Felix jus regium servili ingenio exercuit-he played the king in the spirit of a slave; and that was as true of Ahab as of Felix. But there was a stronger spirit by Ahab's sidethe Lady Macbeth of ancient Jewish story. And when she heard what ailed her lord, she could scarce suppress her scorn for his poor spirit. Had he ceased his feasting so as to move their pity? Let him take to his loved meat and drink again. Arise and eat bread and let thine heart be merry: I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.' Then follows the story of Jezebel's infamy, and how she suborned two false witnesses against Naboth. It reminds us of the tragedy of One against whom also two false witnesses were found (Matt. xxvi. 60). Naboth was accused of blasphemy and treachery-the same charges as were heaped on Jesus. He was condemned, and like Stephen was stoned to death outside the city wall. His property, as the property of a traitor, fell to the crown. King Ahab was the owner of the coveted vineyard. Owner: but not for long. Who is this first visitor to the king's new garden? It is Elijah, like an embodied conscience, to denounce the murder and tell of retribution. And how fearfully that retribution fell on Jezebel and Ahab and his house, the reader will find written in the book.

NOW note some of the things this passage teaches; and first, how our disappointments test us. It was said of Cromwell that the darker things became, the brighter and the steadier grew his hope. If he toiled all night and caught nothing, he was sure to see the Master