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 glimpse of  His  divinity  and  of  the  glories  to  come, He never  failed  also  to  remind  them  of  His  approaching persecution  and  ignominious  death. Unless one forgets self,  unless  he  hates  and  dies  to  self,  he  can never accomplish  anything  great  for  God  or  humanity or his  own  soul. A greater  benefactor  than  Jesus  the world has  never  known,  and  He,  in  the  accomplishment of  His  mission,  simply  annihilated  self. He was fond of  comparing  Himself  to  the  seed — sometimes to the  largest,  the  grain  of  wheat,  and  again,  to  the smallest, the  mustard-seed. Christ was  at  once  the greatest and  the  least,  God  and  man. We see  Him at His  lowliest  in  the  manger,  at  the  pillar,  thorncrowned  or  crucified,  but  He  was  still  the  greatest,  for He was  born  of  a  Virgin,  feared  and  adored  by  kings, hailed by  angel  choirs;  He  made  the  deaf  to  hear, the dumb  to  speak,  and  the  dead  to  rise  again. He was the  greatest  of  all  when,  at  His  death,  Nature was convulsed  and  conquered,  and  when,  rising  from the tomb,  He  led  captivity  captive. But the  author  of Christianity,  as  it  exists  to-day,  is  Christ  not  at  His greatest but  at  His  lowliest,  for  His  method  was  to sink  His  divinity  into  His  humanity,  and  to  lower  His humanity into  the  very  earth,  that  dying  there  He might  bring  forth  much  fruit. It was  necessary  that He, the  new  Adam,  should  sleep  the  sleep  of  death on the  cross,  that  out  of  His  side  might  emerge  the new Eve — the  Church — the  Mother  of  all  the  living. We read  that  Rachel  of  old  gave  birth  to  two  sons, the first  of  whom  was  born  without  the  pains  of  childbirth, but  the  second  with  such  excruciating  tortures