Page:Spiritual Reflections for Every Day in the Year - Vol 2.pdf/346

 and, beholding that there was none to help, condescending to take upon Himself the form of a servant, becoming incarnate in the womb of a virgin, assuming a body like our own, permitting all the powers of darkness and evil to assail this human nature, that in His wondrous love He might approach the vilest of the vile, and by its glorification, open a way whereby all might be saved. Making no distinction, requiring only obedience to His commands, and waiting to receive all as "friends," who do what He commanded them. Dear Saviour! help us to try to imitate Thee! help us to lay down our life for our friends! help us in all things to learn of Thee! Our life consists, indeed, of the delights and pleasures resulting from self-gratification. Little have we thought, even now with all our gospel knowledge—little do we think of the wants, the miseries, the sufferings of others. Wrapped up in self and self-gratification, how little of our own life do we lay down for our friends! We must surrender this selfish spirit. We must learn not only to rejoice with those who rejoice, but to mourn with those who mourn, and if by relinquishing any gratification of our own, we can advance the eternal interests of another, we must learn to lay down our life for his sake. Seeing what the Lord has done for us, and that this is not our rest, but that we seek a country, to enjoy which we must first become pure; how delightful should it be to assist each other, to bear one another's burthens, to build each other up, and perfect each other in love, by relinquishing self-love and the love of the world, and laying down our selfish life, that we may find life eternal!