V. THE SET FACE

He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem.-ST. LUKE IX. 51.

R. HAWEIS, who was an eyewitness, has left on record an interesting account of the arrival of Garibaldi at Naples. Garibaldi, accompanied only by a few officers, landed on the coast twenty miles south of Naples, and immediately took train for that city. On his arrival at the station, he was greeted by an enormous crowd, which escorted him through the streets with cries of joy. But when the crowd came to the open space in front of the great citadel of St. Elmo it drew back in fear, for the citadel was held by 20,000 royalist troops, who neither before nor afterwards showed any sympathy with Garibaldi or his projects. Garibaldi stood up in his carriage and ordered his terrified coachman to drive forward. Thousands of muskets were pointed at his breast, the artillerymen stood with lighted matches in their hands and cannon trained on his carriage. Three times the officers gave the word to fire, but no man moved a finger, as Garibaldi calmly and quietly looked up at the faces turned down to meet his own. At last they could stand it no longer. They cast down their matches and muskets, threw up their caps and rent the air with cries of " Viva Garibaldi." What was it that did this wonderful thing; that in a few moments converted 20,000 enemies into friends? Just a face. Of course it was not only the face; it was the courage, the patriotism, the trust that looked through his facejust the sight of the face that did this wonderful thing.

Whether we like it or not our character, to a large extent, writes itself on our faces. We see a man with restless eyes and twitching lips and we say: "That's a badtempered man." We see another with staring eye, flushed

cheek, and heavy lips, and we say: "A self-indulgent man. We see another with steady eye, compressed lips, and set jaw, and we say: "A strong-willed, determined man! "

Probably of all the faces upon which we should like to look that would come first which the Disciples saw "steadfastly set to go to Jerusalem."

What was it like?

In the Church of San Bartolomeo at Genoa, there is a very ancient picture of our Lord, traditionally said to have been painted by St. Luke, but in any case of very great antiquity, and in accordance with all the oldest portraits in its type of features. It represents a face somewhat oval in form, with long dark hair falling to the shoulders: the beard is short and parted in the centre, the forehead is high, the nose straight and slender, the eyebrows fall away from the centre of the face, the mouth is small but of an exquisite tenderness and beauty, as though the words of love were still trembling on the lips; the eyes (0, they are wonderful eyes!) are like windows, through which the light of another world is streaming. The whole face is one of exquisite beauty and tenderness, but it is not a feminine face, nor again is it a weak face. It is essentially the face of a man, of a strong man, of one who knew how to act and who knew also how to suffer. This was the face the disciples saw steadfastly set to go up to Jerusalem.

"Steadfastly set!" Many years ago there appeared at the Royal Academy in London a striking picture by Lady Butler of a battle-field under the then conditions of open warfare. A company of men was being reformed after the fight. In the centre was the figure of a young officer, striding forward with his eyes fixed on the far distance. All day long, through the stress of the fight, his whole mind had been fixed on the thought " Forward, I must go forward!" and now the battle was over, but he did not know it. There he was sword in hand, striding forward over the dead and dying, heedless of his comrades' calls, his whole being fixed in that one thought, "Forward, I must go forward!" But our Lord's face was set in more

noble fashion than that. There was no excitement of battle; calmly and quietly He faced all that lay before Him. He knew what going up to Jerusalem meant. He knew that all His plans for His people's good would fail in the face of the envy and hatred of the priests. He knew that He would be deserted by His nearest and dearest friends and betrayed by one of them. He knew that it meant the agony in the Garden, the mocking and the scourging, the death upon the Cross, and yet, knowing all this, He steadfastly set His face to go up to Jerusalem.

Surely there is a lesson here for all of us. If our Blessed Lord needed to set His face steadfastly to go up to Jerusalem is it not much more needful for you and me, to set our faces to go up to the heavenly Jerusalem? Can we expect to reach it if we merely let ourselves drift and slide ?

There are many things in religion, as in all else, that are doubtful and puzzling, and we cannot expect to understand everything fully, but there is one thing that is perfectly clear, and about which there is no manner of doubt at all. The clear thing is this, that there is, both in ourselves and in the world around us, a power that is ever trying to drag us down to what is lower, baser, and more evil, and also a Power which is always trying to lift us up to what is higher, nobler, and better. The conflict is a constant one, and we have to make a decision one way or the other many times a day. It is the old battle that we have to fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, and if we are going to fight it with any prospect of real success, we must definitely choose our side and set our face for God and for good.

The effort of our will ought to be so real as to be evident even in our face. When people look at us they ought to be able to say: "That person's face is set for the right."

Remember that the battle is a vital one, and that Eternity hangs on your success or failure. Our Blessed Lord never made any promise that His service was going to be all soft and easy and pleasant. As He Himself set His face and fought so He expects His followers to set their faces and fight too. "If any one wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross every day,

and bear it after Me.” Note the words " take up

his cross."

It is there that the effort of the will and the need of the set face come in. For Christ does not merely require that we should patiently endure whatever sorrows or hardships may come upon us on our way through life. He asks more than that, He tells us that we must take up our cross," make a real act of self-sacrifice, act on our own initiative, if we are to have His reward.

Let us end with a parable of good old John Bunyan's. Christian in his dream "saw a stately palace, beautiful to behold, at the sight of which he was greatly delighted, and on the top of it he saw certain persons walking who were clothed all in gold, and behold at the door stood a great company of men, as desirous to go in but durst not. There also sat a man at a little distance from the door, at a table side, with a book and his inkhorn before him to take the name of him that should enter therein; he saw also that in the doorway stood many men in armour to keep it, being resolved to do to the men that would enter what hurt and mischief they could. Now was Christian somewhat in amaze. At last when every man started back for fear of the armed men, Christian saw a man of a very stout countenance come up to the man that sat there to write, saying Set down my name, sir'; the which when he had done, he saw the man draw his sword, and put a helmet on his head, and rush toward the door upon the armed men, who laid upon him with deadly force, but the man, not at all discouraged, fell to cutting and hacking most fiercely. So after he had received and given many wounds to those that attempted to keep him out he cut his way through them all and pressed forward into the palace, at which there was a pleasant voice from those that were within, even those that walked on the top of the palace saying, 'Come in, come in; eternal glory shalt thou win!' So he went in and was clothed with such garments as they."

We all of us need to be more like Bunyan's " man of a very stout countenance." The end is worth our every effort, and if we steadfastly set our faces for God and for right, He will give us strength to endure and to overcome.

VI.-GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.-ST. JOHN III. 16.

IF you go up to the top of a high mountain, or ascend

in an aeroplane, everything that you see can be summed up in two words, earth and sky. Now these two differ very greatly. The earth under your feet is of a certain well-known form, size and material, you can touch it, measure it, examine it at your leisure. The sky is different. It stretches above you out beyond the shining of the furthest star." You can know it only by that lowest fringe of it where it touches the earth.

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So too there are two other facts, man and God. Man, like the earth, is of a certain well-known form and figure. You can touch him, know him, understand him, entirely and unreservedly. With God it is different. He is above and beyond us at an infinite distance. We can know Him only as it were by the very lowest fringe of His garment, while He Himself is beyond and above us at an infinite distance.

Now what is the relation of this infinite Being to man? Ever since men began to think they have been trying to answer the question. Many thought of God as a kind of Super-man, with human affections, passions, and jealousies, but on a gigantic scale, with his favourites and his enemies, a Being to be propitiated and won to your side by gifts and sacrifices. Others thought of God as of a Creator Who made the world and then left it to go its own way, careless of man's joys and sorrows. Others, again, thought of Him as inevitable Law, or stern and pitiless necessity.

St. John gives as the essential relation between God and man a new and startling one. God is primarily not the Creator, not the Law-giver, not the Judge, but primarily