shall sell absolutely all that we have for the salvation of our souls; and our terms are, salvation or no salvation, to keep all that we have and to seek every day for more.  God absolutely demands that we shall stoop to the very dust every day, till we become the poorest, the meanest, the most despicable, and the most hopeless of men; whereas we meet that divine demand with the proud reply—­Is Thy servant a dog?  It was with this offended mind that stiff old Loth-to-stoop at last left off from Emmanuel’s presence; he would die rather than come down to such degrading terms.  And as Loth-to-stoop went away, Emmanuel looked after him, well remembering the terrible night when He Himself was, not indeed like Loth-to-stoop, nor near like him, but when His own last stoop was so deep that it made Him cry out, Father, save Me from this hour! and again, If it be possible let this so tremendous stoop pass from Me.  For a moment Emmanuel Himself was loth to stoop, but only for a moment.  For He soon rose from off His face in a bath of blood, saying, Not My will, but Thine be done!  When Thomas A Kempis is negotiating with the Loth-to-stoops of his unevangelical day, we hear him saying to them things like this:  ’Jesus Christ was despised of men, forsaken of His friends and lovers, and in the midst of slanders.  He was willing, under His Father’s will, to suffer and to be despised, and darest thou to complain of any man’s usage of thee?  Christ, thy Master, had enemies and back-biters, and dost thou expect to have all men to be thy friends and benefactors?  Whence shall thy patience attain her promised crown if no adversity befall thee?  Suffer thou with Jesus Christ, and for His sake, if thou wouldst reign with Him.  Set thyself, therefore, to bear manfully the cross of thy Lord, who, out of love, was crucified for thee.  Know for certain that thou must lead a daily dying life.  And the more that thou diest to thyself all that the more shalt thou live unto God.’  With many such words as these did Thomas teach the saints of his day to stoop to their daily cross; a daily cross then, which has now been for long to him and to them an everlasting crown.

3.  And speaking of A Kempis, and having lately read some of his most apposite chapters, such as that on the Holy Fathers and that on Obedience and Subjection, leads me on to look at Loth-to-stoop when he enters the sacred ministry, as he sometimes does.  When a half-converted, half-subdued, half-saved sinner gets himself called to the sacred ministry his office will either greatly hasten on his salvation, or else it will greatly hinder and endanger it.  He will either stoop down every day to deeper and ever deeper depths of humility, or he will tower up in pride of office and in pride of heart past all hope of humility, and thus of salvation.  The holy ministry is a great nursing-house of pride as we see in a long line of popes, and prelates, and priests, and other lords over God’s heritage.  And our own