“For hereunto were ye called; because Christ also

suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow in his steps.”

It was Friday

morning and the Rev. Henry Maxwell was trying to finish his Sunday morning

sermon. He had been interrupted several times and was growing nervous as the

morning wore away, and the sermon grew very slowly toward a satisfactory

finish.

“Mary,” he called

to his wife, as he went upstairs after the last interruption, “if any one comes

after this, I wish you would say I am very busy and cannot come down unless it

is something very important.”

“Yes, Henry. But

I am going over to visit the kindergarten and you will have the house all to

yourself.”

The minister went

up into his study and shut the door. In a few minutes he heard his wife go out,

and then everything was quiet. He settled himself at his desk with a sigh of

relief and began to write. His text was from 1 Peter 2:21: “For hereunto were

ye called; because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example that ye

should follow his steps.”

He had emphasized

in the first part of the sermon the Atonement as a personal sacrifice, calling

attention to the fact of Jesus’ suffering in various ways, in His life as well

as in His death. He had then gone on to emphasize the Atonement from the side

of example, giving illustrations from the life and teachings of Jesus to show

how faith in the Christ helped to save men because of the pattern or character

He displayed for their imitation. He was now on the third and last point, the

necessity of following Jesus in His sacrifice and example.

He had put down

“Three Steps. What are they?” and was about to enumerate them in logical order when

the bell rang sharply. It was one of those clock-work bells, and always went

off as a clock might go if it tried to strike twelve all at once.