vin. THE STAFF AND THE SACRIFICE. 



147 



from spiritual death. Elisha, though he stretched him- 

 self upon the dead body, and put all his members into 

 closest connection with all the corresponding members 

 of the dead body, was still separate from the child. The 

 connection between them was only an outward one. 

 But Jesus became bone of our bone, and flesh of our 

 flesh. In the first creation God stood aloof at an im- 

 measureable altitude above the creation when He 

 summoned it into existence. But in the new creation 

 He identified Himself with the work of His hands. He 

 assumed the nature which He had made ; He dwelt in 

 the world which He had fashioned ; He came under the 

 laws and limitations which He had ordained. He Him- 

 self shared the lot to which He condemned us ; He Him- 

 self groaned under the burden which He laid upon us ; 

 He Himself trod the wilderness to which He banished us. 

 He became "a man of sorrows, and acquainted with 

 grief" ; afflicted in all our afflictions. It was by fasting 

 and prayer that He cast out devils ; it was with groaning 

 and tears that He raised the dead. He suffered loss 

 that others might reap gain. He came into contact 

 with sin and impurity that others might be cleansed and 

 healed. In the miracle which most nearly approximated 

 a creative act the restoring the vision of the man blind 

 from his birth He used not only the dust of the earth 

 out of which the eye and the whole human frame were 

 originally formed, but also His own saliva a part of 

 Himself; He gave away a portion of His own substance 

 in the clay with which He anointed the blind man's eyes. 

 And this act is significant of the whole of His work, 



