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Chapter 13
175
thorough consciousness of God’s great love, and will always show
itself by the way in which it works. By taking part in the ordinance
of feet washing we show that we are willing to perform this act of
humility. We are doing the very thing Christ did, but this is not to be
talked of as an act of humiliation. It is an act which symbolizes the
condition of the mind and heart.
“All ye are brethren.” As brethren we are identified with Christ
and with one another. As brethren we are identical with Christ, and
through His grace identical with one another. And as we wash the
feet of Christ’s followers, it is as though we were indeed touching
the Son of God. We do this act because Christ told us to do it,
and Christ Himself is among us. His Holy Spirit does the work of
uniting our hearts. To become one with Christ requires self-denial
and self-sacrifice at every step.
The performance of the ordinance of humility calls for self-
examination. The noble principles of the soul are strengthened on
every such occasion. Christ lives in us, and this draws heart to heart.
We are led to love as brethren, to be kind, tender, courteous in daily
service, having hearts that can feel another’s woe (
Letter 210, 1899
).
(
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
.) To Feel the Pulse of Conscience
—
In this ordinance, Christ discharged His disciples from the cares and
burdens of the ancient Jewish obligations in rites and ceremonies.
These no longer possessed any virtue; for type was meeting antitype
in Himself, the authority and foundation of all Jewish ordinances
that pointed to Him as the great and only efficacious offering for
the sins of the world. He gave this simple ordinance that it might
be a special season when He Himself would always be present, to
lead all participating in it to feel the pulse of their own conscience,
to awaken them to an understanding of the lessons symbolized, to
revive their memory, to convict of sin, and to receive their penitential
repentance. He would teach them that brother is not to exalt himself
above brother, that the dangers of disunion and strife shall be seen
and appreciated; for the health and holy activity of the soul are
involved.
This ordinance does not speak so largely to man’s intellectual
capacity as to his heart. His moral and spiritual nature needs it.
If His disciples had not needed this, it would not have been left
for them as Christ’s last established ordinance in connection with,