Come, O my soul, to Calvary. Mark the humble life of the Son of God. He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Behold His ignominy, His agony in Gethsemane, and learn what self-denial is. Are we suffering want? so was Christ, the Majesty of heaven. But His poverty was for our sakes. Are we ranked among the rich? so was He. But He consented for our sakes to become poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. In Christ we have self-denial exemplified. His sacrifice consisted not merely in leaving the royal courts of heaven, in being tried by wicked men as a criminal and pronounced guilty, and in being delivered up to die as a malefactor, but in bearing the weight of the sins of the world. The life of Christ rebukes our indifference and coldness. We are near the close of time, when Satan has come down, having great wrath, knowing that his time is short. He is working with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. The warfare has been left in our hands by our great Leader for us to carry forward with vigor. We are not doing a twentieth part of what we might do if we were awake. The work is retarded by love of ease and a lack of the self-denying spirit of which our Saviour has given us an example in His life. Co-workers with Christ, men who feel the need of extended effort, are wanted. The work of our presses should not be lessened, but doubled. Schools should be established in different places to educate our youth preparatory to their laboring to advance the truth. {3T 407.1}

Læg mærke til Guds søns ydmyge liv! Han var »en smertens mand og kendt med sygdom«. Se hans vanære, hans sjælekval i Getsemane og forstå, hvad selvopofrelse er! Lider vi mangel? Det gjorde også Kristus, himmelens majestæt. Men hans fattigdom var for vor skyld. Regnes vi med blandt de rige? Det gjorde han også. Men for vor skyld fornedrede han sig til at blive fattig, for at vi ved hans fattigdom skulle blive rige. I Kristus har vi eksemplet på selvfornægtelse. Hans opofrelse bestod ikke blot deri, at han forlod de kongelige boliger i himmelen, at han blev fremstillet i forhør af mennesker som en forbryder og kendt skyldig og at han blev overgivet til døden som en forbryder, men deri, at han bar vægten af verdens synder. Kristi liv er en bestandig, irettesættelse for vor ligegyldighed og kulde.