diff options
Diffstat (limited to '13460-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 13460-0.txt | 1540 |
1 files changed, 1540 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/13460-0.txt b/13460-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1cd798a --- /dev/null +++ b/13460-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1540 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13460 *** + +HOW TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST + + +CONTENTS + + How to Become Like Christ + The Transfiguration + Indiscreet Importunity + Shame on Account of God's Displeasure + Naaman Cured + The Lame Man at the Temple Gate + + +HOW TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST. + +"But we all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of +the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even +as by the Spirit of the Lord."--2 COR. iii. 18 (Revised Version). + +I suppose there is almost no one who would deny, if it were put to +him, that the greatest possible attainment a man can make in this +world is likeness to The Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly no one would +deny that there is nothing but character that we can carry out of +life with us, and that our prospect of good in any future life will +certainly vary with the resemblance of our character to that of Jesus +Christ, which is to rule the whole future. We all admit that; but +almost every one of us offers to himself some apology for not being +like Christ, and has scarcely any clear reality of aim of becoming +like Him. Why, we say to ourselves, or we say in our practice, it is +really impossible in a world such as ours is to become perfectly +holy. One or two men in a century may become great saints; given a +certain natural disposition and given exceptionally favouring +circumstances, men may become saintly; but surely the ordinary run of +men, men such as we know ourselves to be, with secular disposition +and with many strong, vigorous passions--surely we can really not be +expected to become like Christ, or, if it is expected of us, we know +that it is impossible. On the contrary, Paul says, "We all," "we +all." Every Christian has that for a destiny: to be changed into the +image of his Lord. And he not only says so, but in this one verse he +reveals to us the mode of becoming like Christ, and a mode, as we +shall find, so simple and so infallible in its working that a man +cannot understand it without renewing his hope that even he may one +day become like Christ. + +In order to understand this simplest mode of sanctification we must +look back at the incident that we read in the Book of Exodus (xxxiv. +29-35.). Paul had been reading how when Moses came down from the +mount where he had been speaking with God his face shone, so as to +dazzle and alarm those who were near him. + +They at once recognised that that was the glory of God reflected from +him; and just as it is almost as difficult for us to look at the sun +reflected from a mirror as to look directly at the sun, so these men +felt it almost as difficult to look straight at the face of Moses as +to look straight at the face of God. But Moses was a wise man, and he +showed his wisdom in this instance as well as elsewhere. He knew that +that glory was only on the skin of his face, and that of course it +would pass away. It was a superficial shining. And accordingly he put +a veil over his face, that the children of Israel might not see it +dying out from minute to minute and from hour to hour, because he +knew these Israelites thoroughly, and he knew that when they saw the +glory dying out they would say, "God has forsaken Moses. We need not +attend to him any more. His authority is gone, and the glory of God's +presence has passed from him." So Moses wore the veil that they might +not see the glory dying out. But whenever he was called back to the +presence of God he took off the veil and received a new access of +glory on his face, and thus went "from glory to glory." + +"That," says Paul, "is precisely the process through which we +Christian men become like Christ." We go back to the presence of +Christ with unveiled face; and as often as we stand in His presence, +as often as we deal in our spirit with the living Christ, so often do +we take on a little of His glory. The glory of Christ is His +character; and as often as we stand before Christ, and think of Him, +and realise what He was, our heart goes out and reflects some of His +character. And that reflection, that glory, is not any longer merely +on the skin of the face; as Paul wishes us to recognise, it is a +spiritual glory, it is wrought by the spirit of Christ upon our +spirit, and it is we ourselves that are changed from glory to glory +into the very image of the Lord. + +Now obviously this mode of sanctification has extraordinary +recommendations. In the first place, it is absolutely simple. If you +go to some priest or spiritual director, or minister of the Gospel, +or friend, and ask what you are to do if you wish to become a holy +man, why, even the best of them will almost certainly tell you to +read certain books, to spend so much time in prayer and reading your +Bible, to go regularly to church, to engage in this and that good +work. If you had applied to a spiritual director of the middle ages +of this world's history and of the history of Christianity, he would +have told you that you must retire from the world altogether in order +to become holy. Paul says, "Away with all that nonsense!" We are +living in a real world; Christ lived in a real world: Christ did not +retire from men. And He says all that you have to do in order to be +like Christ is to carry His image with you in your heart. That is +all. To be with Him, to let Him stand before you and command your +love, that will infallibly change you into His image. I do not know +that we sufficiently recognise the simplicity of Christian methods. +We do not understand what Paul meant by proclaiming it as the +religion of the spirit, as a religion superior to everything +mechanical and external. Think of the deliverance it was for him who +had grown up under a religion which commanded him to go a journey +three times a year, to take the best of his goods and offer them in +the Temple, to comply with a multitude of oppressive observances and +ordinances. Think of the emancipation when he found a spiritual +religion. Why, in those times a man must have despaired of becoming a +holy man; But now Paul says you will infallibly become holy if you +learn this easy lesson of carrying the Lord Jesus with you in your +heart. + +Another recommendation of this method is that it is so obviously +grounded on our own nature. No sooner are we told by Paul that we +must act as mirrors of Christ than we recognise that nature has made +us to be mirrors, that we cannot but reflect what is passing before +us. You are walking along the street, and, a little child runs before +a carriage; you shrink back as if you were in danger. You see a man +fall from a scaffolding, crushed; your face takes on an expression of +pain, reflecting what is passing in him. You go and spend an evening +with a man much stronger, much purer, much saner, than yourself, and +you come away knowing yourself a stronger and a better man. Why? +Because you are a mirror, because in your inmost nature you have +responded to and reflected the good that was in him. + +Look into any family, and what do you see? You see the boy, not +imitating consciously, but taking on, his father's looks and +attitudes and ways; and as the boy grows up these become his own +looks and attitudes and ways. He has reflected his father from one +degree of proficiency unto another, from one intimacy, from one day's +observation of his father to another, until he is the image of the +old man over again. + +"Similarly," says Paul, "live with Christ; learn to carry His image +with you, learn to adore Him, learn to love Him, and infallibly, +whether you will or not, by this simple method you will become, +Christ over again; you will become conformed, as God means you to +become conformed, to the image of His Son." + +This has been tested by the experience of thousands; and it has been +found to be a true method. Every one who spends but two minutes in +the morning in the observation of Christ, every one who will be at +the pains to let the image of Christ rise before him and to remember +the purity, the unworldliness, the heavenliness, the godliness of +Jesus Christ, that man is the better for this exercise. And how +utterly useless is it to offer any other method of sanctification to +thousands of our fellow-citizens. How can many of our fellow-citizens +secrete themselves for prayer? If you ask them to go and pray as you +pray in your comfortable home, if you ask them to read the Bible +before they go out at five or six o'clock in the morning, do you +expect that your word will be followed? Why, the thing is impossible. +But ask a man to carry Christ with him in his mind, that is a thing +he can do; and if he does it once, if only once the man sees Christ +before him, realises that this living Person is with him, and +remembers the character of Christ as it is written for us in the +Gospels, that man knows that he has made a step in advance, knows +that he is the better for it, knows that he does reflect, for a +little, even though it be but for a little, the very image of the +Lord Jesus Christ; and other people know it also. + +Now, if that is so, there are obviously three things that we must do. +We must in the first place, learn to associate with Christ. I say +that even one reflection does something, but we need to reflect +Christ constantly, continually, if we are to become like Him. When +you pass away from before a mirror the reflection also .goes. In the +case of Moses the reflection stayed for a little, and that is perhaps +a truer figure of what happens to the Christian who sets Christ +before him and reflects him. But very often as soon as Christ is not +consciously remembered you fall back to other remembrances and +reflect other things. You go out in the morning with your associates, +and they carry you away; you have not as yet sufficiently impressed +upon yourself the image of Christ. Therefore we must learn to carry +Christ with us always, as a constant Companion. Some one may say that +is impossible. No one will say it is impossible who is living in +absence from anyone he loves. What happens when we are living +separated from some one we love? This happens: that his image is +continually in our minds. At the most unexpected times that image +rises, and especially, if we are proposing to ourselves to do what +that person would not approve. At once his image rises to rebuke us +and to hold us back. So that it is not only possible to carry with us +the image of Christ: it is absolutely certain that we shall carry +that image with us if only we give Him that love and reverence which +is due from every human being. Who has done for us what Christ has +done? Who commands our reverence as He does? If once He gets hold of +our affection, it is impossible that He should not live constantly in +our hearts. And if we say that persons deeply immersed in business +cannot carry Christ with them thus, remember what He Himself says: +"If any man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love +him, and we will come unto him." So that He is most present with the +busiest and with those who strive as best they can to keep His +commandments. + +But we must not only associate with Christ and make Him our constant +company: we must, in the second place, set ourselves square with +Christ. You know that if you look into a mirror obliquely, if a +mirror is not set square with you, you do not see yourself, but what +is at the opposite angle, something that is pleasant or something +that is disagreeable to you; it matters not--you cannot see yourself. +And unless we as mirrors set ourselves perfectly square with Christ, +we do not reflect Him, but perhaps things that are in His sight +monstrous. And, in point of fact, that is what happens with most of +us, because it is here that we are chiefly tried. All persons brought +up within the Christian Church pay some attention to Christ. We too +well understand His excellence and we too well understand the +advantages of being Christian men not to pay some attention to +Christ. But that will not make us conform to His image. In order to +be conformed to the image of Christ we must be wholly His. Suppose +you enter a studio where a sculptor is working, will he hand you his +hammer and chisel to finish the most difficult piece of his work or +to do any part of it? Assuredly not. It is his own idea that he is +working out, and none but his own hand can work it out. So with us +who are to be moulded by Christ. Christ cannot mould us into His +image unless we are wholly His. Every stroke that is made upon us by +the chisel and mallet of the world is lost to His ideal. As often as +we reflect what is not purely Christian, so often do we mar the I +image of Christ. + +Now how is it with us? Need we ask? When we go along the street, what +is it that we reflect? Do we not reflect a thousand things that +Christ disapproves? What is it that our heart responds to when we are +engaged in business? Is it to appeals that this world makes to us? Is +it the appeal that a prospect of gain makes to us that we respond to +eagerly? That is what is making us; that is what is moulding and +making us the men that we are destined to be. We are moulded into the +character that we are destined to live with for ever and ever, by our +likings and dislikings, by the actual response that we are now giving +day by day to the things that we have to do with in this world. We +may loathe the character of the sensualist; no language is too strong +for us when we speak of him: but if we, in point of fact, respond to +appeals made to the flesh rather than appeals made to the spirit, we +are becoming sensual. We may loathe and despise the character of the +avaricious worldly man; we may see its littleness, and pettiness, and +greed, and selfishness: but do our own hearts go out in response to +any offer of gain more eagerly than they go out to Christian work or +to the interests of Christ's kingdom? Then we are becoming worldly +and avaricious; we are becoming the very kind of men that we despise. + +Of course we know this. We Know that we are being made by what we +respond to, and the older we grow we know it the more clearly; we see +it written on our own character that we have become the kind of men +that we little thought one day we should become, and we know that we +have become such men by responding to certain things which are not +the things of the Spirit. Never was a truer word said than that he +that Soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he +only that soweth to the Spirit shall reap life. That is what in other +terms Paul here says. He says, "If you set yourselves square with +Christ, you will become like Him; that is to say, if you find your +all in Him, if you can be absolutely frank and honest with Him, if +you can say, 'Mould and fashion me according to Thy will; lead me +according to Thy will; make me in this world what Thou wilt; do with +me what Thou wilt: I put myself wholly at Thy disposal; I do not wish +to crane to see past Christ's figure to some better thing beyond; I +give myself wholly and freely to him'--the man that says this, the +man that does this, he will certainly become like to Him. But the man +who even when he prays knows that he has desires in his heart that +Christ cannot gratify, the man that never goes out from his own home +or never goes into his own home without knowing that he has responded +to things that Christ disapproves--how can that man hope to be like +Him?" + +We must then associate with Christ, and we must set ourselves +squarely; we must. be absolutely true in our entire and absolute +devotion. Surely no man thinks that this is a hardship; that his +nature and life will be restricted by giving himself wholly to +Christ? It is only, as every Christian will tell you--it is only when +you give yourself entirely to Christ that you know what freedom +means; that you know what it is to live in this world afraid of +nothing. Superior to things that before you were afraid of and +anxious about, you at length learn what it is to be a child of God. +Let no man think that he lames his nature and makes his life poorer +by becoming entirely the possession of Christ. + +But, thirdly, we must set Christ before us and live before Him with +unveiled face. "We all _with unveiled face_ reflecting as a mirror." +Throw a napkin over a mirror, and it reflects nothing. Perfect beauty +may stand before it, but the mirror gives no sign. And this is why in +a dispensation like ours, the Christian dispensation, with everything +contrived to reflect Christ, to exhibit Christ, the whole thing set +a-going for this purpose of exhibiting Christ, we so little see Him. +How is it that two men can sit at a Communion table together, and the +one be lifted to the seventh heaven and see the King in His beauty, +while the other only envies his neighbour his vision? Why is it that +in the same household two persons will pass through identically the +same domestic circumstances, the same events, from year to year, and +the one see Christ everywhere, while the other grows sullen, sour, +indifferent? Why is it? Because the one wears a veil that prevents +him from seeing Christ; the other lives with unveiled face. How was +it that the Psalmist, in the changes of the seasons even, in the +mountain, in the sea, in everything that he had to do, found God? How +was it that he knew that even though he made his bed in hell he would +find God? Because he had an unveiled face; he was prepared to find +God. How is it that many of us can come into church and be much more +taken up with the presence of some friend than with the presence of +Christ? The same reason still: we wear a veil; we do not come with +unveiled face prepared to see Him. + +And When we ask ourselves, "What, in point of fact, is the veil that +I wear? What is it that has kept me from responding to the perfect +beauty of Christ's character? I know that that character is perfect; +I know that I ought to respond to it; I know that I ought to go out +eagerly towards Christ and strive to become like Him; why do I not do +it?" we find that the veil that keeps us from responding thus to +Christ and reflecting Him is not like the mere dimness on a mirror +which the bright and warm presence of Christ Himself would dry off; +it is like an incrustation that has been growing out from our hearts +all our life long, and that now is impervious, so far as we can see, +to the image of Christ. How can hearts steeped in worldliness reflect +this absolutely unworldly, this heavenly Person? When we look into +our hearts, what do we find in point of fact? We find a thousand +,things that we know have no right there; that we know to be wrong. +How can such hearts reflect this perfect purity of Christ? Well, we +must see to it that these hearts be cleansed; we must hold ourselves +before Christ until from very shame these passions of ours are +subdued, until His purity works its way into our hearts through all +obstructions; and we must keep our hearts, we must keep the mirror +free from dust, free from incrustations, once we have cleansed it. + +In some circumstances you might be tempted to say that really it is +not so much that there is a veil on the mirror as that there is no +quicksilver at all behind. You meet in life characters so thin, so +shallow, that every good thought seems to go through and out of them +at the other side; they hear with one ear, and it goes out at the +other. You can make no impression upon them. There is nothing to +impress, no character there to work upon. They are utterly +indifferent to spiritual things, and never give a thought to their +own character. What is to be done with such persons? God is the great +Teacher of us all; God, in His providence, has made many a man who +has begun life as shallow and superficial as man can be, deep enough +before He has done with him. + +Two particulars in which the perfectness of this method appears may +be pointed out. First of all, it is perfect in this: that anyone who +begins it is bound to go on to the end. The very nature of the case +leads him to go on and on from glory to glory, back and back to +Christ, until the process is, actually completed, and he is like +Christ. The reason is this: that the Christian conscience is never +much taken up with attainment made, but always with attainment that +is yet to be made. It is the difference not the likeness that touches +the conscience. A friend has been away in Australia for ten years, +and he sends you his likeness, and you take it out eagerly, and you +say, "Yes, the eyes are the very eyes; the brow, the hair are exactly +like," but there is something about the mouth that you do not like, +and you thrust it away in a drawer and never look at it again. Why? +Because the one point of unlikeness destroys the whole to you. Just +so when any Christian presents himself before Christ it is not the +points of likeness, supposing there are any, which strike his +conscience--it is the remaining points of difference that inevitably +strike him, and so he is urged on and on from one degree of +proficiency to another until the process is completed, because there +is no point at which a man has made a sufficient attainment in the +likeness of Christ. There is no point at which Christ draws a line +and says, "You will do well if you reach this height, and you need +not strive further." Why, we should be dissatisfied, we should throw +up our allegiance to Christ if He treated us so. He is our ideal, and +it is resemblance to Him that draws us and makes us strive forward; +and so a man is bound, to go on, and on, and on, still drawn on to +his ideal, still rebuked by his shortcomings until he perfectly +resembles Christ. + +And this character of Christ that is our ideal is not assumed by Him +for the nonce. He did not change His nature when He came to this +earth; He did not put on this character to set us an example. The +things that He did, He did because it was His nature to do them. He +came to this world because His love would not let Him stay away from +us. It was His nature that brought Him here, and it is His nature to +be what He is, and so his character is to become our nature; it is to +be so wrought in us that we cannot give it up. It is our eternal +character, and therefore any amount of pains is worth spending on the +achievement of it. + +The second point of perfectness lies here. You know that in painting +a likeness or cutting out a bust one feature often may be almost +finished while the rest are scarcely touched, but in standing before +a mirror the whole comes out at once. Now we often in the Christian +life deal with ourselves as if we were painters and sculptors, not as +if we were mirrors: we hammer and chisel away at ourselves to bring +out some resemblance to Christ in some particulars, thinking that we +can do it piecemeal; we might as well try to feed up our body +piecemeal; we might as well try to make our eye bright without giving +our cheek colour and our hands strength. The body is a whole, and we +must feed the whole and nourish the whole if any one part of it is to +be vigorous. + +So it is with character. The character is a whole, and you can only +deal with your character as a whole. What has resulted when we have +tried the other process? Sometimes we set ourselves to subdue a sin +or cultivate a grace. Well, candidly say what has come of this. +Judging from my own experience, I would say that this comes of it: +that in three or four days you forget what sin it was that you were +trying to subdue. The temptation is away, and the sin is not there, +and you forget all about it. That is the very snare of sin. Or you +become a little better in a point that you were trying to cultivate. +In that grace you are a shade improved. But that only brings out more +astoundingly your frightful shortcoming in other particulars. Now, +adopting Paul's method, this happens: Christ acts on our character +just as a person acts upon a mirror. The whole image is reflected at +once. How is it that society moulds a man? How can you tell in what +class in society a man has been brought up? Not by one thing, not by +his accent, not by his bearing, not by his conduct, but the whole +man. And why? Because a man does not consciously imitate this or that +feature of the society in which he is brought up, does not do it +consciously at all; he is merely reflecting it as a mirror, and +society acts on him as a whole, and makes him the man he is. "Just +so," says Paul. "Live with Christ, and He will make you the man that +you are destined to be." + +One word in conclusion. I suppose there is no one who at one time or +other has not earnestly desired to be of some use in the world. +Perhaps there are few who have not even definitely desired to be of +some use in the kingdom of Christ. As soon as we recognise the +uniqueness of Christ's purpose and the uniqueness of His power in the +world, as soon as we recognise that all good influence and all +superlatively dominant influence proceeds from Him, and that really +the hope of our race lies in Jesus Christ--as soon as we realise +that, as soon as we see that with our reason, and not as a thing that +we have been taught to believe, as soon as we lay hold on it for +ourselves, we cannot but wish to do something to forward His purposes +in the world. But as soon as we form the wish we say, "What can we +do? We have not been born with great gifts; we have not been born in +superior positions; we have not wealth; we are shut off from the +common ways of doing good; we cannot teach in the Sabbath school; we +cannot go and preach; we cannot go and speak to the sick; we cannot +speak even to our fellow at the desk. What can we do?" We can do the +best thing of all, as of course all the best things are open to every +man. Love, faith, joy, hope, all these things, all the best things, +are open to all men; and so here it is open to all of us to forward +the cause of Christ in the most influential way possible, if not in +the most prominent way. What happens when a person is looking into a +shop window where there is a mirror, and some one comes up +behind--some one he knows? He does not look any longer at the image; +he turns to look at the person whose image is reflected. Or if he +sees reflected on the mirror something very striking: he does not +content himself with looking at the image; he turns and looks at the +thing itself. So it is always with the persons that you have to do +with. If you become a mirror to Christ your friends will detect it in +a very few days; they will see appearing in you, the mirror, an image +which they know has not been originated in you, and they will turn to +look straight at the Person that you are reflecting. It is in that +way that Christianity passes from man to man. + + +THE TRANSFIGURATION. + +"And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took +Peter and John and James and went up into the mountain to +pray."--LUKE ix. 28-36. + +The public life or our Lord falls into two parts; and the incident +here recorded is the turning point between them. In order that He +might leave behind Him when He died a sure foundation for His Church, +it was necessary that His intimate companions should at all events +know that He was the Christ, and that the Christ must enter into +glory by suffering death. Only then, when they understood . this, +could He die and leave them on earth behind. Now it is just at this +point in His life that it has become quite clear that the first +article of the Christian creed--that Jesus is the Christ--had been at +last definitely accepted by the disciples. Very solemnly our Lord has +put it to them: "Who say ye that I am ?" No doubt it was a trying +moment for Him as for them. What was He to do if it had not now +become plain at least to a few steadfast souls that He was the +Christ--the Messenger of God to men? Happily the impulsiveness of +Peter gives Him little space for anxiety; for he, with that generous +outburst of affectionate trust which should ring through every creed, +said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." You see the +intensified relief which this brought to our Lord, the keen +satisfaction He felt as He heard it distinctly and solemnly uttered +as the creed of the Twelve; as He heard what hitherto He could only +have gathered from casual expressions, from wistful awe-struck looks, +from overheard questionings and debatings with one another. You see +how at once, He steps on to a new footing with them, as He cordially, +and with intense gratitude, says to Peter, "Blessed art thou, Simon +Barjona." In this Divinely-wrought confession of Peter's, He finds at +last the foundation stone of the earthly building the beginning of +that intelligent and hearty reception of Himself which was to make +earth the recipient of all heaven's fulness. But as yet only half the +work is done. Men believe that He is the King, but as yet they have +very little idea of what the kingdom is to consist. They think Him +worthy of all glory, but the kind of glory, and the way to it they +are ignorant of. From, that time forth, therefore, began Jesus to +show unto them how He must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things, +even of the men who ought chiefly to have recognised Him, and to be +raised again the third day. + +Once before our Lord had been tempted in another way to the throne of +the universal dominion of men; again this temptation is pressed upon +Him by the very men who should have helped Him to resist it; His +closest, His warmest, His most enlightened friends, those who stand +on quite a different plane from the world at large, are His tempters. +Satan found in them an adequate mouthpiece. They, who should have +cheered and heartened Him to face the terrible prospect, were +hindrances, were an additional burden and anxiety to Him. + +Now, it is to this conversation that the incident known as the +transfiguration is linked by all the evangelists who relate it--the +first three. It was six days after (or, as Luke says, eight days +after) this conversation that Jesus went up Mount Hermon for the sake +of retirement and prayer. Plainly He was aware that the great crisis +of His life had come. The time had come when He must cease teaching, +and face His destiny. He had made upon His disciples an impression +which would be indelible. With deliberation they had accepted Him as +the Messiah; the Church was founded; His work, so far as His teaching +went, was accomplished. It remained that He should die. To consecrate +Himself to this hard necessity, He retired to the solitude of Mount +Hermon. We start, then, from the wrong point of view, if we suppose +that Jesus climbed Hermon in order to enjoy spiritual ecstasy, or +exhibit His glory to those three men. Ecstasy of this kind must come +unsought; and the way to it lies through conflict, humiliation, +self-mastery. It was not simply to pray that Jesus retired; it was to +engage in the great conflict of His life. And because He felt, +Himself so much in need of kindness and support, He took with Him the +three companions He could most depend upon. They were loyal friends; +and their very presence was a strength to Him. So human was Jesus, +and now so heavily burdened, that the devotedness of these three +plain men--the sound of their voices, the touch of their hands as +they clambered the hill together, gave Him strength and courage. Let +no one be ashamed to lean upon the affection of his fellow-men. Let +us, also, reverently, and with sympathy, accompany our Lord and +witness, and endeavour to understand, the conflict in which He now +engaged. It has been suggested that the transfiguration may best be +understood as a temptation. Undoubtedly there must have been +temptation in the experience of Jesus at this crisis. It was for the +purpose of finally consecrating Himself to death, with all its +painful accompaniments, that He now retired. But the very difficulty +of this act of consecration consisted just in this: that He might, if +He pleased, avoid death. It was because Peter's words, "This be far +from Thee," touched a deep chord in His own spirit, and strengthened +that within Himself which made Him tremble and wish that God's will +could in any other wise be accomplished--it was this which caused Him +so sharply and suddenly to rebuke Peter. Peter's words penetrated to +what was lurking near at hand as His normal temptation. We may very +readily underrate the trial and temptation of Christ, and thus have +only a formal, not a real, esteem for His manhood. We always +underrate it when we do not fully apprehend His human nature, and +believe that He was tempted in all points as we are. But, on the +other hand, we underrate it if we forget that His position was wholly +different from ours. That Jesus had abundant nerve and courage no +reader of the Gospels can, of course, doubt. He was calm in the midst +of a storm which terrified experienced boat-men; in riots that +threatened His life, in the hands of soldiers striving to torment Him +and break Him down, in the presence of judges and enemies, He +maintained a dignity which only the highest courage could maintain. +That such a Person should have quailed at the prospect of physical +suffering, which thousands of men and women have voluntarily and +calmly faced, is simply impossible to believe. Neither was it +entirely His perception of the spiritual significance of death which +made it to Him a far more painful prospect than to any other. +Certainly this clear perception of the meaning of death did add +immensely to its terrors; but if we are even to begin to understand +His trial, and begin is all we can do--we must bear in mind what +Peter had just confessed, and what Jesus Himself knew--that He was +the Christ. It was this which made the difference. Socrates could +toss off the poison as unmoved as if it had been a sleeping-draught, +because he was dying for himself alone. Jesus could only with +trembling take into His hand the fatal cup, because He knew that He +was standing for all men. If He failed, all failed. Everything hung +upon Him. The general who spends the whole night pacing his tent, +debating the chances of battle on the morrow, is not tormented with +the thought of his own private fate, but with the possibilities of +disaster to his men and to his country, if his design or his skill +should at any moment of the battle fail. Jesus was human; and we deny +His humanity, and fail to give Him the honour due to it, if we do not +recognise the difficulty which He must always have felt in believing +that His single act could save the world, and the burden of +responsibility which must have weighed upon Him when He realised that +it was by the Spirit He maintained in life and in death, that God +meant to bless all men. It was because He knew Himself to be the +Christ, and because every man depended upon Him as the Christ, and +because, therefore, the whole blessing God meant for the world +depended upon His maintaining faith in God through the most trying +circumstances--it was because of this that He trembled lest all +should end in failure. It was this which drove Him, again, and again, +and again to the hills to spend all night in prayer, in laying His +burden upon the only Strength that could bear it. + +But in retiring in order, with deliberation, finally to dedicate +Himself to death, this temptation must of necessity appear in all its +strength. It is only in presence of all that can induce Him to +another course that He can resolve upon the God-appointed way. As He +prays two figures necessarily rise before Him, and intensify the +temptation. Moses and Elias were God's greatest servants in the past, +and neither of them had passed to glory through so severe an ordeal. +Moses, with eye undimmed and strength unabated, was taken from earth +by a departure so easy that it was said to be "by the kiss of God." +Elijah, instead of removal by death, ascended to his rest in a +chariot of fire. Was it not possible that as easy an exodus might +befit Him? Might not this ignominious death He looked forward to make +it impossible for the people to believe in Him? How could they rank +Him with those old prophets whom God had dealt with so differently +and so plainly honoured? Would people not almost necessarily accept +the death of the cross as proof that He was abandoned? Nay, did not +their sacred books justify them in considering Him accursed of God? +Was He correct in His interpretation of the Scriptures--an +interpretation which led Him to believe that the Messiah must suffer +and die, but which none of His friends admitted, and none of the +authorities and skilled interpreters in His country admitted? Was it +not, after all, possible that His kingdom might be established by +other means? We can see but a small part of the force of these +temptations, but If the presence of those august figures intensified +the normal temptation of this period, their presence was also a very +effectual aid against this temptation. In their presence His +anticipated end could no longer be called death; rather the +departure, or, as the narrative says, the Exodus. The eternal will +and mighty hand which had guided and upheld Moses when he bore the +responsibility and toil of emancipating a host of slaves from the +most powerful of rulers would uphold Jesus in the infinitely +weightier responsibilities which now lay upon Him. Elijah, also, at a +crisis of his people's history, had stood alone against all the might +and malignity of Jezebel and the priests of Baal; alone, and with +death staring him in the face, he confessed God, and, by his +single-handed victory, wrought deliverance for the whole people. +Their combined voice, therefore, says to Jesus, "Banish all fear; +look forward to your decease at Jerusalem as about to effect an +immeasurably grander deliverance than that which gave freedom to your +people. Do not shrink from trusting that the sacrifice of One can +open up a source of blessing to all. Steadfast submission to God's +will is ever the path to glory." + +But not only must our Lord have been encouraged and heartened by +recalling the individual experiences of these men, but their presence +reminds Him of His relation to them in God's purposes; for Moses and +Elijah represent the whole Old Testament Church. By the Law and the +Prophets had God up to this time dealt with men; through these He had +revealed Himself. But Jesus had long since recognised that neither +Moses nor Elias, neither Law nor Prophets, were sufficient. The +Christ must come to effect a real mediation between God and man; and +Jesus knew that He Himself was the Christ. On Him lay the task of +making the salvation of the Jews the salvation of the whole world; of +bringing all men to Jehovah. It was under pressure of this +responsibility that He had searched the Scriptures, and found in the +Scriptures what those had not found--that it was necessary that +Christ should suffer and so enter into glory. + +Probably it was not so much any one passage of Scripture which had +carried home to the mind of Jesus that the Christ must die. We may +seek for that in vain; it was His perception of the real needs of +men, and of what the Law and the Prophets had done to satisfy these +needs, that showed Him what remained for the final Revealer and +Mediator to accomplish. The Law and the Prophets had told men that +God is holy, and men's blessedness, even as God's blessedness, lies +in holiness. But this very teaching seemed to widen the breach +between men and God, and to make union between them truly hopeless. +By the law came not union with God, but the knowledge of sin. To put +it shortly, fellowship or union with God, which is the beginning and +end of all religion, is but another name for holiness. Holiness is +union with God, and holiness can better be secured by revealing the +holy God as a God of love than by law or by prophets. It is this holy +love and lovingness that the cross of Christ brings home to every +heart. This revelation of the Father, no document and no officials +could possibly make; only the Beloved Son, only one who stood in a +personal relation to the Father, and was of the same nature, as truly +divine as human. Therefore the voice goes forth annulling all +previous utterances, and turning all eyes to Jesus--"Hear Him!" +Therefore, as often as the mind of Christ was employed on this +subject, so often did He see the necessity of death. It was only by +dying that men's sins could be expiated, and only by dying the +fulness of God's love could be exhibited. The Law and the Prophets +spoke to Him always, and now once more of the decease He must +accomplish at Jerusalem. They spoke of His death, because it was His +death that was presupposed by every sacrifice of the Law; by every +prophecy that foretold good to man. The Law found its highest +fulfilment in the most lawless of transgressions; prophecy found its +richest in that which seemed to crush out hope itself. + +Nothing, then, could have been more opportune than this for the +encouragement of our Lord. On earth He had found incredulity among +His best friends; incapacity to see why He should die; indifference +to His object here. He now meets with those who, with breathless +interest, await His death as if it were the one only future event. In +their persons He sees, at one view, all who had put their trust in +God from the foundation of the world; all who had put faith in a +sacrifice for sin, knowing it was God's appointment, and that He +would vindicate His own wisdom and truth by finding a real +propitiation; all who, through dark and troublous times, had strained +to see the consolation of Israel; all who, in the misery of their own +thought, had still believed that there was a true glory for men +somewhere to be attained; all who through the darkness and storm and +fear of earth had trusted in God, scarcely daring to think what would +become of their trust, but assured that God had spoken, nay, had +covenanted with His people, and finding true rest in Him. When all +these now stand before our Lord in the persons of Moses and Elias, +the hitherto mediators between God and man, must not their waiting +eyes, their longing, trustful expectation, have confirmed His resolve +that their hope should not be put to shame? The whole anxiety of +guilty consciences, the whole hope of men awakened, the whole longing +sigh for a God revealed, that had breathed from the ancient Church, +at once became audible to His ear. At once He felt the dependence of +all who had died in faith in the promise. He meets the eager, +questioning gaze of all who had hoped for salvation concentrated on +Himself. Is this He who can save the lost, He who can bear the weight +of a world's dependence? What an appeal there is here to His +compassion! How steadfastly now does He set His face towards +Jerusalem, feeling straitened till the world's salvation is secured, +and all possibility of failure for ever at an end. + +This, then, was for Jesus an appeal that was irresistible. As the +full meaning of all that God had done for His people through Law and +Prophets was borne in upon Him, He saw that He must die. Now, for the +last time, He put aside all His hesitations, and as He prays, He +yields Himself to the will of the Father. Those are the supreme +moments in human life when man, through sore conflict and at great +cost, gives himself up to the will of God. Never was there so sore a +conflict, and never so much joy as here. His face was transfigured; +it beamed with the light and peace of heaven that shone from within. +The eyes of the disciples closed on a face, every line of which they +knew and loved--a face full of wisdom and resolve and deep-founded +peace, showing marks of trouble, of trial, of endurance, of premature +age; their eyes opened upon a face that shines with a preternatural +radiance--a face expressing, more than ever face had done, the +dignity and glory and joy of perfect harmony with God. He was +God-possessed, and the Divine glory shone from His face. It was at +the moment of his yielding all to God that Jesus attained His highest +glory. Man's life is transformed when he allows God's will to fill it +and shine through it; his person is transformed when he divests +himself of self-will, and allows God wholly to possess it. + +How easy was it for the disciples at that hour to hear Him; to listen +now when He spoke of the cross, which, for Him and for all His +disciples, is the path leading from earth to heaven, from what is +selfishly human to true human glory! It is on the cross that Jesus is +truly enthroned. It is because He became the Servant of all that He +is greatest of all. If anyone could rival Him in the service he would +rival Him in the glory. It is because He gave Himself for us, willing +to do all to save us in our direst need, that He takes a place in our +confidence and in our heart that belongs to no other. He becomes the +one absolute need of every man, because He is that which brings us to +God, and gives God to us. + +Hear Him, therefore, when, through His Providence, He preaches to you +this difficult lesson. If your difficulties and distresses are real; +if you cannot labour without thinking of them; if you cannot rest +from labour through fear of their possessing you; if your troubles +have assumed so hard a form, so real a place in your life, that all +else has come to seem unreal and empty, then remember that He whose +end was to be eternal glory chose sorrow, that He might break a way +to glory through human suffering. If there is nothing in your lot in +life which crosses and humbles you; if there is nothing in your +circumstances which compels you to see that this life is not for +self-indulgence and self-gratification, then still you must win +participation in your Lord's glory by accepting His lowliness and +heavenliness of mind. It is not to outward success that you are +called in His kingdom, it is to inward victory. You are called to +meekness, and lowliness, and mercy; to the losing of your life in +this world, that you may have life everlasting. + +Notice, in conclusion, the impression made on the disciples, as +disclosed in Peter's words, "It is good to be here." Peter knew when +he was in good company. He was not very wise himself, but he had +sense enough to recognise wisdom in others. He was not himself a +finished saint, but he had a hearty appreciation of those who had +attained saintliness. He had reverence, power to recognise, and +ungrudgingly to worship, what was good. He had an honest delight in +seeing his Master honoured, a delight which, perhaps, some of us +envy. It was not a forced expression, it was not a feigned delight. +He was a man who always felt that something should be said, and so +here what was uppermost came out. Why did Peter feel it was good for +him to be there? Possibly it was in part because here was glory +without shame; recognition and homage without suffering; but no doubt +partly because he felt that in such company he was a better man than +elsewhere. Christ kept him right; seemed to understand him better +than others; to consider him more. There was no resentment on Peter's +part on account of the severe answers he received from Christ. He +knew these were just, and he had learned to trust his Lord; and it +suddenly flashes upon him that, if only he could live quietly with +Jesus in such retirement as they then enjoyed, he would be a better +man. We have the same consciousness as Peter, that if ever we are +right-minded and disposed for good, and able to make sacrifices and +become a little heavenly; if ever we hate sin cordially--it is when +we are in the presence of Christ. If we find it as impossible as +Peter did to live retired from all conflict and intercourse with all +kinds of men; if, like Peter, we have to descend into a valley +ringing with demoniacs cries; if we are called upon to deal with the +world as it actually is--deformed, dehumanised by sin; is it nothing +that we can assure ourselves of the society and friendship of One who +means to remove all suffering and all sin, and who does so, not by a +violent act of authority, but by sympathy and patient love, so that +we can be His proper instruments, and in healing and helping others, +help and heal ourselves! + + +INDISCREET IMPORTUNITY. + + "I gave thee a king in mine anger." + HOSEA xiii. 11. + + "Ye know not what ye ask." + MATTHEW xx. 22. + + PSALM lxxviii. 27-31. + +That God sometimes suffers men to destroy themselves, giving them +their own way, although He knows it is ruinous, and even putting into +their hands the scorpion they have mistaken for a fish, is an +indubitable and alarming fact. + +Perhaps no form of ruin covers a man with such shame or sinks him to +such hopelessness as when he finds that what he has persistently +clamoured for and refused to be content without, has proved the +bitterest and most disastrous element in his life. This particular +form of ruin is nowhere described with more careful, and significant +detail than in the narrative of Israel's determination to have a king +over them like other nations. Samuel, forseeing the evils which would +result from their choice, remonstrated with them and reminded them of +their past success, and pointed out the advantageous elements in +their present condition. But there is a point at which desire becomes +deaf and blind, and the evil of it can be recognised only after it is +gratified. God therefore gave them a king in His anger." + +The truth, then, which is embodied in this incident, and which is +liable to reappear in the experience of any individual, is this, that +sometimes God yields to importunity, and grants to men what He knows +will be no blessing to them. "It is a thing," says South, "partly +worth our wonder, partly our compassion, that what the greatest part +of men most passionately desire, that they are generally most unfit +for; so that at a distance they court that as an enjoyment, which +upon experience they find a plague and a great calamity." It is +astonishing how many things we desire for the same reason as the +Israelites sought a king, merely that we may have what other people +have. We may not definitely covet our neighbour's house or his wife +or his position or anything that is his; but deep within us remains +the scarcely-conscious conviction that we have not all we might and +ought to have until our condition more resembles his. We take our +ideas of happiness from what we see in other people, and have little +originality to devise any special and more appropriate enjoyment or +success. Fashion or tradition or the necessity of one class in +society has promoted certain possessions and conditions to the rank +of extremely desirable or even necessary elements of happiness, and +forthwith we desire them, without duly considering our own +individuality and what it is that must always constitute happiness +for us, or what it is that fits us for present usefulness. Health, +position, fame, a certain settlement in life, income, marriage; such +things are eagerly sought by thousands, and they are sought without +sufficient discrimination, or at any rate without a well-informed +weighing of consequences. We refuse, too, to see that already without +those things our condition has much advantage, and that we are +actually happy. We may be dimly conscious that our tastes are not +precisely those of other men, and that if the ordinary ways of +society are the best men can devise for spending life satisfactorily, +these are scarcely the ways that will suit us. Yet, like petted +children, we continue persistently to cry for the thing we have not. +Sometimes it is a mere question of waiting. The thing we sigh for +will come in time, but not yet. To wait is the test of many persons; +and if they are impatient, they fail in the one point that determines +the whole. Many young persons seem to think life will all be gone +before they taste any of its sweets. They must have everything at +once, and cannot postpone any of its enjoyments or advantages. No +quality is more fatal to success and lasting happiness than +impatience. + +This being a common attitude of mind towards fancied blessings, how +does God deal with it? For a long time He may in compassion withhold +the fatal gift. He may in pity disregard our petulant clamour. And He +may in many ways bring home to our minds that the thing we crave is +in several respects unsuitable. We may become conscious under His +discipline that without it we are less entangled with the world and +with temptation; that we can live more holily and more freely as we +are, and that to quench the desire we have would be to choose the +better part. God may make it plain to us that it is childish to look +upon this one thing as the supreme and only good. Providential +obstacles are thrown in our way, difficulties amounting almost to +impossibilities absolutely prevent us for a while from attaining our +object, and give us time to collect ourselves and take thought. And +not only are we prevented from attaining this one object, but in +other respects our life is enriched and gladdened, so that we might +be expected to be content. If we cannot have a king like other +nations, we have the best of Judges in abundance. And experience of +this kind will convince the subject of it that a Providence shapes +our ends, even although the lesson it teaches may remain unlearnt. + +For man's will is never forced: and therefore if we continue to pin +our happiness to this one object, and refuse to find satisfaction and +fruit in life without it, God gives in anger what we have resolved to +obtain. He gives it in its bare earthly form, so that as soon as we +receive it our soul sinks in shame. Instead of expanding our nature +and bringing us into a finished and satisfactory condition, and +setting our life in right relations with other men, we find the new +gift to be a curse to us, hampering us, cutting us off in unexpected +ways from our usefulness, thwarting and blighting our life round its +whole circumference. + +For a man is never very long in discovering the mischief he has done +by setting his own wisdom above God's, by underrating God's goodness +and overriding God's will. When Samuel remonstrated with Israel and +warned them that their king would tyrannise over them, all the answer +he got was: "Nay, but we will have a king to rule over us." But, not +many days after, they came to Samuel with a very different petition: +"Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not; for we +have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king." So it is +always; we speedily recognise the difference between God's wisdom and +our own. What seemed neglect on His part is now seen to be care, and +what we murmured at as niggardliness and needless harshness we now +admire as tenderness. Those at least are our second and wiser +thoughts, even although at first we may be tempted with Manoah when +he saw his son blind and fettered in the Philistine dungeon, to +exclaim, + + What thing good + Pray'd for, but often proves our woe, our bane? + I prayed for children and thought barrenness + In wedlock a reproach; + I gain'd a son And such a son + as all men hail'd me happy. + Who would be now a father in my stead? + Oh, wherefore did God grant me my request, + And as a blessing with such pomp adorn'd + Why are His gifts desirable, to tempt + Our earnest prayers, then giv'n with solemn hand + As graces, draw a scorpion's tail behind? + +Such, I say, may be our first thoughts; but when the first bitterness +and bewilderment of disappointment are over, when reason and right +feeling begin to dominate, we own that the whole history of our +prayer and its answer has been most humiliating to us, indeed, but +most honouring to God. We see as never before how accurately our +character has been understood, how patiently our evil propensities +have been resisted, how truly our life has been guided towards the +highest ends. + +The obvious lessons are:- + +1. Be discreet in your importunity. Two parables are devoted to the +inculcation of importunity. And it is a duty to which our own +intolerable cravings drive us. But there is an importunity which +offends God. There is a spiritual instinct which warns us when we are +transgressing the bounds of propriety; a perception whereby Paul +discerned, when he had prayed thrice for the removal of the thorn in +his flesh, that it would not be removed. There are things, about +which a heavenly-minded person feels it to be unbecoming to be +over-solicitous; and there are things regarding which it is somehow +borne in upon us that we are not to attain them. There are natural +disabilities, physical or mental or social weaknesses and +embarrassments, regarding which we sometimes cannot but cry out to +God for relief, and yet as we cry we feel that they will not be +removed, and that we must learn to bear the burden cheerfully. + +2. On the other hand, we must not be false in prayer. We must utter +to God our real desires in their actual intensity; while at the same +time we must learn to moderate desires which we see to be unpleasing +to God. We must learn to say with truth: + + Not what we wish but what we want + Thy favouring grace supply; + The good unasked, in mercy grant, + The ill, though asked, deny. + +Learn why God does not make the coveted blessing accessible to you, +and you will learn to pray freely and wisely. Try to discover whether +there is not some peculiar advantage attaching to your present +state--some more wholesome example you can furnish, some more helpful +attitude towards others; some healthier exercise of the manlier +graces of Christianity, which could not be maintained were your +request granted. + +3. If your life is marred by the gift you have wrung by your +importunity from a reluctant God, be wise and humble in your dealing +with that gift. If you have suddenly and painfully learned that in +the ordinary-looking circumstances of your life God is touching you +at every point, and if you clearly see that in giving you the fruit +of your desires He is punishing you, there is one only way by which +you can advance to a favourable settlement, and that is by a real +submission to God. Perhaps in no circumstances is a man more tempted +to break with God. At first he cannot reconcile himself to the idea +that ruin should be the result of prayer, and he is inclined to say, +If this be the result of waiting on God, the better course is to +refuse His guidance. In his heart he knows he is wrong, but there is +an appearance of justice in what he says, and it is so painful to +have the heart broken, to admit we have been foolish and wrong, and +humbly to beseech God to repair the disasters our own self-will has +wrought. + + +SHAME ON ACCOUNT OF GOD'S DISPLEASURE. + +"And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her +face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out from +the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in +again."--NUMBERS xii. 14. + +The incident recorded in this chapter is of a painful character. +Petty jealousies discovered themselves in the most distinguished +family of Israel. Through the robes of the anointed and sacred High +Priest the throbbings of a heart stirred with evil passion were +discernible. Aaron and Miriam could not bear that even their own +brother should occupy a Position of exceptional dignity, and with +ignorant pretentiousness aspired to equality with him. It is to the +punishment of this sin that our attention is here called. This +punishment fell directly on Miriam, possibly because the person of +the High Priest was sacred, and had he been incapacitated all Israel +would have suffered in their representative; possibly because the +sin, as it shows traces of a peculiarly feminine jealousy, was +primarily the sin of Miriam; and partly because, in her punishment, +Aaron suffered a sympathetic shame, as is apparent from his, +impassioned appeal to Moses in her behalf. + +The noteworthy feature of the incident and its most impressive lesson +are found in the fact that, although the healing and forgiveness +sought for Miriam were not refused, God is represented as resenting +the speedy oblivion of the offence on account of which the leprosy +had been sent and of the Divine displeasure incurred. There was cause +to apprehend that the whole matter might be too quickly wiped out and +forgotten, and that the sinners, reinstated in their old positions, +should think too lightly of their offence. This detrimental +suddenness God takes measures to prevent. Had an earthly father +manifested his displeasure as emphatically as God had now shown His, +Miriam could not for a time have held up her head. God desires that +the shame which results from a sense of His displeasure should last +at least as long. He therefore enjoins something like a penance; He +removes His stroke, but provides for the moral effects of it being +sufficiently impressed on the spirit to be permanent. + +Three points are involved in the words: + 1. Our keener sense of man's displeasure than of God's. + 2. The consequent possibility of accepting pardon with too light a heart. + 3. The means of preventing such acceptance of pardon. + +1. _We are much more sensitive to the displeasure of man than to that +of God._ Men have several methods of expressing their opinion of us +and their feeling toward us; and these methods are quite effectual +for their purpose. There is an instinctive and exact correspondence +between our feelings and every slightest hint of disapprobation on +the part of our acquaintances; and so readily and completely does the +mere carriage of any person convey to us his estimate of our conduct +that explicit denunciation is seldom required. The mode of expressing +opinion which is cited in the text is the most forcible Eastern mode +of expressing contempt. When one man spits in the face of another, no +one, and least of all the suffering party, can have the slightest +doubt of the esteem in which the one holds the other. If an insolent +enemy were to spit in the face of a slain foe, the dead man might +almost be expected to blush or to rise and avenge the insult. But +comparing His methods with such a method as this, God awards the palm +to His own for explicitness and emphasis. He speaks of the most +emphatic and unambiguous of human methods with a "but," as if it +could scarcely be compared with His expressions of displeasure. "If +her father had _but_ spit in her face"--if that were all--but +something immensely more expressive than that has happened to her. + +God, therefore, would have us ponder the punishments of sin, and find +in them the emphatic expressions of His judgment of our conduct and +of ourselves. He resents our shamelessness, and desires that we +consider His judgments till our callousness is removed. The case +stands thus: God. is long-suffering, slow to anger, not of a +fault-finding, everchiding nature, but most loving and most just; and +this God has recorded against us the strongest possible condemnation. +This God, who cannot do what is not most just, and who cannot make +mistakes, this unfurious and holy God, whose opinion of us represents +the very truth, has pronounced us to be wicked and worthless; and we +seem scarcely at all impressed by the declaration. God's judgment of +us is not only absolutely true, but it must also take effect; so that +what He has pronounced against us will be seen written in the facts +bearing upon and entering into our life. But, although we know this, +we are for the most part as unmoved as if in hearing God's judgment +pronounced against us we had heard but the sighing of the wind or any +other inarticulate, unintelligible sound. There is a climax of +ignominy in having excited in the Divine mind feelings of displeasure +against us. One might suppose a man would die of shame, and could not +bear to live conscious of having merited the condemnation and +punishment of such a Being; one might suppose that the breath of +God's disapproval would blast every blessing to us, and that so long +as we know ourselves displeasing to Him His sweetest gifts must be +bitter to us; but the coldness of a friend gives us more thought, and +the contempt of men as contemptible as ourselves affects us with a +more genuine confusion. + +God's demand, then, is reasonable. He would have us feel before Him +as much shame as we feel before men, the same kind of shame--shame +with the same blush and burning in it, not shame of any sublimated, +fictitious kind. He desires us individually to take thought, and to +say to ourselves: "Suppose a man had proved against me even a small +part of what is proved against me by God: Suppose some wise, just, +and honourable man had said of me and believed such things as God has +said: suppose he had said, and said truly, that I had robbed him, +betrayed trust, and was unworthy of his friendship, would the shame +be no more poignant than that which I feel when God denounces me?" +How trifling are the causes which make us blush before our fellows: a +little awkwardness, the slightest accident which makes us appear +blundering, some scarcely perceptible incongruity of dress, an +infinitesimal error in manner or in accent--anything is enough to +make us uneasy in the company of those we esteem. It is God's +reasonable demand that for those gross iniquities and bold +transgressions of which we are conscious we should manifest some +heartfelt shame--a shame that does not wholly lack the poignancy and +agitation of the confusion we feel in presence of human judgment. + +2. _The consequent possibility of accepting the pardon of sin with +too light a heart._ To ask for pardon Without real shame is to treat +sin lightly; and to treat sin lightly is to treat God lightly. +Nothing more effectually deadens the moral sense than: the habit of +asking pardon without a due sense of the evil of sin. We ask God to +forgive us our debts, and we do so in so inconsiderate a spirit that +we go straightway and contract heavier debts. The friend who repays +the ten pounds we had lent him and asks for a new loan of twenty, +does not commend himself to our approval. He is no better who accepts +pardon as if it cost God nothing. + +3. _The means of preventing a too light-hearted acceptance of +pardon._ Under the ceremonial prescriptions enjoined on Miriam lay +some moral efficacy. A person left for a full week without the camp +must, in separation from accustomed companionship, intercourse, and +occupations, have been thrown upon his or her own thoughts. No doubt +it is often while engaged in our ordinary occupations that the +strongest light is flashed upon our true spiritual condition. It is +while in the company of other people that we catch hints which seem +to interpret to us our past and reveal to us our present state. But +these glimpses and hints often pass without result, because we do not +find leisure to follow them up. There must be some kind of separation +from the camp if we are to know ourselves, some leisure gained for +quiet reflection. It is due to God that we be at some pains to +ascertain with precision our actual relation to His will. + +The very feeling of being outcast, unworthy to mingle with former +associates and friends, must have been humbling and instructive. +Miriam had been the foremost woman in Israel; now she would gladly +have changed places with the least known and be lost among the throng +from the eye of wonder, pity, contempt or cruel triumph. All sin +makes us unworthy of fellowship with the people of God. And the +feeling that we are thus unworthy, instead of being lightly and +callously dismissed, should be allowed to penetrate and stir the +conscience. + +If the leprosy departed from Miriam as soon as Moses prayed, yet the +shock to her physical system, and the revulsion of feeling consequent +on being afflicted with so loathsome a disease, would tell upon her +throughout the week. All consequences of sin, which are prolonged +after pardon, have their proper effect and use in begetting shame. We +are not to evade what conscience tells us of the connection between +our sin and many of the difficulties of our life. We are not to turn +away from this as a morbid view of providence; still less are we to +turn away because in this light sin seems so real and so hideous. +Miriam must have thought, "If this disgusting condition of my body, +this lassitude and nervous trembling, this fear and shame to face my +fellows, be the just consequence of my envy and pride, how abominable +must these sins be." And we are summoned to similar thoughts. If this +pursuing evil, this heavy clog that drags me down, this insuperable +difficulty, this disease, or this spiritual and moral weakness be the +fair natural consequence of my sin, if these things are in the +natural world what my sin is in the spiritual, then my sin must be a +much greater evil than I was taking it to be. + +But especially are we rebuked for all light-heartedness in our +estimate of sin by remembering Him who went without the camp bearing +our reproach. It is when we see Christ rejected of men, and outcast +for us and for our sin, that we feel true shame. To find one who so +loves me and enters into my position that He feels more keenly than +myself the shame I have incurred; to find one who so understands +God's holiness and is Himself so pure that my sin affects Him with +the profoundest shame--this is what pierces my heart with an +altogether new compunction, with an arrow that cannot be shaken out. +And this connection of Christ with our sin is actual. If Paul felt +himself so bound up with his fellow-Christians that he blushed for +them when they erred, and could say with truth, "Who is weak and I am +not weak, who is offended and I turn not?" much more truly may Christ +say, Who sins and I am not ashamed? And if He thus enters into a +living sympathy with us, shall not we enter into sympathy with Him, +and go without the camp bearing His reproach, which, indeed, is ours; +striving, though it cost us much shame and self-denial, to enter +heartily into His feelings at our sins, and not letting our union to +Him be a mere name or an inoperative tie which effects no real +assimilation in spirit between us and Him. + + +NAAMAN CURED. + +There is no Scripture story better known than that of Naaman, the +Syrian. It is memorable not only because artistically told, but +because it is so full of human feeling and rapid incident, and so +fertile in significant ideas. The little maid, whose touch set in +motion this drama, is an instance of the adaptability of the Jew. +Nothing seemed less likely than that this captive girl should carry +with her into Syria anything of much value to anyone. Possessions she +had none. Friends she might have, only if she could make them. As a +captive in a foreign land she might reasonably have put aside all +hope of obtaining any influence, and might naturally have sought only +to benefit herself. But she was a girl with a heart. She at once took +an interest in her new home, and saw with sorrowful surprise that +wealth could not purchase immunity from participation in the ordinary +human distresses, nor guarded gates forbid disease to pass in. +Brooding from day to day over the stories she had heard of Elisha's +power, and listening to her mistress's account of the failure of +still another attempted cure, she exclaims with childlike confidence +and earnestness, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in +Samaria! then would he recover him of his leprosy." And thus her +natural interest in the troubles of other people, her cheerful and +spirited acceptance of her position, and the sense that taught her to +make the most of it, brought her this great opportunity of doing an +important service. No one can lay the blame of his uselessness and +lack of good influence on his lack of opportunity, if he is in +contact with men at all, for wherever there are human beings there +are sorrows to be sympathised with, wants to be relieved, characters +to be fashioned. + +And while this Jewish maid was utilising her captivity, her parents, +if alive, would be eating their hearts out with anxiety and anguish, +imagining for their daughter the worst of destinies. Instead of the +horrors which usually follow such a captivity, she is cared for in a +comfortable home. Little did the parents, think that there was any +work to be done in Syria, which none could so well do as their little +girl. The Lord had need of her, and knew that when the parents heard +all they would not resent that their daughter had been thus employed. +None of us see much further into the ways of Providence than those +parents saw. Now, as then, those who are bound up in one another are +separated, in order that ends even more important than the growth and +gratification of natural affections may be attained. + +Significant, also, is the dismay of Joram, King of Israel, when he +received the letter bidding him find healing for Naaman. So little +did he believe in Elisha's power that he concluded the King of Syria +sought to pick a quarrel with him by asking him for a favour he knew +he could not grant. But while the king is helplessly tearing his +clothes in a passion of despair, Elisha sends him a message which, at +least for the present, gives him some calmness: "Why hast thou rent +thy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is +a prophet in Israel." Elisha is ashamed that the King of Israel +should have exhibited such weakness before a foreign potentate. He +feels that the honour of Israel's God is implicated, and boldly takes +upon himself the responsibility of the cure. Bold it certainly was, +and tells of a confident faith that God will be faithful to His +servants. The king had no such faith. There was a power resident in +Israel of which he took no account. Like many other governments, this +Israelitish monarchy was unaware of its own resources, because it did +not condescend to reckon what was spiritual. Frequently in civil +history you find governments brought face to face with matters for +which they are, with all their resources, incompetent. In modern +Europe, and as much in our own country as in others, everything gives +place to politics. Nothing stirs so much excitement. Differences in +religion do not sever men as differences in politics do. We should, +therefore, recognise what is here suggested, and should +counter-balance an undue regard for political movements and political +power by the remembrance that the hardest tasks of all are +accomplished by quite another power, and by a power which the +politician often overlooks. What have we seen time after time in our +own Parliament, but the civil power rending its garments over evils +which it cannot cure? Are not the remedies which have been proposed +for prevalent vices absurdly incompetent? And it is the Church's +shame if she cannot step forward and confidently say, You cannot deal +with such things; hand them over to me. There must always be +"distempers of society" which rot the very life out of a nation, and +for which legislation and criminal law are wholly inadequate. +Honest-minded men who will not trifle with alarming abuses, who will +not pretend they have found a remedy, must simply rend their garments +in their presence. And it is well that in our day, as in others, +there are men who, trusting in personal effort and Divine aid, +practically say to Government, "leave these things to us." Christian +charity and practical wisdom have, in our day effected a good deal +more than the healing of one leprous grandee, even if as yet the +spiritual force that resides in the community is only spasmodically +and partially applied to existing evil. + +Elisha's treatment of Naaman was intended to bring him into direct +and conscious dependence on God; or, in other words, to produce +humility and faith. Some persons are crushed and mastered by pain and +sickness, and some gain in spiritual worth what they lose in physical +strength. But Naaman's disease had as yet done little to instruct +him. He came as a great man, with his servants, and chariots, and +piles of money, to purchase a cure from a skilled man. He did not see +what Elisha plainly saw, that if this blessing came at all, it must +come from Israel's God, and that with Jehovah no man Could barter or +be on bargaining terms, but must accept freely what was freely given. +Therefore Elisha refuses even to see him, that Naaman might +understand it was with God he had to do; and by refusing a single +penny of payment he compelled the Syrian to humble himself and accept +his cure as a gift. + +And probably the incident finds a place in the sacred history because +it marked an important step in the knowledge of God. It was an early +instance of the Conquests which the God of Israel was to make among +the heathen, a distinct and legible proof that whoever from among the +outlying nations appealed to Him for help would receive the blessing +he sought. But it was more than this, it emphasized the freeness of +all God's gifts. Nothing could be purchased from Jehovah; everything +must be received as a gift. This was a new idea to the heathen, and +probably to many of the Israelites also. Certainly it is an idea that +is only dimly apprehended by ourselves. Our dealing with one another +is to so large an extent governed by the idea that nothing can be had +for nothing, that we carry this idea into our dealings with God, and +expect only what we can earn and claim. It is a wholesome pride that +prompts us to work at anything rather than be dependent on other men, +but it is a most unwholesome and ignorant pride that forbids us to +acknowledge our dependence on God, and to accept freely what He +freely gives. Until we learn to live in God, to own Him as alone +having life in Himself, and to accept from Him life and all that +sustains it, both physical and spiritual, we are not recognising the +truth and living in it. Our good deeds and good feelings, our +repentances and righteous intentions and endeavours, are as much out +of place as a means of procuring God's favour and help as Naaman's +talents of silver and pieces of gold. We have God's favour +irrespective of our merit, and we must humble ourselves to accept it +as His free gift, which we could not earn and have not earned. + +Naaman no sooner saw that Jehovah was a living and true God than he +perceived that certain practical difficulties would result from this +belief. Sometimes men do not connect their belief with their +practice; they do not let their left hand know what their right hand +is doing. But Naaman . foresaw that, as hitherto, he would still be +expected to enter the temple of the god Rimmon when his master went +to worship. And he wished Elisha's authority for this measure of +conformity. + +In our own country men have been severely tested by acts of +conformity. And nothing gives the conscience of the whole people so +decided a lift as when men prefer disgrace or death to a conformity +which they believe to be wrong. + +Had Naaman been as uncompromising as Daniel, who would not conform +even so far as to pray in a different corner of his room, or as the +Christian soldiers who suffered death rather than throw a pinch of +incense on the altar before the Emperor's image, possibly Elisha +would have given him greater commendation than the mere acquiescence +pronounced in the words, "Go in peace." + +But in exculpation of Naaman it is to be said that he did not hide +his new conviction, but built an altar to Jehovah in Damascus. And +especially it is to be remarked that in his case these acts of +conformity were not proposed as a test of his adherence to the +religion of the country; and this makes all the difference. Had +Naaman's master commanded him to bow in the house of Rimmon as a test +of his acknowledgment of the Syrian god, Naaman would have refused; +but so long as it was a mere act or courtesy to his master, the +formal act of a courtier, from which no inferences could be drawn, he +might reasonably continue it. To receive the communion kneeling is +customary in some churches, and so long as one is allowed to put his +own interpretation on the attitude, no harm can come of it. But at +one time this attitude was the test by which two great and +antagonistic parties in England were distinguished from one another; +a meaning was put upon the act which made it impossible to every man +who could not accept that meaning. Conformity then was sin, unless +conviction went with the outward act. In many points of conduct this +is a distinction of importance. There are many things which we may do +so far as the thing itself is concerned, but which we may not do when +the public mind is agitated upon that point and will draw certain +inferences from our conduct. There are many things which to us have +no moral significance at all, any more than sitting at one side or +other of our table; but if a moral significance is attached to such +things by other people, and if they invite us to do them or to leave +them undone as a test of our attitude towards God or Christianity or +of our moral bent, then we must beware of misleading other people and +defiling our own conscience. Bowing in the house of Rimmon meant +nothing new to Naaman; it was not worship; it was no more than +turning round a street corner when the king had hold of his arm. To +him the idol was now, as to Paul, "nothing in the world." But if the +king had said, "You must bow to show the people that you worship +Syria's god," then plainly the bowing would have been unjustifiable. +And similarly, if a matter which to us is of no moral significance +becomes a test of our disposition or attitude towards truth, we must +be guided in our conduct not solely by our own view of the +indifference of the matter, but also by the significance attached to +it by other people. There are other points of conduct regarding which +we have no need to consult any prophet; points in which we are asked +to conform to a custom we know to be bad, or to follow and +countenance other men in what we know to be unwholesome for us. To +conform in such cases is to train ourselves in hypocrisy; it is to +say Lord, Lord, while we allow the world actually to rule our life. + + +THE LAME MAN AT THE TEMPLE GATE. + +ACTS III. 1-8. + +Although this miracle was followed by consequences so serious as to +make it a landmark in the history of those early days of the Church, +it was not itself the result of deliberation or contrivance. Peter +and John were, as usual, on their way to evening prayer in the +Temple. These two men had much to gain from one another, and they +kept much together. In study, in business, in Christian work, in life +generally everyone is the better of the friend who supplements his +own character. Happy he whose closest friend of all provokes only to +love and good works, and calls out only what is best in him. It is, +if not essential to the growth and health of the spiritual life, most +desirable to have a friend with whom intercourse is absolutely free +and frank; one to whom it is the natural thing to explain the actual +state of the spirit, and utter our most sceptical or our most devout +thoughts, and who can be trusted to respond charitably, +confidentially, and wisely to all communications. The Church owes +much to the friendship of Peter and John, as well as to each +individually. + +On how small a contingency did this miracle hinge. Had Peter happened +to have had a penny he would have dropped it in the beggar's palm and +passed on, leaving him content with the alms and unconscious of all +he had missed. And it is sometimes well for us, as for Peter, that we +are baulked in our first intentions towards our friends and our first +attempts at being of use. It is well, for example, that we cannot at +once rescue every one out of sickness and poverty, for thereby our +love is compelled to a deeper consideration and to a thousand +kindnesses which find their way to the heart and leave for ever a +treasure of happy memory. Our inability to gratify the obvious and +clamant want of our friend keeps our thought hovering around him +until, at last, we discern how we can confer a better and more +enduring, because a more difficult and thoughtful, gift. + +Probably Peter had often passed this lame man before. To-day the two +Apostles have not together as much as the poor widow with her two +mites, and they are passing and thinking as little as we sometimes +think of leaving the needy to the charity of others, when suddenly it +occurs to Peter that, after all, he has what may be of more service +to the beggar than silver or gold. "What I have, that give I thee." +The best help we can give is not that which we can give with the +hand, and which is current coin, which anyone else may give, and +which is of the same value, whoever gives it; but rather that which +we communicate from our own heart and soul, and which is our own +peculiar treasure--the accumulation of a life's experience. To add a +little to anyone's outward comfort is always worth doing; but to +impart to another what becomes life and strength and encouragement +perennially within himself is surely better. Frequently the help we +chiefly need is nothing outward and material, but that which one bare +human spirit can render to another. But alas! when thrown back upon +our inward resources, we are so conscious of our poverty that we +think sixpence or a shilling is probably of greater value than +anything which can come straight from our spirit. + +Of the lame man little is told us which may give us a clue to his +state of mind. He was one of those who had been left unhealed by +Christ. Often must Christ have passed him, and yet He had never +spoken nor laid healing hand upon him. Perhaps during the long hours +the lame man sometimes thought of this, and bewailed his own +negligence in not using opportunities now for ever gone. He could +only look with envy and self-reproach on those who had once been +blind, or, like himself, lame, and whom he now saw in perfect health. +His feelings were akin to the remorse of those who imagine that their +day of grace is gone, and exclaim : + + Thy saints are comforted, I know, + And love Thy house of prayer; + I therefore go where others go, + But find no comfort there. + +There is no despair worth calling despair but despair of salvation. +But what Christ has not done, an Apostle may do. The lesser +instrument may effect what the more powerful has not effected. A +feebler ministry may in some cases produce results which the abler +ministry has not produced. + +Another feature of the beggar's state of mind appears in listless, +mechanical way in which he asks an alms. He had not even troubled to +look up. Too commonly human prayer is the monotonous whine of the +beggar that scarcely troubles to consider to whom the petition is +addressed. Had this man taken the trouble to scan the appearance of +those fishermen he would have seen that silver or gold could not be +expected. But he had fallen into one chant, uttered as soon as the +shadow of the passer-by fell upon him. It is a picture of the unreal +and indifferent spirit in which much prayer is offered. There is no +harm in asking for certain benefits every day of our life, and no +harm in using the same words, if we have chosen these words as the +fittest. But there is harm in allowing a form of words to engender +monotony and lifelessness in the spirit, so that we never consider +carefully the object of our worship and what it is fit that He should +give. This cripple had come to be content with the few coppers which +would furnish his supper and bed; all the great world with its +pleasures, its enterprise, its high places lay quite beyond his hope; +and thus does one find his own soul dying to all that lies beyond +daily needs, and forgetful of the great and glorious things that are +written of the heirs of God. It is surely a great art to know "who it +is that speaks to us, and what is the gift of God." + +Peter's first care was to arouse the man. "Look on us!" The man's +attention was commanded. All his life he had been training to know +faces, to know who would give and who would not give, who would not +give if others were looking, and who would give at the gate of the +Temple, dropping the coin as into an alms box, without any regard to +the want of the beggar. One glance at the frank face of Peter tells +him he is about to receive something. That is a man to be trusted. +This is a good beginning. Trust in Peter maybe the first step to +trust in Christ. But many rest at the earliest stage, believing the +messenger, but not coming into personal relations with Christ. Many +persons wish to be better than they are, and are prepared to do much +and sacrifice much in order to attain to a satisfactory spiritual +state. What is lacking is personal appeal to Christ. They must +recognise, with a conviction wrought in their own mind, that Jesus +Christ is the source of spiritual power, and they must for +themselves, appeal directly to Him. + +The boldness with which Peter forms or, it might almost be said, +forces this personal relation to Christ in the case of this man is +surprising. Without a moment's hesitation or inquiry as to whether +the man's faith is quickened, Peter cries, "In the name of Jesus +Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk," taking him by the right hand +and lifting him up. Peter could not confer health upon the man in +spite of his state of mind. If the man had so chosen he might have +continued to lie where he was, a cripple. But simultaneously with +Peter's faith and authoritative command, the man's own faith was +quickened. He believed that in this name, that is, at the command and +in the strength of Christ, he could get up; and he arose. It was the +contagious confidence of Peter which begat faith in the lame beggar's +spirit. And there could not be a more instructive instance of the +suddenness with which a human being can be brought into saving +relation to Christ. When Peter began his sentence the lame man had no +faith, yet he boldly said to him, "In the name of Jesus Christ arise +and walk." Men may always thus be summoned to believe on the spot and +to act out the commands of Christ. + +But in order that such a summons be effectual, two qualities in the +apostle are needful. He must not fear failure or rebuff. He must have +that humility which seeks the good of others regardless of its own +reputation. So long as we fear to expose our own feelings, and to +show that we are deeply concerned about the welfare of another +person, we shall do little in the way of inspiring faith. Our mouth +is kept shut by the fear of fruitlessly exposing our feelings. We are +not sure how our advances will be received. We have not, the loving +humility which braves risks to self. + +We must also ourselves have lively faith if we are to communicate +faith to others. It was Peter's own faith which carried this man's +unbelief by storm. In presence of Peter's confidence he could not but +believe. Most men are far more moved by the contagion of others +strong feeling and example than by arguments or verbal appeals. For +the diffusion of faith it is a man like Peter that is wanted, who +overleaps the obstacles which other men would stop to examine; a man +like Luther, erring perhaps in fine points of doctrine, but giving +impetus and force to the whole movement in Christ's kingdom, and +sweeping along with him a host of weaker and dependent spirits. If we +are not propagating faith in Christ, it is mainly because our our +faith is meagre and timorous. If we are not producing Christians it +is because we are not ourselves in the present experience of His +mighty power. And while this is so, our conduct betrays the weakness +of our faith, and we chill the kindling warmth in other souls instead +of fanning it into flame, and all that proceeds from us is as the +frosty wind of an untoward spring-time, that unseasonably marks every +springing thing with death. + +Possessed of those qualities, any one may communicate that best of +all gifts, faith in Christ. The joy of Peter, in discovering that he +could impart health and brightness to those who were oppressed by +various human ills, is a joy which may be repeated, and was meant to +be repeated, in the experience of every Christian. We are not to look +hopelessly on the world at large or on our own friends. + +We are not to think that the pleasure we have in being of substantial +service to a friend, we cannot have in the case of that which is most +substantial. We are to believe that Christ now has all power in +heaven and on earth, and that those who have experienced this power +are expected to be the channel of its communication to others. The +faith which strengthens and elevates our own spirit may be +communicated, upon our effort and prayer, to the heart of others. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's How to become like Christ, by Marcus Dods + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13460 *** |