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diff --git a/21190-h/21190-h.htm b/21190-h/21190-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c3725b --- /dev/null +++ b/21190-h/21190-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,29585 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture: Second Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, First and Second Thessalonians and First Timothy, by Alexander Maclaren, D. D., Litt. D. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + text-indent: 1.25em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + img {border: 0;} + .tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + ins {text-decoration:none; border-bottom: thin dotted gray;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify;} + + .bbox {border: solid 2px; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + .unindent {margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + .right {text-align: right;} + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +Project Gutenberg's Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Expositions of Holy Scripture + Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians Chapters + I to End. Colossians, Thessalonians, and First Timothy. + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Release Date: April 19, 2007 [EBook #21190] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + + + +<h1><i>EXPOSITIONS OF<br /> +HOLY SCRIPTURE</i></h1> + +<h2>ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.</h2> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2> +SECOND CORINTHIANS,<br /> +GALATIANS,<br /> +AND PHILIPPIANS</h2> + +<h3>CHAPTERS I TO END</h3> + +<h2>COLOSSIANS, THESSALONIANS,<br /> +AND FIRST TIMOTHY<br /></h2> + +<div class='center'><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> +NEW YORK<br /> +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY<br /> +</div> + + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> + + +<h2><i>EXPOSITIONS OF<br /> +HOLY SCRIPTURE</i><br /></h2> + +<h3>ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.<br /></h3> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<h2>SECOND CORINTHIANS<br /></h2> + +<h3><i>Chaps. VII to End</i><br /></h3> + +<h2>GALATIANS AND<br /> +PHILIPPIANS<br /></h2> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents: Part 1"> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>II. CORINTHIANS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Hope and Holiness</span> (2 Cor. vii. 1)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sorrow according to God</span> (2 Cor. vii. 10)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_8'>8</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Giving and Asking</span> (2 Cor. viii. 1-12)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rich yet Poor</span> (2 Cor. viii. 9)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_27'>27</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Willing and not Doing</span> (2 Cor. viii. 11)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_36'>36</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">All Grace Abounding</span> (2 Cor. ix. 8)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">God's Unspeakable Gift</span> (2 Cor. ix. 15)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_50'>50</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Militant Message</span> (2 Cor. x. 5 and 6, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_57'>57</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a></span><span class="smcap">Simplicity towards Christ</span> (2 Cor. xi. 3)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_65'>65</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Strength in Weakness</span> (2 Cor. xii. 8, 9)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Not Yours but You</span> (2 Cor. xii. 14)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_83'>83</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />GALATIANS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">From Centre to Circumference</span> (Gal. ii. 20)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_91'>91</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Evil Eye and the Charm</span> (Gal. iii. 1)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_100'>100</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Lessons of Experience</span> (Gal. iii. 4)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_109'>109</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Universal Prison</span> (Gal. iii. 22)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Son Sent</span> (Gal. iv. 4, 5, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_126'>126</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">What Makes a Christian: Circumcision or Faith?</span> (Gal. v. 6)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'>'<span class="smcap">Walk in the Spirit</span>' (Gal. v. 16)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_153'>153</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Fruit of the Spirit</span> (Gal. v. 22, 23)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_162'>162</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span><span class="smcap">Burden-Bearing</span> (Gal. vi. 2-5)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_171'>171</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Doing Good to All</span> (Gal. vi. 10)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_180'>180</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Owner's Brand</span> (Gal. vi. 17)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_189'>189</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />PHILIPPIANS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Loving Greetings</span> (Phil. i. 1-8, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_200'>200</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Comprehensive Prayer</span> (Phil. i. 9-11, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_206'>206</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Prisoner's Triumph</span> (Phil. i. 12-20, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_211'>211</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Strait betwixt Two</span> (Phil. i. 21-25)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_219'>219</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Citizens of Heaven</span> (Phil. i. 27, 28)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_233'>233</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Plea for Unity</span> (Phil. ii. 1-4, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_244'>244</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Descent of the Word</span> (Phil. ii. 5-8, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_253'>253</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Ascent of Jesus</span> (Phil. ii. 9-11, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_260'>260</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Work out your Own Salvation</span> (Phil. ii. 12, 13)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_268'>268</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span><span class="smcap">Copies of Jesus</span> (Phil. ii. 14-16, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_281'>281</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Willing Sacrifice</span> (Phil. ii. 16-18, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_287'>287</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Paul and Timothy</span> (Phil. ii. 19-24, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_295'>295</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Paul and Epaphroditus</span> (Phil. ii. 25-30, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_305'>305</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Preparing to End</span> (Phil. iii. 1-3, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_311'>311</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Loss of All</span> (Phil. iii. 4-8, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_321'>321</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Gain of Christ</span> (Phil. iii. 8, 9, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_328'>328</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Saving Knowledge</span> (Phil. iii. 10, 11, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_336'>336</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Laid Hold of and Laying Hold</span> (Phil. iii. 12)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_348'>348</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Race and the Goal</span> (Phil. iii. 13, 14)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_359'>359</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Soul's Perfection</span> (Phil. iii. 15)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_369'>369</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Rule of the Road</span> (Phil. iii. 16)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_381'>381</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Warnings and Hopes</span> (Phil. iii. 17-21, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_391'>391</a></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>II. CORINTHIANS</h2> + +<h2>HOPE AND HOLINESS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Having therefore these promises . . . let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness +of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> vii. 1.</p></div> + + +<p>It is often made a charge against professing Christians +that their religion has very little to do with common +morality. The taunt has sharpened multitudes of +gibes and been echoed in all sorts of tones: it is very +often too true and perfectly just, but if ever it is, let +it be distinctly understood that it is not so because of +Christian men's religion but in spite of it. Their +bitterest enemy does not condemn them half so emphatically +as their own religion does: the sharpest censure +of others is not so sharp as the rebukes of the New +Testament. If there is one thing which it insists upon +more than another, it is that religion without morality +is nothing—that the one test to which, after all, every +man must submit is, what sort of character has he and +how has he behaved—is he pure or foul? All high-flown +pretension, all fervid emotion has at last to face +the question which little children ask, 'Was he a good +man?'</p> + +<p>The Apostle has been speaking about very high and +mystical truths, about all Christians being the temple +of God, about God dwelling in men, about men and +women being His sons and daughters; these are the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span> +very truths on which so often fervid imaginations +have built up a mystical piety that had little to do +with the common rules of right and wrong. But Paul +keeps true to the intensely practical purpose of his +preaching and brings his heroes down to the prosaic +earth with the homely common sense of this far-reaching +exhortation, which he gives as the fitting +conclusion for such celestial visions.</p> + +<p>I. A Christian life should be a life of constant self-purifying.</p> + +<p>This epistle is addressed to the church of God which +is at Corinth with all the <i>saints</i> which are in all Achaia.</p> + +<p>Looking out over that wide region, Paul saw +scattered over godless masses a little dispersed company +to each of whom the sacred name of Saint +applied. They had been deeply stained with the vices +of their age and place, and after a black list of criminals +he had had to say to them 'such were some of you,' +and he lays his finger on the miracle that had changed +them and hesitates not to say of them all, 'But ye are +washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in +the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our +God.'</p> + +<p>The first thing, then, that every Christian has is a +cleansing which accompanies forgiveness, and however +his garment may have been 'spotted by the flesh,' it +is 'washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.' +Strange cleansing by which black stains melt out of +garments plunged in red blood! With the cleansing +of forgiveness and justification comes, wherever they +come, the gift of the Holy Spirit—a new life springing +up within the old life, and untouched by any contact +with its evils. These gifts belong universally to the +initial stage of the Christian life and require for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span> +their possession only the receptiveness of faith. They +admit of no co-operation of human effort, and to +possess them men have only to 'take the things that +are freely given to them of God.' But of the subsequent +stages of the Christian life, the laborious and +constant effort to develop and apply that free gift is +as essential as, in the earliest stage, it is worse than +useless. The gift received has to be wrought into the +very substance of the soul, and to be wrought out in +all the endless varieties of life and conduct. Christians +are cleansed to begin with, but they have still daily to +cleanse themselves: the leaven is hid in the three +measures of meal, but ''tis a life-long task till the +lump be leavened,' and no man, even though he has the +life that was in Jesus within him, will grow up 'into +the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ' +unless, by patient and persistent effort, he is ever +pressing on to 'the things that are before' and daily +striving to draw nearer to the prize of his high calling. +We are cleansed, but we have still to cleanse ourselves.</p> + +<p>Yet another paradox attaches to the Christian life, +inasmuch as God cleanses us, but we have to cleanse +ourselves. The great truth that the spirit of God in +a man is the fontal source of all his goodness, and that +Christ's righteousness is given to us, is no pillow on +which to rest an idle head, but should rather be a +trumpet-call to effort which is thereby made certain of +success. If we were left to the task of self-purifying +by our own efforts we might well fling it up as impossible. +It is as easy for a man to lift himself from +the ground by gripping his own shoulders as it is for +us to rise to greater heights of moral conduct by our +own efforts; but if we can believe that God gives the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span> +impulse after purity, and the vision of what purity is, +and imparts the power of attaining it, strengthening +at once our dim sight and stirring our feeble desires +and energising our crippled limbs, then we can 'run +with patience the race that is set before us.'</p> + +<p>We must note the thoroughness of the cleansing +which the Apostle here enjoins. What is to be got rid +of is not this or that defect or vice, but '<i>all</i> filthiness +of flesh and spirit.' The former, of course, refers +primarily to sins of impurity which in the eyes of the +Greeks of Corinth were scarcely sins at all, and the +latter to a state of mind when fancy, imagination, and +memory were enlisted in the service of evil. Both are +rampant in our day as they were in Corinth. Much +modern literature and the new gospel of 'Art for Art's +sake' minister to both, and every man carries in himself +inclinations to either. It is no partial cleansing +with which Paul would have us to be satisfied: '<i>all</i>' +filthiness is to be cast out. Like careful housewives +who are never content to cease their scrubbing while +a speck remains upon furniture, Christian men are to +regard their work as unfinished as long as the least +trace of the unclean thing remains in their flesh or in +their spirit. The ideal may be far from being realised +at any moment, but it is at the peril of the whole +sincerity and peacefulness of their lives if they, in the +smallest degree, lower the perfection of their ideal in +deference to the imperfection of their realisation of it.</p> + +<p>It must be abundantly clear from our own experience +that any such cleansing is a very long process. No +character is made, whether it be good or bad, but by +a slow building up: no man becomes most wicked all +at once, and no man is sanctified by a wish or at a +jump. As long as men are in a world so abounding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span> +with temptation, 'he that is washed' will need daily +to 'wash his feet' that have been stained in the foul +ways of life, if he is to be 'clean every whit.'</p> + +<p>As long as the spirit is imprisoned in the body and +has it for its instrument there will be need for much +effort at purifying. We must be content to overcome +one foe at a time, and however strong may be the +pilgrim's spirit in us, we must be content to take one +step at a time, and to advance by very slow degrees. +Nor is it to be forgotten that as we get nearer what +we ought to be, we should be more conscious of the +things in which we are not what we ought to be. The +nearer we get to Jesus Christ, the more will our +consciences be enlightened as to the particulars in +which we are still distant from Him. A speck on a +polished shield will show plain that would never have +been seen on a rusty one. The saint who is nearest +God will think more of his sins than the man who is +furthest from him. So new work of purifying will +open before us as we grow more pure, and this will +last as long as life itself.</p> + +<p>II. The Christian life is to be not merely a continual +getting rid of evil, but a continual becoming good.</p> + +<p>Paul here draws a distinction between cleansing +ourselves from filthiness and perfecting holiness, and +these two, though closely connected and capable of +being regarded as being but the positive and negative +sides of one process, are in reality different, though +in practice the former is never achieved without the +latter, nor the latter accomplished without the former. +Holiness is more than purity; it is consecration. That +is holy which is devoted to God, and a saint is one +whose daily effort is to devote his whole self, in all his +faculties and nature, thoughts, heart, and will, more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span> +and more, to God, and to receive into himself more and +more of God.</p> + +<p>The purifying which Paul has been enjoining will +only be successful in the measure of our consecration, +and the consecration will only be genuine in the +measure of our purifying. Herein lies the broad and +blessed distinction between the world's morality and +Christian ethics. The former fails just because it +lacks the attitude towards a Person who is the very +foundation of Christian morality, and changes a hard +and impossible law into love. There is no more futile +waste of breath than that of teachers of morality who +have no message but Be good! Be good! and no motive +by which to urge it but the pleasures of virtue and the +disadvantages of vice, but when the vagueness of the +abstract thought of goodness solidifies into a living +Person and that Person makes his appeal first to our +hearts and bids us love him, and then opens before us +the unstained light of his own character and beseeches +us to be like him, the repellent becomes attractive: the +impossible becomes possible, and 'if ye love Me keep +My commandments' becomes a constraining power and +a victorious impulse in our lives.</p> + +<p>III. The Christian life of purifying and consecration +is to be animated by hope and fear.</p> + +<p>The Apostle seems to connect hope more immediately +with the cleansing, and holiness with the fear of God, +but probably both hope and fear are in his mind as the +double foundation on which both purity and consecration +are to rest, or the double emotion which is to +produce them both. These promises refer directly to +the immediately preceding words, 'I will be a Father +unto you and ye shall be My sons and daughters,' +in which all the blessings which God can give or men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span> +can receive are fused together in one lustrous and all-comprehensive +whole. So all the great truths of the +Gospel and all the blessed emotions of sonship which +can spring up in a human heart are intended to find +their practical result in holy and pure living. For this +end God has spoken to us out of the thick darkness; +for this end Christ has come into our darkness; for +this end He has lived; for this end He died; for this +end He rose again; for this end He sends His Spirit +and administers the providence of the world. The +purpose of all the Divine activity as regards us men is +not merely to make us happy, but to make us happy +in order that we may be good. He whom what he +calls his religion has only saved from the wrath of God +and the fear of hell has not learned the alphabet of +religion. Unless God's promises evoke men's goodness +it will be of little avail that they seem to quicken +their hope. Joyful confidence in our sonship is only +warranted in the measure in which we are like our +Father. Hope often deludes and makes men dreamy +and unpractical. It generally paints pictures far lovelier +than the realities, and without any of their shadows; +it is too often the stimulus and ally of ignoble lives, +and seldom stirs to heroism or endurance, but its many +defects are not due to itself but to its false choice of +objects on which to fix. The hope which is lifted from +trailing along the earth and twining round creatures +and which rises to grasp these promises ought to be, +and in the measure of its reality is the ally of all +patient endurance and noble self-sacrifice. Its vision +of coming good is all directed to the coming Christ, +and 'every man that hath this hope in Him, purifieth +himself even as He is pure.'</p> + +<p>In Paul's experience there was no contrariety between<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span> +hope set on Jesus and fear directed towards God. It +is in the fear of God that holiness is to be perfected. +There is a fear which has no torment. Yet more, there +is no love in sons or daughters without fear. The +reverential awe with which God's children draw near +to God has in it nothing slavish and no terror. Their +love is not only joyful but lowly. The worshipping +gaze upon His Divine majesty, the reverential and +adoring contemplation of His ineffable holiness, and +the poignant consciousness, after all effort, of the +distance between us and Him will bow the hearts that +love Him most in lowliest prostration before Him. +These two, hope and fear, confidence and awe, are +like the poles on which the whole round world turns +and are united here in one result. They who 'set their +hope in God' must 'not forget the works of God but +keep His commandments'; they who 'call Him Father,' +'who without respect of persons judgeth' must 'pass +the time of their sojourning here in fear,' and their +hopes and their fears must drive the wheels of life, +purify them from all filthiness and perfect them in +all holiness.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SORROW ACCORDING TO GOD</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but +the sorrow of the world worketh death.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> vii. 10.</p></div> + + +<p>Very near the close of his missionary career the +Apostle Paul summed up his preaching as being all +directed to enforcing two points, 'Repentance towards +God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.' These two, +repentance and faith, ought never to be separated +in thought, as they are inseparable in fact. True<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span> +repentance is impossible without faith, true faith +cannot exist without repentance.</p> + +<p>Yet the two are separated very often, even by +earnest Christian teachers. The tendency of this day +is to say a great deal about faith, and not nearly +enough in proportion about repentance; and the +effect is to obscure the very idea of faith, and not +seldom to preach 'Peace! peace! when there is no +peace.' A gospel which is always talking about faith, +and scarcely ever talking about sin and repentance, +is denuded, indeed, of some of its most unwelcome +characteristics, but is also deprived of most of its +power, and it may very easily become an ally of +unrighteousness, and an indulgence to sin. The +reproach that the Christian doctrine of salvation +through faith is immoral in its substance derives most +of its force from forgetting that 'repentance towards +God' is as real a condition of salvation as is 'faith in +our Lord Jesus Christ.' We have here the Apostle's +deliverance about one of these twin thoughts. We +have three stages—the root, the stem, the fruit; +sorrow, repentance, salvation. But there is a right +and a wrong kind of sorrow for sin. The right kind +breeds repentance, and thence reaches salvation; the +wrong kind breeds nothing, and so ends in death.</p> + +<p>Let us then trace these stages, not forgetting that +this is not a complete statement of the case, and needs +to be supplemented in the spirit of the words which I +have already quoted, by the other part of the inseparable +whole, 'faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.'</p> + +<p>I. First, then, consider the true and the false sorrow +for sin.</p> + +<p>The Apostle takes it for granted that a recognition +of our own evil, and a consequent penitent regretful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>ness, +lie at the foundation of all true Christianity. +Now I do not insist upon any uniformity of experience +in people, any more than I should insist that all their +bodies should be of one shape or of one proportion. +Human lives are infinitely different, human dispositions +are subtly varied, and because neither the one +nor the other are ever reproduced exactly in any two +people, therefore the religious experience of no two +souls can ever be precisely alike.</p> + +<p>We have no right to ask—and much harm has been +done by asking—for an impossible uniformity of +religious experience, any more than we have a right to +expect that all voices shall be pitched in one key, or +all plants flower in the same month, or after the same +fashion. You can print off as many copies as you +like, for instance, of a drawing of a flower on a +printing-press, and they shall all be alike, petal for +petal, leaf for leaf, shade for shade; but no two hand-drawn +copies will be so precisely alike, still less will +any two of the real buds that blow on the bush. Life +produces resemblance with differences; it is machinery +that makes facsimiles.</p> + +<p>So we insist on no pedantic or unreal uniformity; +and yet, whilst leaving the widest scope for divergencies +of individual character and experience, and +not asking that a man all diseased and blotched with +the leprosy of sin for half a lifetime, and a little child +that has grown up at its mother's knee, 'in the nurture +and admonition of the Lord,' and so has been kept +'innocent of much transgression,' shall have the same +experience; yet Scripture, as it seems to me, and the +nature of the case do unite in asserting that there are +certain elements which, in varying proportions indeed, +will be found in all true Christian experience, and of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span> +these an indispensable one—and in a very large +number, if not in the majority of cases, a fundamental +one—is this which my text calls 'godly sorrow.'</p> + +<p>Dear brethren, surely a reasonable consideration of +the facts of our conduct and character point to that as +the attitude that becomes us. Does it not? I do not +charge you with crimes in the eye of the law. I do +not suppose that many of you are living in flagrant +disregard of the elementary principles of common +every-day morality. Some are, no doubt. There are, +no doubt, unclean men here; there are some who eat +and drink more than is good for them, habitually; +there are, no doubt, men and women who are living +in avarice and worldliness, and doing things which the +ordinary conscience of the populace points to as faults +and blemishes. But I come to you respectable people +that can say: 'I am not as other men are, unjust, +adulterers, or even as this publican'; and pray you, +dear friends, to look at your character all round, in the +light of the righteousness and love of God, and to +plead to the indictment which charges you with neglect +of many a duty and with sin against Him. How do +you plead, 'guilty or not guilty, sinful or not sinful?' +Be honest with yourselves, and the answer will not be +far to seek.</p> + +<p>Notice how my text draws a broad distinction +between the right and the wrong kind of sorrow for +sin. 'Godly sorrow' is, literally rendered,'sorrow +according to God,' which may either mean sorrow +which has reference to God, or sorrow which is in +accordance with His will; that is to say, which is +pleasing to Him. If it is the former, it will be the +latter. I prefer to suppose that it is the former—that +is, sorrow which has reference to God. And then,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span> +there is another kind of sorrow, which the Apostle +calls the 'sorrow of the world,' which is devoid of that +reference to God. Here we have the characteristic +difference between the Christian way of looking at +our own faults and shortcomings, and the sorrow of +the world, which has got no blessing in it, and will +never lead to anything like righteousness and peace. +It is just this—one has reference to God, puts its sin +by His side, sees its blackness relieved against the +'fierce light' of the Great White Throne, and the other +has not that reference.</p> + +<p>To expand that for a moment,—there are plenty of +us who, when our sin is behind us, and its bitter fruits +are in our hands, are sorry enough for our faults. A +man that is lying in the hospital a wreck, with the +sins of his youth gnawing the flesh off his bones, is +often enough sorry that he did not live more soberly +and chastely and temperately in the past days. That +fraudulent bankrupt who has not got his discharge +and has lost his reputation, and can get nobody to +lend him money enough to start him in business again, +as he hangs about the streets, slouching in his rags, is +sorry enough that he did not keep the straight road. +The 'sorrow of the world' has no thought about God +in it at all. The consequences of sin set many a man's +teeth on edge who does not feel any compunction for +the wrong that he did. My brethren, is that the +position of any that are listening to me now?</p> + +<p>Again, men are often sorry for their conduct without +thinking of it as sin against God. Crime means +the transgression of man's law, wrong means the +transgression of conscience's law, sin is the transgression +of God's law. Some of us would perhaps +have to say—'I have done crime.' We are all of us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span> +quite ready to say: 'I have done wrong many a +time'; but there are some of us who hesitate to take +the other step, and say: 'I have done sin.' Sin +has, for its correlative, God. If there is no God +there is no sin. There may be faults, there may +be failures, there may be transgressions, breaches of +the moral law, things done inconsistent with man's +nature and constitution, and so on; but if there be a +God, then we have personal relations to that Person +and His law; and when we break His law it is more +than crime; it is more than fault; it is more than +transgression; it is more than wrong; it is sin. It is +when you lift the shutter off conscience, and let the +light of God rush in upon your hearts and consciences, +that you have the wholesome sorrow that worketh +repentance and salvation and life.</p> + +<p>Oh, dear friends, I do beseech you to lay these +simple thoughts to heart. Remember, I urge no rigid +uniformity of experience or character, but I do say +that unless a man has learned to see his sin in the +light of God, and in the light of God to weep over it, he +has yet to know 'the strait gate that leadeth unto life.'</p> + +<p>I believe that a very large amount of the superficiality +and easy-goingness of the Christianity of to-day +comes just from this, that so many who call +themselves Christians have never once got a glimpse +of themselves as they really are. I remember once +peering over the edge of the crater of Vesuvius, and +looking down into the pit, all swirling with sulphurous +fumes. Have you ever looked into your hearts, in +that fashion, and seen the wreathing smoke and the +flashing fire there? If you have, you will cleave to +that Christ, who is your sole deliverance from sin.</p> + +<p>But, remember, there is no prescription about depth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span> +or amount or length of time during which this sorrow +shall be felt. If, on the one hand, it is essential, on +the other hand there are a great many people who +ought to be walking in the light and the liberty of +God's Gospel who bring darkness and clouds over +themselves by the anxious scrutinising question: 'Is +my sorrow deep enough?' Deep enough! What for? +What is the use of sorrow for sin? To lead a man to +repentance and to faith. If you have as much sorrow +as leads you to penitence and trust you have enough. +It is not your sorrow that is going to wash away your +sin, it is Christ's blood. So let no man trouble himself +about the question, Have I sorrow enough? The one +question is: 'Has my sorrow led me to cast myself on +Christ?'</p> + +<p>II. Still further, look now for a moment at the next +stage here. 'Godly sorrow worketh repentance.'</p> + +<p>What is repentance? No doubt many of you would +answer that it is 'sorrow for sin,' but clearly this text +of ours draws a distinction between the two. There +are very few of the great key-words of Christianity +that have suffered more violent and unkind treatment, +and have been more obscured by misunderstandings, +than this great word. It has been weakened +down into penitence, which in the ordinary acceptation, +means simply the emotion that I have already +been speaking about, viz., a regretful sense of my own +evil. And it has been still further docked and +degraded, both in its syllables and in its substance, +into <i>penance</i>. But the 'repentance' of the New +Testament and of the Old Testament—one of the twin +conditions of salvation—is neither sorrow for sin nor +works of restitution and satisfaction, but it is, as the +word distinctly expresses, a change of purpose in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span> +regard to the sin for which a man mourns. I cannot +now expand and elaborate this idea as I should +like, but let me remind you of one or two passages in +Scripture which may show that the right notion of the +word is not sorrow but changed attitude and purpose +in regard to my sin.</p> + +<p>We find passages, some of which ascribe and some +deny repentance to the Divine nature. But if there be +a repentance which is possible for the Divine nature, +it obviously cannot mean sorrow for sin, but must +signify a change of purpose. In the Epistle to the +Romans we read, 'The gifts and calling of God are +without repentance,' which clearly means without +change of purpose on His part. And I read in the +story of the mission of the Prophet Jonah, that 'the +Lord repented of the evil which He had said He would +do unto them, and He did it not.' Here, again, the +idea of repentance is clearly and distinctly that of a +change of purpose. So fix this on your minds, and lay +it on your hearts, dear friends, that the repentance of +the New Testament is not idle tears nor the twitchings +of a vain regret, but the resolute turning away of the +sinful heart from its sins. It is 'repentance toward +God,' the turning from the sin to the Father, and that +is what leads to salvation. The sorrow is separated +from the repentance in idea, however closely they may +be intertwined in fact. The sorrow is one thing, and +the repentance which it works is another.</p> + +<p>Then notice that this change of purpose and breaking +off from sin is produced by the sorrow for sin, of +which I have been speaking; and that the production +of this repentance is the main characteristic difference +between the godly sorrow and the sorrow of the +world. A man may have his paroxysms of regret, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span> +the question is: Does it make any difference in his +attitude? Is he standing, after the tempest of sorrow +has swept over him, with his face in the same direction +as before; or has it whirled him clean round, and set +him in the other direction? The one kind of sorrow, +which measures my sin by the side of the brightness +and purity of God, vindicates itself as true, because it +makes me hate my evil and turn away from it. The +other, which is of the world, passes over me like the +empty wind through an archway, it whistles for a +moment and is gone, and there is nothing left to show +that it was ever there. The one comes like one of +those brooks in tropical countries, dry and white for +half the year, and then there is a rush of muddy +waters, fierce but transient, and leaving no results +behind. My brother! when your conscience pricks, +which of these two things does it do? After the +prick, is the word of command that your Will issues +'Right about face!' or is it 'As you were'? Godly +sorrow worketh a change of attitude, purpose, mind; +the sorrow of the world leaves a man standing where +he was. Ask yourselves the question: Which of the +two are you familiar with?</p> + +<p>Again, the true means of evoking true repentance is +the contemplation of the Cross. Law and the fear of +hell may startle into sorrow, and even lead to some +kind of repentance. But it is the great power of +Christ's love and sacrifice which will really melt the +heart into true repentance. You may hammer ice to +pieces, but it is ice still. You may bray a fool in a +mortar, and his folly will not depart from him. Dread +of punishment may pulverise the heart, but not change +it; and each fragment, like the smallest bits of a +magnet, will have the same characteristics as the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span> +whole mass. But 'the goodness of God leads to +repentance' as the prodigal is conquered and sees the +true hideousness of the swine's trough, when he +bethinks himself of the father's love. I beseech you +to put yourselves under the influence of that great +love, and look on that Cross till your hearts melt.</p> + +<p>III. We come to the last stage here. Salvation is +the issue of repentance. 'Godly sorrow worketh repentance +unto salvation not to be repented of.'</p> + +<p>What is the connection between repentance and +salvation? Two sentences will answer the question. +You cannot get salvation without repentance. You +do not get salvation by repentance.</p> + +<p>You cannot get the salvation of God unless you +shake off your sin. It is no use preaching to a man, +'Faith, Faith, Faith!' unless you preach along with +it,'Break off your iniquities.' 'Let the wicked forsake +his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and +let him turn unto the Lord.' The nature of the case +forbids it. It is a clear contradiction in terms, and an +absolute impossibility in fact, that God should save a +man with the salvation which consists in the deliverance +from sin, whilst that man is holding to his sin. Unless, +therefore, you have not merely sorrow, but repentance, +which is turning away from sin with resolute +purpose, as a man would turn from a serpent, you +cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.</p> + +<p>But you do not get salvation for your repentance. +It is no case of barter, it is no case of salvation by +works, that work being repentance:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Could my zeal no respite know"> +<tr><td align='left'>'Could my zeal no respite know,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Could my tears for ever flow,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">All for sin could not atone,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thou must save, and Thou alone.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p> + +<div class='unindent'>Not my penitence, but Christ's death, is the ground of +the salvation of every one that is saved at all. Yet +repentance is an indispensable condition of salvation.</div> + +<p>What is the connection between repentance and +faith? There can be no true repentance without trust +in Christ. There can be no true trust in Christ without +the forsaking of my sin. Repentance without faith, +in so far as it is possible, is one long misery; like the +pains of those poor Hindoo devotees that will go all +the way from Cape Comorin to the shrine of Juggernaut, +and measure every foot of the road with the +length of their own bodies in the dust. Men will do +anything, and willingly make any sacrifice, rather +than open their eyes to see this,—that repentance, +clasped hand in hand with Faith, leads the guiltiest +soul into the forgiving presence of the crucified Christ, +from whom peace flows into the darkest heart.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, faith without repentance is not +possible, in any deep sense. But in so far as it is +possible, it produces a superficial Christianity which +vaguely trusts to Christ without knowing exactly +what it is trusting Him for, or why it needs Him; and +which has a great deal to say about what I may call +the less important parts of the Christian system, and +nothing to say about its vital centre; which preaches +a morality which is not a living power to create; +which practises a religion which is neither a joy nor a +security. The old word of the Master has a deep truth +in it: 'These are they which heard the word, and anon +with joy received it.' Having no sorrow, no penitence, +no deep consciousness of sin, 'they have no root in +themselves, and in time of temptation they fall away.' +If there is to be a profound, an all-pervading, life-transforming-sin, +and devil-conquering faith, it must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span> +be a faith rooted deep in penitence and sorrow for +sin.</p> + +<p>Dear brethren, if, by God's grace, my poor words +have touched your consciences at all, I beseech you, do +not trifle with the budding conviction! Do not seek +to have the wound skinned over. Take care that you +do not let it all pass in idle sorrow or impotent regret. +If you do, you will be hardened, and the worse for it, +and come nearer to that condition which the sorrow of +the world worketh, the awful death of the soul. Do +not wince from the knife before the roots of the +cancer are cut out. The pain is merciful. Better the +wound than the malignant growth. Yield yourselves +to the Spirit that would convince you of sin, and +listen to the voice that calls to you to forsake your +unrighteous ways and thoughts. But do not trust to +any tears, do not trust to any resolves, do not trust +to any reformation. Trust only to the Lord who died +on the Cross for you, whose death for you, whose +life in you, will be deliverance from your sin. Then +you will have a salvation which, in the striking +language of my text, 'is not to be repented of,' which +will leave no regrets in your hearts in the day when +all else shall have faded, and the sinful sweets of this +world shall have turned to ashes and bitterness on the +lips of the men that feed on them.</p> + +<p>'The sorrow of the world works death.' There are +men and women listening to me now who are half +conscious of their sin, and are resisting the pleading +voice that comes to them, who at the last will open +their eyes upon the realities of their lives, and in a +wild passion of remorse, exclaim: 'I have played the +fool, and have erred exceedingly.' Better to make +thorough work of the sorrow, and by it to be led to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span> +repentance toward God and faith in Christ, and so +secure for our own that salvation for which no man +will ever regret having given even the whole world, +since he gains his own soul.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GIVING AND ASKING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the +churches of Macedonia; 2. How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance +of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. +3. For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were +willing of themselves; 4. Praying us with much entreaty that we would receive +the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5. And +this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and +unto us by the will of God: 6. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he had +begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. 7. Therefore, as ye +abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, +and in your love to us; see that ye abound in this grace also. 8. I speak not by +commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the +sincerity of your love. 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, +though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His +poverty might be rich. 10. And herein I give my advice: for this is expedient for +you, who have begun before, not only to do, but also to be forward a year ago. +11. Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so +there may be a performance also out of that which ye have. 12. For if there be +first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according +to that he hath not.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> viii. 1-12.</p></div> + + +<p>A collection from Gentile churches for their poor +brethren in Jerusalem occupied much of Paul's time +and efforts before his last visit to that city. Many +events, which have filled the world with noise and +been written at length in histories, were less significant +than that first outcome of the unifying spirit of +common faith. It was a making visible of the grand +thought, 'Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.' Practical +help, prompted by a deep-lying sense of unity which +overleaped gulfs of separation in race, language, and +social conditions, was a unique novelty. It was the +first pulsation of that spirit of Christian liberality which +has steadily grown in force and sweep ever since. +Foolish people gibe at some of its manifestations.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span> +Wiser ones regard its existence as not the least of the +marks of the divine origin of Christianity.</p> + +<p>This passage is a striking example of the inimitable +delicacy of the Apostle. His words are full of what we +should call tact, if it were not manifestly the spontaneous +utterance of right feeling. They are a perfect +model of the true way to appeal for money, and set +forth also the true spirit in which such appeals should +be made.</p> + +<p>In verses 1 to 5, Paul seeks to stimulate the liberality +of the Corinthians by recounting that of the Macedonian +churches. His sketch draws in outline the picture of +what all Christian money-giving should be. We note +first the designation of the Macedonian Christians' +beneficence as 'a grace' given by God to them. It +is twice called so (vers. 1, 4), and the same name is +applied in regard to the Corinthians' giving (vers. 6, 7). +That is the right way to look at money contributions. +The opportunity to give them, and the inclination to +do so, are God's gifts. How many of us think that +calls for service or money are troublesome obligations, +to be got out of as easily as possible! A true Christian +will be thankful, as for a love token from God, for +every occasion of giving to Him. It would be a sharp +test for many of us to ask ourselves whether we can +say, 'To me . . . is this grace given,' that I should part +with my money for Christ's sake.</p> + +<p>Note, further, the lovely picture of these Macedonian +givers. They were plunged in sorrows and troubles, +but these did not dry their fountains of sympathy. +Nothing is apt to be more selfish than grief; and if we +have tears to spare for others, when they are flowing +bitterly for ourselves, we have graduated well in +Christ's school. Paul calls the Macedonians' troubles<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span> +'proof of their affliction,' meaning that it constituted a +proof of their Christian character; that is, by the +manner in which it was borne; and in it they had still +'abundance of joy,' for the paradox of the Christian +life is that it admits of the co-existence of grief and +gladness.</p> + +<p>Again, Christian giving gives from scanty stores. +'Deep poverty' is no excuse for not giving, and will be +no hindrance to a willing heart. 'I cannot afford it' is +sometimes a genuine valid reason, but oftener an insincere +plea. Why are subscriptions for religious +purposes the first expenditure to be reduced in bad +times?</p> + +<p>Further, Christian giving gives up to the very edge +of ability, and sometimes goes beyond the limits of so-called +prudence. In all regions 'power to its last +particle is duty,' and unless power is strained it is not +fully exercised. It is in trying to do what we cannot do +that we do best what we can do. He who keeps well +within the limits of his supposed ability will probably +not do half as much as he could. While there is a +limit behind which generosity even for Christ may +become dishonesty or disregard of other equally sacred +claims, there is little danger of modern Christians +transgressing that limit, and they need the stimulus to +do a little more than they think they can do, rather +than to listen to cold-blooded prudence.</p> + +<p>Further, Christian giving does not wait to be asked, +but takes the opportunity to give as itself 'grace' and +presses its benefactions. It is an unwonted experience +for a collector of subscriptions to be besought to +take them 'with much entreaty,' but it would not +be so anomalous if Christian people understood their +privileges.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p> + +<p>Further, Christian giving begins with the surrender +of self to Christ, from which necessarily follows the +glad offering of wealth. These Macedonians did more +than Paul had hoped, and the explanation of the unexpected +largeness of their contributions was their +yielding of themselves to Jesus. That is the deepest +source of all true liberality. If a man feels that he +does not own himself, much less will he feel that his +goods are his own. A slave's owner possesses the +slave's bit of garden ground, his hut, and its furniture. +If I belong to Christ, to whom does my money belong? +But the consciousness that my goods are not mine, but +Christ's, is not to remain a mere sentiment. It can +receive practical embodiment by my giving them to +Christ's representatives. The way for the Macedonians +to show that they regarded their goods as Christ's, was +to give them to Paul for Christ's poor saints. Jesus +has His representatives still, and it is useless for people +to talk or sing about belonging to Him, unless they +verify their words by deeds.</p> + +<p>Verse 6 tells the Corinthians that the success of the +collection in Macedonia had induced Paul to send Titus +to Corinth to promote it there. He had previously +visited it on the same errand (chap. xii. 14), and now is +coming to complete 'this grace.' The rest of the +passage is Paul's appeal to the Corinthians for their +help in the matter, and certainly never was such an +appeal made in a more dignified, noble, and lofty tone. +He has been dilating on the liberality of others, and +thereby sanctioning the stimulating of Christian liberality, +in the same way as other graces may legitimately +be stimulated, by example. That is delicate ground to +tread on, and needs caution if it is not to degenerate +into an appeal to rivalry, as it too often does, but in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span> +itself is perfectly legitimate and wholesome. But, +passing from that incitement, Paul rests his plea on +deeper grounds.</p> + +<p>First, Christian liberality is essential to the completeness +of Christian character. Paul's praise in verse 7 is +not mere flattery, nor meant to put the Corinthians +into good humour. He will have enough to say hereafter +about scandals and faults, but now he gives them +credit for all the good he knew to be in them. Faith +comes first, as always. It is the root of every Christian +excellence. Then follow two graces, eminently +characteristic of a Greek church, and apt to run to seed +in it,—utterance and knowledge. Then two more, both +of a more emotional character,—earnestness and love, +especially to Paul as Christ's servant. But all these +fair attributes lacked completeness without the crowning +grace of liberality. It is the crowning grace, +because it is the practical manifestation of the highest +excellences. It is the result of sympathy, of unselfishness, +of contact with Christ, of drinking in of His spirit, +Love is best. Utterance and knowledge and earnestness +are poor beside it. This grace is like the diamond +which clasps a necklace of jewels.</p> + +<p>Christian giving does not need to be commanded. 'I +speak not by way of commandment.' That is poor +virtue which only obeys a precept. Gifts given because +it is duty to give them are not really gifts, but taxes. +They leave no sweet savour on the hand that bestows, +and bring none to that which receives. 'I call you not +servants, but friends.' The region in which Christian +liberality moves is high above the realm of law and its +correlative, obligation.</p> + +<p>Further, Christian liberality springs spontaneously +from conscious possession of Christ's riches. We can<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>not +here enter on the mysteries of Christ's emptying +Himself of His riches of glory. We can but touch the +stupendous fact, remembering that the place whereon +we stand is holy ground. Who can measure the nature +and depth of that self-denuding of the glory which He +had with the Father before the world was? But, thank +God, we do not need to measure it, in order to feel the +solemn, blessed force of the appeal which it makes to +us. Adoring wonder and gratitude, unfaltering trust +and absolute self-surrender to a love so self-sacrificing, +must ever follow the belief of that mystery of Divine +mercy, the incarnation and sacrifice of the eternal Son.</p> + +<p>But Paul would have us remember that the same +mighty act of stooping love, which is the foundation of +all our hope, is to be the pattern for all our conduct. +Even in His divinest and most mysterious act, Christ is +our example. A dewdrop is rounded by the same laws +which shape the planetary spheres or the sun himself; +and Christians but half trust Christ if they do not +imitate Him. What selfishness in enjoyment of our +'own things' could live in us if we duly brought ourselves +under the influence of that example? How +miserably poor and vulgar the appeals by which money +is sometimes drawn from grudging owners and tight-buttoned +pockets, sound beside that heart-searching +and heart-moving one, 'Ye know the grace of our Lord +Jesus Christ!'</p> + +<p>Further, Christian liberality will not go off in good +intentions and benevolent sentiments. The Corinthians +were ready with their 'willing' on Titus's previous +visit. Now Paul desires them to put their good feelings +into concrete shape. There is plenty of benevolence +that never gets to be beneficence. The advice here has +a very wide application: 'As there was the readiness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span> +to will, so there may be the completion also.' We all +know where the road leads that is paved with good +intentions.</p> + +<p>Further, Christian liberality is accepted and rewarded +according to willingness, if that is carried into act +according to ability. While the mere wish to help is +not enough, it is the vital element in the act which +flows from it; and there may be more of it in the +widow's mite than in the rich man's large donation—or +there may be less. The conditions of acceptable +offerings are twofold—first, readiness, glad willingness +to give, as opposed to closed hearts or grudging +bestowals; and, second, that willingness embodied in +the largest gift possible. The absence of either vitiates +all. The presence of both gives trifles a place in God's +storehouse of precious things. A father is glad when +his child brings him some utterly valueless present, +not because he must, but because he loves; and many +a parent has such laid away in sacred repositories. +God knows how to take gifts from His children, not less +well than we who are evil know how to do it.</p> + +<p>But the gracious saying of our passage has a solemn +side; for if only gifts 'according as a man hath' are +accepted, what becomes of the many which fall far +short of our ability, and are really given, not because +we have the willing mind, but because we could not get +out of the unwelcome necessity to part with a miserably +inadequate percentage of our possessions. Is God +likely to be satisfied with the small dividends which we +offer as composition for our great debt?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>RICH YET POOR</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich +yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.'—2 +<span class="smcap">Cor.</span> viii. 9.</p></div> + + +<p>The Apostle has been speaking about a matter which, +to us, seems very small, but to him was very great +viz., a gathering of pecuniary help from the Gentile +churches for the poor church in Jerusalem. Large +issues, in his estimation, attended that exhibition of +Christian unity, and, be it great or small, he applies the +highest of all motives to this matter. 'For ye know +the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was +rich yet for your sakes He became poor.' The trivial +things of life are to be guided and shaped by reference +to the highest of all things, the example of Jesus +Christ; and that in the whole depth of His humiliation, +and even in regard to His cross and passion. We +have here set forth, as the pattern to which the +Christian life is to be conformed, the deepest conception +of what our Lord's career on earth was.</p> + +<p>The whole Christian Church is about to celebrate the +nativity of our Lord at this time. This text gives us +the true point of view from which to regard it. We +have here the work of Christ in its deepest motive, +'The grace of our Lord Jesus.' We have it in its transcendent +self-impoverishment, 'Though He was rich, +yet for our sakes He became poor.' We have it in its +highest issue, 'That ye through His poverty might +become rich.' Let us look at those points.</p> + +<p>I. Here we have the deepest motive which underlies +the whole work of Christ, unveiled to us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' +Every word here is significant. It is very unusual in +the New Testament to find that expression 'grace' +applied to Jesus Christ. Except in the familiar benediction, +I think there are only one or two instances of such +a collocation of words. It is 'the grace of God' which, +throughout the New Testament, is the prevailing expression. +But here 'grace is attributed to Jesus'; +that is to say, the love of the Divine heart is, without +qualification or hesitation, ascribed to Him. And what +do we mean by grace? We mean love in exercise to +inferiors. It is infinite condescension in Jesus to love. +His love stoops when it embraces us. Very significant, +therefore, is the employment here of the solemn full +title, 'the Lord Jesus Christ,' which enhances the condescension +by making prominent the height from +which it bent. The 'grace' is all the more wonderful +because of the majesty and sovereignty, to say the +least of it, which are expressed in that title, the Lord. +The highest stoops and stands upon the level of the +lowest. 'Grace' is love that expresses itself to those +who deserve something else. And the deepest motive, +which is the very key to the whole phenomena of the +life of Jesus Christ, is that it is all the exhibition, as it +is the consequence, of a love that, stooping, forgives. +'Grace' is love that, stooping and forgiving, communicates +its whole self to unworthy and transgressing +recipients. And the key to the life of Jesus is that +we have set forth in its operation a love which is +not content to speak only the ordinary language of +human affection, or to do its ordinary deeds, but is +self-impelled to impart what transcends all other gifts +of human tenderness, and to give its very self. And +so a love that condescends, a love that passes by un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>worthiness, +is turned away by no sin, is unmoved to +any kind of anger, and never allows its cheek to flush +or its heart to beat faster, because of any provocation +and a love that is content with nothing short of entire +surrender and self-impartation underlies all that +precious life from Bethlehem to Calvary.</p> + +<p>But there is another word in our text that may well +be here taken into consideration. 'For your sakes,' +says the Apostle to that Corinthian church, made up +of people, not one of whom had ever seen or been seen +by Jesus. And yet the regard to them was part of the +motive that moved the Lord to His life, and His death. +That is to say, to generalise the thought, this grace, +thus stooping and forgiving and self-imparting, is a +love that gathers into its embrace and to its heart all +mankind; and is universal because it is individualising. +Just as each planet in the heavens, and each tiny +plant upon the earth, are embraced by, and separately +receive, the benediction of that all-encompassing arch +of the heaven, so that grace enfolds all, because it takes +account of each. Whilst it is love for a sinful world, +every soul of us may say: 'He loved me, and'—therefore—'gave +Himself for me.' Unless we see beneath +the sweet story of the earthly life this deep-lying +source of it all, we fail to understand that life itself. +We may bring criticism to bear upon it; we may apprehend +it in diverse affecting, elevating, educating +aspects; but, oh! brethren, we miss the blazing centre +of the light, the warm heart of the fire, unless we see +pulsating through all the individual facts of the life +this one, all-shaping, all-vitalising motive; the grace—the +stooping, the pardoning, the self-communicating, +the individualising, and the universal love of Jesus +Christ.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span></p> + +<p>So then, we have here set before us the work of +Christ in its—</p> + +<p>II. Most mysterious and unique self-impoverishment.</p> + +<p>'He was . . . He became,' there is one strange contrast. +'He was <i>rich</i> . . . He became <i>poor</i>,' there is +another. 'He was . . . He became.' What does that +say? Well, it says that if you want to understand Bethlehem, +you must go back to a time before Bethlehem. +The meaning of Christ's birth is only understood when +we turn to that Evangelist who does not narrate it. +For the meaning of it is here; 'the Word became +flesh, and dwelt among us.' The surface of the fact is +the smallest part of the fact. They say that there is +seven times as much of an iceberg under water as +there is above the surface. And the deepest and most +important fact about the nativity of our Lord is that +it was not only the birth of an Infant, but the Incarnation +of the Word. 'He was . . . He became.' We have +to travel back and recognise that that life did not begin +in the manger. We have to travel back and recognise +the mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh.</p> + +<p>And these two words 'He was . . . He became,' imply +another thing, and that is, that Jesus Christ who died +because He chose, was not passive in His being born, +but as at the end of His earthly life, so at its beginning +exercised His volition, and was born because He +willed, and willed because of 'the grace of our Lord +Jesus.'</p> + +<p>Now in this connection it is very remarkable, and +well worth our pondering, that throughout the whole +of the Gospels, when Jesus speaks of His coming into +the world, He never uses the word 'born' but once, and +that was before the Roman governor, who would not +have understood or cared for anything further, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span> +whom He did say,'To this end was I born.' But even +when speaking to him His consciousness that that word +did not express the whole truth was so strong that He +could not help adding—though He knew that the hard +Roman procurator would pay no attention to the +apparent tautology—the expression which more truly +corresponded to the fact, 'and for this cause came I +into the world.' The two phrases are not parallel. +They are by no means synonymous. One expresses the +outward fact; the other expresses that which underlay +it. 'To this end was I born.' Yes! 'And for this +cause came I.' He Himself put it still more definitely +when He said, 'I came forth from the Father, and am +come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go +unto the Father.' So the two extremities of the earthly +manifestation are neither of them ends; but before the +one, and behind the other, there stretches an identity +or oneness of Being and condition. The one as the +other, the birth and the death, may be regarded as, in +deepest reality, not only what He passively endured, +but what He actively did. He was born, and He died, +that in all points He might be 'like unto His brethren.' +He 'came' into the world, and He 'went' to the +Father. The end circled round to the beginning, and +in both He acted because He chose, and chose because +He loved.</p> + +<p>So much, then, lies in the one of these two antitheses +of my text; and the other is no less profound and +significant. 'He was rich; He became poor.' In this +connection 'rich' can only mean possessed of the +Divine fulness and independence; and 'poor' can only +mean possessed of human infirmity, dependence, and +emptiness. And so to Jesus of Nazareth, to be born +was impoverishment. If there is nothing more in His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span> +birth than in the birth of each of us, the words are +grotesquely inappropriate to the facts of the case. +For as between nothingness, which is the alternative, +and the possession of conscious being, there is surely +a contrast the very reverse of that expressed here. +For us, to be born is to be endowed with capacities, +with the wealth of intelligent, responsible, voluntary +being; but to Jesus Christ, if we accept the New Testament +teaching, to be born was a step, an infinite step, +downwards, and He, alone of all men, might have been +'ashamed to call men brethren.' But this denudation +of Himself, into the particulars of which I do not care +to enter now, was the result of that stooping grace +which 'counted it not a thing to be clutched hold of, to +be equal with God; but He made Himself of no reputation, +and was found in fashion as a man, and became +obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross.'</p> + +<p>And so, dear friends, we know the measure of the +stooping love of Jesus only when we read the history +by the light of this thought, that 'though He was +rich' with all the fulness of that eternal Word which +was 'in the beginning with God,' 'He became poor,' +with the poverty, the infirmity, the liability to temptation, +the weakness, that attach to humanity; 'and +was found in all points like unto His brethren,' that +He might be able to help and succour them all.</p> + +<p>The last thing here is—</p> + +<p>III. The work of Christ set forth in its highest +issue.</p> + +<p>'That we through His poverty might become rich.' +Of course, the antithetical expressions must be taken +to be used in the same sense, and with the same width +of application, in both of the clauses. And if so, just +think reverently, wonderingly, thankfully, of the infinite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span> +vista of glorious possibility that is open to us here. +Christ was rich in the possession of that Divine glory +which Had had with the Father before the world was. +'He became poor,' in assuming the weakness of the +manhood that you and I carry, that we, in the human +poverty which is like His poverty, may become rich +with wealth that is like His riches, and that as He +stooped to earth veiling the Divine with the human, +we may rise to heaven, clothing the human with the +Divine.</p> + +<p>For surely there is nothing more plainly taught in +Scriptures, and I am bold to say nothing to which any +deep and vital Christian experience even here gives +more surely an anticipatory confirmation, than the +fact that Christ became like unto us, that each of us +may become like unto Him. The divine and the +human natures are similar, and the fact of the +Incarnation, on the one hand, and of the man's glorification +by possession of the divine nature on the other, +equally rest upon that fundamental resemblance +between the divine nature and the human nature which +God has made in His own image. If that which in +each of us is unlike God is cleared away, as it can be +cleared away, through faith in that dear Lord, then the +likeness as a matter of course, comes into force.</p> + +<p>The law of all elevation is that whosoever desires to +lift must stoop; and the end of all stooping is to lift +the lowly to the place from which the love hath bent +itself. And this is at once the law for the Incarnation +of the Christ, and for the elevation of the Christian. 'We +shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.' And +the great love, the stooping, forgiving, self-communicating +love, doth not reach its ultimate issue, nor effect +fully the purposes to which it ever is tending, unless and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span> +until all who have received it are 'changed from glory +to glory even into the image of the Lord.' We do not +understand Jesus, His cradle, or His Cross, unless on the +one hand we see in them His emptying Himself that He +might fill us, and, on the other hand, see, as the only +result which warrants them and satisfies Him, our +complete conformity to His image, and our participation +in that glory which He has at the right hand of +God. That is the prospect for humanity, and it is +possible for each of us.</p> + +<p>I do not dwell upon other aspects of this great self-emptying +of our Lord's, such as the revelation in it to +us of the very heart of God, and of the divinest thing +in the divine nature, which is love, or such as the sympathy +which is made possible thereby to Him, and +which is not only the pity of a God, but the compassion +of a Brother. Nor do I touch upon many other aspects +which are full of strengthening and teaching. That +grand thought that Jesus has shared our human +poverty that we may share His divine riches is the very +apex of the New Testament teaching, and of the +Christian hope. We have within us, notwithstanding +all our transgressions, what the old divines used to +call a 'deiform nature,' capable of being lifted up into +the participation of divinity, capable of being cleansed +from all the spots and stains which make us so unlike +Him in whose likeness we were made.</p> + +<p>Brethren, let us not forget that this stooping, and +pardoning, and self-imparting love, has for its main +instrument to appeal to our hearts, not the cradle but +the Cross. We are being told by many people to-day +that the centre of Christianity lies in the thought of +an Incarnation. Yes. But our Lord Himself has told +us what that was for.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span></p> + +<p>'The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but +to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.' +It is only when we look to that Lord in His death, and +see there the very lowest point to which He stooped, +and the supreme manifestation of His grace, that we +shall be drawn to yield our hearts and lives to Him in +thankfulness, in trust, and in imitation: and shall set +Him before us as the pattern for our conduct, as well +as the Object of our trust.</p> + +<p>Brethren, my text was spoken originally as presenting +the motive and the example for a little piece of +pecuniary liability. Do you take the cradle and the +Cross as the law of your lives? For depend upon it, +the same necessity which obliged Jesus to come down +to our level, if He would lift us to His; to live our life +and die our death, if He would make us partakers of +His immortal life, and deliver us from death; makes it +absolutely necessary that if we are to live for anything +nobler than our own poor, transitory self-aggrandisement, +we too must learn to stoop to forgive, to impart +ourselves, and must die by self-surrender and sacrifice, +if we are ever to communicate any life, or good of +life, to others. He has loved us, and given Himself for +us. He has set us therein an example which He commends +to us by His own word when He tells us that +'if a corn of wheat' is to bring forth 'much fruit' it +must die, else it 'abideth alone.' Unless we die, we +never truly live; unless we die to ourselves for others, +and like Jesus, we live alone in the solitude of a self-enclosed +self-regard. So living, we are dead whilst we +live.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WILLING AND NOT DOING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will +so there may be a performance also.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> viii. 11.</p></div> + + +<p>The Revised Version reads: 'But now complete the +doing also; that as there was the readiness to will, so +there may be the completion also out of your ability.' +A collection of money for the almost pauper church at +Jerusalem bulked very largely in the Apostle's mind +at the date of the writing of the two letters to the +Corinthian church. We learn that that church had +been the first to agree to the project, and then had +very distinctly hung back from implementing its +promises and fulfilling its good intentions. So the +Apostle, in the chapter from which my text is taken, +with wonderful delicacy, dignity, and profundity, sets +forth the true principle, not only of Christian giving, +but of Christian asking. The text advises that the gushing +sentiments of brotherly sympathy and liberality +which had inspired the Corinthians a year ago should +now bear some fruit in action. So Paul is going to +send Titus, his right-hand man at the time, to hurry +up and finish off the collection and have done with it. +The text is in effect the message which Titus was to +carry; but it has a far wider application than that. +It is a needful advice for us all about a great many +other things: 'As there was a readiness to will, so let +there be a performance also.'</p> + +<p>Resolutions, noble and good and Christlike, have a +strange knack of cheating the people who make them. +So we all need the exhortation not to be befooled by +fancying that we have done, when we have only willed. +Of course we shall not do unless we will. But there is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span> +a wide gap, as our experience witnesses, between the +two things. We all know what place it is to which, +according to the old proverb, the road is paved with +good intentions; and the only way to pull up that +paving is to take Paul's advice here and always, and +immediately to put into action the resolves of our +hearts. Now I desire to say two or three very plain +and simple things about this matter.</p> + +<p>I. I would have you consider the necessity of this +commandment.</p> + +<p>Consider that the fault here warned against is a +universal one. What different men we should be if +our resolutions had fruited in conduct! In all regions +of life that is true, but most emphatically is it true in +regard to religion. The damning tragedy of many +lives, and I dare say of those of some of my hearers, +is that men have over and over again determined that +they would be Christians, and they are not Christians +yet; just because they have let 'the native hue of +resolution be sicklied over' by some paleness or other, +and so have resolved and resolved and resolved till +every nerve of action is rotted away, and they will die +unchristian. I dare say that there are men or women +listening to me now, perhaps with grey hairs upon +them, who can remember times, in the springtide of +their youth, when they said, 'I will give my heart to +Jesus Christ, and set my faith upon Him'; and they +have not done it yet. Now, therefore, 'as there was +a readiness to will, let there be also the performance.'</p> + +<p>But it is not only in regard to that most important +of all resolves that I wish to say a word. All Christians, +I am sure, know what it is, over and over again, to +have had stirrings in their hearts which they have been +able to consolidate into determination, but have not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span> +been able to carry into act. 'The children have come +to the birth, and there is not strength to bring them +forth.' That is true about all of us, more or less, and +it is very solemnly true of a great many of us professing +Christians. We have tried to cure—we have +determined that we will cure—manifest and flagrant +defects or faults in our Christian life. We have +resolved, and some nipping frost has come, and the +blossoms have dropped on the grass before they have +ever set into fruit. I know that is so about you, because +I know that it is so about myself. And therefore, dear +brethren, I appeal to you, and ask you whether the +exhortation of my text has not a sharp point for every +one of us—whether the universality of this defect does +not demand that we all should gravely consider the +exhortation here before us?</p> + +<p>Then, again, let me remind you how this injunction +is borne in upon us by the consideration of the strength +of the opposition with which we have always to contend, +in every honest attempt to bring to act our best +resolutions. Did you ever try to cure some little habit, +some mere trifle, a trick of manner or twist of the +finger, or some attitude or tone that might be ugly and +awkward, and that people told you that it would be +better to get rid of? You know how hard it is. There +is always a tremendous gulf between the ideal and its +realisation in life. As long as we are moving <i>in vacuo</i> +we move without any friction or difficulty; but as soon +as we come out into a world where there are an atmosphere +and opposing forces, then friction comes in, and +speed diminishes; and we never become what we aim +to be. We begin with grand purposes, and we end +with very poor results. We all start, in our early +days, with the notion that our lives are going to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span> +radiant and beautiful, and all unlike what the limitations +of power and the antagonisms that we have to +meet make of them at last. The tree of our life's doings +has to grow, like those contorted pines on the slopes of +the Alps, in many storms, with heavy weights of snow +on its branches, and beaten about by tempests from +every quarter of the heavens; and so it gets gnarled +and knotted and very unlike the symmetrical beauty +that we dreamed would adorn it. We begin with saying: +'Come! Let us build a tower whose top shall reach to +heaven'; and we are contented at last, if we have put +up some little tumble-down shed where we can get +shelter for our heads from the blast.</p> + +<p>And the difficulty in bringing into action our best +selves besets us in the matter of translating our resolutions +into practice. What are arrayed against it? A +feeble will, enslaved too often by passions and flesh +and habits, and all about us lie obstacles to our +carrying into action our conscientious convictions, our +deepest resolutions; obstacles to our being true to our +true selves; to which obstacles, alas, far too many of +us habitually, and all of us occasionally, succumb. That +being the case, do not we all need to ponder in our +deepest hearts, and to pray for grace to make the +motto of our lives, 'As there was a readiness to will, +let there be a performance'?</p> + +<p>II. Consider the importance of this counsel.</p> + +<p>That is borne in upon mind and conscience by looking +at the disastrous effects of letting resolutions +remain sterile. Consider how apt we are to deceive +ourselves with unfulfilled purposes. The quick response +which an easily-moved nature may make to +some appeal of noble thought or lofty principle is +mistaken for action, and we are tempted to think that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span> +willing is almost as good as if we had done what we +half resolved on. And there is a kind of glow of satisfaction +that comes when such a man thinks, 'I have +done well in that I have determined.' The Devil will +let you resolve as much as you like—the more the +better; only the more easily you resolve, the more +certainly he will block the realisation. Let us take +care of that seducing temptation which is apt to lead +us all to plume ourselves on good resolutions, and to +fancy that they are almost equivalent to their own +fulfilment. Cheques are all very well if there be bullion +in the bank cellars to pay them with when they fall +due, but if that be not so, then the issuing of them is +crime and fraud. Our resolutions, made and forgotten +as so many of our good resolutions are, are very little +better.</p> + +<p>Note, too, how rapidly the habit of substituting +lightly-made resolutions for seriously-endeavoured +acts grows.</p> + +<p>And mark, further, how miserable and debilitating +it is to carry the dead weight of such unaccomplished +intentions.</p> + +<p>Nothing so certainly weakens a man as a multitude +of resolves that he knows he has never fulfilled. They +weaken his will, burden his conscience, stand in the +way of his hopes, make him feel as if the entail of +evil was too firm and strong to be ever broken. 'O +wretched man that I am!' said one who had made +experience of what it was to will what was good, and +not to find how to perform, 'who shall deliver me from +the body of this death?' It is an awful thing to have +to carry a corpse about on your back. And that was +what Paul thought the man did who loaded his own +shoulders with abortive resolutions, that perished in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span> +the birth, and never grew up to maturity. Weak and +miserable is always the man who is swift to resolve +and slow to carry out his resolutions.</p> + +<p>III. And now let me say a word before I close about +how this universal and grave disease is to be coped with.</p> + +<p>Well, I should say to begin with, let us take very +soberly and continually into our consciousness the recognition +of the fact that the disease is there. And +then may I say, let us be rather slower to resolve than +we often are. 'Better is it that thou shouldest not +vow than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.' +The man who has never had the determination to give +up some criminal indulgence—say, drink—is possibly +less criminal, and certainly less weak, than the man +who, when his head aches, and the consequences of his +self-indulgence are vividly realised by him, makes up +his mind to be a teetotaller, and soon stumbles into +the first dram-shop that is open, and then reels out +a drunkard. Do not vow until you have made up your +minds to pay. Remember that it is a solemn act to +determine anything, especially anything bearing on +moral and religious life; and that you had far better +keep your will in suspense than spring to the resolution +with thoughtless levity and leave it with the same.</p> + +<p>Further, the habit of promptly carrying out our +resolves is one that, like all other habits, can be cultivated. +And we can cultivate it in little things, in the +smallest trifles of daily life, which by their myriads +make up life itself, in order that it may be a fixed +custom of our minds when great resolves have to be +made. The man who has trained himself day in and +day out, in regard to the insignificances of daily life, +to let act follow resolve as the thunder peal succeeds +the lightning flash, is the man who, if he is moved to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span> +make a great resolve about his religion, or about his +conduct, will be most likely to carry it out. Get the +magical influence of habit on your side, and you +will have done much to conquer the evil of abortive +resolutions.</p> + +<p>But then there is something a great deal more than +that to be said. The Apostle did not content himself, +in the passage already referred to, with bewailing the +wretchedness of the condition in which to will was +present, but how to perform he found not. He asked, +and he triumphantly answered, the question, 'Who +shall deliver me?' with the great words, 'I thank God +through Jesus Christ our Lord.' There is the secret; +keep near Him, trust Him, open your hearts to the +influences of that Divine Spirit who makes us free +from the law of sin and death. And if thus, knowing +our weakness, recognising our danger, humbly trying +to cultivate the habit of prompt discharge of all discerned +duty, we leave ourselves in Jesus Christ's hands, +and wait, and ask, and believe that we possess, His +cleansing Spirit, then we shall not ask and wait in +vain. 'Work out your own salvation, . . . for it is God +that worketh in you, both the willing and the doing.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ALL GRACE ABOUNDING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all-sufficiency +in all things, may abound to every good work.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> ix. 8.</p></div> + + +<p>In addition to all his other qualities the Apostle was an +extremely good man of business; and he had a field for +the exercise of that quality in the collection for the +poor saints of Judea, which takes up so much of this +letter, and occupied for so long a period so much of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span> +thoughts and efforts. It was for the sake of showing +by actual demonstration that would 'touch the hearts' +of the Jewish brethren, the absolute unity of the two +halves of the Church, the Gentile and the Jewish, that +the Apostle took so much trouble in this matter. The +words which I have read for my text come in the midst +of a very earnest appeal to the Corinthian Christians +for their pecuniary help. He is dwelling upon the same +thought which is expressed in the well-known words: +'What I gave I kept; what I kept I lost.'</p> + +<p>But whilst the words of my text primarily applied +to money matters, you see that they are studiously +general, universal. The Apostle, after his fashion, is +lifting up a little 'secular' affair into a high spiritual +region; and he lays down in my text a broad general +law, which goes to the very depths of the Christian +life.</p> + +<p>Now, notice, we have here in three clauses three +stages which we may venture to distinguish as the +fountain, the basin, the stream. 'God is able to make +all grace abound toward you';—there is the fountain. +'That ye always, having all-sufficiency in all things';—there +is the basin that receives the gush from the +fountain. 'May abound in every good work';—there +is the steam that comes from the basin. The fountain +pours into the basin, that the flow from the basin may +feed the stream.</p> + +<p>Now this thought of Paul's goes to the heart of +things. So let us look at it.</p> + +<p>I. The Fountain.</p> + +<p>The Christian life in all its aspects and experiences +is an outflow from the 'the Fountain of Life,' the giving +God. Observe how emphatically the Apostle, in the +context, accumulates words that express universality:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span> +'<i>all</i> grace . . . <i>all</i>-sufficiency for <i>all</i> things . . . <i>every</i> +good work.' But even these expressions do not satisfy +Paul, and he has to repeat the word 'abound,' in order +to give some faint idea of his conception of the full +tide which gushes from the fountain. It is 'all grace,' +and it is abounding grace.</p> + +<p>Now what does he mean by 'grace'? That word is a +kind of shorthand for the whole sum of the unmerited +blessings which come to men through Jesus Christ. +Primarily, it describes what we, for want of a better +expression, have to call a 'disposition' in the divine +nature; and it means, then, if so looked at, the unconditioned, +undeserved, spontaneous, eternal, stooping, +pardoning love of God. That is grace, in the +primary New Testament use of the phrase.</p> + +<p>But there are no idle 'dispositions' in God. They +are always energising, and so the word glides from +meaning the disposition, to meaning the manifestation +and activities of it, and the 'grace' of our Lord is that +love in exercise. And then, since the divine energies +are never fruitless, the word passes over, further, to +mean all the blessed and beautiful things in a soul +which are the consequences of the Promethean truth +of God's loving hand, the outcome in life of the inward +bestowment which has its cause, its sole cause, in God's +ceaseless, unexhausted love, unmerited and free.</p> + +<p>That, very superficially and inadequately set forth, +is at least a glimpse into the fulness and greatness of +meaning that lies in that profound New Testament +word, 'grace.' But the Apostle here puts emphasis on +the variety of forms which the one divine gift assumes. +It is '<i>all</i> grace' which God is able to make abound +toward you. So then, you see this one <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'transcendant'">transcendent</ins> +gift from the divine heart, when it comes into our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span> +human experience, is like a meteor when it passes +into the atmosphere of earth, and catches fire and +blazes, showering out a multitude of radiant points of +light. The grace is many-sided—many-sided to us, but +one in its source and in its character. For at bottom, +that which God in His grace gives to us as His grace is +what? Himself; or if you like to put it in another +form, which comes to the same thing—new life through +Jesus Christ. That is the encyclopædiacal gift, which +contains within itself all grace. And just as the +physical life in each of us, one in all its manifestations, +produces many results, and shines in the eye, +and blushes in the cheek, and gives strength to the +arm, and flexibility and deftness to the fingers and +swiftness to the foot: so also is that one grace which, +being manifold in its manifestations, is one in its +essence. There are many graces, there is one Grace.</p> + +<p>But this grace is not only many-sided, but abounding. +It is not congruous with God's wealth, nor with His +love, that He should give scantily, or, as it were, should +open but a finger of the hand that is full of His gifts, +and let out a little at a time. There are no sluices on +that great stream so as to regulate its flow, and to give +sometimes a painful trickle and sometimes a full gush, +but this fountain is always pouring itself out, and it +'abounds.'</p> + +<p>But then we are pulled up short by another word in +this first clause: 'God is <i>able</i> to make.' Paul does not +say, 'God will make.' He puts the whole weight of +responsibility for that ability becoming operative upon +us. There are conditions; and although we may have +access to that full fountain, it will not pour on us 'all +grace' and 'abundant grace,' unless we observe these, +and so turn God's ability to give into actual giving.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span> +And how do we do that? By desire, by expectance, by +petition, by faithful stewardship. If we have these +things, if we have tutored ourselves, and experience +has helped in the tuition, to make large our expectancy, +God will smile down upon us and 'do exceeding +abundantly above all' that we 'think' as well as +above all that we 'ask.' Brethren, if our supplies are +scant, when the full fountain is gushing at our sides, +we are 'not straitened in God, we are straitened in +ourselves.' Christian possibilities are Christian obligations, +and what we might have and do not have, is our +condemnation.</p> + +<p>I turn, in the next place, to what I have, perhaps too +fancifully, called</p> + +<p>II. The Basin.</p> + +<p>'God is able to make all grace abound toward you, +that ye, having always all-sufficiency in all things, +may,' . . . etc.</p> + +<p>The result of all this many-sided and exuberant outpouring +of grace from the fountain is that the basin +may be full. Considering the infinite source and the +small receptacle, we might have expected something +more than 'sufficiency' to have resulted.</p> + +<p>Divine grace is sufficient. Is it not more than sufficient? +Yes, no doubt. But what Paul wishes us to +feel is this—to put it into very plain English—that the +good gifts of the divine grace will always be proportioned +to our work, and to our sufferings too. We +shall feel that we have enough, if we are as we ought +to be. Sufficiency is more than a man gets anywhere +else. 'Enough is as good as a feast.' And if we have +strength, which we may have, to do the day's tasks, and +strength to carry the day's crosses, and strength to +accept the day's sorrows, and strength to master the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span> +day's temptations, that is as much as we need wish to +have, even out of the fulness of God. And we shall +get it, dear brethren, if we will only fulfil the conditions. +If we exercise expectance, and desire and +petition and faithful stewardship, we shall get what +we need. 'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,' if the +road is a steep and rocky one that would wear out +leather. 'As thy days so shall thy strength be.' God +does not hurl His soldiers in a blundering attack on +some impregnable mountain, where they are slain in +heaps at the base; but when He lays a commandment +on my shoulders, He infuses strength into me, and +according to the good homely old saying that has +brought comfort to many a sad and weighted heart, +makes the back to bear the burden. The heavy task or +the crushing sorrow is often the key that opens the +door of God's treasure-house. You have had very little +experience either of life or of Christian life, if you have +not learnt by this time that the harder your work, and +the darker your sorrows, the mightier have been God's +supports, and the more starry the lights that have +shone upon your path. 'That ye, always having all-sufficiency +in all things.'</p> + +<p>One more word: this sufficiency <i>should be</i> more +uniform, <i>is</i> uniform in the divine intention, and in +so far as the flow of the fountain is concerned. Always +having had I may be sure that I always shall have. Of +course I know that, in so far as our physical nature +conditions our spiritual experience, there will be ups +and downs, moments of emancipation and moments of +slavery. There will be times when the flower opens, +and times when it shuts itself up. But I am sure that +the great mass of Christian people might have a far +more level temperature in their Christian experience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span> +than they have; that we could, if we would, have far +more experimental knowledge of this 'always' of my +text. God means that the basin should be always full +right up to the top of the marble edge, and that the +more is drawn off from it, the more should flow into +it. But it is very often like the reservoirs in the hills +for some great city in a drought, where great stretches +of the bottom are exposed, and again, when the +drought breaks, are full to the top of the retaining +wall. That should not be. Our Christian life should +run on the high levels. Why does it not? Possibilities +are duties.</p> + +<p>And now, lastly, we have here what, adhering to my +metaphor, I call</p> + +<p>III. The stream.</p> + +<p>'That ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things, +may abound to every good work.'</p> + +<p>That is what God gives us His grace for; and that is +a very important consideration. The end of God's +dealings with us, poor, weak, sinful creatures, is character +and conduct. Of course you can state the end in +a great many other ways; but there have been terrible +evils arising from the way in which Evangelical +preachers have too often talked, as if the end of God's +dealings with us was the vague thing which they call +'salvation,' and by which many of their hearers take +them to mean neither more nor less than dodging Hell. +But the New Testament, with all its mysticism, even +when it soars highest, and speaks most about the perfection +of humanity, and the end of God's dealings +being that we may be 'filled with the fulness of God,' +never loses its wholesome, sane hold of the common +moralities of daily life, and proclaims that we receive +all, in order that we may be able to 'maintain good<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span> +works for necessary uses.' And if we lay that to heart, +and remember that a correct creed, and a living faith, +and precious, select, inward emotions and experiences +are all intended to evolve into lives, filled and radiant +with common moralities and 'good works'—not meaning +thereby the things which go by that name in +popular phraseology, but 'whatsoever things are lovely +. . . and of good report'—then we shall understand a +little better what we are here for and what Jesus +Christ died for, and what His Spirit is given and lives +in us for. So 'good works' is the end, in one very important +aspect, of all that avalanche of grace which +has been from eternity rushing down upon us from +the heights of God.</p> + +<p>There is one more thing to note, and that is that, in +our character and conduct, we should copy the 'giving +grace.' Look how eloquently and significantly, in the +first and last clauses of my text, the same words recur. +'God is able to make <i>all</i> grace abound, that ye may +<i>abound</i> in <i>all</i> good work.' Copy God in the many-sidedness +and in the copiousness of the good that flows +out from your life and conduct, because of your possession +of that divine grace. And remember, 'to him +that hath shall be given.' We pray for more grace; +we need to pray for that, no doubt. Do we use the +grace that God has given us? If we do not, the +remainder of that great word which I have just quoted +will be fulfilled in you. God forbid that any of us +should receive the grace of God in vain, and therefore +come under the stern and inevitable sentence, +'From him that hath not shall be taken away, even +that which he hath!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GOD'S UNSPEAKABLE GIFT</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> ix. 15.</p></div> + + +<p>It seems strange that there should ever have been any +doubt as to what gift it is which evokes this burst of +thanksgiving. There is but one of God's many mercies +which is worthy of being thus singled out. There +is one blazing central sun which shines out amidst +all the galaxy of lights which fill the heavens. There +is one gift of God which, beyond all others, merits the +designation of 'unspeakable.' The gift of Christ draws +all other divine gifts after it. 'How should He not +with Him also freely give us all things.'</p> + +<p>The connection in which this abrupt jet of praise +stands is very remarkable. The Apostle has been +dwelling on the Christian obligation of giving bountifully +and cheerfully, and on the great law that a glad +giver is 'enriched' and not impoverished thereby, +whilst the recipients, for their part, are blessed by +having thankfulness evoked towards the givers. And +that contemplation of the happy interchange of benefit +and thanks between men leads the fervid Apostle to +the thoughts which were always ready to spring to his +lips—of God as the great pattern of giving and of the +gratitude to Him which should fill all our souls. The +expression here 'unspeakable' is what I wish chiefly +to fix upon now. It means literally that which cannot +be fully declared. Language fails because thought +fails.</p> + +<p>I. The gift comes from unspeakable love.</p> + +<p>God <i>so</i> loved the world that He gave His only begotten +Son. The love is the cause of the gift: the gift +is the expression of the love. John's Gospel says that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span> +the Son which is in the bosom of the Father has <i>declared</i> +Him. Paul here uses a related word for <i>unspeakable</i> +which might be rendered 'that which cannot be fully +declared.' The declaration of the Father partly consists +in this, that He is declared to be undeclarable, +the proclamation of His name consists partly in this +that it is proclaimed to be a name that cannot be proclaimed. +Language fails when it is applied to the +expression of human emotion; no tongue can ever +fully serve the heart. Whether there be any thoughts +too great for words or no, there are emotions too +great. Language is ever 'weaker than our grief' and +not seldom weaker than our love. It is but the surface +water that can be run off through the narrow +channel of speech: the central deep remains. If it be +so with human affection, how much more must it be +so with God's love? With lowly condescension He uses +all sweet images drawn from earthly relationships, to +help us in understanding His. Every dear name is +pressed into the service—father, mother, husband, wife, +brother, friend, and after all are exhausted, the love +which clothed itself in them all in turn, and used them +all to give some faint hint of its own perfection, +remains unspoken. We know human love, its limitations, +its changes, its extravagances, its shortcomings, +and cannot but feel how unworthy it is to mirror for +us that perfection in God which we venture to name +by a name so soiled. The analogies between what we +call love in man and love in God must be supplemented +by the differences between them, if we are ever to +approach a worthy conception of the unspeakable love +that underlies the unspeakable gift.</p> + +<p>II. The gift involves unspeakable sacrifice.</p> + +<p>Human love desires to give its most precious<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span> +treasures to its object and is then most blessed: divine +love cannot come short of human in this most characteristic +of its manifestations. Surely the copy is not +to surpass the original, nor the mirror to flash more +brightly than the sun which, at the brightest, it but +reflects. In such a matter we can but stammer when +we try to find words. As our text warns us, we are +trying to utter the unutterable when we seek to speak +of God's giving up for us; but however such a thought +may seem to be forbidden by other aspects of the +divine nature, it seems to be involved in the great +truth that 'God is love.' Since He is, His blessedness +too, must be in imparting, and in parting with what +He gives. A humble worshipper in Jewish times loved +enough to say that he would not offer unto God an +offering that cost him nothing, and that loving height +of self-surrender was at the highest, but a lowly imitation +of the love to which it looked up. When Paul in +the Epistle to the Romans says, 'He that spared not +His own Son but delivered Him up for us all,' he is +obviously alluding to, and all but quoting, the divine +words to Abraham, 'Seeing thou hast not withheld +thy son, thine only son, from Me,' and the allusion +permits us to parallel what God did when He sent His +Son with what Abraham did when, with wrung heart, +but with submission, he bound and laid Isaac on the +altar and stretched forth his hand with the knife in it +to slay him. Such a representation contradicts the +vulgar conceptions of a passionless, self-sufficing, icy +deity, but reflection on the facts of our own experience +and on the blessed secrets of our own love, leads us to +believe that some shadow of loss passed across the infinite +and eternal completeness of the divine nature +when 'God sent forth His Son made of a woman.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span> +And may we not go further and say that when Jesus +on the Cross cried from out of the darkness of eclipse, +'My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?' +there was something in the heavens corresponding to +the darkness that covered the earth and something in +the Father's heart that answered the Son's. But our +text warns us that such matters are not for our handling +in speech, and are best dealt with, not as matters +of possibly erring speculation, but as materials for +lowly thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift.</p> + +<p>But whatever may be true about the love of the +Father who sent, there can be no doubt about the love +of the Son who came. No man helps his fellows in +suffering but at the cost of his own suffering. Sympathy +means <i>fellow-feeling</i>, and the one indispensable +condition of all rescue work of any sort is that the +rescuer must bear on his own shoulders the sins or +sorrows that he is able to bear away. Heartless help +is no help. It does not matter whether he who 'stands +and says, "Be ye clothed and fed,"' gives or does not +give 'the things necessary,' he will be but a 'miserable +comforter' if he has not in heart and feeling entered +into the sorrows and pains which he seeks to alleviate. +We need not dwell on the familiar truths concerning +Him who was a 'man of sorrows and acquainted with +grief.' All through His life He was in contact with +evil, and for Him the contact was like that of a naked +hand pressed upon hot iron. The sins and woes of the +world made His path through it like that of bare feet +on sharp flints. If He had never died it would still +have been true that 'He was wounded for our transgressions +and bruised for our iniquities.' On the +Cross He completed the libation which had continued +throughout His life and 'poured out His soul unto<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span> +death' as He had been pouring it out all through His +life. We have no measure by which we can estimate +the inevitable sufferings in such a world as ours of +such a spirit as Christ's. We may know something of +the solitude of uncongenial society; of the pain of +seeing miseries that we cannot comfort, of the horrors +of dwelling amidst impurities that we cannot cleanse, +and of longings to escape from them all to some +nest in the wilderness, but all these are but the +feeblest shadows of the incarnate sorrows whose name +among men was Jesus. Nothing is more pathetic than +the way in which our Lord kept all these sorrows close +locked within His own heart, so that scarcely ever did +they come to light. Once He did permit a glimpse into +that hidden chamber when He said, 'O faithless generation, +how long shall I be with you, how long shall I +suffer you?' But for the most part His sorrow was +unspoken because it was 'unspeakable.' Once beneath +the quivering olives in the moonlight of Gethsemane, +He made a pitiful appeal for the little help which three +drowsy men could give Him, when He cried, 'My soul +is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye +here and watch with Me,' but for the most part the +silence at which His judges 'marvelled greatly,' and +raged as much as they marvelled, was unbroken, and +as 'a sheep before her shearers is dumb,' so 'He opened +not His mouth.' The sacrifice of His death was, for +the most part, silent like the sacrifice of His life. +Should it not call forth from us floods of praise and +thanks to God for His unspeakable gift?</p> + +<p>III. The gift brings with it unspeakable results.</p> + +<p>In Christ are hid 'all the treasures of wisdom and +knowledge.' When God gave us Him, He gave us a +storehouse in which are contained treasures of truth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span> +which can never be fully comprehended, and which, +even if comprehended, can never be exhausted. The +mystery of the Divine Name revealed in Jesus, the +mystery of His person, are themes on which the +Christian world has been nourished ever since, and +which are as full of food, not for the understanding +only, but far more for the heart and the will, to-day as +ever they were. The world may think that it has left +the teaching of Jesus behind, but in reality the teaching +is far ahead, and the world's practise is but slowly +creeping towards its imperfect attainment. The Gospel +is the guide of the race, and each generation gathers +something more from it, and progresses in the measure +in which it follows Christ; and as for the race, so for +the individual. Each of Christ's scholars finds his own +gift, and in the measure of his faithfulness to what he +has found makes ever new discoveries in the unsearchable +riches of Christ. After all have fed full there still +remain abundant baskets full to be taken up.</p> + +<p>He who has sounded the depths of Jesus most completely +is ever the first to acknowledge that he has been +but as a child 'gathering pebbles on the beach while +the great ocean lies unsounded before him.' No single +soul, and no multitude of souls, can exhaust Jesus; +neither our individual experiences, nor the experiences +of a believing world can fully realise the endless wealth +laid up in Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega of all +our speech, the first letter and the last of our alphabet, +between which lie all the rest.</p> + +<p>The gift is completed in consequences yet unspeakable. +Even the first blessings which the humblest faith +receives from the pierced hands have more in them +than words can tell. Who has ever spoken adequately +and in full correspondence with reality what it is to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span> +God's pardoning love flowing in upon the soul? Many +singers have sung sweet psalms and hymns and +spiritual songs on which generations of devout souls +have fed, but none of them has spoken the deepest +blessedness of a Christian life, or the calm raptures of +communion with God. It is easy to utter the words +'forgiveness, reconciliation, acceptance, fellowship, +eternal life'; the syllables can be spoken, but who +knows or can utter the depths of the meanings? After +all human words the half has not been told us, and as +every soul carries within itself unrevealable emotions, +and is a mystery after all revelation, so the things +which God's gift brings to a soul are after all speech +unspeakable, and the words 'cannot be uttered' which +they who are caught up into the third heavens hear.</p> + +<p>Then we may extend our thoughts to the future +form of Christian experience. 'It doth not yet appear +what we should be.' All our conceptions of a future +existence must necessarily be inadequate. Nothing +but experience can reveal them to us, and our experience +there will be capable of indefinite expansion, and +through eternity there will be endless growth in the +appropriation of the unspeakable gift.</p> + +<p>For us the only recompense that we can make for the +unspeakable gift is to receive it with 'thanks unto +God' and the yielding up of our hearts to Him. God +pours this love upon us freely, without stint. It is +unspeakable in the depths of its source, in the manner +of its manifestation, in the glory of its issues. It is +like some great stream, rising in the trackless mountains, +broad and deep, and leading on to a sunlit +ocean. We stand on the bank; let us trust ourselves +to its broad bosom. It will bear us safe. And let us +take heed that we receive not the gift of God <i>in vain</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A MILITANT MESSAGE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the +knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of +Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience +shall be fulfilled.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> x. 5 and 6 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>None of Paul's letters are so full of personal feeling +as this one is. It is written, for the most part, at a +white heat; he had heard from his trusted Titus tidings +which on one hand filled him with a thankfulness of +which the first half of the letter is the expression; but +there had also been tidings of a very different kind, +and from this point onwards the letter is seething with +the feelings which these had produced. There was in +the Corinthian Church a party, probably Judaisers, +which denied his authority and said bitter things about +his character. They apparently had contrasted the +force of his letters and the feebleness of his 'bodily +presence' and speech. They insinuated that his 'bark +was worse than his bite.' Their language put into +plain English would be something like this, 'Ah! He +is very bold at a distance, let him come and face us +and we shall see a difference. Vapouring in his letters, +he will be meek enough when he is here.'</p> + +<p>These slanderers seem to have thought of Paul as if +he 'warred according to flesh,' and it is this charge, +that he was actuated in his opposition to the evils in +Corinth by selfish considerations and worldly interests, +which seems to have set the Apostle on fire. In answer +he pours out quick, indignant questionings, sharp irony, +vehement self-vindication, passionate remonstrances, +flashes of wrath, sudden jets of tenderness. What a +position for him to have to say, 'I am not a low +schemer; I am not working for myself.' Yet it is the +common lot of all such men to be misread by little,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span> +crawling creatures who cannot believe in heroic self-forgetfulness. +He answers the taunt that he 'walked +according to the flesh' in the context by saying, 'Yes, +I live in the flesh, my outward life is like that of other +men, but I do not go a-soldiering <i>according</i> to the flesh. +It is not for my own sinful self that I get the rules of +my life's battle, neither do I get my weapons from the +flesh. They could not do what they do if that were their +origin: they are of God and therefore mighty.' Then +the metaphor as it were catches fire, and in our text +he expands the figure of a warfare and sets before us +the destruction of fortresses, the capture of their +garrisons, and the leading of them away into another +land, the stern punishment of the rebels who still hold +out, and the merciful delay in administering it. It has +been suggested that there is an allusion in our text to +the extermination of the pirates in Paul's native Cilicia +which happened some fifty or sixty years before his +birth and ended in destroying their robber-holds and +taking some thousands of prisoners. Whether that be +so or no, the Apostle's kindled imagination sets forth +here great truths as to the effects which his message is +meant to produce and, thank God, has produced.</p> + +<p>I. The opposing fortresses.</p> + +<p>The Apostle conceives of himself and of his brother +preachers of Christ as going forth on a merciful warfare. +He thinks of strong rock fortresses, with lofty +walls set on high, and frowning down on any assailants. +No doubt he is thinking first of the opposition which +he had to front in Corinth from the Judaisers to whom +we have referred, but the application of the metaphor +goes far beyond the petty strife in Corinth and carries +for us the wholesome lesson that one main cause which +keeps men back from Christ is a too high estimate of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span> +themselves. Some of us are enclosed in the fortress of +self-sufficiency: we will not humbly acknowledge our +dependence on God, and have turned self-reliance into +the law of our lives. There are many voices, some of +them sweet and powerful, which to-day are preaching +that gospel. It finds eager response in many hearts, +and there is something in us all to which it appeals. +We are often tempted to say defiantly, 'Who is Lord +over us?' And the teaching that bids us rely on ourselves +is so wholly in accord with the highest wisdom +and the noblest life that what is good and what is evil +in each of us contribute to reinforce it. Self-dependence +is a great virtue, and the mother of much energy +and nobleness, but it is also a great error and a great +sin. To be so self-sufficing as not to need externals is +good; to be so self-sufficing as not to need or to see +God is ruin and death. The title which, as one of our +great thinkers tells us, a humourist put on the back of +a volume of heterodox tracts, 'Every man his own +redeemer,' makes a claim for self-sufficiency which +more or less unconsciously shuts out many men from +the salvation of Christ.</p> + +<p>There is the fortress of culture and the pride of it in +which many of us are to-day entrenched against the +Gospel. The attitude of mind into which persons of +culture tend to fall is distinctly adverse to their reception +of the Gospel, and that is not because the Gospel +is adverse to culture, but because cultured people do +not care to be put on the same level with publicans +and harlots. They would be less disinclined to go into +the feast if there were in it reserved seats for superior +people and a private <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'entrace'">entrance</ins> to them. If the wise and +prudent were more of both, they would be liker the +babes to whom these things are revealed, and they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span> +would be revealed to them too. Not knowledge but +the superciliousness which is the result of the conceit +of knowledge hinders from God, and is one of the +strongest fortresses against which the weapons of our +warfare have to be employed.</p> + +<p>There is the fortress of ignorance. Most men who +are kept from Christ are so because they know neither +themselves nor God. The most widely prevailing +characteristic of the superficial life of most men is +their absolute unconsciousness of the fact of sin; they +neither know it as universal nor as personal. They +have never gone deeply enough down into the depths +of their own hearts to have come up scared at the +ugly things that lie sleeping there, nor have they ever +reflected on their own conduct with sufficient gravity +to discern its aberrations from the law of right, hence +the average man is quite unconscious of sin, and is a +complete stranger to himself. The cup has been drunk +by and intoxicated the world, and the masses of men +are quite unaware that it has intoxicated them.</p> + +<p>They are ignorant of God as they are of themselves, +and if at any time, by some flash of light, they see +themselves as they are, they think of God as if He were +altogether such an one as themselves, and fall back on +a vague trust in the vaguer mercy of their half-believed-in +God as their hope for a vague salvation. Men who +thus walk in a vain show will never feel their need of +Jesus, and the lazy ignorance of themselves and the +as lazy trust in what they call their God, are a fortress +against which it will task the power of God to make +any weapons of warfare mighty to its pulling down.</p> + +<p>II. The casting down of fortresses.</p> + +<p>The first effect of any real contact with Christ and +His Gospel is to reveal a man to himself, to shatter his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span> +delusive estimates of what he is, and to pull down +about his ears the lofty fortress in which he has +ensconced himself. It seems strange work for what +calls itself a Gospel to begin by forcing a man to cry +out with sobs and tears, Oh, wretched man that I am! +But no man will ever reach the heights to which Christ +can lift him, who does not begin his upward course by +descending to the depths into which Christ's Gospel +begins its work by plunging him. Unconsciousness of +sin is sure to lead to indifference to a Saviour, and +unless we know ourselves to be miserable and poor and +blind and naked, the offer of gold refined by fire and +white garments that we may clothe ourselves will +make no appeal to us. The fact of sin makes the need +for a Saviour; our individual sense of sin makes us +sensible of our need of a Saviour.</p> + +<p>Paul believed that the weapons of his warfare were +mighty enough to cast down the strongest of all +strongholds in which men shut themselves up against +the humbling Gospel of salvation by the mercy of God. +The weapons to which he thus trusted were the same +to which Jesus pointed His disciples when, about to +leave them, He said, 'When the Comforter is come He +will convict the world of sin because they believe not +in Me.' Jesus brought to the world the perfect revelation +of the holiness of God, and set before us all a +divine pattern of manhood to rebuke and condemn our +stained and rebellious lives, and He turned us away +from the superficial estimate of actions to the careful +scrutiny of motives. By all these and many other +ways He presented Himself to the world a perfect man, +the incarnation of a holy God and the revelation and +condemnation of sinful humanity. Yet, all that miracle +of loveliness, gentleness, and dignity is beheld by men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span> +without a thrill, and they see in Him no 'beauty that +they should desire Him,' and no healing to which they +will trust. Paul's way of kindling penitence in impenitent +spirits was not to brandish over them the +whips of law or to seek to shake souls with terror of +any hell, still less was it to discourse with philosophic +calm on the obligations of duty and the wisdom of +virtuous living; his appeal to conscience was primarily +the pressing on the heart of the love of God in Christ +Jesus our Lord. When the heart is melted, the conscience +will not long continue indurated. We cannot +look lovingly and believingly at Jesus and then turn +to look complacently on ourselves. Not to believe on +Him is the sin of sins, and to be taught that it is so is +the first step in the work of Him who never merits the +name of the Comforter more truly than when He convicts +the world of sin.</p> + +<p>For a Christianity that does not begin with the deep +consciousness of sin has neither depth nor warmth and +has scarcely vitality. The Gospel is no Gospel, and we +had almost said, 'The Christ is no Christ' to one who +does not feel himself, if parted from Christ, 'dead in +trespasses and sins.' Our religion depends for all its +force, our gratitude and love for all their devotion, +upon our sense that 'the chastisement of our peace +was laid upon Him, and that by His stripes we are +healed.' Since He gave Himself for us, it is meet that +we give ourselves to Him, but there will be little +fervour of devotion or self-surrender, unless there has +been first the consciousness of the death of sin and +then the joyous consciousness of newness of life in +Christ Jesus.</p> + +<p>III. The captives led away to another land.</p> + +<p>The Apostle carries on his metaphor one step further<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span> +when he goes on to describe what followed the casting +down of the fortresses. The enemy, driven from their +strongholds, have nothing for it but to surrender and +are led away in captivity to another land. The long +strings of prisoners on Assyrian and Egyptian monuments +show how familiar an experience this was. It +may be noted that perhaps our text regards the +obedience of Christ as being the far country into +which 'every thought was to be brought.' At all +events Paul's idea here is that the end of the whole +struggle between 'the flesh' and the weapons of God +is to make men willing captives of Jesus Christ. We +are Christians in the measure in which we surrender +our wills to Christ. That surrender rests upon, and is +our only adequate answer to, His surrender for us. +The 'obedience of Christ' is perfect freedom; His +captives wear no chains and know nothing of forced +service; His yoke is easy, not because it does not press +hard upon the neck but because it is lined with love, +and 'His burden is light' not because of its own weight +but because it is laid on us by love and is carried by +kindred love. He only commands himself who gladly +lets Christ command him. Many a hard task becomes +easy; crooked things are straightened out and rough +places often made surprisingly plain for the captives +of Christ, whom He leads into the liberty of obedience +to Him.</p> + +<p>IV. Fate of the disobedient.</p> + +<p>Paul thinks that in Corinth there will be found some +stiff-necked opponents of whom he cannot hope that +their 'obedience shall be fulfilled,' and he sees in the +double issue of the small struggle that was being +waged in Corinth a parable of the wider results of the +warfare in the world. 'Some believed and some believed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span> +not'; that has been the brief summary of the experience +of all God's messengers everywhere, and it is their +experience to-day. No doubt when Paul speaks of +'being in readiness to avenge all disobedience,' he is +alluding to the exercise of his apostolic authority +against the obdurate antagonists whom he contemplates +as still remaining obdurate, and it is beautiful +to note the long-suffering patience with which he will +hold his hand until all that can be won has been won. +But we must not forget that Paul's demeanour is but a +faint shadow of his Lord's, and that the weapons which +were ready to avenge all disobedience were the weapons +of God. If a man steels himself against the efforts of +divine love, builds up round himself a fortress of self-righteousness +and locks its gates against the merciful +entrance of convictions of sin and the knowledge of a +Saviour, and if he therefore lives, year in, year out, in +disobedience, the weapons which he thinks himself to +have resisted will one day make him feel their edge. +We cannot set ourselves against the salvation of Jesus +without bringing upon ourselves consequences which +are wholly evil and harmful. Torpid consciences, +hungry hearts, stormy wills, tyrannous desires, vain +hopes and not vain fears come to be, by slow degrees, +the tortures of the man who drops the portcullis and +lifts the bridge against the entrance of Jesus. There +are hells enough on earth if men's hearts were displayed.</p> + +<p>But the love which is obliged to smite gives warning +that it is ready to avenge, long before it lets the blow +fall, and does so in order that it may never need to fall. +As long as it is possible that the disobedient shall +become obedient to Christ, He holds back the vengeance +that is ready to fall and will one day fall 'on all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span> +disobedience.' Not till all other means have been +patiently tried will He let that terrible ending crash +down. It hangs over the heads of many of us who are +all unaware that we walk beneath the shadow of a +rock that at any moment may be set in motion and +bury us beneath its weight. It is 'in readiness,' but it +is still at rest. Let us be wise in time and yield to the +merciful weapons with which Jesus would make His +way into our hearts. Or if the metaphor of our text +presents Him in too warlike a guise, let us listen to +His own gentle pleading, 'Behold, I stand at the door +and knock; if any man hear My voice, and open the +door, I will come in to him.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SIMPLICITY TOWARDS CHRIST</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, +so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> +xi. 3.</p></div> + + +<p>The Revised Version, amongst other alterations, reads, +'the simplicity that is <i>towards</i> Christ.'</p> + +<p>The inaccurate rendering of the Authorised Version +is responsible for a mistake in the meaning of these +words, which has done much harm. They have been +supposed to describe a quality or characteristic belonging +to Christ or the Gospel; and, so construed, they +have sometimes been made the watchword of narrowness +and of intellectual indolence. 'Give us the simple +Gospel' has been the cry of people who have thought +themselves to be evangelical when they were only lazy, +and the consequence has been that preachers have been +expected to reiterate commonplaces, which have made +both them and their hearers listless, and to sink the +educational for the evangelistic aspect of the Christian +teacher's function.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is quite true that the Gospel is simple, but it is also +true that it is deep, and they will best appreciate its +simplicity who have most honestly endeavoured to +fathom its depth. When we let our little sounding +lines out, and find that they do not reach the bottom, +we begin to wonder even more at the transparency of +the clear abyss. It is not simplicity <i>in</i> Christ, but +<i>towards</i> Christ of which the Apostle is speaking; not a +quality in Him, but a quality in <i>us</i> towards Him. I +wish, then, to turn to the two thoughts that these +words suggest. First and chiefly, the attitude towards +Christ which befits our relation to Him; and, secondly +and briefly, the solicitude for its maintenance.</p> + +<p>I. First, then, look at the attitude towards Christ +which befits the Christian relation to Him.</p> + +<p>The word 'simplicity' has had a touch of contempt +associated with it. It is a somewhat doubtful compliment +to say of a man that he is 'simple-minded.' All +noble words which describe great qualities get oxidised +by exposure to the atmosphere, and rust comes over +them, as indeed all good things tend to become deteriorated +in time and by use. But the notion of the word +is really a very noble and lofty one. To be 'without a +fold,' which is the meaning of the Greek word and of its +equivalent 'simplicity,' is, in one aspect, to be transparently +honest and true, and in another to be out and +out of a piece. There is no underside of the cloth, +doubled up beneath the upper which shows, and running +in the opposite direction; but all tends in one way. +A man with no under-currents, no by-ends, who is +down to the very roots what he looks, and all whose +being is knit together and hurled in one direction, +without reservation or back-drawing, that is the +'simple' man whom the Apostle means. Such sim<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>plicity +is the truest wisdom; such simplicity of devotion +to Jesus Christ is the only attitude of heart and mind +which corresponds to the facts of our relation to Him. +That relation is set forth in the context by a very +sweet and tender image, in the true line of scriptural +teaching, which in many a place speaks of the Bride +and Bridegroom, and which on its last page shows us +the Lamb's wife descending from Heaven to meet her +husband. The state of devout souls and of the community +of such here on earth is that of betrothal. +Their state in heaven is that of marriage. Very beautiful +it is to see how this fiery Paul, like the ascetic +John, who never knew the sacred joys of that state, +lays hold of the thought of the Bridegroom and the +Bride, and of his individual relation to both as indicating +the duties of the Church and the solicitude of +the Apostle. He says that he has been the intermediary +who, according to Oriental custom, arranged +the preliminaries of the marriage, and brought the +bride to the bridegroom, and, as the friend of the latter, +standing by rejoices greatly to hear the bridegroom's +voice, and is solicitous mainly that in the tremulous +heart of the betrothed there should be no admixture of +other loves, but a whole-hearted devotion, an exclusive +affection, and an absolute obedience. 'I have espoused +you,' says he, 'to one husband that I may present you +as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest . . . your +mind should be corrupted from the simplicity that is +towards Him.'</p> + +<p>Now that metaphor carries in its implication all that +anybody can say about the exclusiveness, the depth, +the purity, the all-pervasiveness of the dependent love +which should knit us to Jesus Christ. The same thought +of whole-hearted, single, absolute devotion is conveyed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span> +by other Scripture metaphors, the <i>slave</i> and the <i>soldier</i> +of Christ. But all that is repellent or harsh in these is +softened and glorified when we contemplate it in the +light of the metaphor of my text.</p> + +<p>So I might leave it to do its own work, but I may +perhaps be allowed to follow out the thought in one or +two directions.</p> + +<p>The attitude, then, which corresponds to our relation +to Jesus Christ is that, first, of a faith which looks to +Him exclusively as the source of salvation and of light. +The specific danger which was alarming Paul, in reference +to that little community of Christians in Corinth, +was one which, in its particular form, is long since dead +and buried. But the principles which underlay it, the +tendencies to which it appealed, and the perils which +alarmed Paul for the Corinthian Church, are perennial. +He feared that these Judaising teachers, who dogged +his heels all his life long, and whose one aim seemed to +be to build upon his foundation and to overthrow his +building, should find their way into this church and +wreck it. The keenness of the polemic, in this and in +the contextual chapters, shows how real and imminent +the danger was. Now what they did was to tell people +that Jesus Christ had a partner in His saving work. +They said that obedience to the Jewish law, ceremonial +and other, was a condition of salvation, along with +trust in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. And because they +thus shared out the work of salvation between Jesus +Christ and something else, Paul thundered and lightened +at them all his life, and, as he tells us in this +context, regarded them as preaching another Jesus, +another spirit, and another gospel. That particular +error is long dead and buried.</p> + +<p>But is there nothing else that has come into its place?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span> +Has this old foe not got a new face, and does not it live +amongst us as really as it lived then? I think it does; +whether in the form of the grosser kind of sacramentarianism +and ecclesiasticism which sticks sacraments +and a church in front of the Cross, or in the form of +the definite denial that Jesus Christ's death on the +Cross is the one means of salvation, or simply in the +form of the coarse, common wish to have a finger in +the pie and a share in the work of saving oneself, as a +drowning man will sometimes half drown his rescuer +by trying to use his own limbs. These tendencies that +Paul fought, and which he feared would corrupt the +Corinthians from their simple and exclusive reliance on +Christ, and Christ alone, as the ground and author of +their salvation, are perennial in human nature, and +we have to be on our guard for ever and for ever +against them. Whether they come in organised, systematic, +doctrinal form, or whether they are simply the +rising in our own hearts of the old Adam of pride and +self-trust, they equally destroy the whole work of +Christ, because they infringe upon its solitariness and +uniqueness. It is not Christ and anything else. Men +are not saved by a syndicate. It is Jesus Christ alone, +and 'beside Him there is no Saviour.' You go into a +Turkish mosque and see the roof held up by a forest +of slim pillars. You go into a cathedral chapter-house +and see one strong support in the centre that +bears the whole roof. The one is an emblem of the +Christless multiplicity of vain supports, the other of +the solitary strength and eternal sufficiency of the one +Pillar on which the whole weight of a world's salvation +rests, and which lightly bears it triumphantly aloft. +'I fear lest your minds be corrupted from the simplicity' +of a reasonable faith directed towards Christ.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p> + +<p>And in like manner He is the sole light and teacher +of men as to God, themselves, their duty, their destinies +and prospects. He, and He alone, brings these things +to light. His word, whether it comes from His lips or +from the deeds which are part of His revelation, or +from the voice of the Spirit which takes of His and +speaks to the ages through His apostles, should be 'the +end of all strife.' What He says, and all that He says, +and nothing else than what He says, is the creed of the +Christian. He, and He only, is 'the light which lighteth +every man that cometh into the world.' In this day of +babblements and confusions, let us listen for the voice +of Christ and accept all which comes from Him, and let +the language of our deepest hearts be, 'Lord, to whom +shall we go? Thou only hast the words of eternal +life.'</p> + +<p>Again, our relation to Jesus Christ demands exclusive +love to Him. 'Demands' is an ugly word to bracket +with love. We might say, and perhaps more truly, +permits or privileges. It is the joy of the betrothed +that her duty is to love, and to keep her heart clear +from all competing affections. But it is none the less +her duty because it is her joy. What Christ is to you, +if you are a Christian, and what He longs to be to us +all, whether we are Christians or not, is of such a +character as that the only fitting attitude of our hearts +to Him in response is that of exclusive affection. I do +not mean that we are to love nothing but Him, but I +mean that we are to love all things else in Him, and +that, if any creature so delays or deflects our love as +that either it does not pass, by means of the creature, +into the presence of the Christ, or is turned away from +the Christ by the creature, then we have fallen beneath +the sweet level of our lofty privilege, and have won for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span> +ourselves the misery due to distracted and idolatrous +hearts. Love to one who has done what He has done +for us is in its very nature exclusive, and its exclusiveness +is all-pervasive exclusiveness. The centre diamond +makes the little stones set round it all the more lustrous. +We must love Jesus Christ all in all or not at +all. Divided love incurs the condemnation that falls +heavily upon the head of the faithless bride.</p> + +<p>Dear friends, the conception of the essence of religion +as being love is no relaxation, but an increase, of its +stringent requirements. The more we think of that +sweet bond as being the true union of the soul with +God, who is its only rest and home, the more reasonable +and imperative will appear the old commandment, +'Thou shalt love Him with all thy heart, and soul, and +strength, and mind.'</p> + +<p>But, further, our relation to Jesus Christ is such as +that nothing short of absolute obedience to His commandment +corresponds to it. There must be the simplicity, +the single-mindedness that thus obeys, obeys +swiftly, cheerfully, constantly. In all matters His +command is my law, and, as surely as I make His +command my law, will He make my desire His motive. +For He Himself has said, in words that bring together +our obedience to His will and His compliance with +our wishes, in a fashion that we should not have ventured +upon unless He had set us an example, 'If ye +love Me, keep My commandments. If ye ask anything +in My name I will do it.' The exclusive love that binds +us, by reason of our faith in Him alone, to that Lord +ought to express itself in unhesitating, unfaltering, +unreserved, and unreluctant obedience to every word +that comes from His mouth.</p> + +<p>These brief outlines are but the poorest attempt to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span> +draw out what the words of my text imply. But such +as they are, let us remember that they do set forth the +only proper response of the saved man to the saving +Christ. 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.' Anything +short of a faith that rests on Him alone, of a love +that knits itself to His single, all-sufficient heart, and +of an obedience that bows the whole being to the sweet +yoke of His commandment is an unworthy answer to +the Love that died, and that lives for us all.</p> + +<p>II. And now I have only time to glance at the solicitude +for the maintenance of this exclusive single-mindedness +towards Christ.</p> + +<p>Think of what threatens it. I say nothing about the +ferment of opinion in this day, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'for for'">for</ins> one man that +is swept away from a thorough whole-hearted faith by +intellectual considerations, there are a dozen from +whom it is filched without their knowing it, by their +own weaknesses and the world's noises. And so it is +more profitable that we should think of the whole +crowd of external duties, enjoyments, sweetnesses, +bitternesses, that solicit us, and would seek to draw us +away. Who can hear the low voice that speaks peace +and wisdom when Niagara is roaring past his ears? +'The world is too much with us, late and soon. Buying +and selling we lay waste our powers,' and break ourselves +away from our simple devotion to that dear +Lord. But it is possible that we may so carry into all +the whirl the central peace, as that we shall not be +disturbed by it; and possible that 'whether we eat or +drink, or whatsoever we do, we may do all to His glory,' +so that we can, even in the midst of our daily pressing +avocations and cares be keeping our hearts in the +heavens, and our souls in touch with our Lord.</p> + +<p>But it is not only things without that draw us away.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span> +Our own weaknesses and waywardnesses, our strong +senses, our passions, our desires, our necessities, all +these have a counteracting force, which needs continual +watchfulness in order to be neutralised. No man can +grasp a stay, which alone keeps him from being immersed +in the waves, with uniform tenacity, unless +every now and then he tightens his muscles. And no +man can keep himself firmly grasping Jesus Christ +without conscious effort directed to bettering his hold.</p> + +<p>If there be dangers around us, and dangers within +us, the discipline which we have to pursue in order to +secure this uniform, single-hearted devotion is plain +enough. Let us be vividly conscious of the peril—which +is what some of us are not. Let us take stock of ourselves +lest creeping evil may be encroaching upon us, +while we are all unaware—which is what some of us +never do. Let us clearly contemplate the possibility of +an indefinite increase in the closeness and thoroughness +of our surrender to Him—a conviction which has +faded away from the minds of many professing Christians. +Above all, let us find time or make time for the +patient, habitual contemplation of the great facts +which kindle our devotion. For if you never think of +Jesus Christ and His love to you, how can you love +Him back again? And if you are so busy carrying +out your own secular affairs, or pursuing your own +ambitions, or attending to your own duties, as they +may seem to be, that you have no time to think of +Christ, His death, His life, His Spirit, His yearning +heart over His bride, how can it be expected that you +will have any depth of love to Him? Let us, too, wait +with prayerful patience for that Divine Spirit who will +knit us more closely to our Lord.</p> + +<p>Unless we do so, we shall get no happiness out of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span> +religion, and it will bring no praise to Christ or profit +to ourselves. I do not know a more miserable man +than a half-and-half Christian, after the pattern of, I +was going to say, the ordinary average of professing +Christians of this generation. He has religion enough +to prick and sting him, and not enough to impel him +to forsake the evil which yet he cannot comfortably +do. He has religion enough to 'inflame his conscience,' +not enough to subdue his will and heart. How many +of my hearers are in that condition it is for them to +settle. If we are to be Christian men at all, let us be it +out and out. Half-and-half religion is no religion.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="One foot in sea, and one on shore"> +<tr><td align='left'>'One foot in sea, and one on shore;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To one thing constant never!'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>That is the type of thousands of professing Christians. +'I fear lest by any means your minds be corrupted +from the simplicity that is towards Christ.'</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And +He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect +in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that +the power of Christ may rest upon me.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> xii. 8, 9.</p></div> + + +<p>This very remarkable page in the autobiography of +the Apostle shows us that he, too, belonged to the +great army of martyrs who, with hearts bleeding and +pierced through and through with a dart, yet did their +work for God. It is of little consequence what his +thorn in the flesh may have been. The original word +suggests very much heavier sorrow than the metaphor +of 'a thorn' might imply. It really seems to mean +not a tiny bit of thorn that might lie half concealed in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span> +the finger tip, but one of those hideous stakes on which +the cruel punishment of impalement used to be inflicted. +And Paul's thought is, not that he has a little, trivial +trouble to bear, but that he is, as it were, forced quivering +upon that tremendous torture.</p> + +<p>Unquestionably, what he means is some bodily ailment +or other. The hypothesis that the 'thorn in the flesh' +was the sting of the animal nature inciting him to evil +is altogether untenable, because such a thorn could +never have been left when the prayer for its removal +was earnestly presented; nor could it ever have been, +when left, an occasion for glorifying. Manifestly it +was no weakness removable by his own effort, no +incapacity for service which in any manner approximated +to being a fault, but purely and simply some +infliction from God's hand (though likewise capable of +being regarded as a 'messenger of Satan') which +hindered him in his work, and took down any proud +flesh and danger of spiritual exaltation in consequence +of the largeness of his religious privileges.</p> + +<p>Our text sets before us three most instructive windings, +as it were, of the stream of thoughts that passed +through the Apostle's mind, in reference to this burden +that he had to carry, and may afford wholesome contemplation +for us to-day. There is, first, the instinctive +shrinking which took refuge in prayer. Then there is +the insight won by prayer into the sustaining strength +for, and the purposes of, the thorn that was not to be +plucked out. And then, finally, there is the peace of +acquiescence, and a will that accepts—not the inevitable, +but the loving.</p> + +<p>I. First of all we see the instinctive shrinking from +that which tortured the flesh, which takes refuge in +prayer.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span></p> + +<p>There is a wonderful, a beautiful, and, I suppose, an +intentional parallel between the prayers of the servant +and of the Master. Paul's petitions are the echo of +Gethsemane. There, under the quivering olives, in the +broken light of the Paschal moon, Jesus 'thrice' prayed +that the cup might pass from Him. And here the +servant, emboldened and instructed by the example of +the Master, 'thrice' reiterates his human and natural +desire for the removal of the pain, whatever it was, +which seemed to him so to hinder the efficiency and +the fulness, as it certainly did the joy, of his service.</p> + +<p>But He who prayed in Gethsemane was He to whom +Paul addressed his prayer. For, as is almost always +the case in the New Testament, 'the Lord' here +evidently means Christ, as is obvious from the connection +of the answer to the petition with the Apostle's +final confidence and acquiescence. For the answer was, +'My strength is made perfect in weakness'; and the +Apostle's conclusion is, 'Most gladly will I glorify in +infirmity,' that the strength or 'power <i>of Christ</i> may +rest upon me.' Therefore the prayer with which we +have to deal here is a prayer offered to Jesus, who +prayed in Gethsemane, and to whom we can bring our +petitions and our desires.</p> + +<p>Notice how this thought of prayer directed to the +Master Himself helps to lead us deep into the sacredest +and most blessed characteristics of prayer. It is only +telling Christ what is in our hearts. Oh, if we lived in +the true understanding of what prayer really is—the +emptying out of our inmost desire and thoughts before +our Brother, who is likewise our Lord—questions as to +what it was permissible to pray for, and what it was +not permissible to pray for, would be irrelevant, and +drop away of themselves. If we had a less formal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span> +notion of prayer, and realised more thoroughly what +it was—the speech of a confiding heart to a sympathising +Lord—then everything that fills our hearts would +be seen to be a fitting object of prayer. If anything is +large enough to interest me, it is not too small to be +spoken about to Him.</p> + +<p>So the question, which is often settled upon very +abstract and deep grounds that have little to do with +the matter—the question as to whether prayer for +outward blessings is permissible—falls away of itself. +If I am to talk to Jesus Christ about everything that +concerns me, am I to keep my thumb upon all that +great department and be silent about it? One reason +why our prayers are often so unreal is, because they +do not fit our real wants, nor correspond to the +thoughts that are busy in our minds at the moment of +praying. Our hearts are full of some small matter of +daily interest, and when we kneel down not a word +about it comes to our lips. Can that be right?</p> + +<p>The difference between the different objects of prayer +is not to be found in the rejection of all temporal and +external, but in remembering that there are two sets +of things to be prayed about, and over one set must +ever be written 'If it be Thy will,' and over the other it +need not be written, because we are sure that the +granting of our wishes <i>is</i> His will. We know about +the one that 'if we ask anything according to His will, +He heareth us.' That may seem to be a very poor and +shrunken kind of hope to give a man, that if his prayer +is in conformity with the previous determination of +the divine will, it will be answered. But it availed for +the joyful confidence of that Apostle who saw deepest +into the conditions and the blessedness of the harmony +of the will of God and of man. But about the other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span> +set we can only say, 'Not my will, but Thine be done.' +With that sentence, not as a formula upon our lips but +deep in our hearts, let us take everything into His +presence—thorns and stakes, pinpricks and wounds out +of which the life-blood is ebbing—let us take them all +to Him, and be sure that we shall take none of them in +vain.</p> + +<p>So then we have the Person to whom the prayer is +addressed, the subjects with which it is occupied, and +the purpose to which it is directed. 'Take away the +burden' was the Apostle's petition; but it was a mistaken +petition and, therefore, unanswered.</p> + +<p>II. That brings me to the second of the windings, as +I have ventured to call them, of this stream—viz. the +insight into the source of strength for, and the purpose +of, the thorn that could not be taken away. The Lord +said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee. For My +strength' (where the word 'My' is a supplement, but a +necessary one) 'is made perfect in weakness.'</p> + +<p>The answer is, in form and in substance, a gentle +refusal of the form of the petition, but it is a more than +granting of its essence. For the best answer to such +a prayer, and the answer which a true man means +when he asks, 'Take away the burden,' need not be the +external removal of the pressure of the sorrow, but the +infusing of power to sustain it. There are two ways +of lightening a burden, one is diminishing its actual +weight, the other is increasing the strength of the +shoulder that bears it. And the latter is God's way, is +Christ's way, of dealing with us.</p> + +<p>Now mark that the answer which this faithful prayer +receives is no communication of anything fresh, but it +is the opening of the man's eyes to see that already he +has all that he needs. The reply is not, 'I <i>will</i> give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span> +thee grace sufficient,' but 'My grace' (which thou hast +now) 'is sufficient for thee.' That grace is given and +possessed by the sorrowing heart at the moment when +it prays. Open your eyes to see what you have, and +you will not ask for the load to be taken away. Is not +that always true? Many a heart is carrying some +heavy weight; perhaps some have an incurable sorrow, +some are stricken by disease that they know can never +be healed, some are aware that the shipwreck has been +total, and that the sorrow that they carry to-day will lie +down with them in the dust. Be it so! 'My grace (not +shall be, but) <i>is</i> sufficient for thee.' And what thou +hast already in thy possession is enough for all that +comes storming against thee of disease, disappointment, +loss, and misery. Set on the one side all possible +as well as all actual weaknesses, burdens, pains, and set +on the other these two words—'My grace,' and all these +dwindle into nothingness and disappear. If troubled +Christian men would learn what they have, and would +use what they already possess, they would less often +beseech Him with vain petitions to take away their +blessings which are in the thorns in the flesh. 'My +grace is sufficient.'</p> + +<p>How modestly the Master speaks about what He +gives! 'Sufficient'? Is not there a margin? Is there +not more than is wanted? The overplus is 'exceeding +abundant,' not only 'above what we ask or think,' but +far more than our need. 'Two hundred pennyworth of +bread is not <i>sufficient</i> that every one may take a little,' +says Sense. Omnipotence says, 'Bring the few small +loaves and fishes unto Me'; and Faith dispensed them +amongst the crowd; and Experience 'gathered up of the +fragments that remained' more than there had been +when the multiplication began. So the grace utilised<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span> +increases; the gift grows as it is employed. 'Unto him +that hath shall be given.' And the 'sufficiency' is not +a bare adequacy, just covering the extent of the need, +with no overlapping margin, but is large beyond expectation, +desire, or necessity; so leading onwards to +high hopes and a wider opening of the open mouths of +our need that the blessing may pour in.</p> + +<p>The other part of this great answer, that the Christ +from Heaven spoke in or to the praying spirit of this +not disappointed, though refused, Apostle, unveiled the +purpose of the sorrow, even as the former part had +disclosed the strength to bear it. For, says He, laying +down therein the great law of His kingdom in all +departments and in all ways, 'My strength is made +perfect'—that is, of course, perfect in its manifestation +or operations, for it is perfect in itself already. 'My +strength is made perfect in weakness.' It works in and +through man's weakness.</p> + +<p>God works with broken reeds. If a man conceits +himself to be an iron pillar, God can do nothing with +or by him. All the self-conceit and confidence have to +be taken out of him first. He has to be brought low +before the Father can use him for His purposes. The +lowlands hold the water, and, if only the sluice is open, +the gravitation of His grace does all the rest and +carries the flood into the depths of the lowly heart.</p> + +<p>His strength loves to work in weakness, only the +weakness must be conscious, and the conscious weakness +must have passed into conscious dependence. +There, then, you get the law for the Church, for the +works of Christianity on the widest scale, and in +individual lives. Strength that conceits itself to be +such is weakness; weakness that knows itself to be +such is strength. The only true source of Power, both<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span> +for Christian work and in all other respects, is God +Himself; and our strength is ours but by derivation +from Him. And the only way to secure that derivation +is through humble dependence, which we call faith in +Jesus Christ. And the only way by which that faith +in Jesus Christ can ever be kindled in a man's soul is +through the sense of his need and emptiness. So when +we know ourselves weak, we have taken the first step +to strength; just as, when we know ourselves sinners, +we have taken the first step to righteousness; just as +in all regions the recognition of the doleful fact of our +human necessity is the beginning of the joyful confidence +in the glad, triumphant fact of the divine fulness. +All our hollownesses, if I may so say, are met with His +fulness that fits into them. It only needs that a man +be aware of that which he is, and then turn himself to +Him who is all that he is not, and then into his empty +being will flow rejoicing the whole fulness of God. +'My strength is made perfect in weakness.'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, mark the calm final acquiescence in the +loving necessity of continued sorrow. 'Most gladly, +therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmity that the +power of Christ may rest upon me.' The will is entirely +harmonised with Christ's. The Apostle begins with +instinctive shrinking, he passes onwards to a perception +of the purpose of his trial and of the sustaining +grace; and he comes now to acquiescence which is not +passivity, but glad triumph. He is more than submissive, +he gladly glories in his infirmity in order that +the power of Christ may 'spread a tabernacle over' +him. 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted,' said +the old prophet. Paul says, in a yet higher note of +concord with God's will, 'I am glad that I sorrow. I +rejoice in weakness, because it makes it easier for me<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span> +to cling, and, clinging, I am strong, and conquer evil.' +Far better is it that the sting of our sorrow should be +taken away, by our having learned what it is for, +and having bowed to it, than that it should be taken +away by the external removal which we sometimes +long for. A grief, a trial, an incapacity, a limitation, a +weakness, which we use as a means of deepening our +sense of dependence upon Him, is a blessing, and not a +sorrow. And if we would only go out into the world +trying to interpret its events in the spirit of this great +text, we should less frequently wonder and weep over +what sometimes seem to us the insoluble mysteries of +the sorrows of ourselves and of other men. They are +all intended to make it more easy for us to realise our +utter hanging upon Him, and so to open our hearts to +receive more fully the quickening influences of His +omnipotent and self-sufficing grace.</p> + +<p>Here, then, is a lesson for those who have to carry +some cross and know they must carry it throughout +life. It will be wreathed with flowers if you accept it. +Here is a lesson for all Christian workers. Ministers +of the Gospel especially should banish all thoughts +of their own cleverness, intellectual ability, culture, +sufficiency for their work, and learn that only when +they are emptied can they be filled, and only when +they know themselves to be nothing are they ready +for God to work through them. And here is a lesson +for all who stand apart from the grace and power +of Jesus Christ as if they needed it not. Whether +you know it or not, you are a broken reed; and the +only way of your ever being bound up and made +strong is that you shall recognise your sinfulness, +your necessity, your abject poverty, your utter emptiness, +and come to Him who is righteousness, riches,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span> +fulness, and say, 'Because I am weak, be Thou my +strength.' The secret of all noble, heroic, useful, happy +life lies in the paradox, 'When I am weak, then am I +strong,' and the secret of all failures, miseries, hopeless +losses, lies in its converse, 'When I am strong, then am +I weak.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NOT YOURS BUT YOU</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'I seek not yours, but you.'—2 <span class="smcap">Cor.</span> xii. 14.</p></div> + + +<p>Men are usually quick to suspect others of the vices to +which they themselves are prone. It is very hard for +one who never does anything but with an eye to what +he can make out of it, to believe that there are other +people actuated by higher motives. So Paul had, over +and over again, to meet the hateful charge of making +money out of his apostleship. It was one of the +favourite stones that his opponents in the Corinthian +Church, of whom there were very many, very bitter +ones, flung at him. In this letter he more than once +refers to the charge. He does so with great dignity, +and with a very characteristic and delicate mixture of +indignation and tenderness, almost playfulness. Thus, +in the context, he tells these Corinthian grumblers +that he must beg their pardon for not having taken +anything of them, and so honoured them. Then he +informs them that he is coming again to see them for +the third time, and that that visit will be marked by +the same independence of their help as the others had +been. And then he just lets a glimpse of his pained +heart peep out in the words of my text. 'I seek not +yours, but you.' <i>There</i> speaks a disinterested love<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span> +which feels obliged, and yet reluctant, to stoop to say +that it <i>is</i> love, and that it <i>is</i> disinterested. Where did +Paul learn this passionate desire to possess these people, +and this entire suppression of self in the desire? It +was a spark from a sacred fire, a drop from an infinite +ocean, an echo of a divine voice. The words of my +text would never have been Paul's if the spirit of them +had not first been Christ's. I venture to take them in +that aspect, as setting forth Christ's claims upon us, +and bearing very directly on the question of Christian +service and of Christian liberality.</p> + +<p>I. So, then, first of all, I remark, Christ desires +personal surrender.</p> + +<p>'I seek not yours, but <i>you</i>,' is the very mother-tongue +of love; but upon our lips, even when our love +is purest, there is a tinge of selfishness blending with +it, and very often the desire for another's love is as +purely selfish as the desire for any material good. But +in so far as human love is pure in its desire to possess +another, we have the right to believe the deep and +wonderful thought that there is something corresponding +to it in the heart of Christ, which is a revelation +for us of the heart of God; and that, however little we +may be able to construe the whole meaning of the fact, +He does stretch out an arm of desire towards us; and +for His own sake, as for ours, would fain draw us near +to Himself, and is 'satisfied,' as He is not without it, +when men's hearts yield themselves up to Him, and let +Him love them and lavish Himself upon them. I do +not venture into these depths, but I would lay upon +our hearts that the very inmost meaning of all that +Jesus Christ has said, and is saying, to each of us by +the records of His life, by the pathos of His death, by +the miracle of His Resurrection, by the glory of His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span> +Ascension, by the power of His granted Spirit, is, 'I +seek you.'</p> + +<p>And, brethren, our self-surrender is the essence of our +Christianity. Our religion lies neither in our heads +nor in our acts; the deepest notion of it is that it is +the entire yielding up of ourselves to Jesus Christ our +Lord. There is plenty of religion which is a religion +of the head and of creeds. There is plenty of religion +which is the religion of the hand and of the tongue, +and of forms and ceremonies and sacraments; external +worship. There is plenty of religion which surrenders +to Him some of the more superficial parts of our +personality, whilst the ancient Anarch, Self, sits undisturbed +on his dark throne, in the depths of our +being. But none of these are the religion that either +Christ requires or that we need. The only true notion +of a Christian is a man who can truly say, 'I live, yet +not I, but Christ liveth in me.'</p> + +<p>And that is the only kind of life that is blessed; our +only true nobleness and beauty and power and sweetness +are measured by, and accurately correspond with, +the completeness of our surrender of ourselves to Jesus +Christ. As long as the earth was thought to be the +centre of the planetary system there was nothing but +confusion in the heavens. Shift the centre to the sun +and all becomes order and beauty. The root of sin, +and the mother of death, is making myself my own +law and Lord; the germ of righteousness, and the first +pulsations of life, lie in yielding ourselves to God in +Christ, because He has yielded Himself unto us.</p> + +<p>I need not remind you, I suppose, that this self-surrender +is a great deal more than a vivid metaphor: +that it implies a very hard fact; implies at least two +things, that we have yielded ourselves to Jesus Christ,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span> +by the love of our hearts, and by the unreluctant submission +of our wills, whether He commands or whether +He sends sufferings or joys.</p> + +<p>And, oh, brethren, be sure of this, that no such giving +of myself away, in the sweet reciprocities of a higher +than human affection, is possible, in the general, and +on the large scale, if you evacuate from the Gospel the +great truth, 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me.' +I believe—and therefore I am bound to preach it—that +the only power which can utterly annihilate and cast +out the dominion of self from a human soul is the +power that is lodged in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on +the Cross for sinful men.</p> + +<p>And whilst I would fully recognise all that is noble, +and all that is effective, in systems either of religion, +or of irreligious morality, which have no place within +their bounds for that great motive, I am sure of this, +that the evil self within us is too strong to be exorcised +by anything short of the old message, 'Jesus Christ +has given His life for thee, wilt thou not give thyself +unto Him?'</p> + +<p>II. Christ seeks personal service.</p> + +<p>'I seek . . . you'; not only for My love, but for My +tools; for My instruments in carrying out the purposes +for which I died, and establishing My dominion in the +world. Now I want to say two or three very plain +things about this matter, which lies very near my +heart, as to some degree responsible for the amount of +Christian activity and service in this my congregation. +Brethren, the surrender of ourselves to Jesus Christ in +acts of direct Christian activity and service, will be the +outcome of a real surrender of ourselves to Him in +love and obedience.</p> + +<p>I cannot imagine a man who, in any deep sense, has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span> +realised his obligations to that Saviour, and in any +real sense has made the great act of self-renunciation, +and crowned Christ as his Lord, living for the rest of +his life, as so many professing Christians do, dumb and +idle, in so far as work for the Master is concerned. It +seems to me that, among the many wants of this +generation of professing Christians, there is none that +is more needed than that a wave of new consecration +should pass over the Church. If men who call themselves +Christians lived more in habitual contact with +the facts of their redeeming Saviour's sacrifice for +them, there would be no need to lament the fewness of +the labourers, as measured against the overwhelming +multitude of the fields that are white to harvest. If +once that flood of a new sense of Christ's gift, and a +consequent new completeness of our returned gifts to +Him, flowed over the churches, then all the little empty +ravines would be filled with a flashing tide. Not a +shuttle moves, not a spindle revolves, until the strong +impulse born of fire rushes in; and then, all is activity. +It is no use to flog, flog, flog, at idle Christians, and try +to make them work. There is only one thing that will +set them to work, and that is that they shall live nearer +their Master, and find out more of what they owe to +Him; and so render themselves up to be His instruments +for any purpose for which He may choose to use +them.</p> + +<p>This surrender of ourselves for direct Christian service +is the only solution of the problem of how to win the +world for Jesus Christ. Professionals cannot do it. +Men of my class cannot do it. We are clogged very +largely by the fact that, being necessarily dependent +on our congregations for a living, we cannot, with as +clear an emphasis as you can, go to people and say,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span> +'We seek not yours, but you.' I have nothing to +say about the present ecclesiastical arrangements of +modern Christian communities. That would take me +altogether from my present purposes, but I want to +lay this upon your consciences, dear brethren, that +you who have other means of living than proclaiming +Christ's name have an advantage, which it is +at your peril that you fling away. As long as the +Christian Church thought that an ordained priest was +a man who could do things that laymen could not do, +the limitation of Christian service to the priesthood was +logical. But when the Christian Church, especially as +represented by us Nonconformists, came to believe that +a minister was only a man who preached the Gospel, +which every Christian man is bound to do, the limitations +of Christian service to the official class became an +illogical survival, utterly incongruous with the fundamental +principles of our conception of the Christian +Church. And yet here it is, devastating our churches +to-day, and making hundreds of good people perfectly +comfortable, in an unscriptural and unchristian indolence, +because, forsooth, it is the minister's business +to preach the Gospel. I know that there is not nearly +as much of that indolence as there used to be. Thank +God for that. There are far more among our congregations +than in former times who have realised the +fact that it is <i>every</i> Christian man's task, somehow or +other, to set forth the great name of Jesus Christ. But +still, alas, in a church with, say, 400 members, you may +knock off the last cypher, and you will get a probably +not too low statement of the number of people in it +who have realised and fulfilled this obligation. What +about the other 360 'dumb dogs, that will not bark'? +And in that 360 there will probably be several men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span> +who can make speeches on political platforms, and in +scientific lecture-halls, and about social and economical +questions, only they cannot, for the life of them, open +their mouths and say a word to a soul about Him +whom they say they serve, and to whom they say they +belong.</p> + +<p>Brethren, this direct service cannot be escaped from, +or commuted by a money payment. In the old days a +man used to escape serving in the militia if he found a +substitute, and paid for him. There are a great many +good Christian people who seem to think that Christ's +army is recruited on that principle. But it is a mistake. +'I seek you, not yours.'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, and only a word. Christ seeks us, <i>and</i> +ours.</p> + +<p>Not you <i>without</i> yours, still less yours without you. +This is no place, nor is the fag end of a sermon the +time, to talk about so wide a subject as the ethics of +Christian dealing with money. But two things I will +say—consecration of self is extremely imperfect which +does not include the consecration of possessions, and, +conversely, consecration of possessions which does not +flow from, and is not accompanied by, the consecration +of self, is nought.</p> + +<p>If, then, the great law of self-surrender is to run +through the whole Christian life, that law, as applied +to our dealing with what we own, prescribes three +things. The first is <i>stewardship</i>, not ownership; and +that all round the circumference of our possessions. +Depend upon it, the angry things that we hear to-day +about the unequal distribution of wealth will get +angrier and angrier, and will be largely justified in +becoming so by the fact that so many of us, <i>Christians +included</i>, have firmly grasped the notion of posses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>sion, +and utterly forgotten the obligation of stewardship.</p> + +<p>Again, the law of self-surrender, in its application to +all that we have, involves our continual reference to +Jesus Christ in our disposition of these our possessions. +I draw no line of distinction, in this respect, between +what a man spends upon himself, and what he spends +upon 'charity,' and what he spends upon religious +objects. <i>One</i> principle is to govern, getting, hoarding, +giving, enjoying, and that is, that in it all Christ shall +be Master.</p> + +<p>Again, the law of self-surrender, in its application to +our possessions, implies that there shall be an element +of sacrifice in our use of these; whether they be +possessions of intellect, of acquirement, of influence, of +position, or of material wealth. The law of help is +sacrifice, and the law for a Christian man is that he +shall not offer unto the Lord his God that which costs +him nothing.</p> + +<p>So, dear friends, let us all get near to that great +central fire till it melts our hearts. Let the love which +is our hope be our pattern. Remember that though +only faintly, and from afar, can the issues of Christ's +great sacrifice be reproduced in any actions of ours, +the spirit which brought Him to die is the spirit +which must instruct and inspire us to live. Unless we +can say, 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me; I +yield myself to Him'; and unless our lives confirm the +utterance, we have little right to call ourselves His +disciples.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GALATIANS</h2> +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2>FROM CENTRE TO CIRCUMFERENCE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, +who loved me, and gave Himself for me.'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> ii. 20.</p></div> + + +<p>We have a bundle of paradoxes in this verse. First, +'I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.' The +Christian life is a dying life. If we are in any real +sense joined to Christ, the power of His death makes +us dead to self and sin and the world. In that region, +as in the physical, death is the gate of life; and, inasmuch +as what we die to in Christ is itself only a living +death, we live because we die, and in proportion as we +die.</p> + +<p>The next paradox is, 'Yet not I, but Christ liveth in +me.' The Christian life is a life in which an indwelling +Christ casts out, and therefore quickens, self. We gain +ourselves when we lose ourselves. His abiding in us +does not destroy but heightens our individuality. We +then most truly live when we can say, 'Not I, but +Christ liveth in me'; the soul of my soul and the self +of myself.</p> + +<p>And the last paradox is that of my text, 'The life +which I live in the flesh, I live in' (not 'by') 'the +faith of the Son of God.' The true Christian life moves +in two spheres at once. Externally and superficially +it is 'in the flesh,' really it is 'in faith.' It belongs not +to the material nor is dependent upon the physical<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span> +body in which we are housed. We are strangers here, +and the true region and atmosphere of the Christian +life is that invisible sphere of faith.</p> + +<p>So, then, we have in these words of my text a +Christian man's frank avowal of the secret of his own +life. It is like a geological cutting, it goes down from +the surface, where the grass and the flowers are, +through the various strata, but it goes deeper than +these, to the fiery heart, the flaming nucleus and +centre of all things. Therefore it may do us all good +to make a section of our hearts and see whether the +<i>strata</i> there are conformable to those that are here.</p> + +<p>I. Let us begin with the centre, and work to the +surface. We have, first, the great central fact named +last, but round which all the Christian life is gathered.</p> + +<p>'The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself +for me.' These two words, the 'loving' and the +'giving,' both point backwards to some one definite +historical fact, and the only fact which they can have +in view is the great one of the death of Jesus Christ. +That is His giving up of Himself. That is the signal +and highest manifestation and proof of His love.</p> + +<p>Notice (though I can but touch in the briefest +possible manner upon the great thoughts that gather +round these words) the three aspects of that transcendent +fact, the centre and nucleus of the whole +Christian life, which come into prominence in these +words before us. Christ's death is a great act of self-surrender, +of which the one motive is His own pure +and perfect love. No doubt in other places of Scripture +we have set forth the death of Christ as being +the result of the Father's purpose, and we read that in +that wondrous surrender there were two givings up +The Father 'freely gave Him up to the death for us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span> +all.' That divine surrender, the Apostle ventures, in +another passage, to find dimly suggested from afar, in +the silent but submissive and unreluctant surrender +with which Abraham yielded his only begotten son on +the mountain top. But besides that ineffable giving +up by the Father of the Son, Jesus Christ Himself, +moved only by His love, willingly yields Himself. The +whole doctrine of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has been +marred by one-sided insisting on the truth that God +sent the Son, to the forgetting of the fact that the Son +'came'; and that He was bound to the Cross neither +by cords of man's weaving nor by the will of the +Father, but that He Himself bound Himself to that +Cross with the 'cords of love and the bands of a man,' +and died from no natural necessity nor from any +imposition of the divine will upon Him unwilling, but +because He would, and that He would because He +loved. 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me.'</p> + +<p>Then note, further, that here, most distinctly, that +great act of self-surrendering love which culminates +on the Cross is regarded as being for man in a special +and peculiar sense. I know, of course, that from the +mere wording of my text we cannot argue the atoning +and substitutionary character of the death of Christ, +for the preposition here does not necessarily mean +'instead of,' but 'for the behoof of.' But admitting +that, I have another question. If Christ's death is for +'the behoof of' men, in what conceivable sense does it +benefit them, unless it is in the place of men? The +death 'for me' is only for me when I understand that +it is 'instead of' me. And practically you will find +that wherever the full-orbed faith in Christ Jesus as +the death for all the sins of the whole world, bearing +the penalty and bearing it away, has begun to falter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span> +and grow pale, men do not know what to do with +Christ's death at all, and stop talking about it to a +very large extent.</p> + +<p>Unless He died as a sacrifice, I, for one, fail to see in +what other than a mere sentimental sense the death of +Christ is a death for men.</p> + +<p>And lastly, about this matter, observe how here we +have brought into vivid prominence the great thought +that Jesus Christ in His death has regard to single +souls. We preach that He died for all. If we believe +in that august title which is laid here as the vindication +of our faith on the one hand, and as the ground +of the possibility of the benefits of His death being +world-wide on the other—viz. the Son of God—then +we shall not stumble at the thought that He died for +all, because He died for each. I know that if you only +regard Jesus Christ as human I am talking utter +nonsense; but I know, too, that if we believe in the +divinity of our Lord, there need be nothing to stumble +us, but the contrary, in the thought that it was not an +abstraction that He died for, that it was not a vague +mass of unknown beings, clustered together, but so +far away that He could not see any of their faces, +for whom He gave His life on the Cross. That is the +way in which, and in which alone, <i>we</i> can embrace +the whole mass of humanity—by losing sight of the +individuals. We generalise, precisely because we do +not see the individual units; but that is not God's +way, and that is not Christ's way, who is divine. +For Him the <i>all</i> is broken up into its parts, and when +we say that the divine love loves all, we mean that +the divine love loves each. I believe (and I commend +the thought to you) that we do not fathom the depth +of Christ's sufferings unless we recognise that the sins<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span> +of each man were consciously adding pressure to the +load beneath which He sank; nor picture the wonders +of His love until we believe that on the Cross it distinguished +and embraced each, and, therefore, comprehended +all. Every man may say, 'He loved me, and +gave Himself for me.'</p> + +<p>II. So much, then, for the first central fact that is +here. Now let me say a word, in the second place, +about the faith which makes that fact the foundation +of my own personal life.</p> + +<p>'I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, +and gave Himself for me.' I am not going to plunge +into any unnecessary dissertations about the nature +of faith; but may I say that, like all other familiar +conceptions, it has got worn so smooth that it glides +over our mental palate without roughening any of the +<i>papillæ</i> or giving any sense or savour at all? And I +do believe that dozens of people like you, who have +come to church and chapel all your lives, and fancy +yourselves to be fully <i>au fait</i> at all the Christian truth +that you will ever hear from my lips, do not grasp +with any clearness of apprehension the meaning of +that fundamental word 'faith.'</p> + +<p>It is a thousand pities that it is confined by the +accidents of language to our attitude in reference to +Jesus Christ. So some of you think that it is some +kind of theological juggle which has nothing to do +with, and never can be seen in operation in, common +life. Suppose, instead of the threadbare, technical +'faith' we took to a new translation for a minute, and +said '<i>trust</i>,' do you think that would freshen up the +thought to you at all? It is the very same thing +which makes the sweetness of your relations to wife +and husband and friend and parent, which, transferred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span> +to Jesus Christ and glorified in the process, becomes +the seed of immortal life and the opener of the gate of +Heaven. Trust Jesus Christ. That is the living centre +of the Christian life; that is the process by which we +draw the general blessing of the Gospel into our own +hearts, and make the world-wide truth, our truth.</p> + +<p>I need not insist either, I suppose, on the necessity, +if our Christian life is to be modelled upon the Apostolic +lines, of our faith embracing the Christ in all +these aspects in which I have been speaking about His +work. God forbid that I should seem to despise rudimentary +and incomplete feelings after Him in any +heart which may be unable to say 'Amen' to Paul's +statement here. I want to insist very earnestly, and +with special reference to the young, that the true +Christian faith is not merely the grasp of the person, +but it is the grasp of the Person who is 'declared to be +the Son of God,' and whose death is the voluntary self-surrender +motived by His love, for the carrying away +of the sins of every single soul in the whole universe. +That is the Christ, the full Christ, cleaving to whom +our faith finds somewhat to grasp worthy of grasping. +And I beseech you, be not contented with a partial +grasp of a partial Saviour; neither shut your eyes to +the divinity of His nature, nor to the efficacy of His +death, but remember that the true Gospel preaches +Christ and Him crucified; and that for us, saving faith +is the faith that grasps the Son of God 'Who loved +me and gave Himself for me.'</p> + +<p>Note, further, that true faith is personal faith, which +appropriates, and, as it were, fences in as my very +own, the purpose and benefit of Christ's giving of +Himself. It is always difficult for lazy people (and +most of us are lazy) to transfer into their own personal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span> +lives, and to bring into actual contact with themselves +and their own experience, wide, general truths. To +assent to them, when we keep them in their generality, +is very easy and very profitless. It does no man any +good to say 'All men are mortal'; but how different it +is when the blunt end of that generalisation is shaped +into a point, and I say 'I have to die!' It penetrates +then, and it sticks. It is easy to say 'All men are +sinners.' That never yet forced anybody down on +his knees. But when we shut out on either side the +lateral view and look straight on, on the narrow line +of our own lives, up to the Throne where the Lawgiver +sits, and feel 'I am a sinful man,' that sends us to our +prayers for pardon and purity. And in like manner +nobody was ever wholesomely terrified by the thought +of a general judgment. But when you translate it +into 'I must stand there,' the terror of the Lord +persuades men.</p> + +<p>In like manner that great truth which we all of us +say we believe, that Christ has died for the world, is +utterly useless and profitless to us until we have +translated it into Paul's world, 'loved <i>me</i> and gave +Himself for <i>me</i>.' I do not say that the essence of faith +is the conversion of the general statement into the +particular application, but I do say that there is no +faith which does not realise one's personal possession +of the benefits of the death of Christ, and that until +you turn the wide word into a message for yourself +alone, you have not yet got within sight of the blessedness +of the Christian life. The whole river may flow +past me, but only so much of it as I can bring into my +own garden by my own sluices, and lift in my own +bucket, and put to my own lips, is of any use to me. +The death of Christ for the world is a commonplace of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span> +superficial Christianity, which is no Christianity; the +death of Christ for myself, as if He and I were the +only beings in the universe, that is the death on which +faith fastens and feeds.</p> + +<p>And, dear brother, you have the right to exercise it. +The Christ loves each, and therefore He loves all; +that is the process in the divine mind. The converse +is the process in the revelation of that mind; the Bible +says to us, Christ loves all, and therefore we have the +right to draw the inference that He loves each. You +have as much right to take every 'whosoever' of the +New Testament as your very own, as if on the page +of your Bible that 'whosoever' was struck out, and +your name, John, Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth, or whatever +it is, were put in there. 'He loved <i>me</i>.' Can <i>you</i> +say that? Have you ever passed from the region of +universality, which is vague and profitless, into the +region of personal appropriation of the person of Jesus +Christ and His death?</p> + +<p>III. And now, lastly, notice the life which is built +upon this faith.</p> + +<p>The true Christian life is dual. It is a life in the +flesh, and it is also a life in faith. These two, as I +have said, are like two spheres, in either of which a +man's course is passed, or, rather, the one is surface +and the other is central. Here is a great trailing +spray of seaweed floating golden on the unquiet +water, and rising and falling on each wave or ripple. +Aye! but its root is away deep, deep, deep below the +storms, below where there is motion, anchored upon +a hidden rock that can never move. And so my life, +if it be a Christian life at all, has its surface amidst +the shifting mutabilities of earth, but its root in the +silent eternities of the centre of all things, which is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span> +Christ in God. I live in the flesh on the outside, but +if I am a Christian at all, I live in the faith in regard +of my true and proper being.</p> + +<p>This faith, which grasps the Divine Christ as the +person whose love-moved death is my life, and who +by my faith becomes Himself the Indwelling Guest in +my heart; this faith, if it be worth anything, will +mould and influence my whole being. It will give +me motive, pattern, power for all noble service and +all holy living. The one thing that stirs men to true +obedience is that their hearts be touched with the +firm assurance that Christ loved them and died for +them.</p> + +<p>We sometimes used to see men starting an engine +by manual force; and what toil it was to get the +great cranks to turn, and the pistons to rise! So we +set ourselves to try and move our lives into holiness +and beauty and nobleness, and it is dispiriting work. +There is a far better, surer way than that: let the +steam in, and that will do it. That is to say—let the +Christ in His dying power and the living energy of His +indwelling Spirit occupy the heart, and activity +becomes blessedness, and work is rest, and service is +freedom and dominion.</p> + +<p>The life that I live in the flesh is poor, limited, +tortured with anxiety, weighed upon by sore distress, +becomes dark and gray and dreary often as we travel +nearer the end, and is always full of miseries and of +pains. But if within that life in the flesh there be a +life in faith, which is the life of Christ Himself brought +to us through our faith, that life will be triumphant, +quiet, patient, aspiring, noble, hopeful, gentle, strong, +Godlike, being the life of Christ Himself within us.</p> + +<p>So, dear friends, test your faith by these two tests,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span> +what it grasps and what it does. If it grasps a whole +Christ, in all the glory of His nature and the blessedness +of His work, it is genuine; and it proves its +genuineness if, and only if, it works in you by love; +animating all your action, bringing you ever into the +conscious presence of that dear Lord, and making +Him pattern, law, motive, goal, companion and reward. +'To me to live is Christ.'</p> + +<p>If so, then we live indeed; but to live in the flesh is +to die; and the death that we die when we live in +Christ is the gate and the beginning of the only real +life of the soul.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE EVIL EYE AND THE CHARM</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eye +Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> iii. 1.</p></div> + + +<p>The Revised Version gives a shorter, and probably +correct, form of this vehement question. It omits the +two clauses 'that ye should not obey the truth' and +'among you.' The omission increases the sharpness of +the thrust of the interrogation, whilst it loses nothing +of the meaning.</p> + +<p>Now, a very striking metaphor runs through the +whole of this question, which may easily be lost sight +of by ordinary readers. You know the old superstition +as to the Evil Eye, almost universal at the date of this +letter and even now in the East, and lingering still +amongst ourselves. Certain persons were supposed to +have the power, by a look, to work mischief, and by +fixing the gaze of their victims, to suck the very life +out of them. So Paul asks who the malign sorcerer +is who has thus fascinated the fickle Galatians, and is +draining their Christian life out of their eyes.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p> + +<p>Very appropriately, therefore, if there is this reference, +which the word translated 'bewitched' carries +with it, he goes on to speak about Jesus Christ as +having been displayed before their eyes. They had seen +Him. How did they come to be able to turn away to +look at anything else?</p> + +<p>But there is another observation to be made by way +of introduction, and that is as to the full force of the +expression 'evidently set forth.' The word employed, +as commentators tell us, is that which is used for the +display of official proclamations, or public notices, in +some conspicuous place, as the Forum or the market, +that the citizens might read. So, keeping up the metaphor, +the word might be rendered, as has been suggested +by some eminent scholars, 'placarded'—'Before whose +eyes Jesus Christ has been placarded.' The expression +has acquired somewhat ignoble associations from +modern advertising, but that is no reason why we +should lose sight of its force. So, then, Paul says, 'In +my preaching, Christ was conspicuously set forth. It +is like some inexplicable enchantment that, having +seen Him, you should turn away to gaze on others.' +It is insanity which evokes wonder, as well as sin which +deserves rebuke; and the fiery question of my text +conveys both.</p> + +<p>I. Keeping to the metaphor, I note first the placard +which Paul had displayed.</p> + +<p>'Jesus Christ crucified has been conspicuously set +forth before you,' he says to these Galatians. Now, he +is referring, of course, to his own work of preaching +the Gospel to them at the beginning. And the vivid +metaphor suggests very strikingly two things. We see +in it the Apostle's notion of what He had to do. His +had been a very humble office, simply to hang up a pro<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span>clamation. +The one virtue of a proclamation is that +it should be brief and plain. It must be authoritative, +it must be urgent, it must be 'writ large,' it must be +easily intelligible. And he that makes it public has +nothing to do except to fasten it up, and make sure +that it is legible. If I might venture into modern +phraseology, what Paul means is that he was neither +more nor less than a bill-sticker, that he went out with +the placards and fastened them up.</p> + +<p>Ah! if we ministers universally acted up to the +implications of this metaphor, do you not think the +pulpit would be more frequently a centre of power +than it is to-day? And if, instead of presenting our +own ingenuities and speculations, we were to realise +the fact that we have to hide ourselves behind the +broad sheet that we fasten up, there would be a new +breath over many a moribund church, and we should +hear less of the often warrantable sarcasms about the +inefficiency of the modern pulpit.</p> + +<p>But I turn from Paul's conception of the office to his +statement of his theme. '<i>Jesus</i> was displayed amongst +you.' If I might vary the metaphor a little, the placard +that Paul fastened up was like those that modern advertising +ingenuity displays upon all our walls. It was +a picture-placard, and on it was portrayed one sole figure—Jesus, +the Person. Christianity is Christ, and Christ +is Christianity; and wherever there is a pulpit or a +book which deals rather with doctrines than with Him +who is the Fountain and Quarry of all doctrine, there +is divergence from the primitive form of the Gospel.</p> + +<p>I know, of course, that doctrines—which are only +formal and orderly statements of principles involved +in the facts—must flow from the proclamation of the +person, Christ. I am not such a fool as to run amuck<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span> +against theology, as some people in this day do. But +what I wish to insist upon is that the first form of +Christianity is not a theory, but a history, and that +the revelation of God is the biography of a man. We +must begin with the person, Christ, and preach Him. +Would that all our preachers and all professing +Christians, in their own personal religious life, had +grasped this—that, since Christianity is not first a +philosophy but a history, and its centre not an ordered +sequence of doctrines but a living person, the act that +makes a man possessor of Christianity is not the +intellectual process of assimilating certain truths, and +accepting them, but the moral process of clinging, with +trust and love, to the person, Jesus.</p> + +<p>But, further, if any of you consult the original, you +will see that the order of the sentence is such as to +throw a great weight of emphasis on that last word +'crucified.' It is not merely a person that is portrayed +on the placard, but it is that person <i>upon the Cross</i>. +Ah! brethren, Paul himself puts his finger, in the words +of my text, on what, in his conception, was the throbbing +heart of all his message, the vital point from which all +its power, and all the gleam of its benediction, poured +out upon humanity—'Christ crucified.' If the placard +is a picture of Christ in other attitudes and in other +aspects, without the picture of Him crucified, it is +an imperfect representation of the Gospel that Paul +preached and that Christ was.</p> + +<p>II. Now, think, secondly, of the fascinators that draw +away the eyes.</p> + +<p>Paul's question is not one of ignorance, but it is a +rhetorical way of rebuking, and of expressing wonder. +He knew, and the Galatians knew, well enough who it +was that had bewitched them. The whole letter is a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span> +polemic worked in fire, and not in frost, as some argumentation +is, against a very well-marked class of +teachers—viz. those emissaries of Judaism who had +crept into the Church, and took it as their special +function to dog Paul's steps amongst the heathen +communities that he had gathered together through +faith in Christ, and used every means to upset his +work.</p> + +<p>I cannot but pause for a moment upon this original +reference of my text, because it is very relevant to the +present condition of things amongst us. These men +whom Paul is fighting as if he were in a sawpit with +them, in this letter, what was their teaching? This: +they did not deny that Jesus was the Christ; they did +not deny that faith knit a man to Him, but what they +said was that the observance of the external rites +of Judaism was necessary in order to entrance into +the Church and to salvation. They did not in their +own estimation detract from Christ, but they added +to Him. And Paul says that to add is to detract, to +say that anything is necessary except faith in Jesus +Christ's finished work is to deny that that finished +work, and faith in it, are the means of salvation; and +the whole evangelical system crumbles into nothingness +if once you admit that.</p> + +<p>Now, is there anybody to-day who is saying the same +things, with variations consequent upon change of +external conditions? Are there no people within the +limits of the Christian Church who are reiterating the +old Jewish notion that external ceremonies—baptism +and the Lord's Supper—are necessary to salvation and +to connection with the Christian Church? And is it +not true now, as it was then, that though they do not +avowedly detract, they so represent these external rites<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span> +as to detract, from the sole necessity of faith in the perfected +work of Jesus Christ? The centre is shifted from +personal union with a personal Saviour by a personal +faith to participation in external ordinances. And I +venture to think that the lava stream which, in this +Epistle to the Galatians, Paul pours on the Judaisers +of his day needs but a little deflection to pour its hot +current over, and to consume, the sacramentarian +theories of this day. 'O foolish Galatians, who hath +bewitched you?' Is it not like some malignant sorcery, +that after the Evangelical revival of the last century +and the earlier part of this, there should spring up +again this old, old error, and darken the simplicity of +the Gospel teaching, that Christ's work, apprehended +by faith, without anything else, is the means, and the +only means, of salvation?</p> + +<p>But I need not spend time upon that original application. +Let us rather come more closely to our own +individual lives and their weaknesses. It is a strange +thing, so strange that if one did not know it by one's +own self, one would be scarcely disposed to believe it +possible, that a man who has 'tasted the good word +of God and the powers of the world to come,' and has +known Jesus Christ as Saviour and Friend, should +decline from Him, and turn to anything besides. And +yet, strange and sad, and like some enchantment as it +is, it is the experience at times and in a measure, of us +all; and, alas! it is the experience, in a very tragical +degree, of many who have walked for a little while +behind the Master, and then have turned away and +walked no more with Him. We may well wonder; +but the root of the mischief is in no baleful glitter of +a sorcerer's eye without us, but it is in the weakness of +our own wills and the waywardness of our own hearts,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span> +and the wandering of our own affections. We often +court the coming of the evil influence, and are willing +to be fascinated and to turn our backs upon Jesus. +Mysterious it is, for why should men cast away diamonds +for paste? Mysterious it is, for we do not usually +drop the substance to get the shadow. Mysterious it +is, for a man does not ordinarily empty his pockets of +gold in order to fill them with gravel. Mysterious it +is, for a thirsty man will not usually turn away from +the full, bubbling, living fountain, to see if he can find +any drops still remaining, green with scum, stagnant +and odorous, at the bottom of some broken cistern. +But all these follies are sanity as compared with the +folly of which we are guilty, times without number, +when, having known the sweetness of Jesus Christ, +we turn away to the fascinations of the world. Custom, +the familiarity that we have with Him, the attrition +of daily cares—like the minute grains of sand that are +cemented on to paper, and make a piece of sandpaper +that is strong enough to file an inscription off iron—the +seductions of worldly delights, the pressure of our +daily cares—all these are as a ring of sorcerers that +stand round about us, before whom we are as powerless +as a bird in the presence of a serpent, and they bewitch +us and draw us away.</p> + +<p>The sad fact has been verified over and over again +on a large scale in the history of the Church. After +every outburst of renewed life and elevated spirituality +there is sure to come a period of reaction when torpor +and formality again assert themselves. What followed +the Reformation in Germany? A century of death. +What followed Puritanism in England? An outburst +of lust and godlessness.</p> + +<p>So it has always been, and so it is with us individually,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span> +as we too well know. Ah, brethren! the seductions are +omnipresent, and our poor eyes are very weak, and we +turn away from the Lord to look on these misshapen +monsters that are seeking by their gaze to draw us into +destruction. I wonder how many professing Christians +are in this audience who once saw Jesus Christ a great +deal more clearly, and contemplated Him a great deal +more fixedly, and turned their hearts to Him far more +lovingly, than they do to-day? Some of the great +mountain peaks of Africa are only seen for an hour or +two in the morning, and then the clouds gather around +them, and hide them for the rest of the day. It is like +the experience of many professing Christians, who see +Him in the morning of their Christian life far more +vividly than they ever do after. 'Who hath bewitched +you?' The world; but the arch-sorcerer sits safe in +our own hearts.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, keeping to the metaphor, let me suggest, +although my text does not touch upon it, the Amulet.</p> + +<p>One has seen fond mothers in Egypt and Palestine +who hang on their babies' necks charms, to shield them +from the influence of the Evil Eye; and there is a +charm that we may wear if we will, which will keep +us safe. There is no fascination in the Evil Eye if you +do not look at it.</p> + +<p>The one object that the sorcerer has is to withdraw +our gaze from Christ; it is not illogical to say that +the way to defeat the object is to keep our gaze fixed +on Christ. If you do not look at the baleful glitter +of the Evil Eye it will exercise no power over you; +and if you will steadfastly look at Him, then, and only +then, you will not look at it. Like Ulysses in the +legend, bandage the eyes and put wax in the ears, +if you would neither be tempted by hearing the songs,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span> +nor by seeing the fair forms, of the sirens on their +island. To look fixedly at Jesus Christ, and with the +resolve never to turn away from Him, is the only safety +against these tempting delights around us.</p> + +<p>But, brethren, it is the crucified Christ, looking to +whom, we are safe amidst all seductions and snares. +I doubt whether a Christ who did not die for men has +power enough over men's hearts and minds to draw +them to Himself. The cords which bind us to Him are +the assurance of His dying love which has conquered +us. If only we will, day by day, and moment by +moment, as we pass through the duties and distractions, +the temptations and the trials, of this present life, by +an act of will and thought turn ourselves to Him, then +all the glamour of false attractiveness will disappear +from the temptations around us, and we shall see that +the sirens, for all their fair forms, end in loathly fishes' +tails and sit amidst dead men's bones.</p> + +<p>Brethren, 'looking <i>off</i> unto Jesus' is the secret of +triumph over the fascinations of the world. And if +we will habitually so look, then the sweetness that we +shall experience will destroy all the seducing power of +lesser and earthly sweetness, and the blessed light of +the sun will dim and all but extinguish the deceitful +gleams that tempt us into the swamps where we shall +be drowned. Turn away, then, from these things; +cleave to Jesus Christ; and though in ourselves we +may be as weak as a humming-bird before a snake, +or a rabbit before a tiger, He will give us strength, and +the light of His face shining down upon us will fix +our eyes and make us insensible to the fascinations +of the sorcerers. So we shall not need to dread the +question, 'Who hath bewitched you?' but ourselves +challenge the utmost might of the fascination with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span> +the triumphant question, 'Who shall separate us from +the love of Christ?'</p> + +<p>Help us, O Lord! we beseech Thee, to live near Thee. +Turn away our eyes from beholding vanity, and enable +us to set the Lord always before us that we be not +moved.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Have ye suffered so many things in vain?'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> iii 4.</p></div> + +<div class='center'><small>Preached on the last Sunday of the year.</small></div> +<p>This vehement question is usually taken to be a +reminder to the fickle Galatians that their Christian +faith had brought upon them much suffering from +the hands of their unbelieving brethren, and to imply +an exhortation to faithfulness to the Gospel lest +they should stultify their past brave endurance. +Yielding to the Judaising teachers, and thereby escaping +the 'offence of the Cross,' they would make their +past sufferings vain. But it may be suggested that +the word 'suffered' here is rather used in what is its +known sense elsewhere, namely, with the general idea +of <i>feeling</i>, the nature of the feeling being undefined. +It is a touching proof of the preponderance of pain +and sorrow that by degrees the significance of the +word has become inextricably intertwined with the +thought of sadness; still, it is possible to take it in the +text as meaning <i>experienced</i> or <i>felt</i>, and to regard the +Apostle as referring to the whole of the Galatians' past +experience, and as founding his appeal for their steadfastness +on all the joys as well as the sorrows, which +their faith had brought them.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p> + +<p>Taking the words in this more general sense they +become a question which it is well for us to ask ourselves +at such a time as this, when the calendar +naturally invites us to look backwards and ask ourselves +what we have made of all our experiences in the +past, or rather what, by the help of them all, we have +made of ourselves.</p> + +<p>I. The duty of retrospect.</p> + +<p>For almost any reason it is good for us to be delivered +from our prevailing absorption in the present. +Whatever counterpoises the overwhelming weight of +the present is, so far, a blessing and a good, and whatever +softens the heart and keeps up even the lingering +remembrance of early, dewy freshness and of the +high aspirations which, even for a brief space, elevated +our past selves is gain amidst the dusty commonplaces +of to-day. We see things better and more clearly +when we get a little away from them, as a face is +more distinctly visible at armslength than when held +close.</p> + +<p>But our retrospects are too often almost as trivial and +degrading as is our absorption in the present, and to +prevent memory from becoming a minister of frivolity +if not of sin, it is needful that such a question as that +of our text be urgently asked by each of us. Memory +must be in closest union with conscience, as all our +faculties must be, or she is of little use. There is a +mere sentimental luxury of memory which finds a +pensive pleasure in the mere passing out from the hard +present into the soft light, not without illusion in its +beams, of the 'days that are no more.' Merely to live +over again our sorrows and joys without any clear discernment +of what their effects on our moral character +have been, is not the retrospect that becomes a man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span> +however it might suit an animal. We have to look +back as a man might do escaping from the ocean on +to some frail sand-bank which ever breaks off and +crumbles away at his very heels. To remember the +past mainly as it affected our joy or our sorrow is as +unworthy as to regard the present from the same +point of view, and robs both of their highest worth. +To remember is only then blessed and productive of +its highest possible good in us, when the question of +our text insists on being faced, and the object of retrospect +is not to try to rekindle the cold coals of past +emotions, but to ascertain what effect on our present +characters our past experiences have had. We have +not to turn back and try to gather some lingering +flowers, but to look for the fruit which has followed +the fallen blossoms.</p> + +<p>II. The true test for the past.</p> + +<p>The question of our text implies, as we have already +suggested, that our whole lives, with all their various +and often opposite experiences, are yet an ordered +whole, having a definite end. There is some purpose +beyond the moment to be served. Our joys and our +sorrows, our gains and our losses, the bright hours and +the dark hours, and the hours that are neither +eminently bright nor supremely dark, our failures and +our successes, our hopes disappointed or fulfilled, and +all the infinite variety of condition and environment +through which our varying days and years have led +us, co-operate for one end. It is life that makes men; +the infant is a bundle of possibilities, and as the years +go on, one possible avenue of development after +another is blocked. The child might have been almost +anything; the man has become hardened and fixed +into one shape.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span></p> + +<p>But all this variety of impulses and complicated +experiences need the co-operation of the man himself +if they are to reach their highest results in him. If he +is simply recipient of these external forces acting upon +him, they will shape him indeed, but he will be a poor +creature. Life does not make men unless men take +the command of life, and he who lets circumstances +and externals guide him, as the long water weeds in a +river are directed by its current, will, from the highest +point of view, have experienced the variations of a +lifetime in vain.</p> + +<p>No doubt each of our experiences has its own immediate +and lower purpose to serve, and these purposes +are generally accomplished, but beyond these each has +a further aim which is not reached without diligent +carefulness and persistent effort on our parts. If we +would be sure of what it is to suffer life's experiences +in vain, we have but to ask ourselves what life is +given us for, and we all know that well enough to be +able to judge how far we have used life to attain the +highest ends of living. We may put these ends in +various ways in our investigation of the results of our +manifold experiences. Let us begin with the lowest—we +received life that we might learn truth, then if our +experience has not taught us wisdom it has been in +vain. It is deplorable to have to look round and see +how little the multitude of men are capable of forming +anything like an independent and intelligent opinion, +and how they are swayed by gusts of passion, by blind +prejudice, by pretenders and quacks of all sorts. It is +no less sad for us to turn our eyes within and discover, +perhaps not without surprise and shame, how few of +what we are self-complacent enough to call our +opinions are due to our own convictions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p> + +<p>If we ever are honest enough with ourselves to +catch a glimpse of our own unwisdom, the question of +our text will press heavily upon us, and may help to +make us wiser by teaching us how foolish we are. An +infinite source of wisdom is open to us, and all the rich +variety of our lives' experiences has been lavished on +us to help us, and what have we made of it all?</p> + +<p>But we may rise a step higher and remember that +we are made moral creatures. Therefore, whatever +has not developed infant potentialities in us, and made +them moral qualities, has been experienced in vain. +'Not enjoyment and not sorrow is our destined end and +way.' Life is meant to make us love and do the good, +and unless it has produced that effect on us, it has +failed. If this be true, the world is full of failures, like +the marred statues in a bad sculptor's studio, and we +ourselves have earnestly to confess that the discipline +of life has too often been wasted upon us, and that of +us the divine complaint from of old has been true: +'In vain have I smitten thy children, they have received +no correction.'</p> + +<p>There is no sadder waste than the waste of sorrow, +and alas! we all know how impotent our afflictions +have been to make us better. But not afflictions only +have failed in their appeal to us, our joys have as often +been in vain as our sorrows, and memory, when it +turns its lamp on the long past, sees so few points at +which life has taught us to love goodness, and be good, +that she may well quench her light and let the dead +past bury its dead.</p> + +<p>But we must rise still higher, and think of men as +being made for God, and as being the only creatures +known to us who are capable of religion. 'Man's chief +end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.' And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span> +this chief end is in fullest harmony with the lower ends +to which we have just referred, and they will never be +realised in their fullest completeness unless that completeness +is sought in this the chief end. From of old +meditative souls have known that the beginning of +wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and that that fear is as +certainly the beginning of goodness. It was not an +irrelevant rebuke to the question, 'What good thing +shall I do?' when Jesus set the eager young soul who +asked it, to justify to himself his courteous and superficial +application to Him of the abused and vulgarised +title of 'Good,' and pointed him to God as the only Being +to whom that title, in its perfectness, could be given. +If 'there is none good but one, that is God,' man's goodness +must be drawn from Him, and morality without +religion will in theory be incomplete, and in practice +a delusion. If, then, men are made to need God, and +capable of possessing Him, and of being possessed by +Him, then the great question for all of us is, has life, +with all its rapid whirl of changing circumstance and +varying fortunes, drawn us closer to God, and made us +more fit to receive more of Him? So supreme is this +chief end that a life which has not attained it can only +be regarded as 'in vain' whatever other successes it +may have attained. So unspeakably more important +and necessary is it, that compared with it all else sinks +into nothingness; hence many lives which are dazzling +successes in the eyes of men are ghastly failures in +reality.</p> + +<p>Now, if we take these plain principles with us in our +retrospect of the past year we shall be launched on a +very serious inquiry, and brought face to face with a +very penitent answer. Some of us may have had great +sorrows, and the tears may be scarcely dry upon our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span> +cheeks: some of us may have had great gladnesses, +and our hearts may still be throbbing with the thrill: +some of us may have had great successes, and some of +us heavy losses, but the question for us to ask is not of +the quality of our past experiences, but as to their +effects upon us. Has life been so used by us as to help +us to become wiser, better, more devout? And the +answer to that question, if we are honest in our +scrutiny of ourselves, and if memory has not been a +mere sentimental luxury, must be that we have too +often been but unfaithful recipients alike of God's +mercies and God's chastisements, and have received +much of the discipline of life, and remained undisciplined. +The question of our text, if asked by me, +would be impertinent, but it is asked of each of us +by the stern voice of conscience, and for some of us +by the lips of dear ones whose loss has been among +our chiefest sufferings. God asks us this question, and +it is hard to make-believe to Him.</p> + +<p>III. The best issue of the retrospect.</p> + +<p>The world says, 'What I have written I have written,' +and there is a very solemn and terrible reality in the +thought of the irrevocable past. Whether life has +achieved the ends for which it was given or no, it +has achieved some ends. It may have made us into +characters the very opposite of God's intention for us, +but it has made us into certain characters which, so +far as the world sees, can never be unmade or re-made. +The world harshly preaches the indelibility of character, +and proclaims that the Ethiopian may as soon be +expected to change his skin or the leopard his spots +as the man accustomed to do evil may learn to do +well. That dreary fatalism which binds the effects of a +dead past on a man's shoulders, and forbids him to hope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span> +that anything will obliterate the marks of 'what once +hath been,' is in violent contradiction to the large +hope brought into the world by Jesus Christ. What +we have written we <i>have</i> written, and we have no +power to erase the lines and make the sheet clean +again, but Jesus Christ has taken away the handwriting +'that was against us,' nailing it to His cross. +Instead of our old sin-worn and sin-marked selves, +He proffers to each of us a new self, not the outcome +of what we have been, but the image of what +He is and the prophecy of what we shall be. By +the great gift of holiness for the future by the impartation +of His own life and spirit, Jesus makes +all things new. The Gospel recognises to the full +how bad some who have received it were, but it can +willingly admit their past foulness, because it contrasts +with all that former filth their present cleanness, +and to the most inveterately depraved who have +trusted in Christ rejoices to say, 'Ye were washed, ye +were sanctified, ye were justified in the name of the +Lord Jesus Christ.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE UNIVERSAL PRISON</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of +Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> iii. 22.</p></div> + + +<p>The Apostle uses here a striking and solemn figure, +which is much veiled for the English reader by the +ambiguity attaching to the word 'concluded.' It +literally means 'shut up,' and is to be taken in its +literal sense of confining, and not in its secondary +sense of inferring. So, then, we are to conceive of a +vast prison-house in which mankind is confined. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span> +then, very characteristically, the Apostle passes at +once to another metaphor when he goes on to say +'under sin.' What a moment before had presented +itself to his vivid imagination as a great dungeon is +now represented as a heavy weight, pressing down +upon those beneath; if, indeed, we are not, perhaps, +rather to think of the low roof of the dark dungeon +as weighing on the captives.</p> + +<p>Further, he says that Scripture has driven men into +this captivity. That, of course, cannot mean that +revelation makes us sinners, but it does mean that it +makes us more guilty, and that it declares the fact of +human sinfulness as no other voice has ever done. +And then the grimness of the picture is all relieved +and explained, and the office ascribed to God's revelation +harmonised with God's love, by the strong, steady +beam of light that falls from the last words, which tell +us that the prisoners have not been bound in chains for +despair or death, but in order that, gathered together +in a common doleful destiny, they may become recipients +of a common blessed salvation, and emerge +into liberty and light through faith in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>So here are three things—the prison-house, its +guardian, and its breaker. 'The Scripture hath shut +up all under sin, in order that the promise by faith +of Jesus Christ might be given unto all them that +believe.'</p> + +<p>I. First, then, note the universal prison-house.</p> + +<p>Now the Apostle says two things—and we may put +away the figure and look at the facts that underlie it. +The one is that all sin is imprisonment, the other is +that all men are in that dungeon, unless they have +come out of it through faith in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>All sin is imprisonment. That is the direct contrary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span> +of the notion that many people have. They say to +themselves, 'Why should I be fettered and confined +by these antiquated restrictions of a conventional +morality? Why should I not break the bonds, and do +as I like?' And they laugh at Christian people who +recognise the limitations under which God's law has +put them; and tell us that we are 'cold-blooded folks +who live by rule,' and contrast their own broad 'emancipation +from narrow prejudice.' But the reality is the +other way. The man who does wrong is a slave in the +measure in which he does it. If you want to find out—and +mark this, you young people, who may be +deceived by the false contrasts between the restraints +of duty and the freedom of living a dissolute life—if +you want to find out how utterly 'he that committeth +sin is the slave of sin,' try to break it off, and you will +find it out fast enough. We all know, alas! the impotence +of the will when it comes to hand grips with +some evil to which we have become habituated; and +how we determine and determine, and try, and fail, +and determine again, with no better result. We are +the slaves of our own passions; and no man is free who +is hindered by his lower self from doing that which his +better self tells him he ought to do. The tempter +comes to you, and says, 'Come and do this thing, just +for once. You can leave off when you like, you know. +There is no need to do it a second time.' And when +you have done it, he changes his note, and says, 'Ah! +you are in, and you cannot get out. You have done it +once; and in my vocabulary once means twice, and +once and twice mean <i>always</i>.'</p> + +<p>Insane people are sometimes tempted into a house of +detention by being made to believe that it is a grand +mansion, where they are just going to pay a flying<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span> +visit, and can come away when they like. But once +inside the walls, they never get past the lodge gates +any more. The foolish birds do not know that there is +lime on the twigs, and their little feet get fastened to +the branch, and their wings flutter in vain. 'He that +committeth sin is the slave of sin—shut up,' dungeoned, +'under sin.'</p> + +<p>But do not forget, either, the other metaphor in our +text, in which the Apostle, with characteristic rapidity, +and to the horror of rhetorical propriety, passes at +once from the thought of a dungeon to the thought +of an impending weight, and says, 'Shut up <i>under</i> +sin.'</p> + +<p>What does that mean? It means that we are guilty +when we have done wrong; and it means that we are +under penalties which are sure to follow. No deed +that we do, howsoever it may fade from the tablets of +our memory, but writes in visible characters, in proportion +to its magnitude, upon our characters and lives. +All human acts have perpetual consequences. The +kick of the rifle against the shoulder of the man that +fires it is as certain as the flight of the bullet from its +muzzle. The chalk cliffs that rise above the Channel +entomb and perpetuate the relics of myriads of +evanescent lives; and our fleeting deeds are similarly +preserved in our present selves. Everything that a +man wills, whether it passes into external act or not, +leaves, in its measure, ineffaceable impressions on himself. +And so we are not only dungeoned in, but weighed +upon by, and lie under, the evil that we do.</p> + +<p>Nor, dear friends, dare I pass in silence what is too +often passed in silence in the modern pulpit, the plain +fact that there is a future waiting for each of us +beyond the grave, of which the most certain character<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>istic, +certified by our own forebodings, required by the +reasonableness of creation, and made plain by the +revelation of Scripture, is that it is a future of retribution, +where we shall have to carry our works; and +as we have brewed so shall we drink; and the beds +that we have made we shall have to lie upon. 'God +shut up all under sin.'</p> + +<p>Note, again, the universality of the imprisonment.</p> + +<p>Now I am not going to exaggerate, I hope. I want +to keep well within the limits of fact, and to say +nothing that is not endorsed by your own consciences, +if you will be honest with yourselves. And I say that +the Bible does not charge men universally with gross +transgressions. It does not talk about the virtues that +grow in the open as if they were splendid vices; but it +does say, and I ask you if our own hearts do not tell +us that it says truly, that no man is, or has been, does, +or has done, that which his own conscience tells him +he should have been and done. We are all ready to +admit faults, in a general way, and to confess that we +have come short of what our own consciousness tells +us we ought to be. But I want you to take the other +step, and to remember that since we each stand in a +personal relation to God, therefore all imperfections, +faults, negligences, shortcomings, and, still more, +transgressions of morality, or of the higher aspirations +of our lives, are sins. Because sin—to use fine words—is +the correlative of God. Or, to put it into plainer +language, the deeds which in regard to law may be +crimes, or those which in regard to morality may be +vices, or in regard to our own convictions of duty may +be shortcomings, seeing they all have some reference +to Him, assume a very much graver character, and +they are all sins.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p> + +<p>Oh, brethren, if we realise how intimately and inseparably +we are knit to God, and how everything that +we do, and do not do, but should have done, has an +aspect in reference to Him, I think we should be less +unwilling to admit, and less tinged with levity and +carelessness in admitting, that all our faults are transgressions +of His law, and we should find ourselves +more frequently on our knees before Him, with the +penitent words on our lips and in our hearts, 'Against +Thee, Thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy +sight.'</p> + +<p>That was the prayer of a man who had done a foul +evil in other people's sight; who had managed to +accumulate about as many offences to as many people +in one deed as was possible. For, as a king he had +sinned against his nation, as a friend he had sinned +against his companion, as a captain he had sinned +against his brave subordinate, as a husband he had +sinned against his wife, and he had sinned against +Bathsheba. And yet, with all that tangle of offences +against all these people, he says, 'Against Thee, Thee +only.' Yes! Because, accurately speaking, the <i>sin</i> +had reference to God, and to God alone. And I wish +for myself and for you to cultivate the habit of connecting, +thus, all our actions, and especially our imperfections +and our faults, with the thought of God, that +we may learn how universal is the enclosure of man +in this dreadful prison-house.</p> + +<p>II. And so, I come, in the second place, to look at the +guardian of the prison.</p> + +<p>That is a strange phrase of my text attributing the +shutting of men up in this prison-house to the merciful +revelation of God in the Scripture. And it is made +still more striking and strange by another edition of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span> +the same expression in the Epistle to the Romans, +where Paul directly traces the 'concluding all in disobedience' +to God Himself.</p> + +<p>There may be other subtle thoughts connected with +that expression which I do not need to enter upon +now. But one that I would dwell upon, for a moment, +is this, that one great purpose of Scripture is to convince +us that we are sinful in God's sight. I do not +need to remind you, I suppose, how that was, one +might almost say, the dominant intention of the whole +of the ceremonial and moral law of Israel, and explains +its many else inexplicable and apparently petty commandments +and prohibitions. They were all meant to +emphasise the difference between right and wrong, +obedience and disobedience, and so to drive home to +men's hearts the consciousness that they had broken +the commandments of the living God. And although +the Gospel comes with a very different guise from that +ancient order, and is primarily gift and not law, a +Gospel of forgiveness, and not the promulgation of +duty or the threatening of condemnation, yet it, too, +has for one of its main purposes, which must be accomplished +in us before it can reach its highest aim in us, +the kindling in men's hearts of the same consciousness +that they are sinful men in God's sight.</p> + +<p>Ah, brethren, we all need it. There is nothing that +we need more than to have driven deep into us the +penetrating point of that conviction. There must be +some external standard by which men may be convinced +of their sinfulness, for they carry no such +standard within them. Your conscience is only <i>you</i> +judging on moral questions, and, of course, as you +change, it will change too. A man's whole state determines +the voice with which conscience shall speak to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span> +him, and so the worse he is, and the more he needs it, +the less he has it. The rebels cut the telegraph wires. +The waves break the bell that hangs on the reef, and so +the black rocks get many a wreck to gnaw with their +sharp teeth. A man makes his conscience dumb by +the very sins that require a conscience trumpet-tongued +to reprehend them. And therefore it needs that God +should speak from Heaven, and say to us, '<i>Thou</i> art +the man,' or else we pass by all these grave things +that I am trying to urge upon you now, and fall back +upon our complacency and our levity and our unwillingness +to take stock of ourselves, and front the facts +of our condition. And so we build up a barrier between +ourselves and God, and God's grace, which nothing +short of that grace and an omnipotent love and an all-powerful +Redeemer can ever pull down.</p> + +<p>I wish to urge in a few words, yet with much +earnestness, this thought, that until we have laid to +heart God's message about our own personal sinfulness +we have not got to the place where we can in the least +understand the true meaning of His Gospel, or the +true work of His Son. May I say that I, for one, am +old-fashioned enough to look with great apprehension +on certain tendencies of present-day presentations of +Christianity which, whilst they dwell much upon the +social blessings which it brings, do seem to me to be in +great peril of obscuring the central characteristic of +the Gospel, that it is addressed to sinful men, and that +the only way by which individuals can come to the possession +of any of its blessings is by coming as penitent +sinners, and casting themselves on the mercy of God in +Jesus Christ? The beginning of all lies here, where Paul +puts it, 'the Scripture hath herded all men,' in droves, +into the prison, that it might have mercy upon all.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p> + +<p>Dear friend, as the old proverb has it, deceit lurks in +generalities. I have no doubt you are perfectly willing +to admit that all are sinful. Come a little closer to the +truth, I beseech you, and say each is sinful, and I am +one of the captives.</p> + +<p>III. And so, lastly, the breaker of the prison-house.</p> + +<p>I need not spend your time in commenting on the +final words of this text. Suffice it to gather their +general purport and scope. The apparently stern +treatment which God by revelation applies to the +whole mass of mankind is really the tenderest beneficence. +He has shut them up in the prison-house in +order that, thus shut up, they may the more eagerly +apprehend and welcome the advent of the Deliverer. +He tells us each our state, in order that we may the +more long for, and the more closely grasp, the great +mercy which reverses the state. And so how shallow +and how unfair it is to talk about evangelical Christianity +as being gloomy, stern, or misanthropical! You +do not call a doctor unkind because he tells an unsuspecting +patient that his disease is far advanced, and +that if it is not cured it will be fatal. No more should +a man turn away from Christianity, or think it harsh +and sour, because it speaks plain truths. The question +is, are they true? not, are they unpleasant?</p> + +<p>If you and I, and all our fellows, are shut up in this +prison-house of sin, then it is quite clear that none of +us can do anything to get ourselves out. And so the +way is prepared for that great message with which +Jesus opened His ministry, and which, whilst it has a +far wider application, and reference to social as well as +to individual evils, begins with the proclamation of +liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison +to them that are bound.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p> + +<p>There was once a Roman emperor who wished that +all his enemies had one neck, that he might slay them +all at one blow. The wish is a fact in regard to Christ +and His work, for by it all our tyrants have been +smitten to death by one stroke; and the death of Jesus +Christ has been the death of sin and death and hell—of +sin in its power, in its guilt, and in its penalty. He +has come into the prison-house, and torn the bars +away, and opened the fetters, and every man may, +if he will, come out into the blessed sunshine and +expatiate there.</p> + +<p>And if, brethren, it is true that the universal +prison-house is opened by the death of Jesus +Christ, who is the Propitiation for the sins of the +whole world, and the power by which the most +polluted may become clean, then there follows, as +plainly, that the only thing which we have to do +is, recognising and feeling our bound impotence, to +stretch out chained hands and take the gift that He +brings. Since all is done for each of us, and since none +of us can do sufficient for himself to break the bond, +then what we should do is to trust to Him who has +broken every chain and let the oppressed go free.</p> + +<p>Oh, dear friend, if you want to get to the heart of +the sweetness and the blessedness and power of the +Gospel, you must begin here, with the clear and +penitent consciousness that you are a sinful man in +God's sight, and can do nothing to cleanse, help, or +liberate yourself. Is Jesus Christ the breaker of the +bond for you? Do you learn from Him what your +need is? Do you trust yourself to Him for Pardon, for +cleansing, for emancipation? Unless you do, you will +never know His most precious preciousness, and you +have little right to call yourself a Christian. If you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span> +do, oh, than a great light will shine in the prison-house, +and your chains will drop from your wrists, and the +iron door will open of its own accord, and you will +come out into the morning sunshine of a new day, +because you have confessed and abhorred the bondage +into which you have cast yourselves, and accepted the +liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE SON SENT</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, +born under the law, that He might redeem them which were under the law, that we +might receive the adoption of sons.'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> iv. 4, 5 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>It is generally supposed that by the 'fulness of time' +Paul means to indicate that Christ came at the moment +when the world was especially prepared to receive +Him, and no doubt that is a true thought. The Jews +had been trained by law to the conviction of sin; +heathenism had tried its utmost, had reached the full +height of its possible development, and was decaying. +Rome had politically prepared the way for the spread +of the Gospel. Vague expectations of coming change +found utterance even from the lips of Roman courtier +poets, and a feeling of unrest and anticipation pervaded +society; but while no doubt all this is true and becomes +more certain the more we know of the state of things +into which Christ came, it is to be noted that Paul is +not thinking of the fulness of time primarily in reference +to the world which received Him, but to the Father +who sent Him. Our text immediately follows words +in which the air is described as being 'under guardians +and stewards' until the time appointed of His Father, +and the fulness of time is therefore the moment which +God had ordained from the beginning for His coming.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span> +He, from of old, had willed that at that moment this +Son should be born, and it is to the punctual accomplishment +of His eternal purpose that Paul here directs +our thoughts. No doubt the world's preparedness is +part of the reason for the divine determination of the +time, but it is that divine determination rather than +the world's preparedness to which the first words of +our text must be taken to refer.</p> + +<p>The remaining portion of our text is so full of meaning +that one shrinks from attempting to deal with it +in our narrow space, but though it opens up depths +beyond our fathoming, and gathers into one concentrated +brightness lights on which our dim eyes can +hardly look, we may venture to attempt some imperfect +consideration even of these great words. Following +their course of thought we may deal with</p> + +<p>I. The mystery of love that sent.</p> + +<p>The most frequent form under which the great fact +of the incarnation is represented in Scripture is that +of our text—'God sent His Son.' It is familiar on the +lips of Jesus, but He also says that 'God gave His Son.' +One can feel a shade of difference in the two modes of +expression. The former bringing rather to our thoughts +the representative character of the Son as Messenger, +and the latter going still deeper into the mystery of +Godhead and bringing into view the love of the +Father who spared not His Son but freely bestowed +Him on men. Yet another word is used by Jesus Himself +when He says, 'I came forth from God,' and that +expression brings into view the perfect willingness +with which the Son accepted the mission and gave +Himself, as well as was given by God. All three phases +express harmonious, though slightly differing aspects +of the same fact, as the facets of a diamond might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span> +flash into different colours, and all must be held fast if +we would understand the unspeakable gift of God. +Jesus was sent; Jesus was given; Jesus came. The +mission from the Father, the love of the Father, the +glad obedience of the Son, must ever be recognised as +interpenetrating, and all present in that supreme act.</p> + +<p>There have been many men specially sent forth from +God, whose personal existence began with their birth, +and so far as the words are concerned, Jesus might +have been one of these. There was a man sent from +God whose name was John, and all through the ages +he has had many companions in his mission, but there +has been only one who 'came' as well as 'was sent,' +and He is the true light which lighteth every man. +To speak in theological language of the pre-existence +of the Son is cold, and may obscure the truth which it +formulates in so abstract a fashion, and may rob it of +power to awe and impress. But there can be no +question that in our text, as is shown by the juxtaposition +of 'sent' and 'born,' and in all the New Testament +references to the subject, the birth of Jesus is not +regarded as the beginning of the being of the Son. +The one lies far back in the depths of eternity and the +mystery of the divine nature, the other is a historical +fact occurring in a definite place and at a dated +moment. Before time was the Son was, delighting in +the Father, and 'in the beginning was the word and +the word was with God,' and He who in respect of His +expression of the Father's mind and will was the Word, +was the Son in respect of the love that bound the +Father and Him in one. Into the mysteries of that +love and union no eyes can penetrate, but unless our +faith lays hold of it, we know not the God whom Jesus +has declared to us. The mysteries of that divine union<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span> +and communion lie beyond our reach, but well within +the grasp of our faith and the work of the Son in the +world, ever since there was a world, is not obscurely +declared to all who have eyes to see and hearts to +understand. For He has through all ages been the +active energy of the divine power, or as the Old Testament +words it, 'The Arm of the Lord,' the Agent of +creation, the Revealer of God, the Light of the world +and the Director of Providence. 'He was in the world +and the world was made by Him, and the world knew +Him not.'</p> + +<p>Now all this teaching that the Son was long before +Jesus was born is no mere mysterious dogma without +bearing on daily needs, but stands in the closest connection +with Christ's work and our faith in it. It is the +guarantee of His representative character; on it depends +the reliableness of His revelation of God. Unless +He is the Son in a unique sense, how could God have +spoken unto us in Him, and how could we rely on His +words? Unless He was 'the effulgence of His glory and +the express image of His person': how could we be +sure that the light of His countenance was light from +God and that in His person God was so presented as +that he who had seen Him had seen the Father? The +completeness and veracity of His revelation, the authoritative +fulness of His law, the efficacy of His sacrifice +and the prevalence of His intercession all depend on +the fact of His divine life with God long before His +human life with men. It is a plain historical fact that +a Christianity which has no place for a pre-existent +Son in the bosom of the Father has only a maimed +Christ in reference to the needs of sinful men. If our +Christ were not the eternal Son of God, He will not be +the universal Saviour of men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span></p> + +<p>Nor is this truth less needful in its bearing on modern +theories which will have nothing to say to the supernatural, +and in a fatalistic fashion regard history as +all the result of an orderly evolution in which the +importance of personal agents is minimised. To it +Jesus, like all other great men, is a product of His age, +and the immediate result of the conditions under which +He appeared. But when we look far beyond the manger +of Bethlehem into the depths of Eternity and see God +so loving the world as to give His Son, we cannot but +recognise that He has intervened in the course of +human history and that the mightiest force in the +development of man is the eternal Son whom He sent +to save the world.</p> + +<p>II. The miracle of lowliness that came.</p> + +<p>The Apostle goes on from describing the great fact +which took place in heaven to set forth the great fact +which completed it on earth. The sending of the Son +took effect in the birth of Jesus, and the Apostle puts +it under two forms, both of which are plainly designed +to present Christ's manhood as His full identification of +Himself with us. The Son of God became the son of a +woman; from His mother He drew a true and complete +humanity in body and soul. The humanity which He +received was sufficiently kindred with the divinity +which received it to make it possible that the one +should dwell in the other and be one person. As born +of a woman the Son of God took upon Himself all +human experiences, became capable of sharing our +pure emotions, wept our tears, partook in our joys, +hoped and feared as we do, was subject to our changes, +grew as we grow, and in everything but sin, was a man +amongst men.</p> + +<p>But the Son of God could not be as the sons of men.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span> +Him the Father heard always. Even when He came +down from Heaven and became the Son of Man, He +continued to be 'The Son of Man which is in Heaven.' +Amid all the distractions and limitations of His earthly +life, the continuity and depth of His communion with +the Father were unbroken and the completeness of His +obedience undiminished. He was a Man, but He was +also the Man, the one realised ideal of humanity that +has ever walked the earth, to whom all others, even +the most complete, are fragments, the fairest foul, the +most gracious harsh. In Him and in Him only has +been 'given the world assurance of a man.'</p> + +<p>The other condition which is here introduced is 'born +under the law,' by which it may be noted that the +Apostle does not mean the Jewish law, inasmuch as he +does not use the definite article with the word. No +doubt our Lord was born as a Jew and subject to the +Jewish law, but the thought here and in the subsequent +clause is extended to the general notion of law. The +very heart of our Lord's human identification is that +He too had duties imperative upon Him, and the +language of one of the Messianic psalms was the voice +of His filial will during all His earthly life; 'Lo! I +come, in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I +delight to do Thy will and Thy law is within My heart.' +The very secret of His human life was discovered by +the heathen centurion, at whose faith He marvelled, +who said, 'I <i>also</i> am a man under authority'; so was +Jesus. The Son had ever been obedient in the sweet +communion of Heaven, but the obedience of Jesus was +not less perfect, continual and unstained. It was the +man Jesus who summed up His earthly life in 'I do +always the things that please Him'; it was the man +Jesus who, under the olives in Gethsemane, made the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span> +great surrender and yielded up His own will to the +will of the Father who sent Him.</p> + +<p>He was under law in that the will of God dominated +His life, but He was not so under it as we are on whom +its precepts often press as an unwelcome obligation, +and who know the weight of guilt and condemnation. +If there is any one characteristic of Jesus more conspicuous +than another it is the absence in Him of any +consciousness of deficiency in His obedience to law, and +yet that absence does not in the smallest degree infringe +on His claim to be 'meek and lowly in heart.' +'Which of you convinceth Me of sin?' would have been +from any other man a defiance that would have provoked +a crushing answer if it had not been taken as a +proof of hopeless ignorance of self, but when Christ asks +the question, the world is silent. The silence has been +all but unbroken for nineteen hundred years, and of +all the busy and often unfriendly eyes that have been +occupied with Him and the hostile pens that have been +eager to say something new about Him, none have +discovered a flaw, or dared to 'hint a fault.' That +character has stamped its own impression of perfectness +on all eyes even the most unfriendly or indifferent. +In Him there is seen the perfect union and balance of +opposite characteristics; the rest of us, at the best, +are but broken arcs; Jesus is the completed round. +He is under law as fully, continuously and joyfully +obedient; but for Him it had no accusing voice, and it +laid on Him no burden of broken commandments. He +was born of a woman, born under law, but he lived +separate from sinners though identified with them.</p> + +<p>III. The marvel of exaltation that results.</p> + +<p>Our Lord's lowliness is described in the two clauses +which we have just been considering. They express<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span> +His identification with us from a double point of view, +and that double point of view is continued in the final +clauses of our text which state the double purpose of +God in sending His Son. He became one with us that +we might become one with Him. The two elements of +this double purpose are stated in the reverse order to +the two elements of Christ's lowliness. The redemption +of them that were under law is presented as the +reason for His being born under law, and our reception +of the 'adoption of sons' is the purpose of the Son's +being sent and born of a woman. The order in which +Paul here deals with the two parts of the divine +purpose is not to be put down to mere rhetorical ornament, +but corresponds to the order in which these two +elements are realised by men. For there must be +redemption from law before there is the adoption of +sons.</p> + +<p>We have already had occasion to point out that 'law' +here must be taken in the wide sense and not restricted +to the Jewish law. It is a world-wide redemption +which the Father's love had in view in sending His +Son, but that all-comprehending, fatherly love could +not reach its aim by the mere forth-putting of its own +energy. A process was needed if the divine heart was +to accomplish its desire, and the majestic stages in +that process are set forth here by Paul. The world +was under law in a very sad fashion, and though Jesus +has come to redeem them that are under law, the +crushing weight of commandments flouted, of duties +neglected, of sins done, presses heavily upon many of +us. And yet how many of us there are who do not +know the burden that we carry and have had no personal +experience like that of Bunyan's Christian with +the pack on his back all but weighing him down?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span> +Jesus Christ has become one of us, and in His sinless +life has 'magnified the law and made it honourable,' +and in His sinless death He endures the consequences +of sin, not as due to Himself, but because they are +man's. But we must carefully keep in view, that as +we have already pointed out, we are to think of Christ's +mission as His coming as well as the Father's sending, +and that therefore we do not grasp the full idea of our +Lord's enduring the consequences of sin unless we +take it as meaning His voluntary identification of Himself +in love with us sinful men. His obedience was +perfect all His life long, and His last and highest act +of obedience was when He became obedient unto death, +even the death of the Cross.</p> + +<p>This is the only means by which the burden of law +in any of its forms can be taken away from us. For a +law which is not loved will be heavy and hard however +holy and just and good it may be, and a law which we +have broken will become sooner or later its own +avenger. Faithful in <i>Pilgrim's Progress</i> tells how 'So +soon as a man overtook me he was but a word and a +blow, for down he knocked me and laid me for dead. . . . He +struck me another deadly blow on the breast +and beat me down backward, so I lay at his foot as +dead as before, so when I came to myself again I cried +him "Mercy," but he said, "I know not how to show +mercy," and with that knocked me down again; he +had doubtless made an end of me but that one came +by and bid him forbear. . . . I did not know him at +first, but as he went by I perceived the holes in his +hands and in his sides.' He was born under law that +He might redeem them that were under law.</p> + +<p>The slaves bought into freedom are received into the +great family. The Son has become flesh that they who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span> +dwell in the flesh may rise to be sons, but the Son +stands alone even in the midst of His identification +with us, and of the great results which follow for us +from it. He is the Son by nature; we are sons by +adoption. He became man that we might share in the +possession of God. When the burden of law is lifted off +it is possible to bestow the further blessing of sonship, +but that blessing is only possible through Him in whom, +and from whom, we derive a life which is divine life. +There is a profound truth in the prophetic sentence, +'Behold I and the children which God hath given me!' +for, in one aspect, believers are the children of Christ, +and in another, they are sons of God.</p> + +<p>We have been speaking of the Son's identification +with us in His mission, and our identification with +Him, but that identification depends on ourselves and +is only an accomplished fact through our faith. When +we trust in Him it is true that all His—His righteousness, +His Sonship, His union with the Father—is ours, +and that all ours—our sins, our guilt, our alienation +from God and our dwelling in the far-off land of rags +and vice—is His. In His voluntary identification with +us, He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. +It is for us to determine whether we will lay on Him +our iniquities, as the Father has already laid the +iniquities of us all. Are we by faith in Him who was +born of a woman, born under law, making our very +own the redemption from the law which He has wrought +and the adoption of sons which He bestows?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WHAT MAKES A CHRISTIAN: CIRCUMCISION +OR FAITH?</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, +but faith which worketh by love.'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> v. 6.</p></div> + + +<p>It is a very singular instance of imaginative misreading +of plain facts that the primitive Church should be +held up as a pattern Church. The early communities +had apostolic teaching; but beyond that, they seem to +have been in no respect above, and in many respects +below, the level of subsequent ages. If we may judge +of their morality by the exhortations and dehortations +which they received from the Apostle, Corinth and +Thessalonica were but beginners in holiness. If we +may judge of their intelligence by the errors into which +they were in danger of falling, these first congregations +had indeed need that one should teach them which +were the first principles of the oracles of God. It could +not be otherwise. They were but just rescued from +heathenism, and we need not wonder if their spirits +long bore the scars of their former bondage. If we +wish to know what the apostolic churches were like, +we have but to look at the communities gathered by +modern missionaries. The same infantile simplicity, +the same partial apprehensions of the truth, the same +danger of being led astray by the low morality of their +heathen kindred, the same openness to strange heresy, +the same danger of blending the old with the new, in +opinion and in practice, beset both.</p> + +<p>The history of the first theological difference in the +early churches is a striking confutation of the dream +that they were perfect, and a striking illustration of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span> +the dangers to which they were exposed from the +attempt, so natural to us all, to put new wine into old +bottles. The Jewish and the Gentile elements did not +coalesce. The point round which the strife was waged +was not whether Gentiles might come into the Church. +That was conceded by the fiercest Judaisers. But it +was whether they could come in as Gentiles, without +first being incorporated into the Jewish nation by +circumcision, and whether they could remain in as +Gentiles, without conforming to Jewish ceremonial +and law.</p> + +<p>Those who said 'No' <i>were</i> members of the Christian +communities, and, being so, they still insisted that +Judaism was to be eternal. They demanded that the +patched and stiff leathern bottle, which had no elasticity +or pliability, should still contain the quick fermenting +new wine of the kingdom. And certainly, if ever man +had excuse for clinging to what was old and formal, +these Judaising Christians held it. They held by a law +written with God's own finger, by ordinances awful +by reason of divine appointment, venerable by reason +of the generations to which they had been of absolute +authority, commended by the very example of Christ +Himself. Every motive which can bind heart and +conscience to the reverence and the practice of the +traditions of the Fathers, bound them to the Law and +the ordinances which had been Israel's treasure from +Abraham to Jesus.</p> + +<p>Those who said 'Yes' were mostly Gentiles, headed +and inspired by a Hebrew of the Hebrews. They +believed that Judaism was preparatory, and that its +work was done. For those among themselves who +were Jews, they were willing that its laws should still +be obligatory; but they fought against the attempt to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span> +compel all Gentile converts to enter Christ's kingdom +through the gate of circumcision.</p> + +<p>The fight was stubborn and bitter. I suppose it is +harder to abolish forms than to change opinions. +Ceremonies stand long after the thought which they +express has fled, as a dead king may sit on his throne +stiff and stark in his golden mantle, and no one come +near enough to see that the light is gone out of his +eyes, and the will departed from the hand that still +clutches the sceptre. All through Paul's life he was +dogged and tormented by this controversy. There was +a deep gulf between the churches he planted and this +reactionary section of the Christian community. Its +emissaries were continually following in his footsteps. +As he bitterly reproaches them, they entered upon +another man's line of things made ready to their hand, +not caring to plant churches of circumcised Gentiles +themselves, but starting up behind him as soon as his +back was turned, and spoiling his work.</p> + +<p>This Epistle is the memorial of that foot-to-foot feud. +It is of perennial use, as the tendencies against which +it is directed are constant in human nature. Men are +ever apt to confound form and substance, to crave +material embodiments of spiritual realities, to elevate +outward means into the place of the inward and real, +to which all the outward is but subsidiary. In every +period of strife between the two great opponents, this +letter has been the stronghold of those who fight for +the spiritual conception of religion. With it Luther +waged his warfare, and in this day, too, its words are +precious.</p> + +<p>My text contains Paul's condensed statement of +his whole position in the controversy. It tells us +what he fought for, and why he fought, against the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span> +attempt to suspend union to Christ on an outward +rite.</p> + +<p>I. The first grand principle contained in these words +is that faith working by love makes a Christian.</p> + +<p>The antithesis of our text appears in somewhat varied +forms in two other places in the Apostle's writings. To +the Corinthians he says, 'Circumcision is nothing, and +uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments +of God.' His last word to the Galatians—the +gathering up into one strong sentence of his +whole letter—is, 'In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision +availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new +creature.'</p> + +<p>Now, all these assertions embody substantially the +same opposition between the conception of Christianity +as depending upon a ceremonial rite, and as being a +spiritual change. And the variations in the second +member of the contrast throw light on each other. In +one, the essential thing is regarded from the divine +side as being not a rite performed on the body, but a +new nature, the result of a supernatural regeneration. +In another, the essential thing is set forth as being not +an outward act, but an inward principle, which produces +appropriate effects on the whole being. In yet +another the essential thing is conceived as being not a +mere ceremonial, but practical obedience, the consequence +of the active principle of faith, and the sign of +the new life. There is an evident sequence in the three +sayings. They begin with the deepest, the divine act +of a new creation—and end with the outermost, the +last result and object of both the others—deeds of +conformity to God's law.</p> + +<p>This one process in its triple aspects, says Paul, constitutes +a man a Christian. What correspondence is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span> +there between it, in any of its parts, and a carnal +ordinance? They belong to wholly different categories, +and it is the most preposterous confusion to try to mix +them up together. Are we to tack on to the solemn +powers and qualities, which unite the soul to Christ, +this beggarly addition that the Judaisers desire, and to +say, the essentials of Christianity are a new creature, +faith, obedience—and circumcision? That is, indeed, +sewing old cloth on a new garment, and huddling +together in grotesque chaos things which are utterly +diverse. It is as absurd bathos as to say the essentials +of a judge are integrity, learning, patience—and an +ermine robe!</p> + +<p>There would be less danger of being entangled in +false notions of the sort which devastated Galatia and +have afflicted the Church ever since, if people would +put a little more distinctly before their own minds +what they mean by 'religion'; what sort of man they +intend when they talk about 'a Christian.' A clear +notion of the thing to be produced would thin away a +wonderful deal of mist as to the way of producing it. +So then, beginning at the surface, in order to work +inward, my first remark is that religion is the harmony +of the soul with God, and the conformity of the life to +His law.</p> + +<p>The loftiest purpose of God, in all His dealings, is to +make us like Himself; and the end of all religion is the +complete accomplishment of that purpose. There is +no religion without these elements—consciousness of +kindred with God, recognition of Him as the sum of +all excellence and beauty, and of His will as unconditionally +binding upon us, aspiration and effort after a +full accord of heart and soul with Him and with His +law, and humble confidence that that sovereign beauty<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span> +will be ours. 'Be ye imitators of God as dear children' +is the pure and comprehensive dictate which expresses +the aim of all devout men. 'To keep His commandments' +goes deeper than the mere external deeds. +Were it not so, Paul's grand words would shrink to a +very poor conception of religion, which would then +have its shrine and sphere removed from the sacred +recesses of the inmost spirit to the dusty Babel of the +market-place and the streets. But with that due and +necessary extension of the words which results from +the very nature of the case, that obedience must be +the obedience of a man, and not of his deeds only, +and must include the submission of the will and the +prostration of the whole nature before Him; they teach +a truth which, fully received and carried out, clears +away whole mountains of theoretical confusion and +practical error. Religion is no dry morality; no slavish, +punctilious conforming of actions to a hard law. Religion +is not right thinking alone, nor right emotion +alone, nor right action alone. Religion is still less the +semblance of these in formal profession, or simulated +feeling, or apparent rectitude. Religion is not nominal +connection with the Christian community, nor participation +in its ordinances and its worship. But to be +godly is to be godlike. The full accord of all the soul +with His character, in whom, as their native home, +dwell 'whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things +are lovely,' and the full glad conformity of the will to +His sovereign will, who is the life of our lives—this, +and nothing shallower, nothing narrower, is religion +in its perfection; and the measure in which we have +attained to this harmony with God, is the measure in +which we are Christians. As two stringed instruments +may be so tuned to one keynote that, if you strike the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span> +one, a faint ethereal echo is heard from the other, +which blends undistinguishably with its parent sound; +so, drawing near to God, and brought into unison with +His mind and will, our responsive spirits vibrate in +accord with His, and give forth tones, low and thin +indeed, but still repeating the mighty music of heaven. +'Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, +but the keeping of the commandments of God.'</p> + +<p>But our text tells us, further, that if we look backwards +from character and deed to motive, this harmony +with God results from love becoming the ruling power of +our lives. The imitation of the object of worship has +always been felt to be the highest form of worship. +Many an ancient teacher, besides the Stoic philosopher, +has said, 'He who copies the gods worships them +adequately.' One of the prophets lays it down as a +standing rule, 'The people will walk every one in the +name of his God.' But it is only in the Christian attitude +towards God that the motive power is found which +makes such imitation more than an impossible duty, +even as it is only in the revealed character of God that +a pattern is found, to imitate which is to be perfect. +Everywhere besides, harmony with the gods meant +discord with conscience and flagrant outrages of the +commonest moralities. Everywhere else, the task of +copying them was one lightened by no clear confidence +in their love, and by no happy consciousness of our +own. But for us, the love revealed is the perfect law, +and the love evoked is the fulfilling of the law.</p> + +<p>And this is the might and nobleness of the Christian +love to God; that it is no idle emotion or lazy rapture, +no vague sentiment, but the root of all practical goodness, +of all strenuous effort, of all virtue, and of all +praise. That strong tide is meant to drive the busy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span> +wheels of life and to bear precious freightage on its +bosom; not to flow away in profitless foam. Love is +the fruitful mother of bright children, as our great +moralist-poet learned when he painted her in the +House of Holiness:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="A multitude of babes about her hung"> +<tr><td align='left'>'A multitude of babes about her hung,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Playing their sport that joyed her to behold.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>Her sons are Strength and Justice, and Self-control and +Firmness, and Courage and Patience, and many more +besides; and her daughters are Pity with her sad eyes, +and Gentleness with her silvery voice, and Mercy whose +sweet face makes sunshine in the shade of death, and +Humility all unconscious of her loveliness; and linked +hand in hand with these, all the radiant band of sisters +that men call Virtues and Graces. These will dwell in +our hearts, if Love their mighty mother be there. If +we are without her, we shall be without them.</div> + +<p>There is discord between man and God which can +only be removed by the sweet commerce of love, established +between earth and heaven. God's love has come +to us. When ours springs responsive to Him, then the +schism is ended, and the wandering child forgets his +rebellion, as he lays his aching head on the father's +bosom, and feels the beating of the father's heart. Our +souls by reason of sin are 'like sweet bells jangled, +out of tune and harsh.' Love's master hand laid upon +them restores to them their part in 'the fair music +that all creatures make to their great Lord,' and brings +us into such accord with God that</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="We on earth with undiscording voice"> +<tr><td align='left'>'We on earth with undiscording voice</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">May rightly answer'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>even the awful harmonies of His lips. The essential of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span> +religion is concord with God, and the power which +makes that concord is love to God.</div> + +<p>But this text leads to a still further consideration, +namely, the dominion of love to God in our hearts arises +from faith.</p> + +<p>We thus reach the last link, or rather the staple, of +the chain from which all hangs. Religion is harmony +with God; that harmony is produced by love; and that +love is produced by faith. Therefore the fundamental +of all Christianity in the soul is faith. Would this +sound any fresher and more obvious if we varied the +language, and said that to be religious we must be like +God, that to be like Him we must love Him, and that +to love Him we must be sure that He loves us? Surely +that is too plain to need enlarging on.</p> + +<p>And is it not true that faith must precede our love +to God, and affords the only possible basis on which +that can be built? How can we love Him so long as +we are in doubt of His heart, or misconceive His +character, as if it were only power and wisdom, or +awful severity? Men cannot love an unseen person at +all, without some very special token of his personal +affection for them. The history of all religions shows +that where the gods have been thought of as unloving, +the worshippers have been heartless too. It is only +when we know and believe the love that God hath to +us, that we come to cherish any corresponding emotion +to Him. Our love is secondary, His is primary; ours +is reflection, His the original beam; ours is echo, His +the mother-tone. Heaven must bend to earth before +earth can rise to heaven. The skies must open and +drop down love, ere love can spring in the fruitful +fields. And it is only when we look with true trust to +that great unveiling of the heart of God which is in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span> +Jesus Christ, only when we can say, 'Herein is love—that +He gave His Son to be the propitiation for our +sins,' that our hearts are melted, and all their snows +are dissolved into sweet waters, which, freed from +their icy chains, can flow with music in their ripple +and fruitfulness along their course, through our otherwise +silent and barren lives. Faith in Christ is the +only possible basis for active love to God.</p> + +<p>And this thought presents the point of contact between +the teaching of Paul and John. The one dwells +on faith, the other on love, but he who insists most on +the former declares that it produces its effects on +character by the latter; and he who insists most on +the latter is forward to proclaim that it owes its very +existence to the former.</p> + +<p>It presents also the point of contact between Paul +and James. The one speaks of the essential of +Christianity as faith, the other as works. They are +only striking the stream at different points, one at the +fountain-head, one far down its course among the +haunts of men. They both preach that faith must be +'faith that worketh,' not a barren assent to a dogma, +but a living trust that brings forth fruits in the life. +Paul believes as much as James that faith without +works is dead, and demands the keeping of the commandments +as indispensable to all true Christianity. +James believes as much as Paul that works without +faith are of none effect. So all three of these great +teachers of the Church are represented in this text, to +which each of them might seem to have contributed a +word embodying his characteristic type of doctrine. +The threefold rays into which the prism parts the +white light blend again here, where faith, love, and +work are all united in the comprehensive saying, 'In<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span> +Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, +nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.'</p> + +<p>The sum of the whole matter is this—He who is one +in will and heart with God is a Christian. He who +loves God is one in will and heart with Him. He who +trusts Christ loves God. That is Christianity in its +ultimate purpose and result. That is Christianity in +its means and working forces. That is Christianity in +its starting-point and foundation.</p> + +<p>II. But we have to consider also the negative side of +the Apostle's words. They affirm that in comparison +with the essential—faith, all externals are infinitely +unimportant.</p> + +<p>Paul's habit was always to settle questions by the +widest principles he could bring to bear upon them—which +one may notice in passing is the very opposite +to the method that has been in favour with many +Church teachers and guides since, who have preferred +to live from hand to mouth, and to dispose of difficulties +by the narrowest considerations that would avail to +quiet them. In our text the question in hand is settled +on a ground which covers a great deal more than the +existing dispute. Circumcision is regarded as one of +a whole class—namely, the class of outward rites and +observances; and the contrast drawn between it and +faith extends to all the class to which it belongs. It is +not said to be powerless because it is an Old Testament +rite, but because it is a rite. Its impotence lies in the +very nature which it has in common with all external +institutions, whether they be of the Old Testament or +of the New, whether they be enjoined of God or invented +by men. To them all the same characteristic +cleaves. Compared with faith they are of no avail. +Not that they are absolutely useless. They have their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span> +place, but '<i>in Christ Jesus</i>' they are nothing. Union +to Him depends on quite another order of facts, which +may or may not exist along with circumcision, or with +baptism, or with the Lord's Supper. However important +these may be, they have no place among the +things which bind a soul to its Saviour. They may be +helps to these things, but nothing more. The rite does +not ensure the faith, else the antithesis of our text +were unmeaning. The rite does not stand in the place +of faith, or the contrast implied were absurd. But the +two belong to totally different orders of things, which +may co-exist indeed, but may also be found separately; +the one is the indispensable spiritual experience which +makes us Christians, the other belongs to a class of +material institutions which are much as helps to, but +nothing as substitutes or equivalents for, faith.</p> + +<p>Keep firm hold of the positive principle with which +we have been dealing in the former part of this sermon, +and all forms and externals fall as a matter of course +into their proper place. If religion be the loving +devotion of the soul to God, resting upon reasonable +faith, then all besides is, at the most, a means which +may further it. If loving trust which apprehends the +truth, and cleaves to the Person, revealed to us in the +Gospel, be the link which binds men to God, then the +only way by which these externals can be 'means of +grace' is by their aiding us to understand better and +to feel more the truth as it is in Jesus, and to cleave +closer to Him who is the truth. Do they enlighten +the understanding? Do they engrave deeper the loved +face carven on the tablets of memory, which the +attrition of worldly cares is ever obliterating, and the +lichens of worldly thoughts ever filling up? Do they +clear out the rubbish from the channels of the heart,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span> +that the cleansing stream may flow through them? +Do they, through the senses, minister to the soul its +own proper food of clear thought, vivid impressions, +loving affections, trustful obedience? Do they bring +Christ to us, and us to Him, in the only way in which +approach is possible—through the occupation of mind +and heart and will with His great perfectness? Then +they are means of grace, precious and helpful, the gifts +of His love, the tokens of His wise knowledge of our +weakness, the signs of His condescension, in that He +stoops to trust some portion of our remembrance of +Him to the ministry of sense. But in comparison with +that faith which they cannot plant, though they may +strengthen it, they are nothing; and in the matter of +uniting the soul to God and making men 'religious,' +they are of no avail at all.</p> + +<p>And such thoughts as these have a very wide sweep, +as well as a very deep influence. Religion is the +devotion of the soul to God. Then <i>everything</i> besides +is not religion, but at most a means to it. That is true +about all Christian ordinances. Baptism is spoken +about by Paul in terms which plainly show that he +regarded it as 'nothing' in the same sense, and under +the same limitations, as he thought that circumcision +was nothing. 'I baptized some of you,' says he to +the Corinthians; 'I scarcely remember whom, or how +many. I have far more important work to do—to +preach the Gospel.' It is true about all acts and forms +of Christian worship. These are not religion, but +means to it. Their only value and their only test is—Do +they help men to know and feel Christ and His +truth? It is true about laws of life, and many points +of conventional morality. Remember the grand freedom +with which the same Apostle dealt with questions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span> +about meats offered to idols, and the observance of +days and seasons. The same principle guided him +there too, and he relegated the whole question back to +its proper place with, 'Meat commendeth us not to +God; for neither if we eat are we the better, neither +if we eat not are we the worse.' 'He that regardeth +the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth +not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard +it.' It is true, though less obviously and simply, about +subordinate doctrines. It is true about the mere +intellectual grasp of the fundamental truths of God's +revelation. These, and the belief of these, are not +Christianity, they are helps towards it.</p> + +<p>The separation is broad and deep. On one side are +all externals, rites, ceremonies, politics, Church arrangements, +forms of worship, modes of life, practices of +morality, doctrines, and creeds—all which are externals +to the soul: on the other is faith working through love, +the inmost attitude and deepest emotion of the soul. +The great heap is fuel. The flame is loving faith. The +only worth of the fuel is to feed the flame. Otherwise +it is of no avail, but lies dead and cold, a mass of +blackness. We are joined to God by faith. Whatever +strengthens that faith is precious as a help, but is +worthless as a substitute.</p> + +<p>III. There is a constant tendency to exalt these +unimportant externals into the place of faith.</p> + +<p>The whole purpose of the Gospel may be described +to be our deliverance from the dominion of sense, and +the transference of the centre of our life to the unseen +world. This end is no doubt partly accomplished by +the help of sense. So long as men have bodily organisations, +there will be need for outward helps. Men's +indolence, and men's sense-ridden natures, will take<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span> +symbols for <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'roalties'">royalties</ins>, bank-notes for wealth. The eye +will be tempted to stay on the rich colours of the glowing +glass, instead of passing through them to heaven's light +beyond. To make the senses a ladder for the soul to +climb to heaven by, will be perilously likely to end in +the soul going down the ladder instead of up. Forms +are sure to encroach, to overlay the truth that lies at +their root, to become dimly intelligible, or quite unmeaning, +and to constitute at last the end instead of the +means. Is it not then wise to minimise these potent +and dangerous allies? Is it not needful to use them +with the remembrance that a minute quantity may +strengthen, but an overdose will kill—ay, and that the +minute quantity may kill too? Christ instituted two +outward rites. There could not have been fewer if +there was to be an outward community at all, and they +could not have been simpler; but look at the portentous +outgrowth of superstition, and the unnumbered +evils, religious, moral, social, and even political, which +have come from the invincible tendency of human +nature to corrupt forms, even when the forms are the +sweet and simple ones of Christ's own appointment. +What a lesson the history of the Lord's Supper, and its +gradual change from the domestic memorial of the +dying love of our Lord to the 'tremendous sacrifice,' +reads us as to the dangerous ally which spiritual religion—and +there is no other religion than spiritual—enlists +when it seeks the help of external rites!</p> + +<p>But remember that this danger of converting religion +into outward actions has its root in us all, and is not +annihilated by our rejection of an elaborate ceremonial. +There is much significance in the double negation of +my text, 'Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.' If +the Judaisers were tempted to insist on the former,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span> +as indispensable, their antagonists were as much +tempted to insist on the latter. The one were saying, +'A man cannot be a Christian unless he be circumcised.' +The other would be in danger of replying, 'He cannot +be a Christian if he is.' There may be as much +formalism in protesting against forms as in using +them. Extremes meet; and an unspiritual Quaker, +for instance, is at bottom of the same way of thinking +as an unspiritual Roman Catholic. They agree in their +belief that certain outward acts are essential to worship, +and even to religion. They only differ as to what +these acts are. The Judaiser who says, 'You must be +circumcised,' and his antagonist who says, 'You must +be uncircumcised,' are really in the same boat.</p> + +<p>And this is especially needful to be kept in mind by +those who, like the most of us, hold fast by the free +and spiritual conception of Christianity. That freedom +we may turn into a bondage, and that spirituality into +a form, if we confound it with the essentials of Christianity, +and deny the possibility of the life being +developed except in conjunction with it. My text has +a double edge. Let us use it against all this Judaising +which is going on round about us, and against all the +tendency to it in our own hearts. The one edge smites +the former, the other edge the latter. Circumcision is +nothing, as most of us are forward to proclaim. But, +also, remember, when we are tempted to trust in our +freedom, and to fancy that in itself it is good, <i>uncircumcision +is nothing</i>. You are no more a Christian for +your rejection of forms than another man is for his +holding them. Your negation no more unites you to +Christ than does his affirmation. One thing alone does +that,—faith which worketh by love, against which sense +ever wars, both by tempting some of us to place religion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span> +in outward acts and ceremonies, and by tempting +others of us to place it in rejecting the forms which +our brethren abuse.</p> + +<p>IV. When an indifferent thing is made into an +essential, it ceases to be indifferent, and must be fought +against.</p> + +<p>Paul proclaimed that circumcision and uncircumcision +were alike unavailing. A man might be a good +Christian either way. They were not unimportant in +all respects, but in regard to being united to Christ, it +did not matter which side one took. And, in accordance +with this noble freedom, he for himself practised +Jewish rites; and, when he thought it might conciliate +prejudice without betraying principle, had Timothy +circumcised. But when it came to be maintained as a +principle that Gentiles <i>must</i> be circumcised, the time +for conciliation was past. The other side had made +further concession impossible. The Apostle had no +objection to circumcision. What he objected to was +its being forced upon all as a necessary preliminary to +entering the Church. And as soon as the opposite +party took that ground, then there was nothing for it +but to fight against them to the last. They had turned +an indifferent thing into an essential, and he could no +longer treat it as indifferent.</p> + +<p>So whenever parties or Churches insist on external +rites as essential, or elevate any of the subordinate +means of grace into the place of the one bond which +fastens our souls to Jesus, and is the channel of grace +as well as the bond of union, then it is time to arm for +the defence of the spirituality of Christ's kingdom, and +to resist the attempt to bind on free shoulders the +iron yoke. Let men and parties do as they like, so +long as they do not turn their forms into essentials.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span> +In broad freedom of speech and spirit, which holds by +the one central principle too firmly to be much troubled +about subordinate matters—in tolerance of diversities, +which does not spring from indifference, but from the +very clearness of our perception of, and from the very +fervour of our adherence to, the one essential of the +Christian life—let us take for our guide the large, +calm, lofty thoughts which this text sets forth before +us. Let us thankfully believe that men may love +Jesus, and be fed from His fulness, whether they be on +one side of this undying controversy or on the other. +Let us watch jealously the tendencies in our own hearts +to trust in our forms or in our freedom. And whensoever +or wheresoever these subordinates are made +into things essential, and the ordinances of Christ's +Church are elevated into the place which belongs to +loving trust in Christ's love, then let <i>our</i> voices at least +be heard on the side of that mighty truth that 'in +Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, +nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>'WALK IN THE SPIRIT'</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> v. 16.</p></div> + + +<p>We are not to suppose that the Apostle here uses the +familiar contrast of spirit and flesh to express simply +different elements of human nature. Without entering +here on questions for which a sermon is scarcely a +suitable vehicle of discussion, it may be sufficient for +our present purpose to say that, as usually, when +employing this antithesis the Apostle means by Spirit +the divine, the Spirit of God, which he triumphed in +proclaiming to be the gift of every believing soul. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span> +other member of the contrast, 'flesh,' is similarly not +to be taken as equivalent to body, but rather as meaning +the whole human nature considered as apart +from God and kindred with earth and earthly things. +The flesh, in its narrower sense, is no doubt a predominant +part of this whole, but there is much in +it besides the material organisation. The ethics of +Christianity suffered much harm and were degraded +into a false and slavish asceticism for long centuries, by +monastic misunderstandings of what Paul meant by +the flesh, but he himself was too clear-sighted and too +high-toned to give his adhesion to the superficial +notion that the body is the seat and source of sin. We +need look no further than the catalogue of the 'works +of the flesh' which immediately follows our text, for, +although it begins with gross sins of a purely fleshly +kind, it passes on to such as hatred, emulations, wrath, +envyings and suchlike. Many of these works of the +flesh are such as an angel with an evil heart could do, +whether he had a body or not. It seems therefore +right to say that the one member of the contrast is the +divine Spirit of holiness, and the other is man as he is, +without the life-giving influence of the Spirit of God. +In Paul's thought the idea of the flesh always included +the idea of sin, and the desires of the flesh were to him +not merely rebellious, sensuous passion, but the sinful +desires of godless human nature, however refined, and +as some would say, 'spiritual' these might be. We do +not need to inquire more minutely as to the meaning +of the Apostle's terms, but may safely take them as, on +the one hand, referring to the divine Spirit which +imparts life and holiness, and on the other hand, to +human nature severed from God, and distracted by evil +desires because wrenched away from Him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p> + +<p>The text is Paul's battle-cry, which he opposed to the +Judaising disturbers in Galatia. They said 'Do this +and that; labour at a round of observances; live by +rule.' Paul said, 'No! That is of no use; you will +make nothing of such an attempt nor will ever conquer +evil so. Live by the spirit and you will not need a +hard outward law, nor will you be in bondage to the +works of the flesh.' That feud in the Galatian churches +was the earliest battle which Christianity had to fight +between two eternal tendencies of thought—the conception +of religion as consisting in outward obedience +to a law, and consequently as made up of a series of +painful efforts to keep it, and the conception of religion +as being first the implanting of a new, divine life, and +needing only to be nourished and cared for in order +to drive forth evils from the heart, and so to show +itself living. The difference goes very far and very +deep, and these two views of what religion is have +each their adherents to-day. The Apostle throws the +whole weight of his authority into the one scale, and +emphatically declares this as the one secret of victory, +'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of +the flesh.'</p> + +<p>I. What it is to walk in the Spirit.</p> + +<p>The thought which is but touched upon here is set +forth more largely, and if we may so say, profoundly, +in the Epistle to the Romans (chap. viii.). There, to +walk after the flesh, is substantially the same as to be +carnally minded, and that 'mind of the flesh' is regarded +as being by fatal necessity not 'subject to the +law of God,' and consequently as in itself, with regard +to future consequences, to be death. The fleshly mind +which is thus in rebellion against the law of God is +sure to issue in 'desires of the flesh,' just as when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span> +pressure is taken off, some ebullient liquid will bubble. +They that are after the flesh of course will 'mind the +things of the flesh.' The vehement desires which we +cherish when we are separated from God and which we +call sins, are graver as a symptom than even they are +in themselves, for they show which way the wind blows, +and are tell-tales that betray the true direction of our +nature. If we were not after the flesh we should not +mind the things of the flesh. The one expression +points to the deep-seated nature, the other to the +superficial actions to which it gives rise.</p> + +<p>And the same duality belongs to the life of those +who are 'after the Spirit.' 'To walk,' of course, means +to carry on the practical life, and the Spirit is here +thought of not so much perhaps as the path on which +we are to travel, but rather as the norm and direction +by which we are to travel on life's common way. Just +as the desires of the flesh were certain to be done by +those who in their deepest selves belonged to the flesh, +so every soul which has received the unspeakable gift +of newness of life through the Spirit of God will have +the impulses to mind and do the things of the Spirit. If +we live in the Spirit we shall also—and let us also—walk +in the Spirit.</p> + +<p>But let us make no mistakes, or think that our text +in its great commandment and radiant hope has any +word of cheer to those who have not received into +their hearts, in however feeble a manner and minute a +measure, the Spirit of the Son. The first question for +us all is, have we received the Holy Ghost?—and the +answer to that question is the answer to the other, +have we accepted Christ? It is through Him and +through faith in Him that that supreme gift of a living +spirit is bestowed. And only when our spirits bear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span> +witness with that Spirit that we are the children of +God, have we a right to look upon the text as pointing +our duty and stimulating our hope. If our practical +life is to be directed by the Spirit of God, He must +enter into our spirits, and we shall not be in Him but +in the measure that He is in us. Nor will our spirits +be life because of righteousness unless He dwells in us +and casts forth the works of the flesh. There will be +no practical direction of our lives by the Spirit of God +unless we make conscience of cultivating the reception +of His life-giving and cleansing influences, and unless +we have inward communion with our inward guide, +intimate and frank, prolonged and submissive. If we +are for ever allowing the light of our inward godliness +to be blown about by gusts, or to show in our inmost +hearts but a faint and flickering spark, how can we +expect that it will shine safe direction on our outward +path?</p> + +<p>II. Such walking in the Spirit conquers the flesh.</p> + +<p>We all know it as a familiar experience that the +surest way to conquer any strong desire or emotion is +to bring some other into operation. To concentrate +attention on any overmastering thought or purpose, +even if our object is to destroy it, is but too apt to +strengthen it. And so to fix our minds on our own +desires of the flesh, even though we may be honestly +wishing to suppress them, is a sure way to invest them +with new force; therefore the wise counsels of sages +and moralists are, for the most part, destined to lead +those who listen to them astray. Many a man has, in +good faith, set himself to conquer his own evil lusts +and has found that the nett result of his struggles has +been to make the lusts more conspicuous and correspondingly +more powerful. The Apostle knows a better<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span> +way, which he has proved to his own experience, and +now, with full confidence and triumph, presses upon his +hearers. He would have them give up the monotonous +and hopeless fight against the flesh and bring another +ally into the field. His chief exhortation is a positive, +not a negative one. It is vain to try to tie up men with +restrictions and prohibitions, which when their desires +are stirred will be burst like Samson's bonds. But if +once the positive exhortation here is obeyed, then it +will surely make short work of the desires and passions +which otherwise men, for the most part, do not wish +to get rid of, and never do throw off by any other +method.</p> + +<p>We have pointed out that in our text to walk in the +Spirit means to regulate the practical life by the Spirit +of God, and that the 'desires of the flesh' mean the +desires of the whole human nature apart from God. But +even if we take the contrasted terms in their lower and +commonly adopted sense, the text is true and useful. +A cultivated mind habituated to lofty ideas, and quick +to feel the nobility of 'spiritual' pursuits and possessions, +will have no taste for the gross delights of sense, +and will recoil with disgust from the indulgences in +which more animal natures wallow. But while this is +true, it by no means exhausts the great principle laid +down here. We must take the contrasted terms in +their fullest meaning if we would arrive at it. The +spiritual life derived from Jesus Christ and lodged in +the human spirit has to be guarded, cherished and +made dominant, and then it will drive out the old. If +the Spirit which is life because of righteousness is +allowed free course in a human spirit, it will send forth +its powers into the body which is 'dead because of sin,' +will regulate its desires, and if needful will suppress<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span> +them. And it is wiser and more blessed to rely on this +overflowing influence than to attempt the hopeless +task of coercing these desires by our own efforts.</p> + +<p>If we walk in the Spirit, we shall thereby acquire +new tastes and desires of a higher kind which will +destroy the lower. They to whom manna is sweet as +angel's food find that they have lost their relish for the +strong-smelling and rank-flavoured Egyptian leeks and +garlic. A guest at a king's table will not care to +enter a smoky hovel and will not be hungry for the +food to be found there. If we are still dependent on +the desires of the flesh we are still but children, and if +we are walking in the Spirit we have outgrown our +childish toys. The enjoyment of the gifts which the +Spirit gives deadens temptation and robs many things +that were very precious of their lustre.</p> + +<p>We may also illustrate the great principle of our +text by considering that when we have found our +supreme object there is no inducement to wander +further in the search after delights. Desires are confessions +of discontent, and though the absolute satisfaction +of all our nature is not granted to us here, +there is so much of blessedness given and so many of +our most clamant desires fully met in the gift of life in +Christ, that we may well be free from the prickings of +desires which sting men into earnest seeking after +often unreal good. 'The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, +peace,' and surely if we have these we may well leave +the world its troubled delights and felicities. Christ's +joy remains in us and our joy is full. The world desires +because it does not possess. When a deeper well is +sunk, a shallower one is pretty sure to give out. If we +walk in the Spirit we go down to the deepest water-holding +stratum, and all the surface wells will run dry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p> + +<p>Further, we may note, that this walking in the Spirit +brings into our lives the mightiest motives of holy +living and so puts a bridle on the necks and a bit in +the mouths of our untamed desires. Holding fellowship +with the divine Indweller and giving the reins into +His strong hand, we receive from Him the spirit of +adoption and learn that if we are children then are +we heirs. Is there any motive that will so surely still +the desires of the flesh and of the mind as the blessed +thought that God is ours and we His? Surely their +feet should never stumble or stray, who are aware of +the Spirit of the Son bearing witness with their spirit +that they are the children of God. Surely the measure +in which we realise this will be the measure in which +the desires of the flesh will be whipped back to their +kennels, and cease to disturb us with their barks.</p> + +<p>The whole question here as between Paul and his +opponents just comes to this; if a field is covered with +filth, whether is it better to set to work on it with wheel-barrows +and shovels, or to turn a river on it which will +bear away all the foulness? The true way to change +the fauna and flora of a country is to change the +level, and as the height increases they change themselves. +If we desire to have the noxious creatures +expelled from ourselves, we must not so much labour +at their expulsion as see to the elevation of our own +personal being and then we shall succeed. That is +what Paul says, 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not +fulfil the lusts of the flesh.'</p> + +<p>III. Such a life is not freed from the necessity of +struggle.</p> + +<p>The highest condition, of course, would be that we +had only to grow, not to fight. It will come some day +that all evil shall drop away, and that to walk in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span> +Spirit will need no effort, but that time has not come +yet. So in addition to all that we have been saying in +this sermon, we must further say that Paul's exhortation +has always to be coupled with the other to fight +the good fight. The highest word for our earthly lives +is not 'victory' but 'contest.' We shall not walk in +the Spirit without many a struggle to keep ourselves +within that charmed atmosphere. The promise of our +text is not that we shall not feel, but that we shall not +fulfil, the desires of the flesh.</p> + +<p>Now this is very commonplace and threadbare +teaching, but it is none the less important, and is +especially needful to be strongly emphasised when +we have been speaking as we have just been doing. +It is a historical fact, illustrated over and over again +since Paul wrote, and not without illustration to-day, +that there is constant danger of lax morality infecting +Christian life under pretence of lofty spirituality. +So it must ever be insisted upon that the test of a +true walking in the Spirit is that we are thereby +fitted to fight against the desires of the flesh. When +we have the life of the Spirit within us, it will +show itself as Paul has said in another place by the +righteousness of the law being fulfilled in us, and by +our 'mortifying the deeds of the body.' The gift of the +Spirit does not take us out of the ranks of the combatants, +but teaches us to fight, and arms us with its +own sword for the conflict. There will be abundant +opportunities of courage in attacking the sin that doth +so easily beset us, and in resisting temptations which +come to us by reason of our own imperfect sanctification. +But there is all the difference between fighting +at our own hand and fighting with the help of God's +Spirit, and there is all the difference between fighting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span> +with the help of an unseen ally in heaven and fighting +with a Spirit within us who helpeth our infirmities and +Himself makes us able to contend, and sure, if we keep +true to Him, to be more than conquerers through Him +that loveth us.</p> + +<p>Such a conflict is a gift and a joy. It is hard but it is +blessed, because it is an expression of our truest love; +it comes from our deepest will; it is full of hope and of +assured victory. How different is the painful, often +defeated and monotonous attempt to suppress our +nature by main force, and to tread a mill-horse round! +The joyous freedom and buoyant hope taught us in the +gospel way of salvation have been cramped and confined +and all their glories veiled as by a mass of cobwebs +spun beneath a golden roof, but our text sweeps away +the foul obstruction. Let us learn the one condition of +victorious conflict, the one means of subduing our +natural humanity and its distracting desires, and let +nothing rob us of the conviction that this is God's way +of making men like angels. 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye +shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, +faith, 23. Meekness, temperance'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> v. 22, 23.</p></div> + + +<p>'The fruit of the Spirit,' says Paul, not the fruits, as +we might more naturally have expected, and as the +phrase is most often quoted; all this rich variety of +graces, of conduct and character, is thought of as one. +The individual members are not isolated graces, but +all connected, springing from one root and constituting +an organic whole. There is further to be noted that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span> +the Apostle designates the results of the Spirit as +fruit, in strong and intentional contrast with the +results of the flesh, the grim catalogue of which +precedes the radiant list in our text. The works of +the flesh have no such unity, and are not worthy of +being called fruit. They are not what a man ought to +bring forth, and when the great Husbandman comes, +He finds no fruit there, however full of activity the +life has been. We have then here an ideal of the +noblest Christian character, and a distinct and profound +teaching as to how to attain it. I venture to +take the whole of this list for my text, because the +very beauty of each element in it depends on its being +but part of a whole, and because there are important +lessons to be gathered from the grouping.</p> + +<p>I. The threefold elements of character here.</p> + +<p>It is perhaps not too artificial to point out that we +have here three triads of which the first describes the +life of the Spirit in its deepest secret; the second, the +same life in its manifestations to men; and the third, +that life in relation to the difficulties of the world, and +of ourselves.</p> + +<p>The first of these three triads includes love, joy, and +peace, and it is not putting too great a strain on the +words to point out that the source of all three lies in +the Christian relation to God. They regard nothing +but God and our relation to Him; they would be all +the same if there were no other men in the world, or +if there were no world. We cannot call them duties +or virtues; they are simply the results of communion +with God—the certain manifestations of the better life +of the Spirit. Love, of course, heads the list, as the +foundation and moving principle of all the rest. It is +the instinctive act of the higher life and is shed abroad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span> +in the heart by the Holy Spirit. It is the life sap +which rises through the tree and given form to all the +clusters. The remaining two members of this triad +are plainly consequences of the first. Joy is not so +much an act or a grace of character as an emotion +poured into men's lives, because in their hearts abides +love to God. Jesus Christ pledged Himself to impart +His joy to remain in us, with the issue that our joy +should be full. There is only one source of permanent +joy which takes possession of and fills all the corners +and crannies of the heart, and that is a love towards +God equally abiding and all-pervasive. We have all +known joys so perturbed, fragmentary and fleeting, +that it is hard to distinguish them from sorrows, but +there is no need that joys should be like green fruits +hard and savourless and ready to drop from the tree. +If God is 'the gladness of our joy,' and all our delights +come from communion with Him, our joy will never +pass and will fill the whole round of our spirits as the +sea laves every shore.</p> + +<p>Peace will be built upon love and joy, if our hearts +are ever turning to God and ever blessed with the +inter-communion of love between Him and us. What +can be strong enough to disturb the tranquillity that +fills the soul independent of all externals? However +long and close may be the siege, the well in the castle +courtyard will be full. True peace comes not from +the absence of trouble but from the presence of God, +and will be deep and passing all understanding in +the exact measure in which we live in, and partake +of, the love of God.</p> + +<p>The second triad is long-suffering, kindness, goodness. +All these three obviously refer to the spiritual +life in its manifestations to men. The first of them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>—long-suffering—describes +the attitude of patient endurance +towards inflictors of injury or enemies, if we +come forth from the blessed fellowship with God, +where love, joy, and peace reign unbroken, and are met +with a cold gust of indifference or with an icy wind of +hate. The reality of our happy communion and the +depth of our love will be tested by the patience of our +long-suffering. Love suffereth long, is not easily provoked, +is not soon angry. He has little reason to +suppose that the love of God is shed abroad in his +heart, or that the Spirit of God is bringing forth fruit +in him, who has not got beyond the stage of repaying +hate with hate, and scorn with scorn. Any fool can +answer a fool according to his folly, but it takes a wise +and a good man to overcome evil with good, and to +love them that hate; and yet how certainly the fires +of mutual antagonism would go out if there were only +one to pile on the fuel! It takes two to make a quarrel, +and no man living under the influence of the Spirit of +God can be one of such a pair.</p> + +<p>The second and third members of this triad—kindness, +goodness, slide very naturally into one another. +They do not only require the negative virtue of not +retaliating, but express the Christian attitude towards +all of meeting them, whatever their attitude, with +good. It is possible that kindness here expresses the +inward disposition and goodness, the habitual actions +in which that disposition shows itself. If that be the +distinction between them, the former would answer to +benevolence and the latter to beneficence. These +three graces include all that Paul presents as Christian +duty to our fellows. The results of the life of the +Spirit are to pass beyond ourselves and to influence +our whole conduct. We are not to live only as mainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span> +for the spiritual enjoyments of fellowship with God. +The true field of religion is in moving amongst men, +and the true basis of all service of men is love and +fellowship with God.</p> + +<p>The third triad—faithfulness, meekness, temperance—seems +to point to the world in which the Christian life +is to be lived as a scene of difficulties and oppositions. +The rendering of the Revised Version is to be preferred +to that of the Authorised in the first of the three, for it +is not faith in its theological sense to which the Apostle +is here referring. Possibly, however, the meaning may +be trustfulness just as in 1 Corinthians xiii. it is given +as a characteristic of love that it 'believeth all things.' +More probably, however, the meaning is faithfulness, +and Paul's thought is that the Christian life is to +manifest itself in the faithful discharge of all duties +and the honest handling of all things committed to it. +Meekness even more distinctly contemplates a condition +of things which is contrary to the Christian +life, and points to a submissiveness of spirit which does +not lift itself up against oppositions, but bends like a +reed before the storm. Paul preached meekness and +practised it, but Paul could flash into strong opposition +and with a resonant ring in his voice could say 'To +whom we gave place by subjection, No! not for an +hour.' The last member of the triad—temperance—points +to the difficulties which the spiritual life is apt +to meet with in the natural passions and desires, and +insists upon the fact that conflict and rigid and +habitual self-control are sure to be marks of that +life.</p> + +<p>II. The unity of the fruit.</p> + +<p>We have already pointed out the Apostles remarkable +use of the word 'fruit' here, by which he indicates<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span> +that all the results of the life of the Spirit in the human +spirit are to be regarded as a whole that has a natural +growth. The foundation of all is of course that love +which is the fulfilling of the law. It scarcely needs to +be pointed out how love brings forth both the other +elements of the first triad, but it is no less important to +note that it and its two companions naturally lead on +to the relations to men which make up the second +triad. It is, however, worth while to dwell on that +fact because there are many temptations for Christian +people to separate between them. The two tables of +the law are not seldom written so far apart that their +unity ceases to be noted. There are many good people +whose notions of religious duties are shut up in +churches or chapels and limited to singing and praying, +reading the Bible and listening to sermons, and who, +even while they are doing good service in common life, +do not feel that it is as much a religious duty to +suppress the wish to retaliate as it is to sit in the +sunshine of God's love and to feel Christ's joy and +peace filling the heart. On the other hand many loud +voices, some of them with great force of words and +influence on the popular mind, are never wearied of +preaching that Christianity is worn out as a social +impulse, and that the service of man has nothing to +do with the love of God. As plainly Paul's first triad +naturally leads to his third. When the spiritual life +has realised its deepest secret it will be strong to manifest +itself as vigorous in reference to the difficulties of +life. When that heart is blessed in its own settled +love, abounding joy and untroubled peace, faithfulness +and submission will both be possible and self-control +will not be hard.</p> + +<p>III. The culture of the tree which secures the fruit.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span></p> + +<p>Can we suppose that the Apostle here is going back +in thought to our Lord's profound teaching that every +good tree bringeth forth good fruit, but the corrupt +tree bringeth forth evil fruit? The obvious felicity of +that metaphor often conceals for us the drastic force +of its teaching, it regards all a man's conduct as but +the outcome of his character, and brushes aside as +trifling all attempts at altering products, whilst the +producer remains unaltered. Whether Paul was here +alluding to a known saying of Jesus or no, he was +insisting upon the very centre of Christian ethics, that +a man must first be good in order to do good. Our +Lord's words seemed to make an impossible demand—'Make +the tree good'—as the only way of securing good +fruit, and it was in accordance with the whole cast of the +Sermon on the Mount that the means of realising that +demand was left unexpressed. But Paul stood on this +side of Pentecost, and what was necessarily veiled in +Christ's earlier utterances stood forth a revealed and +blessed certainty to him. He had not to say 'Make the +tree good' and be silent as to how that process was to +be effected; to him the message had been committed, +'The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity.' There is but +one way by which a corrupt tree can be made good, +and that is by grafting into the wild briar stock a +'layer' from the rose. The Apostle had a double message +to proclaim, and the one part was built upon the other. +He had first to preach—and this day has first to believe +that God has sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful +flesh and as an offering for sin—and then he had to +proclaim that, through that mission, it became possible +that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us +who 'walk not after the flesh but after the spirit.' The +beginning, then, of all true goodness is to be sought in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span> +receiving into our corrupt natures the uncorrupted +germs of the higher life, and it is only in the measure +in which that Spirit of God moves in our spirits and, +like the sap in the vine, permeates every branch and +tendril, that fruit to eternal life will grow. Christian +graces are the products of the indwelling divine life, +and nothing else will succeed in producing them. All +the preachings of moralists and all the struggles +after self-improvement are reduced to impotence and +vanity by the stern, curt sentence—'a corrupt tree cannot +bring forth good fruit.' Surely it should come +to us all as a true gospel when we feel ourselves +foiled by our own evil nature in our attempts to be +better, that the first thing we have to do is not to +labour at either of the two impossible tasks of the +making our bad selves good, or of the getting good +fruits from bad selves, but to open our spirits through +faith in Jesus for the entrance into us of His Spirit +which will change our corruption into incorruption, +and cleanse us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. +Shall we not seek to become recipient of that new life, +and having received it, should we not give diligence +that it may in us produce all its natural effects?</p> + +<p>These fruits, though they are the direct results of the +indwelling Spirit and will never be produced without its +presence, are none the less truly dependent upon our +manner of receiving that Spirit and on our faithfulness +and diligence in the use of its gifts. It is, alas! sadly +too true, and matter of tragically common experience +that instead of 'trees of righteousness, the planting of +the Lord' heavy with ruddy clusters, there are but +dwarfed and scrubby bushes which have scarcely life +enough to keep up a little show of green leaves and +'bring no fruit to perfection'. Would that so-called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span> +Christian people would more earnestly and searchingly +ask themselves why it is that, with such possibilities +offered to them, their actual attainments should be +so small. They have a power which is able to do for +them exceeding abundantly above all that they can +ask or think, and its actual effects on them are well on +this side of both their petitions and their conceptions. +There need be no difficulty in answering the question +why our Christian lives do not correspond more closely +to the Spirit that inspires them. The plain answer is +that we have not cultivated, used, and obeyed Him. The +Lord of the vineyard would less often have to ask +'Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth +grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?' if we listened +more obediently to the pathetic command which surely +should touch a grateful heart—'Grieve not the holy +Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day +of redemption.'</p> + +<p>IV. How this is the only worthy fruit.</p> + +<p>We have already pointed out that the Apostle in the +preceding context varies his terms, and catalogues the +actions that come from the godless self as works, whilst +those which are the outcome of the Spirit are fruit. +The distinction thus drawn is twofold. Multiplicity +is contrasted with unity and fruit with works. The +deeds of the flesh have no consistency except that of evil; +they are at variance with themselves—a huddled mob +without regularity or order; and they are works indeed, +but so disproportionate to the nature of the doer and +his obligations that they do not deserve to be called +fruit. It is not to attach too much importance to an +accidental form of speech to insist upon this distinction +as intended to be drawn, and as suggesting to us very +solemn thoughts about many apparently very active<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span> +lives. The man who lives to God truly lives; the busiest +life which is not rooted in Him and directed towards +Him has so far missed its aim as to have brought forth +no good fruit, and therefore to have incurred the +sentence that it is cut down and cast into the fire. +There is a very remarkable expression in Scripture, +'The unfruitful works of darkness,' which admits the +busy occupation and energy of the doers and denies +that all that struggling and striving comes to anything. +Done in the dark, they seemed to have some significance, +when the light comes in they vanish. It is for us +to determine whether our lives shall be works of +the flesh, full, perhaps, of a time of 'sound and fury,' +but 'signifying nothing,' or whether they shall be +fruits of the Spirit, which we 'who have gathered shall +eat in the courts of His holiness.' They will be so if, +living in the Spirit, we walk in the Spirit, but if we 'sow +to the flesh' we shall have a harder husbandry and a +bitterer harvest when 'of the flesh we reap corruption,' +and hear the awful and unanswerable question, 'What +fruit had ye then of those things whereof ye are now +ashamed?'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>BURDEN-BEARING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. . . . 5. For every +man shall bear his own burden.'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> vi. 25.</p></div> + + +<p>The injunction in the former of these verses appears, +at first sight, to be inconsistent with the statement in +the latter. But Paul has a way of setting side by side +two superficially contradictory clauses, in order that +attention may be awakened, and that we may make an +effort to apprehend the point of reconciliation between +them. So, for instance, you remember he puts in one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span> +sentence, and couples together by a 'for,' these two +sayings: 'Work out your own salvation'; 'It is God +that worketh in you.' So here he has been exhorting +the Galatian Christians to restore a fallen brother. +That is one case to which the general commandment, +'Bear ye one another's burdens,' is applicable.</p> + +<p>I cannot here enter on the intervening verses by +which he glides from the one to the other of these two +thoughts which I have coupled together, but I may +just point out in a word the outline of his course of +thought. 'Bear ye one another's burden,' says he; and +then he thinks, 'What is it that keeps men from bearing +each other's burdens?' Being swallowed up with +themselves, and especially being conceited about their +own strength and goodness. And so he goes on: 'If +a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, +he deceives himself.' And what is the best cure for +all these fancies inside us of how strong and good we +are? To look at our work with an impartial and rigid +judgment. It is easy for a man to plume himself on +being good, and strong, and great; but let him look at +what he has done, and try that by a high standard, +and that will knock the conceit out of him. Or, if his +work stands the test, then 'he shall have rejoicing in +himself, and not' by comparing himself with other +people. Two blacks do not make a white, and we are +not to heighten the lustre of our own whiteness by +comparing it with our neighbour's blackness. Take +your act for what <i>it</i> is worth, apart altogether from +what other people are. Do not say, 'God! I thank +thee that I am not as other men are . . . or even +as this publican'; but look to yourself. There is an +occupation with self which is good, and is a help to +brotherly sympathy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>And so the Apostle has worked round, you see, to +almost an opposite thought from the one with which +he started. 'Bear ye one another's burdens.' Yes, but +a man's work is his own and nobody else's, and a +man's character is his own and nobody else's, so 'every +man shall bear his own burden.' The statements are +not contradictory. They complete each other. They +are the north and the south poles, and between them +is the rounded orb of the whole truth. So then, let me +point out that:</p> + +<p>I. There are burdens which can be shared, and there +are burdens which <i>cannot</i>.</p> + +<p>Let us take the case from which the whole context +has arisen. Paul was exhorting the Galatians, as I +explained, in reference to their duty to a fallen brother; +and he speaks of him—according to our version—as +'overtaken in a fault.' Now, that is scarcely his idea, +I think. The phrase, as it stands in our Bibles, suggests +that Paul is trying to minimise the gravity of the +man's offence; but just in proportion as he minimised +its gravity would he weaken his exhortation to restore +him. But what he is really doing is not to make +as little as possible of the sin, but to make as much +of it as is consistent with the truth. The word 'overtaken' +suggests that some sin, like a tiger in a jungle, +springs upon a man and overpowers him by the suddenness +of the assault. The word so rendered may perhaps +be represented by some such phrase as 'discovered'; +or, if I may use a 'colloquialism,' if a man be caught +'red-handed.' That is the idea. And Paul does not +use the weak word 'fault,' but a very much stronger +one, which means stark staring sin. He is supposing +a bad case of inconsistency, and is not palliating it +at all. Here is a brother who has had an unblemished<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span> +reputation; and all at once the curtain is thrown aside +behind which he is working some wicked thing; and +there the culprit stands, with the bull's-eye light flashed +upon him, ashamed and trembling. Paul says, 'If you +are a spiritual man'—there is irony there of the graver +sort—'show your spirituality by going and lifting him +up, and trying to help him.' When he says, 'Restore +such an one,' he uses an expression which is employed +in other connections in the New Testament, such as +for mending the broken meshes of a net, for repairing +any kind of damage, for setting the fractured bones +of a limb. And that is what the 'spiritual' man has to +do. He is to show the validity of his claim to live on +high by stooping down to the man bemired and broken-legged +in the dirt. We have come across people who +chiefly show their own purity by their harsh condemnation +of others' sins. One has heard of women +so very virtuous that they would rather hound a fallen +sister to death than try to restore her; and there are +saints so extremely saintly that they will not touch +the leper to heal him, for fear of their own hands +being ceremonially defiled. Paul says, 'Bear ye one +another's burdens'; and especially take a lift of each +other's sin.</p> + +<p>I need not remind you how the same command +applies in relation to pecuniary distress, narrow circumstances, +heavy duties, sorrows, and all the 'ills +that flesh is heir to.' These can be borne by sympathy, +by true loving outgoing of the heart, and by the +rendering of such practical help as the circumstances +require.</p> + +<p>But there are burdens that cannot be borne by any +but the man himself.</p> + +<p>There is the awful burden of personal existence. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span> +is a solemn thing to be able to say 'I.' And that carries +with it this, that after all sympathy, after all nestling +closeness of affection, after the tenderest exhibition of +identity of feeling, and of swift godlike readiness to +help, each of us lives alone. Like the inhabitants of +the islands of the Greek Archipelago, we are able to +wave signals to the next island, and sometimes to send +a boat with provisions and succour, but we are parted, +'with echoing straits between us thrown.' Every man, +after all, lives alone, and society is like the material +things round about us, which are all compressible, +because the atoms that compose them are not in actual +contact, but separated by slenderer or more substantial +films of isolating air. Thus there is even in the +sorrows which we can share with our brethren, and +in all the burdens which we can help to bear, an +element which cannot be imparted. 'The heart knoweth +its own bitterness', and neither 'stranger' nor other +'intermeddleth' with the deepest fountains of 'its +joy.'</p> + +<p>Then again, there is the burden of responsibility +which can be shared by none. A dozen soldiers may +be turned out to make a firing party to shoot the +mutineer, and no man knows who fired the shot, but +one man did fire it. And however there may have +been companions, it was his rifle that carried the +bullet, and his finger that pulled the trigger. We say, +'The woman that Thou gavest me tempted me, and +I did eat.' Or we say, 'My natural appetites, for which +I am not responsible, but Thou who madest me art, +drew me aside, and I fell', or we may say, 'It was not +I; it was the other boy.' And then there rises up in +our hearts a veiled form, and from its majestic lips +comes 'Thou art the man'; and our whole being echoes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span> +assent—<i>Mea culpa; mea maxima culpa</i>—'My fault, my +exceeding great fault.' No man can bear that burden.</p> + +<p>And then, closely connected with responsibility there +is another—the burden of the inevitable consequences +of transgression, not only away yonder in the future, +when all human bonds of companionship shall be +broken, and each man shall 'give account of himself +to God,' but here and now; as in the immediate context +the Apostle tells us, 'Whatsoever a man soweth, that +shall he also reap.' The effects of our evil deeds come +back to roost; and they never make a mistake as to +where they should alight. If I have sown, I, and no +one else, will gather. No sympathy will prevent to-morrow's +headache after to-night's debauch, and nothing +that anybody can do will turn the sleuth-hounds off +the scent. Though they may be slow-footed, they have +sure noses and deep-mouthed fangs. 'If thou be wise +thou shalt be wise for thyself, and if thou scornest +thou alone shalt bear it.' So there are burdens which +can, and burdens which cannot, be borne.</p> + +<p>II. Jesus Christ is the Burden-bearer for both sorts +of burdens.</p> + +<p>'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law +of Christ,' not only as spoken by His lips, but as set +forth in the pattern of His life. We have, then, to turn +to Him, and think of Him as Burden-bearer in even +a deeper sense than the psalmist had discerned, who +magnified God as 'He who daily beareth our burdens.'</p> + +<p>Christ is the Burden-bearer of our sin. 'The Lord +hath laid'—or made to meet—'upon Him the iniquity +of us all.' The Baptist pointed his lean, ascetic finger +at the young Jesus, and said, 'Behold the Lamb of +God which beareth'—and beareth away—'the sin of +the world.' How heavy the load, how real its pressure,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span> +let Gethsemane witness, when He clung to human companionship +with the unutterably solemn and plaintive +words, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. +Tarry ye here and watch with Me.' He bore the burden +of the world's sin.</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ is the bearer of the burden of the consequences +of sin, not only inasmuch as, in His sinless +humanity, He knew by sympathy the weight of the +world's sin, but because in that same humanity, by +identification of Himself with us, deeper and more +wonderful than our plummets have any line long +enough to sound the abysses of, He took the cup of +bitterness which our sins have mixed, and drank it all +when He said, 'My God! My God! Why hast Thou +forsaken Me?' Consequences still remain: thank God +that they do! 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them, +and Thou didst inflict retribution on their inventions.' +So the outward, the present, the temporal consequences +of transgression are left standing in all their power, in +order that transgressors may thereby be scourged from +their evil, and led to forsake the thing that has wrought +them such havoc. But the ultimate consequence, the +deepest of all, separation from God, has been borne by +Christ, and need never be borne by us.</p> + +<p>I suppose I need not dwell on the other aspects of +this burden-bearing of our Lord, how that He, in a very +deep and real sense, takes upon Himself the sorrows +which we bear in union with, and faith on, Him. For +then the griefs that still come to us, when so borne, +are transmitted into 'light affliction which is but for +a moment.' 'In all their afflictions He was afflicted.' +Oh, brethren! you with sad hearts, you with lonely +lives, you with carking cares, you with pressing, heavy +duties, cast your burden on the Christ, and He 'will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span> +sustain you,' and sorrows borne in union with Him will +change their character, and the very cross shall be +wreathed in flowers.</p> + +<p>Jesus bears the burden of that solemn solitude which +our personal being lays upon us all. The rest of us +stand round, and, as I said, hoist signals of sympathy, +and sometimes can stretch a brotherly hand out and +grasp the sufferer's hand. But their help comes from +without; Christ comes in, and dwells in our hearts, and +makes us no longer alone in the depths of our being, +which He fills with the effulgence and peace of His +companionship. And so for sin, for guilt, for responsibility, +for sorrow, for holiness, Christ bears +our burdens.</p> + +<p>Yes! And when He takes ours on His shoulders, He +puts His on ours. 'My yoke is easy, and My burden is +light.' As the old mystics used to say, Christ's burden +carries him that carries it. It may add a little weight, +but it gives power to soar, and it gives power to progress. +It is like the wings of a bird, it is like the sails +of a ship.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, Christ's carrying our burdens binds us to +carry our brother's!</p> + +<p>'So fulfil the law of Christ.' There is a very biting +sarcasm, and, as I said about another matter, a grave +irony in Paul's use of that word 'law' here. For the +whole of this Epistle has been directed against the +Judaising teachers who were desirous of cramming +Jewish law down Galatian throats, and is addressed to +their victims in the Galatian churches who had fallen +into the trap. Paul turns round on them here, and +says, 'You want law, do you? Well, if you <i>will</i> have +it, here it is—the law of Christ.' Christ's life is our law. +Practical Christianity is doing what Christ did. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span> +Cross is not only the ground of our hope, but the +pattern of our conduct.</p> + +<p>And, says Paul in effect, the example of Jesus Christ, +in all its sweep, and in all the depth of it, is the only +motive by which this injunction that I am giving you +will ever be fulfilled. 'Bear ye one another's burdens.' +You will never do that unless you have Christ as the +ground of your hope, and His great sacrifice as the +example for your conduct. For the hindrance that +prevents sympathy is self-absorption; and that natural +selfishness which is in us all will never be exorcised +and banished from us thoroughly, so as that we shall +be awake to all the obligations to bear our brother's +burdens, unless Christ has dethroned self, and is the +Lord of our inmost spirits.</p> + +<p>I rejoice as much as any man in the largely increased +sense of mutual responsibility and obligation of mutual +aid, which is sweetening society by degrees amongst us +to-day, but I believe that no Socialistic or other schemes +for the regeneration of society which are not based on +the Incarnation and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ will live +and grow. There is but one power that will cast out +natural selfishness, and that is love to Christ, apprehending +His Cross as the great example to which our +lives are to be conformed. I believe that the growing +sense of brotherhood amongst us, even where it is not +consciously connected with any faith in Christianity, +is, to a very large extent, the result of the diffusion +through society of the spirit of Christianity, even +where its body is rejected. Thank God, the river +of the water of life can percolate through many a mile +of soil, and reach the roots of trees far away, in the +pastures of the wilderness, that know not whence the +refreshing moisture has come. But on the wide scale<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span> +be sure of this: it is the law of Christ that will fight +and conquer the natural selfishness which makes bearing +our brother's burdens an impossibility for men. +Only, Christian people! let us take care that we are not +robbed of our prerogative of being foremost in all such +things, by men whose zeal has a less heavenly source +than ours ought to have. Depend upon it, heresy has +less power to arrest the progress of the Church than +the selfish lives of Christian professors.</p> + +<p>So, dear friends, let us see to it that we first of all +cast our own burdens on the Christ who is able to bear +them all, whatever they are. And then let us, with +lightened hearts and shoulders, make our own the +heavy burdens of sin, of sorrow, of care, of guilt, +of consequences, of responsibility, which are crushing +down many that are weary and heavy laden. For be +sure of this, if we do not bear our brother's burdens, +the load that we thought we had cast on Christ will +roll back upon ourselves. He is able to bear both us +and our burdens, if we will let Him, and if we will fulfil +that law of Christ which was illustrated in all His life, +'Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became +poor,' and was written large in letters of blood upon +that Cross where there was 'laid on Him the iniquity +of us all.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>DOING GOOD TO ALL</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto +all. . . .'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> vi. 10.</p></div> + + +<p>'As we have therefore'—that points a finger backwards +to what has gone before. The Apostle has been +exhorting to unwearied well-doing, on the ground of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span> +the certain coming of the harvest season. Now, there +is a double link of connection between the preceding +words and our text; for 'do good' looks back to 'well-doing,' +and the word rendered 'opportunity' is the +same as that rendered 'season.' So, then, two thoughts +arise—'well-doing' includes doing good to others, and +is not complete unless it does. The future, on the +whole, is the season of reaping; the present life on +the whole is the season of sowing; and while life as +a whole is the seed-time, in detail it is full of opportunities, +openings which make certain good deeds +possible, and which therefore impose upon us the obligation +to do them. If we were in the habit of looking +on life mainly as a series of opportunities for well-doing, +how different it would be; and how different we +should be!</p> + +<p>Now, this injunction is seen to be reasonable by +every man, whether he obeys it or not. It is a +commonplace of morality, which finds assent in all +consciences, however little it may mould lives. But I +wish to give it a particular application, and to try to +enforce its bearing upon Christian missionary work. +And the thought that I would suggest is just this, that +no Christian man discharges that elementary obligation +of plain morality, if he is indifferent to this great +enterprise. 'As we have an opportunity, let us do good +to all.' That is the broad principle, and one application +is the duty of Christian men to diffuse the Gospel +throughout the world.</p> + +<p>I. Let me ask you to look at the obligation that is +thus suggested.</p> + +<p>As I have said, well-doing is the wider, and doing +good to others the narrower, expression. The one +covers the whole ground of virtue, the other declares<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span> +that virtue which is self-regarding, the culture which +is mainly occupied with self, is lame and imperfect, +and there is a great gap in it, as if some cantle had +been cut out of the silver disc of the moon. It is only +full-orbed when in well-doing, and as a very large constituent +element of it, there is included the doing good +to others. That is too plain to need to be stated. We +hear a great deal to-day about altruism. Well, Christianity +preaches that more emphatically than any other +system of thought, morals, or religion does. And +Christianity brings the mightiest motives for it, and +imparts the power by which obedience to that great +law that every man's conscience responds to is made +possible.</p> + +<p>But whilst thus we recognise as a dictate of elementary +morality that well-doing must necessarily include +doing good to others, and feel, as I suppose we all do +feel, when we are true to our deepest convictions, that +possessions of all sorts, material, mental, and all others, +are given to us in stewardship, and not in absolute +ownership, in order that God's grace in its various +forms may fructify through us to all, my present point +is that, if that is recognised as being what it is, an +elementary dictate of morality enforced by men's +relationships to one another, and sealed by their own +consciences, there is no getting away from the obligation +upon all Christian men which it draws after it, of +each taking his share in the great work of imparting +the gospel to the whole world.</p> + +<p>For that gospel is our highest good, the best thing +that we can carry to anybody. We many of us +recognise the obligation that is devolved upon us by +the possession of wealth, to use it for others as well as +for ourselves. We recognise, many of us, the obliga<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span>tion +that is devolved upon us by the possession of +knowledge, to impart it to others as well as ourselves. +We are willing to give of our substance, of our time, +of our effort, to impart much that we have. But some +of us seem to draw a line at the highest good that we +have, and whilst responding to all sorts of charitable +and beneficent appeals made to us, and using our +faculties often for the good of other people, we take +no share and no interest in communicating the highest +of all goods, the good which comes to the man in +whose heart Christ rests. It is our highest good, +because it deals with our deepest needs, and lifts us to +the loftiest position. The gospel brings our highest +good, because it brings eternal good, whilst all other +benefits fade and pass, and are left behind with life +and the dead flesh. It is our highest good, because if +that great message of salvation is received into a +heart, or moulds the life of a nation, it will bring after +it, as its ministers and results, all manner of material +and lesser benefit. And so, giving Christ we give <i>our</i> +best, and giving Christ we give the highest gift that a +weary world can receive.</p> + +<p>Remember, too, that the impartation of this highest +good is one of the main reasons why we ourselves +possess it. Jesus Christ can redeem the world alone, +but it cannot become a redeemed world without the +help of His servants. He needs us in order to carry +into all humanity the energies that He brought into +the midst of mankind by His Incarnation and Sacrifice; +and the cradle of Bethlehem and the Cross of Cavalry +are not sufficient for the accomplishment of the purpose +for which they respectively came to pass, without +the intervention and ministry of Christian people. It +was for this end amongst others, that each of us who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span> +have received that great gift into our hearts have been +enriched by it. The river is fed from the fountains of +the hills, in order that it may carry verdure and life +whithersoever it goes. And you and I have been +brought to the Cross of Christ, and made His disciples, +not only in order that we ourselves might be blessed +and quickened by the gift unspeakable, but in order +that through us it may be communicated, just as each +particle when leavened in the mass of the dough communicates +its energy to its adjacent particle until the +whole is leavened.</p> + +<p>I am afraid that indifference to the communication +of the highest good, which marks sadly too many +Christian professors in all ages, and in this age, is a +suspicious indication of a very slight realisation of the +good for themselves. Luther said that justification +was the article of a standing or a falling church. That +may be true in the region of theology, but in the region +of practical life I do not know that you will find a test +more reliable and more easy of application than this, +Does a man care for spreading amongst his fellows the +gospel that he himself has received? If he does not, +let him ask himself whether, in any real sense, he has +it. 'Well-doing' includes doing good to others, and +the possession of Christ will make it certain that we +shall impart Him.</p> + +<p>II. Notice the bearing of this elementary injunction +upon the scope of the obligation.</p> + +<p>'Let us do good to all men.' It was Christianity that +invented the word 'humanity'; either in its meaning +of the aggregate of men or its meaning of a gracious +attitude towards them. And it invented the word +because it revealed the thing on which it rests. +'Brotherhood' is the sequel of 'Fatherhood,' and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span> +conception of mankind, beneath all diversities of race +and culture and the like, as being an organic whole, +knit together by a thousand mystical bands, and each +atom of which has connection with, and obligations to, +every other—that is a product of Christianity, however +it may have been in subsequent ages divorced +from a recognition of its source. So, then, the gospel +rises above all the narrow distinctions which call themselves +patriotism and are parochial, and it says that +there is 'neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, Jew +nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free,' but all +are one. Get high enough up upon the hill, and the +hedges between the fields are barely perceptible. Live +on the elevation to which the Gospel of Jesus Christ +lifts men, and you look down upon a great prairie, +without a fence or a ditch or a division. So my text +comes with profound significance, 'Let us do good to +all,' because all are included in the sweep of that great +purpose of love, and in the redeeming possibilities of +that great death on the Cross. Christ has swept the +compass, if I may say so, of His love and work all +round humanity; and are we to extend our sympathies +or our efforts less widely? The circle includes the +world; our sympathies should be as wide as the circle +that Christ has drawn.</p> + +<p>Let me remind you, too, that only such a world-wide +communication of the highest good that has blessed +ourselves will correspond to the proved power of that +Gospel which treats as of no moment diversities that +are superficial, and can grapple with and overcome, +and bind to itself as a crown of glory, every variety of +character, of culture, of circumstance, claiming for its +own all races, and proving itself able to lift them all. +'The Bread of God which came down from heaven' is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span> +an exotic everywhere, because it came down from +heaven, but it can grow in all soils, and it can bring +forth fruit unto eternal life everywhere amongst mankind. +So 'let us do good to all.'</p> + +<p>And then we are met by the old objection, 'The eyes +of a fool are in the ends of the earth. Keep your +work for home, that wants it.' Well! I am perfectly +ready to admit that in Christian work, as in all others +there must be division of labour, and that one man's +tastes and inclinations will lead him to one sphere and +one form of it; and another man's to another; and I +am quite ready, not to admit, but strongly to insist, +that, whatever happens, home is not to be neglected. +'All men' includes the slums in England as well as the +savages in Africa, and it is no excuse for neglecting +either of these departments that we are trying to do +something in the other. But it is not uncharitable to +say that the objection to which I am referring is most +often made by one or other of two classes, either by +people who do not care about the Gospel, nor recognise +the 'good' of it at all, or by people who are ingenious +in finding excuses for not doing the duty to which they +are at the moment summoned. The people that do +the one are the people that do the other. Where do +you get your money from for home work? Mainly +from the Christian Churches. Who is it that keeps +up missionary work abroad? Mainly the Christian +Churches. There is a vast deal of unreality in that +objection. Just think of the disproportion between +the embarrassment of riches in our Christian appliances +here in England and the destitution in these +distant lands. Here the ships are crammed into a +dock, close up against one another, rubbing their yards +upon each other; and away out yonder on the waters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span> +there are leagues of loneliness, where never a sail is +seen. Here, at home, we are drenched with Christian +teaching, and the Churches are competing with each +other, often like rival tradespeople for their customers; +and away out yonder a man to half a million is considered +a fair allowance. 'Let us do good to all.'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, note the bearing of this elementary precept +on the occasions that rise for the discharge of the +duty.</p> + +<p>'As we have opportunity.' As I have already said, +the Christian way to look at our circumstances is to +regard them as openings for the exercise of Christian +virtue, and therefore summonses to its discharge. And +if we regarded our own position individually, so we +should find that there were many, many doors that +had long been opened, into which we had been too +blind or too lazy, or too selfishly absorbed in our own +concerns, to enter. The neglected opportunities, the +beckoning doors whose thresholds we have never +crossed, the good that we might have done and have +not done—these are as weighty to sink us as the +positive sins, the opportunities for which have appealed +to our worse selves.</p> + +<p>But I desire to say a word, not only about the opportunities +offered to us individually, but about those +offered to England for this great enterprise. The prophet +of old represented the proud Assyrian conqueror +as boasting, 'My hand hath gathered as a nest the +riches of the peoples . . . and there was none that +moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.' It +might be the motto of England to-day. It is not for +nothing that we and our brethren across the Atlantic, +the inheritors of the same faith and morals and +literature, and speaking the same tongue, have had<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span> +given to us the wide dominion that we possess, I +know that England has not climbed to her place without +many a crime, and that in her 'skirts is found the +blood of poor innocents,' but yet we have that connection, +for good or for evil, with subject races all +over the earth. And I ask whether or not that is an +opportunity that the Christian Church is bound to +make use of. What have we been intrusted with it +for? Commerce, dominion, the impartation of Western +knowledge, literature, laws? Yes! Is that all? Are +you to send shirting and not the Gospel? Are you to +send muskets that will burst, and gin that is poison, +and not Christianity? Are you to send Shakespeare, +and Milton, and modern science, and Herbert Spencer, +and not Evangelists and the Gospels? Are you to +send the code of English law and not Christ's law of +love? Are you to send godless Englishmen, 'through +whom the name of God is blasphemed amongst the +Gentiles,' and are you not to send missionaries of the +Cross? A Brahmin once said to a missionary, 'Look +here! Your Book is a good Book. If you were as +good as your Book you would make India Christian in +ten years.'</p> + +<p>Brethren! the European world to-day is fighting and +scrambling over what it calls the unclaimed corners of +the world; looking upon all lands that are uncivilised +by Western civilisation either as markets, or as parts +of their empire. Is there no other way of looking at +the heathen world than that? How did Christ look at +it? He was moved when He saw the multitudes as +'sheep having no shepherd.' Oh! if Christian men, as +members of this nation, would rise to the height of +Christ's place of vision, and would look at the world +with His eyes, what a difference it would make! I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span> +appeal to you, Christian men and women, as members +of this nation, and therefore responsible, though it +may be infinitesimally, for what this nation is doing +in the distant corners of the world, and urge on you +that you are bound, so far as your influence goes, to +protest against the way of looking at these heathen +lands as existing to be exploited for the material +benefit of these Western Powers. You are bound to +lend your voice, however weak it may be, to the +protests against the savage treatment of native races—against +the drenching of China with narcotics, and +Africa with rum; to try to look at the world as Christ +looked at it, to rise to the height of that great vision +which regards all men as having been in His heart +when He died on the Cross, and refuses to recognise +in this great work 'Barbarian, Scythian, bond or free.' +We have awful responsibilities; the world is open to +us. We have the highest good. How shall we obey +this elementary principle of our text, unless we help as +we can in spreading Christ's reign? Blessed shall we +be if, and only if, we fill the seed-time with delightful +work, and remember that well-doing is imperfect unless +it includes doing good to others, and that the best +good we can do is to impart the Unspeakable Gift to +the men that need it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE OWNER'S BRAND</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.'—<span class="smcap">Gal.</span> vi. 17.</p></div> + + +<p>The reference in these words is probably to the cruel +custom of branding slaves as we do cattle, with initials +or signs, to show their ownership. It is true that in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span> +old times criminals, and certain classes of Temple servants, +and sometimes soldiers, were also so marked, +but it is most in accordance with the Apostle's way of +thinking that he here has reference to the first class, +and would represent himself as the <i>slave</i> of Jesus +Christ, designated as His by the scars and weaknesses +which were the consequences of his apostolic zeal. +Imprisonment, beating by the Jewish rod, shipwrecks, +fastings, weariness, perils, persecutions, all these he +sums up in another place as being the tokens by which +he was approved as an apostle of Jesus Christ. And +here he, no doubt, has the same thought in his mind, +that his bodily weakness, which was the direct issue +of his apostolic work, showed that he was Christ's. +The painful infirmity under which, as we learn, he +was more especially suffering, about the time of writing +this letter, may also have been in his mind.</p> + +<p>All through this Epistle he has been thundering and +lightning against the disputers of this apostolic +authority. And now at last he softens, and as it +were, bares his thin arm, his scarred bosom, and bids +these contumacious Galatians look upon them, and +learn that he has a right to speak as the representative +and messenger of the Lord Jesus.</p> + +<p>So we have here two or three points, I think, worth +considering. First, think for a moment of the slave of +Christ; then of the brands which mark the ownership; +then of the glory in the servitude and the sign; and +then of the immunity from human disturbances which +that service gives. 'From henceforth let no man +trouble me. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord +Jesus.'</p> + +<p>I. First, then, a word or two about that conception +of the slave of Christ.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is a pity that our Bible has not rendered the +title which Paul ever gives himself at the beginning +of his letters, by that simple word 'slave,' instead of +the feebler one, 'servant.' For what he means when +he calls himself the 'servant of Jesus Christ' is not +that he bore to Christ the kind of relation which servants +among us bear to those who have hired and paid +them, and to whom they have come under obligations +of their own will which they can terminate at any +moment by their own caprice; but that he was in the +roughest and simplest sense of the word, Christ's slave.</p> + +<p>What lies in that metaphor? Well, it is the most +uncompromising assertion of the most absolute +authority on the one hand, and claim of unconditional +submission and subjection on the other.</p> + +<p>The slave belonged to his master; the master could +do exactly as he liked with him. If he killed him +nobody had anything to say. He could set him to +any task; he could do what he liked with any little +possession or property that the slave seemed to have. +He could break all his relationships, and separate him +from wife and kindred.</p> + +<p>All that is atrocious and blasphemous when it is +applied to the relations between man and man, but it +is a blessed and magnificent truth when it is applied to +the relations between a man and Christ. For this +Lord has absolute authority over us, and He can do +what He likes with everything that belongs to us; and +we, and our duties, and our circumstances, and our +relationships, are all in His hands, and the one thing +that we have to render to Him is utter, absolute, +unquestioning, unhesitating, unintermittent and unreserved +obedience and submission. That which is +abject degradation when it is rendered to a man, that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span> +which is blasphemous presumption when it is required +by a man, that which is impossible, in its deepest +reality, as between man and man, is possible, is blessed, +is joyful and strong when it is required by, and +rendered to, Jesus Christ. We are His slaves if we +have any living relationship to Him at all. Where, +then, in the Christian life, is there a place for self-will; +where a place for self-indulgence; where for murmuring +or reluctance; where for the assertion of any rights +of my own as against that Master? We owe absolute +obedience and submission to Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>And what does the metaphor carry as to the basis +on which this authority rests? How did men acquire +slaves? Chiefly by purchase. The abominations of +the slave market are a blessed metaphor for the deep +realities of the Christian life. Christ has bought you +for His own. The only thing that gives a human soul +the right to have any true authority over another +human soul is that it shall have yielded itself to the +soul whom it would control. We must first of all give +ourselves away before we have the right to possess, +and the measure in which we give ourselves to another +is the measure in which we possess another. And so +Christ our Lord, according to the deep words of one of +Paul's letters, 'gives Himself for us, that He might +purchase unto Himself a people for His possession.' +'Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a +price.'</p> + +<p>Therefore the absolute authority, and unconditional +surrender and submission which are the very essence +of the Christian life, at bottom are but the corresponding +and twofold effects of one thing, and that is +love. For there is no possession of man by man except +that which is based on love. And there is no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span> +submission of man to man worth calling so except that +which is also based therein.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Thou hearts alone wouldst move"> +<tr><td align='left'>'Thou hearts alone wouldst move;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Thou only hearts dost love.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>The relation in both its parts, on the side of the Master +and on the side of the captive bondsman, is the direct +result and manifestation of that love which knits +them together.</div> + +<p>Therefore the Christian slavery, with its abject submission, +with its utter surrender and suppression of +mine own will, with its complete yielding up of self to +the control of Jesus, who died for me; because it is +based upon His surrender of Himself to me, and in its +inmost essence it is the operation of love, is therefore +co-existent with the noblest freedom.</p> + +<p>This great Epistle to the Galatians is the trumpet +call and clarion proclamation of Christian liberty. The +breath of freedom blows inspiringly through it all. +The very spirit of the letter is gathered up in one of +its verses, 'I have been called unto liberty,' and in its +great exhortation, 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty +wherewith Christ hath made you free.' It is then +sufficiently remarkable and profoundly significant that +in this very letter, which thus is the protest of the +free Christian consciousness against all limitations +and outward restrictions, there should be this most +emphatic declaration that the liberty of the Christian +is slavery and the slavery of the Christian is freedom. +He is free whose will coincides with his outward law. +He is free who delights to do what he must do. He is +free whose rule is love, and whose Master is Incarnate +Love. 'If the Son make you free, ye shall be free +indeed.' 'O Lord, truly I am Thy servant, Thou hast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span> +loosed my bands.' 'I bear in my body' the charter of +my liberty, for I bear in my body the 'brand of the +Lord Jesus.'</p> + +<p>II. And so now a word in the next place about these +marks of ownership.</p> + +<p>As I have said, the Apostle evidently means thereby +distinctly the bodily weaknesses, and possibly diseases, +which were the direct consequences of his own apostolic +faithfulness and zeal. He considered that he +proved himself to be a minister of God by his stripes, +imprisonments, fastings, by all the pains and sufferings +and their permanent consequences in an enfeebled +constitution, which he bore because he had preached +the Cross of Christ. He knew that these things were +the result of his faithful ministry. He believed that +they had been sent by no blundering, blind fate; by +no mere secondary causes; but by his Master Himself, +whose hand had held the iron that branded into the +hissing flesh the marks of His ownership. He felt +that by means of these he had been drawn nearer to +his Master, and the ownership had been made more +perfect. And so in a rapture of contempt of pain, this +heroic soul looks upon even bodily weakness and +suffering as being the signs that he belonged to Christ, +and the means of that possession being made more +perfect.</p> + +<p>Now, what is all that to us Christian people who +have no persecutions to endure, and none of whom I +am afraid have ever worked hard enough for Christ to +have damaged our health by it? Is there anything in +this text that may be of general application to us all? +Yes! I think so. Every Christian man or woman +ought to bear, in his or her body, in a plain, literal +sense, the tokens that he or she belongs to Jesus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span> +Christ. You ask me how? 'If thy foot or thine hand +offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.'</p> + +<p>There are things in your physical nature that you +have to suppress; that you have always to regulate +and coerce; that you have sometimes entirely to cast +away and to do without, if you mean to be Jesus +Christ's at all. The old law of self-denial, of subduing +the animal nature, its passions, appetites, desires, is as +true and as needful to-day as it ever was; and for us +all it is essential to the loftiness and purity of our +Christian life that our animal nature and our fleshly +constitution should be well kept down under heel and +subdued. As Paul himself said in another place, 'I +bring under my body, and I keep it in subjection, lest +by any means I should myself, having proclaimed to +others the laws of the contest, be rejected from the +prize.' Oh, you Christian men and women! if you are +not living a life of self-denial, if you are not crucifying +the flesh, with its affections and lusts, if you are not +bearing 'about in the body the dying of the Lord +Jesus, that the life also of Christ may be manifested +in your mortal body,' what tokens are there that you +are Christ's slaves at all?</p> + +<p>Then, besides this, we may expand the thought even +further, and say that, in a very real sense, all the pains +and sorrows and disappointments and afflictions that +mainly touch our mortal part should be taken by us +as, and made by us to be, the tokens that we belong +to the Master.</p> + +<p>But it is not only in limitations and restrictions and +self-denials and pains that Christ's ownership of us +ought to be manifested in our daily lives, and so by +means of our mortal bodies, but if there be in our +hearts a deep indwelling possession of the grace and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span> +sweetness of Christ, it will make itself visible, ay! even +in our faces, and 'beauty born of' our communion +with Him 'shall pass into' and glorify even rugged +and care-lined countenances. There may be, and there +ought to be, in all Christian people, manifestly visible +the tokens of the indwelling serenity of the indwelling +Christ. And it should not be left to some moment of +rapture at the end of life, for men to look upon us, to +behold our faces, 'as it had been the face of an angel,' +but by our daily walk, by our countenances full of a +removed tranquillity, and a joy that rises from within, +men ought to take knowledge of us that we have been +with Jesus, and it should be the truth—I bear in my +body the tokens of His possession.</p> + +<p>III. Now, once more notice the glorying in the +slavery and its signs.</p> + +<p>'I bear,' says Paul; and he uses, as many of you may +know, a somewhat remarkable word, which does not +express mere bearing in the sense of toleration and +patient endurance, although that is much; nor mere +bearing in the sense of carrying, but implies bearing +with a certain triumph as men would do who, coming +back victorious from conflict, and being received into +the city, were proud to show their scars, the honourable +signs of their courage and constancy. So, with a +triumph that is legitimate, the Apostle solemnly and +proudly bears before men the marks of the Lord +Jesus. Just as he says in another place:—'Thanks be +unto God, which always leadeth us about in triumph +in Jesus Christ,' He was proud of being dragged at +the conqueror's chariot wheels, chained to them by the +cords of love; and so he was proud of being the slave +of Christ.</p> + +<p>It is a degradation to a man to yield abject submis<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>sion, +unconditional service to another man. It is the +highest honour of our natures so to bow before that +dear Lord. To prostrate ourselves to Him is to lift +ourselves high in the scale of being. The King's servant +is every other person's master. And he that feels +that he is Christ's, may well be, not proud but conscious, +of the dignity of belonging to such a Lord. +The monarch's livery is a sign of honour. In our old +Saxon kingdom the king's menials were the first +nobles. So it is with us. The aristocracy of humanity +are the slaves of Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>And let us be proud of the marks of the branding +iron, whether they come in the shape of sorrows and +pains, or otherwise. It is well that we should have to +carry these. It is blessed, and a special mark of the +Master's favour that He should think it worth His +while to mark us as His own, by any sorrow or by +any pain. Howsoever hot may be the iron, and howsoever +deeply it may be pressed by His firm, steady, +gentle hand upon the quivering flesh and the shrinking +heart, let us be thankful if He, even by it, impresses on +us the manifest tokens of ownership. Oh, brethren! +if we could come to look upon sorrows and losses with +this clear recognition of their source, meaning and +purpose, they change their nature, the paradox is +fulfilled that we do 'gather grapes of thorns and figs +of thistles.' 'I bear in my body,' with a solemn triumph +and patient hope, 'the marks of the Lord Jesus.'</p> + +<p>IV. And now, lastly, the immunity from any disturbance +which men can bring, which these marks, and +the servitude they express, secure.</p> + +<p>'From henceforth let no man trouble me.' Paul +claims that his apostolic authority, having been established +by the fact of his sufferings for Christ, should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span> +give him a sacredness in their eyes; that henceforth +there should be no rebellion against his teaching and +his word. We may expand the thought to apply more +to ourselves, and say that, in the measure in which we +belong to Christ, and hear the marks of His possession +of us, in that measure are we free from the disturbance +of earthly influences and of human voices; and from +all the other sources of care and trouble, of perturbation +and annoyance, which harass and vex other men's +spirits. 'Ye are bought with a price,' says Paul elsewhere. +'Be not the servants of men.' Christ is your +Master; do not let men trouble you. Take your +orders from Him; let men rave as they like. Be +content to be approved by Him; let men think of you +as they please. The Master's smile is life, the Master's +frown is death to the slave; what matters it what +other people may say? 'He that judgeth me is the +Lord.' So keep yourselves above the cackle of 'public +opinion'; do not let your creed be crammed down +your throats even by a consensus of however venerable +and grave human teachers. Take your directions +from your Master, and pay no heed to other voices if +they would command. Live to please Him, and do +not care what other people think. You are Christ's +servant; 'let no man trouble' you.</p> + +<p>And so it should be about all the distractions and +petty annoyances that disturb human life and harass +our hearts. A very little breath of wind will ruffle all +the surface of a shallow pond, though it would sweep +across the deep sea and produce no effect. Deepen +your natures by close union with Christ, and absolute +submission to Him, and there will be a great calm in +them, and cares and sorrows, and all the external +sources of anxiety, far away, down there beneath your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span> +feet, will 'show scarce so gross as beetles,' whilst you +stand upon the high cliff and look down upon them +all. 'From henceforth no man shall trouble me.' 'I +bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.'</p> + +<p>My brother! Whose marks do you bear? There are +only two masters. If an eye that could see things as +they are, were to go through this congregation, whose +initials would it discern in your faces? There are +some of us, I have no doubt, who in a very horrid +sense bear in our bodies the marks of the idol that we +worship. Men who have ruined their health by +dissipation and animal sensualism—are there any of +them here this morning? Are there none of us whose +faces, whose trembling hands, whose diseased frames, +are the tokens that they belong to the flesh and the +world and the devil? Whose do <i>you</i> bear?</p> + +<p>Oh! when one looks at all the faces that pass one +upon the street—this all drawn with avarice and +earthly-mindedness; that all bloated with self-indulgence +and loose living—when one sees the mean faces, +the passionate faces, the cruel faces, the vindictive +faces, the lustful faces, the worldly faces, one sees how +many of us bear in our bodies the marks of <i>another</i> +lord. They have no rest day nor night who worship +the beast; and whosoever receiveth the mark of his +name.</p> + +<p>I pray you, yield yourselves to your true Lord, so on +earth you may bear the beginnings of the likeness +that stamps you His, and hereafter, as one of His +happy slaves, shall do priestly service at His throne +and see His face, and His name shall be in your +foreheads.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PHILIPPIANS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LOVING GREETINGS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus +which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2. Grace to you and +peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 3. I thank my God upon +all my remembrance of you, 4. Always in every supplication of mine on behalf of +you all making my supplication with joy, 5. For your fellowship in furtherance +of the gospel from the first day until now; 6. Being confident of this very thing +that He which began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus +Christ: 7. Even as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf of you all, +because I have you in my heart, inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defence +and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are partakers with me of grace. 8. For God +is my witness, how I long after you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> +i. 1-8 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>The bond between Paul and the church at Philippi +was peculiarly close. It had been founded by himself, +as is narrated at unusual length in the book of Acts. +It was the first church established in Europe. Ten +years had elapsed since then, possibly more. Paul is +now a prisoner in Rome, not suffering the extremest +rigour of imprisonment, but still a prisoner in his own +hired house, accessible to his friends and able to do +work for God, but still in the custody of soldiers, +chained and waiting till the tardy steps of Roman law +should come up to him, or perhaps till the caprice of +Nero should deign to hear his cause. In that imprisonment +we have his letters to the Philippians, Ephesians, +Colossians, and Philemon, which latter three are closely +connected in time, the two former in subject, and the +two latter in destination. This letter stands apart +from those to the great Asiatic churches.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span></p> + +<p>Its tone and general cast are unlike those of most of +his letters. It contains no doctrinal discussions and +no rebukes of evil, but is an outpouring of happy love +and confidence. Like all Paul's epistles it begins with +salutations, and like most of them with prayer, but +from the very beginning is a long gush of love. These +early verses seem to me very beautiful if we regard +them either as a revelation of the personal character +of the Apostle, or as a picture of the relation between +teacher and taught in its most blessed and undisturbed +form, or as a lovely ideal of friendship and love in any +relation, hallowed and solemnised by Christian feeling.</p> + +<p>Verses one and two contain the apostolic greeting. +In it we note the senders. Timothy is associated with +Paul, according to his custom in all his letters even +when he goes on immediately to speak in the singular. +He ever sought to hide his own supremacy and to bring +his friends into prominence. He was a great, lowly soul, +who had no pride in the dignity of his position but felt +the weight of its responsibility and would fain have +had it shared. He calls Timothy and himself the slaves +of Christ. He regarded it as his highest honour to be +Christ's born servant, bound to absolute submission to +the all-worthy Lord who had died to win him. It is to +be noted that there is no reference here to apostolic +authority, and the contrast is very remarkable in this +respect with the Epistle to the Galatians, where with +scornful emphasis he asserts it as bestowed 'not from +men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ +and God the Father.' In this designation of himself, we +have already the first trace of the intimate and loving +relationship in which Paul stood to the Philippians. +There was no need for him to assert what was not +denied, and he did not wish to deal with them officially,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span> +but rather personally. There is a similar omission in +Philemon and a pathetic substitution there of the +'prisoner of Jesus Christ' for the 'slave of Christ Jesus.'</p> + +<p>The persons addressed are 'all the saints in Christ +Jesus.' As he had not called himself an apostle, so he +does not call them a church. He will not lose in +an abstraction the personal bond which unites them. +They are saints, which is not primarily a designation of +moral purity, but of consecration to God, from whom +indeed purity flows. The primitive meaning of the +word is <i>separation;</i> the secondary meaning is <i>holiness</i>, +and the connection between these two meanings contains +a whole ethical philosophy. They are saints in +Christ Jesus; union with Him is the condition both of +consecration and of purity.</p> + +<p>The Philippian community had an organisation +primitive but sufficient. We do not enter on the discussion +of its two offices further than to note that the +bishops are evidently identical with the elders, in the +account in Acts xx. of Paul's parting with the Ephesian +Christians, where the same persons are designated by +both titles, as is also the case in Titus i. 5 and 7; the +one name (elder) coming from the Hebrew and designating +the office on the side of dignity, the other (bishop) +being of Greek origin and representing it in terms of +function. We note that there were several elders then +in the Philippian church, and that their place in the salutation +negatives the idea of hierarchical supremacy.</p> + +<p>The benediction or prayer for grace and peace is +couched in the form which it assumes in all Paul's +letters. It blends Eastern and Western forms of greeting. +'Grace' being the Greek and 'Peace' the Hebrew +form of salutation. So Christ fuses and fulfils the +world's desires. The grace which He gives is the self-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>imparting +love of God, the peace which He gives is its +consequence, and the salutation is an unmistakable +evidence of Paul's belief in Christ's divinity.</p> + +<p>This salutation is followed by a great burst of +thankful love, for the full apprehension of which we +must look briefly at the details of these verses. We +have first Paul's thankfulness in all his remembrance +of the Philippians, then he further defines the times of +his thankfulness as 'always in every supplication of +mind on behalf of you all making my supplication with +joy.' His gratitude for them is expressed in all his +prayers which are all thank-offerings. He never thinks +of them nor prays for them without thanking God for +them. Then comes the reason for his gratitude—their +fellowship in furtherance of the gospel, from the first +day when Lydia constrained him to come into her +house, until this moment when now at the last their care +of him had flourished again. The Revised Version's +rendering 'fellowship in furtherance of' instead of +'fellowship in' conveys the great lesson which the +other rendering obscures—that the true fellowship is +not in enjoyment but in service, and refers not so +much to a common participation in the blessedness as +in the toils and trials of Christian work. This is +apparent in an immediately following verse where the +Philippians' fellowship with Christ is again spoken of +as consisting in sharing both in His bonds and in the +double work of defending the gospel from gainsayers +and in positively proclaiming it. Very beautifully in +this connection does he designate that work and toil +as 'my grace.'</p> + +<p>The fellowship which thus is the basis of his thanksgiving +leads on to a confidence which he cherishes for +them and which helps to make his prayers joyful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span> +thanksgivings. And such confidence becomes him +because he has them in his heart, and 'love hopeth all +things' and delights to believe in and anticipate all +good concerning its object. He has them in his heart +because they faithfully share with him his honourable, +blessed burdens. But that is not all, it is 'in the +tender mercies' of Christ that he loved them. His love +is the love of Christ in him; his being is so united to +Jesus that his heart beats with the same emotion as +throbs in Christ's, and all that is merely natural and +of self in his love is changed into a solemn participation +in the great love which Christ has to them. This, +then, being the general exposition of the words, let us +now dwell for a little while on the broad principles +suggested by them.</p> + +<p>I. Participation in the work of Christ is the noblest +basis for love and friendship.</p> + +<p>Paul had tremendous courage and yet hungered for +sympathy. He had no outlets for his love but his +fellow Christians. There had, no doubt, been a wrenching +of the ties of kindred when he became a Christian, +and his love, dammed back and restrained, had to pour +itself on his brethren.</p> + +<p>The Church is a workshop, not a dormitory, and +every Christian man and woman is bound to help in +the common cause. These Philippians help Paul by +sympathy and gifts, indeed, but by their own direct work +as well, and things are not right with us unless leaders +can say, 'Ye all are partakers of my grace.' There are +other real and sweet bonds of love and friendship, but +the most real and sweetest is to be found in our +common relation to Jesus Christ and in our co-operation +in the work which is ours because it is His and +we are His.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p> + +<p>II. Thankful, glad prayer flows from such co-operation.</p> + +<p>The prisoner in his bonds in the alien city had the +remembrance of his friends coming into his chamber +like fresh, cool air, or fragrance from far-off gardens. A +thrill of gladness was in his soul as often as he thought +on them. It is blessed if in our experience teacher +and taught are knit together thus; without some such +bond of union no good will be done. The relation of +pastor and people is so delicate and spiritual, the +purpose of it so different from that of mere teaching, +the laws of it so informal and elastic, the whole power +of it, therefore, so dependent on sympathy and mutual +kindliness that, unless there be something like the bond +which united Paul and the Philippians, there will be +no prosperity or blessing. The thinnest film of cloud +prevents deposition of dew. If all men in pulpits could +say what Paul said of the Philippians, and all men in +pews could deserve to have it said of them, the world +would feel the power of a quickened Church.</p> + +<p>III. Confidence is born of love and common service.</p> + +<p>Paul delights to think that God will go on because +God has already begun a good work in them, and Paul +delights to think of their perfection because he loves +them. 'God is not a man that He should lie, or the +son of man that He should repent.' His past is the +guarantee for His future; what He begins He finishes.</p> + +<p>IV. Our love is hallowed and greatened in the love +of Christ.</p> + +<p>Paul lived, yet not he, but Christ lived in him. It is +but one illustration of the principle of his being that +Christ who was the life of his life, is the heart of his +love. He longed after his Philippian friends in the +tender mercies of Christ Jesus. This and this only is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span> +the true consecration of love when we live and love in +the Lord; when we will as Christ does, think as He +does, love as He does, when the mind that was in Christ +Jesus was in us. It is needful to guard against the +intrusion of mere human affection and regard into our +sacred relations in the Church; it is needful to guard +against it in our own personal love and friendship. +Let us see that we ourselves know and believe the love +wherewith Christ hath loved us, and then let us see +that that love dwells in us informing and hallowing +our hearts, making them tender with His great tenderness, +and turning all the water of our earthly affections +into the new wine of His kingdom. Let the law for +our hearts, as well as for our minds and wills, be 'I live, +yet not I but Christ liveth in me.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A COMPREHENSIVE PRAYER</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge +and all discernment; 10. So that ye may approve the things that are excellent; +that ye may be sincere and void of offence unto the day of Christ; 11. Being +filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, unto the +glory and praise of God.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> i. 9-11 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>What a blessed friendship is that of which the natural +language is prayer! We have many ways, thank God, +of showing our love and of helping one another, but +the best way is by praying for one another. All that +is selfish and low is purged out of our hearts in the act, +suspicions and doubts fade away when we pray for +those whom we love. Many an alienation would have +melted like morning mists if it had been prayed about, +added tenderness and delicacy come to our friendships +so like the bloom on ripening grapes. We may test +our loves by this simple criterion—Can we pray about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span> +them? If not, should we have them? Are they +blessings to us or to others?</p> + +<p>This prayer, like all those in Paul's epistles, is wonderfully +full. His deep affection for, and joy in, the +Philippian church breathes in every word of it. Even +his jealous watchfulness saw nothing in them to +desire but progress in what they possessed. Such a +desire is the highest that love can frame. We can wish +nothing better for one another than growth in the love +of God. Paul's estimate of the highest good of those +who were dearest to him was that they should be more +and more completely filled with the love of God and +with its fruits of holiness and purity, and what was his +supreme desire for the Philippians is the highest purpose +of the gospel for us all, and should be the aim of +our effort and longing, dominating all others as some +sovereign mountain peak towers above the valleys. +Looking then at this prayer as containing an outline +of true progress in the Christian life, we may note:</p> + +<p>I. The growth in keenness of conscience founded on +growth in love.</p> + +<p>Paul does not merely desire that their love may +abound, but that it may become more and more 'rich +in knowledge and all discernment.' The former is perhaps +accurate knowledge, and the latter the application +of it. 'Discernment' literally means 'sense,' and here, +of course, when employed about spiritual and moral +things it means the power of apprehending good and +bad as such. It is, I suppose, substantially equivalent +to conscience, the moral tact or touch of the soul by +which, in a manner analogous to bodily sense, it ascertains +the moral character of things. This growth of +love in the power of spiritual and moral discernment +is desired in order to its exercise in 'proving things<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span> +that differ.' It is a process of discrimination and testing +that is meant, which is, I think, fairly represented +by the more modern expression which I have used—keenness +of conscience.</p> + +<p>I need spend little time in remarking on the absolute +need of such a process of discrimination. We are surrounded +by temptations to evil, and live in a world +where maxims and principles not in accordance with +the gospel abound. Our own natures are but partially +sanctified. The shows of things must be tested. +Apparent good must be proved. The Christian life is +not merely to unfold itself in peace and order, but +through conflict. We are not merely to follow impulses, +or to live as angels do, who are above sin, or as animals +do who are beneath it. When false coin is current it +is folly to accept any without a test. All around us +there is glamour, and so within us there is need for +careful watchfulness and quick discrimination.</p> + +<p>This keenness of conscience follows on the growth of +love. Nothing makes a man more sensitive to evil +than a hearty love to God. Such a heart is keener to +discern what is contrary to its love than any ethical +maxims can make it. A man who lives in love will be +delivered from the blinding influence of his own evil +tastes, and a heart steadfast in love will not be swayed +by lower temptations. Communion with God will, +from its very familiarity with Him, instinctively discern +the evil of evil, as a man coming out of pure air +is conscious of vitiated atmosphere which those who +dwell in it do not perceive. It used to be said that +Venice glass would shiver into fragments if poison were +poured into the cup. As evil spirits were supposed to +be cast out by the presence of an innocent child or a +pure virgin, so the ugly shapes that sometimes tempt<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span> +us by assuming fair disguises will be shown in their +native hideousness when confronted with a heart filled +with the love of God.</p> + +<p>Such keenness of judgment is capable of indefinite +increase. Our consciences should become more and +more sensitive: we should always be advancing in our +discovery of our own evils, and be more conscious of +our sins, the fewer we have of them. Twilight in a +chamber may reveal some foul things, and the growing +light will disclose more. 'Secret faults' will cease to +be secret when our love abounds more and more in +knowledge, and in all discernment.</p> + +<p>II. The purity and completeness of character flowing +from this keenness of conscience.</p> + +<p>The Apostle desires that the knowledge which he +asks for his Philippian friends may pass over into +character, and he describes the sort of men which he +desires them to be in two clauses, 'sincere and void of +offence' being the one, 'filled with the fruits of righteousness' +being the other. The former is perhaps predominantly +negative, the latter positive. That which +is sincere is so because when held up to the light it +shows no flaws, and that which is without offence is so +because the stones in the path have been cleared away +by the power of discrimination, so that there is no +stumbling. The life which discerns keenly will bring +forth the fruit which consists of righteousness, and +that fruit is to fill the whole nature so that no part +shall be without it.</p> + +<p>Nothing lower than this is the lofty standard towards +which each Christian life is to aim, and to which it can +indefinitely approximate. It is not enough to aim at +the negative virtue of sincerity so that the most +searching scrutiny of the web of our lives shall detect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span> +no flaws in the weaving, and no threads dropped or +broken. There must also be the actual presence of +positive righteousness filling life in all its parts. That +lofty standard is pressed upon us by a solemn motive, +'unto the day of Christ.' We are ever to keep before +us the thought that in that coming day all our works +will be made manifest, and that all of them should be +done, so that when we have to give account of them +we shall not be ashamed.</p> + +<p>The Apostle takes it for granted here that if the +Philippian Christians know what is right and what is +wrong, they will immediately choose and do the right. +Is he forgetting the great gulf between knowledge and +practice? Not so, but he is strong in the faith that love +needs only to know in order to do. The love which +abounds more and more in knowledge and in all discernment +will be the soul of obedience, and will delight +in fulfilling the law which it has delighted in beholding. +Other knowledge has no tendency to lead to practice, +but this knowledge which is the fruit of love has for its +fruit righteousness.</p> + +<p>III. The great Name in which this completeness is +secured.</p> + +<p>The Apostle's prayer dwells not only on the way by +which a Christian life may increase itself, but in its +close reaches the yet deeper thought that all that +growth comes 'through Jesus Christ.' He is the Giver +of it all, so that we are not so much called to a painful +toil as to a glad reception. Our love fills us with the +fruits of righteousness, because it takes all these from +His hands. It is from His gift that conscience derives +its sensitiveness. It is by His inspiration that conscience +becomes strong enough to determine action, +and that even our dull hearts are quickened into a glow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span> +of desiring to have in our lives, the law of the spirit of +life, that was in Christ Jesus, and to make our own all +that we see in Him of 'things that are lovely and of +good report.'</p> + +<p>The prayer closes with a reference to the highest +end of all our perfecting—the glory and praise of God; +the former referring rather to the transcendent +majesty of God in itself, and the latter to the exaltation +of it by men. The highest glory of God comes +from the gradual increase in redeemed men's likeness +to Him. They are 'the secretaries of His praise,' and +some portion of that great honour and responsibility +lies on each of us. If all Christian men were what +they all might be and should be, swift and sure in their +condemnation of evil and loyal fidelity to conscience, +and if their lives were richly hung with ripened clusters +of the fruits of righteousness, the glory of God would +be more resplendent in the world, and new tongues +would break into praise of Him who had made men so +like Himself.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A PRISONER'S TRIUMPH</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now I would have you know, brethren, that the things which happened unto +me have fallen out rather unto the progress of the gospel; 13. So that my +bonds became manifest in Christ throughout the whole prætorian guard, and to +all the rest; 14. And that most of the brethren in the Lord, being confident through +my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear. +15. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of good +will: 16. The one do it of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the +gospel: 17. But the other proclaim Christ of faction, not sincerely, thinking to +raise up affliction for me in my bonds. 18. What then? only that in every way, +whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and therein I rejoice, yea, +and will rejoice. 19. For I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through +your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 20. According to +my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing shall I be put to shame, but that +with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, +whether by life or by death.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> i. 12-20 (R.V.)</p></div> + + +<p>Paul's writings are full of autobiography, that is +partly owing to temperament, partly to the profound<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span> +interpenetration of his whole nature with his religion. +His theology was but the generalisation of his experience. +He has felt and verified all that he has to say. +But the personal experiences of this sunny letter to his +favourite church have a character all their own. In +that atmosphere of untroubled love and sympathy a +shyer heart than Paul's would have opened: his does so +in tenderness, gladness, and trust. We have here the +unveiling of his inmost self in response to what he +knew would be an eager desire for news of his welfare. +This whole section appears to me to be a wonderful +revelation of his prison thoughts, an example of what +we may call the ennobling power of a passionate +enthusiasm for Christ. Remember that he is a +prisoner, shut out from his life's work, waiting to be +tried before Nero, whose reign had probably, by this +time, passed from its delusive morning of dewy promise +to its lurid noon. The present and the future were +dark for him, and yet in spite of them all comes forth +this burst of undaunted courage and noble gladness. +We simply follow the course of the words as they lie, +and we find in them,</p> + +<p>I. An absorbing purpose which bends all circumstances +to its service and values them only as +instruments.</p> + +<p>The things which happened unto me; that is Paul's +minimising euphemism for the grim realities of imprisonment, +or perhaps for some recent ominous turns in +his circumstances. To him they are not worth dwelling +on further, nor is their personal incidence worth +taking into account; the only thing which is important +is to say how these things have affected his life's work. +It is enough for him, and he believes that it will be +enough even for his loving friends at Philippi to know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span> +that, instead of their being as they might have feared, +and as he sometimes when he was faithless expected, +hindrances to his work, they have turned out rather to +'the furtherance of the gospel.' Whether he has been +comfortable or not is a matter of very small importance, +the main thing is that Christ's work has been +helped, and then he goes on to tell two ways in which +his imprisonment had conduced to this end.</p> + +<p>'My bonds became manifest in Christ.' It has +been clearly shown why I was a prisoner; all the +Prætorian guard had learned what Paul was there for. +We know from Acts that he was 'suffered to abide by +himself with the soldier that kept him.' He has no +word to say of the torture of compulsory association, +night and day, with the rude legionaries, or of the +horrors of such a presence in his sweetest, sacredest +moments of communion with his Lord. These are all +swallowed up in the thought as they were in the fact, +that each new guard as he came to sit there beside +Paul was a new hearer, and that by this time he must +have told the story of Christ and His love to nearly the +whole corps. That is a grand and wonderful picture of +passionate earnestness and absorbed concentration in +one pursuit. Something of the same sort is in all +pursuits, the condition of success and the sure result of +real interest. We have all to be specialists if we would +succeed in any calling. The river that spreads wide +flows slow, and if it is to have a scour in its current it +must be kept between high banks. We have to bring +ourselves to a point and to see that the point is red-hot +if we mean to bore with it. If our limitations +are simply enforced by circumstances, they may be +maiming, but if they come of clear insight and free +choice of worthy ends, they are noble. The artist, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span> +scholar, the craftsman, all need to take for their motto +'This one thing I do.' I suppose that a man would not +be able to make a good button unless he confined himself +to button-making. We see round us abundant +examples of men who, for material aims and almost +instinctively, use all circumstances for one end and +appraise them according to their relations to that, and +they are quoted as successful, and held up to young +souls as patterns to be imitated. Yes! But what +about the man who does the same in regard to Christ +and His work? Is he thought of as an example to be +imitated or as a warning to be avoided? Is not the +very same concentration when applied to Christian +work and living thought to be fanatical, which is +welcomed with universal applause when it is directed +to lower pursuits? The contrast of our eager absorption +in worldly things and of the ease with which any +fluttering butterfly can draw us away from the path +which leads us to God, ought to bring a blush to all +cheeks and penitence to all hearts. There was no more +obligation on Paul to look at the circumstances of his +life thus than there is on every Christian to do so. We +do not desire that all should be apostles, but the +Apostle's temper and way of looking at 'the things +which happened unto' him should be our way of looking +at the things which happen unto us. We shall +estimate them rightly, and as God estimates them, only +when we estimate them according to their power to +serve our souls and to further Christ's kingdom.</p> + +<p>II. The magnetism or contagion of enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>The second way by which Paul's circumstances +furthered the gospel was 'that most of the brethren, +being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly +bold to speak the word of God.' His constancy and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span> +courage stirred them up. Moved by good-will and love, +they were heartened to preach because they saw in +him one 'appointed by God for the defence of the +gospel.' A soul all on flame has power to kindle +others. There is an old story of a Scottish martyr +whose constancy at the stake touched so many hearts +that 'a merry gentleman' said to Cardinal Beaton, 'If +ye burn any more you should burn them in low cellars, +for the reek (smoke) of Mr. Patrick Hamilton has +infected as many as it blew upon.'</p> + +<p>It is not only in the case of martyrs that enthusiasm +is contagious. However highly we may estimate the +impersonal forces that operate for 'the furtherance of +the gospel' we cannot but see that in all ages, from the +time of Paul down to to-day, the main agents for the +spread of the gospel have been individual souls all +aflame with the love of God in Christ Jesus and filled +with the life of His Spirit. The history of the Church +has largely consisted in the biographies of its saints, +and every great revival of religion has been the flame +kindled round a flaming heart. Paul was impelled by +his own love; the brethren in Rome were in a lower +state as only reflecting his, and it ought to be the +prerogative of every Christian to be a centre and source +of kindling influence rather than a mere recipient of it. +It is a question which may well be asked by each of +us about ourselves—would anybody find quickening +impulses to divine life and Christian service coming +from us, or do we simply serve to keep others' coldness +in countenance? It was said of old of Jesus Christ, +'He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire,' and +that promise remains effective to-day, however little +one looking on the characters of the mass of so-called +Christians would believe it. They seem rather to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span> +been plunged into ice-cold water than into fire, and +their coldness is as contagious as Paul's radiant enthusiasm +was. Let us try, for our parts, to radiate out +the warmth of the love of God, that it may kindle in +others the flame which it has lighted in ourselves, and +not be like icebergs floating southwards and bringing +down the temperature of even the very temperate seas +in which we find ourselves.</p> + +<p>III. The wide tolerance of such enthusiasm.</p> + +<p>It is stigmatised as 'narrow,' which to-day is the sin +of sins, but it is broad with the true breadth. Such +enthusiasm lifts a man high enough to see over many +hedges and to be tolerant even of intolerance, and of +the indifference which tolerates everything but earnestness. +Paul here deals with a class amongst the Roman +Christians who were 'preaching of envy and strife,' with +the malicious calculation that so they would annoy +him and 'add affliction' to his bonds. It is generally +supposed that these were Judaising Christians against +whom Paul fulminates in all his letters, but I confess +that, notwithstanding the arguments of authoritative +commentators, I cannot believe that they are the same +set of men preaching the same doctrines which in +other places he treats as destructive of the whole +gospel. The change of tone is so great as to require +the supposition of a change of subjects, and the +Judaisers with whom the Apostle waged a neverending +warfare, never did evangelistic work amongst +the heathen as these men seem to have done, but +confined themselves to trying to pervert converts +already made. It was not their message but their +spirit that was faulty. With whatever purpose of +annoyance they were animated, they did 'preach +Christ,' and Paul superbly brushes aside all that was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span> +antagonistic to him personally, in his triumphant +recognition that the one thing needful <i>was</i> spoken, +even from unworthy motives and with a malicious +purpose. The situation here revealed, strange though +it appears with our ignorance of the facts, is but too +like much of what meets us still. Do we not know +denominational rivalries which infuse a bitter taint of +envy and strife into much evangelistic earnestness, and +is the spectacle of a man preaching Christ with a taint +of sidelong personal motives quite unknown to this +day? We may press the question still more closely +home and ask ourselves if we are entirely free from +the influence of such a spirit. No man who knows +himself and has learned how subtly lower motives +blend themselves with the highest will be in haste to +answer these questions with an unconditional 'No,' and +no man who looks on the sad spectacle of competing +Christian communities and knows anything of the +methods of competition that are in force, will venture +to deny that there are still those who preach Christ of +envy and strife.</p> + +<p>It comes, then, to be a testing question for each of us, +have we learned from Paul this lesson of tolerance, +which is not the result of cold indifference, but the +outcome of fiery enthusiasm and of a clear recognition +of the one thing needful? Granted that there is +preaching from unworthy motives and modes of work +which offend our tastes and prejudices, and that there +are types of evangelistic earnestness which have errors +mixed up with them, are we inclined to say 'Nevertheless +Christ is proclaimed, and therein I rejoice, Yea, +and will rejoice'? Much chaff may be blended with the +seeds sown; the chaff will lie inert and the seed will +grow. Such tolerance is the very opposite of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span> +carelessness which comes from languid indifference. +The one does not mind what a man preaches because it +has no belief in any of the things preached, and to it +one thing is as good as another, and none are of any +real consequence. The other proceeds from a passionate +belief that the one thing which sinful men need to hear +is the great message that Christ has lived and died for +them, and therefore, it puts all else on one side and +cares nothing for jangling notes that may come in, if +only above them the music of His name sounds out +clear and full.</p> + +<p>IV. The calm fronting of life and death as equally +magnifying Christ.</p> + +<p>The Apostle is sure that all the experiences of his +prison will turn to his ultimate salvation, because he is +sure that his dear friends in Philippi will pray for him, +and that through their prayers he will receive a 'supply +of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,' which shall be enough +to secure his steadfastness. His expectation is not +that he will escape from prison or from martyrdom, +both of which stand only too clearly before him, but +that whatever may be waiting for him in the future, +'all boldness' will be granted him, so that whether he +lives he will live to the Lord, or whether he dies, he +will die to the Lord. He had so completely accepted it +as his life's purpose to magnify Jesus, that the extremest +possible changes of condition came to be insignificant +to him. He had what we may have, the true anæsthetic +which will give us a 'solemn scorn of ills' and +make even the last and greatest change from life to +death of little account. If we magnify Christ in our +lives with the same passionate earnestness and concentrated +absorption as Paul had, our lives like some +train on well-laid rails will enter upon the bridge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span> +across the valley with scarce a jolt. With whatever +differences—and the differences are to us tremendous—the +same purpose will be pursued in life and in death, +and they who, living, live to the praise of Christ, dying +will magnify Him as their last act in the body which +they leave. What was it that made possible such a +passion of enthusiasm for a man whom Paul had never +seen in the flesh? What changed the gloomy fuliginous +fanaticism of the Pharisee, at whose feet were laid the +clothes of the men who stoned Stephen, into this radiant +light, all aflame with a divine splendour? The only +answer is in Paul's own words, 'He loved me and gave +Himself for me.' That answer is as true for each of us +as it was for him. Does it produce in us anything like +the effects which it produced in him?</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22. But if I live in the flesh, this is +the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23. For I am in a strait +betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: +24. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. 25. And having this +confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance +and joy of faith.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> i. 21-25.</p></div> + + +<p>A preacher may well shrink from such a text. Its +elevation of feeling and music of expression make all +sermons on it sound feeble and harsh, like some poor +shepherd's pipe after an organ. But, though this be +true, it may not be useless to attempt, at least, to point +out the course of thought in these grand words. They +flow like a great river, which springs at first with a +strong jet from some deep cave, then is torn and chafed +among dividing rocks, and after a troubled middle +course, moves at last with stately and equable current +to the sea. The Apostle's thoughts and feelings have +here, as it were, a threefold bent in their flow. First,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span> +we have the clear, unhesitating statement of the comparative +advantages of life and death to a Christian +man, when thought of as affecting himself alone. The +one is Christ, the other gain. But we neither live nor +die to ourselves; and no man has a right to think of +life or death only from the point of view of his own +advantage. So the problem is not so simple as it looked. +Life here is the condition of fruitful labour here. There +are his brethren and his work to think of. These bring +him to a stand, and check the rising wish. He knows +not which state to prefer. The stream is dammed back +between rocks, and it chafes and foams and seems to +lose its way among them. Then comes a third bend +in the flow of thought and feeling, and he gladly +apprehends it as his present duty to remain at his +work. If his own joy is thereby less, his brethren's +will be more. If he is not to depart and be with +Christ, he will remain and be with Christ's friends, +which is, in some sort, being with Him too. If he may +not have the gain of death, he will have the fruit of +work in life.</p> + +<p>Let us try to fill up, somewhat, this meagre outline of +the warm stream that pours through these great words.</p> + +<p>I. The simplicity of the comparison between life and +death to a Christian thinking of himself alone.</p> + +<p>'To me' is plainly emphatic. It means more than +'in my judgment' or even 'in my case.' It is equal to +'To me personally, if I stood alone, and had no one to +consider but myself.' 'To live' refers mainly here to +outward practical life of service, and 'to die' should, +perhaps, rather be 'to be dead,' referring, not to the +act of dissolution, but to the state after; not to the +entrance chamber, but to the palace to which it admits.</p> + +<p>So we have here grandly set forth the simplicity and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span> +unity of the Christian life. While the words probably +refer mainly to outward life, they presuppose an inward, +of which that outward is the expression. In +every possible phase of the word 'life,' Christ is the +life of the Christian. To live is Christ, for He is the +mystical source from whom all ours flows. 'With +Thee is the fountain of life,' and all life, both of body +and spirit, is from Him, by Him, and in Him. 'To live +is Christ,' for He is the aim and object, as well as the +Lord, of it all, and no other is worth calling life, but +that which is <i>for</i> Him by willing consecration, as well +as <i>from</i> Him by constant derivation. 'To live is Christ,' +for He is the model of all our life, and the one all-sufficient +law for us is to follow Him.</p> + +<p>Life is to be <i>as</i> Christ, <i>for</i> Christ, <i>by</i>, <i>in</i>, and <i>from</i> +Christ. So shall there be strength, peace, and freedom +in our days. The unity brought into life thereby will +issue in calm blessedness, contrasted wondrously with +the divided hearts and aims which fritter our days into +fragments, and make our lives heaps of broken links +instead of chains.</p> + +<p>Surely this is the charm which brings rest into the +most troubled history, and nobleness into the lowliest +duties. There is nothing so grand as the unity breathed +into our else distracted days by the all-pervading +reference to and presence of Christ. Without that, +we are like the mariners of the old world, who crept +timidly from headland to headland, making each their +aim for a while, and leaving each inevitably behind, +never losing sight of shore, nor ever knowing the +wonders of the deep and all the majesty of mid-ocean, +nor ever touching the happy shores beyond, which they +reach who carry in their hearts a compass that ever +points to the unseen pole.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then comes the other great thought, that where life +is simply Christ, death will be simply gain.</p> + +<p>Paul, no doubt, shrank from the act of death, as we +all do. It was not the narrow passage which attracted +him, but the broad land beyond. Every other aspect +of that was swallowed up in one great thought, which +will occupy us more at length presently. But that +word 'gain' suggests that to Paul's confident faith +death was but an increase and progression in all that +was good here. To him it was no loss to lose flesh and +sense and all the fleeting joys with which they link us. +To him death was no destruction of his being, and not +even an interruption of its continuity. Everything that +was of any real advantage to him was to be his after +as before. The change was clear gain. Everything +good was to be just as it had been, only better. Nothing +was to be dropped but what it was progress to lose, and +whatever was kept was to be heightened.</p> + +<p>How strongly does that view express the two thoughts +of the <i>continuity</i> and <i>intensifying</i> of the Christian life +beyond the grave! And what a contrast does that +simple, sublime confidence present to many another +thought of death! To how many men its blackness +seems to be the sudden swallowing up of the light +of their very being! To how many more does it seem +to put an end to all their occupations, and to shear +their lives in twain, as remorselessly as the fall of the +guillotine severs the head from the body. How are +the light butterfly wings of the trivialities in which +many men and women spend their days to carry them +across the awful gulf? What are the people to do on +the other side whose lives have all been given to purposes +and tasks that stop on this side? Are there shops +and mills, or warehouses and drawing-rooms, or studies<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span> +and lecture-halls, over there? Will the lives which +have not struck their roots down through all the +surface soil to the rock, bear transplanting? Alas! +for the thousands landed in that new country, as unfit +for it by the tenor of their past occupations, as some +pale artisan, with delicate fingers and feeble muscles, +set down as a colonist to clear the forest!</p> + +<p>This Paul had a work here which he could carry +on hereafter. There would be no reversal of view, no +change in the fundamental character of his occupations. +True, the special forms of work which he had pursued +here would be left behind, but the principle underlying +them would continue. It matters very little to the +servant whether he is out in the cold and wet 'ploughing +and tending cattle,' or whether he is waiting on +his master at table. It is service all the same, only it +is warmer and lighter in the house than in the field, +and it is promotion to be made an indoor servant.</p> + +<p>So the direction of the life, and the source of the +life, and the fundamentals of the life continue unchanged. +Everything is as it was, only in the superlative +degree. To other men the narrow plain on +which their low-lying lives are placed is rimmed by +the jagged, forbidding white peaks. It is cold and +dreary on these icy summits where no creature can +live. Perhaps there is land on the other side; who +knows? The pale barrier separates all here from all +there; we know not what may be on the other side. +Only we feel that the journey is long and chill, that +the ice and the barren stone appal, and that we never +can carry our household goods, our tools, or our wealth +with us up to the black jaws of the pass.</p> + +<p>But for this man the Alps were tunnelled. There +was no interruption in his progress. He would go, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span> +believed, without 'break of gauge,' and would pass +through the darkness, scarcely knowing when it came, +and certainly unchecked for even a moment, right on +to the other side where he would come out, as travellers +to Italy do, to fairer plains and bluer skies, to richer +harvests and a warmer sun. No jolt, no pause, no +momentary suspension of consciousness, no reversal, +nor even interruption in his activity, did Paul expect +death to bring him, but only continuance and increase +of all that was essential to his life.</p> + +<p>He has calmness in his confidence. There is nothing +hysterical or overwrought or morbid in these brief +words, so peaceful in their trust, so moderate and +restrained in their rapture. Are our anticipations of +the future moulded on such a pattern? Do we think +of it as quietly as this man did? Are we as tranquilly +sure about it? Is there as little mist of uncertainty +about the clearly defined image to our eye as there +was to his? Is our confidence so profound that these +brief monosyllables are enough to state it? Above all, +do we know that to die will be gain, because we can +honestly say that to live is Christ? If so, our hope is +valid, and will not yield when we lean heavily upon it +for support in the ford over the black stream. If our +hope is built on anything besides, it will snap then like +a rotten pole, and leave us to stumble helpless among +the slippery stones and the icy torrent.</p> + +<p>II. The second movement of thought here, which +troubles and complicates this simple decision, as to +what is the best for Paul himself, is the hesitation +springing from the wish to help his brethren.</p> + +<p>As we said, no man has a right to forget others in +settling the question whether he would live or die. +We see the Apostle here brought to a stand by two<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span> +conflicting currents of feelings. For himself he would +gladly go, for his friends' sake he is drawn to the +opposite choice. He has 'fallen into a place where +two seas meet,' and for a minute or two his will is +buffeted from side to side by the 'violence of the +waves.' The obscurity of his language, arising from +its broken construction, corresponds to the struggle +of his feelings. As the Revised Version has it, 'If to +live in the flesh—if this is the fruit of my work, then +what I shall choose, I wot not.' By which fragmentary +sentence, rightly representing as it does the roughness +of the Greek, we understand him to mean that if living +on in this life is the condition of his gaining fruit from +his toil, then he has to check the rising wish, and is +hindered from decisive preference either way. Both +motives act upon him, one drawing him deathward, +the other holding him firmly here. He is in a dilemma, +pinned in, as it were, between the two opposing pressures. +On the one hand he has the desire (not 'a desire,' +as the English Bible has it, as if it were but one among +many) turned towards departing to be with Christ; +but on the other, he knows that his remaining here is +for the present all but indispensable for the immature +faith of the churches which he has founded. So he +stands in doubt for a moment, and the picture of his +hesitation may well be studied by us.</p> + +<p>Such a reason for wishing to die in conflict with such +a reason for wishing to live, is as noble as it is rare, +and, thank God, as imitable as it is noble.</p> + +<p>Notice the aspect which death wore to his faith. He +speaks of it as 'departing,' a metaphor which does not, +like many of the flattering appellations which men +give that last enemy, reveal a quaking dread which +cannot bear to look him in his ashen, pale face. Paul<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span> +calls him gentle names, because he fears him not at all. +To him all the dreadfulness, the mystery, the pain and +the solitude have melted away, and death has become +a mere change of place. The word literally means <i>to +unloose</i>, and is employed to express pulling up the tent-pegs +of a shifting encampment, or drawing up the +anchor of a ship. In either case the image is simply +that of removal. It is but striking the earthly house +of this tent; it is but one more day's march, of which +we have had many already, though this is over Jordan. +It is but the last day's journey, and to-morrow there +will be no packing up in the morning and resuming +our weary tramp, but we shall be at home, and go no +more out. So has the awful thing at the end dwindled, +and the brighter and greater the land behind it shines, +the smaller does it appear.</p> + +<p>The Apostle thinks little of dying because he thinks +so much of what comes after. Who is afraid of a brief +journey if a meeting with dear friends long lost is at +the end of it? The narrow avenue seems short, and +its roughness and darkness are nothing, because Jesus +Christ stands with outstretched arms at the other +end, beckoning us to Himself, as mothers teach their +children to walk. Whosoever is sure that he will be +with Christ can afford to smile at death, and call it but +a shifting of place. And whosoever feels the desire to +be with Christ will not shrink from the means by which +that desire is fulfilled, with the agony of revulsion +that it excites in many an imagination. It will always +be solemn, and its physical accompaniments of pain +and struggle will always be more or less of a terror, +and the parting, even for a time, from our dear ones, +will always be loss, but nevertheless if we see Christ +across the gulf, and know that one struggle more and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span> +we shall clasp Him with 'inseparable hands with joy +and bliss in over measure for ever,' we shall not dread +the leap.</p> + +<p>One thought about the future should fill our minds, +as it did Paul's, that it is to be with Christ. How +different that nobly simple expectation, resolving all +bliss into the one element, is from the morbid curiosity +as to details, which vulgarises and weakens so much +of even devout anticipation of the future. To us as to +him Heaven should be Christ, and Christ should be +Heaven. All the rest is but accident. Golden harps +and crowns, and hidden manna and white robes and +thrones, and all the other representations, are but +symbols of the blessedness of union with Him, or consequences +of it. Immortal life and growth in perfection, +both of mind and heart, and the cessation of all that +disturbs, and our investiture with glory and honour, +flung around our poor natures like a royal robe over +a naked body, are all but the many-sided brightnesses +that pour out from Him, and bathe in their rainbowed +light those who are with Him.</p> + +<p>To be with Christ is all we need. For the loving +heart to be near Him is enough.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="I shall clasp thee again"> +<tr><td align='left'>'I shall clasp thee again, O soul of my soul,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And with God be the rest.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>Let us not fritter away our imaginations and our hopes +on the subordinate and non-essential accompaniments, +but concentrate all their energy on the one central +thought. Let us not lose this gracious image in a +maze of symbols, that, though precious, are secondary. +Let us not inquire, with curiosity that will find no +answer, about the unrevealed wonders and staggering +mysteries of that transcendent thought, life everlast<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>ing. +Let us not acquire the habit of thinking of the +future as the perfecting of our humanity, without +connecting all our speculations with Him, whose +presence will be all of heaven to us all. But let us +keep His serene figure ever clear before our imaginations +in all the blaze of the light, and try to feed our +hopes and stay our hearts on this aspect of heavenly +blessedness as the all-embracing one, that all, each for +himself, shall be for ever conscious of Christ's loving +presence, and of the closest union with Him, a union +in comparison with which the dearest and sacredest +blendings of heart with heart and life with life are +cold and distant. For the clearness of our hope the +fewer the details the better: for the willingness with +which we turn from life and face the inevitable end, +it is very important that we should have that one +thought disengaged from all others. The one full +moon, which dims all the stars, draws the tides after +it. These lesser lights may gem the darkness, and +dart down white shafts of brilliance in quivering +reflections on the waves, but they have no power to +move their mass. It is Christ and Christ only who +draws us across the gulf to be with Him, and reduces +death to a mere shifting of our encampment.</div> + +<p>This is a noble and worthy reason for wishing to +die; not because Paul is disappointed and sick of life, +not because he is weighed down with sorrow, or pain, +or loss, or toil, but because he would like to be with +his Master. He is no morbid sentimentalist, he is +cherishing no unwholesome longing, he is not weary +of work, he indulges in no hysterical raptures of +desire. What an eloquent simplicity is in that quiet +'very far better!' It goes straight to one's heart, and +says more than paragraphs of falsetto yearnings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span> +There is nothing in such a wish to die, based on such +a reason, that the most manly and wholesome piety +need be ashamed of. It is a pattern for us all.</p> + +<p>The attraction of life contends with the attraction +of heaven in these verses. That is a conflict which +many good men know something of, but which does +not take the shape with many of us which it assumed +with Paul. Drawn, as he is, by the supreme desire of +close union with his Master, for the sake of which he +is ready to depart, he is tugged back even more strongly +by the thought that, if he stays here, he can go on +working and gaining results from his labour. It does +not follow that he did not expect service if he were +with Christ. We may be very sure that Paul's heaven +was no idle heaven, but one of happy activity and +larger service. But he will not be able to help these +dear friends at Philippi and elsewhere who need him, +as he knows. So love to them drags at his skirts, and +ties him here.</p> + +<p>One can scarcely miss the remarkable contrast between +Paul's 'To abide in the flesh is more needful for you,' +and the saying of Paul's Master to people who assuredly +needed His presence more than Philippi needed Paul's, +'It is expedient for you that I go away.' This is not +the place to work out the profound significance of +the contrast, and the questions which it raises as to +whether Christ expected His work to be finished and +His helpfulness ended by His death, as Paul did by his. +It must suffice to have suggested the comparison.</p> + +<p>Returning to our text, such a reason for wishing to +die, held in check and overcome by such a reason for +wishing to live, is great and noble. There are few of +us who would not own to the mightier attraction of +life; but how few of us who feel that, for ourselves<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span> +personally, if we were free to think only of ourselves, +we should be glad to go, because we should be closer +to Christ, but that we hesitate for the sake of others +whom we think we can help! Many of us cling to life +with a desperate clutch, like some poor wretch pushed +over a precipice and trying to dig his nails into the +rock as he falls. Some of us cling to it because we +dread what is beyond, and our longing to live is the +measure of our dread to die. But Paul did not look +forward to a thick darkness of judgment, or to nothingness. +He saw in the darkness a great light, the light +in the windows of his Father's house, and yet he +turned willingly away to his toil in the field, and was +more than content to drudge on as long as he could +do anything by his work. Blessed are they who share +his desire to depart, and his victorious willingness to +stay here and labour! They shall find that such a life +in the flesh, too, is being with Christ.</p> + +<p>III. Thus the stream of thought passes the rapids +and flows on smoothly to its final phase of peaceful +acquiescence.</p> + +<p>That is expressed very beautifully in the closing +verse, 'Having this confidence, I know that I shall +abide and continue with you all, for your furtherance +and joy in faith.' Self is so entirely overcome that he +puts away his own desire to enter into their joy, and +rejoices with them. He cannot yet have for himself +the blessedness which his spirit seeks. Well, be it so; +he will stop here and find a blessedness in seeing them +growing in confidence and knowledge of Christ and in +the gladness that comes from it. He gives up the hope +of that higher companionship with Jesus which drew +him so mightily. Well, be it so; he will have companionship +with his brethren, and 'abiding with you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span> +all' may haply find, even before the day of final +account, that to 'visit' Christ's little ones is to visit +Christ. Therefore he fuses his opposing wishes into +one. He is no more in a strait betwixt two, or unwitting +what he shall choose. He chooses nothing, but accepts +the appointment of a higher wisdom. There is rest +for him, as for us, in ceasing from our own wishes, and +laying our wills silent and passive at His feet.</p> + +<p>The true attitude for us in which to face the unknown +future, with its dim possibilities, and especially the +supreme alternative of life or death, is neither desire +nor reluctance, nor a hesitation compounded of both, +but trustful acquiescence. Such a temper is far from +indifference, and as far from agitation. In all things, +and most of all in regard to these matters, it is best +to hold desire in equilibrium till God shall speak. +Torture not yourself with hopes or fears. They make +us their slaves. Put your hand in God's hand, and +let Him guide you as He will. Wishes are bad steersmen. +We are only at peace when desires and dreads +are, if not extinct, at all events held tightly in. Rest, +and wisdom, and strength come with acquiescence. +Let us say with Richard Baxter, in his simple, noble +words:</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Lord, it belongs not to my care"> +<tr><td align='left'>'Lord, it belongs not to my care</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Whether I die or live;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">To love and serve Thee is my share,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">And that Thy grace must give.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>We may learn, too, that we may be quite sure that +we shall be left here as long as we are needed. Paul +knew that his stay was needful, so he could say, 'I +know that I shall abide with you.' We do not, but +we may be sure that if our stay is needful we shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span> +abide. We are always tempted to think ourselves +indispensable, but, thank God, nobody is necessary. +There are no irreparable losses, hard as it is to believe +it. We look at our work, at our families, our business, +our congregations, our subjects of study, and we say to +ourselves, 'What will become of them when I am gone? +Everything would fall to pieces if I were withdrawn.' +Do not be afraid. Depend on it, you will be left here +as long as you are wanted. There are no incomplete +lives and no premature removals. To the eye of faith +the broken column in our cemeteries is a sentimental +falsehood. No Christian life is broken short off so, but +rises in a symmetrical shaft, and its capital is garlanded +with amaranthine flowers in heaven. In one sense all +our lives are incomplete, for they and their issues are +above, out of our sight here. In another none are, for +we are 'immortal till our work is done.'</p> + +<p>The true attitude, then, for us is patient service till +He withdraws us from the field. We do not count him +a diligent servant who is always wearying for the hour +of leaving off to strike. Be it ours to labour where He +puts us, patiently waiting till 'death's mild curfew' sets +us free from the long day's work, and sends us home.</p> + +<p>Brethren! there are but two theories of life; two +corresponding aspects of death. The one says, 'To me +to live is Christ, and to die gain'; the other, 'To me to +live is self, and to die is loss and despair.' One or other +must be your choice. Which?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CITIZENS OF HEAVEN</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that +whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye +stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the +gospel; 28. And in nothing terrified by your adversaries.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> i. 27, 28.</p></div> + + +<p>We read in the Acts of the Apostles that Philippi was +the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a 'colony.' +Now, the connection between a Roman colony and +Rome was a great deal closer than that between an +English colony and England. It was, in fact, a bit of +Rome on foreign soil.</p> + +<p>The colonists and their children were Roman citizens. +Their names were enrolled on the lists of Roman +tribes. They were governed not by the provincial +authorities, but by their own magistrates, and the law +to which they owed obedience was not that of the +locality, but the law of Rome.</p> + +<p>No doubt some of the Philippian Christians possessed +these privileges. They knew what it was to live in a +community to which they were less closely bound than +to the great city beyond the sea. They were members +of a mighty polity, though they had never seen its +temples nor trod its streets. They lived in Philippi, +but they belonged to Rome. Hence there is a peculiar +significance in the first words of our text. The rendering, +'conversation,' was inadequate even when it was +made. It has become more so now. The word then +meant 'conduct.' It now means little more than words. +But though the phrase may express loosely the +Apostle's general idea, it loses entirely the striking +metaphor under which it is couched. The Revised +Version gives the literal rendering in its margin—'Behave +as citizens'—though it adopts in its text a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span> +rendering which disregards the figure in the word, and +contents itself with the less picturesque and vivid +phrase—'let your manner of life be worthy.' But there +seems no reason for leaving out the metaphor; it +entirely fits in with the purpose of the Apostle and +with the context.</p> + +<p>The meaning is, Play the citizen in a manner worthy +of the Gospel. Paul does not, of course, mean, Discharge +your civic duties as Christian men, though +some Christian Englishmen need that reminder; but +the city of which these Philippians were citizens was +the heavenly Jerusalem, the metropolis, the mother +city of us all. He would kindle in them the consciousness +of belonging to another order of things than that +around them. He would stimulate their loyalty to +obedience to the city's laws. As the outlying colonies +of Rome had sometimes entrusted to them the task of +keeping the frontiers and extending the power of the +imperial city, so he stirs them up to aggressive warfare; +and as in all their conflicts the little colony felt +that the Empire was at its back, and therefore looked +undaunted on shoals of barbarian foes, so he would +have his friends at Philippi animated by lofty courage, +and ever confident of final victory.</p> + +<p>Such seems to be a general outline of these eager +exhortations to the citizens of heaven in this outlying +colony of earth. Let us think of them briefly in order +now.</p> + +<p>I. Keep fresh the sense of belonging to the mother city.</p> + +<p>Paul was not only writing <i>to</i> Philippi, but <i>from</i> +Rome, where he might see how, even in degenerate +days, the consciousness of being a Roman gave dignity +to a man, and how the idea became almost a religion. +He would kindle a similar feeling in Christians.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p> + +<p>We do belong to another polity or order of things +than that with which we are connected by the bonds of +flesh and sense. Our true affinities are with the mother +city. True, we are here on earth, but far beyond the +blue waters is another community, of which we are +really members, and sometimes in calm weather we can +see, if we climb to a height above the smoke of the +valley where we dwell, the faint outline of the mountains +of that other land, lying bathed in sunlight and +dreamlike on the opal waves.</p> + +<p>Therefore it is a great part of Christian discipline to +keep a vivid consciousness that there is such an unseen +order of things at present in existence. We speak +popularly of 'the future life,' and are apt to forget that +it is also the <i>present</i> life to an innumerable company. +In fact, this film of an earthly life floats in that greater +sphere which is all around it, above, beneath, touching +it at every point.</p> + +<p>It is, as Peter says, 'ready to be unveiled.' Yes, +behind the thin curtain, through which stray beams of +the brightness sometimes shoot, that other order +stands, close to us, parted from us by a most slender +division, only a woven veil, no great gulf or iron +barrier. And before long His hand will draw it back, +rattling with its rings as it is put aside, and <i>there</i> will +blaze out what has always been, though we saw it not. +It is so close, so real, so bright, so solemn, that it is +worth while to try to feel its nearness; and we are so +purblind, and such foolish slaves of mere sense, shaping +our lives on the legal maxim that things which are non-apparent +must be treated as non-existent, that it needs +a constant effort not to lose the feeling altogether.</p> + +<p>There is a present connection between all Christian +men and that heavenly City. It not merely exists, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span> +we belong to it in the measure in which we are +Christians. All these figurative expressions about our +citizenship being in heaven and the like, rest on the +simple fact that the life of Christian men on earth and +in heaven is fundamentally the same. The principles +which guide, the motives which sway, the tastes and +desires, affections and impulses, the objects and aims, +are substantially one. A Christian man's true affinities +are with the things not seen, and with the persons +there, however his surface relationship knit him to the +earth. In the degree in which he is a Christian, he is +a stranger here and a native of the heavens. That +great City is, like some of the capitals of Europe, built +on a broad river, with the mass of the metropolis on +the one bank, but a wide-spreading suburb on the +other. As the Trastevere is to Rome, as Southwark to +London, so is earth to heaven, the bit of the city on +the other side the bridge. As Philippi was to Rome, +so is earth to heaven, the colony on the outskirts of +the empire, ringed round by barbarians, and separated +by sounding seas, but keeping open its communications, +and one in citizenship.</p> + +<p>Be it our care, then, to keep the sense of that city +beyond the river vivid and constant. Amid the shows +and shams of earth look ever onward to the realities +'the things which <i>are</i>,' while all else only seems to be. +The things which are seen are but smoke wreaths, +floating for a moment across space, and melting into +nothingness while we look. We do not belong to them +or to the order of things to which they belong. There +is no kindred between us and them. Our true relationships +are elsewhere. In this present visible world all +other creatures find their sufficient and homelike +abode. 'Foxes have holes, and birds their roosting-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>places'; +but man alone has not where to lay his head, +nor can he find in all the width of the created universe +a place in which and with which he can be satisfied. +Our true <i>habitat</i> is elsewhere. So let us set our +thoughts and affections on things above. The descendants +of the original settlers in our colonies talk still of +coming to England as going 'home,' though they were +born in Australia, and have lived there all their lives. +In like manner we Christian people should keep +vigorous in our minds the thought that our true home +is there where we have never been, and that here we +are foreigners and wanderers.</p> + +<p>Nor need that feeling of detachment from the present +sadden our spirits, or weaken our interest in the +things around us. To recognise our separation from +the order of things in which we 'move,' because we +belong to that majestic unseen order in which we really +'have our being,' makes life great and not small. It +clothes the present with dignity beyond what is possible +to it if it be not looked at in the light of its connection +with 'the regions beyond.' From that connection life +derives all its meaning. Surely nothing can be conceived +more unmeaning, more wearisome in its +monotony, more tragic in its joy, more purposeless in +its efforts, than man's life, if the life of sense and time +be all. Truly it is 'like a tale told by an idiot, full +of sound and fury, signifying nothing.' 'The white +radiance of eternity,' streaming through it from above, +gives all its beauty to the 'dome of many-coloured +glass' which men call life. They who feel most their +connection with the city which hath foundations should +be best able to wring the last drop of pure sweetness +out of all earthly joys, to understand the meaning of +all events, and to be interested most keenly, because<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span> +most intelligently and most nobly, in the homeliest and +smallest of the tasks and concerns of the present.</p> + +<p>So, in all things, act as citizens of the great Mother +of heroes and saints beyond the sea. Ever feel that +you belong to another order, and let the thought, +'Here we have no continuing city,' be to you not merely +the bitter lesson taught by the transiency of earthly +joys and treasures and loves, but the happy result of +'seeking for the city which hath the foundations.'</p> + +<p>II. Another exhortation which our text gives is, Live +by the laws of the city.</p> + +<p>The Philippian colonists were governed by the code +of Rome. Whatever might be the law of the province +of Macedonia, they owed no obedience to it. So +Christian men are not to be governed by the maxims +and rules of conduct which prevail in the province, +but to be governed from the capital. We ought to get +from on-lookers the same character that was given to +the Jews, that we are 'a people whose laws are +different from all people that be on earth,' and we +ought to reckon such a character our highest praise. +Paul would have these Philippian Christians act +'worthy of <i>the gospel</i>.' That is our law.</p> + +<p>The great good news of God manifest in the flesh, +and of our salvation through Christ Jesus, is not +merely to be believed, but to be obeyed. The gospel is +not merely a message of deliverance, it is also a rule +of conduct. It is not merely theology, it is also +ethics. Like some of the ancient municipal charters, +the grant of privileges and proclamation of freedom +is also the sovereign code which imposes duties and +shapes life. A gospel of laziness and mere exemption +from hell was not Paul's gospel. A gospel of doctrines, +to be investigated, spun into a system of theology, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span> +accepted by the understanding, and there an end, was +not Paul's gospel. He believed that the great facts +which he proclaimed concerning the self-revelation of +God in Christ would unfold into a sovereign law of life +for every true believer, and so his one all-sufficient precept +and standard of conduct are in these simple words, +'worthy of the gospel.'</p> + +<p>That law is all-sufficient. In the truths which constituted +Paul's gospel, that is to say, in the truths of +the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, lies all +that men need for conduct and character. In Him we +have the 'realised ideal,' the flawless example, and +instead of a thousand precepts, for us all duty is +resolved into one—be like Christ. In Him we have the +mighty motive, powerful enough to overcome all forces +that would draw us away, and like some strong spring +to keep us in closest contact with right and goodness. +Instead of a confusing variety of appeals to manifold +motives of interest and conscience, and one knows not +what beside, we have the one all-powerful appeal, 'If ye +love Me, keep My commandments,' and that draws all +the agitations and fluctuations of the soul after it, as the +rounded fulness of the moon does the heaped waters +in the tidal wave that girdles the world. In Him we +have all the helps that weakness needs, for He Himself +will come and dwell with us and in us, and be our +righteousness and our strength.</p> + +<p>Live 'worthy of the gospel,' then. How grand the +unity and simplicity thus breathed into our duties and +through our lives! All duties are capable of reduction +to this one, and though we shall still need detailed +instruction and specific precepts, we shall be set free +from the pedantry of a small scrupulous casuistry, +which fetters men's limbs with microscopic bands, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span> +shall joyfully learn how much mightier and happier is +the life which is shaped by one fruitful principle, than +that which is hampered by a thousand regulations.</p> + +<p>Nor is such an all-comprehensive precept a mere +toothless generality. Let a man try honestly to shape +his life by it; and he will find soon enough how close +it grips him, and how wide it stretches, and how deep +it goes. The greatest principles of the gospel are to +be fitted to the smallest duties. Indeed that combination—great +principles and small duties—is the secret +of all noble and calm life, and nowhere should it be so +beautifully exemplified as in the life of a Christian +man. The tiny round of the dew-drop is shaped by the +same laws that mould the giant sphere of the largest +planet. You cannot make a map of the poorest grass-field +without celestial observations. The star is not +too high nor too brilliant to move before us and guide +simple men's feet along their pilgrimage. 'Worthy of +the gospel' is a most practical and stringent law.</p> + +<p>And it is an exclusive commandment too, shutting +out obedience to other codes, however common and +fashionable they may be. We are governed from +home, and we give no submission to provincial +authorities. Never mind what people say about you, +nor what may be the maxims and ways of men around +you. These are no guides for you. Public opinion +(which only means for most of us the hasty judgments +of the half-dozen people who happen to be +nearest us), use and wont, the customs of our set, the +notions of the world about duty, with all these we +have nothing to do. The censures or the praise of +men need not move us. We report to headquarters, +and subordinates' estimate need be nothing to us. +Let us then say, 'With me it is a very small matter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span> +that I should be judged of men's judgment. He that +judgeth me is the Lord.' When we may be misunderstood +or harshly dealt with, let us lift our eyes +to the lofty seat where the Emperor sits, and remove +ourselves from men's sentences by our 'appeal unto +Cæsar'; and, in all varieties of circumstances and duty, +let us take the Gospel which is the record of Christ's +life, death, and character, for our only law, and labour +that, whatever others may think of us, we 'may be +well pleasing to Him.'</p> + +<p>III. Further, our text bids the colonists fight for +the advance of the dominions of the City.</p> + +<p>Like the armed colonists whom Russia and other +empires had on their frontier, who received their bits +of land on condition of holding the border against the +enemy, and pushing it forward a league or two when +possible, Christian men are set down in their places to +be 'wardens of the marches,' citizen soldiers who hold +their homesteads on a military tenure, and are to 'strive +together for the faith of the gospel.'</p> + +<p>There is no space here and now to go into details of +the exposition of this part of our text. Enough to +say in brief that we are here exhorted to 'stand fast'; +that is, as it were, the defensive side of our warfare, +maintaining our ground and repelling all assaults; that +this successful resistance is to be 'in one spirit,' inasmuch +as all resistance depends on our poor feeble +spirits being ingrafted and rooted in God's Spirit, in +vital union with whom we may be knit together into a +unity which shall oppose a granite breakwater to the +onrushing tide of opposition; that in addition to the +unmoved resistance which will not yield an inch of the +sacred soil to the enemy, we are to carry the war +onwards, and, not content with holding our own, are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span> +with one mind to strive together for the faith of the +gospel. There is to be discipline, then, and compact +organisation, like that of the legions whom Paul, from +his prison among the Prætorian guards, had often seen +shining in steel, moving like a machine, grim, irresistible. +The cause for which we are to fight is the +faith of the gospel, an expression which almost seems +to justify the opinion that 'the faith' here means, as +it does in later usage, the sum and substance of that +which is believed. But even here the word may have +its usual meaning of the subjective act of trust in the +gospel, and the thought may be that we are unitedly +to fight for its growing power in our own hearts and in +the hearts of others. In any case, the idea is plainly +here that Christian men are set down in the world, +like the frontier guard, to push the conquests of the +empire, and to win more ground for their King.</p> + +<p>Such work is ever needed, never more needed than +now. In this day when a wave of unbelief seems +passing over society, when material comfort and +worldly prosperity are so dazzlingly attractive to so +many, the solemn duty is laid upon us with even more +than usual emphasis, and we are called upon to feel +more than ever the oneness of all true Christians, and +to close up our ranks for the fight. All this can only +be done after we have obeyed the other injunctions of +this text. The degree in which we feel that we belong +to another order of things than this around us, and the +degree in which we live by the Imperial laws, will +determine the degree in which we can fight with vigour +for the growth of the dominion of the City. Be it +ours to cherish the vivid consciousness that we are here +dwelling not in the cities of the Canaanites, but, like +the father of the faithful, in tents pitched at their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span> +gates, nomads in the midst of a civic life to which we +do not belong, in order that we may breathe a hallowing +influence through it, and win hearts to the love of +Him whom to imitate is perfection, whom to serve is +freedom.</p> + +<p>IV. The last exhortation to the colonists is, Be sure +of victory.</p> + +<p>'In nothing terrified by your adversaries,' says Paul. +He uses a very vivid, and some people might think, +a very vulgar metaphor here. The word rendered +<i>terrified</i> properly refers to a horse shying or plunging +at some object. It is generally things half seen and +mistaken for something more dreadful than themselves +that make horses shy; and it is usually a half-look at +adversaries, and a mistaken estimate of their strength, +that make Christians afraid. Go up to your fears and +speak to them, and as ghosts are said to do, they will +generally fade away. So we may go into the battle, +as the rash French minister said he did into the Franco-German +war, 'with a light heart,' and that for good +reasons. We have no reason to fear for ourselves. +We have no reason to fear for the ark of God. We +have no reason to fear for the growth of Christianity +in the world. Many good men in this time seem to be +getting half-ashamed of the gospel, and some preachers +are preaching it in words which sound like an apology +rather than a creed. Do not let us allow the enemy to +overpower our imaginations in that fashion. Do not +let us fight as if we expected to be beaten, always +casting our eyes over our shoulders, even while we are +advancing, to make sure of our retreat, but let us trust +our gospel, and trust our King, and let us take to heart +the old admonition, 'Lift up thy voice with strength; +lift it up, be not afraid.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span></p> + +<p>Such courage is a prophecy of victory. Such courage +is based upon a sure hope. 'Our citizenship is in +heaven, from whence also we look for the Lord Jesus +as Saviour.' The little outlying colony in this far-off +edge of the empire is ringed about by wide-stretching +hosts of dusky barbarians. Far as the eye can reach +their myriads cover the land, and the watchers from +the ramparts might well be dismayed if they had +only their own resources to depend on. But they +know that the Emperor in his progress will come to +this sorely beset outpost, and their eyes are fixed on +the pass in the hills where they expect to see the +waving banners and the gleaming spears. Soon, like +our countrymen in Lucknow, they will hear the +music and the shouts that tell that He is at hand. +Then when He comes, He will raise the siege and +scatter all the enemies as the chaff of the threshing-floor, +and the colonists who held the post will go with +Him to the land which they have never seen, but which +is their home, and will, with the Victor, sweep in +triumph 'through the gates into the city.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A PLEA FOR UNITY</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any +fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, 2. Fulfil ye my +joy, that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, +of one mind; 3. Doing nothing through faction or through vainglory, but in lowliness +of mind each counting other better than himself; 4. Not looking each of you +to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> ii. 1-4 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>There was much in the state of the Philippian church +which filled Paul's heart with thankfulness, and nothing +which drew forth his censures, but these verses, with +their extraordinary energy of pleading, seem to hint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span> +that there was some defect in the unity of heart and +mind of members of the community. It did not +amount to discord, but the concord was not as full as +it might have been. There is another hint pointing +in the same direction in the appeal to Paul's true yoke-fellow, +in chapter iv., to help two good women who, +though they had laboured much in the gospel, had not +managed to keep 'of the same mind in the Lord,' and +there is perhaps a still further indication that Paul's +sensitive heart was conscious of the beginnings of +strife in the air, in the remarkable emphasis with +which, at the very outset of the letter, he over and +over again pours out his confidence and affection on +them 'all,' as if aware of some incipient rifts in their +brotherhood. There are always forces at work which +tend to part the most closely knit unities even when +these are consecrated by Christian faith. Where there +are no dogmatical grounds of discord, nor any open +alienation, there may still be the beginnings of separation, +and a chill breeze may be felt even when the sun +is shining with summer warmth. Wasps are attracted +by the ripest fruit.</p> + +<p>The words of our text present no special difficulty, +and bring before us a well-worn subject, but it has at +least this element of interest, that it grips very tightly +the deepest things in Christian life, and that none of +us can truly say that we do not need to listen to Paul's +pleading voice. We may notice the general division +of his thoughts in these words, in that he puts first the +heart-touching motives for listening to his appeal, +next describes with the exuberance of earnestness the +fair ideal of unity to which he exhorts, and finally +touches on the hindrances to its realisation, and the +victorious powers which will overcome these.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p> + +<p>I. The motives and bonds of Christian unity.</p> + +<p>It is not a pedantic dissection (and vivisection) of +the Apostle's earnest words, if we point out that they +fall into four clauses, of which the first and third +('any comfort in Christ, any fellowship of the Spirit') +urge the objective facts of Christian revelation, and +the second and fourth ('any consolation of love, any +tender mercies and compassions') put emphasis on the +subjective emotions of Christian experience. We may +lay the warmth of all of these on our own hearts, and +shall find that these hearts will be drawn into the +blessedness of Christian unity in the precise measure +in which they are affected by them.</p> + +<p>As to the first of them, it may be suggested that +here, as elsewhere in the New Testament, the true idea +of the word rendered 'comfort' is rather 'exhortation.' +The Apostle is probably not so much pointing to the +consolations for trouble which come from Jesus, as to +the stimulus to unity which flows from Him. It would +rather weaken the force of Paul's appeal, if the two +former grounds of it were so nearly identical as they +are, if the one is based upon 'comfort' and the other on +'consolation.' The Apostle is true to his dominant +belief, that in Jesus Christ there lies, and from Him +flows, the sovereign exhortation that rouses men to +'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report.' +In Him we shall find in the measure in which we are +in Him, the most persuasive of all exhortations to +unity, and the most omnipotent of all powers to enforce +it. Shall we not be glad to be in the flock of the +Good Shepherd, and to preserve the oneness which He +gave His life to establish? Can we live in Him, and +not share His love for His sheep? Surely those who +have felt the benediction of His breath on their fore<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>heads +when He prayed 'that they may all be one; +even as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee,' cannot +but do what is in them to fulfil that prayer, and to +bring a little nearer the realisation of their Lord's +purpose in it, 'that the world may believe that Thou +didst send Me.' Surely if we lay to heart, and enter +into sympathy with, the whole life and death of Jesus +Christ, we shall not fail to feel the dynamic power +fusing us together, nor fail to catch the exhortation to +unity which comes from the lips that said, 'I am the +vine, ye are the branches.'</p> + +<p>The Apostle next bases his appeal for unity on the +experiences of the Philippian Christians, and on their +memories of the comfort which they have tasted in the +exercise of mutual love. Our hearts find it hard to +answer the question whether they are more blessed +when their love passes out from them in a warm +stream to others, or when the love of others pours +into them. To love and to be loved equally elevate +courage, and brace the weakest for calm endurance +and high deeds. The man who loves and knows that he +is loved will be a hero. It must always seem strange +and inexplicable that a heart which has known the +enlargement and joy of love given and received, +should ever fall so far beneath itself as to be narrowed +and troubled by nourishing feelings of separation and +alienation from those whom it might have gathered +into its embrace, and thereby communicated, and in +communicating acquired, courage and strength. We +have all known the comfort of love; should it not impel +us to live in 'the unity of the spirit and the bond of +peace'? Men around us are meant to be our helpers, +and to be helped by us, and the one way to secure both +is to walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span></p> + +<p>But Paul has still further heart-melting motives to +urge. He turns the Philippians' thoughts to their fellowship +in the Spirit. All believers have been made +to drink into one spirit, and in that common participation +in the same supernatural life they partake of +a oneness, which renders any clefts or divisions unnatural, +and contradictory of the deepest truths of +their experience. The branch can no more shiver +itself off from the tree, or keep the life sap enclosed +within itself, than one possessor of the common gift +of the Spirit can separate himself from the others +who share it. We are one in Him; let us be one in +heart and mind. The final appeal is connected with +the preceding, inasmuch as it lays emphasis on the +emotions which flow from the one life common to all +believers. That participation in the Spirit naturally +leads in each participant to 'tender mercies and compassions' +directed to all sharers in it. The very +mark of truly possessing the Spirit's life is a nature +full of tenderness and swift to pity, and they who +have experienced the heaven on earth of such emotions +should need no other motive than the memory of its +blessedness, to send them out among their brethren, +and even into a hostile world, as the apostles of love, +the bearers of tender mercies, and the messengers +of pity.</p> + +<p>II. The fair ideal which would complete the Apostle's +joy.</p> + +<p>We may gather from the rich abundance of motives +which the Apostle suggests before he comes to present +his exhortation, that he suspected the existence of +some tendencies in the opposite direction in Philippi, +and possibly the same conclusion may be drawn from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span> +the exuberance of the exhortation itself, and from its +preceding the dehortation which follows. He does +not scold, he scarcely even rebukes, but he begins by +trying to melt away any light frost that had crept +over the warmth of the Philippians' love; and having +made that preparation, he sets before them with a +fulness which would be tautological but for the +earnestness that throbs in it, the ideal of unity, and +presses it upon them still more meltingly, by telling +them that their realisation of it will be the completion +of his joy. The main injunction is 'that ye be of the +same mind,' and that is followed by three clauses which +are all but exactly synonymous with it, 'having the +same love, being of one accord, of one mind.' The +resemblance of the latter clause to the main exhortation +is still more complete, if we read with Revised +Version (margin) 'of the same mind,' but in any case +the exhortations are all practically the same. The +unity which Paul would fain see, is far deeper and +more vital than mere unanimity of opinion, or identity +of polity, or co-operation in practice. The clauses +which expand it guard us against the mistake of +thinking that intellectual or practical oneness is all +that is meant by Christian unity. They are 'of the +same mind,' who have the same wishes, aims, outlooks, +the same hopes and fears, and who are one in the +depths of their being. They have 'the same love,' all +similarly loving and being loved, the same emotion filling +each heart. They are united in soul, or 'with accordant +souls' having, and knowing that they have them, +akin, allied to one another, moving to a common end, +and aware of their oneness. The unity which Christian +people have hitherto reached is at its best but a small<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span> +are of the great circle which the Apostle drew, and +none of us can read these fervid words without shame. +His joy is not yet fulfilled.</p> + +<p>That exhortation to be 'of the same mind,' not only +points to a deep and vital unity, but suggests that the +ground of the unity is to be found without us, in the +common direction of our 'minds,' which means far +more than popular phraseology means by it, to an +external object. It is having our hearts directed to +Christ that makes us one. He is the bond and centre +of unity. We have just said that the object is external, +but that has to be taken with a modification, for the +true basis of unity is the common possession of 'Christ +in us.' It is when we have this mind in us 'which was +also in Christ Jesus,' that we have 'the same mind' +one with another.</p> + +<p>The very keynote of the letter is joy, as may be seen +by a glance over it. He joys and rejoices with them +all, but his cup is not quite full. One more precious +drop is needed to make it run over. Probably the +coldness which he had heard of between Euodias and +Syntyche had troubled him, and if he could be sure of +the Philippians' mutual love he would rejoice in his +prison. We cannot tell whether that loving and careful +heart is still aware of the fortunes of the Church, +but we know of a more loving and careful heart +which is, and we cannot but believe that the alienations +and discords of His professed followers bring +some shadow over the joy of Christ. Do we not hear +His voice again asking, 'what was it that you disputed +among yourselves by the way?' and must we not, like +the disciples, 'hold our peace' when that question is +asked? May we not hear a voice sweeter in its +cadence, and more melting in its tenderness than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span> +Paul's, saying to us 'Fulfil ye My joy that ye be of the +same mind.'</p> + +<p>III. The hindrances and helps to being of the same +mind.</p> + +<p>The original has no verb in front of 'nothing' in +verse 3, and it seems better to supply the one which +has been so frequently used in the preceding exhortation +than 'doing,' which carries us too abruptly into +the outer region of action. Paul indicates two main +hindrances to being of the same mind, namely, faction +and vainglory on the one hand, and self-absorption +on the other, and opposed to each the tone of mind +which is its best conqueror. Faction and vainglory +are best defeated by humility and unselfishness. As +to the former, the love of making or heading little +cliques in religion or politics or society, has oftenest its +roots in nothing loftier than vanity or pride. Many a +man who poses as guided by staunch adherence to +conviction is really impelled only by a wish to make +himself notorious as a leader, and loves to talk of +'those with whom I act.' There is a strong admixture +of a too lofty estimate of self in most of the disagreements +of Christian people. They expect more deference +than they get, or their judgment is not taken as law, +or their place is not so high as they think is their due, +or in a hundred different ways self-love is wounded, +and self-esteem is inflamed. All this is true in reference +to the smaller communities of congregations, and with +the necessary modifications it is quite as true in +reference to the larger aggregations which we call +churches or denominations. If all in their work that +is directly due to faction and vainglory were struck +out there would be great gaps in their activities, and +many a flourishing scheme would fall dead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span></p> + +<p>The cure for all these evils is lowliness of mind. That +is a Christian word. Used by Greek thinkers, it meant +abjectness; and it is one conspicuous instance of the +change effected in morals by Christian teaching that it +has become the name of a virtue. We are to dwell +not on our gifts but on our imperfections, and if we +judge ourselves with constant reference to the standard +in Christ's life, we shall need little more to bring us to +our knees in true lowliness of mind. The man who +has been forgiven so many talents will not be in a +hurry to take his brother by the throat and leave the +marks of his fingers for tenpence.</p> + +<p>Christian unity is further broken by selfishness. To +be absorbed in self is of course to have the heart shut +to others. Our own interests, inclinations, possessions, +when they assert themselves in our lives, build up +impassable barriers between us and our fellows. To +live to self is the real root of every sin as it is of all +loveless life. The Apostle uses careful language: he +admits the necessity for attention to our 'own things,' +and only requires that we should look 'also' on the +things of others. His cure for the hindrances to Christian +unity is very complete, very practical, and very +simple. Each counting other better than himself, and +each 'looking also to the things of others' seem very +homely and pedestrian virtues, but homely as they are +we shall find that they grip us tight, if we honestly try +to practise them in our daily lives, and we shall find +also that the ladder which has its foot on earth has its +top in the heavens, and that the practice of humility +and unselfishness leads straight to having 'the mind +which was also in Christ Jesus.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE DESCENT OF THE WORD</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the +form of God, counted it not a prize to be on an equality with God, 7. But emptied +Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; 8. And +being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even +unto death, yea, the death of the cross.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> ii. 5-8 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>The purpose of the Apostle in this great passage must +ever be kept clearly in view. Our Lord's example +is set forth as the pattern of that unselfish disregard +of one's own things, and devotion to the things of +others, which has just been urged on the Philippians, +and the mind which was in Him is presented as the +model on which they are to fashion their minds. This +purpose in some measure explains some of the peculiarities +of the language here, and may help to guide us +through some of the intricacies and doubtful points in +the interpretation of the words. It explains why Christ's +death is looked at in them only in its bearing upon +Himself, as an act of obedience and of condescension, +and why even that death in which Jesus stands most +inimitable and unique is presented as capable of being +imitated by us. The general drift of these verses is +clear, but there are few Scripture passages which have +evoked more difference of opinion as to the precise +meaning of nearly every phrase. To enter on the +subtle discussions involved in the adequate exposition +of the words would far exceed our limits, and we must +perforce content ourselves with a slight treatment of +them, and aim chiefly at bringing out their practical +side.</p> + +<p>The broad truth which stands sun-clear amid all +diverse interpretations is—that the Incarnation, Life, +and Death are the great examples of living humility<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span> +and self-sacrifice. To be born was His supreme act of +condescension. It was love which made Him assume +the vesture of human flesh. To die was the climax of +His voluntary obedience, and of His devotion to us.</p> + +<p>I. The height from which Jesus descended.</p> + +<p>The whole strange conception of birth as being the +voluntary act of the Person born, and as being the +most stupendous instance of condescension in the +world's history, necessarily reposes on the clear conviction +that He had a prior existence so lofty that it +was an all but infinite descent to become man. Hence +Paul begins with the most emphatic assertion that he +who bore the name of Jesus lived a divine life before +He was born. He uses a very strong word which is +given in the margin of the Revised Version, and might +well have been in its text. 'Being originally' as the +word accurately means, carries our thoughts back not +only to a state which preceded Bethlehem and the +cradle, but to that same timeless eternity from which +the prologue of the Gospel of John partially draws +the veil when it says, 'In the beginning was the +Word,' and to which Jesus Himself more obscurely +pointed when He said, 'Before Abraham was I am.'</p> + +<p>Equally emphatic in another direction is Paul's next +expression, 'In the form of God,' for 'form' means +much more than 'shape.' I would point out the +careful selection in this passage of three words to +express three ideas which are often by hasty thought +regarded as identical. We read of 'the <i>form</i> of God' +(verse 6), 'the <i>likeness</i> of men' (verse 7), and 'in <i>fashion</i> +as a man.' Careful investigation of these two words +'form' and 'fashion' has established a broad distinction +between them, the former being more fixed, the latter +referring to that which is accidental and outward,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span> +which may be fleeting and unsubstantial. The possession +of the form involves participation in the essence +also. Here it implies no corporeal idea as if God had +a material form, but it implies also much more than a +mere apparent resemblance. He who is in the form +of God possesses the essential divine attributes. Only +God can be 'in the form of God': man is made in the +likeness of God, but man is not 'in the form of God.' +Light is thrown on this lofty phrase by its antithesis +with the succeeding expression in the next verse, +'the form of a servant,' and as that is immediately +explained to refer to Christ's assumption of human +nature, there is no room for candid doubt that 'being +originally in the form of God' is a deliberately asserted +claim of the divinity of Christ in His pre-existent +state.</p> + +<p>As we have already pointed out, Paul soars here to +the same lofty height to which the prologue of John's +Gospel rises, and he echoes our Lord's own words +about 'the glory which I had with Thee before the +foundation of the world.' Our thoughts are carried +back before creatures were, and we become dimly +aware of an eternal distinction in the divine nature +which only perfects its eternal oneness. Such an +eternal participation in the divine nature before all +creation and before time is the necessary pre-supposition +of the worth of Christ's life as the pattern of +humility and self-sacrifice. That pre-supposition gives +all its meaning, its pathos, and its power, to His gentleness, +and love, and death. The facts are different in +their significance, and different in their power to bless +and gladden, to purge and sway the soul, according as +we contemplate them with or without the background +of His pre-existent divinity. The view which regards<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span> +Him as simply a man, like all the rest of us, beginning +to be when He was born, takes away from His example +its mightiest constraining force. Only when we with +all our hearts believe 'that the Word became flesh,' do +we discern the overwhelming depths of condescension +manifested in the Birth. If it was not the incarnation +of God, it has no claim on the hearts of men.</p> + +<p>II. The wondrous act of descent.</p> + +<p>The stages in that long descent are marked out with +a precision and definiteness which would be intolerable +presumption, if Paul were speaking only his own +thoughts, or telling what he had seen with his own eyes. +They begin with what was in the mind of the eternal +Word before He began His descent, and whilst yet He +is 'in the form of God.' He stands on the lofty level +before the descent begins, and in spirit makes the surrender, +which, stage by stage, is afterwards to be +wrought out in act. Before any of these acts there +must have been the disposition of mind and will which +Paul describes as 'counting it not a thing to be grasped +to be on an equality with God.' He did not regard the +being equal to God as a prey or treasure to be clutched +and retained at all hazards. That sweeps our thoughts +into the dim regions far beyond Calvary or Bethlehem, +and is a more overwhelming manifestation of love than +are the acts of lowly gentleness and patient endurance +which followed in time. It included and transcended +them all.</p> + +<p>It was the supreme example of not 'looking on one's +own things.' And what made Him so count? What +but infinite love. To rescue men, and win them to Himself +and goodness, and finally to lift them to the place +from which He came down for them, seemed to Him to +be worth the temporary surrender of that glory and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span> +majesty. We can but bow and adore the perfect love. +We look more deeply into the depths of Deity than +unaided eyes could ever penetrate, and what we see is +the movement in that abyss of Godhead of purest +surrender which, by beholding, we are to assimilate.</p> + +<p>Then comes the wonder of wonders, 'He emptied +Himself.' We cannot enter here on the questions which +gather round that phrase, and which give it a factitious +importance in regard to present controversies. All +that we would point out now is that while the Apostle +distinctly treats the Incarnation as being a laying +aside of what made the Word to be equal with God, +he says nothing, on which an exact determination can +be based, of the degree or particulars in which the +divine nature of our Lord was limited by His +humanity. The fact he asserts, and that is all. The +scene in the Upper Chamber was but a feeble picture +of what had already been done behind the veil. Unless +He had laid aside His garments of divine glory +and majesty, He would have had no human flesh from +which to strip the robes. Unless He had willed to +take the 'form of a servant,' He would not have had a +body to gird with the slave's towel. The Incarnation, +which made all His acts of lowly love possible, was a +greater act of lowly love than those which flowed +from it. Looking at it from earth, men say, 'Jesus +was born.' Looking at it from heaven, Angels say, +'He emptied Himself.'</p> + +<p>But how did He empty Himself? By taking the +form of a slave, that is to God. And how did He take +the form of a slave? By 'becoming in the likeness of +men.' Here we are specially to note the remarkable +language implying that what is true of none other in +all the generations of men is true of Him. That just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span> +as 'emptying Himself' was His own act, also the +taking the form of a slave by His being born was His +own act, and was more truly described as a 'becoming.' +We note, too, the strong contrast between that most +remarkable word and the 'being originally' which is +used to express the mystery of divine pre-existence.</p> + +<p>Whilst His becoming in the likeness of men stands +in strong contrast with 'being originally' and energetically +expresses the voluntariness of our Lord's birth, +the 'likeness of men' does not cast any doubt on the +reality of His manhood, but points to the fact that +'though certainly perfect man, He was by reason of +the divine nature present in Him not simply and +merely man.'</p> + +<p>Here then the beginning of Christ's manhood is +spoken of in terms which are only explicable, if it was +a second form of being, preceded by a pre-existent +form, and was assumed by His own act. The language, +too, demands that that humanity should have been +true essential manhood. It was in 'the form' of man +and possessed of all essential attributes. It was in +'the likeness' of man possessed of all external characteristics, +and yet was something more. It summed up +human nature, and was its representative.</p> + +<p>III. The obedience which attended the descent.</p> + +<p>It was not merely an act of humiliation and condescension +to become man, but all His life was one +long act of lowliness. Just as He 'emptied Himself' in +the act of becoming in the 'likeness of men,' so He +'humbled Himself,' and all along the course of His +earthly life He chose constant lowliness and to be +'despised and rejected of men.' It was the result +moment by moment of His own will that to the eyes +of men He presented 'no form nor comeliness,' and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span> +will was moment by moment steadied in its unmoved +humility, because He perpetually looked 'not on His +own things, but on the things of others.' The guise +He presented to the eyes of men was 'the <i>fashion</i> of a +man.' That word corresponds exactly to Paul's carefully +selected term, and makes emphatic both its superficial +and its transitory character.</p> + +<p>The lifelong humbling of Himself was further manifested +in His becoming 'obedient.' That obedience +was, of course, to God. And here we cannot but pause +to ask the question, How comes it that to the man +Jesus obedience to God was an act of humiliation? +Surely there is but one explanation of such a statement. +For all men but this one to be God's slaves is +their highest honour, and to speak of obedience as +humiliation is a sheer absurdity.</p> + +<p>Not only was the life of Jesus so perfect an example +of unbroken obedience that He could safely front His +adversaries with the question, 'Which of you convinceth +Me of sin?' and with the claim to 'do always +the things that pleased Him,' but the obedience to the +Father was perfected in His death. Consider the extraordinary +fact that a man's death is the crowning instance +of his humility, and ask yourselves the question, +Who then is this who chose to be born, and stooped in +the act of dying? His death was obedience to God, +because by it He carried out the Father's will for the +salvation of the world, His death is the greatest instance +of unselfish self-sacrifice, and the loftiest +example of looking on the 'things of others' that the +world has ever seen. It dwindles in significance, in +pathos, and in power to move us to imitation unless +we clearly see the divine glory of the eternal Lord as +the background of the gentle lowliness of the Man of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span> +Sorrows, and the Cross. No theory of Christ's life +and death but that He was born for us, and died for +us, either explains the facts and the apostolic language +concerning them, or leaves them invested with their +full power to melt our hearts and mould our lives. +There is a possibility of imitating Him in the most +transcendent of His acts. The mind may be in us +which was in Christ Jesus. That it may, His death +must first be the ground of our hope, and then we +must make it the pattern of our lives, and draw from +it the power to shape them after His blessed Example.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE ASCENT OF JESUS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Wherefore also God highly exalted Him and gave unto Him the name which +is above every name; 10. That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of +things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth; 11. And that +every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the +Father.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> ii. 9-11 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,' said Jesus. +He is Himself the great example of that law. The +Apostle here goes on to complete his picture of the +Lord Jesus as our pattern. In previous verses we had +the solemn steps of His descent, and the lifelong +humility and obedience of the incarnate Son, the man +Christ Jesus. Here we have the wondrous ascent +which reverses all the former process. Our text describes +the reflex motion by which Jesus is borne back +to the same level as that from which the descent +began.</p> + +<p>We have</p> + +<p>I. The act of exaltation which forms the contrast and +the parallel to the descent.</p> + +<p>'God highly exalted Him.' The Apostle coins an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span> +emphatic word which doubly expresses elevation, and +in its grammatical form shows that it indicates a +historical fact. That elevation was a thing once +accomplished on this green earth; that is to say it +came to pass in the fact of our Lord's ascension when +from some fold of the Mount of Olives He was borne +upwards and, with blessing hands, was received into +the Shechinah cloud, the glory of which hid Him from +the upward-gazing eyes.</p> + +<p>It is plain that the 'Him' of whom this tremendous +assertion is made, must be the same as the 'He' of +whom the previous verses spoke, that is, the Incarnate +Jesus. It is the manhood which is exalted. His +humiliation consisted in His becoming man, but His +exaltation does not consist in His laying aside His +humanity. It is not a transient but an eternal union +into which in the Incarnation it entered with divinity. +Henceforward we have to think of Him in all the +glory of His heavenly state as man, and as truly and +completely in the 'likeness of men' as when He walked +with bleeding feet on the flinty road of earthly life. +He now bears for ever the 'form of God' and 'the +fashion of a man.'</p> + +<p>Here I would pause for a moment to point out that +the calm tone of this reference to the ascension indicates +that it was part of the recognised Christian +beliefs, and implies that it had been familiar long +before the date of this Epistle, which itself dates from +not more than at the most thirty years from the death +of Christ. Surely that lapse of time is far too narrow +to allow of such a belief having sprung up, and been +universally accepted about a dead man, who all the +while was lying in a nameless grave.</p> + +<p>The descent is presented as <i>His</i> act, but decorum and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span> +truth required that the exaltation should be God's act. +'He humbled Himself,' but 'God exalted Him.' True, +He sometimes represented Himself as the Agent of +His own Resurrection and Ascension, and established a +complete parallel between His descent and His ascent, +as when He said, 'I came out from the Father, and am +come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go +unto the Father.' He was no less obedient to the +Father's will when He ascended up on high, than He +was when He came down to earth, and whilst, from +one point of view, His Resurrection and Ascension were +as truly His own acts as were His birth and His death, +from another, He had to pray, 'And now, O Father, +glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory +which I had with Thee before the world was.' The +Titans presumptuously scaled the heavens, according +to the old legend, but the Incarnate Lord returned to +'His own calm home, His habitation from eternity,' +was exalted thither by God, in token to the universe +that the Father approved the Son's descent, and that +the work which the Son had done was indeed, as He +declared it to be, 'finished.' By exalting Him, the +Father not merely reinstated the divine Word in its +eternal union with God, but received into the cloud of +glory the manhood which the Word had assumed.</p> + +<p>II. The glory of the name of Jesus.</p> + +<p>What is the name 'which is above every name'? It is +the name Jesus. It is to be noted that Paul scarcely +ever uses that simple appellative. There are, roughly +speaking, about two hundred instances in which he +names our Lord in his Epistles, and there are only four +places, besides this, in which he uses this as his own, and +two in which he, as it were, puts it into the mouth of +an enemy. Probably then, some special reason led to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span> +its occurrence here, and it is not difficult, I think, to +see what that reason is. The simple personal name +was given indeed with reference to His work, but had +been borne by many a Jewish child before Mary called +her child Jesus, and the fact that it is this common +name which is exalted above every name, brings out +still more strongly the thought already dwelt upon, +that what is thus exalted is the manhood of our Lord. +The name which expressed His true humanity, which +showed His full identification with us, which was +written over His Cross, which perhaps shaped the +taunt 'He <i>saved</i> others, Himself He cannot save,'—that +name God has lifted high above all names of council +and valour, of wisdom and might, of authority and +rule. It is shrined in the hearts of millions who +render to it perfect trust, unconditional obedience, absolute +loyalty. Its growing power, and the warmth +of personal love which it evokes, in centuries and +lands so far removed from the theatre of His life, +is a unique thing in the world's history. It reigns in +heaven.</p> + +<p>But Paul is not content with simply asserting the +sovereign glory of the name of Jesus. He goes on to +set it forth as being what no other name borne by man +can be, the ground and object of worship, when he +declares, that 'in the name of Jesus every knee shall +bow.' The words are quoted from the second Isaiah, +and occur in one of the most solemn and majestic +utterances of the monotheism of the Old Testament. +And Paul takes these words, undeterred by the declaration +which precede them, 'I Am am God and there is +none else,' applies them to Jesus, to the manhood of +our Lord. Bowing the knee is of course prayer, and in +these great words the issue of the work of Jesus is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span> +unmistakably set forth, as not only being that He has +declared God to men, who through Him are drawn to +worship the Father, but that their emotions of love, +reverence, worship, are turned to <i>Him</i>, though as the +Apostle is careful immediately to note, they are not +thereby intercepted from, but directed to, the glory of +God the Father. In the eternities before His descent, +there was equality with God, and when He returns, it +is to the Father, who in Him has become the object of +adoration, and round whose throne gather with bended +knees all those who in Jesus see the Father.</p> + +<p>The Apostle still further dwells on the glory of the +name as that of the acknowledged Lord. And here we +have with significant variation in strong contrast to +the previous name of Jesus, the full title 'Jesus Christ +Lord.' That is almost as unusual in its completeness +as the other in its simplicity, and it comes in here with +tremendous energy, reminding us of the great act to +which we owe our redemption, and of all the prophecies +and hopes which, from of old, had gathered round the +persistent hope of the coming Messiah, while the name +of Lord proclaims His absolute dominion. The knee is +bowed in reverence, the tongue is vocal in confession. +That confession is incomplete if either of these three +names is falteringly uttered, and still more so, if +either of them is wanting. The Jesus whom Christians +confess is not merely the man who was born in +Bethlehem and known among men as 'Jesus the +carpenter.' In these modern days, His manhood has +been so emphasised as to obscure His Messiahship and +to obliterate His dominion, and alas! there are many +who exalt Him by the name that Mary gave Him, who +turn away from the name of Jesus as 'Hebrew old +clothes,' and from the name of Lord as antiquated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span> +superstition. But in all the lowliness and gentleness of +Jesus there were not wanting lofty claims to be the +Christ of whom prophets and righteous men of old +spake, and whose coming many a generation desired +to see and died without the sight, and still loftier and +more absolute claims to be invested with 'all power in +heaven and earth,' and to sit down with the Father on +His throne. It is dangerous work to venture to toss +aside two of these three names, and to hope that if we +pronounce the third of them, Jesus, with appreciation, +it will not matter if we do not name Him either Christ +or Lord.</p> + +<p>If it is true that the manhood of Jesus is thus +exalted, how wondrous must be the kindred between +the human and the divine, that it should be capable of +this, that it should dwell in the everlasting burnings of +the Divine Glory and not be consumed! How blessed +for us the belief that our Brother wields all the forces +of the universe, that the human love which Jesus +had when He bent over the sick and comforted the +sorrowful, is at the centre. Jesus is Lord, the Lord +is Jesus!</p> + +<p>The Psalmist was moved to a rapture of thanksgiving +when he thought of man as 'made a little lower +than the angels, and crowned with glory and honour,' +but when we think of the Man Jesus 'sitting at the +right hand of God,' the Psalmist's words seem pale and +poor, and we can repeat them with a deeper meaning +and a fuller emphasis, 'Thou madest Him to have +dominion over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put +all things under His feet.'</p> + +<p>III. The universal glory of the name.</p> + +<p>By the three classes into which the Apostle divides +creation, 'things in heaven, and things on earth, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span> +things under the earth,' he simply intends to declare, +that Jesus is the object of all worship, and the words +are not to be pressed as containing dogmatic assertions +as to the different classes mentioned. But guided by +other words of Scripture, we may permissibly think +that the 'things in heaven' tell us that the angels who +do not need His mediation learn more of God by His +work and bow before His throne. We cannot be +wrong in believing that the glory of His work stretches +far beyond the limits of humanity, and that His kingdom +numbers other subjects than those who draw +human breath. Other lips than ours say with a great +voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to +receive power and riches and wisdom and might and +honour and glory and blessing.'</p> + +<p>The things on earth are of course men, and the +words encourage us to dim hopes about which we cannot +dogmatise of a time when all the wayward self-seeking +and self-tormenting children of men shall have +learned to know and love their best friend, and 'there +shall be one flock and one shepherd.'</p> + +<p>'Things under the earth' seems to point to the old +thought of 'Sheol' or 'Hades' or a separate state of +the dead. The words certainly suggest that those who +have gone from us are not unconscious nor cut off +from the true life, but are capable of adoration and +confession. We cannot but remember the old belief +that Jesus in His death 'descended into Hell,' and +some of us will not forget Fra Angelico's picture of the +open doorway with a demon crushed beneath the fallen +portal, and the crowd of eager faces and outstretched +hands swarming up the dark passage, to welcome the +entering Christ. Whatever we may think of that +ancient representation, we may at least be sure that,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span> +wherever they are, the dead in Christ praise and +reverence and love.</p> + +<p>IV. The glory of the Father in the glory of the name +of Jesus.</p> + +<p>Knees bent and tongues confessing the absolute +dominion of Jesus Christ could only be offence and +sin if He were not one with the Father. But the +experience of all the thousands since Paul wrote, whose +hearts have been drawn in reverent and worshipping +trust to the Son, has verified the assertion, that to +confess that Jesus Christ is Lord diverts no worship +from God, but swells and deepens the ocean of praise +that breaks round the throne. If it is true, and only +if it is true, that in the life and death of Jesus all +previous revelations of the Father's heart are surpassed, +if it is true and only if it is true, as He Himself +said, that 'I and the Father are one,' can Paul's words +here be anything but an incredible paradox. But +unless these great words close and crown the Apostle's +glowing vision, it is maimed and imperfect, and Jesus +interposes between loving hearts and God. One could +almost venture to believe that at the back of Paul's +mind, when he wrote these words, was some remembrance +of the great prayer, 'I glorified Thee on the +earth, having accomplished the work which Thou +gavest Me to do.' When the Son is glorified we +glorify the Father, and the words of our text may well +be remembered and laid to heart by any who will not +recognise the deity of the Son, because it seems to +them to dishonour the Father. Their honour is inseparable +and their glory one.</p> + +<p>There is a sense in which Jesus is our example even +in His ascent and exaltation, just as He was in His +descent and humiliation. The mind which was in Him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span> +is for us the pattern for earthly life, though the deeds +in which that mind was expressed, and especially His +'obedience to the death of the Cross,' are so far beyond +any self-sacrifice of ours, and are inimitable, unique, +and needing no repetition while the world lasts. And +as we can imitate His unexampled sacrifice, so we may +share His divine glory, and, resting on His own faithful +word, may follow the calm motion of His Ascension, +assured that where He is there we shall be also, and +that the manhood which is exalted in Him is the +prophecy that all who love Him will share His glory. +The question for us all is, have we in us 'the mind that +was in Christ'? and the other question is, what is that +name to us? Can we say, 'Thy mighty name salvation +is'? If in our deepest hearts we grasp that name, and +with unfaltering lips can say that 'there is none other +name under heaven given amongst men whereby we +must be saved but the name of Jesus,' then we shall +know that</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="To us with Thy dear name are given"> +<tr><td align='left'>'To us with Thy dear name are given,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Pardon, and holiness, and heaven.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13. For it is God which +worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.'—<span class="smcap">Phil</span>. ii. 12, 13.</p></div> + + +<p>'What God hath joined together, let no man put +asunder!' Here are, joined together, in the compass +of one practical exhortation, the truths which, put +asunder, have been the war-cries and shibboleths of +contending sects ever since. <i>Faith</i> in a finished salvation, +and yet <i>work;</i> God working all <i>in</i> me, and yet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span> +I able and bound to work likewise; God upholding and +sustaining His child to the very end; 'perfecting that +which concerns him,' making his salvation certain and +sure, and yet the Christian working 'with fear and +trembling,' lest he should be a castaway and come +short of the grace of God;—who does not recognise in +these phrases the mottoes that have been written on +the opposing banners in many a fierce theological +battle, waged with much harm to both sides, and +ending in no clear victory for either? Yet here they +are blended in the words of one who was no less +profound a thinker than any that have come after, and +who had the gift of a divine inspiration to boot.</p> + +<p>Not less remarkable than the fusion here of +apparent antagonisms, the harmonising of apparent +opposites, is the intensely practical character of the +purpose for which they are adduced at all. Paul has +no idea of giving his disciples a lesson in abstract +theology, or laying for them a foundation of a +philosophy of free will and divine sovereignty; he is +not merely communicating to these Philippians truths +for their creed, but precepts for their deeds. The +Bible knows nothing of an unpractical theology, but, +on the other hand, the Bible knows still less of an +untheological morality. It digs deep, bottoming the +simplest right action upon right thinking, and going +down to the mountain bases on which the very pillars +of the universe rest, in order to lay there, firm and +<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'immoveable'">immovable</ins>, the courses of the temple of a holy life. +Just as little as Scripture gives countenance to the +error that makes religion theology rather than life, +just so little does it give countenance to the far more +contemptible and shallower error common in our day, +which <i>says</i>, Religion is not theology, but life; and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span> +<i>means</i>, 'Therefore, it does not matter what theology +you have, you can work a good life out with any +creed!' The Bible never teaches unpractical speculations, +and the Bible never gives precepts which do not +rest on the profoundest truths. Would God, brethren, +that we all had souls as wide as would take in the +whole of the many-sided scriptural representation of +the truths of the Gospel, and so avoid the narrowness +of petty, partial views of God's infinite counsel; and +that we had as close, direct, and as free communication +between head, and heart, and hand, as the Scripture +has between precept and practice!</p> + +<p>But in reference more especially to my text. Keeping +in view these two points I have already suggested, +namely,—that it is the reconciling of apparent opposites, +and that it is intensely practical, I find in it these +three thoughts;—First, a Christian has his whole +salvation accomplished for him, and yet he is to work +it out. Secondly, a Christian has everything done in +him by God, and yet he is to work. Lastly, a Christian +has his salvation certainly secured, and yet he is to +fear and tremble.</p> + +<p>I. In the first place, A Christian man has his whole +salvation already accomplished for him in Christ, and +yet he is to work it out.</p> + +<p>There are two points absolutely necessary to be kept +in view in order to a right understanding of the words +before us, for the want of noticing which it has become +the occasion of terrible mistakes. These are—the persons +to whom it is addressed, and the force of the +scriptural expression 'salvation.' As to the first, this +exhortation has been misapplied by being addressed to +those who have no claim to be Christians, and by having +such teaching deduced from it as, You do your part, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span> +God will do His; You work, and God will certainly +help you; You co-operate in the great work of +your salvation, and you will get grace and pardon +through Jesus Christ. Now let us remember the very +simple thing, but very important to the right understanding +of these words, that none but Christian +people have anything to do with them. To all others, +to all who are not already resting on the finished +salvation of Jesus Christ, this injunction is utterly +inapplicable. It is addressed to the 'beloved, who +have always obeyed'; to the 'saints in Christ Jesus, +which are at Philippi.' The whole Epistle is addressed, +and this injunction with the rest, to Christian men. +That is the first thing to be remembered. If there be +any of you, who have thought that these words of +Paul's to those who had believed on Christ contained a +rule of action for you, though you have not rested +your souls on Him, and exhorted you to try to win +salvation by your own doings, let me remind you of +what Christ said when the Jews came to Him in a +similar spirit and asked Him, 'What shall we do that +we may work the works of God?' His answer to +them was, and His answer to you, my brother, is, '<i>This</i> +is the work of God, that ye should <i>believe</i> in Him whom +He hath sent.' That is the first lesson: Not <i>work</i>, but +<i>faith;</i> unless there be faith, no work. Unless you are +a Christian, the passage has nothing to do with you.</p> + +<p>But now, if this injunction be addressed to those +who are looking for their salvation only to the perfect +work of Christ, how can they be exhorted to work it +out themselves? Is not the oft-recurring burden of +Paul's teaching 'not by works of righteousness, which +we have done, but by His mercy He saved us'? How +does this text harmonise with these constantly re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>peated +assertions that Christ has done all for us, and +that we have nothing to do, and can do nothing? To +answer this question, we have to remember that that +scriptural expression, 'salvation,' is used with considerable +width and complexity of signification. It sometimes +means the whole of the process, from the beginning +to the end, by which we are delivered from +sin in all its aspects, and are set safe and stable at +the right hand of God. It sometimes means one or +other of three different parts of that process—either +deliverance from the guilt, punishment, condemnation +of sin; or secondly, the gradual process of deliverance +from its power in our own hearts; or thirdly, the +completion of that process by the final and perfect +deliverance from sin and sorrow, from death and the +body, from earth and all its weariness and troubles, +which is achieved when we are landed on the other +side of the river. Salvation, in one aspect, is a thing +<i>past</i> to the Christian; in another, it is a thing <i>present;</i> +in a third, it is a thing <i>future</i>. But all these three are +one; all are elements of the one deliverance—the one +mighty and perfect act which includes them all.</p> + +<p>These three all come equally from Christ Himself. +These three all depend equally on His work and His +power. These three are all given to a Christian man +in the first act of faith. But the attitude in which he +stands in reference to that <i>accomplished</i> salvation +which means deliverance from sin as a penalty and a +curse, and that in which he stands to the continuing +and progressive salvation which means deliverance +from the power of evil in his own heart, are somewhat +different. In regard to the one, he has only to take +the finished blessing. He has to exercise faith and +faith alone. He has nothing to do, nothing to add,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span> +in order to fit himself for it, but simply to receive the +gift of God, and to believe on Him whom He hath +sent. But then, though that reception involves what +shall come after it, and though every one who has +and holds the first thing, the pardon of his transgression, +has and holds thereby and therein his growing +sanctifying and his final glory, yet the salvation +which means our being delivered from the evil that is +in our hearts, and having our souls made like unto +Christ, is one which—free gift though it be—is not +ours on the sole condition of an initial act of faith, +but is ours on the condition of continuous faithful +reception and daily effort, not in our own strength, +but in God's strength, to become like Him, and to +make our own that which God has given us, and which +Christ is continually bestowing upon us.</p> + +<p>The two things, then, are not inconsistent—an +accomplished salvation, a full, free, perfect redemption, +with which a man has nothing to do at all, but +to take it;—and, on the other hand, the injunction to +them who have received this divine gift: 'Work out +your own salvation.' Work, as well as believe, and in +the daily practice of faithful obedience, in the daily +subjugation of your own spirits to His divine power, +in the daily crucifixion of your flesh with its affections +and lusts, in the daily straining after loftier heights of +godliness and purer atmospheres of devotion and love—make +more thoroughly your own that which you +possess. Work into the substance of your souls that +which you <i>have</i>. Apprehend that for which you are +apprehended of Christ. 'Give all diligence to make +your calling and election sure'; and remember that +not a past act of faith, but a present and continuous +life of loving, faithful work in Christ, which is His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span> +and yet yours, is the 'holding fast the beginning of +your confidence firm unto the end.'</p> + +<p>II. In the second place, God works all in us, and yet +we have to work.</p> + +<p>There can be no mistake about the good faith +and firm emphasis—as of a man who knows his own +mind, and <i>knows</i> that his word is true—with which +the Apostle holds up here the two sides of what I +venture to call the one truth; 'Work out your own +salvation—for God works in you.' Command implies +power. Command and power involve duty. The +freedom of the Christian's action, the responsibility of +the believer for his Christian growth in grace, the +committal to the Christian man's own hands of the +means of sanctifying, lie in that injunction, 'Work +out your own salvation.' Is there any faltering, any +paring down or cautious guarding of the words, in +order that they may not seem to clash with the other +side of the truth? No: Paul does not say, 'Work it +out; <i>yet</i> it is God that worketh in you'; not 'Work it +out <i>although</i> it is God that worketh in you'; not 'Work +it out, but then it must always be remembered and +taken as a caution that it is God that worketh in +you!' He blends the two things together in an +altogether different connection, and sees—strangely to +some people, no contradiction, nor limitation, nor +puzzle, but a ground of encouragement to cheerful +obedience. Do you work, '<i>for</i> it is God that worketh +in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.' +And does the Apostle limit the divine operation? +Notice how his words seem picked out on purpose to +express most emphatically its all-pervading energy. +Look how his words seem picked out on purpose to +express with the utmost possible emphasis that all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span> +which a good man is, and does, is its fruit. It is God +that <i>worketh in</i> you. That expresses more than bringing +outward means to bear upon heart and will. It +speaks of an inward, real, and efficacious operation of +the Indwelling Spirit of all energy on the spirit in +which He dwells. 'Worketh in you <i>to will</i>'; this +expresses more than the presentation of motives from +without, it points to a direct action on the will, by +which impulses are originated within. God puts in +you the first faint motions of a better will. 'Worketh +in you, doing as well as willing'; this points to all +practical obedience, to all external acts as flowing +from His grace in us, no less than all inward good +thoughts and holy desires.</p> + +<p>It is not that God gives men the power, and then +leaves them to make the use of it. It is not that the +desire and purpose come forth from Him, and that +then we are left to ourselves to be faithful or unfaithful +stewards in carrying it out. The whole process, +from the first sowing of the seed until its last blossoming +and fruiting, in the shape of an accomplished act, +of which God shall bless the springing—it is all God's +together! There is a thorough-going, absolute attribution +of every power, every action, all the thoughts +words, and deeds of a Christian soul, to God. No words +could be selected which would more thoroughly cut +away the ground from every half-and-half system +which attempts to deal them out in two portions, part +God's and part mine. With all emphasis Paul attributes +all to God.</p> + +<p>And none the less strongly does he teach, by the +implication contained in his earnest injunction, that +human responsibility, that human control over the +human will, and that reality of human agency which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span> +are often thought to be annihilated by these broad +views of God as originating all good in the soul and life. +The Apostle thought that this doctrine did not absorb +all our individuality in one great divine Cause which +made men mere tools and puppets. He did not believe +that the inference from it was, 'Therefore do you sit +still, and feel yourselves the cyphers that you are.' +His practical conclusion is the very opposite. It is—God +does all, therefore do you work. His belief in +the power of God's grace was the foundation of the +most intense conviction of the reality and indispensableness +of his own power, and was the motive which +stimulated him to vigorous action. Work, for God +works in you.</p> + +<p>Each of these truths rests firmly on its own appropriate +evidence. My own consciousness tells me that +I am free, that I have power, that I am therefore +responsible and exposed to punishment for neglect of +duty. I know what I mean when I speak of the will +of God, because I myself am conscious of a will. The +power of God is an object of intelligent thought to +me, because I myself am conscious of power. And on +the other hand, that belief in a God which is one of +the deep and universal beliefs of men contains in it, +when it comes to be thought about, the belief in Him +as the source of all power, as the great cause of all. +If I believe in a God at all, I must believe that He +whom I so call, worketh all things after the counsel of +His own will. These two convictions are both given +to us in the primitive beliefs which belong to us all. +The one rests on consciousness, and underlies all our +moral judgments. The other rests on an original +belief, which belongs to man as such. These two +mighty pillars on which all morality and all religion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span> +repose have their foundations down deep in our nature, +and tower up beyond our sight. They seem to stand +opposite to each other, but it is only as the strong +piers of some tall arch are opposed. Beneath they +repose on one foundation, above they join together +in the completing keystone and bear the whole steady +structure.</p> + +<p>Wise and good men have toiled to harmonise them, +in vain. The task transcends the limits of human +faculties, as exercised here, at all events. Perhaps the +time may come when we shall be lifted high enough +to see the binding arch, but here on earth we can only +behold the shafts on either side. The history of controversy +on the matter surely proves abundantly what +a hopeless task they undertake who attempt to reconcile +these truths. The attempt has usually consisted +in speaking the one loudly and the other in a whisper, +and then the opposite side has thundered what had +been whispered, and has whispered very softly what +had been shouted very loudly. One party lays hold of +the one pole of the ark, and the other lays hold of +that on the other side. The fancied reconciliation +consists in paring down one half of the full-orbed +truth to nothing, or in admitting it in words while +every principle of the reconciler's system demands its +denial. Each antagonist is strong in his assertions, +and weak in his denials, victorious when he establishes +his half of the whole, easily defeated when he tries to +overthrow his opponent's.</p> + +<p>This apparent incompatibility is no reason for rejecting +truths each commended to our acceptance on +its own proper grounds. It may be a reason for not +attempting to dogmatise about them. It may be a +warning to us that we are on ground where our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span> +limited understandings have no firm footing, but it is +no ground for suspecting the evidence which certifies +the truths. The Bible admits and enforces them both. +It never tones down the emphasis of its statement of +the one for fear of clashing against the other, but +points to us the true path for thought, in a firm +grasp of both, in the abandonment of all attempts to +reconcile them, and for practical conduct, in the peaceful +trust in God who hath wrought all our works in +us, and in strenuous working out of our own salvation. +Let us, as we look back on that battlefield where +much wiser men than we have fought in vain, doing +little but raising up 'a little dust that is lightly laid +again,' and building trophies that are soon struck +down, learn the lesson it teaches, and be contented to +say, The short cord of my plummet does not quite go +down to the bottom of the bottomless, and I do not +profess either to understand God or to understand +man, both of which I should want to do before I understood +the mystery of their conjoint action. Enough +for me to believe that,</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="If any force we have, it is to ill"> +<tr><td align='left'>'If any force we have, it is to ill,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And all the power is God's, to do and eke to will.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>Enough for me to know that I have solemn duties +laid upon me, a life's task to be done, my deliverance +from mine own evil to work out, and that I shall only +accomplish that work when I can say with the Apostle, +'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.'</div> + +<p>God is all, but <i>thou</i> canst work! My brother, take +this belief, that God worketh all in you, for the +ground of your confidence, and feel that unless He do +all, you can do nothing. Take this conviction, that +thou canst work, for the spur and stimulus of thy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a></span> +life, and think, These desires in my soul come from a +far deeper source than the little cistern of my own +individual life. They are God's gift. Let me cherish +them with the awful carefulness which their origin +requires, lest I should seem to have received the grace +of God in vain. These two streams of truth are like +the rain-shower that falls upon the watershed of a +country. The one half flows down the one side of the +everlasting hills, and the other down the other. +Falling into rivers that water different continents, +they at length find the sea, separated by the distance +of half the globe. But the sea into which they fall +is one, in every creek and channel. And so, the truth +into which these two apparent opposites converge, is +'the depth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God,' +whose ways are past finding out—the Author of all +goodness, who, if we have any holy thought, has +given it us; if we have any true desire, has implanted +it; has given us the strength to do the right and to +live in His fear; and who yet, doing all the willing and +the doing, says to us, 'Because I do everything, therefore +let not <i>thy</i> will be paralysed, or <i>thy</i> hand palsied; +but because I do everything, therefore will <i>thou</i> +according to My will, and do <i>thou</i> according to My +commandments!'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly: The Christian has his salvation secured, +and yet he is to fear and tremble.</p> + +<p>'Fear and trembling.' 'But,' you may say, 'perfect +love casts out fear.' So it does. The fear which has +torment it casts out. But there is another fear +in which there is no torment, brethren; a fear and +trembling which is but another shape of confidence +and calm hope! Scripture does tell us that the believing +man's salvation is certain. Scripture tells<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span> +us it is certain since he believes. And your faith +can be worth nothing unless it have, bedded deep +in it, that trembling distrust of your own power +which is the pre-requisite and the companion of all +thankful and faithful reception of God's infinite +mercy. Your horizon ought to be full of fear, if your +gaze be limited to yourself; but oh! above our earthly +horizon with its fogs, God's infinite blue stretches +untroubled by the mist and cloud which are earth-born. +I, as working, have need to tremble and to +fear, but I, as wrought upon, have a right to confidence +and hope, a hope that is full of immortality, and an +assurance which is the pledge of its own fulfilment. +The worker is nothing, the Worker in him is all. +Fear and trembling, when the thoughts turn to mine +own sins and weaknesses, hope and confidence when +they turn to the happier vision of God! 'Not I'—there +is the tremulous self-distrust; 'the grace of God +in me'—there is the calm assurance of victory. Forasmuch, +then, as God worketh all things, be <i>you</i> +diligent, faithful, prayerful, confident. Forasmuch as +Christ has perfected the work for you, do <i>you</i> 'go on +unto perfection.' Let all fear and trembling be yours, +as a man; let all confidence and calm trust be yours +as a child of God. Turn your confidence and your +fears alike into prayer. 'Perfect, O Lord, that which +concerneth me; forsake not the work of Thine own +hands!'—and the prayer will evoke the merciful +answer, 'I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee +God is faithful, who hath called you unto the Gospel +of His Son; and <i>will</i> keep you unto His everlasting +kingdom of glory.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>COPIES OF JESUS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Do all things without murmurings and disputings; 15. That ye may be blameless +and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and +perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world, 16. Holding +forth the word of life.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> ii. 14-16 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>We are told by some superfine modern moralists, that +to regard one's own salvation as the great work of our +lives is a kind of selfishness, and no doubt there may +be a colour of truth in the charge. At least the +meaning of the injunction to work out our own salvation +may have been sometimes so misunderstood, and +there have been types of Christian character, such as +the ascetic and monastic, which have made the representation +plausible. I do not think that there is much +danger of anybody so misunderstanding the precept +now. But it is worthy of notice that there stand here +side by side two paragraphs, in the former of which +the effort to work out one's own salvation is urged in +the strongest terms, and in the other of which the +regard for others is predominant. We shall see that +the connection between these two is not accidental, but +that one great reason for working out our salvation is +here set forth as being the good we may thereby do to +others.</p> + +<p>I. We note the one great duty of cheerful yielding +to God's will.</p> + +<p>It is clear, I think, that the precept to do 'all things +without murmurings and disputings' stands in the +closest connection with what goes before. It is, in +fact, the explanation of how salvation is to be wrought +out. It presents the human side which corresponds to +the divine activity, which has just been so earnestly +insisted on. God works in us 'willing and doing,' let<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span> +us on our parts do with ready submission all the things +which He so inspires to will and to do.</p> + +<p>The 'murmurings' are not against men but against +God. The 'disputings' are not wrangling with others +but the division of mind in one's self-questionings, +hesitations, and the like. So the one are more moral, +the other more intellectual, and together they represent +the ways in which Christian men may resist the action +on their spirits of God's Spirit, 'willing,' or the action +of God's providence on their circumstances, 'doing.' +Have we never known what it was to have some course +manifestly prescribed to us as right, from which we +have shrunk with reluctance of will? If some course +has all at once struck us as wrong which we had +been long accustomed to do without hesitation, has +there been no 'murmuring' before we yielded? A +voice has said to us, 'Give up such and such a habit,' or +'such and such a pursuit is becoming too engrossing': +do we not all know what it is not only to feel obedience +an effort, but even to cherish reluctance, and to let it +stifle the voice?</p> + +<p>There are often 'disputings' which do not get the +length of 'murmurings.' The old word which tried to +weaken the plain imperative of the first command by +the subtle suggestion, 'Yea, hath God said?' still is +whispered into our ears. We know what it is to answer +God's commands with a 'But, Lord.' A reluctant will is +clever to drape itself with more or less honest excuses, +and the only safety is in cheerful obedience and glad +submission. The will of God ought not only to receive +obedience, but prompt obedience, and such instantaneous +and whole-souled submission is indispensable if +we are to 'work out our own salvation,' and to present +an attitude of true, receptive correspondence to that of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span> +God, who 'works in us both to will and to do of His +own good pleasure.' Our surrender of ourselves into +the hands of God, in respect both to inward and outward +things, should be complete. As has been profoundly +said, that surrender consists 'in a continual +forsaking and losing all self in the will of God, willing +only what God from eternity has willed, forgetting +what is past, giving up the time present to God, and +leaving to His providence that which is to come, +making ourselves content in the actual moment seeing +it brings along with it the eternal order of God concerning +us' (Madame Guyon).</p> + +<p>II. The conscious aim in all our activity.</p> + +<p>What God works in us for is that for which we too +are to yield ourselves to His working, 'without murmurings +and disputings,' and to co-operate with glad submission +and cheerful obedience. We are to have as +our distinct aim the building up of a character 'blameless +and harmless, children of God without rebuke.' +The blamelessness is probably in reference to men's +judgment rather than to God's, and the difficulty of +coming untarnished from contact with the actions and +criticisms of a crooked and perverse generation is +emphasised by the very fact that such blamelessness is +the first requirement for Christian conduct. It was a +feather in Daniel's cap that the president and princes +were foiled in their attempt to pick holes in his conduct, +and had to confess that they would not 'find any +occasion against him, except we find it concerning the +laws of his God.' God is working in us in order that +our lives should be such that malice is dumb in their +presence. Are we co-operating with Him? We are +bound to satisfy the world's requirements of Christian +character. They are sharp critics and sometimes un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span>reasonable, +but on the whole it would not be a bad rule +for Christian people, 'Do what irreligious men expect +you to do.' The worst man knows more than the best +man practises, and his conscience is quick to decide the +course for other people. Our weaknesses and compromises, +and love of the world, might receive a salutary +rebuke if we would try to meet the expectations which +'the man in the street' forms of us.</p> + +<p>'Harmless' is more correctly pure, all of a piece, +homogeneous and entire. It expresses what the +Christian life should be in itself, whilst the former +designation describes it more as it appears. The piece +of cloth is to be so evenly and carefully woven that if +held up against the light it will show no flaws nor +knots. Many a professing Christian life has a veneer of +godliness nailed thinly over a solid bulk of selfishness. +There are many goods in the market finely dressed so +as to hide that the warp is cotton and only the weft +silk. No Christian man who has memory and self-knowledge +can for a moment claim to have reached +the height of his ideal; the best of us, at the best, are +like Nebuchadnezzar's image, whose feet were iron and +clay, but we ought to strain after it and to remember +that a stain shows most on the whitest robe. What +made David's sin glaring and memorable was its contradiction +of his habitual nobler self. One spot more +matters little on a robe already covered with many. +The world is fully warranted in pointing gleefully or +contemptuously at Christians' inconsistencies, and we +have no right to find fault with their most pointed +sarcasms, or their severest judgments. It is those +'that bear the vessels of the Lord' whose burden +imposes on them the duty 'be ye clean,' and makes any +uncleanness more foul in them than in any other.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span></p> + +<p>The Apostle sets forth the place and function of +Christians in the world, by bringing together in the +sharpest contrast the 'children of God' and a 'crooked +and perverse generation.' He is thinking of the old +description in Deuteronomy, where the ancient Israel +is charged with forgetting 'Thy Father that hath +bought thee,' and as showing by their corruption that +they are a 'perverse and crooked generation.' The +ancient Israel had been the Son of God, and yet had +corrupted itself; the Christian Israel are 'sons of God' +set among a world all deformed, twisted, perverted. +'Perverse' is a stronger word than 'crooked,' which +latter may be a metaphor for moral obliquity, like our +own right and wrong, or perhaps points to personal +deformity. Be that as it may, the position which the +Apostle takes is plain enough. He regards the two +classes as broadly separated in antagonism in the +very roots of their being. Because the 'sons of God' +are set in the midst of that 'crooked and perverse +generation' constant watchfulness is needed lest they +should conform, constant resort to their Father lest +they should lose the sense of sonship, and constant +effort that they may witness of Him.</p> + +<p>III. The solemn reason for this aim.</p> + +<p>That is drawn from a consideration of the office and +function of Christian men. Their position in the midst +of a 'crooked and perverse generation' devolves on +them a duty in relation to that generation. They are +to 'appear as lights in the world.' The relation between +them and it is not merely one of contrast, but on their +parts one of witness and example. The metaphor of +light needs no explanation. We need only note that +the word, 'are seen' or 'appear,' is indicative, a statement +of fact, not imperative, a command. As the stars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span> +lighten the darkness with their myriad lucid points, so +in the divine ideal Christian men are to be as twinkling +lights in the abyss of darkness. Their light rays forth +without effort, being an involuntary efflux. Possibly +the old paradox of the Psalmist was in the Apostle's +mind, which speaks of the eloquent silence, in which +'there is no speech nor language, and their voice is not +heard,' but yet 'their line has gone out through all the +earth, and their words unto the end of the world.'</p> + +<p>Christian men appear as lights by 'holding forth the +word of life.' In themselves they have no brightness +but that which comes from raying out the light that is +in them. The word of life must live, giving life in us, +if we are ever to be seen as 'lights in the world.' As +surely as the electric light dies out of a lamp when the +current is switched off, so surely shall we be light only +when we are 'in the Lord.' There are many so-called +Christians in this day who stand tragically unaware +that their 'lamps are gone out.' When the sun rises +and smites the mountain tops they burn, when its light +falls on Memnon's stony lips they breathe out music, +'Arise, shine, for thy light has come.'</p> + +<p>Undoubtedly one way of 'holding forth the word +of life' must be to speak the word, but silent living +'blameless and harmless' and leaving the secret of the +life very much to tell itself is perhaps the best way for +most Christian people to bear witness. Such a witness +is constant, diffused wherever the witness-bearer is +seen, and free from the difficulties that beset speech, +and especially from the assumption of superiority +which often gives offence. It was the sight of 'your +good deeds' to which Jesus pointed as the strongest +reason for men's 'glorifying your Father.' If we lived +such lives there would be less need for preachers. 'If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span> +any will not hear the word they may without the word +be won.' And reasonably so, for Christianity is a life +and cannot be all told in words, and the Gospel is the +proclamation of freedom from sin, and is best preached +and proved by showing that we are free. The Gospel +was lived as well as spoken. Christ's life was Christ's +mightiest preaching.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="The word was flesh and wrought"> +<tr><td align='left'>'The word was flesh and wrought</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">With human hands the creed of creeds.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>If we keep near to Him we too shall witness, and if +our faces shine like Moses' as he came down from the +mountain, or like Stephen's in the council chamber, +men will 'take knowledge of us that we have been +with Jesus.'</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A WILLING SACRIFICE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'That I may have whereof to glory in the day of Christ, that I did not run in +vain neither labour in vain. 17. Yea, and if I am offered upon the sacrifice and +service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all. 18. And in the same manner +do ye also joy, and rejoice with me.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> ii. 16-18 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>We come here to another of the passages in which the +Apostle pours out all his heart to his beloved Church. +Perhaps there never was a Christian teacher (always +excepting Christ) who spoke more about himself than +Paul. His own experience was always at hand for +illustration. His preaching was but the generalisation +of his life. He had felt it all first, before he threw it +into the form of doctrine. It is very hard to keep such +a style from becoming egotism.</p> + +<p>This paragraph is remarkable, especially if we consider +that this is introduced as a motive to their faithfulness, +that thereby they will contribute to his joy at +the last great testing. There must have been a very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span> +deep love between Paul and the Philippians to make +such words as these true and appropriate. They open +the very depths of his heart in a way from which a less +noble and fervid nature would have shrunk, and express +his absolute consecration in his work, and his eager +desire for their spiritual good, with such force as would +have been exaggeration in most men.</p> + +<p>We have here a wonderful picture of the relation +between him and the church at Philippi which may well +stand as a pattern for us all. I do not mean to parallel +our relations with that between him and them, but it +is sufficiently analogous to make these words very +weighty and solemn for us.</p> + +<p>I. The Philippians' faithfulness Paul's glory in the +day of Christ.</p> + +<p>The Apostle strikes a solemn note, which was always +sounding through his life, when he points to that great +Day of Christ as the time when his work was to be +tested. The thought of that gave earnestness to all +his service, and in conjunction with the joyful thought +that, however his work might be marred by failures +and flaws, he himself was 'accepted in the beloved,' +was the impulse which carried him on through a life +than which none of Christ's servants have dared, and +done, and suffered more for Him. Paul believed that, +according to the results of that test, his position would +in some sort be determined. Of course he does not +here contradict the foundation principle of his whole +Gospel, that salvation is not the result of our own +works, or virtues, but is the free unmerited gift of +Christ's grace. But while that is true, it is none the +less true, that the degree in which believers receive +that gift depends on their Christian character, both in +their life on earth and in the day of Christ. One<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span> +element in that character is faithful work for Jesus. +Faithful work indeed is not necessarily successful work, +and many who are welcomed by Jesus, the judge, will +have the memory of many disappointments and few +harvested grains. It was not a reaper, 'bringing his +sheaves with him,' who stayed himself against the +experience of failure, by the assurance, 'Though Israel +be not gathered yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of +the Lord.' If our want of success, and others' lapse, and +apostasy or coldness has not been occasioned by any +fault of ours, there will be no diminution of our reward. +But we can so seldom be sure of that, and even then +there will be an absence of what might have added to +gladness.</p> + +<p>We need not do more than note that the text plainly +implies, that at that testing time men's knowledge +of all that they did, and the results of it, will be +complete. Marvellous as it seems to us, with our +fragmentary memories, and the great tracts of our +lives through which we have passed mechanically, and +which seem to have left no trace on the mirror of our +consciousness, we still, all of us, have experiences which +make that all-recovering memory credible. Some passing +association, a look, a touch, an odour, a sun-set +sky, a chord of music will bring before us some trivial +long-forgotten incident or emotion, as the chance +thrust of a boat-hook will draw to the surface by its +hair, a long-drowned corpse. If we are, as assuredly +we are, writing with invisible ink our whole life's +history on the pages of our own minds, and if we +shall have to read them all over again one day, is it not +tragic that most of us scribble the pages so hastily and +carelessly, and forget that, 'what I have written I +have written,' and what I have written I must read.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span></p> + +<p>But there is another way of looking at Paul's words +as being an indication of his warm love for the +Philippians. Even among the glories, he would feel +his heart filled with new gladness when he found them +there. The hunger for the good of others which +cannot bear to think even of heaven without their +presence has been a master note of all true Christian +teachers, and without it there will be little of the toil, +of which Paul speaks in the context, 'running and +labouring.' He that would win men's hearts for any +great cause must give his heart to them.</p> + +<p>That Paul should have felt warranted in using such +a motive with the Philippians tells how surely he +reckoned on their true and deep love. He believes +that they care enough for him to feel the power as a +motive with them, that their faithfulness will make +Paul more blessed amidst the blessings of heaven. Oh! +if such love knit together all Christian teachers and +their hearers in this time, and if the 'Day of Christ' +burned before them, as it did before him, and if the +vision stirred to such running and labouring as his, +teachers and taught would oftener have to say, 'We +are your rejoicing, even as ye are also ours in the Day +of our Lord Jesus.' The voice of the man who is in the +true 'Apostolic Succession' will dare to make the +appeal, knowing that it will call forth an abundant +answer, 'Look to yourselves that we lose not the +things which we have wrought, but that we receive a +full reward.'</p> + +<p>II. Paul's death an aid to the Philippians' faith.</p> + +<p>The general meaning of the Apostle's words is, 'If I +have not only to run and labour, but to die in the +discharge of my Apostolic Mission, I joy and rejoice, +and I bid you rejoice with me.' We need only note<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span> +that the Apostle here casts his language into the forms +consecrated for sacrifice. He will not speak of death +by its own ugly and threadbare name, but thinks of +himself as a devoted victim, and of his death as making +the sacrifice complete. In the figure there is a solemn +scorn of death, and at the same time a joyful recognition +that it is the means of bringing him more nearly +to God, with whom he would fain be. It is interesting, +as showing the persistence of these thoughts in the +Apostle's mind, that the word rendered in our text +'offered,' which fully means 'poured out as a drink +offering,' occurs again in the same connection in the +great words of the swan song in <span class="smcap">ii.</span> Timothy, 'I am +already being offered, and the time of my departure is +come.' Death looked to him, when he looked it in the +eyes, and the block was close by him, as it had done +when he spoke of it to his Philippian friends.</p> + +<p>It is to be noted, in order to bring out more vividly +the force of the figure, that Paul here speaks of +the libation being poured '<i>on</i>' the sacrifice, as was the +practice in heathen ritual. The sacrifice is the victim, +'service' is the technical word for priestly ministration, +and the general meaning is, 'If my blood is +poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice ministered +by you, which is your faith, I joy with you all.' +This man had no fear of death, and no shrinking from +'leaving the warm precincts of the cheerful day.' He +was equally ready to live or to die as might best serve +the name of Jesus, for to him 'to live was Christ,' and +therefore to him it could be nothing but 'gain' to die. +Here he seems to be treating his death as a possibility, +but as a possibility only, for almost immediately afterwards +he says, that he 'trusts in the Lord that I +myself will come shortly.' It is interesting to notice<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span> +the contrast between his mood of mind here and that +in the previous chapter (i. 25) where the 'desire to +depart and to be with Christ' is deliberately suppressed, +because his continuous life is regarded as essential for +the Philippians' 'progress and joy in faith.' Here he +discerns that perhaps his death would do more for their +faith than would his life, and being ready for either alternative +he welcomes the possibility. May we not see +in the calm heart, which is at leisure to think of death +in such a fashion, a pattern for us all? Remember how +near and real his danger was. Nero was not in the +habit of letting a man, whose head had been in the +mouth of the lion, take it out unhurt. Paul is no +eloquent writer or poet playing with the idea of death, +and trying to say pretty things about it, but a man +who did not know when the blow would come, but <i>did</i> +know that it would come before long.</p> + +<p>We may point here to the two great thoughts in +Paul's words, and notice the priesthood and sacrifice +of life, and the sacrifice and libation of death. The +Philippians offered as their sacrifice their faith, and all +the works which flow therefrom. Is that our idea of +life? Is it our idea of faith? We have no gifts to +bring, we come empty-handed unless we carry in our +hands the offering of our faith, which includes the +surrender of our will, and the giving away of our +hearts, and is essentially laying hold of Christ's sacrifice. +When we come empty, needy, sinful, but cleaving +wholly to that perfect sacrifice of the Great Priest, we +too become priests and our poor gift is accepted.</p> + +<p>But another possibility than that of a life of running +and labour presented itself to Paul, and it is a revelation +of the tranquillity of his heart in the midst of impending +danger, all the more pathetic because it is entirely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a></span> +unconscious, that he should be free to cast his anticipations +into that calm metaphor of being, 'offered +upon the sacrifice and service of your faith.' His heart +beats no faster, nor does the faintest shadow of reluctance +cross his will, when he thinks of his death. All +the repulsive accompaniments of a Roman execution +fade away from his imagination. These are but +negligible accidents; the substantial reality which +obscures them all is that his blood will be poured out +as a libation, and that by it his brethren's faith will be +strengthened. To this man death had finally and +completely ceased to be a terror, and had become what +it should be to all Christians, a voluntary surrender +to God, an offering to Him, an act of worship, of trust, +and of thankful praise. Seneca, in his death, poured +out a libation to Jupiter the Liberator, and if we could +only know beforehand what death delivers us from, +and admits us to, we should not be so prone to call it +'the last enemy.' What Paul's death was for himself +in the process of his perfecting called forth, and +warranted, the 'joy' with which he anticipated it. It +did no more for him than it will do for each of us, and +if our vision were as clear, and our faith as firm as his, +we should be more ready than, alas! we too often are, +to catch up the exulting note with which he hails the +possibility of its coming.</p> + +<p>But it is not the personal bearing only of his death +that gives him joy. He thinks of it mainly as contributing +to the furtherance of the faith of others. For +that end he was spending the effort and toil of an +effortful and toilsome life, and was equally ready to +meet a violent and shameful death. He knew that 'the +blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church,' and +rejoiced, and called upon his brethren also to 'joy and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span> +rejoice' with him in his shedding of his martyr's +blood.</p> + +<p>The Philippians might well have thought, as we all +are tempted to think, that the withdrawal of those +round whom our hearts desperately cling, and who +seem to us to bring love and trust nearer to us, can +only be loss, but surely the example in our text may +well speak to our hearts of the way in which we should +look at death for ourselves, and for our dearest. Their +very withdrawal may send us nearer to Christ. The +holy memories which linger in the sky, like the radiance +of a sunken sun, may clothe familiar truths with unfamiliar +power and loveliness. The thought of where +the departed have gone may lift our thoughts wistfully +thither with a new feeling of home. The path that +they have trodden may become less strange to us, and +the victory that they have won may prophesy that we +too shall be 'more than conquerors through Him that +loveth us.' So the mirror broken may turn us to the +sun, and the passing of the dearest that can die may +draw us to the Dearer who lives.</p> + +<p>Paul, living, rejoiced in the prospect of death. We +may be sure that he rejoiced in it no less dead than +living. And we may permissibly think of this text as +suggesting how</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="The saints on earth and all the dead"> +<tr><td align='left'>'The saints on earth and all the dead</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But one communion make,'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + + +<div class='unindent'>and are to be united in one joy. They rejoice for their +own sakes, but their joy is not self-absorbed, and so +putting them farther away from us. They look back +upon earth, the runnings and labourings of the unforgotten +life here; and are glad to bear in their hearts +the indubitable token that they have 'not run in vain<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a></span> +neither laboured in vain.' But surely the depth of +their own repose will not make them indifferent to +those who are still in the midst of struggle and toil, +nor the fulness of their own felicity make them forget +those whom they loved of old, and love now with the +perfect love of Heaven. It is hard for us to rise to +complete sympathy with these serenely blessed spirits, +but yet we too should rejoice. Not indeed to the exclusion +of sorrow, nor to the neglect of the great +purpose to be effected in us by the withdrawal, as by +the presence of dear ones, the furtherance of our faith, +but having made sure that that purpose has been +effected in us, we should then give solemn thanksgivings +if it has. It is sad and strange to think of how +opposite are the feelings about their departure, of those +who have gone and of those who are left. Would it +not be better that we should try to share theirs and +so bring about a true union? We may be sure that +their deepest desire is that we should. If some lips +that we shall never hear any more, till we come where +they are, could speak, would not they bring to us as +their message from Heaven, Do 'ye also joy and rejoice +with me'?</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PAUL AND TIMOTHY</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may +be of good comfort, when I know your state. 20. For I have no man like-minded, +who will care truly for your state. 21. For they all seek their own, not the things +of Jesus Christ. 22. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child serveth a +father, so he served with me in furtherance of the gospel. 23. Him therefore I +hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me: 24. But I +trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come shortly.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> ii. 19-24 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>Like all great men Paul had a wonderful power of +attaching followers to himself. The mass of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span> +planet draws in small aerolites which catch fire as +they pass through its atmosphere. There is no more +beautiful page in the history of the early Church than +the story of Paul and his companions. They gathered +round him with such devotion, and followed him with +such love. They were not small men. Luke and +Aquila were among them, and they would have been +prominent in most companies, but gladly took a place +second to Paul. He impressed his own personality and +his type of teaching on his followers as Luther did on +his, and as many another great teacher has done.</p> + +<p>Among all these Timothy seems to have held a +special place. Paul first found him on his second +journey either at Derbe or Lystra. His mother, Eunice, +was already a believer, his father a Greek. Timothy +seems to have been converted on Paul's first visit, for +on his second he was already a disciple well reported +of, and Paul more than once calls him his 'son in the +faith.' He seems to have come in to take John Mark's +place as the Apostle's 'minister,' and from that time to +have been usually Paul's trusted attendant. We hear +of him as with the Apostle on his first visit to Philippi, +and to have gone with him to Thessalonica and Berœa, +but then to have been parted until Corinth. Thence +Paul went quickly up to Jerusalem and back to +Antioch, from which he set out again to visit the +churches, and made a special stay in Ephesus. While +there he planned a visit to Macedonia and Achaia, in +preparation for one to Jerusalem, and finally to Rome. +So he sent Timothy and Erastus on ahead to Macedonia, +which would of course include Philippi. After that +visit to Macedonia and Greece Paul returned to +Philippi, from which he sailed with Timothy in his +company. He was probably with him all the way to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span> +Rome, and we find him mentioned as sharer in the +imprisonment both here and in Colossians.</p> + +<p>The references made to him point to a very sweet, +good, pure and gracious character without much +strength, needing to be stayed and stiffened by the +stronger character, but full of sympathy, unselfish +disregard of self, and consecrated love to Christ. He +had been surrounded with a hallowed atmosphere from +his youth, and 'from a child had known the holy +Scriptures,' and 'prophecies' like fluttering doves had +gone before on him. He had 'often infirmities' and +'tears.' He needed to be roused to 'stir up the gift +that was in him,' and braced up 'not to be ashamed,' +but to fight against the disabling 'spirit of fear,' and +to be 'strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.'</p> + +<p>The bond between these two was evidently very +close, and the Apostle felt something of a paternal +interest in the very weakness of character which was +in such contrast to his own strength, and which obviously +dreaded the discouragement which was likely to +be produced by his own martyrdom. This favourite +companion he will now send to his favourite church. +The verses of our text express that intention, and give +us a glimpse into the Apostle's thoughts and feelings +in his imprisonment.</p> + +<p>I. The prisoner's longing and hope.</p> + +<p>The first point which strikes us in this self-revelation +of Paul's is his conscious uncertainty as to his future. +In the previous chapter (ver. 25) he is confident that +he will live. In the verses immediately preceding our +text he faces the possibility of death. Here he recognises +the uncertainty but still 'trusts' that he will be +liberated, but yet he does not know 'how it may go +with' him. We think of him in his lodging sometimes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span> +hoping and sometimes doubting. He had a tyrant's +caprice to depend on, and knew how a moment's whim +might end all. Surely his way of bearing that suspense +was very noteworthy and noble. It is difficult to keep +a calm heart, and still more difficult to keep on steadily +at work, when any moment might bring the victor's +axe. Suspense almost enforces idleness, but Paul +crowded these moments of his prison time with letters, +and Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon +are the fruits for which we are indebted to a period +which would have been to many men a reason for +throwing aside all work.</p> + +<p>How calmly too he speaks of the uncertain issue! +Surely never was the possibility of death more quietly +spoken of than in 'so soon as I shall see how it will go +with me.' That means—'as soon as my fate is decided, +be it what it may, I will send Timothy to tell you.' +What a calm pulse he must have had! There is no +attitudinising here, all is perfectly simple and natural. +Can we look, do we habitually look, into the uncertain +future with such a temper—accepting all that may be +in its grey mists, and feeling that our task is to fill the +present with strenuous loving service, leaving tomorrow +with all its alternatives, even that tremendous +one of life and death, to Him who will shape it to a +perfect end?</p> + +<p>We note, further, the purpose of Paul's love. It is +beautiful to see how he yearns over these Philippians +and feels that his joy will be increased when he hears +from them. He is sure, as he believes, to hear good, +and news which will be a comfort. Among the souls +whom he bore on his heart were many in the Macedonian +city, and a word from them would be like 'cold +water to a thirsty soul.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span></p> + +<p>What a noble suppression of self; how deep and +strong the tie that bound him to them must have been! +Is there not a lesson here for all Christian workers, for +all teachers, preachers, parents, that no good is to be +done without loving sympathy? Unless our hearts go +out to people we shall never reach their hearts. We may +talk to them for ever, but unless we have this loving +sympathy we might as well be silent. It is possible to +pelt people with the Gospel, and to produce the effect +of flinging stones at them. Much Christian work comes +to nothing mainly for that reason.</p> + +<p>And how deep a love does he show in his depriving +himself of Timothy for their sakes, and in his reason +for sending him! Those reasons would have been for +most of us the strongest reason for keeping him. It is +not everybody who will denude himself of the help of +one who serves him 'as a child serveth a father,' and +will part with the only like-minded friend he has, +because his loving eye will clearly see the state of +others.</p> + +<p>Paul's expression of his purpose to send Timothy is +very much more than a piece of emotional piety. He +'hopes in the Lord' to accomplish his design, and that +hope so rooted and conditioned is but one instance of +the all-comprehending law of his life, that, to him, to +'live is Christ.' His whole being was so interpenetrated +with Christ's that all his thoughts and feelings were +'in the Lord Jesus.' So should our purposes be. Our +hopes should be derived from union with Him. They +should not be the play of our own fancy or imagination. +They should be held in submission to him, and ever with +the limitation, 'Not as I will, but as Thou wilt.' We +should be trusting to Him to fulfil them. If thus we +hope, our hopes may lead us nearer to Jesus instead of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span> +tempting us away from Him by delusive brightnesses. +There is a religious use of hope not only when it is +directed to heavenly certainties, and 'enters within the +veil,' but even when occupied about earthly things. +Spenser twice paints for us the figure of Hope, one has +always something of dread in her blue eyes, the other, +and the other only, leans on the anchor, and 'maketh +not ashamed'; and her name is 'Hope in the Lord.'</p> + +<p>II. The prisoner solitary among self-seeking men.</p> + +<p>With wonderful self-surrender the Apostle thinks of +his lack of like-minded companions as being a reason +for depriving himself of the only like-minded one who +was left with him. He felt that Timothy's sympathetic +soul would truly care for the Philippians' condition, +and would minister to it lovingly. He could rely that +Timothy would have no selfish by-ends to serve, but +would seek the things of Jesus Christ. We know too +little of the circumstances of Paul's imprisonment to +know how he came to be thus lonely. In the other +Epistles of the Captivity we have mention of a considerable +group of friends, many of whom would +certainly have been included in a list of the 'like-minded.' +We hear, for example, of Tychicus, Onesimus, +Aristarchus, John Mark, Epaphras, and Luke. What +had become of them all we do not know. They were +evidently away on Christian service, somewhere or +other, or some of them perhaps had not yet arrived. +At all events for some reason Paul was for the time +left alone but for Timothy. Not that there were no +Christian men in Rome, but of those who could have +been sent on such an errand there were none in whom +love to Christ and care for His cause and flock were +strong enough to mark them as fit for it.</p> + +<p>So then we have to take account of Paul's loneliness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span> +in addition to his other sorrows, and we may well mark +how calmly and uncomplainingly he bears it. We are +perpetually hearing complaints of isolation and the +difficulty of finding sympathy, or 'people who understand +me.' That is often the complaint of a morbid +nature, or of one which has never given itself the +trouble of trying to 'understand' others, or of showing +the sympathy for which it says that it thirsts. And +many of these complaining spirits might take a lesson +from the lonely Apostle. There never was a man, +except Paul's Master and ours, who cared more for +human sympathy, had his own heart fuller of it, and +received less of it from others than Paul. But he had +discovered what it would be blessedness for us all to +lay to heart, that a man who has Christ for his companion +can do without others, and that a heart in +which there whispers, 'Lo, I am with you always,' can +never be utterly solitary.</p> + +<p>May we not take the further lesson that the sympathy +which we should chiefly desire is sympathy and fellow-service +in Christian work? Paul did not want like-minded +people in order that he might have the luxury +of enjoying their sympathy, but what he wanted was +allies in his work for Christ. It was sympathy in his +care for the Philippians that he sought for in his +messenger. And that is the noblest form of like-mindedness +that we can desire—some one to hold the +ropes for us.</p> + +<p>Note, too, that Paul does not weakly complain because +he had no helpers. Good and earnest men are very +apt to say much about the half-hearted way in which +their brethren take up some cause in which they are +eagerly interested, and sometimes to abandon it altogether +for that reason. May not such faint hearts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span> +learn a lesson from him who had 'no man like-minded,' +and yet never dreamt of whimpering because of it, or +of flinging down his tools because of the indolence of +his fellow-workers?</p> + +<p>There is another point to be observed in the Apostle's +words here. He felt that their attitude to Christ determined +his affinities with men. He could have no deep +and true fellowship with others, whatever their name +to live, who were daily 'seeking their own,' and at the +same time leaving unsought 'the things of Jesus Christ.' +They who are not alike in their deepest aims can have +no real kindred. Must we not say that hosts of so-called +Christian people do not seem to feel, if one can +judge by the company they affect, that the deepest +bond uniting men is that which binds them to Jesus +Christ? I would press the question, Do we feel that +nothing draws us so close to men as common love to +Jesus, and that if we are not alike on that cardinal +point there is a deep gulf of separation beneath a +deceptive surface of union, an unfathomable gorge +marked by a quaking film of earth?</p> + +<p>It is a solemn estimate of some professing Christians +which the Apostle gives here, if he is including the +members of the Roman Church in his judgment that +they are not 'like-minded' with him, and are 'seeking +their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.' We may +rather hope that he is speaking of others around him, +and that for some reason unknown to us he was at the +time secluded from the Roman Christians. He brings +out with unflinching precision the choice which determines +a life. There is always that terrible 'either—or.' +To live for Christ is the antagonist, and only antagonist +of life for self. To live for self is death. To live +for Jesus is the only life. There are two centres,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span> +heliocentric and geocentric as the scientists say. We +can choose round which we shall draw our orbit, and +everything depends on the choice which we make. To +seek 'the things of Jesus Christ' is sure to lead to, and +is the only basis of, care for men. Religion is the parent +of compassion, and if we are looking for a man who +will care truly for the state of others, we must do as +Paul did, look for him among those who 'seek the +things of Jesus Christ.'</p> + +<p>III. The prisoner's joy in loving co-operation.</p> + +<p>The Apostle's eulogium on Timothy points to his +long and intimate association with Paul and to the +Philippians' knowledge of him as well as to the +Apostle's clinging to him. There is a piece of delicate +beauty in the words which we may pause for a moment +to point out. Paul writes as 'a child serveth a father,' +and the natural sequence would have been 'so he served +me,' but he remembers that the service was not to him, +Paul, but to another, and so he changes the words and +says he 'served <i>with</i> me in furtherance of the Gospel.' +We are both servants alike—Christ's servants for the +Gospel.</p> + +<p>Paul's joy in Timothy's loving co-operation was so +deep because Paul's whole heart was set on 'the furtherance +of the Gospel.' Help towards that end was help +indeed. We may measure the ardour and intensity of +Paul's devotion to his apostolic work by the warmth +of gratitude which he shows to his helper. They who +contribute to our reaching our chief desire win our +warmest love, and the catalogue of our helpers follows +the order of the list of our aims. Timothy brought to +Paul no assistance to procure any of the common +objects of human desires. Wealth, reputation, success +in any of the pursuits which attract most men might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span> +have been held out to the Apostle and not been thought +worth stooping to take, nor would the offerer have +been thanked, but any proffered service that had the +smallest bearing on that great work to which Paul's +life was given, and which his conscience told him there +would be a curse on himself if he did not fulfil, was +welcomed as a priceless gift. Do we arrange the lists +of our helpers on the same fashion, and count that they +serve us best who help us to serve Christ? It should be +as much the purpose of every Christian life as it was +that of Paul to spread the salvation and glory of the +'name that is above every name.' If we lived as continually +under the influence of that truth as he did, +we should construe the circumstances of our lives, +whether helpful or hindering, very differently, and we +could shake the world.</p> + +<p>Christian unity is very good and infinitely to be +desired, but the true field on which it should display +itself is that of united work for the common Lord. +The men who have marched side by side through a +campaign are knit together as nothing else would bind +them. Even two horses drawing one carriage will +have ways and feelings and a common understanding, +which they would never have attained in any other +way. There is nothing like common work for clearing +away mists. Much so-called Christian sympathy and +like-mindedness are something like the penal cranks +that used to be in jails, which generated immense +power on this side of the wall but ground out nothing +on the other.</p> + +<p>Let us not forget that in the field of Christian service +there is room for all manner of workers, and that they +are associated, however different their work. Paul +often calls Timothy his 'fellow-labourer,' and once<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span> +gives him the eulogium, 'he worketh the work of the +Lord as I also do.' Think of the difference between the +two men in age, endowment, and sphere! Apparently +Timothy at first had very subordinate work taking +John Mark's place, and is described as being one of +those who 'ministered' to Paul. It is the cup of cold +water over again. All work done for the same Lord, +and with the same motive is the same; 'he that receiveth +a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive +a prophet's reward.' When Paul associates Timothy +with himself he is copying from afar off his Lord, who +lets us think of even our poor deeds as done by those +whom He does not disdain to call His fellow-workers. +It would be worth living for if, at the last, He should +acknowledge us, and say even of us, 'he hath served +with Me in the Gospel.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PAUL AND EPAPHRODITUS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But I counted it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker +and fellow-soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need. 26. +Since he longed after you all, and was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he +was sick. 27. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on +him; and not on him only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow upon +sorrow. 28. I have sent him therefore the more diligently, that, when ye see him +again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. 29. Receive him +therefore in the Lord with all joy; and hold such in honour: 30. Because for the +work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply that which +was lacking in your service toward me.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> ii. 25-30 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>Epaphroditus is one of the less known of Paul's +friends. All our information about him is contained +in this context, and in a brief reference in Chapter iv. +His was a singular fate—to cross Paul's path, and for +one short period of his life to be known to all the +world, and for all the rest before and after to be +utterly unknown. The ship sails across the track of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span> +the moonlight, and then vanishes ghost-like into +darkness. Of all the inhabitants of Philippi at that +time we know the names of but three, Euodias, +Syntiche, and Epaphroditus, and we owe them all to +Paul. The context gives us an interesting miniature +of the last, and pathetic glimpses into the private life +of the Apostle in his imprisonment, and it is worth our +while to try to bring our historic imagination to bear +on Epaphroditus, and to make him a living man.</p> + +<p>The first fact about him is, that he was one of the +Philippian Christians, and sent by them to Rome, +with some pecuniary or material help, such as comforts +for Paul's prison-house, food, clothing, or money. +There was no reliable way of getting these to Paul +but to take them, and so Epaphroditus faced the long +journey across Greece to Brindisi and Rome, and when +arrived there threw himself with ardour into serving +Paul. The Apostle's heartfelt eulogium upon him +shows two phases of his work. He was in the first +place Paul's helper in the Gospel, and his faithfulness +there is set forth in a glowing climax, 'My brother +and fellow-worker and fellow-soldier.' He was in the +second place the minister to Paul's needs. There would +be many ways of serving the captive, looking after his +comfort, doing his errands, procuring daily necessaries, +managing affairs, perhaps writing his letters, easing +his chain, chafing his aching wrists, and ministering in +a thousand ways which we cannot and need not +specify. At all events he gladly undertook even +servile work for love of Paul.</p> + +<p>He had an illness which was probably the consequence +of his toil. Perhaps over-exertion in travel, or +perhaps his Macedonian constitution could not bear +the enervating air of Rome, or perhaps Paul's prison<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span> +was unhealthy. At any rate he worked till he made +himself ill. The news reached Philippi in some round-about +way, and, as it appears, the news of his illness +only, not of his recovery. The difficulty of communication +would sufficiently account for the partial +intelligence. Then the report found its way back to +Rome, and Epaphroditus got home-sick and was restless, +uneasy, 'sore troubled,' as the Apostle says, +because they had heard he had been sick. In his low, +nervous state, barely convalescent, the thought of +home and of his brethren's anxiety about him was too +much for him. It is a pathetic little picture of the +Macedonian stranger in the great city—pallid looks, +recent illness, and pining for home and a breath of +pure mountain air, and for the friends he had left. So +Paul with rare abnegation sent him away at once, +though Timothy was to follow shortly, and accompanied +him with this outpouring of love and praise in +his long homeward journey. Let us hope he got safe +back to his friends, and as Paul bade them, they +received him in the Lord with all joy, the echoes of +which we almost hear as he passes out of our +knowledge.</p> + +<p>In the remainder of this sermon we shall simply deal +with the two figures which the text sets before us, +and we may look first at the glimpses of Paul's character +which we get here.</p> + +<p>We may note the generous heartiness of his praise +in his associating Epaphroditus with himself as on full +terms of equality, as worker and soldier, and the warm +generosity of the recognition of all that he had done +for the Apostle's comfort. Paul's first burst of gratitude +and praise does not exhaust all that he has to say +about Epaphroditus. He comes back to the theme in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span> +the last words of the context, where he says that the +Philippian messenger had 'hazarded' his life, or, as we +might put it with equal accuracy and more force, had +'gambled' his life, or 'staked it on the die' for Paul's +sake. No wonder that men were eager to risk their +lives for a leader who lavished such praise and such +love upon them. A man who never opens his lips +but to censure or criticise, who fastens on faults as +wasps do on blemished fruit, will never be surrounded +by loyal love. Faithful service is most surely bought +by hearty praise. A caressing hand on a horse's neck +is better than a whip.</p> + +<p>We may further note the intensity of Paul's sympathy. +He speaks of Epaphroditus' recovery as a +mercy to himself 'lest he should have the sorrow of +imprisonment increased by the sorrow of his friend's +death.' That attitude of mind stands in striking contrast +to the heroism which said, 'To me, to live is Christ +and to die is gain,' but the two are perfectly consistent, +and it was a great soul which had room for +them both.</p> + +<p>We must not leave unnoticed the beautiful self-abnegation +which sends off Epaphroditus as soon as +he was well enough to travel, as a gift of the Apostle's +love, in order to repay them for what they had done +for him. He says nothing of his own loss or of how +much more lonely he would be when the brother whom +he had praised so warmly had left him alone. But he +suns himself in the thought of the Philippians' joy, +and in the hope that some reflection of it will travel +across the seas to him, and make him, if not wholly +glad, at any rate 'the less sorrowful.'</p> + +<p>We have also to notice Paul's delicate recognition of +all friendly help. He says that Epaphroditus risked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span> +his life to 'supply that which was lacking in your +service toward me.' That implies that all which the +Philippians' ministration lacked was their personal +presence, and that Epaphroditus, in supplying that, +made his work in a real sense theirs. All the loving +thoughts, and all the material expressions of them +which Epaphroditus brought to Paul were fragrant +with the perfume of the Philippians' love, 'an odour of +a sweet smell, acceptable' to Paul as to Paul's Lord.</p> + +<p>We briefly note some general lessons which may be +suggested by the picture of Epaphroditus as he stands +by the side of Paul.</p> + +<p>The first one suggested is the very familiar one of +the great uniting principle which a common faith in +Christ brought into action. Think of the profound clefts +of separation between the Macedonian and the Jew, +the antipathies of race, the differences of language, +the dissimilarities of manner, and then think of what +an unheard-of new thing it must have been that a +Macedonian should 'serve' a Jew! We but feebly +echo Paul's rapture when he thought that there was +'neither Barbarian or Scythian, bond or free, but all +were one in Christ Jesus,' and for all our talk about +the unity of humanity and the like, we permit the old +gulfs of separation to gape as deeply as ever. Dreadnoughts +are a peculiar expression of the brotherhood +of men after nineteen centuries of so-called +Christianity.</p> + +<p>The terms in which the work of Epaphroditus is +spoken of by Paul are very significant. He has no +hesitation in describing the work done for himself as +'the work of Christ,' nor in using, as the name for it, +the word ('service'), which properly refers to the +service rendered by priestly hands. Work done for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span> +Paul was done for Jesus, and that, not because of any +special apostolic closeness of relation of Paul to Jesus, +but because, like all other Christians, he was one with +his Lord. 'The cup of cold water' given 'in the name +of a disciple' is grateful to the lips of the Master. We +have no reason to suppose that Epaphroditus took part +with Paul in his more properly apostolic work, and +the fact that the purely material help, and pecuniary +service which most probably comprised all his 'ministering,' +is honoured by Paul with these lofty designations, +carries with it large lessons as to the sanctity of +common life. All deeds done from the same motive +are the same, however different they may be in regard +to the material on which they are wrought. If our +hearts are set to 'hallow all we find,' the most secular +duties will be acts of worship. It is possible for us in +the ordering of our own lives to fulfil the great +prophecy with which Zechariah crowned his vision of +the Future, 'In that day shall there be on the bells of +the horses Holiness unto the Lord'; and the 'pots in +the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the +altar.'</p> + +<p>May we not further draw from Paul's words here a +lesson as to the honour due to Christian workers? It +was his brethren who were exhorted to receive their +own messenger back again 'in the Lord with all joy, +and to hold him in honour.' Possibly there were in +Philippi some sharp tongues and envious spirits, who +needed the exhortation. Whether there were so or no, +the exhortation itself traces lightly but surely the +lines on which Christians should render, and their +fellow-Christians can rightly receive, even praise from +men. If Epaphroditus were 'received in the Lord,' +there would be no foolish and hurtful adulation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span> +him, nor prostration before him, but he would be +recognised as but the instrument through which the +true Helper worked, and not he, but the Grace of +Christ in him would finally receive the praise. There +are very many Christian workers who never get their +due of recognition and welcome from their brethren, +and there are many who get far more of both than +belongs to them, and both they and the crowds who +bring them adulation would be freed from dangers, +which can scarcely be over-stated, if the spirit of Paul's +warm-hearted praise of Epaphroditus were kept in +view.</p> + +<p>Epaphroditus but passes across the illuminated disc +of the lantern for a moment, and we have scarcely +time to catch a glimpse of his face before it is lost to +us. He and all his brethren are gone, but his name +lives for ever, and Paul's praise of him and of his work +outshines all else remembered of the city, where conquerors +once reigned, and outside whose walls was +fought a battle that decided for a time the fate of the +world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PREPARING TO END</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to +me indeed is not irksome, but for you it is safe. 2. Beware of the dogs, beware +of the evil workers, beware of the concision: 3. For we are the circumcision, +who worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence +in the flesh.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iii. 1-3 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>The first words of the text show that Paul was beginning +to think of winding up his letter, and the +preceding context also suggests that. The personal +references to Timothy and Epaphroditus would +be in their appropriate place near the close, +and the exhortation with which our text begins is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span> +also most fitting there, for it is really the key-note of +the letter. How then does he come to desert his +purpose? The answer is to be found in his next +advice, the warning against the Judaising teachers +who were his great antagonists all his life. A reference +to them always roused him, and here the +vehement exhortation to mark them well and avoid +them opens the flood-gates. Forgetting all about his +purpose to come to an end, he pours out his soul in the +long and precious passage which follows. Not till the +next chapter does he get back to his theme in the +reiterated exhortation (iv. 4), 'Rejoice in the Lord +alway; again I will say, rejoice.' This outburst is very +remarkable, for its vehemence is so unlike the tone of +the rest of the letter. That is calm, joyous, bright, but +this is stormy and impassioned, full of flashing and +scathing words, the sudden thunder-storm breaks in +on a mellow, autumn day, but it hurtles past and the +sun shines out again, and the air is clearer.</p> + +<p>Another question suggested is the reference of the +second half of verse 1. What are 'the same things' +to write which is 'safe' for the Philippians? Are +they the injunctions preceding to 'rejoice in the +Lord,' or that following, the warning against the +Judaisers? The former explanation may be recommended +by the fact that 'Rejoice' is in a sense the +key-note of the Epistle, but on the other hand, the +things where repetition would be 'safe' would most +probably be warnings against some evil that +threatened the Philippians' Christian standing.</p> + +<p>There is no attempt at unity in the words before us, +and I shall not try to force them into apparent oneness, +but follow the Apostle's thoughts as they lie. +We note<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>—</p> + +<p>I. The crowning injunction as to the duty of Christian +gladness.</p> + +<p>A very slight glance over the Epistle will show how +continually the note of gladness is struck in it. Whatever +in Paul's circumstances was 'at enmity with joy' +could not darken his sunny outlook. This bird could +sing in a darkened cage. If we brought together the +expressions of his joy in this letter, they would yield +us some precious lessons as to what were the sources +of his, and what may be the sources of ours. There +runs through all the instances in the Epistle the +implication which comes out most emphatically in his +earnest exhortation, 'Rejoice in the Lord always, and +again I say rejoice.' The true source of true joy lies +in our union with Jesus. To be in Him is the condition +of every good, and, just as in the former verses +'trust <i>in the Lord</i>' is set forth, so the joy which comes +from trust is traced to the same source. The joy that +is worthy, real, permanent, and the ally of lofty +endeavour and noble thoughts has its root in union +with Jesus, is realised in communion with Him, has +Him for its reason or motive, and Him for its safeguard +or measure. As the passages in question in this +Epistle show, such joy does not shut out but hallows +other sources of satisfaction. In our weakness +creatural love and kindness but too often draw us +away from our joy in Him. But with Paul the +sources which we too often find antagonistic were +harmoniously blended, and flowed side by side in the +same channel, so that he could express them both in +the one utterance, 'I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that +now at the last your care of me hath flourished +again.'</p> + +<p>We do not sufficiently realise the Christian duty of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span> +Christian joy, some of us even take mortified countenances +and voices in a minor key as marks of grace, +and there is but little in any of us of 'the joy in the +Lord' which a saint of the Old Testament had learned +was our 'strength.' There is plenty of gladness amongst +professing Christians, but a good many of them would +resent the question, is your gladness 'in the Lord'? +No doubt any deep experience in the Christian life +makes us aware of much in ourselves that saddens, +and may depress, and our joy in Him must always be +shaded by penitent sorrow for ourselves. But that +necessary element of sadness in the Christian life +is not the cause why so many Christian lives have +little of the buoyancy and hope and spontaneity +which should mark them. The reason rather lies in +the lack of true union with Christ, and habitual +keeping of ourselves 'in the love of God.'</p> + +<p>II. Paul's apology for reiteration.</p> + +<p>He is going to give once more old and well-worn precepts +which are often very tedious to the hearer, and +not much less so to the speaker. He can only say that +to him the repetition of familiar injunctions is not +'irksome,' and that to them it is 'safe.' The diseased +craving for 'originality' in the present day tempts us +all, hearers and speakers alike, and we ever need to +be reminded that the staple of Christian teaching +must be old truths reiterated, and that it is not time +to stop proclaiming them until all men have begun +to practise them. But a speaker must try to make +the thousandth repetition of a truth fresh to himself, +and not a wearisome form, or a dead commonplace, +by freshening it to his own mind and by living on it +in his own practice, and the hearers must remember +that it is only the completeness of their obedience<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span> +that antiquates the commandment. The most threadbare +commonplace becomes a novelty when occasions +for its application arise in our own lives, just as a +prescription may lie long unnoticed in a drawer, but +when a fever attacks its possessor it will be quickly +drawn out and worth its weight in gold.</p> + +<p>III. Paul's warning against teachers of a ceremonial +religion.</p> + +<p>It scarcely seems congruous with the tone of the +rest of this letter that the preachers whom Paul so +scathingly points out here had obtained any firm +footing in the Philippian Church, but no doubt there, +as everywhere, they had dogged Paul's footsteps, and +had tried as they always did to mar his work. They +had not missionary fervour or Christian energy +enough to initiate efforts amongst the Gentiles so as +to make them proselytes, but when Paul and his companions +had made them Christians, they did their +best, or their worst, to insist that they could not be +truly Christians, unless they submitted to the outward +sign of being Jews. Paul points a scathing +finger at them when he bids the Philippians 'beware,' +and he permits himself a bitter retort when he lays +hold of the Jewish contemptuous word for Gentiles +which stigmatised them as 'dogs,' that is profane and +unclean, and hurls it back at the givers. But he is +not indulging in mere bitter retorts when he brings +against these teachers the definite charge that they +are 'evil workers.' People who believed that an outward +observance was the condition of salvation would +naturally be less careful to insist upon holy living. +A religion of ceremonies is not a religion of morality. +Then the Apostle lets himself go in a contemptuous +play of words, and refuses to recognise that these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span> +sticklers for circumcision had themselves been circumcised. +'I will not call them the circumcision, +they have not been circumcised, they have only been +gashed and mutilated, it has been a mere fleshly +maiming.' His reason for denying the name to them +is his profound belief that it belonged to true +Christians. His contemptuous reference puts in a +word, the principle which he definitely states in +another place, 'He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; +neither is that circumcision which is outward +in the flesh.'</p> + +<p>The Apostle here is not only telling us who are +the truly circumcised, but at the same time he is +telling us what makes a Christian, and he states three +points in which, as I take it, he begins at the end and +works backwards to the beginning. 'We are the +circumcision who worship in the Spirit of God'—that +is the final result—'and glory in Christ Jesus'—'and +have no confidence in the flesh'—that is the starting-point. +The beginning of all true Christianity is distrust +of self. What does Paul mean by 'flesh'? +Body? Certainly not. Animal nature, or the passions +rooted in it? Not only these, as may be seen by noting +the catalogue which follows of the things in the flesh, +in which he might have trusted. What are these? +'Circumcised the eighth day, of the tribe of Israel, +of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews'—these +belong to ritual and race; 'as touching the +law a Pharisee'—that belongs to ecclesiastical +standing; 'concerning zeal persecuting the church'—that +has nothing to do with the animal nature: 'touching +the righteousness which is in the law blameless'—that +concerns the moral nature. All these come +under the category of the 'flesh,' which, therefore,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a></span> +plainly includes all that belongs to humanity apart +from God. Paul's old-fashioned language translated +into modern English just comes to this—it is vain to +trust in external connection with the sacred community +of the Church, or in participation in any of its +ordinances and rites. To Paul, Christian rites and +Jewish rites were equally rites and equally insufficient +as bases of confidence. Do not let us fancy that +dependence on these is peculiar to certain forms of +Christian belief. It is a very subtle all-pervasive +tendency, and there is no need to lift up Nonconformist +hands in holy horror at the corruptions of +Romanism and the like. Their origin is not solely +priestly ambition, but also the desires of the so-called +laity. Demand creates a supply, and if there were +not people to think, 'Now it shall be well with me +because I have a Levite for my priest,' there would be +no Levites to meet their wishes.</p> + +<p>Notice that Paul includes amongst the things belonging +to the flesh this 'touching the righteousness +which is in the law blameless.' Many of us can say +the same. We do our duties so far as we know them, +and are respectable law-abiding people, but if we are +trusting to that, we are of the 'flesh.' Have we estimated +what God is, and what the real worth of our +conduct is? Have we looked not at our actions but at +our motives, and seen them as they are seen from +above or from the inside? How many 'blameless' +lives are like the scenes in a theatre, effective and +picturesque, when seen with the artificial glory of the +footlights? But go behind the scenes and what do we +find? Dirty canvas and cobwebs. If we know ourselves +we know that a life may have a fair outside, +and yet not be a thing to trust to.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span></p> + +<p>The beginning of our Christianity is the consciousness +that we are 'naked and poor, and blind, and in +need of all things.' Men come to Jesus Christ by many +ways, thank God, and I care little by what road they +come so long as they get there, nor do I insist upon +any stereotyped order of religious experience. But +of this I am very sure: that unless we abandon confidence +in ourselves, because we have seen ourselves in +the light of God's law, we have not learned all that +we need nor laid hold of all that Christ gives. Let +us measure ourselves in the light of God, and we shall +learn that we have to take our places beside Job, +when the vision of God silenced his protestations of +innocence. 'I have heard of Thee by the hearing of +the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee; wherefore I +abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.'</p> + +<p>That self-distrust should pass into glorying in Christ +Jesus. If a man has learned his emptiness he will +look about for something to fill it. Unless I know +myself to be under condemnation because of my sin, +and fevered, disturbed, and made wretched, by +its inward consequences which forbid repose, the +sweetest words of Gospel invitation will pass by me +like wind whistling through an archway. But if once +I have been driven from self-confidence, then like +music from heaven will come the word, 'Trust in +Jesus.' The seed dropped into the ground puts out a +downward-going shoot, which is the root, and an +upward-growing one, which is the stalk. The downward-going +shoot is 'no confidence in the flesh,' the +upward-going is 'glorying in Christ Jesus.'</p> + +<p>But that word suggests the blessed experience of +triumph in the possession of the Person known and +felt to be all, and to give all that life needs. A<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span> +true Christian should ever be triumphant in a felt +experience, in a Name proved to be sufficient, in a +power which infuses strength into his weakness, and +enables him to do the will of God. It is for want of +utter self-distrust and absolute faith in Christ that +'glorying' in Him is so far beyond the ordinary mood +of the average Christian. You say, 'I hope, sometimes +I doubt, sometimes I fear, sometimes I tremblingly +trust.' Is that the kind of experience that these +words shadow? Why do we continue amidst the mist +when we might rise into the clear blue above the +obscuring pall? Only because we are still in some +measure clinging to self, and still in some measure +distrusting our Lord. If our faith were firm and full +our 'glorying' would be constant. Do not be contented +with the prevailing sombre type of Christian +life which is always endeavouring, and always foiled, +which is often doubting and often indifferent, but +seek to live in the sunshine, and expatiate in the +light, and 'rejoice in the Lord always.'</p> + +<p>'Glorying' not only describes an attitude of mind, +but an activity of life. Many things to-day tempt +Christian people to speak of their religion and of +their Lord in an apologetic tone, in the face of strong +and educated unbelief; but if we have within us, as we +all may have, and ought to have, the triumphant +assurance of His sufficiency, nearness, and power, it +will not be with bated breath that we shall speak of +our Master, or apologise for our Christianity, but we +shall obey the commandment, 'Lift up thy voice with +strength; lift it up, be not afraid.' Ring out the +name and be proud that you can ring it out, as the +Name of <i>your</i> Lord, and <i>your</i> Saviour, and <i>your</i> all-sufficient +Friend. Whatever other people say, you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span> +have the experience, if you are a Christian, which more +than answers all that they can say.</p> + +<p>We have said that the final result set forth here +by Paul is, 'We worship by the Spirit of God.' The +expression translated worship is the technical word for +rendering priestly service. Just as Paul has asserted +that uncircumcised Christians, not circumcised Jews, +are the true circumcision, so he asserts that they are the +true priests, and that these officials in the outward +temple at Jerusalem have forfeited the title, and that +it has passed over to the despised followers of the +despised Nazarene. If we have 'no confidence in +the flesh,' and are 'glorying in Christ Jesus,' we are +all priests of the most high God. 'Worship in the +Spirit' is our function and privilege. The externals +of ceremonial worship dwindle into insignificance. +They may be means of helping, or they may be means +of hindering, the 'worship in the Spirit,' which I +venture to think all experience shows is the more +likely to be pure and real, the less it invokes the aid of +flesh and sense. To make the senses the ladder for +the soul by which to climb to God is quite as likely to +end in the soul's going down the ladder as up it. +Aesthetic aids to worship are crutches which keep a +lame soul lame all its days.</p> + +<p>Such worship is the obligation as well as the prerogative +of the Christian. We have no right to say +that we have truly forsaken confidence in ourselves, +and are truly 'glorying' in Christ Jesus, unless our +daily life is communion with God, and all your work +'worshipping by the Spirit of God.' Such communion +and worship are possible for those, and for those only, +who have 'no confidence in the flesh' and who 'glory +in Christ Jesus.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LOSS OF ALL</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh: if any other man +thinketh to have confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised the eighth day +of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching +the law, a Pharisee; as touching zeal, persecuting the church; as touching the +righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. Howbeit what things were +gain to me, these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, and I count all +things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for +whom I suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> +iii. 4-8 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>We have already noted that in the previous verses the +Apostle is beginning to prepare for closing his letter, +but is carried away into the long digression of which +our text forms the beginning. The last words of the +former verse open a thought of which his mind is +always full. It is as when an excavator strikes his +pickaxe unwittingly into a hidden reservoir and the +blow is followed by a rush of water, which carries +away workmen and tools. Paul has struck into the +very deepest thoughts which he has of the Gospel and +out they pour. That one antithesis, 'the loss of all, the +gain of Christ,' carried in it to him the whole truth of +the Christian message. We may well ask ourselves +what are the subjects which lie so near our hearts, +and so fill our thoughts, that a chance word sets us off +on them, and we cannot help talking of them when +once we begin.</p> + +<p>The text exemplifies another characteristic of Paul's, +his constant habit of quoting his own experience as +illustrating the truth. His theology is the generalisation +of his own experience, and yet that continual +autobiographical reference is not egotism, for the light +in which he delights to present himself is as the +recipient of the great grace of God in pardoning +sinners. It is a result of the complete saturation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span> +himself with the Gospel. It was to him no mere body of +principles or thoughts, it was the very food and life +of his life. And so this characteristic reveals not only +his natural fervour of character, but the profound and +penetrating hold which the Gospel had on his whole +being.</p> + +<p>In our text he presents his own experience as the +type to which ours must on the whole be conformed. +He had gone through an earthquake which had +shattered the very foundations of his life. He had +come to despise all that he had counted most precious, +and to clasp as the only true treasures all that he had +despised. With him the revolution had turned his +whole life upside down. Though the change cannot be +so subversive and violent with us, the forsaking of +self-confidence must be as real, and the clinging to +Jesus must be as close, if our Christianity is to be +fervid and dominant in our lives.</p> + +<p>I. The treasures that were discovered to be worthless.</p> + +<p>We have already had occasion in the previous sermon +to refer to Paul's catalogue of 'things that were gain' +to him, but we must consider it a little more closely +here. We may repeat that it is important for understanding +Paul's point of view to note that by 'flesh' +he means the whole self considered as independent of +God. The antithesis to it is 'spirit,' that is humanity +regenerated and vitalised by Divine influence. 'Flesh,' +then, is humanity not so vitalised. That is to say, it is +'self,' including both body and emotions, affections, +thoughts, and will.</p> + +<p>As to the points enumerated, they are those which +made the ideal to a Jew, including purity of race, +punctilious orthodoxy, flaming zeal, pugnacious an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>tagonism, +and blameless morality. With reference +to race, the Jewish pride was in 'circumcision on the +eighth day,' which was the exclusive privilege of one +of pure blood. Proselytes might be circumcised in +later life, but one of the 'stock of Israel' only on +the 'eighth day.' Saul of Tarsus had in earlier +days been proud of his tribal genealogy, which had +apparently been carefully preserved in the Gentile +home, and had shared ancestral pride in belonging to +the once royal tribe, and perhaps in thinking that the +blood of the king after whom he was named flowed in +his veins. He was a 'Hebrew of the Hebrews,' which +does not mean, as it is usually taken to do, intensely, +superlatively Hebrew, but simply is equivalent to 'myself +a Hebrew, and come from pure Hebrew ancestors +on both sides.' Possibly also the phrase may have +reference to purity of language and customs as well +as blood. These four items make the first group. +Paul still remembers the time when, in the blindness +which he shared with his race, he believed that these +wholly irrelevant points had to do with a man's +acceptance before God. He had once agreed with +the Judaisers that 'circumcision' admitted Gentiles +into the Jewish community, and so gave them a right +to participate in the blessings of the Covenant.</p> + +<p>Then follow the items of his more properly religious +character, which seem in their three clauses to make a +climax. 'As touching the law a Pharisee,' he was of +the 'straitest sect,' the champions and representatives +of the law. 'As touching zeal persecuting the Church,' +it was not only in Judaism that the mark of zeal for +a cause has been harassing its opponents. We can +almost hear a tone of sad irony as Paul recalls that +past, remembering how eagerly he had taken charge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span> +of the clothes trusted to his care by the witnesses who +stoned Stephen, and how he had 'breathed threatening +and slaughter' against the disciples. 'As touching the +righteousness which is in the law found blameless,' he +is evidently speaking of the obedience of outward +actions and of blamelessness in the judgment of men.</p> + +<p>So we get a living picture of Paul and of his confidence +before he was a Christian. All these grounds +for pride and self-satisfaction were like triple armour +round the heart of the young Pharisee, who rode out +of Jerusalem on the road to Damascus. How little he +thought that they would all have been pierced and +have dropped from him before he got there! The +grounds of his confidence are antiquated in form, but +in substance are modern. At bottom the things in +which Paul's 'flesh' trusted are exactly the same as +those in which many of us trust. Even his pride of +race continues to influence some of us. We have got +the length of separating between our nationality and +our acceptance with God, but we have still a kind of +feeling that 'God's Englishmen,' as Milton called them, +have a place of their own, which is, if not a ground of +confidence before God, at any rate a ground for carrying +ourselves with very considerable complacency +before men. It is not unheard of that people should +rely, if not on 'circumcision on the eighth day,' on +an outward rite which seems to connect them with a +visible Church. Strict orthodoxy takes the place +among us which Pharisaism held in Paul's mind before +he was a Christian, and it is easier to prove our zeal +by pugnacity against heretics, than by fervour of +devotion. The modern analogue of Paul's, 'touching +the righteousness which is in the law blameless,' is 'I +have done my best, I have lived a decent life. My<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span> +religion is to do good to other people.' All such talk, +which used to be a vague sentiment or excuse, is now +put forward in definite theoretical substitution for +the Christian Truth, and finds numerous teachers and +acceptors. But how short a way all such grounds of +confidence go to satisfy a soul that has once seen the +vision that blazed in on Paul's mind on the road to +Damascus!</p> + +<p>II. The discovery of their worthlessness.</p> + +<p>'These have I counted loss for Christ.' There is a +possibility of exaggeration in interpreting Paul's +words. The things that were 'gain' to him were in +themselves better than their opposites. It is better to +to be 'blameless' than to have a life all stained with +foulness and reeking with sins. But these 'gains' +were 'losses,' disadvantages, in so far as they led him +to build upon them, and trust in them as solid wealth. +The earthquake that shattered his life had two shocks: +the first turned upside down his estimate of the value +of his gains, the second robbed him of them. He first +saw them to be worthless, and then, so far as others' +judgment went, he was stripped of them. Actively he +'counted them loss,' passively he 'suffered the loss of +all things.' His estimate came, and was followed by +the practical outcome of his brethren's excommunication.</p> + +<p>What changed his estimate? In our text he answers +the question in two forms: first he gives the simple, +all-sufficient monosyllabic reason for his whole life—'for +Christ,' and then he enlarges that motive into +'the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my +Lord.' The former carries us back straight to the +vision which revolutionised Paul's life, and made him +abjure all which he had trusted, and adore what he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span> +had abhorred. The latter dwells a little more upon +the subjective process which followed on the vision, +but the two are substantially the same, and we need +only note the solemn fulness of the name of 'Jesus +Christ,' and the intense motion of submission and of +personal appropriation contained in the designation, +'my Lord.' It was not when he found his way blinded +into Damascus that he had learned that knowledge, +or could apprehend its 'excellency.' The words are +enriched and enlarged by later experiences. The +sacrifice of his earlier 'gains' had been made before +the 'excellency of the knowledge' had been discerned. +It was no mere intellectual perception which could be +imparted in words, or by eyesight, but here as always +Paul by 'knowledge' means experience which comes +from possession and acquaintance, and which therefore +gleams ever before us as we move, and is capable of +endless increase, in the measure in which we are true +to the estimate of 'gains' and 'losses' to which our +initial vision of Him has led us. At first we may not +know that that knowledge excels all others, but as we +grow in acquaintance with Jesus, and in experience of +Him, we shall be sure that it transcends all others, +because He does and we possess Him.</p> + +<p>The revolutionising motive may be conceived of in +two ways. We have to abandon the lower 'gains' in +order to gain Christ, or to abandon these because we +have gained Him. Both are true. The discernment +of Christ as the one ground of confidence is ever +followed by the casting away of all others. Self-distrust +is a part of faith. When we feel our feet upon +the rock, the crumbling sands on which we stood are +left to be broken up by the sea. They who have seen +the Apollo Belvedere will set little store by plaster<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span> +of Paris casts. In all our lives there come times +when the glimpse of some loftier ideal shows up our +ordinary as hollow and poor and low. And when +once Christ is seen, as Scripture shows Him, our former +self appears poor and crumbles away.</p> + +<p>We are not to suppose that the act of renunciation +must be completed before a second act of possession +is begun. That is the error of many ascetic books. +The two go together, and abandonment in order to +win merges into abandonment because we have won. +The strongest power to make renunciation possible is +'the expulsive power of a new affection.' When the +heart is filled with love to Christ there is no sense of +'loss,' but only of 'exceeding gain,' in casting away all +things for Him.</p> + +<p>III. The continuous repetition of the discovery.</p> + +<p>Paul compares his present self with his former +Christian self, and with a vehement 'Yea, verily,' +affirms his former judgment, and reiterates it in still +more emphatic terms. It is often easy to depreciate +the treasures which we possess. They sometimes grow +in value as they slip from our hands. It is not usual +for a man who has 'suffered the loss of all things' to +follow their disappearance by counting them 'but +dung.' The constant repetition through the whole +Christian course of the depreciatory estimate of +grounds of confidence is plainly necessary. There are +subtle temptations to the opposite course. It is hard +to keep perfectly clear of all building on our own +blamelessness or on our connection with the Christian +Church, and we have need ever to renew the estimate +which was once so epoch-making, and which 'cast +down all our imaginations and high things.' If we do +not carefully watch ourselves, the whispering tempter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span> +that was silenced will recover his breath again, and be +once more ready to drop into our ears his poisonous +suggestions. We have to take pains and 'give earnest +heed' to the initial, revolutionary estimate, and to see +that it is worked out habitually in our daily lives. It +is a good exchange when we count 'all but loss for +the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our +Lord.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE GAIN OF CHRIST</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'That I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my +own, even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the +righteousness which is of God by faith.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iii. 8, 9 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>It is not everybody who <i>can</i> say what is his aim in life. +Many of us have never thought enough about it to +have one beyond keeping alive. We lose life in seeking +for the means of living. Many of us have such a multitude +of aims, each in its turn drawing us, that no one +of them is predominant and rules the crowd. There is +no strong hand at the tiller, and so the ship washes +about in the trough of the waves.</p> + +<p>It is not everybody who <i>dares</i> to say what is his aim +in life. We are ashamed to acknowledge even to ourselves +what we are not at all ashamed to do. Paul +knew his aim, and was not afraid to speak it. It was +high and noble, and was passionately and persistently +pursued. He tells us it here, and we can see his soul +kindling as he speaks. We may note how there is here +the same double reference as we found in the previous +verses, gaining Christ corresponding to the previous +loss for Christ, and the later words of our text being +an expansion of the 'excellency of the knowledge of +Christ Jesus.' No man will ever succeed in any life's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span> +purpose, unless like Paul he is enthusiastic about it. +If his aim does not rouse his fervour when he speaks +of it, he will never accomplish it. We may just remark +that Paul does not suppose his aim to be wholly unattained, +even although he does not count himself to +'have apprehended.' He knows that he has gained +Christ, and is 'found in Him,' but he knows also that +there stretch before him the possibilities of infinite +increase.</p> + +<p>I. His life's aim was to have the closest possession of, +and incorporation in, Christ.</p> + +<p>His two expressions, 'that I may gain Christ and be +found in Him,' are substantially identical in meaning, +though they put the same truth from different sides, +and with some variety of metaphor. We may deal +with them separately.</p> + +<p>The 'gain' is of course the opposite of the 'loss.' His +balance-sheet has on one side 'all things lost,' on the +other 'Christ gained,' and that is profitable trading. +But we have to go deeper than such a metaphor, and +to give full scope to the Scriptural truth, that Christ +really imparts Himself to the believing soul. There is +a real communication of His own life to us, and thereby +we live, as He Himself declared, 'He that hath the Son +hath life.' The true deep sense in which we possess +Christ is not to be weakened down, as it, alas! so often +is in our shallow Christianity, which is but the echo of +a shallow experience, and a feeble hold of that possession +of the Son to which Jesus called us, as the condition +of our possession of life. Christ is thus Himself +possessed by all our faculties, each after its kind; head +and heart, passions and desires, hopes and longings, +may each have Him abiding in them, guiding them +with His strong and gentle hand, animating them into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span> +nobler life, restraining and controlling, gradually transforming +and ultimately conforming them to His own +likeness. Till that Divine Indweller enters in, the +shrine is empty, and unclean things lurk in its hidden +corners. To be a man full summed in all his powers, +each of us must 'gain Christ.'</p> + +<p>The other expression in the text, 'be found in Him,' +presents the same truth from the completing point of +view. We gain Christ in us when we are 'found in Him.' +We are to be incorporated as members are in the body, +or imbedded as a stone in the foundation, or to go +back to the sweetest words, which are the source of all +these representations, included as 'a branch in the +vine.' We are to be in Him for safety and shelter, as +fugitives take refuge in a strong tower when an enemy +swarms over the land.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="And lo! from sin and grief and shame"> +<tr><td align='left'>'And lo! from sin and grief and shame,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">I hide me, Jesus, in Thy name.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>We are to be in Him that the life sap may freely flow +through us. We are to be in Him that the Divine +Love may fall on us, and that in Jesus we may receive +our portion of all which is His heritage.</div> + +<p>This mutual possession and indwelling is possible if +Jesus be the Son of God, but the language is absurd in +any other interpretation of His person. It is clearly in +its very nature capable of indefinite increase, and as +containing in itself the supply of all which we need for +life and blessedness, is fitted to be what nothing else +can pretend to be, without wrecking the lives that are +unwise enough to pursue it—the sovereign aim of a +human life. In following it, and only in following it, +the highest wisdom says Amen to the aspiration of the +lowliest faith. 'This one thing I do.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span></p> + +<p>II. Paul's life's aim was righteousness to be received.</p> + +<p>He goes on to present some of the consequences +which follow on his gaining Christ and being 'found in +Him,' and before all others he names as his aim the +possession of 'righteousness.' We must remember that +Paul believed that righteousness in the sense of 'justification' +had been his from the moment when Ananias +came to where he was sitting in darkness, and bid him +be baptized and wash away his sins. The word here +must be taken in its full sense of moral perfectness; +even if we included only this in our thoughts of his +life's aim, how high above most men would he tower! +But his statement carries him still higher above, and +farther away from, the common ideas of moral perfection, +and what he means by righteousness is widely separated +from the world's conception, not only in regard +to its elements, but still more in regard to its source.</p> + +<p>It is possible to lose oneself in a dreamy mysticism +which has had much to say of 'gaining Christ and being +found in Him,' and has had too little to say about +'having righteousness,' and so has turned out to be an +ally of indifference and sometimes of unrighteousness. +Buddhism and some forms of mystical Christianity +have fallen into a pit of immorality from which Paul's +sane combination here would have saved them. There +is no danger in the most mystical interpretation of the +former statement of his aim, when it is as closely +connected as it is here with the second form in which +he states it. I have just said that Paul differed from +men who were seeking for righteousness, not only +because his conceptions of what constituted it were not +the same as theirs, though he in this very letter +endorses the Greek ideals of 'virtue and praise,' but +also and more emphatically because he looked for it as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span> +a gift, and not as the result of his own efforts. To him +the only righteousness which availed was one which +was not 'my own,' but had its source in, and was +imparted by, God. The world thought of righteousness +as the general designation under which were summed +up a man's specific acts of conformity to law, the sum +total reached by the addition of many specific instances +of conformity to a standard of duty. Paul had learned +to think of it as preceding and producing the specific +acts. The world therefore said, and says, Do the deeds +and win the character; Paul says, Receive the character +and do the deeds. The result of the one conception of +righteousness is in the average man spasmodic efforts +after isolated achievements, with long periods between +in which effort subsides into torpor. The result in +Paul's case was what we know: a continuous effort to +keep his mind and heart open for the influx of the +power which, entering into him, would make him able +to do the specific acts which constitute righteousness. +The one road is a weary path, hard to tread, and, as a +matter of fact, not often trodden. To pile up a righteousness +by the accumulation of individual righteous acts +is an endeavour less hopeful than that of the coral +polypes slowly building up their reef out of the depths +of the Pacific, till it rises above the waves. He who +assumes to be righteous on the strength of a succession +of righteous acts, not only needs a profounder idea of +what makes his acts righteous, but should also make a +catalogue of his unrighteous ones and call himself +wicked. The other course is the final deliverance of a +man from dependence upon his own struggles, and substitutes +for the dreary alternations of effort and torpor, +and for the imperfect harvest of imperfectly righteous +acts, the attitude of receiving, which supersedes painful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span> +strife and weary endeavour. To seek after a righteousness +which is 'my own,' is to seek what we shall never +find, and what, if found, would crumble beneath us. +To seek the righteousness which is from God, is to seek +what He is waiting to bestow, and what the blessed +receivers blessedly know is more than they dreamed of.</p> + +<p>But Paul looked for this great gift as a gift in Christ. +It was when he was 'found in Him' that it became his, +and he was found 'blameless.' That gift of an imparted +life, which has a bias towards all goodness, and the +natural operation of which is to incline all our faculties +towards conformity with the will of God, is bestowed +when we 'win Christ.' Possessing Him, we possess it. +It is not only 'imputed,' as our fathers delighted to say, +but it is 'imparted.' And because it is the gift of God +in Christ, it was in Paul's view received by faith. He +expresses that conviction in a double form in our text. +It is 'through faith' as the channel by which it passes +into our happy hands. It is 'by faith,' or, more +accurately, 'upon faith,' as the foundation on which +it rests, or the condition on which it depends. Our +trust in Christ does bring His life to us to sanctify us, +and the plain English of all this blessed teaching is—if +we wish to be better let us trust Christ and get Him +into the depths of our lives, and righteousness will be +ours. That transforming Presence laid up in 'the hidden +man of the heart,' will be like some pungent scent in +a wardrobe which keeps away moths, and gives out a +fragrance that perfumes all that hangs near it.</p> + +<p>But all which we have been saying is not to be understood +as if there was no effort to be made, in order +to receive, and to live manifesting, the 'righteousness +which is of God.' There must be the constant +abandonment of self, and the constant utilising of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span> +grace given. The righteousness is bestowed whenever +faith is exercised. The hand is never stretched out +and the gift not lodged in it. But it is a life's aim to +possess the 'righteousness which is of God by faith,' +because that gift is capable of indefinite increase, and +will reward the most strenuous efforts of a believing +soul as long as life continues.</p> + +<p>III. Paul's life's aim stretches beyond this life.</p> + +<p>Shall we be chargeable with crowding too much +meaning into his words, if we fix on his remarkable +expression, 'be found in Him,' as containing a clear +reference to that great day of final judgment? We +recall other instances of the use of the same expression +in connections which unmistakably point to that time. +Such as 'being clothed we shall not be found naked,' or +'the proof of your faith . . . might be found unto +praise and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus +Christ,' or 'found of Him in peace without spot, blameless.' +In the light of these and similar passages, it +does not seem unreasonable to suppose that this 'being +found' does include a reference to the Apostle's place +after death, though it is not confined to that. He +thinks of the searching eye of the Judge taking keen +account, piercing through all disguises, and wistfully +as well as penetratingly scrutinising characters, +till it finds that for which it seeks. They who are +'found in Him' in that day, are there and thus for +ever. There is no further fear of falling out of union +with Him, or of being, by either gradual and unconscious +stages, or by sudden and overmastering assaults, +carried out of the sacred enclosure of the City of +Refuge in which they dwell henceforth for ever. A +dangerous presumptuousness has sometimes led to the +over-confident assertion, 'Once in Christ always in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span> +Christ.' But Paul teaches us that that security of +permanent dwelling in Him is to be for ever in this +life the aim of our efforts, rather than an accomplished +fact. So long as we are here, the possibility of falling +away cannot be shut out, and there must always rise +before us the question, Am I in Christ? Hence there +is need for continual watchfulness, self-control, and +self-distrust, and the life's aim has to be perpetual, not +only because it is capable of indefinite expansion, but +because our weakness is capable of deserting it. It is +only when at the last we are found by Him, in Him, +that we are there for ever, with all dangers of departure +from Him at an end. In that City of Refuge, +and there only, 'the gates shall not be shut at all,' not +solely because no enemies shall attempt to come in, +but also because no citizens shall desire to go out.</p> + +<p>We should ever have before us that hour, and our +life's aim should ever definitely include the final +scrutiny in which many a hidden thing will come to +light, many a long-lost thing be found, and each man's +ultimate place in relation to Jesus Christ will be freed +from uncertainties, ambiguities, hypocrisies, and disguises, +and made plain to all beholders. In that great +day of 'finding,' some of us will have to ask with sinking +hearts, 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' and +others will break forth into the glad acclaim, 'I have +found Him,' or rather 'been found of Him.'</p> + +<p>So we have before us the one reasonable aim for a +man to have Christ, to be found in Him, to have His +righteousness. It is reasonable, it is great enough to +absorb all our energies, and to reward them. It will +last a lifetime, and run on undisturbed beyond life. +Following it, all other aims will fall into their places. +Is this my aim?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SAVING KNOWLEDGE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship +of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death; if by any means I may +attain unto the resurrection from the dead.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iii. 10-11 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>We have seen how the Apostle was prepared to close +his letter at the beginning of this chapter, and how +that intention was swept away by the rush of new +thoughts. His fervid faith caught fire when he turned +to think of what he had lost, and how infinitely more +he had gained in Christ. His wealth is so great that +it cannot be crowded into the narrow space of one +brief sentence, and after all the glowing words which +precede our text, he feels that he has not yet adequately +set forth either his present possessions or his +ultimate aims. So here he continues the theme which +might have seemed most fully dealt with in the great +thoughts that occupied us in the former sermon, but +which still wait to be completed here. They are most +closely connected with the former, and the unity of the +sentence is but a parallel to the oneness of the idea. +The elements of our present text constitute a part of +the Apostle's aim in life, and may be dealt with as +such.</p> + +<p>I. Paul's life's aim was the knowledge of Christ.</p> + +<p>That sounds an anti-climax after 'Gain' and 'Be in +Him.' These phrases seem to express a much more +intimate relation than this, but we must note that it +is no mere theoretical or intellectual knowledge which +is intended. Such knowledge would need no surrender +or suffering 'the loss of all things.' We can only buy +the knowledge of Christ at such a rate, but we can buy +knowledge about Him very much cheaper. Such<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span> +knowledge would not be worth the price; it lies on the +surface of the soul, and does nothing. Many a man +amongst us has it, and it is of no use to him. If Paul +had undergone all that he had undergone and sacrificed +all that he had given up, and for his reward had +only gained accurate knowledge about Christ, he had +certainly wasted his life and made a bad bargain. +But as always, so here, to know means knowledge +based upon experience. Did Christ mean that a correct +creed was eternal life when He said, 'This is life +eternal to know Thee, the only true God and Jesus +Christ whom Thou has sent?' Did Paul mean the dry +light of the understanding when he prayed that the +Ephesians might know the love of Christ which passeth +knowledge, in order to be filled with all the fulness of +God? Clearly we have to go much deeper down than +that superficial interpretation in order to reach the +reality of the New Testament conception of knowledge. +It is co-extensive with life, and is built upon inward +experience. In a word, it is one aspect of winning +Jesus. It is consciousness contemplating its riches, +counting its gains. As a man knows the bliss of +parental or wedded love only by having it, or as he +knows the taste of wine only by drinking it, or the +glory of music only by hearing it, and the brightness +of the day only by seeing it, so we know Christ only by +winning Him. There must first be the perception and +possession by sense or emotion, and then the reflection +on the possession by understanding. This applies to +all religious truth. It must be possessed ere it be +fully known. Like the new name written upon the +Apocalyptic stone, 'No one knoweth but he that +receiveth it.'</p> + +<p>The knowledge which was Paul's life's aim was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span> +knowledge of a Person: the object determines the +nature of the knowledge. The mental act of knowing +a proposition or a science or even of knowing about a +person by hearing of him is different from that of +knowing people when we have lived beside them. We +need not be afraid of attaching too familiar a meaning +to this word of our text, if we say that it implies personal +acquaintance with the Christ whom we know. +Of course we come to know Him in the first instance +through the medium of statements about Him, and we +cannot too strongly insist, in these days of destructive +criticism, on the absolute necessity of accepting the +Gospel statements as to the life of Jesus as the only +possible method of knowing Him. But then, beyond +that acceptance of the record must come the application +and appropriation of it, and the transmutation of +a historical fact into a personal experience. We may +take an illustration from any of the Scriptural truths +about Jesus:—For instance, Scripture declares Him to +be our Redeemer. One man believes Him to be so, +welcomes Him into his life as such, and finds Him to +be such. Another man believes Him to be so, but never +puts His redeeming power to the proof. Is the knowledge +of these two rightly called by the same name? +That which comes after experience is surely not +rightly designated by the same title as that which has +no vivification nor verification of such a sort to build +on, and is the mere product of the understanding. +There is nothing which the great mass of so-called +Christians need more than to have forced into their +thoughts the difference between these two kinds of +knowledge of Christ. There are thousands of them +who, if asked, are ready to profess that they know +Jesus, but to whom He has never been anything more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span> +than a partially understood article of an uncared for +creed, and has never been in living contact with their +needs, nor known for their strength in weakness, their +comforter in sorrow, 'their life in death,' their all in all.</p> + +<p>To deepen that experimental knowledge of Jesus is a +worthy aim for the whole life, and is a process that +may go on indefinitely through it all. To know Him +more and more is to have more of heaven in us. To be +penetrating ever deeper into His fulness, and finding +every day new depths to penetrate is to have a fountain +of freshness in our dusty days that will never fail +or run dry. There is only one inexhaustible person, +and that is Jesus Christ. We have all fulness in our +Lord: we have already received all when we received +Him. Are we advancing in the experience that is the +parent of knowing Him? Do new discoveries meet us +every day as if we were explorers in a virgin land? +To have this for our aim is enough for satisfaction, for +blessedness, and for growth. To know Him is a liberal +education.</p> + +<p>II. That knowledge involves knowing the power of +His Resurrection.</p> + +<p>The power of His Resurrection is an expression which +covers a wide ground. There are several distinct and +well-marked powers ascribed to it in Paul's writings. +It has a demonstrative force in reference to our Lord's +person and work. For He is by it 'declared to be the +Son of God with power.' That rising again from the +dead, taken in conjunction with the fact that He dieth +no more, but is ascended up on high, and in conjunction +with His own words concerning Himself and His +Resurrection, sets Him forth before the world as the +Son of God, and is the solemn divine approval and +acceptance of His work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span></p> + +<p>It has a revealing power in regard to the condition +of humanity in death. It is the one fact which +establishes immortality, and which not only establishes +it, but casts some light on the manner of it. The +possibility of personal life after, and therefore, in +death, the unbroken continuity of being, the possibility +of a resurrection, and a glorifying of this corporeal +frame, with all the far-reaching consequences of these +truths in the triumph they give over death, in the support +and substance they afford to the else-shadowy +idea of immortality, in the lofty place which they assign +to the bodily frame, and the conception which they +give of man's perfection as consisting of body, soul, +and spirit—these thoughts have flashed light into all +the darkness of the grave, have narrowed to a mere +strip of coast-line the boundaries of the kingdom of +death, have proclaimed love as the victor in her contest +with that shrouded horror. The basis of them all +is Christ's Resurrection; its power in this respect is the +power to illuminate, to console, to certify, to wrench +the sceptre from the hands of death, and to put it in +the pierced hands of the Living One that was dead, +and is Lord both of the dead and the living.</p> + +<p>Further, the Resurrection is treated by Paul as having +a power for our justification, in so far as the risen Lord +bestows upon us by His risen life the blessings of His +righteousness. Paul also represents the Resurrection +of Christ as having the power of quickening our +Spiritual life. I need not spend time in quoting the +many passages where His rising from the dead, and +His life after the Resurrection, are treated as the type +and pattern of our lives: and are not only regarded +as pattern, but are also regarded as the power by +which that new life of ours is brought about. It has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span> +the power of raising us from the death of sin, and +bringing us into a new life of the Spirit. And finally, +the Resurrection of Christ is regarded as having the +power of raising His servants from the grave to the +full possession of His own glorious life, and so it is the +power of our final victory over death.</p> + +<p>Now I do not know that we are entitled to exclude +any of these powers from view. The broad words of +the text include them all, but perhaps the two last are +mainly meant, and of these chiefly the former.</p> + +<p>The risen life of Christ quickens and raises us, and +that not merely as a pattern, but as a power. It is +only if we are in Him that there is so real a unity of +life between Him and us that there enters into us some +breath of His own life.</p> + +<p>That risen life of the Saviour which we share if we +have Him, enters into our nature as leaven into the +three measures of meal; transforming and quickening +it, gives new directions, tastes, motives, impulses, and +power. It bids and inclines us to seek the things that +are above, and its great exhortation to the hearts in +which it dwells, to fix themselves there, and to forsake +the things that are on the earth, is based upon the fact +that they have died, and 'their life is hid with Christ +in God.' Without that leaven the life that we live is a +death, because it is lived in the 'lusts of the flesh,' +doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind. There +is no real union with Jesus Christ, of which the direct +issue is not a living experience of the power of His +Resurrection in bringing us to the likeness of itself in +regard to our freedom from the bondage to sin, and to +our presenting ourselves unto God as alive from the +dead, and our members as instruments of righteousness +unto God. It is a solemn thought which we all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span> +need to press upon our consciences, that the only infallible +sign that we have been in any measure +quickened together with Christ and raised up with +Him is that we have ceased to live in the lusts of our +flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind. +The risen life of Jesus may indefinitely increase, and +will do so in the measure in which we honestly make +it our life's aim to know Him and the power of His +Resurrection.</p> + +<p>III. The experience of the power of Christ's Resurrection +is inseparable from the fellowship of His +sufferings.</p> + +<p>We must not suppose that Paul's solemn and awful +words here trench in the smallest degree on the solitary +unapproachableness of Christ's death. He would +have answered, as in fact he does answer, the appeal +of the prophetic sufferer, 'Behold and see if there be +any sorrow like unto my sorrow' with the strongest +negative. No other human lips have ever tasted, or +can ever taste, a cup of such bitterness as He drained +for us all, and no other human lips have ever been so +exquisitely sensitive to the bitterness which they have +drunk. The identification of Himself with a sinful +world, the depth and closeness of His community of +feeling with all sorrow, the consciousness of the glory +which He had left, and the perpetual sense of the +hostility into which He had come, set Christ's sufferings +by themselves as surely as the effects that flow +from them declare that they need no repetition, and +cannot be degraded by any parallel whilst the world +lasts.</p> + +<p>But yet His Death, like His Resurrection, is set forth +in Scripture as being a type and power of ours. We +have to die to the world by the power of the Cross. If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span> +we truly trust in His sacrifice there will operate upon +us motives which separate and detach us from our old +selves and the old world. A fundamental, ethical, and +spiritual change is effected on us through faith. We +were dead in sin, we are dead to sin. We have to +blend the two thoughts of the Christian life as being a +daily dying and a continual resurrection in order to get +the whole truth of the double aspect of it.</p> + +<p>It may be a question whether the Apostle is here referring +to outward or inward and ethical sorrows, but +perhaps we should not do justice to the thought unless +we extend it to cover both of these. Certainly if his +theology was but the generalising of his experience, he +had ample material in his daily life for knowing the +fellowship of Christ's sufferings. One of his most +frequently recurring and most cherished thoughts is, +that to suffer for Christ is to suffer with Christ, and +in it he found and teaches us to find strength to +endure, and patience to outlast any sorrows that may +swoop upon us like birds of prey because we are +Christians. Happy shall we be if Christ's sufferings +are ours, because it is our union with Him and our +likeness to Him, not to ourselves, our sins, or our worldliness, +that is their occasion. There is an old legend +that Peter was crucified head downwards, because he +felt himself unworthy to be as his Master. We may +well feel that nothing which we can ever bear for +Him is worthy to be compared with what He has +borne for us, and be the more overwhelmed with the +greatness of the condescension, and the humility of +the love which reckon our light affliction, which is but +for a moment, along with the heavy weight which He +bore, and the blessed issue of which outlasts time and +enriches eternity.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span></p> + +<p>But there is another sense in which it is a worthy +aim of our lives that our sufferings may be felt to be +fellowship with His. That is a blessed sorrow which +brings us closer to our Lord. That is a wholesome +sorrow of which the issue is an intenser faith in Him, +a fuller experience of His sufficiency. The storm blows +us well when it blows us to His breast, and sorrow +enriches us, whatever it may take away, which gives us +fuller and more assured possession of Jesus.</p> + +<p>But when we are living in fellowship with Jesus, that +union works in two directions, and while on the one +hand we may then humbly venture to feel that our +sufferings for Him are sufferings with Him, we may +thankfully feel, too, that in all our affliction He is +afflicted. If His sufferings are ours we may be sure +that ours are His. And how different they all become +when we are certain of His sympathy! It is possible +that we may have a kind of common consciousness +with our Lord, if our whole hearts and wills are kept +in close touch with Him, so that in our experience there +may be a repetition in a higher form of that strange +experience alleged to be familiar in hypnotism, where +the bitter in one mouth is tasted in another.</p> + +<p>So, what we ought to make our aim is that in our +lives our growing knowledge of Christ should lead to +the two results, so inexorably intertwined, of daily +death and daily resurrection, and that we may be kept +faithful to Him so that our outward sufferings may be +caused by our union with Him, and not by our own +faithlessness, and may be discerned by us to be fellowship +with His. Then we shall also feel that He bears +ours with us, and sorrow itself will be calmed and +beautified into a silent bliss, as the chill peaks when the +morning strikes them glow with tender pink, and seem<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span> +soft and warm, though they are grim rock and ice-cold +snow. Then some faint echo of His history +'who was acquainted with grief' may be audible in our +outward lives and we, too, may have our Gethsemane +and our Calvary. It may not be presumption in us to +say 'We are able' when He asks 'Can ye drink of the +cup that I drink of'? nor terror to hear Him prophesy +'Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of,' for +we shall remember 'joint-heirs in Christ, if so be that +we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified +together.'</p> + +<p>IV. The end attained.</p> + +<p>The Christian life as here manifested is even in its +highest forms manifestly incomplete. It is a reflected +light, and like the reflected light in the heavens, +advances by imperceptible degrees to fill the whole +silver round. It may be 'e'en in its imperfections +beautiful,' but it assuredly has 'a ragged edge.' The +hypothetical form of the last words of our text does +not so much imply a doubt of the possibility of attaining +the result as the recognition of the indispensable +condition of effort on the part of him who attains it. +That effort forthcoming, the attainment is certain.</p> + +<p>The Revised Version makes a slight correction which +involves a great matter, in reading 'the resurrection +<i>from</i> the dead.' It is necessary to insist on this change +in rendering, not because it implies that only saints +are raised, but because Paul is thinking of that first +resurrection of which the New Testament habitually +speaks. 'The dead in Christ shall rise first' as he +himself declared in his earliest epistle, and the seer in +the Apocalypse shed a benediction on 'him that hath +part in the first resurrection.' Our knowledge of that +solemn future is so fragmentary that we cannot ven<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span>ture +to draw dogmatic inferences from the little that +has been declared to us, but we cannot forget the +distinct words of Jesus in which He not only plainly +declares a universal resurrection, but as plainly proclaims +that it falls into two parts, one a 'resurrection +of life,' and one a 'resurrection of judgment.' The +former may well be the final aim of a Christian life: +the latter is a fate which one would think no sane man +would deliberately provoke. Each carries in its name +its dominant characteristic, the one full of attractiveness, +the other partially unveiling depths of shame +and punitive retributions which might appal the +stoutest heart.</p> + +<p>This resurrection of life is the last result of the +power of Christ's Resurrection received into and working +on the human spirit. It is plain enough that if the +Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead +dwell in us there is no term to its operations until our +mortal bodies also are quickened by His Spirit that +dwelleth in us. The ethical and spiritual resurrection +in the present life finds its completion in the bodily +resurrection in the future. It cannot be that the +transformation wrought in a human life shall be +complete until it has flowed outwards into and permeated +the whole of manhood, body, soul, and spirit. +The three measures of meal have each to be influenced +before 'the whole is leavened.' If we duly consider +the elements necessary to a perfect realisation of the +divine ideal of humanity, we shall discern that redemption +must have a gospel to bring to the body as +well as to the spirit. Whatever has been devastated +by sin must be healed by Jesus. It is not necessary to +suppose that the body which dies is the body which +rises again, rather the Apostle's far-reaching series of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span> +antitheses between that which is sown and that which +is raised leads us to think that the natural body, which +has passed through corruption, and the particles of +which have been gathered into many different combinations, +does not become the spiritual body. The person +who dies is the person who lives through death, and +who assumes the body of the resurrection, and it is the +person, not the elements which make up the personality, +who is spoken of as risen from the dead. The vesture +may be different, but the wearer is the same.</p> + +<p>So that resurrection from the dead is the end of a +supernatural life begun here and destined to culminate +hereafter. It is the last step in the manifestation of +our being in Christ, and so is being prepared for here +by every step in advance in gaining Jesus. It should +ever be before every Christian soul that participation +in Christ hereafter is conditioned by its progress in +likeness to Him here. The Resurrection from the dead +is not a gift which can be bestowed apart from a man's +moral state. If he dies having had no knowledge by +experience of the power of Christ's Resurrection, there +is nothing in the fact of death to give him that knowledge, +and it is impossible to bring 'any means' to bear +on him by which he will attain unto the 'resurrection +from the dead.' If God could give that gift irrespective +of a man's relations to Jesus, He would give it to +all. Let us ask ourselves, then, is it not worth making +the dominant aim of our lives the same as that of +Paul's? How stands our account then? Are we not +wise traders presenting a good balance-sheet when we +show entered on the one side the loss of all things, and +on the other the gaining of Christ, and the attaining +the resurrection from the dead, the perfect transformation +of body, soul, and spirit, into the perfect likeness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span> +of the perfect Lord? Does the other balance-sheet +show the man as equally solvent who enters on one +side the gain of a world, and on the other a Christless +life, to be followed by a resurrection in which is no +joy, no advance, no life, but which is a resurrection of +judgment? May we all be found in Him, and attain to +the resurrection from the dead!</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LAID HOLD OF AND LAYING HOLD</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'I follow after if that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended +of Christ Jesus.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iii. 12.</p></div> + + +<p>'I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.' That is how Paul +thinks of what we call his conversion. He would +never have 'turned' unless a hand had been laid upon +him. A strong loving grasp had gripped him in the +midst of his career of persecution, and all that he +had done was to yield to the grip, and not to +wriggle out of it. The strong expression suggests, +as it seems to me, the suddenness of the incident. +Possibly impressions may have been working underground, +ever since the martyrdom of Stephen, which +were undermining his convictions, and the very insanity +of his zeal may have been due to an uneasy +consciousness that the ground was yielding beneath +his feet. That may have been so, but, whether it were +so or not, the crisis came like a bolt out of the blue, +and he was checked in full career, as if a voice had +spoken to the sea in its wildest storm, and frozen its +waves into immobility.</p> + +<p>There is suggested in the word, too, distinctly, our +Lord's personal action in the matter. No doubt, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span> +fact of His supernatural appearance gives emphasis +to the phrase here. But every Christian man and +woman has been, as truly as ever Paul was, laid hold +of by the personal action of Jesus Christ. He is +present in His Word, and, by multitudes of inward +impulses and outward providences, He is putting out a +gentle and a firm hand, and laying it upon the +shoulders of all of us. Have we yielded? Have we +resisted, when we were laid hold of? Did we try to +get away? Did we plant our feet and say, 'I will not +be drawn,' or did we simply neglect the pressure? If +we have yielded, my text tells us what we have to do +next. For that hand is laid upon a man for a purpose, +and that purpose is not secured by the hand being laid +upon him, unless he, in his turn, will put out a hand +and grasp. Our activity is needed; that activity will +not be put forth without very distinct effort, and that +effort has to be life-long, because our grasp at the best +is incomplete. So then, we have here, first of all, to +consider—</p> + +<p>I. What Christ has laid His grip on us for.</p> + +<p>Now, the immediate result of that grasp, when it is +yielded to, is the sense of the removal of guilt, forgiveness +of sins, acceptance with God. But these, the +immediate results, are by no means the whole results, +although a great many of us live as if we thought that +the only thing that Christianity is meant to do to us +is that it bars the gates of some future hell, and brings +to us the message of forgiveness. We cannot think +too nobly or too loftily of that gift of forgiveness, the +initial gift that is laid in every Christian man's hands, +but we may think too exclusively of it, and a great +many of us do think of it as if it were all that was +to be given. A painter has to clear away the old paint<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span> +off a door, or a wall, before he lays on the new. The +initial gift that comes from being laid hold of by Jesus +Christ is the burning off of the old coat of paint. But +that is only the preliminary to the laying on of the +new. A man away in the backwoods will spend a +couple of years after he has got his bit of land in felling +and burning the trees, and rooting out and destroying +the weeds. But is that what he got the clearing +for? That is only a preliminary to sowing the seed. +My friend! If Jesus Christ has laid hold of you, and +you have let Him keep hold of you, it is not only that +you may be forgiven, not only that you may sun yourself +in the light of God's countenance, and feel that a +new blessed relation is set up between you and Him, +but there are great purposes lying at the back of that, +of which all that is only the preliminary and the +preparation.</p> + +<p>Conversion. Yes; but what is the good of turning +a man round unless he goes in the direction in which +his face is turned? And so here the Apostle having +for years lived in the light of that great thought, that +God was reconciled in Jesus Christ, and that he was +God's friend, discerns far beyond that, in dim perspective, +towering high above the land in the front, +the snowy sunlit summits of a great range to which +he has yet to climb, and says, 'I press on to lay hold +of that for which I was laid hold of by Jesus +Christ.'</p> + +<p>And what was that? On the road to Damascus +Paul was only told one thing, that Christ had grasped +him and drawn him to Himself in order that He +might make him a chosen vessel to bear the Word far +hence amongst the Gentiles. The bearing of His conversion +upon Paul himself was never mentioned. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span> +bearing of His conversion on the world was the only +subject that Jesus spoke of at first. But here Paul +has nothing to say about his world-wide mission. He +does not think of himself as being called to be an +Apostle, but as being summoned to be a Christian. +And so, forgetting for the time all the glorious and +yet burdensome obligations which were laid upon him, +and the discharge of which was the very life of his +life, he thinks only of what affects his own character, +the perfecting of which he regards as being the one +thing for which he was 'laid hold of by Christ Jesus.' +The purpose is twofold. No Christian man is made a +Christian only in order that he may secure his own +salvation; there is the world to think of. No Christian +man is made a Christian only in order that he +may be Christ's instrument for carrying the Word to +other people; there is himself to think of. And these +two phases of the purpose for which Jesus Christ lays +hold upon us are very hard to unite in practice, giving +to each its due place and prominence, and they are +often separated, to the detriment of both the one that +is attended to, and the one that is neglected. The +monastic life has not produced the noblest Christians; +and there are pitfalls lying in the path of every man +who, like me, has for his profession to preach the +Gospel, which, if they are fallen into, the inward life is +utterly wrecked.</p> + +<p>The two sides of Christ's purpose have, in our +practice, to be held together, but for the present I only +wish to say a word or two about that which, as I have +indicated, is but one hemisphere of the completed orb, +and that is our personal culture and growth in the +divine life. What did Christ lay hold of me for? +Paul answers the question very strikingly and beauti<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>fully +in a previous verse. Here is his conception of the +purpose, 'that I may know Him, and the power of His +resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being +made conformable unto His death, if by any means I +might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.' That +is what you were forgiven for; that is what you have +'passed from death unto life' for; that is what you +have come into the sweet fellowship of God, and can +think of Him as your Friend and Helper for.</p> + +<p>Let us take the clauses <i>seriatim</i>, and say a word +about each of them. 'That I may know Him.' Ah! +there is a great deal more in Jesus Christ than a man +sees when he first sees Him through his tears and his +fears, and apprehends Him as the Saviour of his soul, +and the sacrifice on whom the burden and the guilt of +his sins were laid. We must begin there, as I believe. +But woe to us if we stop there. There is far more in +Christ than that; although all that is in Him is included +in that, yet you have to dig deep before you +find all that is included in it. You have to live with +Him day by day, and year by year, and to learn to +know Him as we learn to know husbands and wives, +by continual intercourse, by continual experience of a +sweet and unfailing love, by many a sacred hour of +interchange of affection and reception of gifts and +counsels. It is only thus that we learn to know what +Jesus Christ is. When He lays hold of us, He comes +like the angel that came to Peter in the prison in the +dark and awoke him out of his sleep and said 'Rise! +and follow me.' It is only when we get out into the +street, and have been with Him for awhile, and the +daylight begins to stream in, that we see clearly the +face of our Deliverer, and know Him for all that He +is. This knowledge is not the sort of knowledge that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a></span> +you can get by thinking, or out of a book. It is the +knowledge of experience. It is the knowledge of love, +it is the knowledge of union, and it is in order that +we may know Christ that He lays his hand upon us.</p> + +<p>'The power of His Resurrection.' Now, by that I +understand a similar knowledge, by experience, of the +risen life of Jesus Christ flowing into us, and filling +our hearts and minds with its own power. The risen +life of Jesus is the nourishment and strengthening +and blessing and life of a Christian. Our daily experience +ought to be that there comes, wavelet by +wavelet, that silent, gentle, and yet omnipotent influx +into our empty hearts, the very life of Christ Himself.</p> + +<p>I know that this generation says that that is mysticism. +I do not know whether it is mysticism or not. +I am sure it is truth; and I do not understand Christianity +at all, unless there is that kind of mysticism, +perfectly wholesome and good, in it. You will never +know Jesus Christ until you know Him as pouring into +your hearts the power of an endless life, His own life. +Christ for us by all means,—Christ's death the basis of +our hope, but Christ in us, and Christ's life as the true +gift to His Church. Have you got that? Do you +know the power of His Resurrection?</p> + +<p>'The fellowship of His sufferings.' Has Paul made +a mistake, and deserted the chronological order? +Why does he put the 'fellowship of the sufferings' +after the 'power of the Resurrection'? For this plain +reason, that if we get Christ's life into our hearts, in +the measure in which we get it we shall bear a similar +relation to the world which He bore to it, and in our +measure will 'fill up that which is behind in the sufferings +of Christ,' and will understand how true it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span> +that 'if they hate Me they will hate you also.' +Brethren, the test of us who have the life of Christ in +our hearts is that we shall, in some measure, suffer +with Him, because 'as He is, so are we, in this world,' +and because we must in that case look upon the world, +its sins and its sorrows, with something of the sad +gaze with which He looked across the valley to the +Temple sparkling in the morning light, and wept over +it. So if we know the power of His Resurrection we +shall know the fellowship of His sufferings.</p> + +<p>And then Paul goes on, in his definition of the purpose +for which Christ lays hold upon men, apparently +to say the same thing over again, only in the opposite +order, 'that I may be conformable to His death, if by +any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the +dead.' Both of these clauses, I think, refer to the +future, to the actual dying of the body, and the actual +future resurrection of the same. And the thought is +this, that if here, through our earthly lives, we have +been recipients of the risen life of Jesus Christ, and +so have stood to the world in our degree as He stood +to it, then when the moment of death comes to us, +we shall, in so far, have our departure shaped after +His as that we shall be able to say, 'Into Thy hands I +commit my spirit,' and die willingly, and at last shall +be partakers of that blessed Resurrection unto life +eternal which closes the vista of our earthly history. +Stephen's death was conformed to Christ's in outward +fashion, in so far as it echoed the Master's prayer, +'Father forgive them, for they know not what they +do,' and in so far as it echoed the Master's last words, +with the significant alteration that, whilst Jesus commended +His spirit to the Father, the first martyr +commended his to Jesus Christ.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span></p> + +<p>These, then, are the purposes for which Christ laid +His hand upon us, that we might know Him, the +power of His Resurrection, the fellowship of His +sufferings, being made conformable to His death yet +by attaining the resurrection of the dead.</p> + +<p>II. Notice, again, our laying hold because we have +been laid hold of.</p> + +<p>Christ's laying hold of me, blessed and powerful as +it is, does not of itself secure that I shall reach the +end which He had in view in His arresting of me. +What more is wanted? My effort. 'I follow after if +I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended.' +Now, notice, in the one case, the Apostle +speaks of himself, not as passive, but certainly not as +active. 'I was laid hold of.' What did he do? As I +have said, he simply yielded to the grasp. But 'I may +lay hold of' conveys the idea of personal effort; and +so these two expressions, 'I was apprehended,' and 'I +apprehend,' suggest this consideration, that, for the +initial blessings of the Christian life, forgiveness, +acceptance, the sense of God's favour, and of reconciliation +with him, nothing is needed but the simple +faith that yields itself altogether to the grasp of +Christ's hand, but that for my possessing what Christ +means that I should possess when He lays His hand on +me, there is needed not only faith but effort. I have to +put out <i>my</i> hand and tighten my fingers round the +thing, if I would make it my own, and keep it.</p> + +<p>So—faith, to begin with, and work based on faith, +to go on with. It is because a man is sure that Jesus +Christ has laid His hand upon him, and meant something +when He did it, that he fights on with all his +might to realise Christ's purpose, and to get and keep +the thing which Christ meant him to have. There is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span> +stimulus in the thought, I was laid hold of by Him +for a purpose. There is all the difference between +striving, however eagerly, however nobly, however +strenuously, however constantly, after self-improvement, +by one's own effort only, and striving after it +because one knows that he is therein fulfilling the +purpose for which Jesus Christ drew him to Himself.</p> + +<p>And if that be so, then the nature of the thing to +be laid hold of determines what we are to do to lay +hold of it. And since to know Christ, and the power +of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, +is the aim and end of our conversion, the way to +secure it must be keeping in continual touch with +Jesus by meditating upon Him, by holding many a +moment of still, sacred, sweet communion with Him, +by carefully avoiding whatever might come between +us and our knowledge of Him, and the influx of His +life into us, and by yielding ourselves, day by day, to +the continual influence of His divine grace upon us +and by the discipline which shall make our inward +natures more and more capable of receiving more and +more of that dear Lord. These being the things to +do, in regard to the inward life, there must be effort +too, in regard to the outward; for we must, if we are +to lay hold of that for which we are laid hold of by +Jesus Christ, bring all the outward life under the +dominion of this inward impulse, and when the flood +pours into our hearts we must, by many a sluice and +trench, guide it into every corner of the field, that all +may be irrigated. The first thing they do when they +are going to sow rice in an Eastern field is to flood it, +and then they cast in the seed, and it germinates. +Flood your lives with Christ, and then sow the seed +and you will get a crop.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span></p> + +<p>III. Lastly, the text suggests the incompleteness of +our grasp.</p> + +<p>'I follow that,' says Paul, 'if that I may apprehend.' +This letter was written far on in his career, in the +time of his imprisonment in Rome, which all but +ended his ministerial activity; and was many years +after that day on the road to Damascus. And yet, +matured Christian and exercised Apostle as he was, +with all that past behind him, he says, 'I follow after, +that I may apprehend.' Ah, brother, our experience +must be incomplete, for we have an infinite aim set +before us, and there is no end to the possibilities of +plunging deeper and deeper and deeper into the +knowledge of Christ, and having larger and larger +and larger draughts of the fulness of His life. We +have only been like goldseekers, who have contented +themselves as yet with washing the precious grains out +of the gravel of the river. There are great reefs filled +with the ore that we have not touched. Thank God +for the necessary incompleteness of our 'apprehending.' +It is the very salt of life. To have realised our +aims, to have fulfilled our ideals, to have sucked dry +the cluster of the grapes is the death of aspiration, +of hope, of blessedness; and to have the distance beckoning, +and all experience 'an arch, wherethro' gleams +the untravelled world to which we move,' is the secret +of perpetual youth and energy.</p> + +<p>Because incomplete, our experience should be progressive; +and that is a truth that needs hammering +into Christian people to-day. About how many of us +can it be said that our light 'shineth more and more +unto the noonday.' Alas! about an enormous number +of us it must be said, 'When for the time ye ought to +be teachers, ye have need that one teach you.' All our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span> +churches have many grown babies, and cases of +arrested development—people that ought to be living +on strong meat, and are unable to masticate or digest +it, and by their own fault have still need of the milk +of infancy. There is an old fable about a strange +animal that fastened itself to the keel of sailing ships, +and by some uncanny power was able to arrest them +in mid-ocean, though the winds were filling all their +sails. There is a remora, as they called it, of that sort +adhering to a great many Christian people, and keeping +them fixed on one spot, instead of 'following after, +if that they may apprehend.'</p> + +<p>Dear friends—and especially you younger Christians—Christ +has laid hold of you. Well and good! that is +the beginning. He has laid hold of you for an end. +That end will not be reached without your effort, and +that effort must be perpetual. It is a life-long task. +Ay! and even up yonder the apprehending will be +incomplete. Like those mathematical lines that ever +approximate to a point which they never reach, we +shall through Eternity be, as it were, rising, in ascending +and ever-closer drawing spirals, to that great +Throne, and to Him that sits upon it. So that, striking +out the humble 'may' from our text, the rest of it +describes the progressive blessedness of the endless +life in the heavens, as truly as it does the progressive +duty of the Christian life here, and the glorified flock +that follows the Lamb in the heavenly pastures may +each say: I follow after in order to apprehend that +'for which,' long ago and down amidst the dim +shadows of earth, 'I was apprehended of Christ +Jesus.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE RACE AND THE GOAL</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching +forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iii. 13, 14.</p></div> + + +<p>This buoyant energy and onward looking are marvellous +in 'Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of +Jesus Christ.' Forgetfulness of the past and eager +anticipation for the future are, we sometimes think, +the child's prerogatives. They may be ignoble and +puerile, or they may be worthy and great. All depends +on the future to which we look. If it be the creation +of our fancies, we are babies for trusting it. If it be, +as Paul's was, the revelation of God's purposes, we +cannot do a wiser thing than look.</p> + +<p>The Apostle here is letting us see the secret of his +own life, and telling us what made him the sort of +Christian that he was. He counsels wise obliviousness, +wise anticipation, strenuous concentration, and these +are the things that contribute to success in any field of +life. Christianity is the perfection of common sense. +Men become mature Christians by no other means than +those by which they become good artisans, ripe scholars, +or the like. But the misery is that, though people +know well enough that they cannot be good carpenters, +or doctors, or fiddlers without certain habits and +practices, they seem to fancy that they can be good +Christians without them.</p> + +<p>So the words of my text may suggest appropriate +thoughts on this first Sunday of a new year. Let us +listen, then, to Paul telling us how he came to be the +sort of Christian man he was.</p> + +<p>I. First, then, I would say, make God's aim your aim.</p> + +<p>Paul distinguishes here between the 'mark' and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span> +'prize.' He aims at the one for the sake of the other. +The one is the object of effort; the other is the sure +result of successful effort. If I may so say, the crown +hangs on the winning post; and he who touches the +goal clutches the garland.</p> + +<p>Then, mark that he regards the aim towards which +he strains as being the aim which Christ had in view in +his conversion. For he says in the preceding context, +'I labour if that I may lay hold of that for which also +I have been laid hold of by Jesus Christ.' In the words +that follow the text he speaks of the prize as being the +result and purpose of the high calling of God 'in Christ +Jesus.' So then he took God's purpose in calling, and +Christ's purpose in redeeming him, as being his great +object in life. God's aims and Paul's were identical.</p> + +<p>What, then, is the aim of God in all that He has done +for us? The production in us of God-like and God-pleasing +character. For this suns rise and set; for this +seasons and times come and go; for this sorrows and +joys are experienced; for this hopes and fears and +loves are kindled. For this all the discipline of life is +set in motion. For this we were created; for this we +have been redeemed. For this Jesus Christ lived and +suffered and died. For this God's Spirit is poured out +upon the world. All else is scaffolding; this is the +building which it contemplates, and when the building +is reared the scaffolding may be cleared away. God +means to make us like Himself, and so pleasing to +Himself, and has no other end in all the varieties of +His gifts and bestowments but only this, the production +of character.</p> + +<p>Such is the aim that we should set before us. The +acceptance of that aim as ours will give nobleness and +blessedness to our lives as nothing else will. How<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span> +different all our estimates of the meaning and true +nature of events would be, if we kept clearly before us +that their intention was not merely to make us blessed +and glad, or to make us sorrowful, but that, through +the blessedness, through the sorrow, through the gift, +through the withdrawal, through all the variety of +dealings, the intention was one and the same, to mould +us to the likeness of our Lord and Saviour! There +would be fewer mysteries in our lives, we should +seldomer have to stand in astonishment, in vain regret, +in miserable and weakening looking back upon vanished +gifts, and saying to ourselves, 'Why has this darkness +stooped upon my path?' if we looked beyond the darkness +and the light to that for which both were sent. +Some plants require frost to bring out their savour, +and men need sorrow to test and to produce their +highest qualities. There would be fewer knots in the +thread of our lives, and fewer mysteries in our experience, +if we made God's aim ours, and strove through +all variations of condition to realise it.</p> + +<p>How different all our estimate of nearer objects and +aims would be, if once we clearly recognised what we +are here for! The prostitution of powers to obviously +unworthy aims and ends is the saddest thing in +humanity. It is like elephants being set to pick up +pins; it is like the lightning being harnessed to carry +all the gossip and filth of one capital of the world to +the prurient readers in another. Men take these great +powers which God has given them, and use them to +make money, to cultivate their intellects, to secure +the gratification of earthly desires, to make a home +for themselves here amidst the illusions of time; and +all the while the great aim which ought to stand out +clear and supreme is forgotten by them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span></p> + +<p>There is nothing that needs more careful examination +by us than our accepted schemes of life for ourselves; +the roots of our errors mostly lie in these +things that we take to be axioms, and that we never +examine into. Let us begin this new year by an honest +dealing with ourselves, asking ourselves this question, +'What am I living for?' And if the answer, first of +all, be, as, of course, it will be, the accomplishment of +the nearer and necessary aims, such as the conduct of +our business, the cultivating of our understandings, +the love and peace of our homes, then let us press the +investigation a little further, and say, What then? +Suppose I make a fortune, what then? Suppose I get +the position I am striving for, what then? Suppose I +cultivate my understanding and win the knowledge +that I am nobly striving after, what then? Let us not +cease to ask the question until we can say, 'Thy aim, O +Lord, is my aim, and I press toward the mark,' the only +mark which will make life noble, elastic, stable, and +blessed, that I 'may be found in Christ, not having +mine own righteousness, but that which is of God by +faith.' For this we have all been made, guided, redeemed. +If we carry this treasure out of life we +shall carry all that is worth carrying. If we fail +in this we fail altogether, whatever be our so-called +success. There is one mark, one only, and every +arrow that does not hit that target is wasted and +spent in vain.</p> + +<p>II. Secondly, let me say, concentrate all effort on +this one aim.</p> + +<p>'This one thing I do,' says the Apostle, 'I press +toward the mark.' That aim is the one which God has +in view in all circumstances and arrangements. Therefore, +obviously, it is one which may be pursued in all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span> +of these, and may be sought whatsoever we are doing. +All occupations of life except only sin are consistent +with this highest aim. It needs not that we should +seek any remote or cloistered form of life, nor sheer off +any legitimate and common interests and occupations, +but in them all we may be seeking for the one thing, +the moulding of our characters into the shapes that are +pleasing to Him. 'One thing have I desired of the +Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the +house of the Lord all the days of my life'; wheresoever +the outward days of my life may be passed. Whatsoever +we are doing in business, in shop, at a study +table, in the kitchen, in the nursery, by the road, in the +house, we may still have the supreme aim in view, +that from all occupations there may come growth in +character and in likeness to Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>Only, to keep this supreme aim clear there will +require far more frequent and resolute effort of what +the old mystics used to call 'recollection' than we are +accustomed to put forth. It is hard, amidst the din of +business, and whilst yielding to other lower, legitimate +impulses and motives, to set this supreme one high +above them all. But it is possible if only we will do +two things: keep ourselves close to God, and be prepared +to surrender much, laying our own wills, our own +fancies, purposes, eager hopes and plans in His hands, +and asking Him to help us, that we may never lose +sight of the harbour light because of any tossing waves +that rise between us and it, nor may ever be so +swallowed up in ends, which are only means after all, +as to lose sight of the only end which is an end in itself. +But for the attainment of this aim in any measure, the +concentration of all our powers upon it is absolutely +needful. If you want to bore a hole you take a sharp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span> +point; you can do nothing with a blunt one. Every +flight of wild ducks in the sky will tell you the form +that is most likely to secure the maximum of motion +with the minimum of effort. The wedge is that which +pierces through all the loosely-compacted textures +against which it is pressed. The Roman strategy +forced the way of the legion through the loose-ordered +ranks of barbarian foes by arraying it in that wedge-like +form. So we, if we are to advance, must gather +ourselves together and put a point upon our lives by +compaction and concentration of effort and energy on +the one purpose. The conquering word is, 'This one +thing I do.' The difference between the amateur and +the artist is that the one pursues an art at intervals by +spurts, as a <i>parergon</i>—a thing that is done in the +intervals of other occupations—and that the other +makes it his life's business. There are a great many +amateur Christians amongst us, who pursue the Christian +life by spurts and starts. If you want to be a +Christian after God's pattern—and unless you are you +are scarcely a Christian at all—you have to make it your +business, to give the same attention, the same concentration, +the same unwavering energy to it which +you do to your trade. The man of one book, the man +of one idea, the man of one aim is the formidable and +the successful man. People will call you a fanatic; +never mind. Better be a fanatic and get what you aim +at, which is the highest thing, than be so broad that, +like a stream spreading itself out over miles of mud, +there is no scour in it anywhere, no current, and therefore +stagnation and death. Gather yourselves together, +and amidst all the side issues and nearer aims keep +this in view as the aim to which all are to be subservient—that, +'whether I eat or drink, or whatsoever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[365]</a></span> +I do, I may do all to the glory of God.' Let sorrow and +joy, and trade and profession, and study and business, +and house and wife and children, and all home joys, be +the means by which you may become like the Master +who has died for this end, that we may become +partakers of His holiness.</p> + +<p>III. Pursue this end with a wise forgetfulness.</p> + +<p>'Forgetting the things that are behind.' The art of +forgetting has much to do with the blessedness and +power of every life. Of course, when the Apostle says +'Forgetting the things that are behind,' he is thinking +of the runner, who has no time to cast his eye over his +shoulder to mark the steps already trod. He does not +mean, of course, either, to tell us that we are so to +cultivate obliviousness as to let God's mercies to us +'lie forgotten in unthankfulness, or without praises +die.' Nor does he mean to tell us that we are to deny +ourselves the solace of remembering the mercies which +may, perhaps, have gone from us. Memory may be +like the calm radiance that fills the western sky from +a sun that has set, sad and yet sweet, melancholy and +lovely. But he means that we should so forget as, by +the oblivion, to strengthen our concentration.</p> + +<p>So I would say, let us remember, and yet forget, our +past failures and faults. Let us remember them in +order that the remembrance may cultivate in us a wise +chastening of our self-confidence. Let us remember +where we were foiled, in order that we may be the +more careful of that place hereafter. If we know that +upon any road we fell into ambushes, 'not once nor +twice,' like the old king of Israel, we should guard ourselves +against passing by that road again. He who +has not learned, by the memory of his past failures, +humility and wise government of his life, and wise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[366]</a></span> +avoidance of places where he is weak, is an incurable +fool.</p> + +<p>But let us forget our failures in so far as these might +paralyse our hopes, or make us fancy that future +success is impossible where past failures frown. +Ebenezer was a field of defeat before it rang with the +hymns of victory. And there is no place in your past +life where you have been shamefully baffled and beaten, +but there, and in that, you may yet be victorious. +Never let the past limit your hopes of the possibilities +and your confidence in the certainties and victories of +the future. And if ever you are tempted to say to +yourselves, 'I have tried it so often, and so often failed, +that it is no use trying it any more. I am beaten and +I throw up the sponge,' remember Paul's wise exhortation, +and 'forgetting the things that are behind . . . press +toward the mark.'</p> + +<p>In like manner I would say, remember and yet forget +past successes and achievements. Remember them for +thankfulness, remember them for hope, remember +them for counsel and instruction, but forget them +when they tend, as all that we accomplish does tend, +to make us fancy that little more remains to be done; +and forget them when they tend, as all that we +accomplish ever does tend, to make us think that such +and such things are our line, and of other virtues and +graces and achievements of culture and of character, +that these are not our line, and not to be won by us.</p> + +<p>'Our line!' Astronomers take a thin thread from a +spider's web and stretch it across their object glasses +to measure stellar magnitudes. Just as is the spider's +line in comparison with the whole shining surface of +the sun across which it is stretched, so is what we have +already attained to the boundless might and glory of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[367]</a></span> +that to which we may come. Nothing short of the full +measure of the likeness of Jesus Christ is the measure +of our possibilities.</p> + +<p>There is a mannerism in Christian life, as there is in +everything else, which is to be avoided if we would +grow into perfection. There was a great artist in the +last century who never could paint a picture without +sticking a brown tree in the foreground. We have all +got our 'brown trees,' which we think we can do well, +and these limit our ambition to secure other gifts +which God is ready to bestow upon us. So 'forget the +things that are behind.' Cultivate a wise obliviousness +of past sorrows, past joys, past failures, past gifts, past +achievements, in so far as these might limit the audacity +of our hopes and the energy of our efforts.</p> + +<p>IV. So, lastly, pursue the aim with a wise, eager +reaching forward.</p> + +<p>The Apostle employs a very graphic word here, which +is only very partially expressed by that 'reaching forth.' +It contains a condensed picture which it is scarcely +possible to put into any one expression. 'Reaching +out over' is the full though clumsy rendering of the +word, and it gives us the picture of the runner with +his whole body thrown forward, his hand extended, +and his eye reaching even further than his hand, in +eager anticipation of the mark and the prize. So we +are to live, with continual reaching out of confidence, +clear recognition, and eager desire to make our own +the unattained.</p> + +<p>What is that which gives an element of nobleness to +the lives of great idealists, whether they be poets, +artists, students, thinkers, or what not? Only this, +that they see the unattained burning ever so clearly +before them that all the attained seems as nothing in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[368]</a></span> +their eyes. And so life is saved from commonplace, +is happily stung into fresh effort, is redeemed from +flagging, monotony, and weariness.</p> + +<p>The measure of our attainments may be fairly estimated +by the extent to which the unattained is clear +in our sight. A man down in the valley sees the nearer +shoulder of the hill, and he thinks it the top. The man +up on the shoulder sees all the heights that lie beyond +rising above him. Endeavour is better than success. +It is more to see the Alpine heights unscaled than it is +to have risen so far as we have done. They who thus +have a boundless future before them have an endless +source of inspiration, of energy, of buoyancy granted +to them.</p> + +<p>No man has such an absolutely boundless vision of +the future which may be his as we have, if we are +Christian people, as we ought to be. We only can thus +look forward. For all others a blank wall stretches at +the end of life, against which hopes, when they strike, +fall back stunned and dead. But for us the wall may +be overleaped, and, living by the energy of a boundless +hope, we, and only we, can lay ourselves down to die, +and say then, 'Reaching forth unto the things that +are before.'</p> + +<p>So, dear friends, make God's aim your aim; concentrate +your life's efforts upon it; pursue it with a wise +forgetfulness; pursue it with an eager confidence of +anticipation that shall not be put to shame. Remember +that God reaches His aim for you by giving to you +Jesus Christ, and that you can only reach it by accepting +the Christ who is given and being found in Him. +Then the years will take away nothing from us which +it is not gain to lose. They will neither weaken our +energy nor flatten our hopes, nor dim our confidence,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[369]</a></span> +and, at the last we shall reach the mark, and, as we +touch it, we shall find dropping on our surprised and +humble heads the crown of life which they receive who +have so run, not as uncertainly, but doing this one +thing, pressing towards the mark for the prize.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE SOUL'S PERFECTION</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye +be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iii. 15.</p></div> + + +<p>'As many as be perfect'; and how many may they be? +Surely a very short bede-roll would contain their names; +or would there be any other but the Name which is +above every name upon it? Part of the answer to +such a question may be found in observing that the +New Testament very frequently uses the word to +express not so much the idea of moral completeness +as that of physical maturity. For instance, when Paul +says that he would have his converts to be '<i>men</i> in +understanding,' and when the Epistle to the Hebrews +speaks of 'them that are of full age,' the same word is +used as this 'perfect' in our text. Clearly in such cases +it means 'full grown,' as in contrast with 'babes,' and +expresses not absolute completeness, but what we +may term a relative perfection, a certain maturity of +character and advanced stage of Christian attainment, +far removed from the infantile epoch of the +Christian life.</p> + +<p>Another contribution to the answer may be found +in observing that in this very context these 'perfect' +people are exhorted to cultivate the sense of not having +'already attained,' and to be constantly reaching forth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[370]</a></span> +to unattained heights, so that a sense of imperfection +and a continual effort after higher life are parts of +Paul's 'perfect man.' And it is to be still further +noticed that on the same testimony 'perfect' people +may probably be 'otherwise minded'; by which we +understand not divergently minded from one another, +but 'otherwise' than the true norm or law of life +would prescribe, and so may stand in need of the hope +that God will by degrees bring them into conformity +with His will, and show them 'this,' namely, their +divergence from His Pattern for them.</p> + +<p>It is worth our while to look at these large thoughts +thus involved in the words before us.</p> + +<p>I. Then there are people whom without exaggeration +the judgment of truth calls <i>perfect</i>.</p> + +<p>The language of the New Testament has no scruple +in calling men 'saints' who had many sins, and none in +calling men perfect who had many imperfections; and +it does so, not because it has any fantastic theory about +religious emotions being the measure of moral purity, +but partly for the reasons already referred to, and +partly because it wisely considers the main thing about +a character to be not the degree to which it has attained +completeness in its ideal, but what that ideal is. The +distance a man has got on his journey is of less consequence +than the direction in which his face is turned. +The arrow may fall short, but to what mark was it +shot? In all regions of life a wise classification of men +arranges them according to their aims rather than +their achievements. The visionary who attempts something +high and accomplishes scarcely anything of it, +is often a far nobler man, and his poor, broken, foiled, +resultless life far more perfect than his who aims at +marks on the low levels and hits them full. Such lives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[371]</a></span> +as these, full of yearning and aspiration, though it be +for the most part vain, are</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Like the young moon with a ragged edge"> +<tr><td align='left'>'Like the young moon with a ragged edge</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">E'en in its imperfection beautiful.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>If then it be wise to rank men and their pursuits +according to their aims rather than their accomplishments, +is there one class of aims so absolutely corresponding +to man's nature and relations that to take +them for one's own, and to reach some measure of +approximation to them, may fairly be called the perfection +of human nature? Is there one way of living +concerning which we may say that whosoever adopts +it has, in so far as he does adopt it, discerned and +attained the purpose of his being? The literal force +of the word in our text gives pertinence to that +question, for it distinctly means 'having reached the +end.' And if that be taken as the meaning, there need +be no doubt about the answer. Grand old words have +taught us long ago 'Man's chief end is to glorify God +and to enjoy Him for ever.' Yes, he who lives for God +has taken that for his aim which all his nature and all +his relations prescribe, he is doing what he was made +and meant to do; and however incomplete may be its +attainments, the lowest form of a God-fearing, God-obeying +life is higher and more nearly 'perfect' than +the fairest career or character against which, as a +blight on all its beauty, the damning accusation may +be brought, 'The God in whose hand thy breath is, and +whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified.'</p> + +<p>People sneer at 'saints' and point at their failings. +They remind us of the foul stains in David's career, for +instance, and mock as they ask, 'Is this your man after +God's own heart?' Yes, he is; not because religion has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[372]</a></span> +a morality of its own different from that of the world +(except as being higher), nor because 'saints' make up +for adultery and murder by making or singing psalms, +but because the main set and current of the life was +evidently towards God and goodness, and these hideous +sins were glaring contradictions, eddies and backwaters, +as it were, wept over with bitter self-abasement and +conquered by strenuous effort. Better a life of Godward +aspiration and straining after purity, even if +broken by such a fall, so recovered, than one of habitual +earthward grubbing, undisturbed by gross sin.</p> + +<p>And another reason warrants the application of the +word to men whose present is full of incompleteness, +namely, the fact that such men have in them the +germ of a life which has no natural end but absolute +completeness. The small seed may grow very slowly +in the climate and soil which it finds here, and be only +a poor little bit of ragged green, very shabby and inconspicuous +by the side of the native flowers of earth +flaunting around it, but it has a divine germinant virtue +within, and waits but being carried to its own clime +and 'planted in the house of the Lord' above, to +'flourish in the courts of our God,' when these others +with their glorious beauty have faded away and are +flung out to rot.</p> + +<p>II. We have set forth here very distinctly two of the +characteristics of this perfection.</p> + +<p>The Apostle in our text exhorts the perfect to be '<i>thus</i> +minded.' How is that? Evidently the word points +back to the previous clauses, in which he has been +describing his own temper and feeling in the Christian +race. He sets that before the Philippians as their +pattern, or rather invites them to fellowship with him +in the estimate of themselves and in their efforts after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[373]</a></span> +higher attainments. 'Be thus minded' means, Think +as I do of yourselves, and do as I do in your daily life.</p> + +<p>How did he think of himself? He tells us in the +sentence before, 'Not as though I were already perfect. +I count not myself to have apprehended.' So then a +leading characteristic of this true Christian perfection +is a constant consciousness of imperfection. In all fields +of effort, whether intellectual, moral, or mechanical, as +faculty grows, consciousness of insufficiency grows with +it. The farther we get up the hill, the more we see how +far it is to the horizon. The more we know, the more +we know our ignorance. The better we can do, the +more we discern how much we cannot do. Only people +who never have done and never will do anything, or +else raw apprentices with the mercifully granted self-confidence +of youth, which gets beaten out of most of +us soon enough, think that they can do everything.</p> + +<p>In morals and in Christian life the same thing is true. +The measure of our perfection will be the consciousness +of our imperfection—a paradox, but a great truth. It +is plain enough that it will be so. Conscience becomes +more sensitive as we get nearer right. The worse a man +is the less it speaks to him, and the less he hears it. +When it ought to thunder it whispers; when we need it +most it is least active. The thick skin of a savage will +not be disturbed by lying on sharp stones, while a +crumpled rose-leaf robs the Sybarite of his sleep. So +the practice of evil hardens the cuticle of conscience, and +the practice of goodness restores tenderness and sensibility; +and many a man laden with crime knows less of +its tingling than some fair soul that looks almost spotless +to all eyes but its own. One little stain of rust will be +conspicuous on a brightly polished blade, but if it be all +dirty and dull, a dozen more or fewer will make little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[374]</a></span> +difference. As men grow better they become like that +glycerine barometer recently introduced, on which a fall +or a rise that would have been invisible with mercury to +record it takes up inches, and is glaringly conspicuous. +Good people sometimes wonder, and sometimes are +made doubtful and sad about themselves, by this abiding +and even increased consciousness of sin. There is +no need to be so. The higher the temperature the more +chilling would it be to pass into an ice-house, and the +more our lives are brought into fellowship with the +perfect life, the more shall we feel our own shortcomings. +Let us be thankful if our consciences speak +to us more loudly than they used to do. It is a sign of +growing holiness, as the tingling in a frost-bitten limb +is of returning life. Let us seek to cultivate and increase +the sense of our own imperfection, and be sure +that the diminution of a consciousness of sin means +not diminished power of sin, but lessened horror of it, +lessened perception of right, lessened love of goodness, +and is an omen of death, not a symptom of life. Painter, +scholar, craftsman all know that the condition of advance +is the recognition of an ideal not attained. +Whoever has not before him a standard to which he +has not reached will grow no more. If we see no +faults in our work we shall never do any better. The +condition of all Christian, as of all other progress, is +to be drawn by that fair vision before us, and to be +stung into renewed effort to reach it, by the consciousness +of present imperfection.</p> + +<p>Another characteristic to which these perfect men +are exhorted is a constant striving after a further +advance. How vigorously, almost vehemently, that +temper is put in the context—'I follow after'; 'I press +toward the mark'; and that picturesque 'reaching<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[375]</a></span> +forth,' or, as the Revised Version gives it, 'stretching +forward.' The full force of the latter word cannot be +given in any one English equivalent, but may be clumsily +hinted by some such phrase as 'stretching oneself out +over,' as a runner might do with body thrown forward +and arms extended in front, and eagerness in every +strained muscle, and eye outrunning foot, and hope +clutching the goal already. So yearning forward, and +setting all the current of his being, both faculty and +desire, to the yet unreached mark, the Christian man +is to live. His glances are not to be bent backwards, +but forwards. He is not to be a 'praiser of the past,' +but a herald and expectant of a nobler future. He is +the child of the day and of the morning, forgetting the +things which are behind, and ever yearning towards +the things which are before, and drawing them to himself. +To look back is to be stiffened into a living death; +only with faces set forward are we safe and well.</p> + +<p>This buoyant energy of hope and effort is to be the +result of the consciousness of imperfection of which we +have spoken. Strange to many of us, in some moods, +that a thing so bright should spring up from a thing so +dark, and that the more we feel our own shortcomings, +the more hopeful should we be of a future unlike the +past, and the more earnest in our effort to make that +future the present! There is a type of Christian experience +not uncommon among devout people, in which +the consciousness of imperfection paralyses effort instead +of quickening it; men lament their evil, their +slow progress and so on, and remain the same year +after year. They are stirred to no effort. There is no +straining onwards. They almost seem to lose the faith +that they can ever be any better. How different this +from the grand, wholesome completeness of Paul's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[376]</a></span> +view here, which embraces both elements, and even +draws the undying brightness of his forward-looking +confidence from the very darkness of his sense of +present imperfection!</p> + +<p>So should it be with us, 'as many as be perfect.' +Before us stretch indefinite possibilities of approximating +to the unattainable fulness of the divine life. +We may grow in knowledge and in holiness through +endless ages and grades of advance. In a most blessed +sense we may have that for our highest joy which in +another meaning is a punishment of unfaithfulness +and indocility, that we shall be 'ever learning, and +never coming to the full knowledge of the truth.' No +limit can be put to what we may receive of God, nor to +the closeness, the fulness of our communion with Him, +nor to the beauty of holiness which may pass from +Him into our poor characters, and irradiate our homely +faces. Then, brethren, let us cherish a noble discontent +with all that we at present are. Let our +spirits stretch out all their powers to the better things +beyond, as the plants grown in darkness will send out +pale shoots that feel blindly towards the light, or the +seed sown on the top of a rock will grope down the +bare stone for the earth by which it must be fed. Let +the sense of our own weakness ever lead to a buoyant +confidence in what we, even we, may become if we will +only take the grace we have. To this touchstone let +us bring all claims to higher holiness—they who are +perfect are most conscious of imperfection, and most +eager in their efforts after a further progress in the +knowledge, love, and likeness of God in Christ.</p> + +<p>III. We have here also distinctly brought out the co-existence +with these characteristics of their opposites.</p> + +<p>'If in anything ye are otherwise minded,' says Paul.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[377]</a></span> +I have already suggested that this expression evidently +refers not to difference of opinion among themselves, +but to a divergence of character from the pattern of +feeling and life which he has been proposing to them. +If in any respects ye are unconscious of your imperfections, +if there be any 'witch's mark' of insensibility +in some spot of your conscience to some plain transgressions +of law, if in any of you there be some complacent +illusion of your own stainlessness, if to any +of you the bright vision before you seem faint and +unsubstantial, God will show you what you do not +see. Plainly then he considers that there will be found +among these perfect men states of feeling and estimates +of themselves opposed to those which he has been +exhorting them to cherish. Plainly he supposes that +a good man may pass for a time under the dominion +of impulses and theories which are of another kind +from those that rule his life.</p> + +<p>He does not expect the complete and uninterrupted +dominion of these higher powers. He recognises the +plain facts that the true self, the central life of the +soul, the higher nature, 'the new man,' abides in a self +which is but gradually renewed, and that there is +a long distance, so to speak, from the centre to the +circumference. That higher life is planted, but its +germination is a work of time. The leaven does not +leaven the whole mass in a moment, but creeps on +from particle to particle. 'Make the tree good' and in +due time its fruit will be good. But the conditions of +our human life are conflict, and these peaceful images +of growth and unimpeded natural development, 'first +the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in +the ear,' are not meant to tell all the truth. Interruptions +from external circumstances, struggles of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[378]</a></span> +flesh with spirit, and of imagination and heart and +will against the better life implanted in the spirit, are +the lot of all, even the most advanced here, and however +a man may be perfect, there will always be the +possibility that in something he may be 'otherwise +minded.'</p> + +<p>Such an admission does not make such interruptions +less blameworthy when they occur. The doctrine of +averages does not do away with the voluntary character +of each single act. The same number of letters are +yearly posted without addresses. Does anybody dream +of not scolding the errand boy who posted them, or the +servant who did not address them, because he knows +that? We are quite sure that we could have resisted +each time that we fell. That piece of sharp practice in +business, or that burst of bad temper in the household +which we were last guilty of—could we have helped it +or not? Conscience must answer that question, which +does not depend at all on the law of averages. Guilt +is not taken away by asserting that sin cleaves to men, +'perfect men.'</p> + +<p>But the feelings with which we should regard sin +and contradictions of men's truest selves in ourselves +and others should be so far altered by such thoughts +that we should be very slow to pronounce that a man +cannot be a Christian because he has done so and so. +Are there any sins which are clearly <i>incompatible</i> with +a Christian character? All sins are <i>inconsistent</i> with +it, but that is a very different matter. The uniform +direction of a man's life being godless, selfish, devoted +to the objects and pursuits of time and sense, is incompatible +with his being a Christian—but, thank God, no +single act, however dark, is so, if it be in contradiction +to the main tendency impressed upon the character<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379" id="Page_379">[379]</a></span> +and conduct. It is not for us to say that any single +deed shows a man cannot be Christ's, nor to fling ourselves +down in despair saying, 'If I were a Christian, +I could not have done that.' Let us remember that +'all unrighteousness is sin,' and the least sin is in +flagrant opposition to our Christian profession; but +let us also remember, and that not to blunt our consciences +or weaken our efforts, that Paul thought it +possible for perfect men to be 'otherwise minded' from +their deepest selves and their highest pattern.</p> + +<p>IV. The crowning hope that lies in these words is +the certainty of a gradual but complete attainment of +all the Christian aspirations after God and goodness.</p> + +<p>The ground of that confidence lies in no natural +tendencies in us, in no effort of ours, but solely in that +great name which is the anchor of all our confidence, +the name of God. Why is Paul certain that 'God will +reveal even this unto you'? Because He is God. The +Apostle has learned the infinite depth of meaning that +lies in that name. He has learned that God is not in +the way of leaving off His work before He has done +His work, and that none can say of Him, that 'He +began to build, and was not able to finish.' The assurances +of an unchangeable purpose in redemption, +and of inexhaustible resources to effect it; of a love +that can never fade, and of a grace that can never be +exhausted—are all treasured for us in that mighty +name. And such confidence is confirmed by the manifest +tendency of the principles and motives brought +to bear on us in Christianity to lead on to a condition +of absolute perfection, as well as by the experience +which we may have, if we will, of the sanctifying and +renewing power of His Spirit in our Spirit.</p> + +<p>By the discipline of daily life, by the ministry of sorrow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380" id="Page_380">[380]</a></span> +and joy, by merciful chastisements dogging our steps +when we stray, by duties and cares, by the teaching +of His word coming even closer to our hearts and +quickening our consciences to discern evil where we +had seen none, as well as kindling in us desires after +higher and rarer goodness, by the reward of enlarged +perceptions of duty and greater love towards it, with +which He recompenses lowly obedience to the duty as +yet seen, by the secret influences of His Spirit of Power +and of Love and of a sound Mind breathed into our +waiting spirits, by the touch of His own sustaining +hand and glance of His own guiding eye, He will reveal +to the lowly soul all that is yet wanting in its knowledge, +and communicate all that is lacking in character.</p> + +<p>So for us, the true temper is confidence in His power +and will, an earnest waiting on Him, a brave forward +yearning hope blended with a lowly consciousness of +imperfection, which is a spur not a clog, and vigorous +increasing efforts to bring into life and character the +fulness and beauty of God. Presumption should be as +far from us as despair—the one because we have not +already attained, the other because 'God will reveal +even this unto us.' Only let us keep in mind the caution +which the Apostle, knowing the possible abuses which +might gather round His teaching, has here attached +to it, 'Nevertheless'—though all which I have been +saying is true, it is only on this understanding—'Whereto +we have already attained, by the same let +us walk.' God will perfect that which concerneth you +if—and only if—you go on as you have begun, if you +make your creed a life, if you show what you are. If +so, then all the rest is a question of time. A has been +said, and Z will come in its proper place. Begin with +humble trust in Christ, and a process is commenced<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381" id="Page_381">[381]</a></span> +which has no natural end short of that great hope +with which this chapter closes, that the change which +begins in the deepest recesses of our being, and struggles +slowly and with many interruptions, into partial +visibility in our character, shall one day triumphantly +irradiate our whole nature out to the very finger-tips, +and 'even the body of our humiliation shall be fashioned +like unto the body of Christ's glory, according to the +working whereby He is able even to subdue all things +to Himself.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE RULE OF THE ROAD</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same +rule.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iii. 16.</p></div> + + +<p>Paul has just been laying down a great principle—viz. +that if the main direction of a life be right, God +will reveal to a man the points in which he is wrong. +But that principle is untrue and dangerous, unless +carefully guarded. It may lead to a lazy tolerance of +evil, and to drawing such inferences as, 'Well! it does +not much matter about strenuous effort, if we are +right at bottom it will all come right by-and-by,' and +so it may become a pillow for indolence and a clog on +effort. This possible abuse of a great truth seems to +strike the Apostle, and so he enters here, with this +'Nevertheless,' a <i>caveat</i> against that twist of his meaning. +It is as if he said, 'Now mind! while all that is +perfectly true, it is true on conditions; and if they be +not attended to, it is not true.' God will reveal to a +man the things in which he is wrong if, and only if, he +steadfastly continues in the course which he knows +and sees to be right. Present attainments, then, are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382" id="Page_382">[382]</a></span> +in some sense a standard of duty, and if we honestly +and conscientiously observe that standard we shall +get light as we journey. In this exhortation of the +Apostle's there are many exhortations wrapped up; +and in trying to draw them out I venture to adhere to +the form of exhortation for the sake of impressiveness +and point.</p> + +<p>I. First, then, I would say the Apostle means, 'Live +up to your faith and your convictions.'</p> + +<p>It may be a question whether 'that to which we +have already attained' means the amount of knowledge +which we have won or the amount of practical +righteousness which we have made our own. But I +think that, instead of sharply dividing between these +two, we shall follow more in the course of the Apostle's +thought if we unite them together, and remember that +the Bible does not make the distinct separation which +we sometimes incline to make between knowledge on +the one side and practice on the other, but regards the +man as a living unity. And thus, both aspects of our +attainments come into consideration here.</p> + +<p>So, then, there are two main thoughts—first, live out +your creed, and second, live up to your convictions.</p> + +<p>Live out your creed. Men are meant to live, not by +impulse, by accident, by inclination, but by principle. +We are not intended to live by rule, but we <i>are</i> intended +to live by law. And unless we know <i>why</i> we do +as well as <i>what</i> we do, and give a rational account of +our conduct, we fall beneath the height on which God +intends us to walk. Impulse is all very well, but +impulse is blind and needs a guide. The imitation of +those around us, or the acceptance of the apparent +necessities of circumstances, are, to some extent, inevitable +and right. But to be driven merely by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383" id="Page_383">[383]</a></span> +force of externals is to surrender the highest prerogative +of manhood. The highest part of human nature +is the reason guided by conscience, and a man's conscience +is only then rightly illuminated when it is +illuminated by his creed, which is founded on the acceptance +of the revelation that God has made of Himself.</p> + +<p>And whilst we are clearly meant to be guided by the +intelligent appropriation of God's truth, that truth is +evidently all meant for guidance. We are not told +anything in the Bible in order that we may know as +an ultimate object, but we are told it all in order that, +knowing, we may be, and, being, we may do, according +to His will.</p> + +<p>Just think of the intensely practical tendency of all +the greatest truths of Christianity. The Cross is the +law of life. The revelation that was made there was +made, not merely that we might cling to it as a refuge +from our sins, but that we might accept it as the rule +of our conduct. All our duties to mankind are summed +up in the word 'Love one another as I have loved you.' +We say that we believe in the divinity of Christ; we +say that we believe in the great incarnation and sacrificial +death and eternal priesthood of the loving Son of +God. We say that we believe in a judgment to come +and a future life. Well, then, do these truths produce +any effect upon my life? have they shaped me in any +measure into conformity with their great principles? +Does there issue from them constraining power which +grasps me and moulds me as a sculptor would a bit of +clay in his hands? Am I subject to the Gospel's +authority, and is the word in which God has revealed +Himself to me the word which dominates and impels +all my life? 'Whereunto we have already attained, +by the same let us walk.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384" id="Page_384">[384]</a></span></p> + +<p>But we shall not do that without a distinct effort. +For it is a great deal easier to live from hand to mouth +than to live by principle. It is a great deal easier to +accept what seems forced upon us by circumstances +than to exercise control over the circumstances, and +make them bend to God's holy will. It is a great deal +easier to take counsel of inclination, and to put the +reins in the hands of impulses, passions, desires, tastes, +or even habits, than it is, at each fresh moment, to +seek for fresh impulses from a fresh illumination from +the ancient and yet ever fresh truth. The old kings +of France used to be kept with all royal state in the +palace, but they were not allowed to do anything. +And there was a rough, unworshipped man that stood +by their side, and who was the real ruler of the realm. +That is what a great many professing Christians do +with their creeds. They instal them in some inner +chamber that they very seldom visit, and leave them +there, in dignified idleness, and the real working ruler +of their lives is found elsewhere. Let us see to it, +brethren, that all our thoughts are incarnated in our +deeds, and that all our deeds are brought into immediate +connection with the great principles of God's +word. Live by that law, and we live at liberty.</p> + +<p>And, then, remember that this translating of creed +into conduct is the only condition of growing illumination. +When we act upon a belief, the belief grows. +That is the source of a great deal of stupid obstinacy in +this world, because men have been so long accustomed +to go upon certain principles that it seems incredible +to them but that these principles should be true. But +that, too, is at the bottom of a great deal of intelligent +and noble firmness of adherence to the true. A +man who has tested a principle because he has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385" id="Page_385">[385]</a></span> +lived upon it has confidence in it that nobody else +can have.</p> + +<p>Projectors may have beautiful specifications with +attractive pictures of their new inventions; they look +very well upon paper, but we must see them working +before we are sure of their worth. And so, here is this +great body of Divine truth, which assumes to be sufficient +for guidance, for conduct, for comfort, for life. +Live upon it, and thereby your grasp of it and your +confidence in it will be immensely increased. And no +man has a right to say 'I have rejected Christianity +as untrue,' unless he has put it to the test by living +upon it; and if he has, he will never say it. A Swiss +traveller goes into a shop and buys a brand-new alpenstock. +Does he lean upon it with as much confidence +as another man does, who has one with the names of +all the mountains that it has helped him up branded +on it from top to bottom? Take <i>this</i> staff and lean on +it. Live your creed, and you will believe your creed as +you never will until you do. Obedience takes a man +up to an elevation from which he sees further into the +deep harmonies of truth. In all regions of life the +principle holds good: 'To him that hath shall be +given.' And it holds eminently in reference to our +grasp of Christian principles. Use them and they +grow; neglect them and they perish. Sometimes a +man dies in a workhouse who has a store of guineas +and notes wrapped up in rags somewhere about him; +and so they have been of no use to him. If you want +your capital to increase, trade with it. As the Lord +said when He gave the servants their talents: 'Trade +with them till I come.' The creed that is utilised is the +creed that grows. And that is why so many of you +Christian people have so little real intellectual grasp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386" id="Page_386">[386]</a></span> +of the principles of Christianity, because you have not +lived upon them, nor tried to do it.</p> + +<p>And, in like manner, another side of this thought is, +be true to your convictions. There is no such barrier +to a larger and wholesomer view of our duty as the +neglect of anything that plainly is our duty. It stands +there, an impassable cliff between us and all progress. +Let us live and be what we know we ought to be, and +we shall know better what we ought to be at the next +moment.</p> + +<p>II. Secondly, let me put the Apostle's meaning in +another exhortation, Go on as you have begun.</p> + +<p>'Whereunto we have already attained, by the same +let us walk.' The various points to which the men +have reached are all points in one straight line; and +the injunction of my text is 'Keep the road.' There +are a great many temptations to stray from it. There +are nice smooth grassy bits by the side of it where it +is a great deal easier walking. There are attractive +things just a footstep or two out of the path—such a +little deviation that it can easily be recovered. And +so, like children gathering daisies in the field, we stray +away from the path; and, like men on a moor, we +then look round for it, and it is gone. The angle of +divergence may be the acutest possible; the deviation +when we begin may be scarcely visible, but if you draw +a line at the sharpest angle and the least deviation +from a straight line, and carry it out far enough, there +will be space between it and the line from which it +started ample to hold a universe. Then, let us take +care of small deviations from the plain straight path, +and give no heed to the seductions that lie on either +side, but 'whereunto we have already attained, by <i>the +same</i> let us walk.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387" id="Page_387">[387]</a></span></p> + +<p>There are temptations, too, to slacken our speed. +The river runs far more slowly in its latter course than +when it came babbling and leaping down the hillside. +And sometimes a Christian life seems as if it crept +rather than ran, like those sluggish streams in the Fen +country, which move so slowly that you cannot tell +which way the water is flowing. Are not there all +round us, are there not amongst ourselves instances +of checked growth, of arrested development? There +are people listening to me now, calling themselves—and +I do not say that they have not a right to do +so—Christians, who have not grown a bit for years, +but stand at the very same point of attainment, both +in knowledge and in purity and Christlikeness, as they +were many, many days ago. I beseech you, listen to +this exhortation of my text, 'Whereunto we have +already attained, by the same let us walk,' and continue +patient and persistent in the course that is set +before us.</p> + +<p>III. The Apostle's injunction may be cast into this +form, Be yourselves.</p> + +<p>The representation which underlies my text, and +precedes it in the context, is that of the Christian community +as a great body of travellers all upon one road, +all with their faces turned in one direction, but at very +different points on the path. The difference of position +necessarily involves a difference in outlook. They see +their duties, and they see the Word of God, in some +respects diversely. And the Apostle's exhortation is: +'Let each man follow his own insight, and whereunto +he has attained, by that, and not by his brother's +attainment, by that let him walk.' From the very +fact of the diversity of advancement there follows the +plain duty for each of us to use our own eyesight, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388" id="Page_388">[388]</a></span> +of independent faithfulness to our own measure of +light, as the guide which we are bound to follow.</p> + +<p>There is a dreadful want, in the ordinary Christian +life, of any appearance of first-hand communication +with Jesus Christ, and daring to be myself, and to act +on the insight into His will which Christ has given <i>me</i>.</p> + +<p>Conventional Godliness, Christian people cut after +one pattern, a little narrow round of certain statutory +duties and obligations, a parrot-like repetition of certain +words, a mechanical copying of certain methods +of life, an oppressive sameness, mark so much of +modern religion. What a freshening up there would +come into all Christian communities if every man +lived by his own perception of truth and duty! If a +musician in an orchestra is listening to his neighbour's +note and time, he will lose many an indication from +the conductor that would have kept him far more +right, if he had attended to it. And if, instead of +taking our beliefs and our conduct from one another, +or from the average of Christian men round us, we +went straight to Jesus Christ and said to Him, 'What +wouldst <i>Thou</i> have <i>me</i> to do?' there would be a +different aspect over Christendom from what there is +to-day. The fact of individual responsibility, according +to the measure of our individual light, and faithful +following of that, wheresoever it may lead us, are the +grand and stirring principles that come from these +words. 'Whereunto we have already attained,' by that—and +by no other man's attainment or rule—let us walk.</p> + +<p>But do not let us forget that that same faithful +independence and independent faithfulness because +Christ speaks to us, and we will not let any other +voice blend with His, are quite consistent with, and, +indeed, demand, the frank recognition of our brother's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389" id="Page_389">[389]</a></span> +equal right. If we more often thought of all the great +body of Christian people as an army, united in its +diversity, its line of march stretching for leagues, and +some in the van, and some in the main body, and some +in the rear, but all one, we should be more tolerant of +divergences, more charitable in our judgment of the +laggards, more patient in waiting for them to come up +with us, and more wise and considerate in moderating +our pace sometimes to meet theirs. All who love Jesus +Christ are on the same road and bound for the same +home. Let us be contented that they shall be at +different stages on the path, seeing that we know that +they will all reach the Temple above.</p> + +<p>IV. Lastly, cherish the consciousness of imperfection +and the confidence of success.</p> + +<p>'Whereunto we have attained' implies that that is +only a partial possession of a far greater whole. The +road is not finished at the stage where we stand. And, +on the other hand, 'by the same let us walk,' implies +that beyond the present point the road runs on equally +patent and pervious to our feet. These two convictions, +of my own imperfection and of the certainty of +my reaching the great perfectness beyond, are indispensable +to all Christian progress. As soon as a man +begins to think that he has realised his ideal, Good-bye! +to all advance. The artist, the student, the man +of business, all must have gleaming before them an +unattained object, if they are ever to be stirred to +energy and to run with patience the race that is set +before them.</p> + +<p>The more distinctly that a man is conscious of his +own imperfection in the Christian life, the more he +will be stung and stirred into earnestness and energy +of effort, if only, side by side with the consciousness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_390" id="Page_390">[390]</a></span> +imperfection, there springs triumphant the confidence +of success. That will give strength to the feeble +knees; that will lift a man buoyant over difficulties; +that will fire desire; that will stimulate and solidify +effort; that will make the long, monotonous stretches +of the road easy, the rough places plain, the crooked +things straight. Over all reluctant, repellent duties it +will bear us, in all weariness it will re-invigorate us. +We are saved by hope, and the more brightly there +burns before us, not as a tremulous hope, but as a +future certainty, the thought, 'I shall be like Him, for +I shall see Him as He is,' the more shall I set my face +to the loved goal and my feet to the dusty road, and +'press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling +of God.' Christian progress comes out of the clash and +collision of these two things, like that of flint and steel—the +consciousness of imperfection and the confidence +of success. And they who thus are driven by the one +and drawn by the other, in all their consciousness of +failure are yet blessed, and are crowned at last with +that which they believed before it came.</p> + +<p>'Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house'—the +prize won is heaven. But 'blessed are they in whose +hearts are the ways'—the prize desired and strained +after is heaven upon earth. We may all live a life of +continual advancement, each step leading upwards, for +the road always climbs, to purer air, grander scenery, +and a wider view. And yonder, progress will still be +the law, for they who here have followed the Lamb, and +sought to make Him their pattern and Commander, +will there 'follow Him whithersoever He goeth.' If +here we walk according to that 'whereunto we have +attained,' there He shall say, 'They will walk with Me +in white, for they are worthy.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_391" id="Page_391">[391]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WARNINGS AND HOPES</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and mark them which so walk even as +ye have us for an ensample. For many walk, of whom I told you often, and now +tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose +end is perdition, whose God is the belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who +mind earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we +wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of +our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, according to +the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto Himself.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> +iii. 17-21 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>There is a remarkable contrast in tone between the +sad warnings which begin this section and the glowing +hopes with which it closes, and that contrast is made +the more striking when we notice that the Apostle +binds the gloom of the one and the radiance of the +other by 'For,' which makes the latter the cause of the +former.</p> + +<p>The exhortation in which the Apostle begins by proposing +himself as an example sounds strange on any +lips, and, most of all, on his, but we have to note that +the points in which he sets himself up as a pattern are +obviously those on which he touched in the preceding +outpouring of his heart, and which he has already +commended to the Philippians in pleading with them +to be 'thus minded.' What he desires them to copy is +his self-distrust, his willingness to sacrifice all things +to win Christ, his clear sense of his own shortcomings, +and his eager straining towards as yet unreached perfection. +His humility is not disproved by such words, +but what is remarkable in them is the clear consciousness +of the main direction and set of his life. We may +well hesitate to take them for ours, but every Christian +man and woman ought to be able to say this much. +If we cannot in some degree declare that we are so +walking, we have need to look to our foundations. +Such words are really in sharp contrast to those in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_392" id="Page_392">[392]</a></span> +which Jesus is held forth as an example. Notice, too, +how quickly he passes to associate others with him, +and to merge the 'Me' into 'Us.' We need not ask +who his companions were, since Timothy is associated +with him at the beginning of the letter.</p> + +<p>The exhortation is enforced by pointing to others +who had gone far astray, and of whom he had warned +the Philippians often, possibly by letter. Who these +unworthy disciples were remains obscure. They +were clearly not the Judaisers branded in verse 2, +who were teachers seeking to draw away the Philippians, +while these others seem to have been 'enemies +of the Cross of Christ,' not by open hostility nor by +theoretical errors, but by practical worldliness, and +that in these ways; they make sense their God, they +are proud of what is really their disgrace, namely, they +are shaking off the restraints of morality; and, most +black though it may seem least so, they 'mind earthly +things' on which thought, feeling, and interest are concentrated. +Let us lay to heart the lesson that such +direction of the current of a life to the things of earth +makes men 'enemies of the Cross of Christ,' whatever +their professions, and will surely make their end perdition, +whatever their apparent prosperity. Paul's life +seemed loss and was gain; these men's lives seemed +gain and was loss.</p> + +<p>From this dark picture charged with gloom, and in +one corner showing white waves breaking far out +against an inky sky, and a vessel with torn sails +driving on the rocks, the Apostle turns with relief to +the brighter words in which he sets forth the true +affinities and hopes of a Christian. They all stand or +fall with the belief in the Resurrection of Christ and +His present life in His glorified corporeal manhood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_393" id="Page_393">[393]</a></span></p> + +<p>I. Our true metropolis.</p> + +<p>The Revised Version puts in the margin as an alternative +rendering for 'citizenship' commonwealth, and +there appears to be a renewed allusion here to the fact +already noted that Philippi was a 'colony,' and that its +inhabitants were Roman citizens. Paul uses a very +emphatic word for 'is' here which it is difficult to +reproduce in English, but which suggests essential +reality.</p> + +<p>The reason why that heavenly citizenship is ours in +no mere play of the imagination but in most solid substance, +is because He is there for whom we look. +Where Christ is, is our Mother-country, our Fatherland, +according to His own promise, 'I go to prepare +a place for you.' His being there draws our thoughts +and sets our affections on Heaven.</p> + +<p>II. The colonists looking for the King.</p> + +<p>The Emperors sometimes made a tour of the provinces. +Paul here thinks of Christians as waiting for +their Emperor to come across the seas to this outlying +corner of His dominions. The whole grand name is +given here, all the royal titles to express solemnity +and dignity, and the character in which we look +for Him is that of Saviour. We still need salvation, +and though in one sense it is past, in another it will +not be ours until He comes the second time without sin +unto salvation. The eagerness of the waiting which +should characterise the expectant citizens is wonderfully +described by the Apostle's expression for it, which +literally means to look away out—with emphasis on +both prepositions—like a sentry on the walls of a +besieged city whose eyes are ever fixed on the pass +amongst the hills through which the relieving forces +are to come.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_394" id="Page_394">[394]</a></span></p> + +<p>It may be said that Paul is here expressing an +expectation which was disappointed. No doubt the +early Church looked for the speedy return of our Lord +and were mistaken. We are distinctly told that in +that point there was no revelation of the future, and +no doubt they, like the prophets of old, 'searched what +manner of time the spirit of Christ which was in them +did signify.' In this very letter Paul speaks of death +as very probable for himself, so that he had precisely +the same double attitude which has been the Church's +ever since, in that he looked for Christ's coming as +possible in his own time, and yet anticipated the other +alternative. It is difficult, no doubt, to cherish the +vivid anticipation of any future event, and not to have +any certainty as to its date. But if we are sure that +a given event will come sometime and do not know +when it may come, surely the wise man is he who +thinks to himself it may come any time, and not he +who treats it as if it would come at no time. The two +possible alternatives which Paul had before him have +in common the same certainty as to the fact and uncertainty +as to the date, and Paul had them both +before his mind with the same vivid anticipation.</p> + +<p>The practical effect of this hope of the returning +Lord on our 'walk' will be all to bring it nearer Paul's. +It will not suffer us to make sense our God, nor to fix +our affections on things above; it will stimulate all +energies in pressing towards the goal, and will turn +away our eyes from the trivialities and transiencies +that press upon us, away out toward the distance where +'far off His coming shone.'</p> + +<p>III. The Christian sharing in Christ's glory.</p> + +<p>The same precise distinction between 'fashion' and +'form,' which we have had occasion to notice in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_395" id="Page_395">[395]</a></span> +Chapter <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, recurs here. The 'fashion' of the body of +our humiliation is external and transient; the 'form' +of the body of His glory to which we are to be assimilated +consists of essential characteristics or properties, +and may be regarded as being almost synonymous with +'Nature.' Observing the distinction which the Apostle +draws by the use of these two words, and remembering +their force in the former instance of their occurrence, +we shall not fail to give force to the representation that +in the Resurrection the fleeting fashion of the bodily +frame will be altered, and the glorified bodies of the +saints made participant of the essential qualities of His.</p> + +<p>We further note that there is no trace of false +asceticism or of gnostic contempt for the body in its +designation as 'of our humiliation.' Its weaknesses, +its limitations, its necessities, its corruption and its +death, sufficiently manifest our lowliness, while, on the +other hand, the body in which Christ's glory is manifested, +and which is the instrument for His glory, is +presented in fullest contrast to it.</p> + +<p>The great truth of Christ's continual glorified manhood +is the first which we draw from these words. +The story of our Lord's Resurrection suggests indeed +that He brought the same body from the tomb as +loving hands had laid there. The invitation to Thomas +to thrust his hands into the prints of the nails, the +similar invitation to the assembled disciples, and His +partaking of food in their presence, seemed to forbid +the idea of His rising changed. Nor can we suppose +that the body of His glory would be congruous with +His presence on earth. But we have to think of His +ascension as gradual, and of Himself as 'changed by +still degrees' as He ascended, and so as returned to +where the 'glory which He had with the Father before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_396" id="Page_396">[396]</a></span> +the world was,' as the Shechinah cloud received Him +out of the sight of the gazers below. If this be the +true reading of His last moments on earth, He united +in His own experience both the ways of leaving it +which His followers experience—the way of sleep +which is death, and the way of 'being changed.'</p> + +<p>But at whatever point the change came, He now +wears, and for ever will wear, the body of a man. That +is the dominant fact on which is built the Christian +belief in a future life, and which gives to that belief +all its solidity and force, and separates it from vague +dreams of immortality which are but a wish +tremblingly turned into a hope, or a dread shudderingly +turned into an expectation. The man Christ +Jesus is the pattern and realised ideal of human life +on earth, the revelation of the divine life through +a human life, and in His glorified humanity is no less +the pattern and realised ideal of what human nature +may become. The present state of the departed is incomplete +in that they have not a body by which they +can act on, and be acted on by, an external universe. +We cannot indeed suppose them lapped in age-long +unconsciousness, and it may be that the 'dead in +Christ' are through Him brought into some knowledge +of externals, but for the full-summed perfection +of their being, the souls under the altar have to wait +for the resurrection of the body. If resurrection is +needful for completion of manhood, then completed +manhood must necessarily be set in a locality, and +the glorified manhood of Jesus must also now be in a +place. To think thus of it and of Him is not to +vulgarise the Christian conception of Heaven, but to +give it a definiteness and force which it sorely lacks in +popular thinking. Nor is the continual manhood of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_397" id="Page_397">[397]</a></span> +our Lord less precious in its influence in helping our +familiar approach to Him. It tells us that He is still +and for ever the same as when on earth, glad to +welcome all who came and to help and heal all who +need Him. It is one of ourselves who 'sitteth at the +right hand of God.' His manhood brings Him memories +which bind Him to us sorrowing and struggling, and +His glory clothes Him with power to meet all our +needs, to stanch all our wounds, to satisfy all our +desires.</p> + +<p>Our text leads us to think of the wondrous transformation +into Christ's likeness. We know not what are +the differences between the body of our humiliation +and the body of His glory, but we must not be led +away by the word Resurrection to fall into the mistake +of supposing that in death we 'sow that body which +shall be.' Paul's great chapter in I. Corinthians should +have destroyed that error for ever, and it is a +singular instance of the persistency of the most unsupported +mistakes that there are still thousands of +people who in spite of all that they know of what befalls +our mortal bodies, and of how their parts pass +into other forms, still hold by that crude idea. We +have no material by which to construct any, even the +vaguest, outline of that body that shall be. We can +only run out the contrasts as suggested by Paul in +1st Corinthians, and let the dazzling greatness of the +positive thought which he gives in the text lift our +expectations. Weakness will become power, corruption +incorruption, liability to death immortality, dishonour +glory, and the frame which belonged and corresponded +to 'that which was natural,' shall be transformed +into a body which is the organ of that which +is spiritual. These things tell us little, but they may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_398" id="Page_398">[398]</a></span> +all fused into the great light of likeness to the body of +His glory; and though that tells us even less, it feeds +hope more and satisfies our hearts even whilst it does +not feed our curiosity. We may well be contented to +acknowledge that 'it doth not yet appear what we +shall be,' when we can go on to say, 'We know that +when He shall appear we shall be like Him.' It is +enough for the disciple that he be as his Master.</p> + +<p>But we must not forget that the Apostle regards +even this overwhelming change as but part of a +mightier process, even the universal subjection of all +things unto Christ Himself. The Emperor reduces the +whole world to subjection, and the glorifying of the +body as the climax of the universal subjugation represents +it as the end of the process of assimilation begun +in this mortal life. There is no possibility of a resurrection +unto life unless that life has been begun before +death. That ultimate glorious body is needed to bring +men into correspondence with the external universe. +As is the locality so is the body. Flesh and blood +cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. This whole series +of thoughts makes our glorious resurrection the result +not of death, but of Christ's living power on His people. +It is only in the measure in which He lives in us and +we in Him, and are partaking by daily participation in +the power of His Resurrection, that we shall be made +subjects of the working whereby He is able even to +subject all things unto Himself, and finally be conformed +to the body of His glory.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><i>EXPOSITIONS OF<br /> +HOLY SCRIPTURE</i></h2> + +<h3>ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D.</h3> +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> +<h3> +PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, FIRST<br /> +AND SECOND THESSALONIANS<br /> +AND FIRST TIMOTHY<br /></h3> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_va" id="Page_va">[v]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents: Part 2"> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'>PHILIPPIANS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Tender Exhortation</span> (Phil. iv. 1)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_1a'>1</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Names in the Book of Life</span> (Phil. iv. 3)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_11a'>11</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Rejoice Evermore</span> (Phil. iv. 4)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_21a'>21</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">How to Obey an Impossible Injunction</span> (Phil. iv. 6)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_31a'>31</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Warrior Peace</span> (Phil. iv. 7)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_39a'>39</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Think on these Things</span> (Phil. iv. 8)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_48a'>48</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">How to say 'Thank You'</span> (Phil. iv. 10-14, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_58a'>58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Gifts Given, Seed Sown</span> (Phil. iv. 15-19, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_66a'>66</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Farewell Words</span> (Phil. iv. 20-23, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_74a'>74</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />COLOSSIANS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Saints, Believers, Brethren</span> (Col. i. 2)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_82a'>82</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_via" id="Page_via">[vi]</a></span><span class="smcap">The Gospel-Hope</span> (Col. i. 5)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_92a'>92</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">'All Power'</span> (Col. i. 11, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_99a'>99</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Thankful for Inheritance</span> (Col. i. 12, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_106a'>106</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Christian Endeavour</span> (Col. i. 29)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_114a'>114</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Christian Progress</span> (Col. ii. 6, 7, R.V.)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_124a'>124</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Risen with Christ</span> (Col. iii. 1-15)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_127a'>127</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Risen with Christ</span> (Col. iii. 1, 2)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_134a'>134</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Without and Within</span> (Col. iv. 5)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_143a'>143</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />I. THESSALONIANS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Faith, Love, Hope, and their Fruits</span> (1 Thess. i. 3)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_155a'>155</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">God's Trumpet</span> (1 Thess. i. 8)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_164a'>164</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Walking Worthily</span> (1 Thess. ii. 12)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_170a'>170</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Small Duties and the Great Hope</span> (1 Thess. iv. 9-18; v. 1, 2)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_183a'>183</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Sleeping through Jesus</span> (1 Thess. iv. 14)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_190a'>190</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viia" id="Page_viia">[vii]</a></span><span class="smcap">The Work and Armour of the Children of the Day</span> (1 Thess. v. 8)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_198a'>198</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Waking and Sleeping</span> (1 Thess. v. 10)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_210a'>210</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Edification</span> (1 Thess. v. 11)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_220a'>220</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Continual Prayer and Its Effects</span> (1 Thess. v. 16-18)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_229a'>229</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Paul's Earliest Teaching</span> (1 Thess. v. 27)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_237a'>237</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />II. THESSALONIANS</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Christ Glorified in Glorified Men</span> (2 Thess. i. 10)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_248a'>248</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Worthy of Your Calling</span> (2 Thess. i. 11, 12)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_256a'>256</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Everlasting Consolation and Good Hope</span> (2 Thess. ii. 16, 17)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_267a'>267</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Heart's Home and Guide</span> (2 Thess. iii. 5)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_277a'>277</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Lord of Peace and the Peace of the Lord</span> (2 Thess. iii. 16)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_288a'>288</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='center' colspan='2'><br />I. TIMOTHY</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The End of the Commandment</span> (1 Tim. i. 5)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_298a'>298</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_viiia" id="Page_viiia">[viii]</a></span>'<span class="smcap">The Gospel of the Glory of the Happy God</span>' (1 Tim. i. 11)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_308a'>308</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Gospel in Small</span> (1 Tim. i. 15)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_316a'>316</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Chief of Sinners</span> (1 Tim. i. 15)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_326a'>326</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Test Case</span> (1 Tim. i. 16)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_335a'>335</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Glory of the King</span> (1 Tim. i. 17)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_344a'>344</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Where and How To Pray</span> (1 Tim. ii. 8)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_353a'>353</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Spiritual Athletics</span> (1 Tim. iv. 7)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_361a'>361</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The One Witness, the Many Confessors</span> (1 Tim. vi. 12-14)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_370a'>370</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Conduct that Secures the Real Life</span> (1 Tim. vi. 19)</td><td align='right'><a href='#Page_379a'>379</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1a" id="Page_1a">[1]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A TENDER EXHORTATION</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so +stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 1.</p></div> + + +<p>The words I have chosen set forth very simply and +beautifully the bond which knit Paul and these +Philippian Christians together, and the chief desire +which his Apostolic love had for them. I venture to +apply them to ourselves, and I speak now especially to +the members of my own church and congregation.</p> + +<p>I. Let us note, then, first, the personal bond which +gives force to the teacher's words.</p> + +<p>That Church at Philippi was, if Paul had any +favourites amongst his children, his favourite child. +The circumstances of its formation may have had +something to do with that. It was planted by himself; +it was the first Church in Europe; perhaps the +Philippian gaoler and Lydia were amongst the 'beloved' +and 'longed for' ones who were 'his joy and crown.' +But be that as it may, all through the letter we can +feel the throbbing of a very loving heart, and the +tenderness of a strong man, which is the most tender +of all things.</p> + +<p>Note how he addresses them. There is no assumption +of Apostolic authority, but he puts himself on +their level, and speaks to them as brethren. Then +he lets his heart out, and tells them how they +lived in his love, and how, of course, when he was +parted from them, he had desired to be with them.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2a" id="Page_2a">[2]</a></span> +And then he touches a deeper and a sacreder chord +when he contemplates the results of the relation +between them, if he on his side, and they on theirs, +were faithful to it. It says much for the teacher, and +for the taught, if he can truly say 'My joy,'—'I have +no greater joy than to know that my children walk +in the truth.' And not only were they his joy, but they +who, by their faithfulness, have become his joy, will +on that one day in the far future, be his 'crown.' That +metaphor carries on the thoughts to the great Judgment +Day, and introduces a solemn element, which is +as truly present, dear friends, in our relation to one +another, little of an Apostle as I am, as it was in the +relation between Paul and the Philippians. They who +'turn many to righteousness shine as the brightness of +the firmament,' because those whom they have turned, +'shine as lights in the world.' And at that last august +and awful tribunal, where you will have to give an +account for your listening, as I for my speaking, the +crown of victory laid on the locks of a faithful teacher +is the characters of those whom he has taught. 'Who +is my joy and hope, and crown of rejoicing?' Are not +even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his +coming?</p> + +<p>Now, notice, further, how such mutual affection is +needed to give force to the teacher's exhortation. +Preaching from unloved lips never does any good. It +irritates, or leaves untouched. Affection melts and +opens the heart to the entrance of the word. And +preaching from unloving lips does very little good +either. So speaking, I condemn myself. There are men +who handle God's great, throbbing message of love so +coldly as that they ice even the Gospel. There are men +who have a strange gift of taking all the sap and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3a" id="Page_3a">[3]</a></span> +fervour out of the word that they proclaim, making +the very grapes of Eshcol into dried raisins. And I +feel for myself that my ministry may well have failed +in this respect. For who is there that can modulate +his voice so as to reproduce the music of that great +message, or who can soften and open his heart so as +that it shall be a worthy vehicle of the infinite love of +God?</p> + +<p>But, dear brethren, though conscious of many +failures in this respect, I yet thank God that here, at +the end of nearly forty years of a ministry, I can look +you in the face and believe that your look responds to +mine, and that I can take these words as the feathers +for my arrow, as that which will make words otherwise +weak go further, and may help to write the precepts +upon hearts, and to bring them to bear in practice—'My +beloved and longed for'; 'my joy and my crown.'</p> + +<p>Such feelings do not need to be always spoken. +There is very little chance of us Northerners erring on +the side of letting our hearts speak too fully and +frequently. Perhaps we should be all the better if we +were a little less reticent, but at any rate you and I can +surely trust each other after so many years, and now +and then, as to-day, let our hearts speak.</p> + +<p>II. Secondly, notice the all-sufficient precept which +such love gives. 'So stand fast in the Lord.'</p> + +<p>That is a very favourite figure of Paul's, as those of +you who have any reasonable degree of familiarity +with his letters will know. Here it carries with it, as +it generally does, the idea of resistance against antagonistic +force. But the main thought of it is that of +continuous steadfastness in our union with Jesus +Christ. It applies, of course, to the intellect, but not +mainly, and certainly not exclusively to intellectual<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4a" id="Page_4a">[4]</a></span> +adherence to the truths spoken in the Gospel. It +covers the whole ground of the whole man; will, +conscience, heart, practical effort, as well as understanding. +And it is really Paul's version, with a +characteristic dash of pugnacity in it, of our Lord's yet +deeper and calmer words, 'Abide in Me and I in you.' +It is the same exhortation as Barnabas gave to the +infantile church at Antioch, when, to these men just +rescued from heathenism and profoundly ignorant of +much which we suppose it absolutely necessary that +Christians should know, he had only one thing to say, +exhorting them all, that 'with purpose of heart they +should cleave to the Lord.'</p> + +<p>Steadfast continuance of personal union with Jesus +Christ, extending through all the faculties of our +nature, and into every corner of our lives, is the +kernel of this great exhortation. And he who fulfils +it has little left unfulfilled. Of course, as I said, there +is a very strong suggestion that such 'standing' is by +no means an easy thing, or accomplished without much +antagonism; and it may help us if, just for a moment, +we run over the various forms of resistance which they +have to overcome who stand fast. Nothing stands +where it is without effort. That is true in the moral +world, although in the physical world the law of +motion is that nothing moves without force being +applied to it.</p> + +<p>What are the things that would shake our steadfastness, +and sweep us away? Well, there are, first, the +tiny, continuously acting, and therefore all but omnipotent +forces of daily life—duties, occupations, distractions +of various kinds—which tend to move us imperceptibly +away, as by the slow sliding of a glacier, from +the hope of the Gospel. There is nothing so strong as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5a" id="Page_5a">[5]</a></span> +gentle pressure, equably and unintermittently applied. +It is far mightier than thrusts and hammerings and +sudden assaults. I stood some time ago looking at the +Sphinx. The hard stone—so hard that it turns the +edge of a sculptor's chisel—has been worn away, and +the solemn features all but obliterated. What by? +The continual attrition of multitudinous grains of sand +from the desert. The little things that are always at +work upon us are the things that have most power to +sweep us away from our steadfastness in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>Then there are, besides, the sudden assaults of strong +temptations, of sense and flesh, or of a more subtle and +refined character. If a man is standing loosely, in some +careless <i>dégagé</i> attitude, and a sudden impact comes upon +him, over he goes. The boat upon a mountain-locked +lake encounters a sudden gust when opposite the opening +of a glen, and unless there be a very strong hand and +a watchful eye at the helm, is sure to be upset. Upon +us there come, in addition to that silent continuity of +imperceptible but most real pressure, sudden gusts of +temptation which are sure to throw us over, unless we +are well and always on our guard against them.</p> + +<p>In addition to all these, there are ups and downs of +our own nature, the fluctuations which are sure to +occur in any human heart, when faith seems to ebb +and falter, and love to die down almost into cold ashes. +But, dear brethren, whilst we shall always be liable to +these fluctuations of feeling, it is possible for us to +have, deep down below these, a central core of our +personality, in which unchanging continuity may +abide. The depths of the ocean know nothing of the +tides on the surface that are due to the mutable moon. +We can have in our inmost hearts steadfastness, immovableness, +even though the surface may be ruffled.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6a" id="Page_6a">[6]</a></span> +Make your spirits like one of those great cathedrals +whose thick walls keep out the noises of the world, +and in whose still equability there is neither excessive +heat nor excessive cold, but an approximately uniform +temperature, at midsummer and at midwinter. 'Stand +fast in the Lord.'</p> + +<p>Now, my text not only gives an exhortation, but, in +the very act of giving it, suggests how it is to be fulfilled. +For that phrase 'in the Lord' not only indicates +<i>where</i> we are to stand, but also <i>how</i>. That is to say—it +is only in proportion as we keep ourselves in union +with Christ, in heart and mind, and will, and work, +that we shall stand steadfast. The lightest substances +may be made stable, if they are glued on to something +stable. You can mortice a bit of thin stone into the +living rock, and then it will stand 'four-square to every +wind that blows.' So it is only on condition of our +keeping ourselves in Jesus Christ, that we are able +to keep ourselves steadfast, and to present a front of +resistance that does not yield one foot, either to imperceptible +continuous pressure, to sudden assaults, or to +the fluctuations of our own changeful dispositions and +tempers. The ground on which a man stands has a +great deal to do with the firmness of his footing. You +cannot stand fast upon a bed of slime, or upon a sand-bank +which is being undermined by the tides. And +if we, changeful creatures, are to be steadfast in any +region, our surest way of being so is to knit ourselves +to Him 'who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and +for ever,' and from whose immortality will flow some +copy and reflection of itself into our else changeful +natures.</p> + +<p>Still further, in regard to this commandment, I +would pray you to notice that very eloquent little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7a" id="Page_7a">[7]</a></span> +word which stands at the beginning of it. '<i>So</i> stand +fast in the Lord.' 'So.' How? That throws us back +to what the Apostle has been saying in the previous +context. And what has he been saying there? The +keynote of the previous chapter is progress—'I follow +after; I press toward the mark, forgetting the things +that are behind, and reaching forth to the things that +are before.' To these exhortations to progress he +appends this remarkable exhortation: 'So'—that is, by +progress—'stand fast in the Lord,' which being turned +into other words is just this—if you stand still, you will +not stand fast. There can be no steadfastness without +advancement. If a man is not going forward, he is +going backward. The only way to ensure stability is +'pressing toward the mark.' Why, a child's top only +stands straight up as long as it is revolving. If a man +on a bicycle stops, he tumbles. And so, in the depths +of a Christian life, as in all science, and all walks of +human activity, the condition of steadfastness is +advance. Therefore, dear brethren, let no man deceive +himself with the notion that he can keep at the same +point of religious experience and of Christian character. +You are either more of a Christian, or less of one, than +you were at a past time. '<i>So</i>, stand fast,' and remember +that to stand <i>still</i> is <i>not</i> to stand <i>fast</i>.</p> + +<p>Now, whilst all these things that I have been trying +to say have reference to Christian people at all stages +of their spiritual history, they have a very especial +reference to those in the earlier part of Christian +life.</p> + +<p>And I want to say to those who have only just +begun to run the Christian life, very lovingly and very +earnestly, that this is a text for them. For, alas! there +is nothing more frequent than that, after the first<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8a" id="Page_8a">[8]</a></span> +dawnings of a Christian life in a heart, there should come +a period of overclouding; or that, as John Bunyan +has taught us, when Christian has gone through the +wicket-gate, he should fall very soon into the Slough +of Despond. One looks round, and sees how many +professing Christians there are who, perhaps, were +nearer Jesus Christ on the day of their conversion +than they have ever been since, and how many cases +of arrested development there are amongst professing +and real Christians; so that when for the 'time they +ought to be teachers, they have need' to be taught +again; and when, after the number of years that have +passed, they ought to be full-grown men, they are but +babes yet. And so I say to you, dear young friends, +stand fast. Do not let the world attract you again. +Keep near to Jesus. 'Hold fast that thou hast; let no +man take thy crown.'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, we have here a great motive which +encourages obedience to this command.</p> + +<p>People generally pass over that 'Therefore' which +begins my text, but it is full of significance and of +importance. It links the precept which we have been +considering with the immediately preceding hope +which the Apostle has so triumphantly proclaimed, +when he says that 'we look for the Saviour from +heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change the +body of our humiliation that it may be fashioned like +unto the body of His glory, according to the working +whereby He is able even to subdue all things to +Himself.'</p> + +<p>So there rises before us that twofold great hope; +that the Master Himself is coming to the succour of +His servants, and that when He comes, He will perfect +the incomplete work which has been begun in them by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9a" id="Page_9a">[9]</a></span> +their faith and steadfastness, and will change their +whole humanity so that it shall become participant of, +and conformed to, the glory of His own triumphant +manhood.</p> + +<p>That hope is presented by the Apostle as having its +natural sequel in the 'steadfastness' of my text, and +that 'steadfastness' is regarded by the Apostle as +drawing its most animating motives from the contemplation +of that great hope. Blessed be God! The +effort of the Christian life is not one which is extorted +by fear, or by the cold sense of duty. There are no +taskmasters with whips to stand over the heart that +responds to Christ and to His love. But hope and joy, +as well as love, are the animating motives which make +sacrifices easy, soften the yoke that is laid upon our +shoulders, and turn labour into joy and delight.</p> + +<p>So, dear brethren, we have to set before us this great +hope, that Jesus Christ is coming, and that, therefore, +our labour on ourselves is sure not to be in vain. +Work that is done hopelessly is not done long, and +there is no heart in it whilst it is being done. But if +we know that Christ will appear, 'and that when He +who is our life shall appear, we also shall appear with +Him in glory,' then we may go to work in keeping +ourselves steadfast in Him, with cheery hearts, and +with full assurance that what we have been doing will +have a great result.</p> + +<p>You have read, no doubt, about some little force in +North-West India, hemmed in by enemies. They may +well hold out resolutely and hopefully when they +know that three relieving armies are converging upon +their stronghold. And we, too, know that our Emperor +is coming to raise the siege. We may well stand fast +with such a prospect. We may well work at our own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10a" id="Page_10a">[10]</a></span> +sanctifying when we know that our Lord Himself—like +some master-sculptor who comes to his pupil's +imperfectly blocked-out work, and takes his chisel in +his hand, and with a touch or two completes it—will +come and finish what we, by His grace, imperfectly +began. 'So stand fast in the Lord,' because you have +hope that the Lord is about to come, and that when +He comes you will be like Him.</p> + +<p>One last word. That steadfastness is the condition +without which we have no right to entertain that +hope.</p> + +<p>If we keep ourselves near Christ, and if by keeping +ourselves near Him, we are becoming day by day liker +Him, then we may have calm confidence that He will +perfect that which concerns us. But I, for my part, +can find nothing, either in Scripture or in the analogy +of God's moral dealings with us in the world, to +warrant the holding out of the expectation to a man +that, if he has kept himself apart from Jesus Christ +and his quickening and cleansing power all his life +long, Jesus Christ will take him in hand after he dies, +and change him into His likeness. Don't you risk it! +Begin by 'standing fast in the Lord.' He will do the +rest then, not else. The cloth must be dipped into the +dyer's vat, and lie there, if it is to be tinged with the +colour. The sensitive plate must be patiently kept in +position for many hours, if invisible stars are to photograph +themselves upon it. The vase must be held +with a steady hand beneath the fountain, if it is to be +filled. Keep yourselves in Jesus Christ. Then here +you will begin to be changed into the same image, and +when He comes He will come as your Saviour, and +complete your uncompleted work, and make you altogether +like Himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11a" id="Page_11a">[11]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed +for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, dearly +beloved.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>NAMES IN THE BOOK OF LIFE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Other my fellow-labourers whose names are in the book of life.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 3.</p></div> + + +<p>Paul was as gentle as he was strong. Winsome +courtesy and delicate considerateness lay in his character, +in beautiful union with fiery impetuosity and +undaunted tenacity of conviction. We have here a +remarkable instance of his quick apprehension of the +possible effects of his words, and of his nervous anxiety +not to wound even unreasonable susceptibilities.</p> + +<p>He had had occasion to mention three of his fellow-workers, +and he wishes to associate with them others +whom he does not purpose to name. Lest any of these +should be offended by the omission, he soothes them +with this graceful, half-apologetic reminder that their +names are inscribed on a better page than his. It is as +if he had said, 'Do not mind though I do not mention +you individually. You can well afford to be anonymous +in my letter since your names are inscribed in the Book +of Life.'</p> + +<p><i>There</i> is a consolation for obscure good people, who +need not expect to live except in two or three loving +hearts; and whose names will only be preserved on +mouldering tombstones that will convey no idea to the +reader. We may well dispense with other commemoration +if we have this.</p> + +<p>Now, this figure of the Book of Life appears in Scripture +at intervals, almost from the beginning to the +very end. The first instance of its occurrence is in that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12a" id="Page_12a">[12]</a></span> +self-sacrificing, intercessory prayer of Moses, when he +expressed his willingness to be 'blotted out of Thy +book' as an atonement for the sin of Israel. Its last +appearance is when the Apocalyptic Seer is told that +none enter into the City of God come down from +Heaven 'save those whose names are written in the +Lamb's Book of Life.' Of course in plain English the +expression is just equivalent to being a real disciple of +Jesus Christ. But then it presents that general notion +under a metaphor which, in its various aspects, has a +very distinct and stringent bearing upon our duties as +well as upon our blessings and our hopes. I, therefore, +wish to work out, as well as I can, the various thoughts +suggested by this emblem.</p> + +<p>I. The first of them is Citizenship.</p> + +<p>The figure is, of course, originally drawn from the +registers of the tribes of Israel. In that use, though +not without a glance at some higher meaning, it +appears in the Old Testament, where we read of 'those +who are written among them living in Jerusalem'; or +'are written in the writing of the house of Israel.' +The suggestion of being inscribed on the burgess-rolls +of a city is the first idea connected with the word. In +the New Testament, for instance, we find in the great +passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews the two notions +of the city and the census brought into immediate connection, +where the writer says, 'Ye are come unto the +city of the living God . . . and to the church of the +first-born whose names are written in heaven.' In this +very letter we have, only a verse or two before my +text, the same idea of citizenship cropping up. 'Our +<i>citizenship</i> is in Heaven, from whence also we look for +the Saviour.' That, no doubt, helped to suggest to the +Apostle the words of my text. And there is another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13a" id="Page_13a">[13]</a></span> +verse in the same letter where the same idea comes +out. 'Only act the citizen as becometh the Gospel of +Christ.' Now, you will remember, possibly, that +Philippi was, as the Acts of the Apostles tells us, a +Roman colony. And the reference is exquisitely close-fitting +to the circumstances of the people of that city. +For a Roman colony was a bit of Rome in another +land, and the citizens of Philippi had their names +inscribed on the registers of the tribes of Rome. The +writer himself was another illustration of the same +thing, of living in a community to which he did not +belong and of belonging to a community in which he +did not live. For Paul was a native of Tarsus; and +Paul, the native of the Asiatic Tarsus, was a Roman.</p> + +<p>So, then, the first thought that comes out of this +great metaphor is that all of us, if we are Christian +people, belong to another polity, another order of +things than that in which our outward lives are spent. +And the plain, practical conclusion that comes from it +is, cultivate the sense of belonging to another order. +Just as it swelled the heart of a Macedonian Philippian +with pride, when he thought that he did not belong to +the semi-barbarous people round about him, but that +his name was written in the books that lay in the +Capitol of Rome, so should we cultivate that sense of +belonging to another order. It will make our work +here none the worse, but it will fill our lives with the +sense of nobler affinities, and point our efforts to +grander work than any that belongs to 'the things +that are seen and temporal.' Just as the little groups +of Englishmen in treaty-ports own no allegiance to the +laws of the country in which they live, but are +governed by English statutes, so we have to take our +orders from headquarters to which we have to report.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14a" id="Page_14a">[14]</a></span> +Men in our colonies get their instructions from Downing +Street. The officials there, appointed by the Home +Government, think more of what they will say about +them at Westminster than of what they say about +them at Melbourne. So we are citizens of another +country, and have to obey the laws of our own kingdom, +and not those of the soil on which we dwell. +Never mind about the opinions of men, the babblements +of the people in the land you live in. To us, the main +thing is that we be acceptable, well-pleasing unto Him. +Are you solitary? Cultivate the sense of, in your +solitude, being a member of a great community that +stretches through all the ages, and binds into one the +inhabitants of eternity and of time.</p> + +<p>Remember that this citizenship in the heavens is the +highest honour that can be conferred upon a man. The +patricians of Venice used to have their names inscribed +upon what was called the 'golden book' that was kept +in the Doge's Palace. If our names are written in the +book of gold in the heavens, then we have higher +dignities than any that belong to the fleeting chronicles +of this passing, vain world. So we can accept with +equanimity evil report or good report, and can +acquiesce in a wholesome obscurity, and be careless +though our names appear on no human records, and +fill no trumpet of fame blown by earthly cheeks. +Intellectual power, wealth, gratified ambition, and all +the other things that men set before them, are small +indeed compared with the honour, with the blessedness, +with the repose and satisfaction that attend the conscious +possession of citizenship in the heavens. Let us +lay to heart the great words of the Master which put a +cooling hand on all the feverish ambitions of earth. +'In this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject unto<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15a" id="Page_15a">[15]</a></span> +you, but rather rejoice that your names are written in +heaven.'</p> + +<p>II. Then the second idea suggested by these words is +the possession of the life which is life indeed.</p> + +<p>The 'Book of Life,' it is called in the New Testament. +Its designation in the Old might as well be translated +'the book of living' as 'the book of life.' It is a register +of the men who are truly alive.</p> + +<p>Now, that is but an imaginative way of putting the +commonplace of the New Testament, that anything +which is worth calling life comes to us, not by creation +or physical generation, but by being born again through +faith in Jesus Christ, and by receiving into our else +dead spirits the life which He bestows upon all them +that trust Him.</p> + +<p>In the New Testament 'life' is far more than +'being'; far more than physical existence; removed by +a whole world from these lower conceptions, and finding +its complete explanation only in the fact that the +soul which is knit to God by conscious surrender, love, +aspiration, and obedience, is the only soul that really +lives. All else is death—death! He 'that liveth in +pleasure is dead while he liveth.' The ghastly imagination +of one of our poets, of the dead man standing on +the deck pulling at the ropes by the side of the living, +is true in a very deep sense. In spite of all the feverish +activities, the manifold vitalities of practical and +intellectual life in the world, the deepest, truest, life of +every man who is parted from God by alienation of +will, by indifference, and neglect of love, lies sheeted +and sepulchred in the depths of his own heart. +Brethren, there is no life worth calling life, none to +which that august name can without degradation be +applied, except the complete life of body, soul, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16a" id="Page_16a">[16]</a></span> +spirit, in lowly obedience to God in Christ. The +deepest meaning of the work of the Saviour is that He +comes into a dead world, and breathes into the bones—very +many and very dry—the breath of His own life. +Christ has died for us; Christ will live in us if we will; +and, unless He does, we are twice dead.</p> + +<p>Do not put away that thought as if it were a mere +pulpit metaphor. It is a metaphor, but yet in the +metaphor there lies this deepest truth, which concerns +us all, that only he is truly himself, and lives the +highest, best, and noblest life that is possible for him, +who is united to Jesus Christ, and drawing from Christ +his own life. 'He that hath the Son hath life; he that +hath not the Son hath not life.' Either my name and +yours are written in the Book of Life, or they are +written in the register of a cemetery. We have to make +our choice which.</p> + +<p>III. Another idea suggested by this emblem is +experience of divine individualising knowledge and +care.</p> + +<p>In the Old Testament the book is called 'Thy book,' +in the New it is called 'the Lamb's book.' That is of a +piece with the whole relation of the New to the Old, +and of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word and Manifestor +of God, to the Jehovah revealed in former ages. +For, unconditionally, and without thought of irreverence +or idolatry, the New Testament lifts over and +confers upon Jesus Christ the attributes which the +Old jealously preserved as belonging only to Jehovah. +And thus Christ the Manifestor of God, and the +Mediator to us of all divine powers and blessings, +takes the Book and makes the entries in it. Each man +of us, as in your ledgers, has a page to himself. His +account is opened, and is not confused with other<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17a" id="Page_17a">[17]</a></span> +entries. There is individualising love and care, and as +the basis of both, individualising knowledge. My +name, the expression of my individual being, stands +there. Christ does not deal with me as one of a crowd, +nor fling out blessings broadcast, that I may grasp +them in the midst of a multitude, if I choose to put out +a hand, but He deals with each of us singly, as if there +were not any beings in the world but He and I, our two +selves, all alone.</p> + +<p>It is hard to realise the essentially individualising +and isolating character of our relation to Jesus Christ. +But we shall never come to the heart of the blessedness +and the power of His Gospel unless we translate all +'us'-es and 'every ones' and 'worlds' in Scripture into +'I' and 'me,' and can say not only He gives Himself to +be 'the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,' +but 'He loved <i>me</i> and gave Himself for <i>me</i>.' The same +individualising love which is manifested in that mighty +universal Atonement, if we rightly understand it, is +manifested in all His dealings with us. One by one we +come under His notice; the Shepherd tells His sheep +singly as they pass out through the gate or into the +fold. He knows them all by name. 'I have called thee +by thy name; thou art Mine.'</p> + +<p>Lift up your eyes and behold who made all these; the +countless host of the nightly stars. What are nebulæ +to our eyes are blazing suns to His. 'He telleth the +number of the stars; He calleth them all <i>by name</i> +by the greatness of His power, for that He is strong +in might not one faileth.' So we may nestle in the +protection of His hand, sure of a separate place in His +knowledge and His heart.</p> + +<p>Deliverance and security are the results of that +individualising care. In one of the Old Testament<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18a" id="Page_18a">[18]</a></span> +instances of the use of this metaphor, we read that in +the great day of calamity and sorrow 'Thy people shall +be delivered, even every one that is written in Thy +Book.' So we need not dread anything if our names +are there. The sleepless King will read the Book, and +will never forget, nor forget to help and succour His +poor servants.</p> + +<p>But there are two other variations of this thought in +the Old Testament even more tenderly suggestive of +that individualising care and strong sufficient love +than the emblem of my text. We read that when, in +the exercise of his official functions, the high priest +passed into the Tabernacle he wore, upon his <i>breast</i>, +near the seat of personality, and the home of love—the +names of the tribes graven, and that the same names +were written on his shoulders, as if guiding the +exercise of his power. So we may think of ourselves +as lying near the beatings of His heart, and as +individually the objects of the work of His almighty +arm. Nor is this all. For there is yet another, and +still tenderer, application of the figure, when we read +of the Divine voice as saying to Israel, 'I have graven +thee on the palms of My hands.' The name of each +who loves and trusts and serves is written there; +printed deep in the flesh of the Sovereign Christ. We +bear in our bodies the marks, the <i>stigmata</i> that tell +whose slaves we are—'the marks of the Lord Jesus.' +And He bears in His body the marks that tell who His +servants are.</p> + +<p>IV. Lastly, there is suggested by this text the idea of +future entrance into the land of the living.</p> + +<p>The metaphor occurs three times in the final book of +Scripture, the book which deals with the future and +with the last things. And it occurs in all these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19a" id="Page_19a">[19]</a></span> +instances in very remarkable connection. First we +read, in the highly imaginative picture of the final +judgment, that when the thrones are set two books +are opened, one the Book of Life, the other the book in +which are written the deeds of men, and that by these +two books men are judged. There is a judgment by +conduct. There is also a judgment by the Book of +Life. That is to say, the question at last comes to be, +'Is this man's name written in that book?' Is he a +citizen of the kingdom, and therefore capable of +entering into it? Has he the life from Christ in his +heart? Or, in other words, the question is, first, has +the man who stands at the bar faith in Jesus Christ; +and, second, has he proved that his faith is genuine +and real by the course of his earthly conduct? +These are the books from which the judgment is made.</p> + +<p>Further, we read, in that blessed vision which stands +at the far-off end of all the knowledge of the future +which is given to humanity, the vision of the City of +God 'that came down from heaven as a bride adorned +for her husband,' that only they enter in there who are +'written in the Lamb's Book of Life.' Only citizens +are capable of entrance into the city. Aliens are +necessarily shut out. The Lord, when He writeth up +His people, shall count that this man was born there, +though he never trod its streets while on earth, and, +therefore, can enter into his native home.</p> + +<p>Further, in one of the letters to the seven churches +our Lord gives as a promise to him that overcometh, +'I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life, but I +will confess his name.'</p> + +<p>What need we care what other people may think +about us, or whether the 'hollow wraith of dying +fame' that comes like a nimbus round some men may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20a" id="Page_20a">[20]</a></span> +fade wholly or no, so long as we may be sure of +acknowledgment and praise from Him from whom +acknowledgment and praise are precious indeed.</p> + +<p>I have but one or two more words to add. Remember +that Paul had no hesitation in taking upon himself to +declare that the names of these anonymous saints in +Philippi were written in the Book of Life. What +business had he to do that? Had he looked over the +pages, and marked the entries? He had simply the +right of estimating their state by their conduct. He +saw their works; he knew that these works were the +fruit of their faith; and he knew that, therefore, their +faith had united them to Jesus Christ. So, Christian +men and women, two things: show your faith by your +works, and make it impossible for anybody that looks +at you to doubt what King you serve, and to what city +you belong. Again, do not ask, 'Is my name there?' +Ask, 'Have I faith, and does my faith work the works +that belong to the Kingdom of Heaven?'</p> + +<p>Remember that names can be blotted out of the +book. The metaphor has often been pressed into the +service of a doctrine of unconditional and irreversible +predestination. But rightly looked at, it points in +the opposite direction. Remember Moses's agonised cry, +'Blot me out of Thy book'; and the Divine answer, +'Him that sinneth against Me, his name will I blot out +of My book.' And remember that it is only to 'him that +overcometh' that the promise is made, 'I will not blot +him out.' We are made partakers of Christ if we 'hold +fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end.'</p> + +<p>Remember that it depends upon ourselves whether +our names are there or not. John Bunyan describes +the armed man who came up to the table, where the man +with the book and the inkhorn was seated, and said:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21a" id="Page_21a">[21]</a></span> +'Set down my name.' And you and I may do that. If +we cast ourselves on Jesus Christ and yield our wills to +be guided by Him, and give our lives for His service, +then He will write our names in His book. If we trust +Him we shall be citizens of the City of God; shall be +filled with the life of Christ; shall be objects of an +individualising love and care; shall be accepted in that +Day; and shall enter in through the gates into the +city. 'They that forsake me shall be written on the +earth'; and there wiped out as are the children's +scribbles on the sand when the ocean come up. They +that trust in Jesus Christ shall have their names +written in the Book of Life; graven on the High +Priest's breastplate, and inscribed on His mighty hand +and His faithful heart.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>REJOICE EVERMORE</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, rejoice!'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 4.</p></div> + + +<p>It has been well said that this whole epistle may be +summed up in two short sentences: 'I rejoice'; 'Rejoice +ye!' The word and the thing crop up in every +chapter, like some hidden brook, ever and anon sparkling +out into the sunshine from beneath the shadows. +This continual refrain of gladness is all the more +remarkable if we remember the Apostle's circumstances. +The letter shows him to us as a prisoner, +dependent on Christian charity for a living, having no +man like-minded to cheer his solitude; uncertain as to +'how it shall be with me,' and obliged to contemplate +the possibility of being 'offered,' or poured out as a +libation, 'on the sacrifice and service of your faith.' +Yet out of all the darkness his clear notes ring jubi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22a" id="Page_22a">[22]</a></span>lant; +and this sunny epistle comes from the pen of a +prisoner who did not know but that to-morrow he +might be a martyr.</p> + +<p>The exhortation of my text, with its urgent reiteration, +picks up again a dropped thread which the +Apostle had first introduced in the commencement of +the previous chapter. He had there evidently been +intending to close his letter, for he says: 'Finally, my +brethren, rejoice in the Lord'; but he is drawn away +into that precious personal digression which we could +so ill spare, in which he speaks of his continual aspiration +and effort towards things not yet attained. And +now he comes back again, picks up the thread once +more, and addresses himself to his parting counsels. +The reiteration in the text becomes the more impressive +if we remember that it is a repetition of a former +injunction. 'Rejoice in the Lord alway'; and then he +seems to hear one of his Philippian readers saying: +'Why! you told us that once before!' 'Yes,' he says, +'and you shall hear it once again; so important is my +commandment that it shall be repeated a third time. So +I again say, "rejoice!"' Christian gladness is an important +element in Christian duty; and the difficulty +and necessity of it are indicated by the urgent repetition +of the injunction.</p> + +<p>I. So, then, the first thought that suggests itself to +me from these words is this, that close union with +Jesus Christ is the foundation of real gladness.</p> + +<p>Pray note that 'the Lord' here, as is usually the +case in Paul's Epistles, means, not the Divine Father, +but Jesus Christ. And then observe, again, that the +phrase 'Rejoice in the Lord' has a deeper meaning +than we sometimes attach to it. We are accustomed +to speak of rejoicing in a thing or a person, which, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23a" id="Page_23a">[23]</a></span> +who, is thereby represented as being the occasion or +the object of our gladness. And though that is true, +in reference to our Lord, it is not the whole sweep and +depth of the Apostle's meaning here. He is employing +that phrase, 'in the Lord,' in the profound and comprehensive +sense in which it generally appears in his +letters, and especially in those almost contemporaneous +with this Epistle to the Philippians. I need only refer +you, in passing, without quoting passages, to the continual +use of that phrase in the nearly contemporaneous +letter to the Ephesians, in which you will find that 'in +Christ Jesus' is the signature stamped upon all the +gifts of God, and upon all the possible blessings of the +Christian life. 'In Him' we have the inheritance; in +Him we obtain redemption through His blood, even the +forgiveness of sins; in Him we are 'blessed with all +spiritual blessings.' And the deepest description of the +essential characteristic of a Christian life is, to Paul, +that it is a life in Christ.</p> + +<p>It is this close union which the Apostle here indicates +as being the foundation and the source of all that gladness +which he desires to see spreading its light over the +Christian life. 'Rejoice in the Lord'—being in Him be +glad.</p> + +<p>Now that great thought has two aspects, one deep +and mysterious, one very plain and practical. As to +the former, I need not spend much time upon it. We +believe, I suppose, in the superhuman character and +nature of Jesus Christ. We believe in His divinity. +We can therefore believe reasonably in the possibility +of a union between Him and us, transcending all the +forms of human association, and being really like that +which the creature holds to its Creator in regard to its +physical being. 'In him we live, and move, and have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24a" id="Page_24a">[24]</a></span> +our being' is the very foundation truth in regard to +the constitution of the universe. 'In Him we live, and +move, and have our being' is the very foundation +truth in regard to the relation of the Christian soul to +Jesus Christ. All earthly unions are but poor adumbrations +from afar of that deep, transcendent, mysterious, +but most real union, by which the Christian soul is in +Christ, as the branch is in the vine, the member in the +body, the planet in its atmosphere, and by which Christ +is in the Christian soul as the life sap is in every twig, +as the mysterious vital power is in every member. +Thus abiding in Him, in a manner which admits of no +parallel nor of any doubt, we may, and we shall, be glad.</p> + +<p>But then, passing from the mysterious, we come to +the plain. To be 'in Christ' which is commended to us +here as the basis of all true blessedness, means that +the whole of our nature shall be occupied with, and +fastened upon, Him; thought turning to Him, the +tendrils of the heart clinging and creeping around +Him, the will submitting itself in glad obedience to +His beloved and supreme commandments, the aspirations, +and desires feeling out after Him as the sufficient +and eternal good, and all the current of our being +setting towards Him in earnestness of desire, and +resting in Him in tranquillity of possession. Thus 'in +Christ' we may all be.</p> + +<p>And, says Paul, in the great words of my text, such +a union, reciprocal and close, is the secret of all blessedness. +If thus we are wedded to that Lord, and His +life is in us and ours enclosed in Him, then there is +such correspondence between our necessities and our +supplies as that there is no room for aching emptiness; +no gnawing of unsatisfied longings, but the blessedness +that comes from having found that which we seek, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25a" id="Page_25a">[25]</a></span> +in the finding being stimulated to a still closer, happier, +and not restless search after fuller possession. The +man that knows where to get anything and everything +that he needs, and to whom desires are but the +prophets of instantaneous fruition; surely that man +has in his possession the talismanic secret of perpetual +gladness. They who thus dwell in Christ by faith, love, +obedience, imitation, aspiration, and enjoyment, are +like men housed in some strong fortress, who can look +out over all the fields alive with enemies, and feel that +they are safe. They who thus dwell in Christ gain +command over themselves; and because they can +bridle passions, and subdue hot and impossible desires, +and keep themselves well in hand, have stanched one +chief source of unrest and sadness, and have opened +one pure and sparkling fountain of unfailing gladness. +To rule myself because Christ rules me is no small part +of the secret of blessedness. And they who thus dwell +in Christ have the purest joy, the joy of self-forgetfulness. +He that is absorbed in a great cause; he whose +pitiful, personal individuality has passed out of his +sight; he who is swallowed up by devotion to another, +by aspiration after 'something afar from the sphere of +our sorrow,' has found the secret of gladness. And the +man who thus can say, 'I live: yet not I, but Christ +liveth in me,' this is the man who will ever rejoice. +The world may not call such a temper gladness. It is +as unlike the sputtering, flaring, foul-smelling joys +which it prizes—like those filthy but bright 'Lucigens' +that they do night work by in great factories—it is as +unlike the joy of the world as these are to the calm, +pure moonlight which they insult. The one is of +heaven, and the other is the foul product of earth, and +smokes to extinction swiftly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26a" id="Page_26a">[26]</a></span></p> + +<p>II. So, secondly, notice that this joy is capable of +being continuous.</p> + +<p>'Rejoice in the Lord <i>always</i>,' says Paul. That is a +hard nut to crack. I can fancy a man saying, 'What +is the use of giving me such exhortations as this? My +gladness is largely a matter of temperament, and I +cannot rule my moods. My gladness is largely a matter +of circumstances, and I do not determine these. How +vain it is to tell me, when my heart is bleeding, or +beating like a sledge-hammer, to be glad!' Yes! +Temperament has a great deal to do with joy; and +circumstances have a great deal to do with it; but is +not the mission of the Gospel to make us masters of +temperament, and independent of circumstances? Is +not the possibility of living a life that has no dependence +upon externals, and that may persist permanently +through all varieties of mood, the very gift that Christ +Himself has come to bestow upon us—bringing us into +communion with Himself, and so making us lords of +our own inward nature and of externals: so that +'though the fig-tree shall not blossom, and there be no +fruit in the vine,' yet we may 'rejoice in the Lord, and +be glad in the God of our salvation.' If a ship has +plenty of water in its casks or tanks in its hold, it does +not matter whether it is sailing through fresh water +or salt. And if you and I have that union with Jesus +Christ of which my text speaks, then we shall be, not +wholly, but with indefinite increase of approximation +towards the ideal, independent of circumstances and +masters of our temperaments. And so it is possible, if +not absolutely to reach this fair achievement of an +unbroken continuity of gladness, at least to bring the +lucent points so close to one another as that the +intervals of darkness between shall be scarcely visible,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27a" id="Page_27a">[27]</a></span> +and the whole will seem to form one continuous ring +of light.</p> + +<p>Brother, if you and I can keep near Jesus Christ +always—and I suppose we can do that in sorrow as in +joy—He will take care that our keeping near Him will +not want its reward in that blessed continuity of felt +repose which is very near the sunniness of gladness. +For, if we in the Lord sorrow, we may, then, simultaneously, +in the Lord rejoice. The two things may go +together, if in the one mood and the other we are in +union with Him. The bitterness of the bitterest calamity +is taken away from it when it does not separate +us from Jesus Christ. And just as the mother is +specially tender with her sick child, and just as we +have often found that the sympathy of friends comes +to us, when need and grief are upon us, in a fashion +that would have been incredible beforehand, so it is +surely true that Jesus Christ can, and does, soften His +tone, and select the tokens of His presence with especial +tenderness for a wounded heart; so as that sorrow +in the Lord passes into joy in the Lord. And if +that be so, then the pillar which was cloud in the +sunshine brightens into fire as night falls on the +desert.</p> + +<p>But it is not only that this divine gladness is consistent +with the sorrow that is often necessary for us, +but also that the continuity of such gladness is secured, +because in Christ there are open for us sources of +blessedness in what is else a dry and thirsty land. If +you would take this epistle at your leisure, and run +over it in order to note the various occasions of joy +which the Apostle expresses for himself, and commends +to his brethren, you would see how beautifully +they reveal to us the power of communion with Jesus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28a" id="Page_28a">[28]</a></span> +Christ, to find honey in the rock, good in everything, +and a reason for thankful gladness in all events.</p> + +<p>I have not time, at this stage of my sermon, to do +more than just glance at these. We find, for instance, +that a very large portion of the joy which he declares +fills his own heart, and which he commends to these +Philippians, arises from the recognition of good in +others. He speaks to them of being his 'joy and +crown.' He tells them that in his sorrows and imprisonment, +their 'fellowship in the Gospel, from the +first day until now,' had brought a whiff of gladness +into the close air of the prison cell. He begs them to +be Christlike in order that they may 'fulfil his joy'; +and he may lose himself in others' blessings, and therein +find gladness. A large portion of his joy came from +very common things. A large portion of the joy that +he commends to them he contemplates as coming to +them from small matters. They were to be glad +because Timothy came with a message from the +Apostle. He is glad because he hears of their well-being, +and receives a little contribution from them for +his daily necessities. A large portion of his gladness +came from the spread of Christ's kingdom. 'Christ is +preached,' says he, with a flash of triumph, 'and I +therein do rejoice; yea, and will rejoice.' And, most +beautiful of all, no small portion of his gladness came +from the prospect of martyrdom. 'If I be offered +upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and +rejoice with you all; and do ye joy and rejoice with +me.'</p> + +<p>Now, put all these things together and they just +come to this, that a heart in union with Jesus Christ +can find streams in the desert, joys blossoming as the +rose, in places that to the un-Christlike eye are wilder<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29a" id="Page_29a">[29]</a></span>ness +and solitary, and out of common things it can +bring the purest gladness and draw a tribute and +revenue of blessedness even from the prospect of God-sent +sorrows. Dear brethren, if you and I have not +learned the secret of modest and unselfish delights, we +shall vainly seek for joy in the vulgar excitements and +coarse titillations of appetites and desires which the +world offers. 'Calm pleasures there abide' in Christ. +The northern lights are weird and bright, but they +belong to midwinter, and they come from electric +disturbances, and portend rough weather afterwards. +Sunshine is silent, steadfast, pure. Better to walk in +that light than to be led astray by fantastic and perishable +splendours. 'Rejoice in the Lord always.'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, such gladness is an important part of +Christian duty.</p> + +<p>As I have said, the urgency of the command indicates +both its importance and its difficulty. It is important +that professing Christians should be glad Christians +(with the joy that is drawn from Jesus Christ, of +course, I mean), because they thereby become walking +advertisements and living witnesses for Him. A gloomy, +melancholy, professing Christian is a poor recommendation +of his faith. If you want to 'adorn the doctrine +of Christ' you will do it a great deal more by a bright +face, that speaks of a calm heart, calm because filled +with Christ, than by many more ambitious efforts. This +gladness is important because, without it, there will be +little good work done, and little progress made. It is +important, surely, for ourselves, for it can be no small +matter that we should be able to have travelling with +us all through the desert that mystical rock which +follows with its streams of water, and ever provides +for us the joys that we need. In every aspect, whether<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30a" id="Page_30a">[30]</a></span> +as regards men who take their notions of Christ and +of Christianity, a great deal more from the concrete +examples of both in human lives than from books and +sermons, or from the Bible itself—or as regards the +work which we have to do, or as regards our own +inward life, it is all-important that we should have +that close union with Jesus Christ which cannot but +result in pure and holy gladness.</p> + +<p>But the difficulty, as well as the importance, of the +obligation, are expressed by the stringent repetition of +the commandment, 'And again I say, Rejoice.' When +objections arise, when difficulties present themselves, I +repeat the commandment again, in the teeth of them +all; and I know what I mean when I am saying it. +Thus, thought Paul, we need to make a definite effort +to keep ourselves in touch with Jesus Christ, or else +gladness, and a great deal besides, will fade away from +our grasp.</p> + +<p>And there are two things that you have to do if you +would obey the commandment. The one is the direct +effort at fostering and making continuous your fellowship +with Jesus Christ, through your life; and the +other is looking out for the bright bits in your life, +and making sure that you do not sullenly and foolishly, +perhaps with vain regrets after vanished blessings, or +perhaps with vain murmurings about unattained good, +obscure to your sight the mercies that you have, and so +cheat yourselves of the occasions for thankfulness and +joy. There are people who, if there be ever such a +little bit of a fleecy film of cloud low down on their +horizon, can see nothing of the sparkling blue arch +above them for looking at that, and who behave as if +the whole sky was one roof of doleful grey. Do not +you do that! There is always enough to be thankful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31a" id="Page_31a">[31]</a></span> +for. Lay hold of Christ, and be sure that you open +your eyes to His gifts.</p> + +<p>Surely, dear friends, if there be offered to us, as there +is, a gladness which is perfect in the two points in +which all other gladness fails, it is wise for us to take +it. The commonplace which all men believe, and most +men neglect, is that nothing short of an infinite Person +can fill a finite soul. And if we look for our joys anywhere +but to Jesus Christ, there will always be some +bit of our nature which, like the sulky elder brother in +the parable, will scowl at the music and dancing, and +refuse to come in. All earthly joys are transient as +well as partial. Is it not better that we should have +gladness that will last as long as we do, that we can +hold in our dying hands, like a flower clasped in some +cold palm laid in the coffin, that we shall find again +when we have crossed the bar, that will grow and +brighten and broaden for evermore? My joy shall +remain . . . full.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>HOW TO OBEY AN IMPOSSIBLE INJUNCTION</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with +thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 6.</p></div> + + +<p>It is easy for prosperous people, who have nothing to +trouble them, to give good advices to suffering hearts; +and these are generally as futile as they are easy. +But who was he who here said to the Church at +Philippi, 'Be careful for nothing?' A prisoner in a +Roman prison; and when Rome fixed its claws it did +not usually let go without drawing blood. He was +expecting his trial, which might, so far as he knew, +very probably end in death. Everything in the future +was entirely dark and uncertain. It was this man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32a" id="Page_32a">[32]</a></span> +with all the pressure of personal sorrows weighing +upon him, who, in the very crisis of his life, turned to +his brethren in Philippi, who had far fewer causes of +anxiety than he had, and cheerfully bade them 'be +careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and +supplication, with thanksgiving, make their requests +known unto God.' Had not that bird learned to sing +when his cage was darkened? And do you not think +that advice of that sort, coming not from some one +perched up on a safe hillock to the strugglers in the +field below, but from a man in the thick of the fight, +would be like a trumpet-call to them who heard it?</p> + +<p>Now, here are two things. There is an apparently +perfectly impossible advice, and there is the only +course that will make it possible.</p> + +<p>I. An apparently impossible advice.</p> + +<p>'Be careful for nothing.' I do not need to remind +you—for I suppose that we all know it—that that +word 'careful,' in a great many places in the New +Testament, does not mean what, by the slow progress +of change in the significance of words, it has come to +mean to-day; but it means what it <i>should</i> still mean, +'full of care,' and 'care' meant, not prudent provision, +forethought, the occupation of a man's common-sense +with his duty and his work and his circumstances, +but it meant the thing which of all others +unfits a man most for such prudent provision, and that +is, the nervous irritation of a gnawing anxiety which, +as the word in the original means, tears the heart +apart and makes a man quite incapable of doing the +wise thing, or seeing the wise thing to do, in the +circumstances. We all know that; so that I do not +need to dwell upon it. 'Careful' here means neither +more nor less than 'anxious.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33a" id="Page_33a">[33]</a></span></p> + +<p>But I may just remind you how harm has been +done, and good has been lost and missed, by people +reading that modern meaning into the word. It is +the same word which Christ employed in the exhortation +'Take no thought for to-morrow.' It is a great +pity that Christian people sometimes get it into their +heads that Christ prohibited what common-sense +demands, and what everybody practises. 'Taking +thought for the morrow' is not only our duty, but it +is one of the distinctions which make us 'much better +than' the fowls of the air, that have no barns in which +to store against a day of need. But when our Lord +said, 'Take no thought for the morrow,' he did not +mean 'Do not lay yourselves out to provide for common +necessities and duties,' but 'Do not fling yourselves into +a fever of anxiety, nor be too anxious to anticipate the +"fashion of uncertain evils."'</p> + +<p>But even with that explanation, is it not like an +unreachable ideal that Paul puts forward here? 'Be +anxious about nothing'—how can a man who has to +face the possibilities that we all have to face, and who +knows himself to be as weak to deal with them as we +all are: how can he help being anxious? There is +no more complete waste of breath than those sage +and reverend advices which people give us, not to do +the things, nor to feel the emotions, which our position +make absolutely inevitable and almost involuntary. +Here, for instance, is a man surrounded by all manner +of calamity and misfortune; and some well-meaning +but foolish friend comes to him, and, without giving +him a single reason for the advice, says, 'Cheer up! +my friend.' Why should he cheer up? What is there +in his circumstances to induce him to fall into any +other mood? Or some unquestionable peril is staring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34a" id="Page_34a">[34]</a></span> +him full in the face, coming nearer and nearer to him, +and some well-meaning, loose-tongued friend, says to +him, 'Do not be afraid!'—but he <i>ought</i> to be afraid. +That is about all that worldly wisdom and morality +have to say to us, when we are in trouble and anxiety. +'Shut your eyes very hard, and make believe very +much, and you will not fear.' An impossible exhortation! +Just as well bid a ship in the Bay of Biscay not +to rise and fall upon the wave, but to keep an even +keel. Just as well tell the willows in the river-bed +that they are not to bend when the wind blows, as +come to me, and say to me, 'Be careful about nothing.' +Unless you have a great deal more than that to say, +I must be, and I ought to be, anxious, about a great +many things. Instead of anxiety being folly, it will +be wisdom; and the folly will consist in not opening +our eyes to facts, and in not feeling emotions that +are appropriate to the facts which force themselves +against our eyeballs. Threadbare maxims, stale, musty +old commonplaces of unavailing consolation and impotent +encouragement say to us, 'Do not be anxious.' +We try to stiffen our nerves and muscles in order to +bear the blow; or some of us, more basely still, get +into a habit of feather-headed levity, making no +forecasts, nor seeing even what is plainest before our +eyes. But all that is of no use when once the hot +pincers of real trouble, impending or arrived, lay hold +of our hearts. Then of all idle expenditures of breath +in the world there is none to the wrung heart more +idle and more painful than the one that says, Be +anxious about nothing.</p> + +<p>II. So we turn to the only course that makes the +apparent impossibility possible.</p> + +<p>Paul goes on to direct to the mode of feeling and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35a" id="Page_35a">[35]</a></span> +action which will give exemption from the else inevitable +gnawing of anxious forethought. He introduces +his positive counsel with an eloquent 'But,' which +implies that what follows is the sure preservative +against the temper which he deprecates; 'But in +everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, +let your requests be made known unto God.'</p> + +<p>There are, then, these alternatives. If you do not +like to take the one, you are sure to have to take the +other. There is only one way out of the wood, and it +is this which Paul expands in these last words of my +text. If a man does not pray about everything, he +will be worried about most things. If he does pray +about everything, he will not be troubled beyond what +is good for him, about anything. So there are these +alternatives; and we have to make up our minds +which of the two we are going to take. The heart is +never empty. If not full of God, it will be full of the +world, and of worldly care. Luther says somewhere +that a man's heart is like a couple of millstones; if you +don't put something between them to grind, they will +grind each other. It is because God is not in our hearts +that the two stones rub the surface off one another. So +the victorious antagonist of anxiety is trust, and the only +way to turn gnawing care out of my heart and life is to +usher God into it, and to keep him resolutely in it.</p> + +<p>'In everything.' If a thing is great enough to +threaten to make me anxious, it is great enough for +me to talk to God about. If He and I are on a friendly +footing, the instinct of friendship will make me speak. +If so, how irrelevant and superficial seem to be discussions +whether we ought to pray about worldly +things, or confine our prayers entirely to spiritual and +religious matters. Why! if God and I are on terms of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36a" id="Page_36a">[36]</a></span> +friendship and intimacy of communication, there will +be no question as to what I am to talk about to Him; +I shall not be able to keep silent as to anything that +interests me. And we are not right with God unless +we have come to the point that entire openness of +speech marks our communications with Him, and that, +as naturally as men, when they come home from +business, like to tell their wives and children what has +happened to them since they left home in the morning, +so naturally we talk to our Friend about everything +that concerns us. 'In <i>everything</i> let your requests be +made known unto God.' That is the wise course, +because a multitude of little pimples may be quite as +painful and dangerous as a large ulcer. A cloud of +gnats may put as much poison into a man with their +many stings as will a snake with its one bite. And if +we are not to get help from God by telling Him about +little things, there will be very little of our lives that +we shall tell Him about at all. For life is a mountain +made up of minute flakes. The years are only a +collection of seconds. Every man's life is an aggregate +of trifles. 'In <i>everything</i> make your requests known.'</p> + +<p>'By prayer'—that does not mean, as a superficial +experience of religion is apt to suppose it to mean, +actual petition that follows. For a great many of us, +the only notion that we have of prayer is asking God +to give us something that we want. But there is a far +higher region of communion than that, in which the +soul seeks and finds, and sits and gazes, and aspiring +possesses, and possessing aspires. Where there is no +spoken petition for anything affecting outward life, +there may be the prayer of contemplation such as the +burning seraphs before the Throne do ever glow with. +The prayer of silent submission, in which the will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37a" id="Page_37a">[37]</a></span> +bows itself before God; the prayer of quiet trust, in +which we do not so much seek as cleave; the prayer +of still fruition—these, in Paul's conception of the true +order, precede 'supplication.' And if we have such +union with God, by realising His presence, by aspiration +after Himself, by trusting Him and submission to +Him, then we have the victorious antagonist of all +our anxieties, and the 'cares that infest the day shall +fold their tents' and 'silently steal away.' For if a +man has that union with God which is effected by such +prayer as I have been speaking about, it gives him a +fixed point on which to rest amidst all perturbations. +It is like bringing a light into a chamber when thunder +is growling outside, which prevents the flashing of the +lightning from being seen.</p> + +<p>Years ago an ingenious inventor tried to build a +vessel in such a fashion as that the saloon for +passengers should remain upon one level, howsoever +the hull might be tossed by waves. It was a failure, +if I remember rightly. But if we are thus joined to +God, He will do for our inmost hearts what the inventor +tried to do with the chamber within his ship. +The hull may be buffeted, but the inmost chamber +where the true self sits will be kept level and +unmoved. Brethren! prayer in the highest sense, by +which I mean the exercise of aspiration, trust, submission—prayer +will fight against and overcome all +anxieties.</p> + +<p>'By prayer and supplication.' Actual petition for +the supply of present wants is meant by 'supplication.' +To ask for that supply will very often be to get it. +To tell God what I think I need goes a long way +always to bringing me the gift that I do need. If I +have an anxiety which I am ashamed to speak to Him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38a" id="Page_38a">[38]</a></span> +that silence is a sign that I ought not to have it; and +if I have a desire that I do not feel I can put into a +prayer, that feeling is a warning to me not to cherish +such a desire.</p> + +<p>There are many vague and oppressive anxieties that +come and cast a shadow over our hearts, that if we +could once define, and put into plain words, we should +find that we vaguely fancied them a great deal larger +than they were, and that the shadow they flung was +immensely longer than the thing that flung it. Put +your anxieties into definite speech. It will reduce their +proportions to your own apprehension very often. +Speaking them, even to a man who may be able to do +little to help, eases them wonderfully. Put them into +definite speech to God; and there are very few of them +that will survive.</p> + +<p>'By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.' +That thanksgiving is always in place. If one only +considers what he has from God, and realises that +whatever he has he has received from the hands of +divine love, thanksgiving is appropriate in any circumstances. +Do you remember when Paul was in +gaol at the very city to which this letter went, with +his back bloody with the rod, and his feet fast in the +stocks, how then he and Silas 'prayed and sang praises +to God.' Therefore the obedient earthquake came and +set them loose. Perhaps it was some reminiscence of +that night which moved him to say to the Church that +knew the story—of which perhaps the gaoler was still +a member—'By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving +make your requests known unto God.'</p> + +<p>One aching nerve can monopolise our attention and +make us unconscious of the health of all the rest of +the body. So, a single sorrow or loss obscures many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39a" id="Page_39a">[39]</a></span> +mercies. We are like men who live in a narrow alley +in some city, with great buildings on either side, +towering high above their heads, and only a strip of +sky visible. If we see up in that strip a cloud, we +complain and behave as if the whole heavens, right +away round the three hundred and sixty degrees of +the horizon, were black with tempest. But we see +only a little strip, and there is a great deal of blue in +the sky; however, there may be a cloud in the patch +that we see above our heads, from the alley where we +live. Everything, rightly understood, that God sends +to men is a cause of thanksgiving; therefore, 'in +everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, +let your requests be made known unto God.'</p> + +<p>'Casting all your <i>anxieties</i> upon him,' says Peter, +'for He'—not <i>is anxious;</i> that dark cloud does not +rise much above the earth—but, 'He careth for you.' +And that loving guardianship and tender care is the +one shield, armed with which we can smile at the +poisoned darts of anxiety which would else fester in +our hearts and, perhaps, kill. 'Be careful for nothing'—an +impossibility unless 'in everything' we make +'our requests known unto God.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE WARRIOR PEACE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and +minds through Christ Jesus.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 7.</p></div> + + +<p>The great Mosque of Constantinople was once a +Christian church, dedicated to the Holy Wisdom. Over +its western portal may still be read, graven on a brazen +plate, the words, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour +and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.' For<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40a" id="Page_40a">[40]</a></span> +four hundred years noisy crowds have fought, and +sorrowed, and fretted, beneath the dim inscription in +an unknown tongue; and no eye has looked at it, nor +any heart responded. It is but too sad a symbol of +the reception which Christ's offers meet amongst +men, and—blessed be His name!—its prominence there, +though unread and unbelieved, is a symbol of the +patient forbearance with which rejected blessings are +once and again pressed upon us, and He stretches out +His hand though no man regards, and calls though +none do hear. My text is Christ's offer of peace. The +world offers excitement, Christ promises repose.</p> + +<p>I. Mark, then, first, this peace of God.</p> + +<p>What is it? What are its elements? Whence does +it come? It is of God, as being its Source, or Origin, +or Author, or Giver, but it belongs to Him in a yet +deeper sense, for Himself is Peace. And in some +humble but yet real fashion our restless and anxious +hearts may partake in the divine tranquillity, and +with a calm repose, kindred with that rest from which +it is derived, may enter into His rest.</p> + +<p>If that be too high a flight, at all events the peace +that may be ours was Christ's, in the perfect and unbroken +tranquillity of His perfect Manhood. What, +then, are its elements? The peace of God must, +first of all, be peace with God. Conscious friendship +with Him is indispensable to all true tranquillity. +Where that is absent there may be the ignoring +of the disturbed relationship; but there will be no +peace of heart. The indispensable requisite is 'a +conscience like a sea at rest.' Unless we have made +sure work of our relationship with God, and know that +He and we are friends, there is no real repose possible +for us. In the whirl of excitement we may forget,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41a" id="Page_41a">[41]</a></span> +and for a time turn away from, the realities of our +relation to Him, and so get such gladness as is possible +to a life not rooted in conscious friendship with Him. +But such lives will be like some of those sunny islands +in the Eastern Pacific, extinct volcanoes, where nature +smiles and all things are prodigal and life is easy and +luxuriant; but some day the clouds gather, and the +earth shakes, and fire pours forth, and the sea boils, +and every living thing dies, and darkness and desolation +come. You are living, brother, upon a volcano's +side, unless the roots of your being are fixed in a God +who is your friend.</p> + +<p>Again, the peace of God is peace within ourselves. +The unrest of human life comes largely from our being +torn asunder by contending impulses. Conscience pulls +this way, passion that. Desire says, 'Do this'; reason, +judgment, prudence say, 'It is at your peril if you +do!' One desire fights against another, and so the man +is rent asunder. There must be the harmonising of +all the Being if there is to be real rest of spirit. No +longer must it be like the chaos ere the creative word +was spoken, where, in gloom, contending elements +strove.</p> + +<p>Again, men have not peace, because in most of them +everything is topmost that ought to be undermost, +and everything undermost that ought to be uppermost. +'Beggars are on horseback' (and we know where they +ride), 'and princes walking.' The more regal part of +the man's nature is suppressed, and trodden under +foot; and the servile parts, which ought to be under firm +restraint, and guided by a wise hand, are too often +supreme, and wild work comes of that. When you put +the captain and the officers, and everybody on board +that knows anything about navigation, into irons, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42a" id="Page_42a">[42]</a></span> +fasten down the hatches on them, and let the crew and +the cabin boys take the helm and direct the ship, it is +not likely that the voyage will end anywhere but on +the rocks. Multitudes are living lives of unrestfulness, +simply because they have set the lowest parts of their +nature upon the throne, and subordinated the highest +to these.</p> + +<p>Our unrest comes from yet another source. We +have not peace, because we have not found and grasped +the true objects for any of our faculties. God is the +only possession that brings quiet. The heart hungers +until it feeds upon Him. The mind is satisfied with +no truth until behind truth it finds a Person who is +true. The will is enslaved and wretched until in God +it recognises legitimate and absolute authority, which +it is blessing to obey. Love puts out its yearnings, +like the filaments that gossamer spiders send out into +the air, seeking in vain for something to fasten upon, +until it touches God, and clings there. There is no +rest for a man until he rests in God. The reason why +this world is so full of excitement is because it is so +empty of peace, and the reason why it is so empty of +peace is because it is so void of God. The peace of +God brings peace with Him, and peace within. It +unites our hearts to fear His name, and draws all the +else turbulent and confusedly flowing impulses of the +great deep of the spirit after itself, in a tidal wave, +as the moon draws the waters of the gathered ocean. +The peace of God is peace with Him, and peace within.</p> + +<p>I need not, I suppose, do more than say one word +about that descriptive clause in my text, It 'passeth +understanding.' The understanding is not the faculty +by which men lay hold of the peace of God any more +than you can see a picture with your ears or hear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43a" id="Page_43a">[43]</a></span> +music with your eyes. To everything its own organ; +you cannot weigh truth in a tradesman's scales or +measure thought with a yard-stick. Love is not the +instrument for apprehending Euclid, nor the brain the +instrument for grasping these divine and spiritual gifts. +The peace of God transcends the understanding, as +well as belongs to another order of things than that +about which the understanding is concerned. You +must experience it to know it; you must have it in +order that you may feel its sweetness. It eludes the +grasp of the wisest, though it yields itself to the +patient and loving heart.</p> + +<p>II. So notice, in the next place, what the peace of +God does.</p> + +<p>It 'shall keep your hearts and minds.' The Apostle +here blends together, in a very remarkable manner, +the conceptions of peace and of war, for he employs +a purely military word to express the office of this +Divine peace. That word, 'shall keep,' is the same as +is translated in another of his letters <i>kept with a +garrison</i>—and, though, perhaps, it might be going too +far to insist that the military idea is prominent in his +mind, it will certainly not be unsafe to recognise its +presence.</p> + +<p>So, then, this Divine peace takes upon itself warlike +functions, and garrisons the heart and mind. What +does he mean by 'the heart and mind'? Not, as the +English reader might suppose, two different faculties, +the emotional and the intellectual—which is what we +usually roughly mean by our distinction between +heart and mind—but, as is always the case in the +Bible, the 'heart' means the whole inner man, whether +considered as thinking, willing, purposing, or doing +any other inward act; and the word rendered 'mind'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44a" id="Page_44a">[44]</a></span> +does not mean another part of human nature, but the +whole products of the operations of the heart. The +Revised Version renders it by 'thoughts,' and that is +correct if it be given a wide enough application, so as +to include emotions, affections, purposes, as well as +'thoughts' in the narrower sense. The whole inner +man, in all the extent of its manifold operations, +that indwelling peace of God will garrison and guard.</p> + +<p>So note, however profound and real that Divine +peace is, it is to be enjoyed in the midst of warfare. +Quiet is not quiescence. God's peace is not torpor. +The man that has it has still to wage continual +conflict, and day by day to brace himself anew for the +fight. The highest energy of action is the result of +the deepest calm of heart; just as the motion of this +solid, and, as we feel it to be, immovable world, is far +more rapid through the abysses of space, and on its +own axis, than any of the motions of the things on its +surface. So the quiet heart, 'which moveth altogether +if it move at all,' rests whilst it moves, and moves the +more swiftly because of its unbroken repose. That +peace of God, which is peace militant, is unbroken +amidst all conflicts. The wise old Greeks chose for +the protectress of Athens the goddess of Wisdom, and +whilst they consecrated to her the olive branch, which +is the symbol of peace, they set her image on the +Parthenon, helmed and spear-bearing, to defend the +peace, which she brought to earth. So this heavenly +Virgin, whom the Apostle personifies here, is the +'winged sentry, all skilful in the wars,' who enters +into our hearts and fights for us to keep us in unbroken +peace.</p> + +<p>It is possible day by day to go out to toil and care +and anxiety and change and suffering and conflict, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45a" id="Page_45a">[45]</a></span> +yet to bear within our hearts the unalterable rest of +God. Deep in the bosom of the ocean, beneath the +region where winds howl and billows break, there +is calm, but the calm is not stagnation. Each drop +from these fathomless abysses may be raised to the +surface by the power of the sunbeams, expanded +there by their heat, and sent on some beneficent +message across the world. So, deep in our hearts, +beneath the storm, beneath the raving winds and the +curling waves, there may be a central repose, as unlike +stagnation as it is unlike tumult; and the peace of +God may, as a warrior, keep our hearts and minds in +Christ Jesus.</p> + +<p>What is the plain English of that metaphor? Just +this, that a man who has that peace as his conscious +possession is lifted above the temptations that otherwise +would drag him away. The full cup, filled +with precious wine, has no room in it for the poison +that otherwise might be poured in. As Jesus Christ +has taught us, there is such a thing as cleansing a +heart in some measure, and yet because it is 'empty,' +though it is 'swept and garnished,' the demons come +back again. The best way to be made strong to resist +temptation, is to be lifted above feeling it to be a +temptation, by reason of the sweetness of the peace +possessed. Oh! if our hearts were filled, as they might +be filled, with that divine repose, do you think that +the vulgar, coarse-tasting baits which make our +mouths water now would have any power over us? +Will a man who bears in his hands jewels of priceless +value, and knows them to be such, find much temptation +when some imitation stone, made of coloured +glass and a tinfoil backing, is presented to him? Will +the world draw us away if we are rooted and grounded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46a" id="Page_46a">[46]</a></span> +in the peace of God? Geologists tell us that climates are +changed and creatures are killed by the slow variation +of level in the earth. If you and I can only heave our +lives up high enough, the foul things that live down +below will find the air too pure and keen for them, and +will die and disappear; and all the vermin that stung +and nestled down in the flats will be gone when we get +up to the heights. The peace of God will keep our +hearts and thoughts.</p> + +<p>III. Now, lastly, notice how we get the peace of God.</p> + +<p>My text is an exuberant promise, but it is knit on to +something before, by that 'and' at the beginning of +the verse. It is a promise, as all God's promises are, on +conditions. And here are the conditions. 'Be careful +for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, +with thanksgiving, let your requests be made +known unto God.' That defines the conditions in part; +and the last words of the text itself complete the +definition. 'In Christ Jesus' describes, not so much +where we are to be kept, as a condition under which +we shall be kept. How, then, can I get this peace into +my turbulent, changeful life?</p> + +<p>I answer, first, trust is peace. It is always so; even +when it is misplaced we are at rest. The condition of +repose for the human heart is that we shall be 'in +Christ,' who has said, 'In the world ye shall have +tribulation, but in Me ye shall have peace.' And how +may I be 'in Him'? Simply by trusting myself to Him. +That brings peace with God.</p> + +<p>The sinless Son of God has died on the Cross, a +sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, for yours and +for mine. Let us trust to that, and we shall have peace +with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And 'in +Him' we have, by trust, inward peace, for He, through<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47a" id="Page_47a">[47]</a></span> +our faith, controls our whole natures, and Faith leads +the lion in a silken leash, like Spenser's Una. Trust +in Christ brings peace amid outward sorrows and +conflicts. When the pilot comes on board the captain +does not leave the bridge, but stands by the pilot's +side. His responsibility is past, but his duties are not +over. And when Christ comes into my heart, my +effort, my judgment, are not made unnecessary, or put +on one side. Let Him take the command, and stand +beside Him, and carry out His orders, and you will find +rest to your souls.</p> + +<p>Again, submission is peace. What makes our +troubles is not outward circumstances, howsoever +afflictive they may be, but the resistance of our spirits +to the circumstances. And where a man's will bends +and says, 'Not mine but Thine be done,' there is calm. +Submission is like the lotion that is applied to +mosquito bites—it takes away the irritation, though +the puncture be left. Submission is peace, both as +resignation and as obedience.</p> + +<p>Communion is peace. You will get no quiet until +you live with God. Until He is at your side you will +always be moved.</p> + +<p>So, dear friend, fix this in your minds: a life without +Christ is a life without peace. Without Him you may +have excitement, pleasure, gratified passions, success, +accomplished hopes, but peace never! You never have +had it, have you? If you live without Him, you may +forget that you have not Him, and you can plunge +into the world, and so lose the consciousness of the +aching void, but it is there all the same. You never will +have peace until you go to Him. There is only one +way to get it. The Christless heart is like the troubled +sea that cannot rest. There is no peace for it. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48a" id="Page_48a">[48]</a></span> +in Him you can get it for the asking. 'The chastisement +of our peace was laid upon Him.' For our +sakes He died on the Cross, so making peace. Trust +Him as your only hope, Saviour and friend, and the +God of peace will 'fill you with all joy and peace in +believing.' Then bow your wills to Him in acceptance +of His providence, and in obedience to His commands, +and so, 'your peace shall be as a river, and your +righteousness as the waves of the sea.' Then keep +your hearts in union and communion with Him, and +so His presence will keep you in perfect peace whilst +conflicts last, and, with Him at your side, you will pass +through the valley of the shadow of death undisturbed, +and come to the true Salem, the city of peace, where +they beat their swords into ploughshares, and learn +and fear war no more.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THINK ON THESE THINGS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>' . . . Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever +things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are +lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there +be any praise, think on these things.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 8.</p></div> + + +<p>I am half afraid that some of you may think, as I +have at times thought, that I am too old to preach to +the young. You would probably listen with more attention +to one less remote from you in years, and may be +disposed to discount my advices as quite natural for +an old man to give, and quite unnatural for a young +man to take. But, dear friends, the message which +I have to bring to you is meant for all ages, and for all +sorts of people. And, if I may venture a personal +word, I proved it, when I stood where you stand, and +it is fresher and mightier to me to-day than it ever +was.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49a" id="Page_49a">[49]</a></span></p> + +<p>You are in the plastic period of your lives, with the +world before you, and the mightier world within to +mould as you will; and you can be almost anything +you like, I do not mean in regard to externals, or +intellectual capacities, for these are only partially in +our control, but in regard to the far more important +and real things—viz. elevation and purity of heart +and mind. You are in the period of life to which fair +dreams of the future are natural. It is, as the prophet +tells us, for 'the young man' to 'see visions,' and to +ennoble his life thereafter by turning them into +realities. Generous and noble ideas ought to belong +to youth. But you are also in the period when there +is a keen joy in mere living, and when some desires, +which get weaker as years go on, are very strong, and +may mar youthful purity. So, taking all these into +account, I have thought that I could not do better +than press home upon you the counsels of this magnificent +text, however inadequately my time may permit +of my dealing with them; for there are dozens of +sermons in it, if one could expand it worthily.</p> + +<p>But my purpose is distinctly practical, and so I wish +just to cast what I have to say to you into the answer +to three questions, the three questions that may be +asked about everything. What? Why? How?</p> + +<p>I. <i>What</i>, then, is the counsel here?</p> + +<p>'Think on these things.' To begin with, that advice +implies that we can, and, therefore, that we should, +exercise a very rigid control over that part of our lives +which a great many of us never think of controlling +at all. There are hosts of people whose thoughts +are just hooked on to one another by the slightest +links of accidental connection, and who scarcely ever +have put a strong hand upon them, or coerced them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50a" id="Page_50a">[50]</a></span> +into order, or decided what they are going to let come +into their minds, and what to keep out. Circumstances, +the necessities of our daily occupations, the +duties that we owe to one another, all these make +certain streams of thought very necessary, and to +some of us very absorbing. And for the rest—well! +'He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city +broken down, without walls'; anybody can go in, and +anybody can come out. I am sure that amongst young +men and women there are multitudes who have never +realised how responsible they are for the flow of the +waves of that great river that is always coming from +the depths of their being, and have never asked +whether the current is bringing down sand or gold. +Exercise control, as becomes you, over the run and +drift of your thoughts. I said that many of us had +minds like cities broken down. Put a guard at the +gate, as they do in some Continental countries, and let +in no vagrant that cannot show his passport, and +a clear bill of health. Now, that is a lesson that some +of you very much want.</p> + +<p>But, further, notice that company of fair guests that +you may welcome into the hospitalities of your heart +and mind. 'Think on these things'—and what are +they? It would be absurd of me to try to exhaust the +great catalogue which the Apostle gives here, but let +me say a word or two about it.</p> + +<p>'Whatsoever things are true . . . think on these +things.' Let your minds be exercised, breathed, +braced, lifted, filled by bringing them into contact +with truth, especially with the highest of all truths, +the truths affecting God and your relations to Him. +Why should you, like so many of us, be living amidst +the small things of daily life, the trifles that are here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51a" id="Page_51a">[51]</a></span> +and never coming into vital contact with the greatest +things of all, the truths about God and Christ, and +what you have to do with them, and what they have +to do with you? 'Whatsoever things are true . . . think +on these things.'</p> + +<p>'Whatsoever things are honest,' or, as the word more +properly and nobly means, 'Whatsoever things are +<i>reverent</i>, or <i>venerable</i>'—let grave, serious, solemn +thought be familiar to your minds, not frivolities, not +mean things. There is an old story in Roman history +about the barbarians breaking into the Capitol, and +their fury being awed into silence, and struck into +immobility, as they saw, round and round in the hall, +the august Senators, each in his seat. Let your minds +be like that, with reverent thoughts clustering on +every side; and when wild passions, and animal +desires, and low, mean contemplations dare to cross +the threshold, they will be awed into silence and stillness. +'Whatsoever things are august . . . think on +these things.'</p> + +<p>'Whatsoever things are just'—let the great, solemn +thought of duty, obligation, what I ought to be and +do, be very familiar to your consideration and meditation. +'Whatsoever things are just . . . think on these +things.'</p> + +<p>'Whatsoever things are pure'—let white-robed +angels haunt the place. Let there be in you a shuddering +recoil from all the opposite; and entertain +angels <i>not</i> unawares. 'Whatsoever things are pure . . . think +on these things.'</p> + +<p>Now, these characteristics of thoughts which I have +already touched upon all belong to a lofty region, but +the Apostle is not contented with speaking austere +things. He goes now into a region tinged with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52a" id="Page_52a">[52]</a></span> +emotion, and he says, '<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'whatsover'">whatsoever</ins> things are lovely'; for +goodness is beautiful, and, in effect, is the only beautiful. +'Whatsoever things are lovely . . . think on these +things.' And 'whatsoever things are of good report'—all +the things that men speak well of, and speak good in the +very naming of, let thoughts of them be in your minds.</p> + +<p>And then he gathers all up into two words. 'If +there be any virtue'—which covers the ground of the +first four, that he has already spoken about—viz. true, +venerable, just, pure; and 'if there be any praise'—which +resumes and sums up the two last: 'lovely and +of good report,' 'think on these things.'</p> + +<p>Now, if my purpose allowed it, one would like to +point out here how the Apostle accepts the non-Christian +notions of the people in whose tongue he +was speaking; and here, for the only time in his +letters, uses the great Pagan word 'virtue,' which was +a spell amongst the Greeks, and says, 'I accept the +world's notion of what is virtuous and praiseworthy, +and I bid you take it to your hearts.'</p> + +<p>Dear brethren, Christianity covers all the ground that +the noblest morality has ever attempted to mark out +and possess, and it covers a great deal more. 'If there +be any virtue, as you Greeks are fond of talking about, +and if there be any praise, if there is anything in men +which commends noble actions, think on these things.'</p> + +<p>Now, you will not obey this commandment unless +you obey also the negative side of it. That is to say, +you will not think on these fair forms, and bring them +into your hearts, unless you turn away, by resolute +effort, from their opposites. There are some, and +I am afraid that in a congregation as large as this +there must be some representatives of the class, who +seem to turn this apostolic precept right round about,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53a" id="Page_53a">[53]</a></span> +and whatsoever things are illusory and vain, whatsoever +things are mean, and frivolous, and contemptible, +whatsoever things are unjust, and whatsoever things +are impure, and whatsoever things are ugly, and whatsoever +things are branded with a stigma by all men +they think on <i>these</i> things. Like the flies that are attracted +to a piece of putrid meat, there are young men +who are drawn by all the lustful, the lewd, the impure +thoughts; and there are young women who are too +idle and uncultivated to have any pleasure in anything +higher than gossip and trivial fiction. 'Whatsoever +things are noble and lovely, think on these things,' +and get rid of all the others.</p> + +<p>There are plenty of occasions round about you to +force the opposite upon your notice; and, unless you +shut your door fast, and double-lock it, they will be +sure to come in:—Popular literature, the scrappy +trivialities that are put into some periodicals, what +they call 'realistic fiction'; modern Art, which has +come to be largely the servant of sense; the Stage, +which has come—and more is the pity! for there are +enormous possibilities of good in it—to be largely +a minister of corruption, or if not of corruption at +least of frivolity—all these things are appealing to +you. And some of you young men, away from the +restraints of home, and in a city, where you think +nobody could see you sowing your wild oats, have got +entangled with them. I beseech you, cast out all this +filth, and all this meanness and pettiness from your +habitual thinkings, and let the august and the lovely +and the pure and the true come in instead. You have +the cup in your hand, you can either press into it +clusters of ripe grapes, and make mellow wine, or you +can squeeze into it wormwood and gall and hemlock and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54a" id="Page_54a">[54]</a></span> +poison-berries; and, as you brew, you have to drink. +You have the canvas, and you are to cover it with the +figures that you like best. You can either do as Fra +Angelico did, who painted the white walls of every +cell in his quiet convent with Madonnas and angels +and risen Christs, or you can do like some of those +low-toned Dutch painters, who never can get above +a brass pan and a carrot, and ugly boors and women, +and fill the canvas with vulgarities and deformities. +Choose which you will have to keep you company.</p> + +<p>II. Now, let me ask you to think for a moment <i>why</i> +this counsel is pressed upon you.</p> + +<p>Let me put the reasons very briefly. They are, first, +because thought moulds action. 'As a man thinketh +in his heart so is he.' One looks round the world, and +all these solid-seeming realities of institutions, buildings, +governments, inventions and machines, steamships +and electric telegrams, laws and governments, +palaces and fortresses, they are all but embodied +thoughts. There was a thought at the back of each of +them which took shape. So, in another sense than the +one in which the saying was originally meant, but yet +an august and solemn sense, 'the word is made flesh,' +and our thoughts became visible, and stand round us, +a ghastly company. Sooner or later what has been +the drift and trend of a man's life comes out, flashes +out sometimes, and dribbles out at other times, into +visibility in his actions; and, just as the thunder follows +on the swift passage of the lightning, so my acts +are neither more nor less than the reverberation and +after-clap of my thoughts.</p> + +<p>So if you are entertaining in your hearts and minds +this august company of which my text speaks, your +lives will be fair and beautiful. For what does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55a" id="Page_55a">[55]</a></span> +the Apostle immediately go on to add to our text? +'These things do'—as you certainly will if you think +about them, and as you certainly will not unless you do.</p> + +<p>Again, thought and work make character. We come +into the world with certain dispositions and bias. But +that is not character, it is only the raw material of +character. It is all plastic, like the lava when it comes +out of the volcano. But it hardens, and whatever else +my thought may do, and whatever effects may follow +upon any of my actions, the recoil of them on myself +is the most important effect to me. And there is not a +thought that comes into, and is entertained by a man, +or rolled as a sweet morsel under his tongue, but contributes +its own little but appreciable something to +the making of the man's character. I wonder if there +is anybody in this chapel now who has been so long +accustomed to entertain these angels of whom my +text speaks as that to entertain their opposites would +be an impossibility. I hope there is. I wonder if there +is anybody in this chapel to-night who has been so +long accustomed to live amidst the thoughts that are +small and trivial and frivolous, if not amongst those +that are impure and abominable, as that to entertain +their opposites seems almost an impossibility. I am +afraid there are some. I remember hearing about a +Maori woman who had come to live in one of the cities +in New Zealand, in a respectable station, and after a +year or two of it she left husband and children, and +civilisation, and hurried back to her tribe, flung off the +European garb, and donned the blanket, and was +happy crouching over the embers on the clay hearth. +Some of you have become so accustomed to the low, +the wicked, the lustful, the impure, the frivolous, the +contemptible, that you cannot, or, at any rate, have lost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56a" id="Page_56a">[56]</a></span> +all disposition to rise to the lofty, the pure, and the +true.</p> + +<p>Once more; as thought makes deeds, and thought +and deeds make character, so character makes destiny, +here and hereafter. If you have these blessed thoughts +in your hearts and minds, as your continual companions +and your habitual guests, then, my friend, you +will have a light within that will burn all independent +of externals; and whether the world smiles or frowns +on you, you will have the true wealth in yourselves; 'a +better and enduring substance.' You will have peace, +you will be lords of the world, and having nothing yet +may have all. No harm can come to the man who has +laid up in his youth, as the best treasure of old age, +this possession of these thoughts enjoined in my text.</p> + +<p>And character makes destiny hereafter. What is a +man whose whole life has been one long thought about +money-making, or about other objects of earthly ambition, +or about the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts of +the eye, and the pride of life, to do in heaven? What +would one of those fishes in the sunless caverns of +America, which, by long living in the dark, have lost +their eyes, do, if it were brought out into the sunshine? +A man will go to his own place, the place for which he +is fitted, the place for which he has fitted himself by +his daily life, and especially by the trend and the +direction of his thoughts.</p> + +<p>So do not be led away by talk about 'seeing both +sides,' about 'seeing life,' about 'knowing what is going +on.' 'I would have you simple concerning evil, and +wise concerning good.' Do not be led away by talk +about having your fling, and sowing your wild oats. You +may make an indelible stain on your conscience, which +even forgiveness will not wipe out; and you may sow<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57a" id="Page_57a">[57]</a></span> +your wild oats, but what will the harvest be? 'Whatsoever +a man soweth that'—<i>that</i>—'shall he also reap.' +Would you like all your low thoughts, all your foul +thoughts, to return and sit down beside you, and say, +'We have come to keep you company for ever'? 'If +there be any virtue . . . think on these things.'</p> + +<p>III. Now, lastly, <i>how</i> is this precept best obeyed?</p> + +<p>I have been speaking to some extent about that, and +saying that there must be real, honest, continuous +effort to keep out the opposite, as well as to bring in +the 'things that are lovely and of good report.' But +there is one more word that I must say in answer to +the question how this precept can be observed, and it +is just this. All these things, true, venerable, just, pure, +lovely, and of good report, are not things only; they +are embodied in a Person. For whatever things are fair +meet in Jesus Christ, and He, in His living self, is the +sum of all virtue and of all praise. So that if we link +ourselves to Him by faith and love, and take Him into +our hearts and minds, and abide in Him, we have them +all gathered together into that One. Thinking on +these things is not merely a meditating upon abstractions, +but it is clutching and living in and with and by +the living, loving Lord and Saviour of us all. If Christ +is in my thoughts, all good things are there.</p> + +<p>If you trust Him, and make him your Companion, He +will help you, He will give you His own life, and in it +will give you tastes and desires which will make all +these fair thoughts congenial to you, and will deliver +you from the else hopeless bondage of subjection to +their very opposites.</p> + +<p>Brethren, our souls cleave to the dust, and all our +efforts will be foiled, partially or entirely, to obey this +precept, unless we remember that it was spoken to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58a" id="Page_58a">[58]</a></span> +people who had previously obeyed a previous commandment, +and had taken Christ for their Saviour. +We gravitate earthwards, alas! after all our efforts, +but if we will put ourselves in His hands, then +He will be as a Magnet drawing us upwards, or +rather He will give us wings of love and contemplation +by which we can soar above that dim spot that men +call Earth, and walk in the heavenly places. The +way by which this commandment can be obeyed is by +obeying the other precept of the same Apostle, 'Set +your minds on things which are above, where Christ +is, sitting at the right hand of God.'</p> + +<p>I beseech you, take Christ and enthrone Him in the +very sanctuary of your minds. Then you will have all +these venerable, pure, blessed thoughts as the very +atmosphere in which you move. 'Think on these +things . . . these things do! . . . and the God of Peace +shall be with you.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>HOW TO SAY 'THANK YOU'</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at length ye have revived your +thought for me; wherein ye did indeed take thought, but ye lacked opportunity. +Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, +therein to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: +in everything and in all things have I learned the secret both to be filled and to +be hungry, both to abound and to be in want. I can do all things in Him that +strengtheneth me. Howbeit ye did well, that ye had fellowship with my affliction.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> +iv. 10-14 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>It is very difficult to give money without hurting the +recipient. It is as difficult to receive it without embarrassment +and sense of inferiority. Paul here shows +us how he could handle a delicate subject with a +feminine fineness of instinct and a noble self-respect +joined with warmest gratitude. He carries the weight +of obligation, is profuse in his thanks, and yet never +crosses the thin line which separates the expression<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59a" id="Page_59a">[59]</a></span> +of gratitude from self-abasing exaggeration, nor that +other which distinguishes self-respect in the receiver +of benefits from proud unwillingness to be obliged to +anybody. Few words are more difficult to say rightly +than 'Thank you.' Some people speak them reluctantly +and some too fluently: some givers are too exacting +in the acknowledgments they expect, and do not so +much give as barter so much help for so much recognition +of superiority.</p> + +<p>The Philippians had sent to Paul some money help +by Epaphroditus as we heard before in Chapter <span class="smcap">ii.</span>, and +this gift he now acknowledges in a paragraph full of +autobiographical interest which may be taken as a +very model of the money relations between teachers +and taught in the church. It is besides an exquisite +illustration of the fineness and delicacy of Paul's +nature, and it includes large spiritual lessons.</p> + +<p>The stream of the Apostle's thoughts takes three +turns here. There is first the exuberant and delicate +expression of his thanks, then, as fearing that they +might misunderstand his joy in their affection as if it +were only selfish gladness that his wants had been +met, he gives utterance to his triumphant and yet +humble consciousness of his Christ-given independence +in, and of, all circumstances, and then feeling in a +moment that such words, if they stood alone, might +sound ungrateful, he again returns to thanks, but not +for their gift so much as for the sympathy expressed +in it. We may follow these movements of feeling now.</p> + +<p>I. The exuberant expression of thanks, 'I rejoice in +the Lord greatly.'</p> + +<p>There is an instance of his following his own twice-given +precept, 'Rejoice in the Lord always.' The +Philippians' care of him was the source of the joy, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60a" id="Page_60a">[60]</a></span> +yet it was joy in the Lord. So we learn the perfect +consistency of that joy in Christ with the full enjoyment +of all other sources of joy, and especially of the +joy that arises from Christian love and friendship. +Union with Christ heightens and purifies all earthly +relations. Nobody should be so tender and so sweet +in these as a Christian. His faith should be like the +sunshine blazing out over the meadows making them +greener. It should, and does in the measure of its +power, destroy selfishness and guard us against the +evils which sap love and the anxieties which torment +it, against the dread that it may end, and our hopeless +desolation when it does. There is a false ascetic idea of +Christian devotion as if it were a regard to Christ +which made our hearts cold to others, which is clean +against Paul's experience here. His joy went out in +fuller stream towards the Philippians because it was +'joy in the Lord.'</p> + +<p>We may just note in passing the tender metaphor by +which the Philippians' renewed thought of him is +likened to a tree's putting forth its buds in a gracious +springtide, and may link with it the pretty fancy of +an old commentator whom some people call prosaic +and puritanical (Bengel), that the stormy winter had +hindered communication, and that Epaphroditus and +the gifts came with the opening spring.</p> + +<p>Paul's inborn delicacy and quick considerateness +comes beautifully forward in his addition, to remove +any suspicion of his thinking that his friends in Philippi +had been negligent or cold. Therefore he adds that he +knew that they had always had the will. What had +hindered them we do not know. Perhaps they had no +one to send. Perhaps they had not heard that such +help would be welcome, but whatever frost had kept<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61a" id="Page_61a">[61]</a></span> +the tree from budding, he knew that the sap was in it +all the same.</p> + +<p>We may note that trait of true friendship, confidence +in a love that did not express itself. Many +of us are too exacting in always wanting manifestations +of our friend's affection. What cries out for +these is not love so much as self-importance which has +not had the attention which it thinks its due. How +often there have been breaches of intimacy which have +no better reason than 'He didn't come to see me often +enough'; 'He hasn't written to me for ever so long'; +'He does not pay me the attention I expect.' It is a +poor love which is always needing to be assured of +another's. It is better to err in believing that there is +a store of goodwill in our friends' hearts to us which +only needs occasion to be unfolded. One often hears +people say that they were quite surprised at the proofs +of affection which came to them when they were in +trouble. They would have been happier and more +nearly right if they had believed in them when there +was no need to show them.</p> + +<p>II. Consciousness of Christ-given independence and +of 'content' is scarcely Paul's whole idea here, though +that, no doubt, is included. We have no word which +exactly expresses the meaning. 'Self-sufficient' is a +translation, but then it has acquired a bad meaning +as connoting a false estimate of one's own worth and +wisdom. What Paul means is that whatever be his +condition he has in himself enough to meet it. He does +not depend on circumstances, and he does not depend +on other people for strength to face them. Many words +are not needed to insist that only the man of whom +these things are true is worth calling a man at all. +It is a miserable thing to be hanging on externals and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62a" id="Page_62a">[62]</a></span> +so to be always exposed to the possibility of having +to say, 'They have taken away my Gods.' It is as +wretched to be hanging on people. 'The good man +shall be satisfied for himself.' The fortress that has +a deep well in the yard and plenty of provisions +within, is the only one that can hold out.</p> + +<p>This independence teaches the true use of all changing +circumstances. The consequence of 'learning' +therewith to be content is further stated by the Apostle +in terms which perhaps bear some reference to the +mysteries of Greek religion, since the word rendered +'I have learned the secret' means I have been initiated. +He can bear either of the two extremes of human experience, +and can keep a calm and untroubled mind +whichever of them he has to front. He has the same +equable spirit when abased and when abounding. He +is like a compensation pendulum which corrects expansions +and contractions and keeps time anywhere. +I remember hearing of a captain in an Arctic expedition +who had been recalled from the Tropics and +sent straight away to the North Pole. Sometimes God +gives His children a similar experience.</p> + +<p>It is possible for us not only to bear with equal minds +both extremes, but to get the good out of both. It is +a hard lesson and takes much conning, to learn to bear +sorrow or suffering or want. They have great lessons +to teach us all, and a character that has not been +schooled by one of these dwellers in the dark is +imperfect as celery is not in season till frost has +touched it. But it is not less difficult to learn how to +bear prosperity and abundance, though we think it a +pleasanter lesson. To carry a full cup without spilling +is proverbially difficult, and one sees instances enough +of men who were far better men when they were poor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63a" id="Page_63a">[63]</a></span> +than they have ever been since they were rich, to give +a terrible significance to the assertion that it is still +more difficult to live a Christian life in prosperity +than in sorrow. But while both threaten, both may +minister to our growth. Sorrow will drive, and joy +will draw, us nearer to God. If we are not tempted +by abundance to plunge our desires into it, nor tempted +by sorrow to think ourselves hopelessly harmed by it, +both will knit us more closely to our true and changeless +good. The <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'centifugal'">centrifugal</ins> and centripetal forces both +keep the earth in its orbit.</p> + +<p>It is only when we are independent of circumstances +that we are able to get the full good of them. When +there is a strong hand at the helm, the wind, though it +be almost blowing directly against us, helps us forward, +but otherwise the ship drifts and washes about in the +trough. We all need the exhortation to be their +master, for we can do without them and they serve us.</p> + +<p>Paul here lets us catch a glimpse of the inmost secret of +his power without which all exhortations to independence +are but waste words. He is conscious of a living +power flowing through him and making him fit for +anything, and he is not afraid that any one who studies +him will accuse him of exaggeration even when he +makes the tremendous claim 'I can do all things in +Him that strengtheneth me.' That great word is even +more emphatic in the original, not only because, as the +Revised Version shows, it literally is <i>in</i> and not <i>through</i>, +and so suggests again his familiar thought of a vital +union with Jesus, but also because he uses a compound +word which literally means 'strengthening within,' so +then the power communicated is breathed into the +man, and in the most literal sense he is 'strong in the +Lord and in the power of His might.' This inward<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64a" id="Page_64a">[64]</a></span> +impartation of strength is the true and only condition +of that self-sufficingness which Paul has just been +claiming. Stoicism breaks down because it tries to +make men apart from God sufficient for themselves, +which no man is. To stand alone without Him is to be +weak. Circumstances will always be too strong for +me, and sins will be too strong. A Godless life has a +weakness at the heart of its loneliness, but Christ and +I are always in the majority, and in the face of all +foes, be they ever so many and strong, we can confidently +say, 'They that be with us are more than they +that be with them.' The old experience will prove true +in our lives, and though 'they compass us about like +bees,' the worst that they can do is only to buzz angrily +round our heads, and their end is in the name of the +Lord to be destroyed. In ourselves we are weak, but +if we are 'rooted, grounded, built' on Jesus, we partake +of the security of the rock of ages to which we are +united, and cannot be swept away by the storm, so +long as it stands unmoved. I have seen a thin hair-stemmed +flower growing on the edge of a cataract and +resisting the force of its plunge, and of the wind that +always lives in its depths, because its roots are in a +cleft of the cliff. The secret of strength for all men +is to hold fast by the 'strong Son of God,' and they +only are sufficient in whatsoever state they are, to +whom this loving and quickening voice has spoken +the charter 'My grace is sufficient for thee.'</p> + +<p>III. The renewed thanks for the loving sympathy +expressed in the gift.</p> + +<p>We have here again an eager anxiety not to be misunderstood +as undervaluing the Philippians' gift. How +beautifully the sublimity of the previous words lies +side by side with the lowliness and gentleness of these.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65a" id="Page_65a">[65]</a></span></p> + +<p>We note here the combination of that grand independence +with loving thankfulness for brotherly help. +The self-sufficingness of Stoicism is essentially inhuman +and isolating. It is contrary to God's plan and +to the fellowship which is meant to knit men together. +So we have always to take heed to blend with it a +loving welcome to sympathy, and not to fancy that +human help and human kindness is useless. We should +be able to do without it, but that need not make it the +less sweet when it comes. We may be carrying water +for the march, but shall not the less prize a brook by the +way. Our firm souls should be like the rocking stones in +Cornwall, poised so truly that tempests cannot shake +them, and yet vibrating at the touch of a little child's +soft hand. That lofty independence needs to be humanised +by grateful acceptance of the refreshment of +human sympathy even though we can do without it.</p> + +<p>Paul shows us here what is the true thing in a +brother's help for which to be thankful. The reason +why he was glad of their help was because it spoke to +his heart and told him that they were making themselves +sharers with him in his troubles. As he tells +us in the beginning of the letter, their fellowship in +his labours had been from the beginning a joy to +him. It was not so much their material help as their +true sympathy that he valued. The high level to which +he lifts what was possibly a very modest contribution, +if measured by money standards, carries with it a great +lesson for all receivers and for all givers of such gifts, +teaching the one that they are purely selfish if they +are glad of what they get, and bidding the other remember +that they may give so as to hurt by a gift +more than by a blow, that they may give infinitely +more by loving sympathy than by much gold, and that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66a" id="Page_66a">[66]</a></span> +a £5 note does not discharge all their obligations. We +have to give after His pattern who does not toss us +our alms from a height, but Himself comes to bestow +them, and whose gift, though it be the unspeakable +gift of eternal life, is less than the love it speaks, in that +He Himself has in wondrous manner become partaker +of our weakness. The pattern of all sympathy, the +giver of all our possessions, is God. Let us hold to Him +in faith and love, and all earthly love will be sweeter +and sympathy more precious. Our own hearts will be +refined and purified to a delicacy of consideration and +a tenderness beyond their own. Our souls will be +made lords of all circumstances and strengthened +according to our need. He will say to us 'My grace is +sufficient for thee,' and we, as we feel His strength +being made perfect in our weakness, shall be able to +say with humble confidence, 'I can do all things in +Christ who strengtheneth me within.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GIFTS GIVEN, SEED SOWN</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'And ye yourselves also know, ye Philippians, that in the beginning of the +Gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me in +the matter of giving and receiving, but ye only; for even in Thessalonica ye +sent once and again unto my need. Not that I seek for the gift; but I seek for +the fruit that increaseth to your account. But I have all things, and abound: +I am filled, having received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, +an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. And my +God shall fulfil every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ +Jesus.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 15-19 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>Paul loved the Philippians too well and was too sure +of their love to be conscious of any embarrassment in +expressing his thanks for money help. His thanks are +profuse and long drawn out. Our present text still +strikes the note of grateful acknowledgment. It +gives us a little glimpse into earlier instances of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67a" id="Page_67a">[67]</a></span> +liberality, and beautifully suggests that as they had +done to him so God would do to them, and that their +liberality was in a fashion a prophecy, because it was +in some measure an imitation, of God's liberality. He +had just said 'I am full, having received the things +which were sent from you,' and now he says, 'My God +shall fill full all your needs.' The use of the same +word in these two connections is a piece of what one +would call the very ingenuity of graceful courtesy, if it +were not something far deeper, even the utterance of +a loving and self-forgetting heart.</p> + +<p>I. We may note here Paul's money relations with +the churches.</p> + +<p>We know that he habitually lived by his own +labour. He could call to witness the assembled elders +at Ephesus, when he declared that 'these hands +ministered unto my necessities,' and could propose +himself as an illustration of the words of the Lord +Jesus, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' He +firmly holds the right of Christian teachers to be +supported by the churches, and vehemently insists +upon it in the First Epistle to the Corinthians. But he +waives the right in his own case, and passionately +insists that it were better for him rather to die than +that any man should make his glorying void. He will +not use to the full his right in the Gospel 'that he may +make a Gospel without charge,' but when needed he +gladly accepted money gifts, as he did from the +Philippians. In our text he points back to an earlier +instance of this. The history of that instance we may +briefly recall. After his indignities and imprisonment +in Philippi he went straight to Thessalonica, stayed +there a short time till a riot drove him to take refuge +in Berea, whence again he had to flee, and guided by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68a" id="Page_68a">[68]</a></span> +brethren reached Athens. There he was left alone, and +his guides went back to Macedonia to send on Silas and +Timothy. From Athens he went to Corinth, and there +was rejoined by them. According to our text, 'in the +beginning of the Gospel,' that is, of course, its beginning +in Philippi, they relieved him twice in Thessalonica, +and if the words in our text which date the +Philippians' gift may be read 'when I had departed +from Macedonia,' we should have here another reference +to the same incident mentioned in 2 Corinthians, +chap. xi. 8-9, where he speaks of being in want there, +and having 'the measure of my want' supplied by the +brethren who came from Macedonia. The coincidence +of these two incidental references hid away, as it were, +confirms the historical truthfulness of both Epistles. +And if we take into view the circumstances in which +he was placed in Thessalonica and at the beginning of +his stay in Corinth, his needing and receiving such aid +is amply accounted for. Once again, after a long +interval, when he was a prisoner in Rome, and probably +unable to work for his maintenance, their care +of him flourished again.</p> + +<p>In the present circumstances of our churches, it +seems necessary that the right which Paul so strongly +asserted should, for the most part, not be waived, but +the only true way of giving and receiving as between +minister and people is when it is a matter not of payment +but a gift. When it is an expression of sympathy +and affection on both sides, the relationship is pleasant +and may be blessed. When it comes to be a business +transaction, and is to be measured by the rules applicable +to such, it goes far to destroy some of the sweetest +bonds, and to endanger a preacher's best influence.</p> + +<p>II. The lofty view here taken of such service.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69a" id="Page_69a">[69]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is 'the fruit that increaseth to your account.' +Fruit, which as it were is put to their credit in the +account-book of heaven, but it is called by Paul by a +sacreder name as being an odour of a sweet smell, a +sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God, in which +metaphor all the sacred ideas of yielding up precious +things to God and of the sacred fire that consumed the +offering or brought to bear on the prosaic material +gift.</p> + +<p>The principle which the Apostle here lays down in +reference to a money gift has, of course, a much wider +application, and is as true about all Christian acts. +We need not be staggered at the emphasis with which +Paul states the truths of their acceptableness and +rewardableness, but in order fully to understand the +ground of his assurance we must remember that in +his view the root of all such fruit increasing to our +account, and of everything which can claim to be an +odour of a sweet smell well pleasing to God, is love to +Christ, and the renewal of our nature by the spirit of +God dwelling in us. In us there dwells no good thing. +It is only as we abide in Him and His words abide in +us that we bear much fruit. Separate from Him we +can do nothing. If our works are ever to smell sweet +to God, they must be done for Christ, and in a very +profound and real sense, done by Him.</p> + +<p>The essential character of all work which has the +right to be called good, and which is acceptable to God, +is sacrifice. The one exhortation which takes the +place and more than fills the place of all other commandments, +and is enforced by the motive which takes +the place, and more than takes the place of all other +motives, is, 'I beseech you by the mercies of God to +present your bodies a living sacrifice.' It is works<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70a" id="Page_70a">[70]</a></span> +which in the intention of the doer are offered to Him, +and in which therefore there is a surrender of our own +wills, or tastes, or inclinations, or passions, or possessions, +that yield to Him an odour of a sweet smell. +The old condition which touched the chivalrous heart +of David has to be repeated by us in regard to any +work which we can ever hope to make well pleasing to +God; 'I will not offer burnt offerings unto the Lord +my God which cost me nothing.'</p> + +<p>There is a spurious humility which treats all the +works of good men as filthy rags, but such a false +depreciation is contradicted by Christ's 'Well done, +good and faithful servant.' It is true that all our +deeds are stained and imperfect, but if they are offered +on the altar which He provides, it will sanctify the +giver and the gift. He is the great Aaron who makes +atonement for the iniquity of our holy things. And +whilst we are stricken silent with thankfulness for the +wonderful mercy of His gracious allowance, we may +humbly hope that His 'Well done' will be spoken of +us, and may labour, not without a foretaste that we do +not labour in vain, that 'whether present or absent we +may be well pleasing to Him.'</p> + +<p>The fruit is here supposed to be growing, that is, of +course, in another life. We need not insist that the +service and sacrifice and work of earth, if the motive +be right, tell in a man's condition after death. It is +not all the same how Christian men live; some gain +ten talents, some five, and some two, and the difference +between them is not always as the parable represents +it, a difference in the original endowment. An entrance +may be given into the eternal kingdom, and yet it may +not be an abundant entrance.</p> + +<p>III. The gift that supplies the givers.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71a" id="Page_71a">[71]</a></span></p> + +<p>Paul has nothing to bestow, but he serves a great +God who will see to it that no man is the poorer by +helping His servants. The king's honour is concerned +in not letting a poor man suffer by lodging and feeding +his retainers. The words here suggest to us the +source from which our need may be filled full, as an +empty vessel might be charged to the brim with some +precious liquid, the measure or limit of the fulness, and +the channel by which we receive it.</p> + +<p>Paul was so sure that the Philippians' needs would +all be satisfied, because he knew that his own had +been; he is generalising from his own case, and that, I +think, is at all events part of the reason why he says +with much emphasis, '<i>My</i> God. As He has done to me +He will do to you,' but even without the 'my,' the +great name contains in itself a promise and its seal. +'God will supply just because He is God'; that is +what His name means—infinite fulness and infinite +self-communicativeness and delight in giving. But is +not so absolutely unlimited a promise as this convicted +of complete unreality when contrasted with the facts +of any life, even of the most truly Christian or the +most outwardly happy? Its contradiction of the +grim facts of experience is not to be slurred over by +restricting it to religious needs only. The promise +needs the eye of Faith to interpret the facts of experience, +and to let nothing darken the clear vision that if +any seeming need is left by God unfilled, it is not an +indispensable need. If we do not get what we want +we may be quite sure that we do not need it. The +axiom of Christian faith is that whatever we do not +obtain we do not require. Very desirable things may +still not be necessary. Let us limit our notions of +necessity by the facts of God's giving, and then we,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72a" id="Page_72a">[72]</a></span> +too, shall have learned, in whatsoever state we are, +therein to be content. When the Apostle says that +God shall fill all our need full up to the brim, was he +contemplating only such necessities as God could supply +through outward gifts? Surely not. God Himself is +the filler and the only filler of a human heart, and it is +by this impartation of Himself and by nothing else +that He bestows upon us the supply of our needs.</p> + +<p>Unless we have been initiated into this deepest and +yet simplest secret of life, it will be full of gnawing +pain and unfulfilled longings. Unless we have learned +that our needs are like the cracks in the parched +ground, cups to hold the rain from heaven, doors by +which God Himself can come to us, we shall dwell for +ever in a dry and thirsty land. God Himself is the only +satisfier of the soul. 'Whom have I in heaven but +Thee, and there is none upon earth that'—if I am not +a fool—'I desire side by side with Thee?'</p> + +<p>But Paul here sets forth in very bold words the +measure or limits of the divine supply of our need. It +is 'according to His riches in glory.' Then, all of God +belongs to me, and the whole wealth of His aggregated +perfections is available for stopping the crannies of +my heart and filling its emptiness. My emptiness corresponds +with His fulness as some concavity does with +the convexity that fits into it, and the whole that He +is waits to fill and to satisfy me. There is no limit +really to what a man may have of God except the +limitless limit of the infinite divine nature, but on the +other hand this great promise is not fulfilled all at +once, and whilst the actual limit is the boundlessness +of God, there is a working limit, so to speak, a variable +one, but a very real one. The whole riches of God's +glory are available for us, but only so much of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73a" id="Page_73a">[73]</a></span> +boundless store as we desire and are at present capable +of taking in will belong to us now. What is the use of +owning half a continent if the owner lives on an acre +of it and grows what he wants there, and has never +seen the broad lands that yet belong to him? Nothing +hinders a man from indefinitely increased possession +of a growing measure of God, except his own arbitrarily +narrowed measure of desire and capacity. +Therefore it becomes a solemn question for each of +us, Am I day by day becoming more and more fit to +possess more of God, and enjoy more of the God whom +I possess? In Him we have each 'a potentiality of +wealth beyond the dreams of avarice.' Do we growingly +realise that boundless possibility?</p> + +<p>The channel by which that boundless supply is to +reach us is distinctly set forth here. All these riches +are stored up 'in Christ Jesus.' A deep lake may be +hidden away in the bosom of the hills that would pour +blessing and fertility over a barren land if it could +find a channel down into the plains, but unless there +be a river flowing out of it, its land-locked waters +might as well be dried up. When Paul says 'riches in +glory,' he puts them up high above our reach, but +when he adds 'in Christ Jesus,' he brings them all +down amongst us. In Him is 'infinite riches in a +narrow room.' If we are in Him then we are beside +our treasure, and have only to put out our hands and +take the wealth that is lying there. All that we need +is 'in Christ,' and if we are in Christ it is all close at +our sides.</p> + +<p>Then the question comes to be, 'Am I thus near my +wealth, and can I get at it whenever I want it, as I +want it, and as much as I want of it?' We can if we +will. The path is easy to define, though our slothful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74a" id="Page_74a">[74]</a></span>ness +find it hard to tread. That man is in Christ who +dwells with Him by faith, whose heart is by love +plunged in His love, who daily seeks to hold communion +with Him amid the distractions of life, and +who in practical submission obeys His will. If thus we +trust, if thus we love, if thus we hold fast to Him, and +if thus we link Him with all our activities in the +world, need will cease to grow, and will only be an +occasion for God's gift. 'Delight thyself in the Lord,' +and then the heart's desires being set upon Him, 'He +will give thee the desire of thy heart.'</p> + +<p>Paul says to us 'My God shall supply all your need.' +Let us answer, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not +want.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FAREWELL WORDS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now unto our God and Father be the glory for ever and ever, Amen. Salute +every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren which are with me salute you. All the +saints salute you, especially they that are of Cæsar's household. The grace of +the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.'—<span class="smcap">Phil.</span> iv. 20-23 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>These closing words fall into three unconnected parts, +a doxology, greetings, and a benediction. As in all his +letters, the Apostle follows the natural instinct of +making his last words loving words. Even when he +had to administer a bitter draught, the last drops in +the cup were sweetened, and to the Philippians whom +he loved so well, and in whose loyal love he confided so +utterly, his parting was tender as an embrace. Taking +together the three elements of this farewell, they present +to us a soul filled with desire for the glory of God +and with loving yearning for all His brethren. We shall +best deal with them by simply taking them in order.</p> + +<p>I. The Doxology.</p> + +<p>It is possibly evoked by the immediately pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75a" id="Page_75a">[75]</a></span>ceding +thought of God's infinite supply of all human +need 'according to his riches in <i>glory</i>'; but the glory +which is so richly stored in Christ, and is the full +storehouse from which our emptiness is to be filled, +is not the same as the glory here ascribed to Him. +The former is the sum of His divine perfections, the +light of His own infinite being: the latter is the praise +rendered to Him when we know Him for what He is, +and exalt Him in our thankful thoughts and adoration. +As this doxology is the last word of this whole letter, +we may say that it gathers into one all that precedes +it. Our ascription of glory to God is the highest object +of all His self-manifestation, and should be the end of +all our contemplations of Him and of His acts. The +faith that God does 'all for His glory' may be and often +has been so interpreted as to make his character +repellent and hideous, but in reality it is another way +of saying that God is love. He desires that all men +should be gladdened and elevated by knowing Him as +He is. His glory is to give. That to which He has +committed the charge of interpreting Him to our dim +eyes and disordered natures is not the attributes of +sovereign power, or creative wisdom, or administrative +providence, or any other elements which men lay hold +of in their conceptions of deity. When men make +gods they make them in their own image: when God +reveals God, the emphasis is put on an altogether +different aspect of His nature. It is His self-communicating +and paternal love revealed to the heart of a son +which will kindle the highest aspiration of praise, and +that fatherhood is not found in the fact that God has +made us, but in the higher fact that He has redeemed +us and has sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts. +The doxology of our text is a distinctively Christian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76a" id="Page_76a">[76]</a></span> +doxology which Paul conceives can only be uttered by +lips which have learned to say 'Abba, Father,' 'and have +received the adoption of sons' through the eternal +Son.</p> + +<p>Mark, too, that this glad ascription of glory to God is +conceived of as sounded forth for ever and ever, or +literally through 'ages and ages, as long as successive +epochs shall unfold.' It is not as if the revelation +of the divine character were in the past, and the light of +it continued to touch stony lips to music, but it fills in +continuous forthcoming every age, and in every age +men receive the fulness of God, and in every age +redeemed hearts bring back their tribute of praise and +love to Him.</p> + +<p>II. The Greetings.</p> + +<p>The Apostle's habit of closing all his letters with +kindly messages is, of course, more than a habit. +It is the natural instinct to which all true hearts +have a hundred times yielded. It is remarkable +that in this letter there are no individual greetings, +but that instead of such there is the emphatic greeting +to every saint in Christ Jesus. He will not single out +any where all are so near His heart, and He will have no +jealousies to be fed by His selection of more favoured +persons. It may be too, that the omission of individual +messages is partly occasioned by some incipient +tendencies to alienation and faction of which we see +some traces in His earnest exhortations to stand fast in +one spirit, and to be of the same mind, having the same +love, and being of one accord, as well as in his exhortation +to two Philippian women to be of the same mind +in the Lord. The all-embracing word at parting +singularly links the end of the letter with its beginning, +where we find a remarkable sequence of similar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77a" id="Page_77a">[77]</a></span> +allusions to 'all' the Philippian Christians. He has +them all in His heart; they are all partakers with +Him of grace; He longs after them all.</p> + +<p>The designation by which Paul describes the +recipients of his greeting carries in it a summons as +well as a promise. They are saints, and they are so as +being 'in Christ.' That name is often used as a clumsy +sarcasm, but it goes to the very root of Christian +character. The central idea contained in it is that +of consecration to God, and that which is often taken +to be its whole meaning is but a secondary one, a +result of that consecration. The true basis of all real +purity of conduct lies in devotion of heart and life to +God, and for want of discerning the connection of these +two elements the world's ethics fail in theory and in +practice. A 'saint' is not a faultless monster, and the +persistence of failures and inconsistencies, whilst affording +only too sad an occasion for penitence and +struggle, afford no occasion for a man's shrinking +from taking to himself the humble claim to be a saint. +Both the elements of consecration to God and of real +and progressive, though never complete perfection of +personal character, are realised only in Christ; in and +only in fellowship with Him whose life was unbroken +fellowship with the Father, and whose will was completely +accordant with the Father's, do we rise to the +height of belonging to God. And only in Him who +could challenge a world to convict Him of sin shall +we make even a beginning of personal righteousness. +If we are in Christ we should be saints to-day however +imperfect our holiness, and shall be 'as the angels of +God' in the day that is coming—nay, rather as the +Lord of the Angels, 'not having spot or blemish or +any such thing.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78a" id="Page_78a">[78]</a></span></p> + +<p>The New Testament has other names for believers, +each of which expresses some great truth in regard to +them; for example, the earliest name by which they +knew themselves was the simple one of 'brethren,' +which spoke of their common relation to a Father and +pledged them to the sweetness and blessedness of a +family. The sarcastic wits of Antioch called them +Christians as seeing nothing in them other than what +they had many a time seen in the adherents of some +founder of a school or a party. They called themselves +disciples or believers, revealing by both names their +humble attitude and their Lord's authority, and by +the latter disclosing to seeing eyes the central bond +which bound them to Him. But the name of Saint +declares something more than these in that it speaks of +their relation to God, the fulfilment of the Old Testament +ideal, and carries in it a prophecy of personal +character.</p> + +<p>The sharers in Paul's salutation call for some +notice. We do not know who 'the brethren that are +with me' were. We might have supposed from Paul's +pathetic words that he had no man like-minded with +him, that the faithful band whom we find named in +the other epistles of the captivity were dispersed. But +though there were none 'like-minded who will care +truly for your state,' there were some recognised as +brethren who were closely associated with him, and +who, though they had no such warm interest in the +Philippians as he had, still had a real affection for them, +drawn no doubt from him. Distinct from these was +the whole body of the Roman Christians, from the +mention of whom we may gather that his imprisonment +did not prevent his intercourse with them. +Again, distinct from these, though a part of them, were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79a" id="Page_79a">[79]</a></span> +the saints of Cæsar's household. He had apparently +special opportunities for intercourse with them, and +probably his imprisonment brought him through the +prætorian guards into association with them, as +Cæsar's household included all the servants and retainers +of Nero.</p> + +<p>May we not see in this union of members of the +most alien races a striking illustration of the new +bond which the Gospel had woven among men? There +was a Jew standing in the midst between Macedonian +Greeks and proud Roman citizens, including members +of that usually most heartless and arrogant of all +classes, the lackeys of a profligate court, and they are +all clasping one another's hands in true brotherly love. +Society was falling to pieces. We know the tragic spectacle +that the empire presented then. Amidst universal +decay of all that held men together, here was a new +uniting principle; everywhere else dissolution was at +work; here was again crystallising. A flower was +opening its petals though it grew on a dunghill. +What was it that drew slaves and patricians, the +Pharisee of Tarsus, rude Lycaonians, the 'barbarous' +people of Melita, the Areopagite of Athens, the citizens +of Rome into one loving family? How came Lydia +and her slave girl, Onesimus and his master, the prætorian +guard and his prisoner, the courtier in Nero's +golden house and the jailer at Philippi into one great +fellowship of love? They were all one in Christ Jesus.</p> + +<p>And what lessons the saints in Cæsar's household +may teach us! Think of the abyss of lust and murder +there, of the Emperor by turns a buffoon, a sensualist, +and a murderer. A strange place to find saints in that +sty of filth! Let no man say that it is impossible for +a pure life to be lived in any circumstances, or try to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80a" id="Page_80a">[80]</a></span> +bribe his conscience by insisting on the difficulties of +his environment. It may be our duty to stand at our +post however foul may be our surroundings and however +uncongenial our company, and if we are sure that +He has set us there, we may be sure that He is with us +there, and that there we can live the life and witness +to His name.</p> + +<p>III. The Parting Benediction.</p> + +<p>The form of the benediction seems to be more correctly +given in the Revised Version, which reads 'with +your spirit' instead of 'with you all.' That form reappears +in Galatians and in Philemon. What Paul +especially desires of his favourite church is that they +may possess 'the grace.' Grace is love exercising itself +to inferiors, and to those who deserve something +sadder and darker. The gifts of that one grace are +manifold. They comprise all blessings that man can +need or receive. This angel comes with her hands and +her lap full of good. Her name is shorthand for all +that God can bestow or man can ask or think.</p> + +<p>And it needs all the names by which Christ is known +among men to describe the encyclopædiacal Person +who can bestow the encyclopædiacal gift. Here we +have them all gathered, as it were, into one great +diadem, set on His head where once the crown of thorns +was twined. He is Lord, the name which implies at +least absolute authority, and is most probably the New +Testament translation of the Old Testament name of +Jehovah. He is our Lord as supreme over us, and +wonderful as it is, as belonging to us. He holds the +keys of the storehouse of grace. The river of the water +of life flows where He turns it on. He is Jesus—the +personal name which He bore in the days of His flesh, +and by which men who knew Him only as one of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81a" id="Page_81a">[81]</a></span> +themselves called Him. It is the token of His brotherhood +and the guarantee of the sympathy which will +ever bestow 'grace for grace.' He is the Christ, the +Messiah, the name which points back to the Old Testament +ideas and declares His office, realising all the +rapturous anticipations of prophets, and the longings +of psalmists, and more than fulfilling them all by +giving Himself to men.</p> + +<p>That great gift is to be the companion of every spirit +which looks to that Jesus in the reality of His humanity, +in the greatness of His office, in the loftiness of +His divinity, and finds in each of His names an anchor +for its faith and an authoritative claim for its obedience.</p> + +<p>Such a wish as this benediction is the truest expression +of human friendship; it is the highest desire any +of us can form for ourselves or for those dearest to us. +Do we keep it clear before us in our intercourse with +them so that the end of that intercourse will naturally +be such a prayer?</p> + +<p>Our human love has its limitations. We can but +wish for others the grace which Christ can give, but +neither our wishes nor His giving can make the grace +ours unless for ourselves we take the great gift that +is freely given to us of God. It is no accident that all +his letters close thus. This benediction is the last +word of God's revelation to man, the brightness in the +clear west, the last strain of the great oratorio. The +last word or last book of Scripture is 'the grace of our +Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.' Let us take up the +solemn Amen in our lips and in our hearts.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82a" id="Page_82a">[82]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>COLOSSIANS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SAINTS, BELIEVERS, BRETHREN</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>' . . . The saints and faithful brethren in Christ.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> i. 2.</p></div> + + +<p>'The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch,' +says the Acts of the Apostles. It was a name given by +outsiders, and like most of the instances where a sect, +or school, or party is labelled with the name of its +founder, it was given in scorn. It hit and yet missed +its mark. The early believers were Christians, that is, +Christ's men, but they were not merely a group of +followers of a man, like many other groups of whom +the Empire at that time was full. So they never +used that name themselves. It occurs twice only in +Scripture, once when King Agrippa was immensely +amused at the audacity of Paul in thinking that he +would easily make 'a Christian' of him; and once +when Peter speaks of 'suffering as a Christian,' where +he is evidently quoting, as it were, the indictment on +which the early believers were tried and punished. +What did they call themselves then?</p> + +<p>I have chosen this text not for the purpose of speaking +about it only, but because it gathers together in +brief compass the three principal designations by +which the early believers knew themselves. 'Saints'—that +tells their relation to God, as well as their +character, for it means 'consecrated,' set apart for +Him, and therefore pure; 'faithful'—that means 'full +of faith' and is substantially equivalent to the usual +'believers,' which defines their relation to Jesus Christ +as the Revealer of God; 'brethren'—that defines their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83a" id="Page_83a">[83]</a></span> +relation and sentiment towards their fellows. These +terms go a great deal deeper than the nickname which +the wits of Antioch invented. The members of the +Church were not content with the vague 'Christian,' but +they called themselves 'saints,' 'believers,' 'brethren.' +One designation does not appear here, which we must +take into account for completeness: the earliest of all—disciples. +Now, I purpose to bring together these +four names, by which the early believers thought and +spoke of themselves, in order to point the lessons as to +our position and our duty, which are wrapped up in +them. And I may just say that, perhaps, it is no sign +of advance that the Church, as years rolled on, accepted +the world's name for itself, and that people found it +easier to call themselves 'Christians'—which did not +mean very much—than to call themselves 'saints' or +'believers.'</p> + +<p>Now then, to begin with,</p> + +<p>I. They were 'Disciples' first of all.</p> + +<p>The facts as to the use of that name are very plain, +and as instructive as they are plain. It is a standing +designation in the Gospels, both in the mouths of +friends and of outsiders; it is sometimes, though very +sparingly, employed by Jesus Christ Himself. It persists +on through the book of the Acts of the Apostles, +and then it stops dead, and we never hear it again.</p> + +<p>Now its existence at first, and its entire abandonment +afterwards, both seem to me to carry very valuable +lessons. Let me try to work them out. Of course, +'disciple' or 'scholar' has for its correlative—as the +logicians call it—'teacher.' And so we find that as the +original adherents of Jesus called themselves 'disciples,' +they addressed Him as 'Master,' which is the +equivalent of 'Rabbi.' That at once suggests the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84a" id="Page_84a">[84]</a></span> +thought that to themselves, and to the people who saw +the origination of the little Christian community, the +Lord and His handful of followers seemed just to be +like John and his disciples, the Pharisees and their +disciples, and many another Rabbi and his knot of +admiring adherents. Therefore whilst the name was +in one view fitting, it was conspicuously inadequate, +and as time went on, and the Church became more conscious +of the uniqueness of the bond that knit it to Jesus +Christ, it instinctively dropped the name 'disciple,' and +substituted others more intimate and worthy.</p> + +<p>But yet it remains permanently true, that Christ's +followers are Christ's scholars, and that He is their +Rabbi and Teacher. Only the peculiarity, the absolute +uniqueness, of His attitude and action as a Teacher +lies in two things: one, that His main subject was +Himself, as He said, 'I am the Truth,' and consequently +His characteristic demand from His scholars was not, +as with other teachers, 'Accept this, that, or the other +doctrine which I propound,' but 'Believe in Me'; and +the other, that He seldom if ever argues, or draws +conclusions from previous premises, that He never +speaks as if He Himself had learnt and fought His +way to what He is saying, or betrays uncertainty, +limitation, or growth in His opinions, and that for all +confirmation of His declarations, He appeals only to +the light within and to His own authority: 'Verily, +verily, I say unto you.' No wonder that the common +people were astonished at His teaching, and felt that +here was an authority in which the wearisome citations +of what Rabbi So-and-So had said, altogether lacked.</p> + +<p>That teaching abides still, and, as I believe, opens +out into, and is our source of, all that we know—in +distinction and contrast from, 'imagine,' 'hope,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85a" id="Page_85a">[85]</a></span> +'fear'—of God, and of ourselves, and of the future. +It casts the clearest light on morals for the individual +and on politics for the community. Whatever men +may say about Christianity being effete, it will not +be effete till the world has learnt and absorbed the +teaching of Jesus Christ; and we are a good long way +from that yet!</p> + +<p>If He is thus the Teacher, the perpetual Teacher, and +the only Teacher, of mankind in regard to all these +high things about God and man and the relation between +them, about life and death and the world, and +about the practice and conduct of the individual and +of the community, then we, if we are His disciples, +build houses on the rock, in the degree in which we +not only hear but do the things that He commands. +For this Teacher is no theoretical handler of abstract +propositions, but the authoritative imposer of the law +of life, and all His words have a direct bearing upon +conduct. Therefore it is vain for us to say: 'Lord, +Lord, Thou hast taught in our streets and we have +accepted Thy teaching.' He looks down upon us from +the Throne, as He looked upon the disciples in that +upper room, and He says to each of us: 'If ye know +these things, happy are ye if ye do them.'</p> + +<p>But the complete disappearance of the name as the +development of the Church advanced, brings with it +another lesson, and that is, that precious and great as +are the gifts which Jesus Christ bestows as a Teacher, +and unique as His act and attitude in that respect are, +the name either of teacher or of disciple fails altogether +to penetrate to the essence of the relation which knits +us together. It is not enough for our needs that we +shall be taught. The worst man in the world knows a +far nobler morality than the best man practises. And<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86a" id="Page_86a">[86]</a></span> +if it were true, as some people superficially say is the +case, that evil-doing is the result of ignorance, there +would be far less evil-doing in the world than, alas! +there is. It is not for the want of knowing, that we +go wrong, as our consciences tell us; but it is for want +of something that can conquer the evil tendencies +within, and lift off the burden of a sinful past which +weighs on us. As in the carboniferous strata what +was pliant vegetation has become heavy mineral, our +evil deeds lie heavy on our souls. What we need is +not to be told what we ought to be, but to be enabled +to be it. Electricity can light the road, and it can drive +the car along it; and that is what we want, a dynamic +as well as an illuminant, something that will make us +able to do and to be what conscience has told us we +ought to be and do.</p> + +<p>Teacher? Yes. But if <i>only</i> teacher, then He is +nothing more than one of a multitude who in all +generations have vainly witnessed to sinful men of the +better path. There is no reformation for the individual, +and little hope for humanity, in a Christ whom +you degrade to the level of a Rabbi, or in a Church which +has not pressed nearer to Him than to feel itself His +disciples.</p> + +<p>There was a man who came to Jesus by night, and +was in the dark about the Jesus to whom he came, +and he said, 'We know that Thou art a Teacher come +from God.' But Jesus did not accept the witness, +though a young teacher fighting for recognition might +have been glad to get it from an authoritative member +of the Sanhedrim. But He answered, 'Except a man +be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' If +we need to be born again before we see it, it is not +teachers of it that will serve our turn, but One who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87a" id="Page_87a">[87]</a></span> +takes us by the hand, and translates us out of the +tyranny of the darkness into the Kingdom of the Son +of God's love. So much, then, for the first of these +names and lessons.</p> + +<p>Now turn to the second—</p> + +<p>II. The Disciples must be Believers.</p> + +<p>That name begins to appear almost immediately +after Pentecost, and continues throughout. It comes +in two forms, one which is in my text, 'the faithful,' +meaning thereby not the reliable, but the people that +are full of faith; the other, meaning the same thing, +they who believe, the 'believers.' The Church found +that 'disciple' was not enough. It went deeper; and, +with a true instinct, laid hold of the unique bond +which knits men to their Lord and Saviour. That +name indicates that Jesus Christ appears to the man +who has faith in a new character. He is not any +longer the Teacher who is to be listened to, but He is +the Object of trust. And that implies the recognition, +first, of His Divinity, which alone is strong enough +to bear up the weight of millions of souls leaning hard +upon it; and, second, of what He has done and not +merely of what He has said. We accept the Teacher's +word; we trust the Saviour's Cross. And in the +measure in which men learned that the centre of the +work of the Rabbi Jesus was the death of the Incarnate +Son of God, their docility was sublimed into faith.</p> + +<p>That faith is the real bond that knits men to Jesus +Christ. We are united to Him, and become recipient +of the gifts that He has to bestow, by no sacraments, +by no externals, by no reverential admiration of His +supreme wisdom and perfect beauty of character, not +by assuming the attitude of the disciple, but by flinging +our whole selves upon Him, because He is our Saviour.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88a" id="Page_88a">[88]</a></span> +That unites us to Jesus Christ; nothing else does. +Faith is the opening of the heart, by which all His +power can be poured into us. It is the grasping of His +hand, by which, even though the cold waters be above +our knees and be rising to our hearts, we are lifted +above them and they are made a solid pavement for +our feet. Faith is the door opened by ourselves, +and through which will come all the Glory that dwelt +between the cherubim, and will fill the secret place in +our hearts. To be the disciple of a Rabbi is something; +to be the 'faithful' dependent on the Saviour is to be +His indeed.</p> + +<p>And then there is to be remembered, further, that +this bond, which is the only vital link between a man +and Christ, is therefore the basis of all virtue, of all +nobility, of all beauty of conduct, and that 'whatsoever +things are lovely and of good report' are its +natural efflorescence and fruit. And so that leads us +to the third point—</p> + +<p>III. The believing Disciple is a 'Saint.'</p> + +<p>That name does not appear in the Gospels, but it +begins to show in the Acts of the Apostles, and it +becomes extremely common throughout the Epistles +of Paul. He had no hesitation in calling the very +imperfect disciples in Corinth by this great name. He +was going to rebuke them for some very great offences, +not only against Christian elevation of conduct, but +against common pagan morality; but he began by +calling them 'saints.'</p> + +<p>What is a saint? First and foremost, a man who +has given himself to God, and is consecrated thereby. +Whoever has cast himself on Christ, and has taken +Christ for his, therein and in the same degree as he is +exercising faith, has thus yielded himself to God. If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89a" id="Page_89a">[89]</a></span> +your faith has not led you to such a consecration of +will and heart and self, you had better look out and +see whether it is faith at all. But then, because faith +involves the consecration of a man to God, and consecration +necessarily implies purity, since nothing can +be laid on God's altar which is not sanctified thereby, +the name of saint comes to imply purity of character. +Sanctity is the Christian word which means the very +flower and fragrant aroma of what the world calls +virtue.</p> + +<p>But sanctity is not emotion, A man may luxuriate +in devout feeling, and sing and praise and pray, and +be very far from being a saint; and there is a great +deal of the emotional Christianity of this day which +has a strange affinity for the opposite of saintship. +Sanctity is not aloofness. 'There were saints in +Cæsar's household'—a very unlikely place; they were +flowers on a dunghill, and perhaps their blossoms were +all the brighter because of what they grew on, and +which they could transmute from corruption into +beauty. So sanctity is no blue ribbon of the Christian +profession, to be given to a few select (and mostly +ascetic) specimens of consecration, but it is the designation +of each of us, if we are disciples who are more +than disciples, that is, 'believers.' And thus, brethren, +we have to see to it that, in our own cases, our faith +leads to surrender, and our self-surrender to purity of +life and conduct. Faith, if real, brings sanctity; +sanctity, if real, is progressive. Sanctity, though imperfect, +may be real.</p> + +<p>IV. The believing Saints are 'Brethren.'</p> + +<p>That is the name that predominates over all others +in the latter portions of the New Testament, and it is +very natural that it should do so. It reposes upon and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90a" id="Page_90a">[90]</a></span> +implies the three preceding. Its rapid adoption and +universal use express touchingly the wonder of the +early Church at its own unity. The then world was +rent asunder by deep clefts of misunderstanding, +alienation, animosity, racial divisions of Jew and +Greek, Parthian, Scythian; by sexual divisions which +flung men and women, who ought to have been linked +hand in hand, and united heart to heart, to opposite +sides of a great gulf; by divisions of culture which +made wise men look down on the unlearned, and the +unlearned hate the wise men; by clefts of social position, +and mainly that diabolical one of slave and free. +All these divisive and disintegrating forces were in +active operation. The only thing except Christianity, +which produced even a semblance of union, was the +iron ring of the Roman power which compressed them +all into one indeed, but crushed the life out of them in +the process. Into that disintegrating world, full of +mutual repulsion, came One who drew men to Himself +and said, 'One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye +are brethren.' And to their own astonishment, male +and female, Greek and Jew, bond and free, philosopher +and fool, found themselves sitting at the same table as +members of one family; and they looked in each +other's eyes and said, 'Brother!' There had never +been anything like it in the world. The name is a +memorial of the unifying power of the Christian faith.</p> + +<p>And it is a reminder to us of our own shortcomings. +Of course, in the early days, the little band were driven +together, as sheep that stray over a pasture in the sunshine +will huddle into a corner in a storm, or when the +wolves are threatening. There are many reasons to-day +which make less criminal the alienation from one +another of Christian communities and Christian indi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91a" id="Page_91a">[91]</a></span>viduals. +I am not going to dwell on the evident signs +in this day, for which God be thanked, that Christian +men are beginning, more than they once did, to realise +their unity in Jesus Christ, and to be content to think +less of the things that separate than of the far greater +things that unite. But I would lay upon your hearts, +as individual parts of that great whole, this, that whatever +may be the differences in culture, outlook, social +position, or the like, between two Christian men, they +each, the rich man and the poor, the educated man and +the unlettered one, the master and the servant, ought +to feel that deep down in their true selves they are +nearer one another than they are to the men who, +differing from them in regard to their faith in Jesus +Christ, are like them in all these superficial respects. +Regulate your conduct by that thought.</p> + +<p>That name, too, speaks to us of the source from which +Christian brotherhood has come. We are brethren of +each other because we have one Father, even God, and +the Fatherhood which makes us brethren is not that +which communicates the common life of humanity, but +that which imparts the new life of sonship through +Jesus Christ. So the name points to the only way by +which the world's dream of a universal brotherhood +can ever be fulfilled. If there is to be fraternity there +must be fatherhood, and the life which, possessed by +each, makes a family of all, is the life which He gives, +who is 'the first-born among many brethren,' and +who, to them who believe on Him, gives power to +become the sons of God, and the brethren of all the +other sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty.</p> + +<p>So, dear friends, take these names, ponder their +significance and the duties they impose. Let us make +sure that they are true of us. Do not be content with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92a" id="Page_92a">[92]</a></span> +the vague, often unmeaning name of Christian, but fill +it with meaning by being a believer on Christ, a saint +devoted to God, and a brother of all who, 'by like +precious faith,' have become Sons of God.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE GOSPEL-HOPE</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'The hope of the Gospel.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> i. 5.</p></div> + + +<p>'God never sends mouths but He sends meat to feed +them,' says the old proverb. And yet it seems as if +that were scarcely true in regard to that strange +faculty called Hope. It may well be a question +whether on the whole it has given us more pleasure +than pain. How seldom it has been a true prophet! +How perpetually its pictures have been too highly +coloured! It has cast illusions over the future, colouring +the far-off hills with glorious purple which, reached, +are barren rocks and cold snow. It has held out prizes +never won. It has made us toil and struggle and +aspire and fed us on empty husks. Either we have +not got what we expected or have found it to be less +good than it appeared from afar.</p> + +<p>If we think of all the lies that hope has told us, +of all the vain expenditure of effort to which it has +tempted us, of the little that any of us have of +what we began by thinking we should surely attain, +hope seems a questionable good, and yet how obstinate +it is, living on after all disappointments and drawing +the oldest amongst us onwards. Surely somewhere +there must be a reason for this great and in some +respects awful faculty, a vindication of its existence +in an adequate object for its grasp.</p> + +<p>The New Testament has much to say about hope.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93a" id="Page_93a">[93]</a></span> +Christianity lays hold of it and professes to supply it +with its true nourishment and support. Let us look +at the characteristics of Christian hope, or, as our text +calls it, the hope of the Gospel, that is, the hope which +the Gospel creates and feeds in our souls.</p> + +<p>I. What does it hope for?</p> + +<p>The weakness of our earthly hopes is that they are +fixed on things which are contingent and are inadequate +to make us blessed. Even when tinted with the +rainbow hues, which it lends them, they are poor and +small. How much more so when seen in the plain +colourless light of common day. In contrast with +these the objects of the Christian hope are certain and +sufficient for all blessedness. In the most general +terms they may be stated as 'That blessed hope, even +the appearing of the Great God and our Saviour.' +That is the specific Christian hope, precise and definite, +a real historical event, filling the future with a certain +steadfast light. Much is lost in the daily experience +of all believers by the failure to set that great and +precise hope in its true place of prominence. It is +often discredited by millenarian dreams, but altogether +apart from these it has solidity and substance +enough to bear the whole weight of a world +rested upon it.</p> + +<p>That appearance of God brings with it the fulfilment +of our highest hopes in the 'grace that is to be brought +to us at His appearing.' All our blessedness of every +kind is to be the result of the manifestation of God +in His unobscured glory. The mirrors that are set +round the fountain of light flash into hitherto +undreamed-of brightness. It is but a variation in +terms when we describe the blessedness which is to +be the result of God's appearing as being the Hope of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94a" id="Page_94a">[94]</a></span> +Salvation in its fullest sense, or, in still other words, +as being the Hope of Eternal Life. Nothing short of +the great word of the Apostle John, that when He +shall appear we shall be like Him, exhausts the +greatness of the hope which the humblest and weakest +Christian is not only allowed but commanded to +cherish. And that great future is certainly capable +of, and in Scripture receives, a still more detailed +specification. We hear, for example, of the hope of +Resurrection, and it is most natural that the bodily +redemption which Paul calls the adoption of the body +should first emerge into distinct consciousness as the +principal object of hope in the earliest Christian +experience, and that the mighty working whereby +Jesus is able to subdue all things unto Himself, should +first of all be discerned to operate in changing the +body of our humiliation into the body of His glory.</p> + +<p>But equally natural was it that no merely corporeal +transformation should suffice to meet the deep longings +of Christian souls which had learned to entertain +the wondrous thought of likeness to God as the certain +result of the vision of Him, and so believers 'wait for +the hope of righteousness by faith.' The moral likeness +to God, the perfecting of our nature into His +image, will not always be the issue of struggle and +restraint, but in its highest form will follow on sight, +even as here and now it is to be won by faith, and is +more surely attained by waiting than by effort.</p> + +<p>The highest form which the object of our hope takes +is, the Hope of the Glory of God. This goes furthest; +there is nothing beyond this. The eyes that have been +wearied by looking at many fading gleams and seen +them die away, may look undazzled into the central +brightness, and we may be sure that even we shall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95a" id="Page_95a">[95]</a></span> +walk there like the men in the furnace, unconsumed, +purging our sight at the fountain of radiance, and +being ourselves glorious with the image of God. This +is the crown of glory which He has promised to them +that love Him. Nothing less than this is what our +hope has to entertain, and that not as a possibility, but +as a certainty. The language of Christian hope is not +perhaps this may be, but verily it shall be. To embrace +its transcendent certainties with a tremulous faith +broken by much unbelief, is sin.</p> + +<p>II. The grounds on which the hope of the Gospel +rests.</p> + +<p>The grounds of our earthly hopes are for the most +part possibilities, or, at the best, probabilities turned by +our wishes into certainties. We moor our ships to +floating islands which we resolve to think continents. +So our earthly hopes vary indefinitely in firmness and +substance. They are sometimes but wishes turned +confident, and can never rise higher than their source, +or be more certain than it is. At the best they are +building on sand. At the surest there is an element of +risk in them. One singer indeed may take for his +theme 'The pleasures of Hope,' but another answers +by singing of 'The fallacies of Hope.' Earth-born hopes +carry no anchor and have always a latent dread looking +out of their blue eyes.</p> + +<p>But it is possible for us to dig down to and build on +rock, to have a future as certain as our past, to escape +in our anticipations from the region of the Contingent, +and this we assuredly do when we take the hope of +the Gospel for ours, and listen to Paul proclaiming to us +'Christ which is our Hope,' or 'Christ in you the Hope +of glory.' If our faith grasps Jesus Christ risen from +the dead and for us entered into the heavenly state as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96a" id="Page_96a">[96]</a></span> +our forerunner, our hope will see in Him the pattern +and the pledge of our manhood, and will begin to +experience even here and now the first real though +faint accomplishments of itself. The Gospel sets forth +the facts concerning Christ which fully warrant and +imperatively require our regarding Him as the perfect +realised ideal of manhood as God meant it to be, and +as bearing in Himself the power to make all men +even as He is. He has entered into the fellowship +of our humiliation and become bone of our bone and +flesh of our flesh that we might become life of His +Life and spirit of His Spirit. As certain as it is that +'we have borne the image of the earthy,' so certain +is it that 'we shall also bear the image of the +heavenly.'</p> + +<p>What cruel waste of a divine faculty it is, then, of +which we are all guilty when we allow our hopes to be +frittered away and dissipated on uncertain and transient +goods which they may never secure, and which, +even if secured, would be ludicrously or rather tragically +insufficient to make us blessed, instead of withdrawing +them from all these and fixing them on Him +who alone is able to satisfy our hungry souls in all +their faculties for ever!</p> + +<p>The hope of the Gospel is firm enough to rest our all +upon because in it, by 'two immutable things in which +it is impossible that God should lie,' His counsel and +His oath, He has given strong encouragement to them +who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set +before them. Well may the hope for which God's own +eternal character is the guarantee be called 'sure and +steadfast.' The hope of the Gospel rests at last on the +Being and Heart of God. It is that which God 'who +cannot lie hath promised before the world was' is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97a" id="Page_97a">[97]</a></span> +working towards whilst the world lasts, and will +accomplish when the world is no more. He has made +known His purpose and has pledged all the energies +and tendernesses of His Being to its realisation. Surely +on this rock-foundation we may rest secure. The +hopes that grow on other soils creep along the surface. +The hope of the Gospel strikes its roots deep into the +heart of God.</p> + +<p>III. What the hope of the Gospel is and does for us.</p> + +<p>We cannot do better than to lay hold of some of the +New Testament descriptions of it. We recall first that +great designation 'A good hope through grace.' This +hope is no illusion; it does not come from fumes of +fancy or the play of imagination. The wish is not +father to the thought. We do not make bricks without +straw nor spin ropes of sand on the shore of the +great waste sea that waits to swallow us up. The cup +of Tantalus has had its leaks stopped; the sieve carries +the treasure unspilled. The rock can be rolled to the +hill-top. All the disappointments, fallacies, and torments +of hope pass away. It never makes ashamed. +We have a solid certainty as solid as memory. The +hope which is through grace is the full assurance of +hope, and that full assurance is just what every other +hope lacks. In that region and in that region only we +can either say I hope or I know.</p> + +<p>Another designation is 'A lively hope.' It is no poor +pale ghost brightening and fading, fading and brightening, +through which one can see the stars shine, and of +little power in practical life, but strong and vigorous +and not the least active amongst the many forces that +make up the sum of our lives.</p> + +<p>It is most significantly designated as 'The blessed +hope.' All others quickly pass into sorrows. This alone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98a" id="Page_98a">[98]</a></span> +gives lasting joys, for this alone is blessed whilst it is +only anticipation, and still more blessed when its +blossoms ripen into full fruition. In all earthly hopes +there is an element of unrest, but the hope of the +Gospel is so remote, so certain, and so satisfying, that it +works stillness, and they who most firmly grasp it +'do with patience wait for it.' Earthly hopes have +little moral effect and often loosen the sinews of the +soul, and are distinctly unfavourable to all strenuous +effort. But 'every man that hath this hope in Jesus +purifieth himself even as He is pure,' and the Apostle, +whose keen insight most surely discerns the character-building +value of the fundamental facts of Christian +experience, was not wrong when he bid us find in the +hope of the Gospel deeply rooted within us the driving +force of the most strenuous efforts after purity like +His whom it is our deepest desire and humble hope to +become like.</p> + +<p>Let us remember the double account which Scripture +gives of the discipline by which the hope of the Gospel +is won for our very own. On the one hand, we have +'joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in +hope.' Our faith breeds hope because it grasps the +divine facts concerning Jesus from which hope springs. +And faith further breeds hope because it kindles joy +and peace, which are the foretastes and earnests of the +future blessedness. On the other hand, the very opposite +experiences work to the same end, for 'tribulation +worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience +hope.' Sorrow rightly borne tests for us the +power of the Gospel and the reality of our faith, and +so gives us a firmer grip of hope and of Him on whom +in the last result it all depends. Out of this collision +of flint and steel the spark springs. The water churned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99a" id="Page_99a">[99]</a></span> +into foam and tortured in the cataract has the fair +bow bending above it.</p> + +<p>But this discipline will not achieve its result, therefore +comes the exhortation to us all, 'Gird up the loins +of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end.' The hope +of the Gospel is the one thing that we need. Without +it all else is futile and frail. God alone is worthy to +have the whole weight and burden of a creature's hope +fixed on Him, and it is an everlasting truth that they +who are 'without God in the world' also 'have no +hope.' Saints of old held fast by an assurance, which +they must often have felt left many questions still to +be asked, and because they were sure that they were +continually with Him, were also sure of His guidance +through life and of His afterwards receiving them to +glory. But for us the twilight has broadened into day, +and we shall be wise if, knowing our defencelessness, +and forsaking all the lies and illusions of this vain +present, we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set +before us in the Gospel.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>'ALL POWER'</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Strengthened with all power, according to the might of His glory, unto all +patience and longsuffering with joy.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> i. 11 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>There is a wonderful rush and fervour in the prayers +of Paul. No parts of his letters are so lofty, so impassioned, +so full of his soul, as when he rises from speaking +of God to men to speaking to God for men. We +have him here setting forth his loving desires for the +Colossian Christians in a prayer of remarkable fulness +and sweep. Broadly taken, it is for their perfecting in +religious and moral excellence, and it is very instructive<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100a" id="Page_100a">[100]</a></span> +to note the idea of what a good man is which is put +forth here.</p> + +<p>The main petition is for wisdom and spiritual understanding +applied chiefly, as is to be carefully noted, to +the knowledge of God's <i>will</i>. The thought is that what +it most imports us to know is the Will of God, a knowledge +not of merely speculative points in the mysteries +of the divine nature, but of that Will which it concerns +us to know because it is our life to do it. The next +element in Paul's desires, as set forth in the ideal here, +is a worthy walk, a practical life, or course of conduct +which is worthy of Jesus Christ, and in every respect +pleases Him. The highest purpose of knowledge is a +good life. The surest foundation for a good life is a full +and clear knowledge of the Will of God.</p> + +<p>Then follow a series of clauses which seem to expand +the idea of the worthy walk and to be co-ordinate or +perhaps slightly causal, and to express the continuous +condition of the soul which is walking worthily. Let +us endeavour to gather from these words some hints as +to what it is God's purpose that we should become.</p> + +<p>I. The many-sided strength which may be ours.</p> + +<p>The form of the word 'strengthened' here would be +more fully represented by 'being strengthened,' and +suggests an unintermitted process of bestowal and +reception of God's might rendered necessary by our +continuous human weakness, and by the tear and wear +of life. As in the physical life there must be constant +renewal because there is constant waste, and as every +bodily action involves destruction of tissue so that +living is a continual dying, so is it in the mental and +still more in the spiritual life. Just as there must be a +perpetual oxygenation of blood in the lungs, so there +must be an uninterrupted renewal of spiritual strength<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101a" id="Page_101a">[101]</a></span> +for the highest life. It is demanded by the conditions +of our human weakness. It is no less rendered +necessary by the nature of the divine strength +imparted, which is ever communicating itself, and +like the ocean cannot but pour so much of its fulness +as can be received into every creek and crack on its +shore.</p> + +<p>The Apostle not merely emphasises the continuousness +of this communicated strength, but its many-sided +variety, by designating it 'all power.' In this whole +context that word 'all' seems to have a charm for him. +We read in this prayer of '<i>all</i> spiritual wisdom,' of +'walking worthily of the Lord unto <i>all</i> pleasing,' of +'fruit in <i>every</i> good work,' and now of '<i>all</i> power,' and +lastly of '<i>all</i> patience and longsuffering.' These are +not instances of being obsessed with a word, but each +of them has its own appropriate force, and here the +comprehensive completeness of the strength available +for our many-sided weakness is marvellously revealed. +There is 'infinite riches in a narrow room.' All power +means every kind of power, be it bodily or mental, for +all variety of circumstances, and, Protean, to take the +shape of all exigencies. Most of us are strong only +at points, and weak in others. In all human experience +there is a vulnerable spot on the heel. The most +glorious image, though it has a head of gold, ends in +feet, 'part of iron and part of clay.'</p> + +<p>And if this ideal of many-sided power stands in contrast +with the limitations of human strength, how does +it rebuke and condemn the very partial manifestations +of a very narrow and one-sided power which we who +profess to have received it set forth! We have access +to a source which can fill our whole nature, can +flower into all gracious forms, can cope with all our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102a" id="Page_102a">[102]</a></span> +exigencies, and make us all-round men, complete in +Jesus Christ, and, having this, what do we make of it, +what do we show for it? Does not God say to us, 'Ye +are not straitened in me, ye are straitened in yourselves; +I beseech you be ye enlarged.'</p> + +<p>The conditions on our part requisite for possessing +'all might' are plain enough. The earlier portion of +the prayer plainly points to them. The knowledge of +God's Will and the 'walk worthy of the Lord' are the +means whereby the power which is ever eager to make +its dwelling in us, can reach its end. If <i>we</i> keep the +channel unchoked, no doubt 'the river of the +water of life which proceedeth from the throne of +God and the Lamb' will rejoice to fill it to the brim +with its flashing waters. If we do not wrench away +ourselves from contact with Him, He will 'strengthen +us with all might.' If we keep near Him we may have +calm confidence that power will be ours that shall equal +our need and outstrip our desires.</p> + +<p>II. The measure of the strength.</p> + +<p>It is 'according to the power of His glory.' The +Authorised Version but poorly represents the fulness of +the Apostle's thought, which is more adequately and accurately +expressed in the Revised Version. 'His glory' +is the flashing brightness of the divine self-manifestation, +and in that Light resides the strength which is the +standard or measure of the gift to us. The tremendous +force of the sunbeam which still falls so gently on a +sleeper's face as not to disturb the closed eyes is but a +parable of the strength which characterises the divine +glory. And wonderful and condemnatory as the thought +is, that power is the unlimited limit of the possibilities +of our possession. His gifts are proportioned to His +resources. While He is rich, can I be poor? The only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103a" id="Page_103a">[103]</a></span> +real limit to His bestowal is His own fulness. Of course, +at each moment, our capacity of receiving is for the +time being the practical limit of our possession, but that +capacity varies indefinitely, and may be, and should +be, indefinitely and continuously increasing. It is an +elastic boundary, and hence we may go on making our +own as much as we will, and progressively more and +more, of God's strength. He gives it all, but there is a +tragical difference between the full cup put into our +hands and the few drops carried to our lips. The key +of the treasure-chamber is in our possession, and on each +of us His gracious face smiles the permission which His +gracious lips utter in words, 'Be it unto thee even as +thou wilt.' If we are conscious of defect, if our weakness +is beaten by the assaults of temptation, or crushed +by sorrows that ride it down in a fierce attack, the +fault is our own. We have, if we choose to make it our +own and to use it as ours, more than enough to make +us 'more than conquerors' over all sins and all sorrows.</p> + +<p>But when we contrast what we have by God's gift +and what we have in our personal experience and +use in our daily life, the contrast may well bring +shame, even though the contrast brings to us hope +to lighten the shame. The average experience of +present-day Christians reminds one of the great tanks +that may be seen in India, that have been suffered to +go to ruin, and so an elaborate system of irrigation +comes to nothing, and the great river that should have +been drawn off into them runs past them, all but +unused. Repair them and keep the sluices open, and +all will blossom again.</p> + +<p>III. The great purpose of this strength.</p> + +<p>'Patience and longsuffering with joyfulness' seems +at first but a poor result of such a force, but it comes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104a" id="Page_104a">[104]</a></span> +from a heart that was under no illusions as to the +facts of human life, and it finds a response in us all. +It may be difficult to discriminate 'patience' from +'longsuffering,' but the general notion here is that +one of the highest uses for which divine strength is +given to us, is to make us able to meet the antagonism +of evil without its shaking our souls. He who +patiently endures without despondency or the desire +to 'recompense evil for evil,' and to whom by faith +even 'the night is light about him,' is far on the way +to perfection. God is always near us, but never nearer +than when our hearts are heavy and our way rough +and dark. Our sorrows make rents through which +His strength flows. We can see more of heaven when +the leaves are off the trees. It is a law of the Divine +dealings that His strength is 'made perfect in weakness.' +God leads us in to a darkened room to show us +His wonders.</p> + +<p>That strength is to be manifested by us in 'patience +and longsuffering,' both of which are to have blended +with them a real though apparently antagonistic joy. +True and profound grief is not opposed to such patience, +but the excess of it, the hopeless and hysterical outbursts +certainly are. We are all like the figures in +some old Greek temples which stand upright with +their burdens on their heads. God's strength is given +that we may bear ours calmly, and upright like these +fair forms that hold up the heavy architecture as if +it were a feather, or like women with water-jars on +their heads, which only make their carriage more +graceful and their step more firm.</p> + +<p>How different the patience which God gives by His +own imparted strength, from the sullen submission or +hysterical abandonment to sorrow, or the angry rebel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105a" id="Page_105a">[105]</a></span>lion +characterising Godless grief! Many of us think +that we can get on very well in prosperity and fine +weather without Him. We had better ask ourselves +what we are going to do when the storm comes, which +comes to all some time or other.</p> + +<p>The word here rendered 'patience' is more properly +'perseverance.' It is not merely a passive but an +active virtue. We do not receive that great gift of +divine strength to bear only, but also to work, and +such work is one of the best ways of bearing and one +of the best helps to doing so. So in our sorrows and +trials let us feel that God's strength is not all given us +to be expended in our own consolation, but also to be +used in our plain duties. These remain as imperative +though our hearts are beating like hammers, and +there is no more unwise and cowardly surrender to +trouble than to fling away our tools and fold our hands +idly on our laps.</p> + +<p>But Paul lays a harder duty on us even in promising +a great gift to us, when he puts before us an ideal of +joy mingling with patience and longsuffering. The +command would be an impossible one if there were +not the assurance that we should be 'strengthened +with all might.' We plainly need an infusion of diviner +strength than our own, if that strange marriage of joy +and sorrow should take place, and they should at once +occupy our hearts. Yet if His strength be ours we +shall be strong to submit and acquiesce, strong to look +deep enough to see His will as the foundation of all +and as ever busy for our good, strong to hope, strong +to discern the love at work, strong to trust the Father +even when He chastens. And all this will make it +possible to have the paradox practically realised +in our own experience, 'As sorrowful yet always<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106a" id="Page_106a">[106]</a></span> +rejoicing.' One has seen potassium burning underwater. +Our joy may burn under waves of sorrow. Let us +bring our weakness to Jesus Christ and grasp Him as +did the sinking Peter. He will breathe His own grace +into us, and speak to our feeble and perchance sorrowful +hearts, as He had done long before Paul's words to +the Colossians, 'My grace is sufficient for thee, and my +strength is made perfect in weakness.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THANKFUL FOR INHERITANCE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the +inheritance of the saints in light.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> i. 12 (R.V.)</p></div> + + +<p>It is interesting to notice how much the thought of +inheritance seems to have been filling the Apostle's +mind during his writing of Ephesians and Colossians. +Its recurrence is one of the points of contact between +them. For example, in Ephesians, we read, 'In whom +also were made a heritage' (i. 11); 'An earnest of our +inheritance' (i. 14); 'His inheritance in the saints' +(i. 18); 'Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ' (v. 5). +We notice too that in the address to the Elders of +the Church at Ephesus, we read of 'the inheritance +among all them that are sanctified' (Acts 20-32).</p> + +<p>In the text the climax of the Apostle's prayer is +presented as thankfulness, the perpetual recognition +of the Divine hand in all that befalls us, the perpetual +confidence that all which befalls us is good, and the +perpetual gushing out towards Him of love and praise. +The highest diligence, the most strenuous fruit-bearing, +and the most submissive patience and longsuffering +would be incomplete without the consecration of a +grateful heart, and the noblest beauty of a Christian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107a" id="Page_107a">[107]</a></span> +character would lack its rarest lustre. This crown of +Christian perfectness the Apostle regards as being +called into action mainly by the contemplation of that +great act and continuous work of God's Fatherly love +by which he makes us fit for our portion of the inheritance +which the same love has prepared for us. +That inheritance is the great cause for Christian thankfulness; +the more immediate cause is His preparation +of us for it. So we have three points here to consider; +the inheritance; God's Fatherly preparation of His +children for it; the continual temper of thankfulness +which these should evoke.</p> + +<p>I. The Inheritance.</p> + +<p>The frequent recurrence of this idea in the Old +Testament supplies Paul with a thought which he uses +to set forth the most characteristic blessings of the +New. The promised land belonged to Israel, and each +member of each tribe had his own little holding in +the tribal territory. Christians have in common the +higher spiritual blessings which Christ brings, and +Himself is, and each individual has his own portion of, +the general good.</p> + +<p>We must begin by dismissing from our minds the +common idea, which a shallow experience tends to +find confirmed by the associations ordinarily attached +to the word 'inheritance,' that it is entered upon by +death. No doubt, that great change does effect an +unspeakable change in our fitness for, and consequently +in our possession of, the gifts which we receive from +Christ's pierced hands, and, as the Apostle has told us, +the highest of these possessed on earth is but the +'earnest of the inheritance'; but we must ever bear in +mind that the distinction between a Christian life on +earth and one in heaven is by no means so sharply<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108a" id="Page_108a">[108]</a></span> +drawn in Scripture as it generally is by us, and that +death has by no means so great importance as we +faithlessly attribute to it. The life here and hereafter +is like a road which passes the frontiers of two kingdoms +divided by a bridged river, but runs on in the +same direction on both sides of the stream. The flood +had to be forded until Jesus bridged it. The elements +of the future and the present are the same, as the +apostolic metaphor of the 'earnest of the inheritance' +teaches us. The handful of soil which constitutes +the 'arles' is part of the broad acres made over +by it.</p> + +<p>We should be saved from many unworthy conceptions +of the future life, if we held more steadfastly to the great +truth that God Himself is the portion of the inheritance. +The human spirit is too great and too exacting +to be satisfied with anything less than Him, and the +possession of Him opens out into every blessedness, +and includes all the minor joys and privileges that +can gladden and enrich the soul. We degrade the +future if we think of it only, or even chiefly, as a state +in which faculties are enlarged, and sorrows and sins +are for ever ended. Neither such negatives as 'no night +there,' 'neither sorrow nor crime,' 'no more pain,' nor +such metaphors as 'white robes' and 'golden crowns' +and 'seats on thrones' are enough. We are 'heirs of +God,' and only as we possess Him, and know that we +are His, and He is ours, are we 'rich to all intents of +bliss.' That inheritance is here set forth as being 'in +light' and as belonging to saints. Light is the element +and atmosphere of God. He is in light. He is the +fountain of all light. He is light; perfect in wisdom, +perfect in purity. The sun has its spots, but in Him +is no darkness at all. Moons wax and wane, shadows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109a" id="Page_109a">[109]</a></span> +of eclipse fall, stars have their time to set, but 'He +is the Father of lights with whom can be no +variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.' +All that light is focussed in Jesus the Light of the +world. That Light fills the earth, but here it shineth +in darkness that obstructs its rays. But there must +be a place and a time where the manifestation of +God corresponds with the reality of God, where His +beams pour out and there is nothing hid from +the heat thereof, nothing which they do not bless, +nothing which does not flash them back rejoicing. +There is a land whereof the Lord God is the Light. +In it is the inheritance of the 'saints,' and in its light +live the nations of the saved, and have God for their +companion. All darkness of ignorance, of sorrow, and +of sin will fade away as the night flees and ceases to +be, before the rising sun.</p> + +<p>The phrase 'to be partakers' is accurately rendered +'for the portion,' and carries a distinct allusion to the +partition of the promised land to Israel by which each +man had his lot or share in the common inheritance. +So the one word inheritance brings with it blessed +thoughts of a common possession of a happy society in +which no man's gain is another's loss, and all envyings, +rivalries, and jealousies have ceased to be, and the other +word, 'the portion,' suggests the individual possession +by each of his own vision and experience. Each man's +'portion' is capable of growth; each has as much of +God as he can hold. The measure of his desire is the +measure of his capacity. There are infinite differences +in the 'portions' of the saints on earth, and heaven is +robbed of one of its chief charms unless we recognise +that there are infinite differences among the saints +there. For both states the charter by which the portion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110a" id="Page_110a">[110]</a></span> +is held is 'Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,' and in +both the law holds 'To him that hath shall be given.'</p> + +<p>II. The Fatherly preparation for the Inheritance.</p> + +<p>It is obvious from all which we have been saying that +without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The +inheritance being what it is, the possession, the enjoyment +of communion with a Holy God, it is absolutely +incapable of being entered upon by any who are unholy. +That is true about both the partial possession of the +earnest of it here and of its fulness hereafter. In the +present life all tolerated sin bars us out from enjoying +God, and in the future nothing can enter that defileth +nor whatsoever worketh or maketh a lie. There are +many people who think that they would like 'to go to +heaven,' but who would find it difficult to answer such +questions as these: Do you like to think of God? Do +you find any joy in holy thoughts? What do you feel +about prayer? Does the name of Christ make your +heart leap? Is righteousness your passion? If you +have to answer these questions with a silence which is +the saddest negative, what do you think you would do +in heaven? I remember that the Greenlanders told +the Moravian missionaries who were trying to move +them by conventional pictures of its delights, that the +heaven which these pious souls had painted would not +do for them, for there were no seals there. There +are thousands of us who, if we spoke the truth, +would say the same thing, with the necessary variations +arising from our environment. There is not a spinning-mill +in it all. How would some of us like that? There is +not a ledger, nor a theatre, no novels, no amusements. +Would it not be intolerable ennui to be put down in +such an order of things? You would be like the Israelites, +loathing 'this light bread' and hungering for the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111a" id="Page_111a">[111]</a></span> +strong-smelling and savoury-tasting leeks and garlic, +even if in order to taste them you had to be slaves again.</p> + +<p>Heaven would be no heaven to you if you could go +there and be thus minded. But you could not. God +Himself cannot carry men thither but by fitting them +for it. It is not a place so much as a state, and the +mighty hand that works on one side of the thick curtain +preparing the inheritance in light for the saints, +is equally busy on this side making the saints meet +for the inheritance.</p> + +<p>I do not wish to enter here on grammatical niceties, +but I must point out that the form of the word which +the Apostle employs to express it points to an act in +the past which still runs on.</p> + +<p>The Revised Version's rendering, 'made us meet,' is +preferable to the Authorised Version's, because of its +omission of the 'hath' which relegates the whole process +of preparation to the past. And it is of importance to +recognise that the difference between these two representations +of the divine preparation is not a piece of +pedantry, for that preparation has indeed its beginnings +in the past of every Christian soul, but is continuous +throughout its whole earthly experience. There is the +great act of forgiveness and justifying which is cotemporaneous +with the earliest and most imperfect faith, +and there is the being born again, the implanting of a +new life which is the life of Christ Himself, and has no +spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing. That new life is +infantile, but it is there, the real man, and it will grow +and conquer. Take an extreme case and suppose a man +who has just received forgiveness for his past and the +endowment of a new nature. Though he were to die +at that moment he would still in the basis of his being +and real self be meet for the inheritance. He who truly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112a" id="Page_112a">[112]</a></span> +trusts in Jesus is passed from death unto life, though +the habits of sins which are forgiven still cling to him, +and his new life has not yet exercised a controlling +power or begun to build up character. So Christians +ought not to think that, because they are conscious of +much unholiness, they are not ready for the inheritance. +The wild brigand through whose glazing eyeballs faith +looked out to his fellow-sufferer on the central cross +was adjudged meet to be with him in Paradise, and if +all his deeds of violence and wild outrages on the laws +of God and man did not make him unmeet, who amongst +us need write bitter things against himself? The preparation +is further effected through all the future +earthly life. The only true way to regard everything +that befalls us here is to see in it the Fatherly discipline +preparing us for a fuller possession of a richer inheritance. +Gains and losses, joys and sorrows, and all the +endless variety of experiences through which we all +have to pass, are an unintelligible mystery unless we +apply to them this solution, 'He for our profit that we +might be partakers of His holiness.' It is not a blind +Fate or a still blinder Chance that hurtles sorrows and +changes at us, but a loving Father; and we do not grasp +the meaning of our lives unless we feel, even about +their darkest moments, that the end of them all is to +make us more capable of possessing more of Himself.</p> + +<p>III. The thankfulness which these thoughts should +evoke.</p> + +<p>Thankfulness ought to be a sweet duty. It is a joy +to cherish gratitude. Generous hearts do not need to +be told to be thankful, and they who are only thankful +to order are not thankful at all. In nothing is the +ordinary experience of the ordinary Christian more +defective, and significant of the deficiencies of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113a" id="Page_113a">[113]</a></span> +faith, than in the tepidness and interruptedness of their +gratitude. The blessings bestowed are continuous and +unspeakable. The thanks returned are grudging and +scanty. The river that flows from God is 'full of +water' and pours out unceasingly, and all that we +return is a tiny trickle, often choked and sometimes +lost in the sands.</p> + +<p>Our thankfulness ought to be constant. The fire on +the altar should never be quenched. The odour of the +sweet-smelling incense should ever ascend. Why is it +that we have so little of this grace which the Apostle +in our text regards as the precious stone that binds all +Christian graces together, the sparkling crest of the +wave of a Christian life? Mainly because we have so +little of the habit of regarding all things as God's +Fatherly discipline and meditating on that for which +they are making us meet. We need a far more habitual +contemplation of our inheritance, of our experience as +lovingly given by God to fit us for it and of the darkest +hours which would otherwise try our faith and silence +our praise as necessary parts of that preparation. If +this be our habitual attitude of mind, and these be ever +present to us, our song will be always of His mercy and +our whole lives a thank-offering.</p> + +<p>The text is a prophecy describing the inheritance in +its perfect form. Earthly life must be ended before it +is fully understood. Down in the valleys we praised +God, but tears and mysteries sometimes saddened our +songs; but now on the summit surveying all behind, and +knowing by a blessed eternity of experience to what it +has led, even an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled +and that fadeth not away, we shall praise Him with a +new song for ever.</p> + +<p>Thankfulness is the one element of worship common<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114a" id="Page_114a">[114]</a></span> +to earth and heaven, to angels and to us. Whilst they +sing, 'Bless the Lord all ye His hosts,' redeemed men +have still better reason to join in the chorus and +answer, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'I also labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me +mightily.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> i. 29.</p></div> + + +<p>I have chosen this text principally because it brings +together the two subjects which are naturally before +us to-day. All 'Western Christendom,' as it is called, is +to-day commemorating the Pentecostal gift. My text +speaks about that power that 'worketh in us mightily.' +True, the Apostle is speaking in reference to the fiery +energy and persistent toil which characterised him in +proclaiming Christ, that he might present men perfect +before Him. But the same energy which he expended +on his apostolic office he expended on his individual +personality. And he would not have discharged the +one unless he had first laboured on the other. And +although in a letter contemporary with this one from +which my text is taken he speaks of himself as no +longer young, but 'such an one as Paul the aged, and +likewise, also a prisoner of Jesus Christ,' the young +spirit was in him, and the continual pressing forward +to unattained heights. And that is the spirit, not only +of a section of the Church divided from the rest by +youth and by special effort, but of the whole Church +if it is worth calling a Church, and unless it is thus +instinct, it is a mere dead organisation.</p> + +<p>So I hope that what few things I have to say may +apply to, and be felt to be suitable by all of us, whether +we are nominally Christian Endeavourers or not. If<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115a" id="Page_115a">[115]</a></span> +we are Christian people, we are such. If we are not +endeavouring, shall I venture to say we are not Christians? +At any rate, we are very poor ones.</p> + +<p>Now here, then, are two plain things, a great universal +Christian duty and a sufficient universal +Christian endowment. 'I work striving'; that is the +description of every true Christian. 'I work striving, +according to His working, who worketh in me +mightily': there is the great gift which makes the +work and the striving possible. Let me briefly deal, +then, with these two.</p> + +<p>I. The solemn universal Christian obligation.</p> + +<p>Now the two words which the Apostle employs here +are both of them very emphatic. 'His words were +half battles,' was said about Luther. It may be as +truly said about Paul. And that word 'work' which he +employs, means, not work with one hand, or with a +delicate forefinger, but it means toil up to the verge of +weariness. The notion of fatigue is almost, I might +say, uppermost in the word as it is used in the New +Testament. Some people like to 'labour' so as never to +turn a hair, or bring a sweat-drop on to their foreheads. +That is not Christian Endeavour. Work that does not +'take it out of you' is not worth doing. The other +word 'striving' brings up the picture of the arena +with the combatants' strain of muscle, their set teeth, +their quick, short breathing, their deadly struggle. +That is Paul's notion of Endeavour. Now 'Endeavour,' +like a great many other words, has a baser and a +nobler side to it. Some people, when they say, 'I will +endeavour,' mean that they are going to try in a half-hearted +way, with no prospect of succeeding. That is +not Christian Endeavour. The meaning of the word—for +the expression in my text might just as well be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116a" id="Page_116a">[116]</a></span> +rendered 'endeavouring' as 'striving'—is that of a +buoyant confident effort of all the concentrated powers, +with the certainty of success. That is the endeavour +that we have to cultivate as Christian men. And there +is only one field of human effort in which that absolute +confidence that it shall not be in vain is anything +but presumptuous arrogance; namely, in the effort +after making ourselves what God means us to be, +what Jesus Christ longs for us to be, what the Spirit +of God is given to us in order that we should be. 'We +shall <i>not</i> fail,' ought to be the word of every man and +woman when they set themselves to the great task of +working out, in their own characters and personalities, +the Divine intention which is made a Divine +possibility by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the gift +of the Divine Spirit.</p> + +<p>So then what we come to is just this, dear brethren, +if we are Christians at all, we have to make a business +of our religion; to go about it as if we meant work. Ah! +what a contrast there is between the languid way in +which Christian men pursue what the Bible designates +their 'calling' and that in which men with far paltrier +aims pursue theirs! And what a still sadder contrast +there is between the way in which we Christians go +about our daily business, and the way in which we go +about our Christian life! Why, a man will take more +pains to learn some ornamental art, or some game, +than he will ever take to make himself a better +Christian. The one is work. What is the other? To +a very large extent dawdling and make-believe.</p> + +<p>You remember the old story,—it may raise a smile, +but there should be a deep thought below the smile,—of +the little child that said as to his father that 'he was a +Christian, but he had not been working much at it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117a" id="Page_117a">[117]</a></span> +lately.' Do not laugh. It is a great deal too true of—I +will not venture to say what percentage of—the +professing Christians of this day. Work at your religion. +That is the great lesson of my text. Endeavour +with confidence of success. The Book of Proverbs +says: 'He that is slothful in his work is brother to him +that is a great waster,' and that is true. A man that +does 'the work of the Lord negligently' is scarcely to +be credited with doing it at all. Dear friends, young +or old, if you name the name of Christ, be in earnest, +and make earnest work of your Christian character.</p> + +<p>And now may I venture two or three very plain +exhortations? First, I would say—if you mean to +make your Christian life a piece of genuine work and +striving, the first thing that you have to do is to +endeavour in the direction of keeping its aim very +clear before you. There are many ways in which we +may state the goal of the Christian life, but let us put +it now into the all-comprehensive form of likeness to +Jesus Christ, by entire conformity to His Example and +full interpretation of His life. I do not say 'Heaven'; +I say 'Christ.'</p> + +<p>That is our aim, the loftiest idea of development +that any human spirit can grasp, and rising high above +a great many others which are noble but incomplete. +The Christian ideal is the greatest in the universe. +There is no other system of thought that paints man +as he is, so darkly; there is none that paints man as he +is meant to be, in such radiant colours. The blacks upon +the palette of Christianity are blacker, and the whites +are whiter, and the golden is more radiant, than any +other painter has ever mixed. And so just because the +aim which lies before the least and lowest of us, possessing +the most imperfect and rudimentary Christianity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118a" id="Page_118a">[118]</a></span> +is so transcendent and lofty, it is hard to keep it clear +before our eyes, especially when all the shabby little +necessities of daily life come in to clutter up the foreground, +and hide the great distance. Men may live up +at Darjeeling there on the heights for weeks, and +never see the Himalayas towering opposite. The lower +hills are clear; the peaks are wreathed in cloud. So +the little aims, the nearer purposes, stand out distinct +and obtrusive, and force themselves, as it were, upon +our eyeballs, and the solemn white Throne of the +Eternal away across the marshy levels, is often hid, +and it needs an effort for us to keep it clear before us. +One of the main reasons for much that is unsatisfactory +in the spiritual condition of the average +Christian of this day is precisely that he has not +burning ever before him there, the great aim to which +he ought to be tending. So he gets loose and diffused, +and vague and uncertain. That is what Paul tells you +when he proposes himself as an example: 'So run I, +not as uncertainly,' The man who knows where he is +running makes a bee-line for the goal. If he is not +sure of his destination, of course he zigzags. 'So fight +I, not as one that beateth the air'—if I see my +antagonist I can hit him. If I do not see him clearly +I strike like a swordsman in the dark, at random, and +my sword comes back unstained. If you want to make +the harbour, keep the harbour lights always <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'clea'">clear</ins> +before you, or you will go yawing about, and washing +here and there, in the trough of the wave, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'an'">and</ins> +the tempest will be your master. If you do not <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'kno'">know</ins> +where you are going you will have to say, like the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'me'">men</ins> +in the old story in the Old Book, 'Thy servant went +no whither.' If you are going to endeavour, endeavour +first to keep the goal clear before you.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119a" id="Page_119a">[119]</a></span></p> + +<p>And endeavour next to keep up communion with +Jesus Christ, which is the secret of all peaceful and of +all noble living. And endeavour next after concentration. +And what does that mean? It means that +you have to detach yourself from hindrances. It +means that you have to prosecute the Christian aim +all through the common things of Christian life. If it +were not possible to be pursuing the great aim of likeness +to Jesus Christ, in the veriest secularities of +the most insignificant and trivial occupations, then it +would be no use talking about that being our aim. If +we are not making ourselves more like Jesus Christ by +the way in which we handle our books, or our pen, or our +loom, or our scalpel, or our kitchen utensils, then there +is little chance of our ever making ourselves like Jesus +Christ. For it is these trifles that make life, and to +concentrate ourselves on the pursuit of the Christian +aim is, in other words, to carry that Christian aim +into every triviality of our daily lives.</p> + +<p>There are three Scripture passages which set forth +various aspects of the aim that we have before us, and +from each of these aspects deduce the one same lesson. +The Apostle says 'giving all diligence, add to your +faith virtue,' etc., 'for if ye do these things ye shall +never fail.' He also exhorts: 'Give diligence to make +your calling and election sure.' And finally he says: +'Be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, +without spot, blameless.' <i>There</i> are three aspects of the +Christian course, and the Christian aim, the addition +to our faith of all the clustering graces and virtues and +powers that can be hung upon it, like jewels on the +neck of a queen; the making our calling and election +sure, and the being found at last tranquil, spotless, +stainless, and being found so by Him. These great<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120a" id="Page_120a">[120]</a></span> +aims are incumbent on all Christians, they require +diligence, and ennoble the diligence which they +require.</p> + +<p>So, brethren, we have all to be Endeavourers if we +are Christians, and that to the very end of our lives. +For our path is the only path on which men tread that +has for its goal an object so far off that it never can +be attained, so near that it can ever be approached. +This infinite goal of the Christian Endeavour means +inspiration for youth, and freshness for old age, and +that man is happy who can say: 'Not as though I had +already attained' at the end of a long life, and can say +it, not because he has failed, but because in a measure +he has succeeded. Other courses of life are like the +voyages of the old mariners which were confined within +the narrow limits of the Mediterranean, and steered +from headland to headland. But the Christian passes +through the jaws of the straits, and comes out on a +boundless sunlit ocean where, though he sees no land +ahead, he knows there is a peaceful shore, beyond the +western waves. 'I work striving.'</p> + +<p>Now one word as to the other thought that is here, +and that is</p> + +<p>II. The all-sufficient Christian gift.</p> + +<p>'According to His working, which worketh in me +mightily.' I need not discuss whether 'His' in my text +refers to God or to Christ. The thing meant is the +operation upon the Christian spirit, of that Divine +Spirit whose descent the Church to-day commemorates. +At this stage of my sermon I can only remind +you in a word, first of all, that the Apostle here is +arrogating to himself no special or peculiar gift, is not +egotistically setting forth something which he possessed +and other Christian people did not—that power<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121a" id="Page_121a">[121]</a></span> +which, 'working in him mightily,' worked in all his +brethren as well. It was his conviction and his teaching—would +that it were more operatively and vitally the +conviction of all professing Christians to-day, and +would that it were more conspicuously, and in due +proportion to the rest of Christian truth, the teaching +of all Christian teachers to-day!—that that Divine +power is in the very act of faith received and implanted +in every believing soul. 'Know ye not,' the Apostle +could say to his hearers, 'that ye have the Spirit of +God, except ye be reprobates.' I doubt whether the +affirmative response would spring to the lips of all +professing or real Christians to-day as swiftly as it +would have done then. And I cannot help feeling, and +feeling with increasing gravity of pressure as the days +go on, that the thing that our churches, and we as +individuals, perhaps need most to-day, is the replacing +of that great truth—I do not call it a 'doctrine,' that +is cold, it is experience—in its proper place. They who +believe on Him do receive a new life, a supernatural +communication of the new Spirit, to be the very power +that rules in their lives.</p> + +<p>It is an inward gift. It is not like the help that +men can render us, given from without and apprehended +and incorporated with ourselves through the +medium of the understanding or of the heart. There +is an old story in the history of Israel about a young +king that was bid by the prophet to bend his bow +against the enemies of Israel, as a symbol; and the +old prophet put his withered, skinny brown hand on +the young man's fleshy one, and then said to him, +'Shoot.' But this Divine Spirit comes to strengthen us +in a more intimate and blessed fashion than that, for +it glides into our hearts and dwells in our spirits, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122a" id="Page_122a">[122]</a></span> +our work, as my text says, is His working. This +'working within' is stated in the original of my text +most emphatically, for it is literally 'the inworking +which inworketh in me mightily.'</p> + +<p>So, dear brethren, the first direct aim of all our +endeavour ought to be to receive and to keep and to +increase our gift of that Divine Spirit. The work and +the striving of which my text speaks would be sheer +slavery unless we had that help. It would be impossible +of accomplishment unless we had it.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="If any power we have, it is to ill"> +<tr><td align='left'>'If any power we have, it is to ill,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">And all the power is Thine, to do and eke to will.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Let us, then, begin our endeavour, not by working, +but by receiving. Is not that the very meaning of the +doctrine that we are always talking about, that men +are saved, not by works but by faith? Does not that +mean that the first step is reception, and the first +requisite is receptiveness, and that then, and after +that, second and not first, come working and striving? +To keep our hearts open by desire, to keep them open +by purity, are the essentials. The dove will not come +into a fouled nest. It is said that they forsake polluted +places. But also we have to use the power which is +inwrought. Use is the way to increase all gifts, from +the muscle in your arm to the Christian life in your +spirit. Use it, and it grows. Neglect it, and it vanishes, +and like the old Jewish heroes, a man may go forth to +exercise himself as of old time, and know not that the +Spirit of God hath departed from him. Dear friends, +do not bind yourselves to the slavery of Endeavour, +until you come into the liberty and wealth of receiving. +He gives first, and then says to you, 'Now go to work, +and keep that good thing which is committed unto +thee.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123a" id="Page_123a">[123]</a></span></p> + +<p>There is but one thought more in this last part of +my text, which I must not leave untouched, and that +is that this sufficient and universal gift is not only the +means by which the great universal duty can be discharged, +but it ought to be the measure in which it is +discharged. 'I work according to the working in me.' +That is, all the force that came into Paul by that +Divine Spirit, came out of Paul in his Christian +conduct, and the gift was not only the source, but +also the measure, of this man's Christian Endeavour. +Is that true about us? They say that the steam-engine +is a most wasteful application of power, that a great +deal of the energy which is generated goes without +ever doing any work. They tell us that one of the +great difficulties in the way of economic application of +electricity is the loss which comes through using +accumulators. Is not that like a great many of us? +So much power poured into us; so little coming out +from us and translated into actual work! Such a +'rushing mighty wind,' and the air about us so heavy +and stagnant and corrupt! Such a blaze of fire, and +we so cold! Such a cataract of the river of the water +of life, and our lips parched and our crops seared and +worthless! Ah, brethren! when we look at ourselves, +and when we think of the condition of so many of the +churches to which we belong, the old rebuke of the +prophet comes back to us in this generation, 'Thou +that art named the House of Israel, is the Spirit of the +Lord straitened? Are these His doings?' We have an +all-sufficient power. May our working and striving be +according to it, and may we work mightily, being +'strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124a" id="Page_124a">[124]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHRISTIAN PROGRESS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and +builded up in Him.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> ii. 6, 7 (R.V.).</p></div> + + +<p>It is characteristic of Paul that he should here use +three figures incongruous with each other to express +the same idea, the figures of walking, being rooted, and +built up. They, however, have in common that they +all suggest an initial act by which we are brought into +connection with Christ, and a subsequent process flowing +from and following on it. Receiving Christ, being +rooted in Him, being founded on Him, stand for the +first; walking in Him, growing up from the root in +Him, being built up on Him as foundation, stand for +the second. Fully expressed then, the text would run, +'As ye have received Christ, so walk in Him; as ye +have been rooted in Him, so grow up in Him; as ye +have been founded on Him, so be builded up.' These +three clauses present the one idea in slightly different +forms. The first expresses Christian progress as the +manifestation before the world of an inward possession, +the exhibition in the outward life of a treasure +hid in the heart. The second expresses the same progress +as the development by its own vital energy of +the life of Christ in the soul. The third expresses the +progress as the addition, by conscious efforts, of portion +after portion to the character, which is manifestly +incomplete until the headstone crowns the structure. +We may then take the passage before us as exhibiting +the principles of Christian progress.</p> + +<p>I. The origin of all, or how Christian progress +begins.</p> + +<p>These three figures, receiving, rooted, founded, all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125a" id="Page_125a">[125]</a></span> +express a great deal more than merely accepting +certain truths about Him. The acceptance of truths +is the means by which we come to what is more than +any belief of truths. We possess Christ when we +believe with a true faith in Him. We are rooted in +Him. His life flows into us. We draw nourishment +from that soil. We are built on Him, and in our +compact union find a real support to a life which is +otherwise baseless and blown about like thistledown +by every breath. The union which all these metaphors +presupposes is a vital connection; the possession +which is the first step in the Christian life is a real +possession.</p> + +<p>There is no progress without that initial step. Our +own experience tells us but too plainly and loudly that +we need the impartation of a new life, and to be set on +a new foundation, if we are ever to be anything else +than failures and blots.</p> + +<p>There is sure to be progress if the initial step has +been taken. If Christ has been received, the life possessed +will certainly manifest itself. It will go on to +perfection. The union effected will work on through +the whole character and nature. It is the beginning +of all; it is only the beginning.</p> + +<p>II. The manner of Christian progress or in what it +consists.</p> + +<p>It consists in a more complete possession of Him, +in a more constant approximation to Him, and a more +entire appropriation of Him. Christian progress is +not a growing up from Christ as starting-point, +but into Christ as goal. All is contained in the first +act by which He is first received; the remainder is +but the working out of that. All our growth in +knowledge and wisdom consists in our knowing what<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126a" id="Page_126a">[126]</a></span> +we have when we receive Christ. We grow in proportion +as we learn to see in Him the centre of all +truth, as the Revealer of God, as the Teacher of man, +as the Interpreter of nature, as the meaning and end +of history, as the Lord of life and death. Morals, +politics, and philosophy flow from Him. His lips and +His life and death proclaim all truth, human and +divine.</p> + +<p>As in wisdom so in character, all progress consists in +coming closer to Jesus and receiving more and more +of His many-sided grace. He is the pattern of all excellence, +the living ideal of whatsoever things are pure, +whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of +good report, virtue incarnate, praise embodied. He +is the power by which we become gradually and +growingly moulded into His likeness. Every part of +our nature finds its best stimulus in Jesus for individuals +and for societies. Christ and growth into Him +is progress, and the only way by which men can be +presented perfect, is that they shall be presented 'perfect +in Christ,' whereunto every man must labour who +would that his labour should not be in vain. That +progress must follow the threefold direction in the +text. There must first be the progressive manifestation +in act and life of the Christ already possessed, 'As +ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.' +There must also be the completer growth in the soul +of the new life already received. As the leaf grows +green and broad, so a Christlike character must grow +not altogether by effort. And there must be a continual +being builded up in Him by constant additions +to the fabric of graces set on that foundation.</p> + +<p>III. The means, or how it is accomplished.</p> + +<p>The first words of our text tell us that 'Ye have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127a" id="Page_127a">[127]</a></span> +received Christ Jesus as Lord,' and all depends on +keeping the channels of communication open so that +the reception may be continuous and progressive. We +must live near and ever nearer to the Lord, and seek +that our communion with Him may be strengthened. +On the other hand, it is not only by the spontaneous +development of the implanted life, but by conscious and +continuous efforts which sometimes involve vigorous +repression of the old self that progress is realised. The +two metaphors of our text have to be united in our +experience. Neither the effortless growth of the tree +nor the toilsome work of the builder suffice to represent +the whole truth. The two sides of deep and still +communion, and of strenuous effort based on that +communion, must be found in the experience of every +Christian who has received Christ, and is advancing +through the imperfect manifestations of earth to the +perfect union with, and perfect assimilation to, the +Lord.</p> + +<p>To all men who are ready to despair of themselves, +here is the way to realise the grandest hopes. Nothing +is too great to be attained by one who, having received +Christ Jesus as Lord, walks in Him, rooted and builded +up in Him, 'a holy temple to the Lord.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>RISEN WITH CHRIST</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where +Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2. Set your affection on things above, not +on things on the earth. 3. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in +God. 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with +Him in glory. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; +fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, +which is idolatry: 6. For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the +children of disobedience. 7. In the which ye also walked sometime, when ye lived +in them. 8. But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, +filthy communication out of your mouth. 9. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye +have put off the old man with his deeds; 10. And have put on the new man, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128a" id="Page_128a">[128]</a></span> +is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him: 11. Where there +is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, +bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12. Put on therefore, as the elect of +God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, +longsuffering; 13. Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any +man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. 14. And +above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. 15. And +let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one +body; and be ye thankful.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> iii. 1-15.</p></div> + + +<p>The resurrection is regarded in Scripture in three +aspects—as a fact establishing our Lord's Messiahship, +as a prophecy of our rising from the dead, and as a +symbol of the Christian life even now. The last is the +aspect under which Paul deals with it here.</p> + +<p>I. Verses 1-4 set forth the wonderful but most real +union of the believer with the risen Christ. We have +said that the Lord's resurrection is regarded as a +symbol, but that is an incomplete representation of +the truth here taught, for Paul believed that the +Christian is so joined to Jesus as that he has, not in +symbol only, but in truth, risen with him. Mark the +emphasis and depth of the expressions setting forth +the believer's unity with his Lord: 'Ye were raised +together with Christ'; 'Ye died, and your life is hid +with Christ.' And these wonderful statements do not +go to the bottom of the fact, for Paul goes beyond even +them, and does not scruple to say that Christ '<i>is</i> +our life.'</p> + +<p>The ground of these great declarations is found in +the fact that faith joins us in most real and close union +to Jesus Christ, so that in His death we die to sin and +the world, and that, even while we live the bodily life +of men here, we have in us another life, derived from +Jesus. Unless our Christianity has grasped that great +truth, it has not risen to the height of New Testament +teaching and Christian privilege. We cannot make +too much of 'Christ our sacrifice,' but some of us make<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129a" id="Page_129a">[129]</a></span> +too little of 'Christ our life,' and thereby fail to understand +in all its fulness that other truth on which they +fasten so exclusively. Union with Christ in the possession +of His life in us, and the consequent rooting of our +lives in Him, is a truth which much of the evangelical +Christianity of this day needs to see more clearly.</p> + +<p>The life is 'hid,' as being united with Jesus, and consequently +withdrawn from the world, which neither +comprehends nor sustains it. A Christian man is bound +to manifest to the utmost of his power what is the +motive and aim of his life; but the devout life is, +like the divine life, a mystery, unrevealed after all +revelation.</p> + +<p>The practical conclusion from this blessed union with +Jesus is that we are, as Christians, bound to be true in +our conduct to the facts of our spiritual life, and to +turn away from the world, which is now not our home, +and set our mind (not only our 'affections') on things +above. Surely the Christ, 'seated on the right hand of +God,' will be as a magnet to draw our conscious being +upwards to Himself. Surely union with Him in His +death will lead us to die to the world which is alien to +us, and to live in aspiration, thought, desire, love, and +obedience with Him in His calm abode, whence He +rules and blesses the souls whom, through their faith, +He has made to live the new life of heaven on earth.</p> + +<p>II. The first consequence of the risen life is negative, +the death or 'putting off' of the old nature, the life +which belongs to and is ruled by earth. Verses 5-9 +solemnly lay on the Christian the obligation to put this +to death. The 'therefore' in verse 5 teaches a great +lesson, for it implies that the union with Jesus by faith +must precede all self-denial which is true to the spirit +of the Gospel. Asceticism of any sort which is not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130a" id="Page_130a">[130]</a></span> +built on the evangelical foundation is thereby condemned, +whether it is practised by Buddhist, or monk, +or Protestant. First be partaker of the new life, and +then put off the old man with his deeds. The withered +fronds of last year are pushed off the fern by the new +ones as they uncurl. That doctrine of life in Christ +is set down as mystical; but it is mysticism of the +wholesome sort, which is intensely practical, and comes +down to the level of the lowest duties,—for observe what +homely virtues are enjoined, and how the things prohibited +are no fantastic classifications of vices, but the +things which all the world owns to be ugly and +wrong.</p> + +<p>We cannot here enlarge on Paul's grim catalogue, +but only point out that it is in two parts, the former +(verses 5, 6) being principally sins of impurity and +unregulated passion, to which is added 'covetousness,' +as the other great vice to which the old nature is +exposed. Lust and greed between them are the +occasions of most of the sins of men. Stop these +fountains, and the streams of evil would shrink to very +small trickles. These twin vices attract the lightning +of God's wrath, which 'cometh' on their perpetrators, +not only in some final future judgment, but here and +now. If we were not blind, we should see that thundercloud +steadily drawing nearer, and ready to launch its +terrors on impure and greedy men. They have set it +in motion, and they are right in the path of the +avalanche which they have loosened.</p> + +<p>The possessors of the risen life are exhorted to put +off these things, not only because of the coming wrath, +but because continuance in them is inconsistent with +their present standing and life (v. 7). They do not +now 'live in them,' but in the heavenly places with the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131a" id="Page_131a">[131]</a></span> +risen Lord, therefore to walk in them is a contradiction. +Our conduct should correspond to our real affinities, +and the surface of our lives should be true to their +depths and roots.</p> + +<p>The second class of vices are those which mar our +intercourse with our fellows,—the more passionate +anger and wrath and the more cold-blooded and deadly +malice, with the many sins of speech.</p> + +<p>III. In verse 9 Paul appends the great reason for all +the preceding injunctions; namely, the fact, already +enlarged on in verses 1-4, of the Christian's death and +new life by union with Jesus. He need only have +stated the one-half of the fact here, but he never can +touch one member of the antithesis without catching +fire, as it were, and so he goes on to dwell on the new +life in Christ, and thus to prepare for the transition to +the exhortation to 'put on' its characteristic excellences. +We note how true to fact, though apparently +illogical, his representation is. He bases the +command to put off the old man on the fact that +Christians have put it off. They are to be what they +are, to work out in daily acts what they did in its full +ideal completeness when by faith they died to self and +were made alive in and to Christ. A strong motive +for a continuous Christian life is the recollection of +the initial Christian act.</p> + +<p>But Paul's fervent spirit blazes up as he thinks of +that new nature which union with Jesus has brought, +and he turns aside from his exhortations to gaze on +that great sight. He condenses volumes into a sentence. +That new man is not only new, but is perpetually +being renewed with a renovation penetrating +more and more deeply, and extending more and more +widely, in the Christian's nature. It is continually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132a" id="Page_132a">[132]</a></span> +advancing in knowledge, and tending towards perfect +knowledge of Christ. It is being fashioned, by a better +creation than that of Adam, into a more perfect +likeness of God than our first father bore in his sinless +freshness. The possession of it gathers all Christians +into a unity in which all distinctions of nationality, +religious privilege, culture, or social condition, are +lost. Paul the Pharisee and the Colossian brethren, +Onesimus the slave and Philemon his master, are one +in Jesus. The new life is one in all its recipients, and +makes them one. The phenomena of the lowest forms +of life are almost repeated in the highest, and, just as +in a coral reef the myriads of workers are not individuals +so much as parts of one living whole, 'so also +is Christ.' The union is the closest possible without +destruction of our individuality.</p> + +<p>IV. The final, positive consequence of the risen life +follows in verses 12-15. Again the Apostle reminds +Christians of what they are, as the great motive for +putting on the new man. The contemplation of +privileges may tend to proud isolation and neglect of +duty to our fellows, but the true effect of knowing +that we are 'God's elect, holy and beloved,' is to soften +our hearts, and to lead us to walk among men as +mirrors and embodiments of God's mercy to us. The +only virtues touched on here are the various manifestations +of love, such as quick susceptibility to +others' sorrows; readiness to help by act as well as to +pity in word; lowliness in estimating one's own claims, +which will lead to bearing evils without resentment +or recompensing the like; and patient forgiveness, +after the pattern and measure of the forgiveness we +have received. All these graces, which would make +earth an Eden, and our hearts temples, and our lives<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133a" id="Page_133a">[133]</a></span> +calm, are outcomes of love, and must never be divorced +from it. Paul uses a striking image to express this +thought of their dependence on it. He likens them to +the various articles of dress, and bids us hold them all +in place with love as a girdle, which keeps together all +the various graces that make up 'perfectness.'</p> + +<p>Thus living in love, we shall be free from the tumult +of spirit which ever attends a selfish life; for nothing +is more certain to stuff a man's pillow with thorns, +and to wreck his tranquillity, than to live in hate and +suspicion, or self-absorbed. 'The peace of Christ' is +ours in the measure in which we live the risen life and +put on the new man, and that peace in our hearts will +rule, that is, will sit there as umpire; for it will instinctively +draw itself into itself, as it were, like the +leaves of a sensitive plant, at the approach of evil, and, +if we will give heed to its warnings, and have nothing +to do with what disturbs it, we shall be saved from +falling into many a sin. That peace gathers all the +possessors of the new life into blessed harmony. It is +peace with God, with ourselves, and with all our +brethren; and the fact that all Christians are, by their +common life, members of the one body, lays on them +all the obligation to keep the unity in the bond of +peace. And for all these great blessings, especially +for that union with Jesus which gives us a share in +his risen life, thankfulness should ever fill our hearts +and make all our days and deeds the sacrifice of praise +unto him continually.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134a" id="Page_134a">[134]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>RISEN WITH CHRIST</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where +Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not +on things on the earth.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> iii. 1, 2.</p></div> + + +<p>There are three aspects in which the New Testament +treats the Resurrection, and these three seem to have +successively come into the consciousness of the Church. +First, as is natural, it was considered mainly in its +bearing on the person and work of our Lord. We may +point for illustration to the way in which the Resurrection +is treated in the earliest of the apostolic discourses, +as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. Then it came, +with further reflection and experience, to be discerned +that it had a bearing on the hope of the immortality of +man. And last of all, as the Christian life deepened, +it came to be discerned that the Resurrection was +the pattern of the life of the Christian disciples. It +was regarded first as a witness, then as a prophecy, +then as a symbol. Three fragments of Scripture +express these three phases: for the first, 'Declared +to be the Son of God with power by the Resurrection +from the dead'; for the second, 'Now is Christ risen +from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them +that slept'; for the third, 'God hath raised us up +together with Him, and made us sit together in the +heavenly places.' I have considered incidentally +the two former aspects in the course of previous +sermons; I wish to turn at present to that final third +one.</p> + +<p>One more observation I must make by way of +introduction, and that is, that the way in which the +Apostle here glides from 'being risen with Christ' +to where 'Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135a" id="Page_135a">[135]</a></span> +confirms what I have pointed out in former discourses, +that the Ascension of Jesus Christ is always considered +in Scripture as being nothing more than the necessary +outcome and issue of the process which began in the +Resurrection. They are not separate facts, but they +are two ends of one process. And so with these +thoughts, that Resurrection develops into Ascension, +and that in both Jesus Christ is the pattern for His +followers, let us turn to the words before us.</p> + +<p>Then we have here</p> + +<p>I. The Christian life considered as a risen life.</p> + +<p>Now, we are all familiar with the great evangelical +point of view from which the death and Resurrection +of Jesus Christ are usually contemplated. To many +of us Christ's sacrifice is nothing more or less than +the means by which the world is reconciled to God, +and Christ's Resurrection nothing more than the seal +which was set by Divinity upon that work. 'Crucified +for our offences, and raised again for our justification,' +as Paul has it—that is the point of view from which +most evangelical or orthodox Christian people are +contented to regard the solemn fact of the Death and +the radiant fact of the Resurrection. You cannot be +too emphatic about these truths, but you may be too +exclusive in your contemplation of them. You do well +when you say that they are the Gospel; you do not +well when you say, as some of you do, that they are +the whole Gospel. For there is another stream of +teaching in the New Testament, of which my text is +an example, and a multitude of other passages that I +cannot refer to now are equally conspicuous instances, +in which that death and that Resurrection are regarded, +not so much in respect to the power which +they exercise in the reconciliation of the world to God,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136a" id="Page_136a">[136]</a></span> +as in their aspect as the type of all noble and true +Christian life. You remember how, when our Lord +Himself touched upon the fruitful issues of His death, +and said: 'Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground +and die, it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth +forth much fruit,' He at once went on to say that +a man that loved his life would lose it; and that +a man that lost his life would find it, and proceeded +to point, even then, and in that connection, to His +Cross as our pattern, declaring: 'If any man serve Me, +let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also +My servant be.'</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Made like Him"> +<tr><td align='left'>'Made like Him, like Him we rise;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>So, then, a risen life is the type of all noble life, and +before there can be a risen life there must have been +a death. True, we may say that the spiritual facts in +a man's experience, which are represented by these +two great symbols of a death and a rising, are but +like the segment of a circle which, seen from the one +side is convex and from the other is concave. But +however loosely we may feel that the metaphors represent +the facts, this is plain, that unless a man dies +to flesh, to self-will, to the world, he never will live +a life that is worth calling life. The condition of all +nobleness and all growth upwards is that we shall +die daily, and live a life that has sprung victorious +from the death of self. All lofty ethics teach that; +and Christianity teaches it, with redoubled emphasis, +because it says to us, that the Cross and the Resurrection +are not merely imaginative emblems of the +noble and the Christian life, but are a great deal +more than that. For, brethren, do not forget—if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137a" id="Page_137a">[137]</a></span> +you do, you will be hopelessly at sea as to large tracts +of blessed Christian truth—that by faith in Jesus +Christ we are brought into such a true deep union +with Him as that, in no mere metaphorical or +analogous sense, but in most blessed reality, there +comes into the believing heart a spark of the life +that is Christ's own, so that with Him we do live, +and from Him we do live a life cognate with His, +who, having risen from the dead, dieth no more, and +over whom death hath no dominion. So it is not +a metaphor only, but a spiritual truth, when we +speak of being risen with Christ, seeing that our +faith, in the measure of its genuineness, its depth and +its operative power upon our characters, will be the +gate through which there shall pass into our deadness +the life that truly is, the life that has nought to do +with death or sin. And this unity with Jesus, brought +about by faith, brings about that the depths of the +Christian life are hid with Christ in God, and that we, +risen with Him, do even now sit 'at the right hand in +heavenly places,' whilst our feet, dusty and sometimes +blood-stained, are journeying along the paths of life. +This is the great teaching of my text, and of a multitude +of other places; and this is the teaching which modern +Christianity, in its exclusive, or all but exclusive, contemplation +of the Cross as the sacrifice for sin, has far +too much forgotten. 'Ye are risen with Christ.'</p> + +<p>Let me remind you that this veritable death and +rising again, which marks the Christian life, is set +forth before us in the initial rite of the Christian +Church. Some of you do not agree with me in my +view, either of what is the mode or of who are the +subjects of that ordinance, but if you know anything +about the question, you know that everybody that has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138a" id="Page_138a">[138]</a></span> +a right to give a judgment agrees with us Baptists in +saying—although they may not think that it carries +anything obligatory upon the practice of to-day—that +the primitive Church baptized by immersion. Now, +the meaning of baptism is to symbolise these two +inseparable moments, dying to sin, to self, to the +world, to the old past, and rising again to newness of +life. Our sacramentarian friends say that, in my +text, it was in baptism that these Colossian Christians +rose again with Christ. I, for my part, do not believe +that, but that baptism was the speaking sign of +what lies at the gate of a true Christian life I have +no manner of doubt.</p> + +<p>So the first thought of our text is not only taught +us in words, but it stands manifest in the ritual of +the Church as it was from the beginning. We die, +and we rise again, through faith and by union through +faith, with Christ 'that died, yea, rather that is risen +again, who is even at the right hand of God.'</p> + +<p>Let me turn, secondly, to</p> + +<p>II. The consequent aims of the Christian life.</p> + +<p>'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things +which are above.' 'To seek' implies the direction of +the external life toward certain objects. It is not +to seek as if perhaps we might not find; it is not even +to seek in the sense of searching for, but it is to seek +in the sense of aiming at. And now do you not think +that if we had burning in our hearts, and conscious +to our experiences, the sense of union with Jesus +Christ the risen Saviour, that would shape the direction +and dictate the aims of our earthly life? As +surely as the elevation of the rocket tube determines +the flight of the projectile that comes from it, so surely +would the inward consciousness, if it were vivid as it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139a" id="Page_139a">[139]</a></span> +ought to be in all Christian people, of that risen life +throbbing within the heart, shape all the external +conduct. It would give us wings and make us soar. +It would make us buoyant, and lift us above the +creeping aims that constitute the objects of life for so +many men.</p> + +<p>But you say, 'Things above: that is an indefinite +phrase. What do you mean by it?' I will tell you +what the Bible means by it. It means Jesus Christ. +All the nebulous splendours of that firmament are +gathered together into one blazing sun. It is a vague +direction to tell a man to shoot up, into an empty +heaven. It is not a vague direction to tell him to seek +the 'things above'; for they are all gathered into +a person. 'Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand +of God,'—that is the meaning of 'things above,' which +are to be the continual aim of the man who is conscious +of a risen life. And of course they will be, for if we +feel, as we ought to feel habitually, though with varying +clearness, that we do carry within us a spark, if +I might use that phrase, of the very life of Jesus +Christ, so surely as fire will spring upwards, so surely +as water will rise to the height of its source, so surely +will our outward lives be directed towards Him, who +is the life of our inward lives, and the goal therefore +of our outward actions?</p> + +<p>Jesus Christ is the summing up of 'the things that +are above'; therefore there stands out clear this one +great truth, that the only aim for a Christian soul, +consistent with the facts of its Christian life, is to be +like Christ, to be with Christ, to please Christ.</p> + +<p>Now, how does that aim—'whether present or +absent we labour that we may be well pleasing to +Him'—how does that aim bear upon the multitude<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140a" id="Page_140a">[140]</a></span> +of inferior and nearer aims which men pursue, and +which Christians have to pursue along with other +men? How does it bear upon them?—Why thus—as +the culminating peak of a mountain-chain bears +on the lower hills that for miles and miles buttress +it, and hold it up, and aspire towards it, and find +their perfection in its calm summit that touches the +skies. The more we have in view, as our aim in life, +Christ who is 'at the right hand of God,' and assimilation, +communion with Him, approbation from Him, +the more will all immediate aims be ennobled and +delivered from the evils that else cleave to them. +They are more when they are second than when they +are first. 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,' and all +your other aims—as students, as thinkers, as scientists, +as men of business, as parents, as lovers, or anything +else—will be greatened by being subordinated to the +conscious aim of pleasing Him. That aim should +persist, like a strain of melody, one long, holden-down, +diapason note, through all our lives. Perfume can be +diffused into the air, and dislodge no atom of that +which it makes fragrant. This supreme aim can be +pursued through, and by means of, all nearer ones, +and is inconsistent with nothing but sin. 'Seek the +things that are above.'</p> + +<p>Lastly, we have here—</p> + +<p>III. The discipline which is needed to secure the +right direction of the life.</p> + +<p>The Apostle does not content himself with pointing +out the aims. He adds practical advice as to how +these aims can be made dominant in our individual +cases, when he says, 'Set your affections on things +above.' Now, many of you will know that 'affections' +is not the full sense of the word that is here employed,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141a" id="Page_141a">[141]</a></span> +and that the Revised Version gives a more adequate +rendering when it says, 'Set your <i>minds</i> on the things +that are above.' A man cannot do with his love +according to his will. He cannot say: '<i>Resolved</i>, that +I love So-and-So'; and then set himself to do it. But +though you cannot act on the emotions directly by +the will, you <i>can</i> act directly on your understandings, +on your thoughts, and your thoughts will act on your +affections. If a man wants to love Jesus Christ he +must think about Him. That is plain English. It is +vain for a man to try to coerce his wandering affections +by any other course than by concentrating his +thoughts. Set your minds on the things that are +above, and that will consolidate and direct the emotions; +and the thoughts and the emotions together +will shape the outward efforts. Seeking the things +that are above will come, and will only come, when +mind and heart and inward life are occupied with Him. +There is no other way by which the externals can be +made right than by setting a watch on the door of +our hearts and minds, and this inward discipline must +be put in force before there will be any continuity or +sureness in the outward aim. We want, for that +direction of the life of which I have been speaking, +a clear perception and a concentrated purpose, and we +shall not get either of these unless we fall back, by +thought and meditation, upon the truths which will +provide them both.</p> + +<p>Brethren, there is another aspect of the connection +between these two parts of our text, which I can +only touch. Not only is the setting of our thoughts +on the things above, the way by which we can make +these the aim of our lives. They are not only aims +to be reached at some future stage of our progress,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142a" id="Page_142a">[142]</a></span> +but they are possessions to be enjoyed at the present. +We may have a present Christ and a present Heaven. +The Christian life is not all aspiration; it is fruition +as well. We have to seek, but even whilst we seek, +we should be conscious that we possess what we are +seeking, even whilst we seek it. Do you know anything +of that double experience of having the things +that are above, here and now, as well as reaching +out towards them?</p> + +<p>I am afraid that the Christian life of this generation +suffers at a thousand points, because it is more +concerned with the ordering of the outward life, and +the manifold activities which this busy generation +has struck out for itself, than it is with the quiet +setting of the mind, in silent sunken depths of contemplation, +on the things that are above. Oh, if we +would think more about them we should aim more +at them; and if we were sure that we possessed them +to-day we should be more eager for a larger possession +to-morrow.</p> + +<p>Dear brethren, we may all have the risen life for +ours, if we will knit ourselves, in humble dependence +and utter self-surrender, to the Christ who died for +us that we might be dead to sin, and rose again that +we might rise to righteousness. And if we have Him, +in any deep and real sense, as the life of our lives, +then we shall be blessed, amid all the divergent and +sometimes conflicting nearer aims, which we have +to pursue, by seeing clear above them that to which +they all may tend, the one aim which corresponds to +a man's nature, which meets his condition, which +satisfies his needs, which can always be attained if it is +followed, and which, when secured, never disappoints. +God help us all to say, 'This one thing I do, and all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143a" id="Page_143a">[143]</a></span> +else I count but dung, that I may know Him, and the +power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His +sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, +if by any means I may attain unto the Resurrection +from the dead!'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WITHOUT AND WITHIN</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Them that are without.'—<span class="smcap">Col.</span> iv. 5.</p></div> + + +<p>That is, of course, an expression for the non-Christian +world; the outsiders who are beyond the pale of the +Church. There was a very broad line of distinction +between it and the surrounding world in the early +Christian days, and the handful of Christians in a +heathen country felt a great gulf between them and +the society in which they lived. That distinction +varies in form, and varies somewhat in apparent +magnitude according as Christianity has been rooted +in a country for a longer or a shorter time, but it +remains, and is as real to-day as it ever was, and +there is neither wisdom nor kindness in ignoring the +distinction.</p> + +<p>The phrase of our text may sound harsh, and might +be used, as it was by the Jews, from whom it was +borrowed, in a very narrow and bitter spirit. Close +corporations of any sort are apt to generate, not only +a wholesome <i>esprit de corps</i>, but a hostile contempt for +outsiders, and Christianity has too often been misrepresented +by its professors, who have looked down +upon those that are without with supercilious and unchristian +self-complacency.</p> + +<p>There is nothing of that sort in the words themselves; +the very opposite is in them. They sound to +me like the expression of a man conscious of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144a" id="Page_144a">[144]</a></span> +security and comfort and blessedness of the home +where he sat, and with his heart yearning for all the +houseless wanderers that were abiding the pelting of +the pitiless storm out in the darkness there. The spirit +and attitude of Christianity to such is one of yearning +pity and urgent entreaty to come in and share in the +blessings. There is deep pathos in the words, as well +as solemn earnestness, and in such a spirit I wish to +dwell upon them now for a short time.</p> + +<p>I. I begin with the question: Who are they that are +outside? And what is it of which they are outside?</p> + +<p>As I have already remarked, the phrase was +apparently borrowed from Judaism, where it meant, +'outside the Jewish congregation,' and its primary +application, as used here, is no doubt to those who are +outside the Christian Church. But do not let us +suppose that that explanation gets to the bottom of +the meaning of the words. It may stand as a partial +answer, but only as partial. The evil tendency which +attends all externalising of truth in the concrete form +of institutions works in full force on the Church, and +ever tempts us to substitute outward connection with +the institution for real possession of the truth of which +the institution is the outgrowth. Therefore I urge +upon you very emphatically—and all the more +earnestly because of the superstitious overestimate +of outward connection with the outward institution of +the Church which is eagerly proclaimed all around us +to-day—that connection with any organised body of +believing men is not 'being within,' and that isolation +from all these is not necessarily 'being without.' Many +a man who is within the organisation is not 'in the +truth,' and, blessed be God, a man may be outside all +churches, and yet be one of God's hidden ones, and may<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145a" id="Page_145a">[145]</a></span> +dwell safe and instructed in the very innermost shrine +of the secret place of the Most High. We hear from +priestly lips, both Roman Catholic and Anglican, that +there is 'no safety outside the Church.' The saying is +true when rightly understood. If by the Church be +meant the whole company of those who are trusting +to Jesus Christ, of course there is no safety outside, +because to trust in Jesus is the one condition of safety, +and unless we belong to those who so trust we shall +not possess the blessing. So understood, the phrase +may pass, and is only objectionable as a round-about +and easily misunderstood way of saying what is much +better expressed by 'Whosoever shall call on the +name of the Lord shall be saved.'</p> + +<p>But that is not the meaning of the phrase in the +mouths of those who use it most frequently. To them +the Church is a visible corporation, and not only so, but +as one of the many organisations into which believers +are moulded, it is distinguished from the others by +certain offices and rites, bishops, priests, and sacraments, +through whom and which certain grace is +supposed to flow, no drop of which can reach a community +otherwise shaped and officered!</p> + +<p>Nor is it only Roman Catholics and Anglicans who +are in danger of externalising personal Christianity +into a connection with a church. The tendency has its +roots deep in human nature, and may be found +flourishing quite as rankly in the least sacerdotal of +the 'sects' as in the Vatican itself. There is very +special need at present for those who understand that +Christianity is an immensely deeper thing than connection +with any organised body of Christians, to speak +out the truth that is in them, and to protest against +the vulgar and fleshly notion which is forcing itself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146a" id="Page_146a">[146]</a></span> +into prominence in this day when societies of all sorts +are gaining such undue power, and religion, like much +else, is being smothered under forms, as was the maiden +in the old story, under the weight of her ornaments. +External relationships and rites cannot determine +spiritual conditions. It does not follow because you +have passed through certain forms, and stand in +visible connection with any visible community, that +you are therefore within the pale and safe. Churches +are appointed by Christ. Men who believe and love +naturally draw together. The life of Christ is in them. +Many spiritual blessings are received through believing +association with His people. Illumination and +stimulus, succour and sympathy pass from one to +another, each in turn experiencing the blessedness of +receiving, and the greater blessedness of giving. No +wise man who has learned of Christ will undervalue +the blessings which come through union with the +outward body which is a consequence of union with +the unseen Head. But men may be in the Church +and out of Christ. Not connection with it, but connection +with Him, brings us 'within.' 'Those that are +without' may be either in or out of the pale of any +church.</p> + +<p>We may put the answer to this question in another +form, and going deeper than the idea of being within a +visible church, we may say, 'those that are without' +are they who are outside the Kingdom of Christ.</p> + +<p>The Kingdom of Christ is not a visible external community. +The Kingdom of Christ, or of God, or of +Heaven, is found wherever human wills obey the Law +of Christ, which is the will of God, the decrees of +Heaven; as Christ himself put it, in profound words—profound +in all their simplicity—when He said, 'Not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147a" id="Page_147a">[147]</a></span> +every man that saith unto Me Lord! Lord! shall enter +into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the +will of My Father, which is in Heaven.' 'Them that +are without' are they whose wills are not bent in +loving obedience to the Lord of their spirit.</p> + +<p>But we must go deeper than that. In the Church? +Yes! In the Kingdom? Yes! But I venture to take +another Scripture phrase as being the one satisfactory +fundamental answer to the question: What is it that +these people are outside of? and I say Christ, Christ. +If you will take your New Testament as your guide, +you will find that the one question upon which all is +suspended is the, Am I, or Am I not, in Jesus Christ? +Am I in Him, or Am I outside of Him? And the +answer to that question is the answer to this other: +Who are they that are without?</p> + +<p>They that are outside are not the 'non-Christian +world' who are not church members; they that are inside +are not the 'Christian world' who make an outward +profession of being in the Kingdom. It is not going down +to the foundation to explain the antithesis so; but 'those +that are within' are those who have simple trust upon +Jesus Christ as the sole and all-sufficient Saviour of +their sinful spirits and the life of their life, and having +entered into that great love, have plunged themselves, +as it were, into the very heart of Jesus; have found in +Him righteousness and peace, forgiveness and love, joy +and salvation. Are you in Christ because you love +Him and trust your soul to Him? If not, if not, you +are amongst those 'that are without,' though you be +ever so much joined to the visible Church of the living +God.</p> + +<p>And then there is one more remark that I must drop +in here before I go on, namely, that whilst I thankfully<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148a" id="Page_148a">[148]</a></span> +admit, and joyfully preach, that the most imperfect, +rudimentary faith knits a man to Jesus Christ, even if +in this life it may be found covered over with a great +deal that is contradictory and inconsistent; on the +other hand there are some people who stand like the +angel in the Apocalypse, with one foot on the solid +land and one upon the restless sea, half in and half out, +undecided, halting—that is, 'limping'—between two +opinions. Some people of that sort are listening to me +now, who have been like that for years. Now I want +them to remember this plain piece of common-sense—half +in is altogether out! So that is my answer to the +first question: Who are they that are outside, and +what is it that they are outside of?</p> + +<p>I cannot carry round these principles and lay them +upon the conscience of each hearer, but I pray you +to listen to your own inmost voice speaking, and +I am mistaken if many will not hear it saying: +'Thou art the man!' Do not stop your ears to that +voice!</p> + +<p>II. Notice next the force of this phrase as implying +the woeful condition of those without.</p> + +<p>I have said that it is full of pathos. It is the language +of a man whose heart yearns as, in the midst of his +own security, he thinks of the houseless wanderers in +the dark and the storm. He thinks pityingly of what +they lose, and of that to which they are exposed.</p> + +<p>There are two or three ways in which I may illustrate +that condition, but perhaps the most graphic and impressive +may be just to recall for a moment three or four +of the Scripture metaphors that fit into this representation: +'Those that are without'; and thus to gain some +different pictures of what the inside and the outside +means in these varying figures.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149a" id="Page_149a">[149]</a></span></p> + +<p>First, then, there is a figure drawn from the Old +Testament which is often applied, and correctly +applied, to this subject—Noah's Ark.</p> + +<p>Think of that safe abode floating across the waters, +whilst all without it was a dreary waste. Without +were death and despair, but those that were within sat +warm and dry and safe and fed and living. The men +that were without, high as they might climb upon +rocks and hills, strong as they might be—when the +dreary rainstorm wept itself dry, 'they were all dead +corpses.' To be in was life, to be out was death.</p> + +<p>That is the first metaphor. Take another. That +singular institution of the old Mosaic system, in which +the man who inadvertently, and therefore without any +guilt or crime of his own, had been the cause of death +to his brother, had provided for him, half on one side +Jordan and half on the other, and dotted over the land, +so that it should not be too far to run to one of them, +Cities of Refuge. And when the wild vendetta of +those days stirred up the next of kin to pursue at his +heels, if he could get inside the nearest of these he was +secure. They that were within could stand at the city +gates and look out upon the plain, and see the pursuer +with his hate glaring from his eyes, and almost feel +his hot breath on their cheeks, and know that though +but a yard from him, his arm durst not touch them. +To be inside was to be safe, to be outside was certain +bloody death.</p> + +<p>That is the second figure; take a third; one which +our Lord Himself has given us. Here is the picture—a +palace, a table abundantly spread, lights and music, +delight and banqueting, gladness and fulness, society +and sustenance. The guests sit close and all partake. +To be within means food, shelter, warmth, festivity,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150a" id="Page_150a">[150]</a></span> +society; to be without, like Lear on the moor, is to +stand the pelting of the storm, weary, stumbling in the +dark, starving, solitary, and sad. Within is brightness +and good cheer; without is darkness, hunger, death.</p> + +<p>That is the third figure. Take a fourth, another +of our Master's. Picture a little rude, stone-built enclosure +with the rough walls piled high, and a narrow +aperture at one point, big enough for one creature to +pass through at a time. Within, huddled together, are +the innocent sheep; without, the lion and the bear. +Above, the vault of night with all its stars, and watching +all, the shepherd, with unslumbering eye. In the +fold is rest for the weary limbs that have been plodding +through valleys of the shadow of death, and dusty +ways; peace for the panting hearts that are trembling +at every danger, real and imaginary. Inside the fold +is tranquillity, repose for the wearied frame, safety, +and the companionship of the Shepherd; and without, +ravening foes and a dreary wilderness, and flinty paths +and sparse herbage and muddy pools. Inside is life; +without is death. That is the fourth figure.</p> + +<p>In the Ark no Deluge can touch; in the City of +Refuge no avenger can smite; in the banqueting-hall +no thirst nor hunger but can be satisfied; in the fold +no enemy can come and no terror can live.</p> + +<p>Brethren! are you amongst 'them that are without,' +or are you within?</p> + +<p>III. Lastly—why is anybody outside? Why? It is +no one's fault but their own. It is not God's. He can +appeal with clean hands and ask us to judge what +more could have been done for His vineyard that He +has not done for it. The great parable which represents +Him as sending out His summons to the feast +in His palace puts the wonderful words in the mouth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151a" id="Page_151a">[151]</a></span> +of the master of the house, after his call by his servants +had been refused. 'Go out into the highways and +hedges,' beneath which the beggars squat, 'and compel +them to come in, that my house may be full.' 'Nature +abhors a vacuum,' the old natural philosophers used +to say. So does grace; so does God's love. It hates to +have His house empty and His provisions unconsumed. +And so He has done all that He could do to bring you +and me inside. He has sent His Son, He beckons us, +He draws us by countless mercies day by day. He +appeals to our hearts, and would have us gathered into +the fold. And if we are outside it is not because He +has neglected to do anything which He can do in order +to bring us in.</p> + +<p>But why is it that any of us resist such drawing, and +make the wretched choice of perishing without, rather +than find safety within? The deepest reason is an +alienated heart, a rebellious will. But the reason for +alienation and rebellion lie among the inscrutable +mysteries of our awful being. All sin is irrational. +The fact is plain, the temptations are obvious; excuses +there are in plenty, but reasons there are none. Still we +may touch for a moment on some of the causes which +operate with many hearers of God's merciful call to +enter in, and keep them without.</p> + +<p>Many remain outside because they do not really +believe in the danger. No doubt there was a great deal +of brilliant sarcasm launched at Noah for his folly in +thinking that there was anything coming that needed +an ark. It seemed, no doubt, food for much laughter, +and altogether impossible to think of gravely, that +this flood which he talked about should ever come. So +they had their laughter out as they saw him working +away at his ludicrous task 'until the day when the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152a" id="Page_152a">[152]</a></span> +flood came and swept them all away,' and the laughter +ended in gurgling sobs of despair.</p> + +<p>If a manslayer does not believe that the next of kin +is on his track, he will not flee to the City of Refuge. +If the sheep has no fear of wolves, it will choose to +be outside the fold among the succulent herbage. Did +you ever see how, in a Welsh slate-quarry, before a +blast, a horn is blown, and at its sound all along the +face of the quarry the miners run to their shelters, +where they stay until the explosion is over? What +do you suppose would become of one of them who +stood there after the horn had blown, and said: +'Nonsense! There is nothing coming! I will take my +chance where I am!' Very likely a bit of slate would +end him before he had finished his speech. At any +rate, do not you, dear friend, trifle with the warning +that says: 'Flee for refuge to Christ and shelter +yourself in Him.'</p> + +<p>There are some people, too, who stop outside because +they do not much care for the entertainment that they +will get within. It does not strike them as being very +desirable. They have no appetite for it. We preachers +seek to draw hearts to Jesus by many motives—and +among others by setting forth the blessings which he +bestows. But if a man does not care about pardon, +does not fear judgment, does not want to be good, +has no taste for righteousness, is not attracted by the +pure and calm pleasures which Christ offers, the invitation +falls flat upon his ear. Wisdom cries aloud +and invites the sons of men to her feast, but the fare +she provides is not coarse and high spiced enough, and +her table is left unfilled, while the crowd runs to the +strong-flavoured meats and foaming drinks which her +rival, Folly, offers. Many of us say, like the Israelites<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153a" id="Page_153a">[153]</a></span> +'Our souls loathe this light bread,' this manna, white +and sweet, and Heaven-descended, and angels' food +though it be, and we hanker after the reeking garlic +and leeks and onions of Egypt.</p> + +<p>Some of us again, would like well enough to be +inside, if that would keep us from dangers which we +believe to be real, but we do not like the doorway. +You may see in some remote parts of the country +strange, half-subterranean structures which are supposed +to have been the houses of a vanished race. +They have a long, narrow, low passage, through which +a man has to creep with his face very near the +ground. He has to go low and take to his knees to get +through; and at the end the passage opens out into +ampler, loftier space, where the dwellers could sit safe +from wild weather and wilder beasts and wildest men. +That is like the way into the fortress home which we +have in Jesus Christ. We must stoop very low to enter +there. And some of us do not like that. We do not +like to fall on our knees and say, I am a sinful man, O +Lord. We do not like to bow ourselves in penitence. +And the passage is narrow as well as low. It is broad +enough for you, but not for what some of you would +fain carry in on your back. The pack which you bear, +of earthly vanities and loves, and sinful habits, will be +brushed off your shoulders in that narrow entrance, +like the hay off a cart in a country lane bordered by +high hedges. And some of us do not like that. So, +because the way is narrow, and we have to stoop, our +pride kicks at the idea of having to confess ourselves +sinners, and of having to owe all our hope and salvation +to God's undeserved mercy, therefore we stay outside. +And because the way is narrow, and we have to put off +some of our treasures, our earthward-looking desires<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154a" id="Page_154a">[154]</a></span> +shrink from laying these aside, and therefore we stop +outside. There was room in the boat for the last man +who stood on the deck, but he could not make up his +mind to leave a bag of gold. There was no room for +that. Therefore he would not leap, and went down +with the ship.</p> + +<p>The door is open. The Master calls. The feast is +spread. Dangers threaten. The flood comes. The +avenger of blood makes haste. 'Why standest thou +without?' Enter in, before the door is shut. And if +you ask, How shall I pass within?—the answer is +plain: 'They could not enter in because of unbelief. +We which have believed do enter into rest.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155a" id="Page_155a">[155]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>I. THESSALONIANS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FAITH, LOVE, HOPE, AND THEIR FRUITS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> i. 3.</p></div> + + +<p>This Epistle, as I suppose we all know, is Paul's first +letter. He had been hunted out of Thessalonica by +the mob, made the best of his way to Athens, stayed +there for a very short time, then betook himself to +Corinth, and at some point of his somewhat protracted +residence there, this letter was written. So that we +have in it his first attempt, so far as we know, to +preach the Gospel by the pen. It is interesting to +notice how, whatever changes and developments there +may have been in him thereafter, all the substantial +elements of his latest faith beam out in this earliest +letter, and how even in regard to trifles we see the +germs of much that came afterwards. This same +triad, you remember, 'faith, hope, charity,' recurs in +the First Epistle to the Corinthians, though with a +very significant difference in the order, which I shall +have to dwell upon presently.</p> + +<p>The letter is interesting on another account. Remembering +that it was only a very short time since +these Thessalonians had turned from idols to serve the +living God, there is something very beautiful in the +overflowing generosity of commendation, which never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156a" id="Page_156a">[156]</a></span> +goes beyond veracity, with which he salutes them. +Their Christian character, like seeds sown in some +favoured tropical land, had sprung up swiftly; yet not +with the dangerous kind of swiftness which presages +decay of the growth. It was only a few days since +they had been grovelling before idols, but now he can +speak of 'your work of faith, and labour of love, and +patience of hope' . . . and declare that the Gospel +'sounded out' from them—the word which he employs +is that which is technically used for the blast of a +trumpet—'so that we need not to speak anything.' +Rapid growth is possible for us all, and is not always +superficial.</p> + +<p>I desire now to consider that pair of triads—the +three foundation-stones, and the three views of the +fair building that is reared upon them.</p> + +<p>I. The three foundation-stones.</p> + +<p>That is a natural metaphor to use, but it is not +quite correct, for these three—faith, love, hope—are +not to be conceived of as lying side by side. Rather +than three foundations we have three courses of the +building here; the lowest one, faith; the next one, +love; and the top one, hope. The order in 1 Corinthians +is different, 'faith, hope, charity,' and the alteration +in the sequence is suggested by the difference of purpose. +The Apostle intended in 1 Corinthians to dwell +at some length thereafter on 'charity,' or 'love.' So +he puts it last to make the link of connection with +what he is going to say. But here he is dealing with +the order of production, the natural order in which +these three evolve themselves. And his thought is +that they are like the shoots that successive springs +bring upon the bough of a tree, where each year has +its own growth, and the summit of last year's becomes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157a" id="Page_157a">[157]</a></span> +the basis of next. Thus we have, first, faith; then, +shooting from that, love; and then, sustained by both, +hope. Now let us look at that order.</p> + +<p>It is a well-worn commonplace, which you may think +it not needful for me to dwell upon here, that in the +Christian theory, both of salvation and of morals, the +basis of everything is trust. And that is no arbitrary +theological arrangement, but it is the only means by +which the life that is the basis both of salvation and +of righteousness can be implanted in men. There is +no other way by which Jesus Christ can come into our +hearts than by what the New Testament calls 'trust,' +which we have turned into the hard, theological concept +which too often glides over people's minds without +leaving any dint at all—'faith.' Distrust is united with +trust. There is no trust without, complementary to +it, self-distrust. Just as the sprouting seed sends one +little radicle downwards, and that becomes the root, +and at the same time sends up another one, white till +it reaches the light, and it becomes the stem, so the +underside of faith is self-distrust, and you must empty +yourselves before you can open your hearts to be filled +by Jesus. That being so, this self-distrustful trust is +the beginning of everything. That is the <i>alpha</i> of the +whole alphabet, however glorious and manifold may +be the words into which its letters are afterwards +combined. Faith is the hand that grasps. It is the +means of communication, it is the channel through +which the grace which is the life, or, rather, I should +say, the life which is the grace, comes to us. It is the +open door by which the angel of God comes in with +his gifts. It is like the petals of the flowers, opening +when the sunshine kisses them, and, by opening, laying +bare the depths of their calyxes to be illuminated and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158a" id="Page_158a">[158]</a></span> +coloured, and made to grow by the sunshine which +itself has opened them, and without the presence of +which, within the cup, there would have been neither +life nor beauty. So faith is the basis of everything; +the first shoot from which all the others ascend. +Brethren, have you that initial grace? I leave the +question with you. If you have not that, you have +nothing else.</p> + +<p>Then again, out of faith rises love. No man can +love God unless he believes that God loves him. I, for +my part, am old-fashioned and narrow enough not to +believe that there is any deep, soul-cleansing or soul-satisfying +love of God which is not the answer to the +love that died on the Cross. But you must believe +that, and more than believe it; you must have trusted +and cast yourselves on it, in the utter abandonment of +self-distrust and Christ-confidence, before there will +well up in your heart the answering love to God. +First faith, then love. My love is the reverberation +of the primeval voice, the echo of God's. The angle +at which the light falls on the mirror is the same as +the angle at which it is reflected from it. And though +my love at its highest is low, at its strongest is weak: +yet, like the echo that is faint and far, feeble though +it be, it is pitched on the same key, and is the prolongation +of the same note as the mother-sound. So my +love answers God's love, and it will never answer it +unless faith has brought me within the auditorium, +the circle wherein the voice that proclaims 'I love +thee, my child,' can be heard.</p> + +<p>Now, we do not need to ask ourselves whether Paul +is here speaking of love to God or love to man. He +is speaking of both, because the New Testament deals +with the latter as being a part of the former, and sure<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159a" id="Page_159a">[159]</a></span> +to accompany it. But there is one lesson that I wish +to draw. If it be true that love in us is thus the result +of faith in the love of God, let us learn how we grow +in love. You cannot say, 'Now I will make an effort +to love.' The circulation of the blood, the pulsations +of the heart, are not within the power of the will. +But you can say, 'Now I will make an effort to trust.' +For faith is in the power of the will, and when the +Master said, 'Ye will not come unto me,' He taught us +that unbelief is not a mere intellectual deficiency or +perversity, but that it is the result, in the majority of +cases—I might almost say in all-of an alienated will. +Therefore, if you wish to love, do not try to work +yourself into a hysteria of affection, but take into +your hearts and minds the Christian facts, and mainly +the fact of the Cross, which will set free the frozen +and imprisoned fountains of your affections, and cause +them to flow out abundantly in sweet water. First +faith, then love; and get at love through faith. That +is a piece of practical wisdom that it will do us all +good to keep in mind.</p> + +<p>Then the third of the three, the topmost shoot, is +hope. Hope is faith directed to the future. So it is +clear enough that, unless I have that trust of which +I have been speaking, I have none of the hope which +the Apostle regards as flowing from it. But love has +to do with hope quite as much, though in a different +way, as faith has to do with it. For in the direct +proportion in which we are taking into our hearts +Christ and His truth, and letting our hearts go out in +love towards Him and communion with Him, will the +glories beyond brighten and consolidate and magnify +themselves in our eyes. The hope of the Christian +man is but the inference from his present faith, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160a" id="Page_160a">[160]</a></span> +the joy and sweetness of his present love. For surely +when we rise to the heights which are possible to us +all, and on which I suppose most Christian people have +been sometimes, though for far too brief seasons; +when we rise to the heights of communion with God, +anything seems more possible to us than that death, +or anything that lies in the future, should have power +over a tie so sweet, so strong, so independent of externals, +and so all-sufficing in its sweetness. Thus we +shall be sure that God is our portion for ever, in +the precise degree in which, by faith and love, we +feel that 'He is the strength of our hearts,' to-day +and now. So, then, we have the three foundation-stones.</p> + +<p>And now a word or two, in the second place, about</p> + +<p>II. The fair building which rises on them.</p> + +<p>I have already half apologised for using the metaphor +of a foundation and a building. I must repeat the confession +that the symbol is an inadequate one. For the +Apostle does not conceive of the work and labour and +patience which are respectively allocated to these three +graces as being superimposed upon them, as it were, by +effort, so much as he thinks of them as growing out of +them by their inherent nature. The work is 'the work +of faith,' that which characterises faith, that which +issues from it, that which is its garment, visible +to the world, and the token of its reality and its +presence. Faith works. It is the foundation of all +true work; even in the lowest sense of the word we +might almost say that. But in the Christian scheme +it is eminently the underlying requisite for all work +which God does not consider as busy idleness. I might +here make a general remark, which, however, I need +not dwell upon, that we have here the broad thought<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161a" id="Page_161a">[161]</a></span> +which Christian people in all generations need to have +drummed into their heads over and over again, and +that is that inward experiences and emotions, and +states of mind and heart, however good and precious, +are so mainly as being the necessary foundations of +conduct. What is the good of praying and feeling +comfortable within, and having 'a blessed assurance,' +a 'happy experience,' 'sweet communion,' and so on? +What is the good of it all, if these things do not make +us 'live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present +world'? What is the good of the sails of a windmill +going whirling round, if the machinery has been +thrown out of gear, and the great stones which it +ought to actuate are not revolving? What is the good +of the screw of a steamer revolving, when she pitches, +clean above the waves? It does nothing then to drive +the vessel onwards, but will only damage the machinery. +And Christian emotions and experiences which do not +drive conduct are of as little use, often as perilous, and +as injurious. If you want to keep your 'faith, love, +hope,' sound and beneficial, set them to work. And +do not be too sure that you have them, if they do not +crave for work, whether you set them to it or not.</p> + +<p>'Your work of faith.' There is the whole of the +thorny subject of the relation of faith and works +packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what James said +and it is exactly what a better than James said. When +the Jews came to Him with their externalism, and +thought that God was to be pleased by a whole rabble +of separate good actions, and so said, 'What shall we +do that we might work the works of God?' Jesus said, +'Never mind about <i>works</i>. This is <i>the work</i> of God, +that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent,' and out +of that will come all the rest. That is the mother-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162a" id="Page_162a">[162]</a></span>tincture; +everything will flow from that. So Paul +says, 'Your work of faith.'</p> + +<p>Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other +people rather than you. Do men see that your faith +works; that its output is different from the output of +men who are not possessors of a 'like precious faith'? +Ask yourselves the question, and God help you to +answer it.</p> + +<p>Love labours. Labour is more than work, for it +includes the notion of toil, fatigue, difficulty, persistence, +antagonism. Ah! the work of faith will never +be done unless it is the toil of love. You remember +how Milton talks about the immortal garland that is +to be run for, 'not without dust and sweat.' The +Christian life is not a leisurely promenade. The limit +of our duty is not ease of work. There must be toil. +And love is the only principle that will carry us +through the fatigues, and the difficulties, and the +oppositions which rise against us from ourselves and +from without. Love delights to have a hard task set +it by the beloved, and the harder the task the more +poignant the satisfaction. Loss is gain when it brings +us nearer the beloved. And whether our love be love +to God, or its consequence, love to man, it is the only +foundation on which toil for either God or man will +ever permanently be rested. Do not believe in philanthropy +which has not a bottom of faith, and do not +believe in work for Christ which does not involve in toil. +And be sure that you will do neither, unless you have +both these things: the faith and the love.</p> + +<p>And then comes the last. Faith works, love toils, +hope is patient. Is that all that 'hope' is? Not if you +take the word in the narrow meaning which it has in +modern English; but that was not what Paul meant.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163a" id="Page_163a">[163]</a></span> +He meant something a great deal more than passive +endurance, great as that is. It is something to be able +to say, in the pelting of a pitiless storm, 'Pour on! I +will endure.' But it is a great deal more to be able, in +spite of all, not to bate one jot of heart or hope, but +'still bear up and steer right onward'; and that is +involved in the true meaning of the word inadequately +rendered 'patience' in the New Testament. For it is +no passive virtue only, but it is a virtue which, in the +face of the storm, holds its course; brave persistence, +active perseverance, as well as meek endurance and +submission.</p> + +<p>'Hope' helps us both to bear and to do. They tell us +nowadays that it is selfish for a Christian man to +animate himself, either for endurance or for activity, +by the contemplation of those great glories that lie +yonder. If that is selfishness, God grant we may all +become a great deal more selfish than we are! No +man labours in the Christian life, or submits to Christian +difficulty, for the sake of going to heaven. At least, +if he does, he has got on the wrong tack altogether. +But if the motive for both endurance and activity be +faith and love, then hope has a perfect right to come +in as a subsidiary motive, and to give strength to the +faith and rapture to the love. We cannot afford to +throw away that hope, as so many of us do—not +perhaps, intellectually, though I am afraid there is +a very considerable dimming of the clearness, and a +narrowing of the place in our thoughts, of the hope of +a future blessedness, in the average Christian of this +day—but practically we are all apt to lose sight of the +recompense of the reward. And if we do, the faith and +love, and the work and toil, and the patience will +suffer. Faith will relax its grasp, love will cool down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164a" id="Page_164a">[164]</a></span> +its fervour; and there will come a film over Hope's +blue eye, and she will not see the land that is very far +off. So, dear brethren, remember the sequence, 'faith, +love, hope,' and remember the issues, 'work, toil, +patience.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>GOD'S TRUMPET</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'From you sounded out the word of God.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> i. 8.</p></div> + + +<p>This is Paul's first letter. It was written very shortly +after his first preaching of the Gospel in the great commercial +city of Thessalonica. But though the period +since the formation of the Thessalonian Church was +so brief, their conversion had already become a matter +of common notoriety; and the consistency of their +lives, and the marvellous change that had taken place +upon them, made them conspicuous in the midst of the +corrupt heathen community in which they dwelt. And +so says Paul, in the text, by reason of their work of +faith and labour of love and patience of hope, they +had become ensamples to all that believe, and loud +proclaimers and witnesses of the Gospel which had +produced this change.</p> + +<p>The Apostle employs a word never used anywhere +else in the New Testament to describe the conspicuous +and widespread nature of this testimony of theirs. He +says, 'The word of the Lord <i>sounded out</i>' from them. +That phrase is one most naturally employed to describe +the blast of a trumpet. So clear and ringing, so loud, +penetrating, melodious, rousing, and full was their +proclamation, by the silent eloquence of their lives, of +the Gospel which impelled and enabled them to lead +such lives. A grand ideal of a community of believers!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165a" id="Page_165a">[165]</a></span> +If our churches to-day were nearer its realisation there +would be less unbelief, and more attraction of wandering +prodigals to the Father's house. Would that this +saying were true of every body of professing believers! +Would that from each there sounded out one clear +accordant witness to Christ, in the purity and unworldliness +of their Christlike lives!</p> + +<p>I. This metaphor suggests the great purpose of the +Church.</p> + +<p>It is God's trumpet, His means of making His voice +heard through all the uproar of the world. As the +captain upon the deck in the gale will use his speaking-trumpet, +so God's voice needs your voice. The Gospel +needs to be passed through human lips in order that it +may reach deaf ears. The purpose for which we +have been apprehended of Christ is not merely our own +personal salvation, whether we understand that in a +narrow and more outward, or in a broader and more +spiritual sense. No man is an end in himself, but every +man, though he be partially and temporarily an end, is +also a means. And just as, according to the other +metaphor, the Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, each +particle of the dead dough, as soon as it is leavened and +vitalised, becoming the medium for transmitting the +strange, transforming, and living influence to the +particle beyond, so all of us, if we are Christian people, +have received that grace into our hearts, for our own +sakes indeed, but also that through us might be manifested +to the darkened eyes beyond, and through us +might drop persuasively on the dull, cold ears that are +further away from the Divine Voice, the great message +of God's mercy. The Church is God's trumpet, and the +purpose that He has in view in setting it in the world +is to make all men know the fellowship of the mystery,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166a" id="Page_166a">[166]</a></span> +and that through it there may ring out, as by some +artificial means a poor human voice will be flung to a +greater distance than it would otherwise reach, the +gentle entreaties, and the glorious proclamation, and +the solemn threatenings of the Word, the Incarnate as +well as the written Word, of God.</p> + +<p>Of course all this is true, not only about communities, +but it is true of a community, just because it is true of +each individual member of it. The Church is worse than +as 'sounding brass,' it is as <i>silent</i> brass and an <i>untinkling</i> +cymbal, unless the individuals that belong to it recognise +God's meaning in making them His children, and +do their best to fulfil it. 'Ye are my witnesses,' saith +the Lord. You are put into the witness-box; see that +you speak out when you are there.</p> + +<p>II. Another point that this figure may suggest is, +the <i>sort</i> of sound that should come from the trumpet.</p> + +<p>A trumpet note is, first of all, clear. There should be +no hesitation in our witness; nothing uncertain in the +sound that we give. There are plenty of so-called +Christian people whose lives, if they bear any witness +for the Master at all, are like the notes that some +bungling learner will bring out of a musical instrument: +hesitating, uncertain, so that you do not know +exactly what note he wants to produce. How many of +us, calling ourselves Christian people, testify on both +sides; sometimes bearing witness for Christ; and alas! +alas! oftener bearing witness against Him. Will the +trumpet, the instrument of clear, ringing, unmistakable +sounds, be the emblem of your Christian testimony? +Would not some poor scrannel-pipe, ill-blown, be nearer +the mark? The note should be clear.</p> + +<p>The note should be penetrating. There is no instrument, +I suppose, that carries further than the ringing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167a" id="Page_167a">[167]</a></span> +clarion that is often heard on the field of battle, above +all the strife; and this little church at Thessalonica, +a mere handful of people, just converted, in the very +centre of a strong, compact, organised, self-confident, +supercilious heathenism, insisted upon being heard, +and got itself made audible, simply by the purity and +the consistency of the lives of its members. So that +Paul, a few weeks, or at most a few months, after the +formation of the church, could say, 'From you sounded +out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and +Achaia,' your own province and the one next door to it, +'but also in every place your faith to Godward is +spread abroad.' No man knows how far his influence +will go. No man can tell how far his example may +penetrate. Thessalonica was a great commercial city. +So is Manchester. Hosts of people of all sorts came +into it as they come here. There were many different +circles which would be intersected by the lives of this +Christian church, and wherever its units went they +carried along with them the conviction that they had +turned from idols to serve the living God, and to wait +for His Son from heaven.</p> + +<p>And so, dear brethren, if our witness is to be worth +anything it must have this penetrating quality. There +is a difference in sounds as there is a difference in instruments. +Some of them carry further than others. A +clear voice will fling words to a distance that a thick, +mumbling one never can attain. One note will travel +much further than another. Do you see to it that your +notes are of the penetrating sort.</p> + +<p>And then, again, the note should be a musical one. +There is nothing to be done for God by harshness; nothing +to be done by discords and gangling; nothing to be +done by scolding and rebuke. The ordered sequence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168a" id="Page_168a">[168]</a></span> +melodious sound will travel a great deal further than +unmusical, plain speech. You can hear a song at a +distance at which a saying would be inaudible. Which +thing is an allegory, and this is its lesson,—Music goes +further than discord; and the witness that a Christian +man bears will travel in direct proportion as it is +harmonious, and gracious and gentle and beautiful.</p> + +<p>And then, again, the note should be rousing. You do +not play on a trumpet when you want to send people +to sleep; dulcimers and the like are the things for that +purpose. The trumpet means strung-up intensity, +means a call to arms, or to rejoicing; means at any rate, +vigour, and is intended to rouse. Let your witness +have, for its utmost signification, 'Awake! thou that +sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall give +thee light.'</p> + +<p>III. Then, still further, take another thought that +may be suggested from this metaphor, the silence of +the loudest note.</p> + +<p>If you look at the context, you will see that all the +ways in which the word of the Lord is represented as +sounding out from the Thessalonian Church were +deeds, not words. The context supplies a number of +them. Such as the following are specified in it: their +work; their toil, which is more than work; their +patience; their assurance; their reception of the word, +in much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost; their +faith to Godward; their turning to God from idols, to +serve and to wait.</p> + +<p>That is all. So far as the context goes there might +not have been a man amongst them who ever opened +his mouth for Jesus Christ. We know not, of course, +how far they were a congregation of silent witnesses, +but this we know, that what Paul meant when he said,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169a" id="Page_169a">[169]</a></span> +'The whole world is ringing with the voice of the word +of God sounding from you,' was not their going up and +down the world shouting about their Christianity, but +their quiet living like Jesus Christ. That is a louder +voice than any other.</p> + +<p>Ah! dear friends! it is with God's Church as it is +with God's heavens; the 'stars in Christ's right hand' +sparkle in the same fashion as the stars that He has +set in the firmament. Of them we read: 'There is +neither voice nor language, their speech is not heard'; +and yet, as man stands with bared head and hushed +heart beneath the violet abysses of the heavens, 'their +line' (or chord, the metaphor being that of a stringed +instrument) 'is gone out through all the earth, and +their words to the end of the world.' Silent as they +shine, they declare the glory of God, and proclaim His +handiwork. And so you may speak of Him without +speaking, and though you have no gift of tongues the +night may be filled with music, and your lives be +eloquent of Christ.</p> + +<p>I do not mean to say that Christian men and women +are at liberty to lock their lips from verbal proclamation +of the Saviour they have found, but I do mean to +say that if there was less talk and more living, the +witness of God's Church would be louder and not +lower; 'and men would take knowledge of us, that we +had been with Jesus'; and of Jesus, that He had made +us like Himself.</p> + +<p>IV. And so, lastly, let me draw one other thought +from this metaphor, which I hope you will not think +fanciful playing with a figure; and that is the breath +that makes the music.</p> + +<p>If the Church is the trumpet, who blows it? God! +It is by His Divine Spirit dwelling within us, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170a" id="Page_170a">[170]</a></span> +breathing through us, that the harsh discords of our +natural lives become changed into melody of praise +and the music of witness for Him. Keep near Christ, +live in communion with God, let Him breathe through +you, and when His Spirit passes through your spirits +their silence will become harmonious speech; and from +you 'will sound out the word of the Lord.'</p> + +<p>In a tropical country, when the sun goes behind a +cloud, all the insect life that was cheerily chirping is +hushed. In the Christian life, when the Son of Righteousness +is obscured by the clouds born of our own +carelessness and sin, all the music in our spirit ceases, +and no more can we witness for Him. A scentless +substance lying in a drawer, with a bit of musk, will +become perfumed by contact, and will bring the +fragrance wherever it is carried. Live near God, and +let Him speak to you and in you; and then He will +speak through you. And if He be the breath of your +spiritual lives, and the soul of your souls, then, and +only then, will your lives be music, the music witness, +and the witness conviction. And only then will there +be fulfilled what I pray there may be more and more +fulfilled in us as a Christian community, this great word +of our text, 'from you sounded out,' clear, rousing, +penetrating, melodious, 'the word of the Lord,' so that +we, with our poor preaching, need not to speak anything.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WALKING WORTHILY</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Walk worthy of God.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> ii. 12.</p></div> + + +<p>Here we have the whole law of Christian conduct in +a nutshell. There may be many detailed commandments, +but they can all be deduced from this one.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171a" id="Page_171a">[171]</a></span> +We are lifted up above the region of petty prescriptions, +and breathe a bracing mountain air. Instead of +regulations, very many and very dry, we have a +principle which needs thought and sympathy in order +to apply it, and is to be carried out by the free action +of our own judgments.</p> + +<p>Now it is to be noticed that there are a good many +other passages in the New Testament in which, in +similar fashion, the whole sum of Christian conduct is +reduced to a 'walking worthy' of some certain thing +or other, and I have thought that it might aid in +appreciating the many-sidedness and all-sufficiency of +the great principles into which Christianity crystallises +the law of our life, if we just gather these together +and set them before you consecutively.</p> + +<p>They are these: we are told in our text to 'walk +worthy of God.' Then again, we are enjoined, in other +places, to 'walk worthy of the Lord,' who is Christ. +Or again, 'of the Gospel of Christ.' Or again, 'of the +calling wherewith we were called.' Or again, of the +name of 'saints.' And if you put all these together, +you will get many sides of one thought, the rule of +Christian life as gathered into a single expression—correspondence +with, and conformity to, a certain +standard.</p> + +<p>I. And first of all, we have this passage of my text, +and the other one to which I have referred, 'Walking +worthy of the Lord,' by whom we are to understand +Christ. We may put these together and say that the +whole sum of Christian duty lies in conformity to the +character of a Divine Person with whom we have +loving relations.</p> + +<p>The Old Testament says: 'Be ye holy, for I the Lord +your God am holy.' The New Testament says: 'Be ye<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172a" id="Page_172a">[172]</a></span> +imitators of God, and walk in love.' So then, whatever +of flashing brightness and infinite profundity in +that divine nature is far beyond our apprehension and +grasp, there are in that divine nature elements—and +those the best and divinest in it—which it is perfectly +within the power of every man to copy.</p> + +<p>Is there anything in God that is more Godlike than +righteousness and love? And is there any difference +in essence between a man's righteousness and God's;—between +a man's love and God's? The same gases +make combustion in the sun and on the earth, and the +spectroscope tells you that it is so. The same radiant +brightness that flames burning in the love, and flashes +white in the purity of God, even that may be reproduced +in man.</p> + +<p>Love is one thing, all the universe over. Other +elements of the bond that unites us to God are rather +correspondent in us to what we find in Him. Our concavity, +so to speak, answers to His convexity; our +hollowness to His fulness; our emptiness to His all-sufficiency. +So our faith, for instance, lays hold upon +His faithfulness, and our obedience grasps, and bows +before, His commanding will. But the love with +which I lay hold of Him is like the love with which He +lays hold on me; and righteousness and purity, howsoever +different may be their accompaniments in an +Infinite and uncreated Nature from what they have in +our limited and bounded and progressive being, in +essence are one. So, 'Be ye holy, for I am holy'; +'Walk in the light as He is in the light,' is the law +available for all conduct; and the highest divine perfections, +if I may speak of pre-eminence among them, +are the imitable ones, whereby He becomes our +Example and our Pattern.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173a" id="Page_173a">[173]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let no man say that such an injunction is vague or +hopeless. You must have a perfect ideal if you are to +live at all by an ideal. There cannot be any flaws in +your pattern if the pattern is to be of any use. You +aim at the stars, and if you do not hit them you may +progressively approach them. We need absolute perfection +to strain after, and one day—blessed be His +name—we shall attain it. Try to walk worthy of God +and you will find out how tight that precept grips, and +how close it fits.</p> + +<p>The love and the righteousness which are to become +the law of our lives, are revealed to us in Jesus Christ. +Whatever may sound impracticable in the injunction +to imitate God assumes a more homely and possible +shape when it becomes an injunction to follow Jesus. +And just as that form of the precept tends to make +the law of conformity to the divine nature more +blessed and less hopelessly above us, so it makes the +law of conformity to the ideal of goodness less +cold and unsympathetic. It makes all the difference +to our joyfulness and freedom whether we are trying +to obey a law of duty, seen only too clearly to be +binding, but also above our reach, or whether we have +the law in a living Person whom we have learned to +love. In the one case there stands upon a pedestal +above us a cold perfection, white, complete, marble; +in the other case there stands beside us a living law in +pattern, a Brother, bone of our bone and flesh of our +flesh; whose hand we can grasp; whose heart we can +trust, and of whose help we can be sure. To say to +me: 'Follow the ideal of perfect righteousness,' is to +relegate me to a dreary, endless struggling; to say to +me, 'Follow your Brother, and be like your Father,' is +to bring warmth and hope and liberty into all my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174a" id="Page_174a">[174]</a></span> +effort. The word that says, 'Walk worthy of God,' is +a royal law, the perfect law of perfect freedom.</p> + +<p>Again, when we say, 'Walk worthy of God,' we +mean two things—one, 'Do after His example,' and the +other, 'Render back to Him what He deserves for +what He has done to you.' And so this law bids us +measure, by the side of that great love that died on +the Cross for us all, our poor imperfect returns of +gratitude and of service. He has lavished all His +treasure on you; what have you brought him back? +He has given you the whole wealth of His tender pity, +of His forgiving mercy, of His infinite goodness. Do +you adequately repay such lavish love? Has He not +'sown much and reaped little' in all our hearts? +Has He not poured out the fulness of His affection, +and have we not answered Him with a few grudging +drops squeezed from our hearts? Oh! brethren! +'Walk worthy of the Lord,' and neither dishonour Him +by your conduct as professing children of His, nor +affront Him by the wretched refuse and remnants of +your devotion and service that you bring back to Him +in response to His love to you.</p> + +<p>II. Now a word about the next form of this all-embracing +precept. The whole law of our Christian +life may be gathered up in another correspondence, +'Walk worthy of the Gospel' (Phil. i. 27), in a manner +conformed to that great message of God's love to us.</p> + +<p>That covers substantially the same ground as we have +already been going over, but it presents the same ideas +in a different light. It presents the Gospel as a rule of +conduct. Now people have always been apt to think +of it more as a message of deliverance than as a +practical guide, as we all need to make an effort to +prevent our natural indolence and selfishness from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175a" id="Page_175a">[175]</a></span> +making us forget that the Gospel is quite as much +a rule of conduct as a message of pardon.</p> + +<p>It is both by the same act. In the very facts on +which our redemption depends lies the law of our +lives.</p> + +<p>What was Paul's Gospel? According to Paul's own +definition of it, it was this: 'How that Jesus Christ +died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.' And +the message that I desire now to bring to all you +professing Christians is this: Do not always be +looking at Christ's Cross only as your means of acceptance. +Do not only be thinking of Christ's Passion as +that which has barred for you the gates of punishment, +and has opened for you the gates of the Kingdom +of Heaven. It has done all that; but if you are going +to stop there you have only got hold of a very maimed +and imperfect edition of the Gospel. The Cross is your +<i>pattern</i>, as well as the anchor of your hope and the +ground of your salvation, if it is anything at all to +you. And it is not the ground of your salvation and +the anchor of your hope unless it is your pattern. It +is the one in exactly the same degree in which it is the +other.</p> + +<p>So all self-pleasing, all harsh insistence on your +own claims, all neglect of suffering and sorrow and +sin around you, comes under the lash of this condemnation: +'They are not worthy of the Gospel.' And all +unforgivingness of spirit and of temper in individuals +and in nations, in public and in private matters, that, +too, is in flagrant contradiction to the principles that are +taught on the Cross to which you say you look for +your salvation. Have you got forgiveness, and are +you going out from the presence-chamber of the King +to take your brother by the throat for the beggarly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176a" id="Page_176a">[176]</a></span> +coppers that he owes you, and say: 'Pay me what +thou owest!' when the Master has forgiven you all +that great mountain of indebtedness which you owe +Him? Oh, my brother! if Christian men and women +would only learn to take away the scales from their +eyes and souls; not looking at Christ's Cross with less +absolute trustfulness, as that by which all their salvation +comes, but also learning to look at it as closely +and habitually as yielding the pattern to which their +lives should be conformed, and would let the heart-melting +thankfulness which it evokes when gazed at +as the ground of our hope prove itself true by its leading +them to an effort at imitating that great love, and +so walking worthy of the Gospel, how their lives +would be transformed! It is far easier to fetter your +life with yards of red-tape prescriptions—do this, do +not do that—far easier to out-pharisee the Pharisees +in punctilious scrupulosities, than it is honestly, and +for one hour, to take the Cross of Christ as the +pattern of your lives, and to shape yourselves by +that.</p> + +<p>One looks round upon a lethargic, a luxurious, a self-indulgent, +a self-seeking, a world-besotted professing +Church, and asks: 'Are these the people on whose +hearts a cross is stamped?' Do these men—or rather +let us say, do <i>we</i> live as becometh the Gospel which proclaims +the divinity of self-sacrifice, and that the law +of a perfect human life is perfect self-forgetfulness, +even as the secret of the divine nature is perfect love? +'Walk worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.'</p> + +<p>III. Then again, there is another form of this same +general prescription which suggests to us a kindred +and yet somewhat different standard. We are also +bidden to bring our lives into conformity to, and cor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177a" id="Page_177a">[177]</a></span>respondence +with, or, as the Bible has it, 'to walk +worthy of the calling wherewith we are called' +(Eph. iv. 1).</p> + +<p>God summons or invites us, and summons us to +what? The words which follow our text answer, +'Who calleth you into His own kingdom and glory.' All +you Christian people have been invited, and if you are +Christians you have accepted the invitation; and all +you men and women, whether you are Christians or +not, have been and are being invited and summoned +into a state and a world (for the reference is to the +future life), in which God's will is supreme, and all +wills are moulded into conformity with that, and into +a state and a world in which all shall—because they +submit to His will—partake of His glory, the fulness +of His uncreated light.</p> + +<p>That being the aim of the summons, that being the +destiny that is held out before us all, ought not that +destiny and the prospect of what we may be in the +future, to fling some beams of guiding brightness on +to the present?</p> + +<p>Men that are called to high functions prepare themselves +therefor. If you knew that you were going away +to Australia in six months, would you not be beginning +to get your outfit ready? You Christian men profess +to believe that you have been called to a condition in +which you will absolutely obey God's will, and be the +loyal subjects of His kingdom, and in which you will +partake of God's glory. Well then, obey His will here, +and let some scattered sparklets of that uncreated +light that is one day going to flood your soul lie upon +your face to-day. Do not go and cut your lives into +two halves, one of them all contradictory to that +which you expect in the other, but bring a harmony<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178a" id="Page_178a">[178]</a></span> +between the present, in all its weakness and sinfulness, +and that great hope and certain destiny that blazes on +the horizon of your hope, as the joyful state to which +you have been invited. 'Walk worthy of the calling +to which you are called.'</p> + +<p>And again, that same thought of the destiny should +feed our hope, and make us live under its continual +inspiration. A walk worthy of such a calling and +such a caller should know no despondency, nor any +weary, heartless lingering, as with tired feet on a hard +road. Brave good cheer, undimmed energy, a noble +contempt of obstacles, a confidence in our final attainment +of that purity and glory which is not depressed +by consciousness of present failure—these are plainly +the characteristics which ought to mark the advance +of the men in whose ears such a summons from such +lips rings as their marching orders.</p> + +<p>And a walk worthy of our calling will turn away +from earthly things. If you believe that God has +summoned you to His kingdom and glory, surely, +surely, that should deaden in your heart the love and +the care for the trifles that lie by the wayside. Surely, +surely, if that great voice is inviting, and that merciful +hand is beckoning you into the light, and showing you +what you may possess there, it is not walking according +to that summons if you go with your eyes fixed +upon the trifles at your feet, and your whole heart +absorbed in this present fleeting world. Unworldliness, +in its best and purest fashion—by which I mean +not only a contempt for material wealth and all that +it brings, but the sitting loose by everything that is +beneath the stars—unworldliness is the only walk +that is 'worthy of the calling wherewith ye are +called.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179a" id="Page_179a">[179]</a></span></p> + +<p>And if you hear that voice ringing like a trumpet +call, or a commander's shout on the battlefield, into +your ears, ever to stimulate you, to rebuke your +lagging indifference; if you are ever conscious in your +inmost hearts of the summons to His kingdom and +glory, then, no doubt, by a walk worthy of it, you will +make your calling sure; and there shall 'an entrance +be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting +kingdom.'</p> + +<p>IV. And the last of the phases of this prescription +which I have to deal with is this. The whole Christian +duty is further crystallised into the one command, to +walk in a manner conformed to, and corresponding +with, the character which is impressed upon us.</p> + +<p>In the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans +(verse 2), we read about a very small matter, that it +is to be done 'worthily of the saints.' It is only about +the receiving of a good woman who was travelling +from Corinth to Rome, and extending hospitality to +her in such a manner as became professing Christians; +but the very minuteness of the details to which the +great principle is applied points a lesson. The biggest +principle is not too big to be brought down to the +narrowest details, and that is the beauty of principles +as distinguished from regulations. Regulations try +to be minute, and, however minute you make them, +some case always starts up that is not exactly provided +for in them, and so the regulations come to +nothing. A principle does not try to be minute, but +it casts its net wide and it gathers various cases into +its meshes. Like the fabled tent in the old legend that +could contract so as to have room for but one man, or +expand wide enough to hold an army, so this great +principle of Christian conduct can be brought down to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180a" id="Page_180a">[180]</a></span> +giving 'Phœbe our sister, who is a servant of the +church at Cenchrea,' good food and a comfortable +lodging, and any other little kindnesses, when she +comes to Rome. And the same principle may be +widened out to embrace and direct us in the largest +tasks and most difficult circumstances.</p> + +<p>'Worthily of saints'—the name is an omen, and +carries in it rules of conduct. The root idea of 'saint' +is 'one separated to God,' and the secondary idea +which flows from that is 'one who is pure.'</p> + +<p>All Christians are 'saints.' They are consecrated +and set apart for God's service, and in the degree in +which they are conscious of and live out that consecration, +they are pure.</p> + +<p>So their name, or rather the great fact which their +name implies, should be ever before them, a stimulus +and a law. We are bound to remember that we are +consecrated, separated as God's possession, and that +therefore purity is indispensable. The continual consciousness +of this relation and its resulting obligations +would make us recoil from impurity as instinctively +as the sensitive plant shuts up its little green fingers +when anything touches it; or as the wearer of a white +robe will draw it up high above the mud on a filthy +pavement. Walk 'worthily of saints' is another way +of saying, Be true to your own best selves. Work up +to the highest ideal of your character. That is far +more wholesome than to be always looking at our +faults and failures, which depress and tempt us to +think that the actual is the measure of the possible, +and the past or present of the future. There is no fear +of self-conceit or of a mistaken estimate of ourselves. +The more clearly we keep our best and deepest self +before our consciousness, the more shall we learn a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181a" id="Page_181a">[181]</a></span> +rigid judgment of the miserable contradictions to it in +our daily outward life, and even in our thoughts and +desires. It is a wholesome exhortation, when it +follows these others of which we have been speaking +(and not else), which bids Christians remember that +they are saints and live up to their name.</p> + +<p>A Christian's inward and deepest self is better than +his outward life. We have all convictions in our inmost +hearts which we do not work out, and beliefs that do +not influence us as we know they ought to do, and +sometimes wish that they did. By our own fault our +lives but imperfectly show their real inmost principle. +Friction always wastes power before motion is produced.</p> + +<p>So then, we may well gather together all our duties +in this final form of the all-comprehensive law, and +say to ourselves, 'Walk worthily of saints.' Be true to +your name, to your best selves, to your deepest selves. +Be true to your separation for God's service, and to +the purity which comes from it. Be true to the life +which God has implanted in you. That life may be +very feeble and covered by a great deal of rubbish, but +it is divine. Let it work, let it out. Do not disgrace +your name.</p> + +<p>These are the phases of the law of Christian conduct. +They reach far, they fit close, they penetrate deeper +than the needle points of minute regulations. If you +will live in a manner corresponding to the character, +and worthy of the love of God, as revealed in Christ, +and in conformity with the principles that are enthroned +upon His Cross, and in obedience to the destiny +held forth in your high calling, and in faithfulness to +the name that He Himself has impressed upon you, +then your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182a" id="Page_182a">[182]</a></span> +of the painful and punctilious pharisaical obedience to +outward commands, and all things lovely and of good +report will spring to life in your hearts and bear fruit +in your lives.</p> + +<p>One last word—all these exhortations go on the +understanding that you are a Christian, that you +have taken Christ for your Saviour, and are resting +upon Him, and recognising in Him the revelation of +God, and in His Cross the foundation of your hope; that +you have listened to, and yielded to, the divine summons, +and that you have a right to be called a saint. +Is that presumption true about you, my friend? If it +is not, Christianity thinks that it is of no use wasting +time talking to you about conduct.</p> + +<p>It has another word to speak to you first, and after +you have heard and accepted it, there will be time +enough to talk to you about rules for living. The +first message which Christ sends to you by my lips is, +Trust your sinful selves to Him as your only all-sufficient +Saviour. When you have accepted Him, and are +leaning on Him with all your weight of sin and suffering, +and loving Him with your ransomed heart, then, +and not till then, will you be in a position to hear His +law for your life, and to obey it. Then, and not till +then, will you appreciate the divine simplicity and +breadth of the great command to walk worthy of God, +and the divine tenderness and power of the motive +which enforces it, and prints it on yielding and obedient +hearts, even the dying love and Cross of His Son. +Then, and not till then, will you know how the voice +from heaven that calls you to His kingdom stirs the +heart like the sound of a trumpet, and how the name +which you bear is a perpetual spur to heroic service +and priestly purity. Till then, the word which we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183a" id="Page_183a">[183]</a></span> +would plead with you to listen to and accept is that +great answer of our Lord's to those who came to Him +for a rule of conduct, instead of for the gift of life: +'This is the work of God, that ye should believe on +Him whom He hath sent.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SMALL DUTIES AND THE GREAT HOPE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you; for ye +yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 10. And indeed ye do it +toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, +that ye increase more and more; 11. And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your +own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12. That +ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack +of nothing. 13. But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning +them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. +14. For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep +in Jesus will God bring with Him. 15. For this we say unto you by the word of +the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall +not prevent them which are asleep. 16. For the Lord Himself shall descend from +heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: +and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17. Then we which are alive and remain +shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: +and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18. Wherefore comfort one another with +these words.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> iv. 9-18.</p></div> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto +you. 2. For yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the Lord so cometh as a +thief in the night.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> v. 1-2.</p></div> + + +<p>This letter was written immediately on the arrival of +Silas and Timothy in Corinth (1 Thess. iii. 6, 'even now'), +and is all flushed with the gladness of relieved anxiety, +and throbs with love. It gains in pathetic interest +when we remember that, while writing it, the Apostle +was in the thick of his conflict with the Corinthian +synagogue. The thought of his Thessalonian converts +came to him like a waft of pure, cool air to a heated +brow.</p> + +<p>The apparent want of connection in the counsels of +the two last chapters is probably accounted for by +supposing that he takes up, as they occurred to him, +the points reported by the two messengers. But we +may note that the plain, prosaic duties enjoined in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184a" id="Page_184a">[184]</a></span> +verses 7-12 lead on to the lofty revelations of the rest +of the context without any sense of a gap, just because +to Paul the greatest truths had a bearing on the +smallest duties, and the vision of future glory was +meant to shape the homely details of present work.</p> + +<p>I. We need to make an effort to realise the startling +novelty of 'love of the brethren' when this letter was +written. The ancient world was honeycombed with +rents and schisms, scarcely masked by political union. +In the midst of a world of selfishness this new faith +started up, and by some magic knit warring nationalities +and hostile classes and wide diversities of culture +and position into a strange whole, transcending all +limits of race and language. The conception of brotherhood +was new, and the realisation of it in Christian +love was still more astonishing. The world wondered; +but to the Christians the new affection was, we might +almost say, instinctive, so naturally and spontaneously +did it fill their hearts.</p> + +<p>Paul's graceful way of enjoining it here is no mere +pretty compliment. The Thessalonians did not need to +be bidden to love the brethren, for such love was a part +of their new life, and breathed into their hearts by God +Himself. They were drawn together by common +relation to Jesus, and driven together by common +alienation from the world. Occasions of divergence +had not yet risen. The world had not yet taken on a +varnish of Christianity. The new bond was still strong +in its newness. So, short as had been the time since +Paul landed at Neapolis, the golden chain of love bound +all the Macedonian Christians together, and all that +Paul had to exhort was the strengthening of its links +and their tightening.</p> + +<p>That fair picture faded soon, but it still remains true<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185a" id="Page_185a">[185]</a></span> +that the deeper our love to Jesus, the warmer will be +our love to all His lovers. The morning glow may not +come back to the prosaic noonday, but love to the +brethren remains as an indispensable token of the +Christian life. Let us try ourselves thereby.</p> + +<p>II. What have exhortations to steady work to do +with exhortations to increasing love? Not much, +apparently; but may not the link be, 'Do not suppose +that your Christianity is to show itself only in emotions, +however sweet; the plain humdrum tasks of a +working man's life are quite as noble a field as the +exalted heights of brotherly love.' A loving heart is +good, but a pair of diligent hands are as good. The +juxtaposition of these two commands preaches a lesson +which we need quite as much as the Thessalonians did. +Possibly, too, as we see more fully in the second Epistle, +the new truths, which had cut them from their old +anchorage, had set some of them afloat on a sea of unquiet +expectation. So much of their old selves had been +swept away, that it would be hard for some to settle +down to the old routine. That is a common enough +experience in all 'revivals,' and at Thessalonica it was +intensified by speculations about Christ's coming.</p> + +<p>The 'quiet' which Paul would have us cultivate is not +only external, but the inward tranquillity of a spirit +calm because fixed on God and filled with love. The +secret place of the Most High is ever still, and, if we dwell +there, our hearts will not be disturbed by any tumults +without. To 'do our own business' is quite a different +thing from selfish 'looking on our own things,' for a +great part of our business is to care for others, and +nothing dries up sympathy and practical help more +surely than a gossiping temper, which is perpetually +buzzing about other people's concerns, and knows<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186a" id="Page_186a">[186]</a></span> +everybody's circumstances and duties better than its +own. This restless generation, whose mental food is +so largely the newspaper, with its floods of small-talk +about people, be they politicians, ministers, or murderers, +sorely needs these precepts. We are all so busy +that we have no time for quiet meditation, and so much +occupied with trivialities about others that we are +strangers to ourselves. Therefore religious life is low +in many hearts.</p> + +<p>The dignity of manual labour was a new doctrine to +preach to Greeks, but Paul lays stress on it repeatedly +in his letters to Thessalonica. Apparently most of the +converts there were of the labouring class, and some of +them needed the lesson of Paul's example as well as +his precept. A Christian workman wielding chisel or +trowel for Christ's sake will impress 'them that are +without.' Dignity depends, not on the nature, but on +the motive, of our work. 'A servant with this clause +makes drudgery divine.' It is permissible to take the +opinion of those who are not Christians into account, +and to try to show them what good workmen Christ +can turn out. It is right, too, to cultivate a spirit of +independence, and to prefer a little earned to abundance +given as a gift or alms. Perhaps some of the +Thessalonians were trying to turn brotherly love to +profit, and to live on their richer brethren. Such +people infest the Church at all times.</p> + +<p>III. With what ease, like a soaring song-bird, the +letter rises to the lofty height of the next verses, and +how the note becomes more musical, and the style +richer, more sonorous and majestic, with the changed +subject! From the workshop to the descending Lord +and the voice of the trumpet and the rising saints, +what a leap, and yet how easily it is made! Happy we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187a" id="Page_187a">[187]</a></span> +if we keep the future glory and the present duty thus +side by side, and pass without jar from the one to the +other!</p> + +<p>The special point which Paul has in view must be +kept well in mind. Some of the Thessalonians seem +to have been troubled, not by questions about the +Resurrection, as the Corinthians afterwards were, but +by a curious difficulty, namely, whether the dead saints +would not be worse off at Christ's coming than the +living, and to that one point Paul addresses himself. +These verses are not a general revelation of the course +of events at that coming, or of the final condition of +the glorified saints, but an answer to the question, +What is the relation between the two halves of the +Church, the dead and the living, in regard to their +participation in Christ's glory when He comes again? +The question is answered negatively in verse 15, +positively in verses 16 and 17.</p> + +<p>But, before considering them, note some other +precious lessons taught here. That sweet and consoling +designation for the dead, 'them who sleep in +Jesus,' is Christ's gift to sorrowing hearts. No doubt, +the idea is found in pagan thinkers, but always with +the sad addition, 'an eternal sleep.' Men called death +by that name in despair. The Christian calls it so +because he knows that sleep implies continuous +existence, repose, consciousness, and awaking. The +sleepers are not dead, they will be roused to refreshed +activity one day.</p> + +<p>We note how emphatically verse 14 brings out the +thought that Jesus died, since He suffered all the +bitterness of death, not only in physical torments, but +in that awful sense of separation from God which is +the true death in death, and that, because He did, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188a" id="Page_188a">[188]</a></span> +ugly thing wears a softened aspect to believers, and is +but sleep. He died that we might never know what +the worst sting of death is.</p> + +<p>We note further that, in order to bring out the truth +of the gracious change which has passed on death +physical for His servants, the remarkable expression is +used, in verse 14, 'fallen asleep through Jesus'; His +mediatorial work being the reason for their death +becoming sleep. Similarly, it is only in verse 16 that +the bare word 'dead' is used about them, and there it +is needed for emphasis and clearness. When we are +thinking of Resurrection we can afford to look death +in the face.</p> + +<p>We note that Paul here claims to be giving a new +revelation made to him directly by Christ. 'By (or, +"in") the word of the Lord' cannot mean less than +that. The question arises, in regard to verse 15, +whether Paul expected that the advent would come in +his lifetime. It need not startle any if he were proved +to have cherished such a mistaken expectation; for +Christ Himself taught the disciples that the time of +His second coming was a truth reserved, and not +included in His gifts to them. But two things may be +noted. First, that in the second Epistle, written very +soon after this, Paul sets himself to damp down the +expectation of the nearness of the advent, and points +to a long course of historical development of incipient +tendencies which must precede it; and, second, that +his language here does not compel the conclusion that +he expected to be alive at the second coming. For he +is distinguishing between the two classes of the living +and the dead, and he naturally puts himself in the +class to which, at that time, he and his hearers +belonged, without thereby necessarily deciding, or even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189a" id="Page_189a">[189]</a></span> +thinking about, the question whether he and they +would or would not belong to that class at the actual +time of the advent.</p> + +<p>The revelation here reveals much, and leaves much +unrevealed. It is perfectly clear on the main point. +Negatively, it declares that the sleeping saints lose +nothing, and are not anticipated or hindered in any +blessedness by the living. Positively, it declares that +they precede the living, inasmuch as they 'rise first'; +that is, before the living saints, who do not sleep, but +are changed (1 Cor. xv. 51), are thus transfigured. Then +the two great companies shall unitedly rise to meet the +descending Lord; and their unity in Him, and, therefore, +their fellowship with one another, shall be +eternal.</p> + +<p>That great hope helps us to bridge the dark gorge of +present separation. It leaves unanswered a host of +questions which our lonely hearts would fain have +cleared up; but it is enough for hope to hold by, and +for sorrow to be changed into submission and anticipation. +As to the many obscurities that still cling to the +future, the meaning and the nature of the accompaniments, +the shout, the trumpet, and the like, the way of +harmonising the thought that the departed saints +attend the descending Lord, with whom they dwell +now, with the declaration here that they rise from the +earth to meet Him, the question whether these who +are thus caught up from earth to meet the Lord in the +air come back again with Him to earth,—all these +points of curious speculation we may leave. We know +enough for comfort, for assurance of the perfect +reunion of the saints who sleep in Jesus and of the +living, and of the perfect blessedness of both wings of +the great army. We may be content with what is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190a" id="Page_190a">[190]</a></span> +clearly revealed, and be sure that, if what is unrevealed +would have been helpful to us, He would have told us. +We are to use the revelation for comfort and for +stimulus, and we are to remember that 'times and +seasons' are not told us, nor would the knowledge of +them profit us.</p> + +<p>Paul took for granted that the Thessalonians remembered +the Lord's word, which he had, no doubt, told +them, that He would come 'as a thief in the night.' So +he discourages a profitless curiosity, and exhorts to +a continual vigilance. When He comes, it will be +suddenly, and will wake some who live from a sinful +sleep with a shock of terror, and the dead from a sweet +sleep in Him with a rush of gladness, as in body and +spirit they are filled with His life, and raised to share +in His triumph.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SLEEPING THROUGH JESUS</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>' . . . Them also which sleep in Jesus . . .'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> iv. 14.</p></div> + + +<p>That expression is not unusual, in various forms, in +the Apostle's writings. It suggests a very tender and +wonderful thought of closeness and union between +our Lord and the living dead, so close as that He is, as +it were, the atmosphere in which they move, or the +house in which they dwell. But, tender and wonderful +as the thought is, it is not exactly the Apostle's +idea here. For, accurately rendered—and accuracy in +regard to Scripture language is not pedantry—the +words run, 'Them which sleep <i>through</i> Jesus.'</p> + +<p>Now, that is a strange phrase, and, I suppose, its +strangeness is the reason why our translators have +softened it down to the more familiar and obvious 'in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191a" id="Page_191a">[191]</a></span> +Jesus.' We can understand living through Christ, on +being sacred through Christ, but what can <i>sleeping</i> +through Christ mean? I shall hope to answer the +question presently, but, in the meantime, I only wish +to point out what the Apostle does say, and to plead +for letting him say it, strange though it sounds. For +the strange and the difficult phrases of Scripture are +like the hard quartz reefs in which gold is, and if we +slur them over we are likely to loose the treasure. +Let us try if we can find what the gold here may +be.</p> + +<p>Now, there are only two thoughts that I wish to +dwell upon as suggested by these words. One is the +softened aspect of death, and of the state of the +Christian dead; and the other is the ground or cause +of that softened aspect.</p> + +<p>I. First, then, the softened aspect of death, and of +the state of the Christian dead.</p> + +<p>It is to Jesus primarily that the New Testament +writers owe their use of this gracious emblem of sleep. +For, as you remember, the word was twice upon our +Lord's lips; once when, over the twelve-years-old maid +from whom life had barely ebbed away, He said, 'She +is not dead, but sleepeth'; and once when in regard of +the man Lazarus, from whom life had removed further, +He said, 'Our friend sleepeth, but I go that I may awake +him out of sleep.' But Jesus was not the originator +of the expression. You find it in the Old Testament, +where the prophet Daniel, speaking of the end of the +days and the bodily Resurrection, designates those who +share in it as 'them that sleep in the dust of the earth.' +And the Old Testament was not the sole origin of the +phrase. For it is too natural, too much in accordance +with the visibilities of death, not to have suggested itself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192a" id="Page_192a">[192]</a></span> +to many hearts, and been shrined in many languages. +Many an inscription of Greek and Roman date speaks +of death under this figure; but almost always it is +with the added, deepened note of despair, that it is a +sleep which knows no waking, but lasts through eternal +night.</p> + +<p>Now, the Christian thought associated with this +emblem is the precise opposite of the pagan one. The +pagan heart shrank from naming the ugly thing because +it was so ugly. So dark and deep a dread coiled +round the man, as he contemplated it, that he sought to +drape the dreadfulness in some kind of thin, transparent +veil, and to put the buffer of a word between him +and its hideousness. But the Christian's motive +for the use of the word is the precise opposite. He +uses the gentler expression because the thing has +become gentler.</p> + +<p>It is profoundly significant that throughout the +whole of the New Testament the plain, naked word +'death' is usually applied, not to the physical fact +which we ordinarily designate by the name, but to +the grim thing of which that physical fact is only the +emblem and the parable, viz., the true death which +lies in the separation of the soul from God; whilst +predominately the New Testament usage calls the +physical fact by some other gentler form of expression, +because, as I say, the gentleness has enfolded the +thing to be designated.</p> + +<p>For instance, you find one class of representations +which speak of death as being a departing and a being +with Christ; or which call it, as one of the apostles +does, an 'exodus,' where it is softened down to be +merely a change of environment, a change of locality. +Then another class of representations speak of it as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193a" id="Page_193a">[193]</a></span> +'putting off this my tabernacle,' or, the dissolution of +the 'earthly house'—where there is a broad, firm line +of demarcation drawn between the inhabitant and the +habitation, and the thing is softened down to be a mere +change of dwelling. Again, another class of expressions +speak of it as being an 'offering,' where the main +idea is that of a voluntary surrender, a sacrifice or +libation of myself, and my life poured out upon the +altar of God. But sweetest, deepest, most appealing +to all our hearts, is that emblem of my text, 'them +that sleep.' It is used, if I count rightly, some fourteen +times in the New Testament, and it carries with +it large and plain lessons, on which I touch but +for a moment. What, then, does this metaphor say +to us?</p> + +<p>Well, it speaks first of rest. That is not altogether +an attractive conception to some of us. If it be taken +exclusively it is by no means wholesome. I suppose +that the young, and the strong, and the eager, and the +ambitious, and the prosperous rather shrink from the +notion of their activities being stiffened into slumber. +But, dear friends, there are some of us like tired +children in a fair, who would fain have done with the +weariness, who have made experience of the distractions +and bewildering changes, whose backs are +stiffened with toil, whose hearts are heavy with loss. +And to all of us, in some moods, the prospect of +shuffling off this weary coil of responsibilities and +duties and tasks and sorrows, and of passing into +indisturbance and repose, appeals. I believe, for my +part, that, after all, the deepest longing of men—though +they search for it through toil and effort—is +for repose. As the poet has taught us, 'there is +no joy but calm.' Every heart is weary enough, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194a" id="Page_194a">[194]</a></span> +heavy laden, and labouring enough, to feel the sweetness +of a promise of rest:—</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Sleep, full of rest from head to foot"> +<tr><td align='left'>'Sleep, full of rest from head to foot,</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Lie still, dry dust, secure of change.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>Yes! but the rest of which our emblem speaks is, +as I believe, only applicable to the bodily frame. The +word 'sleep' is a transcript of what sense enlightened +by faith sees in that still form, with the folded hands +and the quiet face and the closed eyes. But let us +remember that this repose, deep and blessed as it is, +is not, as some would say, the repose of unconsciousness. +I do not believe, and I would have you not +believe, that this emblem refers to the vigorous, +spiritual life, or that the passage from out of the +toil and moil of earth into the calm of the darkness +beyond has any power in limiting or suspending the +vital force of the man.</p> + +<p>Why, the very metaphor itself tells us that the +sleeper is not unconscious. He is parted from the +outer world, he is unaware of externals. When +Stephen knelt below the old wall, and was surrounded +by howling fanatics that slew him, one moment he +was gashed with stones and tortured, and the next 'he +fell on sleep.' They might howl, and the stones fly as +they would, and he was all unaware of it. Like Jonah +sleeping in the hold, what mattered the roaring of the +storm to him? But separation from externals does +not mean suspense of life or of consciousness, and the +slumberer often dreams, and is aware of himself persistently +throughout his slumber. Nay! some of his +faculties are set at liberty to work more energetically, +because his connection with the outer world is for the +time suspended.</p> + +<p>And so I say that what on the hither side is sleep,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195a" id="Page_195a">[195]</a></span> +on the further side is awaking, and that the complex +whole of the condition of the sainted dead may be +described with equal truth by either metaphor; 'they +sleep in Jesus'; or, 'when I awake I shall be satisfied +with Thy likeness.'</p> + +<p>Scripture, as it seems to me, distinctly carries this +limitation of the emblem. For what does it mean +when the Apostle says that to depart and to be with +Christ is far better? Surely he who thus spoke conceived +that these two things were contemporaneous, +the departing and the being with Him. And surely +he who thus spoke could not have conceived that a +millennium-long parenthesis of slumberous unconsciousness +was to intervene between the moment of +his decease and the moment of his fellowship with +Jesus. How could a man prefer that dormant state +to the state here, of working for and living with the +Lord? Surely, being with Him must mean that we +know where we are, and who is our companion.</p> + +<p>And what does that text mean: 'Ye are come unto +the spirits of just men made perfect,' unless it means +that of these two classes of persons who are thus +regarded as brought into living fellowship, each is +aware of the other? Does perfecting of the spirit +mean the smiting of the spirit into unconsciousness? +Surely not, and surely in view of such words as these, +we must recognise the fact that, however limited and +imperfect may be the present connection of the +disembodied dead, who sleep in Christ, with external +things, they know themselves, they know their home +and their companion, and they know the blessedness +in which they are lapped.</p> + +<p>But another thought which is suggested by this +emblem is, as I have already said, most certainly the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196a" id="Page_196a">[196]</a></span> +idea of awaking. The pagans said, as indeed one of +their poets has it, 'Suns can sink and return, but for +us, when our brief light sinks, there is but one perpetual +night of slumber.' The Christian idea of death +is, that it is transitory as a sleep in the morning, and +sure to end. As St. Augustine says somewhere, 'Wherefore +are they called sleepers, but because in the day of +the Lord they will be reawakened?'</p> + +<p>And so these are the thoughts, very imperfectly +spoken, I know, which spring like flowers from this +gracious metaphor 'them that sleep'—rest and awaking; +rest and consciousness.</p> + +<p>II. Note the ground of this softened aspect.</p> + +<p>They 'sleep through Him.' It is by reason of Christ +and His work, and by reason of that alone, that death's +darkness is made beautiful, and death's grimness is +softened down to this. Now, in order to grasp the +full meaning of such words as these of the Apostle, we +must draw a broad distinction between the physical +fact of the ending of corporeal life and the mental +condition which is associated with it by us. What we +call death, if I may so say, is a complex thing—a bodily +phenomenon <i>plus</i> conscience, the sense of sin, the +certainty of retribution in the dim beyond. And you +have to take these elements apart. The former remains, +but if the others are removed, the whole has changed +its character and is become another thing, and a very +little thing.</p> + +<p>The mere physical fact is a trifle. Look at it as you +see it in the animals; look at it as you see it in men +when they actually come to it. In ninety-nine cases +out of a hundred it is painless and easy, and men sink +into slumber. Strange, is it not, that so small a reality +should have power to cast over human life so immense<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197a" id="Page_197a">[197]</a></span> +and obscuring a shadow! Why? Because, as the +Apostle says, 'the sting of death is sin,' and if you can +take the sting out of it, then there is very little to +fear, and it comes down to be an insignificant and +transient element in our experience.</p> + +<p>Now, the death of Jesus Christ takes away, if I +may so say, the <i>nimbus</i> of apprehension and dread +arising from conscience and sin, and the forecast of +retribution. There is nothing left for us to face except +the physical fact, and any rough soldier, with a coarse, +red coat upon him, will face that for eighteenpence +a day, and think himself well paid. Jesus Christ +has abolished death, leaving the mere shell, but taking +all the substance out of it. It has become a different +thing to men, because in that death of His He has +exhausted the bitterness, and has made it possible +that we should pass into the shadow, and not fear +either conscience or sin or judgment.</p> + +<p>In this connection I cannot but notice with what a +profound meaning the Apostle, in this very verse, uses +the bare, naked word in reference to Him, and the +softened one in reference to us. 'If we believe that +Jesus Christ <i>died</i> and rose again, even so them also +which sleep.' Ah! yes! He died indeed, bearing all +that terror with which men's consciences have invested +death. He died indeed, bearing on Himself the sins of +the world. He died that no man henceforward need +ever die in that same fashion. His death makes our +deaths sleep, and His Resurrection makes our sleep +calmly certain of a waking.</p> + +<p>So, dear 'brethren, I would not have you ignorant +concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not +even as others which have no hope.' And I would +have you to remember that, whilst Christ by His work<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198a" id="Page_198a">[198]</a></span> +has made it possible that the terror may pass away, +and death may be softened and minimised into slumber, +it will not be so with you—unless you are joined to +Him, and by trust in the power of His death and the +overflowing might of His Resurrection, have made sure +that what He has passed through, you will pass +through, and where He is, and what He is, you will +be also.</p> + +<p>Two men die by one railway accident, sitting side by +side upon one seat, smashed in one collision. But +though the outward fact is the same about each, the +reality of their deaths is infinitely different. The one +falls asleep through Jesus, in Jesus; the other dies +indeed, and the death of his body is only a feeble +shadow of the death of his spirit. Do you knit yourself +to the Life, which is Christ, and then 'he that +believeth on Me shall never die.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE WORK AND ARMOUR OF THE CHILDREN OF THE DAY</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and +love; and for a helmet the hope of salvation.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> v. 8.</p></div> + + +<p>This letter to the Thessalonians is the oldest book of +the New Testament. It was probably written within +something like twenty years of the Crucifixion; long, +therefore, before any of the Gospels were in existence. +It is, therefore, exceedingly interesting and instructive +to notice how this whole context is saturated with +allusions to our Lord's teaching, as it is preserved in +these Gospels; and how it takes for granted that +the Thessalonian Christians were familiar with the +very words.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199a" id="Page_199a">[199]</a></span></p> + +<p>For instance: 'Yourselves know perfectly that the +day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night' +(ver. 2). How did these people in Thessalonica know +that? They had been Christians for a year or so only; +they had been taught by Paul for a few weeks only, +or a month or two at the most. How did they know +it? Because they had been told what the Master had +said: 'If the goodman of the house had known at +what hour the thief would come, he would have +watched, and would not have suffered his house to be +broken up.'</p> + +<p>And there are other allusions in the context almost +as obvious: 'The children of the light.' Who said +that? Christ, in His words: 'The children of this +world are wiser than the children of light.' 'They +that sleep, sleep in the night, and if they be drunken, +are drunken in the night.' Where does that metaphor +come from? 'Take heed lest at any time ye be overcharged +with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the +cares of this life, and so that day come upon you +unawares.' 'Watch, lest coming suddenly He find +you sleeping!'</p> + +<p>So you see all the context reposes upon, and presupposes +the very words, which you find in our present +existing Gospels, as the words of the Lord Jesus. And +this is all but contemporaneous, and quite independent, +evidence of the existence in the Church, from the +beginning, of a traditional teaching which is now preserved +for us in that fourfold record of His life.</p> + +<p>Take that remark for what it is worth; and now +turn to the text itself with which I have to deal in this +sermon. The whole of the context may be said to be +a little dissertation upon the moral and religious uses +of the doctrine of our Lord's second coming. In my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200a" id="Page_200a">[200]</a></span> +text these are summed up in one central injunction +which has preceding it a motive that enforces it, and +following it a method that ensures it. 'Let us be +sober'; that is the centre thought; and it is buttressed +upon either side by a motive and a means. 'Let us +who are of the day,' or 'since we are of the day,—be +sober.' And let us <i>be</i> it by 'putting on the breastplate +and helmet of faith, love, and hope.' These, then, are +the three points which we have to consider.</p> + +<p>I. First, this central injunction, into which all the +moral teaching drawn from the second coming of +Christ is gathered—'Let us be sober.' Now, I do not +suppose we are altogether to omit any reference to the +literal meaning of this word. The context seems to +show that, by its reference to night as the season for +drunken orgies. Temperance is moderation in regard +not only to the evil and swinish sin of drunkenness, +which is so manifestly contrary to all Christian integrity +and nobility of character, but in regard to the far more +subtle temptation of another form of sensual indulgence—gluttony. +The Christian Church needed to be +warned of that, and if these people in Thessalonica +needed the warning I am quite sure that we need it. +There is not a nation on earth which needs it more +than Englishmen. I am no ascetic, I do not want to +glorify any outward observance, but any doctor in +England will tell you that the average Englishman eats +and drinks a great deal more than is good for him. +It is melancholy to think how many professing +Christians have the edge and keenness of their intellectual +and spiritual life blunted by the luxurious +and senseless table-abundance in which they habitually +indulge. I am quite sure that water from the spring +and barley-bread would be a great deal better for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201a" id="Page_201a">[201]</a></span> +their souls, and for their bodies too, in the case of many +people who call themselves Christians. Suffer a word +of exhortation, and do not let it be neglected because +it is brief and general. Sparta, after all, is the best +place for a man to live in, next to Jerusalem.</p> + +<p>But, passing from that, let us turn to the higher +subject with which the Apostle is here evidently +mainly concerned. What is the meaning of the exhortation +'Be sober'? Well, first let me tell you +what I think is not the meaning of it. It does not +mean an unemotional absence of fervour in your +Christian character.</p> + +<p>There is a kind of religious teachers who are always +preaching down enthusiasm, and preaching up what +they call a 'sober standard of feeling' in matters of +religion. By which, in nine cases out of ten, they +mean precisely such a tepid condition as is described +in much less polite language, when the voice from +heaven says, 'Because thou art neither cold nor hot +I will spue thee out of My mouth.' That is the real +meaning of the 'sobriety' that some people are always +desiring you to cultivate. I should have thought that +the last piece of furniture which any Christian Church +in the twentieth century needed was a refrigerator! +A poker and a pair of bellows would be very much +more needful for them. For, dear brethren, the truths +that you and I profess to believe are of such a nature, +so tremendous either in their joyfulness and beauty, +or in their solemnity and awfulness, that one would +think that if they once got into a man's head and +heart, nothing but the most fervid and continuous +glow of a radiant enthusiasm would correspond to +their majesty and overwhelming importance. I venture +to say that the only consistent Christian is the enthu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202a" id="Page_202a">[202]</a></span>siastic +Christian; and that the only man who will ever +do anything in this world for God or man worth doing +is the man who is not <i>sober</i>, according to that cold-blooded +definition which I have been speaking about, +but who is all ablaze with an enkindled earnestness +that knows no diminution and no cessation.</p> + +<p>Paul, the very man that is exhorting here to sobriety, +was the very type of an enthusiast all his life. So +Festus thought him mad, and even in the Church at +Corinth there were some to whom in his fervour, he +seemed to be 'beside himself' (2 Cor. v. 13).</p> + +<p>Oh! for more of that insanity! You may make up +your minds to this; that any men or women that are +in thorough earnest, either about Christianity or about +any other great, noble, lofty, self-forgetting purpose, +will have to be content to have the old Pentecostal +charge flung at them:—'These men are full of new +wine!' Well for the Church, and well for the men who +deserve the taunt; for it means that they have learned +something of the emotion that corresponds to such +magnificent and awful verities as Christian faith +converses with.</p> + +<p>I did not intend to say so much about that; I turn +now for a moment to the consideration of what this +exhortation really means. It means, as I take it, +mainly this: the prime Christian duty of self-restraint +in the use and the love of all earthly treasures and +pleasures.</p> + +<p>I need not do more than remind you how, in the +very make of a man's soul, it is clear that unless there +be exercised rigid self-control he will go all to pieces. +The make of human nature, if I may say so, shows +that it is not meant for a democracy but a monarchy.</p> + +<p>Here are within us many passions, tastes, desires,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203a" id="Page_203a">[203]</a></span> +most of them rooted in the flesh, which are as blind +as hunger and thirst are. If a man is hungry, the +bread will satisfy him all the same whether he steals +it or not; and it will not necessarily be distasteful +even if it be poisoned. And there are other blind +impulses and appetites in our nature which ask nothing +except this:—'Give me my appropriate gratification, +though all the laws of God and man be broken in order +to get it!'</p> + +<p>And so there has to be something like an eye given +to these blind beasts, and something like a directing +hand laid upon these instinctive impulses. The true +temple of the human spirit must be built in stages, the +broad base laid in these animal instincts; above them, +and controlling them, the directing and restraining +will; above it the understanding which enlightens it +and them; and supreme over all the conscience with +nothing between it and heaven. Where that is not +the order of the inner man you get wild work. You +have set 'beggars on horseback,' and we all know +where they go! The man who lets passion and inclination +guide is like a steam-boat with all the furnaces +banked up, with the engines going full speed, and +nobody at the wheel. It will drive on to the rocks, or +wherever the bow happens to point, no matter though +death and destruction lie beyond the next turn of the +screw. That is what you will come to unless you live +in the habitual exercise of rigid self-control.</p> + +<p>And that self-control is to be exercised mainly, or +at least as one very important form of it, in regard to +our use and estimate of the pleasures of this present +life. Yes! it is not only from the study of a man's +make that the necessity for a very rigid self-government +appears, but the observation of the conditions and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204a" id="Page_204a">[204]</a></span> +circumstances in which he is placed points the same +lesson. All round about him are hands reaching out +to him drugged cups. The world with all its fading +sweet comes tempting him, and the old fable fulfils +itself—Whoever takes that Circe's cup and puts it to +his lips and quaffs deep, turns into a swine, and sits +there imprisoned at the feet of the sorceress for +evermore!</p> + +<p>There is only one thing that will deliver you from +that fate, my brother. 'Be sober,' and in regard to the +world and all that it offers to us—all joy, possession, +gratification—'set a knife to thy throat if thou be a +man given to appetite.' There is no noble life possible +on any other terms—not to say there is no Christian +life possible on any other terms—but suppression and +mortification of the desires of the flesh and of the +spirit. You cannot look upwards and downwards at +the same moment. Your heart is only a tiny room +after all, and if you cram it full of the world, you +relegate your Master to the stable outside. 'Ye cannot +serve God and Mammon.' 'Be sober,' says Paul, then, +and cultivate the habit of rigid self-control in regard +to this present. Oh! what a melancholy, solemn +thought it is that hundreds of professing Christians in +England, like vultures after a full meal, have so gorged +themselves with the garbage of this present life that +they cannot fly, and have to be content with moving +along the ground, heavy and languid. Christian men +and women, are you keeping yourselves in spiritual +health by a very sparing use of the dainties and delights +of earth? Answer the question to your own souls and +to your Judge.</p> + +<p>II. And now let me turn to the other thoughts that +lie here. There is, secondly, a motive which backs up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205a" id="Page_205a">[205]</a></span> +and buttresses this exhortation. 'Let us who are of +the day'—or as the Revised Version has it a little more +emphatically and correctly, 'Let us, since we are of the +day, be sober.' 'The day'; what day? The temptation +is to answer the question by saying—'of course the +specific day which was spoken about in the beginning +of the section, "the day of the Lord," that coming judgment +by the coming Christ.' But I think that although, +perhaps, there may be some allusion here to that specific +day, still, if you will look at the verses which immediately +precede my text, you will see that in them the +Apostle has passed from the thought of 'the day of +the Lord' to that of day in general. That is obvious, +I think, from the contrast he draws between the 'day' +and the 'night,' the darkness and the light. If so, +then, when he says 'the children of the day' he does not +so much mean—though that is quite true—that we are, +as it were, akin to that day of judgment, and may +therefore look forward to it without fear, and in +quiet confidence, lifting up our heads because our +redemption draws nigh; but rather he means that +Christians are the children of that which expresses +knowledge, and joy, and activity. Of these things the +day is the emblem, in every language and in every +poetry. The day is the time when men see and hear, +the symbol of gladness and cheer all the world over.</p> + +<p>And so, says Paul, you Christian men and women +belong to a joyous realm, a realm of light and knowledge, +a realm of purity and righteousness. You are +children of the light; a glad condition which involves +many glad and noble issues. Children of the light +should be brave, children of the light should not be +afraid of the light, children of the light should be +cheerful, children of the light should be buoyant,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206a" id="Page_206a">[206]</a></span> +children of the light should be transparent, children of +the light should be hopeful, children of the light should +be pure, and children of the light should walk in this +darkened world, bearing their radiance with them; +and making things, else unseen, visible to many a dim +eye.</p> + +<p>But while these emblems of cheerfulness, hope, +purity, and illumination are gathered together in that +grand name—'Ye are the children of the day,' there is +one direction especially in which the Apostle thinks +that that consideration ought to tell, and that is the +direction of self-restraint. '<i>Noblesse oblige!</i>'—the +aristocracy are bound to do nothing low or dishonourable. +The children of the light are not to stain their +hands with anything foul. Chambering and wantonness, +slumber and drunkenness, the indulgence in the +appetites of the flesh,—all that may be fitting for the +night, it is clean incongruous with the day.</p> + +<p>Well, if you want that turned into pedestrian prose—which +is no more clear, but a little less emotional—it +is just this: You Christian men and women belong—if +you are Christians—to another state of things from +that which is lying round about you; and, therefore, +you ought to live in rigid abstinence from these things +that are round about you.</p> + +<p>That is plain enough surely, nor do I suppose that I +need to dwell on that thought at any length. We +belong to another order of things, says Paul; we carry +a day with us in the midst of the night. What follows +from that? Do not let us pursue the wandering +lights and treacherous will-o'-the-wisps that lure men +into bottomless bogs where they are lost. If we have +light in our dwellings whilst Egypt lies in darkness, +let it teach us to eat our meat with our loins girded,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207a" id="Page_207a">[207]</a></span> +and our staves in our hands, not without bitter herbs, +and ready to go forth into the wilderness. You do +not belong to the world in which you live, if you +are Christian men and women; you are only camped +here. Your purposes, thoughts, hopes, aspirations, +treasures, desires, delights, go up higher. And so, if +you are children of the day, be self-restrained in your +dealings with the darkness.</p> + +<p>III. And, last of all, my text points out for us a +method by which this great precept may be fulfilled:—'Putting +on the breastplate of faith and love, and for +an helmet the hope of salvation.'</p> + +<p>That, of course, is the first rough draft occurring in +Paul's earliest Epistle, of an image which recurs at +intervals, and in more or less expanded form in other +of his letters, and is so splendidly worked out in detail +in the grand picture of the Christian armour in the +Epistle to the Ephesians.</p> + +<p>I need not do more than just remind you of the +difference between that finished picture and this outline +sketch. Here we have only defensive and not +offensive armour, here the Christian graces are somewhat +differently allocated to the different parts of the +armour. Here we have only the great triad of +Christian graces, so familiar on our lips—faith, hope, +charity. Here we have faith and love in the closest +possible juxtaposition, and hope somewhat more +apart. The breastplate, like some of the ancient +hauberks, made of steel and gold, is framed and forged +out of faith and love blended together, and faith and +love are more closely identified in fact than faith and +hope, or than love and hope. For faith and love have +the same object—and are all but contemporaneous. +Wherever a man lays hold of Jesus Christ by faith,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208a" id="Page_208a">[208]</a></span> +there cannot but spring up in his heart love to Christ; +and there is no love without faith. So that we may +almost say that faith and love are but the two throws +of the shuttle, the one in the one direction and the +other in the other; whereas hope comes somewhat +later in a somewhat remoter connection with faith, +and has a somewhat different object from these other +two. Therefore it is here slightly separated from its +sister graces. Faith, love, hope—these three form the +defensive armour that guard the soul; and these three +make self-control possible. Like a diver in his dress, +who is let down to the bottom of the wild, far-weltering +ocean, a man whose heart is girt by faith and +charity, and whose head is covered with the helmet of +hope, may be dropped down into the wildest sea of +temptation and of worldliness, and yet will walk dry +and unharmed through the midst of its depths, and +breathe air that comes from a world above the restless +surges.</p> + +<p>And in like manner the cultivation of faith, charity, +and hope is the best means for securing the exercise +of sober self-control.</p> + +<p>It is an easy thing to say to a man, 'Govern yourself!' +It is a very hard thing with the powers that any +man has at his disposal to do it. As somebody said +about an army joining the rebels, 'It's a bad job when +the extinguisher catches fire!' And that is exactly the +condition of things in regard to our power of self-government. +The powers that should control are +largely gone over to the enemy, and become traitors.</p> + +<p>'Who shall keep the very keepers?' is the old question, +and here is the answer:—You cannot execute the +gymnastic feat of 'erecting yourself above yourself' +any more than a man can take himself by his own coat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209a" id="Page_209a">[209]</a></span> +collar and lift himself up from the ground with his +own arms. But you can cultivate faith, hope, and +charity, and these three, well cultivated and brought +to bear upon your daily life, will do the governing +for you. Faith will bring you into communication +with all the power of God. Love will lead you into a +region where all the temptations round you will be +touched as by an Ithuriel spear, and will show their +foulness. And hope will turn away your eyes from +looking at the tempting splendours around, and fix +them upon the glories that are above.</p> + +<p>And so the reins will come into your hands in an +altogether new manner, and you will be able to be king +over your own nature in a fashion that you did not +dream of before, if only you will trust in Christ, and +love Him, and fix your desires on the things above.</p> + +<p>Then you will be able to govern yourself when you +let Christ govern you. The glories that are to be done +away, that gleam round you like foul, flaring tallow-candles, +will lose all their fascination and brightness, +by reason of the glory that excelleth, the pure starlike +splendour of the white inextinguishable lights of +heaven.</p> + +<p>And when by faith, charity, and hope you have +drunk of the new wine of the kingdom, the drugged +and opiate cup which a sorceress world presents, +jewelled though it be, will lose its charms, and it +will not be hard to turn from it and dash it to the +ground.</p> + +<p>God help you, brother, to be 'sober,' for unless you +are 'you cannot see the kingdom of God!'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210a" id="Page_210a">[210]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WAKING AND SLEEPING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live +together with Him.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> v. 10.</p></div> + + +<p>In these words the Apostle concludes a section of this, +his earliest letter, in which he has been dealing with +the aspect of death in reference to the Christian. +There are two very significant usages of language in +the context which serve to elucidate the meaning of +the words of our text, and to which I refer for a moment +by way of introduction.</p> + +<p>The one is that throughout this portion of his letter +the Apostle emphatically reserves the word 'died' for +Jesus Christ, and applies to Christ's followers only the +word 'sleep.' Christ's death makes the deaths of those +who trust Him a quiet slumber. The other is that the +antithesis of waking and sleep is employed in two +different directions in this section, being first used to +express, by the one term, simply physical life, and by +the other, physical death; and secondly, to designate +respectively the moral attitude of Christian watchfulness +and that of worldly apathy to things unseen and +drowsy engrossment with the present.</p> + +<p>So in the words immediately preceding my text, we +read, 'let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch +and be sober.' The use of the antithesis in our text is +chiefly the former, but there cannot be discharged +from one of the expressions, 'wake,' the ideas which +have just been associated with it, especially as the +word which is translated 'wake' is the same as that +just translated in the sixth verse, 'let us watch.' So +that here there is meant by it, not merely the condition +of life but that of Christian life—sober-minded<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211a" id="Page_211a">[211]</a></span> +vigilance and wide-awakeness to the realities of being. +With this explanation of the meanings of the words +before us, we may now proceed to consider them a little +more minutely.</p> + +<p>I. Note the death which is the foundation of life.</p> + +<p>Recalling what I have said as to the precision and +carefulness with which the Apostle varies his expressions +in this context; speaking of Christ's death only +by that grim name, and of the death of His servants +as being merely a slumber, we have for the first +thought suggested in reference to Christ's death, that +it exhausted all the bitterness of death. Physically, +the sufferings of our Lord were not greater, they +were even less, than that of many a man. His voluntary +acceptance of them was peculiar to Himself. But +His death stands alone in this, that on His head was +concentrated the whole awfulness of the thing. So +far as the mere external facts go, there is nothing +special about it. But I know not how the shrinking +of Jesus Christ from the Cross can be explained without +impugning His character, unless we see in His +death something far more terrible than is the common +lot of men. To me Gethsemane is altogether mysterious, +and that scene beneath the olives shatters to +pieces the perfectness of His character, unless we +recognise that there it was the burden of the world's +sin, beneath which, though His will never faltered, His +human power tottered. Except we understand that, it +seems to me that many who derived from Jesus Christ +all their courage, bore their martyrdom better than +He did; and that the servant has many a time been +greater than his Lord. But if we take the Scripture +point of view, and say, 'The Lord has made to meet +upon Him the iniquity of us all,' then we can under<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212a" id="Page_212a">[212]</a></span>stand +the agony beneath the olives, and the cry from +the Cross, 'Why hast Thou forsaken Me?'</p> + +<p>Further, I would notice that this death is by the +Apostle set forth as being the main factor in man's +redemption. This is the first of Paul's letters, dating +long before the others with which we are familiar. +Whatever may have been the spiritual development of +St. Paul in certain directions after his conversion—and +I do not for a moment deny that there was such—it +is very important to notice that the fundamentals +of his Christology and doctrine of salvation were the +same from the beginning to the end, and that in this, +his first utterance, he lays down, as emphatically and +clearly as ever afterwards he did, the great truth that +Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on the Cross, +thereby secured man's redemption. Here he isolates +the death from the rest of the history of Christ, and +concentrates the whole light of his thought upon the +Cross, and says, There! that is the power by which men +have been redeemed. I beseech you to ask yourselves +whether these representations of Christian truth adhere +to the perspective of Scripture, which do not in +like manner set forth in the foreground of the whole +the atoning death of Jesus Christ our Lord.</p> + +<p>Then note, further, that this death, the fountain of +life, is a death for us. Now I know, of course, that the +language here does not necessarily involve the idea of +one dying instead of, but only of one dying on behalf +of, another. But then I come to this question, In what +conceivable sense, except the sense of bearing the +world's sins, and, therefore, mine, is the death of Jesus +Christ of advantage to me? Take the Scripture narratives. +He died by the condemnation of the Jewish +courts as a blasphemer; by the condemnation of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213a" id="Page_213a">[213]</a></span> +supercilious Roman court—cowardly in the midst of +its superciliousness—as a possible rebel, though the +sentencer did not believe in the reality of the charges. +I want to know what good that is to me? He died, +say some people, as the victim of a clearer insight and +a more loving heart than the men around Him could +understand. What advantage is that to me?</p> + +<p>Oh, brethren! there is no meaning in the words 'He +died for us' unless we understand that the benefit of +His death lies in the fact that it was the sacrifice and +satisfaction for the sins of the whole world; and that, +therefore, He died for us.</p> + +<p>But then remember, too, that in this expression is +set forth, not only the objective fact of Christ's death +for us, but much in reference to the subjective emotions +and purposes of Him who died. Paul was +writing to these Thessalonians, of whom none, I +suppose, except possibly a few Jews who might be +amongst them, had ever seen Jesus Christ in the flesh, +or known anything about Him. And yet he says to +them, 'Away across the ocean there, Jesus Christ died +for you men, not one of whom had ever appealed to His +heart through His eyes.'</p> + +<p>The principle involved is capable of the widest +possible expansion. When Christ went to the Cross +there was in His heart, in His purposes, in His desires, +a separate place for every soul of man whom He +embraced, not with the dim vision of some philanthropist, +who looks upon the masses of unborn generations +as possibly beneficially affected by some of his +far-reaching plans, but with the individualising and +separating knowledge of a divine eye, and the love of a +divine heart. Jesus Christ bore the sins of the world +because He bore in His sympathies and His purposes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214a" id="Page_214a">[214]</a></span> +the sins of each single soul. Yours and mine and all +our fellows' were there. Guilt and fear and loneliness, +and all the other evils that beset men because +they have departed from the living God, are floated +away</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="By the water and the blood"> +<tr><td align='left'>'By the water and the blood</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">From Thy wounded side which flowed';</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>and as the context teaches us, it is because He died for +us that He is our Lord, and because He died for every +man that He is every man's Master and King.</div> + +<p>II. Note, secondly, the transformation of our lives +and deaths affected thereby.</p> + +<p>You may remember that, in my introductory remarks, +I pointed out the double application of that antithesis +of waking or sleeping in the context as referring in one +case to the fact of physical life or death, and in the +other to the fact of moral engrossment with the +slumbering influences of the present, or of Christian +vigilance. I carry some allusion to both of these ideas +in the remarks that I have to make.</p> + +<p>Through Jesus Christ life may be quickened into +watchfulness. It is not enough to take waking as +meaning living, for you may turn the metaphor round +and say about a great many men that living means +dreamy sleeping. Paul speaks in the preceding verses +of 'others' than Christians as being asleep, and their +lives as one long debauch and slumber in the night. +Whilst, in contrast with physical death, physical life +may be called 'waking'; the condition of thousands of +men, in regard to all the higher faculties, activities, +and realities of being, is that of somnambulists—they +are walking indeed, but they are walking in their +sleep. Just as a man fast asleep knows nothing of the +realities round him; just as he is swallowed up in his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215a" id="Page_215a">[215]</a></span> +own dreams, so many walk in a vain show. Their +highest faculties are dormant; the only real things do +not touch them, and their eyes are closed to these. +They live in a region of illusions which will pass away +at cock-crowing, and leave them desolate. For some +of us here living is only a distempered sleep, troubled +by dreams which, whether they be pleasant or bitter, +equally lack roots in the permanent realities to which +we shall wake some day. But if we hold by Jesus +Christ, who died for us, and let His love constrain us, +His Cross quicken us, and the might of His great +sacrifice touch us, and the blood of sprinkling be +applied to our eyeballs as an eye-salve, that we may +see, we shall wake from our opiate sleep—though it +may be as deep as if the sky rained soporifics upon us—and +be conscious of the things that are, and have +our dormant faculties roused, and be quickened into +intense vigilance against our enemies, and brace ourselves +for our tasks, and be ever looking forward to +that joyful hope, to that coming which shall bring +the fulness of waking and of life. So, you professing +Christians, do you take the lessons of this text? A +sleeping Christian is on the high road to cease to be a +Christian at all. If there be one thing more comprehensively +imperative upon us than another, it is this, +that, belonging, as we do by our very profession, to +the day, and being the children of the light, we shall +neither sleep nor be drunken, but be sober, watching +as they who expect their Lord. You walk amidst +realities that will hide themselves unless you gaze for +them; therefore, watch. You walk amidst enemies +that will steal subtly upon you, like some gliding +serpent through the grass, or some painted savage in +the forest; therefore, watch. You expect a Lord to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216a" id="Page_216a">[216]</a></span> +come from heaven with a relieving army that is to +raise the siege and free the hard-beset garrison from +its fears and its toilsome work; therefore, watch. +'They that sleep, sleep in the night.' They who are +Christ's should be like the living creatures in the +Revelation, all eyes round about, and every eye gazing +on things unseen and looking for the Master when He +comes.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the death of Christ will soften +our deaths into slumber. The Apostle will not call +what the senses call death, by that dread name, which +was warranted when applied to the facts of Christ's +death. The physical fact remaining the same, all that +is included under the complex whole called death +which makes its terrors, goes, for a man who keeps +fast hold of Christ who died and lives. For what +makes the sting of death? Two or three things. It is +like some poisonous insect's sting, it is a complex +weapon. One side of it is the fear of retribution. +Another side of it is the shrinking from loneliness. +Another side of it is the dread of the dim darkness of +an unknown future. And all these are taken clean +away. Is it guilt, dread of retribution? 'Thou shalt +answer, Lord, for me.' Is it loneliness? In the valley of +darkness 'I will be with thee. My rod and My staff will +comfort thee.' Is it a shrinking from the dim unknown +and all the familiar habitudes and occupations of the +warm corner where we have lived? 'Jesus Christ has +brought immortality to light by the Gospel.' We do +<i>not</i>, according to the sad words of one of the victims of +modern advanced thought, pass by the common road +into the great darkness, but by the Christ-made living +Way into the everlasting light. And so it is a misnomer +to apply the same term to the physical fact plus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217a" id="Page_217a">[217]</a></span> +the accompaniment of dread and shrinking and fear of +retribution and solitude and darkness, and to the +physical fact invested with the direct and bright +opposites of all these.</p> + +<p>Sleep is rest; sleep is consciousness; sleep is the +prophecy of waking. We know not what the condition +of those who sleep in Jesus may be, but we know +that the child on its mother's breast, and conscious +somehow, in its slumber, of the warm place where its +head rests, is full of repose. And they that sleep in +Jesus will be <i>so</i>. Then, whether we wake or sleep does +not seem to matter so very much.</p> + +<p>III. The united life of all who live with Christ.</p> + +<p>Christ's gift to men is the gift of life in all senses of +that word, from the lowest to the highest. That life, +as our text tells us, is altogether unaffected by death. +We cannot see round the sharp angle where the valley +turns, but we know that the path runs straight on +through the gorge up to the throat of the pass—and so +on to the 'shining table-lands whereof our God Himself +is Sun and Moon.' There are some rivers that run +through stagnant lakes, keeping the tinge of their +waters, and holding together the body of their stream +undiverted from its course, and issuing undiminished +and untarnished from the lower end of the lake. And +so the stream of our lives may run through the Dead +Sea, and come out below none the worse for the black +waters through which it has forced its way. The life +that Christ gives is unaffected by death. Our creed is +a risen Saviour, and the corollary of that creed is, that +death touches the circumference, but never gets +near the man. It is hard to believe, in the face of +the foolish senses; it is hard to believe, in the +face of aching sorrow. It is hard to-day to believe, in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218a" id="Page_218a">[218]</a></span> +the face of passionate and ingenious denial, but it is +true all the same. Death is sleep, and sleep is life.</p> + +<p>And so, further, my text tells us that this life is life +with Christ. We know not details, we need not know +them. Here we have the presence of Jesus Christ, if +we love Him, as really as when He walked the earth. +Ay! more really, for Jesus Christ is nearer to us who, +having not seen Him, love Him, and somewhat know +His divinity and His sacrifice, than He was to the men +who companied with Him all the time that He went in +and out amongst them, whilst they were ignorant of +who dwelt with them, and entertained the Lord of +angels and men unawares. He is with us, and it is the +power and the privilege and the joy of our lives to +realise His presence. That Lord who, whilst He was +on earth, was the Son of Man which is in heaven, now +that He is in heaven in His corporeal humanity is the +Son of God who dwells with us. And as He dwells +with us, if we love Him and trust Him, so, but in +fashion incapable of being revealed to us, now does He +dwell with those of whose condition this is the only +and all-sufficing positive knowledge which we have, +that they are 'absent from the body; present with the +Lord.'</p> + +<p>Further, that united life is a social life. The whole +force of my text is often missed by English readers, +who run into one idea the two words 'together with.' +But if you would put a comma after 'together,' you +would understand better what Paul meant. He refers +to two forms of union. Whether we wake or sleep we +shall live all aggregated together, and all aggregated +'together' because each is 'with Him.' That is to say, +union with Jesus Christ makes all who partake of that +union, whether they belong to the one side of the river<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219a" id="Page_219a">[219]</a></span> +or the other, into a mighty whole. They are together +because they are with the Lord.</p> + +<p>Suppose a great city, and a stream flowing through +its centre. The palace and all pertaining to the court +are on one side of the water; there is an outlying +suburb on the other, of meaner houses, inhabited by +poor and humble people. But yet it is one city. 'Ye +are come unto the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the +living God, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.' +We are knit together by one life, one love, one thought; +and the more we fix our hearts on the things which +those above live among and by, the more truly are we +knit to them. As a quaint old English writer says, +'They are gone but into another pew in the same +church.'</p> + +<p>We are one in Him, and so there will be a perfecting +of union in reunion; and the inference so craved for +by our hearts seems to be warranted to our understandings, +that that society above, which is the perfection +of society, shall not be lacking in the elements of +mutual recognition and companionship, without which +we cannot conceive of society at all. 'And so we shall +ever be with the Lord.'</p> + +<p>Dear friends, I beseech you to trust your sinful souls +to that dear Lord who bore you in His heart and mind +when He bore His cross to Calvary and completed the +work of your redemption. If you will accept Him as +your sacrifice and Saviour, when He cried 'It is +finished,' united to Him your lives will be quickened +into intense activity and joyful vigilance and expectation, +and death will be smoothed into a quiet falling +asleep. 'The shadow feared of man,' that strikes +threateningly across every path, will change as we +approach it, if our hearts are anchored on Him who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220a" id="Page_220a">[220]</a></span> +died for us, into the Angel of Light to whom God has +given charge concerning us to bear up our feet upon +His hands, and land us in the presence of the Lord and +in the perfect society of those who love Him. And so +shall we live together, and all together, with Him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>EDIFICATION</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Edify one another.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> v. 11.</p></div> + + +<p>I do not intend to preach about that clause only, but I +take it as containing, in the simplest form, one of the +Apostle's favourite metaphors which runs through all +his letters, and the significance of which, I think, is +very little grasped by ordinary readers.</p> + +<p>'Edify one another.' All metaphorical words tend +to lose their light and colour, and the figure to get faint, +in popular understanding. We all know that 'edifice' +means a building; we do not all realise that 'edify' +means <i>to build up</i>. And it is a great misfortune that +our Authorised Version, in accordance with the somewhat +doubtful principle on which its translators proceeded, +varies the rendering of the one Greek word so +as to hide the frequent recurrence of it in the apostolic +teaching. The metaphor that underlies it is the notion +of building up a structure. The Christian idea of the +structure to be built up is that it is a temple. I wish +in this sermon to try to bring out some of the manifold +lessons and truths that lie in this great figure, as +applied to the Christian life.</p> + +<p>Now, glancing over the various uses of the phrase in +the New Testament, I find that the figure of 'building,' +as the great duty of the Christian life, is set forth +under three aspects; self-edification, united edification,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221a" id="Page_221a">[221]</a></span> +and divine edification. And I purpose to look at these +in order.</p> + +<p>I. First, self-edification.</p> + +<p>According to the ideal of the Christian life that runs +through the New Testament, each Christian man is a +dwelling-place of God's, and his work is to build himself +up into a temple worthy of the divine indwelling. +Now, I suppose that the metaphor is such a natural +and simple one that we do not need to look for any +Scriptural basis of it. But if we did, I should be disposed +to find it in the solemn antithesis with which the +Sermon on the Mount is closed, where there are the two +houses pictured, the one built upon the rock and standing +firm, and the other built upon the sand. But that +is perhaps unnecessary.</p> + +<p>We are all builders; building up—what? Character, +ourselves. But what sort of a thing is it that we are +building? Some of us pigsties, in which gross, swinish +lusts wallow in filth; some of us shops; some of us +laboratories, studies, museums; some of us amorphous +structures that cannot be described. But the Christian +man is to be building himself up into a temple of God. +The aim which should ever burn clear before us, and +preside over even our smallest actions, is that which +lies in this misused old word, 'edify' yourselves.</p> + +<p>The first thing about a structure is the foundation. +And Paul was narrow enough to believe that the one +foundation upon which a human spirit could be built +up into a hallowed character is Jesus Christ. He is the +basis of all our certitude. He is the anchor for all our +hopes. To Him should be referred all our actions; for +Him and by Him our lives should be lived. On Him +should rest, solid and inexpugnable, standing four-square +to all the winds that blow, the fabric of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222a" id="Page_222a">[222]</a></span> +characters. Jesus Christ is the pattern, the motive +which impels, and the power which enables, me to rear +myself into a habitation of God through the Spirit. +Whilst I gladly acknowledge that very lovely structures +may be reared upon another foundation than Him, I +would beseech you all to lay this on your hearts and +consciences, that for the loftiest, serenest beauty of +character there is but one basis upon which it can be +rested. 'Other foundation can no man lay than that +which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.'</p> + +<p>Then there is another aspect of this same metaphor, +not in Paul's writings but in another part of the New +Testament, where we read: 'Ye, beloved, building up +yourselves on your most holy faith.' So that, in a subordinate +sense, a man's faith is the basis upon which +he can build such a structure of character; or, to put it +into other words—in regard to the man himself, the +first requisite to the rearing of such a fabric as God +will dwell in is that he, by his own personal act of +faith, should have allied himself to Jesus Christ, who +is the foundation; and should be in a position to draw +from Him all the power, and to feel raying out from +Him all the impulses, and lovingly to discern in Him +all the characteristics, which make Him a pattern for +all men in their building.</p> + +<p>The first course of stone that we lay is Faith; and +that course is, as it were, mortised into the foundation, +the living Rock. He that builds on Christ cannot +build but by faith. The two representations are complementary +to one another, the one, which represents +Jesus Christ as the foundation, stating the ultimate +fact, and the other, which represents faith as the +foundation, stating the condition on which we come +into vital contact with Christ Himself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223a" id="Page_223a">[223]</a></span></p> + +<p>Then, further, in this great thought of the Christian +life being substantially a building up of oneself on +Jesus is implied the need for continuous labour. You +cannot build up a house in half an hour. You cannot +do it, as the old fable told us that Orpheus did, by +music, or by wishing. There must be dogged, hard, +continuous, life-long effort if there is to be this building +up. No man becomes a saint <i>per saltum</i>. No man +makes a character at a flash. The stones are actions; +the mortar is that mystical, awful thing, habit; and +deeds cemented together by custom rise into that +stately dwelling-place in which God abides. So, there +is to be a life-long work in character, gradually rearing +it into His likeness.</p> + +<p>The metaphor also carries with it the idea of orderly +progression. There are a number of other New Testament +emblems which set forth this notion of the true +Christian ideal as being continual growth. For instance, +'first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn +in the ear,' represents it as resembling vegetable +growth, while elsewhere it is likened to the growth of +the human body. Both of these are beautiful images, +in that they suggest that such progressive advancement +is the natural consequence of life; and is in one +aspect effortless and instinctive.</p> + +<p>But then you have to supplement that emblem with +others, and there comes in sharp contrast to it the +metaphor which represents the Christian progress as +being warfare. There the element of resistance is emphasised, +and the thought is brought out that progress +is to be made in spite of strong antagonisms, partly to +be found in external circumstances, and partly to be +found in our own treacherous selves. The growth of +the corn or of the body does not cover the whole facts<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224a" id="Page_224a">[224]</a></span> +of the case, but there must be warfare in order to +growth.</p> + +<p>There is also the other metaphor by which this +Christian progress, which is indispensable to the +Christian life, and is to be carried on, whatever may +oppose it, is regarded as a race. There the idea of the +great, attractive, but far-off future reward comes into +view, as well as the strained muscles and the screwed-up +energy with which the runner presses towards the +mark. But we have not only to fling the result forward +into the future, and to think of the Christian life +as all tending towards an end, which end is not realised +here; but we have to think of it, in accordance with +this metaphor of my text, as being continuously progressive, +so as that, though unfinished, the building is +there; and much is done, though all is not accomplished, +and the courses rise slowly, surely, partially +realising the divine Architect's ideal, long before the +headstone is brought out with shoutings and tumult +of acclaim. A continuous progress and approximation +towards the perfect ideal of the temple completed, consecrated, +and inhabited by God, lies in this metaphor.</p> + +<p>Is that <i>you</i>, Christian man and woman? Is the +notion of progress a part of <i>your</i> working belief? Are +<i>you</i> growing, fighting, running, building up yourselves +more and more in your holy faith? Alas! I cannot +but believe that the very notion of progress has died +out from a great many professing Christians.</p> + +<p>There is one more idea in this metaphor of self-edification, +viz., that our characters should be being +modelled by us on a definite plan, and into a harmonious +whole. I wonder how many of us in this chapel this +morning have ever spent a quiet hour in trying to set +clearly before ourselves what we want to make of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225a" id="Page_225a">[225]</a></span>selves, +and how we mean to go about it. Most of us +live by haphazard very largely, even in regard to outward +things, and still more entirely in regard to our +characters. Most of us have not consciously before us, +as you put a pattern-line before a child learning to +write, any ideal of ourselves to which we are really +seeking to approximate. Have you? And could you +put it into words? And are you making any kind of +intelligent and habitual effort to get at it? I am +afraid a great many of us, if we were honest, would +have to say, No! If a man goes to work as his own +architect, and has a very hazy idea of what it is that he +means to build, he will not build anything worth the +trouble. If your way of building up yourselves is, as +Aaron said his way of making the calf was, putting +all into the fire, and letting chance settle what comes +out, nothing will come out better than a calf. Brother! +if you are going to build, have a plan, and let the plan +be the likeness of Jesus Christ. And then, with continuous +work, and the exercise of continuous faith, +which knits you to the foundation, 'build up yourselves +for an habitation of God.'</p> + +<p>II. We have to consider united edification.</p> + +<p>There are two streams of representation about this +matter in the Pauline Epistles, the one with which I +have already been dealing, which does not so often +appear, and the other which is the habitual form of +the representation, according to which the Christian +community, as a whole, is a temple, and building up is +a work to be done reciprocally and in common. We +have that representation with special frequency and +detail in the Epistle to the Ephesians, where perhaps +we may not be fanciful in supposing that the great +prominence given to it, and to the idea of the Church<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226a" id="Page_226a">[226]</a></span> +as the temple of God, may have been in some degree +due to the existence, in that city, of one of the seven +wonders of the world, the Temple of Diana of the +Ephesians.</p> + +<p>But, be that as it may, what I want to point out is +that united building is inseparable from the individual +building up of which I have been speaking.</p> + +<p>Now, it is often very hard for good, conscientious +people to determine how much of their efforts ought +to be given to the perfecting of their own characters +in any department, and how much ought to be given +to trying to benefit and help other people. I wish you +to notice that one of the most powerful ways of building +up myself is to do my very best to build up others. +Some, like men in my position, for instance, and others +whose office requires them to spend a great deal of +time and energy in the service of their fellows, are +tempted to devote themselves too much to building up +character in other people, and to neglect their own. +It is a temptation that we need to fight against, and +which can only be overcome by much solitary meditation. +Some of us, on the other hand, may be tempted, +for the sake of our own perfecting, intellectual cultivation, +or improvement in other ways, to minimise the +extent to which we are responsible for helping and +blessing other people. But let us remember that the +two things cannot be separated; and that there is +nothing that will make a man more like Christ, which +is the end of all our building, than casting himself +into the service of his fellows with self-oblivion.</p> + +<p>Peter said, 'Master! let us make here three tabernacles.' +Ay! But there was a demoniac boy down +below, and the disciples could not cast out the demon. +The Apostle did not know what he said when he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227a" id="Page_227a">[227]</a></span> +preferred building up himself, by communion with +God and His glorified servants, to hurrying down into +the valley, where there were devils to fight and broken +hearts to heal. Build up yourselves, by all means; if +you do you will have to build up your brethren. 'The +edifying of the body of Christ' is a plain duty which +no Christian man can neglect without leaving a tremendous +gap in the structure which he ought to rear.</p> + +<p>The building resulting from united edification is +represented in Scripture, not as the agglomeration of a +number of little shrines, the individuals, but as one +great temple. That temple grows in two respects, both +of which carry with them imperative duties to us +Christian people. It grows by the addition of new +stones. And so every Christian is bound to seek to +gather into the fold those that are wandering far +away, and to lay some stone upon that sure foundation. +It grows, also, by the closer approximation of +all the members one to another, and the individual +increase of each in Christlike characteristics. And +we are bound to help one another therein, and to +labour earnestly for the advancement of our brethren, +and for the unity of God's Church. Apart from such +efforts our individual edifying of ourselves will become +isolated, the results one-sided, and we ourselves shall +lose much of what is essential to the rearing in ourselves +of a holy character. 'What God hath joined +together let not man put asunder.' Neither seek to +build up yourselves apart from the community, nor +seek to build up the community apart from yourselves.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, the Apostle, in his writings, sets forth +another aspect of this general thought, viz., divine +edification.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228a" id="Page_228a">[228]</a></span></p> + +<p>When he spoke to the elders of the church of +Ephesus he said that Christ was able 'to build them +up.' When he wrote to the Corinthians he said, 'Ye +are <i>God's</i> building.' To the Ephesians he wrote, 'Ye +are built for an habitation of God <i>through the Spirit</i>.' +And so high above all our individual and all our united +effort he carries up our thoughts to the divine Master-builder, +by whose work alone a Paul, when he lays the +foundation, and an Apollos, when he builds thereupon, +are of any use at all.</p> + +<p>Thus, dear brethren, we have to base all our efforts +on this deeper truth, that it is God who builds us into +a temple meet for Himself, and then comes to dwell in +the temple that He has built.</p> + +<p>So let us keep our hearts and minds expectant of, +and open for, that Spirit's influences. Let us be sure +that we are using all the power that God does give us. +His work does not supersede mine. My work is to +avail myself of His. The two thoughts are not contradictory. +They correspond to, and fill out, each +other, though warring schools of one-eyed theologians +and teachers have set them in antagonism. 'Work +<i>out</i> . . . for it is God that worketh <i>in</i>.' That is the +true reconciliation. 'Ye are God's building; build up +yourselves in your most holy faith.'</p> + +<p>If God is the builder, then boundless, indomitable +hope should be ours. No man can look at his own +character, after all his efforts to mend it, without +being smitten by a sense of despair, if he has only his +own resources to fall back upon. Our experience is +like that of the monkish builders, according to many +an old legend, who found every morning that yesterday's +work had been pulled down in the darkness by +demon hands. There is no man whose character is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229a" id="Page_229a">[229]</a></span> +anything more than a torso, an incomplete attempt to +build up the structure that was in his mind—like the +ruins of half-finished palaces and temples which +travellers came across sometimes in lands now desolate, +reared by a forgotten race who were swept away by +some unknown calamity, and have left the stones half-lifted +to their courses, half-hewed in their quarries, and +the building gaunt and incomplete. But men will never +have to say about any of God's architecture, He 'began +to build and was not able to finish.' As the old prophecy +has it, 'His hands have laid the foundation of the house, +His hands shall also finish it.' Therefore, we are entitled +to cherish endless hope and quiet confidence that we, +even we, shall be reared up into an habitation of God +through the Spirit.</p> + +<p>What are you building? 'Behold, I lay in Zion for a +foundation a stone.' Let every man take heed <i>what</i> +and <i>how</i> and <i>that</i> he buildeth thereon.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTINUAL PRAYER AND ITS EFFECTS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks.'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> v. 16-18.</p></div> + + +<p>The peculiarity and the stringency of these three +precepts is the unbroken continuity which they require. +To rejoice, to pray, to give thanks, are easy +when circumstances favour, as a taper burns steadily +in a windless night; but to do these things always is +as difficult as for the taper's flame to keep upright +when all the winds are eddying round it. 'Evermore'—'without +ceasing'—'in everything'—these qualifying +words give the injunctions of this text their grip +and urgency. The Apostle meets the objections which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230a" id="Page_230a">[230]</a></span> +he anticipates would spring to the lips of the Thessalonians, +to the effect that he was requiring impossibilities, +by adding that, hard and impracticable as +they might think such a constant attitude of mind +and heart, 'This is the will of God in Christ Jesus +concerning you.' So, then, a Christian life may be +lived continuously on the high level; and more than +that, it is our duty to try to live ours thus.</p> + +<p>We need not fight with other Christian people +about whether absolute obedience to these precepts +is possible. It will be soon enough for us to discuss +whether a completely unbroken uniformity of Christian +experience is attainable in this life, when we have +come a good deal nearer to the attainable than we +have yet reached. Let us mend our breaches of continuity +a good deal more, and then we may begin to +discuss the question whether an absolute absence of +any cessation of the continuity is consistent with the +conditions of Christian life here.</p> + +<p>Now it seems to me that these three exhortations +hold together in a very striking way, and that Paul +knew what he was about when he put in the middle, +like the strong central pole that holds up a tent, that +exhortation, 'Pray without ceasing.' For it is the +primary precept, and on its being obeyed the possibility +of the fulfilment of the other two depends. If +we pray without ceasing, we shall rejoice evermore +and in everything give thanks. So, then, the duty of +continual prayer, and the promise, as well as the +precept, that its results are to be continual joy and +continual thanksgiving, are suggested by these words.</p> + +<p>I. The duty of continual prayer.</p> + +<p>Roman Catholics, with their fatal habit of turning +the spiritual into material, think that they obey that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231a" id="Page_231a">[231]</a></span> +commandment when they set a priest or a nun on the +steps of the altar to repeat <i>Ave Marias</i> day and night. +That is a way of praying without ceasing which we +can all see to be mechanical and unworthy. But have +we ever realised what this commandment necessarily +reveals to us, as to what real prayer is? For if we +are told to do a thing uninterruptedly, it must be +something that can run unbroken through all the +varieties of our legitimate duties and necessary +occupations and absorptions with the things seen +and temporal. Is that your notion of prayer? Or +do you fancy that it simply means dropping down on +your knees, and asking God to give you some things +that you very much want? Petition is an element in +prayer, and that it shall be crystallised into words is +necessary sometimes; but there are prayers that +never get themselves uttered, and I suppose that the +deepest and truest communion with God is voiceless +and wordless. 'Things which it was not possible for +a man to utter,' was Paul's description of what he saw +and felt, when he was most completely absorbed in, +and saturated with, the divine glory. The more we +understand what prayer is, the less we shall feel +that it depends upon utterance. For the essence of it +is to have heart and mind filled with the consciousness +of God's presence, and to have the habit of referring +everything to Him, in the moment when we are doing +it, or when it meets us. That, as I take it, is prayer. +The old mystics had a phrase, quaint, and in some +sense unfortunate, but very striking, when they spoke +about 'the practice of the presence of God.' God is +here always, you will say; yes, He is, and to open the +shutters, and to let the light always in, into every +corner of my heart, and every detail of my life—that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232a" id="Page_232a">[232]</a></span> +is what Paul means by 'Praying without ceasing.' +Petitions? Yes; but something higher than petitions—the +consciousness of being in touch with the Father, +feeling that He is all round us. It was said about one +mystical thinker that he was a 'God-intoxicated man.' +It is an ugly word, but it expresses a very deep thing; +but let us rather say a <i>God-filled</i> man. He who is such +'prays always.'</p> + +<p>But how may we maintain that state of continual +devotion, even amidst the various and necessary +occupations of our daily lives? As I said, we need +not trouble ourselves about the possibility of complete +attainment of that ideal. We know that we can each +of us pray a great deal more than we do, and if there +are regions in our lives into which we feel that God +will not come, habits that we have dropped into which +we feel to be a film between us and Him, the sooner +we get rid of them the better. But into all our daily +duties, dear friends, however absorbing, however secular, +however small, however irritating they may be, however +monotonous, into all our daily duties it is possible +to bring Him.</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="A servant with this clause"> +<tr><td align='left'>'A servant with this clause</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Makes drudgery divine,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Who sweeps a room, as by Thy laws,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Makes that and the calling fine.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>But if that is our aim, our conscious aim, our honest +aim, we shall recognise that a help to it is <i>words of</i> +prayer. I do not believe in silent adoration, if there +is nothing but silent; and I do not believe in a man +going through life with the conscious presence of God +with him, unless, often, in the midst of the stress of +daily life, he shoots little arrows of two-worded +prayers up into the heavens, 'Lord! be with me.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233a" id="Page_233a">[233]</a></span> +'Lord! help me.' 'Lord! stand by me now'; and the +like. 'They cried unto God in the battle,' when some +people would have thought they would have been +better occupied in trying to keep their heads with +their swords. It was not a time for very elaborate +supplications when the foemen's arrows were whizzing +round them, but 'they cried unto the Lord, and +He was entreated of them.' 'Pray without ceasing.'</p> + +<p>Further, if we honestly try to obey this precept we +shall more and more find out, the more earnestly we +do so, that set seasons of prayer are indispensable to +realising it. I said that I do not believe in silent +adoration unless it sometimes finds its tongue, nor do +I believe in a diffused worship that does not flow from +seasons of prayer. There must be, away up amongst +the hills, a dam cast across the valley that the water +may be gathered behind it, if the great city is to be +supplied with the pure fluid. What would become of +Manchester if it were not for the reservoirs at Woodhead +away among the hills? Your pipes would be +empty. And that is what will become of you +Christian professors in regard to your habitual consciousness +of God's presence, if you do not take care +to have your hours of devotion sacred, never to be +interfered with, be they long or short, as may have +to be determined by family circumstances, domestic +duties, daily avocations, and a thousand other causes. +But, unless we pray at set seasons, there is little likelihood +of our praying without ceasing.</p> + +<p>II. The duty of continual rejoicing.</p> + +<p>If we begin with the central duty of continual +prayer, then these other two which, as it were, flow +from it on either side, will be possible to us; and of +these two the Apostle sets first, 'Rejoice evermore.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234a" id="Page_234a">[234]</a></span> +This precept was given to the Thessalonians, in Paul's +first letter, when things were comparatively bright +with him, and he was young and buoyant; and in one +of his later letters, when he was a prisoner, and +things were anything but rosy coloured, he struck the +same note again, and in spite of his 'bonds in Christ' +bade the Philippians 'Rejoice in the Lord always, and +again I say, Rejoice.' Indeed, that whole prison-letter +might be called the Epistle of Joy, so suffused with +sunshine of Christian gladness is it. Now, no doubt, joy +is largely a matter of temperament. Some of us are +constitutionally more buoyant and cheerful than others. +And it is also very largely a matter of circumstances.</p> + +<p>I admit all that, and yet I come back to Paul's +command: 'Rejoice evermore.' For if we are Christian +people, and have cultivated what I have called 'the +practice of the presence of God' in our lives, then that +will change the look of things, and events that otherwise +would be 'at enmity with joy' will cease to have +a hostile influence over it. There are two sources +from which a man's gladness may come, the one his +circumstances of a pleasant and gladdening character; +the other his communion with God. It is like some +river that is composed of two affluents, one of which +rises away up in the mountains, and is fed by the +eternal snows; the other springs on the plain somewhere, +and is but the drainage of the surface-water, +and when hot weather comes, and drought is over all the +land, the one affluent is dry, and only a chaos of ghastly +white stones litters the bed where the flashing water +used to be. What then? Is the stream gone because +one of its affluents is dried up, and has perished or +been lost in the sands? The gushing fountains away +up among the peaks near the stars are bubbling up all<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235a" id="Page_235a">[235]</a></span> +the same, and the heat that dried the surface stream +has only loosened the treasures of the snows, and +poured them more abundantly into the other's bed. +So 'Rejoice in the Lord always'; and if earth grows +dark, lift your eyes to the sky, that is light. To one +walking in the woods at nightfall 'all the paths are +dim,' but the strip of heaven above the trees is the +brighter for the green gloom around. The organist's +one hand may be keeping up one sustained note, while +the other is wandering over the keys; and one part of +a man's nature may be steadfastly rejoicing in the +Lord, whilst the other is feeling the weight of sorrows +that come from earth. The paradox of the Christian +life may be realised as a blessed experience of every +one of us: a surface troubled, a central calm; an ocean +tossed with storm, and yet the crest of every wave +flashing in the sunshine. 'Rejoice in the Lord always, +and again I say, Rejoice.'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, the duty of continual thankfulness.</p> + +<p>That, too, is possible only on condition of continual +communion with God. As I said in reference to joy, so +I say in reference to thankfulness; the look of things +in this world depends very largely on the colour of +the spectacles through which you behold them.</p> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="There's nothing either good or bad"> +<tr><td align='left'>'There's nothing either good or bad</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But thinking makes it so.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>And if a man in communion with God looks at the +events of his life as he might put on a pair of coloured +glasses to look at a landscape, it will be tinted with +a glory and a glow as he looks. The obligation to +gratitude, often neglected by us, is singularly, earnestly, +and frequently enjoined in the New Testament. I +am afraid that the average Christian man does not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236a" id="Page_236a">[236]</a></span> +recognise its importance as an element in his Christian +experience. As directed to the past it means that we +do not forget, but that, as we look back, we see the +meaning of these old days, and their possible blessings, +and the loving purposes which sent them, a great deal +more clearly than we did whilst we were passing +through them. The mountains that, when you are +close to them, are barren rock and cold snow, glow +in the distance with royal purples. And so if we, +from our standing point in God, will look back on our +lives, losses will disclose themselves as gains, sorrows +as harbingers of joy, conflict as a means of peace, the +crooked things will be straight, and the rough places +plain; and we may for every thing in the past give +thanks, if only we 'pray without ceasing.' The exhortation +as applied to the present means that we bow +our wills, that we believe that all things are working +together for our good, and that, like Job in his best +moments, we shall say, 'The Lord gave, the Lord hath +taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord.' Ah, +that is hard. It is possible, but it is only possible if +we 'pray without ceasing,' and dwell beside God all +the days of our lives, and all the hours of every day. +Then, and only then, shall we be able to thank Him for +all the way by which He hath led us these many years +in the wilderness, that has been brightened by the pillar +of cloud by day, and the fire by night.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237a" id="Page_237a">[237]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>PAUL'S EARLIEST TEACHING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'I charge you, by the Lord, that this epistle be read unto all the holy +brethren,'—1 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> v. 27.</p></div> + + +<p>If the books of the New Testament were arranged +according to the dates of their composition, this epistle +would stand first. It was written somewhere about +twenty years after the Crucifixion, and long before +any of the existing Gospels. It is, therefore, of +peculiar interest, as being the most venerable extant +Christian document, and as being a witness to Christian +truth quite independent of the Gospel narratives.</p> + +<p>The little community at Thessalonica had been +gathered together as the result of a very brief period +of ministration by Paul. He had spoken for three +successive Sabbaths in the synagogue, and had drawn +together a Christian society, mostly consisting of +heathens, though with a sprinkling of Jews amongst +them. Driven from the city by a riot, he had left it +for Athens, with many anxious thoughts, of course, as +to whether the infant community would be able to +stand alone after so few weeks of his presence and instruction. +Therefore he sent back one of his travelling +companions, Timothy by name, to watch over the +young plant for a little while. When Timothy returned +with the intelligence of their steadfastness, it +was good news indeed, and with a sense of relieved +anxiety, he sits down to write this letter, +which, all through, throbs with thankfulness, and +reveals the strain which the news had taken off his +spirit.</p> + +<p>There are no such definite doctrinal statements in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238a" id="Page_238a">[238]</a></span> +it as in the most of Paul's longer letters; it is simply +an outburst of confidence and love and tenderness, +and a series of practical instructions. It has been +called the least doctrinal of the Pauline Epistles. +And in one sense, and under certain limitations, that +is perfectly true. But the very fact that it is so +makes its indications and hints and allusions the more +significant; and if this letter, not written for the purpose +of enforcing any special doctrinal truth, be so +saturated as it is with the facts and principles of the +Gospel, the stronger is the attestation which it +gives to the importance of these. I have, therefore, +thought it might be worth our while now, and might, +perhaps, set threadbare truth in something of a new +light, if we put this—the most ancient Christian writing +extant, which is quite independent of the four +Gospels—into the witness-box, and see what it has +to say about the great truths and principles which +we call the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is my simple +design, and I gather the phenomena into three or four +divisions for the sake of accuracy and order.</p> + +<p>I. First of all, then, let us hear its witness to the +divine Christ.</p> + +<p>Look how the letter begins. 'Paul, and Silvanus, +and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians, +which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus +Christ.' What is the meaning of that collocation, +putting these two names side by side, unless it means +that the Lord Jesus Christ sits on the Father's throne, +and is divine?</p> + +<p>Then there is another fact that I would have you +notice, and that is that more than twenty times in +this short letter that great name is applied to Jesus, +'the Lord.' Now mark that that is something more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239a" id="Page_239a">[239]</a></span> +than a mere title of human authority. It is in reality +the New Testament equivalent of the Old Testament +Jehovah, and is the transference to Him of that incommunicable +name.</p> + +<p>And then there is another fact which I would +have you weigh, viz., that in this letter direct prayer +is offered to our Lord Himself. In one place we +read the petition, 'May our God and Father Himself +and our Lord Jesus direct our way unto you,' where +the petition is presented to both, and where both are +supposed to be operative in the answer. And more +than that, the word 'direct,' following upon this +<i>plural</i> subject, is itself a <i>singular</i> verb. Could language +more completely express than that grammatical +solecism does, the deep truth of the true and proper +divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? +There is nothing in any part of Scripture more +emphatic and more lofty in its unfaltering proclamation +of that fundamental truth of the Gospel than this +altogether undoctrinal Epistle.</p> + +<p>The Apostle does not conceive himself to be telling +these men, though they were such raw and recent +Christians, anything new when he presupposes the +truth that to Him desires and prayers may go. Thus +the very loftiest apex of revealed religion had been +imparted to that handful of heathens in the +few weeks of the Apostle's stay amongst them. +And nowhere upon the inspired pages of the fourth +Evangelist, nor in that great Epistle to the Colossians, +which is the very citadel and central fort of that +doctrine in Scripture, is there more emphatically stated +this truth than here, in these incidental allusions.</p> + +<p>This witness, at any rate, declares, apart altogether +from any other part of Scripture, that so early in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240a" id="Page_240a">[240]</a></span> +development of the Church's history, and to people so +recently dragged from idolatry, and having received +but such necessarily partial instruction in revealed +truth, this had not been omitted, that the Christ in +whom they trusted was the Everlasting Son of the +Father. And it takes it for granted that, so deeply +was that truth embedded in their new consciousness +that an allusion to it was all that was needed for their +understanding and their faith. That is the first part +of the testimony.</p> + +<p>II. Now, secondly, let us ask what this witness has +to say about the dying Christ.</p> + +<p>There is no doctrinal theology in the Epistle to the +Thessalonians, they tell us. Granted that there is no +articulate argumentative setting forth of great doctrinal +truths. But these are implied and involved in +almost every word of it; and are definitely stated thus +incidentally in more places than one. Let us hear +the witness about the dying Christ.</p> + +<p>First, as to the fact, 'The Jews killed the Lord +Jesus.' The historical fact is here set forth distinctly. +And then, beyond the fact, there is as distinctly, +though in the same incidental fashion, set forth the +meaning of that fact—'God hath not appointed us to +wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus +Christ who died for us.'</p> + +<p>Here are at least two things—one, the allusion, as +to a well-known and received truth, proclaimed before +now to them, that Jesus Christ in His death had +died for them; and the other, that Jesus Christ was the +medium through whom the Father had appointed +that men should obtain all the blessings which are +wrapped up in that sovereign word 'salvation.' I +need but mention in this connection another verse,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241a" id="Page_241a">[241]</a></span> +from another part of the letter, which speaks of Jesus +as 'He that delivereth us from the wrath to come.' +Remark that there our Authorised Version fails to +give the whole significance of the words, because it +translates <i>delivered</i>, instead of, as the Revised Version +correctly does, <i>delivereth</i>. It is a continuous deliverance, +running all through the life of the Christian +man, and not merely to be realised away yonder at +the far end; because by the mighty providence of +God, and by the automatic working of the consequences +of every transgression and disobedience, +that 'wrath' is ever coming, coming, coming towards +men, and lighting on them, and a continual Deliverer, +who delivers us by His death, is what the human +heart needs. This witness is distinct that the death +of Christ is a sacrifice, that the death of Christ is +man's deliverance from wrath, that the death of Christ +is a present deliverance from the consequences of +transgression.</p> + +<p>And was that Paul's peculiar doctrine? Is it conceivable +that, in a letter in which he refers—once, at +all events—to the churches in Judea as their 'brethren,' +he was proclaiming any individual or schismatic +reading of the facts of the life of Jesus Christ? I +believe that there has been a great deal too much +made of the supposed divergencies of types of doctrine +in the New Testament. There are such types, within +certain limits. Nobody would mistake a word of +John's calm, mystical, contemplative spirit for a word +of Paul's fiery, dialectic spirit. And nobody would +mistake either the one or the other for Peter's impulsive, +warm-hearted exhortations. But whilst there +are diversities in the way of apprehending, there are +no diversities in the declaration of what is the central<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242a" id="Page_242a">[242]</a></span> +truth to be apprehended. These varyings of the types +of doctrine in the New Testament are one in this, that +all point to the Cross as the world's salvation, and +declare that the death there was the death for all +mankind.</p> + +<p>Paul comes to it with his reasoning; John comes to +it with his adoring contemplation; Peter comes to it +with his mind saturated with Old Testament allusions. +Paul declares that the 'Christ died for us'; John +declares that He is 'the Lamb of God'; Peter +declares that 'Christ bare our sins in His own body +on the tree.' But all make one unbroken phalanx of +witness in their proclamation, that the Cross, because +it is a cross of sacrifice, is a cross of reconciliation +and peace and hope. And this is the Gospel that +they all proclaim, 'how that Jesus Christ died for our +sins according to the Scriptures,' and Paul could +venture to say, 'Whether it were they or I, so we +preach, and so ye believed.'</p> + +<p>That was the Gospel that took these heathens, +wallowing in the mire of sensuous idolatry, and lifted +them up to the elevation and the blessedness of +children of God.</p> + +<p>And if you will read this letter, and think that +there had been only a few weeks of acquaintance +with the Gospel on the part of its readers, and +then mark how the early and imperfect glimpse of +it had transformed them, you will see where the +power lies in the proclamation of the Gospel. A short +time before they had been heathens; and now says +Paul, 'From you sounded out the word of the Lord, +not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every +place your faith to Godward is spread abroad; so that +we need not to speak anything.' We do not need to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243a" id="Page_243a">[243]</a></span> +talk to you about 'love of the brethren,' for 'yourselves +are taught of God to love one another, and my +heart is full of thankfulness when I think of your +work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope.' +The men had been transformed. What transformed +them? The message of a divine and dying Christ, +who had offered up Himself without spot unto God, +and who was their peace and their righteousness and +their power.</p> + +<p>III. Thirdly, notice what this witness has to say +about the risen and ascended Christ. Here is what +it has to say: 'Ye turned unto God . . . to +wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from +the dead.' And again: 'The Lord Himself shall +descend from heaven with a shout.' The risen Christ, +then, is in the heavens, and Paul assumes that these +people, just brought out of heathenism, have received +that truth into their hearts in the love of it, and know +it so thoroughly that he can take for granted their +entire acquiescence in and acceptance of it.</p> + +<p>Remember, we have nothing to do with the four +Gospels here. Remember, not a line of them had yet +been written. Remember, that we are dealing here +with an entirely independent witness. And then tell +us what importance is to be attached to this evidence +of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Twenty years +after His death here is this man speaking about that +Resurrection as being not only something that he had +to proclaim, and believed, but as being the recognised +and notorious fact which all the churches accepted, +and which underlay all their faith.</p> + +<p>I would have you remember that if, twenty years +after this event, this witness was borne, that necessarily +carries us back a great deal nearer to the event than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244a" id="Page_244a">[244]</a></span> +the hour of its utterance, for there is no mark of its +being new testimony at that instant, but every mark +of its being the habitual and continuous witness that +had been borne from the instant of the alleged +Resurrection to the present time. It at least takes +us back a good many years nearer the empty +sepulchre than the twenty which mark its date. +It at least takes us back to the conversion of the +Apostle Paul; and that necessarily involves, as it +seems to me, that if that man, believing in the +Resurrection, went into the Church, there would +have been an end of his association with them, unless +he had found there the same faith. The fact of the +matter is, there is not a place where you can stick a +pin in, between the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and +the date of this letter, wide enough to admit of the +rise of the faith in a Resurrection. We are necessarily +forced by the very fact of the existence of the Church +to the admission that the belief in the Resurrection +was contemporaneous with the alleged Resurrection +itself.</p> + +<p>And so we are shut up—in spite of the wriggling +of people that do not accept that great truth—we are +shut up to the old alternative, as it seems to me, that +either Jesus Christ rose from the dead, or the noblest +lives that the world has ever seen, and the loftiest +system of morality that has ever been proclaimed, +were built upon a lie. And we are called to believe +that at the bidding of a mere unsupported, bare, +dogmatic assertion that miracles are impossible. +Believe it who will, I decline to be coerced into +believing a blank, staring psychological contradiction +and impossibility, in order to be saved the necessity of +admitting the existence of the supernatural. I would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245a" id="Page_245a">[245]</a></span> +rather believe in the supernatural than the ridiculous. +And to me it is unspeakably ridiculous to suppose +that anything but the fact of the Resurrection +accounts for the existence of the Church, and for the +faith of this witness that we have before us.</p> + +<p>And so, dear friends, we come back to this, the +Christianity that flings away the risen Christ is a mere +mass of tatters with nothing in it to cover a man's +nakedness, an illusion with no vitality in it to quicken, +to comfort, to ennoble, to raise, to teach aspiration or +hope or effort. The human heart needs the 'Christ +that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even +at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession +for us.' And this independent witness +confirms the Gospel story: 'Now is Christ risen from +the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that +slept.'</p> + +<p>IV. Lastly, let us hear what this witness has to +say about the returning Christ.</p> + +<p>That is the characteristic doctrinal subject of the +letter. We all know that wonderful passage of unsurpassed +tenderness and majesty, which has soothed +so many hearts and been like a gentle hand laid upon +so many aching spirits, about the returning Jesus +'coming in the clouds,' with the dear ones that are +asleep along with Him, and the reunion of them that +sleep and them that are alive and remain, in one +indissoluble concord and concourse, when we shall +ever be with the Lord, and 'clasp inseparable hands +with joy and bliss in over-measure for ever.' The +coming of the Master does not appear here with +emphasis on its judicial aspect. It is rather intended +to bring hope to the mourners, and the certainty that +bands broken here may be re-knit in holier fashion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246a" id="Page_246a">[246]</a></span> +hereafter. But the judicial aspect is not, as it could +not be, left out, and the Apostle further tells us +that 'that day cometh as a thief in the night.' That +is a quotation of the Master's own words, which we +find in the Gospels; and so again a confirmation, +so far as it goes, from an independent witness, of +the Gospel story. And then he goes on, in terrible +language, to speak of 'sudden destruction, as of +travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not +escape.'</p> + +<p>These, then, are the points of this witness's testimony +as to the returning Lord—a personal coming, a +reunion of all believers in Him, in order to eternal +felicity and mutual gladness, and the destruction that +shall fall by His coming upon those who turn away +from Him.</p> + +<p>What a revelation that would be to men who had +known what it was to grope in the darkness of heathendom, +and to have new light upon the future!</p> + +<p>I remember once walking in the long galleries of the +Vatican, on the one side of which there are Christian +inscriptions from the catacombs, and on the other +heathen inscriptions from the tombs. One side is all +dreamy and hopeless; one long sigh echoing along +the line of white marbles—'Vale! vale! in aeternum +vale!' (Farewell, farewell, for ever farewell.) On the +other side—'In Christo, in pace, in spe.' (In Christ, in +peace, in hope.) That is the witness that we have to lay +to our hearts. And so death becomes a passage, and we +let go the dear hands, believing that we shall clasp them +again.</p> + +<p>My brother! this witness is to a gospel that is the +gospel for Manchester as well as for Thessalonica. +You and I want just the same as these old heathens<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247a" id="Page_247a">[247]</a></span> +there wanted. We, too, need the divine Christ, the +dying Christ, the risen Christ, the ascended Christ, the +returning Christ. And I beseech you to take Him for +<i>your</i> Christ, in all the fulness of His offices, the manifoldness +of His power, and the sweetness of His love, so +that of you it may be said, as this Apostle says about +these Thessalonians, 'Ye received it not as the word +of man, but, as it is in truth, as the word of God.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248a" id="Page_248a">[248]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>II. THESSALONIANS</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CHRIST GLORIFIED IN GLORIFIED MEN</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'He shall come to be glorified in His saints; and to be admired in all them that +believe.'—2 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> i. 10.</p></div> + + +<p>The two Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are the +Apostle's earliest letters, both give very great prominence +to the thought of the second coming of our Lord +to judgment. In the immediate context we have that +coming described, with circumstances of majesty and +of terror. He 'shall be revealed . . . with the angels +of His power.' 'Flaming fire' shall herald His coming; +vengeance shall be in His hands, punishment shall +follow His sentence; everlasting destruction shall be +the issue of evil confronted with 'the face of the Lord'—for +so the words in the previous verse rendered 'the +presence of the Lord' might more accurately be translated.</p> + +<p>And all these facts and images are, as it were, piled +up in one half of the Apostle's sky, as in thunderous +lurid masses; and on the other side there is the pure +blue and the peaceful sunshine. For all this terror and +destruction, and flashing fire, and punitive vengeance +come to pass in the day when 'He shall come to be +glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all +them that believe.'</p> + +<p>There be the two halves—the aspect of that day to +those to whom it is the revelation of a stranger, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249a" id="Page_249a">[249]</a></span> +the aspect of that day to those to whom it is the glorifying +of Him who is their life.</p> + +<p>I. The remarkable words which I have taken for my +text suggest to us, first of all, some thoughts about that +striking expression that Christ is glorified in the men +who are glorified in Christ.</p> + +<p>If you look on a couple of verses you will find that +the Apostle returns to this thought, and expresses in +the clearest fashion the reciprocal character of that +'glorifying' of which he has been speaking. 'The +name of our Lord Jesus Christ,' says he, 'may be glorified +in you, and ye in Him.'</p> + +<p>So, then, glorifying has a double meaning. There is +a double process involved. It means either 'to make +glorious' or 'to manifest as being glorious.' And men +are glorified in the former sense in Christ, that Christ +in them may, in the latter sense, be glorified. He +makes them glorious by imparting to them of the +lustrous light and flashing beauty of His own perfect +character, in order that that light, received into their +natures, and streaming out at last conspicuously manifest +from their redeemed perfectness, may redound to +the praise and the honour, before a whole universe, of +Him who has thus endued their weakness with His own +strength, and transmuted their corruptibility into His +own immortality. We are glorified in Christ in some +partial, and, alas! sinfully fragmentary, manner here; +we shall be so perfectly in that day. And when we are +thus glorified in Him, then—wondrous thought!—even +we shall be able to manifest Him as glorious before +some gazing eyes, which without us would have seen +Him as less fair. Dim, and therefore great and blessed +thoughts about what men may become are involved in +such words. The highest end, the great purpose of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250a" id="Page_250a">[250]</a></span> +Gospel and of all God's dealings with us in Christ Jesus +is to make us like our Lord. As we have borne the +image of the earthly we shall also bear the image of +the heavenly. 'We, beholding the glory, are changed +into the glory.'</p> + +<p>And that glorifying of men in Christ, which is the +goal and highest end of Christ's Cross and passion and +of all God's dealings, is accomplished only because +Christ dwells in the men whom He glorifies. We read +words applying to His relation to His Father which +need but to be transferred to our relation to Him, in +order to teach us high and blessed things about this +glorifying. The Father dwelt in Christ, therefore +Christ was glorified by the indwelling divinity, in the +sense that His humanity was made partaker of the divine +glory, and thereby He glorified the divinity that dwelt +in Him, in the sense that He conspicuously displayed it +before the world as worthy of all admiration and love.</p> + +<p>And, in like manner, as is the Son with the Father, +participant of mutual and reciprocal glorification, so is +the Christian with Christ, glorified in Him and therefore +glorifying Him.</p> + +<p>What may be involved therein of perfect moral +purity, of enlarged faculties and powers, of a bodily +frame capable of manifesting all the finest issues of a +perfect spirit, it is not for us to say. These things are +great, being hidden; and are hidden because they +are great. But whatever may be the lofty heights of +Christlikeness to which we shall attain, all shall come +from the indwelling Lord who fills us with His own +Spirit.</p> + +<p>And, then, according to the great teaching here, this +glorified humanity, perfected and separated from all +imperfection, and helped into all symmetrical unfolding<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251a" id="Page_251a">[251]</a></span> +of dormant possibilities, shall be the highest glory of +Christ even in that day when He comes in His glory and +sits upon the throne of His glory with His holy angels +with Him. One would have thought that, if the Apostle +wanted to speak of the glorifying of Jesus Christ, he +would have pointed to the great white throne, His +majestic divinity, the solemnities of His judicial office; +but he passes by all these, and says, 'Nay! the highest +glory of the Christ lies here, in the men whom He has +made to share His own nature.'</p> + +<p>The artist is known by his work. You stand in front +of some great picture, or you listen to some great +symphony, or you read some great book, and you +say, 'This is the glory of Raphael, Beethoven, Shakespeare.' +Christ points to His saints, and He says, +'Behold My handiwork! Ye are my witnesses. This +is what I can do.'</p> + +<p>But the relation between Christ and His saints is far +deeper and more intimate than simply the relation +between the artist and his work, for all the flashing +light of moral beauty, of intellectual perfectness which +Christian men can hope to receive in the future is +but the light of the Christ that dwells in them, 'and of +whose fulness all they have received.' Like some poor +vapour, in itself white and colourless, which lies in the +eastern sky there, and as the sun rises is flushed up +into a miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caught the +light amongst its flaming threads and vaporous substance, +so we, in ourselves pale, ghostly, colourless as +the mountains when the Alpine snow passes off them, +being recipient of an indwelling Christ, shall blush and +flame in beauty. 'Then shall the righteous blaze forth +like the sun in my Father's kingdom.' Or, rather +they are not suns shining by their own light, but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252a" id="Page_252a">[252]</a></span> +moons reflecting the light of Christ, who is their +light.</p> + +<p>And perchance some eyes, incapable of beholding the +sun, may be able to look undazzled upon the sunshine +in the cloud, and some eyes that could not discern the +glory of Christ as it shines in His face as the sun +shineth in its strength, may not be too weak to behold +and delight in the light as it is reflected from the face +of His servants. At all events, He shall come to be +glorified in the saints whom He has made glorious.</p> + +<p>II. And now, notice again, out of these full and pregnant +words the other thought, that this transformation +of men is the great miracle and marvel of Christ's +power.</p> + +<p>'He shall come to be admired'—which word is employed +in its old English signification, 'to be wondered +at'—'in all them that believe.' So fair and lovely is +He that He needs but to be recognised for what He is +in order to be glorified. So great and stupendous are +His operations in redeeming love that they need but +to be beheld to be the object of wonder. 'His name +shall be called Wonderful,' and wonderfully the +energy of His redeeming and sanctifying grace shall +then have wrought itself out to its legitimate end. +There you get the crowning marvel of marvels, and +the highest of miracles. He did wonderful works upon +earth which we rightly call miraculous,—things to be +wondered at—but the highest of all His wonders is the +wonder that takes such material as you and me, and +by such a process, and on such conditions, simply +because we trust Him, evolves such marvellous forms +of beauty and perfectness from us. 'He is to be wondered +at in all them that believe.'</p> + +<p>Such results from such material! Chemists tell us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253a" id="Page_253a">[253]</a></span> +that the black bit of coal in your grate and the diamond +on your finger are varying forms of the one substance. +What about a power that shall take all the black coals +in the world and transmute them into flashing diamonds, +prismatic with the reflected light that comes from His +face, and made gems on His strong right hand? The +universe will wonder at such results from such +material.</p> + +<p>And it will wonder, too, at the process by which +they were accomplished, wondering at the depth of +His pity revealed all the more pathetically now from +the great white throne which casts such a light on +the Cross of Calvary; wondering at the long, weary +path which He who is now declared to be the Judge +humbled Himself to travel in the quest of these poor +sinful souls whom He has redeemed and glorified. The +miracle of miracles is redeeming love; and the high-water +mark of Christ's wonders is touched in this fact, +that out of men He makes saints; and out of saints He +makes perfect likenesses of Himself.</p> + +<p>III. And now a word about what is <i>not</i> expressed, +but is necessarily implied in this verse, viz., the spectators +of this glory.</p> + +<p>The Apostle does not tell us what eyes they are +before which Christ is thus to be glorified. He does +not summon the spectators to look upon this wonderful +exhibition of divine judgment and divine glory; but +we may dwell for a moment on the thought that to +whomsoever in the whole universe Christ at that +great day shall be manifested, to them, whoever they +be, will His glory, in His glorified saints, be a revelation +beyond what they have known before. 'Every eye +shall see Him.' And whatsoever eyes look upon Him, +then on His throne, they shall behold the attendant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254a" id="Page_254a">[254]</a></span> +courtiers and the assessors of His judgment, and +see in them the manifestation of His own lustrous +light.</p> + +<p>We read that 'unto the principalities and powers in +heavenly places shall be made known' in future days, +'by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God.' We +hear that, after the burst of praise which comes from +redeemed men standing around the throne, every +creature in the earth and in the heavens, and in the +sea and all that are therein were heard saying, 'Blessing +and honour and glory and power be unto Him that +sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever +and ever.'</p> + +<p>We need not speculate, it is better not to enter into +details, but this, at least, is clear, that that solemn +winding up of the long, mysterious, sad, blood and +tear-stained history of man upon the earth is to be an +object of interest and a higher revelation of God to +other creatures than those that dwell upon the earth; +and we may well believe that for that moment, at all +events, the centre of the universe, which draws the +thoughts of all thinking, and the eyes of all seeing, +creatures to it, shall be that valley of judgment wherein +sits the Man Christ and judges men, and round Him +the flashing reflectors of His glory in the person of His +saints.</p> + +<p>IV. And lastly, look at men's path to this glorifying.</p> + +<p>'He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be +wondered at in all them that <i>believed</i>'; as that word +ought to be rendered. That is to say, they who on +earth were His, consecrated and devoted to Him, and +in some humble measure partaking even here of His +reflected beauty and imparted righteousness—these are +they in whom He shall be glorified. They who 'believed';<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255a" id="Page_255a">[255]</a></span> +poor, trembling, struggling, fainting souls, that here on +earth, in the midst of many doubts and temptations, +clasped His hand; and howsoever tremulously, yet +truly put their trust in Him, these are they in whom +He shall 'be wondered at.'</p> + +<p>The simple act of faith knits us to the Lord. If we +trust Him He comes into our hearts here, and begins to +purify us, and to make us like Himself; and, if that be +so, and we keep hold of Him, we shall finally share in +His glory.</p> + +<p>What a hope, what an encouragement, what a stimulus +and exhortation to humble and timorous souls +there is in that great word, 'In <i>all</i> them that believed'! +Howsoever imperfect, still they shall be kept by the +power of God unto that final salvation. And when He +comes in His glory, not one shall be wanting that put +their trust in Him.</p> + +<p>It will take them all, each in his several way reflecting +it, to set forth adequately the glory. As many +diamonds round a central light, which from each facet +give off a several ray and a definite colour; so all +that circle round Christ and partaking of His glory, +will each receive it, transmit it, and so manifest it in +a different fashion. And it needs the innumerable +company of the redeemed, each a several perfectness, +to set forth all the fulness of the Christ that +dwells in us.</p> + +<p>So, dear brethren, beginning with simple faith in +Him, partially receiving the beauty of His transforming +spirit, seeking here on earth by assimilation to the +Master in some humble measure to adorn the doctrine +and to glorify the Christ, we may hope that each blackness +will be changed into brightness, our limitations +done away with, our weakness lifted into rejoicing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256a" id="Page_256a">[256]</a></span> +strength; and that we shall be like Him, seeing Him as +He is, and glorified in Him, shall glorify Him before +the universe.</p> + +<p>You and I will be there. Choose which of the two +halves of that sky that I was speaking about in my +introductory remarks will be your sky; whether He +shall be revealed, and the light of His face be to you +like a sword whose flashing edge means destruction, or +whether the light of His face shall fall upon your heart +because you love Him and trust Him, like the sunshine +on the Alpine snow, lifting it to a more lustrous whiteness, +and tingeing it with an ethereal hue of more than +earthly beauty, which no other power but an indwelling +Christ can give. He shall come with 'everlasting +destruction from the face'; and 'He shall come to be +glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all +them that believed.' Do you choose which of the two +shall be your portion in that day.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WORTHY OF YOUR CALLING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'We pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, +and fulfil all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with +power; 12. That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and +ye in Him.'—2 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> i. 11, 12.</p></div> + + +<p>In the former letter to the Church of Thessalonica, +the Apostle had dwelt, in ever-memorable words—which +sound like a prelude of the trump of God—on +the coming of Christ at the end to judge the world, and +to gather His servants into His rest. That great +thought seems to have excited some of the hotter +heads in Thessalonica, and to have led to a general +feverishness of unwholesome expectancy of the near<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257a" id="Page_257a">[257]</a></span> +approach or actual dawn of the day. This letter is +intended as a supplement to the former Epistle, and to +damp down the fire which had been kindled. It, +therefore, dwells with emphasis on the necessary +preliminaries to the dawning of that day of the Lord, +and throughout seeks to lead the excited spirits to +patience and persistent work, and to calm their +feverish expectations. This purpose colours the whole +letter.</p> + +<p>Another striking characteristic of it is the frequent +gushes of short prayer for the Thessalonians with +which the writer turns aside from the main current +of his thoughts. In its brief compass there are four +of these prayers, which, taken together, present many +aspects of the Christian life, and hold out much for +our hopes and much for our efforts. The prayer +which I have read for our text is the first of these. +The others, the consideration of which will follow on +subsequent occasions, are these:—'Our Lord Jesus +Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath +loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation +and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts +and stablish you in every good word and work.' +And, again, 'The Lord direct your hearts into the +love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.' +And, finally, summing up all, 'The Lord of peace +Himself give you peace always, by all means.' So +full, so tender, so directed to the highest blessings, +and to those only, are the wishes of a true Christian +teacher, and of a true Christian friend, for those to +whom He ministers and whom He loves. It is a poor +love that cannot express itself in prayer. It is an +earthly love which desires for its objects anything +less than the highest of blessings.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258a" id="Page_258a">[258]</a></span></p> + +<p>I. Notice, first, here, the divine test for Christian +lives: 'We pray for you, that God would count you +worthy of your calling.'</p> + +<p>Now, it is to be observed that this 'counting +worthy' refers mainly to a future estimate to be +made by God of the completed career and permanent +character brought out of earth into another state by +Christian souls. That is obvious from the whole +strain of the letter, which I have already pointed out +as mainly being concerned with the future coming to +judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also, I +think, made probable by the fact that the same +expression, 'counting worthy,' occurs in an earlier +verse of this chapter, where the reference is exclusively +to the future judgment.</p> + +<p>So, then, we are brought face to face with this +thought of an actual, stringent judgment which God +will apply in the future to the lives and characters of +professing Christians. Now, that is a great deal too +much forgotten in our popular Christian teaching and +in our average Christian faith. It is perfectly true +that he who trusts in Jesus Christ will 'not come +into condemnation, but has passed from death unto +life.' But it is just as true that 'judgment shall +begin at the house of God,' and that, 'the Lord will +judge His people.' And therefore, it becomes us to +lay to heart this truth, that we, just because, if we +are Christians, we stand nearest to God, are surest to +be searched through and through by the light that +streams from Him, and to have every flaw and corrupt +speck and black spot brought out into startling +prominence. Let no Christian man fancy that he +shall escape the righteous judgment of God. The +great doctrine of forgiveness does not mean that He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259a" id="Page_259a">[259]</a></span> +suffers our sin to remain upon us unjudged, ay! or +unavenged. But just as, day by day, there is an +actual estimate in the divine mind, according to +truth, of what we really are, so, at the last, +God's servants will be gathered before His throne. +'They that have made a covenant with Him by +sacrifice' shall be assembled there—as the Psalm has +it—'that the Lord may judge His people.'</p> + +<p>Then, if the actual passing of a divine judgment +day by day, and a future solemn act of judgment +after we have done with earth, and our characters are +completed, and our careers rounded into a whole, is to +be looked for by Christians, what is the standard by +which their worthiness is to be judged?</p> + +<p>'Your calling.' The 'this' of my text in the +Authorised Version is a supplement, and a better +supplement is that of the Revised Version, 'your +calling.' Now <i>calling</i> does not mean 'avocation' or +'employment,' as I perhaps need scarcely explain, +but the divine fact of our having been summoned by +Him to be His. Consider who calls. God Himself. +Consider how He calls. By the Gospel, by Jesus +Christ, or, as another apostle has it, 'by His own +glory and virtue' manifested in the world. That +great voice which is in Jesus Christ, so tender, so +searching, so heart-melting, so vibrating with the invitation +of love and the yearning of a longing heart, +summons or calls us. Consider, also, what this calling +is to. 'God hath not called us to uncleanness, +but to holiness,' or, as this letter has it, in another +part, 'unto salvation through sanctification of the +Spirit and belief of the truth.' By all the subduing +and animating and restraining and impelling tones in +the sacrifice and life of Jesus Christ we are summoned<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260a" id="Page_260a">[260]</a></span> +to a life of self-crucifixion, of subjection of the flesh, +of aspiration after God, of holy living according to the +pattern that was showed us in Him. We are summoned +here and now to a life of purity and righteousness +and self-sacrifice. But also 'He hath called us +to His everlasting kingdom and glory.' That voice +sounds from above now. From the Cross it said to +us, 'I die that ye may live'; from the throne it says +to us, 'Live because I live, and come to live where I +live.' The same invitation, which calls us to a life of +righteousness and self-suppression and purity, also +calls us, with the sweet promise that is firm as the +throne of God, to the everlasting felicities of that +perfect kingdom in which, because the obedience is +entire, the glory shall be untremulous and unstained. +Therefore, considering who summons, by what He +summons, and to what He calls us, do there not lie +in the fact of that divine call to which we Christians +say that we have yielded, the solemnest motives, the +loftiest standard, the most stringent obligations for +life? What sort of a life will that be which is worthy +of that voice? Is yours? Is mine? Are there not +the most flagrant examples of professing Christians, +whose lives are in the most outrageous discordance +with the lofty obligations and mighty motives of +the summons which they profess to have obeyed? +'Worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called!' +Have I made my own the things which I am invited +to possess? Have I yielded to the obligations which +are enwrapped in that invitation? Does my life +correspond to the divine purpose in calling me to be +His? Can I say, 'Lord, Thou art mine, and I am +Thine, and here my life witnesses to it, because self +is banished from it, and I am full of God, and the life<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261a" id="Page_261a">[261]</a></span> +which I live in the flesh I live not to myself, but to +Him that died for me?'</p> + +<p>An absolute correspondence, a complete worthiness +or perfect desert, is impossible for us all, but a worthiness +which His merciful judgment who makes allowance +for us all may accept, as not too flagrantly +contradictory of what He meant us to be, is possible +even for our poor attainments and our stained lives. +If it were Paul's supreme prayer, should it not be our +supreme aim, that we may be worthy of Him that hath +called us, and 'walk worthy of the vocation wherewith +we are called'?</p> + +<p>II. Note, here, the divine help to meet the test.</p> + +<p>If it were a matter of our own effort alone, who of +us could pretend to reach to the height of conformity +with the great design of the loving Father in summoning +us, or with the mighty powers that are set in +motion by the summons for the purifying of men's +lives? But here is the great characteristic and blessing +of God's Gospel, that it not only summons us to +holiness and to heaven, but reaches out a hand to +help us thither. Therein it contrasts with all other +voices—and many of them are noble and pathetic in +their insistence and vehemence—which call men to +lofty lives. Whether it be the voice of conscience, or +of human ethics, or of the great ones, the elect of the +race, who, in every age, have been as voices crying in +the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord'—all +these call us, but reach no hand out to draw us. +They are all as voices from the heights and are of +God, but they are voices only; they summon us to +noble deeds, and leave us floundering in the mire.</p> + +<p>But we have not a God who tells us to be good, and +then watches to see if we will obey, but we have a God<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262a" id="Page_262a">[262]</a></span> +who, with all His summonses, brings to us the help to +keep His commandments. Our God has more than a +voice to enjoin, He has a hand to lift, 'Give what +Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt,' +said Augustine. There is the blessing and glory of +the Gospel, that its summons has in it an impelling +power which makes men able to be what it enjoins +them to become. My text, therefore, follows the prayer +'that God would count you worthy,' which contemplates +God simply as judging men's correspondence +with the ideal revealed in their calling, and is the cry +of faith to the giving God, who works in us, if we will +let Him, that which He enjoins on us. There are two +directions of that divine working specified in the text. +Paul asks that God would fulfil 'every desire of goodness +and every work of faith,' as the Revised Version +renders the words. Two things, then, we may hope +that God will do for us—He will fulfil every yearning +after righteousness and purity in our hearts, and will +perfect the active energy which faith puts forth in +our lives.</p> + +<p>Paul says, in effect, first, that God will fulfil every +desire that longs for goodness. He is scarcely deserving +of being called good who does not desire to be +better. Aspiration must always be ahead of performance +in a growing life, such as every Christian life ought +to be. To long for any righteousness and beauty of +goodness is, in some imperfect and incipient measure, +to possess the good for which we long. This is the very +signature of a Christian life—yearning after unaccomplished +perfection. If you know nothing of that +desire that stings and impels you onwards; if you do +not know what it is to say, 'Oh! wretched man that +I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263a" id="Page_263a">[263]</a></span> +death?' if you do not know what it is to follow the +fair ideal realised in Jesus Christ with infinite longing, +what right have you to call yourself a Christian? +The very essence of the Christian life is yearning for +completeness, and restlessness as long as sin has any +power over us. We live not only by admiration, faith, +and love, but we live by hope; and he who does not +hunger and thirst after righteousness has yet to learn +what are the first principles of the Gospel of Christ.</p> + +<p>If there be not the desire after goodness, the restlessness +and dissatisfaction with every present good, the +brave ambition that says, 'Forgetting the things that +are behind, I reach forth unto the things that are +before,' there is nothing in a man to which God's grace +can attach itself. God cannot make you better if you +do not wish to be better. There is no point upon which +His hallowing and ennobling grace can lay hold in +your hearts without such desire. 'Open thy mouth +wide and I will fill it.' If, as is too often the case +with hosts of professing Christians, you shut your +mouths tight and lock your teeth, how can God put +any food between your lips? There must, first of +all, be the aspiration, and then there will be the +satisfaction.</p> + +<p>I look out upon my congregation, or, better still, I +look into my own heart, and I say, If I, if you, dear +brethren, are not worthy of the vocation wherewith +we are called, we have not because we ask not. If +there be no desire after goodness in our hearts, God +cannot make us good. Our wishes are the mould into +which the molten metal from the great furnace of His +love will run. If we bring but a little vessel we cannot +get a large supply. The manna lies round our tents; +it is for us to determine how much we will gather.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264a" id="Page_264a">[264]</a></span></p> + +<p>And in like manner, says Paul, God will fulfil every +work of faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ will naturally +tend to influence our lives, and to manifest itself +as a driving power which will set all the wheels of +conduct in motion. Paul is quite sure that if we trust +ourselves to God, all the beneficent and holy work +that flows from such confidence will by Him be fully +perfected.</p> + +<p>God's fulfilment is to be done <i>with power</i>. That is +to say, He will fit us to be worthy of our calling, He +will answer our desires, He will give energy to our +faith, and complete in number and in quality its +operations in our lives, by reason of His dwelling with +us and in us by that spirit of power and of love and +of a sound mind which works all righteousness in +believing hearts, and sheds divine beauty and goodness +over character and life.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, note the divine glory of the worthy.</p> + +<p>This fulfilment of every desire of goodness and +work of faith is in order 'that the name of our +Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you and ye +in Him.'</p> + +<p>Here, again, as in the first clause of our text, I +take, in accordance with the prevailing tone of this +letter, the reference to be mainly, though perhaps +not exclusively, to a future transcendent glorifying of +the name of Christ in perfected saints, and glorifying +of perfected saints in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>We have, then, set forth, first, as the result of the +fulfilling of Christian men's desires after goodness, and +the work of their faith, the glory that accrues to +Christ from perfected saints. They are His workmanship. +You remember the old story of the artist +who went into a fellow-artist's studio and left upon the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265a" id="Page_265a">[265]</a></span> +easel one complete circle, swept with one master-whirl +of the brush. Jesus Christ presents perfected men to +an admiring universe as specimens of what He can do. +His highest work is the redeeming of poor creatures +like you and me, and the making of us perfect in +goodness and worthy of our calling. We are His +<i>chefs-d'œuvre</i>, the master work of the great divine +artist.</p> + +<p>Think, then, brethren, how, here and now, Christ's +reputation is in our hands. Men judge of Him by us. +The name of the Lord Jesus is glorified in you if you +live 'worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,' +and people will think better of the Master if His +disciples are faithful. Depend upon it, if we of this +church, for instance, and the Christian people within +these walls now, lived the lives that they ought to do, +and manifested the power of the Gospel as they might, +there would be many who would say, 'They have +been with Jesus, and the Jesus that has made them +what they are must be mighty and great.' The best +evidence of the power of the Gospel is your consistent +lives.</p> + +<p>Think, too, of that strange dignity that in the +future, in manners and in regions all undiscernible +by us, Christians, who have been made out of stones +into children of God, will make known 'unto +principalities and powers in heavenly places' the +wisdom and the love and the energy of the redeeming +God. Who knows to what regions the commission of +the perfected saints to make Christ known may carry +them? Light travels far, and we cannot tell into +what remote corners of the universe this may penetrate. +This only we know, that they who shall be counted +worthy to attain that life and the Resurrection from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266a" id="Page_266a">[266]</a></span> +the dead shall bear the image of the heavenly, and +perhaps to creations yet uncreated, and still to be +evolved through the ages of eternity, it may be their +part to carry the lustre of the light of the glory of +God who redeemed and purified them.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, there is glory accruing to +perfected saints in Christ. 'And ye in Him.' +There will be a union so close as that nothing +closer is possible, personality being preserved, between +Christ and the saints above, who trust Him and +love Him and serve Him there. And that union +will lead to a participation in His glory which +shall exalt their limited, stained, and fragmentary +humanity into 'the measure of the stature of the +fulness of Christ.' Astronomers tell us that dead, +cold matter falls from all corners of the system into +the sun, drawn by its magic magnetism from farthest +space, and, plunging into that great reservoir of fire, +the deadest and coldest matter glows with fervid heat +and dazzling light. So you and I, dead, cold, dull, +opaque, heavy fragments, drawn into mysterious oneness +with Christ, the Sun of our souls, shall be +transformed into His own image, and like Him be +light and heat which shall radiate through the +universe.</p> + +<p>Brethren, meditate on your calling, the fact, its +method, its aim, its obligations, and its powers. +Cherish hopes and desires after goodness, the only +hopes and desires that are certain to be fulfilled. +Cultivate the life of faith working by love, and let us +all live in the light of that solemn expectation that +the Lord will judge His people. Then we may hope +that the voice which summoned us will welcome us, +and proclaim even of us, stained and undeserving as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267a" id="Page_267a">[267]</a></span> +we rightly feel ourselves to be: 'They have not +defiled their garments, therefore they shall walk with +Me in white, for they are worthy.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>EVERLASTING CONSOLATION AND +GOOD HOPE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath +loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace. +17. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.'—2 +<span class="smcap">Thess.</span> ii. 16, 17.</p></div> + + +<p>This is the second of the four brief prayers which, as I +pointed out in my last sermon, break the current of +Paul's teaching in this letter, and witness to the depth +of his affection to his Thessalonian converts. We do +not know the special circumstances under which these +then were, but there are many allusions, both in the +first and second epistles, which seem to indicate that +they specially needed the gift of consolation.</p> + +<p>They were a young Church, just delivered from +paganism. Like lambs in the midst of wolves, they +stood amongst bitter enemies, their teacher had left +them alone, and their raw convictions needed to be +consolidated and matured in the face of much opposition. +No wonder then that over and over again, in +both letters, we have references to the persecutions and +tribulations which they endured, and to the consolations +which would much more abound.</p> + +<p>But whatever may have been their specific circumstances, +the prayer which puts special emphasis on +comfort is as much needed by each of us as it could +ever have been by any of them. For there are no eyes +that have not wept, or will not weep; no breath that +has not been, or will not be, drawn in sighs; and no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268a" id="Page_268a">[268]</a></span> +hearts that have not bled, or will not bleed. So, dear +friends, the prayer that went up for these long since +comforted brothers, in their forgotten obscure sorrows, +is as needful for each of us—that the God who has +given everlasting consolation may apply the consolations +which He has supplied, and 'comfort our hearts +and stablish them in every good word and work.'</p> + +<p>The prayer naturally falls, as all true prayer will, +into three sections—the contemplation of Him to whom +it is addressed, the grasping of the great act on which +it is based, and the specification of the desires which it +includes. These three thoughts may guide us for a +few moments now.</p> + +<p>I. First of all, then, note the divine hearers of the +prayer.</p> + +<p>The first striking thing about this prayer is its +emphatic recognition of the divinity of Jesus Christ +as a truth familiar to these Thessalonian converts. +Note the solemn accumulation of His august titles, +'Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.' Note, further, that +extraordinary association of His name with the +Father's. Note, still further, the most remarkable +order in which these two names occur—Jesus first, +God second. If we were not so familiar with the +words, and with their order, which reappears in Paul's +well-known and frequently-used Benediction, we +should be startled to find that Jesus Christ was put +before God in such a solemn address. The association +and the order of mention of the names are equally +outrageous, profane, and inexplicable, except upon one +hypothesis, and that is that Jesus Christ is divine.</p> + +<p>The reason for the order may be found partly in the +context, which has just been naming Christ, but still +more in the fact that whilst he writes, the Apostle is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269a" id="Page_269a">[269]</a></span> +realising the mediation of Christ, and that the order +of mention is the order of our approach. The Father +comes to us in the Son; we come to the Father by +the Son; and, therefore, it is no intercepting of our +reverence, nor blasphemously lifting the creature +to undue elevation, when in one act the Apostle +appeals to 'our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God +our Father.'</p> + +<p>Note, still further, the distinct address to Christ as +the Hearer of Prayer. And, note, last of all, about +this matter, the singular grammatical irregularity in +my text, which is something much more than a mere +blunder or slip of the pen. The words which follow, +viz., 'comfort' and 'stablish,' are in the singular, +whilst these two mighty and august names are their +nominatives, and would therefore, by all regularity, +require a plural to follow them. That this peculiarity +is no mere accident, but intentional and deliberate, is +made probable by the two instances in our text, and +is made certain, as it seems to me, by the fact that the +same anomalous and eloquent construction occurs in +the previous epistle to the same church, where we +have in exact parallelism with our text, 'God Himself, +our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,' with the +singular verb, 'direct our way unto you.' The phraseology +is the expression, in grammatical form, of the +great truth, 'Whatsoever things the Father doeth, +these also doth the Son likewise.' And from it there +gleam out unmistakably the great principles of the +unity of action and the distinction of person between +Father and Son, in the depths of that infinite and +mysterious Godhead.</p> + +<p>Now all this, which seems to me to be irrefragable, +is made the more remarkable and the stronger as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270a" id="Page_270a">[270]</a></span> +witness of the truth, from the fact that it occurs in +this perfectly incidental fashion, and without a word +of explanation or apology, as taking for granted that +there was a background of teaching in the Thessalonian +Church which had prepared the way for it, and +rendered it intelligible, as well as a background of +conviction which had previously accepted it.</p> + +<p>And, remember, these two letters, thus full-toned in +their declaration, and taking for granted the previous +acceptance of the great doctrine of the divinity of +our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are the earliest +portions of the New Testament, and are often spoken +about as being singularly undogmatic. So they are, +and therefore all the more eloquent and all the more +conclusive is such a testimony as this to the sort of +teaching which from the beginning the Apostle +addressed to his converts.</p> + +<p>Now is that your notion of Jesus Christ? Do you +regard Him as the sharer in the divine attributes and +in the divine throne? It was a living Christ that +Paul was thinking about when he wrote these words, +who could hear him praying in Corinth, and could +reach a helping hand down to these poor men in +Thessalonica. It was a divine Christ that Paul was +thinking about when he dared to say, 'Our Lord Jesus +Christ, and God our Father.' And I beseech you to +ask yourself the question whether your faith accepts +that great teaching, and whether to you He is far more +than 'the Man Christ Jesus'; and just because He is +<i>the</i> man, is therefore the Son of God. Brethren! +either Jesus lies in an unknown grave, ignorant of all +that is going on here, and the notion that He can help +is a delusion and a dream, or else He is the ever-living +because He is the divine Christ, to whom we poor men<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271a" id="Page_271a">[271]</a></span> +can speak with the certainty that He hears us, and +who wields the energies of Deity, and works the same +works as the Father, for the help and blessing of the +souls that trust Him.</p> + +<p>II. Secondly, note the great fact on which this prayer +builds itself.</p> + +<p>The form of words in the original, 'loved' and +'given,' all but necessarily requires us to suppose that +their reference is to some one definite historical act in +which the love was manifested, and, as love always +does, found voice in giving. Love is the infinite desire +to bestow, and its language is always a gift. Then, +according to the Apostle's thought, there is some one +act in which all the fulness of the divine love manifests +itself; some one act in which all the treasures which +God can bestow upon men are conveyed and handed +over to a world.</p> + +<p>The statement that there is such renders almost +unnecessary the question what such an act is. For +there can be but one in all the sweep of the magnificent +and beneficent divine deeds, so correspondent to +His love, and so inclusive of all His giving, as that it +shall be the ground of our confidence and the warrant +for our prayers. The gift of Jesus Christ is that in +which everlasting consolation and good hope are +bestowed upon men. When our desires are widened +out to the widest they must be based upon the great +sacrifice of Jesus Christ; and when we would think +most confidently and most desiringly of the benefits +that we seek, for ourselves or for our fellows, we must +turn to the Cross. My prayer is then acceptable and +prevalent when it foots itself on the past divine act, +and looking to the life and death of Jesus Christ, is +widened out to long for, ask for, and in the very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272a" id="Page_272a">[272]</a></span> +longing and asking for to begin to possess, the fulness +of the gifts which then were brought to men in Him.</p> + +<p>'Everlasting consolation and good hope.' I suppose +the Apostle's emphasis is to be placed quite as much on +the adjectives as on the nouns; for there are consolations +enough in the world, only none of them are +permanent; and there are hopes enough that amuse +and draw men, but one of them only is 'good.' The +gift of Christ, thinks Paul, is the gift of a comfort +which will never fail amidst all the vicissitudes and +accumulated and repeated and prolonged sorrows to +which flesh is heir, and is likewise the gift of a hope +which, in its basis and in its objects, is equally noble +and good.</p> + +<p>Look at these two things briefly. Paul thinks that +in Jesus Christ you and I, and all the world, if it will +have it, has received the gift of an everlasting comfort. +Ah! sorrow is more persistent than consolation. The +bandaged wounds bleed again; the fire damped down +for a moment smoulders, even when damped, and +bursts out again. But there is one source of comfort +which, because it comes from an unchangeable Christ, +and because it communicates unfailing gifts of patience +and insight, and because it leads forward to everlasting +blessedness and recompenses, may well be called +'eternal consolation.' Of course, consolation is not +needed when sorrow has ceased; and when the wiping +away of all tears from off all faces, and the plunging +of grief into the nethermost fires, there to be consumed, +have come about, there is no more need for comfort. +Yet that which made the comfort while sorrow lasts, +makes the triumph and the rapture when sorrow is +dead, and is everlasting, though its office of consolation +determines with earth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273a" id="Page_273a">[273]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Good hope through grace.' This is the weakness of +all the hopes which dance like fireflies in the dark +before men, and are often like will-o'-the-wisps in the +night tempting men into deep mire, where there is +no standing—that they are uncertain in their basis +and inadequate in their range. The prostitution of +the great faculty of hope is one of the saddest +characteristics of our feeble and fallen manhood; for +the bulk of our hopes are doubtful and akin to fears, +and are mean and low, and disproportioned to the +possibilities, and therefore the obligations, of our +spirits. But in that Cross which teaches us the +meaning of sorrows, and in that Christ whose presence +is light in darkness, and the very embodied consolation +of all hearts, there lie at once the foundation and the +object of a hope which, in consideration both of object +and foundation, stands unique in its excellence and +sufficient in its firmness. 'A good hope'; good because +well founded; and good because grasping worthy +objects; eternal consolation outlasting all sorrows—these +things were given once for all, to the whole +world when Jesus Christ came and lived and died. The +materials for a comfort that shall never fail me, and +for the foundation and the object of a hope that shall +never be ashamed, are supplied in Jesus Christ our +Lord. And so these gifts, already passed under the +great seal of heaven, and confirmed to us all, if we +choose to take them for ours, are the ground upon +which the largest prayers may be rested, and the most +ardent desires may be unblamably cherished, in the +full confidence that no petitions of ours can reach to +the greatness of the divine purpose, and that the +widest and otherwise wildest of our hopes and wishes +are sober under-estimates of what God has already<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274a" id="Page_274a">[274]</a></span> +given to us. For if He has given the material, He will +apply what He has supplied. And if He has thus in +the past bestowed the possibilities of comfort and +hope upon the world, He will not slack His hand, if we +desire the possibility to be in our hearts turned into +the actuality.</p> + +<p>God has given, therefore God will give. That in +heaven's logic, but it does not do for men. It presupposes +inexhaustible resources, unchangeable purposes +of kindness, patience that is not disgusted and +cannot be turned away by our sin. These things being +presupposed it is true; and the prayer of my text, that +God would comfort, can have no firmer foundation +than the confidence of my text, that God has given +'everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.' +'Thou hast helped us; leave us not, neither forsake us, +O God of our salvation.'</p> + +<p>III. The last thing here is the petitions based upon +the contemplation of the divine hearers of the prayer, +and of the gift already bestowed by God.</p> + +<p>May He 'comfort your hearts, and stablish you in +every good word and work.' I have already said all +that perhaps is necessary in regard to the connection +between the past gift of everlasting consolation and +the present and future comforting of hearts which is +here desired. It seems to me that the Apostle has in +his mind the distinction between the great work of +Christ, in which are supplied for us the materials for +comfort and hope, and the present and continuous +work of that Divine Spirit, by which God dwelling in +our hearts in Jesus Christ makes real for each of us +the universal gift of consolation and of hope. God +has bestowed the materials for comfort; God will give +the comfort for which He has supplied the materials.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275a" id="Page_275a">[275]</a></span> +It were a poor thing if all that we could expect from +our loving Father in the heavens were that He should +contribute to us what might make us peaceful and +glad and calm in sorrow, if we chose to use it. Men +comfort from without; God steals into the heart, and +there diffuses the aroma of His presence. Christ +comes into the ship before He says, 'Peace! be still!' +It is not enough for our poor troubled heart that +there should be calmness and consolation twining +round the Cross if we choose to pluck the fruit. We +need, and therefore we have, an indwelling God who, +by that Spirit which is the Comforter, will make for +each of us the everlasting consolation which He has +bestowed upon the world our individual possession. +God's husbandry is not merely broadcast sowing of +the seed, but the planting in each individual heart of +the precious germ. And the God who has given everlasting +consolation to a whole world will comfort <i>thy</i> +heart.</p> + +<p>Then, again, the comforted heart will be a stable +heart. Our fixedness and stability are not natural +immobility, but communicated steadfastness. There +must be, first, the consolation of Christ before there +can be the calmness of a settled heart. We all know +how vacillating, how driven to and fro by gusts of +passion and winds of doctrine and forces of earth our +resolutions and spirits are. But thistledown glued to +a firm surface will be firm, and any light thing lashed +to a solid one will be solid; and reeds shaken with the +wind may be turned into brazen pillars that cannot be +moved. If we have Christ in our hearts, He will be +our consolation first and our stability next. Why +should it be that we are spasmodic and fluctuating, and +the slaves of ups and downs, like some barometer in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276a" id="Page_276a">[276]</a></span> +stormy weather; now at 'set fair,' and then away +down where 'much rain' is written? There is no need +for it. Get Christ into your heart, and your mercury +will always stand at one height. Why should it be +that at one hour the flashing waters fill the harbour, +and that six hours afterwards there is a waste of ooze +and filth? It need not be. Our hearts may be like +some landlocked lake that knows no tide. 'His heart +is fixed, trusting in the Lord.'</p> + +<p>The comforted and stable heart will be a fruitful +heart. 'In <i>every</i> good word and work.' Ah! how +fragmentary is our goodness, like the broken torsos of +the statues of fair gods dug up in some classic land. +There is no reason why each of us should not appropriate +and make our own the forms of goodness to +which we are least naturally inclined, and cultivate +and possess a symmetrical, fully-developed, all-round +goodness, in some humble measure after the pattern +of Jesus Christ our Lord. Practical righteousness, 'in +every good word and work,' is the outcome of all the +sacred and secret consolations and blessings that +Jesus Christ imparts. There are many Christian +people who are like those swallow-holes, as they call +them, characteristic of limestone countries, where a +great river plunges into a cave and is no more heard +of. You do not get your comforts and your blessing +for that, brother, but in order that all the joy and +peace, all the calmness and the communion, which you +realise in the secret place of the Most High, may be +translated into goodness and manifest righteousness in +the market-place and the street. We get our goodness +where we get our consolation, from Jesus Christ and +His Cross.</p> + +<p>And so, dear friends, all your comforts will die, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277a" id="Page_277a">[277]</a></span> +your sorrows will live, unless you have Christ for your +own. The former will be like some application that is +put on a poisoned bite, which will soothe it for a +moment, but as soon as the anodyne dries off the skin, +the poison will tingle and burn again, and will be +working in the blood, whilst the remedy only touched +the surface of the flesh. All your hopes will be like a +child's castles on the sand, which the next tide will +smooth out and obliterate, unless your hope is fixed on +Him. You may have everlasting consolation, you may +have a hope which will enable you to look serenely on +the ills of life, and on the darkness of death, and on +what darkly looms beyond death. You may have a +calmed and steadied heart; you may have an all-round, +stable, comprehensive goodness. But there is +only one way to get these blessings, and that is to +grasp and make our own, by simple faith and constant +clinging, that great gift, given once for all in Jesus +Christ, the gift of comfort that never dies, and of hope +that never deceives, and then to apply that gift day by +day, through God's good Spirit, to sorrows and trials +and duties as they emerge.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE HEART'S HOME AND GUIDE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting +for Christ.'—2 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> iii. 5.</p></div> + + +<p>A word or two of explanation of terms may preface +our remarks on this, the third of the Apostle's prayers +for the Thessalonians in this letter. The first point to +be noticed is that by 'the Lord' here is meant, as +usually in the New Testament, Jesus Christ. So that +here again we have the distinct recognition of His +divinity, and the direct address of prayer to Him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278a" id="Page_278a">[278]</a></span></p> + +<p>The next thing to notice is that by 'the love of God' +is here meant, not God's to us, but ours to Him; and +that the petition, therefore, respects the emotions and +sentiments of the Thessalonians towards the Father +in heaven.</p> + +<p>And the last point is that the rendering of the +Authorised Version, 'patient waiting for Christ,' is +better exchanged for that of the Revised Version, +'the patience of Christ,' meaning thereby the same +patience as He exhibited in His earthly life, and +which He is ready to bestow upon us.</p> + +<p>It is not usual in the New Testament to find Jesus +Christ set forth as the great Example of patient +endurance; but still there are one or two instances in +which the same expression is applied to Him. For +example, in two contiguous verses in the Epistle to +the Hebrews, we read of His 'enduring contradiction +of sinners against Himself,' and 'enduring the Cross, +despising the shame,' in both of which cases we have +the verb employed of which the noun is here used. +Then in the Apocalypse we have such expressions as +'the patience of Christ,' of which John says that he +and his brethren whom he is addressing are 'participators,' +and, again, 'thou hast kept the word of my +patience.'</p> + +<p>So, though unusual, the thought of our text as +presented in the amended version is by no means +singular. These things, then, being premised, we may +now look at this petition as a whole.</p> + +<p>I. The first thought that it suggests to me is, the +home of the heart.</p> + +<p>'The Lord direct you <i>into</i> the love of God and the +patience of Christ.' The prayers in this letter with +which we have been occupied for some Sundays<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279a" id="Page_279a">[279]</a></span> +present to us Christian perfection under various +aspects. But this we may, perhaps, say is the most +comprehensive and condensed of them all. The +Apostle gathers up the whole sum of his desires for +his friends, and presents to us the whole aim of our +efforts for ourselves, in these two things, a steadfast +love to God, and a calm endurance of evil and persistence +in duty, unaffected by suffering or by pain. +If we have these two we shall not be far from being +what God wishes to see us.</p> + +<p>Now the Apostle's thought here, of 'leading us into' +these two seems to suggest the metaphor of a great +home with two chambers in it, of which the inner was +entered from the outer. The first room is 'the love of +God,' and the second is 'the patience of Christ.' It +comes to the same thing whether we speak of the +heart as dwelling in love, or of love as dwelling in the +heart. The metaphor varies, the substance of the +thought is the same, and that thought is that the +heart should be the sphere and subject of a steadfast, +habitual, all-pleasing love, which issues in unbroken +calmness of endurance and persistence of service, in +the face of evil.</p> + +<p>Let us look, then, for a moment at these two points. +I need not dwell upon the bare idea of love to God +as being the characteristic of the Christian attitude +towards Him, or remind you of how strange and unexampled +a thing it is that all religion should be +reduced to this one fruitful germ, love to the Father +in heaven. But it is more to the purpose for me to +point to the constancy, the unbrokenness, the depth, +which the Apostle here desires should be the characteristics +of Christian love to God. We sometimes +cherish such emotion; but, alas, how rare it is for us<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280a" id="Page_280a">[280]</a></span> +to dwell in that calm home all the days of our lives! +We visit that serene sanctuary at intervals, and then +for the rest of our days we are hurried to and fro +between contending affections, and wander homeless +amidst inadequate loves. But what Paul asked, and +what should be the conscious aim of the Christian +life, is, that we should 'dwell all our days in the house +of the Lord, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to +enquire in His temple.'</p> + +<p>Alas, when we think of our own experiences, how +fair and far seems that other, contemplated as a +possibility in my text, that our hearts should 'abide +in the love of God'!</p> + +<p>Let me remind you, too, that steadfastness of +habitual love all round our hearts, as it were, is the +source and germ of all perfectness of life and conduct. +'Love and do as Thou wilt,' is a bold saying, but not +too bold. For the very essence of love is the smelting +of the will of the lover into the will of the beloved. +And there is nothing so certain as that, in regard to +all human relations, and in regard to the relations to +God which in many respects follow, and are moulded +after the pattern of, our earthly relations of love, to +have the heart fixed in pure affection is to have the +whole life subordinated in glad obedience. Nothing +is so sweet as to do the beloved's will. The germ of +all righteousness, as well as the characteristic spirit of +every righteous deed, lies in love to God. This is +the mother tincture which, variously coloured and +with various additions, makes all the different +precious liquids which we can pour as libations on +His altar. The one saving salt of all deeds in reference +to Him is that they are the outcome and expression +of a loving heart. He who loves is righteous, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281a" id="Page_281a">[281]</a></span> +doeth righteousness. So, 'love is the fulfilling of +the law.'</p> + +<p>That the heart should be fixed in its abode in love +to God is the secret of all blessedness, as it is the +source of all righteousness. Love is always joy in +itself; it is the one deliverance from self-bondage +to which self is the one curse and misery of man. +The emancipation from care and sorrow and unrest +lies in that going out of ourselves which we call by +the name of love. There be things masquerading +about the world, and profaning the sacred name of +love by taking it to themselves, which are only selfishness +under a disguise. But true love is the annihilation, +and therefore the apotheosis and glorifying, of +self; and in that annihilation lies the secret charm +which brings all blessedness into a life.</p> + +<p>But, then, though love in itself be always bliss, +yet, by reason of the imperfections of its objects, +it sometimes leads to sorrow. For limitations and +disappointments and inadequacies of all sorts haunt +our earthly loves whilst they last; and we have all +to see them fade, or to fade away from them. The +thing you love may change, the thing you love +must die; and therefore love, which in itself is +blessedness, hath often, like the little book that the +prophet swallowed, a bitter taste remaining when the +sweetness is gone. But if we set our hearts on God, +we set our hearts on that which knows no variableness, +neither the shadow of turning. <i>There</i> are no inadequate +responses, no changes that we need fear. On +that love the scythe of death, which mows down all +other products of the human heart, hath no power; +and its stem stands untouched by the keen edge +that levels all the rest of the herbage. Love God,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282a" id="Page_282a">[282]</a></span> +and thou lovest eternity; and therefore the joy of the +love is eternal as its object. So he who loves God is +building upon a rock, and whosoever has this for +his treasure carries his wealth with him whithersoever +he goes. Well may the Apostle gather into one +potent word, and one mighty wish, the whole fulness +of his desires for his friends. And wise shall we be if +we make this the chiefest of our aims, that our hearts +may have their home in the love of God.</p> + +<p>Still further, there is another chamber in this house +of the soul. The outer room, where the heart inhabits +that loves God, leads into another compartment, 'the +patience of Christ.'</p> + +<p>Now, I suppose I need not remind many of you that +this great New Testament word 'patience' has a far +wider area of meaning than that which is ordinarily +covered by that expression. For <i>patience</i>, as we use +it, is simply a passive virtue. But the thing that is +meant by the New Testament word which is generally +so rendered has an active as well as a passive side. On +the passive side it is the calm, unmurmuring, unreluctant +submission of the will to whatsoever evil may +come upon us, either directly from God's hand, or +through the ministration and mediation of men who +are His sword. On the active side it is the steadfast +persistence in the path of duty, in spite of all that may +array itself against us. So there are the two halves of +the virtue which is here put before us—unmurmuring +submission and bold continuance in well-doing, whatsoever +storms may hurtle in our faces.</p> + +<p>Now, in both of these aspects, the life of Jesus +Christ is the great pattern. As for the passive side, +need I remind you how, 'as a sheep before her shearers +is dumb, so He opened not His mouth'? 'When He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283a" id="Page_283a">[283]</a></span> +was reviled He reviled not again, but committed +Himself unto Him that judgeth uprightly.' No anger +ever flushed His cheek or contracted His brow. He +never repaid scorn with scorn, nor hate with hate. +All men's malice fell upon Him, like sparks upon wet +timber, and kindled no conflagration.</p> + +<p>As for the active side, I need not remind you how +'He set His face to go to Jerusalem'—how the great +solemn '<i>must</i>' which ruled His life bore Him on, +steadfast and without deflection in His course, through +all obstacles. There never was such heroic force as +the quiet force of the meek and gentle Christ, which +wasted no strength in displaying or boasting of itself, +but simply, silently, unconquerably, like the secular +motions of the stars, dominated all opposition, and +carried Him, unhasting and unresting, on His path. +That life, with all its surface of weakness, had an iron +tenacity of purpose beneath, which may well stand for +our example. Like some pure glacier from an Alpine +peak, it comes silently, slowly down into the valley; +and though to the eye it seems not to move, it presses +on with a force sublime in its silence and gigantic in +its gentleness, and buries beneath it the rocks that +stand in its way. The patience of Christ is the very +sublimity of persistence in well-doing. It is our example, +and more than our example—it is His gift +to us.</p> + +<p>Such passive and active patience is the direct fruit +of love to God. The one chamber opens into the other. +For they whose hearts dwell in the sweet sanctities +of the love of God will ever be those who say, with +a calm smile, as they put out their hand to the +bitterest draught, 'the cup which My Father hath +given Me, shall I not drink it?'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284a" id="Page_284a">[284]</a></span></p> + +<p>Love, and evil dwindles; love, and duty becomes +supreme; and in the submission of the will, which is +the true issue of love, lies the foundation of indomitable +and inexhaustible endurance and perseverance.</p> + +<p>Nor need I remind you, I suppose, that in this +resolve to do the will of God, in spite of all antagonism +and opposition, lies a condition at once of moral +perfection and of blessedness. So, dear friends, if we +would have a home for our hearts, let us pass into +that sweet, calm, inexpugnable fortress provided +for us in the love of God and the patience of +Christ.</p> + +<p>II. Now notice, secondly, the Guide of the heart to +its home.</p> + +<p>'The Lord direct you.' I have already explained +that we have here a distinct address to Jesus Christ +as divine, and the hearer of prayer. The Apostle +evidently expects a present, personal influence from +Christ to be exerted upon men's hearts. And this is +the point to which I desire to draw your attention in +a word or two. We are far too oblivious of the present +influence of Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, upon the +hearts of men that trust Him. We have very imperfectly +apprehended our privileges as Christians if our +faith do not expect, and if our experience have not +realised, the inward guidance of Christ moment by +moment in our daily lives. I believe that much of +the present feebleness of the Christian life amongst its +professors is to be traced to the fact that their +thoughts about Jesus Christ are predominantly +thoughts of what He did nineteen centuries ago, +and that the proportion of faith is not observed in +their perspective of His work, and that they do not +sufficiently realise that to-day, here, in you and me, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285a" id="Page_285a">[285]</a></span> +we have faith in Him, He is verily and really putting +forth His power.</p> + +<p>Paul's prayer is but an echo of Christ's promise. +The Master said, 'He shall guide you into all truth.' +The servant prays, 'The Lord direct your hearts into +the love of God.' And if we rightly know the whole +blessedness that is ours in the gift of Jesus Christ, we +shall recognise His present guidance as a reality in +our lives.</p> + +<p>That guidance is given to us mainly by the Divine +Spirit laying upon our hearts the great facts which +evoke our answering love to God. 'We love Him +because He first loved us'; and the way by which +Jesus directs our hearts into the love of God is mainly +by shedding abroad God's love to us in our spirits by +the Holy Spirit which is given to us.</p> + +<p>But, besides that, all these movements in our hearts +so often neglected, so often resisted, by which we are +impelled to a holier life, to a deeper love, to a more +unworldly consecration—all these, rightly understood, +are Christ's directions. He leads us, though +often we know not the hand that guides; and every +Christian may be sure of this—and he is sinful if he +does not live up to the height of his privileges—that +the ancient promises are more than fulfilled in his +experience, and that he has a present Christ, an indwelling +Christ, who will be his Shepherd, and lead +him by green pastures and still waters sometimes +and through valleys of darkness and rough defiles +sometimes, but always with the purpose of bringing +him nearer and nearer to the full possession of the +love of God and the patience of Christ.</p> + +<p>The vision which shone before the eyes of the +father of the forerunner, was that 'the dayspring<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286a" id="Page_286a">[286]</a></span> +from on high hath visited us, to guide our feet into +the way of peace.' It is fulfilled in Jesus who directs +our hearts into love and patience, which are the way +of peace.</p> + +<p>We are not to look for impressions and impulses +distinguishable from the operations of our own +inward man. We are not to fall into the error of +supposing that a conviction of duty or a conception of +truth is of divine origin because it is strong. But +the true test of their divine origin is their correspondence +with the written word, the standard of truth +and life. Jesus guides us to a fuller apprehension of +the great facts of the infinite love of God in the Cross. +Shedding abroad a Saviour's love does kindle ours.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, notice the heart's yielding to its guide.</p> + +<p>If this was Paul's prayer for his converts, it should +be our aim for ourselves. Christ is ready to direct our +hearts, if we will let Him. All depends on our yielding +to that sweet direction, loving as that of a mother's +hand on her child's shoulder.</p> + +<p>What is our duty and wisdom in view of these +truths? The answer may be thrown into the shape +of one or two brief counsels.</p> + +<p>First, desire it. Do you Christian people want to +be led to love God more? Are you ready to love the +world less, which you will have to do if you love God +more? Do you wish Christ to lay His hand upon you, +and withdraw you from much, that He may draw you +into the sanctities and sublimities of His own experienced +love? I do not think the lives of some of us look +very like as if we should welcome that direction. And +it is a sharp test, and a hard commandment to say to +a Christian professor, 'Desire to be led into the love +of God.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287a" id="Page_287a">[287]</a></span></p> + +<p>Again, expect it. Do not dismiss all that I have +been saying about a present Christ leading men by +their own impulses, which are His monitions, as +fanatical and mystical and far away from daily experience. +Ah! it is not only the boy Samuel whose +infancy was an excuse for his ignorance, who takes +God's voice to be only white-bearded Eli's. There are +many of us who, when Christ speaks, think it is only +a human voice. Perhaps His deep and gentle tones +are thrilling through my harsh and feeble voice; and +He is now, even by the poor reed through which He +breathes His breath, saying to some of you, 'Come +near to Me.' Expect the guidance.</p> + +<p>Still your own wills that you may hear His voice. +How can you be led if you never look at the Guide? +How can you hear that still small voice amidst the +clattering of spindles, and the roar of wagons, and +the noises in your own heart? Be still, and He will +speak.</p> + +<p>Follow the guidance, and at once, for delay is fatal. +Like a man walking behind a guide across some +morass, set your feet in the print of the Master's and +keep close at His heels, and then you will be safe. +And so, dear friends, if we want to have anchorage for +our love, let us set our love on God, who alone is +worthy of it, and who alone of all its objects will +neither fail us nor change. If we would have the +temper which lifts us above the ills of life and enables +us to keep our course unaffected by them all, as the +gentle moon moves with the same silent, equable pace +through piled masses of cloud and clear stretches of +sky, we must attain submission through love, and +gain unreluctant endurance and steadfast wills from +the example and source of both, the gentle and strong<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288a" id="Page_288a">[288]</a></span> +Christ. If we would have our hearts calm, we must +let Him guide them, sway them, curb their vagrancies, +stimulate their desires, and satisfy the desires which +He has stimulated. We must abandon self, and say, +'Lord, I cannot guide myself. Do Thou direct my +wandering feet.' The prayer will not be in vain. +He will guide us with His eye, and that directing of +our hearts will issue in experiences of love and +patience, whose 'very sweetness yieldeth proof that +they were born for immortality.' The Guide and the +road foreshadow the goal. The only natural end to +which such a path can lead and such guidance point +is a heaven of perfect love, where patience has done +its perfect work, and is called for no more. The +experience of present direction strengthens the hope +of future perfection. So we may take for our own +the triumphant confidence of the Psalmist, and embrace +the nearest and the remotest future in one calm +vision of faith that 'Thou wilt guide me with Thy +counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE LORD OF PEACE AND THE PEACE +OF THE LORD</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace always, by all means. The +Lord be with you all.'—2 <span class="smcap">Thess.</span> iii. 16.</p></div> + + +<p>We have reached here the last of the brief outbursts +of prayer which characterise this letter, and bear +witness to the Apostle's affection for his Thessalonian +converts. It is the deepening of the ordinary Jewish +formula of meeting and parting. We find that, in +most of his letters, the Apostle begins with wishing +'grace and peace,' and closes with an echo of the wish.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289a" id="Page_289a">[289]</a></span> +'Peace be unto you' was often a form which meant +nothing. But true religion turns conventional insincerities +into real, heartfelt desires. It was often a +wish destined to remain unfulfilled. But loving wishes +are potent when they are changed into petitions.</p> + +<p>The relation between the two clauses of my text +seems to be that the second, 'The Lord be with you +all,' is not so much a separate, additional supplication +as rather the fuller statement, in the form of prayer, +of the means by which the former supplication is to +be accomplished. 'The Lord of Peace' gives peace by +giving His own presence. This, then, is the supreme +desire of the Apostle, that Christ may be with them +all, and in His presence they may find the secret +of tranquillity.</p> + +<p>I. The deepest longing of every human soul is for +peace.</p> + +<p>There are many ways in which the supreme good +may be represented, but perhaps none of them is so +lovely, and exercises such universal fascination of +attraction, as that which presents it in the form of +rest. It is an eloquent testimony to the unrest which +tortures every heart that the promise of peace should +to all seem so fair. It may be presented and aimed at +in very ignoble and selfish ways. It may be sought for +in cowardly shirking of duty, in sluggish avoidance of +effort, in selfish absorption, apart from all the miseries +of mankind. It may be sought for in the ignoble paths +of mere pleasure, amidst the sanctities of human love, +amidst the nobilities of intellectual effort and pursuit. +But all men in their workings are aiming at rest of +spirit, and only in such rest does blessedness lie. +'There is no joy but calm.' It is better than all the +excitements of conflict, and better than the flush of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290a" id="Page_290a">[290]</a></span> +victory. Best which is not apathy, rest which is not +indolence, rest which is contemporaneous with, and +the consequence of, the full wholesome activity of the +whole nature in its legitimate directions, that is the +good that we are all longing for. The sea is not +stagnant, though it be calm. There will be the slow +heave of the calm billow, and the wavelets may +sparkle in the sunlight, though they be still from all +the winds that rave. Deep in every human heart, in +yours and mine, brother, is this cry for rest and peace. +Let us see to it that we do not mistranslate the +meaning of the longing, or fancy that it can be found +in the ignoble, the selfish, the worldly ways to which +I have referred. We want, most of all, peace in our +inmost hearts.</p> + +<p>II. Then the second thing to be suggested here is +that the Lord of Peace Himself is the only giver of +peace.</p> + +<p>I suppose I may take for granted, on the part at +least of the members of my own congregation, some +remembrance of a former discourse upon another of +these petitions, in which I pointed out how, in +phraseology analogous to that of my text, there +were the distinct reference to the divinity of Jesus +Christ, the distinct presentation of prayer to Him, +the implication of His present activity upon Christian +hearts.</p> + +<p>And here again we have the august and majestic +'Himself.' Here again we have the distinct reference +of the title 'Lord' to Jesus. And here again we have +plainly prayer to Him.</p> + +<p>But the title by which He is addressed is profoundly +significant, 'The Lord of Peace.' Now we find, in +another of Paul's letters, in immediate conjunction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291a" id="Page_291a">[291]</a></span> +with His teaching, that casting all our care upon God +is the sure way to bring the peace of God into our +hearts, the title 'the God of Peace'; and he employs +the same phraseology in another of his letters, when +he prays that the 'God of Peace' would fill the Roman +Christians 'with all joy and peace in believing.'</p> + +<p>So, then, here is a title which is all but distinctively +divine. 'The <i>Lord</i> of Peace' is brought into parallelism +and equality with 'the God of Peace'; which +were blasphemy unless the underlying implication was +that Jesus Christ Himself was divine.</p> + +<p>He is the 'Lord of Peace' because that tranquillity +of heart and spirit, that unruffled calm which we all +see from afar, and long to possess, was verily His, in +His manhood, during all the calamities and changes +and activities of His earthly life. I have said that +'peace' is not apathy, that it is not indifference, that +it is not self-absorption. Look at the life of the +'Lord of Peace.' In Him there were wholesome +human emotions. He sorrowed, He wept, He wondered, +He was angry, He pitied, He loved. And yet all these +were perfectly consistent with the unruffled calm which +marked His whole career. So peace is not stolid indifference, +nor is it to be found in the avoidance of +difficult duties, or the cowardly shirking of sacrifices +and pains and struggles; but rather it is 'peace subsisting +at the heart of endless agitation,' of which the +great example stands in Him who was 'the Man of +Sorrows and acquainted with grief,' and who yet, in +it all, was 'the Lord of Peace.'</p> + +<p>Why was Christ's manhood so perfectly tranquil? +The secret lies here. It was a manhood in unbroken +communion with the Father. And what was the +secret of that unbroken communion with the Father?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292a" id="Page_292a">[292]</a></span> +It lies here, in the perfect submission of His will. +Resignation is peace. The surrender of self-will is +peace. Obedience is peace. Trust is peace, and +fellowship with the divine is peace. So Christ has +taught us in His life—'The Father hath not left Me +alone, because I do always the things that please Him.' +And therein He has marked out for us the path of +righteousness and communion, which is ever the path +of peace. 'Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose +mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth in Thee.' +That is the secret of the tranquillity of the ever-calm +Christ.</p> + +<p>Being thus the Lord of Peace, inasmuch as it was +His own constant and unbroken possession, He is the +sole giver of it to others.</p> + +<p>Ah! brethren, our hearts want far more, for their +stable restfulness, than we can find in any hand, or in +any heart, except those of Jesus Christ Himself. For +what do we need? We need, in order that we should +know the sweetness of repose, an adequate object for +every part of our nature. If we find something that +is good and sweet and satisfying for some portion of +this complex being of ours, all its other hungry desires +are apt to be left unappeased. So we are shuttle-cocked +from one wish to another, and bandied about +from one partial satisfaction to another, and in them +all it is but segments of our being that are satisfied, +whilst all the rest of the circumference remains disquieted. +We need that, in one attainable and single +object, there shall be at once that which will subjugate +the will, that which will illuminate and appease +the conscience, that which will satisfy the seeking +intellect, and hold forth the promise of endless progress +in insight and knowledge, that which will<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293a" id="Page_293a">[293]</a></span> +meet all the desires of our ravenous clamant nature, +and that which will fill every creek and cranny of our +empty hearts as with the flashing brightness of an +inflowing tide.</p> + +<p>And where shall we find all these, but in one dear +heart, and where shall we discern the one object, +whom, possessing, we have enough; and without +whom, possessing all beside, we are mendicants and +starving? Where, but in that dear Lord, who Himself +will supply all our needs, and will minister to us peace, +because for will and conscience and intellect and +affections and desires He supplies the pabulum that +they require, and gives more than enough for their +satisfaction?</p> + +<p>We want, if we are to be at rest, that there shall be +some absolute control over our passions, lusts, desires, +which torture us for ever, as long as they are ungoverned. +There is only one hand which will take +the wild beasts of our nature, bind them in the silken +leash of His love, and lead them along, tamed and +obedient.</p> + +<p>We want, for our peace, that all our relations with +circumstances and men around us shall be rectified. +And who is there that can bring about such harmony +between us and our surroundings that calamities +shall not press upon us with their heaviest weight, +nor opposing circumstances kindle angry resistance, +but only patient perseverance and thankful persistence +in the path of duty? It is only Christ that can +regulate our relations to the things and the men +around us, and make all things work together to our +consciousness for our good.</p> + +<p>Further, if we are to be at rest, and possess any +true, fundamental, and stable tranquillity, we want<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294a" id="Page_294a">[294]</a></span> +that our relations with God shall consciously be +rectified and made blessed. And I, for my part, do +not believe that any man comes into the full sweetness +of an assured friendship with God, unless he comes to +it by the road of faith in that Saviour in whom God +draws near to us with tenderness in His heart, and +blessings dropping from His open Hands. To be at +peace with God is the beginning of all true tranquillity, +and that can be secured only by faith in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>So, because He brings the reconciliation between +man and God, because He brings the rectification +of our relation to circumstances and men, because He +brings the control of desires and passions and inclinations, +and because He satisfies all the capacities of +our natures, in Him, and in Him only, is there peace +for us.</p> + +<p>III. So note, thirdly, that the peace of the Lord of +Peace is perfect.</p> + +<p>'Give you peace always,' that points to perpetual, +unbroken duration in time, and through all changing +circumstances which might threaten a less stable and +deeply-rooted tranquillity. And then, 'by all means,' +as our Authorised Version has it, or, better, 'in all +ways,' as the Revised Version reads, the reference +being, not so much to the various manners in which +the divine peace is to be bestowed, as to the various +aspects which that peace is capable of assuming. +Christ's peace, then, is perpetual and multiform, +unbroken, and presenting itself in all the aspects in +which tranquillity is possible for a human spirit.</p> + +<p>It is possible, then, thinks Paul, that there shall be +in our hearts a deep tranquillity, over which disasters, +calamities, sorrows, losses, need have no power. There +is no necessity why, when my outward life is troubled,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295a" id="Page_295a">[295]</a></span> +my inward life should be perturbed. There may be +light in the dwellings of Goshen, while darkness lies +over all the land of Egypt. The peace which Christ +gives is no exemption from warfare, but is realised in +the midst of warfare. It is no immunity from sorrows, +but is then most felt when the storm of sorrow beating +upon us is patiently accepted. The rainbow +steadfastly stands spanning the tortured waters of the +cataract. The fire may burn, like that old Greek fire, +beneath the water. The surface may be agitated, +but the centre may be calm. It is not calamity +that breaks our peace, but it is the resistance of our +wills to calamity which troubles us. When we can +bow and submit and say, 'Thy will be done,' 'it +seemeth good to Thee, do as Thou wilt,' then nothing +can break the peace of God in our hearts. We seek +in the wrong quarter for peace when we seek it in the +disposition of outward things according to our wills. +We seek in the right way when we seek it in the disposition +of our wills according to the will of the +Father manifest in our circumstances. There may +be peace always, even whilst the storms, efforts, and +calamities of life are in full operation around us and +on us. That peace may be uninterrupted and uniform, +extended on one high level, as it were through all +our lives. It is not so with us, dear brethren; there +are ups and downs which are our own fault. The +peace of God may be permanent, but, in order that it +should be, there must be permanent communion and +permanent obedience.</p> + +<p>Further, says the Apostle, Christ's peace will not +manifest itself in one form only, but in all the shapes +in which peace is possible. There are many enemies +that beset this calmness of spirit; for them all there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296a" id="Page_296a">[296]</a></span> +is the appropriate armour and defence in the peace of +God, I have already enumerated in part some of the +requirements for true and permanent tranquillity of +soul. All these are met in the peace of Christ. +Whatever it is that disturbs men, He has His anodyne +that will soothe. If circumstances threaten, if men +array themselves against us, if our own evil hearts rise +up in rebellion, if our passions disturb us, if our consciences +accuse: for all these Christ brings tranquillity +and calm. In every way in which men can +be disturbed, and in every way, therefore, in which +peace can be manifest, Christ's gift avails. 'Come +unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and +I will give you rest.'</p> + +<p>IV. Lastly, 'the Lord of Peace' gives it by giving +His own presence.</p> + +<p>The Thessalonians, as they listened to Paul's first +prayer, might think to themselves, 'Always, by all +means.' That is a large petition! Can it be fufilled? +And so the Apostle adds, 'The Lord be with you all.' +You cannot separate Christ's gifts from Christ. The +only way to get anything that He gives is to get Him. +It is His presence that does everything. If He is with +me, the world's annoyances will seem very small. If +I hold His hand I shall not be much troubled. If I can +only nestle close to His side, and come under His cloak, +He will shield me from the cold blast, from whatever +side it blows. If my heart is twined around Him it +will partake of the stability and calm of the great +heart on which it rests.</p> + +<p>The secret of tranquillity is the presence of Christ. +When He is in the vessel the waves calm themselves. +So, Christian men and women, if you and I are +conscious of breaches of our restfulness, interruptions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297a" id="Page_297a">[297]</a></span> +of our tranquillity by reason of surging, impatient +passions, and hot desires within ourselves, or by +reason of the pressure of outward circumstances, or by +reason of our having fallen beneath our consciences, +and done wrong things, let us understand that the +breaches of our peace are not owing to Him, but only +to our having let go His hand. It is our own faults +if we are ever troubled; if we kept close to Him we +should not be. It is our own faults if the world ever +agitates us beyond the measure that is compatible +with central calm. Sorrow should not have the power +to touch the citadel of our lives. Effort should not +have the power to withdraw us from our trustful +repose in Him. And nothing here would have the +power, if we did not let our hand slip out of His, and +break our communion with Him.</p> + +<p>So, dear brethren, 'in the world ye shall have +tribulation, in Me ye shall have peace.' Keep inside +the fortress and nothing will disturb. 'He that +dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall +abide under the shadow of the Almighty.' The only +place where that hungry, passion-ridden heart of +yours, conscious of alienation from God, can find rest, +is close by Jesus Christ. 'The Lord be with us all,' +and then the peace of that Lord shall clothe and fill +our hearts in Christ Jesus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298a" id="Page_298a">[298]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>I. TIMOTHY</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now, the end of the commandment is love, out of a pure heart, and of a good +conscience, and of faith unfeigned.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> 1. 6.</p></div> + + +<p>The Apostle has just said that he left Timothy in +Ephesus, in order to check some tendencies there +which were giving anxiety. Certain teachers had +appeared, the effect of whose activity was to create +parties, to foster useless speculations, and to turn the +minds of the Ephesian Christians away from the +practical and moral side of Christianity. In opposition +to these, the Apostle here lays down the broad principle +that God has spoken, not in order to make acute +theologians, or to provide materials for controversy, +but in order to help us to love. The whole of these +latest letters of the Apostle breathe the mellow wisdom +of old age, which has learned to rate brilliant intellectualism, +agility, incontroversial fence and the like, +far lower than homely goodness. And so, says Paul, +'the end of the commandment is love.'</p> + +<p>Now he here states, not only the purpose of the +divine revelation, but gives us a summary, but yet +sufficient, outline of the method by which God works +towards that purpose. The commandment is the +beginning, love is the end or aim. And between these +two there are inserted three things, a 'pure heart,' a +'good conscience,' 'faith unfeigned.' Now of these<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299a" id="Page_299a">[299]</a></span> +three the two former are closely connected, and the +third is the cause, or condition, of both of them. It is, +therefore, properly named last as being first in order, +and therefore last reached in analysis. When you +track a stream from its mouth to its source, the +fountain-head is the last thing that you come to. And +here we have, as in these great lakes in Central Africa—out +of which finally the Nile issues—the stages of the +flow. There are the twin lakes, a 'good conscience' +and a 'pure heart.' These come from 'unfeigned faith,' +which lies higher up in the hills of God; and they run +down into the love which is the 'end of the commandment.' +The faith lays hold on the commandment, and +so the process is complete. Or, if you begin at the top, +instead of at the bottom, God gives the word; faith +grasps the word, and thereby nourishes a 'pure heart' +and a 'good conscience,' and thereby produces a +universal love. So, then, we have three steps to look +at here.</p> + +<p>I. First of all, what God speaks to us for.</p> + +<p>'The end of the commandment is love.'</p> + +<p>Now, I take it that the word 'commandment' here +means, not this or that specific precept, but the whole +body of Christian revelation, considered as containing +laws for life. And to begin with, and only to mention, +it is something to get that point of view, that all which +God says, be it promise, be it self-manifestation, be it +threatening, or be it anything else, has a preceptive +bearing, and is meant to influence life and conduct. I +shall have a word or two more to say about that +presently, but note, just as we go on, how remarkable +it is, and how full of lessons, if we will ponder it, that +one name for the Gospel on the lips of the man who +had most to say about the contrast between Gospel and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300a" id="Page_300a">[300]</a></span> +Law is 'commandment.' Try to feel the stringency of +that aspect of evangelical truth and of Christian +revelation.</p> + +<p>Then I need not remind you how here the indefinite +expression 'love' must be taken, as I think is generally +the case in the New Testament, when the object on +which the love rests is not defined, as including both of +the twin commandments, of which the second, our +Master says, is like unto the first, love to God and love +to man. In the Christian idea these two are one. They +are shoots from the one root. The only difference is +that the one climbs and the other grows along the +levels of earth. There is no gulf set in the New Testament +teaching, and there ought to be none in the +practice and life of a Christian man, between the love +of God and the love of man. They are two aspects of +one thing.</p> + +<p>Then, if so, mark how, according to the Apostle's +teaching here, in this one thought of a dual-sided love, +one turned upwards, one turned earthwards, there lies +the whole perfection of a human soul. You want +nothing more if you are 'rooted and grounded in love.' +That will secure all goodness, all morality, all religion, +everything that is beautiful, and everything that is +noble. And all this is meant to be the result of God's +speech to us.</p> + +<p>So, then, two very plain practical principles may be +deduced and enforced from this first thought. First, +the purpose of all revelation and the test of all religion +is—character and conduct.</p> + +<p>It is all very well to know about God, to have our +minds filled with true thoughts about Him, His nature, +and dealings with us. Orthodoxy is good, but orthodoxy +is a means to an end. There should be nothing in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301a" id="Page_301a">[301]</a></span> +a man's creed which does not act upon his life. Or, if +I may put it into technical words, all a man's <i>credenda</i> +should be his <i>agenda;</i> and whatsoever he believes +should come straight into his life to influence it, and to +shape character. Here, then, is the warning against +a mere notional orthodoxy, and against regarding +Christian truth as being intended mainly to illuminate +the understanding, or to be a subject of speculation and +discussion. There are people in all generations, and +there are plenty of them to-day, who seem to think +that the great verities of the Gospel are mainly meant +to provide material for controversy—</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="As if religion were intended"> +<tr><td align='left'>'As if religion were intended</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">For nothing else but to be mended';</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<div class='unindent'>and that they have done all that can be expected when +they have tried to apprehend the true bearing of this +revelation, and to contend against misinterpretations. +This is the curse of religious controversy, that it blinds +men to the practical importance of the truths for which +they are fighting. It is as if one were to take some +fertile wheat-land, and sand it all over, and roll it +down, and make it smooth for a gymnasium, where +nothing would grow. So the temper which finds in +Christian truth simply a 'ministration of questions,' +as my text says, mars its purpose, and robs itself +of all the power and nourishment that it might find +there.</div> + +<p>No less to be guarded against is the other misconception +which the clear grasp of our text would +dismiss at once, that the great purpose for which God +speaks to us men, in the revelation of Jesus Christ, is +that we may, as we say, be 'forgiven,' and escape any +of the temporal or eternal consequences of our wrongdoing. +That <i>is</i> a purpose, no doubt, and men will never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302a" id="Page_302a">[302]</a></span> +rise to the apprehension of the loftiest purposes, nor +penetrate to a sympathetic perception of the inmost +sweetness of the Gospel, unless they begin with its +redemptive aspect, even in the narrowest sense of that +word. But there are a miserable number of so-called +and of real Christians in this world, and in our +churches to-day, who have little conception that God +has spoken to them for anything else than to deliver +them from the fear of death, and from the incidence on +them of future condemnation. He <i>has</i> spoken for this +purpose, but the ultimate end of all is that we may be +helped to love Him, and so to be like Him. The aim of +the commandment is love, and if you ever are tempted +to rest in intellectual apprehensions, or to pervert the +truth of God into a mere arena on which you can display +your skill of fence and your intellectual agility, or +if ever you are tempted to think that all is done when +the sweet message of forgiveness is sealed upon a +man's heart, remember the solemn and plain words of +my text—the final purpose of all is that we may love +God and man.</p> + +<p>But then, on the other side, note that no less +distinctly is the sole foundation of this love laid in +God's speech. My text, in its elevation of sentiment +and character and conduct above doctrine, falls in with +the prevailing tendencies of this day; but it provides +the safeguards which these tendencies neglect. Notice +that this favourite saying of the most advanced school +of broad thinkers, who are always talking about the +decay of dogma, and the unimportance of doctrine as +compared with love, is here uttered by a man who was +no sentimentalist, but to whom the Christian system +was a most distinct and definite thing, bristling all +over with the obnoxious doctrines which are by some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303a" id="Page_303a">[303]</a></span> +of us so summarily dismissed as of no importance. My +very text protests against the modern attempt to +wrench away the sentiments and emotions produced in +men, by the reception of Christian truth, from the +truth which it recognises as the only basis on which +they can be produced. It declares that the 'commandment' +must come first, before love can follow; and the +rest of the letter, although, as I say, it decisively +places the end of revelation as being the moral and +religious perfecting of men into assimilation with the +divine love, no less decisively demands that for such +a perfecting there shall be laid the foundation of the +truth as it is revealed in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>And that is what we want to-day in order to make +breadth wholesome, and if only we will carry with us +the two thoughts, the commandment and love, we shall +not go far wrong. But what would you think of a man +that said, 'I do not want any foundations. I want a +house to live in'? And pray how are you going to get +your house without the foundations? Or would he be +a wise man who said, 'Oh, never mind about putting +grapes into the vine vat, and producing fermentation; +give me the wine!' Yes! But you must have the +fermentation first. The process is not the result, of +course, but there is no result without the process. And +according to New Testament teaching, which, I am bold +to say, is verified by experience, there is no deep, all-swaying, +sovereign, heart-uniting love to God which is +not drawn from the acceptance of the truth as it is in +Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>II. And so I come, secondly, to note the purifying +which is needed prior to such love.</p> + +<p>Our text, as I said, divides the process into stages; +or, if I may go back to a former illustration, into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304a" id="Page_304a">[304]</a></span> +levels. And on the level immediately above the love, +down into which the waters of the twin lakes glide, are +a pure heart and a good conscience. These are the +requisites for all real and operative love. Now they +are closely connected, as it seems to me, more closely +so than with either the stage which precedes or that +which follows. They are, in fact, two twin thoughts, +very closely identified, though not quite identical.</p> + +<p>A pure heart is one that has been defecated and +cleansed from the impurities which naturally attach to +human affections. A 'good conscience' is one which is +void of offence towards God and man, and registers the +emotions of a pure heart. It is like a sheet of sensitive +paper that, with a broken line, indicates how many +hours of sunshine in the day there have been. We +need not discuss the question as to which of these two +great gifts and blessings which sweeten a whole life +come first. In the initial stages of the Christian life I +suppose the good conscience precedes the pure heart. +For forgiveness which calms the conscience and purges +it of the perilous stuff which has been injected into it +by our corruptions—forgiveness comes before cleansing, +and the conscience is calm before the heart is +purified. But in the later stages of the Christian life +the order seems to be reversed, and there cannot be in +a man a conscience that is good unless there is a heart +that is pure.</p> + +<p>But however that may be—and it does not affect the +general question before us—mark how distinctly Paul +lays down here the principle that you will get no real +love of God or man out of men whose hearts are foul, +and whose consciences are either torpid or stinging +them. I need not dwell upon that, for it is plain to +anybody that will think for a moment that all sin<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305a" id="Page_305a">[305]</a></span> +separates between a man and God; and that from a +heart all seething and bubbling, like the crater of a +volcano, with foul liquids, and giving forth foul odours, +there can come no love worth calling so to God, nor +any benevolence worth calling so to man. Wherever +there is sin, unrecognised, unconfessed, unpardoned, +there there is a black barrier built up between a +man's heart and the yearning heart of God on the +other side. And until that barrier is swept away, until +the whole nature receives a new set, until it is +delivered from the love of evil, and from its self-centred +absorption, and until conscience has taken into +grateful hands, if I might so say, the greatest of all +gifts, the assurance of the divine forgiveness, I, for +one, do not believe that deep, vital, and life-transforming +love to God is possible. I know that it is very +unfashionable, I know it is exceedingly narrow teaching, +but it seems to me that it is Scriptural teaching; +and it seems to me that if we will strip it of the +exaggerations with which it has often been surrounded, +and recognise that there may be a kind of instinctive +and occasional recognition of a divine love, there may +be a yearning after a clear light, and fuller knowledge +of it, and yet all the while no real love to God, rooted +in and lording over and moulding the life, we shall not +find much in the history of the world, or in the +experience of ourselves or of others, to contradict the +affirmation that you need the cleansing of forgiveness, +and the recognition of God's love in Jesus Christ, +before you can get love worth calling so in return to +Him in men's hearts.</p> + +<p>Brethren, there is much to-day to shame Christian +men in the singular fact which is becoming more +obvious daily, of a divorce between human benevolence<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306a" id="Page_306a">[306]</a></span> +and godliness. It is a scandal that there should be so +many men in the world who make no pretensions to +any sympathy with your Christianity, and who set you +an example of benevolence, self-sacrifice, enthusiasm +for humanity, as it is called. I believe that the one +basis upon which there can be solidly built benevolence +to men is devotion to God, because of God's great love +to us in Jesus Christ. But I want to stir, if I might +not say sting, you and myself into a recognition of our +obligations to mankind, more stringent and compelling +than we have ever felt it, by this phenomenon of +modern life, that a divorce has been proclaimed +between philanthropy and religion. The end of the +commandment is love, out of a pure heart, and of a +good conscience.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, notice the condition of such purifying.</p> + +<p>To recur to my former illustration, we have to go up +country to a still higher level. What feeds the two +reservoirs that feed the love? What makes the heart +pure and the conscience good? Paul answers, 'faith +unfeigned'; not mere intellectual apprehension, not +mere superficial or professed, but deep, genuine, and +complete faith which has in it the element of reliance +as well as the element of credence. Belief is not all +that goes to make faith. Trust is not all that goes to +make faith. Belief and trust are indissolubly wedded +in the conception of it. Such a faith, which knows +what it lays hold of—for it lays hold upon definite +truth, and lays hold on what it knows, for it trusts in +Him whom the truth reveals—such a faith makes the +heart pure and the conscience good.</p> + +<p>And how does it do so? By nothing in itself. There +is no power in my faith to make me one bit better than +I am. There is no power in it to still one accusation of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307a" id="Page_307a">[307]</a></span> +conscience. It is only the condition on which the one +power that purges and that calms enters into my heart +and works there. The power of faith is the power of +that which faith admits to operate in my life. If we +open our hearts the fire will come in, and it will thaw +the ice, and melt out the foulness from my heart. It is +important for practice that we should clearly understand +that the great things which the Bible says of +faith it says of it only because it is the channel, the +medium, the condition, by and on which the real power, +which is Jesus Christ Himself, acts upon us. It is not +the window, but the sunshine, that floods this building +with light. It is not the opened hand, but the gift laid +in it, that enriches the pauper. It is not the poor +leaden pipe, but the water that flows through it, that +fills the cistern, and cleanses it, whilst it fills. It is not +your faith, but the Christ whom your faith brings into +your heart and conscience, that purges the one, and +makes the other void of offence towards God and man.</p> + +<p>So, brethren, let us learn the secret of all nobility, of +all power, of all righteousness of character and conduct. +Put your foot on the lowest round of the ladder, and +then aspire and climb, and you will reach the summit. +Take the first step, and be true to it after you have +taken it, and the last will surely come. He that can +say, 'We have known and believed the love that God +hath to us,' will also be able to say, 'We love Him +because He first loved us.' 'And this commandment +have we of God, that he who loves God loves his brother +also.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308a" id="Page_308a">[308]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>'THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY OF +THE HAPPY GOD'</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'The glorious gospel of the blessed God.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> i. 11.</p></div> + + +<p>Two remarks of an expository character will prepare +the way for our consideration of this text. The first +is, that the proper rendering is that which is given in +the Revised Version—'the gospel of the glory,' not the +'glorious gospel.' The Apostle is not telling us what +kind of thing the Gospel is, but what it is about. He +is dealing not with its quality, but with its contents. +It is a Gospel which reveals, has to do with, is the +manifestation of, the glory of God.</p> + +<p>Then the other remark is with reference to the +meaning of the word 'blessed.' There are two Greek +words which are both translated 'blessed' in the New +Testament. One of them, the more common, literally +means 'well spoken of,' and points to the action of +praise or benediction; describes what a man is when +men speak well of him, or what God is when men +praise and magnify His name. But the other word, +which is used here, and is only applied to God once +more in Scripture, has no reference to the human +attribution of blessing and praise to Him, but +describes Him altogether apart from what men say +of Him, as what He is in Himself, the 'blessed,' or, as +we might almost say, the 'happy' God. If the word +happy seems too trivial, suggesting ideas of levity, of +turbulence, of possible change, then I do not know +that we can find any better word than that which is +already employed in my text, if only we remember that +it means the solemn, calm, restful, perpetual gladness +that fills the heart of God.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309a" id="Page_309a">[309]</a></span></p> + +<p>So much, then, being premised, there are three +points that seem to me to come out of this remarkable +expression of my text. First, the revelation of God in +Christ, of which the Gospel is the record, is the glory +of God. Second, that revelation is, in a very profound +sense, an element in the blessedness of God. And, lastly, +that revelation is the good news for men. Let us look +at these three points, then, in succession.</p> + +<p>I. Take, first, that striking thought that the revelation +of God in Jesus Christ is the glory of God.</p> + +<p>The theme, or contents, or purpose of the whole +Gospel, is to set forth and make manifest to men the +glory of God.</p> + +<p>Now what do we mean by 'the glory'? I think, perhaps, +that question may be most simply answered by +remembering the definite meaning of the word in the +Old Testament. There it designates, usually, that +supernatural and lustrous light which dwelt between +the Cherubim, the symbol of the presence and of the +self-manifestation of God. So that we may say, in +brief, that the glory of God is the sum-total of the +light that streams from His self-revelation, considered +as being the object of adoration and praise by a world +that gazes upon Him.</p> + +<p>And if this be the notion of the glory of God, is it +not a startling contrast which is suggested between +the apparent contents and the real substance of that +Gospel? Suppose a man, for instance, who had no +previous knowledge of Christianity, being told that +in it he would find the highest revelation of the glory +of God. He comes to the book, and finds that the +very heart of it is not about God, but about a man; +that this revelation of the glory of God is the biography +of a man; and more than that, that the larger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310a" id="Page_310a">[310]</a></span> +portion of that biography is the story of the humiliations, +and the sufferings, and the death of the man. +Would it not strike him as a strange paradox that +the history of a <i>man's</i> life was the shining apex of all +revelations of the glory of <i>God?</i> And yet so it is, and +the Apostle, just because to him the Gospel was the +story of the Christ who lived and died, declares that +in this story of a human life, patient, meek, limited, +despised, rejected, and at last crucified, lies, brighter +than all other flashings of the divine light, the very +heart of the lustre and palpitating centre and fontal +source of all the radiance with which God has flooded +the world. The history of Jesus Christ is the glory of +God. And that involves two or three considerations +on which I dwell briefly.</p> + +<p>One of them is this: Christ, then, is the self-revelation +of God. If, when we deal with the story of His +life and death, we are dealing simply with the biography +of a man, however pure, lofty, inspired he may +be, then I ask what sort of connection there is between +that biography which the four Gospels gives us, and +what my text says is the substance of the Gospel? +What force of logic is there in the Apostle's words: +'God commendeth <i>His</i> love toward us in that whilst +we were yet sinners <i>Christ</i> died for us,' unless there +is some altogether different connection between the +God who commends His love and the Christ who dies +to commend it, than exists between a mere man and +God? Brethren! to deliver my text, and a hundred +other passages of Scripture, from the charge of being +extravagant nonsense, and clear, illogical <i>non sequiturs</i>, +you must believe that in that man Christ Jesus 'we +behold His glory—the glory of the only begotten of +the Father'; and that when we look—haply not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311a" id="Page_311a">[311]</a></span> +without some touch of tenderness and awed admiration +in our hearts—upon His gentleness, we have to +say, 'the patient God'; when we look upon His tears +we have to say, 'the pitying God'; when we look upon +His Cross we have to say, 'the redeeming God'; and +gazing upon the Man, to see in Him the manifest divinity. +Oh! listen to that voice, 'He that hath seen Me hath +seen the Father,' and bow before the story of the human +life as being the revelation of the indwelling God.</p> + +<p>And then, still further, my text suggests that this +self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ is the very climax +and highest point of all God's revelations to men. I +believe that the loftiest exhibition and conception of +the divine character which is possible to us must be +made to us in the form of a man. I believe that the +law of humanity, for ever, in heaven as on earth, is +this, that the Son is the revealer of God; and that no +loftier—yea, at bottom, no other—communication of +the divine nature can be made to man than is made +in Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>But be that as it may, let me urge upon you this +thought, that in that wondrous story of the life and +death of our Lord Jesus Christ the very high-water +mark of divine self-communication has been touched +and reached. All the energies of the divine nature are +embodied there. The 'riches, both of the <i>wisdom</i> and +of the <i>knowledge</i> of God,' are in the Cross and Passion +of our Saviour. 'To declare at this time His <i>righteousness</i>' +Jesus Christ came to die. The Cross is 'the <i>power</i> +of God unto salvation.' Or, to put it into other words, +and avail oneself of an illustration, we know the old +story of the queen who, for the love of an unworthy +human heart, dissolved pearls in the cup and gave +them to him to drink. We may say that God comes to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312a" id="Page_312a">[312]</a></span> +us, and for the love of us, reprobate and unworthy, +has melted all the jewels of His nature into that cup +of blessing which He offers to us, saying: 'Drink ye +all of it.' The whole Godhead, so to speak, is smelted +down to make that rushing river of molten love which +flows from the Cross of Christ into the hearts of men. +Here is the highest point of God's revelation of +Himself.</p> + +<p>And my text implies, still further, that the true +living, flashing centre of the glory of God is the love +of God. Christendom is more than half heathen yet, +and it betrays its heathenism not least in its vulgar +conceptions of the divine nature and its glory. The +majestic attributes which separate God from man, and +make Him unlike His creatures, are the ones which +people too often fancy belong to the glorious side of +His character. They draw distinctions between 'grace' +and 'glory,' and think that the latter applies mainly +to what I might call the physical and the metaphysical, +and less to the moral, attributes of the divine nature. +We adore power, and when it is expanded to infinity +we think that it is the glory of God. But my text +delivers us from all such misconceptions. If we rightly +understand it, then we learn this, that the true heart +of the glory is tenderness and love. Of power that +weak man hanging on the Cross is a strange embodiment; +but if we learn that there is something more +godlike in God than power, then we can say, as we look +upon Jesus Christ: 'Lo! this is our God. We have +waited for Him, and He will save us.' Not in the +wisdom that knows no growth, not in the knowledge +which has no border-land of ignorance ringing it round +about, not in the unwearied might of His arm, not in +the exhaustless energy of His being, not in the un<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313a" id="Page_313a">[313]</a></span>slumbering +watchfulness of His all-seeing eye, not in +that awful presence wheresoever creatures are; not in +any or in all of these lies the glory of God, but in His +love. These are the fringes of the brightness; this is +the central blaze. The Gospel is the Gospel of the +glory of God, because it is all summed up in the one +word—'God so loved the world that He gave His only +begotten Son.'</p> + +<p>II. Now, in the next place, the revelation of God in +Christ is an element in the blessedness of God.</p> + +<p>We are come here into places where we see but very +dimly, and it becomes us to speak very cautiously. +Only as we are led by the divine teaching may we +affirm at all. But it cannot be unwise to accept in +simple literality utterances of Scripture, however they +may seem to strike us as strange. And so I would say—the +philosopher's God may be all-sufficient and unemotional, +the Bible's God 'delighteth in mercy,' +rejoiceth in His gifts, and is glad when men accept +them. It is something, surely, amid all the griefs and +sorrows of this sorrow-haunted and devil-hunted world, +to rise to this lofty region and to feel that there is a +living personal joy at the heart of the universe. If +we went no further, to me there is infinite beauty and +mighty consolation and strength in that one thought—the +happy God. He is not, as some ways of representing +Him figure Him to be, what the older astronomers +thought the sun was, a great cold orb, black and frigid +at the heart, though the source and centre of light and +warmth to the system. But He Himself is joy, or if +we dare not venture on that word, which brings with +it earthly associations, and suggests the possibility of +alteration—He is the blessed God. And the Psalmist +saw deeply into the divine nature, who, not contented<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314a" id="Page_314a">[314]</a></span> +with hymning His praise as the possessor of the +fountain of life, and the light whereby we see light, +exclaimed in an ecstasy of anticipation, 'Thou makest +us to drink of the rivers of Thy pleasures.'</p> + +<p>But there is a great deal more than that here, if not +in the word itself, at least in its connection, which +connection seems to suggest that, howsoever the divine +nature must be supposed to be blessed in its own +absolute and boundless perfectness, an element in the +blessedness of God Himself arises from His self-communication +through the Gospel to the world. All love +delights in imparting. Why should not God's? On +the lower level of human affection we know that it is +so, and on the highest level we may with all reverence +venture to say, The quality of that mercy . . . 'is +twice blest,' and that divine love 'blesseth Him that +gives and them that take.'</p> + +<p>He created a universe because He delights in His +works, and in having creatures on whom He can lavish +Himself. He 'rests in His love, and rejoices over us +with singing' when we open our hearts to the reception +of His light, and learn to know Him as He has +declared Himself in His Christ. The blessed God is +blessed because He is God. But He is blessed too +because He is the loving and, therefore, the giving God.</p> + +<p>What a rock-firmness such a thought as this gives to +the mercy and the love that He pours out upon us! If +they were evoked by our worthiness we might well +tremble, but when we know, according to the grand +words familiar to many of us, that it is His nature +and property to be merciful, and that He is far gladder +in giving than we can be in receiving, then we may be +sure that His mercy endureth for ever, and that it is +the very necessity of His being—and He cannot turn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315a" id="Page_315a">[315]</a></span> +His back upon Himself—to love, to pity, to succour, +and to bless.</p> + +<p>III. And so, lastly, the revelation of God in Christ is +good news for us all.</p> + +<p>'The Gospel of the glory of the blessed God.' How +that word 'Gospel' has got tarnished and enfeebled by +constant use and unreflective use, so that it slips glibly +off my tongue and falls without producing any effect +upon your hearts! It needs to be freshened up by considering +what really it means. It means this: here are +we like men shut up in a beleaguered city, hopeless, helpless, +with no power to break out or to raise the siege; +provisions failing, death certain. Some of you older +men and women remember how that was the case in +that awful siege of Paris, in the Franco-German War, +and what expedients were adopted in order to get +some communication from without. And here to us, +prisoned, comes, as it did to them, a despatch borne +under a dove's wing, and the message is this:—God is +love; and that you may know that He is, He has sent +you His Son who died on the Cross, the sacrifice for +a world's sin. Believe it, and trust it, and all your +transgressions will pass away.</p> + +<p>My brother, is not that good news? Is it not <i>the</i> +good news that you need—the news of a Father, of +pardon, of hope, of love, of strength, of purity, of +heaven? Does it not meet our fears, our forebodings, +our wants at every point? It comes to you. What do +you do with it? Do you welcome it eagerly, do you +clutch it to your hearts, do you say, 'This is <i>my</i> Gospel'? +Oh! let me beseech you, welcome the message; do not +turn away from the word from heaven, which will +bring life and blessedness to all your hearts! Some of +you have turned away long enough, some of you,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316a" id="Page_316a">[316]</a></span> +perhaps, are fighting with the temptation to do so +again even now. Let me press that ancient Gospel +upon your acceptance, that Christ the Son of God has +died for you, and lives to bless and help you. Take it +and live! So shall you find that, 'as cold water to a +thirsty soul,' so is this best of all news from the far +country.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE GOSPEL IN SMALL</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came +into the world to save sinners.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> i. 15.</p></div> + + +<p>Condensation is a difficult art. There are few things +drier and more unsatisfactory than small books on +great subjects, abbreviated statements of large systems. +Error lurks in summaries, and yet here the whole +fulness of God's communication to men is gathered into +a sentence; tiny as a diamond, and flashing like it. +My text is the one precious drop of essence, distilled +from gardens full of fragrant flowers. There is an +old legend of a magic tent, which could be expanded +to shelter an army, and contracted to cover a single +man. That great Gospel which fills the Bible and +overflows on the shelves of crowded libraries is here, +without harm to its power, folded up into one saying, +which the simplest can understand sufficiently to +partake of the salvation which it offers.</p> + +<p>There are five of these 'faithful sayings' in the +letters of Paul, usually called 'the pastoral epistles.' +It seems to have been a manner with him, at that +time of his life, to underscore anything which he felt +to be especially important by attaching to it this label. +They are all, with one exception, references to the +largest truths of the Gospel. I turn to this one,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317a" id="Page_317a">[317]</a></span> +the first of them now, for the sake of gathering some +lessons from it.</p> + +<p>I. Note, then, first, here the Gospel in a nutshell.</p> + +<p>'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' +Now, every word there is weighty, and might be, not +beaten out, but opened out into volumes. Mark who +it is that comes—the solemn double name of that +great Lord, 'Christ Jesus.' The former tells of His +divine appointment and preparation, inasmuch as the +Spirit of the Lord God is upon Him, anointing Him +to proclaim good tidings to the poor, and to open the +prison doors to all the captives, and asserts that it is +He to whom prophets and ritual witnessed, and for +whose coming prophets and kings looked wearily +through the ages, and died rejoicing even to see afar +off the glimmer of His day. The name of Jesus tells +of the child born in Bethlehem, who knows the experience +of our lives by His own, and not only bends +over our griefs with the pity and omniscience of a +God, but with the experience and sympathy of a man.</p> + +<p>'Christ Jesus came.' Then He <i>was</i> before He came. +His own will impelled His feet, and brought Him to +earth.</p> + +<p>'Christ Jesus came to save.' Then there is disease, +for saving is healing; and there is danger, for saving +is making secure.</p> + +<p>'Christ Jesus came to save sinners'—the universal +condition, co-extensive with the 'world' into which, +and for which, He came. And so the essence of the +Gospel, as it lay in Paul's mind, and had been verified +in his experience, was this—that a divine person had +left a life of glory, and in wonderful fashion had taken +upon Himself manhood in order to deliver men from +the universal danger and disease. That is the Gospel<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318a" id="Page_318a">[318]</a></span> +which Paul believed, and which he commends to us as +'a faithful saying.'</p> + +<p>Well, then, if that be so, there are two or three +things very important for us to lay to heart. The +first is the universality of sin. That is the thing +in which we are all alike, dear friends. That is the +one thing about which any man is safe in his estimate +of another. We differ profoundly. The members of +this congregation, gathered accidentally together, and +perhaps never to be all together again, may be at the +antipodes of culture, of condition, of circumstances, of +modes of life; but, just as really below all the diversities +there lies the common possession of the one human +heart, so really and universally below all diversities +there lies the black drop in the heart, and 'we all have +sinned and come short of the glory of God.' It is that +truth which I want to lay on your hearts as the first +condition to understanding anything about the power, +the meaning, the blessedness of the Gospel which we +say we believe.</p> + +<p>And what does Paul mean by this universal indictment? +If you take the vivid autobiographical sketch +in the midst of which it is embedded, you will understand. +He goes on to say, 'of whom I am chief.' It +was the same man that said, without supposing that +he was contradicting this utterance at all, 'touching +the righteousness which is in the law' I was 'blameless.' +And yet, 'I am chief.' So all true men who +have ever shown us their heart, in telling their Christian +faith, have repeated Paul's statement; from +Augustine in his wonderful <i>Confessions</i>, to John +Bunyan in his <i>Grace Abounding to the Chief of +Sinners</i>. And then prosaic men have said, 'What +profligates they must have been, or what exaggerators<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319a" id="Page_319a">[319]</a></span> +they are now!' No. Sewer gas of the worst sort has +no smell; and the most poisonous exhalations are only +perceptible by their effects. What made Paul think +himself the chief of sinners was not that he had broken +the commandments, for he might have said, and in +effect did say, 'All these have I kept from my youth +up,' but that, through all the respectability and morality +of his early life there ran this streak—an alienation +of heart, in the pride of self-confidence, from God, and +an ignorance of his own wretchedness and need. Ah! +brethren, I do not need to exaggerate, nor to talk +about 'splendid vices,' in the untrue language of one +of the old saints, but this I seek to press on you: that +the deep, universal sin does not lie in the indulgence +of passions, or the breach of moralities, but it lies +here—'thou hast left Me, the fountain of living water.' +That is what I charge on myself, and on every one of +you, and I beseech you to recognise the existence of +this sinfulness beneath all the surface of reputable +and pure lives. Beautiful they may be; God forbid +that I should deny it: beautiful with many a strenuous +effort after goodness, and charming in many respects, +but yet vitiated by this, 'The God in whose hand thy +breath is, and whose are all thy ways, thou hast not +glorified.' That is enough to make a man brush away +all the respectabilities and proprieties and graces, and +look at the black reality beneath, and wail out 'of +whom I am chief.'</p> + +<p>But, further, Paul's condensed summary of the +Gospel implies the fatal character of this universal +sin. 'He comes to save,' says he. Now what +answers to 'save' is either disease or danger. The +word is employed in the original in antithesis to both +conditions. To save is to heal and to make safe.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320a" id="Page_320a">[320]</a></span> +And I need not remind you, I suppose, of how truly +the alienation from God, and the substitution for Him +of self or of creature, is the sickness of the whole man. +But the end of sickness uncured is death. We 'have +no healing medicine,' and the 'wound is incurable' +by the skill of any earthly chirurgeon. The notion +of sickness passes, therefore, at once into that of +danger: for unhealed sickness can only end in death. +Oh! that my words could have the waking power +that would startle some of my complacent hearers +into the recognition of the bare facts of their lives +and character, and of the position in which they +stand on a slippery inclined plane that goes straight +down into darkness!</p> + +<p>You do not hear much about the danger of sin +from some modern pulpits. God forbid that it should +be the staple of any; but God forbid that it should +be excluded from any! Whilst fear is a low motive, +self-preservation is not a low one; and it is to that +that I now appeal. Brethren, the danger of every sin +is, first, its rapid growth; second, its power of separating +from God; third, the certainty of a future—ay! +and <i>present</i>—retribution.</p> + +<p>To me, the proof of the fatal effect of sin is what +God had to do in order to stop it. Do you think that +it would be a small, superficial cut which could be +stanched by nothing else but the pierced hand of +Jesus Christ? Measure the intensity of danger by +the cost of deliverance, and judge how grave are the +wounds for the healing of which stripes had to be laid +on Him. Ah! if you and I had not been in danger +of death, Jesus Christ would not have died. And if it +be true that the Son of God laid aside His glory, and +came into the world and died on the Cross for men,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321a" id="Page_321a">[321]</a></span> +out of the very greatness of the gift, and the marvellousness +of the mercy, there comes solemn teaching as +to the intensity of the misery and the reality and +awfulness of the retribution from which we were +delivered by such a death. Sin, the universal condition, +brings with it no slight disease and no small danger.</p> + +<p>Further, we may gather from this condensed summary +where the true heart and essence of the Christian +revelation is. You will never understand it until +you are contented to take the point of view which the +New Testament takes, and give all weight and gravity +to the fact of man's transgression and the consequences +thereof. We shall never know what the power and +the glory of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is +until we recognise that, first and foremost, it is the +mighty means by which man's ruin is repaired, man's +downrush is stopped, sin is forgiven and capable of +being cleansed. Only when we think of the Gospel +of Jesus Christ as being, first and foremost, the +redemption of the world by the great act of incarnation +and sacrifice, do we come to be in a position +in any measure to estimate its superlative worth.</p> + +<p>And, for my part, I believe that almost all the mistakes +and errors and evaporations of Christianity into a +mere dead nothing which have characterised the various +ages of the Church come mainly from this, that men +fail to see how deep and how fatal are the wounds +of sin, and so fail to apprehend the Gospel as being +mainly and primarily a system of redemption. There +are many other most beautiful aspects about it, much +else in it, that is lovely and of good report, and fitted +to draw men's hearts and admiration; but all is rooted +in this, the life and death of Jesus Christ, the sacrifice +by whom we are forgiven, and in whom we are healed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322a" id="Page_322a">[322]</a></span> +And if you strike that out, you have a dead nothing +left—an eviscerated Gospel.</p> + +<p>I believe that we all need to be reminded of that +to-day, as we always do, but mainly to-day, when we +hear from so many lips estimates, favourable or +unfavourable to Christianity and its mission in the +world, which leave out of sight, or minimise into +undue insignificance, or shove into a backward place, +its essential characteristic, that it is the power of God +through Christ, His Son Incarnate, dying and rising +again for the salvation of individual souls from the +penalty, the guilt, the habit, and the love of their sins, +and only secondarily is it a morality, a philosophy, a +social lever. I take for mine the quaint saying of one +of the old Puritans, 'When so many brethren are +preaching to the times, it may be allowed one poor +brother to preach for eternity.'</p> + +<p>'This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came +into the world to save sinners.'</p> + +<p>II. Now, secondly, note the reliableness of this +condensed Gospel.</p> + +<p>When a man in the middle of some slight plank, +thrown across a stream, tests it with a stamp of his +foot, and calls to his comrades, 'It is quite firm,' +there is reason for their venturing upon it too. That +is exactly what Paul is doing here. How does he +know that it is 'a faithful saying'? Because he has +proved it in his own experience, and found that in +his case the salvation which Jesus Christ was said to +effect has been effected. Now there are many other +grounds of certitude besides this, but, after all, it is +worth men's while to consider how many millions +there have been from the beginning who would be +ready to join chorus with the Apostle here, and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323a" id="Page_323a">[323]</a></span> +say, 'One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, +now I see.' My experience cannot be your certitude; +but if you and I are suffering from precisely the same +disease, and I have tested a cure, my experiences +should have some weight with you. And so, brethren, +I point you to all the thousands who are ready to +say, 'This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, +and saved him.' Are there any who give counter-evidence; +that say, 'We have tried it. It is all a sham +and imagination. We have asked this Christ of yours +to forgive us, and He has not. We have asked Him +to cleanse us, and He has not. We have tried Him, and +He is an impostor, and we will have no more to do +with Him.' There are people, alas! who have gone back +to their wallowing in the mire, but it was not because +Christ had failed in His promises, but because they +did not care to have them fulfilled any more. Jesus +Christ does not promise that His salvation shall +work against the will of men who submit themselves +to it.</p> + +<p>But it is not only because of that consentient chorus +of many voices—the testimony of which wise men will +not reject—that the word is 'a faithful saying.' This +is no place or time to enter upon anything like a condensation +of the Christian evidence; but, in lieu of +everything else, I point to one proof. There is no fact +in the history of the world better attested, and the +unbelief of which is more unreasonable, than the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if Christ rose from +the dead—and you cannot understand the history of +the world unless He did, nor the existence of the +Church either—if Jesus Christ rose from the dead, it +seems to me that almost all the rest follows of +necessity: the influx of the supernatural, the unique<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324a" id="Page_324a">[324]</a></span> +character of His career, the correspondence of the end +with the beginning, the broad seal of the divine confirmation +stamped upon His claims to be the Son of +God and the Redeemer of the world. All these things +seem to me to come necessarily from that fact. And +I say, given the consentient witness of nineteen +centuries, given the existence of the Church, given +the effects of Christianity in the world, given that +upon which they repose—the Resurrection of Jesus +Christ from the dead—the conclusion is sound, 'This +is a faithful saying . . . that He came into the world +to save sinners.'</p> + +<p>Men talk, nowadays, very often as if the progress +of science and new views as to the evolution of +creatures or of mankind had effected the certitude of +the Gospel. It does not seem to me that they have +in the smallest degree. 'The foundation of God +standeth sure,' whatever may become of some of the +superstructures which men have built upon it. They +may very probably be blown away. So much the +better if we get the rock to build upon once more. A +great deal is going, but not the Gospel. Do not let us +be afraid, or suppose that it will suffer. Do not let us +dread every new speculation as if it was going to +finish Christianity, but recognise this—that the fact +of man's sin and, blessed be God! the fact of man's +redemption stands untouched by them all; and to-day, +as of old, Jesus Christ is, and is firmly manifested to +be, the world's Saviour. Whatsoever refuge may be +swept away by any storms, 'Behold, I lay in Zion for a +foundation, a stone, a tried corner-stone, a sure foundation: +He that believeth shall not be confounded.'</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, notice the consequent wisdom and duty +of acceptance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325a" id="Page_325a">[325]</a></span></p> + +<p>'Worthy of all acceptation,' says Paul. Yes, of +course, if it is reliable. That word of the Lord which +is 'sure, making wise the simple,' deserves to be +received. Now this phrase, 'all acceptation,' may +mean either of two things: it may either mean worthy +of being welcomed by all men, or by the whole of +each man.</p> + +<p>This Gospel deserves to be welcomed by every man, +for it is fitted for every man, since it deals with +the primary human characteristic of transgression. +Brethren! we need different kinds of intellectual +nutriment, according to education and culture. +We need different kinds of treatment, according +to condition and circumstance. The morality of +one age is not the morality of another. Much, +even of right and wrong, is local and temporary; +but black man and white, savage and civilised, +philosopher and fool, king and clown, all need the +same air to breathe, the same water to drink, the same +sun for light and warmth, and all need the same +Christ for redemption from the same sin, for safety +from the same danger, for snatching from the same +death. This Gospel is a Gospel for the world, and for +every man in it. Have you taken it for yours? If it +is 'worthy of all acceptation,' it is worthy of <i>your</i> +acceptation. If you have not, you are treating Him +and it with indignity, as if it was a worthless letter +left in the post-office for you, which you knew was +there, but which you did not think valuable enough +to take the trouble to go for. The gift lies at your +side. It is less than truth to say that it is '<i>worthy</i> of +being accepted.' Oh! it is infinitely more than that.</p> + +<p>It is, also, 'worthy of all acceptation' in the sense +of worthy of being accepted into all a man's nature,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326a" id="Page_326a">[326]</a></span> +because it will fit it all and bless it all. Some of us +give it a half welcome. We take it into our heads, +and then we put a partition between them and our +hearts, and keep our religion on the other side, so that +it does not influence us at all. It is worthy of being +received by the understanding, to which it will bring +truth absolute; of being received by the will, to which +it will bring the freedom of submission; of being +received by the conscience, to which it will bring +quickening; of being received by the affections, to +which it will bring pure and perfect love. For hope, +it will bring a certainty to gaze upon; for passions, a +curb; for effort, a spur and a power; for desires, satisfaction; +for the whole man, healing and light.</p> + +<p>Brother! take it. And, if you do, begin where it +begins, with your sins; and be contented to be saved as +a sinner in danger and sickness, who can neither defend +nor heal yourself. And thus coming, you will test the +rope and find it hold; you will take the medicine and +know that it cures; and, by your own experience, +you will be able to say, 'This <i>is</i> a faithful saying, +Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE CHIEF OF SINNERS</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Of whom I am chief.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> i. 15.</p></div> + + +<p>The less teachers of religion talk about themselves the +better; and yet there is a kind of personal reference, +far removed from egotism and offensiveness. Few +such men have ever spoken more of themselves than +Paul did, and yet none have been truer to his motto: +'We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus.' For the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327a" id="Page_327a">[327]</a></span> +scope of almost all his personal references is the +depreciation of self, and the magnifying of the wonderful +mercy which drew him to Jesus Christ. Whenever +he speaks of his conversion it is with deep emotion and +with burning cheeks. Here, for instance, he adduces +himself as the typical example of God's long-suffering. +If <i>he</i> were saved none need despair.</p> + +<p>I take it that this saying of the Apostle's, 'Of whom +I am chief,' paradoxical and exaggerated as it seems to +many men, is in spirit that which all who know themselves +ought to re-echo; and without which there is +little strength in Christian life.</p> + +<p>I. And so I ask you to note, first, what this man +thinks of himself.</p> + +<p>'Of whom I am chief.' Now, if we set what we know +of the character of Saul of Tarsus before he was a +Christian by the side of that of many who have won a +bad supremacy in wickedness, the words seem entirely +strange and exaggerated. But, as I have often had +to say, the principle of the Apostle's estimate is to +be found in his belief that, not the outward manifestation +of evil in specific acts of immorality, or flagrant +breaches of commandment, but the inward principle +from which the deeds flowed, is the measure of a man's +criminality, and that, according to the uniform teaching +of Scripture, the very root of sin, and that which +is common to all the things that the world's conscience +and ordinary morality designate as wrong, is to be +found here, that self has become the centre, the aim, +and the law instead of God. 'This is the condemnation,' +said Paul's Master—<i>not</i> that men have done so-and-so +and so-and-so, but—'that light is come into the world, +and men love darkness.' That is the root of evil. +'When the Comforter is come,' said Paul's Master, 'He<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328a" id="Page_328a">[328]</a></span> +will convince the world of sin.' Because they have +broken the commandments? Because they have been +lustful, ambitious, passionate, murderous, profligate, +and so on? No! 'Because they believe not in Me.'</p> + +<p>The common root of all sin is alienation of heart +and will from God. And it is by the root, and not by +the black clusters of poisonous berries that have come +from it, that men are to be judged. Here is the +mother-tincture. You may colour it in different ways, +and you may flavour it with different essences, and +you will get a whole <i>pharmacopœia</i> of poisons out of it. +But the mother-poison of them all is this, that men turn +away from the light, which is God; and for you and +me is God in Christ.</p> + +<p>So this man, looking back from the to-day of his +present devotion and love to the yesterdays of his +hostility, avails himself indeed of the palliation, 'I did +it ignorantly, in unbelief,' but yet is smitten with the +consciousness that whilst as touching the righteousness +that is of the law he was blameless, his attitude to that +incarnate love was such as now, he thinks, stamps him +as the worst of men.</p> + +<p>Brethren, <i>there</i> is the standard by which we have to +try ourselves. If we get down below the mere surface +of acts, and think, not of what we do, but of what we +are, we shall then, at any rate, have in our hands the +means by which we can truly estimate ourselves.</p> + +<p>But what have we to say about that word 'chief'? +Is not that exaggeration? Well, yes and no. For +every man ought to know the weak and evil places of +his own heart better than he does those of any besides. +And if he does so know them, he will understand that +the ordinary classification of sin, according to the +apparent blackness of the deed, is very superficial and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329a" id="Page_329a">[329]</a></span> +misleading. Obviously, the worst of acts need not be +done by the worst of men, and it does not at all follow +that the man who does the awful deed stands out +from his fellows in the same bad pre-eminence in +which his deed stands out from theirs.</p> + +<p>Take a concrete case. Go into the slums of Manchester, +and take some of the people there, battered +almost out of the semblance of humanity, and all +crusted over and leprous with foul-smelling evils that +you and I never come within a thousand miles of +thinking it possible that we should do. Did you ever +think that it is quite possible that the worst harlot, +thief, drunkard, profligate in your back streets may be +more innocent in their profligacy than you are in your +respectability; and that we may even come to this +paradox, that the worse the act, as a rule, the less +guilty the doer? It is not such a paradox as it looks, +because, on the one hand, the presence of temptation, +and, on the other hand, the absence of light, make all +the difference. And these people, who could not have +been anything else, are innocent in degradation as +compared with you, with all your education and culture, +and opportunities of going straight, and knowledge +of Christ and His love. The little transgressions +that you do are far greater than the gross ones that +they do. 'But for the grace of God, there goes John +Bradford,' said the old preacher, when he saw a man +going to the scaffold. And you and I, if we know +ourselves, will not think that we have an instance of +exaggeration, but only of the object nearest seeming +the largest, when Paul said 'Of whom I am chief.'</p> + +<p>Only go and look for your sin in the way they look +for Guy Fawkes at the House of Commons before the +session. Take a dark lantern, and go down into the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330a" id="Page_330a">[330]</a></span> +cellars. And If you do not find something there +that will take all the conceit out of you, it must be +because you are very short-sighted, or phenomenally +self-complacent.</p> + +<p>What does it matter though there be vineyards on +the slopes of Vesuvius, and bright houses nestling at +its base, and beauty lying all around like the dream of +a god, if, when a man cranes his neck over the top of +the crater, he sees that that cone, so graceful on the +outside, is seething with fire and sulphur? Let us +look down into the crater of our own hearts, and what +we see there may well make us feel as Paul did when +he said, 'Of whom I am chief.'</p> + +<p>Now, such an estimate is perfectly consistent with +a clear recognition of any good that may be in the +character and manifest in life. For the same Paul +who says, 'Of whom I am chief,' says, in the almost +contemporaneous letter sent to the same person, 'I +have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; +I have kept the faith'; and he is the same man who +asserted, 'In nothing am I behind the very chiefest +apostles, though I be nothing.' The true Christian +estimate of one's own evil and sin does not in the least +interfere with the recognition of what God strengthens +one to do, or of the progress which, by God's grace, +may have been made in holiness and righteousness. +The two things may lie side by side with perfect +harmony, and ought to do so, in every Christian +heart.</p> + +<p>But notice one more point. The Apostle does not +say 'I <i>was</i>,' but 'I <i>am</i> chief.' What! A man who +could say, in another connection, 'If any man be in +Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things are +passed away'—the man who could say, in another<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331a" id="Page_331a">[331]</a></span> +connection, 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: +and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by +the faith of the Son of God'—does he also say, 'I <i>am</i> +chief'? Is he speaking about his present? Are old +sins bound round a man's neck for evermore? If they +be, what is the meaning of the Gospel that Jesus +Christ redeems us from our sins? Well, he means +this. No lapse of time, nor any gift of divine pardon, +nor any subsequent advancement in holiness and +righteousness, can alter the fact that I, the very same +I that am now rejoicing in God's salvation, am the +man that did all these things; and, in a very profound +sense, they remain mine through all eternity. I may +be a forgiven sinner, and a cleansed sinner, and a +sanctified sinner, but I <i>am</i> a sinner—not I <i>was</i>. The +imperishable connection between a man and his past, +which may be so tragical, and, thank God, may be so +blessed, even in the case of remembered and confessed +sin, is solemnly hinted at in the words before us. We +carry with us ever the fact of past transgression, and +no forgiveness, nor any future 'perfecting of holiness +in the fear' and by the grace 'of the Lord' can alter +that fact. Therefore, let us beware lest we bring upon +our souls any more of the stains which, though they +be in a blessed and sufficient sense blotted out, do yet +leave the marks where they have fallen for ever.</p> + +<p>II. Note how this man comes to such an estimate +of himself.</p> + +<p>He did not think so deeply and penitently of his +past at the beginning of his career, true and deep as +his repentance, and valid and genuine as his conversion +were. But as he advanced in the love of Jesus +Christ, his former active hostility became more monstrous +to him, and the higher he rose, the clearer was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332a" id="Page_332a">[332]</a></span> +his vision of the depth from which he had struggled; +for growth in Christian holiness deepens the conviction +of prior imperfection.</p> + +<p>If God has forgiven my sin the more need for me +to remember it. 'Thou shalt be ashamed and confounded, +and never open thy mouth any more because +of thy transgressions, when I am pacified towards thee +for all that thou hast done.' If you, my brother, have +any real and genuine hold of God's pardoning mercy, +it will bow you down the more completely on your +knees in the recognition of your own sin. The man +who, as soon as the pressure of guilt and danger which +is laid upon him seems to him to be lifted off, springs +up like some elastic figure of indiarubber, and goes on +his way in jaunty forgetfulness of his past evil, needs +to ask himself whether he has ever passed from death +unto life. Not to remember the old sin is to be blind. +The surest sign that we are pardoned is the depth of +our habitual penitence. Try yourselves, you Christian +people who are so sure of your forgiveness, try yourselves +by that test, and if you find that you are +thinking less of your past evil, be doubtful whether +you have ever entered into the genuine possession of +the forgiving mercy of your God.</p> + +<p>And then, still further, this penitent retrospect is +the direct result of advancement in Christian characteristics. +We are drawn to begin some study or +enterprise by the illusion that there is but a little way +to go. 'Alps upon alps arise' when once we have +climbed a short distance up the hill, and it has become +as difficult to go back as to go forward.</p> + +<p>So it is in the Christian life—the sign of growing +perfection is the growing consciousness of imperfection. +A spot upon a clean palm is more conspicuous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333a" id="Page_333a">[333]</a></span> +than a diffuse griminess over all the hand. One stain +upon a white robe spoils it which would not be noticed +upon one less lustrously clean. And so the more +we grow towards God in Christ, and the more we +appropriate and make our own His righteousness, +the more we shall be conscious of our deficiencies, +and the less we shall be prepared to assert virtues +for ourselves.</p> + +<p>Thus it comes to pass that conscience is least +sensitive when it is most needed, and most swift to +act when it has least to do. So it comes to pass, too, +that no man's acquittal of himself can be accepted as +sufficient; and that he is a fool in self-knowledge who +says, 'I am not conscious of guilt, therefore I am +innocent.' 'I know nothing against myself, yet am I +not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the +Lord.' The more you become like Christ the more +you will find out your unlikeness to Him.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, note what this judgment of himself did +for this man.</p> + +<p>I said in the beginning of my remarks that it +seemed to me that without the reproduction of this +estimate of ourselves there would be little strong +Christian life in us. It seems to me that that continual +remembrance which Paul carried with him of +what he had been, and of Christ's marvellous love in +drawing him to Himself, was the very spring of all +that was noble and conspicuously Christian in his +career. And I venture to say, in two or three words, +what I think you and I will never have unless we +have this lowly self-estimate.</p> + +<p>Without it there will be no intensity of cleaving to +Jesus Christ. If you do not know that you are ill, +you will not take the medicine. If you do not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334a" id="Page_334a">[334]</a></span> +believe that the house is on fire, you will not mind +the escape. The life-buoy lies unnoticed on the shelf +above the berth as long as the sea is calm and everything +goes well. Unless you have been down into the +depths of your own heart, and seen the evil that is +there, you will not care for the redeeming Christ, nor +will you grasp Him as a man does who knows that +there is nothing between him and ruin except that +strong hand. We must be driven to the Saviour as +well as drawn to Him if there is to be any reality or +tightness in the clutch with which we hold Him. +And if you do not hold Him with a firm clutch you +do not hold Him at all.</p> + +<p>Further, without this lowly estimate there will be +no fervour of grateful love. That is the reason +why so much both of orthodox and heterodox religion +amongst us to-day is such a tepid thing as it is. +It is because men have never felt either that they +need a Redeemer, or that Jesus Christ has redeemed +them. I believe that there is only one power that +will strike the rock of a human heart, and make the +water of grateful devotion flow out, and that is the +belief in Jesus Christ as the Redeemer of mankind, +and as my Saviour. Unless that be your faith, which +it will not be except you have this conviction of my +text in its spirit and essence, there will not be in +your hearts the love which will glow there, an all-transforming +power.</p> + +<p>And is there anything in the world more obnoxious, +more insipid, than lukewarm religion? If, with marks +of quotation, I might use the coarse, strong expression +of John Milton—'It gives a vomit to God Himself.' +'Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue +thee out of my mouth.'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335a" id="Page_335a">[335]</a></span></p> + +<p>And without it there will be little pity of, and love +for, our fellows. Unless we feel the common evil, and +estimate by the intensity of its working in ourselves +how sad are its ravages in others, our charity to men +will be as tepid as our love to God. Did you ever +notice that, historically, the widest benevolence to +men goes along with what some people call the +'narrowest' theology? People tell us, for instance, +to mark the contrast between the theology which is +usually called evangelical and the wide benevolence +usually accompanying it, and ask how the two things +agree. The 'wide' benevolence comes directly from +the 'narrow' theology. He that knows the plague +of his own heart, and how Christ has redeemed him, +will go, with the pity of Christ in his heart, to help to +redeem others.</p> + +<p>So, dear friends, 'If we say that we have no sin, +we deceive ourselves.' 'If we confess our sins, He is +faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us +from all unrighteousness.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A TEST CASE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might +show forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter +believe.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> i. 16.</p></div> + + +<p>The smallest of God's creatures, if it were only a gnat +dancing in a sunbeam, has a right to have its well-being +considered as an end of God's dealings. But no +creature is so isolated or great as that it has a right +to have its well-being regarded as the sole end of God's +dealings. That is true about all His blessings and +gifts; it is eminently true about His gift of salvation. +He saves men because He loves them individually, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336a" id="Page_336a">[336]</a></span> +desires to make them blessed; but He also saves them +because He desires that through them others shall be +brought into the living knowledge of His love. It is +most especially true about great religious teachers and +guides.</p> + +<p>Paul's humility is as manifest as his self-consciousness +when he says in my text, 'This is what I was +saved for. Not merely, not even principally, for the +blessings that thereby accrue to myself, but that in +me, as a crucial instance, there should be manifested +the whole fulness of the divine love and saving +power.' So he puts his own experience as giving no +kind of honour or glory to himself, but as simply +showing the grace and infinite love of Jesus Christ. +Paul disappears as but a passive recipient; and Christ +strides into the front as the actor in his conversion and +apostleship.</p> + +<p>So we may take this point of view of my text, and +look at the story of what befell the great Apostle as +being in many different ways an exhibition of the +great verities of the Gospel. I desire to signalise, +especially, three points here. We see in it the demonstration +of the life of Christ; an exhibition of the love +of the living Christ; and a marvellous proof of the +power of that loving and living Lord.</p> + +<p>I. First, then, take the experience of this Apostle +as a demonstration of the exalted life, and continuous +energy in the world, of Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>What was it that turned the brilliant young disciple +of Gamaliel, the rising hope of the Pharisaic +party, the hammer of the heretics, into one of themselves? +The appearance of Jesus Christ. Paul rode +out of Jerusalem believing Him to be dead, and His +Resurrection a lie. He staggered into Damascus,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337a" id="Page_337a">[337]</a></span> +blind but seeing, and knowing that Jesus Christ lived +and reigned. Now if you will let the man tell you +himself what he saw, or thought he saw, you will +come to this, that it was a visible, audible manifestation +of a corporeal Christ. For it is extremely noteworthy +that the Apostle ranks the appearance to himself, +on the road to Damascus, as in the same class +with the appearances to the other apostles which he +enumerates in the great chapter in the Epistle to the +Corinthians. He draws no distinction, as far as evidential +force goes, between the appearance to Simon +and to the five hundred brethren and to the others, +and that which flashed upon him and made a Christian +of him. Other men that were with him saw the light. +He saw the Christ within the blaze. Other men heard +a noise; he heard audible and intelligible words in his +own speech. This is <i>his</i> account of the phenomenon. +What do <i>you</i> think of his account?</p> + +<p>There are but three possible answers! It was imposture; +it was delusion; it was truth. The theory +of imposture is out of court. 'Do men gather +grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?' Such a life +as followed is altogether incongruous with the notion +that the man who lived it was a deceiver. A fanatic +he may have been; self-deceived he may have been; +but transparently sincere he undeniably was. It is +not given to impostors to move the world, as Paul +did and does.</p> + +<p>Was it delusion? Well it is a strange kind of +hallucination which has such physical accompaniments +and consequences as those in the story—not wanting +confirmation from witnesses—which has come to us.</p> + +<p>'At midday, O king'—in no darkness; in no shut-up +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338a" id="Page_338a">[338]</a></span>chamber, 'at midday, O king—I heard . . . +I saw . . .' 'The men that were with me' partly +shared in the vision. There was a lengthened conversation; +two senses at least were appealed to, vision and +hearing, and in both vision and hearing there were partial +participators. Physical consequences that lasted +for three days accompanied the hallucination; and the +man 'was blind, not seeing the sun, and neither did +eat nor drink.' There must be some soil beforehand +in which delusions of such a sort can root themselves. +But, if we take the story in the Acts of the Apostles, +there is not the smallest foothold for the fashionable +notion, which is entirely due to men's dislike of the +supernatural, that there was any kind of misgiving in +the young Pharisee, springing from the influence of +Stephen's martyrdom, as he went forth breathing out +threatenings and slaughter. The plain fact is that, at +one moment he hated Jesus Christ as a bad man, and +believed that the story of the Resurrection was a gross +falsehood; and that at the next moment he knew +Him to be living and reigning, and the Lord of his +life and of the world. Hallucinations do not come +thus, like a thunderclap on unprepared minds. Nor +is there anything in the subsequent history of the +man that seems to confirm, but everything that contradicts, +the idea that such a revolutionary change +as upset all his mental furniture, and changed the +whole current of his life, and slammed in his face the +door that was wide open to advancement and reputation, +came from a delusion.</p> + +<p>I think the hallucination theory is out of court, too, +and there is nothing left but the old-fashioned one, +that what he said he saw, <i>he saw</i>, and did not fancy; +and that which he said he heard, <i>he heard;</i> and that +it was not a buzzing of a diseased nerve in his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339a" id="Page_339a">[339]</a></span> +ears, but the actual speech of the glorified Christ. +Very well, then; if that be true, what then? The old-fashioned +belief—Jesus who died on the Cross is +living, Jesus who died on the Cross is glorified, Jesus +who died on the Cross is exalted to the throne of the +universe, puts His hand into the affairs of the world +as a power amongst them. Paul's Christology is but +the <i>rationale</i> of the vision that led to Paul's conversion. +It was in part because he 'saw that Just +One, and heard the words of His mouth,' that he +declares, 'God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him +a name that is above every name, that at the name of +Jesus every knee should bow.' I do not say that the +vision to Paul is a demonstration of the reality of the +Resurrection, but I do say that it is a very strong confirmatory +evidence, which the opponents of that truth +will have much difficulty in legitimately putting aside.</p> + +<p>II. Secondly, let me ask you to consider how this +man's experience is an exhibition of the love of the +living Lord.</p> + +<p>That is the main point on which the Apostle dwells +in my text, in which he says that in him Jesus Christ +'shows forth all long-suffering.' The whole fulness +of His patient, pitying grace was lavished upon him. +He says this because he puts side by side his hostility +and Christ's love, what he had believed of Jesus, and +how Jesus had borne with him and loved him through +all, and had drawn him to Himself and received him. +So he established by his own experience this great +truth, that the love of Jesus Christ is never darkened +by one single speck of anger, that He 'suffereth long, +and is kind'; that He meets hostility with patient +love, hatred with a larger outpouring of His affection, +and that His only answer to men's departures from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340a" id="Page_340a">[340]</a></span> +Him in heart and feeling is more mightily to seek to +draw them to Himself. 'Long-suffering' means, in +its true and proper sense, the patient acceptance, +without the smallest movement of indignation, of unworthy +treatment. And just as Christ on earth 'gave +His back to the smiter, and His cheeks to them that +pulled off the hair'; and let the lips of Judas touch +His, nor withdrew His face from 'shame and spitting'; +and was never stirred to one impatient or angry word +by any opposition, so now, and to us all, with equal +boundlessness of endurance, He lets men hate Him, +and revile Him, and forget Him, and turn their backs +upon Him; and for only answer has, 'Come unto Me +all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give +you rest.'</p> + +<p>Oh, dear brethren, we can weary out all loves except +one. By carelessness, rebelliousness, the opposition of +indifference, we can chill the affection of those to whom +we are dearest. 'Can a mother forget? Yea, she may +forget,' but you cannot provoke Jesus Christ to cease +His love. Some of you have been trying it all your +days, but you have not done it yet. There does come a +time when 'the wrath of the Lamb'—which is a very +terrible paradox—is kindled, and will fall, I fear, on +some men and women who are listening now. But +not yet. You cannot make Christ angry. 'For this +cause I obtained mercy, that in me Jesus Christ might +show forth all long-suffering, <i>for a pattern</i>'—for the +same long-suffering is extended to us all.</p> + +<p>And then, in like manner, I may remind you that out +of Paul's experience, as a cardinal instance and standing +example of Christ's heart and dealings, comes the +thought that that long-suffering is always wooing men +to itself, and making efforts to draw them away from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341a" id="Page_341a">[341]</a></span> +their own evil. In Paul's case there was a miracle. +That difference is of small consequence. As truly as +ever Christ spoke to Paul from the heavens, so truly, +and so tenderly, does He speak to every one of us. He +is drawing us all—you that yield and you that do not +yield to His attractions, by the kindliest gifts of His +love, by the revelations of His grace, by the movements +of His Spirit, by the providences of our days, by even +my poor lips addressing you now—for, if I be speaking +His truth, it is not I that speak, but He that speaks in +me. I beseech you, dear friends, recognise in this old +story of the persecutor turned apostle nothing exceptional, +though there be something miraculous, but +only an exceptional form of manifestation of the +normal activity of the love of Christ towards every +soul. He loves, He draws, He welcomes all that come +to Him. His servant, who stood over the blind, +penitent persecutor, and said to him, '<i>Brother</i> Saul!' +was only faintly echoing the glad reception which the +elder Brother of the family gives to this and to every +prodigal who comes back; because He Himself has +drawn Him.</p> + +<p>If we will only recognise the undying truth for all +of us that lies beneath the individual experience of +this apostle, we, too, may share in the attraction of +His love, in the constraining and blessed influences +of that love received, and in the welcome with which +He hails us when we turn. If this man were thus +dealt with, no man need despair.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, we may notice how this experience is +a manifestation of the power of the living, loving Lord.</p> + +<p>The first and plainest thing that it teaches us about +that power is that Jesus Christ is able in one moment +to revolutionise a life. There is nothing more striking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342a" id="Page_342a">[342]</a></span> +than the suddenness and completeness of the change +which passed. 'One day is with the Lord as a +thousand years'; and there come moments in every +life into which there is crammed and condensed a +whole world of experience, so as that a man looks +back from this instant to that before, and feels that a +gulf, deep as infinity, separates him from his old self.</p> + +<p>Now, it is very unfashionable in these days to talk +about conversion at all. It is even more unfashionable +to talk about sudden conversions. I venture to +say that there are types of character and experience +which will never be turned to good, unless they are +turned suddenly; while there are others, no doubt, to +whom the course is a gradual one, and you cannot tell +where the dawn broadens into perfect day. But, in +the case of men who have grown up to some degree of +maturity of life, either in sensuous sin or crusted over +with selfish worldliness, or in any other way, by reason +of intellectual pursuits, or others have become forgetful +of God and careless of religion—unless such men +are in a moment arrested and wheeled round at once, +there is very little chance of their ever being so at all.</p> + +<p>I am sure I am speaking to some now who, unless +the truth of Christ comes into their minds with +arresting flash, and unless they are in one moment, +into which an eternity is condensed, changed in their +purposes, will never be changed.</p> + +<p>Do not, my friend, listen to the talk that sudden +conversion is impossible or unlikely. It is the only +kind of conversion that some of you are capable of. +I remember a man, one of the best Christian men in +a humble station in life that I ever knew—he did not +live in Manchester—he had been a drunkard up to +his fortieth or fiftieth year. One day he was walking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343a" id="Page_343a">[343]</a></span> +across an open field, and a voice, as he thought, spoke +to him and said, naming him, 'If you don't sign the +pledge to-day you will be damned!' He turned on +his heel, and walked straight down the street to the +house of a temperance friend, and said, 'I have come +to sign the pledge.' He signed it, and from that day +to the day of his death 'adorned the doctrine of Jesus +Christ' his Saviour. If that man had not been suddenly +converted he would never have been converted. +So I say that this story of the text is a crucial instance +of Christ's power to lay hold upon a man, and wheel +him right round all in a moment, and send him on a +new path. He wants to do that with all of you to +whom He has not already done it. I beseech you, do +not stick your heels into the ground in resistance, nor +when He puts His hand on your shoulder stiffen your +back that He may not do what He desires with you.</p> + +<p>May we not see here, too, a demonstration of +Christ's power to make a life nobly and blessedly new, +different from all its past, and adorned with strange +and unexpected fruits of beauty and wisdom and holiness? +This man's account of his future, from the +moment of that incident on the Damascus road to the +headman's block outside the walls of Rome, is this: +'If any man be in Christ he is a new creature'; 'I +live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' Christ will do +that for us all; for long-suffering was shown on the +Apostle for a pattern to them who should hereafter +believe.</p> + +<p>So, you Christian people, it is as much your business +as it was Paul's, to be visible rhetoric, manifest demonstrations +in your lives of the truth of the Gospel. Men +ought to say about us, 'There must be something in +the religion that has done that for these people.' We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344a" id="Page_344a">[344]</a></span> +ought to be such that our characters shall induce the +thought that the Christ who has made men like us +cannot be a figment. Do you show, Christian men, +that you are grafted upon the true Vine by the abundance +of the fruit that you bring forth? Can you venture +to say, as Paul said, If you want to know what +Jesus Christ's love and power are, look at me? Do not +venture adducing yourself as a specimen of His power +unless you have a life like Paul's to look back upon.</p> + +<p>For us all the fountain to which Paul had recourse +is open. Why do we draw so little from it? The fire +which burned, refining and illuminating, in him may +be kindled in all our hearts. Why are we so icy? His +convictions are of some value, as subsidiary evidence +to Gospel facts; his experience is of still more value +as an attestation and an instance of Gospel blessings. +Believe like Paul and you will be saved like Paul. +Jesus Christ will show to you all long-suffering. For +though Paul received it all he did not exhaust it, and +the same long-suffering which was lavished on him is +available for each of us. Only you too must say like +him, 'I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE GLORY OF THE KING</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour +and glory for ever and ever. Amen.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> i. 17.</p></div> + + +<p>With this burst of irrepressible praise the Apostle +ends his reference to his own conversion as a transcendent, +standing instance of the infinite love and +transforming power of God. Similar doxologies accompany +almost all his references to the same fact. +This one comes from the lips of 'Paul the aged,' looking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345a" id="Page_345a">[345]</a></span> +back from almost the close of a life which owed +many sorrows and troubles to that day on the road +to Damascus. His heart fills with thankfulness that +overflows into the great words of my text. He had +little to be thankful for, judged according to the rules +of sense; but, though weighed down with care, having +made but a poor thing of the world because of that +vision which he saw that day, and now near martyrdom, +he turns with a full heart to God, and breaks into this +song of thanksgiving. There are lives which bear to +be looked back upon. Are ours of that kind?</p> + +<p>But my object is mainly to draw your attention to +what seems to me a remarkable feature in this burst +of thanksgiving. And perhaps I shall best impress the +thought which it has given to me if I ask you to look, +first, at the character of the God who is glorified by +Paul's salvation; second, at the facts which glorify +such a God; and, last, at the praise which should fill +the lives of those who know the facts.</p> + +<p>I. First, then, notice the God who is glorified by +Paul's salvation.</p> + +<p>Now what strikes me as singular about this great +doxology is the characteristics, or, to use a technical +word, the attributes, of the divine nature which the +Apostle selects. They are all those which separate +God from man; all those which present Him as arrayed +in majesty, apart from human weaknesses, unapproachable +by human sense, and filling a solitary +throne. These are the characteristics which the +Apostle thinks receive added lustre, and are lifted to +a loftier height of 'honour and glory,' by the small +fact that he, Paul, was saved from sins as he journeyed +to Damascus.</p> + +<p>It would be easy to roll out oratorical platitudes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346a" id="Page_346a">[346]</a></span> +about these specific characteristics of the divine nature, +but that would be as unprofitable as it would be easy. +All that I want to do now is just to note the force of +the epithets; and, if I can, to deepen the impression +of the remarkableness of their selection.</p> + +<p>With regard, then, to the first of them, we at once +feel that the designation of 'the King' is unfamiliar to +the New Testament. It brings with it lofty ideas, no +doubt; but it is not a name which the writers of the +New Testament, who had been taught in the school of +love, and led by a Son to the knowledge of God, are +most fond of using. 'The King' has melted into 'the +Father.' But here Paul selects that more remote and +less tender name for a specific purpose. He is 'the +King'—not '<i>eternal</i>,' as our Bible renders it, but more +correctly 'the King of the Ages.' The idea intended is +not so much that of unending existence as that He +moulds the epochs of the world's history, and directs +the evolution of its progress. It is the thought of an +overruling Providence, with the additional thought +that all the moments are a linked chain, through +which He flashes the electric force of His will. He is +'King of the Ages.'</p> + +<p>The other epithets are more appropriately to be +connected with the word 'God' which follows than +with the word 'King' which precedes. The Apostle's +meaning is this: 'The King of the ages, even the God +who is,' etc. And the epithets thus selected all tend +in the same direction. 'Incorruptible.' That at once +parts that mystic and majestic Being from all of which +the law is <i>decay</i>. There may be in it some hint of +moral purity, but more probably it is simply what I +may call a physical attribute, that that immortal +nature not only <i>does</i> not, but <i>cannot</i>, pass into any less<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347a" id="Page_347a">[347]</a></span> +noble forms. Corruption has no share in His immortal +being.</p> + +<p>As to 'invisible,' no word need be said to illustrate +that. It too points solely to the separation of God +from all approach by human sense.</p> + +<p>And then the last of the epithets, which, according +to the more accurate reading of the text, should be, +not as our Bible has it, 'the only <i>wise</i> God,' but 'the +<i>only</i> God,' lifts Him still further above all comparison +and contact with other beings.</p> + +<p>So the whole set forth the remote attributes which +make a man feel, 'The gulf between Him and me is so +great that thought cannot pass across it, and I doubt +whether love can live half-way across that flight, or +will not rather, like some poor land bird with tiny +wings, drop exhausted, and be drowned in the abyss +before it reaches the other side.' We expect to find +a hymn to the infinite love. Instead of that we get +praise, which might be upon the lips of many a thinker +of Paul's day and of ours, who would laugh the idea of +revelation, and especially of a revelation such as Paul +believed in, to absolute scorn. And yet he knew what +he was saying when he did not lift up his praise to the +God of tenderness, of pity, of forgiveness, of pardoning +love, but to 'the King of the ages; the incorruptible, +invisible, only God'; the God whose honour and glory +were magnified by the revelation of Himself in Jesus +Christ.</p> + +<p>II. And so that brings me, in the second place, to ask +you to look at the facts which glorify even such a God.</p> + +<p>Paul was primarily thinking of his own individual +experience; of what passed when the voice spoke to +him, 'Why persecutest thou Me?' and of the transforming +power which had changed him, the wolf, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348a" id="Page_348a">[348]</a></span> +teeth red with the blood of the saints, into a lamb. +But, as he is careful to point out, the personal allusion +is lost in his contemplation of his own history, as being +a specimen and test-case for the blessing and encouragement +of all who 'should hereafter believe upon +Him unto life everlasting.' So what we come to is this—that +the work of Jesus Christ is that which paints +the lily and gilds the refined gold of the divine loftinesses +and magnificence, and which brings honour and +glory even to that remote and inaccessible majesty. +For, in that revelation of God in Jesus Christ, there is +added to all these magnificent and all but inconceivable +attributes and excellences, something that is far +diviner and nobler than themselves.</p> + +<p>There be two great conceptions smelted together in +the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, of which neither +attains its supremest beauty except by the juxtaposition +of the other. Power is harsh, and scarcely worthy +to be called divine, unless it be linked with love. Love +is not glorious unless it be braced and energised by +power. And, says Paul, these two are brought together +in Jesus; and therefore each is heightened by +the other. It is the love of God that lifts His power to +its highest height; it is the revelation of Him as stooping +that teaches us His loftiness. It is because He has +come within the grasp of our humanity in Jesus Christ +that we can hymn our highest and noblest praises to +'the King eternal, the invisible God.'</p> + +<p>The sunshine falls upon the snow-clad peaks of the +great mountains and flushes them with a tender pink +that makes them nobler and fairer by far than when +they were veiled in clouds. And so all the divine +majesty towers higher when we believe in the divine +condescension, and there is no god that men have ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349a" id="Page_349a">[349]</a></span> +dreamed of so great as the God who stoops to sinners +and is manifest in the flesh and Cross of the Man of +Sorrows.</p> + +<p>Take these characteristics of the divine nature as +get forth in the text one by one, and consider how the +Revelation in Jesus Christ, and its power on sinful +men, raises our conceptions of them. 'The King of +the ages'—and do we ever penetrate so deeply into +the purpose which has guided His hand, as it moulded +and moved the ages, as when we can say with Paul +that His 'good pleasure' is that, 'in the dispensation +of the fulness of times, He might gather together in +one all things in Christ.' The intention of the epochs +as they emerge, the purpose of all their linked intricacies +and apparently diverse movements, is this one +thing, that God in Christ may be manifest to men, +a nd that humanity may be gathered, like sheep round +the Shepherd, into the one fold of the one Lord. For +that the world stands; for that the ages roll, and He +who is the King of the epochs hath put into the hands +of the Lamb that was slain the Book that contains all +their events; and only His hand, pierced upon Calvary, +is able to open the seals, to read the Book. The King +of the ages is the Father of Christ.</p> + +<p>And in like manner, that incorruptible God, far away +from us because He is so, and to whom we look up +here doubtingly and despairingly and often complainingly +and ask, 'Why hast Thou made us thus, to be +weighed upon with the decay of all things and of ourselves?' +comes near to us all in the Christ who knows +the mystery of death, and thereby makes us partakers +of an inheritance incorruptible. Brethren, we shall +never adore, or even dimly understand, the blessedness +of believing in a God who cannot decay nor change,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350a" id="Page_350a">[350]</a></span> +unless from the midst of graves and griefs we lift our +hearts to Him as revealed in the face of the dying +Christ. He, though He died, did not see corruption, +and we through Him shall pass into the same blessed +immunity.</p> + +<p>'The King . . . the God invisible.' No man hath +seen God 'at any time, nor can see Him.' Who will +honour and glorify that attribute which parts Him +wholly from our sense, and so largely from our apprehension, +as will he who can go on to say, 'the only +begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He +hath declared Him.' We look up into a waste Heaven; +thought and fear, and sometimes desire, travel into its +tenantless spaces. We say the blue is an illusion; +there is nothing there but blackness. But 'he that +hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' And we can lift +thankful praise to Him, the King invisible, when we +hear Jesus saying, 'thou hast both seen Him, and it is +He that talketh with thee.'</p> + +<p>'The only God.' How that repels men from His +throne! And yet, if we apprehend the meaning of +Christ's Cross and work, we understand that the +solitary God welcomes my solitary soul into such +mysteries and sacred sweetnesses of fellowship with +Himself that, the humanity remaining undisturbed, +and the divinity remaining unintruded upon, we yet +are one in Him, and partakers of a divine nature. +Unless we come to God through Jesus Christ, the +awful attributes in the text spurn a man from His +throne, and make all true fellowship impossible.</p> + +<p>So let me remind you that the religion which does +not blend together in indissoluble union these two, the +majesty and the lowliness, the power and the love, the +God inaccessible and the God who has tabernacled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351a" id="Page_351a">[351]</a></span> +with us in Jesus Christ, is sure to be almost an impotent +religion. Deism in all its forms, the religion +which admits a God and denies a revelation; the +religion which, in some vague sense, admits a revelation +and denies an incarnation; the religion which +admits an incarnation and denies a sacrifice; all these +have little to say to man as a sinner; little to say to +man as a mourner; little power to move his heart, +little power to infuse strength into his weakness. If +once you strike out the thought of a redeeming Christ +from your religion, the temperature will go down +alarmingly, and all will soon be frost bound.</p> + +<p>Brethren, there is no real adoration of the loftiness +of the King of the ages, no true apprehension of the +majesty of the God incorruptible, invisible, eternal, +until we see Him in the face and in the Cross of Jesus +Christ. The truths of this gospel of our salvation do +not in the smallest degree impinge upon or weaken, but +rather heighten, the glory of God. The brightest glory +streams from the Cross. It was when He was standing +within a few hours of it, and had it full in view, that +Jesus Christ broke out into that strange strain of +triumph, 'Now is God glorified.' 'The King of the +ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God,' is more +honoured and glorified in the forgiveness that comes +through Jesus Christ, and in the transforming power +which He puts forth in the Gospel, than in all besides.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, let me draw your attention to the praise +which should fill the lives of those who know these +facts.</p> + +<p>I said that this Apostle seems always, when he refers +to his own individual conversion, to have been melted +into fresh outpourings of thankfulness and of praise. +And that is what ought to be the life of all of you who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352a" id="Page_352a">[352]</a></span> +call yourselves Christians; a continual warmth of +thankfulness welling up in the heart, and not seldom +finding utterance in the words, but always filling the +life.</p> + +<p>Not seldom, I say, finding utterance in the words. It +is a delicate thing for a man to speak about himself, +and his own religious experience. Our English reticence, +our social habits, and many other even less +worthy hindrances rise in the way; and I should be +the last man to urge Christian people to cast their +pearls before swine, or too fully to</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Open wide the bridal chamber of the heart,'</p></div> + +<p>to let in the day. There is a wholesome fear of men +who are always talking about their own religious +experiences. But there are times and people to whom +it is treason to the Master for us not to be frank in the +confession of what we have found in Him. And I +think there would be less complaining of the want of +power in the public preaching of the Word if more +professing Christians more frequently and more simply +said to those to whom their words are weighty, 'Come +and hear and I will tell you what God hath done for +my soul.' 'Ye are my witnesses,' saith the Lord. It is +a strange way that Christian people in this generation +have of discharging their obligations that they should +go, as so many of them do, from the cradle of their +Christian lives to their graves, never having opened +their lips for the Master who has done all for them.</p> + +<p>Only remember, if you venture to speak you will +have to live your preaching. 'There is no speech nor +language, their voice is not heard, their sound is gone +out through all the earth.' The silent witness of life +must always accompany the audible proclamation, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353a" id="Page_353a">[353]</a></span> +in many cases is far more eloquent than it. Your +consistent thankfulness manifested in your daily +obedience, and in the transformation of your character, +will do far more than all my preaching, or the preaching +of thousands like me, to commend the Gospel of +Jesus Christ.</p> + +<p>One last word, brethren. This revelation is made to +us all. What is God to you, friend? Is He a remote, +majestic, unsympathising, terrible Deity? Is He dim, +shadowy, unwelcome; or is He God whose love softens +His power; Whose power magnifies his love? Oh! I +beseech you, open your eyes and your hearts to see that +that remote Deity is of no use to you, will do nothing +for you, cannot help you, may probably judge you, but +will never heal you. And open your hearts to see that +'the only God' whom men can love is God in Christ. If +here we lift up grateful praise 'unto Him that loveth +us and hath loosed us from our sins in His blood,' we, +too, shall one day join in that great chorus which at +last will be heard saying, 'Blessing and honour and +glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the +throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>WHERE AND HOW TO PRAY</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands without +wrath and doubting.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> ii. 8.</p></div> + + +<p>The context shows that this is part of the Apostle's +directory for public worship, and that, therefore, the +terms of the first clause are to be taken somewhat +restrictedly. They teach the duty of the male members +of the Church to take public, audible part in its +worship.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354a" id="Page_354a">[354]</a></span></p> + +<p>Everywhere, therefore, must here properly be taken +in the restricted signification of 'every place of +Christian assembly.' And from the whole passage +there comes a picture of what sort of thing a meeting +of the primitive Church for worship was, very different +from anything that we see nowadays. 'Every one of +you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath an exhortation.' +I fancy that some of the eminently respectable +and utterly dead congregations which call themselves +Christian Churches would be very much astonished if +they could see what used to be the manner of Christian +worship nineteen hundred years ago, and would get a +new notion of what was meant by 'decently, and in +order.'</p> + +<p>But we may fairly, I suppose, if once we confess that +this is so, widen somewhat the scope of these words, +and take them rather as expressive of the Apostle's +desire and injunction, for the word that he used here, +'I will,' is a very strong one, to all Christian people, +be they men or women, that they pray 'everywhere,' +in the widest sense of that expression, 'lifting up holy +hands without wrath or doubting.'</p> + +<p>I do not attempt anything more than just to go, step +by step, through the Apostle's words and gather up +the duties which each enjoins.</p> + +<p>'I will that men pray everywhere.' That is the +same in spirit as the Apostle's other command: 'Pray +without ceasing; in everything give thanks.' A very +high ideal, but a very reasonable one, for unless we +can find some place where God is not, and where the +telegraph between heaven and earth is beyond our +reach, there is no place where we should not pray. +And unless we can find a place where we do not want +God, nor need Him, there is no place where we should<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355a" id="Page_355a">[355]</a></span> +not pray. Because, then, 'everywhere' is equally near +Him, and the straight road to His throne is of the +same length from every hole and corner of the world; +therefore, wherever men are, they ought to be clinging +to His skirts, and reaching out their open hands for +His benefits; and because, wherever a man is, there he +utterly depends upon God, and needs the actual intervention +of His love, and the energising of His power +for everything, even for his physical life, so that he +cannot wink his eyelashes without God's help, therefore, +'In every place I will that men pray.'</p> + +<p>And how is that to be done? First of all, by keeping +out of all places where it is impossible that we should +pray; for although He is everywhere, and we want +Him everywhere, there are places—and some of us +know the roads to them but too well, and are but too +often in them—where prayer would be a strange incongruity. +A man will not pray over the counter of +a public-house. A man will not pray over a sharp +bargain. A man will not pray that God may bless his +outbursts of anger, or sensuality and the like. A man +will not pray when he feels that he is deep down in +some pit of self-caused alienation from God. The +possibility of praying in given circumstances is a sharp +test, although a very rough and ready one, whether +we ought to be in these circumstances or not. Do not +let us go where we cannot take God with us; and if +we feel that it would be something like blasphemy to +call to Him from such a place, do not let us trust +ourselves there. Jonah could pray out of the belly of +the fish, and there was no incongruity in that; but +many a professing Christian man gets swallowed up by +monsters of the deep, and durst not for very shame send +up a prayer to God. Get out of all such false positions.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356a" id="Page_356a">[356]</a></span></p> + +<p>But if the Apostle wills 'that men pray alway,' it +must be possible while going about business, study, +daily work, work at home amongst the children, +work in the factory amongst spindles, work in the +counting-house amongst ledgers, work in the study +amongst lexicons, not only to pray whilst we are +working, but to make work prayer, which is even +better. The old saying that is often quoted with +admiration, 'work is worship,' is only half true. There +is a great deal of work that is anything but worship. +But it is true that if, in all that I do, I try to realise +my dependence on God for power; to look to Him for +direction, and to trust to Him for issue, then, whether +I eat, or drink, or pray, or study, or buy and sell, or +marry or am given in marriage, all will be worship +of God. 'I will that men pray everywhere.' What +a noble ideal, and not an impossible or absurd one! +This was not the false ideal of a man that had withdrawn +himself from duty in order to cultivate his +own soul, but the true ideal of one of the hardest +workers that ever lived. Paul could say 'I am pressed +above measure, insomuch that I despair of life, and +that which cometh upon me daily is the care of all +the churches,' and yet driven, harassed beyond his +strength with business and cares as he was, he did +himself what he bids us do. His life was prayer, +therefore his life was Christ, therefore he was equal +to all demands. None of us are as hard-worked, as +heavily pressed, as much hunted by imperative and +baying dogs of duties as Paul was. It is possible for +us to obey this commandment and to pray everywhere. +A servant girl down on her knees doing the +doorsteps may do that task from such a motive, and +with such accompaniments, as she dips her cloth into<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357a" id="Page_357a">[357]</a></span> +the hot-water bucket, as to make even it prayer to +God. We each can lift all the littlenesses of our lives +into a lofty region, if only we will link them on to the +throne of God by prayer.</p> + +<p>There is another way by which this ideal can be +attained, and that is to cultivate the habit, which I +think many Christian people do not cultivate, of little +short swallow-flights of prayer in the midst of our +daily work. 'They cried unto God in the battle, and +He was entreated of them.' If a Philistine sword was +hanging over the man's head, do you think he would +have much time to drop down upon his knees, to make +a petition, divided into all the parts which divines tell +us go to make up the complete idea of prayer? I +should think not; but he could say, 'Save me, O +Lord!' 'They cried to God in the battle—little, sharp, +short shrieks of prayer—and He was entreated of +them.' If you would cast swift electric flashes of that +kind more frequently up to heaven, you would bring +down the blessings that very often do not come after +the most elaborate and proper and formal petitions. +'Lord, save or I perish!' It did not take long to say +that, but it made the difference between drowning and +deliverance.</p> + +<p>Still further, notice the conditions of true prayer +that are here required. I will that men pray everywhere +'lifting up <i>holy</i> hands.' That is a piece of symbolism, +of course. Apparently the Jewish attitude of +prayer was unlike ours. They seem to have stood +during devotion and to have elevated their hands with +open, empty, upturned palms to heaven. We clasp +ours in entreaty, or fold them as a symbol of resignation +and submission. They lifted them, with the +double idea, I suppose, of offering themselves to God<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358a" id="Page_358a">[358]</a></span> +thereby, and of asking Him to put something into the +empty hand, just as a beggar says nothing, but holds +out a battered hat, in order to get a copper from a +passer-by. The psalmist desired that the lifting up of +his hands might be as the 'evening sacrifice.'</p> + +<p>If a man stands with his open, empty palm held up +to God, it is as much as to say 'I need, I desire, I expect.' +And these elements are what we must have in our +prayers; the sense of want, the longing for supply, +the anticipation of an answer. What do you hold out +your hand for? Because you expect me to drop something +into it, because you want to get something. +How do you hold out your hand? Empty. And if I +am clasping my five fingers round some earthly good +it is of no use to hold up that hand to God. Nothing +will come into it. How can it? He must first take +the imitation diamonds out of it or we must turn it +round and shake them out before He can fill it with +real jewels. As for him who continues to clutch +worldly goods, 'let not that man think that he shall +receive anything of the Lord.' Empty the palm before +you lift it.</p> + +<p>Still further, says Paul, 'lifting up <i>holy</i> hands.' +That, of course, needs no explanation. One of the +psalms, you may remember, says 'I will wash mine +hands in innocency, so will I compass Thine altar.' +The psalmist felt that unless there was a previous +lustration and cleansing, it was vain for him to go +round the altar. And you may remember how sternly +and eloquently the prophet Isaiah rebukes the hypocritical +worshippers in Jerusalem when he says to +them, 'Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make +you clean, put away the evil of your doings,' and <i>then</i> +come and pray. A foul hand gets nothing from God.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359a" id="Page_359a">[359]</a></span> +How can it? God's best gift is of such a sort as +cannot be laid upon a dirty palm. A little sin dams +back the whole of God's grace, and there are too many +men that pray, pray, pray, and never get any of the +things that we pray for, because there is something +stopping the pipe, and they do not know what it is, +and perhaps would be very sorry to clear it out if +they did. But all the same, the channel of communication +is blocked and stopped, and it is impossible that +any blessing should come. Geographers tell us that a +microscopic vegetable grows rapidly in one of the +upper affluents of the Nile, and makes a great dam +across the river which keeps back the water, and so +makes one of the lakes which have recently been explored; +and then, when the dam breaks, the rising of +the Nile fertilises Egypt. Some of us have growing, +unchecked, and unnoticed, in the innermost channels +of our hearts, little sins that mat themselves together +and keep increasing until the grace of God is utterly +kept from permeating the parched recesses of our +spirits. 'I will that men pray, lifting up holy hands,' +and unless we do, alas! for us.</p> + +<p>If these are the requirements, you will say, 'How +can I pray at all?' Well, do you remember what the +Psalmist says? 'If I regard iniquity in my heart, the +Lord will not hear me,' but then he goes on, 'Blessed +be God, who hath not turned away my prayer nor His +mercy from me.' It is always true that if we regard +iniquity in our hearts, if in our inmost nature we love +the sin, that stops the prayer from being answered. +But, blessed be God, it is not true that our having +done the sin prevents our petitions being granted. +For the sin that is not regarded in the heart, but is +turned away from with loathing hath no intercepting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360a" id="Page_360a">[360]</a></span> +power. So, though the uplifted hands art stained, He +will cleanse them if, as we lift them to Him, we say, +'Lord, they are foul, if thou wilt Thou canst make them +clean.'</p> + +<p>But the final requirement is: 'Without wrath or +doubting.' I do not think that Christian people +generally recognise with sufficient clearness the close +and inseparable connection which subsists between +their right feelings towards their fellow-men and the +acceptance of their prayers with God. It is very +instructive that here, alongside of requirements which +apply to our relations to God, the Apostle should put +so emphatically and plainly one which refers to our +relations to our fellows. An angry man is a very unfit +man to pray, and a man who cherishes in his heart any +feelings of that nature towards anybody may be quite +sure that he is thereby shutting himself out from +blessings which otherwise might be his. We do not +sufficiently realise, or act on the importance, in regard +to our relations with God, of our living in charity +with all men. 'First, go and be reconciled to thy +brother,' is as needful to-day as when the word was +spoken.</p> + +<p>'Without . . . doubting.' Have I the right to be +perfectly sure that my prayer will be answered? Yes +and no. If my prayer is, as all true prayer ought to +be, the submission of my will to God's and not the +forcing of my will upon God, then I have the right to be +perfectly sure. But if I am only asking in self-will, for +things that my own heart craves, that is not prayer; +that is dictation. That is sending instructions to +heaven; that is telling God what He ought to do. +That is not the kind of prayer that may be offered +'without doubting.' It might, indeed, be offered, if<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361a" id="Page_361a">[361]</a></span> +offered at all, with the certainty that it will not be +answered. For this is the assurance on which we are +to rest—and some of us may think it is a very poor +one—'we know that, if we ask anything <i>according to +His will</i>, He heareth us.' To get what we want would +often be our ruin. God loves His children a great +deal too well to give them serpents when they ask for +them, thinking they are fish, or to give them stones +when they beseech Him for them, believing them to +be bread. He will never hand you a scorpion when +you ask Him to give it you, because, with its legs and +its sting tucked under its body, it is like an egg.</p> + +<p>We make mistakes in our naming of things and in +our desires after things, and it is only when we have +learned to say 'Not my will but Thine be done,' that +we have the right to pray, 'without doubting.' If we +do so pray, certainly we receive. But a tremulous +faith brings little blessing, and small answer. An +unsteady hand cannot hold the cup still for Him to +pour in the wine of His grace, but as the hand shakes, +the cup moves, and the precious gift is spilled. The +still, submissive soul will be filled, and the answer to +its prayer will be, 'Whatsoever things ye desire +believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have +them.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>SPIRITUAL ATHLETICS</h2> + +<div class="center"><p>'Exercise thyself unto Godliness.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> iv. 7.</p></div> + + +<p>Timothy seems to have been not a very strong character: +sensitive, easily discouraged, and perhaps with +a constitutional tendency to indolence. At all events, +it is very touching to notice how the old Apostle—a +prisoner, soon to be a martyr—forgot all about his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362a" id="Page_362a">[362]</a></span> +own anxieties and burdens, and, through both of his +letters to his young helper, gives himself to the task +of bracing him up. Thus he says to him, in my text, +amongst other trumpet-tongued exhortations, 'Exercise +thyself unto godliness.'</p> + +<p>If I were preaching to ministers, I should have +a good deal to say about the necessity of this precept +for them, and to remind them that it was first spoken, +not to a private member of the Church, as an injunction +for the Christian life in general, but as having +a special bearing on the temptations and necessities +of those who stand in official positions in the Church. +For there is nothing that is more likely to sap a man's +devotion, and to eat out the earnestness and sincerity +of a Christian life, than that he should be—as I, for +instance, and every man in my position has to be—constantly +occupied with presenting God's Word to +other people. We are apt to look upon it as, in some +sense, our stock-in-trade, and to forget to apply it to +ourselves. So it was with a very special bearing on +the particular occupation and temptation of his correspondent +that Paul said 'Exercise thyself unto godliness' +before you begin to talk to other people.</p> + +<p>But that would not be appropriate to my present +audience. And I take this injunction as one of universal +application.</p> + +<p>I. Notice, then, here expressed the ever-present and +universal aim of the Christian life.</p> + +<p>Paul does not say 'be godly'; but 'exercise thyself +unto'—with a view towards—'godliness.' In other +words, to him godliness is the great aim which every +Christian man should set before him as the one +supreme purpose of his life.</p> + +<p>Now I am not going to spend any time on mere<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363a" id="Page_363a">[363]</a></span> +verbal criticism, but I must point to the somewhat +unusual word which the Apostle here employs for +'godliness.' It is all but exclusively confined to these +last letters of the Apostle. It was evidently a word +that had unfolded the depth and fulness and comprehensiveness +of its meaning to him in the last stage of +his religious experience. For it is only once employed +in the Acts of the Apostles, and some two or three +times in the doubtful second Epistle of St. Peter. And +all the other instances of its use lie in these three +letters—the one to Titus and two to Timothy; and eight +of them are in this first one. The old Apostle keeps +perpetually recurring to this one idea of 'godliness.' +What does he mean by it? The etymological meaning +of the word is 'well-directed reverence,' but it is to be +noticed that the context specifically points to one form +of well-directed reverence, viz. as shown in conduct. +'Active godliness' is the meaning of the word; religion +embodied in deeds, emotions, and sentiments, +and creeds, put into fact.</p> + +<p>This noble and pregnant word teaches us, first of all, +that all true religion finds its ultimate sphere and best +manifestation in the conduct of daily life. That +sounds like a platitude. I wish it were. If we believed +that, and worked it out, we should be very +different people from what the most of us are; and our +chapels would be very different places, and the professing +Church would have a new breath of life over it. +Religion must have its foundation laid deep in the +truths revealed by God for our acceptance. And does +God tell us anything simply that we may believe it, +and there an end? What is the purpose of all the +principles and facts which make up the body of the +Christian revelation? To enlighten us? Yes! To<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364a" id="Page_364a">[364]</a></span> +enlighten us only? A hundred times no! The destination +of a principle, of a truth, is to pass out from the +understanding into the whole nature of man.</p> + +<p>And if, as I said, the foundation of religion is laid in +truths, principles, facts, the second story of the building +is certain emotions, sentiments, feelings, desires, +and affections, and 'experiences'—as people call them—which +follow from the acceptance of these truths +and principles. And is that all? A thousand times +no! What do we get the emotions for? What does +God give you a Revelation of Himself for, that kindles +your love if you believe it? That you may love? Yes! +Only that you may love? Certainly not. And so the +top story is conduct, based upon the beliefs, and +inspired by the emotions.</p> + +<p>In former centuries, the period between the Reformation +and our fathers' time, the tendency of the +Protestant Church was very largely to let the conception +of religion as a body of truths overshadow +everything else. And nowadays, amongst a great +many people, the temptation is to take the second +story for the main one, and to think that if a man +loves, and has the glow at his heart of the conscious +reception of God's love, and has longings and yearnings, +and Christian hopes and desires, and passes into the +sweetnesses of communion with God, in his solitary +moments, and plunges deep into the truths of God's +Word, that is godliness. But the true exhortation +to us is—Do not stop with putting in the foundations +of a correct creed, nor at the second stage of an +emotional religion. Both are needful. Number one +and number two are infinitely precious, but both exist +for number three. And true religion has its sphere in +conduct. 'Exercise thyself unto godliness.' That does<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365a" id="Page_365a">[365]</a></span> +not mean <i>only</i>—for it does include that—cultivate +devout emotions, or realise the facts and the principles +of the Gospel, but it means, take these along with you +into your daily life, and work them out there. Bring +all the facts and truths of your creed, and all the +sweet and select, the secret and sacred, emotions which +you have felt, to bear upon your daily life. The +soil in which the tree grows, and the roots of the +tree, its stem and its blossoms, are all means to the +end—fruit. What is the use of the clearest conceptions, +and of the most tender, delicate, holy emotions, +if they do not drive the wheels of action? God does +not give us the Gospel to make us wise, nor even to +make us blessed, but He gives it to us to make +us good men and women, working His work in +our daily tasks. All true religion has its sphere in +conduct.</p> + +<p>But then there is another side to that. All true conduct +must have its root in religion, and I, for my part—though +of course it is extremely 'narrow' and +'antiquated' to profess it—I, for my part, do not +believe that in the long-run, and in general, you will +get noble living apart from the emotions and sentiments +which the truths of Christianity, accepted and +fed upon, are sure to produce. And so this day, with +its very general depreciation of the importance of +accurate conceptions of revealed truth, and its exaltation +of conduct, is on the verge of a very serious error. +Godliness, well-directed reverence, is the parent of all +noble living, and the one infallible way to produce +a noble life is faith in Christ, and love which flows +from the faith.</p> + +<p>If all that is so, if godliness is, not singing psalms, +not praying, not saying 'How sweet it is to feel the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366a" id="Page_366a">[366]</a></span> +love of God,' still less saying 'I accept the principles of +Christianity as they are laid down in the Bible'; but +carrying out beliefs and emotions in deeds, then the +true aim which we should have continually before us +as Christians is plain enough. We may not reach it +completely, but we can approximate indefinitely +towards it. Aim is more important than achievement. +Direction is more vital in determining the character of +a life than progress actually made. Note the form of +the exhortation, 'exercise thyself <i>towards</i> godliness,' +which involves the same thought as is expressed in +Paul's other utterance of irrepressible aspiration and +effort, 'Not as if I had already attained, either were +already perfect, but I follow after,' or as he had just +said, 'press towards the mark,' in continual approximation +to the ideal. A complete penetration of all our +actions by the principles and emotions of the Gospel is +what is set before us here.</p> + +<p>And that is the only aim that corresponds to what +and where I am and to what I need. I fall back upon +the grandly simple old words, very dear to some of us, +perhaps, by boyish associations, 'Man's chief end is to +glorify God, and (so) to enjoy Him for ever.' 'Unto +Godliness' is to be the aim of every true life, and it is +the only aim which corresponds to our circumstances +and our relations, our powers and possibilities.</p> + +<p>II. Notice the discipline which such an aim demands.</p> + +<p>'Exercise thyself.' Now, I have no doubt that the +bulk of my hearers know that the word here rendered +'exercise' is drawn from the athlete's training-ground, +and is, in fact, akin to the word which is +transported into English under the form 'gymnasium.' +The Apostle's notion is that, just as the athlete, racer,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367a" id="Page_367a">[367]</a></span> +or boxer goes through a course of training, so there +is a training as severe, necessary for the godliness which +Paul regards as the one true aim of life.</p> + +<p>You Christian people ought to train your spirits at +least as carefully as the athlete does his muscles. +There are plenty of people, calling themselves Christians, +who never give one-hundredth part as much +systematic and diligent pains to fulfil the ideal of their +Christian life as men will take to learn to ride a +bicycle or to pull the stroke oar in a college boat. +The self-denial and persistence and concentration +which are freely spent upon excellence in athletic +pursuits might well put to shame the way in which +Christians go about the task of 'doing' their religion.</p> + +<p>I suppose there never was a time, in England's history +at any rate, whatever it may have been in Greece, +when modern instances might give more point to an +old saw than to-day does for this text, when athletic +sports of all kinds are taking up so much of the time +and the energy of our young men. I do not want to +throw cold water on that, but I do say it is a miserable +thing to think that so many professing Christians will +give a great deal more pains to learn to play lawn +tennis than ever they did to learn to be good, Christian +people.</p> + +<p>'Exercise thyself unto godliness.' Make a business +of living your Christianity. Be in earnest about it. +A tragically large number of professing Christians +never were in earnest about mending themselves. +And that is why they are so far, far behind. 'Exercise +thyself.' You say, How?</p> + +<p>'Well, I say, first of all, concentration. 'This <i>one</i> +thing I do.' That does not mean narrowing, because +this 'one thing' can be done by means of all the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368a" id="Page_368a">[368]</a></span> +legitimate things that we have to do in the world. +Next Friday, when you go on 'Change, you can be +exercising yourself to godliness there. Whatever may +be the form of our daily occupation, it is the <i>gymnasium</i> +where God has put us to exercise our muscles +in, and so to gain 'the wrestling thews that throw the +world.' 'Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of +His might.' The concentration for which I plead does +not shut us out from any place but the devil's wrestling-ground. +All that is legitimate, all that is innocent, may +be made a means for manifesting and for increasing +our godliness. Only you have to take God with you +into your life, and to try, more and more consciously, +to make Him the motive-power of all that you do. +Then the old saying which is profoundly true as it was +originally meant, and has of late years been so misused +as to become profoundly false, will be true again, +'<i>Laborare est orare</i>.' Yes! it is; if worship underlies +the work, but not else.</p> + +<p>Again I say, exercise yourselves by abstinence. How +many things did the athlete at Corinth do without in +his training? How many things do prizefighters and +rowing men do without when in training to-day? +How rigidly, for a while at any rate, they abstain—whether +they recompense themselves afterwards or +not has nothing to do with my present purpose. And +is it not a shame that some sensual man shall, for the +sake of winning a medal or a cup, be able gladly to +abandon the delights of sense—eating, drinking, and +the like—and content himself with a hermit's Spartan +fare, and that Christian people so seldom, and so +reluctantly, and so partially turn away from the +poisoned cups and the indigestible dainties which the +world provides for them? I think that any Christian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369a" id="Page_369a">[369]</a></span> +man who complains of the things which he is shut out +from doing if he is to cultivate the godliness which +should be his life need only go to any place where +horse-jockeys congregate to get a lesson that he may +well lay to heart. 'Exercise thyself,' for it is unto +godliness.</p> + +<p>And then what I said in a former part of this sermon +about the various stages of religion may suggest +another view of the method of discipline proper to the +Christian life. The strenuous exercise of all our +powers is called for. But if it is true that the godliness +of my text is the last outcome of the emotions +which spring from the reception of certain truths, +then if we work backwards, as it were, we shall get +the best way of producing the godliness. That is to +say, the main effort for all men who are in earnest +in regard to their own growth in Christlikeness is to +keep themselves in touch with the truths of the +Gospel, and in the exercise of the sentiments and +emotions which flow from these. Or, to put it into +other words, the 'gymnastic' is to be, mainly, the +man's clinging, with all his might of mind and heart, +to Christ, and the truths that are wrapped up in Him; +and the cultivation of the habit of continual faith and +love turned to that Lord. If I see to number one—the +creed, and to number two—the emotions, they will see +to number three—the conduct. Keep the truths of the +Gospel well in your minds, and keep yourselves well +in the attitude of contact with Jesus Christ, and power +for life will come into you. But if the fountain is +choked, the bed of the stream will be dry. They tell +us that away up in Abyssinia there form across the +bed of one of the branches of the Nile great fields of +weed. And as long as they continue unbroken the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370a" id="Page_370a">[370]</a></span> +lower river is shrunken. But when the stream at the +back of them bursts its way through them, then come +the inundations down in Egypt, and bring fertility. +And there are hundreds of professing Christians +whose fields lie barren and baked in the sunshine, +because they have stopped with weeds, far away up +amongst the hills, the stream that would water them. +Clear out the weeds, and the water will do the rest.</p> + +<p>And 'exercise thyself unto godliness' by keeping the +crown and the prize often and clear in view. 'Paul +the aged' in this very letter says: 'I have finished my +course, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of +glory.' He had said, in the midst of the strife: 'Not +as though I had already attained—I press toward the +mark for the prize.' And the prize which gleamed +before him through all the dust of the arena now +shone still more brightly when his hand had all but +clasped it. If we desire to 'run with perseverance +the race that is set before us' we must keep our eyes +fixed on Jesus, and see in Him, not only the Rewarder, +but the Reward, of the 'exercise unto godliness.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>ONE WITNESS, MANY CONFESSORS</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Thou . . . hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 13. I give +thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ +Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, 14. That thou keep +this commandment. . . .'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> vi. 12-14.</p></div> + + +<p>You will observe that 'a good confession,' or rather +'the good confession,' is said here to have been made +both by Timothy and by Christ. But you will observe +also that whilst the subject-matter is the same, the +action of Timothy and Jesus respectively is different. +The former professes, or rather confesses, the good +confession; the latter witnesses. There must be some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371a" id="Page_371a">[371]</a></span> +reason for the significant variation of terms to indicate +that the relation of Timothy and Jesus to the +good confession which they both made was, in some +way, a different one, and that though what they said +was identical, their actions in saying it were different.</p> + +<p>Then there is another point of parallelism to be +noticed. Timothy made his profession 'before many +witnesses,' but the Apostle calls to his remembrance, +and summons up before the eye of his imagination, a +more august tribunal than that before which he had +confessed his faith, and says that he gives him charge +'before God' (for the same word is used in the original +in both verses), 'who quickeneth all things, and before +Christ Jesus.' So the earthly witnesses of the man's +confession dwindle into insignificance when compared +with the heavenly ones. And upon these thoughts is +based the practical exhortation, 'Keep the commandment +without spot.' So, then, we have three things: +the great Witness and His confession, the subordinate +confessors who echo His witness, and the practical +issue that comes out of both thoughts.</p> + +<p>I. We have the great Witness and His confession.</p> + +<p>Now, you will remember, perhaps, that if we turn to +the Gospels, we find that all of them give the subject-matter +of Christ's confession before Pilate, as being that +He was the King of the Jews. But the Evangelist John +expands that conversation, and gives us details which +present a remarkable verbal correspondence with the +words of the Apostle here, and must suggest to us that, +though John's Gospel was not written at the date of +this Epistle, the fact that is enshrined for us in it was +independently known by the Apostle Paul.</p> + +<p>For, if I may for a moment recall the incident to +you, you will remember that when Pilate put to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372a" id="Page_372a">[372]</a></span> +Saviour the question, 'Art Thou a King?' our Lord, +before He would answer, took pains to make quite +clear the sense in which the judge asked Him of His +royal state. For He said, 'Sayest thou this thing of +thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me? If it is your +Roman idea of a king, the answer must be, "No." +If it is the Jewish Messianic idea, the answer must be, +"Yes." I must know first what the question means, in +the mind of the questioner, before I answer it.' And +when Pilate brushes aside Christ's question, with a sort +of impatient contempt, and returns to the charge, +'What hast Thou done?' our Lord, whilst He makes +the claim of sovereignty, takes care to make it in such +a way as to show that Rome need fear nothing from +Him, and that His dominion rested not upon force. +'My Kingdom is not of this world.' And then, when +Pilate, like a practical Roman, bewildered with all +these fine-spun distinctions, sweeps them impatiently +out of the field, and comes back to 'Yes, or No; are +you a King?' our Lord gives a distinct affirmative +answer, but at once soars up into the region where +Pilate had declined to follow Him: 'To this end was I +born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I +might bear witness to the truth.' 'Before Pontius +Pilate he witnessed the good confession.' And His +confession was His royalty, His relation to the truth, +and His pre-existence. 'To this end was I born,' and +the next clause is no mere tautology, nor a non-significant +parallelism, 'and for this cause came I into +the world.' Then He was before He came, and birth to +Him was not the beginning of being, but the beginning +of a new relation.</p> + +<p>So, then, out of this great word of our text, which +falls into line with a great many other words of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373a" id="Page_373a">[373]</a></span> +New Testament, we may gather important and significant +truths with regard to two things, the matter and +the manner of Christ's witnessing. You remember how +the same Apostle John—for whom that word 'witness' +has a fascination in all its manifold applications—in +that great vision of the Apocalypse, when to his +blessed sight the vision of the Master was once given, +extols Him as 'the faithful witness, and the First-begotten +from the dead, and the Prince of the kings of +the earth.' And you may remember how our Lord +Himself, after His conversation with Nicodemus, says, +'We speak that we do know, and bear witness to that +we have seen,' and how again, in answer to the taunts +of the Jews, He takes the taunt as the most intimate +designation of the peculiarity of His person and of His +work, when He says, 'I am one that bear witness of +Myself.' So, then, we have to interpret his declaration +before Pilate in the light of all these other sayings, +and to remember that He who said that He came to +bear witness to the truth, said also, 'I am the truth,' +and therefore that his great declaration that He was +the witness-bearer to the truth is absolutely synonymous +with His other declaration that He bears witness +of Himself.</p> + +<p>Now, here we come upon one of the great peculiarities +of Christ as a religious teacher. The new thing, +the distinctive peculiarity, the differentia between +Him and all other teachers, lies just here, that His +theme is not so much moral or religious principles, +as His own nature and person. He was the most egotistical +man that ever lived on the face of the earth, +with an egotism only to be accounted for, if we believe, +as He Himself said, that in His person was the +truth that He proclaimed, and that when He witnessed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374a" id="Page_374a">[374]</a></span> +to Himself He revealed God. And thus He stands, +separate from all other teachers, by this, that He is +His own theme and His own witness.</p> + +<p>So much for the matter of the good confession to +which we need only add here its pendant in the confession +before the High Priest. To the representative +of the civil government He said, 'I am a king,' and +then, as I remarked, He soared up into regions where +no Roman official could rise to follow Him, and to +the representative of the Theocratic government He +said, 'Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at +the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of +heaven.' These two truths, that He is the Son of God, +who by His witness to the truth, that is, Himself, lays +the foundations of a Monarchy which shall stretch far +further than the pinions of the Roman eagles could +ever fly, and that he is the Son of Man who, exalted to +the right hand of God, is to be the Judge of mankind—these +are the good confessions to which the Lord +witnessed.</p> + +<p>Then with regard to the manner of His witness. +That brings us to another of the peculiarities of +Christ's teaching. I have said that He was the most +egotistical of men. I would say, too, that there never +was another who clashed down in the front of +humanity such tremendous assertions, with not the +faintest scintilla of an attempt to prove them to our +understandings, or commend them by any other plea +than this, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you!'</p> + +<p>A witness does not need to argue. A witness is a +man who reports what he has seen and heard. The +whole question is as to his veracity and competency. +Jesus Christ states it for the characteristic of His +work, 'We speak that we do know, and bear witness to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375a" id="Page_375a">[375]</a></span> +that we have seen.' His relation to the truth which +He brings to us is not that of a man who has thought +it out, who has been brought to it by experience, or by +feeling, or by a long course of investigation; still less +is it the relation which a man would bear to a truth +that he had learnt from others originally, however +much he had made it his own thereafter: but it is +that of one who is not a thinker, or a learner, or a +reasoner, but who is simply an attester, a witness. +And so He stands before us, and says, 'The words that +I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. +Believe Me, and believe the words, for no other reason, +primarily, than because I speak them.' In these two +respects, then, the matter and the manner of His +witness, He stands alone, and we have to bow before +Him and say, 'Speak, Lord! for thy servant heareth.' +'Before Pontius Pilate He witnessed a good confession.'</p> + +<p>II. We have here suggested to us the subordinate +confessors who echo the Lord's witness.</p> + +<p>It is a matter of no consequence when, and before +whom, this Timothy professed his good profession. It +may have been at his baptism. It may have been +when he was installed in his office. It may have been +before some tribunal of which we know nothing. +That does not matter. The point is that a Christian +man is to be an echo of the Lord's good confession, and +is to keep within the lines of it, and to be sure that all +of it is echoed in his life. Christ has told us what to +say, and we are here to say it over again. Christ has +witnessed; we are to confess. Our relation to that +truth is different from His. We hear it; He speaks it. +We accept it; He reveals it. We are influenced by it; +He <i>is</i> it. He brings it to the world on His own +authority; we are to carry it to the world on His.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376a" id="Page_376a">[376]</a></span></p> + +<p>Be sure that you Christian men are echoes of your +Master. Be sure that you reverberate the note that +He struck. Be sure that all its music is repeated by +you And take care that you neither fall short of it, +nor go beyond it, in your faith and in your profession. +Echoes of Christ—that is the highest conception of a +Christian life.</p> + +<p>But though there is all the difference between the +Witness and the confessors, do not let us forget that, +if we are truly Christian, there is a very deep and +blessed sense in which we, too, may witness what we +have seen and heard. A Christian preacher of any +sort—and by that I mean, not merely a man who +stands in a pulpit, as I do, but all Christian people, +in their measure and degree—will do nothing by +professing the best profession, unless that profession +sounds like the utterance of a man who speaks that he +knows, and who can say, 'that which our eyes have +beheld, that which we have handled, of the Word of +life, we make known unto you.' And so, by the power +of personal experience speaking out in our lives, and +by the power of it alone, as I believe, will victories be +won, and the witness of Jesus Christ be repeated in the +world. Christian men and women, the old saying +which was addressed by a prophet to Israel is more +true, more solemnly true of us, and presses on us with +a heavier weight of obligation, as well as lifts us up +into a position of greater blessedness: 'Ye are my +witnesses, saith the Lord.' That is what you and I are +here for—to bear witness, different and yet like to, the +witness borne by the Lord. We have all to do that, by +words, though not only by them. That is the obligation +that a great many Christian people take very +lightly. That yoke of Jesus Christ many of us slip our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377a" id="Page_377a">[377]</a></span> +necks out of. If He has witnessed, you have to confess. +But some of you carry your Christianity in +secret, and button your coats over the cockade that +should tell whose soldiers you are, and are ashamed, or +too shy, or too nervous, or too afraid of ridicule, or +not sufficiently sure of your own grip of the Master, to +confess Him before men. I beseech you remember +that a Christian man is no Christian unless 'with the +mouth confession is made unto salvation,' as well as +'with the heart' belief is exercised unto righteousness.</p> + +<p>III. Lastly, we have here the practical issue of all +this.</p> + +<p>'I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, +and before Jesus Christ, that thou keep the commandment +without spot.' The 'commandment,' of course, +may be used in a specific sense, referring to what has +just been enjoined, but more probably we are to regard +the same thing which, considered in its relation to +Jesus Christ, is His testimony, as being, in its relation +to us, His commandment. For all Christ's gospel of +revelation that He has made of Himself to the world, +is meant to influence, not only belief and feeling, but +conduct and character as well. All the New Testament, +in so far as it is a record of what Christ is, and +thereby a declaration of what God is, is also for us an +injunction as to what we ought to be. The whole +Gospel is law, and the testimony is commandment, and +we have to keep it, as well as to confess it. Let me +put the few things that I have to say, under this last +division of my subject, the practical issue, into the +shape of three exhortations, not for the sake of seeming +to arrogate any kind of superiority, but for the +sake of point and emphasis.</p> + +<p>Let the life bear witness to the confession. What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378a" id="Page_378a">[378]</a></span> +is the use of Timothy's standing there, and professing +himself a Christian before many witnesses if, when +he goes out into the world, his conduct gives the lie to +his creed, and he lives like the men that are not +Christians? Back up your confession by your conduct, +and when you say 'I believe in Jesus Christ,' let your +life be as true an echo of His life as your confession is +of His testimony. Else we shall come under the condemnation, +'Nothing but leaves,' and shall fall under +the punishment of the continuance of unfruitfulness, +which is our crime as well as our punishment. There +is a great deal more done by consistent living for, and +by inconsistent living against, the truth of the Gospel, +than by all the words of all the preachers in the world. +Your faults go further, and tell more, than my sermons, +and your Christian characters will go further than all +the eloquence of the most devoted preachers. 'There +is no voice nor language, where their sound is not +heard. Their line is gone out into all the earth, and +their words to the end of the world.'</p> + +<p>Again, let the thought of the Great Witness stimulate +us. He, too, took His place by our sides, though with +the differences that I have pointed out, yet with +resemblances which bring Him very near us. He, too; +knew what it was to stand amongst those who shrugged +their shoulders, and knit their brows at His utterances, +and turned away from Him, calling Him sometimes +'dreamer,' sometimes 'revolutionary,' sometimes 'blasphemer,' +and now and then a messenger of good +tidings and a preacher of the gospel of peace. He +knows all our hesitations, all our weaknesses, all our +temptations. He was the first of the martyrs, in the +narrower sense of the word. He is the leader of the +great band of witnesses for God. Let us stand by His<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_379a" id="Page_379a">[379]</a></span> +side, and be like Him in our bearing witness in this +world.</p> + +<p>Again, let the thought of the great tribunal stimulate +us. 'I give thee charge before God, who quickeneth +all things—and who therefore will quicken you—and +before Jesus Christ, that thou keep this commandment.' +Jesus, who witnessed to the truth, witnesses, +in the sense of beholding and watching, us, knowing +our weakness and ready to help us. 'The faithful +witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the +Prince of the kings of the earth,' is by us, as we witness +for Him. And so, though we are compassed about with +so great a cloud of witnesses, the saints in the past +who have witnessed for God, and been witnessed to by +Him, we have to turn away from them, and 'look off' +from all others, 'unto Jesus.' And we may, like the +first of the noble army of martyrs, see the heavens +opened, and Jesus 'standing'—started to His feet, to +see and to help Stephen—'at the right hand of God.'</p> + +<p>Brethren, let us listen to His witness, let us accept it, +setting to our seals that God is true. Then let us try +to echo it back by word, and to attest our confession +by our conduct, and then we may comfort ourselves +with the great word, 'He that confesseth Me before +men, Him will I also confess before My Father which +is in Heaven.'</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>THE CONDUCT THAT SECURES THE +REAL LIFE</h2> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>'Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, +that they may lay hold on eternal life.'—1 <span class="smcap">Tim.</span> vi. 19.</p></div> + + +<p>In the first flush of the sense of brotherhood, the +Church of Jerusalem tried the experiment of having<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_380a" id="Page_380a">[380]</a></span> +all things in common. It was not a success, it was +soon abandoned, it never spread. In the later history +of the Church, and especially in these last Pauline +letters, we see clearly that distinctions of pecuniary +position were very definitely marked amongst the believers. +There were 'rich men' in the churches of which +Timothy had charge. No doubt they were rich after +a very modest fashion, for Paul's standard of opulence +is not likely to have been a very high one, seeing that +he himself ministered with his own hands to his +necessities, and had only one cloak to keep him warm +in winter time. But great or small as were the +resources of these men, they were rich in comparison +with some of their brethren. The words of my text +are the close of the very plain things which Paul commands +Timothy to tell them. He assures them that +if they will be rich in good works, and ready to +distribute, they will lay up for themselves a good +'foundation against the time to come.'</p> + +<p>The teaching in the text is, of course, a great deal +wider than any specific application of it. It is very +remarkable, especially as coming from Paul. 'Lay up +a good foundation'—has he not said, 'Other foundation +can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus +Christ'? 'That they may lay hold on eternal life'—has +he not said, 'The <i>gift</i> of God is eternal life'? Is he +not going dead in the teeth of his own teaching, 'Not +by works of righteousness which we have done, but by +His mercy He saved us'? I think not. Let us see what +he does say.</p> + +<p>I. First, then, he says that the real life is the future +life.</p> + +<p>Those of you who use the Revised Version will see +that it makes an alteration in the last clause of our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_381a" id="Page_381a">[381]</a></span> +text, and instead of 'eternal life' it reads 'the life +which is life indeed,' the true life; not simply designating +it as eternal, but designating it as being the only +thing that is worth calling by the august name of life.</p> + +<p>Now it is quite clear that Paul here is approximating +very closely to the language of his brother John, and +using this great word 'life' as being, in substance, +equivalent to his own favourite word of 'salvation,' +as including in one magnificent generalisation all that +is necessary for the satisfaction of man's needs, the +perfection of his blessedness, and the glorifying of +his nature. Paul's notion of life, like John's, is that +it is the one all-comprehensive good which men need +and seek.</p> + +<p>And here he seems to relegate that 'life which is +life indeed' to the region of the future, because he contemplates +it as being realised 'in the time to come,' +and as being the result of the conduct which is here +enjoined. But you will find that substantially the same +exhortation is given in the 12th verse of this chapter, +'Fight the good fight of faith; lay hold on the life +eternal'—where the process of grasping this 'life,' and +therefore the possession of it, are evidently regarded +as possible here, and the duty of every Christian man +in this present world. That is to say, there is a double +aspect of this august conception of the 'life which is life +indeed.' In one aspect it is present, may be and ought +to be ours, here and now; in another aspect it lies +beyond the flood, and is the inheritance reserved in +the heavens. That double aspect is parallel with the +way in which the New Testament deals with the other +cognate conception of salvation, which it sometimes +regards as past, sometimes as present, sometimes as +future. The complete idea is that the life of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_382a" id="Page_382a">[382]</a></span> +Christian soul here and yonder, away out into the +furthest extremities of eternity, and up to the loftiest +climax of perfectness, is in essence one, whilst yet the +differences between the degree in which its germinal +possession here and its full-fruited enjoyment hereafter +differ is so great as that, in comparison with the +completion that is waiting the Christian soul beyond +the grave, all of the same life that is here enjoyed +dwindles into nothingness. It appears to me that +these two sides of the truth, the essential identity of +the life of the Christian soul beyond and here, and the +all but infinite differences and progresses which separate +the two, are both needful, very needful, to be kept +in view by us.</p> + +<p>There is here on earth, amidst all our imperfections +and weakness and sin, a root in the heart that trusts +in Christ, which only needs to be transplanted into its +congenial soil to blossom and burgeon into undreamed +of beauty, and to bear fruit the savour of which no +mortal lips can ever taste. The dwarfed rhododendrons +in our shrubberies have in them the same +nature as the giants that adorn the slopes of the +Himalayas. Transplant these exotics to their native +soil, and you would see what it was in them to be. +Think of the life that is now at its best; its weakness, +its blighted hopes, its thwarted aims, its foiled endeavours; +think of its partings, its losses, its conflicts. +Think of its disorders, its sins, and consequent sufferings; +think of the shadow at its close, which flings +long trails of blackness over many preceding years. +Think of its swift disappearance, and then say if such +a poor, fragmentary thing is worthy of the name of +life, if that were all that the man was for.</p> + +<p>But it is not all. There is a 'life which is life indeed,'<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_383a" id="Page_383a">[383]</a></span> +over which no shadow can pass, nor any sorrow darken +the blessed faces or clog the happy hearts of those +who possess it. They 'have all and abound.' They +know all and are at rest. They dread nothing, and +nothing do they regret. They leave nothing behind as +they advance, and of their serenity and their growth +there is no end. That is worth calling life. It lies +beyond this dim spot of earth. It is 'hid with Christ +in God.'</p> + +<p>II. Secondly, notice that conduct here determines the +possession of the true life.</p> + +<p>Paul never cares whether he commits the rhetorical +blunder of mixing up metaphors or not. That matters +very little, except to a pedant and a rhetorician. In +his impetuous way he blends three here, and has no +time to stop to disentangle them. They all mean +substantially the same thing which I have stated in +the words that conduct here determines the possession +of life hereafter; but they put it in three different +figurative fashions which we may separate and look at +one by one.</p> + +<p>The first of them is this, that by our actions here we +accumulate treasure hereafter. 'Laying up in store +for themselves' is one word in the original, and it +contains even more than is expressed in our paraphrase, +for it is really 'treasuring off.' And the idea +is that the rich man is bade to take a portion of his +worldly goods, and, by using these for beneficent purposes, +out of them to store a treasure beyond the +grave. What is employed thus, and from the right +motives and in the right way, is not squandered, but +laid up in store. You remember the old epitaph,</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="What I spent I lost"> +<tr><td align='left'>'What I spent I lost;</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">What I gave I have.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_384a" id="Page_384a">[384]</a></span></p> + +<div class='unindent'>Now that is Christ's teaching, for did He not say: 'Sell +all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt +have treasure in heaven'? Did He not say: 'Lay +not up for yourselves treasures on earth, . . . but lay +up treasures in heaven'? And if anybody's theology +finds it difficult to incorporate these solemn teachings +of our Lord with the rest of it, so much the worse for +the theology.</div> + +<p>I have no doubt at all that Christianity has yet a +great deal to teach the Christian Church and the +world about the acquisition of money and the disposal +of money; and, though I do not want to dwell +now upon that specific application of the general +principle of my text, I cannot help reminding you, +dear friends, that for a very large number of us, almost +the most important influence shaping our characters +is the attitude that we take in regard to these things—the +getting and the distribution of worldly wealth. +For the bulk of Christian people there are few things +more important as sharp tests of the reality of their +religion, or more effective in either ennobling or +degrading their whole character, than what they do +about these two plain matters.</p> + +<p>But then my text goes a great deal further than +that; and whilst it applies unflinchingly this principle +to the one specific case, it invites us to apply it all +round the circumference of our earthly conduct. +What you are doing here is piling up for you, on the +other side of the wall, what you will have to live +with, and either get good or evil out of, through +all eternity. A man who is going to Australia pays +some money into a bank here, and when he gets to +Melbourne it is punctually paid out to him across the +counter. That is what we are doing here, lodging<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_385a" id="Page_385a">[385]</a></span> +money on this side that we are going to draw on that. +And it is this which gives to the present its mystical +significance and solemnity, that all our actions are +piling up for us future possessions: 'treasuring up +wrath against the day of wrath'; or, contrariwise, +'glory, immortality, honour, eternal life.' We are +like men digging a trench on one side of a hedge and +flinging the spadefuls over to the other. They are all +being piled up behind the barrier, and when we go +round the end of it we shall find them all waiting for us.</p> + +<p>Then the Apostle superimposes upon this another +metaphor. He does not care to unravel it. 'Laying +up in store for themselves a store,' he would have said +if he had been a pedant, 'which is also a good foundation.' +Now I take it that that does not mean a basis +for hope, or anything of that sort, but that it conveys +this thought, that our actions here are putting in the +foundations on which the eternal building of our +future life shall be reared. When a man excavates +and lays the first courses of the stones of his building, +he thereby determines every successive stage of it, +until the headstone is brought forth with rejoicing. +We are laying foundations in that profound sense in +this world. Our nature takes a set here, and I fail to +see any reason cognisable by us why that ply of the +nature should ever be taken out of it in any future. +I do not dogmatise; but it seems to me that all that we +do know of life and of God's dealings in regard to man +leads us to suppose that the next world is a world of +continuations, not of beginnings; that it is the second +volume of the book, and hangs logically and necessarily +upon the first that was finished when a man +died. Our lives here and hereafter appear to me to be +like some geometrical figure that wants two sheets of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_386a" id="Page_386a">[386]</a></span> +paper for its completion: on the first the lines run up +to the margin, and on the second they are carried on +in the direction which was manifest in the section that +was visible here.</p> + +<p>And so, dear friends, let us remember that this is the +reason why our smallest acts are so tremendous that +by our actions we are making character, and that +character is destiny, here and hereafter. You are +putting in the foundations of the building that you +have to live in; see that they are of such a sort as will +support a house eternal in the heavens.</p> + +<p>The last of the metaphors under which the Apostle +suggests the one idea is that our conduct here determines +our capacity to lay hold of the prize. It +seems to me that the same allusion is lingering in his +mind which is definitely stated in the previous verse +to which I have already referred, where the eternal life +which Timothy is exhorted to lay hold of is regarded +as being the prize of the good fight of faith, which he +is exhorted to fight. And so the third metaphor here +is that which is familiar in Paul's writings, where +eternal life is regarded as a garland or prize, given to +the victor in race or arena. It is exactly the same +notion as he otherwise expresses when he says that +he follows after if that he may 'lay hold of that for +which also he is laid hold of by Jesus Christ.' This is +the underlying thought, that according to a Christian +man's acts here is his capacity of receiving the real +life yonder.</p> + +<p>That is not given arbitrarily. Each man gets as +much of it when he goes home as he can hold. The +tiniest vessel is filled, the largest vessel is filled. But +the little vessel may, and will, grow bigger if that which +is deposited in it be rightly employed. Let us lay this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_387a" id="Page_387a">[387]</a></span> +to heart, that Christian men dare not treat it as a +matter of indifference whether to the full they live +lives consistent with their profession, and do the will +of their Master or no. It is not all the same, and it +will not be all the same yonder, whether we have +adorned the teaching, or whether our lives have +habitually and criminally fallen beneath the level of +our professions. Brethren, we are too apt to forget +that there is such a thing as being 'saved, yet so as by +fire'; and that there is such a thing as 'having an +entrance ministered abundantly into the Kingdom.' +Be you sure of this, that if the hands of your spirits +are ever to be capable of grasping the prize, it must +be as the result of conduct here on earth, which has +been treasuring up treasures yonder, and laying a +foundation on which the incorruptible house may +solidly rest.</p> + +<p>III. And now the last word that I have to say is that +these principles are perfectly compatible with the great +truth of salvation by faith.</p> + +<p>For observe to whom the text is spoken. It is to +men who have professed to be believers, and it is on +the ground of their faith that these rich men in +Timothy's churches are exhorted to this conduct. +There is no incompatibility between the doctrine that +eternal life is the gift of God, and the placing of those +who have received that gift under a strict law of +recompense.</p> + +<p>That is the teaching of the whole New Testament. +It was to <i>Christian</i> men that it was said: 'Be not +deceived; God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth +that shall he also reap.' It is the teaching of Jesus +Christ Himself.</p> + +<p>But there is a dreadful danger that we, with our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_388a" id="Page_388a">[388]</a></span> +partial vision, shall see one side of the truth so clearly +that we do not see the other; and so you get two +antagonistic schools of Christian teaching who have +torn the one word into halves. One of them says, +'Man is saved by faith only,' and forgets 'faith without +works is dead'; and the other says, 'Do your duty, and +never mind about your belief,' and forgets that the +belief—the trust—is the only sure foundation on which +conduct can be based, and the only source from which +it is certain to flow.</p> + +<p>Now, if I should not be misunderstood by that same +narrow and contracted vision of which I have been +speaking, I would venture to say that salvation by +faith alone may be so held as to be a very dangerous +doctrine, and that there is a very real sense in which +a man is saved by works. And if you do not like that, +go home and read the Epistle of James, and see what +you make of his teaching: 'Ye see, brethren, how that +by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.' +'Faith wrought with his works, and by his works was +his faith made perfect.'</p> + +<p>Only let us understand where the exhortation of the +text comes in. We have to begin with absolute departure +from all merit in work, and the absolute casting +of ourselves on Jesus Christ. If you have not done +that, my brother, the teaching 'Laying up in store for +themselves a good foundation' has no application to +you, but this teaching has, 'Other foundation can no +man lay. Behold, I lay in Zion a tried corner-stone. +Whosoever believeth in Him shall not make haste.' +If you have not committed your souls and selves and +lives and hopes to Jesus Christ, the teaching 'Lay hold +on eternal life' has only a very modified application to +you, because the only hand that can grasp that life is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_389a" id="Page_389a">[389]</a></span> +the hand of faith that is content to receive it from His +hands with the prints of the nails in them. But if you +have given yourselves to that Saviour, and received the +germinal gift of eternal life from Him, then, take my +text as absolutely imperative for you. Remember +that it is for you, resting on Christ, to treasure up +eternal life; for you to build on that sure foundation +gold and silver and precious stones which may stand +the fire; for you, by faithful continuance in well-doing, +to lay hold of that for which you have been laid hold +of by Jesus Christ. May it be true of all of us that +'our works do follow us'!</p> + + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Thy works, thine alms"> +<tr><td align='left'>'Thy works, thine alms, and all thy good endeavour</td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Stayed not behind, nor in the grave were trod,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Followed thee up to joy and bliss for ever.'</span></td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style='width: 65%;' /> +<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes</h3> +<p>Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p> + +<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. +Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p> +</div> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture, by +Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 21190-h.htm or 21190-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/9/21190/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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