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diff --git a/22432.txt b/22432.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73cf06e --- /dev/null +++ b/22432.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1427 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Parables of the Christ-life, by I. Lilias Trotter + +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: Parables of the Christ-life + +Author: I. Lilias Trotter + +Release Date: August 29, 2007 [EBook #22432] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARABLES OF THE CHRIST-LIFE *** + + + + + + + + + + + +Parables of the Christ-life, +by I. Lilias Trotter + + +Marshall Brothers, Ltd. +London & Edinburgh. + + +To F.N.F. B.G.L.N. G.S.T. & A.M.E. +'fellow workers unto the kingdom of God.' + + + + +LIFE--the first glance would hardly find it on this African hillside +in the summertime. The hot wind of the desert has passed over it, and +the spring beauty of iris and orchid, asphodel and marigold, has +vanished. Nothing is to be seen but the mellow golden-brown of the +grass, broken by blue-green aloe leaves, and here and there a deep +madder head of dried-up fennel. + +Yet life is reigning, not death, all the while; it is there, in +infinitely greater abundance than when the field was green--life +enough to clothe a score of fields next year. + +Stoop down and look into that withered grass, and a whole new world +of God's handiwork will come into view in the burnt-up tangle. For of +all the growing things out here, the seed-vessels are among the most +wonderful. Even little insignificant plants that would hardly catch +your eye when in flower, develop forms of quaint beauty as the +capsules ripen. And now that all is finished, they lie stored with +vitality in the midst of the seeming loss around. + +Do you see the parable? We will trace it out step by step. + +Back we must go, to the days of early spring. The annuals that +clothed the field had each but one life then; a perishing life, +though it looked so strong in its young vigour. Left to itself, it +stood "condemned already." + +But the critical moment came, changing its whole destiny, when a new +birth took place: the vitalizing pollen was received by the pistil, +and set up the reign of a fresh undying creation. All that had gone +before in the plant's history was a preparation for this moment: all +that followed was a working out to its fruition. + +"Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he +cannot see the Kingdom of God." Every soul carries like the flower a +possible life, other than that of its first birth; more than that, to +every soul within reach of the Gospel there comes probably a moment +when the Life of God draws near and could be received if it were +willing. There is a crisis like that which the flower reaches, when +all things are ready. If that crisis is not seized, nothing lies +before the plant but useless, irrevocable decay; the power to receive +withers and vanishes; and nothing can renew it. + +"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of +the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be +born again." "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, +neither doth corruption inherit incorruption." Are you letting pass +the moment on which all eternity hangs? + +* * * * * * + +The hour at which this new birth can take place in the flower is the +hour at which the stigma is able to grasp the pollen that comes to +it, blown by the wind or carried by the bees and butterflies. Up till +then the grains fall off unheeded; but now it develops a surface, +glutinous in some cases, velvety in others, that can clasp and keep +them fast. The pollen grains lay hold at the same moment by their +sculptured points and ridges. They "apprehend" each other, and the +pollen, with its mysterious quickening power, does the rest. As soon +as it is received it sinks down into the innermost depths of the +flower's heart, and starts there the beginning of the new creation. + +The most wonderful secrets of the plant world hang round the process +of fertilisation, and the ways in which these springs of the second +birth are guarded and set going, but the flower's simple work is to +open and receive. + +"The gift of God is eternal life"--oh, marvellous words!--"through +Jesus Christ our Lord." "As many as received Him, to them gave He +power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His +name." "He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son +of God hath not life." "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any +man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him." + +It is utterly, unbelievably simple. Receive Jesus with a heart-grasp, +and you will find, like the flower, a spring of eternal life, +entirely distinct from your own, that is perishing, set working deep +down in your inmost being. + +And all that is needed, for the fulfilment of God's uttermost purpose +for you, is that this "new man" should be formed and that the old +should pass away. + +From the very outset of its new birth we see this double process +going on in the plant. Within a few hours the throb of new life has +spread through the flower, with this first result, that the petals +begin to wither. Fertilisation marks the striking of the death-blow +to all that went before. Look at a clover head; do you know why some +of the spikes are upright and others turned downwards and fading? It +is because these last have received the new tide, and the old is +ebbing out already. The birth-peal and the death-knell rang together. +Fertilisation marks the death of the flower and the death of the +flower the death of the annual, though the carrying out of its doom +comes gradually. + +And in like manner the sentence of death passes, in the Cross, on the +old nature in its entirety, as the new comes into being. This is the +one only basis and groundwork for all carrying out in our practical +experience of what that death means. Once for all let this be clear. +Apart from the work done on Calvary, all working out of a death +process in our own souls is only a false and dangerous mysticism... . +"I have been crucified with Christ." (R. V.)--Yes, long before ever I +asked to be--glory be to God! and yet as freshly as if it were +yesterday, for time is nowhere with Him. + +And simultaneously, in figure, in the little flower-heart, while +"that which is natural" begins to fade, "that which is spiritual" +dawns. The seed-vessel with its hidden treasure--the ultimate object +of this miracle of quickening--begins immediately to form. It was +within three days of "the heavenly vision" when the once rejected +Jesus was received by St. Paul, that the commission came--"he is a +chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My Name." A chosen vessel unto Him. +The seed-vessel belongs to the seed, only and for ever: it is formed +for itself and has no purpose apart. Separation has nothing austere +and narrow in it when it is unto Him. + +Chosen vessels to bear His Name--His personality; with all that is +wrapped up in that Name of fragrance and healing, authority and +power; chosen to go about this weary sinful world with the living +Christ folded in our hearts, ready and able as of old to meet the +need around. Is not this a calling for which it is worth counting, as +St. Paul did, all things but loss? + +Chosen vessels--there is the vessel and there is the treasure in it, +for ever distinct, though in wonderful union, like the seed-vessel +and the seed: the one enshrines the other. + +God builds up a shrine within us of His workmanship, from the day in +which Jesus was received. The seed-vessel is its picture. With the +old nature He can have nothing to do except to deliver it to death: +no improving can fit it for His purpose, any more than the leaf or +tendril, however beautiful, can be the receptacle of the seed. There +must be "a new creation" (R.V., margin), "the new man," to be the +temple of the Divine Life. + +And as the petals drop off, and the growing seed-vessel comes into +view, we see a fresh individuality developed. Compare in these four +pages some of the seed-vessels of a single family--vetch and clover: +we found over thirty species of it in that one field of the +frontispiece. These will show something of their extraordinary +variety--we have bunches of horns great and small, and bunches of +imitation centipedes, and bunches of mock holly leaves, prickly coils +and velvety balls; mimic concertinas, and bits of quaint embroidery; +imitation snail-shells, croziers, pods with frills at the seams, +spiked caskets with curious indentations, clusters of stars, bladders +like soft paper, and plaited spirals wound into a tiny cocoanut, +that, untwisted, becomes a minature crown of thorns--are they not all +a visible expression of the thoughts that are more than can be +numbered? And the greater part spring from little unnoticeable +flowers, so alike in their yellow or pink that you have to look +closely in order to find out any difference! It is the seed-bearing +that gives them their individual character. + +And the same God has manifold plans for our development too, as +vessels for His Christ-life. It is by the Divine indwelling that our +true, eternal personality dawns, and for the expression of the +special manifestation of Himself which is entrusted to each one of +us. The protoplasm that quickens each different seed is one and the +same essence, but in no two does it find the same expression. He +needs the whole Church to manifest His whole character and accomplish +His appointed ministry, and so the individual development must differ +widely in everything but the common vital principle. Life--eternal +life--is the essence of all--life receiving and life-giving. There is +no need to imitate the seed-vessel of a brother vetch!--only to draw +into our own the fulness of grace that we may develop into its full +individuality the mission entrusted to us. + +There is nothing arbitrary in these differing shapes of the +seed-vessels. If we look closely, we shall find that they are formed +in union with the seed that each contains--it is this that determines +the form of each, and builds it up. See these few instances: the peas +need their long pod with its daintily-cushioned divisions, to allow +each little globe to round itself to perfection; the crescent-shaped +seeds of this other vetch, each set into its own place again, form +the distinctive character of their different sheath--so do the tiny +rod-shaped ones of the third vetch, which clothe themselves in a +segmented rod in turn. While on the other hand the fine sand-like +grain of this snap-dragon needs storing in a capsule--such a quaint +one it is (whether most like a bird or a mouse sitting on a twig is +hard to say)--but it is a perfectly adapted treasure-bag for the +delicate things, and when they are ripe the two eyes open, and the +wind shakes the seed out by them! Each one lays itself out for the +special trust committed to it. Is it not the same wonderful Fashioner +Who fits us and our ministry together, and forms us through it with +unerring precision, preparing us for the white stone and the new name +which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it, eternity's seal on +the heavenly individuality of each. That eternal future will show how +the Lord had need of each of us in our varying character, and how all +that made up this earthly life fitted us for "bearing about" the +special manifestation of Jesus entrusted to us, in which no other +could take our place. He needs us, every one of us, as if there were +no other besides. + +* * * * * * + +But we will go back from this glimpse of God's ultimate purpose for +us, to watch the process by which it is reached, so far as we can +trace it in the ripening of the little annuals. + +The figure will not give us all the steps by which God gets His way +in the intricacies of a human soul: we shall see no hint in it of the +cleansing and filling that is needed in sinful man before he can +follow the path of the plant. It shows us some of the Divine +principles of the new life rather than a set sequence of experience; +above all, the parable gives a lesson that most of us only begin to +learn after Pentecost has become a reality to us--the lesson of +walking, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. + +The flesh--the life of nature--is all, good and bad alike, that we +had and were before Christ came to us. We see its shadow in the life +of root and stem, leaf and tendril and petal, that made up the plant +before its new birth took place; "for all flesh is grass, and all the +goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field." It is not only +that which is sinful as opposed to that which is holy: it is that +which is human as opposed to that which is Divine. + +In the earlier stage of the seed-vessel's growth we see the two +lives, the old and the new, practically going on alongside. And can +we not remember, many of us, in our own history, how the self life +went almost untouched and unrecognised, for years, while all the time +Christ was growing within us, and our ministry was being given? + +Let us look at the seed-vessels, well set and forming fast, with +their natural life all unbroken as yet, and learn to be very tender +and patient with the early stages of God's work in those around. + +But though the two may exist for a time side by side, they cannot +flourish together. The crisis must come to us as to the annual, when +the old creation begins to go down into the grave, and the new begins +to triumph at its cost. + +In the plant life the two are absolutely and for ever separate--there +is no possibility of confounding the perishable existence of leaf and +stalk with the newborn seed-vessel and its hidden riches. In the +heavenly light the distinction stands out as ineffaceably. "That +which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the +Spirit is spirit." But our eyes are too dim at first to distinguish +them in detail: with most of us it is only when the cleansing Blood +has dealt with the question of known sin, and the Spirit's incoming +has cleared our vision, that the two lives, natural and spiritual, +begin to stand out before us, no longer shading into each other, but +in vivid contrast. The word of God in the hand of the Holy Ghost +pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and we see bit by +bit as we can bear it, how we have made provision for the flesh, +given occasion to the flesh, had confidence in the flesh, warred +after the flesh, judged after the flesh, purposed after the flesh, +known each other after the flesh. The carnal nature with its workings +stands out as the hindrance in the way of the Divine, and the time +comes when we see that no more growth is possible to the Christ in us +unless a deliverance comes here. + +We are helpless in the matter. There is no system of self-repression +or self-mortification that will do anything but drive the evil below +the surface, there to do a still more subtle work, winding down out +of reach. The roots will only strike deeper and the sap flow stronger +for the few leaves trimmed off here and there. If self sets to work +to slay self it will only end in rising hydra-headed from the +contest. How is the deliverance to come? + +The annuals give us the secret. Look back at the vetch seed-vessels. +Why is it that the leaves which used to stand firm and fresh like +those of the flowering clover, have begun to shrivel and turn yellow? +It is because they have acquiesced wholly now in the death sentence +of their new birth, and they are letting the new life live at the +expense of the old. Death is being wrought out by life. + +And the same triumphant power of the new life is set free as we come +to accept to its utmost limits the sentence of Calvary, that "our old +man was crucified with Him," in its sum-total, seen and unseen, root +and branch. Christ is our Life now--our only Life--and we begin to +find that He is dealing with the old creation, we hardly know how. We +only know that as we bring the judgment, the motive, the aim that +were ours, not His, into contact with Him, they shrivel and wither +like the dying leaves. The impulses and the shrinkings of the flesh +perish in His Presence alike. The new life wrecks the old. "If ye +through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body ye shall +live"--that is what the withering leaves say. We are "saved by His +life." + +The great North African aloe plant shows this very strikingly. It is +like our annuals on a large scale, for it flowers and seeds but once +in its career, though that numbers more years than these can count +weeks. + + +Up till then its thick hard leaves look as if nothing could exhaust +their vigour. The flower stalk pushes up from a fresh sheaf of +them--up and up twelve or fourteen feet--and expands into a +candelabra of golden blossom, and not a droop comes in the plant +below. But as the seed forms, we see that life is working death, +slowly and surely; the swords lose their stiffness and colour and +begin to hang helplessly, and by the time it is ripe, every vestige +of vitality is drained away from them, and they have gone to limp, +greyish-brown streamers. The seed has possessed itself of everything. + +And the meadow plants that we have been watching follow, on their +small pattern, the same law. + +All gives way to the ripening seed. In the grasses the very root +perishes by the time the grain is yellow, and comes up whole if you +try to break the stem. They "reign in life" above through the +indwelling seed, while all that is "corruptible" goes down into dust +below. They have let all go to life--the enduring life: they are not +taken up with the dying--that is only a passing incident--everything +is wrapped up into the one aim, that the seed may triumph at any +cost. Death is wrought out almost unconsciously: the seed has done it +all. + +Can we not trace the same dealing in our souls as, slowly, tenderly, +all that nourished that which is carnal is withdrawn, giving way to +the forming of the Christ life in its place? His thoughts and desires +and ways begin to dethrone ours as the aloe seed dethrones its leaves +and casts them to the ground. "He must increase, but I must decrease." + +And the outward dealings co-operate with the inward. It is just in +the very corner of everyday life where God has put us, that this can +take place, and the surrounding influences can have their share in +bringing down to death the old nature. It is no mystical, imaginary +world that draws out the latent forms of self, but the commonplace, +matter-of-fact world about us. + +It is in contact with others, for the most part, that the humbling +discoveries of the workings of the flesh come, on the one hand, and +on the other we find ourselves breaking down in one after another of +our strongest points. And all these things that seem against us are +really doing a blessed work--they are "the Wind of the Lord" coming +"up from the wilderness" to "spoil the treasure" of all that is of +former days. Everything that is "natural," good and bad alike, must +go down into death before its blast, when God takes it in hand--all +that we can lean upon in outward things, all clinging to the visible +and the transitory; and with this result, that our arms clasp closer +and closer round the Eternal Seed, Christ in us the Hope of +Glory--known no longer after the flesh, but by the mighty revelation +of the Holy Ghost. + +All this is shadowed forth in the story of these southern plants; one +day's sirocco in May will turn a field, bright with the last flowers, +into a brown wilderness, where the passing look sees nothing but +ruin--yet in that one day the precious seed will have taken a stride +in its ripening that it would have needed a month of ordinary weather +to bring about; it will have drawn infinite life out of the fiery +breath that made havoc with the outward and visible. + +"The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the +Lord bloweth upon it." But "our light affliction" (and from the +context we see that spiritual trial is included there) "which is but +for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight +of glory--while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the +things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are +temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." In all the +breaking down on the human side, the hidden treasure is left not only +unhurt but enriched. Everything that wrecks our hopes of ourselves, +and our earthly props, is helping forward infinitely God's work in us. + +So "we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward +man is renewed day by day." God's purpose for us is that we should be +seed-vessels; all the rest may go down into nothingness, for it +"profiteth nothing." The plant does not faint in its inner heart. +Little does it matter what happens to the "corruptible": each fading +of the outward only marks a corresponding development of the +"incorruptible" within. + +"What things were gain to me" (the words seem echoed from the fading +leaves and the ripening seed), "those I counted loss for Christ. Yea, +doubtless, and I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the +knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss +of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ." + +"This one thing I do." "They that are after the flesh do mind the +things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things +of the Spirit." The plant has nothing to "mind" now but the treasure +it bears. Its aim has grown absolutely simple. In old days there was +the complexity of trying to carry on two lives at once, nourishing +root and stem, leaf and flower and tendril, alongside the seed-vessel +and the seed. All that is over. It withdraws itself quietly into the +inner shrine where God is working out that which is eternal. It has +chosen, in figure, that good part which shall not be taken away: it +is pressing towards the mark for the prize of its calling. + +Pressing, but in perfect rest. "They toil not, neither do they spin," +these plants, in their seed-bearing any more than in their flowering. +And when we have learnt something of their surrender, we are ready +for their secret of waiting on God's inworking. How long we are in +grasping that we are His workmanship, even as they--in discovering +the simple fact that it is exactly as impossible by our own striving +to develop the Christ-life in our hearts as to form the seed in the +pod! We have not to produce out of our higher nature a lowliness and +a patience and a purity of our own, but simply to let the pure, +patient, lowly life of Jesus have its way in us by yieldingness to it +and by faith in its indwelling might. "All that God wants from man is +opportunity." The whole of our relationship to His power, whether for +sanctification or for service, is summed up in those words. + +Surrender--stillness--a ready welcoming of all stripping, all loss, +all that brings us low, low into the Lord's path of humility--a +cherishing of every whisper of the Spirit's voice, every touch of the +prompting that comes to quicken the hidden life within: that is the +way God's human seed-vessels ripen, and Christ becomes "magnified" +even through the things that seem against us. + +"Mine but to be still: +Thine the glorious power, +Thine the mighty will." + +And it is not only the siroccos that help forward His purpose for us! +The "clear heat" and the midnight dews all minister together: "the +sun to rule the day" when His light and sweetness flood our +souls;--the darkness--the cloudless darkness--of a walk by faith when +"the moon and the stars" of the promises alone are visible: "His +mercy endureth for ever" through all alike and He uses them to their +utmost that Christ may be formed in us. + +For the spirit of abandonment has to be carried into our spiritual +life, as well as into the things that only touch the natural. The +seed-vessel has to go down into death as well as the leaf. Look at it +as it begins to pass into the valley of that shadow and its strength +begins to ebb away. It is only getting ready by its weakening, for +the service to which it has been called. + +Long ago we imagined, it may be, an enduement of power from on high +in which we should have a conscious supply of the heavenly +energising--a conscious equipment for every service--a reservoir of +Divine might that could be drawn on at will. But watch the +seed-vessel as the hour comes near in which its ministry can be +fulfilled; there is only weakness greater than ever before. "It is +sown in weakness"; only in the raising does the power come into play. + +"I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. And my +speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, +but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith +should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." "The +weak things of the world hath God chosen." "We are weak with Him" +(margin)--oh! words of wonderful grace and sweetness. There is +nothing but rest in being brought low "with Him." + +And not only must our service feel this weakening touch: it must go +deeper yet. Our experiences, the blessed hours of opened heavens, +must be held with a loose hand. We saw the life withdrawn before from +the leaves of the old creation into the seed-vessel of the new. Now +it is withdrawn further still, as ripeness comes, from the +seed-vessel into the seed. In the early stages of Christian path we +are apt to be much taken up, and rightly, with the spiritual +processes by which God is working in us. But in the "ripeness of +maturity" (the real sense of "perfect" in Col. i. 28, and elsewhere) +He has something better for us. "I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth +in me." He wants to bring us from clinging to the emotional on one +hand, and on the other from morbid introspection: for perhaps one of +the chief dangers besetting those who are following hard after Him, +lies in getting taken up with these inner experiences (it is awfully +possible for the devil to rivet the chains of self back on a soul +even in the very act of watching the death process going on within +it, getting it absorbed even with its own dying!). Let us come as +fast as we can to letting the seed-vessel go as well as the leaves, +God wants to bring us to a life of childlike simplicity, taken up +with His Christ; always lower and lower at His feet in the +consciousness of shortcoming and unworthiness as His Glory shines, +but with our spiritual selves and all their intricacies fading out of +sight before Him. As we go on, we learn to draw the supply of every +need for spirit and soul and body from the simplest, barest, most +direct contact with Him. All the intervening tissues in the +seed-vessel melt away. "You have learnt the death of self when there +is nothing between your bare heart and Jesus." + +Yes; when the seed is ripe it fills up the whole of the husk--there +is no room left for anything else: the walls shrivel to a mere shell. +This is the calling of the Bride--to have no room for anything but +Jesus. Blessed are they who hear it and respond. + +Look at the parable. The life of leaf and tendril has shrunk away, +but there is nothing sad about the dying of the seed-vessel. What +lovely things they are, these little burnt offerings! Their bright +golden browns look far happier than the greens of spring. + +And they have come now to a point of beautiful heedless freedom about +the future. When once the last shade of green that marks a clinging +to the old days has vanished, all carefulness for the earthly side of +things vanishes too. No matter how soon now the last strand of +earthly support and supply gives way: its loss is not felt. The life +is "hid" with such a hiding that nothing from around can touch it. +The fiercest summer glow only causes the little germ to wrap itself +close together in happy recklessness, the careless feet that tread it +down can only hasten the burial that is its next stage onward, the +autumn storms can bring it nothing but fresh draughts of quickening. + +Yes, our life is hid with Christ in God, in actual truth as well in +God's purpose, if it has come to this that it is "no longer" we that +live but Christ that liveth in us. Oh! the simplicity of that "no +longer"--as the seed-vessel pictures it now, taken up with the seed +it bears, and heedless of itself and whatever may come. And yet, in +the absolute simplicity, there is a depth of mystery that the former +days never knew. It is like a soul that has come into the Holiest, +where it has God alone. + +* * * * * * + +And now we turn to the other side, to watch what God can do, in the +world around, with the Christ-life that He creates in us. We have +seen its in-flowing: we will follow its outflow. To be to Jesus all +for which He has called us--letting Him have His way utterly with us, +possessed by Him, taken up with Him--that is the first purpose for +our souls. But the Father's plan for us reaches wider than that, +though it can reach no deeper. "The first Adam was made a living +soul; the last Adam was made a quickening Spirit." His ultimate aim +is to set free for His own use that which He has wrought in us in +secret, and to give us the power of communicating that Divine life of +which we have been made partakers. We are to be "good stewards of the +manifold grace of God," entrusted with "the true riches" to minister +for Him--His for His spending. The promise to Abraham: "I will bless +thee ... and thou shalt be a blessing," gives the double purpose for +His people--"grace" for our own souls, and "apostleship" for those +around. + +We have seen in parable, in the seed's growing and ripening, the work +of the Spirit within us, forming the life of Jesus, and bringing down +the flesh into the grave. In its scattering we see shadowed forth the +Spirit upon us in His power of reaching other souls. There is no +needs be with us that this double work should be consecutive as in +the plants--it may go on simultaneously. There is never a moment, +from the first receiving of Christ as Saviour, when the full +outpouring of the Holy Ghost may not take place--never a moment when, +in figure, the seed may not be set free. There are some few who leap +down, as soon as they are saved, to the simple, bare, lowly faith +which liberates God's power, and He can use them mightily all along, +but they are very few. Practically in most cases there is time +involved, because we take so long to unlearn our own sufficiency and +our own resources, and even after we have received the promise of the +Spirit through faith, we are puzzled, it may be, by a want of +continuity in His outflow. + +It is because, before God can get us to the place where He can send +Him through us in a steady tide, we have to go lower than we dreamed +of at first: and He may have to stop using us for a time, that He may +deepen this work within, and bring us to utter brokenness. + +Look at the last stage in the plant, before the inwrought life is +free for use. There is a breaking-up and a breaking-down such as it +never had before. Such brittleness comes as the seed ripens that it +is almost impossible to pick some of the stems without cracking them +in two or three places. The ripened seed-vessels share the same +brittleness: you can hardly touch them without the whole crown +falling to pieces in your hand. + +Conscious weakness, as a preparation for service, is one thing: +brokenness is another. We may know that we are but earthen pitchers, +like Gideon's, with nothing of our own but the light within, and yet +we may not have passed through the shattering that sheds the light +forth. + +This does not mean something vague or imaginary, but intensely +practical. Read the description that Paul gives of the life of +ministry--the apostolic life--and see what it is to be a shattered +seed-vessel; it is no dreamy experience in the clouds! + +"Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and +stewards of the mysteries of God... . We are made a spectacle to the +world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake, but +ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are +honourable, but we are despised. Even unto this present hour we both +hunger and thirst and are naked and have no certain dwelling-place. +And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; +being persecuted, we suffer it, being defamed, we intreat; we are +made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things +unto this day." + +"Seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint +not... . But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the +excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled +on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in +despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; +always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that +the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we +which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the +life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." + +"In all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much +patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, in stripes, +in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings. +... By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as +deceivers and yet true; as unknown and yet well known; as dying, and +behold we live; as chastened and not killed; as sorrowful, yet alway +rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet +possessing all things." + +"Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in +labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more +frequent, in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty +stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, +thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the +deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of +robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, +in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the +sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in +watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and +nakedness. Besides those things that are without, that which cometh +upon me daily, the care of all the churches... . I take pleasure in +infirmities, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for +Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." + +Do you notice that in each passage these are given as the marks of +"ministry"? Such were what Paul found to be the conditions of +spiritual power. Their absence among us may account for its absence +too! Oh! how little we know of them in the midst of the spirit of +luxury that is around us in the world and of the easy-going +Christianity of the Church! We cannot all be honoured by our service +finding the same outward expression as his, in its bodily stress and +suffering, but is there among us even a seeking after its spirit? + +"This is sacrifice, 'death in us, life in you.'--In us, emptiness, +weakness, suffering, pressure, perplexity. In you life--life--life! +As if Paul would say, 'the more I am pressed above measure, the more +the life of Jesus is abundant in its outflow, and in its quickening +of other lives.' This is the apostolic life. Through the Eternal +Spirit, Christ offered Himself to God. Through the same Spirit shall +we be enabled to walk in His steps, and to rejoice in ... sufferings ... +and fill up ... that which is lacking of the afflictions of +Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the Church.'" +[footnote*:"The Message of the Cross"--Mrs. Penn-Lewis.] + +Yes, it is a broken spirit that we need--a spirit keeping no rights +before God or man, longing to go down, down, anywhere, if other souls +may be blessed. It is an indefinable thing, this brokenness, and yet +it is as unmistakable when it has been wrought, as that of the +seed-vessel in the field. + +God has His promise for those "who sow in tears": those to whom to be +a channel of Divine communication to the world means soul burden and +travail. It is they who are bound to "reap in joy." + +And as we look at these broken-up seed-vessels, we can read a warning +as to our dealings with others, as well as the lesson to ourselves. +If such brokenness as this is the condition of God's power upon us, +what of the danger of making much of the instruments that He uses? If +we do so even in thought, it will unconsciously show itself in manner +and tone, and the subtle influence may reach them and be used of the +devil to build again in a moment that which God had been long +breaking down, and so stay the tide He had at last with infinite +pains set free. "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers +by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have +planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither +is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that +giveth the increase." + +* * * * * * + +And now we can turn at last to see in our picture-book the result of +all this fading and stripping and breaking: no outcome as yet that +will catch the eye of sense, yet full of eternal possibilities. + +What a marvel it is, this seed "endynamited" for its ministry! Just +an atom of whiteness, folded up in its smooth brown shell. Opposite +p. 35 you see the two tiny specks in the splitting pod; does it not +seem incredible that anything can come out of them? Could we imagine +anything more insignificant? And yet they are brimful of a vitality +that will last (given the necessary conditions) "while the earth +remaineth," through harvest after harvest in ever-widening circles. + +Equally unimportant from the point of view of "the natural man" is +the heavenly seed that God gives His people to scatter. "The things +of the Spirit of God ... are foolishness unto him." "The kingdom of +God cometh not with observation." His beginnings are always very +feeble things. + +It is out of the hour of its greatest apparent extremity, moreover, +that the seed launches out to its ministry. There was a time, a few +weeks earlier, when you could, if you examined it, trace the future +plant in embryo; the two seed-leaves and the rootlet were all visible +in shades of exquisite green; but all this dries up when maturity +comes, till there is not a sign of life left in it. Everything that +is brilliant and beautiful is withdrawn and shrouded in the "bare +grain" when we strip off the sheath and hold it in our hand: +everything has gone down in defiant faith to the last ebb. Nothing is +left to it, as far as we can discern, but the invisible, +miracle-working power of God. Shall we not learn of the dried-up +seed, to rejoice when in our seed-sowing we are shut up to God +alone--when every shade of hope and promise to the eyes of sense, +have faded like the baby seed-leaves in the germ? "So is the kingdom +of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should +sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow +up, he knoweth not how." + +To sow heavenly seed means to give way to Him in the promptings that +are sure to come as soon as He finds us broken enough for Him to be +able to send them. It is a direct passing on of that which comes to +us from God, stripped of all self-effort: the message spoken "not in +the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost +teacheth": the work done "striving according to His working which +worketh in us mightily": the prayer that knows not what it should +pray for as it ought, and yields itself to His "intercession for us +with groanings that cannot be uttered." These are the things which, +small as they are in this world's count, have the very pulse of +eternity beating through them. Nothing but that which He inspires can +carry quickening power: no experience--no spirituality even, can set +the spark alight. It is not the seed-vessel that can do the work, any +more than a bit of leaf-stalk or flower petal, but simply and only +the seed. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." "I believe in the Holy +Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life." Hallelujah! + +Let us watch the seed-shedding, and see what it can teach us about +sowing to the Spirit. + +* * * * * * + +There is a definite moment at which the seed is ripe for being +liberated--that is the first thing we notice: and at that moment it +is absolutely ready for its work. The storing of the nourishment for +the young plant began on the very day when the new life entered the +flower long ago, and it is finished now. All prepared too are the +hooks, or spikes, or gummy secretions, needed to anchor it to the +ground, and so to give a purchase to the embryo shoot when the time +comes for it to heave its tombstone and come out to the light. Even +its centre of gravity is so adjusted that, in falling from the +sheath, the germ is in the very best position for its future growth. +If it is torn out of the husk a day too soon, all this marvellous +preparation will be wasted and come to nothing. + +Can we not read our parable? How often we have had an impulse or a +plan which we knew to be of God, with a flash of intuition, or with a +gathering certainty: and the temptation has come to carry it straight +off by ourselves, without waiting His time--the very temptation that +beset the Master in the wilderness. + +Oh! let us learn of Him the lesson of letting God's seed-purposes +ripen!--they can bear no fruit till they have come to their maturity: +we shall but waste all He was preparing if we drag it out before its +time. And only in a path in which we are learning to do nothing of +ourselves but what we see the Father do, can we know when His hour is +come. How accurately Jesus knew it! "I go not up yet unto this feast, +for My time is not yet full come," He said to His brethren--and yet +in a day or two He was there. "Mine hour is not yet come," He said to +His mother, when it was only a question of minutes. And by what +marvellous insight He recognised the dawning of that final "hour" +when He was asked for by those nameless Greeks--a hint of the +ingathering of the travail of His soul! God can give us the same +Divine instinct, when He has weaned us from our natural energy and +impatience. And when His hour has struck, the whole powers of the +world to come will be set free in the tiny helpless seed. "One day is +with the Lord as a thousand years." He is a God worth waiting for! + +And there is another thing closely linked with this patience in the +seed-shedding. As we watch it going on in nature, we see how it is +all done in cooperation with the forces at work outside itself. The +wind knocks off and tosses away the dainty shutde-cocks of the +scabious as they ripen one by one, and the pods wait for the hot +touch of the sun to split them with the sudden contracting twist that +sends the grains flying, like stones from a sling. + +More wonderfully still we see this "working together" in the seeding +of the cranesbill. The seeds stand together as they ripen, like +arrows in a quiver, with their points downwards, and their feathered +shafts straight up. When the time for action comes, the sun-heat +peels them off, from below and above, so quickly that you can see +them cue under your eyes, and turn into a spiral by their continued +contractions. They fall, spike downward, by the weight of the seed, +and the sun finishes the work he began. Closer still the gimlet +winds, and as it does so it bores down into the hardest soil: and +such is their strange power of penetration, as they are driven in, +spite of all their weakness, that they bury themselves up to the very +hilt, leaving only the last long curve flat on the surface. Then this +snaps off, and leaves the head deep hidden. The spear-like grass you +see opposite p. 40 follows the same rule: it is so sensitive to the +heat that even the warmth of one's hand will set it twisting and +thrusting its barb in. Cannot we trust the God Who planned them, to +give us arrows that will be sharp in the hearts of His enemies, and +to drive them home? At each fresh adaptation of the plants to their +aim, we hear an echo of the words of Jesus, "Shall He not much more +clothe you, O ye of little faith?" + +And the restfulness of waiting God's hour for seed-shedding deepens +as we learn to recognise the outward dealings of the Spirit as well +as the inward, and watch the marked way in which He co-operates with +the setting free of every seed as it ripens--how He brings across our +path the soul who needs the very lesson He has just been teaching +us--how the chance comes with perfect naturalness of reaching another +over whom we have been longing. If our eyes are up, and our hands are +off--if we learn to "wait on our ministering" like the seeds, in +utter dependence on Him, we shall be able constantly to trace the +Lord's working with us, and we shall have done with all the old +restless striving to make opportunities--"We are labourers together +with God." + +Yes, it all centres round that question of quietness. "Opportunity" +is given to every seed in its turn, as they lie in their layers in +the capsule, or side by side in the pod. Not one forces its way +forward, or gets in the way of another. Look at the exquisite fitting +in any seed-vessel that you pull to pieces: the seeds are as close as +they will go, but fenced off from crowding on each other and +hindering each other's growth. He who packed them can be trusted, +surely, with the arranging of our lives, that nothing may jostle in +them, and nothing be wasted, for we are "of more value" to Him than +these. If our days are a constant rush and hurry, week in and week +out, there is grave reason to doubt if it is all God-given seed that +we are scattering. He will give us no more to do than can be done +with our spirits kept quiet and ready and free before Him. + +Quiet and ready and free--that is another lesson that the seeds teach +us. Off they go at a touch, at the moment when the inward +preparedness and the outward opportunity coalesce. See the tiny +corkscrews of the pink geranium in our meadow (a miniature of its +blue brother the cranesbill). Look at the poise of them--and then at +the sheaf of spears of this bit of grass, holding themselves freer +still, and the downy head alongside, equally ready either to hold +together or to fly with a breath ... and then look at our lives and +see whether that is their attitude towards the Holy Ghost. Is there a +soul poise that corresponds? + +Oh! the pains that God has to take to bring us to this happy, +childlike "abandon," equally ready for silence, or for saying or +doing unhesitatingly the next thing He calls for, unfettered by +surroundings or consequences. How much reserve and self-consciousness +have to give way with some of us, before the absolute control passes +into His Hands, and the responsibility with it! Then only can we know +the "liberty," the "boldness," the "utterance" of Pentecost. +"Whithersoever the Spirit was to go they went, thither was their +spirit to go:" that is "the perfect law of liberty." + +Yes, and that brings us a step further in the teachings of the +seed-shedding. Off they go now, "every one straight forward"--off and +onward to the place appointed. Look at the golden plough of the wild +oat, with every spike and hair so set that it slips forwards and will +not be pushed backwards. Look at the hooks and the barbs that cling +to anything and everything that passes by if only they can carry +their seed away and away. Look at the balls and the wheels that roll +before the wind, and the parachutes and baby shuttlecocks that sail +upon it: they all have a passion for getting far off, and they only +show us a few of the numberless devices by which the same end is +reached in plants of all lands. + +Do you know why they want to scatter? It is because God planned the +rotation of crops, long before it ever entered a farmer's brain! +Around the parent stem the soil is exhausted of the chemical elements +that were used in building it up, and if the seeds all fell straight +down there, they could not reach their full development; so they have +all these devices for travelling far away, where in supplying the +needs of the barren places, their own are met It was even so with +Jesus, God's "Corn of Wheat": did He not need this needy world to +bring out His love and power? are not our empty hearts now "the +riches of His inheritance"? + +And the Christ-life in us, developed and set free, will go by its +very nature reaching out and spending itself wherever there is want, +in love and longing for the bare places and the far-off. The Spirit +will carry our hearts and sympathies and prayers away and beyond the +tiny circle around us, of our personal interests and our own work, +into fellowship with the Father about the world He loves--fellowship +with the Son over the Church for which He gave Himself: "not seeking +our own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." +Perhaps He will carry us away our very selves, to some waste corner! + +"He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that +soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Let each man do +according as he had purposed in his heart; not grudgingly, or of +necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make +all grace abound unto you; that ye, having always all sufficiency in +everything, may abound unto every good work: as it is written, He +hath scattered abroad, He hath given to the poor; His righteousness +abideth for ever. And He that supplieth seed to the sower and bread +for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and +increase the fruits of your righteousness: ye being enriched in +everything unto all liberality, which worketh through us thanksgiving +to God" (R.V.). + +And as part of the enriching in everything unto all liberality, God +can give us all the ingenuity of love in scattering broadcast +Spirit-filled, Spirit-sent seed that He has figured in the +seed-vessels--the heaven-given inspiration as to how to lay out His +treasures to their uttermost--how to secure to Him the highest return +out of our lives, as they do. + +Yes, the "return" is to Him, as again we see in parable with the +plants. They show us a love that seeketh not her own: no one knows +whence the seeds come when they reach their journey's end: no glory +can possibly gather round the plants that surrendered their lives to +form and shed them. They just give and give, with no aim but to be +bare footstalks when all is done. Everything is loosened and spent +without a shade of calculation or self-interest. + +"Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory," +they are all saying in spirit: they teach us absolute indifference as +to whether our service is appreciated or even recognised, so long as +the work is done and the Lord is glorified. The plant itself asks for +nothing to keep, nothing to show, nothing to glory in from its whole +life toil. + +Nothing to glory in--God cannot get His whole glory while man gets +any. That seems a truism, but do we realise the fact? "Herein is My +Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." If that is our one aim, +as it was in the soul of Jesus, it is bound to be realised. Let Him +work this in us too--this simple, absolute, absorbing passion of His +years on earth. + +And then we shall have, as He had, that independence of visible +results that we have just seen in the plants. He left the world--this +one world out of His mighty universe in which God had come to +dwell--with no more to be seen from His travail than a few hundred +brethren, every one of whom had forsaken Him only six weeks before, +and of whom but a hundred and twenty had enough purpose of heart to +follow on to Pentecost. And still He could say, "Yet surely My +judgment is with the Lord, and My work with My God." And though +Israel was "not gathered," He was "glorious in the eyes of the Lord" +and "made His salvation to the ends of the earth." For it was life +that had been sown. + +So no matter, if we never see the full up-springing on earth of the +Spirit-seed scattered. It is all the more likely that God may trust +us with a great multiplying if our faith does not need to witness it. +He can grant us spiritual harvests out of sight, of which He only +gains the glory. In "the things which Christ hath ... wrought by us ... +by the power of the Spirit of God" there is a multiplying energy +that can reach, not single souls only, but other souls through them: +a Holy Ghost touch that can fire trains, so to speak, far reaching +beyond the sphere of what we see or know. + +Such is the power of multiplication in the earthly seeds that it +needs a constant battle, and the survival of the fittest, to keep us +from being overrun with one and another. The henbane, for instance +(by no means the most prolific) would, they say, if every seed had +its way every year for five years, produce from a single plant ten +thousand billions--enough to cover the whole area of the dry land of +the world, allowing seventy-three plants to the square metre.[footnote*: +"Natural History of Plants"--Kerner and Oliver] Perhaps God permits the +seeming waste of such an overwhelming proportion of the seed formed, +to show us the Fountain of Life that there is in Him; and to teach +us that there is no straitening in the Spirit of the Lord. "There is +no limit" (as someone has said) "to what God can do with a man, provided +he will not touch the glory." + +And God's possibilities for these germs of Spirit-life are not bound +by time. Jesus is drawing so near that already our thoughts and hopes +begin to step over the shrinking foreground of "the present age," and +to rest in the ever-opening horizon beyond. Who can tell what harvest +after harvest may be waiting in the eternal years, after the summer +of earth has faded into the far past? + +Yes, we have to do with One Who "inhabiteth" eternity and works in +its infinite leisure. Some years ago, when a new railway cutting was +made in East Norfolk, you could trace it through the next summer, +winding like a blood-red river through the green fields. Poppy seeds +that must have lain buried for generations had suddenly been upturned +and had germinated by the thousand. The same thing happened a while +back in the Canadian woods. A fir-forest was cut down, and the next +spring the ground was covered with seedling oaks, though not an +oak-tree was in sight. Unnumbered years before there must have been a +struggle between the two trees, in which the firs gained the day, but +the acorns had kept safe their latent spark of life underground, and +it broke out at the first chance. + +And if we refuse to stay our faith upon results that we can see and +measure, and fasten it on God, He may be able to keep wonderful +surprises wrapt away in what looks now only waste and loss. What an +up-springing there will be when heavenly light and air come to the +world at last, in the setting up of Christ's kingdom! The waste +places may see "a nation born in a day." + +All that matters is that our part should be done. We are responsible +for sowing to the Spirit--responsible, with an awful responsibility, +that power should be set free in our lives, power that shall prevail +with God and with men--responsible like the seed-vessel, for +fulfilling our ministry to the last and uttermost. Let the cry be on +our hearts, as it was on the heart of Jesus, to "finish the work" +that the Father has given us. "My meat is to do the will of Him that +sent Me, and to finish His work." On He went with it, though it cost +Him the strong crying and tears of Gethsemane to fight through to the +end--to live on to the "It is finished" of Calvary. + +Is it our souls' hunger and thirst that, before He comes, we may have +given every message He had for us to deliver--prevailed in every +intercession to which He summoned us--"distributed" for His kingdom +and "the necessity of saints" every shilling He wanted--shared with +Him every call to "the fellowship of His sufferings" for +others--pouted out His love and sympathy and help as He poured them +out on earth? Are we longing that He should find when He comes no +unspent treasure, no talent laid up in a napkin, like the unshed seed +in its shelly fold? Are we acting as if it were our longing? "By Him +actions" (not longings) "are weighed!" + +Take one more look at our meadow. The summer days are cooling down, +and the storms have begun to come. The ground is bare and blackened, +the stalks and leaves are battered to shreds: but seeds are +everywhere. The earth is strewn with the husks. Whence they come none +can tell, and they are broken down into nothingness. All is +death--death reigning. The first showers are only bringing in a fresh +stage of it where all seemed dead before, beating them, bleached and +weather-worn and split, into the softened mould. Everything is quiet, +for the seeds have gone down into the resting stage through which +they all have to pass, whether it is during the frost in England, or +the burning African summer. Do we not know the counterpart in the +inner world, when Spirit-seed has been shed, and a strange +waiting-time comes in which nothing happens--a silence on God's part +in which death has to be allowed to reign before it is swallowed up +in victory? + +But all is on the very verge of a flood-tide of life, for the +seed-vessel has reached its highest ministry now. The last wrappings +are torn, and from every rent and breach the bare grain is shed forth +and brought into direct contact with the soil: and suddenly, as if by +miracle, the quickening comes, and the emerald shoot is to be seen. + +Can we read our last lesson? Here, in service, we see the same goal +being reached as in the soul's inner history. Both end in absolute +simplicity, in Christ alone. For the highest aim of ministry is to +bring His immediate presence into contact with others--so to bring +Him and them face to face that He can act on them directly, while we +stand aside, like John the Baptist, rejoicing greatly. + +We used to look at our inner life as separate from our service: but +as we go on they merge into one--Christ--the same Christ; whether +folded to our hearts in His secret temple, like the seed in its husk, +or set free in contact with those around to carry on His quickening +work--all and only Christ. + +"Christ the beginning, and the end is Christ." We saw how the soul's +first step is to let Him in as its life: the last step in a sense can +go no further. It is only that the apprehension of Him has increased, +and the hindrances and limitings have been swept away. + +Christ--Christ--Christ--filling all the horizon. Everything in us: +everything to us: everything through us. "To live is Christ."--Amen. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Parables of the Christ-life, by I. Lilias Trotter + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARABLES OF THE CHRIST-LIFE *** + +***** This file should be named 22432.txt or 22432.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/4/3/22432/ + + + +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. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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