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diff --git a/13601-t/13601-t.tex b/13601-t/13601-t.tex new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa20f2d --- /dev/null +++ b/13601-t/13601-t.tex @@ -0,0 +1,25408 @@ +\documentclass[twoside]{book} +\usepackage{verse} +\begin{document} +\thispagestyle{empty} +\small +\begin{verbatim} +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans +Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V), 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: Romans Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V) + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Release Date: October 5, 2004 [EBook #13601] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: TeX + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks, John Hagerson, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + + + +\end{verbatim} +\normalsize +\newpage + +\frontmatter + +\begin{center} +\huge EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE + +\bigskip\bigskip\bigskip +\large ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. \\ +\bigskip\bigskip +ROMANS \\ +\bigskip CORINTHIANS \textit{(To II Corinthians, Chap. V)} +\end{center} + +\tableofcontents + +%% THE WITNESS OF THE RESURRECTION (Romans i. 4, R. V.) +%% PRIVILEGE AND OBLIGATION (Romans i. 7) +%% PAUL'S LONGING (Romans i. 11, 12) +%% DEBTORS TO ALL MEN (Romans i. 14) +%% THE GOSPEL THE POWER OF GOD (Romans i. 16) +%% WORLD-WIDE SIN AND WORLD-WIDE REDEMPTION (Romans iii. 19-26) +%% NO DIFFERENCE (Romans iii. 22) +%% `LET US HAVE PEACE' (Romans v. 1, R. V.) +%% ACCESS INTO GRACE (Romans v. 2) +%% THE SOURCES OF HOPE (Romans v. 2-4) +%% A THREEFOLD CORD (Romans v. 5) +%% WHAT PROVES GOD'S LOVE (Romans v. 8) +%% THE WARRING QUEENS (Romans v. 21) +%% `THE FORM OF TEACHING' (Romans vi. 17) +%% `THY FREE SPIRIT' (Romans viii. 2) +%% CHRIST CONDEMNING SIN (Romans viii. 8) +%% THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT (Romans viii. 16) +%% SONS AND HEIRS (Romans viii. 17) +%% SUFFERING WITH CHRIST, A CONDITION OF GLORY WITH CHRIST (Romans viii. 17) +%% THE REVELATION OF SONS (Romans viii. 19) +%% THE REDEMPTION OF THE BODY (Romans viii. 23) +%% THE INTERCEDING SPIRIT (Romans viii. 26) +%% THE GIFT THAT BRINGS ALL GIFTS (Romans viii. 32) +%% MORE THAN CONQUERORS (Romans viii. 37) +%% LOVE'S TRIUMPH (Romans viii. 38, 39) +%% THE SACRIFICE OF THE BODY (Romans xii. 1) +%% TRANSFIGURATION (Romans xii. 2) +%% SOBER THINKING (Romans xii. 3) +%% MANY AND ONE (Romans xii. 4, 5) +%% GRACE AND GRACES (Romans xii. 6-8) +%% LOVE THAT CAN HATE (Romans xii. 9, 10, R. V.) +%% A TRIPLET OF GRACES (Romans xii. 11) +%% ANOTHER TRIPLET OF GRACES (Romans xii. 12) +%% STILL ANOTHER TRIPLET (Romans xii. 13-15) +%% STILL ANOTHER TRIPLET (Romans xii. 16, R. V.) +%% STILL ANOTHER TRIPLET (Romans xii, 17, 18, R. V.) +%% STILL ANOTHER TRIPLET (Romans xii. 19-21) +%% LOVE AND THE DAY (Romans xiii. 8-14) +%% SALVATION NEARER (Romans xiii. 11) +%% THE SOLDIER'S MORNING-CALL (Romans xiii. 12) +%% THE LIMITS OF LIBERTY (Romans xiv. 12-23) +%% TWO FOUNTAINS, ONE STREAM (Romans xv. 4, 13) +%% JOY AND PEACE IN BELIEVING (Romans xv. 13) +%% PH\OE{}BE (Romans xvi. 1, 2, R. V.) +%% PRISCILLA AND AQUILA (Romans xvi. 3-5) +%% TWO HOUSEHOLDS (Romans xvi. 10,11) +%% TRYPHENA AND TRYPHOSA (Romans xvi. 12) +%% PERSIS (Romans xvi. 12) +%% A CRUSHED SNAKE (Romans xvi. 20) +%% TERTIUS (Romans xvi. 22, R. V.) +%% QUARTUS A BROTHER (Romans xvi. 23) + +\mainmatter + +\addcontentsline{toc}{part}{ROMANS} + +\chapter{The Witness of the Resurrection} +\markright{ROMANS i. 4} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Declared to be the Son of God with power, ... by the resurrection +of the dead.'---\textsc{Romans} i. 4 (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +It is a great mistake to treat Paul's writings, and especially +this Epistle, as mere theology. They are the transcript of his +life's experience. As has been well said, the gospel of Paul is an +interpretation of the significance of the life and work of Jesus +based upon the revelation to him of Jesus as the risen Christ. He +believed that he had seen Jesus on the road to Damascus, and it +was that appearance which revolutionised his life, turned him from +a persecutor into a disciple, and united him with the Apostles as +ordained to be a witness with them of the Resurrection. To them +all the Resurrection of Jesus was first of all a historical fact +appreciated chiefly in its bearing on Him. By degrees they +discerned that so transcendent a fact bore in itself a revelation +of what would become the experience of all His followers beyond +the grave, and a symbol of the present life possible for them. All +three of these aspects are plainly declared in Paul's writings. In +our text it is chiefly the first which is made prominent. All that +distinguishes Christianity; and makes it worth believing, or +mighty, is inseparably connected with the Resurrection. + +I. The Resurrection of Christ declares His Sonship. + +Resurrection and Ascension are inseparably connected. Jesus does +not rise to share again in the ills and weariness of humanity. +Risen, `He dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him.' +`He died unto sin once'; and His risen humanity had nothing in it +on which physical death could lay hold. That He should from some +secluded dimple on Olivet ascend before the gazing disciples until +the bright cloud, which was the symbol of the Divine Presence, +received Him out of their sight, was but the end of the process +which began unseen in morning twilight. He laid aside the garments +of the grave and passed out of the sepulchre which was made sure +by the great stone rolled against its mouth. The grand avowal of +faith in His Resurrection loses meaning, unless it is completed as +Paul completed his `yea rather that was raised from the dead,' +with the triumphant `who is at the right hand of God.' Both are +supernatural, and the Virgin Birth corresponds at the beginning to +the supernatural Resurrection and Ascension at the close. Both +such an entrance into the world and such a departure from it, +proclaim at once His true humanity, and that `this is the Son of +God.' + +Still further, the Resurrection is God's solemn `Amen' to the +tremendous claims which Christ had made. The fact of His +Resurrection, indeed, would not declare His divinity; but the +Resurrection of One who had spoken such words does. If the Cross +and a nameless grave had been the end, what a \textit{reductio ad +absurdum} that would have been to the claims of Jesus to have ever +been with the Father and to be doing always the things that +pleased Him. The Resurrection is God's last and loudest +proclamation, `This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.' The Psalmist +of old had learned to trust that his sonship and consecration to +the Father made it impossible that that Father should leave his +soul in Sheol, or suffer one who was knit to Him by such sacred +bonds to see corruption; and the unique Sonship and perfect +self-consecration of Jesus went down into the grave in the assured +confidence, as He Himself declared, that the third day He would +rise again. The old alternative seems to retain all its sharp +points: Either Christ rose again from the dead, or His claims are +a series of blasphemous arrogances and His character irremediably +stained. + +But we may also remember that Scripture not only represents +Christ's Resurrection as a divine act but also as the act of +Christ's own power. In His earthly life He asserted that His +relation both to physical death and to resurrection was an +entirely unique one. `I have power,' said He, `to lay down my +life, and I have power to take it again'; and yet, even in this +tremendous instance of self-assertion, He remains the obedient +Son, for He goes on to say, `This commandment have I received of +My Father.' If these claims are just, then it is vain to stumble +at the miracles which Jesus did in His earthly life. If He could +strip it off and resume it, then obviously it was not a life like +other men's. The whole phenomenon is supernatural, and we shall +not be in the true position to understand and appreciate it and +Him until, like the doubting Thomas, we fall at the feet of the +risen Son, and breathe out loyalty and worship in that rapturous +exclamation, `My Lord and my God.' + +II. The Resurrection interprets Christ's Death. + +There is no more striking contrast than that between the absolute +non-receptivity of the disciples in regard to all Christ's plain +teachings about His death and their clear perception after +Pentecost of the mighty power that lay in it. The very fact that +they continued disciples at all, and that there continued to be +such a community as the Church, demands their belief in the +Resurrection as the only cause which can account for it. If He did +not rise from the dead, and if His followers did not know that He +did so by the plainest teachings of common-sense, they ought to +have scattered, and borne in isolated hearts the bitter memories +of disappointed hopes; for if He lay in a nameless grave, and they +were not sure that He was risen from the dead, His death would +have been a conclusive showing up of the falsity of His claims. In +it there would have been no atoning power, no triumph over sin. If +the death of Christ were not followed by His Resurrection and +Ascension, the whole fabric of Christianity falls to pieces. As +the Apostle puts it in his great chapter on resurrection, `Ye are +yet in your sins.' The forgiveness which the Gospel holds forth to +men does not depend on the mercy of God or on the mere penitence +of man, but upon the offering of the one sacrifice for sins in His +death, which is justified by His Resurrection as being accepted by +God. If we cannot triumphantly proclaim `Christ is risen indeed,' +we have nothing worth preaching. + +We are told now that the ethics of Christianity are its vital +centre, which will stand out more plainly when purified from these +mystical doctrines of a Death as the sin-offering for the world, +and a Resurrection as the great token that that offering avails. +Paul did not think so. To him the morality of the Gospel was all +deduced from the life of Christ the Son of God as our Example, and +from His death for us which touches men's hearts and makes +obedience to Him our joyful answer to what He has done for us. +Christianity is a new thing in the world, not as moral teaching, +but as moral power to obey that teaching, and that depends on the +Cross interpreted by the Resurrection. If we have only a dead +Christ, we have not a living Christianity. + +III. Resurrection points onwards to Christ's coming again. + +Paul at Athens declared in the hearing of supercilious Greek +philosophers, that the Jesus, whom he proclaimed to them, was `the +Man whom God had ordained to judge the world in righteousness,' +and that `He had given assurance thereof unto all men, in that He +raised Him from the dead.' The Resurrection was the beginning of +the process which, from the human point of view, culminated in the +Ascension. Beyond the Ascension stretches the supernatural life of +the glorified Son of God. Olivet cannot be the end, and the words +of the two men in white apparel who stood amongst the little group +of the upward gazing friends, remain as the hope of the Church: +`This same Jesus shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him +go into heaven.' That great assurance implies a visible corporeal +return locally defined, and having for its purpose to complete the +work which Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension, each +advanced a stage. The Resurrection is the corner-stone of the +whole Christian faith. It seals the truths that Jesus is the Son +of God with power, that He died for us, that He has ascended on +high to prepare a place for us, that He will come again and take +us to Himself. If we, by faith in Him, take for ours the women's +greeting on that Easter morning, `The Lord hath risen indeed,' He +will come to us with His own greeting, `Peace be unto you.' + +\chapter{Privilege and Obligation} +\markright{ROMANS i. 7} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be +saints.'---\textsc{Romans} i. 7. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + + This is the address of the Epistle. The first thing to +be noticed about it, by way of introduction, is the universality +of this designation of Christians. Paul had never been in Rome, +and knew very little about the religious stature of the converts +there. But he has no hesitation in declaring that they are all +`beloved of God' and `saints.' There were plenty of imperfect +Christians amongst them; many things to rebuke; much deadness, +coldness, inconsistency, and yet none of these in the slightest +degree interfered with the application of these great designations +to them. So, then, `beloved of God' and `saints' are not +distinctions of classes within the pale of Christianity, but +belong to the whole community, and to each member of the body. + +The next thing to note, I think, is how these two great terms, +`beloved of God' and `saints,' cover almost the whole ground of +the Christian life. They are connected with each other very +closely, as I shall have occasion to show presently, but in the +meantime it may be sufficient to mark how the one carries us deep +into the heart of God and the other extends over the whole ground +of our relation to Him. The one is a statement of a universal +prerogative, the other an enforcement of a universal obligation. +Let us look, then, at these two points, the universal privilege +and the universal obligation of the Christian life. + +I. The universal privilege of the Christian life. + +`Beloved of God.' Now we are so familiar with the juxtaposition of +the two ideas, `love' and `God,' that we cease to feel the +wonderfulness of their union. But until Jesus Christ had done His +work no man believed that the two thoughts could be brought +together. + +Does God love any one? We think the question too plain to need to +be put, and the answer instinctive. But it is not by any means +instinctive, and the fact is that until Christ answered it for us, +the world stood dumb before the question that its own heart +raised, and when tortured spirits asked, `Is there care in heaven, +and is there love?' there was `no voice, nor answer, nor any that +regarded.' Think of the facts of life; think of the facts of +nature. Think of sorrows and miseries and pains, and sins, and +wasted lives and storms, and tempests, and diseases, and +convulsions; and let us feel how true the grim saying is, that +\begin{verse} +`Nature, red in tooth and claw, \\ + With rapine, shrieks against the creed' +\end{verse} +\noindent that God is love. + +And think of what the world has worshipped, and of all the +varieties of monstrosity, not the less monstrous because sometimes +beautiful, before which men have bowed. Cruel, lustful, rapacious, +capricious, selfish, indifferent deities they have adored. And +then, `God hath established,' proved, demonstrated `His love to us +in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.' + +Oh, brethren, do not let us kick down the ladder by which we have +climbed; or, in the name of a loving God, put away the Christian +teaching which has begotten the conception in humanity of a God +that loves. There are men to-day who would never have come within +sight of that sunlight truth, even as a glimmering star, away down +upon the horizon, if it had not been for the Gospel; and who now +turn round upon that very Gospel which has given them the +conception, and accuse it of narrow and hard thoughts of the love +of God. + +One of the Scripture truths against which the assailant often +turns his sharpest weapons is that which is involved in my text, +the Scripture answer to the other question, `Does not God love +all?' Yes! yes! a thousand times, yes! But there is another +question, Does the love of God, to all, make His special +designation of Christian men as His beloved the least unlikely? +Surely there is no kind of contradiction between the broadest +proclamation of the universality of the love of God and Paul's +decisive declaration that, in a very deep and real manner, they +who are in Christ are the beloved of God. Surely special affection +is not in its nature, inconsistent with universal beneficence and +benevolence. Surely it is no exaltation, but rather a degradation +of the conception of the divine love, if we proclaim its utter +indifference to men's characters. Surely you are not honouring God +when you say, `It is all the same to Him whether a man loves Him +and serves Him, or lifts himself up in rebellion against Him, and +makes himself his own centre, and earth his aim and his all.' +Surely to imagine a God who not only makes His sun to shine and +His rains and dews to fall on the unthankful and the evil, that He +may draw them to love Him, but who also is conceived as taking the +sinful creature who yet cleaves to his sins to His heart, as He +does the penitent soul that longs for His image to be produced in +it, is to blaspheme, and not to honour the love, the universal +love of God. + +God forbid that any words that ever drop from my lips should seem +to cast the smallest shadow of doubt on that great truth, `God so +loved the world that He gave His Son!' But God forbid, equally, +that any words of mine should seem to favour the, to me, repellent +idea that the infinite love of God disregards the character of the +man on whom it falls. There are manifestations of that loving +heart which any man can receive; and each man gets as much of the +love of God as it is possible to pour upon him. But granite rock +does not drink in the dew as a flower does; and the nature of the +man on whom God's love falls determines how much, and what manner +of its manifestations shall pass into his true possession, and +what shall remain without. + +So, on the whole, we have to answer the questions, `Does God love +any? Does not God love all? Does God specially love some?' with +the one monosyllable, `Yes.' + +And so, dear brethren, let us learn the path by which we can pass +into that blessed community of those on whom the fullness and +sweetness and tenderest tenderness of the Father's heart will +fall. `If a man love Me, he will keep My words; and My Father will +love him.' Myths tell us that the light which, at the beginning, +had been diffused through a nebulous mass, was next gathered into +a sun. So the universal love of God is concentrated in Jesus +Christ; and if we have Him we have it; and if we have faith we +have Him, and can say, `Neither life, nor death, nor things +present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other +creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which +is in Christ Jesus our Lord.' + +II. Then, secondly, mark the universal obligation of the Christian +life. + +`Called to be saints,' says my text. Now you will observe that the +two little words `to be' are inserted here as a supplement. They may +be correct enough, but they are open to the possibility of +misunderstanding, as if the saintship, to which all Christian people +are `called' was something future, and not realised at the moment. +Now, in the context, the Apostle employs the same form of expression +with regard to himself in a clause which illuminates the meaning of +my text. `Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ' says he, in the first +verse, `called to be an Apostle' or, more correctly, `a called +Apostle.' The apostleship coincided in time with the call, was +contemporaneous with that which was its cause. And if Paul was an +Apostle since he was called, saints are saints since \textit{they} +are called. `The beloved of God' are `the called saints.' + +I need only observe, further, that the word `called' here does not +mean `named' or `designated' but `summoned.' It describes not the +name by which Christian men are known, but the thing which they +are invited, summoned, `called' by God to be. It is their +vocation, not their designation. Now, then, I need not, I suppose, +remind you that `saint' and `holy' convey precisely the same idea: +the one expressing it in a word of Teutonic, and the other in one +of classic derivation. + +We notice that the true idea of this universal holiness which, +\textit{ipso facto}, belongs to all Christian people, is +consecration to God. In the old days temple, altars, sacrifices, +sacrificial vessels, persons such as priests, periods like +Sabbaths and feasts, were called `holy.' The common idea running +through all these uses of the word is \textit{belonging to God}, +and that is the root notion of the New Testament `saint' a man who +is God's. God has claimed us for Himself when He gave us Jesus +Christ. We respond to the claim when we accept Christ. Henceforth +we are not our own, but `consecrated'---that is, `saints.' + +Now the next step is purity, which is the ordinary idea of +sanctity. Purity will follow consecration, and would not be worth +much without it, even if it was possible to be attained. Now, look +what a far deeper and nobler idea of the service and conditions of +moral goodness this derivation of it from surrender to God gives, +than does a God-ignoring morality which talks and talks about acts +and dispositions, and never goes down to the root of the whole +matter; and how much nobler it is than a shallow religion which in +like manner is ever straining after acts of righteousness, and +forgets that in order to be right there must be prior surrender to +God. Get a man to yield himself up to God and no fear about the +righteousness. Virtue, goodness, purity, righteousness, all these +synonyms express very noble things; but deep down below them all +lies the New Testament idea of holiness, consecration of myself to +God, which is the parent of them all. + +And then the next thing to remind you of is that this consecration +is to be applied all through a man's nature. Yielding yourselves +to God is the talismanic secret of all righteousness, as I have +said; and every part of our complex, manifold being is capable of +such consecration. I hallow my heart if its love twines round His +heart. I hallow my thoughts if I take His truth for my guide, and +ever seek to be led thereby in practice and in belief. I hallow my +will when it bows and says, `Speak, Lord! Thy servant heareth!' I +hallow my senses when I use them as from Him, with recognition of +Him and for Him. In fact, there are two ways of living in the +world; and, narrow as it sounds, I venture to say there are only +two. Either God is my centre, and that is holiness; or self is my +centre, in more or less subtle forms, and that is sin. + +Then the next step is that this consecration, which will issue in +all purity, and will cover the whole ground of a human life, is +only possible when we have drunk in the blessed thought `beloved +of God.' My yielding of myself to Him can only be the echo of His +giving of Himself to me. He must be the first to love. You cannot +argue a man into loving God, any more than you can hammer a +rosebud open. If you do you spoil its petals. But He can love us +into loving Him, and the sunshine, falling on the closed flower, +will expand it, and it will grow by its reception of the light, +and grow sunlike in its measure and according to its nature. So a +God who has only claims upon us will never be a God to whom we +yield ourselves. A God who has love for us will be a God to whom +it is blessed that we should be consecrated, and so saints. + +Then, still further, this consecration, thus built upon the +reception of the divine love, and influencing our whole nature, +and leading to all purity, is a universal characteristic of +Christians. There is no faith which does not lead to surrender. +There is no aristocracy in the Christian Church which deserves to +have the family name given especially to it. `Saint' this, and +`Saint' that, and `Saint' the other---these titles cannot be used +without darkening the truth that this honour and obligation of +being saints belong equally to all that love Jesus Christ. All the +men whom thus God has drawn to Himself, by His love in His Son, +they are all, if I may so say, objectively holy; they belong to +God. But consecration may be cultivated, and must be cultivated +and increased. There is a solemn obligation laid upon every one of +us who call ourselves Christians, to be saints, in the sense that +we have consciously yielded up our whole lives to Him; and are +trying, body, soul, and spirit, `to perfect holiness in the fear +of the Lord.' + +Paul's letter, addressed to the `beloved in God,' the `called +saints' that are in Rome, found its way to the people for whom it +was meant. If a letter so addressed were dropped in our streets, +do you think anybody would bring it to you, or to any Christian +society as a whole, recognising that we were the people for whom +it was meant? The world has taunted us often enough with the name +of saints; and laughed at the profession which they thought was +included in the word. Would that their taunts had been undeserved, +and that it were not true that `saints' in the Church sometimes +means less than `good men' out of the Church! `Seeing that we have +these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all +filthiness of flesh and spirit; perfecting holiness in the fear of +the Lord.' + +\chapter{Paul's Longing} +\markright{ROMANS i. 11, 12} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual +gift, to the end ye may be established; 12.\ That is, that I may +be comforted together with you, by the mutual faith both of you +and me.'---\textsc{Romans} i. 11, 12. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +I am not wont to indulge in personal references in the pulpit, but +I cannot but yield to the impulse to make an exception now, and to +let our happy circumstances mould my remarks.\footnote{Preached +after long absence on account of illness.} I speak mainly to mine +own people, and I must trust that other friends who may hear or +read my words will forgive my doing so. + +In taking such a text as this, I desire to shelter myself behind +Paul, and in expounding his feelings to express my own, and to +draw such lessons as may be helpful and profitable to us all. And +so there are three things in this text that I desire to note: the +manly expression of Christian affection; the lofty consciousness +of the purpose of their meeting; and the lowly sense that there +was much to be received as well as much to be given. A word or two +about each of these things is all on which I can venture. + +I. First, then, notice the manly expression of Christian affection +which the Apostle allows himself here. + +Very few Christian teachers could or should venture to talk so +much about themselves as Paul did. The strong infusion of the +personal element in all his letters is so transparently simple, so +obviously sincere, so free from any jarring note of affectation or +unctuous sentiment that it attracts rather than repels. If I might +venture upon a paradox, his personal references are instances of +self-oblivion in the midst of self-consciousness. + +He had never been in Rome when he wrote these words; he had no +personal relations with the believers there; he had never looked +them in the face; there were no sympathy and confidence between +them, as the growth of years. But still his heart went out towards +them, and he was not ashamed to show it. `I \textit{long} to see +you,'---in the original the word expresses a very intense amount +of yearning blended with something of regret that he had been so +long kept from them. + +Now it is not a good thing for people to make many professions of +affection, and I think a public teacher has something better to do +than to parade such feelings before his audiences. But there are +exceptions to all rules, and I suppose I may venture to let my +heart speak, and to say how gladly I come back to the old place, +dear to me by so many sacred memories and associations, and how +gladly I reknit the bonds of an affection which has been unbroken, +and deepening on both sides through thirty long years. + +Dear friends! let us together thank God to-day if He has knit our +hearts together in mutual affection; and if you and I can look +each other, as I believe we can, in the eyes, with the assurance +that I see only the faces of friends, and that you see the face of +one who gladly resumes the old work and associations. + +But now, dear brethren, let us draw one lesson. Unless there be +this manly, honest, though oftenest silent, Christian affection, +the sooner you and I part the better. Unless it be in my heart I +can do you no good. No man ever touched another with the sweet +constraining forces that lie in Christ's Gospel unless the heart +of the speaker went out to grapple the hearts of the hearers. And +no audience ever listen with any profit to a man when they come in +the spirit of carping criticism, or of cold admiration, or of +stolid indifference. There must be for this simple relationship +which alone binds a Nonconformist preacher to his congregation, as +a \textit{sine qua non} of all higher things and of all spiritual +good, a real, though oftenest it be a concealed, mutual affection +and regard. We have to thank God for much of it; let us try to get +more. That is all I want to say about the first point here. + +II. Note the lofty consciousness of the purpose of their +meeting. + +`I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift.' +Paul knew that he had something which he could give to these people, +and he calls it by a very comprehensive term, `some spiritual +gift'---a gift of some sort which, coming from the Divine Spirit, +was to be received into the human spirit. + +Now that expression---a spiritual gift---in the New Testament has +a variety of applications. Sometimes it refers to what we call +miraculous endowments, sometimes it refers to what we may call +official capacity; but here it is evidently neither the one nor +the other of these more limited and special things, but the +general idea of a divine operation upon the human spirit which +fills it with Christian graces---knowledge, faith, love. Or, in +simpler words, what Paul wanted to give them was a firmer grasp +and fuller possession of Jesus Christ, His love and power, which +would secure a deepening and strengthening of their whole +Christian life. He was quite sure he had this to give, and that he +could impart it, if they would listen to what he would say to +them. But whilst thus he rises into the lofty conception of the +purpose and possible result of his meeting the Roman Christians, +he is just as conscious of the limitations of his power in the +matter as he is of the greatness of his function. These are +indicated plainly. The word which he employs here, `gift' is never +used in the New Testament for a thing that one man can give to +another, but is always employed for the concrete results of the +grace of God bestowed upon men. The very expression, then, shows +that Paul thought of himself, not as the original giver, but +simply as a channel through which was communicated what God had +given. In the same direction points the adjective which +accompanies the noun---a `\textit{spiritual} gift'---which +probably describes the origin of the gift as being the Spirit of +God, rather than defines the seat of it when received as being the +spirit of the receiver. Notice, too, as bearing on the limits of +Paul's part in the gift, the propriety and delicacy of the +language in his statement of the ultimate purpose of the gift. He +does not say `that I may strengthen you,' which might have sounded +too egotistical, and would have assumed too much to himself, but +he says `that ye may be strengthened,' for the true strengthener +is not Paul, but the Spirit of God. + +So, on the one hand, the Christian teacher is bound to rise to the +height of the consciousness of his lofty vocation as having in +possession a gift that he can bestow; on the other hand, he is +bound ever to remember the limitations within which that is +true---viz. that the gift is not his, but God's, and that the +Spirit of the Lord is the true Giver of all the graces which may +blossom when His word, ministered by human agents, is received +into human hearts. + +And, now, what are the lessons that I take from this? Two very +simple ones. First, no Christian teacher has any business to open +his mouth, unless he is sure that he has received something to +impart to men as a gift from the Divine Spirit. To preach our +doubts, to preach our own opinions, to preach poor platitudes, to +talk about politics and morals and taste and literature and the +like in the pulpit, is profanation and blasphemy. Let no man open +his lips unless he can say: `The Lord hath showed me this; and +this I bring to you as His word.' Nor has a Christian organisation +any right to exist, unless it recognises the communication and +reception and further spreading of this spiritual gift as its +great function. Churches which have lost that consciousness, and, +instead of a divine gift, have little more to offer than formal +worship, or music, or entertainments, or mere intellectual +discourse, whether orthodox or `advanced,' have no right to be; +and by the law of the survival of the fittest will not long be. +The one thing that warrants such a relationship as subsists +between you and me is this, my consciousness that I have a message +from God, and your belief that you hear such from my lips. Unless +that be our bond the sooner these walls crumble, and this voice +ceases, and these pews are emptied, the better. `I have,' says, +Paul, `a gift to impart; and I long to see you that I may impart +it to you.' Oh! for more, in all our pulpits, of that burdened +consciousness of a divine message which needs the relief of +speech, and longs with a longing caught from Christ to impart its +richest treasures. + +That is the one lesson. And the other one is this. Have you, dear +friends, received the gift that I have, under the limitations +already spoken of, to bestow? There are some of you who have +listened to my voice ever since you were children---some of you, +though not many, have heard it for well on to thirty years. Have +you taken the thing that all these years I have been---God knows +how poorly, but God knows how honestly---trying to bring to you? +That is, have you taken Christ, and have you faith in Him? And, as +for those of you who say that you are Christians, many blessings +have passed between you and me through all these years; but, dear +friends, has the chief blessing been attained? Are you being +strengthened day by day for the burdens and the annoyances and the +sorrows of life by your coming here? Do I do you any good in that +way; are you better men than when we first met together? Is Christ +dearer, and more real and nearer to you; and are your lives more +transparently consecrated, more manifestly the result of a hidden +union with Him? Do you walk in the world like the Master, because +you are members of this congregation? If so, its purpose has been +accomplished. If not, it has miserably failed. + +I have said that I have to thank God for the unbroken affection +that has knit us together. But what is the use of such love if it +does not lead onwards to this? I have had enough, and more than +enough, of what you call popularity and appreciation, undeserved +enough, but rendered unstintedly by you. I do not care the snap of +a finger for it by comparison with this other thing. And oh, dear +brethren! if all that comes of our meeting here Sunday after +Sunday is either praise or criticism of my poor words and ways, +our relationship is a curse, and not a blessing, and we come +together for the worse and not for the better. The purpose of the +Church, and the purpose of the ministry, and the meaning of our +assembling are, that spiritual gifts may be imparted, not by me +alone, but by you, too, and by me in my place and measure, and if +that purpose be not accomplished, all other purposes, that are +accomplished, are of no account, and worse than nothing. + +III. And now, lastly, note the lowly consciousness that much was +to be received as well as much to be given. + +The Apostle corrects himself after he has said `that I may impart +unto you some spiritual gift,' by adding, `that is, that I may be +comforted (or rather, encouraged) together with you by the mutual +faith both of you and me.' If his language were not so +transparently sincere, and springing from deep interest in the +relationship between himself and these people, we should say that +it was exquisite courtesy and beautiful delicacy. But it moves in +a region far more real than the region of courtesy, and it speaks +the inmost truth about the conditions on which the Roman +Christians should receive---viz. that they should also give. There +is only one Giver who is only a Giver, and that is God. All other +givers are also receivers. Paul desired to see his Roman brethren +that he might be encouraged; and when he did see them, as he +marched along the Appian Way, a shipwrecked prisoner, the Acts of +the Apostles tells us, `He thanked God and took courage.' The +sight of them strengthened him and prepared him for what lay +before him. + +Paul's was a richly complicated nature---firm as a rock in its +will, tremulously sensitive in its sympathies; like some +strongly-rooted tree with its stable stem and a green cloud of +fluttering foliage that moves in the lightest air. So his spirit +rose and fell according to the reception that he met from his +brethren, and the manifestation of their faith quickened and +strengthened his. + +And he is but one instance of a universal law. All teachers, the +more genuine they are, the more sympathetic they are, are the more +sensitive of their environment. The very oratorical temperament +places a man at the mercy of surroundings. All earnest work has +ever travelling with it as its shadow seasons of deep depression; +and the Christian teacher does not escape these. I am not going to +speak about myself, but this is unquestionably true, that every +Elijah, after the mightiest effort of prophecy, is apt to cover +his head in his mantle and to say, `Take me away; I am not better +than my fathers.' And when a man for thirty years, amidst all the +changes incident to a great city congregation in that time, has to +stand up Sunday after Sunday before the same people, and mark how +some of them are stolidly indifferent, and note how others are +dropping away from their faithfulness, and see empty places where +loving forms used to sit---no wonder that the mood comes ever and +anon, `Then, said I, surely I have laboured in vain and spent my +strength for nought.' The hearer reacts on the speaker quite as +much as the speaker does on the hearer. If you have ice in the +pews, that brings down the temperature up here. It is hard to be +fervid amidst people that are all but dead. It is difficult to +keep a fire alight when it is kindled on the top of an iceberg. +And the unbelief and low-toned religion of a congregation are +always pulling down the faith and the fervour of their minister, +if he be better and holier, as they expect him to be, than they +are. + +`He did not many works because of their unbelief.' Christ knew the +hampering and the restrictions of His power which came from being +surrounded by a chill, unsympathetic environment. My strength and +my weakness are largely due to you. And if you want your minister +to preach better, and in all ways to do his work more joyfully and +faithfully, the means lie largely in your own hands. Icy +indifference, ill-natured interpretations, carping criticisms, +swift forgetfulness of one's words, all these things kill the +fervour of the pulpit. + +On the other hand, the true encouragement to give a man when he is +trying to do God's will, to preach Christ's Gospel, is not to pat +him on the back and say, `What a remarkable sermon that was of +yours! what a genius! what an orator!' not to go about praising +it, but to come and say, `Thy words have led me to Christ, and +from thee I have taken the gift of gifts.' + +Dear brethren, the encouragement of the minister is in the +conversion and the growth of the hearers. And I pray that in this +new lease of united fellowship which we have taken out, be it +longer or shorter---and advancing years tell me that at the +longest it must be comparatively short---I may come to you ever +more and more with the lofty and humbling consciousness that I +have a message which Christ has given to me, and that you may come +more and more receptive---not of \textit{my} words, God +forbid---but of Christ's truth; and that so we may be helpers one +of another, and encourage each other in the warfare and work to +which we all are called and consecrated. + +\chapter{Debtors to all Men} +\markright{ROMANS i. 14} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I am a debtor both to the Greeks and to the Barbarians, both to +the wise and to the unwise.'---\textsc{Romans} i. 14. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +No doubt Paul is here referring to the special obligation laid +upon him by his divine call to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. He +was entrusted with the Gospel as a steward, and was therefore +bound to carry it to all sorts and conditions of men. But the +principle underlying the statement applies to all Christians. The +indebtedness referred to is no peculiarity of the Apostolic order, +but attaches to every believer. Every servant of Jesus Christ, who +has received the truth for himself, has received it as a steward, +and is, as such, indebted to God, from whom he got the trust, and +to the men for whom he got it. The only limit to the obligation +is, as Paul says in the context, `as much as in me is.' Capacity, +determined by faculties, opportunities, and circumstances, +prescribes the kind and the degree of the work to be done in +discharge of the obligation; but the obligation is universal. We +are not at liberty to choose whether we shall do our part in +spreading the name of Jesus Christ. It is a debt that we owe to +God and to men. Is that the view of duty which the average +Christian man takes? I am afraid it is not. If it were, our +treasuries would be full, and great would be the multitude of them +that preached the Word. + +It is no very exalted degree of virtue to pay our debts. We do not +expect to be praised for that; and we do not consider that we are +at liberty to choose whether we shall do it or not. We are +dishonest if we do not. It is no merit in us to be honest. Would +that all Christian people applied that principle to their +religion. The world would be different, and the Church would be +different, if they did. + +Let me try, then, to enforce this thought of indebtedness and of +common honesty in discharging the indebtedness, which underlies +these words. Paul thought that he went a long way to pay his debts +to humanity by carrying to everybody whom he could reach the `Name +that is above every name.' + +I. Now, first, let me say that we Christians are debtors to all +men by our common manhood. + +It is not the least of the gifts which Christianity has brought to +the world, that it has introduced the new thought of the +brotherhood of mankind. The very word `humanity' is a Christian +coinage, and it was coined to express the new thought that began +to throb in men's hearts, as soon as they accepted the message +that Jesus Christ came to give, the message of the Fatherhood of +God. For it is on that belief of God's Fatherhood that the belief +of man's brotherhood rests, and on it alone can it be secured and +permanently based. + +Here is a Jew writing to Latins in the Greek language. The +phenomenon itself is a sign of a new order of things, of the +rising of a flood that had surged over, and in the course of ages +would sap away and dissolve, the barriers between men. The Apostle +points to two of the widest gulfs that separated men, in the words +of my text. `Greeks and Barbarians' divides mankind, according to +race and language. `Wise and unwise' divides them according to +culture and intellectual capacity. Both gulfs exist still, though +they have been wonderfully filled up by the influence, direct and +indirect, of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The fiercest antagonisms +of race which still subsist are felt to belong to a decaying +order, and to be sure, sooner or later, to pass away. I suppose +that the gulf made by the increased culture of modern society +between civilised and the savage peoples, and, within the limits +of our own land, the gulf made by education between the higher and +the lower layers of our community---I speak not of higher and +lower in regard to wealth or station, but in regard to +intellectual acquirement and capacity---are greater than, perhaps, +they ever were in the past. But yet over the gulf a bridge is +thrown, and the gulf itself is being filled up. High above all the +superficial distinctions which separate Jew and Gentile, Greek and +Barbarian, educated and illiterate, scientific and unscientific, +wise and unwise, there stretches the great rainbow of the truth +that all are one in Christ Jesus. Fraternity without Fatherhood is +a ghastly mockery that ended a hundred years ago in the +guillotine, and to-day will end in disappointment; and it is +little more than cant. But when Christianity comes and tells us +that we have one Father and one Redeemer, then the unity of the +race is secured. + +And that oneness which makes us debtors to all men is shown to be +real by the fact that, beneath all superficial distinctions of +culture, race, age, or station, there are the primal necessities +and yearnings and possibilities that lie in every human soul. All +men, savage or cultivated, breathe the same air, see by the same +light, are fed by the same food and drink, have the same yearning +hearts, the same lofty aspirations that unfulfilled are torture; +the same experience of the same guilt, and, blessed be God! the +same Saviour and the same salvation. + +Because, then, we are all members of the one family, every man is +bound to regard all that he possesses, and is, and can do, as +committed to him in stewardship to be imparted to his fellows. We +are not sponges to absorb, but we are pipes placed in the spring, +that we may give forth the precious water of life. + +Cain is not a very good model, but his question is the world's +question, and it implies the expectation of a negative +answer---`Am I my brother's keeper?' Surely, the very language +answers itself, and, although Cain thinks that the only answer is +`No,' wisdom sees that the only answer is `Yes.' For if I am my +brother's brother, then surely I am my brother's keeper. We have a +better example. There is another Elder Brother who has come to +give to His brethren all that Himself possessed, and we but poorly +follow our Master's pattern unless we feel that the mystic tie +which binds us in brotherhood to every man makes us every man's +debtor to the extent of our possessions. That is the Christian +truth that underlies the modern Socialistic idea, and, whatever +the form in which it is ultimately brought into practice as the +rule of mankind, the principle will triumph one day; and we are +bound, as Christian men, to hasten the coming of its victory. We +are debtors by reason of our common humanity. + +II. We are debtors by our possession of the universal +salvation. + +The principle which I have already been laying down applies all +round, to everything that we have, are, or can do. But its most +stringent obligation, and the noblest field for its operations, +are found in reference to the Christian man's possession of the +Gospel for the joy of his own heart, and to the duties that are +therein involved. Christ draws men to Himself for their own sakes, +blessed be His name! but not for their own sakes only. He draws +them to Himself, that they, in their turn, may draw others with +whose hands theirs are linked, and so may swell the numbers of the +flock that gathers round the one Shepherd. He puts the dew of His +blessing into the chalice of the tiniest flower, that it may +`share its dewdrop with another near.' Just as every particle of +inert dough as it is leavened becomes in its turn leaven, and the +medium for leavening the particle contiguous to it, so every +Christian is bound, or, to use the metaphor of my text, is a +debtor to God and man, to impart the Gospel of Jesus Christ. +`Greek and Barbarian,' says Paul, `wise or unwise'; all +distinctions vanish. If I can get at a man, no matter what colour, +his race, his language, his capacity, his acquirements, he is my +creditor, and I am defrauding him of what he has a right to expect +from me if I do not do my best to bring him to Jesus Christ. + +This obligation receives additional weight from the proved +adaptation of the Gospel to all sorts and conditions of men. Alone +of all religions has Christianity proved itself capable of +dominating every type of character, of influencing every stage of +civilisation, of assuming the speech of every tongue, and of +wearing the garb of every race. There are other religions which +are evidently destined only to a narrow field of operations, and +are rigidly limited by geographical conditions, or by stages of +civilisation. There are wines that are ruined by a sea voyage, and +can only be drunk in the land where the vintage was gathered; and +that is the condition of all the ethnic religions. Christianity +alone passes through the whole earth, and influences all men. The +history of missions shows us that. There has yet to be found the +race that is incapable of receiving, or is beyond the need of +possessing, or cannot be elevated by the operation of, the Gospel +of Jesus Christ. + +So to all men we are bound, as much as in us is, to carry the +Gospel. The distinction that is drawn so often by the people who +never move a finger to help the heathen either at home or abroad, +between the home and the foreign field of work, vanishes +altogether when we stand at the true Christian standpoint. Here is +a man who wants the Gospel; I have it; I can give it to him. That +constitutes a summons as imperative as if we were called by name +from Heaven, and bade to go, and as much as in us is to preach the +Gospel. Brethren! we do not obey the command, `Owe no man +anything,' unless, to the extent of our ability, or over the whole +field which we can influence at home or abroad, we seek to spread +the name of Christ and the salvation that is in Him. + +III. We are debtors by benefits received. + +I am speaking to men and women a very large proportion of whom get +their living, and some of whom amass their wealth, by trade with +lands that need the Gospel. It is not for nothing that England has +won the great empire that she possesses---won it, alas! far too +often by deeds that will not bear investigation in the light of +Christian principle, but won it. + +What do we owe to the lands that we call `heathen'? The very +speech by which we communicate with one another; the beginning of +our civilisation; wide fields for expanding population and +emigration; treasures of wisdom of many kinds; an empire about +which we are too fond of crowing and too reluctant to recognise +its responsibilities---and Manchester its commerce and prosperity! +Did God put us where we are as a nation only in order that we +might carry the gifts of our literature, great as that is; of our +science, great as that is; of our law, blessed as that is; of our +manufactures, to those distant lands? The best thing that we can +give is the thing that all of us can help to give---the Gospel of +Jesus Christ. `Who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom +for such a time as this?' + +IV. Lastly, we are debtors by injuries inflicted. + +Many subject-races seem destined to fade away by contact with our +race; and if we think of the nameless cruelties, and the iliad of +woes which England's possession of this great Colonial Empire has +had accompanying it, we may feel that the harm in many aspects +outweighs the good, and that it had been better for these men to +be left suckled in creeds outworn, and ignorant of our +civilisation, than to receive from us the fatal gifts that they +often have received. I do not wish to exaggerate, but if you will +take the facts of the case as brought out by people that have no +Christian prejudices to serve, I think you will acknowledge that +we as a nation owe a debt of reparation to the barbarians and the +unwise. + +What about killing African tribes by the thousand with the vile +stuff that we call rum, and send to them in exchange for their +poor commodities? What about introducing new diseases, the +offspring of vice, into the South Sea Islands, decimating and all +but destroying the population? Is it not true that, as the prophet +wailed of old about a degenerate Israel, we may wail about the +beach-combers and other loafers that go amongst savage lands from +England---`Through you the name of God is blasphemed among the +Gentiles.' A Hindoo once said to a missionary, `Your Book is very +good. If you were as good as your Book you would conquer India in +five years.' That may be true or it may not, but it gives us the +impression that is produced by godless Englishmen on heathen +peoples. We are taking away their religion from them, necessarily, +as the result of education and contact with European thought. And +if we do not substitute for it the one faith that elevates and +saves, the last state of that man will be worse than the +first. + +We can almost hear the rattle of the guns on the north-west +frontier of India to-day. There is another specimen of the +injuries inflicted. This is not the place to talk politics, but I +feel that this is the place to ask this question, `Are Christian +principles to have anything to do in determining national +actions?' Is it Christian to impose our yoke on unwilling tribes +who have as deep a love for independence as the proudest +Englishmen of us all, and as good a right to it? Are punitive +expeditions and Maxim guns instalments of our debt to all men? I +wonder what Jesus Christ, who died for Afridis and Orakzais and +all the rest of them, thinks about such conduct? + +Brethren, we are debtors to all men. Let us do our best to +influence national action in accordance with the brotherhood which +has been revealed to us by the Elder Brother of us all; and let +us, at least for our own parts, recognise, and, as much as in us +is, discharge the debt which, by our common humanity, and by our +possession of the universal Gospel we owe to all men, and which is +made more weighty by the benefits we receive from many, and by the +injuries which England has inflicted on not a few. Else shall we +hear rise above all the voices that palliate crime, on the plea of +`State necessity,' the stern words of the Master, `In thy skirts +is found the blood of the souls of poor innocents.' We are +debtors; let us pay our debts. + +\chapter{The Gospel the Power of God} +\markright{ROMANS i. 16} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of +God unto salvation to every one that believeth.'---\textsc{Romans} +i. 16. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +To preach the Gospel in Rome had long been the goal of Paul's +hopes.\footnote{Preached before Baptist Union.} He wished to do in +the centre of power what he had done in Athens, the home of +wisdom; and with superb confidence, not in himself, but in his +message, to try conclusions with the strongest thing in the world. +He knew its power well, and was not appalled. The danger was an +attraction to his chivalrous spirit. He believed in flying at the +head when you are fighting with a serpent, and he knew that +influence exerted in Rome would thrill through the Empire. If we +would understand the magnificent audacity of these words of my +text we must try to listen to them with the ears of a Roman. Here +was a poor little insignificant Jew, like hundreds of his +countrymen down in the Ghetto, one who had his head full of some +fantastic nonsense about a young visionary whom the procurator of +Syria had very wisely put an end to a while ago in order to quiet +down the turbulent province; and he was going into Rome with the +notion that his word would shake the throne of the C\ae{}sars. +What proud contempt would have curled their lips if they had been +told that the travel-stained prisoner, trudging wearily up the +Appian Way, had the mightiest thing in the world entrusted to his +care! Romans did not believe much in ideas. Their notion of power +was sharp swords and iron yokes on the necks of subject peoples. +But the history of Christianity, whatever else it has been, has +been the history of the supremacy and the revolutionary force of +ideas. Thought is mightier than all visible forces. Thought +dissolves and reconstructs. Empires and institutions melt before +it like the carbon rods in an electric lamp; and the little +hillock of Calvary is higher than the Palatine with its regal +homes and the Capitoline with its temples: `I am not ashamed of +the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto +salvation.' + +Now, dear friends, I have ventured to take these great words for +my text, though I know, better than any of you can tell me, how +sure my treatment of them is to enfeeble rather than enforce them, +because I, for my poor part, feel that there are few things which +we, all of us, people and ministers, need more than to catch some +of the infection of this courageous confidence, and to be fired +with some spark of Paul's enthusiasm for, and glorying in, the +Gospel of Jesus Christ. + +I ask you, then, to consider three things: (1) what Paul thought +was the Gospel? (2) what Paul thought the Gospel was? and (3) what +he felt about the Gospel? + +I. What Paul thought was the Gospel? + +He has given to us in his own rapid way a summary statement, +abbreviated to the very bone, and reduced to the barest elements, +of what he meant by the Gospel. What was the irreducible minimum? +The facts of the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as you +will find written in the fifteenth chapter of the First Epistle to +the Corinthians. So, then, to begin with, the Gospel is not a +statement of principles, but a record of facts, things that have +happened in this world of ours. But the least part of a fact is +the visible part of it, and it is of no significance unless it has +explanation, and so Paul goes on to bind up with the facts an +explanation of them. The mere fact that Jesus, a young Nazarene, +was executed is no more a gospel than the other one, that two +brigands were crucified beside Him. But the fact that could be +seen, plus the explanation which underlies and interprets it, +turns the chronicle into a gospel, and the explanation begins with +the name of the Sufferer; for if you want to understand His death +you must understand who it was that died. His death is a thought +pathetic in all aspects, and very precious in many. But when we +hear `Christ died according to the Scriptures,' the whole +symbolism of the ancient ritual and all the glowing anticipations +of the prophets rise up before us, and that death assumes an +altogether different aspect. If we stop with `Jesus died,' then +that death may be a beautiful example of heroism, a sweet, +pathetic instance of innocent suffering, a conspicuous example of +the world's wages to the world's teachers, but it is little more. +If, however, we take Paul's words upon our lips, `Brethren, I +declare unto you the Gospel which I preached ... how that Christ +died ... according to the Scriptures,' the fact flashes up into +solid beauty, and becomes the Gospel of our salvation. And the +explanation goes on, `How that Christ died for our sins.' Now, I +may be very blind, but I venture to say that I, for my part, +cannot see in what intelligible sense the Death of Christ can be +held to have been for, or on behalf of, our sins---that is, that +they may be swept away and we delivered from them---unless you +admit the atoning nature of His sacrifice for sins. I cannot stop +to enlarge, but I venture to say that any narrower interpretation +evacuates Paul's words of their deepest significance. The +explanation goes on, `And that He was buried.' Why that trivial +detail? Partly because it guarantees the fact of His Death, partly +because of its bearing on the evidences of His Resurrection. `And +that He rose from the dead according to the Scriptures.' Great +fact, without which Christ is a shattered prop, and `ye are yet in +your sins.' + +But, further, notice that my text is also Paul's text for this +Epistle, and that it differs from the condensed summary of which I +have been speaking only as a bud with its petals closed differs +from one with them expanded in their beauty. And now, if you will +take the words of my text as being the keynote of this letter, and +read over its first eight chapters, what is the Apostle talking +about when he in them fulfils his purpose and preaches `the +Gospel' to them that are at Rome also? Here is, in the briefest +possible words, his summary---the universality of sin, the awful +burden of guilt, the tremendous outlook of penalty, the +impossibility of man rescuing himself or living righteously, the +Incarnation, and Life, and Death of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice +for the sins of the world, the hand of faith grasping the offered +blessing, the indwelling in believing souls of the Divine Spirit, +and the consequent admission of man into a life of sonship, power, +peace, victory, glory, the child's place in the love of the Father +from which nothing can separate. These are the teachings which +make the staple of this Epistle. These are the explanations of the +weighty phrases of my text. These are at least the essential +elements of the Gospel according to Paul. + +But he was not alone in this construction of his message. We hear +a great deal to-day about Pauline Christianity, with the +implication, and sometimes with the assertion, that he was the +inventor of what, for the sake of using a brief and easily +intelligible term, I may call Evangelical Christianity. Now, it is +a very illuminating thought for the reading of the New Testament +that there are the three sets of teaching, roughly, the Pauline, +Petrine, and Johannine, and you cannot find the distinctions +between these three in any difference as to the fundamental +contents of the Gospel; for if Paul rings out, `God commendeth His +love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for +us,' Peter declares, `Who His own self bare our sins in His own +body on the tree,' and John, from his island solitude, sends +across the waters the hymn of praise, `Unto Him that loved us and +washed us from our sins in His own blood.' And so the proud +declaration of the Apostle, which he dared not have ventured upon +in the face of the acrid criticism he had to front unless he had +known he was perfectly sure of his ground, is natural and +warranted---`Therefore, whether it were I or they, so we +preach.' + +We are told that we must go back to the Christ of the Gospels, the +historical Christ, and that He spoke nothing concerning all these +important points that I have mentioned as being Paul's conception +of the Gospel. Back to the Christ of the Gospels by all means, if +you will go to the Christ of all the Gospels and of the whole of +each Gospel. And if you do, you will go back to the Christ who +said, `The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to +minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.' You will go +back to the Christ who said, `And I, if I be lifted up from the +earth, will draw all men unto Me.' You will go back to the Christ +who said, `The bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will +give for the life of the world.' You will go back to the Christ +who bade His followers hold in everlasting memory, not the +tranquil beauty of His life, not the persuasive sweetness of His +gracious words, not the might of His miracles of blessing, but the +mysterious agonies of His last hours, by which He would have us +learn that there lie the secret of His power, the foundation of +our hopes, the stimulus of our service. + +Now, brethren, I have ventured to dwell so long upon this matter, +because it is no use talking about the Gospel unless we understand +what we mean by it, and I, for my part, venture to say that that +is what Paul meant by it, and that is what I mean by it. I plead +for no narrow interpretation of the phrases of my text. I would +not that they should be used to check in the smallest degree the +diversities of representation which, according to the differences +of individual character, must ever prevail in the conceptions +which we form and which we preach of this Gospel of Jesus Christ. +I want no parrot-like repetition of a certain set of phrases +embodied, however great may be their meanings, in every sermon. +And I would that the people to whom those truths are true would +make more allowance than they sometimes do for the differences to +which I have referred, and would show a great deal more sympathy +than they often do to those, especially those young men, who, with +their faces toward Christ, have not yet grown to the full +acceptance of all that is implied in those gracious words. There +is room for a whole world of thought in the Gospel of Christ as +Paul conceived it, with all the deep foundations of implication +and presupposition on which it rests, and with all the, as yet, +undiscovered range of conclusions to which it may lead. Remember +that the Cross of Christ is the key to the universe, and sends its +influence into every region of human thought. + +II. What Paul thought the Gospel was. + +`The power of God unto salvation.' There was in the background of +the Apostle's mind a kind of tacit reference to the antithetical +power that he was going up to meet, the power of Rome, and we may +trace that in the words of my text. Rome, as I have said, was the +embodiment of physical force, with no great faith in ideas. And +over against this carnal might Paul lifts the undissembled +weakness of the Cross, and declares that it is stronger than man, +`the power of God unto salvation.' Rome is high in force; Athens +is higher; the Cross is highest of all, and it comes shrouded in +weakness having a poor Man hanging dying there. That is a strange +embodiment of divine power. Yes, and because so strange, it is so +touching, and so conquering. The power that is draped in weakness +is power indeed. Though Rome's power did make for righteousness +sometimes, yet its stream of tendency was on the whole a power to +destruction and grasped the nations of the earth as some rude hand +might do rich clusters of grapes and squeeze them into a formless +mass. The tramp of the legionary meant death, and it was true in +many respects of them what was afterwards said of later invaders +of Europe, that where their horses' hoofs had once stamped no +grass ever grew. Over against this terrific engine of destruction +Paul lifts up the meek forces of love which have for their sole +object the salvation of man. + +Then we come to another of the keywords about which it is very +needful that people should have deeper and wider notions than they +often seem to cherish. What is salvation? Negatively, the removal +and sweeping away of all evil, physical and moral, as the schools +speak. Positively, the inclusion of all good for every part of the +composite nature of a man which the man can receive and which God +can bestow. And that is the task that the Gospel sets to itself. +Now, I need not remind you how, for the execution of such a +purpose, it is plain that something else than man's power is +absolutely essential. It is only God who can alter my relation to +His government. It is only God who can trammel up the inward +consequences of my sins and prevent them from scourging me. It is +only God who can bestow upon my death a new life, which shall grow +up into righteousness and beauty, caught of, and kindred to, His +own. But if this be the aim of the Gospel, then its diagnosis of +man's sickness is a very much graver one than that which finds +favour amongst so many of us now. Salvation is a bigger word than +any of the little gospels that we hear clamouring round about us +are able to utter. It means something a great deal more than +either social or intellectual, or still more, material or +political betterment of man's condition. The disease lies so deep, +and so great are the destruction and loss partly experienced, and +still more awfully impending over every soul of us, that something +else than tinkering at the outsides, or dealing, as self-culture +does, with man's understanding or, as social gospels do, with +man's economical and civic condition, should be brought to bear. +Dear brethren, especially you Christian ministers, preach a social +Christianity by all means, an applied Christianity, for there does +lie in the Gospel of Jesus Christ a key to all the problems that +afflict our social condition. But be sure first that there is a +Christianity before you talk about applying it. And remember that +the process of salvation begins in the deep heart of the +individual and transforms him first and foremost. The power is `to +every one that believeth.' It is power in its most universal +sweep. Rome's Empire was wellnigh ubiquitous, but, blessed be God, +the dove of Christ flies farther than the Roman eagle with beak +and claw ready for rapine, and wherever there are men here is a +Gospel for them. The limitation is no limitation of its +universality. It is no limitation of the claim of a medicine to be +a panacea that it will only do good to the man who swallows it. +And that is the only limitation of which the Gospel is +susceptible, for we have all the same deep needs, the same +longings; we are fed by the same bread, we are nourished by the +same draughts of water, we breathe the same air, we have the same +sins, and, thanks be to God, we have the same Saviour. `The power +of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.' + +Now before I pass from this part of my subject there is only one +thing more that I want to say, and that is, that you cannot apply +that glowing language about `the power of God unto salvation' to +anything but the Gospel that Paul preached. Forms of Christianity +which have lost the significance of the Incarnation and Death of +Jesus Christ, and which have struck out or obscured the central +facts with which I have been dealing, are not, never were, and, I +may presumptuously venture to say, never will be, forces of large +account in this world. Here is a clock, beautiful, chased on the +back, with a very artistic dial-plate, and works modelled +according to the most approved fashion, but, somehow or other, the +thing won't go. Perhaps the mainspring is broken. And so it is +only the Gospel, as Paul expounds it and expands it in this +Epistle, that is `the power of God unto salvation.' Dear brethren, +in the course of a sermon like this, of course, one must lay +himself open to the charge of dogmatising. That cannot be helped +under the conditions of my space. But let me say as my own solemn +conviction---I know that that is not worth much to you, but it is +my justification for speaking in such a fashion---let me say as my +solemn conviction that you may as well take the keystone out of an +arch, with nothing to hold the other stones together or keep them +from toppling in hideous ruin on your unfortunate head, as take +the doctrine that Paul summed up in that one word out of your +conception of Christianity and expect it to work. And be sure of +this, that there is only one Name that lords it over the demons of +afflicted humanity, and that if a man goes and tries to eject them +with any less potent charm than Paul's Gospel, they will turn upon +him with `Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?' + +III. What Paul felt about this Gospel. + +His restrained expression, `I am not ashamed,' is the stronger for +its very moderation. It witnesses to the fixed purpose of his +heart and attitude of his mind, whilst it suggests that he was +well aware of all the temptations in Rome to being ashamed of it +there. Think of what was arrayed against him---venerable religion, +systematised philosophies, bitter hatred and prejudice, material +power and wealth. These were the brazen armour of Goliath, and +this little David went cheerily down into the valley with five +pebble stones in a leathern wallet, and was quite sure how it was +going to end. And it ended as he expected. His Gospel shook the +kingdom of the Roman, and cast it in another mould. + +And there are temptations, plenty of them, for us, dear friends, +to-day, to bate our confidence. The drift of what calls itself +influential opinion is anti-supernatural, and we all are conscious +of the presence of that element all round about us. It tells with +special force upon our younger men, but it affects us all. In this +day, when a large portion of the periodical press, which does the +thinking for most of us, looks askance at these truths, and when, on +the principle that in the kingdom of the blind the one-eyed man is +the king, popular novelists become our theological tutors, and when +every new publishing season brings out a new conclusive destruction +of Christianity, which supersedes last season's equally complete +destruction, it is hard for some of us to keep our flags flying. The +ice round about us will either bring down the temperature, or, if it +stimulates us to put more fuel on the fire, perhaps the fire may +melt it. And so the more we feel ourselves encompassed by these +temptations, the louder is the call to Christian men to cast +themselves back on the central verities, and to draw at first hand +from them the inspiration which shall be their safety. And how is +that to be done? Well, there are many ways by which thoughtful, and +cultivated, students may do it. But may I venture to deal here +rather with ways which all Christian people have open before them? +And I am bold to say that the way to be sure of `the power of God +unto salvation' is to submit ourselves continually to its cleansing +and renewing influence. This certitude, brethren, may be contributed +to by books of apologetics, and by other sources of investigation +and study which I should be sorry indeed to be supposed in any +degree to depreciate. But the true way to get it is, by deep +communion with the living God, to realise the personality of Jesus +Christ as present with us, our Friend, our Saviour, our Sanctifier +by His Holy Spirit. Why, Paul's Gospel was, I was going to say, +altogether---that would be an exaggeration---but it was to a very +large extent simply the generalisation of his own experience. That +is what all of us will find to be the Gospel that we have to preach. +`We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen.' And it was +because this man could say so assuredly---because the depths of his +own conscience and the witness within him bore testimony to it---`He +loved me and gave Himself for me,' that he could also say, `The +power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.' Go down +into the depths, brother and friend; cry to Him out of the depths. +Then you will feel His strong, gentle grip lifting you to the +heights, and that will give power that nothing else will, and you +will be able to say, `I have heard Him myself, and I know that this +is the Christ, the Saviour of the world.' + +But there is yet another source of certitude open to us all, and +that is the history of the centuries. Our modern sceptics, +attacking the truth of Christianity mostly from the physical side, +are strangely blind to the worth of history. It is a limitation of +faculty that besets them in a good many directions, but it does +not work anywhere more fatally than it does in their attitude +towards the Gospel. After all, Jesus Christ spoke the ultimate +word when He said, `By their fruits ye shall know them.' And it is +so, because just as what is morally wrong cannot be politically +right, so what is intellectually false cannot be morally good. +Truth, goodness, beauty, they are but three names for various +aspects of one thing, and if it be that the difference between +\textsc{b.c.} and \textsc{a.d.} has come from a Gospel which is +not the truth of God, then all I can say is, that the richest +vintage that ever the world saw, and the noblest wine of which it +ever drank, did grow upon a thorn. I know that the Christian +Church has sinfully and tragically failed to present Christ +adequately to the world. But for all that, `Ye are My witnesses, +saith the Lord'; and nobler manners and purer laws have come in +the wake of this Gospel of Jesus Christ. And as I look round about +upon what Christianity has done in the world, I venture to say, +`Show us any system of religion or of no religion that has done +that or anything the least like it, and then we will discuss with +you the other evidences of the Gospel.' + +In closing these words, may I venture relying on the melancholy +privilege of seniority, to drop for a minute or two into a tone of +advice? I would say, do not be frightened out of your confidence +either by the premature paean of victory from the opposite camp, +or by timid voices in our own ranks. And that you may not be so +frightened, be sure to keep clear in your mind the distinction +between the things that can be shaken and the kingdom that cannot +be moved. It is bad strategy to defend an elongated line. It is +cowardice to treat the capture of an outpost as involving the +evacuation of the key of the position. It is a mistake, to which +many good Christian people are sorely tempted in this day, to +assert such a connection between the eternal Gospel and our +deductions from the principles of that Gospel as that the +refutation of the one must be the overthrow of the other. And if +it turns out to be so in any case, a large part of the blame lies +upon those good and mistaken people who insist that everything +must be held or all must be abandoned. The burning questions of +this day about the genuineness of the books of Scripture, +inspiration, inerrancy, and the like, are not so associated with +this word, `God so loved the world ... that whosoever believeth in +Him should not perish, but have everlasting life,' as that the +discovery of errors in the Second Book of Chronicles shakes the +foundations of the Christian certitude. In a day like this truth +must change its vesture. Who believes that the Dissenting Churches +of England are the highest, perfect embodiment of the Kingdom of +God? And who believes that any creed of man's making has in it all +and has in it only the everlasting Gospel? So do not be +frightened, and do not think that when the things that can be +shaken are removed, the things that cannot be shaken are at all +less likely to remain. Depend upon it, the Gospel, whose outline I +have imperfectly tried to set before you now, will last as long as +men on earth know they are sinners and need a Saviour. Did you +ever see some mean buildings that have by degrees been gathered +round the sides of some majestic cathedral, and do you suppose +that the sweeping away of those shanties would touch the solemn +majesty of the medi\ae{}val glories of the building that rises +above them? Take them away if need be, and it, in its proportion, +beauty, strength, and heavenward aspiration, will stand more +glorious for the sweeping away. Preach positive truth. Do not +preach doubts. You remember Mr.\ Kingsley's book \textit{Yeast}. +Its title was its condemnation. Yeast is not meant to be drunk; it +is meant to be kept in the dark till the process of fermentation +goes on and it works itself clear, and then you may bring it out. +Do not be always arguing with the enemy. It is a great deal better +to preach the truth. Remember what Jesus said: `Let them alone, +they are blind leaders of the blind, they will fall into the +ditch.' It is not given to every one of us to conduct +controversial arguments in the pulpit. There are some much wiser +and abler brethren amongst us than you or I who can do it. Let us +be contented with, not the humbler but the more glorious, office +of telling what we have known, leaving it, as it will do, to prove +itself. You remember what the old woman, who had been favoured by +her pastor with an elaborate sermon to demonstrate the existence +of God, said when he had finished; `Well, I believe there is a +God, for all the gentleman says.' + +As one who sees the lengthening shadows falling over the darkening +field, may I say one word to my junior brethren, with all whose +struggles and doubts and difficulties I, for one, do most tenderly +sympathise? I beseech them---though, alas! the advice condemns the +giver of it as he looks back over long years of his ministry---to +be faithful to the Gospel how that `Jesus Christ died for our sins +according to the Scriptures.' Dear young friends, if you only go +where Paul went, and catch the inspiration that he caught there, +your path will be clear. It was in contact with Christ, whose +passion for soul-winning brought Him from heaven, that Paul +learned his passion for soul-winning. And if you and I are touched +with the divine enthusiasm, and have that aim clear before us, we +shall soon find out that there is only one power, one name given +under heaven among men whereby we can accomplish what we +desire---the name of `Jesus Christ that died, yea, rather, that is +risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, and also maketh +intercession for us.' If our aim is clear before us it will +prescribe our methods, and if the inspiration of our ministry is, +`I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and +Him crucified,' then, whether men will hear or whether they will +forbear, they shall know that there hath been a Prophet among +them. + +\chapter{World-Wide Sin and World-Wide Redemption} +\markright{ROMANS iii. 19--26} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Now we know, that what things soever the law saith, it saith to +them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and +all the world may become guilty before God. 20.\ Therefore by the +deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: +for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21.\ But now the +righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being +witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22.\ Even the righteousness +of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all +them that believe; for there is no difference: 23.\ For all have +sinned, and come short of the glory of God: 24.\ Being justified +freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ +Jesus; 25.\ Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through +faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission +of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26.\ To +declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be +just, and the justifier of him which believeth in +Jesus.'---\textsc{Romans} iii. 19--26. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Let us note in general terms the large truths which this passage +contains. We may mass these under four heads: + +I. Paul's view of the purpose of the law. + +He has been quoting a mosaic of Old Testament passages from the +Psalms and Isaiah. He regards these as part of `the law,' which +term, therefore, in his view, here includes the whole previous +revelation, considered as making known God's will as to man's +conduct. Every word of God, whether promise, or doctrine, or +specific command, has in it some element bearing on conduct. God +reveals nothing only in order that we may know, but all that, +knowing, we may do and be what is pleasing in His sight. All His +words are law. + +But Paul sets forth another view of its purpose here; namely, to +drive home to men's consciences the conviction of sin. That is not +the only purpose, for God reveals duty primarily in order that men +may do it, and His law is meant to be obeyed. But, failing +obedience, this second purpose comes into action, and His law is a +swift witness against sin. The more clearly we know our duty, the +more poignant will be our consciousness of failure. The light +which shines to show the path of right, shines to show our +deviations from it. And that conviction of sin, which it was the +very purpose of all the previous Revelation to produce, is a +merciful gift; for, as the Apostle implies, it is the prerequisite +to the faith which saves. + +As a matter of fact, there was a far profounder and more inward +conviction of sin among the Jews than in any heathen nation. +Contrast the wailings of many a psalm with the tone in Greek or +Roman literature. No doubt there is a law written on men's hearts +which evokes a lower measure of the same consciousness of sin. +There are prayers among the Assyrian and Babylonian tablets which +might almost stand beside the Fifty-first Psalm; but, on the +whole, the deep sense of sin was the product of the revealed law. +The best use of our consciousness of what we ought to be, is when +it rouses conscience to feel the discordance with it of what we +are, and so drives us to Christ. Law, whether in the Old +Testament, or as written in our hearts by their very make, is the +slave whose task is to bring us to Christ, who will give us power +to keep God's commandments. + +Another purpose of the law is stated in verse 21, as being to bear +witness, in conjunction with the prophets, to a future more +perfect revelation of God's righteousness. Much of the law was +symbolic and prophetic. The ideal it set forth could not always +remain unfulfilled. The whole attitude of that system was one of +forward-looking expectancy. There is much danger lest, in modern +investigations as to the authorship, date, and genesis of the Old +Testament revelation, its central characteristic should be lost +sight of; namely, its pointing onwards to a more perfect +revelation which should supersede it. + +II. Paul's view of universal sinfulness. + +He states that twice in this passage (vs.\ 20 to 24), and it +underlies his view of the purpose of law. In verse 20 he asserts +that `by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified,' and in +verses 23 and 24 he advances from that negative statement to the +positive assertion that all have sinned. The impossibility of +justification by the works of the law may be shown from two +considerations: one, that, as a matter of fact, no flesh has ever +done them all with absolute completeness and purity; and, second, +that, even if they had ever been so done, they would not have +availed to secure acquittal at a tribunal where motive counts for +more than deed. The former is the main point with Paul. + +In verse 23 the same fact of universal experience is contemplated +as both positive sin and negative falling short of the `glory' +(which here seems to mean, as in John v.\ 44, xii.\ 43, +approbation from God). `There is no distinction,' but all +varieties of condition, character, attainment, are alike in this, +that the fatal taint is upon them all. `We have, all of us, one +human heart.' We are alike in physical necessities, in primal +instincts, and, most tragically of all, in the common experience +of sinfulness. + +Paul does not mean to bring all varieties of character down to one +dead level, but he does mean to assert that none is free from the +taint. A man need only be honest in self-examination to endorse +the statement, so far as he himself is concerned. The Gospel would +be better understood if the fact of universal sinfulness were more +deeply felt. Its superiority to all schemes for making everybody +happy by rearrangements of property, or increase of culture, would +be seen through; and the only cure for human misery would be +discerned to be what cures universal sinfulness. + +III. So we have next Paul's view of the remedy for man's sin. That +is stated in general terms in verses 21, 22. Into a world of +sinful men comes streaming the light of a `righteousness of God.' +That expression is here used to mean a moral state of conformity +with God's will, imparted by God. The great, joyful message, which +Paul felt himself sent to proclaim, is that the true way to reach +the state of conformity which law requires, and which the +unsophisticated, universal conscience acknowledges not to have +been reached, is the way of faith. + +The message is so familiar to us that we may easily fail to +realise its essential greatness and wonderfulness when first +proclaimed. That God should give righteousness, that it should be +`of God,' not only as coming from Him, but as, in some real way, +being kindred with His own perfection; that it should be brought +to men by Jesus Christ, as ancient legends told that a beneficent +Titan brought from heaven, in a hollow cane, the gift of fire; and +that it should become ours by the simple process of trusting in +Jesus Christ, are truths which custom has largely robbed of their +wonderfulness. Let us meditate more on them till they regain, by +our own experience of their power, some of the celestial light +which belongs to them. + +Observe that in verse 22 the universality of the redemption which +is in Christ is deduced from the universality of sin. The remedy +must reach as far as the disease. If there is no difference in +regard to sin, there can be none in regard to the sweep of +redemption. The doleful universality of the covering spread over +all nations, has corresponding to it the blessed universality of +the light which is sent forth to flood them all. Sin's empire +cannot stretch farther than Christ's kingdom. + +IV. Paul's view of what makes the Gospel the remedy. + +In verses 21 and 22 it was stated generally that Christ was the +channel, and faith the condition, of righteousness. The personal +object of faith was declared, but not the special thing in Christ +which was to be trusted in. That is fully set forth in verses +24--26. We cannot attempt to discuss the great words in these +verses, each of which would want a volume. But we may note that +`justified' here means to be accounted or declared righteous, as a +judicial act; and that justification is traced in its ultimate +source to God's `grace,'---His own loving disposition---which +bends to unworthy and lowly creatures, and is regarded as having +for the medium of its bestowal the `redemption' that is in Christ +Jesus. That is the channel through which grace comes from God. + +`Redemption' implies captivity, liberation, and a price paid. The +metaphor of slaves set free by ransom is exchanged in verse 25 for +a sacrificial reference. A propitiatory sacrifice averts +punishment from the offerer. The death of the victim procures the +life of the worshipper. So, a propitiatory or atoning sacrifice is +offered by Christ's blood, or death. That sacrifice is the +ransom-price through which our captivity is ended, and our liberty +assured. As His redemption is the channel `through' which God's +grace comes to men, so faith is the condition `through' which +(ver. 25) we make that grace ours. + +Note, then, that Paul does not merely point to Jesus Christ as +Saviour, but to His death as the saving power. We are to have +faith in Jesus Christ (ver. 22). But that is not a complete +statement. It must be faith in His propitiation, if it is to bring +us into living contact with His redemption. A gospel which says +much of Christ, but little of His Cross, or which dilates on the +beauty of His life, but stammers when it begins to speak of the +sacrifice in His death, is not Paul's Gospel, and it will have +little power to deal with the universal sickness of sin. + +The last verses of the passage set forth another purpose attained +by Christ's sacrifice; namely, the vindication of God's +righteousness in forbearing to inflict punishment on sins +committed before the advent of Jesus. That Cross rayed out its +power in all directions---to the heights of the heavens; to the +depths of Hades (Col.\ i.\ 20); to the ages that were to come, and +to those that were past. The suspension of punishment through all +generations, from the beginning till that day when the Cross was +reared on Calvary, was due to that Cross having been present to +the divine mind from the beginning. `The judge is condemned when +the guilty is acquitted,' or left unpunished. There would be a +blot on God's government, not because it was so severe, but +because it was so forbearing, unless His justice was vindicated, +and the fatal consequences of sin shown in the sacrifice of +Christ. God could not have shown Himself just, in view either of +age-long forbearance, or of now justifying the sinner, unless the +Cross had shown that He was not immorally indulgent toward +sin. + +\chapter{No Difference} +\markright{ROMANS iii. 22} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`There is no difference.'---\textsc{Romans} iii. 22. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The things in which all men are alike are far more important than +those in which they differ. The diversities are superficial, the +identities are deep as life. Physical processes and wants are the +same for everybody. All men, be they kings or beggars, civilised +or savage, rich or poor, wise or foolish, cultured or illiterate, +breathe the same breath, hunger and thirst, eat and drink, sleep, +are smitten by the same diseases, and die at last the same death. +We have all of us one human heart. Tears and grief, gladness and +smiles, move us all. Hope, fear, love, play the same music upon +all heart-strings. The same great law of duty over-arches every +man, and the same heaven of God bends above him. + +Religion has to do with the deep-seated identities and not with +the superficial differences. And though there have been many +aristocratic religions in the world, it is the great glory of +Christianity that it goes straight to the central similarities, +and brushes aside, as of altogether secondary importance, all the +subordinate diversities, grappling with the great facts which are +common to humanity, and with the large hopes which all may +inherit. + +Paul here, in his grand way, triumphs and rises above all these +small differences between man and man, more pure or less pure, Jew +or Gentile, wise or foolish, and avers that, in regard of the +deepest and most important things, `there is no difference,' and +so his Gospel is a Gospel for the world, because it deals with all +men on the same level. Now I wish to work out this great glory and +characteristic of the Gospel system in a few remarks, and to point +out to you the more important of these things in which all men, be +they what or who they may, stand in one category and have +identical experiences and interests. + +I. First, there is no difference in the fact of sin. + +Now let us understand that the Gospel does not assert that there +is no difference in the degrees of sin. Christianity does not +teach, howsoever some of its apostles may seem to have taught, or +unconsciously lent themselves to representations which imply the +view that there was no difference between a man who `did by nature +the things contained in the law,' as Paul says, and the man who +set himself to violate law. There is no such monstrous teaching in +the New Testament as that all blacks are the same shade, all sin +of the same gravity, no such teaching as that a man that tries +according to his light to do what is right stands on exactly the +same level as the man who flouts all such obligations, and has +driven the chariots of his lusts and passions through every law +that may stand in his way. + +But even whilst we have to insist upon that, that the teaching of +my text is not of an absolute identity of criminality, but only an +universal participation in criminality, do not let us forget that, +if you take the two extremes, and suppose it possible that there +were a best man in all the world, and a worst man in all the +world, the difference between these two is not perhaps so great as +at first sight it looks. For we have to remember that motives make +actions, and that you cannot judge of these by considering those, +that `as a man thinketh in his heart,' and not as a man does with +his hands, `so is he.' We have to remember, also, that there may +be lives, sedulously and immaculately respectable and pure, which +are white rather with the unwholesome leprosy of disease than with +the wholesome purity of health. + +In Queen Elizabeth's time, the way in which they cleaned the hall +of a castle, the floor of which might be covered with remnants of +food and all manner of abominations, was to strew another layer of +rushes over the top of the filth, and then they thought themselves +quite neat and respectable. And that is what a great many of you +do, cover the filth well up with a sweet smelling layer of +conventional proprieties, and think yourselves clean, and the +pinks of perfection. God forbid that I should say one word that +would seem to cast any kind of slur upon the effort that any man +makes to do what he knows to be right, but this I proclaim, or +rather my text proclaims for me, that, giving full weight and +value to all that, and admitting the existence of variations in +degree, the identity is deeper than the diversity; and there is +`not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sinneth not.' + +Oh, dear friends! it is not a question of degree, but of +direction; not how far the ship has gone on her voyage, but how +she heads. Good and evil are the same in essence, whatever be +their intensity and whatever be their magnitude. Arsenic is +arsenic, whether you have a ton of it or a grain; and a very small +dose will be enough to poison. The Gospel starts with the +assertion that there is no difference in the fact of sin. The +assertion is abundantly confirmed. Does not conscience assent? We +all admit `faults,' do we not? We all acknowledge `imperfections.' +It is that little word `sin' which seems to bring in another order +of considerations, and to command the assent of conscience less +readily. But sin is nothing except fault considered in reference +to God's law. Bring the notion of God into the life, and `faults' +and `slips' and `weaknesses,' and all the other names by which we +try to smooth down the ugliness of the ugly thing, start up at +once into their tone, magnitude, and importance, and stand avowed +as \textit{sins}. + +Well now, if there be, therefore, this universal consciousness of +imperfection, and if that consciousness of imperfection has only +need to be brought into contact with God, as it were, to flame +thus, let me remind you, too, that this fact of universal +sinfulness puts us all in one class, no matter what may be the +superficial difference. Shakespeare and the Australian savage, the +biggest brain and the smallest, the loftiest and the lowest of us, +the purest and the foulest of us, we all come into the same order. +It is a question of classification. `The Scripture hath concluded +all under sin,' that is to say, has shut all men up as in a +prison. You remember in the French Revolution, all manner of +people were huddled indiscriminately into the same dungeon of the +Paris prisons. You would find a princess and some daughter of +shame from the gutters; a boor from the country and a landlord, a +count, a marquis, a \textit{savant}, a philosopher and an +illiterate workman, all together in the dungeons. They kept up the +distinctions of society and of class with a ghastly mockery, even +to the very moment when the tumbrils came for them. And so here +are we all, in some sense inclosed within the solemn cells of this +great prison-house, and whether we be wise or foolish, we are +prisoners, whether we have titles or not, we are prisoners. You +may be a student, but you are a sinner: you may be a rich +Manchester merchant, but you are a sinner; you may be a man of +rank, but you are a sinner. Naaman went to Elisha and was very +much offended because Elisha treated him as a leper who happened +to be a nobleman. He wanted to be treated as a nobleman who +happened to be a leper. And that is the way with a great many of +us; we do not like to be driven into one class with all the crowd +of evildoers. But, my friend, `there is no difference.' `All have +sinned and come short of the glory of God.' + +II. Again, there is no difference in the fact of God's love to +us. + +God does not love men because of what they are, therefore He does +not cease to love them because of what they are. His love to the +sons of men is not drawn out by their goodness, their morality, +their obedience, but it wells up from the depths of His own heart, +because `it is His nature and property,' and if I may so say, He +cannot help loving. You do not need to pump up that great +affection by any machinery of obedience and of merits; it rises +like the water in an Artesian well, of its own impulse, with +ebullient power from the central heat, and spreads its great +streams everywhere. And therefore, though our sin may awfully +disturb our relations with God, and may hurt and harm us in a +hundred ways, there is one thing it cannot do, it cannot stop Him +from loving us. It cannot dam back His great love, which flows out +for ever towards all His creatures, and laves them all in its +gentle, strong flood, from which nothing can draw them away. `In +Him we live, and move, and have our being,' and to live in Him, +whatever else it may mean---and it means a great deal more---is +most certainly to live in His love. A man can as soon pass out of +the atmosphere in which he breathes as he can pass out of the love +of God. We can no more travel beyond that great over-arching +firmament of everlasting love which spans all the universe than a +star set in the blue heavens can transcend the liquid arch and get +beyond its range. `There is no difference' in the fact that all +men, unthankful and evil as they are, are grasped and held in the +love of God. + +But there \textit{is} a difference. Sin cannot dam God's love +back, but sin has a terrible power in reference to the love of +God. Two things it can do. It can make us incapable of receiving +the highest blessings of that love. There are many mercies which +God pours `upon the unthankful and the evil.' These are His least +gifts; His highest and best cannot be given to the unthankful and +the evil. They would if they could, but they cannot, because they +cannot be received by them. You can shut the shutters against the +light; you can close the vase against the stream. You cannot +prevent its shining, you cannot prevent its flowing, but you can +prevent yourself from receiving its loftiest and best +blessings. + +And another awful power that my sin has in reference to God's love +is, that it can modify the form which God's love takes in its +dealings with me. We may force Him to do `His work,' `His strange +work,' as Isaiah calls it, and to punish when He would fain only +succour and comfort and bless. Just as a fog in the sky does not +touch the sun, but turns it to our eyes into a fiery ball, red and +lurid, so the mist of my sin coming between me and God, may, to my +apprehension and to my capacity of reception, solemnly make +different that great love of His. But yet there is no difference +in the fact of God's love to us. + +III. Thirdly, there is no difference in the purpose and power of +Christ's Cross for us all. + +`He died for all.' The area over which the purpose and the power +of Christ's death extend is precisely conterminous with the area +over which the power of sin extends. It cannot be---blessed be +God!---that the raven Sin shall fly further than the dove with the +olive branch in its mouth. It cannot be that the disease shall go +wider than the cure. And so, dear friends, I have to come to you +now with this message. No matter what a man is, how far he has +gone, how sinful he has been, how long he has stayed away from the +sweetness and grace of that great sacrifice on the Cross, that +death was for him. The power of Christ's sacrifice makes possible +the forgiveness of all the sins of all the world, past, present, +and to come. The worth of that sacrifice, which was made by the +willing surrender of the Incarnate Son of God to the death of the +Cross, is sufficient for the ransom price of all the sins of all +men. + +Nor is it only the power of the Cross which is all embracing, but +its purpose also. In the very hour of Christ's death, there stood, +clear and distinct, before His divine omniscience, each man, +woman, and child of the race. And for them all, grasping them all +in the tenderness of His sympathy and in the clearness of His +knowledge, in the design of His sufferings for them all, He died, +so that every human being may lay his hand on the head of the +sacrifice, and \textit{know} `his guilt was there,' and may say, +with as triumphant and appropriating faith as Paul did, `He loved +\textit{me},' and in that hour of agony and love `gave Himself for +\textit{me}.' + +To go back to a metaphor already employed, the prisoners are +gathered together in the prison, not that they may be slain, but +`God hath included them all,' shut them all up, `that He might +have mercy upon all.' And so, as it was in the days of Christ's +life upon earth, so is it now, and so will it be for ever. All the +crowd may come to Him, and whosoever comes `is made whole of +whatsoever disease he had.' There are no incurables nor outcasts. +`There is no difference.' + +IV. Lastly, there is no difference in the way which we must take +for salvation. + +The only thing that unites men to Jesus Christ is faith. You must +trust Him, you must trust the power of His sacrifice, you must +trust the might of His living love. You must trust Him with a +trust which is self-distrust. You must trust Him out and out. The +people with whom Paul is fighting, in this chapter, were quite +willing to admit that faith was the thing that made Christians, +but they wanted to tack on something besides. They wanted to tack +on the rites of Judaism and obedience to the moral law. And ever +since men have been going on in that erroneous rut. Sometimes it +has been that people have sought to add a little of their own +morality; sometimes to add ceremonies and sacraments. Sometimes it +has been one thing and sometimes it has been another; but there +are not two ways to the Cross of Christ, and to the salvation +which He gives. There is only one road, and all sorts of men have +to come by it. You cannot lean half upon Christ and half upon +yourselves, like the timid cripple that is not quite sure of the +support of the friendly arm. You cannot eke out the robe with +which He will clothe you with a little bit of stuff of your own +weaving. It is an insult to a host to offer to pay for +entertainment. The Gospel feast that Christ provides is not a +social meal to which every guest brings a dish. Our part is simple +reception, we have to bring empty hands if we would receive the +blessing. + +We must put away superficial differences. The Gospel is for the +world, therefore the act by which we receive it must be one which +all men can perform, not one which only some can do. Not wisdom, +nor righteousness, but faith joins us to Christ. And, therefore, +people who fancy themselves wise or righteous are offended that +`special terms' are not made with them. They would prefer to have +a private portion for themselves. It grates against the pride of +the aristocratic class, whether it be aristocratic by +culture---and that is the most aristocratic of all---or by +position, or anything else---it grates against their pride to be +told: `You have to go in by that same door that the beggar is +going in at'; and `there is no difference.' Therefore, the very +width of the doorway, that is wide enough for all the world, gets +to be thought narrowness, and becomes a hindrance to our entering. +As Naaman's servant put a common-sense question to him, so may I +to you. `If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest +thou not have done it?' Ay! that you would! `How much more when He +says ``Wash and be clean!''\,' There is only one way of getting +dirt off, and that is by water. There is only one way of getting +sin off, and that is by the blood of Jesus Christ. There is only +one way of having that blood applied to your heart, and that is +trusting Him. `The common salvation' becomes ours when we exercise +`the common faith.' `There is no difference' in our sins. Thank +God! `there is no difference' in the fact that He grasps us with +His love. There is no difference in the fact that Jesus Christ has +died for us all. Let there be no difference in our faith, or there +will be a difference, deep as the difference between Heaven and +Hell; the difference between them that believe and them that +believe not, which will darken and widen into the difference +between them that are saved and them that perish. + +\chapter{Let Us Have Peace} +\markright{ROMANS v. 1} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Let us have peace with God through our Lord Jesus +Christ.'---\textsc{Romans} v. 1. (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +In the rendering of the Revised Version, `Let us have peace with +God through our Lord Jesus Christ,' the alteration is very slight, +being that of one letter in one word, the substitution of a long +`o' for a short one. The majority of manuscripts of authority read +`let us have,' making the clause an exhortation and not a +statement. I suppose the reason why, in some inferior MSS., the +statement takes the place of the exhortation is because it was +felt to be somewhat of a difficulty to understand the Apostle's +course of thought. But I shall hope to show you that the true +understanding of the context, as well as of the words I have taken +for my text, requires the exhortation and not the affirmation. + +One more remark of an introductory character: is it not very +beautiful to see how the Apostle here identifies himself, in all +humility, with the Christians whom he is addressing, and feels +that he, Apostle as he is, has the same need for the same counsel +and stimulus that the weakest of those to whom he is writing have? +It would have been so easy for him to isolate himself, and say, +`Now you have peace with God; see that you keep it.' But he puts +himself into the same class as those whom he is exhorting, and +that is what all of us have to do who would give advice that will +be worth anything or of any effect. He does not stand upon a +little molehill of superiority, and look down upon the Roman +Christians, and imply that they have needs that he has not, but he +exhorts himself too, saying, `Let all of us who have obtained like +precious faith, which is alike in an Apostle and in the humblest +believer, have peace with God.' + +Now a word, first, about the meaning of this somewhat singular +exhortation. + +There is a theory of man and his relation to God underlying it, +which is very unfashionable at present, but which corresponds to +the deepest things in human nature, and the deepest mysteries in +human history, and that is, that something has come in to produce +the totally unnatural and monstrous fact that between God and man +there is not amity or harmony. Men, on their side, are alienated, +because their wills are rebellious and their aims diverse from +God's purpose concerning them. And---although it is an awful thing +to have to say, and one from which the sentimentalism of much +modern Christianity weakly recoils---on God's side, too, the +relation has been disturbed, and `we are by nature the children of +wrath, even as others'; not of a wrath which is unloving, not of a +wrath which is impetuous and passionate, not of a wrath which +seeks the hurt of its objects, but of a wrath which is the +necessary antagonism and recoil of pure love from such creatures +as we have made ourselves to be. To speak as if the New Testament +taught that `reconciliation' was lop-sided---which would be a +contradiction in terms, for reconciliation needs two to make +it---to talk as if the New Testament taught that reconciliation +was only man's putting away his false relation to God, is, as I +humbly think, to be blind to its plainest teaching. So, there +being this antagonism and separation between God and man, the +Gospel comes to deal with it, and proclaims that Jesus Christ has +abolished the enmity, and by His death on the Cross has become our +peace; and that we, by faith in that Christ, and grasping in faith +His death, pass from out of the condition of hostility into the +condition of reconciliation. + +With this by way of basis, let us come back to my text. It sounds +strange; `Therefore, being justified by faith, let up have peace.' +`Well,' you will say, `but is not all that you have been saying +just this, that to be justified by faith, to be declared righteous +by reason of faith in Him who makes us righteous, is to have peace +with God? Is not your exhortation an entirely superfluous one?' No +doubt that is what the old scribe thought who originated the +reading which has crept into our Authorised Version. The two +things do seem to be entirely parallel. To be justified by faith +is a certain process, to have peace with God is the inseparable +and simultaneous result of that process itself. But that is going +rather too fast. `Being justified by faith let us have peace with +God,' really is just this---see that you abide where you are; keep +what you have. The exhortation is not to attain peace, but retain +it. `Hold fast that thou hast; let no man take thy crown.' `Being +justified by faith' cling to your treasure and let nothing rob you +of it---`let us have peace with God.' + +Now a word, in the next place, as to the necessity and importance +of this exhortation. + +There underlies it, this solemn thought, which Christian people, +and especially some types of Christian doctrine, do need to have +hammered into them over and over again, that we hold the blessed +life itself, and all its blessings, only on condition of our own +cooperation in keeping them; and that just as physical life dies, +unless by reception of food we nourish and continue it, so a man +that is in this condition of being justified by faith, and having +peace with God, needs, in order to the permanence of that +condition, to give his utmost effort and diligence. It will all go +if he do not. All the old state will come back again if we are +slothful and negligent. We cannot keep the treasure unless we +guard it. And just because we have it, we need to put all our +mind, the earnestness of our will, and the concentration of our +efforts, into the specific work of retaining it. + +For, consider how manifold and strong are the forces which are +always working against our continual possession of this +justification by faith, and consequent peace with God. There are +all the ordinary cares and duties and avocations and fortunes of +our daily life, which, indeed, may be so hallowed in their motives +and in their activities, as that they may be turned into helps +instead of hindrances, but which require a great deal of diligence +and effort in order that they should not work like grains of dust +that come between the parts of some nicely-fitting engine, and so +cause friction and disaster. There are all the daily tasks that +tempt us to forget the things that we only know by faith, and to +be absorbed in the things that we can touch and taste and handle. +If a man is upon an inclined plane, unless he is straining his +muscles to go upwards, gravitation will make short work of him, +and bring him down. And unless Christian men grip hard and +continually that sense of having fellowship and peace with God, as +sure as they are living they will lose the clearness of that +consciousness, and the calm that comes from it. For we cannot go +into the world and do the work that is laid upon us all without +there being possible hostility to the Christian life in everything +that we meet. Thank God there is possible help, too, and whether +our daily calling is an enemy or a friend to our religion depends +upon the earnestness and continuousness of our own efforts. But +there is a worse force than these external distractions working to +draw us away, one that we carry within, in our own vacillating +wills and wayward hearts and treacherous affections and passions +that usually lie dormant, but wake up sometimes at the most +inopportune periods. Unless we keep a very tight hand upon +ourselves, certainly these will rob us of this consciousness of +being justified by faith which brings with it peace with God that +passes understanding. + +In the Isle of Wight massive cliffs rise hundreds of feet above the +sea, and seem as if they were as solid as the framework of the earth +itself. But they rest upon a sharply inclined plane of clay, and the +moisture trickles through the rifts in the majestic cliffs above, +and gets down to that slippery substance and makes it like the +greased ways down which they launch a ship; and away goes the cliff +one day, with its hundreds of feet of buttresses that have fronted +the tempest for centuries, and it lies toppled in hideous ruin on +the beach below. We have all a layer of `blue slipper' in ourselves, +and unless we take care that no storm-water finds its way down +through the chinks in the rocks above they will slide into awful +ruin. `Being justified, let us have peace with God,' and remember +that the exhortation is enforced not only by a consideration of the +many strong forces which tend to deprive us of this peace, but also +by a consideration of the hideous disaster that comes upon a man's +whole nature if he loses peace with God. For there is no peace with +ourselves, and there is no peace with man, and there is no peace in +face of the warfare of life and the calamities that are certainly +before us all, unless, in the deepest sanctuary of our being, there +is the peace of God because in our consciences there is peace with +God. If I desire to be at rest---and there is no blessedness but +rest---if I desire to know the sovereign joy of tranquillity, +undisturbed by my own stormy passions or by any human enmity, and to +have even the `beasts of the field at peace with' me, and all things +my helpers and allies, there is but one way to realise the desire, +and that is the retention of peace with God that comes with being +justified by faith. + +Lastly, a word or two as to the ways by which this exhortation can +be carried into effect. + +I have tried to explain how the peace of which my text speaks +comes originally through Christ's work laid hold of by my faith, +and now I would say only three things. + +Retain the peace by the exercise of that same faith which at first +brought it. Next, retain it by union with that same Lord from whom +you at first received it. Very significantly, in the immediate +context, we have the Apostle drawing a broad distinction between +the benefits which we have received from Christ's death, and those +which we shall receive through His life. And that is the best +commentary on the words of my text. `If when we were enemies, we +were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being +reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.' So let our faith grasp +firmly the great twin facts of the Christ who died that He might +abolish the enmity, and bring us peace; and of the Christ who +lives in order that He may pour into our hearts more and more of +His own life, and so make us more and more in His own image. And +the last word that I would say, in addition to these two plain, +practical precepts is, let your conduct be such as will not +disturb your peace with God. For if a man lets his own will rise +up in rebellion against God's, whether that divine will command +duty or impose suffering, away goes all his peace. There is no +possibility of the tranquil sense of union and communion with my +Father in heaven lasting when I am in rebellion against Him. The +smallest sin destroys, for the time being, our sense of +forgiveness and our peace with God. The blue surface of the lake, +mirroring in its unmoved tranquillity the sky and the bright sun, +or the solemn stars, loses all that reflected heaven in its heart +when a cat's paw of wind ruffles its surface. If we would keep our +hearts as mirrors, in their peace, of the peace in the heavens +that shine down on them, we must fence them from the winds of evil +passions and rebellious wills. `Oh! that thou wouldest hearken +unto Me, then had thy peace been like a river.' + +\chapter{Access into Grace} +\markright{ROMANS v. 2} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we +stand.'---\textsc{Romans} v. 2. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +I may be allowed to begin with a word or two of explanation of the +terms of this passage. Note then, especially, that \textit{also} +which sends us back to the previous clause, and tells us that our +text adds something to what was spoken of there. What was spoken +of there? `The peace of God' which comes to a man by Jesus Christ +through faith, the removal of enmity, and the declaration of +righteousness. But that peace with God, which is the beginning of +everything in the Christian view, is only the beginning, and there +is much to follow. While, then, there is a progress clearly marked +in the words of our text, and `access into this grace wherein we +stand' is something more than, and after, the `peace with God,' +mark next the similarity of the text and the preceding verse. The +two great truths in the latter, Christ's mediation or +intervention, and our faith as the condition by which we receive +the blessings which are brought to us in and through Him, are both +repeated, with no unmeaning tautology, but with profound +significance in our text---`By whom also we have access'---as well +as---`the peace of God'---`access \textit{by faith} into this +grace.' So then, for the initial blessing, and for all the +subsequent blessings of the Christian life, the way is the same. +The medium and channel is one, and the act by which we avail +ourselves of the blessings coming through that one medium is the +same. Now the language of my text, with its talking about access, +faith, and grace, sounds to a great many of us, I am afraid, very +hard and remote and technical. And there are not wanting people +who tell us that all that terminology in the New Testament is like +a dying brand in the fire, where the little kernel of glowing heat +is getting covered thicker and thicker with grey ashes. Yes; but +if you blow the ashes off, the fire is there all the same. Let us +try if we can blow the ashes off. + +This text seems to me in its archaic phraseology, only to need to +be pondered in order to flash up into wonderful beauty. It carries +in it a magnificent ideal of the Christian life, in three things: +the Christian place, `access into grace'; the Christian attitude, +`wherein we stand'; and the Christian means of realising that +ideal, `through Christ' and `by faith.' Now let us look at these +three points. + +I. The Christian Place. + +There is clearly a metaphor here, both in the word `access' and in +that other one `stand.' `The grace' is supposed as some ample +space into which a man is led, and where he can continue, stand, +and expatiate. Or, we may say, it is regarded as a palace or +treasure-house into which we can enter. Now, if we take that great +New Testament word `grace,' and ponder its meanings, we find that +they run something in this fashion. The central thought, grand and +marvellous, which is enshrined in it, and which often is buried +for careless ears, is that of the active love of God poured out +upon inferiors who deserve something very different. Then there +follows a second meaning, which covers a great part of the ground +of the use of the phrase in the New Testament, and that is the +communication of that love to men, the specific and individualised +gifts which come out of that great reservoir of patient, +pardoning, condescending, and bestowing love. Then there may be +taken into view a meaning which is less prominent in Scripture but +not absent, namely, the resulting beauty of character. A gracious +soul ought to be, and is, a graceful soul; a supreme loveliness is +imparted to human nature by the communication to it of the gifts +which are the results of the undeserved, free, and infinite love +of God. + +Now if we take all these three thoughts as blended together in the +grand metaphor of the Apostle, of the ample space into which the +Christian man passes, we get such lessons as this. A Christian +life may, and therefore should, be suffused with a continual +consciousness of the love of God. That would change everything in +it. Here is some great sweep of rolling country, perhaps a +Highland moor: the little tarns on it are grey and cold, the +vegetation is gloomy and dark, dreariness is over all the scene, +because there is a great pall of cloud drawn beneath the blue. But +the sun pierces with his lances through the grey, and crumples up +the mists, and sends them flying beneath the horizon. Then what a +change in the landscape! All the tarns that looked black and +wicked are now infantile in their innocent blue and sunny +gladness, and every dimple in the heights shows, and all the +heather burns with the sunshine that falls upon it. So my lonely +doleful life, if that light from God, the beam of His love, shines +down upon it, rises into nobility, and flashes into beauty, and is +calm and fair and great, as nothing else can make it. You may +dwell in love by dwelling in God, and then your lives will be +fair. You have access into the grace; see that you go there. They +tell us that nightingales sing by the wayside by preference, and +we may have in our lives, singing a quiet tune, the continual +thought of the love of God, even whilst life's highway is dusty +and rough, and our feet are often weary in treading it. A +Christian life may be, and therefore should be, suffused with the +sense of the abiding love of God. + +Take the other meaning of the word, the secondary and derived +meaning, the communication of that love to us, and that leads us +to say that a Christian life may, and therefore should, be +enriched with continual gifts from God's fullness. I said that the +Apostle was using a metaphor here, regarding the grace as being an +ample space into which a man was admitted, or we may say that he +is thinking of it as a great treasure-house. We have the right of +entrance there, where on every side, as it were, lie ingots of +uncoined gold, and masses of treasure, and we may have just as +much or as little as we choose. It is entirely in our own +determination how much of the wealth of God we shall possess. We +have access to the treasure-house; and this permit is put into our +hands: `Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.' The size of the sack +that the man brings, in the old story, determined the amount of +wealth that he carried away. Some of you bring very tiny baskets +and expect little and desire little; you get no more than you +desired and expected. + +That wealth, the fullness of God, takes the shape of, as well as +is determined in its measure by the magnitude of, the vessel into +which it is put. It is multiform, and we get whatever we desire, +and whatever either our characters or our circumstances require. +The one gift assumes all forms, just as water poured into a vase +takes the shape of the vase into which it is poured. The same gift +unfolds itself in an infinite variety of manners, according to the +needs of the man to whom it is given; just as the writer's pen, +the carpenter's hammer, the farmer's ploughshare, are all made out +of the same metal. So God's grace comes to you in a different +shape from that in which it comes to me, according to our +different callings and needs, as fixed by our circumstances, our +duties, our sorrows, our temptations. + +So, brethren, how shameful it is that, having the possibility of so +much, we should have the actuality of so little. There is an old +story about one of our generals in India long ago, who, when he came +home, was accused of rapacity because he had brought away so much +treasure from the Rajahs whom he had conquered, and his answer to +the charge was, `I was surprised at my own moderation.' Ah! there +are a great many Christian people who ought to be ashamed of their +moderation. They have gone into the treasure-house; stacks of +jewels, jars of gold on all sides of them---and they have been +content to come away with some one poor little coin, when they might +have been `rich beyond the dreams of avarice.' Brethren, you have +`access' to the fullness of God. Whose fault is it if you are empty? + +Then, further, I said there was another meaning in these great +words. The love which may suffuse our lives, the gifts, the +consequence of that love, which may enrich our lives, should, and +in the measure in which they are received will, adorn and make +beautiful our lives. For `grace' means loveliness as well as +goodness, and the God who is the fountain of it all is the +fountain of `whatsoever things are fair,' as well as of whatsoever +things are good. That suggests two considerations on which I have +no time to dwell. One is that the highest beauty is goodness, and +unless the art of a nation learns that, its art will become filthy +and a minister of sin. They talk about `Art for Art's sake.' Would +that all these poets and painters who are trying to find beauty in +corruption---and there is a phosphorescent glimmer in rotting +wood, and a prismatic colouring on the scum of a stagnant +pond---would that all those men who are seeking to find beauty +apart from goodness, and so are turning a divine instinct into a +servant of evil, would learn that the true gracefulness comes from +the grace which is the fullness of God given unto men. + +But there is another lesson, and that is that Christian people who +say that they have their lives irradiated by the love of God, and +who profess to be receiving gifts from His full hand, are bound to +take care that their goodness is not `harsh and crabbed,' as not +only `dull fools suppose' it to be, but as it sometimes is, but is +musical and fair. You are bound to make your goodness attractive, +and to show that the things that are `of good report' are likewise +the `things that are lovely.' + +II. And so, now, turn to the second point here, viz. the Christian +attitude. + +`The grace wherein ye \textit{stand}'; that word is very emphatic +here, and does not merely mean `continue,' but it suggests what I +have put into that phrase, the Christian attitude. + +Two things are implied. One is that a life thus suffused by the +love, and enriched by the gifts, and adorned by the loveliness +that come from God, will be stable and steadfast. Resistance and +stability are implied in the words. One very important item in +determining a man's power of resistance, and of standing firm +against whatever assaults may be hurled against him, is the sort +of footing that he has. If you stand on slippery mud, or on the +ice of a glacier, you will find it hard to stand firm; but if you +plant your foot on the grace of God, then you will be able to +`withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.' And how +does a man plant his foot on the grace of God? simply by trusting +in God, and not in himself. So that the secret of all +steadfastness of life, and of all successful resistance to the +whirling onrush of temptations and of difficulties, is to set your +foot upon that rock, and then your `goings' will be +established. + +Jesus Christ brings to us, in the gift of life in Him, stability +which will check the vacillations of our own hearts. We go up and +down, we yield when pressure is brought to bear against us, we are +carried off our feet often by the sudden swirl of the stream, and +the fitful blast of the wind. But His grace comes in, and will make +us able to stand against all assaults. Our poor natures, necessarily +changeable, and sinfully vacillating and weak, will be uniform, in +the measure in which the grace of God comes into our hearts. Just as +in these so-called petrifying wells, they take a bit of cloth, a +bird's nest, a billet of wood, and plunge it into the water, and the +mineral held in solution there infiltrates into the substance of the +thing plunged in, and makes it firm and inflexible: so let us plunge +our poor, changeful, vacillating resolutions, our wayward, wandering +hearts, our passions, so easily excited by temptation, into that +great fountain, and there will filter into our flexibility what will +make it firm, and into our changefulness what will give in us some +faint copy of the divine immutability, and we shall stand fast in +the Lord and in the power of His might. + +Further, in regard to this attitude, which is the result of the +possession of grace, we may say that it indicates not only +stability and steadfastness, but erectness, as in opposition to +crouching or bowing. A man's independence is guaranteed by his +dependence upon, and his possession of, that communicated grace of +God. And so you have the fact that the phase of the Christian +teaching which has laid most stress on the decrees and sovereign +will of God, on divine grace in fact, and too little upon the +human side---the phase which is roughly described as +Calvinism---has underlain the liberties of Europe, and has +stiffened men into the rejection of all priestly and civic +domination. `Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,' +and if a man has in his heart the grace of God, then he stands +erect as a man. `Ye are bought with a price; be ye not the +servants of men.' The Christian democracy, the Christian rejection +of all sacerdotal and other domination, flows from the access of +each individual Christian to the fountain of all wisdom, the only +source of law and command, the inspirer of all strength, the giver +of all grace. By faith ye stand. `Stand fast therefore in the +liberty wherewith Christ has made you free.' + +III. Lastly, and only a word; we have here the Christian way of +entrance into grace. + +I have already remarked on the emphasis with which, both in my +text and in the preceding clause, there are laid down the two +conditions of possessing this grace, or the peace which precedes +it: `By Christ---through faith.' Notice, too, that Jesus Christ +gives us `access.' Now that expression is but an imperfect +rendering of the original. If it were not for its trivial +associations, one might read instead of `access,' introduction, +`by whom we have introduction into this grace wherein we stand.' +The thought is that Jesus Christ secures us entry into this ample +space, this treasure-house, as some court officer might take by +the hand a poor rustic, standing on the threshold of the palace, +and lead him through all the glittering series of unfamiliar +splendour, and present him at last in the central ring around the +king. The reality that underlies the metaphor is plain. We sinners +can never pass into that central glory, nor ever possess those +gifts of grace, unless the barrier that stands between us and God, +between us and His highest gifts of love, is swept away. + +I recall an old legend where two knights are represented as +seeking to enter a palace, where there is a mysterious fire +burning in the middle of the portal. One of them tries to pass +through, and recoils scorched; but when the other essays an +entrance the fierce fire sinks, and the path is cleared. Jesus +Christ has died, and I say it with all reverence, as His blood +touches the fire it flickers down and the way is opened `into the +holiest of all, whither the Forerunner is for us entered.' He both +brings the grace and makes it possible that we should go in where +the grace is. + +But Jesus Christ's work is nothing to you unless your personal +faith comes in, and so that is pointed to in the second of the +clauses here: `\textit{By faith} we have access.' That is no +arbitrary appointment. It lies in the very nature of the gift and +of the recipient. How can God give access into that grace to a man +who shrinks from being near Him; who does not want `access,' and +who could not use the grace if he had it? How can God bestow +inward and spiritual gifts upon any man who closes his heart +against them, and will not have them? My faith is the condition; +Christ is the Giver. If I ally myself to Him by my faith, He gives +to me. If I do not, with all the will to do it, He cannot bestow +His best gifts any more than a man who stretches out his hand to +another sinking in the flood can lift him out, and set him on the +safe shore, if the drowning man's hand is not stretched out to +grasp the rescuer's outstretched hand. + +Brethren, God is infinitely willing to give the choicest gifts of +His love to us all, to gladden, to enrich, to adorn, to make +stable and erect. But He cannot give them unless you will trust +Him. `It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness +dwell.' That alabaster box is brought to earth. It was broken on +the Cross that `the house' might be `filled with the odour of the +ointment.' Our faith is the only condition; it is only the +condition, but it is the indispensable condition, of our being +anointed with that fragrant anointing. He, and He only, can give +us the fullness of God. + +\chapter{The Sources of Hope} +\markright{ROMANS v. 2--4} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3.\ And not only so, but +we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh +patience; 4.\ And patience, experience; and experience, +hope.'---\textsc{Romans} v. 2--4. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We have seen in a previous sermon that the Apostle in the +foregoing context is sketching a grand outline of the ideal +Christian life, as all rooted in `being justified by faith,' and +flowering into `peace with God,' `access into grace,' and a firm +stand against all antagonists and would-be masters. In our text he +advances to complete the outline by sketching the true Christian +attitude towards the future. I have ventured to take so pregnant +and large a text, because there is a very striking and close +connection throughout the verses, which is lost unless we take +them together. Note, then, `we rejoice in hope,' `we glory in +tribulation.' Now, it is one word in the original which is +diversely rendered in these two clauses by `rejoice' and `glory.' +The latter is a better rendering than the former, because the +original expression designates not only the emotion of joy, but +the expression of it, especially in words. So it is frequently +rendered in the New Testament by the word `boast,' which, of +course, has unpleasant associations, which scarcely fit it for use +here. So then you see Paul regards it as possible for, and more +than possibly characteristic of, a Christian, that the very same +emotion should he excited by that great bright future hope, and by +the blackness of present sorrow. That is strong meat; and so he +goes on to explain how he thinks it can and must be so, and points +out that trouble, through a series of results, arrives at last at +this, that if it is rightly borne, it flashes up into greater +brightness the hope which has grasped the glory of God. So then we +have here, not only a wonderful designation of the object around +which Christian hope twines its tendrils, but of the double source +from which that hope may come, and of the one emotion with which +Christian people should front the darkness of the present and the +brightness of the future. Ah! how different our lives would be if +that ideal of a steadfast hope and an untroubled joy were realised +by each of us. It may be. It should be. So I ask you to look at +these three points which I have suggested. + +I. That wonderful designation of the one object of Christian hope +which should fill, with an uncoruscating and unflickering light, +all that dark future. + +`We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.' Now, I suppose I need +not remind you that that phrase `the glory of God' is, in the Old +Testament, used especially to mean the light that dwelt between +the cherubim above the mercy-seat; the symbol of the divine +perfections and the token of the Divine Presence. The reality of +which it was a symbol is the total splendour, so to speak, of that +divine nature, as it rays itself out into all the universe. And, +says Paul, the true hope of the Christian man is nothing less than +that of that glory he shall be, in some true sense, and in an +eternally growing degree, the real possessor. It is a tremendous +claim, and one which leads us into deep places that I dare not +venture into now, as to the resemblance between the human person +and the Divine Person, notwithstanding all the differences which +of course exist, and which only a presumptuous form of religion +has ventured to treat as transitory or insignificant. Let me use a +technical word, and say that it is no pantheistic absorption in an +impersonal Light, no Nirvana of union with a vague whole, which +the Apostle holds out here, but it is the closest possible union, +personality being saved and individual consciousness being +intensified. It is the clothing of humanity with so much of that +glory as can be imparted to a finite creature. That means perfect +knowledge, perfect purity, perfect love, and that means the +dropping away of all weaknesses and the access of strange new +powers, and that means the end of the schism between `will' and +`ought,' and of the other schism between `will' and `can.' It +means what this Apostle says: `Whom He justified them He also +glorified,' and what He says again, `We all, beholding as in a +glass'---or rather, perhaps, mirroring as a glass does---`the +glory, are changed into the same image.' + +The very heart of Christianity is that the Divine Light of which +that Shekinah was but a poor and transitory symbol has +`tabernacled' amongst men in the Christ, and has from Him been +communicated, and is being communicated in such measure as earthly +limitations and conditions permit, and that these do point on +assuredly to perfect impartation hereafter, when `we shall be like +Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' The Three could walk in the +furnace of fire, because there was One with them, `like unto the +Son of God.' `Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting fire,' +the fire of that divine perfection? They who have had introduction +by Christ into the grace, and who will be led by Him into the +glory. + +Now, brethren, it seems to me to be of great importance that this, +the loftiest of conceptions of that future life, should be the +main aspect under which we think of it. It is well to speak of +rest from toil; it is well to speak of all the negations of +present unfavourable, afflictive conditions which that future +presents to us. And perhaps there is none of the aspects of it +which appeals to deeper feelings in ourselves, than those which +say `there shall be no night there,' `there shall be no tears +there, neither sorrow nor sighing'; `there shall be no toil +there.' But we must rise above all that, for our heaven is to live +in God, and to be possessors of His glory. Do not let us dwell +upon the symbols instead of the realities. Do not let us dwell +only on the oppositions and contradictions to earth. Let us rather +rise high above symbols, high above negations, to the positive +truth, and not contented with saying `We shall be full of +blessedness; we shall be full of purity; we shall be full of +knowledge,' let us rather think of that which embraces them +all---we shall be full of God. + +So much, then, for the one object of Christian hope. We have +here--- + +II. The double source of that hope. + +Observe that the first clause of my text comes as the last term in +a sequence. It began with `being justified by faith.' The second +round of the ladder was, `we have peace with God.' The third, `we +have access into this grace.' The fourth, `we stand,' and then +comes, `we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.' That is to say, +to put it into general words, and, of course, presupposing the +revelation in Jesus Christ as the basis of all, without which +there is no assured hope of a future beyond the grave, then the +facts of a Christian man's life are for him the best brighteners +of the hope beyond. Of course, that is so. `Justified by +faith'---`peace with God'---`access into grace'; what, in the name +of common-sense, can death do with these things? How can its +blunted sword cut the bond that unites a soul that has had such +experiences as these with the source of them all? Nothing can be +more grotesque, nothing more incongruous, than to think that that +subordinate and accidental fact, whose region is the physical, has +anything whatever to do with this higher region of +consciousness. + +And, further than that, it is absolutely unthinkable to a man in +the possession of these spiritual gifts, that they should ever +come to a close; and the fact that in the precise degree in which +we realise as our very own possession, here and now, these +Christian emotions and blessings, we instinctively rise to the +belief that they are `not for an age, but for all time,' and not +for all time, but for eternity, is itself, if not a proof, yet a +very strong presumption, if you believe in God, that a man who +thus `feels he was not made to die' because he has grasped the +Eternal, is right in so feeling. If, too, we look at the +experiences themselves, they all have the stamp of incompleteness, +and suggest completeness by their own incompleteness. The new moon +with its ragged edge not more surely prophesies its completed +silver round, than do the experiences of the Christian life here, +in their greatness and in their smallness, declare that there come +a time and an order of things in which what was thwarted tendency +shall be accomplished result. The tender green spikelet, pushing +up through the brown clods, does not more surely prophesy the +waving yellow ear, nor the broad highway on which a man comes in +the wilderness more surely declare that there is a village at the +end of it, than do the facts of the Christian life, here and now, +attest the validity of the hope of the glory of God. + +And so, brethren, if you wish to brighten that great light that +fills the future, see to it that your present Christianity is +fuller of `peace with God,' `access into grace,' and the firm, +erect standing which flows from these. When the springs in the +mountains dry up, the river in the valley shrinks; and when they +are full, it glides along level with the top of its banks. So when +our Christian life in the present is richest, our Christian hope +of the future will be the brighter. Look into yourselves. Is there +anything there that witnesses to that great future; anything there +that is obviously incipient, and destined to greater power; +anything there which is like a tropical plant up here in 45 +degrees of north latitude, managing to grow, but with dwarfed +leaves and scanty flowers and half shrivelled and sourish fruit, +and that in the cold dreams of the warm native land? Reflecting +telescopes show the stars in a mirror, and the observer looks down +to see the heavens. Look into yourselves, and see whether, on the +polished plate within, there are any images of the stars that move +around the Throne of God. + +But let us turn for a moment to the second source to which the +Apostle traces the Christian hope here. I must not be tempted to +more than just a word of explanation, but perhaps you will +tolerate that. Paul says that trouble works patience, that is to +say, not only passive endurance, but brave persistence in a +course, in spite of antagonisms. That is what trouble does to a +man when it is rightly borne. Of course the Apostle is speaking +here of its ideal operation, and not of the reality which alas! +often is seen when our tribulations lash us into impatience, or +paralyse our efforts. Tribulation worketh patience, `and patience +\textit{experience}.' That is a difficult word to put into +English. There underlies it the frequent thought which is familiar +in Scripture, of trouble of all kinds as testing a man, whether as +the refiner's fire or the winnower's fan. It tests a man, and if +he bears the trouble with patient persistence, then he has passed +the test and is approved. Patient perseverance thus works +approval, or proof of the man's Christianity, and, still more, +proof of the reality and power of the Christ whom his Christianity +grasps. And so from out of that approval or proof which comes, +through perseverance, from tribulation, there rises, of course, in +that heart that has been tested and has stood, a calm hope that +the future will be as the past, and that, having fought through +six troubles, by God's help the seventh will be vanquished also, +till at last troubles will end, and heaven be won. + +Brethren, there is the true point of view from which to look, not +only at tribulations, but at all the trials, for they too bring +trials, that lie in duty and in enjoyment, and in earthly things. +They are meant to work in us a conviction, by our experience of +having been able to meet them aright, of the reality of our grasp +of God, and of the reality and power of the God whom we grasp. If +we took that point of view in regard to all the changes of this +changeful life, we should not so often be bewildered and upset by +the darkest of our sorrows. The shining lancets and cruel cutting +instruments that the surgeon lays out on his table before he +begins the operation are very dreadful. But the way to think of +them is that they are there in order to remove from a man what it +does him harm to keep, and what, if it is not taken away, will +kill him. So life, with its troubles, great and small, is all +meant for this, to make us surer of, and bring us closer to, our +God, and to brace and strengthen us in our own personal character. +And if it does that, then blessed be everything that produces +these results, and leads us thereby to glorying in the troubles by +which shines out on us a brighter hope. + +So there are the two sources, you see: the one is the blessedness +of the Christian life, the other the sorrows of the outward life, +and both may converge upon the brightening of our Christian hope. +Our rainbow is the child of the marriage of the sun and the rain. +The Christian hope comes from being `justified by faith, having +peace with God ... and access into grace,' and it comes from +tribulation, which `worketh patience,' and patience which `worketh +approval.' The one spark is struck from the hard flint by the cold +steel, and the other is kindled by the sun itself, but they are +both fire. + +And so, lastly, we have here--- + +III. The one emotion with which the Christian should front all the +facts, inward and outward, of his earthly life. + +`We glory in the hope,' `we glory in tribulation,' I need not +dwell upon the lesson which is taught us here by the fact that the +Apostle puts as one in a series of Christian characteristics this +of a steadfast and all-embracing joy. I do not believe that we +Christian people half enough realise how imperative a Christian +duty, as well as how great a Christian privilege, it is to be glad +always. You have no right to be anxious; you are wrong to be +hypochondriac and depressed, and weary and melancholy. True; there +are a great many occasions in our Christian life which minister +sadness. True; the Christian joy looks very gloomy to a worldly +eye. But there are far more occasions which, if we were right, +would make joy instinctive, and which, whether we are right or +not, make it obligatory upon us. I need not speak of how, if that +hope were brighter than it commonly is with us, and if it were +more constantly present to our minds and hearts, we should sing +with gladness. I need not dwell upon that great and wonderful +paradox by which the co-existence of sorrow and of joy is +possible. The sorrows are on the surface; beneath there may be +rest. All the winds of heaven may rave across the breast of ocean, +and fret it into clouds of spume against a storm-swept sky. But +deep down there is stillness, and yet not stagnation, because +there is the great motion that brings life and freshness; and so, +though there will be wind-vexed surfaces on our too-often agitated +spirits, there ought to be deeper than these the calm setting of +the whole ocean of our nature towards God Himself. It is possible, +as this Apostle has it, to be `sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.' +It is possible, as his brother Apostle has it, to `rejoice +greatly, though now for a season we are in sorrow through manifold +temptations.' Look back upon your lives from the point of view +that your tribulation is an instrument to produce hope, and you +will be able to thank God for all the way by which He has led +you. + +Now, brethren, the plain lesson of all this is just that we have +here, in these texts, a linked chain, one end of which is wrapped +around our sinful hearts, and the other is fastened to the Throne of +God. You cannot drop any of the links, and you must begin at the +beginning, if you are to be carried on to the end. If we are to have +a joy immovable, we must have a `steadfast hope.' If we are to have +a `steadfast hope,' we must have a present `grace.' If we are to +have a present `grace,' and `access' to the fullness of God, we must +have `peace with God.' If we are to have `peace with God,' we must +have the condemnation and the guilt taken away. If we are to have +the condemnation and the guilt taken away, Jesus Christ must take +them. If Jesus Christ is to take them away, we must have faith in +Him. Then you can work it backward, and begin at your own end, and +say, `If I have faith in Jesus Christ, then every link of the chain +in due succession will pass through my hand, and I shall have +justifying, peace, access, the grace, erectness, hope, and +exultation, and at last He will lead me by the hand into the glory +for which I dare to hope, the glory which the Father gave to Him +before the foundation of the world, and which He will give to me +when the world has passed away in fervent heat.' + +\chapter{A Threefold Cord} +\markright{ROMANS v. 5} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed +abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto +us.'---\textsc{Romans} v. 5. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We have seen in former sermons that, in the previous context, the +Apostle traces Christian hope to two sources: one, the series of +experiences which follow `being justified by faith' and the other, +those which follow on trouble rightly borne. Those two golden +chains together hold up the precious jewel of hope. But a chain +that is to bear a weight must have a staple, or it will fall to +the ground. And so Paul here turns to yet another thought, and, +going behind both our inward experiences and our outward +discipline, falls back on that which precedes all. After all is +said and done, the love of God, eternal, self-originated, the +source of all Christian experiences because of the work of Christ +which originates them all, is the root fact of the universe, and +the guarantee that our highest anticipations and desires are not +unsubstantial visions, but morning dreams, which are proverbially +sure to be fulfilled. God is love; therefore the man who trusts +Him shall not be put to shame. + +But you will notice that here the Apostle not only adduces the +love of God as the staple, so to speak, from which these golden +chains hang, but that he traces the heart's being suffused with +that love to its source, and as, of course, is always the case in +the order of analysis, that which was last in time comes first in +statement. We begin at the surface, and go down and down and down +from effect to cause, and yet again to the cause of that cause +which is itself effect. We strip off, as it were, layer after +layer, until we get to the living centre---hope comes from the +love, the love comes from the Spirit in the heart. And so to get +at the order of time and of manifestation, we must reverse the +order of analysis in my text, and begin where it ends. So we have +here three things---the Spirit given, the love shed abroad by that +Spirit, and the hope established by that love. Now just look at +them for a moment. + +I. The Spirit given. + +Now, the first point to notice here is that the Revised Version +presents the meaning of our text more accurately than the +Authorised Version, because, instead of reading `is given,' it +correctly reads `was given.' And any of you that can consult the +original will see that the form of the language implies that the +Apostle is thinking, not so much of a continuous bestowment, as of +a definite moment when this great gift was bestowed upon the man +to whom he is speaking. + +So the first question is, when was that Spirit given to these +Roman Christians? The Christian Church has been split in two by +its answers to that question. One influential part, which has +taken a new lease of life amongst us to-day, says `in baptism,' +and the other says `at the moment of faith.' I am not going to be +tempted into controversial paths now, for my purpose is a very +different one, but I cannot help just a word about the former of +these two answers. `Given in baptism,' say our friends, and I +venture to think that they thereby degrade Christianity into a +system of magic, bringing together two entirely disparate things, +an external physical act and a spiritual change. I do not say +anything about the disastrous effects that have followed from such +a conception of the medium by which this greatest of all Christian +gifts is effected upon men. Since the Spirit who is given is life, +the result of the gift of that Spirit is a new life, and we all +know what disastrous and debasing consequences have followed from +that dogma of regeneration by baptism. No doubt it is perfectly +true that normally, in the early Church, the Divine Spirit was +given at baptism; but for one thing, that general rule had +exceptions, as in the case of Cornelius, and, for another thing, +though it was given \textit{at} baptism, it was not given +\textit{in} baptism, but it was given through faith, of which in +those days baptism was the sequel and the sign. + +But I pass altogether from this, and fall back on the great words +which, to me at least, if there were no other, would determine the +whole answer to this question as to when the Spirit was given: +`This spake He of the Holy Ghost, which they that \textit{believe} +on Him should receive'; and I would ask the modern upholders of +the other theory the indignant question which the Apostle Paul +fired off out of his heavy artillery at their ancient analogues, +the circumcisers in the Galatian Church: `This only would I know +of you: Received ye the Holy Spirit by the works of the law, or by +the hearing of faith?' + +The answer which the evangelical Christian gives to this ancient +question suggested by my text, `When was that Divine Spirit +bestowed?' is congruous with the spirituality of the Christian +faith, and is eminently reasonable. For the condition required is +the opening of the whole nature in willing welcome to the entrance +of the Divine Spirit, and as surely as, wherever there is an +indentation of the land, and a concavity of a receptive bay, the +ocean will pour into it and fill it, so surely where a heart is +open for God, God in His Divine Spirit will enter into that heart, +and there will shed His blessed influences. + +So, dear brethren, and this is the main point to which I wish to +direct your attention, the Apostle here takes it for granted that +all these Roman Christians knew in themselves the truth of what he +was saying, and had an experience which confirmed his assertion +that the Divine Spirit of God was given to them when they +believed. Ah! I wonder if that is true about us professing +Christians; if we are aware in any measure of a higher life than +our own having been breathed into us; if we are aware in any +measure of a Divine Spirit dwelling in our spirits, moulding, +lifting, enlightening, guiding, constraining, and yet not +coercing? We ought to be, `Know ye not that the Spirit dwelleth in +you, except ye be rejected?' Brethren, it seems to me to be of the +very last importance, in this period of the Church's history, that +the proportion between the Church's teaching as to the work of +Christ on the Cross, and as to the consequent work of the Spirit +of Christ in our hearts and spirits, should be changed. We must +become more mystical if we are not to become less Christian. And +the fact that so many of us seem to imagine that the whole Gospel +lies in this, that `He died for our sins according to the +Scriptures,' and have relegated the teaching that He, by His +Spirit, lives in us, if we are His disciples, to a less prominent +place, has done enormous harm, not only to the type of Christian +life, but to the conception of what Christianity is, both amongst +those who receive it, and amongst those who do not accept it, +making it out to be nothing more than a means of escape from the +consequences of our transgression, instead of recognising it for +what it is, the impartation of a new life which will flower into +all beauty, and bear fruit in all goodness. + +There was a question put once to a group of disciples, in +astonishment and incredulity, by this Apostle, when he said to the +twelve disciples in Ephesus, `Did you receive the Holy Ghost when +you believed?' The question might well be put to a multitude of +professing Christians amongst us, and I am afraid a great many of +them, if they answered truly, would answer as those disciples did, +`We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy +Ghost.' + +And now for the second point in my text--- + +II. The love which is shed abroad by that Spirit. + +Now, I suppose I do not need to do more than point out that `the +love of God' here means His to us, and not ours to Him, and that +the metaphor employed is but partially represented by that +rendering `shed abroad.' `Poured out' would better convey Paul's +image, which is that of a flood sent coursing through the heart, +or, perhaps, rather lying there, as a calm deep lake on whose +unruffled surface the heavens, with all their stars, are +reflected. Of course, if God's love to us thus suffuses a heart, +then there follows the consciousness of that love; though it is +not the consciousness of the love that the Apostle is primarily +speaking of, but that which lies behind it, the actual flowing +into the human heart of that sweet and all-satisfying Love. This +Divine Spirit that dwells in us, if we are trusting in Christ, +will pour it in full streams into our else empty hearts. Surely +there is nothing incongruous with the nature either of God or of +man, in believing that thus a real communication is possible +between them, and that by thoughts the occasions of which we +cannot trace, by moments of elevation, by swift, piercing +convictions, by sudden clear illuminations, God may speak, and +will speak, in our waiting hearts. + +\begin{verse} +`Such rebounds the inmost ear \\ +\ \ Catches often from afar. \\ +Listen, prize them, hold them dear; \\ +\ \ For of God, of God, they are.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent But we must not forget, too, that, according to the +whole strain of New Testament thinking, the means by which that +Divine Spirit does pour out the flashing flood of the love of God +into a man's heart is, as Jesus Christ Himself has taught us, by +taking the things of Christ and showing them to us. + +Now, as I said about a former point of my sermon, that the Apostle +was taking for granted that this gift of the Spirit belonged to +all Christian people; so here again he takes for granted that in +every Christian heart there is, by a divine operation, the +presence of the love, and of the consciousness of the love, of +God. And, again, the question comes to some of us stunningly, to +all of us warningly, Is that a transcript of our experience? It is +the ideal of a Christian life; it is meant that it should be so, +and should be so continuously. The stream that is poured out is +intended to run summer and winter, not to be dried up in drought, +nor made turbid and noisy in flood, but with equable flow +throughout. I fear me that the experience of most good people is +rather like one of those tropical wadies, or nullahs in Eastern +lands, where there alternate times of spate and times of drought; +and instead of a flashing stream, pouring life everywhere, and +full to the top of its banks, there is for long periods a dismal +stretch of white sun-baked stones, and a chaos of tumbled rocks +with not a drop of water in the channel. The Spirit pours God's +love into men's spirits, but there may be dams and barriers, so +that no drop of the water comes into the empty heart. + +Our Quaker friends have a great deal to say about `waiting for the +springing of the life within us.' Never mind about the +phraseology: what is meant is profoundly true, that no Christian +man will realise this blessing unless he knows how to sit still +and meditate, and let the gracious influence soak into him. Thus +being quiet, he may, he will, find rising in his heart the +consciousness of the love of God. You will not, if you give only +broken momentary sidelong glances; you will not, if you do not lie +still. If you hold up a cup in a shaking hand beneath a fountain, +and often twitch it aside, you will get little water in it; and +unless we `wait on the Lord,' we shall not `renew our strength.' +You can build a dam as they do in Holland that will keep out, not +only the waters of a river, but the waters of an ocean, and not a +drop will come through the dike. Brethren, we must keep ourselves +in the love of God. + +Lastly, we have here--- + +III. The hope that is established by the love poured out. + +I need not dwell at any length upon this point, because, to a +large extent, it has been anticipated in former sermons, but just +a word or two may be permitted me. That love, you may be very +sure, is not going to lose its objects in the dust. The old +Psalmist who knew so much less than we do as to the love of God, +and knew nothing of the whispers of a Divine Spirit within his +heart charged with the message of the love as it was manifested in +Jesus Christ, had risen to a height of confidence, the beauty of +the expression of which is often lost sight of, because we insist +upon dealing with it as merely being a Messianic prophecy, which +it is, but not merely: `Thou wilt not leave my soul in Sheol, +neither wilt Thou suffer Thy beloved' (for that is the real +meaning of the word translated `thy Holy One')---`Thou wilt not +suffer the child of Thy love to see corruption.' Death's bony +fingers can untie all true lover's knots but one; and they fumble +at that one in vain. God will not lose His child in the grave. + +That love, we may be very sure, will not foster in us hopes that are +to be disappointed. Now, it is a fact that the more a man feels that +God loves him, the less is it possible for him to believe that that +love will ever terminate, or that he shall `all die.' In the lock of +a canal, as the water pours in, the vessel rises. In our hearts, as +the flood of the full love of God pours in, our hopes are borne up +and up, nearer and nearer to the heavens. Since it is so, we must +find in the fact that the constant and necessary result of communion +with Him here on earth is a conviction of the immortality of that +communion, a very, very strong guarantee for ourselves that the hope +is not in vain. And if you say that that is all merely subjective, +yet I think that the universality of the experience is a fact to be +taken into account even by those who doubt the reality of the hope, +and for ourselves, at all events, is a sufficient ground on which to +rest. We have the historical fact of the Resurrection of Jesus +Christ. We have the fact that wherever there has been earthly +experience of true communion with God, there, and in the measure in +which it has been realised, the thermometer of our hopes of +immortality, so to speak, has risen. `God is love,' and God will not +bring the man that trusts Him to confusion. + +And may we not venture to say that, contemplating the analogous +earthly love, we are permitted to believe that that divine Lover +of our souls desires to have His beloved with Him, and desires +that there be no separation between Him and them, either, if I +might so say, in place or in disposition? As certainly as husband +and wife, lover and friend, long to be together, and need it for +perfection and for rest, so surely will that divine love not be +satisfied until it has gathered all its children to its breast and +made them partakers of itself. + +There are many, many hopes that put the men who cherish them to +shame, partly because they are never fulfilled, partly because, +though fulfilled, they are disappointed, since the reality is so +much less than the anticipation. Who does not know that the spray +of blossom on the tree looks far more lovely hanging above our +heads than when it is grasped by us? Who does not know that the +fish struggling on the hook seems heavier than it turns out to be +when lying on the bank? We go to the rainbow's end, and we find, +not a pot of gold, but a huddle of cold, wet mist. There is one +man that is entitled to say: `To-morrow shall be as this day, and +much more abundant.' Who is he? Only the man whose hope is in the +Lord his God. If we open our hearts by faith, then these three +lines of sequence of which we have been speaking will converge, +and we shall have the hope that is the shining apex of `being +justified by faith,' and the hope that is the calm result of +trouble and agitation, and the hope that, travelling further and +higher than anything in our inward experience or our outward +discipline, grasps the key-word of the universe, `God is love,' +and triumphantly makes sure that `neither death nor life, nor +angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor +things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, +shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in +Christ Jesus our Lord.' + +\chapter{What Proves God's Love} +\markright{ROMANS v. 8} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet +sinners, Christ died for us.'---\textsc{Romans} v. 8. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We have seen in previous sermons on the preceding context that the +Apostle has been tracing various lines of sequence, all of which +converge upon Christian hope. The last of these pointed to the +fact that the love of God, poured into a heart like oil into a +lamp, brightened that flame; and having thus mentioned the great +Christian revelation of God as love, Paul at once passes to +emphasise the historical fact on which the conviction of that love +rests, and goes on to say that `the love of God is shed abroad in +our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us, \textit{for} +when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the +ungodly.' Then there rises before him the thought of how +transcendent and unparalleled a love is that which pours its whole +preciousness on unworthy and unresponsive hearts. He thinks to +himself---`We are all ungodly; without strength---yet, He died for +us. Would any man do that? No! for,' says he, `it will be a hard +thing to find any one ready to die for a righteous man---a man +rigidly just and upright, and because rigidly just, a trifle hard, +and therefore not likely to touch a heart to sacrifice; and even +for a good man, in whom austere righteousness has been softened +and made attractive, and become graciousness and beneficence, +well! it is just within the limits of possibility that somebody +might be found even to die for a man that had laid such a strong +hand upon his affections. But God commendeth His love in that +while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.' Now, when Paul says +`commend,' he uses a very significant word which is employed in +two ways in the New Testament. It sometimes means to establish, or +to prove, or to make certain. But `prove' is a cold word, and the +expression also means to recommend, to set forth in such a way as +to appeal to the heart, and God does both in that great act. He +establishes the fact, and He, as it were, sweeps it into a man's +heart, on the bosom of that full tide of self-sacrifice. + +So there are two or three points that arise from these words, on +which I desire to dwell now---to lay them upon our hearts, and not +only upon our understandings. For it is a poor thing to prove the +love of God, and we need that not only shall we be sure of it, but +that we shall be softened by it. So now let me ask you to look +with me, first, at this question--- + +I. What Paul thought Jesus Christ died for. + +`Died \textit{for} us.' Now that expression plainly implies two +things: first, that Christ died of His own accord, and being +impelled by a great motive, beneficence; and, second, that that +voluntary death, somehow or other, is for our behoof and +advantage. The word in the original, `for,' does not define in +what way that death ministers to our advantage, but it does assert +that for those Roman Christians who had never seen Jesus Christ, +and by consequence for you and me nineteen centuries off the +Cross, there is benefit in the fact of that death. Now, suppose we +quote an incident in the story of missionary martyrdom. There was +a young lady, whom some of us knew and loved, in a Chinese mission +station, who, with the rest of the missionary band, was flying. +Her life was safe. She looked back, and saw a Chinese boy that her +heart twined round, in danger. She returned to save him; they laid +hold of her and flung her into the burning house, and her charred +remains have never been found. That was a death for another, but +`Jesus died for us' in a deeper sense than that. Take another +case. A man sets himself to some great cause, not his own, and he +sees that in order to bless humanity, either by the proclamation +of some truth, or by the origination of some great movement, or in +some other way, if he is to carry out his purpose, he must give +his life. He does so, and dies a martyr. What he aimed at could +only be done by the sacrifice of his life. The death was a means +to his end, and he died for his fellows. That is not the depth of +the sense in which Paul meant that Jesus Christ died for us. It +was not that He was true to His message, and, like many another +martyr, died. There is only one way, as it seems to me, in which +any beneficial relation can be established between the Death of +Christ and us, and it is that when He died He died for us, because +`He bare our sins in His own body on the tree.' + +Dear brethren, I dare say some of you do not take that view, but I +know not how justice can be done to the plain words of Scripture +unless this is the point of view from which we look at the Cross +of Calvary---that there the Lamb of Sacrifice was bearing, and +bearing away, the sins of the whole world. I know that Christian +men who unite in the belief that Christ's death was a sacrifice +and an atonement diverge from one another in their interpretations +of the way in which that came to be a fact, and I believe, for my +part, that the divergent interpretations are like the divergent +beams of light that fall upon men who stand round the same great +luminary, and that all of them take their origin in, and are part +of the manifestation of, the one transcendent fact, which passes +all understanding, and gathers into itself all the diverse +conceptions of it which are formed by limited minds. He died for +us because, in His death, our sins are taken away and we are +restored to the divine favour. + +I know that Jesus Christ is said to have made far less of that +aspect of His work in the Gospels than His disciples have done in +the Epistles, and that we are told that, if we go back to Jesus, +we shall not find the doctrine which for some of us is the first +form in which the Gospel finds its way into the hearts of men. I +admit that the fully-developed teaching followed the fact, as was +necessarily the case. I do not admit that Jesus Christ `spake +nothing concerning Himself' as the sacrifice for the world's sins. +For I hear from His lips---not to dwell upon other sayings which I +could quote---I hear from His lips, `The Son of Man came not to be +ministered unto, but to minister'---that is only half His +purpose---`and to give His life a ransom instead of the many.' You +cannot strike the atoning aspect of His death out of that +expression by any fair handling of the words. + +And what does the Lord's Supper mean? Why did Jesus Christ select +that one point of His life as the point to be remembered? Why did +He institute the double memorial, the body parted from the blood +being a sign of a violent death? I know of no explanation that +makes that Lord's Supper an intelligible rite except the +explanation which says that He came, to live indeed, and in that +life to be a sacrifice, but to make the sacrifice complete by +Himself bearing the consequences of transgression, and making +atonement for the sins of the world. + +Brethren, that is the only aspect of Christ's death which makes it +of any consequence to us. Strip it of that, and what does it +matter to me that He died, any more than it matters to me that any +philanthropist, any great teacher, any hero or martyr or saint, +should have died? As it seems to me, nothing. Christ's death is +surrounded by tenderly pathetic and beautiful accompaniments. As a +story it moves the hearts of men, and `purges them, by pity and by +terror.' But the death of many a hero of tragedy does all that. +And if you want to have the Cross of Christ held upright in its +place as the Throne of Christ and the attractive power for the +whole world, you must not tamper with that great truth, but say, +`He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures.' + +Now, there is a second question that I wish to ask, and that is--- + +II. How does Christ's death `commend' God's love? + +That is a strange expression, if you will think about it, that +`\textit{God} commendeth His love towards us in that +\textit{Christ} died.' If you take the interpretation of Christ's +death of which I have already been speaking, one could have +understood the Apostle if he had said, `Christ commendeth His love +towards us in that Christ died.' But where is the force of the +fact of a \textit{man's} death to prove \textit{God's} love? Do +you not see that underlying that swift sentence of the Apostle +there is a presupposition, which he takes for granted? It is so +obvious that I do not need to dwell upon it to vindicate his +change of persons, viz. that `God was in Christ,' in such fashion +as that whatsoever Christ did was the revelation of God. You +cannot suppose, at least I cannot see how you can, that there is +any force of proof in the words of my text, unless you come up to +the full belief, `God was in Christ reconciling the world to +Himself.' + +Suppose some great martyr who dies for his fellows. Well, all +honour to him, and the race will come to his tomb for a while, and +bring their wreaths and their sorrow. But what bearing has his +death upon our knowledge of God's love towards us? None whatever, +or at most a very indirect and shadowy one. We have to dig deeper +down than that. `God commends His love ... in that Christ died.' +`He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' And we have the right +and the obligation to argue back from all that is manifest in the +tender Christ to the heart of God, and say, not only, `God so +loved the world that He' sent His Son, but to see that the love +that was in Christ is the manifestation of the love of God +Himself. + +So there stands the Cross, the revelation to us, not only of a +Brother's sacrifice, but of a Father's love; and that because +Jesus Christ is the revelation of God as being the `eradiation of +His glory, and the express image of His person.' Friends! light +does pour out from that Cross, whatever view men take of it. But +the omnipotent beam, the all-illuminating radiance, the +transforming light, the heat that melts, are all dependent on our +looking at it---I do not only say, as Paul looked at it, nor do I +even say as Christ looked at it, but as the deep necessities of +humanity require that the world should look at it, as the altar +whereon is laid the sacrifice for our sins, the very Son of God +Himself. To me the great truths of the Incarnation and the +Atonement of Jesus Christ are not points in a mere speculative +theology; they are the pulsating vital centre of religion. And +every man needs them in his own experience. + +I was going to have said a word or two here---but it is not +necessary---about the need that the love of God should be +irrefragably established, by some plain and undeniable and +conspicuous fact. I need not dwell upon the ambiguous oracles +which--- + +\begin{verse} +`Nature, red in tooth and claw, \\ + With rapine' +\end{verse} + +\noindent gives forth, nor on how the facts of human life, our own +sorrows, and the world's miseries, the tears that swathe the +earth, as it rolls on its orbit, like a misty atmosphere, war +against the creed that God is love. I need not remind you, either, +of how deep, in our own hearts, when the conscience begins to +speak its \textit{not} ambiguous oracles, there does rise the +conviction that there is much in us which it is impossible should +be the object of God's love. Nor need I remind you how all these +difficulties in believing in a God who is love, based on the +contradictory aspects of nature, and the mysteries of providence, +and the whisperings of our own consciousness, are proved to have +been insuperable by the history of the world, where we find +mythologies and religions of all types and gods of every sort, but +nowhere in all the pantheon a God who is Love. + +Only let me press upon you that that conviction of the love of +God, which is found now far beyond the limits of Christian faith, +and amongst many of us who, in the name of that conviction itself, +reject Christianity, because of its sterner aspects, is +historically the child of the evangelical doctrine of the +Incarnation and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And if it still +subsists, as I know it does, especially in this generation, +amongst many men who reject what seems to me to be the very kernel +of Christianity---subsists like the stream cut off from its +source, but still running, that only shows that men hold many +convictions the origin of which they do not know. God is love. You +will not permanently sustain that belief against the pressure of +outward mysteries and inward sorrows, unless you grasp the other +conviction that Christ died for our sins. The two are +inseparable. + +And now lastly--- + +III. What kind of love does Christ's death declare to us as +existing in God? + +A love that is turned away by no sin---that is the thing that +strikes the Apostle here, as I have already pointed out. The +utmost reach of human affection might be that a man would die for +the good---he would scarcely die for the righteous. But God sends +His Son, and comes Himself in His Son, and His Son died for the +ungodly and the sinner. That death reveals a love which is its own +origin and motive. We love because we discern, or fancy we do, +something lovable in the object. God loves under the impulse, so +to speak, of His own welling-up heart. + +And yet it is a love which, though not turned away by any sin, is +witnessed by that death to be rigidly righteous. It is no mere +flaccid, flabby laxity of a loose-girt affection, no mere foolish +indulgence like that whereby earthly parents spoil their children. +God's love is not lazy good-nature, as a great many of us think it +to be and so drag it in the mud, but it is rigidly righteous, and +therefore Christ died. That Death witnesses that it is a love +which shrinks from no sacrifices. This Isaac was not `spared.' God +gave up His Son. Love has its very speech in surrender, and God's +love speaks as ours does. It is a love which, turned away by no +sin, and yet rigidly righteous and shrinking from no sacrifices, +embraces all ages and lands. `God commendeth'---not `commended.' +The majestic present tense suggests that time and space are +nothing to the swift and all-filling rays of that great Light. +That love is `towards us,' you and me and all our fellows. The +Death is an historical fact, occurring in one short hour. The +Cross is an eternal power, raying out light and love over all +humanity and through all ages. + +God lays siege to all hearts in that great sacrifice. Do you +believe that Jesus Christ died for \textit{your} sins `according +to the Scriptures'? Do you see there the assurance of a love which +will lift you up above all the cross-currents of earthly life, and +the mysteries of providence, into the clear ether where the +sunshine is unobscured? And above all, do you fling back the +reverberating ray from the mirror of your own heart that directs +again towards heaven the beam of love which heaven has shot down +upon you? `Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He +loved us, and gave His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.' +Is it true of us that we love God because He first loved us? + +\chapter{The Warring Queens} +\markright{ROMANS v. 21} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through +righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our +Lord.'---\textsc{Romans} v. 21. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +I am afraid this text will sound to some of you rather +unpromising. It is full of well-worn terms, `sin,' `death,' +`grace,' `righteousness,' `eternal life,' which suggest dry +theology, if they suggest anything. When they welled up from the +Apostle's glowing heart they were like a fiery lava-stream. But +the stream has cooled, and, to a good many of us, they seem as +barren and sterile as the long ago cast out coils of lava on the +sides of a quiescent volcano. They are so well-worn and familiar +to our ears that they create but vague conceptions in our minds, +and they seem to many of us to be far away from a bearing upon our +daily lives. But you much mistake Paul if you take him to be a +mere theological writer. He is an earnest evangelist, trying to +draw men to love and trust in Jesus Christ. And his writings, +however old-fashioned and doctrinally hard they may seem to you, +are all throbbing with life---instinct with truths that belong to +all ages and places, and which fit close to every one of us. + +I do not know if I can give any kind of freshness to these words, +but I wish to try. To begin with, I notice the highly-imaginative +and picturesque form into which the Apostle casts his thoughts +here. He, as it were, draws back a curtain, and lets us see two +royal figures, which are eternally opposed and dividing the +dominion between them. Then he shows us the issues to which these +two rulers respectively conduct their subjects; and the question +that is trembling on his lips is `Under which of them do you +stand?' Surely that is not fossil theology, but truths that are of +the highest importance, and ought to be of the deepest interest, +to every one of us. They are to you the former, whether they are +the latter or not. + +I. So, first, look at the two Queens who rule over human life. + +Sin and Grace are both personified; and they are both conceived of +as female figures, and both as exercising dominion. They stand +face to face, and each recognises as her enemy the other. The one +has established her dominion: `Sin \textit{hath} reigned.' The +other is fighting to establish hers: `That Grace \textit{might} +reign.' And the struggle is going on between them, not only on the +wide field of the world; but in the narrow lists of the heart of +each of us. + +Sin reigns. The truths that underlie that solemn picture are plain +enough, however unwelcome they may be to some of us, and however +remote from the construction of the universe which many of us are +disposed to take. + +Now, let us understand our terms. Suppose a man commits a theft. +You may describe it from three different points of view. He has +thereby broken the law of the land; and when we are thinking about +that we call it crime. He has also broken the law of `morality,' +as we call it; and when we are looking at his deed from that point +of view, we call it vice. Is that all? He has broken something +else. He has broken the law of God; and when we look at it from +that point of view we call it sin. Now, there are a great many +things which are sins that are not crimes; and, with due +limitations, I might venture to say that there are some things +which are sins that are not to be qualified as vices. Sin implies +God. The Psalmist was quite right when he said; `Against Thee, +Thee only have I sinned'; although he was confessing a foul injury +he had done to Bathsheba, and a glaring crime that he had +committed against Uriah. It was as to God, and in reference to Him +only, that his crime and his vice darkened and solidified into +sin. + +And what is it, in our actions or in ourselves considered in +reference to God, that makes our actions sins and ourselves +sinners? Remember the prodigal son. `Father! Give me the portion +of goods that falleth to me.' There you have it all. He went away, +and `wasted his substance in riotous living.' To claim myself for +my own; to act independently of, or contrary to, the will of God; +to try to shake myself clear of Him; to have nothing to do with +Him, even though it be by mere forgetfulness and negligence, and, +in all my ways to comport myself as if I had no relations of +dependence on and submission to him---that is sin. And there may +be that oblivion or rebellion, not only in the gross vulgar acts +which the law calls crimes, or in those which conscience declares +to be vices, but also in many things which, looked at from a lower +point of view, may be fair and pure and noble. If there is this +assertion of self in them, or oblivion of God and His will in +them, I know not how we are to escape the conclusion that even +these fall under the class of sins. For there can be no act or +thought, truly worthy of a man, situated and circumstanced as we +are, which has not, for the very core and animating motive of it, +a reference to God. + +Now, when I come and say, as my Bible teaches me to say, that this +is the deepest view of the state of humanity that sin reigns, I do +not wish to fall into the exaggerations by which sometimes that +statement has been darkened and discredited; but I do want to +press upon you, dear brethren, this, as a matter of +\textit{personal} experience, that wherever there is a heart that +loves, and leaves God out, and wherever there is a will that +resolves, determines, impels to action, and does not bow itself +before Him, and wherever there are hands that labour, or feet that +run, at tasks and in paths self-chosen and unconsecrated by +reference to our Father in heaven, no matter how great and +beautiful subsidiary lustres may light up their deeds, the very +heart of them all is transgression of the law of God. For this, +and nothing else or less, is His law: `Thou shalt love the Lord +thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all +thy strength, and with all thy mind.' I do not charge you with +crimes. You know how far it would be right to charge you with +vices. \textit{I} do not charge you with anything; but I pray you +to come with me and confess: `We all have sinned, and come short +of the glory of God.' + +I suppose I need not dwell upon the difficulty of getting a +lodgment for this conviction in men's hearts. There is no sadder, +and no more conclusive proof, of the tremendous power of sin over +us, than that it has lulled us into unconsciousness, hard to be +broken, of its own presence and existence. You remember the old +stories---I suppose there is no truth in them, but they will do +for an illustration---about some kind of a blood-sucking animal +that perched upon a sleeping man, and with its leathern wings +fanned him into deeper drowsiness whilst it drew from him his +life-blood. That is what this hideous Queen does for men. She +robes herself in a dark cloud, and sends out her behests from +obscurity. And men fancy that they are free whilst all the while +they are her servants. Oh, dear brethren! you may call this +theology, but it is a simple statement of the facts of our +condition. `Sin hath reigned.' + +And now turn to the other picture, `Grace might reign.' Then there +is an antagonistic power that rises up to confront the widespread +dominion of this anarch of old. And this Queen comes with twenty +thousand to war against her that has but ten thousand on her +side. + +Again I say, let us understand our terms. I suppose, there are few +of the keywords of the New Testament which have lost more of their +radiance, like quicksilver, by exposure in the air during the +centuries than that great word Grace, which is always on the lips +of this Apostle, and to him had music in its sound, and which to +us is a piece of dead doctrine, associated with certain high +Calvinistic theories which we enlightened people have long ago +grown beyond, and got rid of. Perhaps Paul was more right than we +when his heart leaped up within him at the very thought of all +which he saw to lie palpitating and throbbing with eager desire to +bless men, in that great word. What does he mean by it? Let me put +it into the shortest possible terms. This antagonist Queen is +nothing but the love of God raying out for ever to us inferior +creatures, who, by reason of our sinfulness, have deserved +something widely different. Sin stands there, a hideous hag, +though a queen; Grace stands here, `in all her gestures dignity +and love,' fair and self-communicative, though a sovereign. The +love of God in exercise to sinful men: that is what the New +Testament means by grace. And is it not a great thought? + +Notice, for further elucidation of the Apostle's conception, how +he sacrifices the verbal correctness of his antithesis in order to +get to the real opposition. What is the opposite of Sin? +Righteousness. Why does he not say, then, that `as Sin hath +reigned unto death, even so might Righteousness reign unto life'? +Why? Because it is not man, or anything in man, that can be the +true antagonist of, and victor over, the regnant Sin of humanity; +but God Himself comes into the field, and only He is the foe that +Sin dreads. That is to say, the only hope for a sin-tyrannised +world is in the out-throb of the love of the great heart of God. +For, notice the weapon with which He fights man's transgression, +if I may vary the figure for a moment. It is only subordinately +punishment, or law, or threatening, or the revelation of the +wickedness of the transgression. All these have their places, but +they are secondary places. The thing that will conquer a world's +wickedness is nothing else but the manifested love of God. Only +the patient shining down of the sun will ever melt the icebergs +that float in all our hearts. And wonderful and blessed it is to +think that, in whatsoever aspects man's sin may have been an +interruption and a contradiction of the divine purpose, out of the +evil has come a good; that the more obdurate and universal the +rebellion, the more has it evoked a deeper and more wondrous +tenderness. The blacker the thundercloud, the brighter glows the +rainbow that is flung across it. So these two front each other, +the one settled in her established throne--- + +\begin{verse} +`Fierce as ten furies, \\ + terrible as hell---' +\end{verse} + +\noindent the other coming on her adventurous errand to conquer +the world to herself, and to banish the foul tyranny under which +men groan. `Sin hath reigned.' Grace is on her way to her +dominion. + +II. Notice the gifts of these two Queens to their subjects. + +`Sin hath reigned in death' (as the accurate translation has it); +`Grace reigns unto eternal life.' The one has established her +dominion, and its results are wrought out, her reign is, as it +were, a reign in a cemetery; and her subjects are dead. If you +want a modern instance to illustrate an ancient saw, think of +Armenia. There is a reign whose gifts to its subjects are death. +Sin reigns, says Paul, and for proof points to the fact that men +die. + +Now, I am not going to enter into the question here, and now, +whether physical death passes over mankind because of the fact of +transgression. I do not suppose that this is so. But I ask you to +remember that when the Bible says that `Death passed upon all men, +for all have sinned,' it does not merely mean the physical fact of +dissolution, but it means that fact along with the accompaniments +of it, and the forerunners of it, in men's consciences. `The sting +of death is sin,' says Paul, in another place. By which he +implies, I presume, that, if it were not for the fact of +alienation from God and opposition to His holy will, men might lie +down and die as placidly as an animal does, and might strip +themselves for it `as for a bed, that longing they'd been sick +for.' No doubt, there was death in the world long before there +were men in it. No doubt, also, the complex whole phenomenon gets +its terror from the fact of men's sin. + +But it is not so much that physical fact with its accompaniments +which Paul is thinking about when he says that `sin reigns in +death,' as it is that solemn truth which he is always reiterating, +and which I pray you, dear friends, to lay to heart, that, +whatever activity there may be in the life of a man who has rent +himself away from dependence upon God---however vigorous his +brain, however active his hand, however full charged with other +interests his life, in the very depth of it is a living death, and +the right name for it is death. So this is Sin's gift---that over +our whole nature there come mortality and decay, and that they who +live as her subjects are dead whilst they live. Dear brethren, +that may be figurative, but it seems to me that it is absurd for +you to turn away from such thoughts, shrug your shoulders, and +say, `Old-fashioned Calvinistic theology!' It is simply putting +into a vivid form the facts of your life and of your condition in +relation to God, if you are subjects of Sin. + +Then, on the other hand, the other queenly figure has her hands +filled with one great gift which, like the fatal bestowment which +Sin gives to her subjects, has two aspects, a present and a future +one. Life, which is given in our redemption from Death and Sin, +and in union with God; that is the present gift that the love of +God holds out to every one of us. That life, in its very +incompleteness here, carries in itself the prophecy of its own +completion hereafter, in a higher form and world, just as truly as +the bud is the prophet of the flower and of the fruit; just as +truly as a half-reared building is the prophecy of its own +completion when the roof tree is put upon it. The men that here +have, as we all may have if we choose, the gift of life eternal in +the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ His Son, must +necessarily tend onwards and upwards to a region where Death is +beneath the horizon, and Life flows and flushes the whole heaven. +Brother! do you put out your whole hand to take the poisoned gift +from the claw-like hand of that hideous Queen; or do you turn and +take the gift of life eternal from the hands of the queenly +Grace? + +III. How this queenly Grace gives her gifts. + +You observe that the Apostle, as is his wont---I was going to +say---gets himself entangled in a couple of almost parenthetical +or, at all events, subsidiary sentences. I suppose when he began +to write he meant to say, simply, `as Sin hath reigned unto death, +so Grace might reign unto life.' But notice that he inserts two +qualifications: `through righteousness,' `through Jesus Christ our +Lord.' What does he mean by these? + +He means this, first, that even that great love of God, coming +throbbing straight from His heart, cannot give eternal life as a +mere matter of arbitrary will. God can make His sun to shine and +His rain to fall, `on the unthankful and on the evil,' and if God +could, God would give eternal life to everybody, bad and good; but +He cannot. There must be righteousness if there is to be life. +Just as sin's fruit is death, the fruit of righteousness is +life. + +He means, in the next place, that whilst there is no life without +righteousness, there is no righteousness without God's gift. You +cannot break away from the dominion of Sin, and, as it were, +establish yourselves in a little fortress of your own, repelling +her assaults by any power of yours. Dear brethren, we cannot undo +the past; we cannot strip off the poisoned garment that clings to +our limbs; we can mend ourselves in many respects, but we cannot +of our own volition and motion clothe ourselves with that +righteousness of which the wearers shall be worthy to `pass +through the gate into the city.' There is no righteousness without +God's gift. + +And the other subsidiary clause completes the thought: `through +Christ.' In Him is all the grace, the manifest love, of God +gathered together. It is not diffused as the nebulous light in +some chaotic incipient system, but it is gathered into a sun that +is set in the centre, in order that it may pour down warmth and +life upon its circling planets. The grace of God is in Christ +Jesus our Lord. In Him is life eternal; therefore, if we desire to +possess it we must possess Him. In Him is righteousness; +therefore, if we desire our own foulness to be changed into the +holiness which shall see God, we must go to Jesus Christ. Grace +reigns in life, but it is life through righteousness, which is +through Jesus Christ our Lord. + +So, then, brother, my message and my petition to each of you +are---knit yourself to Him by faith in Him. Then He who is `full +of grace and truth' will come to you; and, coming, will bring in +His hands righteousness and life eternal. If only we rest +ourselves on Him, and keep ourselves close in touch with Him; then +we shall be delivered from the tyranny of the darkness, and +translated into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. + +\chapter{`The Form of Teaching'} +\markright{ROMANS vi. 17} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`... Ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was +delivered you.'---\textsc{Romans} vi. 17. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There is room for difference of opinion as to what Paul precisely +means by `form' here. The word so rendered appears in English as +\textit{type}, and has a similar variety of meaning. It signifies +originally a mark made by pressure or impact; and then, by natural +transitions, a \textit{mould}, or more generally a +\textit{pattern} or \textit{example}, and then the copy of such an +example or pattern, or the cast from such a mould. It has also the +other meaning which its English equivalent has taken on very +extensively of late years, such as, for instance, you find in +expressions like `An English type of face,' meaning thereby the +general outline which preserves the distinguishing characteristics +of a thing. Now we may choose between these two meanings in our +text. If the Apostle means type in the latter sense of the word, +then the rendering `form' is adequate, and he is thinking of the +Christian teaching which had been given to the Roman Christians as +possessing certain well-defined characteristics which +distinguished it from other kinds of teaching---such, for +instance, as Jewish or heathen. + +But if we take the other meaning, then he is, in true Pauline +fashion, bringing in a vivid and picturesque metaphor to enforce +his thought, and is thinking of the teaching which the Roman +Christians had received as being a kind of mould into which they +were thrown, a pattern to which they were to be conformed. And +that that is his meaning seems to me to be made a little more +probable by the fact that the last words of my text would be more +accurate if inverted, and instead of reading, as the Authorised +Version does, `that form of doctrine which was delivered you,' we +were to read, as the Revised Version does, `that form whereunto ye +were delivered.' + +If this be the general meaning of the words before us, there are +three thoughts arising from them to which I turn briefly. First, +Paul's Gospel was a definite body of teaching; secondly, that +teaching is a mould for conduct and character; lastly, that +teaching therefore demands obedience. Take, then, these three +thoughts. + +I. First, Paul's Gospel was a definite body of teaching. + +Now the word `doctrine,' which is employed in my text, has, in the +lapse of years since the Authorised Version was made, narrowed its +significance. At the date of our Authorised translation `doctrine' +was probably equivalent to `teaching,' of whatever sort it might +be. Since then it has become equivalent to a statement of abstract +principles, and that is not at all what Paul means. He does not +mean to say that his gospel was a form of doctrine in the sense of +being a theological system, but he means to say that it was a body +of teaching, the nature of the teaching not being defined at all +by the word. + +Therefore we have to notice that the great, blessed peculiarity of +the Gospel is that it is a teaching, not of abstract dry +principles, but of concrete historical facts. From these +principles in plenty may be gathered, but in its first form as it +comes to men fresh from God it is not a set of propositions, but a +history of deeds that were done upon earth. And, therefore, is it +fitted to be the food of every soul and the mould of every +character. + +Jesus Christ did not come and talk to men about God, and say to +them what His Apostles afterwards said, `God is love,' but He +lived and died, and that mainly was His teaching about God. He did +not come to men and lay down a theory of atonement or a doctrine +of propitiation, or theology about sin and its relations to God, +but He went to the Cross and gave Himself for us, and that was His +teaching about sacrifice. He did not say to men `There is a future +life, and it is of such and such a sort,' but He came out of the +grave and He said `Touch Me, and handle Me. A spirit hath not +flesh and bones,' and \textit{therefore} He brought life and +immortality to light, by no empty words but by the solid realities +of facts. He did not lecture upon ethics, but He lived a perfect +human life out of which all moral principles that will guide human +conduct may be gathered. And so, instead of presenting us with a +\textit{hortus siccus}, with a botanic collection of +scientifically arranged and dead propositions, He led us into the +meadow where the flowers grow, living and fair. His life and +death, with all that they imply, are the teaching. + +Let us not forget, on the other hand, that the history of a fact +is not the mere statement of the outward thing that has happened. +Suppose four people, for instance, standing at the foot of +Christ's Cross; four other `evangelists' than the four that we +know. There is a Roman soldier; there is a Pharisee; there is one +of the weeping crowd of poor women, not disciples; and there is a +disciple. The first man tells the fact as he saw it: `A Jewish +rebel was crucified this morning.' The second man tells the fact: +`A blaspheming apostate suffered what he deserved to-day.' The +woman tells the fact: `A poor, gentle, fair soul was martyred +to-day.' And the fourth one tells the fact: `Jesus Christ, the Son +of God, died for our sins.' The three tell the same fact; the +fourth preaches the Gospel---that is to say, Christian teaching is +the facts plus their explanation; and it is that which +differentiates it from the mere record which is of no avail to +anybody. So Paul himself in one of his other letters puts it. This +is his gospel: Jesus of Nazareth `died for \textit{our} sins +according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and rose again the +third day, according to the Scriptures.' That is what turns the +bald story of the facts into teaching, which is the mould for +life. + +So on the one hand, dear brethren, do not let us fall into the +superficial error of fancying that our religion is a religion of +emotion and morality only. It is a religion with a basis of divine +truth, which, being struck away, all the rest goes. There is a +revolt against dogma to-day, a revolt which in large measure is +justified as an essential of progress, and in large measure as an +instance of progress; but human nature is ever prone to extremes, +and in the revolt from man's dogma there is danger of casting away +God's truth. Christianity is not preserved when we hold by the +bare facts of the outward history, unless we take with these facts +the interpretation of them, which declares the divinity and the +sacrifice of the Son of God. + +And on the other hand, let us keep very clear in our minds the +broad and impassable gulf of separation between the Christian +teaching as embodied in the Scripture and the systems which +Christianity has evolved therefrom. Men's intellects must work +upon the pabulum that is provided for them, and a theology in a +systematised form is a necessity for the intellectual and +reasonable life of the Christian Church. But there is all the +difference between man's inferences from and systematising of the +Christian truth and the truth that lies here. The one is the +golden roof that is cast over us; the other is too often but the +spiders' webs that are spun across and darken its splendour. It is +a sign of a wholesome change in the whole sentiment and attitude +of the modern Christian mind that the word `doctrine,' which has +come to mean men's inferences from God's truth, should have been +substituted as it has been in our Revised Version of my text, by +the wholesome Christian word `teaching.' The teaching is the facts +with the inspired commentary on them. + +II. Secondly, notice that this teaching is in Paul's judgment a +mould or pattern according to which men's lives are to be +conformed. + +There can be no question but that, in that teaching as set forth +in Scripture, there does lie the mightiest formative power for +shaping our lives, and emancipating us from our evil. + +Christ is \textit{the} type, the mould into which men are to be +cast. The Gospel, as presented in Scripture, gives us three +things. It gives us the perfect mould; it gives us the perfect +motive; it gives us the perfect power. And in all three things +appears its distinctive glory, apart from and above all other +systems that have ever tried to affect the conduct or to mould the +character of man. + +In Jesus Christ we have in due combination, in perfect proportion, +all the possible excellences of humanity. As in other cases of +perfect symmetry, the very precision of the balanced proportions +detracts from the apparent magnitude of the statue or of the fair +building, so to a superficial eye there is but little beauty there +that we should desire Him, but as we learn to know Him, and live +nearer to Him, and get more familiar with all His sweetness, and +with all His power, He towers before us in ever greater and yet +never repellent or exaggerated magnitude, and never loses the +reality of His brotherhood in the completeness of His perfection. +We have in the Christ the one type, the one mould and pattern for +all striving, the `glass of form,' the perfect Man. + +And that likeness is not reproduced in us by pressure or by a +blow, but by the slow and blessed process of gazing until we +become like, beholding the glory until we are changed into the +glory. + +It is no use having a mould and metal unless you have a fire. It +is no use having a perfect Pattern unless you have a motive to +copy it. Men do not go to the devil for want of examples; and +morality is not at a low ebb by reason of ignorance of what the +true type of life is. But nowhere but in the full-orbed teaching +of the New Testament will you find a motive strong enough to melt +down all the obstinate hardness of the `northern iron' of the +human will, and to make it plastic to His hand. If we can say, `He +loved me and gave Himself for me' then the sum of all morality, +the old commandment that `ye love one another' receives a new +stringency, and a fresh motive as well as a deepened +interpretation, when His love is our pattern. The one thing that +will make men willing to be like Christ is their faith that Christ +is their Sacrifice and their Saviour. And sure I am of this, that +no form of mutilated Christianity, which leaves out or falteringly +proclaims the truth that Christ died on the Cross for the sins of +the world, will ever generate heat enough to mould men's wills, or +kindle motives powerful enough to lead to a life of growing +imitation of and resemblance to Him. The dial may be all right, +the hours most accurately marked in their proper places, every +minute registered on the circle, the hands may be all right, +delicately fashioned, truly poised, but if there is no main-spring +inside, dial and hands are of little use, and a Christianity which +says, `Christ is the Teacher; do you obey Him?' is as impotent as +the dial face with the broken main-spring. What we need, and what, +thank God, in `the teaching' we have, is the pattern brought near +to us, and the motive for imitating the pattern, set in motion by +the great thought, `He loved me and gave Himself for me.' + +Still further, the teaching is a power to fashion life, inasmuch +as it brings with it a gift which secures the transformation of +the believer into the likeness of his Lord. Part of `the teaching' +is the fact of Pentecost; part of the teaching is the fact of the +Ascension; and the consequence of the Ascension and the sure +promise of the Pentecost is that all who love Him, and wait upon +Him, shall receive into their hearts the `Spirit of life in Christ +Jesus' which shall make them free from the law of sin and +death. + +So, dear friends, on the one hand, let us remember that our +religion is meant to work, that we have nothing in our creed that +should not be in our character, that all our \textit{credenda} are +to be our \textit{agenda}; everything \textit{believed} to be +something \textit{done}; and that if we content ourselves with the +simple acceptance of the teaching, and make no effort to translate +that teaching into life, we are hypocrites or self-deceivers. + +And, on the other hand, do not let us forget that religion is the +soul of which morality is the body, and that it is impossible in +the nature of things that you shall ever get a true, lofty, moral +life which is not based upon religion. I do not say that men +cannot be sure of the outlines of their duty without Christianity, +though I am free to confess that I think it is a very maimed and +shabby version of human duty, which is supplied, minus the special +revelation of that duty which Christianity makes; but my point is, +that the knowledge will not work without the Gospel. + +The Christian type of character is a distinct and manifestly +separate thing from the pagan heroism or from the virtues and the +righteousnesses of other systems. Just as the musician's ear can +tell, by half a dozen bars, whether that strain was Beethoven's, +or Handel's, or Mendelssohn's, just as the trained eye can see +Raffaelle's magic in every touch of his pencil, so Christ, the +Teacher, has a style; and all the scholars of His school carry +with them a certain mark which tells where they got their +education and who is their Master, if they are scholars indeed. +And that leads me to the last word. + +III. This mould demands obedience. + +By the very necessity of things it is so. If the `teaching' was +but a teaching of abstract truths it would be enough to assent to +them. I believe that the three angles of a triangle are equal to +two right angles, and I have done my duty by that proposition when +I have said `Yes! it is so.' But the `teaching' which Jesus Christ +gives and \textit{is}, needs a good deal more than that. By the +very nature of the teaching, assent drags after it submission. You +can please yourself whether you let Jesus Christ into your minds +or not, but if you do let Him in, He will be Master. There is no +such thing as taking Him in and not obeying. + +And so the requirement of the Gospel which we call faith has in it +quite as much of the element of obedience as of the element of +trust. And the presence of that element is just what makes the +difference between a sham and a real faith. `Faith which has not +works is dead, being alone.' A faith which is all trust and no +obedience is neither trust nor obedience. + +And that is why so many of us do not care to yield ourselves to +the faith that is in Jesus Christ. If it simply came to us and +said, `If you will trust Me you will get pardon,' I fancy there +would be a good many more of us honest Christians than are so. But +Christ comes and says, `Trust Me, follow Me, and take Me for your +Master; and be like Me,' and one's will kicks, and one's passions +recoil, and a thousand of the devil's servants within us prick +their ears up and stiffen their backs in remonstrance and +opposition. `Submit' is Christ's first word; submit by faith, +submit in love. + +That heart obedience, which is the requirement of Christianity, +means freedom. The Apostle draws a wonderful contrast in the +context between the slavery to lust and sin, and the freedom which +comes from obedience to God and to righteousness. Obey the Truth, +and the Truth, in your obeying, shall make you free, for freedom +is the willing submission to the limitations which are best. `I +will walk at liberty for I keep Thy precepts.' Take Christ for +your Master, and, being His servants, you are your own masters, +and the world's to boot. For `all things are yours if ye are +Christ's.' Refuse to bow your necks to that yoke which is easy, +and to take upon your shoulders that burden which is light, and +you do not buy liberty, though you buy licentiousness, for you +become the slaves and downtrodden vassals of the world and the +flesh and the devil, and while you promise yourselves liberty, you +become the bondsmen of corruption. Oh! then, let us obey from the +heart that mould of teaching to which we are delivered, and so +obeying, we shall be free indeed. + +\chapter{`Thy Free Spirit'} +\markright{ROMANS vii. 2} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free +from the law of sin and death.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 2. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We have to distinguish two meanings of law. In the stricter sense, +it signifies the authoritative expressions of the will of a ruler +proposed for the obedience of man; in the wider, almost figurative +sense, it means nothing more than the generalised expression of +constant similar facts. For instance, objects attract one another +in certain circumstances with a force which in the same +circumstances is always the same. When that fact is stated +generally, we get the law of gravitation. Thus the word comes to +mean little more than a regular process. In our text the word is +used in a sense much nearer the latter than the former of these +two. `The law of sin and of death' cannot mean a series of +commandments; it certainly does not mean the Mosaic law. It must +either be entirely figurative, taking sin and death as two great +tyrants who domineer over men; or it must mean the continuous +action of these powers, the process by which they work. These two +come substantially to the same idea. The law of sin and of death +describes a certain constancy of operation, uniform and fixed, +under the dominion of which men are struggling. But there is +another constancy of operation, uniform and fixed too, a mighty +antagonistic power, which frees from the dominion of the former: +it is `the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' + +I. The bondage. + +The Apostle is speaking about himself as he was, and we have our +own consciousness to verify his transcript of his own personal +experience. Paul had found that, by an inexorable iron sequence, +sin worked in himself the true death of the soul, in separation +from God, in the extinction of good and noble capacities, in the +atrophying of all that was best in himself, in the death of joy +and peace. And this iron sequence he, with an eloquent paradox, +calls a `law,' though its very characteristic is that it is +lawless transgression of the true law of humanity. He so describes +it, partly, because he would place emphasis on its dominion over +us. Sin rules with iron sway; men madly obey it, and even when +they think themselves free, are under a bitter tyranny. Further, +he desires to emphasise the fact that sin and death are parts of +one process which operates constantly and uniformly. This dark +anarchy and wild chaos of disobedience and transgression has its +laws. All happens there according to rule. Rigid and inevitable as +the courses of the stars, or the fall of the leaf from the tree, +is sin hurrying on to its natural goal in death. In this fatal +dance, sin leads in death; the one fair spoken and full of +dazzling promises, the other in the end throws off the mask, and +slays. It is true of all who listen to the tempting voice, and the +deluded victim `knows not that the dead are there, and that her +guests are in the depth of hell.' + +II. The method of deliverance. + +The previous chapter sounded the depths of human impotence, and +showed the tragic impossibility of human efforts to strip off the +poisoned garment. Here the Apostle tells the wonderful story of +how he himself was delivered, in the full rejoicing confidence +that what availed for his emancipation would equally avail for +every captived soul. Because he himself has experienced a divine +power which breaks the dreadful sequence of sin and of death, he +knows that every soul may share in the experience. No mere outward +means will be sufficient to emancipate a spirit; no merely +intellectual methods will avail to set free the passions and +desires which have been captured by sin. It is vain to seek +deliverance from a perverted will by any republication, however +emphatic, of a law of duty. Nothing can touch the necessities of +the case but a gift of power which becomes an abiding influence in +us, and develops a mightier energy to overcome the evil tendencies +of a sinful soul. + +That communicated power must impart life. Nothing short of a +Spirit of life, quick and powerful, with an immortal and intense +energy, will avail to meet the need. Such a Spirit must give the +life which it possesses, must quicken and bring into action +dormant powers in the spirit that it would free. It must implant +new energies and directions, new motives, desires, tastes, and +tendencies. It must bring into play mightier attractions to +neutralise and deaden existing ones; as when to some chemical +compound a substance is added which has a stronger affinity for +one of the elements, a new thing is made. + +Paul's experience, which he had a right to cast into general terms +and potentially to extend to all mankind, had taught him that such +a new life for such a spirit had come to him by union with Jesus +Christ. Such a union, deep and mystical as it is, is, thank God, +an experience universal in all true Christians, and constitutes +the very heart of the Gospel which Paul rejoiced to believe was +entrusted to his hands for the world. His great message of `Christ +in us' has been wofully curtailed and mangled when his other +message of `Christ for us' has been taken, as it too often has +been, to be the whole of his Gospel. They who take either of these +inseparable elements to be the whole, rend into two imperfect +halves the perfect oneness of the Gospel of Christ. + +We are often told that Paul was the true author of Christian +doctrine, and are bidden to go back from him to Jesus. If we do +so, we hear His grave sweet voice uttering in the upper-room the +deep words, `I am the Vine, ye are the branches'; and, surely, +Paul is but repeating, without metaphor, what Christ, once for +all, set forth in that lovely emblem, when he says that `the law +of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of +sin and of death.' The branches in their multitude make the Vine +in its unity, and the sap which rises from the deep root through +the brown stem, passes to every tremulous leaf, and brings bloom +and savour into every cluster. Jesus drew His emblem from the +noblest form of vegetative life; Paul, in other places, draws his +from the highest form of bodily life, when he points to the many +members in one body, and the Head which governs all, and says, `So +also is Christ.' In another place he points to the noblest form of +earthly love and unity. The blessed fellowship and sacred oneness +of husband and wife are an emblem sweet, though inadequate, of the +fellowship in love and unity of spirit between Christ and His +Church. + +And all this mysterious oneness of life has an intensely practical +side. In Jesus, and by union with Him, we receive a power that +delivers from sin and arrests the stealthy progress of sin's +follower, death. Love to Him, the result of fellowship with Him, +and the consequence of life received from Him, becomes the motive +which makes the redeemed heart delight to do His will, and takes +all the power out of every temptation. We are in Him, and He in +us, on condition, and by means, of our humble faith; and because +my faith thus knits me to Him it is `the victory that overcomes +the world' and breaks the chains of many sins. So this communion +with Jesus Christ is the way by which we shall increase that +triumphant spiritual life, which is the only victorious antagonist +of the else inevitable consequence which declares that the `soul +that sinneth it shall die,' and die even in sinning. + +III. The process of the deliverance. + +Following the R.\ V.\ we read `made me free,' not `hath made me.' +The reference is obviously, as the Greek more clearly shows, to a +single historical event, which some would take to be the Apostle's +baptism, but which is more properly supposed to be his conversion. +His strong bold language here does not mean that he claims to be +sinless. The emancipation is effected, although it is but begun. +He holds that at that moment when Jesus appeared to him on the +road to Damascus, and he yielded to Him as Lord, his deliverance +was real, though not complete. He was conscious of a real change +of position in reference to that law of sin and of death. Paul +distinguishes between the true self and the accumulation of +selfish and sensual habits which make up so much of ourselves. The +deeper and purer self may be vitalised in will and heart, and set +free even while the emancipation is not worked out in the life. +The parable of the leaven applies in the individual renewal; and +there is no fanaticism, and no harm, in Paul's point of view, if +only it be remembered that sins by which passion and externals +overbear my better self are mine in responsibility and in +consequences. Thus guarded, we may be wholly right in thinking of +all the evils which still cleave to the renewed Christian soul as +not being part of it, but destined to drop away. + +And this bold declaration is to be vindicated as a prophetic +confidence in the supremacy and ultimate dominion of the new power +which works even through much antagonism in an imperfect +Christian. Paul, too, calls `things that are not as though they +were.' If my spirit of life is the `Spirit of life in Christ,' it +will go on to perfection. It is Spirit, therefore it is informing +and conquering the material; it is a divine Spirit, therefore it +is omnipotent; it is the Spirit of life, leading in and imparting +life like itself, which is kindred with it and is its source; it +is the Spirit of life in Christ, therefore leading to life like +His, bringing us to conformity with Him because the same causes +produce the same effects; it is a life in Christ having a law and +regular orderly course of development. So, just as if we have the +germ we may hope for fruit, and can see the infantile oak in the +tightly-shut acorn, or in the egg the creature which shall +afterwards grow there, we have in this gift of the Spirit, the +victory. If we have the cause, we have the effects implicitly +folded in it; and we have but to wait further development. + +The Christian life is to be one long effort, partial, and gradual, +to unfold the freedom possessed. Paul knew full well that his +emancipation was not perfect. It was, probably, after this +triumphant expression of confidence that he wrote, `Not as though +I had already attained, either were already perfect.' The first +stage is the gift of power, the appropriation and development of +that power is the work of a life; and it ought to pass through a +well-marked series and cycle of growing changes. The way to +develop it is by constant application to the source of all +freedom, the life-giving Spirit, and by constant effort to conquer +sins and temptations. There is no such thing in the Christian +conflict as a painless development. We must mortify the deeds of +the body if we are to live in the Spirit. The Christian progress +has in it the nature of a crucifixion. It is to be effort, +steadily directed for the sake of Christ, and in the joy of His +Spirit, to destroy sin, and to win practical holiness. Homely +moralities are the outcome and the test of all pretensions to +spiritual communion. + +We are, further, to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord, by +`waiting for the Redemption,' which is not merely passive waiting, +but active expectation, as of one who stretches out a welcoming +hand to an approaching friend. Nor must we forget that this +accomplished deliverance is but partial whilst upon earth. `The +body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of +righteousness.' But there may be indefinite approximation to +complete deliverance. The metaphors in Scripture under which +Christian progress is described, whether drawn from a conflict or +a race, or from a building, or from the growth of a tree, all +suggest the idea of constant advance against hindrances, which +yet, constant though it is, does not reach the goal here. And this +is our noblest earthly condition---not to be pure, but to be +tending towards it and conscious of impurity. Hence our tempers +should be those of humility, strenuous effort, firm hope. We are +as slaves who have escaped, but are still in the wilderness, with +the enemies' dogs baying at our feet; but we shall come to the +land of freedom, on whose sacred soil sin and death can never +tread. + +\chapter{Christ Condemning Sin} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 3} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the +flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, +and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. +3. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +In the first verse of this chapter we read that `There is no +condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' The reason of that +is, that they are set free from the terrible sequence of cause and +effect which constitutes `the law of sin and death'; and the +reason why they are freed from that awful sequence by the power of +Christ is, because He has `condemned sin in the flesh.' The +occurrence of the two words `condemnation' (ver.\ 1) and +`condemned' (ver.\ 3) should be noted. Sin is personified as +dwelling in the flesh, which expression here means, not merely the +body, but unregenerate human nature. He has made his fortress +there, and rules over it all. The strong man keeps his house and +his goods are in peace. He laughs to scorn the attempts of laws +and moralities of all sorts to cast him out. His dominion is death +to the human nature over which he tyrannises. Condemnation is +inevitable to the men over whom he rules. They or he must perish. +If he escape they die. If he could be slain they might live. +Christ comes, condemns the tyrant, and casts him out. So, he being +condemned, we are acquitted; and he being slain there is no death +for us. Let us try to elucidate a little further this great +metaphor by just pondering the two points prominent in it---Sin +tyrannising over human nature and resisting all attempts to +overcome it, and Christ's condemnation and casting out of the +tyrant. + +I. Sin tyrannising over human nature, and resisting all attempts +to overcome it. + +Paul is generalising his own experience when he speaks of the +condemnation of an intrusive alien force that holds unregenerate +human nature in bondage. He is writing a page of his own +autobiography, and he is sure that all the rest of us have like +pages in ours. Heart answereth unto heart as in a mirror. If each +man is a unity, the poison must run through all his veins and +affect his whole nature. Will, understanding, heart, must all be +affected and each in its own way by the intruder; and if men are a +collective whole, each man's experience is repeated in his +brother's. + +The Apostle is equally transcribing his own experience when in the +text he sadly admits the futility of all efforts to shake the +dominion of sin. He has found in his own case that even the +loftiest revelation in the Mosaic law utterly fails in the attempt +to condemn sin. This is true not only in regard to the Mosaic law +but in regard to the law of conscience, and to moral teachings of +any kind. It is obvious that all such laws do condemn sin in the +sense that they solemnly declare God's judgment about it, and His +sentence on it; but in the sense of real condemnation, or casting +out, and depriving sin of its power, they all are impotent. The +law may deter from overt acts or lead to isolated acts of +obedience; it may stir up antagonism to sin's tyranny, but after +that it has no more that it can do. It cannot give the purity +which it proclaims to be necessary, nor create the obedience which +it enjoins. Its thunders roll terrors, and no fruitful rain +follows them to soften the barren soil. There always remains an +unbridged gulf between the man and the law. + +And this is what Paul points to in saying that it `was weak +through the flesh.' It is good in itself, but it has to work +through the sinful nature. The only powers to which it can appeal +are those which are already in rebellion. A discrowned king whose +only forces to conquer his rebellious subjects are the rebels +themselves, is not likely to regain his crown. Because law brings +no new element into our humanity, its appeal to our humanity has +little more effect than that of the wind whistling through an +archway. It appeals to conscience and reason by a plain +declaration of what is right; to will and understanding by an +exhibition of authority; to fears and prudence by plainly setting +forth consequences. But what is to be done with men who know what +is right but have no wish to do it, who believe that they ought +but will not, who know the consequences but `choose rather the +pleasures of sin for a season,' and shuffle the future out of +their minds altogether? This is the essential weakness of all law. +The tyrant is not afraid so long as there is no one threatening +his reign, but the unarmed herald of a discrowned king. His +citadel will not surrender to the blast of the trumpet blown from +Sinai. + +II. Christ's condemnation and casting out of the tyrant. + +The Apostle points to a triple condemnation. + +`In the likeness of sinful flesh,' Jesus condemns sin by His own +perfect life. That phrase, `the likeness of the flesh of sin,' +implies the real humanity of Jesus, and His perfect sinlessness; +and suggests the first way in which He condemns sin in the flesh. +In His life He repeats the law in a higher fashion. What the one +spoke in words the other realised in `loveliness of perfect +deeds'; and all men own that example is the mightiest preacher of +righteousness, and that active goodness draws to itself reverence +and sways men to imitate. But that life lived in human nature +gives a new hope of the possibilities of that nature even in us. +The dream of perfect beauty `in the flesh' has been realised. What +the Man Christ Jesus was, He was that we may become. In the very +flesh in which the tyrant rules, Jesus shows the possibility and +the loveliness of a holy life. + +But this, much as it is, is not all. There is another way in which +Christ condemns sin in the flesh, and that is by His perfect +sacrifice. To this also Paul points in the phrase, `the flesh of +sin.' The example of which we have been speaking is much, but it +is weak for the very same reason for which law is weak---that it +operates only through our nature as it is; and that is not enough. +Sin's hold on man is twofold---one that it has perverted his +relation to God, and another that it has corrupted his nature. +Hence there is in him a sense of separation from God and a sense +of guilt. Both of these not only lead to misery, but positively +tend to strengthen the dominion of sin. The leader of the +mutineers keeps them true to him by reminding them that the mutiny +laws decree death without mercy. Guilt felt may drive to +desperation and hopeless continuance in wrong. The cry, `I am so +bad that it is useless to try to be better,' is often heard. Guilt +stifled leads to hardening of heart, and sometimes to desire and +riot. Guilt slurred over by some easy process of absolution may +lead to further sin. Similarly separation from God is the root of +all evil, and thoughts of Him as hard and an enemy, always lead to +sin. So if the power of sin in the past must be cancelled, the +sense of guilt must be removed, and the wall of partition between +man and God thrown down. What can law answer to such a demand? It +is silent; it can only say, `What is written is written.' It has +no word to speak that promises `the blotting out of the +handwriting that is against us'; and through its silence one can +hear the mocking laugh of the tyrant that keeps his castle. + +But Christ has come `for sin'; that is to say His Incarnation and +Death had relation to, and had it for their object to remove, +human sin. He comes to blot out the evil, to bring God's pardon. +The recognition of His sacrifice supplies the adequate motive to +copy His example, and they who see in His death God's sacrifice +for man's sin, cannot but yield themselves to Him, and find in +obedience a delight. Love kindled at His love makes likeness and +transmutes the outward law into an inward `spirit of life in +Christ Jesus.' + +Still another way by which God `condemns sin in the flesh' is +pointed to by the remaining phrase of our text, `sending His own +Son.' In the beginning of this epistle Jesus is spoken of as +`being declared to be the Son of God with power according to the +Spirit of holiness'; and we must connect that saying with our +text, and so think of Christ's bestowal of His perfect gift to +humanity of the Spirit which sanctifies as being part of His +condemnation of sin in the flesh. Into the very region where the +tyrant rules, the Son of God communicates a new nature which +constitutes a real new power. The Spirit operates on all our +faculties, and redeems them from the bondage of corruption. All +the springs in the land are poisoned; but a new one, limpid and +pure, is opened. By the entrance of the Spirit of holiness into a +human spirit, the usurper is driven from the central fortress: and +though he may linger in the outworks and keep up a guerilla +warfare, that is all that he can do. We never truly apprehend +Christ's gift to man until we recognise that He not merely `died +for our sins,' but lives to impart the principle of holiness in +the gift of His Spirit. The dominion of that imparted Spirit is +gradual and progressive. The Canaanite may still be in the land, +but a growing power, working in and through us, is warring against +all in us that still owns allegiance to that alien power, and +there can be no end to the victorious struggle until the whole +body, soul, and spirit, be wholly under the influence of the +Spirit that dwelleth in us, and nothing shall hurt or destroy in +what shall then be all God's holy mountain. + +Such is, in the most general terms, the statement of what Christ +does `for us'; and the question comes to be the all-important one +for each, Do I let Him do it for me? Remember the alternative. +There must either be condemnation for us, or for the sin that +dwelleth in us. There is no condemnation for them who are in +Christ Jesus, because there is condemnation for the sin that +dwells in them. It must he slain, or it will slay us. It must be +cast out, or it will cast us out from God. It must be separated +from us, or it will separate us from Him. We need not be +condemned, but if it be not condemned, then we shall be. + +\chapter{The Witness of the Spirit} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 18} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are +the children of God.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 18. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The sin of the world is a false confidence, a careless, complacent +taking for granted that a man is a Christian when he is not. The +fault, and sorrow, and weakness of the Church is a false +diffidence, an anxious fear whether a man be a Christian when he +is. There are none so far away from false confidence as those who +tremble lest they be cherishing it. There are none so inextricably +caught in its toils as those who are all unconscious of +\textit{its} existence and of \textit{their} danger. The two +things, the false confidence and the false diffidence, are perhaps +more akin to one another than they look at first sight. Their +opposites, at all events---the true confidence, which is faith in +Christ; and the true diffidence, which is utter distrust of +myself---are identical. But there may sometimes be, and there +often is, the combination of a real confidence and a false +diffidence, the presence of faith, and the doubt whether it be +present. Many Christians go through life with this as the +prevailing temper of their minds---a doubt sometimes arising +almost to agony, and sometimes dying down into passive patient +acceptance of the condition as inevitable---a doubt whether, after +all, they be not, as they say, `deceiving themselves'; and in the +perverse ingenuity with which that state of mind is constantly +marked, they manage to distil for themselves a bitter vinegar of +self-accusation out of grand words in the Bible, that were meant +to afford them but the wine of gladness and of consolation. + +Now this great text which I have ventured to take---not with the +idea that I can exalt it or say anything worthy of it, but simply +in the hope of clearing away some misapprehensions---is one that +has often and often tortured the mind of Christians. They say of +themselves, `I know nothing of any such evidence: I am not +conscious of any Spirit bearing witness with my spirit.' Instead +of looking to other sources to answer the question whether they +are Christians or not---and then, having answered it, thinking +thus, `That text asserts that \textit{all} Christians have this +witness, therefore certainly I have it in some shape or other,' +they say to themselves, `I do not feel anything that corresponds +with my idea of what such a grand, supernatural voice as the +witness of God's Spirit in my spirit must needs be; and therefore +I doubt whether I am a Christian at all.' I should be thankful if +the attempt I make now to set before you what seems to me to be +the true teaching of the passage, should be, with God's help, the +means of lifting some little part of the burden from some hearts +that are right, and that only long to know that they are, in order +to be at rest. + +`The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are +the children of God.' The general course of thought which I wish +to leave with you may be summed up thus: Our cry `Father' is the +witness that we are sons. That cry is not simply ours, but it is +the voice of God's Spirit. The divine Witness in our spirits is +subject to the ordinary influences which affect our spirits. + +Let us take these three thoughts, and dwell on them for a little +while. + +I. Our cry `Father' is the witness that we are sons. + +Mark the terms of the passage: `The Spirit itself beareth witness +\textit{with} our spirit---.' It is not so much a revelation made +to my spirit, considered as the recipient of the testimony, as a +revelation made in or with my spirit considered as co-operating in +the testimony. It is not that my spirit says one thing, bears +witness that I am a child of God; and that the Spirit of God comes +in by a distinguishable process, with a separate evidence, to say +Amen to my persuasion; but it is that there is one testimony which +has a conjoint origin---the origin from the Spirit of God as true +source, and the origin from my own soul as recipient and +co-operant in that testimony. From the teaching of this passage, +or from any of the language which Scripture uses with regard to +the inner witness, it is not to be inferred that there will rise +up in a Christian's heart, from some origin consciously beyond the +sphere of his own nature, a voice with which he has nothing to do; +which at once, by its own character, by something peculiar and +distinguishable about it, by something strange in its nature, or +out of the ordinary course of human thinking, shall certify itself +to be not his voice at all, but \textit{God's} voice. That is not +the direction in which you are to look for the witness of God's +Spirit. It is evidence borne, indeed, by the Spirit of God; but it +is evidence borne not only to our spirit, but through it, with it. +The testimony is one, the testimony of a man's own emotion, and +own conviction, and own desire, the cry, Abba, Father! So far, +then, as the form of the evidence goes, you are not to look for it +in anything ecstatic, arbitrary, parted off from your own +experience by a broad line of demarcation; but you are to look +into the experience which at first sight you would claim most +exclusively for your own, and to try and find out whether +\textit{there} there be not working with your soul, working +through it, working beneath it, distinct from it but not +distinguishable from it by anything but its consequences and its +fruitfulness---a deeper voice than yours---a `still small +voice,'---no whirlwind, nor fire, nor earthquake---but the voice +of God speaking in secret, taking the voice and tones of your own +heart and your own consciousness, and saying to you, `Thou art my +child, inasmuch as, operated by My grace, and Mine inspiration +alone, there rises, tremblingly but truly, in thine own soul the +cry, Abba, Father.' + +So much, then, for the form of this evidence---my own conviction. +Then with regard to the substance of it: conviction of what? The +text itself does not tell us what is the evidence which the Spirit +bears, and by reason of which we have a right to conclude that we +are the children of God. The previous verse tells us. I have +partially anticipated what I have to say on that point, but it +will bear a little further expansion. `Ye have not received the +spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit +of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father.' `The Spirit itself,' by +this means of our cry, Abba, Father, `beareth witness with our +spirit, that we are the children of God.' The substance, then, of +the conviction which is lodged in the human spirit by the +testimony of the Spirit of God is not primarily directed to our +relation or feelings to God, but to a far grander thing than +that---to God's feelings and relation to us. Now I want you to +think for one moment, before I pass on, how entirely different the +whole aspect of this witness of the Spirit of which Christian men +speak so much, and sometimes with so little understanding, becomes +according as you regard it mistakenly as being the direct +testimony to you that you are a child of God, or rightly as being +the direct testimony to you that God is your Father. The two +things seem to be the same, but they are not. In the one case, the +false case, the mistaken interpretation, we are left to this, that +a man has no deeper certainty of his condition, no better +foundation for his hope, than what is to be drawn from the +presence or absence of certain emotions within his own heart. In +the other case, we are admitted into this `wide place,' that all +which is our own is second and not first, and that the true basis +of all our confidence lies not in the thought of what we are and +feel to God, but in the thought of what God is and feels to us. +And instead, therefore, of being left to labour for ourselves, +painfully to search amongst the dust and rubbish of our own +hearts, we are taught to sweep away all that crumbled, rotten +surface, and to go down to the living rock that lies beneath it; +we are taught to say, in the words of the book of Isaiah, +`Doubtless Thou art our Father---we are all an unclean thing; our +iniquities, like the wind, have carried us away'; there is nothing +stable in us; our own resolutions, they are swept away like the +chaff of the summer threshing-floor, by the first gust of +temptation; but what of that?---`in those is continuance, and we +shall be saved!' Ah, brethren! expand this thought of the +conviction that God is my Father, as being the basis of all my +confidence that I am His child, into its widest and grandest form, +and it leads us up to the blessed old conviction, I am nothing, my +holiness is nothing, my resolutions are nothing, my faith is +nothing, my energies are nothing; I stand stripped, and barren, +and naked of everything, and I fling myself out of myself into the +merciful arms of my Father in heaven! There is all the difference +in the world between searching for evidence of my sonship, and +seeking to get the conviction of God's Fatherhood. The one is an +endless, profitless, self-tormenting task; the other is the light +and liberty, the glorious liberty, of the children of God. + +And so the \textit{substance} of the Spirit's evidence is the +direct conviction based on the revelation of God's infinite love +and fatherhood in Christ the Son, that God is my Father; from +which direct conviction I come to the conclusion, the inference, +the second thought, Then I may trust that I am His son. But why? +Because of anything in me? No: because of Him. The very emblem of +fatherhood and sonship might teach us that \textit{that} depends +upon the Father's will and the Father's heart. The Spirit's +testimony has for form my own conviction: and for substance my +humble cry, `Oh Thou, my Father in heaven!' Brethren, is not that +a far truer and nobler kind of thing to preach than saying, Look +into your own heart for strange, extraordinary, distinguishable +signs which shall mark you out as God's child---and which are +proved to be His Spirit's, because they are separated from the +ordinary human consciousness? Is it not far more blessed for us, +and more honouring to Him who works the sign, when we say, that it +is to be found in no out-of-rule, miraculous evidence, but in the +natural (which is in reality supernatural) working of His Spirit +in the heart which is its recipient, breeding there the conviction +that God is my Father? And oh, if I am speaking to any to whom +that text, with all its light and glory, has seemed to lift them +up into an atmosphere too rare and a height too lofty for their +heavy wings and unused feet, if I am speaking to any Christian man +to whom this word has been like the cherubim and flaming sword, +bright and beautiful, but threatening and repellent when it speaks +of a Spirit that bears witness with our spirit---I ask you simply +to take the passage for yourself, and carefully and patiently to +examine it, and see if it be not true what I have been saying, +that your trembling conviction---sister and akin as it is to your +deepest distrust and sharpest sense of sin and unworthiness---that +your trembling conviction of a love mightier than your own, +everlasting and all-faithful, is indeed the selectest sign that +God can give you that you \textit{are} His child. Oh, brethren and +sisters! be confident; for it is not false confidence: be +confident if up from the depths of that dark well of your own +sinful heart there rises sometimes, through all the bitter waters, +unpolluted and separate, a sweet conviction, forcing itself +upward, that God hath love in His heart, and that God is +\textit{my} Father. Be confident; `the Spirit itself beareth +witness with your spirit.' + +II. And now, secondly, That cry is not simply ours, but it is the +voice of God's Spirit. + +Our own convictions are ours because they are God's. Our own souls +possess these emotions of love and tender desire going out to +God---our own spirits possess them; but our own spirits did not +originate them. They are ours by property; they are His by source. +The spirit of a Christian man has no good thought in it, no true +thought, no perception of the grace of God's Gospel, no holy desire, +no pure resolution, which is not stamped with the sign of a higher +origin, and is not the witness of God's Spirit in his spirit. The +passage before us tells us that the sense of Fatherhood which is in +the Christian's heart, and becomes his cry, comes from God's Spirit. +This passage, and that in the Epistle to the Galatians which is +almost parallel, put this truth very forcibly, when taken in +connection. `Ye have received,' says the text before us, `the Spirit +of adoption, whereby \textit{we} cry, Abba, Father.' The variation +in the Epistle to the Galatians is this: `Because ye are sons, God +hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, +\textit{crying} (the Spirit crying), Abba, Father.' So in the one +text, the cry is regarded as the voice of the believing heart; and +in the other the same cry is regarded as the voice of God's Spirit. +And these two things are both true; the one would want its +foundation if it were not for the other; the cry of the Spirit is +nothing for me unless it be appropriated by me. I do not need to +plunge here into metaphysical speculation of any sort, but simply to +dwell upon the plain practical teaching of the Bible---a teaching +verified, I believe, by every Christian's experience, if he will +search into it---that everything in him which makes the Christian +life, is not his, but is God's by origin, and his only by gift and +inspiration. And the whole doctrine of my text is built on this one +thought---without the Spirit of God in your heart, you never can +recognise God as your Father. That in us which runs, with love, and +childlike faith, and reverence, to the place `where His honour +dwelleth,' that in us which says `Father,' is kindred with God, and +is not the simple, unhelped, unsanctified human nature. There is no +ascent of human desires above their source. And wherever in a heart +there springs up heavenward a thought, a wish, a prayer, a trembling +confidence, it is because that came down first from heaven, and +rises to seek its level again. All that is divine in man comes from +God. All that tends towards God in man is God's voice in the human +heart; and were it not for the possession and operation, the +sanctifying and quickening, of a living divine Spirit granted to us, +our souls would for ever cleave to the dust and dwell upon earth, +nor ever rise to God and live in the light of His presence. Every +Christian, then, may be sure of this, that howsoever feeble may be +the thought and conviction in his heart of God's Fatherhood, +\textit{he} did not work it, he received it only, cherished it, +thought of it, watched over it, was careful not to quench it; but in +origin it was God's, and it is now and ever the voice of the Divine +Spirit in the child's heart. + +But, my friends, if this principle be true, it does not apply only +to this one single attitude of the believing soul when it cries, +Abba, Father; it must be widened out to comprehend the whole of a +Christian's life, outward and inward, which is not sinful and +darkened with actual transgression. To all the rest of his being, +to everything in heart and life which is right and pure, the same +truth applies. `The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit' +in every perception of God's word which is granted, in every +revelation of His counsel which dawns upon our darkness, in every +aspiration after Him which lifts us above the smoke and dust of +this dim spot, in every holy resolution, in every thrill and throb +of love and desire. Each of these is mine---inasmuch as in my +heart it is experienced and transacted; it is mine, inasmuch as I +am not a mere dead piece of matter, the passive recipient of a +magical and supernatural grace; but it is God's; and therefore, +and therefore only, has it come to be mine! + +And if it be objected, that this opens a wide door to all manner +of delusion, and that there is no more dangerous thing than for a +man to confound his own thoughts with the operations of God's +Spirit, let me just give you (following the context before us) the +one guarantee and test which the Apostle lays down. He says, +`There is a witness from God in your spirits.' You may say, That +witness, if it come in the form of these convictions in my own +heart, I may mistake and falsely read. Well, then, here is an +outward guarantee. `As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they +are the sons of God'; and so, on the regions both of heart and of +life the consecrating thought,---God's work, and God's Spirit's +work---is stamped. The heart with its love, the head with its +understanding, the conscience with its quick response to the law +of duty, the will with its resolutions,---these are all, as +sanctified by Him, the witness of His Spirit; and the life with +its strenuous obedience, with its struggles against sin and +temptation, with its patient persistence in the quiet path of +ordinary duty, as well as with the times when it rises into heroic +stature of resignation or allegiance, the martyrdom of death and +the martyrdom of life, this too is all (in so far as it is pure +and right) the work of that same Spirit. The test of the inward +conviction is the outward life; and they that have the witness of +the Spirit within them have the light of their life lit by the +Spirit of God, whereby they may read the handwriting on the heart, +and be sure that it is God's and not their own. + +III. And now, lastly, this divine Witness in our spirits is +subject to the ordinary influences which affect our spirits. + +The notion often prevails that if there be in the heart this +divine witness of God's Spirit, it must needs be perfect, clearly +indicating its origin by an exemption from all that besets +ordinary human feelings, that it must be a strong, uniform, never +flickering, never darkening, and perpetual light, a kind of vestal +fire burning always on the altar of the heart! The passage before +us, and all others that speak about the matter, give us the +directly opposite notion. The Divine Spirit, when it enters into +the narrow room of the human spirit, condescends to submit itself, +not wholly, but to such an extent as practically for our present +purpose \textit{is} wholly to submit itself to the ordinary laws +and conditions and contingencies which befall and regulate our own +human nature. Christ came into the world divine: He was `found in +fashion as a man,' in form a servant; the humanity that He wore +limited (if you like), regulated, modified, the manifestation of +the divinity that dwelt in it. And not otherwise is the operation +of God's Holy Spirit when it comes to dwell in a human heart. +There too, working through man, \textit{it} `is found in fashion +as a man'; and though the origin of the conviction be of God, and +though the voice in my heart be not only my voice, but God's voice +there, it will obey those same laws which make human thoughts and +emotions vary, and fluctuate, flicker and flame up again, burn +bright and burn low, according to a thousand circumstances. The +witness of the Spirit, if it were yonder in heaven, would shine +like a perpetual star; the witness of the Spirit, here in the +heart on earth, burns like a flickering flame, never to be +extinguished, but still not always bright, wanting to be trimmed, +and needing to be guarded from rude blasts. Else, brother, what +does an Apostle mean when he says to you and me, `Quench not the +Spirit'? what does he mean when he says to us, `Grieve not the +Spirit'? What does the whole teaching which enjoins on us, `Let +your loins be girded about, and your lights burning,' and `What I +say to you, I say to all, Watch!' mean, unless it means this, that +God-given as (God be thanked!) that conviction of Fatherhood is, +it is not given in such a way as that, irrespective of our +carefulness, irrespective of our watching, it shall burn on---the +same and unchangeable? The Spirit's witness comes from God, +therefore it is veracious, divine, omnipotent; but the Spirit's +witness from God is in man, therefore it may be wrongly read, it +may be checked, it may for a time be kept down, and prevented from +showing itself to be what it is. + +And the practical conclusion that comes from all this, is just the +simple advice to you all: Do not wonder, in the first place, if +that evidence of which we speak, vary and change in its clearness +and force in your own hearts. `The flesh lusteth against the +spirit, and the spirit against the flesh.' Do not think that it +cannot be genuine, because it is changeful. There is a sun in the +heavens, but there are heavenly lights too that wax and wane; they +\textit{are} lights, they \textit{are} in the heavens though they +change. You have no reason, Christian man, to be discouraged, cast +down, still less despondent, because you find that the witness of +the Spirit changes and varies in your heart. Do not despond +because it does; watch it, and guard it, lest it do; live in the +contemplation of the Person and the fact that calls it forth, that +it may not. You will never `brighten your evidences' by polishing +at them. To polish the mirror ever so assiduously does not secure +the image of the sun on its surface. The only way to do that is to +carry the poor bit of glass out into the sunshine. It will shine +then, never fear. It is weary work to labour at self-improvement +with the hope of drawing from our own characters evidences that we +are the sons of God. To have the heart filled with the light of +Christ's love to us is the only way to have the whole being full +of light. If you would have clear and irrefragable, for a +perpetual joy, a glory and a defence, the unwavering confidence, +`I am Thy child,' go to God's throne, and lie down at the foot of +it, and let the first thought be, `My Father in heaven,' and +\textit{that} will brighten, that will stablish, that will make +omnipotent in your life the witness of the Spirit that you are the +child of God. + +\chapter{Sons and Heirs} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 17} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with +Christ.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 17. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +God Himself is His greatest gift. The loftiest blessing which we +can receive is that we should be heirs, possessors of God. There +is a sublime and wonderful mutual possession of which Scripture +speaks much wherein the Lord is the inheritance of Israel, and +Israel is the inheritance of the Lord. `The Lord hath taken you to +be to Him a people of inheritance,' says Moses; `Ye are a people +for a possession,' says Peter. And, on the other hand, `The Lord +is the portion of my inheritance,' says David; `Ye are heirs of +God,' echoes Paul. On earth and in heaven the heritage of the +children of the Lord is God Himself, inasmuch as He is with them +for their delight, in them to make them `partakers of the divine +nature,' and for them in all His attributes and actions. + +This being clearly understood at the outset, we shall be prepared +to follow the Apostle's course of thought while he points out the +conditions upon which the possession of that inheritance depends. +It is children of God who are heirs of God. It is by union with +Christ Jesus, the Son, to whom the inheritance belongs, that they +who believe on His name receive power to become the sons of God, +and with that power the possession of the inheritance. Thus, then, +in this condensed utterance of the text there appear a series of +thoughts which may perhaps be more fully unfolded in some such +manner as the following, that there is no inheritance without +sonship, that there is no sonship without a spiritual birth, that +there is no spiritual birth without Christ, and that there is no +Christ for us without faith. + +I. First, then, the text tells us, no inheritance without +sonship. + +In general terms, spiritual blessings can only be given to those +who are in a certain spiritual condition. Always and necessarily +the capacity or organ of reception precedes and determines the +bestowment of blessings. The light falls everywhere, but only the +eye drinks it in. The lower orders of creatures are shut out from +all participation in the gifts which belong to the higher forms of +life, simply because they are so made and organised as that these +cannot find entrance into their nature. They are, as it were, +walled up all round; and the only door they have to communicate +with the outer world is the door of sense. Man has higher gifts +simply because he has higher capacities. All creatures are plunged +in the same boundless ocean of divine beneficence and bestowment, +and into each there flows just that, and no more, which each, by +the make and constitution that God has given it, is capable of +receiving. In the man there are more windows and doors opened out +than in the animal He is capable of receiving intellectual +impulses, spiritual emotions; he can think, and feel, and desire, +and will, and resolve: and so he stands on a higher level than the +beast below him. + +Not otherwise is it in regard to God's kingdom, `which is +righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' The gift and +blessing of salvation is primarily a spiritual gift, and only +involves outward consequences secondarily and subordinately. It +mainly consists in the heart being at peace with God, in the whole +soul being filled with divine affections, in the weight and +bondage of transgression being taken away, and substituted by the +impulse and the life of the new love. Therefore, neither God can +give, nor man can receive, that gift upon any other terms, than +just this, that the heart and nature be fitted and adapted for it. +Spiritual blessings require a spiritual capacity for the reception +of them; or, as my text says, you cannot have the inheritance +unless you are sons. If salvation consisted simply in a change of +place; if it were merely that by some expedient or arrangement, an +outward penalty, which was to fall or not to fall at the will of +an arbitrary judge, were prevented from coming down, why then, it +would be open to Him who held the power of letting the sword fall, +to decide on what terms He might choose to suspend its infliction. +But inasmuch as God's deliverance is not a deliverance from a mere +arbitrary and outward punishment: inasmuch as God's salvation, +though it be deliverance from the penalty as well as from the +guilt of sin, is by no means chiefly a deliverance from outward +consequences, but mainly a removal of the nature and disposition +that makes these outward consequences certain,---therefore a man +cannot be saved, God's love cannot save him, God's justice will +not save him, God's power stands back from saving him, upon any +other condition than this that his soul shall be adapted and +prepared for the reception and enjoyment of the blessing of a +spiritual salvation. + +But the inheritance which my text speaks about is also that which +a Christian hopes to receive and enter upon in heaven. The same +principle precisely applies there. There is no inheritance of +heaven without sonship; because all the blessings of that future +life are of a spiritual character. The joy and the rapture and the +glory of that higher and better life have, of course, connected +with them certain changes of bodily form, certain changes of local +dwelling, certain changes which could perhaps be granted equally +to a man, of whatever sort he was. But, friends, it is not the +golden harps, not the pavement of `glass mingled with fire,' not +the cessation from work, not the still composure, and changeless +indwelling, not the society even, that makes the heaven of heaven. +All these are but the embodiments and rendering visible of the +inward facts, a soul at peace with God in the depths of its being, +an eye which gazes upon the Father, and a heart which wraps itself +in His arms. Heaven is no heaven except in so far as it is the +possession of God. That saying of the Psalmist is not an +exaggeration, nor even a forgetting of the other elements of +future blessedness, but it is a simple statement of the literal +fact of the case, `I have none in heaven but Thee!' God is the +heritage of His people. To dwell in His love, and to be filled +with His light, and to walk for ever in the glory of His sunlit +face, to do His will, and to bear His character stamped upon our +foreheads---\textit{that} is the glory and the perfectness to +which we are aspiring. Do not then rest in the symbols that show +us, darkly and far off, what that future glory is. Do not forget +that the picture is a shadow. Get beneath all these figurative +expressions, and feel that whilst it may be true that for us in +our present earthly state, there can be no higher, no purer, no +more spiritual nor any truer representations of the blessedness +which is to come, than those which couch it in the forms of +earthly experience, and appeal to sense as the minister of +delight---yet that all these things are representations, and not +adequate presentations. The inheritance of the servants of the +Lord is the Lord Himself, and they dwell in Him, and +\textit{there} is their joy. + +Well then, if that be even partially true---admitting all that you +may say about circumstances which go to make some portion of the +blessedness of that future life---if it be true that God is the +true blessing given by His Gospel upon earth, that He Himself is +the greatest gift that can be bestowed, and that He is the true +Heaven of heaven---what a flood of light does it cast upon that +statement of my text, `If children, then heirs'; no inheritance +without sonship! For who can possess God but they who love Him? +who can love, but they who know His love? who can have Him working +in their hearts a blessed and sanctifying change, except the souls +that lie thankfully quiet beneath the forming touch of His +invisible hand, and like flowers drink in the light of His face in +their still joy? How can God dwell in any heart except a heart +which has in it a love of purity? Where can He make His temple +except in the `upright heart and pure'? How can there be +fellowship betwixt Him and any one except the man who is a son +because he hath received of the divine nature, and in whom that +divine nature is growing up into a divine likeness? `What +fellowship hath Christ with Belial?' is not only applicable as a +guide for our practical life, but points to the principle on which +God's inheritance belongs to God's sons alone. `Blessed are the +pure in heart, for they shall see God'; and those only who love, +and are children, to them alone does the Father come and does the +Father belong. + +So much, then, for the first principle: No inheritance without +sonship. + +II. Secondly, the text leads us to the principle that there is no +sonship without a spiritual birth. + +The Apostle John in that most wonderful preface to his Gospel, +where all deepest truths concerning the Eternal Being in itself +and in the solemn march of His progressive revelations to the +world are set forth in language simple like the words of a child +and inexhaustible like the voice of a god, draws a broad +distinction between the relation to the manifestations of God +which every human soul by virtue of his humanity sustains, and +that into which some, by virtue of their faith, enter. Every man +is lighted by the true light because he is a man. They who believe +in His name receive from Him the prerogative to become the sons of +God. Whatever else may be taught in John's words, surely they do +teach us this, that the sonship of which he speaks does not belong +to man as man, is not a relation into which we are born by natural +birth, that we \textit{become} sons after we \textit{are} men, +that those who become sons do not include all those who are +lighted by the Light, but consist of so many of that greater +number as receive Him, and that such become sons by a divine act, +the communication of a spiritual life, whereby they are born of +God. + +The same Apostle, in his Epistles, where the widest love is +conjoined with the most firmly drawn lines of moral demarcation +between the great opposites---life, light, love---death, darkness, +hate---contrasts in the most unmistakable antithesis the sons of +God who are known for such because they do righteousness, and the +world which knew not Christ, nor knows those who, dimly beholding, +partially resemble Him. Nay, he goes further, and says in strange +contradiction to the popular estimate of his character, but in +true imitation of that Incarnate love which hated iniquity, `In +this the children of God are manifested and the children of the +devil'---echoing thus the words of Him whose pitying tenderness +had sometimes to clothe itself in sharpest words, even as His hand +of powerful love had once to grasp the scourge of small cords. `If +God were your Father, ye would love Me: ye are of your father, the +devil.' + +These are but specimens of a whole cycle of Scripture statements +which in every form of necessary implication, and of direct +statement, set forth the principle that he who is born again of +the Spirit, and he only, is a son of God. + +Nothing in all this contradicts the belief that all men are the +children of God, inasmuch as they are shaped by His divine hand +and He has breathed into their nostrils the breath of life. They +who hold that sonship is obtained on the condition which these +passages seem to assert, do also rejoice to believe and to preach +that the Father's love broods over every human heart as the +dovelike Spirit over the primeval chaos. They rejoice to proclaim +that Christ has come that all, that each, may receive the adoption +of sons. They do not feel that their message to, nor their hope +for, the world is less blessed, less wide, because while they call +on all to come and take the things that are freely given to them +of God, they believe that those only who do come and take possess +the blessing. Every man may become a son and heir of God by faith +in Jesus Christ. + +But notwithstanding all the mercies that belong to us all, +notwithstanding the divine beneficence, which, like the air and +the light, pervades all nature, and underlies all our lives, +notwithstanding the universal adaptation and intention of Christ's +work, notwithstanding the wooing of His tender voice and the +unceasing beckoning of His love, it still remains true that there +are men in the world, created by God, loved and cared for by Him, +for whom Christ died, who might be, but are not, sons of God. + +Fatherhood! what does that word itself teach us? It speaks of the +communication of a life, and the reciprocity of love. It rests upon +a divine act, and it involves a human emotion. It involves that the +father and the child shall have kindred life---the father bestowing +and the child possessing a life which is derived; and because +derived, kindred; and because kindred, unfolding itself in likeness +to the father that gave it. And it requires that between the +father's heart and the child's heart there shall pass, in blessed +interchange and quick correspondence, answering love, flashing +backwards and forwards, like the lightning that touches the earth +and rises from it again. A simple appeal to your own consciousness +will decide if that be the condition of all men. Are you, my +brother, conscious of anything within you higher than the common +life that belongs to you because you are an immortal soul? Can you +say, `From God's hand I have received the granting and implantation +of a new and better life?' Is your claim verified by this, that you +are kindred with God in holy affections, in like purposes, loving +what He loves, hating what He hates, doing what He wills, accepting +what He sends, longing for Himself, and blessed in His presence? Is +your sonship proved by the depth and sincerity, the simplicity and +power, of your throbbing heart of love to your Father in heaven? Or +are all these emotions empty words to you, things that are spoken in +pulpits, but to which you have nothing in your life corresponding? +Oh then, my friend, what am I to say to you? What but this? no +sonship except by that spiritual birth; and if not such sonship, +then the spirit of bondage. If not such sonship, why then, by all +the tendencies of your nature, and by all the affinities of your +moral being, if you are not holding of heaven, you are holding of +hell; if you are not drawing your life, your character, your +emotions, your affections, from the sacred well that lies up yonder, +you are drawing them from the black one that lies down there. There +are heaven, hell, and the earth that lies between, ever influenced +either from above or from below. You are sons because born again, or +slaves and `enemies by wicked works.' It is a grim alternative, but +it is a fact. + +III. Thirdly, no spiritual birth without Christ. + +We have seen that the sonship which gives power of possessing the +inheritance and which comes by spiritual birth, rests upon the +giving of life, spiritual life, from God; and unfolds itself in +certain holy characters, and affections, and desires, the +throbbing of the whole soul in full accord and harmony with the +divine character and will. Well then, it looks very clear that a +man cannot make that new life for himself, cannot do it because of +the habit of sin, and cannot do it because of the guilt and +punishment of sin. If for sonship there must be a birth again, +why, surely, the very symbol might convince you that such a +process does not lie within our own power. There must come down a +divine leaven into the mass of human nature, before this new being +can be evolved in any one. There must be a gift of God. A divine +energy must be the source and fountain of all holy and of all +Godlike life. Christ comes, comes to make you and me live again as +we never lived before; live possessors of God's love; live +tenanted and ruled by a divine Spirit; live with affections in our +hearts which \textit{we} never could kindle there; live with +purposes in our souls which \textit{we} never could put there. + +And I want to urge this thought, that the centre point of the +Gospel is this regeneration; because if we understand, as we are +too much disposed to do, that the Gospel simply comes to make men +live better, to work out a moral reformation,---why, there is no +need for a Gospel at all. If the change were a simple change of +habit and action on the part of men, we could do without a Christ. +If the change simply involved a bracing ourselves up to behave +better for the future, we could manage somehow or other about as +well as or better than we have managed in the past. But if +redemption be the giving of life from God; and if redemption be +the change of position in reference to God's love and God's law as +well, neither of these two changes can a man effect for himself. +You cannot gather up the spilt water; you cannot any more gather +up and re-issue the past life. The sin remains, the guilt remains. +The inevitable law of God will go on its crashing way in spite of +all penitence, in spite of all reformation, in spite of all +desires after newness of life. There is but one Being who can make +a change in our position in regard to God, and there is but one +Being who can make the change by which man shall become a `new +creature.' The Creative Spirit that shaped the earth must shape +its new being in my soul; and the Father against whose law I have +offended, whose love I have slighted, from whom I have turned +away, must effect the alteration that I can never effect---the +alteration in my position to His judgments and justice, and to the +whole sweep of His government. No new birth without Christ; no +escape from the old standing-place, of being `enemies to God by +wicked works,' by anything that we can do: no hope of the +inheritance unless the Lord and the Man, the `second Adam from +heaven,' have come! He \textit{has} come, and He has `dwelt with +us,' and He has worn this life of ours, and He has walked in the +midst of this world, and He knows all about our human condition, +and He has effected an actual change in the possible aspect of the +divine justice and government to us; and He has carried in the +golden urn of His humanity a new spirit and a new life which He +has set down in the midst of the race; and the urn was broken on +the cross of Calvary, and the water flowed out, and whithersoever +that water comes there is life, and whithersoever it comes not +there is death! + +IV. Last of all, no Christ without faith. + +It is not enough, brethren, that we should go through all these +previous steps, if we then go utterly astray at the end, by +forgetting that there is only one way by which we become partakers +of any of the benefits and blessings that Christ has wrought out. +It is much to say that for inheritance there must be sonship. It +is much to say that for sonship there must be a divine +regeneration. It is much to say that the power of this +regeneration is all gathered together in Christ Jesus. But there +are plenty of people that would agree to all that, who go off at +that point, and content themselves with \textit{this} kind of +thinking---that in some vague mysterious way, they know not how, +in a sort of half-magical manner, the benefit of Christ's death +and work comes to all in Christian lands, whether there be an act +of faith or not! Now I am not going to talk theology at present, +at this stage of my sermon; but what I want to leave upon all your +hearts is this profound conviction,---Unless we are wedded to +Jesus Christ by the simple act of trust in His mercy and His +power, Christ is nothing to us. Do not let us, my friends, blink +that deciding test of the whole matter. We may talk about Christ +for ever; we may set forth aspects of His work, great and +glorious. He may be to us much that is very precious; but the one +question, the question of questions, on which everything else +depends, is, Am I trusting to Him as my divine Redeemer? am I +resting in Him as the Son of God? Some of us here now have a sort +of nominal connection with Christ, who have a kind of imaginative +connection with Him; traditional, ceremonial, by habit of thought, +by attendance on public worship, and by I know not what other +means. Ceremonies are nothing, notions are nothing, beliefs are +nothing, formal participation in worship is nothing. Christ is +everything to him that trusts Him. Christ is nothing but a judge +and a condemnation to him who trusts Him not. And here is the +turning-point, Am I resting upon that Lord for my salvation? If +so, you can begin upon that step, the low one on which you can put +your foot, the humble act of faith, and with the foot there, can +climb up. If faith, then new birth; if new birth, then sonship; if +sonship, then an heir of God, and a joint-heir with Christ.' But +if you have not got your foot upon the lowest round of the ladder, +you will never come within sight of the blessed face of Him who +stands at the top of it, and who looks down to you at this moment, +saying to you, `My child, \textit{wilt} thou not cry unto Me +``Abba, Father?''\,' + +\chapter[Suffering with Christ... Glory with Christ]{Suffering with Christ, A Condition of Glory with Christ} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 17} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`...Joint heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with Him, +that we may be also glorified together.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. +17. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +In the former part of this verse the Apostle tells us that in +order to be heirs of God, we must become sons through and +joint-heirs with Christ. He seems at first sight to add in these +words of our text another condition to those already specified, +namely, that of suffering with Christ. + +Now, of course, whatever may be the operation of suffering in +fitting for the possession of the Christian inheritance, either +here or in another world, the sonship and the sorrows do not stand +on the same level in regard to that possession. The one is the +indispensable condition of all; the other is but the means for the +operation of the condition. The one---being sons, `joint-heirs +with Christ,'---is the root of the whole matter; the other---the +`suffering with Him,'---is but the various process by which from +the root there come `the blade, and the ear, and the full corn in +the ear.' Given the sonship---if it is to be worked out into power +and beauty, there must be suffering with Christ. But unless there +be sonship, there is no possibility of inheriting God; discipline +and suffering will be of no use at all. + +The chief lesson which I wish to gather from this text now is that +all God's sons must suffer with Christ; and in addition to this +principle, we may complete our considerations by adding briefly, +that the inheritance must be won by suffering, and that if we +suffer with Him, we certainly shall receive the inheritance. + +I. First, then, sonship with Christ necessarily involves suffering +with Him. + +I think that we entirely misapprehend the force of this passage +before us, if we suppose it to refer principally or merely to the +outward calamities, what you call trials and afflictions, which +befall people, and see in it only the teaching, that the sorrows +of daily life may have in them a sign of our being children of +God, and some power to prepare us for the glory that is to come. +There is a great deal more in the thought than that, brethren. +This is not merely a text for people who are in affliction, but +for all of us. It does not merely contain a law for a certain part +of life, but it contains a law for the whole of life. It is not +merely a promise that in all our afflictions Christ will be +afflicted, but it is a solemn injunction that we seek to know `the +fellowship of His sufferings, and be made conformable to the +likeness of His death,' if we expect to be `found in the likeness +of His Resurrection,' and to have any share in the community of +His glory. In other words, the foundation of it is not that Christ +shares in our sufferings; but that we, as Christians, in a deep +and real sense do necessarily share and participate in Christ's. +We `suffer with Him'; \textit{not} He suffers with us. + +Now, do not let us misunderstand each other, or the Apostle's +teaching. Do not suppose that I am forgetting, or wishing you to +account as of small importance, the awful sense in which Christ's +suffering stands as a thing by itself and unapproachable, a +solitary pillar rising up, above the waste of time, to which all +men everywhere are to turn with the one thought, `I can do nothing +like that; I need to do nothing like it; it has been done once, +and once for all; and what I have to do is, simply to lie down +before Him, and let the power and the blessings of that death and +those sufferings flow into my heart.' The Divine Redeemer makes +eternal redemption. The sufferings of Christ---the sufferings of +His life, and the sufferings of His death---both because of the +nature which bore them, and of the aspect which they wore in +regard to us, are in their source, in their intensity, in their +character, and consequences, unapproachable, incapable of +repetition, and needing no repetition whilst the world shall +stand. But then, do not let us forget that the very books and +writers in the New Testament that preach most broadly Christ's +sole, all-sufficient, eternal redemption for the world by His +sufferings and death, turn round and say to us too, `\,``Be +planted together in the likeness of His death''; you are +``crucified to the world'' by the Cross of Christ; you are to +``fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ.''\,' +He Himself speaks of our drinking of the cup that He drank of, and +being baptized with the baptism that He was baptized with, if we +desire to sit yonder on His throne, and share with Him in His +glory. + +Now what do the Apostles, and what does Christ Himself, in that +passage that I have quoted, mean, by such solemn words as these? +Some people shrink from them, and say that it is trenching upon the +central doctrine of the Gospel, when we speak about drinking of the +cup which Christ drank of. They ask, Can it be? Yes, it can be, if +you will think thus:---If a Christian has the Spirit and life of +Christ in him, his career will be moulded, imperfectly but really, +by the same Spirit that dwelt in his Lord; and similar causes will +produce corresponding effects. The life of Christ which---divine, +pure, incapable of copy and repetition---in one aspect has ended for +ever for men, remains to be lived, in another view of it, by every +Christian, who in like manner has to fight with the world; who in +like manner has to resist temptation; who in like manner has to +stand, by God's help, pure and sinless, in so far as the new nature +of him is concerned, in the midst of a world that is full of evil. +For were the sufferings of the Lord only the sufferings that were +wrought upon Calvary? Were the sufferings of the Lord only the +sufferings which came from the contradiction of sinners against +Himself? Were the sufferings of the Lord only the sufferings which +were connected with His bodily afflictions and pain, precious and +priceless as they were, and operative causes of our redemption as +they were? Oh no. Conceive of that perfect, sinless, really human +life, in the midst of a system of things that is all full of +corruption and of sin; coming ever and anon against misery, and +wrong-doing, and rebellion; and ask yourselves whether part of His +sufferings did not spring from the contact of the sinless Son of man +with a sinful world, and the apparently vain attempt to influence +and leaven that sinful world with care for itself and love for the +Father. If there had been nothing more than that, yet Christ's +sufferings as the Son of God in the midst of sinful men would have +been deep and real. `O faithless generation, how long shall I be +with you? how long shall I suffer you?' was wrung from Him by the +painful sense of want of sympathy between His aims and theirs. `Oh +that I had wings like a dove, for then I would fly away and be at +rest,' must often be the language of those who are like Him in +spirit, and in consequent sufferings. + +And then again, another branch of the `sufferings of Christ' is to +be found in that deep and mysterious fact on which I durst not +venture to speak beyond what the actual words of Scripture put into +my lips---the fact that Christ wrought out His perfect obedience as +a man, through temptation and by suffering. There was no sin +\emph{within} Him, no tendency to sin, no yielding to the evil that +assailed. `The Prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.' +But yet, when that dark Power stood by His side, and said, `If thou +be the Son of God, cast Thyself down,' it was a real temptation and +not a sham one. There was no wish to do it, no faltering for a +moment, no hesitation. There was no rising up in that calm will of +even a moment's impulse to do the thing that was presented;---but +yet it was presented, and, when Christ triumphed, and the tempter +departed for a season, there had been a temptation and there had +been a conflict. And though obedience be a joy, and the doing of His +Father's will was His delight, as it must needs be in pure and in +purified hearts; yet obedience which is sustained in the face of +temptation, and which never fails, though its path lead to bodily +pains and the `contradiction of sinners,' may well be called +suffering. We cannot speak of our Lord's obedience as the surrender +of His own will to the Father's, with the implication that these two +wills ever did or could move except in harmony. There was no place +in Christ's obedience for that casting out of sinful self which +makes our submission a surrender joined with suffering, but He knew +temptation. Flesh, and sense, and the world, and the prince of this +world, presented it to Him; and therefore His obedience too was +suffering, even though to do the will of His Father was His meat and +His drink, His sustenance and His refreshment. + +But then, let me remind you still further, that not only does the +life of Christ, as sinless in the midst of sinful men, and the +life of Christ, as sinless whilst yet there was temptation +presented to it---assume the aspect of being a life of suffering, +and become, in that respect, the model for us; but that also the +Death of Christ, besides its aspect as an atonement and sacrifice +for sin, the power by which transgression is put away and God's +love flows out upon our souls, has another power given to it in +the teaching of the New Testament. The Death of Christ is a type +of the Christian's life, which is to be one long, protracted, and +daily dying to sin, to self, to the world. The crucifixion of the +old manhood is to be the life's work of every Christian, through +the power of faith in that Cross by which `the world is crucified +unto Me, and I unto the world.' That thought comes over and over +again in all forms of earnest presentation in the Apostle's +teaching. Do not slur it over as if it were a mere fanciful +metaphor. It carries in its type a most solemn reality. The truth +is, that, if a Christian, you have a double life. There is Christ, +with His power, with His Spirit, giving you a nature which is pure +and sinless, incapable of transgression, like His own. The new +man, that which is born of God, sinneth not, cannot sin. But side +by side with it, working through it, working in it, leavening it, +indistinguishable from it to your consciousness, by anything but +this that the one works righteousness and the other works +transgression, there is the `old man,' `the flesh,' `the old +Adam,' your own godless, independent, selfish, proud being. And +the one is to slay the other! Ah, let me tell you, these +words---crucifying, casting out the old man, plucking out the +right eye, maiming self of the right hand, mortifying the deeds of +the body---they are something very much deeper and more awful than +poetical symbols and metaphors. They teach us this, that there is +no growth without sore sorrow. Conflict, not progress, is the word +that defines man's path from darkness into light. No holiness is +won by any other means than this, that wickedness should be slain +day by day, and hour by hour. In long lingering agony often, with +the blood of the heart pouring out at every quivering vein, you +are to cut right through the life and being of that sinful self; +to do what the Word does, pierce to the dividing asunder of the +thoughts and intents of the heart, and get rid by crucifying and +slaying---a long process, a painful process---of your own sinful +self. And not until you can stand up and say, `I live, yet not I, +but Christ liveth in me,' have you accomplished that to which you +are consecrated and vowed by your sonship---`being conformed unto +the likeness of His death,' and `knowing the fellowship of His +sufferings.' + +It is this process, the inward strife and conflict in getting rid +of evil, which the Apostle designates here with the name of +`suffering with Christ, that we may be also glorified together.' +On this high level, and not upon the lower one of the +consideration that Christ will help us to bear outward infirmities +and afflictions, do we find the true meaning of all that Scripture +teaching which says indeed, `Yes, our sufferings are +\textit{His}'; but lays the foundation of it in this, `His +sufferings are \textit{ours}.' It begins by telling us that Christ +has done a work and borne a sorrow that no second can ever do. +Then it tells us that Christ's life of obedience---which, because +it \textit{was} a life of obedience, was a life of suffering, and +brought Him into a condition of hostility to the men around +Him---is to be repeated in us. It sets before us the Cross of +Calvary, and the sorrows and pains that were felt there;---and it +says to us, Christian men and women, if you want the power for +holy living, have fellowship in that atoning death; and if you +want the pattern of holy living, look at that Cross and feel, `I +am crucified to the world by it; and the life that I live in the +flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.' + +Such considerations as these, however, do not necessarily exclude +the other one (which we may just mention and dwell on for a +moment), namely, that where there is this spiritual participation +in the sufferings of Christ, and where His death is reproduced and +perpetuated, as it were, in our daily mortifying ourselves in the +present evil world---there Christ is with us in our afflictions. +God forbid that I should try to strike away any word of +consolation that has come, as these words of my text have come, to +so many sorrowing hearts in all generations, like music in the +night and like cold waters to a thirsty soul. We need not hold +that there is no reference here to that comforting thought, `In +all our affliction He is afflicted.' Brethren, you and I have, +each of us---one in one way, and one in another, all in some way, +all in the right way, none in too severe a way, none in too slight +a way---to tread the path of sorrow; and is it not a blessed +thing, as we go along through that dark valley of the shadow of +death down into which the sunniest paths go sometimes, to come, +amidst the twilight and the gathering clouds, upon tokens that +Jesus has been on the road before us? They tell us that in some +trackless lands, when one friend passes through the pathless +forests, he breaks a twig ever and anon as he goes, that those who +come after may see the traces of his having been there, and may +know that they are not out of the road. Oh, when we are journeying +through the murky night, and the dark woods of affliction and +sorrow, it is something to find here and there a spray broken, or +a leafy stem bent down with the tread of His foot and the brush of +His hand as He passed, and to remember that the path He trod He +has hallowed, and thus to find lingering fragrances and hidden +strengths in the remembrance of Him as `in all points tempted like +as we are,' bearing grief \textit{for} us, bearing grief +\textit{with} us, bearing grief \textit{like} us. + +Oh, do not, do not, my brethren, keep these sacred thoughts of +Christ's companionship in sorrow, for the larger trials of life. +If the mote in the eye be large enough to annoy you, it is large +enough to bring out His sympathy; and if the grief be too small +for Him to compassionate and share, it is too small for you to be +troubled by it. If you are ashamed to apply that divine thought, +`Christ bears this grief with me,' to those petty molehills that +you sometimes magnify into mountains, think to yourselves that +then it is a shame for you to be stumbling over them. But on the +other hand, never fear to be irreverent or too familiar in the +thought that Christ is willing to bear, and help you to bear, the +pettiest, the minutest, and most insignificant of the daily +annoyances that may come to ruffle you. Whether it be a poison +from one serpent sting, or whether it be poison from a million of +buzzing tiny mosquitoes, if there be a smart, go to Him, and He +will help you to endure it. He will do more, He will bear it with +you, for if so be that we suffer with Him, He suffers with us, and +our oneness with Christ brings about a community of possessions +whereby it becomes true of each trusting soul in its relations to +Him, that `all mine (joys and sorrows alike) are thine, and all +thine are mine.' + +II. There remain some other considerations which may be briefly +stated, in order to complete the lessons of this text. In the +second place, this community of suffering is a necessary +preparation for the community of glory. + +I name this principally for the sake of putting in a caution. The +Apostle does not mean to tell us, of course, that if there were such +a case as that of a man becoming a son of God, and having no +occasion or opportunity afterwards, by brevity of life or other +causes, for passing through the discipline of sorrow, his +inheritance would be forfeited. We must always take such passages as +this---which seem to make the discipline of the world an essential +part of the preparing of us for glory---in conjunction with the +other undeniable truth which completes them, that when a man has the +love of God in his heart, however feebly, however newly, there and +then he is fit for the inheritance. I think that Christian people +make vast mistakes sometimes in talking about `being made meet for +the inheritance of the saints in light,' about being `ripe for +glory,' and the like. One thing at any rate is very certain, it is +not the discipline that fits. That which fits goes before the +discipline, and the discipline only develops the fitness. `God hath +made us meet for the inheritance of the saints in light,' says the +Apostle. That is a past act. The preparedness for heaven comes at +the moment---if it be a momentary act---when a man turns to Christ. +You may take the lowest and most abandoned form of human character, +and in one moment (it is possible, and it is often the case) the +entrance into that soul of the feeble germ of that new affection +shall at once change the whole moral habitude of that man. Though it +be true, then, that heaven is only open to those who are +capable---by holy aspirations and divine desires---of entering into +it, it is equally true that such aspirations and desires may be the +work of an instant, and may be superinduced in a moment in a heart +the most debased and the most degraded. `This day shalt thou be with +Me in Paradise,'---\textit{fit} for the inheritance! + +And, therefore, let us not misunderstand such words as this text, +and fancy that the necessary discipline, which we have to go +through before we are ready for heaven, is necessary in anything +like the same sense in which it is necessary that a man should +have faith in Christ in order to be saved. The one may be +dispensed with, the other cannot. A Christian at any period of his +Christian experience, if it please God to take him, is fit for the +kingdom. The life \textit{is} life, whether it be the budding +beauty and feebleness of childhood, or the strength of manhood, or +the maturity and calm peace of old age. But `add to your faith,' +that `an entrance may be ministered unto you \textit{abundantly}.' +Remember that though the root of the matter, the seed of the +kingdom, may be in you; and that though, therefore, you have a +right to feel that, at any period of your Christian experience, if +it please God to take you out of this world, you are fit for +heaven---yet in His mercy He is leaving you here, training you, +disciplining you, cleansing you, making you to be polished shafts +in His quiver; and that all the glowing furnaces of fiery trial +and all the cold waters of affliction are but the preparation +through which the rough iron is to be passed before it becomes +tempered steel, a shaft in the Master's hand. + +And so learn to look upon all trial as being at once the seal of +your sonship, and the means by which God puts it within your power +to win a higher place, a loftier throne, a nobler crown, a closer +fellowship with Him `who hath suffered, being tempted,' and who +will receive into His own blessedness and rest them that are +tempted. `The child, though he be an heir, differeth nothing from +a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and +governors.' God puts us in the school of sorrow under that stern +tutor and governor here, and gives us the opportunity of +`suffering with Christ,' that by the daily crucifixion of our old +nature, by the lessons and blessings of outward calamities and +change, there may grow up in us a still nobler and purer, and +perfecter divine life; and that we may so be made capable---more +capable, and capable of more---of that inheritance for which the +only necessary thing is the death of Christ, and the only fitness +is faith in His name. + +III. Finally, that inheritance is the necessary result of the +suffering that has gone before. + +The suffering results from our union with Christ. That union must +needs culminate in glory. It is not only because the joy hereafter +seems required in order to vindicate God's love to His children, +who here reap sorrow from their sonship, that the discipline of +life cannot but end in blessedness. That ground of mere +compensation is a low one on which to rest the certainty of future +bliss. But the inheritance is sure to all who here suffer with +Christ, because the one cause---union with the Lord---produces +both the present result of fellowship in His sorrows, and the +future result of joy in His joy, of possession of His possessions. +The inheritance is sure because Christ possesses it now. The +inheritance is sure because earth's sorrows not merely require to +be repaid by its peace, but because they have an evident design to +fit us for it, and it would be destructive to all faith in God's +wisdom, and God's knowledge of His own purposes, not to believe +that what He has wrought us for will be given to us. Trials have +no meaning, unless they are means to an end. The end is the +inheritance, and sorrows here, as well as the Spirit's work here, +are the earnest of the inheritance. Measure the greatness of the +glory by what has preceded it. God takes all these years of life, +and all the sore trials and afflictions that belong inevitably to +an earthly career, and works them in, into the blessedness that +\textit{shall} come. If a fair measure of the greatness of any +result of productive power be the length of time that was taken +for getting it ready, we can dimly conceive what that joy must be +for which seventy years of strife and pain and sorrow are but a +momentary preparation; and what must be the weight of that glory +which is the counterpoise and consequence to the afflictions of +this lower world. The further the pendulum swings on the one side, +the further it goes up on the other. The deeper God plunges the +comet into the darkness out yonder, the closer does it come to the +sun at its nearest distance, and the longer does it stand basking +and glowing in the full blaze of the glory from the central orb. +So in \textit{our} revolution, the measure of the distance from +the farthest point of our darkest earthly sorrow, \textit{to} the +throne, may help us to the measure of the closeness of the bright, +perfect, perpetual glory above, when we are \textit{on} the +throne: for if so be that we are sons, we \textit{must} suffer +with Him; if so be that we suffer, we \textit{must} be glorified +together! + +\chapter{The Revelation of Sons} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 19} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the +manifestation of the sons of God.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 19. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The Apostle has been describing believers as `sons' and `heirs.' +He drops from these transcendent heights to contrast their present +apparent condition with their true character and their future +glory. The sad realities of suffering darken his lofty hopes, even +although these sad realities are to his faith tokens of +joint-heirship with Jesus, and pledges that if our inheritance is +here manifested by suffering with him, that very fact is a +prophecy of common glory hereafter. He describes that future as +the revealing of a glory, to which the sufferings of this present +time are not worthy to be compared; and then, in our text he +varies the application of that thought of revealing and thinks of +the subjects of it as being the `sons of God.' They will be +revealed when the glory which they have as joint-heirs with Christ +is revealed in them. They walk, as it were, compassed with mist +and cloud, but the splendour which will fall on them will scatter +the envious darkness, and `when Christ who is our life shall +appear, then shall His co-heirs also appear with Him in +glory.' + +We may consider--- + +I. The present veil over the sons of God. + +There is always a difference between appearance and reality, +between the ideal and its embodiments. For all men it is true that +the full expression of oneself is impossible. Each man's deeds +fall short of disclosing the essential self in the man. Every will +is hampered by the fleshly screen of the body. `I would that my +tongue could utter the thoughts that arise in me,' is the yearning +of every heart that is deeply moved. Contending principles +successively sway every personality and thwart each other's +expression. For these, and many other reasons, the sum-total of +every life is but a shrouded representation of the man who lives +it; and we, all of us, after all efforts at self-revelation, +remain mysteries to our fellows and to ourselves. All this is +eminently true of the sons of God. They have a life-germ hidden in +their souls, which in its very nature is destined to fill and +expand their whole being, and to permeate with its triumphant +energy every corner of their nature. But it is weak and often +overborne by its opposite. The seed sown is to grow in spite of +bad weather and a poor soil and many weeds, and though it is +destined to overcome all these, it may to-day only be able to show +on the surface a little patch of pale and struggling growth. When +we think of the cost at which the life of Christ was imparted to +men, and of the divine source from which it comes, and of the +sedulous and protracted discipline through which it is being +trained, we cannot but conclude that nothing short of its +universal dominion over all the faculties of its imperfect +possessors can be the goal of its working. Hercules in his cradle +is still Hercules, and strangles snakes. Frost and sun may +struggle in midwinter, and the cold may seem to predominate, but +the sun is steadily enlarging its course in the sky, and +increasing the fervour of its beams, and midsummer day is as sure +to dawn as the shortest day was. + +The sons of God, even more truly than other men, have contending +principles fighting within them. It was the same Apostle who with +oaths denied that he `knew the man,' and in a passion of clinging +love and penitence fell at His feet; but for the mere onlooker it +would be hard to say which was the true man and which would +conquer. The sons of God, like other men, have to express +themselves in words which are never closely enough fitted to their +thoughts and feelings. David's penitence has to be contented with +groans which are not deep enough; and John's calm raptures on his +Saviour's breast can only be spoken by shut eyes and silence. The +sons of God never fully correspond to their character, but always +fall somewhat beneath their desire, and must always be somewhat +less than their intention. The artist never wholly embodies his +conception. It is only God who `rests from His works' because the +works fully embody His creative design and fully receive the +benediction of His own satisfaction with them. + +From all such thoughts there arises a piece of plain practical +wisdom, which warns Christian men not to despond or despair if +they do not find themselves living up to their ideal. The sons of +God are `veiled' because the world's estimate of them is untrue. +The old commonplace that the world knows nothing of its greatest +men is verified in the opinions which it holds about the sons of +God. It is not for their Christianity that they get any of the +world's honours and encomiums, if such fall to their share. They +are \textit{un}known and yet \textit{well}-known. They live for +the most part veiled in obscurity. `The light shineth in darkness, +and the darkness comprehendeth it not.' They are God's hidden +ones. If they are wise, they will look for no recognition nor +eulogy from the world, and will be content to live, as unknown by +the princes of this world as was the Lord of glory, whom they slew +because their dim eyes could not see the flashing of the glory +`through the veil, that is to say, His flesh.' But no +consciousness of imperfection in our revelation of an indwelling +Christ must ever be allowed to diminish our efforts to live out +the life that is in us, and to shine as lights in the world; nor +must the consciousness that we walk as `veiled,' lead us to add to +the thick folds the criminal one of voluntary silence and cowardly +hiding in dumb hearts the secret of our lives. + +II. The unveiling of the sons of God. + +That unveiling is in the text represented as coming along with the +glory which shall be revealed to usward, and as being +contemporaneous with the deliverance of the creation itself from +the bondage of corruption, and its passing into the liberty of the +glory of the children of God. It coincides with the vanishing of +the pain in which the whole creation now groans and travails, and +with the adoption---that is, the redemption of our body. Then hope +will be seen and will pass into still fruition. All this points to +the time when Jesus Christ is revealed, and His servants are +revealed with Him in glory. That revelation brings with it of +necessity the manifestation of the sons of God for what they +are---the making visible in the life of what God sees them to +be. + +That revelation of the sons of God is the result of the entire +dominion and transforming supremacy of the Spirit of God in them. +In the whole sweep of their consciousness there will in that day +be nothing done from other motives; there will be no sidelights +flashing in and disturbing the perfect illumination from the +candle of the Lord set on high in their being; there will be no +contradictions in the life. It will be one and simple, and +therefore perfectly intelligible. Such is the destined issue of +the most imperfect Christian life. The Christian man who has in +his experience to-day the faintest and most interrupted operation +of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has therein a pledge of +immortality, because nothing short of an endless life of +progressive and growing purity will be adequate to receive and +exemplify the power which can never terminate until it is made +like Him and perfectly seeing Him as He is. + +But that unveiling further guarantees the possession of fully +adequate means of expression. The limitations and imperfections of +our present bodily life will all drop away in putting on `the body +of glory' which shall be ours. The new tongue will perfectly utter +the new knowledge and rapture of the new life; new hands will +perfectly realise our ideals; and on every forehead will be +stamped Christ's new name. + +That unveiling will be further realised by a divine act indicating +the characters of the sons of God by their position. Earth's +judgments will be reversed by that divine voice, and the great +promise, which through weary ages has shone as a far-off +star,---`I will set him on high because he hath known my +name'---will then be known for the sun near at hand. Many names +loudly blown through the world's trumpet will fall silent then. +Many stars will be quenched, but `they that be wise shall shine as +the brightness of the firmament.' + +That revelation will be more surprising to no one than to those +who are its subjects, when they see themselves mirrored in that +glass, and so unlike what they are here. Their first impulse will +be to wonder at the form they see, and to ask, almost with +incredulity, `Lord, is it I?' Nor will the wonder be less when +they recognise many whom they knew not. The surprises when the +family of God is gathered together at last will be great. The +Israel of Captivity lifts up her wondering eyes as she sees the +multitudes flocking to her side as the doves to their windows, +and, half-ashamed of her own narrow vision, exclaims, `I was left +alone; these, where had they been?' Let us rejoice that in the day +when the sons of God are revealed, many hidden ones from many dark +corners will sit at the Father's table. That revelation will be +made to the whole universe; we know not how, but we know that it +shall be; and, as the text tells us, that revelation of the sons +of God is the hope for which `the earnest expectation of the +creature waits' through the weary ages. + +\chapter{The Redemption of the Body} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 23} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The adoption, to wit, the redemption of our +body.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 23. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +In a previous verse Paul has said that all true Christians have +received `the Spirit of adoption.' They become sons of God through +Christ the Son. They receive a new spiritual and divine life from +God through Christ, and that life is like its source. In so far as +that new life vitalises and dominates their nature, believers have +received `the Spirit of adoption,' and by it they cry `Abba, +Father.' But the body still remains a source of weakness, the seat +of sin. It is sluggish and inapt for high purposes; it still +remains subject to `the law of sin and death'; and so is not like +the Father who breathed into it the breath of life. It remains in +bondage, and has not yet received the adoption. This text, in +harmony with the Apostle's whole teaching, looks forward to a +change in the body and in its relations to the renewed spirit, as +the crown and climax of the work of redemption, and declares that +till that change is effected, the condition of Christian men is +imperfect, and is a waiting, and often a groaning. + +In dealing with some of the thoughts that arise from this text, we +note--- + +I. That a future bodily life is needed in order to give +definiteness and solidity to the conception of immortality. + +Before the Gospel came men's belief in a future life was vague and +powerless, mainly because it had no Gospel of the Resurrection, +and so nothing tangible to lay hold on. The Gospel has made the +belief in a future state infinitely easier and more powerful, +mainly because of the emphasis with which it has proclaimed an +actual resurrection and a future bodily life. Its great proof of +immortality is drawn, not merely from ethical considerations of +the manifest futility of earthly life which has no sequel beyond +the grave, nor from the intuitions and longings of men's souls, +but from the historical fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, +and of His Ascension in bodily form into heaven. It proclaims +these two facts as parts of His experience, and asserts that when +He rose from the dead and ascended up on high, He did so as `the +first-born among many brethren,' their forerunner and their +pattern. It is this which gives the Gospel its power, and thus +transforms a vague and shadowy conception of immortality into a +solid faith, for which we have already an historical guarantee. +Stupendous mysteries still veil the nature of the resurrection +process, though these are exaggerated into inconceivabilities by +false notions of what constitutes personal identity; but if the +choice lies between accepting the Christian doctrine of a +resurrection and the conception of a finite spirit disembodied and +yet active, there can be no doubt as to which of these two is the +more reasonable and thinkable. Body, soul, and spirit make the +complete triune man. + +The thought of the future life as a bodily life satisfies the +longings of the heart. Much natural shrinking from death comes +from unwillingness to part company with an old companion and +friend. As Paul puts it in 2nd Corinthians, `Not for that we would +be unclothed, but clothed upon.' All thoughts of the future which +do not give prominence to the idea of a bodily life open up but a +ghastly and uninviting mode of existence, which cannot but repel +those who are accustomed to the fellowship of their bodies, and +they feel that they cannot think of themselves as deprived of that +which was their servant and instrument, through all the years of +their earthly consciousness. + +II. `The body that shall be' is an emancipated body. + +The varied gifts of the Spirit bestowed upon the Christian Church +served to quicken the hope of the yet greater gifts of that +indwelling Spirit which were yet to come. Chief amongst these our +text considers the transformation of the earthly into a spiritual +body. This transformation our text regards as being the +participation by the body in the redemption by which Christ has +bought us with the great price of His blood. We have to interpret +the language here in the light of the further teaching of Paul in +the great Resurrection chapter of 1st Corinthians, which +distinctly lays stress, not on the identity of the corporeal frame +which is laid in the grave with `the body of glory,' but upon the +entire contrast between the `natural body,' which is fit organ for +the lower nature, and is informed by it, and the `spiritual body,' +which is fit organ for the spirit. We have to interpret `the +resurrection of the body' by the definite apostolic declaration, +`Thou sowest not that body that shall be... but God giveth it a +body as it hath pleased Him'; and we have to give full weight to +the contrasts which the Apostle draws between the characteristics +of that which is `sown' and of that which is `raised.' The one is +`sown in corruption and raised in incorruption.' Natural decay is +contrasted with immortal youth. The one is `sown in dishonour,' +the other is `raised in glory.' That contrast is ethical, and +refers either to the subordinate position of the body here in +relation to the spirit, or to the natural sense of shame, or to +the ideas of degradation which are attached to the indulgence of +the appetites. The one is `sown in weakness,' the other is `raised +in power'; the one is `sown a natural body,' the other is `raised +a spiritual body.' Is not Paul in this whole series of contrasts +thinking primarily of the vision which he saw on the road to +Damascus when the risen Christ appeared before him? And had not +the years which had passed since then taught him to see in the +ascended Christ the prophecy and the pattern of what His servants +should become? We have further to keep in view Paul's other +representation in 2nd Corinthians v., where he strongly puts the +contrast between the corporeal environment of earth and `the body +of glory,' which belongs to the future life, in his two images: +`the earthly house of this tabernacle'---a clay hut which lasts +but for a time,---and `the building of God, the house not made +with hands and eternal.' The body is an occasion of separation +from the Lord. + +These considerations may well lead us to, at least, general +outlines on which a confident and peaceful hope may fix. For +example, they lead us to the thought that that redeemed body is no +more subject to decay and death, is no more weighed upon by +weakness and weariness, has no work beyond its strength, needs no +sustenance by food, and no refreshment of sleep. `The Lamb which +is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,' suggests strength +constantly communicated by a direct divine gift. And from all +these negative characteristics there follows that there will be in +that future bodily life no epochs of age marked by bodily changes. +The two young men who were seen sitting in the sepulchre of Jesus +had lived before Adam, and would seem as young if we saw them +to-day. + +Similarly the redeemed body will be a more perfect instrument for +communication with the external universe. We know that the present +body conditions our knowledge, and that our senses do not take +cognisance of all the qualities of material things. Microscopes +and telescopes have enlarged our field of vision, and have brought +the infinitely small and the infinitely distant within our range. +Our ear hears vibrations at a certain rate per second, and no +doubt if it were more delicately organised we could hear sounds +where now is silence. Sometimes the creatures whom we call +`inferior' seem to have senses that apprehend much of which we are +not aware. Balaam's ass saw the obstructing angel before Balaam +did. Nor is there any reason to suppose that all the powers of the +mind find tools to work with in the body. It is possible that that +body which is the fit instrument of the spirit may become its +means of knowing more deeply, thinking more wisely, understanding +more swiftly, comprehending more widely, remembering more firmly +and judging more soundly. It is possible that the contrast between +then and now may be like the contrast between telegraph and slow +messenger in regard to the rapidity, between photograph and poor +daub in regard to the truthfulness, between a full-orbed circle +and a fragmentary arc in regard to the completeness of the +messages which the body brings to the indwelling self. + +But, once more, the body unredeemed has appetites and desires +which may lead to their own satisfaction, which do lead to sordid +cares and weary toil. `The flesh lusts against the spirit and the +spirit against the flesh.' The redeemed body will have in it +nothing to tempt and nothing to clog, but will be a helper to the +spirit and a source of strength. Glorious work of God as the body +is, it has its weaknesses, its limitations, and its tendencies to +evil. We must not be tempted into brooding over unanswered +questions as to `How do the dead rise, and with what body do they +come?' But we can lift our eyes to the mountain-top where Jesus +went up to pray. `And as He prayed the fashion of His countenance +was altered, and His raiment became white and dazzling'; and He +was capable of entering into the Shekinah cloud and holding +fellowship therein with the Father, who attested His Sonship and +bade us listen to His voice. And we can look to Olivet and follow +the ascending Jesus as He lets His benediction drop on the +upturned faces of His friends, until He again passes into the +Shekinah cloud, and leaving the world, goes to the Father. And +from both His momentary transfiguration and His permanent +Ascension we can draw the certain assurance that `He 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 subdue all things unto Himself.' + +III. The redeemed body is a consequence of Christ's indwelling +Spirit. + +It is no natural result of death or resurrection, but is the +outcome of the process begun on earth, by which, `through faith +and the righteousness of faith,' the spirit is life. The context +distinctly enforces this view by its double use of `adoption,' +which in one aspect has already been received, and is manifested +by the fact that `now are we the sons of God,' and in another +aspect is still `waited' for. The Christian man in his regenerated +spirit has been born again; the Christian man still waits for the +completion of that sonship in a time when the regenerated spirit +will no longer dwell in the clay cottage of `this tabernacle,' but +will inhabit a congruous dwelling in `the building of God not made +with hands, eternal in the heavens.' + +Scripture is too healthy and comprehensive to be contented with a +merely spiritual regeneration, and is withal too spiritual to be +satisfied with a merely material heaven. It gives full place to +both elements, and yet decisively puts all belonging to the latter +second. It lays down the laws that for a complete humanity there +must be body as well as spirit; that there must be a +correspondence between the two, and as is the spirit so must the +body be, and further, that the process must begin at the centre +and work outwards, so that the spirit must first be transformed, +and then the body must be participant of the transformation. + +All that Scripture says about `rising in glory' is said about +believers. It is represented as a spiritual process. They who have +the Spirit of God in their spirits because they have it receive +the glorified body which is like their Saviour's. It is not enough +to die in order to `rise glorious.' `If the Spirit of Him that +raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up +Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His +Spirit that dwelleth in you.' The resurrection is promised for all +mankind, but it may be a resurrection in which there shall be +endless living and no glory, nor any beauty and no blessedness. +But the body may be `sown in weakness,' and in weakness raised; it +may be `sown in dishonour' and in dishonour raised; it may be sown +dead, and raised a living death. `Many of them that sleep in the +dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some +to shame and everlasting contempt.' Does that mean nothing? `They +that have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.' Does +that mean nothing? There are dark mysteries in these and similar +words of Scripture which should make us all pause and solemnly +reflect. The sole way which leads to the resurrection of glory is +the way of faith in Jesus Christ. If we yield ourselves to Him, He +will plant His Spirit in our spirits, will guide and growingly +sanctify us through life, will deliver us by the indwelling of the +Spirit of life in Him from the law of sin and death. Nor will His +transforming power cease till it has pervaded our whole being with +its fiery energy, and we stand at the last men like Christ, +redeemed in body, soul, and spirit, `according to the mighty +working whereby He is able to subdue all things unto Himself.' + +\chapter{The Interceding Spirit} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 26} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which +cannot be uttered.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 26. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Pentecost was a transitory sign of a perpetual gift. The tongues +of fire and the rushing mighty wind, which were at first the most +conspicuous results of the gifts of the Spirit, tongues, and +prophecies, and gifts of healing, which were to the early Church +itself and to onlookers palpable demonstrations of an indwelling +power, were little more lasting than the fire and the wind. Does +anything remain? This whole great chapter is Paul's triumphant +answer to such a question. The Spirit of God dwells in every +believer as the source of his true life, is for him `the Spirit of +adoption' and witnesses with his spirit that he is a child of God, +and a joint-heir with Christ. Not only does that Spirit co-operate +with the human spirit in this witness-bearing, but the verse, of +which our text is a part, points to another form of co-operation: +for the word rendered in the earlier part of the verse `helpeth' +in the original suggests more distinctly that the Spirit of God in +His intercession for us works in association with us. + +First, then--- + +I. The Spirit's intercession is not carried on apart from us. + +Much modern hymnology goes wrong in this point, that it represents +the Spirit's intercession as presented in heaven rather than as +taking place within the personal being of the believer. There is a +broad distinction carefully observed throughout Scripture between +the representations of the work of Christ and that of the Spirit +of Christ. The former in its character and revelation and +attainment was wrought upon earth, and in its character of +intercession and bestowment of blessings is discharged at the +right hand of God in heaven; the whole of the Spirit's work, on +the other hand, is wrought in human spirits here. The context +speaks of intercession expressed in `groanings which cannot be +uttered,' and which, unexpressed though they are, are fully +understood `by Him who searches the heart.' Plainly, therefore, +these groanings come from human hearts, and as plainly are the +Divine Spirit's voicing them. + +II. The Spirit's intercession in our spirits consists in our own +divinely-inspired longings. + +The Apostle has just been speaking of another groaning within +ourselves, which is the expression of `the earnest expectation' of +`the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body'; and he says +that that longing will be the more patient the more it is full of +hope. This, then, is Paul's conception of the normal attitude of a +Christian soul; but that attitude is hard to keep up in one's own +strength, because of the distractions of time and sense which are +ever tending to disturb the continuity and fixity of that onward +look, and to lead us rather to be satisfied with the gross, dull +present. That redemption of the body, with all which it implies +and includes, ought to be the supreme object to which each +Christian heart should ever be turning, and Christian prayers +should be directed. But our own daily experience makes us only too +sure that such elevation above, and remoteness from earthly +thoughts, with all their pettinesses and limitations, is +impossible for us in our own strength. As Paul puts it here, `We +know not what to pray for'; nor can we fix and focus our desires, +nor present them `as we ought.' It is to this weakness and +incompleteness of our desires and prayers that the help of the +Spirit is directed. He strengthens our longings by His own direct +operation. The more vivid our anticipations and the more steadfast +our hopes, and the more our spirits reach out to that future +redemption, the more are we bound to discern something more than +human imaginings in them, and to be sure that such visions are too +good not to be true, too solid to be only the play of our own +fancy. The more we are conscious of these experiences as our own, +the more certain we shall be that in them it is not we that speak, +but `the Spirit of the Father that speaketh in us.' + +III. These divinely-inspired longings are incapable of full +expression. + +They are shallow feelings that can be spoken. Language breaks down +in the attempt to express our deepest emotions and our truest +love. For all the deepest things in man, inarticulate utterance is +the most self-revealing. Grief can say more in a sob and a tear +than in many weak words; love finds its tongue in the light of an +eye and the clasp of a hand. The groanings which rise from the +depths of the Christian soul cannot be forced into the narrow +frame-work of human language; and just because they are +unutterable are to be recognised as the voice of the Holy +Spirit. + +But where amidst the Christian experience of to-day shall we find +anything in the least like these unutterable longings after the +redemption of the body which Paul here takes it for granted are +the experience of all Christians? There is no more startling +condemnation of the average Christianity of our times than the +calm certainty with which through all this epistle the Apostle +takes it for granted that the experience of the Roman Christians +will universally endorse his statements. Look for a moment at what +these statements are. Listen to the briefest summary of them: `We +cry, Abba, Father'; `We are children of God'; `We suffer with Him +that we may be glorified with Him'; `Glory shall be revealed to +usward'; `We have the first-fruits of the Spirit'; `We ourselves +groan within ourselves'; `By hope were we saved'; `We hope for +that which we see not'; `Then do we with patience wait for it'; +`We know that to them that love God all things work together for +good'; `In all these things we are more than conquerors'; `Neither +death nor life... nor any other creature shall be able to separate +us from the love of God.' He believed that in these rapturous and +triumphant words he was gathering together the experience of every +Roman Christian, and would evoke from their lips a confident +`Amen.' Where are the communities to-day in whose hearing these +words could be reiterated with the like assurance? How few among +us there are who know anything of these `groanings which cannot be +uttered!' How few among us there are whose spirits are stretching +out eager desires towards the land of perpetual summer, like +migratory birds in northern latitudes when the autumn days are +shortening and the temperature is falling! + +But, however we must feel that our poor experience falls far short +of the ideal in our text, an ideal which was to some extent +realised in the early Christian Church, we must beware of taking +the imperfections of our experience as any evidence of the +unreality of our Christianity. They are a proof that we have +limited and impeded the operation of the Spirit within us. They +teach us that He will not intercede `with groanings which cannot +be uttered' unless we let Him speak through our voices. Therefore, +if we find that in our own consciousness there is little to +correspond to those unuttered groanings, we should take the +warning: `Quench not the Spirit.' `Grieve not the Holy Spirit of +God in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.' + +IV. The unuttered longings are sure to be answered. + +He that searcheth the heart knows the meaning of the Spirit's +unspoken prayers; and looking into the depths of the human spirit +interprets its longings, discriminating between the mere human and +partial expression and the divinely-inspired desire which may be +unexpressed. If our prayers are weak, they are answered in the +measure in which they embody in them, though perhaps mistaken by +us, a divine longing. Apparent disappointment of our petitions may +be real answers to our real prayer. It was because Jesus loved +Mary and Martha and Lazarus that He abode still in the same place +where He was, to let Lazarus die that He might be raised again. +That was the true answer to the sisters' hope of His immediate +coming. God's way of giving to us is to breathe within us a +desire, and then to answer the desire inbreathed. So, longing is +the prophecy of fulfilment when it is longing according to the +will of God. They who `hunger and thirst after righteousness' may +ever be sure that their bread shall be given them, and their water +will be made sure. The true object of our desires is often not +clear to us, and so we err in translating it into words. Let us be +thankful that we pray to a God who can discern the prayer within +the prayer, and often gives the substance of our petitions in the +very act of refusing their form. + +\chapter{The Gift That Brings All Gifts} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 32} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, +how shall He not with Him also freely give us all +things?'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 32. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We have here an allusion to, if not a distinct quotation from, the +narrative in Genesis, of Abraham's offering up of Isaac. The same +word which is employed in the Septuagint version of the Old +Testament, to translate the Hebrew word rendered in our Bible as +`withheld,' is employed here by the Apostle. And there is +evidently floating before his mind the thought that, in some +profound and real sense, there is an analogy between that wondrous +and faithful act of giving up and the transcendent and stupendous +gift to the world, from God, of His Son. + +If we take that point of view, the language of my text rises into +singular force, and suggests many very deep thoughts, about which, +perhaps, silence is best. But led by that analogy, let us deal +with these words. + +I. Consider this mysterious act of divine surrender. + +The analogy seems to suggest to us, strange as it may be, and +remote from the cold and abstract ideas of the divine nature which +it is thought to be philosophical to cherish, that something +corresponding to the pain and loss that shadowed the patriarch's +heart flitted across the divine mind when the Father sent the Son +to be the Saviour of the world. Not merely to give, but to give +up, is the highest crown and glory of love, as we know it. And who +shall venture to say that we so fully apprehend the divine nature +as to be warranted in declaring that some analogy to that is +impossible for Him? Our language is, `I will not offer unto God +that which doth cost me nothing.' Let us bow in silence before the +dim intimation that seems to flicker out of the words of my text, +that so He says to us, `I will not offer unto you that which doth +cost Me nothing.' `He \textit{spared} not His own Son'; withheld +Him not from us. + +But passing from that which, I dare say, many of you may suppose +to be fanciful and unwarranted, let us come upon the surer ground +of the other words of my text. And notice how the reality of the +surrender is emphasised by the closeness of the bond which, in the +mysterious eternity, knits together the Father and the Son. As +with Abraham, so in this lofty example, of which Abraham and Isaac +were but as dim, wavering reflections in water, the Son is His own +Son. It seems to me impossible, upon any fair interpretation of +the words before us, to refrain from giving to that epithet here +its very highest and most mysterious sense. It cannot be any mere +equivalent for Messiah, it cannot merely mean a man who was like +God in purity of nature and in closeness of communion. For the +force of the analogy and the emphasis of that word which is even +more emphatic in the Greek than in the English `His \textit{own} +Son,' point to a community of nature, to a uniqueness and +singleness of relation, to a closeness of intimacy, to which no +other is a parallel. And so we have to estimate the measure of the +surrender by the tenderness and awfulness of the bond. `Having one +Son, His well-beloved, He sent Him.' + +Notice, again, how the greatness of the surrender is made more +emphatic by the contemplation of it in its double negative and +positive aspect, in the two successive clauses. `He spared not His +Son, but delivered Him up,' an absolute, positive giving of Him +over to the humiliation of the life and to the mystery of the +death. + +And notice how the tenderness and the beneficence that were the +sole motive of the surrender are lifted into light in the last +words, `for us all.' The single, sole reason that bowed, if I may +so say, the divine purpose, and determined the mysterious act, was +a pure desire for our blessing. No definition is given as to the +manner in which that surrender wrought for our good. The Apostle +does not need to dwell upon that. His purpose is to emphasise the +entire unselfishness, the utter simplicity of the motive which +moved the divine will. One great throb of love to the whole of +humanity led to that transcendent surrender, before which we can +only bow and say, `Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable +gift.' + +And now, notice how this mysterious act is grasped by the Apostle +here as what I may call the illuminating fact as to the whole +divine nature. From it, and from it alone, there falls a blaze of +light on the deepest things in God. We are accustomed to speak of +Christ's perfect life of unselfishness, and His death of pure +beneficence, as being the great manifestation to us all that in +His heart there is an infinite fountain of love to us. We are, +further, accustomed to speak of Christ's mission and death as +being the revelation to us of the love of God as well as of the +Man Christ Jesus, because we believe that `God was in Christ +reconciling the world,' and that He has so manifested and revealed +the very nature of divinity to us, in His life and in His person, +that, as He Himself says, `He that hath seen Me hath seen the +Father.' And every conclusion that we draw as to the love of +Christ is, \textit{ipso facto}, a conclusion as to the love of +God. But my text looks at the matter from rather a different point +of view, and bids us see, in Christ's mission and sacrifice, the +great demonstration of the love of God, not only because `God was +in Christ,' but because the Father's will, conceived of as +distinct from, and yet harmonious with, the will of the Son, gives +Him up for us. And we have to say, not only that we see the love +of God in the love of Christ, but `God so loved the world that He +sent His only begotten Son' that we might have life through +Him. + +These various phases of the love of Christ as manifesting the +divine love, may not be capable of perfect harmonising in our +thoughts, but they do blend into one, and by reason of them all, +`God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet +sinners, Christ died for us.' We have to think not only of Abraham +who gave up, but of the unresisting, innocent Isaac, bearing on +his shoulders the wood for the burnt offering, as the Christ bore +the Cross on His, and suffering himself to be bound upon the pile, +not only by the cords that tied his limbs, but by the cords of +obedience and submission, and in both we have to bow before the +Apocalypse of divine love. + +II. So, secondly, look at the power of this divine surrender to +bring with it all other gifts. + +`How shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?' The +Apostle's triumphant question requires for its affirmative answer +only the belief in the unchangeableness of the Divine heart, and +the uniformity of the Divine purpose. And if these be recognised, +their conclusion inevitably follows. `With Him He will freely give +us all things.' + +It is so, because the greater gift implies the less. We do not +expect that a man who hands over a million of pounds to another, +to help him, will stick at a farthing afterwards. If you give a +diamond you may well give a box to keep it in. In God's gift the +lesser will follow the lead of the greater; and whatsoever a man +can want, it is a smaller thing for Him to bestow, than was the +gift of His Son. + +There is a beautiful contrast between the manners of giving the +two sets of gifts implied in words of the original, perhaps +scarcely capable of being reproduced in any translation. The +expression that is rendered `freely give,' implies that there is a +grace and a pleasantness in the act of bestowal. God gave in +Christ, what we may reverently say it was something like pain to +give. Will He not give the lesser, whatever they may be, which it +is the joy of His heart to communicate? The greater implies the +less. + +Farther, this one great gift draws all other gifts after it, +because the purpose of the greater gift cannot be attained without +the bestowment of the lesser. He does not begin to build being +unable to finish; He does not miscalculate His resources, nor +stultify Himself by commencing upon a large scale, and having to +stop short before the purpose with which He began is accomplished. +Men build great palaces, and are bankrupt before the roof is put +on. God lays His plans with the knowledge of His powers, and +having first of all bestowed this large gift, is not going to have +it bestowed in vain for want of some smaller ones to follow it up. +Christ puts the same argument to us, beginning only at the other +end of the process. Paul says, `God has laid the foundation in +Christ.' Do you think He will stop before the headstone is put on? +Christ said, `It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the +Kingdom.' Do you think He will not give you bread and water on the +road to it? Will He send out His soldiers half-equipped; will it +be found when they are on their march that they have been started +with a defective commissariat, and with insufficient trenching +tools? Shall the children of the King, on the road to their +thrones, be left to scramble along anyhow, in want of what they +need to get there? That is not God's way of doing. He that hath +begun a good work will also perfect the same, and when He gave to +you and me His Son, He bound Himself to give us every subsidiary +and secondary blessing which was needed to make that Son's work +complete in each of us. + +Again, this great blessing draws after it, by necessary +consequence, all other lesser and secondary gifts, inasmuch as, in +every real sense, everything is included and possessed in the +Christ when we receive Him. `With Him,' says Paul, as if that gift +once laid in a man's heart actually enclosed within it, and had +for its indispensable accompaniment the possession of every +smaller thing that a man can need, Jesus Christ is, as it were, a +great Cornucopia, a horn of abundance, out of which will pour, +with magic affluence, all manner of supplies according as we +require. This fountain flows with milk, wine, and water, as men +need. Everything is given us when Christ is given to us, because +Christ is the Heir of all things, and we possess all things in +Him; as some poor village maiden married to a prince in disguise, +who, on the morrow of her wedding finds that she is lady of broad +lands, and mistress of a kingdom. `He that spared not His own +Son,' not only `with Him will give,' but in Him has `given us all +things.' + +And so, brethren, just as that great gift is the illuminating fact +in reference to the divine heart, so is it the interpreting fact +in reference to the divine dealings. Only when we keep firm hold +of Christ as the gift of God, and the Explainer of all that God +does, can we face the darkness, the perplexities, the torturing +questions that from the beginning have harassed men's minds as +they looked upon the mysteries of human misery. If we recognise +that God has given us His Son, then all things become, if not +plain, at least lighted with some gleam from that great gift; and +we feel that the surrender of Christ is the constraining fact +which shapes after its own likeness, and for its own purpose, all +the rest of God's dealings with men. That gift makes anything +believable, reasonable, possible, rather than that He should spare +not His own Son, and then should counterwork His own act by +sending the world anything but good. + +III. And now, lastly, take one or two practical issues from these +thoughts, in reference to our own belief and conduct. + +First, I would say, Let us correct our estimates of the relative +importance of the two sets of gifts. On the one side stands the +solitary Christ; on the other side are massed all delights of sense, +all blessings of time, all the things that the vulgar estimation of +men unanimously recognises to be good. These are only makeweights. +They are all lumped together into an `also.' They are but the golden +dust that may be filed off from the great ingot and solid block. +They are but the outward tokens of His far deeper and true +preciousness. They are secondary; He is the primary. What an +inversion of our notions of good! Do \emph{you} degrade all the +world's wealth, pleasantness, ease, prosperity, into an `also?' Are +you content to put it in the secondary place, as a result, if it +please Him, of Christ? Do you live as if you did? Which do you +hunger for most? Which do you labour for hardest? `Seek ye first the +Kingdom and the King, and all `these things shall be added unto +you.' + +Let these thoughts teach us that sorrow too is one of the gifts of +the Christ. The words of my text, at first sight, might seem to be +simply a promise of abundant earthly good. But look what lies +close beside them, and is even part of the same triumphant burst. +`Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or +nakedness, or peril, or sword?' These are some of the `all things' +which Paul expected that God would give him and his brethren. And +looking upon all, he says, `They all work together for good'; and +in them all we may be more than conquerors. It would be a poor, +shabby issue of such a great gift as that of which we have been +speaking, if it were only to be followed by the sweetnesses and +prosperity and wealth of this world. But here is the point that we +have to keep hold of---inasmuch as He gives us all things, let us +take all the things that come to us as being as distinctly the +gifts of His love, as is the gift of Christ Himself. A wise +physician, to an ignorant onlooker, might seem to be acting in +contradictory fashions when in the one moment he slashes into a +limb, with a sharp, gleaming knife, and in the next sedulously +binds the wounds, and closes the arteries, but the purpose of both +acts is one. + +The diurnal revolution of the earth brings the joyful sunrise and +the pathetic sunset. The same annual revolution whirls us through +the balmy summer days and the biting winter ones. God's purpose is +one. His methods vary. The road goes straight to its goal; but it +sometimes runs in tunnels dank and dark and stifling, and +sometimes by sunny glades and through green pastures. God's +purpose is always love, brother. His withdrawals are gifts, and +sorrow is not the least of the benefits which come to us through +the Man of Sorrows. + +So again, let these thoughts teach us to live by a very quiet and +peaceful faith. We find it a great deal easier to trust God for +Heaven than for earth---for the distant blessings than for the +near ones. Many a man will venture his soul into God's hands, who +would hesitate to venture to-morrow's food there. Why? Is it not +because we do not really trust Him for the greater that we find it +so hard to trust Him for the less? Is it not because we want the +less more really than we want the greater, that we can put +ourselves off with faith for the one, and want something more +solid to grasp for the other? Live in the calm confidence that God +gives all things; and gives us for to-morrow as for eternity; for +earth as for heaven. + +And, last of all, make you quite sure that you have taken +\textit{the} great gift of God. He gives it to all the world, but +they only have it who accept it by faith. Have you, my brother? I +look out upon the lives of the mass of professing Christians; and +this question weighs on my heart, judging by conduct---have they +really got Christ for their own? `Wherefore do ye spend your money +for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which +satisfieth not?' Look how you are all fighting and scrambling, and +sweating and fretting, to get hold of the goods of this present +life, and here is a gift gleaming before you all the while that +you will not condescend to take. Like a man standing in a +market-place offering sovereigns for nothing, which nobody accepts +because they think the offer is too good to be true, so God +complains and wails: I have stretched out My hands all the day, +laden with gifts, and no man regarded. + +\begin{verse} +`It is only heaven may be had for the asking; \\ + It is only God that is given away.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent He gives His Son. Take Him by humble faith in His +sacrifice and Spirit; take Him, and with Him He freely gives you +all things. + +\chapter{More Than Conquerors} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 37} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him +that loved us.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 37. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +In order to understand and feel the full force of this triumphant +saying of the Apostle, we must observe that it is a negative +answer to the preceding questions, `Who shall separate us from the +love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or +famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' A heterogeneous mass +the Apostle here brigades together as an antagonistic army. They +are alike in nothing except that they are all evils. There is no +attempt at an exhaustive enumeration, or at classification. He +clashes down, as it were, a miscellaneous mass of evil things, and +then triumphs over them, and all the genus to which they belong, +as being utterly impotent to drag men away from Jesus Christ. To +ask the question is to answer it, but the form of the answer is +worth notice. Instead of directly replying, `No! no such powerless +things as these can separate us from the love of Christ,' he says, +`No! In all these things, whilst weltering amongst them, whilst +ringed round about by them, as by encircling enemies, ``we are +more than conquerors.''\,' Thereby, he suggests that there is +something needing to be done by us, in order that the foes may not +exercise their natural effect. And so, taking the words of my text +in connection with that to which they are an answer, we have three +things---the impotent enemies of love; the abundant victory of +love; `We are more than conquerors'; and the love that makes us +victorious. Let us look then at these three things briefly. + +I. First of all, the impotent enemies of love. + +There is contempt in the careless massing together of the foes +which the Apostle enumerates. He begins with the widest word that +covers everything---`affliction.' Then he specifies various forms +of it---`distress,' \textit{straitening}, as the word might be +rendered, then he comes to evils inflicted for Christ's sake by +hostile men---`persecution,' then he names purely physical evils, +`hunger' and `nakedness,' then he harks back again to man's +antagonism, `peril,' and `sword.' And thus carelessly, and without +an effort at logical order, he throws together, as specimens of +their class, these salient points, as it were, and crests of the +great sea, whose billows threaten to roll over us; and he laughs +at them all, as impotent and nought, when compared with the love +of Christ, which shields us from them all. + +Now it must be noticed that here, in his triumphant question, the +Apostle means not our love to Christ but His to us; and not even +our sense of that love, but the fact itself. And his question is +just this:---Is there any evil in the world that can make Christ +stop loving a man that cleaves to Him? And, as I said, to ask the +question is to answer it. The two things belong to two different +regions. They have nothing in common. The one moves amongst the +low levels of earth; the other dwells up amidst the abysses of +eternity, and to suppose that anything that assails and afflicts +us here has any effect in making that great heart cease to love us +is to fancy that the mists can quench the sunlight, is to suppose +that that which lies down low in the earth can rise to poison and +to darken the heavens. + +There is no need, in order to rise to the full height of the +Christian contempt for calamity, to deny any of its terrible +power. These things can separate us from much. They can separate +us from joy, from hope, from almost all that makes life desirable. +They can strip us to the very quick, but the quick they cannot +touch. The frost comes and kills the flowers, browns the leaves, +cuts off the stems, binds the sweet music of the flowing rivers in +silent chains, casts mists and darkness over the face of the +solitary grey world, but it does not touch the life that is in the +root. + +And so all these outward sorrows that have power over the whole of +the outward life, and can slay joy and all but stifle hope, and +can ban men into irrevocable darkness and unalleviated solitude, +they do not touch in the smallest degree the secret bond that +binds the heart to Jesus, nor in any measure affect the flow of +His love to us. Therefore we may front them and smile at them and +say: + +\begin{verse} +`Do as thou wilt, devouring time, \\ + With this wide world, and all its fading sweets'; +\end{verse} + +\noindent `my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength +of my heart, and my portion for ever.' + +You need not be very much afraid of anything being taken from you +as long as Christ is left you. You will not be altogether hopeless +so long as Christ, who is our hope, still speaks His faithful +promises to you, nor will the world be lonely and dark to them who +feel that they are lapt in the sweet and all-pervading +consciousness of the changeless love of the heart of Christ. +`Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution?'---in any of +these things, `we are more than conquerors through Him that loved +us.' Brethren, that is the Christian way of looking at all +externals, not only at the dark and the sorrowful, but at the +bright and the gladsome. If the withdrawal of external blessings +does not touch the central sanctities and sweetness of a life in +communion with Jesus, the bestowal of external blessedness does +not much brighten or gladden it. We can face the withdrawal of +them all, we need not covet the possession of them all, for we +have all in Christ; and the world without His love contributes +less to our blessedness and our peace than the absence of all its +joys with His love does. So let us feel that earth, in its givings +and in its withholdings, is equally impotent to touch the one +thing that we need, the conscious possession of the love of +Christ. + +All these foes, as I have said, have no power over the fact of +Christ's love to us, but they have power, and a very terrible +power, over our consciousness of that love; and we may so kick +against the pricks as to lose, in the pain of our sorrows, the +assurance of His presence, or be so fascinated by the false and +vulgar sweetnesses and promises of the world as, in the eagerness +of our chase after them, to lose our sense of the all-sufficing +certitude of His love. Tribulation does not strip us of His love, +but tribulation may so darken our perceptions that we cannot see +the sun. Joys need not rob us of His heart, but joys may so fill +ours, as that there shall be no longing for His presence within +us. Therefore let us not exaggerate the impotence of these foes, +but feel that there are real dangers, as in the sorrows so in the +blessings of our outward life, and that the evil to be dreaded is +that outward things, whether in their bright or in their dark +aspects, may come between us and the home of our hearts, the love +of the loving Christ. + +II. So then, note next, the abundant victory of love. + +Mark how the Apostle, in his lofty and enthusiastic way, is not +content here with simply saying that he and his fellows conquer. +It would be a poor thing, he seems to think, if the balance barely +inclined to our side, if the victory were but just won by a hair's +breadth and triumph were snatched, as it were, out of the very +jaws of defeat. There must be something more than that to +correspond to the power of the victorious Christ that is in us. +And so, he says, we very abundantly conquer; we not only hinder +these things which he has been enumerating from doing that which +it is their aim apparently to do, but we actually convert them +into helpers or allies. The `\textit{more} than conquerors' seems +to mean, if there is any definite idea to be attached to it, the +conversion of the enemy conquered into a friend and a helper. The +American Indians had a superstition that every foe tomahawked sent +fresh strength into the warrior's arm. And so all afflictions and +trials rightly borne, and therefore overcome, make a man stronger, +and bring him nearer to Jesus Christ. + +Note then, further, that not only is this victory more than bare +victory, being the conversion of the enemy into allies, but that +it is a victory which is won even whilst we are in the midst of +the strife. It is not that we shall be conquerors in some far-off +heaven, when the noise of battle has ceased and they hang the +trumpet in the hall, but it is here now, in the hand-to-hand and +foot-to-foot death-grapple that we do overcome. No ultimate +victory, in some far-off and blessed heaven, will be ours unless +moment by moment, here, to-day,' we \textit{are} more than +conquerors through Him that loved us.' + +So, then, about this abundant victory there are these things to +say:---You conquer the world only, then, when you make it +contribute to your conscious possession of the love of Christ. +That is the real victory, the only real victory in life. Men talk +about overcoming here on earth, and they mean thereby the +accomplishment of their designs. A man has `victory,' as it is +phrased, in the world's strife, when he secures for himself the +world's goods at which he has aimed, but that is not the Christian +idea of the conquest of calamity. Everything that makes me feel +more thrillingly in my inmost heart the verity and the sweetness +of the love of Jesus Christ as my very own, is conquered by me and +compelled to subserve my highest good, and everything which slips +a film between me and Him, which obscures the light of His face to +me, which makes me less desirous of, and less sure of, and less +happy in, and less satisfied with, His love, is an enemy that has +conquered me. And all these evils as the world calls them, and as +our bleeding hearts have often felt them to be, are converted into +allies and friends when they drive us to Christ, and keep us close +to Him, in the conscious possession of His sweet and changeless +love. That is the victory, and the only victory. Has the world +helped me to lay hold of Christ? Then I have conquered it. Has the +world loosened my grasp upon Him? Then it has conquered me. + +Note then, further, that this abundant victory depends on how we +deal with the changes of our outward lives, our sorrows or our +joys. There is nothing, \textit{per se}, salutary in affliction, +there is nothing, \textit{per se}, antagonistic to Christian faith +in it either. No man is made better by his sorrows, no man need be +made worse by them. That depends upon how we take the things which +come storming against us. The set of your sails, and the firmness +of your grasp upon the tiller, determine whether the wind shall +carry you to the haven or shall blow you out, a wandering waif, +upon a shoreless and melancholy sea. There are some of you that +have been blown away from your moorings by sorrow. There are some +professing Christians who have been hindered in their work, and +had their peace and their faith shattered all but irrevocably, +because they have not accepted, in the spirit in which they were +sent, the trials that have come for their good. The worst of all +afflictions is a wasted affliction, and they are all wasted unless +they teach us more of the reality and the blessedness of the love +of Jesus Christ. + +III. Lastly, notice the love which makes us conquerors. + +The Apostle, with a wonderful instinctive sense of fitness, names +Christ here by a name congruous to the thoughts which occupy his +mind, when he speaks of Him that loved us. His question has been, +Can anything separate us from the love of Christ? And his answer +is, So far from that being the case, that very love, by occasion +of sorrows and afflictions, tightens its grasp upon us, and, by +the communication of itself to us, makes us more than conquerors. +This great love of Jesus Christ, from which nothing can separate +us, will use the very things that seem to threaten our separation +as a means of coming nearer to us in its depth and in its +preciousness. + +The Apostle says `Him that loved us,' and the words in the +original distinctly point to some one fact as being the great +instance of love. That is to say they point to His death. And so +we may say Christ's love helps us to conquer because in His death +He interprets for us all possible sorrows. If it be true that love +to each of us nailed Him there, then nothing that can come to us +but must be a love-token, and a fruit of that same love. The Cross +is the key to all tribulation, and shows it to be a token and an +instrument of an unchanging love. + +Further, that great love of Christ helps us to conquer, because in +His sufferings and death He becomes the Companion of all the +weary. The rough, dark, lonely road changes its look when we see +His footprints there, not without specks of blood in them, where +the thorns tore His feet. We conquer our afflictions if we +recognise that `in all our afflictions He was afflicted,' and that +Himself has drunk to its bitterest dregs the cup which He commends +to our lips. He has left a kiss upon its margin, and we need not +shrink when He holds it out to us and says `Drink ye all of it.' +That one thought of the companionship of the Christ in our sorrows +makes us more than conquerors. + +And lastly, this dying Lover of our souls communicates to us all, if +we will, the strength whereby we may coerce all outward things into +being helps to the fuller participation of His perfect love. Our +sorrows and all the other distracting externals do seek to drag us +away from Him. Is all that happens in counteraction to that pull of +the world, that we tighten our grasp upon Him, and will not let Him +go; as some poor wretch might the horns of the altar that did not +respond to his grasp? Nay! what we lay hold of is no dead thing, but +a living hand, and it grasps us more tightly than we can ever grasp +it. So because He holds us, and not because we hold Him, we shall +not be dragged away, by anything outside of our own weak and +wavering souls, and all these embattled foes may come against us, +they may shear off everything else, they cannot sever Christ from us +unless we ourselves throw Him away. `In this thou shalt conquer.' +`They overcame by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of His +testimony.' + +\chapter{Love's Triumph} +\markright{ROMANS viii. 38, 39} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor +powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor +depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from +the love of God.'---\textsc{Romans} viii. 38, 39. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +These rapturous words are the climax of the Apostle's long +demonstration that the Gospel is the revelation of `the +righteousness of God from faith to faith,' and is thereby `the +power of God unto salvation.' What a contrast there is between the +beginning and the end of his argument! It started with sombre, sad +words about man's sinfulness and aversion from the knowledge of +God. It closes with this sunny outburst of triumph; like some +stream rising among black and barren cliffs, or melancholy +moorlands, and foaming through narrow rifts in gloomy ravines, it +reaches at last fertile lands, and flows calm, the sunlight +dancing on its broad surface, till it loses itself at last in the +unfathomable ocean of the love of God. + +We are told that the Biblical view of human nature is too dark. +Well, the important question is not whether it is dark, but +whether it is true. But, apart from that, the doctrine of +Scripture about man's moral condition is not dark, if you will +take the whole of it together. Certainly, a part of it is very +dark. The picture, for instance, of what men are, painted at the +beginning of this Epistle, is shadowed like a canvas of +Rembrandt's. The Bible is `Nature's sternest painter but her +best.' But to get the whole doctrine of Scripture on the subject, +we have to take its confidence as to what men may become, as well +as its portrait of what they are---and then who will say that the +anthropology of Scripture is gloomy? To me it seems that the +unrelieved blackness of the view which, because it admits no fall, +can imagine no rise, which sees in all man's sins and sorrows no +token of the dominion of an alien power, and has, therefore, no +reason to believe that they can be separated from humanity, is the +true `Gospel of despair,' and that the system which looks steadily +at all the misery and all the wickedness, and calmly proposes to +cast it all out, is really the only doctrine of human nature which +throws any gleam of light on the darkness. Christianity begins +indeed with, `There is none that doeth good, no, not one,' but it +ends with this victorious p\ae{}an of our text. + +And what a majestic close it is to the great words that have gone +before, fitly crowning even their lofty height! One might well +shrink from presuming to take such words as a text, with any idea +of exhausting or of enhancing them. My object is very much more +humble. I simply wish to bring out the remarkable order, in which +Paul here marshals, in his passionate, rhetorical amplification, +all the enemies that can be supposed to seek to wrench us away +from the love of God; and triumphs over them all. We shall best +measure the fullness of the words by simply taking these clauses +as they stand in the text. + +I. The love of God is unaffected by the extremest changes of our +condition. + +The Apostle begins his fervid catalogue of vanquished foes by a +pair of opposites which might seem to cover the whole +ground---`neither death nor life.' What more can be said? Surely, +these two include everything. From one point of view they do. But +yet, as we shall see, there is more to be said. And the special +reason for beginning with this pair of possible enemies is +probably to be found by remembering that they are a pair, that +between them they do cover the whole ground and represent the +\textit{extremes} of change which can befall us. The one stands at +the one pole, the other at the other. If these two stations, so +far from each other, are equally near to God's love, then no +intermediate point can be far from it. If the most violent change +which we can experience does not in the least matter to the grasp +which the love of God has on us, or to the grasp which we may have +on it, then no less violent a change can be of any consequence. It +is the same thought in a somewhat modified form, as we find in +another word of Paul's, `Whether we live, we live unto the Lord; +and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.' Our subordination to +Him is the same, and our consecration should be the same, in all +varieties of condition, even in that greatest of all variations. +His love to us makes no account of that mightiest of changes. How +should it be affected by slighter ones? + +The distance of a star is measured by the apparent change in its +position, as seen from different points of the earth's surface or +orbit. But this great Light stands steadfast in our heaven, nor +moves a hair's-breadth, nor pours a feebler ray on us, whether we +look up to it from the midsummer day of busy life, or from the +midwinter of death. These opposites are parted by a distance to +which the millions of miles of the world's path among the stars +are but a point, and yet the love of God streams down on them +alike. + +Of course, the confidence in immortality is implied in this +thought. Death does not, in the slightest degree, affect the +essential vitality of the soul; so it does not, in the slightest +degree, affect the outflow of God's love to that soul. It is a +change of condition and circumstance, and no more. He does not +lose us in the dust of death. The withered leaves on the pathway +are trampled into mud, and indistinguishable to human eyes; but He +sees them even as when they hung green and sunlit on the mystic +tree of life. + +How beautifully this thought contrasts with the saddest aspect of +the power of death in our human experience! He is Death the +Separator, who unclasps our hands from the closest, dearest grasp, +and divides asunder joints and marrow, and parts soul and body, +and withdraws us from all our habitude and associations and +occupations, and loosens every bond of society and concord, and +hales us away into a lonely land. But there is one bond which his +`abhorred shears' cannot cut. Their edge is turned on \textit{it}. +One Hand holds us in a grasp which the fleshless fingers of Death +in vain strive to loosen. The separator becomes the uniter; he +rends us apart from the world that He may `bring us to God.' The +love filtered by drops on us in life is poured upon us in a flood +in death; `for I am persuaded, that neither death nor life shall +be able to separate us from the love of God.' + +II. The love of God is undiverted from us by any other order of +beings. + +`Nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,' says Paul. Here we +pass from conditions affecting ourselves to living beings beyond +ourselves. Now, it is important for understanding the precise +thought of the Apostle to observe that this expression, when used +without any qualifying adjective, seems uniformly to mean good +angels, the hierarchy of blessed spirits before the throne. So +that there is no reference to `spiritual wickedness in high +places' striving to draw men away from God. The supposition which +the Apostle makes is, indeed, an impossible one, that these +ministering spirits, who are sent forth to minister to them who +shall be heirs of salvation, should so forget their mission and +contradict their nature as to seek to bar us out from the love +which it is their chiefest joy to bring to us. He knows it to be +an impossible supposition, and its very impossibility gives energy +to his conclusion, just as when in the same fashion he makes the +other equally impossible supposition about an angel from heaven +preaching another gospel than that which he had preached to +them. + +So we may turn the general thought of this second category of +impotent efforts in two different ways, and suggest, first, that +it implies the utter powerlessness of any third party in regard to +the relations between our souls and God. + +We alone have to do with Him alone. The awful fact of +individuality, that solemn mystery of our personal being, has its +most blessed or its most dread manifestation in our relation to +God. There no other Being has any power. Counsel and stimulus, +suggestion or temptation, instruction or lies, which may tend to +lead us nearer to Him or away from Him, they may indeed give us; +but after they have done their best or their worst, all depends on +the personal act of our own innermost being. Man or angel can +affect that, but from without. The old mystics called prayer `the +flight of the lonely soul to the only God.' It is the name for all +religion. These two, God and the soul, have to `transact,' as our +Puritan forefathers used to say, as if there were no other beings +in the universe but only they two. Angels and principalities and +powers may stand beholding with sympathetic joy; they may minister +blessing and guardianship in many ways; but the decisive act of +union between God and the soul they can neither effect nor +prevent. + +And as for them, so for men around us; the limits of their power +to harm us are soon set. They may shut us out from human love by +calumnies, and dig deep gulfs of alienation between us and dear +ones; they may hurt and annoy us in a thousand ways with +slanderous tongues, and arrows dipped in poisonous hatred, but one +thing they cannot do. They may build a wall around us, and +imprison us from many a joy and many a fair prospect, but they +cannot put a roof on it to keep out the sweet influences from +above, or hinder us from looking up to the heavens. Nobody can +come between us and God but ourselves. + +Or, we may turn this general thought in another direction, and +say, These blessed spirits around the throne do not absorb and +intercept His love. They gather about its steps in their `solemn +troops and sweet societies'; but close as are their ranks, and +innumerable as is their multitude, they do not prevent that love +from passing beyond them to us on the outskirts of the crowd. The +planet nearest the sun is drenched and saturated with fiery +brightness, but the rays from the centre of life pass on to each +of the sister spheres in its turn, and travel away outwards to +where the remotest of them all rolls in its far-off orbit, unknown +for millenniums to dwellers closer to the sun, but through all the +ages visited by warmth and light according to its needs. Like that +poor, sickly woman who could lay her wasted fingers on the hem of +Christ's garment, notwithstanding the thronging multitude, we can +reach our hands through all the crowd, or rather He reaches His +strong hand to us and heals and blesses us. All the guests are fed +full at that great table. One's gain is not another's loss. The +multitudes sit on the green grass, and the last man of the last +fifty gets as much as the first. `They did all eat, and were +filled'; and more remains than fed them all. So all beings are +`nourished from the King's country,' and none jostle others out of +their share. This healing fountain is not exhausted of its +curative power by the early comers. `I will give unto this last, +even as unto thee.' `Nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, +shall be able to separate us from the love of God.' + +III. The love of God is raised above the power of time. + +`Nor things present, nor things to come,' is the Apostle's next +class of powers impotent to disunite us from the love of God. The +rhythmical arrangement of the text deserves to be noticed, as +bearing not only on its music and rhetorical flow, but as +affecting its force. We had first a pair of opposites, and then a +triplet; `death and life: angels, principalities, and powers.' We +have again a pair of opposites; `things present, things to come,' +again followed by a triplet, `height nor depth, nor any other +creature.' The effect of this is to divide the whole into two, and +to throw the first and second classes more closely together, as +also the third and fourth. Time and Space, these two mysterious +ideas, which work so fatally on all human love, are powerless +here. + +The great revelation of God, on which the whole of Judaism was +built, was that made to Moses of the name `I Am that I Am.' And +parallel to the verbal revelation was the symbol of the Bush, +burning and unconsumed, which is so often misunderstood. It +appears wholly contrary to the usage of Scriptural visions, which +are ever wont to express in material form the same truth which +accompanies them in words, that the meaning of that vision should +be, as it is frequently taken as being, the continuance of Israel +unharmed by the fiery furnace of persecution. Not the continuance +of Israel, but the eternity of Israel's God is the teaching of +that flaming wonder. The burning Bush and the Name of the Lord +proclaimed the same great truth of self-derived, self-determined, +timeless, undecaying Being. And what better symbol than the bush +burning, and yet not burning out, could be found of that God in +whose life there is no tendency to death, whose work digs no pit +of weariness into which it falls, who gives and is none the +poorer, who fears no exhaustion in His spending, no extinction in +His continual shining? + +And this eternity of Being is no mere metaphysical abstraction. It +is eternity of love, for God is love. That great stream, the +pouring out of His own very inmost Being, knows no pause, nor does +the deep fountain from which it flows ever sink one hair's-breadth +in its pure basin. + +We know of earthly loves which cannot die. They have entered so +deeply into the very fabric of the soul, that like some cloth dyed +in grain, as long as two threads hold together they will retain +the tint. We have to thank God for such instances of love stronger +than death, which make it easier for us to believe in the +unchanging duration of His. But we know, too, of love that can +change, and we know that all love must part. Few of us have +reached middle life, who do not, looking back, see our track +strewed with the gaunt skeletons of dead friendships, and dotted +with `oaks of weeping,' waving green and mournful over graves, and +saddened by footprints striking away from the line of march, and +leaving us the more solitary for their departure. + +How blessed then to know of a love which cannot change or die! The +past, the present, and the future are all the same to Him, to whom +`a thousand years,' that can corrode so much of earthly love, are +in their power to change `as one day,' and `one day,' which can +hold so few of the expressions of our love, may be `as a thousand +years' in the multitude and richness of the gifts which it can be +expanded to contain. The whole of what He has been to any past, He +is to us to-day. `The God of Jacob is our refuge.' All these +old-world stories of loving care and guidance may be repeated in +our lives. + +So we may bring the blessedness of all the past into the present, +and calmly face the misty future, sure that it cannot rob us of +His love. + +Whatever may drop out of our vainly-clasping hands, it matters +not, if only our hearts are stayed on His love, which neither +things present nor things to come can alter or remove. Looking on +all the flow of ceaseless change, the waste and fading, the +alienation and cooling, the decrepitude and decay of earthly +affection, we can lift up with gladness, heightened by the +contrast, the triumphant song of the ancient Church: `Give thanks +unto the Lord: for He is good: because His mercy endureth for +ever!' + +IV. The love of God is present everywhere. + +The Apostle ends his catalogue with a singular trio of +antagonists; `nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature,' as +if he had got impatient of the enumeration of impotencies, and +having named the outside boundaries in space of the created +universe, flings, as it were, with one rapid toss, into that large +room the whole that it can contain, and triumphs over it all. + +As the former clause proclaimed the powerlessness of Time, so this +proclaims the powerlessness of that other great mystery of +creatural life which we call Space, Height or depth, it matters +not. That diffusive love diffuses itself equally in all +directions. Up or down, it is all the same. The distance from the +centre is the same to Zenith or to Nadir. + +Here, we have the same process applied to that idea of +Omnipresence as was applied in the former clause to the idea of +Eternity. That thought, so hard to grasp with vividness, and not +altogether a glad one to a sinful soul, is all softened and +glorified, as some solemn Alpine cliff of bare rock is when the +tender morning light glows on it, when it is thought of as the +Omnipresence of Love. `Thou, God, seest me,' may be a stern word, +if the God who sees be but a mighty Maker or a righteous Judge. As +reasonably might we expect a prisoner in his solitary cell to be +glad when he thinks that the jailer's eye is on him from some +unseen spy-hole in the wall, as expect any thought of God but one +to make a man read that grand one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm +with joy: `If I ascend into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my +bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there.' So may a man say +shudderingly to himself, and tremble as he asks in vain, `Whither +shall I flee from Thy Presence?' But how different it all is when +we can cast over the marble whiteness of that solemn thought the +warm hue of life, and change the form of our words into this of +our text: `Nor height, nor depth, shall be able to separate us +from the love of God.' + +In that great ocean of the divine love we live and move and have +our being, floating in it like some sea flower which spreads its +filmy beauty and waves its long tresses in the depths of +mid-ocean. The sound of its waters is ever in our ears, and above, +beneath, around us, its mighty currents run evermore. We need not +cower before the fixed gaze of some stony god, looking on us +unmoved like those Egyptian deities that sit pitiless with idle +hands on their laps, and wide-open lidless eyes gazing out across +the sands. We need not fear the Omnipresence of Love, nor the +Omniscience which knows us altogether, and loves us even as it +knows. Rather we shall be glad that we are ever in His Presence, +and desire, as the height of all felicity and the power for all +goodness, to walk all the day long in the light of His +countenance, till the day come when we shall receive the crown of +our perfecting in that we shall be `ever with the Lord.' + +The recognition of this triumphant sovereignty of love over all +these real and supposed antagonists makes us, too, lords over +them, and delivers us from the temptations which some of them +present us to separate ourselves from the love of God. They all +become our servants and helpers, uniting us to that love. So we +are set free from the dread of death and from the distractions +incident to life. So we are delivered from superstitious dread of +an unseen world, and from craven fear of men. So we are +emancipated from absorption in the present and from careful +thought for the future. So we are at home everywhere, and every +corner of the universe is to us one of the many mansions of our +Father's house. `All things are yours, ... and ye are Christ's; +and Christ is God's.' + +I do not forget the closing words of this great text. I have not +ventured to include them in our present subject, because they +would have introduced another wide region of thought to be laid +down on our already too narrow canvas. + +But remember, I beseech you, that this love of God is explained by +our Apostle to be `in Christ Jesus our Lord.' Love illimitable, +all-pervasive, eternal; yes, but a love which has a channel and a +course; love which has a method and a process by which it pours +itself over the world. It is not, as some representations would make +it, a vague, nebulous light diffused through space as in a chaotic +half-made universe, but all gathered in that great Light which rules +the day---even in Him who said: `I am the Light of the world.' In +Christ the love of God is all centred and embodied, that it may be +imparted to all sinful and hungry hearts, even as burning coals are +gathered on a hearth that they may give warmth to all that are in +the house. `God \textit{so} loved the world'---not merely \textit{so +much}, but in \textit{such a fashion}---`that'---that what? Many +people would leap at once from the first to the last clause of the +verse, and regard eternal life for all and sundry as the only +adequate expression of the universal love of God. Not so does Christ +speak. Between that universal love and its ultimate purpose and +desire for every man He inserts two conditions, one on God's part, +one on man's. God's love reaches its end, namely, the bestowal of +eternal life, by means of a divine act and a human response. `God +\emph{so} loved the world, that He \textit{gave} His only begotten +Son, that whosoever \textit{believeth} in Him should not perish, but +have everlasting life.' So all the universal love of God for you and +me and for all our brethren is `in Christ Jesus our Lord,' and faith +in Him unites us to it by bonds which no foe can break, no shock of +change can snap, no time can rot, no distance can stretch to +breaking. `For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor +angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor +things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall +be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ +Jesus our Lord.' + +\chapter{The Sacrifice of the Body} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 1} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that +ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto +God, which is your reasonable service.`---\textsc{Romans} xii. 1. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +In the former part of this letter the Apostle has been building up +a massive fabric of doctrine, which has stood the waste of +centuries, and the assaults of enemies, and has been the home of +devout souls. He now passes to speak of practice, and he binds the +two halves of his letter indissolubly together by that significant +`therefore,` which does not only look back to the thing last said, +but to the whole of the preceding portion of the letter. `What God +hath joined together let no man put asunder.' Christian living is +inseparably connected with Christian believing. Possibly the error +of our forefathers was in cutting faith too much loose from +practice, and supposing that an orthodox creed was sufficient, +though I think the extent to which they did suppose that has been +very much exaggerated. The temptation of this day is precisely the +opposite. `Conduct is three-fourths of life,' says one of our +teachers. Yes. But what about the \textit{fourth} fourth which +underlies conduct? Paul's way is the right way. Lay broad and deep +the foundations of God's facts revealed to us, and then build upon +that the fabric of a noble life. This generation superficially +tends to cut practice loose from faith, and so to look for grapes +from thorns and figs from thistles. Wrong thinking will not lead +to right doing. `I beseech you, \textit{therefore}, brethren, that +ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.' + +The Apostle, in beginning his practical exhortations, lays as the +foundations of them all two companion precepts: one, with which we +have to deal, affecting mainly the outward life; its twin sister, +which follows in the next verse, affecting mainly the inward life. +He who has drunk in the spirit of Paul's doctrinal teaching will +present his body a living sacrifice, and be renewed in the spirit +of his mind; and thus, outwardly and inwardly, will be +approximating to God's ideal, and all specific virtues will be his +in germ. Those two precepts lay down the broad outline, and all +that follow in the way of specific commandments is but filling in +its details. + +I. We observe that we have here, first, an all-inclusive directory +for the outward life. + +Now, it is to be noticed that the metaphor of sacrifice runs +through the whole of the phraseology of my text. The word rendered +`present' is a technical expression for the sacerdotal action of +offering. A tacit contrast is drawn between the sacrificial +ritual, which was familiar to Romans as well as Jews, and the true +Christian sacrifice and service. In the former a large portion of +the sacrifices consisted of animals which were slain. Ours is to +be `a living sacrifice.' In the former the offering was presented +to the Deity, and became His property. In the Christian service, +the gift passes, in like manner, from the possession of the +worshipper, and is set apart for the uses of God, for that is the +proper meaning of the word `holy.' The outward sacrifice gave an +odour of a sweet smell, which, by a strong metaphor, was declared +to be fragrant in the nostrils of Deity. In like manner, the +Christian sacrifice is `acceptable unto God.' These other +sacrifices were purely outward, and derived no efficacy from the +disposition of the worshipper. Our sacrifice, though the material +of the offering be corporeal, is the act of the inner man, and so +is called `rational' rather than `reasonable,' as our Version has +it, or as in other parts of Scripture, `spiritual.' And the last +word of my text, `service,' retains the sacerdotal allusion, +because it does not mean the service of a slave or domestic, but +that of a priest. + +And so the sum of the whole is that the master-word for the +outward life of a Christian is sacrifice. That, again, includes +two things---self-surrender and surrender to God. + +Now, Paul was not such a superficial moralist as to begin at the +wrong end, and talk about the surrender of the outward life, +unless as the result of the prior surrender of the inward, and +that priority of the consecration of the man to his offering of +the body is contained in the very metaphor. For a priest needs to +be consecrated before he can offer, and we in our innermost wills, +in the depths of our nature, must be surrendered and set apart to +God ere any of our outward activities can be laid upon His altar. +The Apostle, then, does not make the mistake of substituting +external for internal surrender, but he presupposes that the +latter has preceded. He puts the sequence more fully in the +parallel passage in this very letter: `Yield yourselves unto God, +and your bodies as instruments of righteousness unto Him.' So, +then, first of all, we must be priests by our inward consecration, +and then, since `a priest must have somewhat to offer,' we must +bring the outward life and lay it upon His altar. + +Now, of the two thoughts which I have said are involved in this +great keyword, the former is common to Christianity, with all +noble systems of morality, whether religious or irreligious. It is +a commonplace, on which I do not need to dwell, that every man who +will live a man's life, and not that of a beast, must sacrifice +the flesh, and rigidly keep it down. But that commonplace is +lifted into an altogether new region, assumes a new solemnity, and +finds new power for its fulfilment when we add to the moralist's +duty of control of the animal and outward nature the other +thought, that the surrender must be to God. + +There is no need for my dwelling at any length on the various +practical directions in which this great exhortation must be +wrought out. It is of more importance, by far, to have well fixed +in our minds and hearts the one dominant thought that sacrifice is +the keyword of the Christian life than to explain the directions +in which it applies. But still, just a word or two about these. +There are three ways in which we may look at the body, which the +Apostle here says is to be yielded up unto God. + +It is the recipient of impressions from without. \textit{There} is +a field for consecration. The eye that looks upon evil, and by the +look has rebellious, lustful, sensuous, foul desires excited in +the heart, breaks this solemn law. The eye that among the things +seen dwells with complacency on the pure, and turns from the +impure as if a hot iron had been thrust into its pupil; that in +the things seen discerns shimmering behind them, and manifested +through them, the things unseen and eternal, is the consecrated +eye. `Art for Art's sake,' to quote the cant of the day, has too +often meant art for the flesh's sake. And there are pictures and +books, and sights of various sorts, flashed before the eyes of you +young men and women which it is pollution to dwell upon, and +should be pain to remember. I beseech you all to have guard over +these gates of the heart, and to pray, `Turn away mine eyes from +viewing vanity.' And the other senses, in like manner, have need +to be closely connected with God if they are not to rush us down +to the devil. + +The body is not only the recipient of impressions. It is the +possessor of appetites and necessities. See to it that these are +indulged, with constant reference to God. It is no small +attainment of the Christian life `to eat our meat with gladness +and singleness of heart, praising God.' In a hundred directions +this characteristic of our corporeal lives tends to lead us all +away from supreme consecration to Him. There is the senseless +luxury of this generation. There is the exaggerated care for +physical strength and completeness amongst the young; there is the +intemperance in eating and drinking, which is the curse and the +shame of England. There is the provision for the flesh, the +absorbing care for the procuring of material comforts, which +drowns the spirit in miserable anxieties, and makes men +bond-slaves. There is the corruption which comes from drunkenness +and from lust. There is the indolence which checks lofty +aspirations and stops a man in the middle of noble work. And there +are many other forms of evil on which I need not dwell, all of +which are swept clean out of the way when we lay to heart this +injunction: `I beseech you present your bodies a living +sacrifice,' and let appetites and tastes and corporeal needs be +kept in rigid subordination and in conscious connection with Him. +I remember a quaint old saying of a German schoolmaster, who +apostrophised his body thus: `I go with you three times a day to +eat; you must come with me three times a day to pray.' Subjugate +the body, and let it be the servant and companion of the devout +spirit. + +It is also, besides being the recipient of impressions, and the +possessor of needs and appetites, our instrument for working in +the world. And so the exhortation of my text comes to include +this, that all our activities done by means of brain and eye and +tongue and hand and foot shall be consciously devoted to Him, and +laid as a sacrifice upon His altar. That pervasive, universally +diffused reference to God, in all the details of daily life, is +the thing that Christian men and women need most of all to try to +cultivate. `Pray without ceasing,' says the Apostle. This +exhortation can only be obeyed if our work is indeed worship, +being done by God's help, for God's sake, in communion with +God. + +So, dear friends, sacrifice is the keynote---meaning thereby +surrender, control, and stimulus of the corporeal frame, surrender +to God, in regard to the impressions which we allow to be made +upon our senses, to the indulgence which we grant to our +appetites, and the satisfaction which we seek for our needs, and +to the activities which we engage in by means of this wondrous +instrument with which God has trusted us. These are the plain +principles involved in the exhortation of my text. `He that soweth +to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption.' `I keep under +my body, and bring it into subjection.' It is a good servant; it +is a bad master. + +II. Note, secondly, the relation between this priestly service and +other kinds of worship. + +I need only say a word about that. Paul is not meaning to +depreciate the sacrificial ritual, from which he drew his emblem. +But he is meaning to assert that the devotion of a life, +manifested through bodily activity, is higher in its nature than +the symbolical worship of any altar and of any sacrifice. And that +falls in with prevailing tendencies in this day, which has laid +such a firm hold on the principle that daily conduct is better +than formal worship, that it has forgotten to ask the question +whether the daily conduct is likely to be satisfactory if the +formal worship is altogether neglected. I believe, as profoundly +as any man can, that the true worship is distinguishable from and +higher than the more sensuous forms of the Catholic or other +sacramentarian churches, or the more simple of the Puritan and +Nonconformist, or the altogether formless of the Quaker. I believe +that the best worship is the manifold activities of daily life +laid upon God's altar, so that the division between things secular +and things sacred is to a large extent misleading and irrelevant. +But at the same time I believe that you have very little chance of +getting this diffused and all-pervasive reference of all a man's +doings to God unless there are, all through his life, recurring +with daily regularity, reservoirs of power, stations where he may +rest, kneeling-places where the attitude of service is exchanged +for the attitude of supplication; times of quiet communion with +God which shall feed the worshipper's activities as the white +snowfields on the high summits feed the brooks that sparkle by the +way, and bring fertility wherever they run. So, dear brethren, +remember that whilst life is the field of worship there must be +the inward worship within the shrine if there is to be the outward +service. + +III. Lastly, note the equally comprehensive motive and ground of +this all-inclusive directory for conduct. + +`I beseech you, by the mercies of God.' That plural does not mean +that the Apostle is extending his view over the whole wide field +of the divine beneficence, but rather that he is contemplating the +one all-inclusive mercy about which the former part of his letter +has been eloquent---viz. the gift of Christ---and contemplating it +in the manifoldness of the blessings which flow from it. The +mercies of God which move a man to yield himself as a sacrifice +are not the diffused beneficences of His providence, but the +concentrated love that lies in the person and work of His Son. + +And there, as I believe, is the one motive to which we can appeal +with any prospect of its being powerful enough to give the needful +impetus all through a life. The sacrifice of Christ is the ground +on which our sacrifices can be offered and accepted, for it was +the sacrifice of a death propitiatory and cleansing, and on it, as +the ancient ritual taught us, may be reared the enthusiastic +sacrifice of a life---a thankoffering for it. + +Nor is it only the ground on which our sacrifice is accepted, but +it is the great motive by which our sacrifice is impelled. +\textit{There} is the difference between the Christian teaching, +`present your bodies a sacrifice,' and the highest and noblest of +similar teaching elsewhere. One of the purest and loftiest of the +ancient moralists was a contemporary of Paul's. He would have +re-echoed from his heart the Apostle's directory, but he knew +nothing of the Apostle's motive. So his exhortations were +powerless. He had no spell to work on men's hearts, and his lofty +teachings were as the voice of one crying in the wilderness. +Whilst Seneca taught, Rome was a cesspool of moral putridity and +Nero butchered. So it always is. There may be noble teachings +about self-control, purity, and the like, but an evil and +adulterous generation is slow to dance to such piping. + +Our poet has bid us--- + +\begin{verse} +`Move upwards, casting out the beast, \\ + And let the ape and tiger die.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent But how is this heavy bulk of ours to `move upwards'; +how is the beast to be `cast out'; how are the `ape and tiger' in +us to be slain? Paul has told us, `By the mercies of God.' +Christ's gift, meditated on, accepted, introduced into will and +heart, is the one power that will melt our obstinacy, the one +magnet that will draw us after it. + +Nothing else, brethren, as your own experience has taught you, and +as the experience of the world confirms, nothing else will bind +Behemoth, and put a hook in his nose. Apart from the constraining +motive of the love of Christ, all the cords of prudence, +conscience, advantage, by which men try to bind their unruly +passions and manacle the insisting flesh, are like the chains on +the demoniac's wrists--- `And he had oftentimes been bound by +chains, and the chains were snapped asunder.' But the silken leash +with which the fair Una in the poem leads the lion, the silken +leash of love will bind the strong man, and enable us to rule +ourselves. If we will open our hearts to the sacrifice of Christ, +we shall be able to offer ourselves as thankofferings. If we will +let His love sway our wills and consciences, He will give our +wills and consciences power to master and to offer up our flesh. +And the great change, according to which He will one day change +the body of our humiliation into the likeness of the body of His +glory, will be begun in us, if we live under the influence of the +motive and the commandment which this Apostle bound together in +our text and in his other great words, `Ye are not your own; ye +are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and +spirit, which are His.' + +\chapter{Transfiguration} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 2} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the +renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and +acceptable, and perfect will of God.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 2. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +I had occasion to point out, in a sermon on the preceding verse, +that the Apostle is, in this context, making the transition from +the doctrinal to the practical part of his letter, and that he +lays down broad principles, of which all his subsequent +injunctions and exhortations are simply the filling up of the +details. One master word, for the whole Christian life, as we then +saw, is sacrifice, self-surrender, and that to God. In like +manner, Paul here brackets, with that great conception of the +Christian life, another equally dominant and equally +comprehensive. In one aspect, it is self-surrender; in another, it +is growing transformation. And, just as in the former verse we +found that an inward surrender preceded the outward sacrifice, and +that the inner man, having been consecrated as a priest, by this +yielding of himself to God, was then called upon to manifest +inward consecration by outward sacrifice, so in this further +exhortation, an inward `renewing of the mind' is regarded as the +necessary antecedent of transformation of outward life. + +So we have here another comprehensive view of what the Christian +life ought to be, and that not only grasped, as it were, in its very +centre and essence, but traced out in two directions---as to that +which must precede it within, and as to that which follows it as +consequence. An outline of the possibilities, and therefore the +duties, of the Christian, is set forth here, in these three thoughts +of my text, the renewed mind issuing in a transfigured life, crowned +and rewarded by a clearer and ever clearer insight into what we +ought to be and do. + +I. Note, then, that the foundation of all transformation of +character and conduct is laid deep in a renewed mind. + +Now it is a matter of world-wide experience, verified by each of +us in our own case, if we have ever been honest in the attempt, +that the power of self-improvement is limited by very narrow +bounds. Any man that has ever tried to cure himself of the most +trivial habit which he desires to get rid of, or to alter in the +slightest degree the set of some strong taste or current of his +being, knows how little he can do, even by the most determined +effort. Something may be effected, but, alas! as the proverbs of +all nations and all lands have taught us, it is very little +indeed. `You cannot expel nature with a fork,' said the Roman. +`What's bred in the bone won't come out of the flesh,' says the +Englishman. `Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his +spots?' says the Hebrew. And we all know what the answer to that +question is. The problem that is set before a man when you tell +him to effect self-improvement is something like that which +confronted that poor paralytic lying in the porch at the pool: `If +you can walk you will be able to get to the pool that will make +you able to walk. But you have got to be cured before you can do +what you need to do in order to be cured.' Only one knife can cut +the knot. The Gospel of Jesus Christ presents itself, not as a +mere republication of morality, not as merely a new stimulus and +motive to do what is right, but as an actual communication to men +of a new power to work in them, a strong hand laid upon our poor, +feeble hand with which we try to put on the brake or to apply the +stimulus. It is a new gift of a life which will unfold itself +after its own nature, as the bud into flower, and the flower into +fruit; giving new desires, tastes, directions, and renewing the +whole nature. And so, says Paul, the beginning of transformation +of character is the renovation in the very centre of the being, +and the communication of a new impulse and power to the inward +self. + +Now, I suppose that in my text the word `mind' is not so much +employed in the widest sense, including all the affections and +will, and the other faculties of our nature, as in the narrower +sense of the perceptive power, or that faculty in our nature by +which we recognise, and make our own, certain truths. `The +renewing of the mind,' then, is only, in such an interpretation, a +theological way of putting the simpler English thought, a change +of estimates, a new set of views; or if that word be too shallow, +as indeed it is, a new set of convictions. It is profoundly true +that `As a man thinketh, so is he.' Our characters are largely +made by our estimates of what is good or bad, desirable or +undesirable. And what the Apostle is thinking about here is, as I +take it, principally how the body of Christian truth, if it +effects a lodgment in, not merely the brain of a man, but his +whole nature, will modify and alter it all. Why, we all know how +often a whole life has been revolutionised by the sudden dawning +or rising in its sky, of some starry new truth, formerly hidden +and undreamed of. And if we should translate the somewhat archaic +phraseology of our text into the plainest of modern English, it +just comes to this: If you want to change your characters, and God +knows they all need it, change the deep convictions of your mind; +and get hold, as living realities, of the great truths of Christ's +Gospel. If you and I really believed what we say we believe, that +Jesus Christ has died for us, and lives for us, and is ready to +pour out upon us the gift of His Divine Spirit, and wills that we +should be like Him, and holds out to us the great and wonderful +hopes and prospects of an absolutely eternal life of supreme and +serene blessedness at His right hand, should we be, could we be, +the sort of people that most of us are? It is not the much that +you say you believe that shapes your character; it is the little +that you habitually realise. Truth professed has no transforming +power; truth received and fed upon can revolutionise a man's whole +character. + +So, dear brethren, remember that my text, though it is an analysis +of the methods of Christian progress, and though it is a wonderful +setting forth of the possibilities open to the poorest, dwarfed, +blinded, corrupted nature, is also all commandment. And if it is +true that the principles of the Gospel exercise transforming power +upon men's lives, and that in order for these principles to effect +their natural results there must be honest dealing with them, on +our parts, take this as the practical outcome of all this first +part of my sermon---let us all see to it that we keep ourselves in +touch with the truths which we say we believe; and that we +thorough-goingly apply these truths in all their searching, +revealing, quickening, curbing power, to every action of our daily +lives. If for one day we could bring everything that we do into +touch with the creed that we profess, we should be different men +and women. Make of your every thought an action; link every action +with a thought. Or, to put it more Christianlike, let there be +nothing in your creed which is not in your commandments; and let +nothing be in your life which is not moulded by these. The +beginning of all transformation is the revolutionised conviction +of a mind that has accepted the truths of the Gospel. + +II. Well then, secondly, note the transfigured life. + +The Apostle uses in his positive commandment, `Be ye transformed,' +the same word which is employed by two of the Evangelists in their +account of our Lord's transfiguration. And although I suppose it +would be going too far to assert that there is a distinct +reference intended to that event, it may be permissible to look +back to it as being a lovely illustration of the possibilities +that open to an honest Christian life---the possibility of a +change, coming from within upwards, and shedding a strange +radiance on the face, whilst yet the identity remains. So by the +rippling up from within of the renewed mind will come into our +lives a transformation not altogether unlike that which passed on +Him when His garments did shine `so as no fuller on earth could +white them'; and His face was as the sun in his strength. + +The life is to be transfigured, yet it remains the same, not only +in the consciousness of personal identity, but in the main trend +and drift of the character. There is nothing in the Gospel of +Jesus Christ which is meant to obliterate the lines of the +strongly marked individuality which each of us receives by nature. +Rather the Gospel is meant to heighten and deepen these, and to +make each man more intensely himself, more thoroughly individual +and unlike anybody else. The perfection of our nature is found in +the pursuit, to the furthest point, of the characteristics of our +nature, and so, by reason of diversity, there is the greater +harmony, and, all taken together, will reflect less inadequately +the infinite glories of which they are all partakers. But whilst +the individuality remains, and ought to be heightened by Christian +consecration, yet a change should pass over our lives, like the +change that passes over the winter landscape when the summer sun +draws out the green leaves from the hard black boughs, and flashes +a fresh colour over all the brown pastures. There should be such a +change as when a drop or two of ruby wine falls into a cup, and so +diffuses a gradual warmth of tint over all the whiteness of the +water. Christ in us, if we are true to Him, will make us more +ourselves, and yet new creatures in Christ Jesus. + +And the transformation is to be into His likeness who is the +pattern of all perfection. We must be moulded after the same type. +There are two types possible for us: this world; Jesus Christ. We +have to make our choice which is to be the headline after which we +are to try to write. `They that make them are like unto them.' Men +resemble their gods; men become more or less like their idols. +What you conceive to be desirable you will more and more +assimilate yourselves to. Christ is the Christian man's pattern; +is He not better than the blind, corrupt world? + +That transformation is no sudden thing, though the revolution +which underlies it may be instantaneous. The working \textit{out} +of the new motives, the working \textit{in} of the new power, is +no mere work of a moment. It is a lifelong task till the lump be +leavened. Michael Angelo, in his mystical way, used to say that +sculpture effected its aim by the removal of parts; as if the +statue lay somehow hid in the marble block. We have, day by day, +to work at the task of removing the superfluities that mask its +outlines. Sometimes with a heavy mallet, and a hard blow, and a +broad chisel, we have to take away huge masses; sometimes, with +fine tools and delicate touches, to remove a grain or two of +powdered dust from the sparkling block, but always to seek more +and more, by slow, patient toil, to conform ourselves to that +serene type of all perfectness that we have learned to love in +Jesus Christ. + +And remember, brethren, this transformation is no magic change +effected whilst men sleep. It is a commandment which we have to +brace ourselves to perform, day by day to set ourselves to the +task of more completely assimilating ourselves to our Lord. It +comes to be a solemn question for each of us whether we can say, +`To-day I am liker Jesus Christ than I was yesterday; to-day the +truth which renews the mind has a deeper hold upon me than it ever +had before.' + +But this positive commandment is only one side of the +transfiguration that is to be effected. It is clear enough that if a +new likeness is being stamped upon a man, the process may be looked +at from the other side; and that in proportion as we become liker +Jesus Christ, we shall become more unlike the old type to which we +were previously conformed. And so, says Paul, `Be not conformed to +this world, but be ye transformed.' He does not mean to say that the +nonconformity precedes the transformation. They are two sides of one +process; both arising from the renewing of the mind within. + +Now, I do not wish to do more than just touch most lightly upon +the thoughts that are here, but I dare not pass them by +altogether. `This world' here, in my text, is more properly `this +age,' which means substantially the same thing as John's favourite +word `world,' viz.\ the sum total of godless men and things +conceived of as separated from God, only that by this expression +the essentially fleeting nature of that type is more distinctly +set forth. Now the world is the world to-day just as much as it +was in Paul's time. No doubt the Gospel has sweetened society; no +doubt the average of godless life in England is a better thing +than the average of godless life in the Roman Empire. No doubt +there is a great deal of Christianity diffused through the average +opinion and ways of looking at things, that prevail around us. But +the World is the world still. There are maxims and ways of living, +and so on, characteristic of the Christian life, which are in as +complete antagonism to the ideas and maxims and practices that +prevail amongst men who are outside of the influences of this +Christian truth in their own hearts, as ever they were. + +And although it can only be a word, I want to put in here a very +earnest word which the tendencies of this generation do very +specially require. It seems to be thought, by a great many people, +who call themselves Christians nowadays, that the nearer they can +come in life, in ways of looking at things, in estimates of +literature, for instance, in customs of society, in politics, in +trade, and especially in amusements---the nearer they can come to +the un-Christian world, the more `broad' (save the mark!) and +`superior to prejudice' they are. `Puritanism,' not only in +theology, but in life and conduct, has come to be at a discount in +these days. And it seems to be by a great many professing +Christians thought to be a great feat to walk as the mules on the +Alps do, with one foot over the path and the precipice down below. +Keep away from the edge. You are safer so. Although, of course, I +am not talking about mere conventional dissimilarities; and though +I know and believe and feel all that can be said about the +insufficiency, and even insincerity, of such, yet there is a broad +gulf between the man who believes in Jesus Christ and His Gospel +and the man who does not, and the resulting conducts cannot be the +same unless the Christian man is insincere. + +III. And now lastly, and only a word, note the great reward and +crown of this transfigured life. + +Paul puts it in words which, if I had time, would require some +commenting upon. The issue of such a life is, to put it into plain +English, an increased power of perceiving, instinctively and +surely, what it is God's will that we should do. And that is the +reward. Just as when you take away disturbing masses of metal from +near a compass, it trembles to its true point, so when, by the +discipline of which I have been speaking, there are swept away +from either side of us the things that would perturb our judgment, +there comes, as blessing and reward, a clear insight into that +which it is our duty to do. + +There may be many difficulties left, many perplexities. There is +no promise here, nor is there anything in the tendencies of +Christ-like living, to lead us to anticipate that guidance in +regard to matters of prudence or expediency or temporal advantage +will follow from such a transfigured life. All such matters are +still to be determined in the proper fashion, by the exercise of +our own best judgment and common-sense. But in the higher region, +the knowledge of good and evil, surely it is a blessed reward, and +one of the highest that can be given to a man, that there shall be +in him so complete a harmony with God that, like God's Son, he +`does always the things that please Him,' and that the Father will +show him whatsoever things Himself doeth; and that these also will +the son do likewise. To know beyond doubt what I ought to do, and +knowing, to have no hesitation or reluctance in doing it, seems to +me to be heaven upon earth, and the man that has it needs but +little more. This, then, is the reward. Each peak we climb opens +wider and clearer prospects into the untravelled land before +us. + +And so, brethren, here is the way, the only way, by which we can +change ourselves, first let us have our minds renewed by contact +with the truth, then we shall be able to transform our lives into +the likeness of Jesus Christ, and our faces too will shine, and +our lives will be ennobled, by a serene beauty which men cannot +but admire, though it may rebuke them. And as the issue of all we +shall have clearer and deeper insight into that will, which to +know is life, in keeping of which there is great reward. And thus +our apostle's promise may be fulfilled for each of us. `We all +with unveiled faces reflecting'---as a mirror does---`the glory of +the Lord, are changed ... into the same image.' + +\chapter{Sober Thinking} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 3} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For I say, through the grace that is given unto me, to every man +that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he +ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt +to every man the measure of faith.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 3. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +It is hard to give advice without seeming to assume superiority; +it is hard to take it, unless the giver identifies himself with +the receiver, and shows that his counsel to others is a law for +himself. Paul does so here, led by the delicate perception which +comes from a loving heart, compared with which deliberate `tact' +is cold and clumsy. He wishes, as the first of the specific duties +to which he invites the Roman Christians, an estimate of +themselves based upon the recognition of God as the Giver of all +capacities and graces, and leading to a faithful use for the +general good of the `gifts differing according to the grace given +to us.' In the first words of our text, he enforces his counsel by +an appeal to his apostolic authority; but he so presents it that, +instead of separating himself from the Roman Christians by it, he +unites himself with them. He speaks of `the grace given to +\textit{me},' and in verse 6 of `the grace given to \textit{us}.' +He was made an Apostle by the same giving God who has bestowed +varying gifts on each of \textit{them}. He knows what is the grace +which he possesses as he would have them know; and in these +counsels he is assuming no superiority, but is simply using the +special gift bestowed on him for the good of all. With this +delicate turn of what might else have sounded harshly +authoritative, putting prominently forward the divine gift and +letting the man Paul to whom it was given fall into the +background, he counsels as the first of the social duties which +Christian men owe to one another, a sober and just estimate of +themselves. This sober estimate is here regarded as being +important chiefly as an aid to right service. It is immediately +followed by counsels to the patient and faithful exercise of +differing gifts. For thus we may know what our gifts are; and the +acquisition of such knowledge is the aim of our text. + +I. What determines our gifts. + +Paul here gives a precise standard, or `measure' as he calls it, +according to which we are to estimate ourselves. `Faith' is the +measure of our gifts, and is itself a gift from God. The strength +of a Christian man's faith determines his whole Christian +character. Faith is trust, the attitude of receptivity. There are +in it a consciousness of need, a yearning desire and a confidence +of expectation. It is the open empty hand held up with the +assurance that it will be filled; it is the empty pitcher let down +into the well with the assurance that it will be drawn up filled. +It is the precise opposite of the self-dependent isolation which +shuts us out from God. The law of the Christian life is ever, +`according to your faith be it unto you'; `believe that ye receive +and ye have them.' So then the more faith a man exercises the more +of God and Christ he has. It is the measure of our capacity, hence +there may be indefinite increase in the gifts which God bestows on +faithful souls. Each of us will have as much as he desires and is +capable of containing. The walls of the heart are elastic, and +desire expands them. + +The grace given by faith works in the line of its possessor's +natural faculties; but these are supernaturally reinforced and +strengthened while, at the same time, they are curbed and +controlled, by the divine gift, and the natural gifts thus dealt +with become what Paul calls \textit{charisms}. The whole nature of +a Christian should be ennobled, elevated, made more delicate and +intense, when the `Spirit of life that is in Christ Jesus' abides +in and inspires it. Just as a sunless landscape is smitten into +sudden beauty by a burst of sunshine which heightens the colouring +of the flowers on the river's bank, and is flashed back from every +silvery ripple on the stream, so the faith which brings the life +of Christ into the life of the Christian makes him more of a man +than he was before. So, there will be infinite variety in the +resulting characters. It is the same force in various forms that +rolls in the thunder or gleams in the dewdrops, that paints the +butterfly's feathers or flashes in a star. All individual +idiosyncrasies should be developed in the Christian Church, and +will be when its members yield themselves fully to the indwelling +Spirit, and can truly declare that the lives which they live in +the flesh they live by the faith of the Son of God. + +But Paul here regards the measure of faith as itself `dealt to +every man'; and however we may construe the grammar of this +sentence there is a deep sense in which our faith is God's gift to +us. We have to give equal emphasis to the two conceptions of faith +as a human act and as a divine bestowal, which have so often been +pitted against each other as contradictory when really they are +complementary. The apparent antagonism between them is but one +instance of the great antithesis to which we come to at last in +reference to all human thought on the relations of man to God. `It +is He that worketh in us both to will and to do of His own good +pleasure'; and all our goodness is God-given goodness, and yet it +is our goodness. Every devout heart has a consciousness that the +faith which knits it to God is God's work in it, and that left to +itself it would have remained alienated and faithless. The +consciousness that his faith was his own act blended in full +harmony with the twin consciousness that it was Christ's gift, in +the agonised father's prayer, `Lord, I believe, help Thou mine +unbelief.' + +II. What is a just estimate of our gifts. + +The Apostle tells us, negatively, that we are not to think more +highly than we ought to think, and positively that we are to +`think soberly.' + +To arrive at a just estimate of ourselves the estimate must ever +be accompanied with a distinct consciousness that all is God's +gift. That will keep us from anything in the nature of pride or +over-weening self-importance. It will lead to true humility, which +is not ignorance of what we can do, but recognition that we, the +doers, are of ourselves but poor creatures. We are less likely to +fancy that we are greater than we are when we feel that, whatever +we are, God made us so. `What hast thou that thou didst not +receive? Now, if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if +thou hadst not received it?' + +Further, it is to be noted that the estimate of gifts which Paul +enjoins is an estimate with a view to service. Much +self-investigation is morbid, because it is self-absorbed; and +much is morbid because it is undertaken only for the purpose of +ascertaining one's `spiritual condition.' Such self-examination is +good enough in its way, and may sometimes be very necessary; but a +testing of one's own capacities for the purpose of ascertaining +what we are fit for, and what therefore it is our duty to do, is +far more wholesome. Gifts are God's summons to work, and our first +response to the summons should be our scrutiny of our gifts with a +distinct purpose of using them for the great end for which we +received them. It is well to take stock of the loaves that we +have, if the result be that we bring our poor provisions to Him, +and put them in His hands, that He may give them back to us so +multiplied as to be more than adequate to the needs of the +thousands. Such just estimate of our gifts is to be attained +mainly by noting ourselves at work. Patient self-observation may +be important, but is apt to be mistaken; and the true test of what +we can do is what we \textit{do} do. + +The just estimate of our gifts which Paul enjoins is needful in +order that we may ascertain what God has meant us to be and do, +and may neither waste our strength in trying to be some one else, +nor hide our talent in the napkin of ignorance or false humility. +There is quite as much harm done to Christian character and +Christian service by our failure to recognise what is in our +power, as by ambitious or ostentatious attempts at what is above +our power. We have to be ourselves as God has made us in our +natural faculties, and as the new life of Christ operating on +these has made us new creatures in Him not by changing but by +enlarging our old natures. It matters nothing what the special +form of a Christian man's service may be; the smallest and the +greatest are alike to the Lord of all, and He appoints His +servants' work. Whether the servant be a cup-bearer or a +counsellor is of little moment. `He that is faithful in that which +is least, is faithful also in much.' + +The positive aspect of this right estimate of one's gifts is, if +we fully render the Apostle's words, as the Revised Version does, +`so to think as to think soberly.' There is to be self-knowledge +in order to `sobriety,' which includes not only what we mean by +sober-mindedness, but self-government; and this aspect of the +apostolic exhortation opens out into the thought that the gifts, +which a just estimate of ourselves pronounces us to possess, need +to be kept bright by the continual suppression of the mind of the +flesh, by putting down earthly desires, by guarding against a +selfish use of them, by preventing them by rigid control from +becoming disproportioned and our masters. All the gifts which +Christ bestows upon His people He bestows on condition that they +bind them together by the golden chain of self-control. + +\chapter{Many and One} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 4, 5} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For we have many members in one body, and all members have not +the same office: 5.\ So we, being many, are one body in Christ, +and every one members one of another.`---\textsc{Romans} xii. 4, +5. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +To Paul there was the closest and most vital connection between +the profoundest experiences of the Christian life and its plainest +and most superficial duties. Here he lays one of his most mystical +conceptions as the very foundation on which to rear the great +structure of Christian conduct, and links on to one of his +profoundest thoughts, the unity of all Christians in Christ, a +comprehensive series of practical exhortations. We are accustomed +to hear from many lips: `I have no use for these dogmas that Paul +delights in. Give me his practical teaching. You may keep the +Epistle to the Romans, I hold by the thirteenth of First +Corinthians.' But such an unnatural severance between the doctrine +and the ethics of the Epistle cannot be effected without the +destruction of both. The very principle of this Epistle to the +Romans is that the difference between the law and the Gospel is, +that the one preaches conduct without a basis for it, and that the +other says, First believe in Christ, and in the strength of that +belief, do the right and be like Him. Here, then, in the very +laying of the foundation for conduct in these verses we have in +concrete example the secret of the Christian way of making good +men. + +I. The first point to notice here is, the unity of the derived +life. Many are one, because they are each in Christ, and the +individual relationship and derivation of life from Him makes them +one whilst continuing to be many. That great metaphor, and +nowadays much forgotten and neglected truth, is to Paul's mind the +fact which ought to mould the whole life and conduct of individual +Christians and to be manifested therein. There are three most +significant and instructive symbols by which the unity of +believers in Christ Jesus is set forth in the New Testament. Our +Lord Himself gives us the one of the vine and its branches, and +that symbol suggests the silent, effortless process by which the +life-giving sap rises and finds its way from the deep root to the +furthest tendril and the far-extended growth. The same symbol +loses indeed in one respect its value if we transfer it to growths +more congenial to our northern climate, and instead of the vine +with its rich clusters, think of some great elm, deeply rooted, +and with its firm bole and massive branches, through all of which +the mystery of a common life penetrates and makes every leaf in +the cloud of foliage through which we look up participant of +itself. But, profound and beautiful as our Lord's metaphor is, the +vegetative uniformity of parts and the absence of individual +characteristics make it, if taken alone, insufficient. In the tree +one leaf is like another; it `grows green and broad and takes no +care.' Hence, to express the whole truth of the union between +Christ and us we must bring in other figures. Thus we find the +Apostle adducing the marriage tie, the highest earthly example of +union, founded on choice and affection. But even that sacred bond +leaves a gap between those who are knit together by it; and so we +have the conception of our text, the unity of the body as +representing for us the unity of believers with Jesus. This is a +unity of life. He is not only head as chief and sovereign, but He +is soul or life, which has its seat, not in this or that organ as +old physics teach, but pervades the whole and `filleth all in +all.' The mystery which concerns the union of soul and body, and +enshrouds the nature of physical life, is part of the felicity of +this symbol in its Christian application. That commonest of all +things, the mysterious force which makes matter live and glow +under spiritual emotion, and changes the vibrations of a nerve, or +the undulations of the grey brain, into hope and love and faith, +eludes the scalpel and the microscope. Of man in his complex +nature it is true that `clouds and darkness are round about him,' +and we may expect an equally solemn mystery to rest upon that +which makes out of separate individuals one living body, animated +with the life and moved by the Spirit of the indwelling Christ. We +can get no further back, and dig no deeper down, than His own +words, `I am ... the life.' + +But, though this unity is mysterious, it is most real. Every +Christian soul receives from Christ the life of Christ. There is a +real implantation of a higher nature which has nothing to do with +sin and is alien from death. There is a true regeneration which is +supernatural, and which makes all who possess it one, in the +measure of their possession, as truly as all the leaves on a tree +are one because fed by the same sap, or all the members in the +natural body are one, because nourished by the same blood. So the +true bond of Christian unity lies in the common participation of +the one Lord, and the real Christian unity is a unity of derived +life. + +The misery and sin of the Christian Church have been, and are, +that it has sought to substitute other bonds of unity. The whole +weary history of the divisions and alienations between Christians +has surely sufficiently, and more than sufficiently, shown the +failure of the attempts to base Christian oneness upon uniformity +of opinion, or of ritual, or of purpose. The difference between +the real unity, and these spurious attempts after it, is the +difference between bundles of faggots, dead and held together by a +cord, and a living tree lifting its multitudinous foliage towards +the heavens. The bundle of faggots may be held together in some +sort of imperfect union, but is no exhibition of unity. If visible +churches must be based on some kind of agreement, they can never +cover the same ground as that of `the body of Christ.' + +That oneness is independent of our organisations, and even of our +will, since it comes from the common possession of a common life. +Its enemies are not divergent opinions or forms, but the evil +tempers and dispositions which impede, or prevent, the flow into +each Christian soul of the uniting `Spirit of life in Christ +Jesus' which makes the many who may be gathered into separate +folds one flock clustered around the one Shepherd. And if that +unity be thus a fundamental fact in the Christian life and +entirely apart from external organisation, the true way to +increase it in each individual is, plainly, the drawing nearer to +Him, and the opening of our spirits so as to receive fuller, +deeper, and more continuous inflows from His own inexhaustible +fullness. In the old Temple stood the seven-branched candlestick, +an emblem of a formal unity; in the new the seven candlesticks are +one, because Christ stands in the midst. He makes the body one; +without Him it is a carcase. + +II. The diversity. + +`We have many members in one body, but all members have not the +same office.' Life has different functions in different organs. It +is light in the eye, force in the arm, music on the tongue, +swiftness in the foot; so also is Christ. The higher a creature +rises in the scale of life, the more are the parts differentiated. +The lowest is a mere sac, which performs all the functions that +the creature requires; the highest is a man with a multitude of +organs, each of which is definitely limited to one office. In like +manner the division of labour in society measures its advance; and +in like manner in the Church there is to be the widest diversity. +What the Apostle designates as `gifts' are natural characteristics +heightened by the Spirit of Christ; the effect of the common life +in each ought to be the intensifying and manifestation of +individuality of character. In the Christian ideal of humanity +there is place for every variety of gifts. The flora of the +Mountain of God yields an endless multiplicity of growths on its +ascending slopes which pass through every climate. There ought to +be a richer diversity in the Church than anywhere besides; that +tree should `bear twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit +every month for the healing of the nations.' `All flesh is not the +same flesh.' `Star differeth from star in glory.' + +The average Christian life of to-day sorely fails in two things: +in being true to itself, and in tolerance of diversities. We are +all so afraid of being ticketed as `eccentric,' `odd,' that we +oftentimes stifle the genuine impulses of the Spirit of Christ +leading us to the development of unfamiliar types of goodness, and +the undertaking of unrecognised forms of service. If we trusted in +Christ in ourselves more, and took our laws from His whispers, we +should often reach heights of goodness which tower above us now, +and discover in ourselves capacities which slumber undiscerned. +There is a dreary monotony and uniformity amongst us which +impoverishes us, and weakens the testimony that we bear to the +quickening influence of the Spirit that is in Christ Jesus; and we +all tend to look very suspiciously at any man who `puts all the +others out' by being himself, and letting the life that he draws +from the Lord dictate its own manner of expression. It would +breathe a new life into all our Christian communities if we +allowed full scope to the diversities of operation, and realised +that in them all there was the one Spirit. The world condemns +originality: the Church should have learned to prize it. `One +after this fashion, and one after that,' is the only wholesome law +of the development of the manifold graces of the Christian +life. + +III. The harmony. + +`We being many are one body in Christ, and every one members one +of another.' That expression is remarkable, for we might have +expected to read rather members \textit{of the body}, than +\textit{of each other}; but the bringing in of such an idea +suggests most emphatically that thought of the mutual relation of +each part of the great whole, and that each has offices to +discharge for the benefit of each. In the Christian community, as +in an organised body, the active co-operation of all the parts is +the condition of health. All the rays into which the spectrum +breaks up the pure white light must be gathered together again in +order to produce it; just as every instrument in the great +orchestra contributes to the volume of sound. The Lancashire +hand-bell ringers may illustrate this point for us. Each man picks +up his own bell from the table and sounds his own note at the +moment prescribed by the score, and so the whole of the composer's +idea is reproduced. To suppress diversities results in monotony; +to combine them is the only sure way to secure harmony. Nor must +we forget that the indwelling life of the Church can only be +manifested by the full exhibition and freest possible play of all +the forms which that life assumes in individual character. It +needs all, and more than all, the types of mental characteristics +that can be found in humanity to mirror the infinite beauty of the +indwelling Lord. `There are diversities of operations,' and all +those diversities but partially represent that same Lord `who +worketh all in all,' and Himself is more than all, and, after all +manifestation through human characters, remains hinted at rather +than declared, suggested but not revealed. + +Still further, only by the exercise of possible diversities is the +one body nourished, for each member, drawing life directly and +without the intervention of any other from Christ the Source, +draws also from his fellow-Christian some form of the common life +that to himself is unfamiliar, and needs human intervention in +order to its reception. Such dependence upon one's brethren is not +inconsistent with a primal dependence on Christ alone, and is a +safeguard against the cultivating of one's own idiosyncrasies till +they become diseased and disproportionate. The most slenderly +endowed Christian soul has the double charge of giving to, and +receiving from, its brethren. We have all something which we can +contribute to the general stock. We have all need to supplement +our own peculiar gifts by brotherly ministration. The prime +condition of Christian vitality has been set forth for ever by the +gracious invitation, which is also an imperative command, `Abide +in Me and I in you'; but they who by such abiding are recipients +of a communicated life are not thereby isolated, but united to all +who like them have received `the manifestation of the Spirit to do +good with.' + +\chapter{Grace and Graces} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 6--8} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Having then gifts, differing according to the grace that is given +to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the +proportion of faith; 7.\ Or ministry, let us wait on our +ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8.\ Or he that +exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with +simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, +with cheerfulness.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 6--8. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The Apostle here proceeds to build upon the great thought of the +unity of believers in the one body a series of practical +exhortations. In the first words of our text, he, with +characteristic delicacy, identifies himself with the Roman +Christians as a recipient, like them, of `the grace that is given +to us,' and as, therefore, subject to the same precepts which he +commends to them. He does not stand isolated by the grace that is +given to him; nor does he look down as from the height of his +apostleship on the multitude below, saying to them,---Go. As one +of themselves he stands amongst them, and with brotherly +exhortation says,---Come. If that had been the spirit in which all +Christian teachers had besought men, their exhortations would less +frequently have been breath spent in vain. + +We may note + +I. The grace that gives the gifts. + +The connection between these two is more emphatically suggested by +the original Greek, in which the word for `gifts' is a derivative +of that for `grace.' The relation between these two can scarcely +be verbally reproduced in English; but it may be, though +imperfectly, suggested by reading `graces' instead of `gifts.' The +gifts are represented as being the direct product of, and cognate +with, the grace bestowed. As we have had already occasion to +remark, they are in Paul's language a designation of natural +capacities strengthened by the access of the life of the Spirit of +Christ. As a candle plunged in a vase of oxygen leaps up into more +brilliant flame, so all the faculties of the human soul are made a +hundred times themselves when the quickening power of the life of +Christ enters into them. + +It is to be observed that the Apostle here assumes that every +Christian possesses, in some form, that grace which gives graces. +To him a believing soul without Christ-given gifts is a +monstrosity. No one is without some graces, and therefore no one +is without some duties. No one who considers the multitude of +professing Christians who hamper all our churches to-day, and +reflects on the modern need to urge on the multitude of idlers +forms of Christian activity, will fail to recognise signs of +terribly weakened vitality. The humility, which in response to all +invitations to work for Christ pleads unfitness is, if true, more +tragical than it at first seems, for it is a confession that the +man who alleges it has no real hold of the Christ in whom he +professes to trust. If a Christian man is fit for no Christian +work, it is time that he gravely ask himself whether he has any +Christian life. `Having gifts' is the basis of all the Apostle's +exhortations. It is to him inconceivable that any Christian should +not possess, and be conscious of possessing, some endowment from +the life of Christ which will fit him for, and bind him to, a +course of active service. + +The universality of this possession is affirmed, if we note that, +according to the Greek, it was `given' at a special time in the +experience of each of these Roman Christians. The rendering `was +given' might be more accurately exchanged for `has been given,' +and that expression is best taken as referring to a definite +moment in the history of each believer namely, his conversion. +When we `yield ourselves to God,' as Paul exhorts us to do in the +beginning of this chapter, as the commencement of all true life of +conformity to His will, Christ yields Himself to us. The +possession of these gifts of grace is no prerogative of officials; +and, indeed, in all the exhortations which follow there is no +reference to officials, though of course such were in existence in +the Roman Church. They had their special functions and special +qualifications for these. But what Paul is dealing with now is the +grace that is inseparable from individual surrender to Christ, and +has been bestowed upon all who are His. To limit the gifts to +officials, and to suppose that the universal gifts in any degree +militate against the recognition of officials in the Church, are +equally mistakes, and confound essentially different subjects. + +II. The graces that flow from the grace. + +The Apostle's catalogue of these is not exhaustive, nor logically +arranged; but yet a certain loose order may be noted, which may be +profitable for us to trace. They are in number seven---the sacred +number; and are capable of being divided, as so many of the series +of sevens are, into two portions, one containing four and the other +three. The former include more public works, to each of which a man +might be specially devoted as his life work for and in the Church. +Three are more private, and may be conceived to have a wider +relation to the world. There are some difficulties of construction +and rendering in the list, which need not concern us here; and we +may substantially follow the Authorised Version. + +The first group of four seems to fall into two pairs, the first of +which, `prophecy' and `ministry,' seem to be bracketed together by +reason of the difference between them. Prophecy is a very high +form of special inspiration, and implies a direct reception of +special revelation, but not necessarily of future events. The +prophet is usually coupled in Paul's writings with the apostle, +and was obviously amongst those to whom was given one of the +highest forms of the gifts of Christ. It is very beautiful to note +that by natural contrast the Apostle at once passes to one of the +forms of service which a vulgar estimate would regard as remotest +from the special revelation of the prophet, and is confined to +lowly service. Side by side with the exalted gift of prophecy Paul +puts the lowly gift of ministry. Very significant is the +juxtaposition of these two extremes. It teaches us that the +lowliest office is as truly allotted by Jesus as the most sacred, +and that His highest gifts find an adequate field for +manifestation in him who is servant of all. Ministry to be rightly +discharged needs spiritual character. The original seven were men +`full of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' though all they had to do +was to hand their pittances to poor widows. It may be difficult to +decide for what reason other than the emphasising of this contrast +the Apostle links together ministry and prophecy, and so breaks a +natural sequence which would have connected the second pair of +graces with the first member of the first pair. We should have +expected that here, as elsewhere, `prophet,' `teacher,' +`exhorter,' would have been closely connected, and there seems no +reason why they should not have been so, except that which we have +suggested, namely, the wish to bring together the highest and the +lowest forms of service. + +The second pair seem to be linked together by likeness. The +`teacher' probably had for his function, primarily, the narration +of the facts of the Gospel, and the setting forth in a form +addressed chiefly to the understanding the truths thereby +revealed; whilst the `exhorter' rather addressed himself to the +will, presenting the same truth, but in forms more intended to +influence the emotions. The word here rendered `exhort' is found +in Paul's writings as bearing special meanings, such as consoling, +stimulating, encouraging, rebuking and others. Of course these two +forms of service would often be associated, and each would be +imperfect when alone; but it would appear that in the early Church +there were persons in whom the one or the other of these two +elements was so preponderant that their office was thereby +designated. Each received a special gift from the one Source. The +man who could only say to his brother, `Be of good cheer,' was as +much the recipient of the Spirit as the man who could connect and +elaborate a systematic presentation of the truths of the +Gospel. + +These four graces are followed by a group of three, which may be +regarded as being more private, as not pointing to permanent +offices so much as to individual acts. They are `giving,' +`ruling,' `showing pity,' concerning which we need only note that +the second of these can hardly be the ecclesiastical office, and +that it stands between two which are closely related, as if it +were of the same kind. The gifts of money, or of direction, or of +pity, are one in kind. The right use of wealth comes from the gift +of God's grace; so does the right use of any sway which any of us +have over any of our brethren; and so does the glow of compassion, +the exercise of the natural human sympathy which belongs to all, +and is deepened and made tenderer and intenser by the gift of the +Spirit. It would be a very different Church, and a very different +world, if Christians, who were not conscious of possessing gifts +which made them fit to be either prophets, or teachers, or +exhorters, and were scarcely endowed even for any special form of +ministry, felt that a gift from their hands, or a wave of pity +from their hearts, was a true token of the movement of God's +Spirit on their spirits. The fruit of the Spirit is to be found in +the wide fields of everyday life, and the vine bears many clusters +for the thirsty lips of wearied men who may little know what gives +them their bloom and sweetness. It would be better for both giver +and receiver if Christian beneficence were more clearly recognised +as one of the manifestations of spiritual life. + +III. The exercise of the graces. + +There are some difficulties in reference to the grammatical +construction of the words of our text, into which it is not +necessary that we should enter here. We may substantially follow +the Authorised and Revised Versions in supplying verbs in the +various clauses, so as to make of the text a series of +exhortations. The first of these is to `prophesy according to the +proportion of faith'; a commandment which is best explained by +remembering that in the preceding verse `the measure of faith' has +been stated as being the measure of the gifts. The prophet then is +to exercise his gifts in proportion to his faith. He is to speak +his convictions fully and openly, and to let his utterances be +shaped by the indwelling life. This exhortation may well sink into +the heart of preachers in this day. It is but the echo of +Jeremiah's strong words: `He that hath my word, let him speak my +word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord. +Is not my word like as fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer +that breaketh the rock in pieces?' The ancient prophet's woe falls +with double weight on those who use their words as a veil to +obscure their real beliefs, and who prophesy, not `according to +the proportion of faith,' but according to the expectations of the +hearers, whose faith is as vague as theirs. + +In the original, the next three exhortations are alike in +grammatical construction, which is represented in the Authorised +Version by the supplement `let us wait on,' and in the Revised +Version by `let us give ourselves to'; we might with advantage +substitute for either the still more simple form `be in,' after +the example of Paul's exhortation to Timothy `be in these things'; +that is, as our Version has it, `give thyself wholly to them.' The +various gifts are each represented as a sphere within which its +possessor is to move, for the opportunities for the exercise of +which he is carefully to watch, and within the limits of which he +is humbly to keep. That general law applies equally to ministry, +and teaching and exhorting. We are to seek to discern our spheres; +we are to be occupied with, if not absorbed in, them. At the least +we are diligently to use the gift which we discover ourselves to +possess, and thus filling our several spheres, we are to keep +within them, recognising that each is sacred as the manifestation +of God's will for each of us. The divergence of forms is +unimportant, and it matters nothing whether `the Giver of all' +grants less or more. The main thing is that each be faithful in +the administration of what he has received, and not seek to +imitate his brother who is diversely endowed, or to monopolise for +himself another's gifts. To insist that our brethren's gifts +should be like ours, and to try to make ours like theirs, are +equally sins against the great truth, of which the Church as a +whole is the example, that there are `diversities of operations +but the same Spirit.' + +The remaining three exhortations are in like manner thrown +together by a similarity of construction in which the personality +of the doer is put in the foreground, and the emphasis of the +commandment is rested on the manner in which the grace is +exercised. The reason for that may be that in these three +especially the manner will show the grace. `Giving' is to be `with +simplicity.' There are to be no sidelong looks to self-interest; +no flinging of a gift from a height, as a bone might be flung to a +dog; no seeking for gratitude; no ostentation in the gift. Any +taint of such mixed motives as these infuses poison into our +gifts, and makes them taste bitter to the receiver, and recoil in +hurt upon ourselves. To `give with simplicity' is to give as God +gives. + +`Diligence' is the characteristic prescribed for the man that +rules. We have already pointed out that this exhortation includes +a much wider area than that of any ecclesiastical officials. It +points to another kind of rule, and the natural gifts needed for +any kind of rule are diligence and zeal. Slackly-held reins make +stumbling steeds; and any man on whose shoulders is laid the +weight of government is bound to feel it as a weight. The history +of many a nation, and of many a family, teaches that where the +rule is slothful all evils grow apace; and it is that natural +energy and earnestness, deepened and hallowed by the Christian +life, which here is enjoined as the true Christian way of +discharging the function of ruling, which, in some form or +another, devolves on almost all of us. + +`He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness.' The glow of natural +human sympathy is heightened so as to become a `gift,' and the way +in which it is exercised is defined as being `with cheerfulness.' +That injunction is but partially understood if it is taken to mean +no more than that sympathy is not to be rendered grudgingly, or as +by necessity. No sympathy is indeed possible on such terms; unless +the heart is in it, it is nought. And that it should thus flow +forth spontaneously wherever sorrow and desolation evoke it, there +must be a continual repression of self, and a heart disengaged +from the entanglements of its own circumstances, and at leisure to +make a brother's burden its very own. But the exhortation may, +perhaps, rather mean that the truest sympathy carries a bright +face into darkness, and comes like sunshine in a shady place. + +\chapter{Love That Can Hate} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 9--10} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil; cleave +to that which is good. 10.\ In love of the brethren be tenderly +affectioned one to another; in honour preferring one +another.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 9--10 (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Thus far the Apostle has been laying down very general precepts +and principles of Christian morals. Starting with the one +all-comprehensive thought of self-sacrifice as the very foundation +of all goodness, of transformation as its method, and of the clear +knowledge of our several powers and faithful stewardship of these, +as its conditions, he here proceeds to a series of more specific +exhortations, which at first sight seem to be very unconnected, +but through which there may be discerned a sequence of +thought. + +The clauses of our text seem at first sight strangely +disconnected. The first and the last belong to the same subject, +but the intervening clause strikes a careless reader as out of +place and heterogeneous. I think that we shall see it is not so; +but for the present we but note that here are three sets of +precepts which enjoin, first, honest love; then, next, a healthy +vehemence against evil and for good; and finally, a brotherly +affection and mutual respect. + +I. Let love be honest. + +Love stands at the head, and is the fontal source of all separate +individualised duties. Here Paul is not so much prescribing love as +describing the kind of love which he recognises as genuine, and the +main point on which he insists is sincerity. The `dissimulation' of +the Authorised Version only covers half the ground. It means, hiding +what one is; but there is simulation, or pretending to be what one +is not. There are words of love which are like the iridescent scum +on the surface veiling the black depths of a pool of hatred. A +Psalmist complains of having to meet men whose words were `smoother +than butter' and whose true feelings were as `drawn swords'; but, +short of such consciously lying love, we must all recognise as a +real danger besetting us all, and especially those of us who are +naturally inclined to kindly relations with our fellows, the +tendency to use language just a little in excess of our feelings. +The glove is slightly stretched, and the hand in it is not quite +large enough to fill it. There is such a thing, not altogether +unknown in Christian circles, as benevolence, which is largely cant, +and words of conventional love about individuals which do not +represent any corresponding emotion. Such effusive love pours itself +in words, and is most generally the token of intense selfishness. +Any man who seeks to make his words a true picture of his emotions +must be aware that few harder precepts have ever been given than +this brief one of the Apostle's, `Let love be without hypocrisy.' + +But the place where this exhortation comes in the apostolic +sequence here may suggest to us the discipline through which +obedience to it is made possible. There is little to be done by +the way of directly increasing either the fervour of love or the +honesty of its expression. The true method of securing both is to +be growingly transformed by `the renewing of our minds,' and +growingly to bring our whole old selves under the melting and +softening influence of `the mercies of God.' It is swollen +self-love, `thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to +think,' which impedes the flow of love to others, and it is in the +measure in which we receive into our minds `the mind that was in +Christ Jesus,' and look at men as He did, that we shall come to +love them all honestly and purely. When we are delivered from the +monstrous oppression and tyranny of self, we have hearts capable +of a Christlike and Christ-giving love to all men, and only they +who have cleansed their hearts by union with Him, and by receiving +into them the purging influence of His own Spirit, will be able to +love without hypocrisy. + +II. Let love abhor what is evil, and cleave to what is good. + +If we carefully consider this apparently irrelevant interruption in +the sequence of the apostolic exhortations, we shall, I think, see +at once that the irrelevance is only apparent, and that the healthy +vehemence against evil and resolute clinging to good is as essential +to the noblest forms of Christian love as is the sincerity enjoined +in the previous clause. To detest the one and hold fast by the other +are essential to the purity and depth of our love. Evil is to be +loathed, and good to be clung to in our own moral conduct, and +wherever we see them. These two precepts are not mere tautology, but +the second of them is the ground of the first. The force of our +recoil from the bad will be measured by the firmness of our grasp of +the good; and yet, though inseparably connected, the one is apt to +be easier to obey than is the other. There are types of Christian +men to whom it is more natural to abhor the evil than to cleave to +the good; and there are types of character of which the converse is +true. We often see men very earnest and entirely sincere in their +detestation of meanness and wickedness, but very tepid in their +appreciation of goodness. To hate is, unfortunately, more congenial +with ordinary characters than to love; and it is more facile to look +down on badness than to look up at goodness. + +But it needs ever to be insisted upon, and never more than in this +day of spurious charity and unprincipled toleration, that a +healthy hatred of moral evil and of sin, wherever found and +however garbed, ought to be the continual accompaniment of all +vigorous and manly cleaving to that which is good. Unless we +shudderingly recoil from contact with the bad in our own lives, +and refuse to christen it with deceptive euphemisms when we meet +it in social and civil life, we shall but feebly grasp, and +slackly hold, that which is good. Such energy of moral recoil from +evil is perfectly consistent with honest love, for it is things, +not men, that we are to hate; and it is needful as the completion +and guardian of love itself. There is always danger that love +shall weaken the condemnation of wrong, and modern liberality, +both in the field of opinion and in regard to practical life, has +so far condoned evil as largely to have lost its hold upon good. +The criminal is pitied rather than blamed, and a multitude of +agencies are so occupied in elevating the wrong-doers that they +lose sight of the need of punishing. + +Nor is it only in reference to society that this tendency works +harm. The effect of it is abundantly manifest in the fashionable +ideas of God and His character. There are whole schools of opinion +which practically strike out of their ideal of the Divine Nature +abhorrence of evil, and, little as they think it, are thereby +fatally impoverishing their ideal of God, and making it impossible +to understand His government of the world. As always, so in this +matter, the authentic revelation of the Divine Nature, and the +perfect pattern for the human are to be found in Jesus Christ. We +recall that wonderful incident, when on His last approach to +Jerusalem, rounding the shoulder of the Mount of Olives, He beheld +the city, gleaming in the morning sunshine across the valley, and +forgetting His own sorrow, shed tears over its approaching +desolation, which yet He steadfastly pronounced. His loathing of +evil was whole-souled and absolute, and equally intense and +complete was His cleaving to that which is good. In both, and in +the harmony between them, He makes God known, and prescribes and +holds forth the ideal of perfect humanity to men. + +III. Let sincere and discriminating love be concentrated on +Christian men. + +In the final exhortation of our text `the love of the brethren' +takes the place of the more diffused and general love enjoined in +the first clause. The expression `kindly affectioned' is the +rendering of a very eloquent word in the original in which the +instinctive love of a mother to her child, or the strange mystical +ties which unite members of a family together, irrespective of +their differences of character and temperament, are taken as an +example after which Christian men are to mould their relations to +one another. The love which is without hypocrisy, and is to be +diffused on all sides, is also to be gathered together and +concentrated with special energy on all who `call upon Jesus +Christ as Lord, both their Lord and ours.' The more general +precept and the more particular are in perfect harmony, however +our human weakness sometimes confuses them. It is obvious that +this final precept of our text will be the direct result of the +two preceding, for the love which has learned to be moral, hating +evil, and clinging to good as necessary, when directed to +possessors of like precious faith will thrill with the +consciousness of a deep mystical bond of union, and will +effloresce in all brotherly love and kindly affections. They who +are like one another in the depths of their moral life, who are +touched by like aspirations after like holy things, and who +instinctively recoil with similar revulsion from like +abominations, will necessarily feel the drawing of a unity far +deeper and sacreder than any superficial likenesses of race, or +circumstance, or opinion. Two men who share, however imperfectly, +in Christ's Spirit are more akin in the realities of their nature, +however they may differ on the surface, than either of them is to +another, however like he may seem, who is not a partaker in the +life of Christ. + +This instinctive, Christian love, like all true and pure love, is +to manifest itself by `preferring one another in honour'; or as +the word might possibly be rendered, `anticipating one another.' +We are not to wait to have our place assigned before we give our +brother his. There will be no squabbling for the chief seat in the +synagogue, or the uppermost rooms at the feast, where brotherly +love marshals the guests. The one cure for petty jealousies and +the miserable strife for recognition, which we are all tempted to +engage in, lies in a heart filled with love of the brethren +because of its love to the Elder Brother of them all, and to the +Father who is His Father as well as ours. What a contrast is +presented between the practice of Christians and these precepts of +Paul! We may well bow ourselves in shame and contrition when we +read these clear-drawn lines indicating what we ought to be, and +set by the side of them the blurred and blotted pictures of what +we are. It is a painful but profitable task to measure ourselves +against Paul's ideal of Christ's commandment; but it will only be +profitable if it brings us to remember that Christ gives before He +commands, and that conformity with His ideal must begin, not with +details of conduct, or with emotion, however pure, but with +yielding ourselves to the God who moves us by His mercies, and +being `transformed by the renewing of our minds' and `the +indwelling of Christ in our hearts by faith.' + +\chapter{A Triplet of Graces} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 11} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the +Lord.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 11. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Paul believed that Christian doctrine was meant to influence +Christian practice; and therefore, after the fundamental and +profound exhibition of the central truths of Christianity which +occupies the earlier portion of this great Epistle, he tacks on, +with a `therefore' to his theological exposition, a series of +plain, practical teachings. The place where conduct comes in the +letter is profoundly significant, and, if the significance of it +had been observed and the spirit of it carried into practice, +there would have been less of a barren orthodoxy, and fewer +attempts at producing righteous conduct without faith. + +But not only is the place where this series of exhortations occur +very significant, but the order in which they appear is also +instructive. The great principle which covers all conduct, and may +be broken up into all the minutenesses of practical directions is +self-surrender. Give yourselves up to God; that is the Alpha and +the Omega of all goodness, and wherever that foundation is really +laid, on it will rise the fair building of a life which is a +temple, adorned with whatever things are lovely and of good +report. So after Paul has laid deep and broad the foundation of +all Christian virtue in his exhortation to present ourselves as +living sacrifices, he goes on to point out the several virtues in +which such self-surrender will manifest itself. There runs through +the most of these exhortations an arrangement in triplets---three +sister Graces linked together hand-in-hand as it were---and my +text presents an example of that threefoldness in grouping. `Not +slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord.' + +I. We have, first, the prime grace of Christian diligence. + +`Not slothful in business' suggests, by reason of our modern +restriction of that word `business' to a man's daily occupation, a +much more limited range to this exhortation than the Apostle meant +to give it. The idea which is generally drawn from these words by +English readers is that they are to do their ordinary work +diligently, and, all the while, notwithstanding the cooling or +distracting influences of their daily avocations, are to keep +themselves `fervent in spirit.' That is a noble and needful +conception of the command, but it does not express what is in the +Apostle's mind. He does not mean by `business' a trade or +profession, or daily occupation. But the word means `zeal' or +`earnestness.' And what Paul says is just this---`In regard to +your earnestness in all directions, see that you are not +slothful.' + +The force and drift of the whole precept is just the exhortation +to exercise the very homely virtue of diligence, which is as much +a condition of growth and maturity in the Christian as it is in +any other life. The very homeliness and obviousness of the duty +causes us often to lose sight of its imperativeness and +necessity. + +Many of us, if we would sit quietly down and think of how we go +about our `business,' as we call it, and of how we go about our +Christian life, which ought to be our highest business, would have +great cause for being ashamed. We begin the one early in the +morning, we keep hard at it all day, our eyes are wide open to see +any opening where money is to be made; that is all right. We give +our whole selves to our work whilst we are at it; that is as it +should be. But why are there not the same concentration, the same +wide-awakeness, the same open-eyed eagerness to find out ways of +advancement, the same resolved and continuous and +all-comprehending and dominating enthusiasm about our Christianity +as there is about our shop, or our mill, or our success as +students? Why are we all fire in the one case and all ice in the +other? Why do we think that it is enough to lift the burden that +Christ lays upon us with one languid finger, and to put our whole +hand, or rather, as the prophet says, `both hands earnestly,' to +the task of lifting the load of daily work? `In your earnestness +be not slothful.' + +Brethren, that is a very homely exhortation. I wonder how many of +us can say, `Lord! I have heard, and I have obeyed Thy +precept.' + +II. Diligence must be fed by a fervent spirit. + +The word translated `fervent' is literally boiling. The metaphor +is very plain and intelligible. The spirit brought into contact +with Christian truth and with the fire of the Holy Spirit will +naturally have its temperature raised, and will be moved by the +warm touch as heat makes water in a pot hung above a fire boil. +Such emotion, produced by the touch of the fiery Spirit of God, is +what Paul desires for, and enjoins on, all Christians; for such +emotion is the only way by which the diligence, without which no +Christian progress will be made, can be kept up. + +No man will work long at a task that his heart is not in; or if he +does, because he is obliged, the work will be slavery. In order, +then, that diligence may neither languish and become slothfulness, +nor be felt to be a heavy weight and an unwelcome necessity, Paul +here bids us see to it that our hearts are moved because there is a +fire below which makes `the soul's depths boil in earnest.' + +Now, of course, I know that, as a great teacher has told us, `The +gods approve the depth and not the tumult of the soul,' and I know +that there is a great deal of emotional Christianity which is +worth nothing. But it is not that kind of fervour that the Apostle +is enjoining here. Whilst it is perfectly true that mere emotion +often does co-exist with, and very often leads to, entire +negligence as to possessing and manifesting practical excellence, +the true relation between these is just the opposite---viz. that +this fervour of which I speak, this wide-awakeness and enthusiasm +of a spirit all quickened into rapidity of action by the warmth +which it has felt from God in Christ, should drive the wheels of +life. Boiling water makes steam, does it not? And what is to be +done with the steam that comes off the `boiling' spirit? You may +either let it go roaring through a waste-pipe and do nothing but +make a noise and be idly dissipated in the air, or you may lead it +into a cylinder and make it lift a piston, and then you will get +work out of it. That is what the Apostle desires us to do with our +emotion. The lightning goes careering through the sky, but we have +harnessed it to tram-cars nowadays, and made it `work for its +living,' to carry our letters and light our rooms. Fervour of a +Christian spirit is all right when it is yoked to Christian work, +and made to draw what else is a heavy chariot. It is not emotion, +but it is indolent emotion, that is the curse of much of our +`fervent' Christianity. + +There cannot be too much fervour. There may be too little outlet +provided for the fervour to work in. It may all go off in +comfortable feeling, in enthusiastic prayers and `Amens!' and `So +be it, Lords!' and the like, or it may come with us into our daily +tasks, and make us buckle to with more earnestness, and more +continuity. Diligence driven by earnestness, and fervour that +works, are the true things. + +And surely, surely there cannot be any genuine +Christianity---certainly there cannot be any deep +Christianity---which is not fervent. + +We hear from certain quarters of the Church a great deal about the +virtue of moderation. But it seems to me that, if you take into +account what Christianity tells us, the `sober' feeling is fervent +feeling, and tepid feeling is imperfect feeling. I cannot +understand any man believing as plain matter-of-fact the truths on +which the whole New Testament insists, and keeping himself `cool,' +or, as our friends call it, `moderate.' Brethren, +enthusiasm---which properly means the condition of being dwelt in +by a god---is the wise, the reasonable attitude of Christian men, +if they believe their own Christianity and are really serving +Jesus Christ. They should be `diligent in business, +fervent'---boiling---in spirit. + +III. The diligence and the fervency are both to be animated by the +thought, `Serving the Lord!' + +Some critics, as many of you know, no doubt, would prefer to read +this verse in its last clause `serving the time.' But that seems +to me a very lame and incomplete climax for the Apostle's thought, +and it breaks entirely the sequence which, as I think, is +discernible in it. Much rather, he here, in the closing member of +the triplet, suggests a thought which will be stimulus to the +diligence and fuel to the fire that makes the spirit boil. + +In effect he says, `Think, when your hands begin to droop, and +when your spirits begin to be cold and indifferent, and languor to +steal over you, and the paralysing influences of the commonplace +and the familiar, and the small begin to assert themselves---think +that you are serving the Lord.' Will that not freshen you up? Will +that not set you boiling again? Will it not be easy to be diligent +when we feel that we are `ever in the great Taskmaster's eye'? +There are many reasons for diligence---the greatness of the work, +for it is no small matter for us to get the whole lump of our +nature leavened with the good leaven; the continual operation of +antagonistic forces which are all round us, and are working +night-shifts as well as day ones, whether we as Christians are on +short time or not, the brevity of the period during which we have +to work, and the tremendous issues which depend upon the +completeness of our service here---all these things are reasons +for our diligence. But \textit{the} reason is: `Thou Christ hast +died for me, and livest for me; truly I am Thy slave.' That is the +thought that will make a man bend his back to his work, whatever +it be, and bend his will to his work, too, however unwelcome it +may be; and that is the thought that will stir his whole spirit to +fervour and earnestness, and thus will deliver him from the +temptations to languid and perfunctory work that ever creep over +us. + +You can carry that motive---as we all know, and as we all forget +when the pinch comes---into your shop, your study, your office, +your mill, your kitchen, or wherever you go. `On the bells of the +horses there shall be written, Holiness to the Lord,' said the +prophet, and `every bowl in Jerusalem' may be sacred as the +vessels of the altar. All life may flash into beauty, and tower +into greatness, and be smoothed out into easiness, and the crooked +things may be made straight and the rough places plain, and the +familiar and the trite be invested with freshness and wonder as of +a dream, if only we write over them, `For the sake of the Master.' +Then, whatever we do or bear, be it common, insignificant, or +unpleasant, will change its aspect, and all will be sweet. Here is +the secret of diligence and of fervency, `I set the Lord always +before me.' + +\chapter{Another Triplet of Graces} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 12} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in +prayer.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 12. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +These three closely connected clauses occur, as you all know, in +the midst of that outline of the Christian life with which the +Apostle begins the practical part of this Epistle. Now, what he +omits in this sketch of Christian duty seems to me quite as +significant as what he inserts. It is very remarkable that in the +twenty verses devoted to this subject, this is the only one which +refers to the inner secrets of the Christian life. Paul's notion +of `deepening the spiritual life' was `Behave yourself better in +your relation to other people.' So all the rest of this chapter is +devoted to inculcating our duties to one another. Conduct is +all-important. An orthodox creed is valuable if it influences +action, but not otherwise. Devout emotion is valuable, if it +drives the wheels of life, but not otherwise. Christians should +make efforts to attain to clear views and warm feelings, but the +outcome and final test of both is a daily life of visible +imitation of Jesus. The deepening of spiritual life should be +manifested by completer, practical righteousness in the +market-place and the street and the house, which non-Christians +will acknowledge. + +But now, with regard to these three specific exhortations here, I +wish to try to bring out their connection as well as the force of +each of them. + +I. So I remark first, that the Christian life ought to be joyful +because it is hopeful. + +Now, I do not suppose that many of us habitually recognise it as a +Christian duty to be joyful. We think that it is a matter of +temperament and partly a matter of circumstance. We are glad when +things go well with us. If we have a sunny disposition, and are +naturally light-hearted, all the better; if we have a melancholy +or morose one, all the worse. But do we recognise this, that a +Christian who is not joyful is not living up to his duty; and that +there is no excuse, either in temperament or in circumstances, for +our not being so, and always being so? `Rejoice in the Lord +alway,' says Paul; and then, as if he thought, `Some of you will +be thinking that that is a very rash commandment, to aim at a +condition quite impossible to make constant,' he goes on---`and, +to convince you that I do not say it hastily, I will repeat +it---``and again I say, rejoice.''\,' Brethren, we shall have to +alter our conceptions of what true gladness is before we can come +to understand the full depth of the great thought that joy is a +Christian duty. The true joy is not the kind of joy that a saying +in the Old Testament compares to the `crackling of thorns under a +pot,' but something very much calmer, with no crackle in it; and +very much deeper, and very much more in alliance with `whatsoever +things are lovely and of good report,' than that foolish, +short-lived, and empty mirth that burns down so soon into black +ashes. + +To be glad is a Christian duty. Many of us have as much religion +as makes us sombre, and impels us often to look upon the more +solemn and awful aspects of Christian truth, but we have not +enough to make us glad. I do not need to dwell upon all the +sources in Christian faith and belief, of that lofty and +imperatively obligatory gladness, but I confine myself to the one +in my text, `Rejoicing in hope.' + +Now, we all know---from the boy that is expecting to go home for +his holidays in a week, up to the old man to whose eye the +time-veil is wearing thin---that hope, if it is certain, is a +source of gladness. How lightly one's bosom's lord sits upon its +throne, when a great hope comes to animate us! how everybody is +pleasant, and all things are easy, and the world looks different! +Hope, if it is certain, will gladden, and if our Christianity +grasps, as it ought to do, the only hope that is absolutely +certain, and as sure as if it were in the past and had been +experienced, then our hearts, too, will sing for joy. True joy is +\textit{not} a matter of temperament, so much as a matter of +faith. It is \textit{not} a matter of circumstances. All the +surface drainage may be dry, but there is a well in the courtyard +deep and cool and full and exhaustless, and a Christian who +rightly understands and cherishes the Christian hope is lifted +above temperament, and is not dependent upon conditions for his +joys. + +The Apostle, in an earlier part of this same letter, defines for +us what that hope is, which thus is the secret of perpetual +gladness, when he speaks about `rejoicing in hope of the glory of +God.' Yes, it is that great, supreme, calm, far off, absolutely +certain prospect of being gathered into the divine glory, and +walking there, like the three in the fiery furnace, unconsumed and +at ease; it is that hope that will triumph over temperament, and +over all occasions for melancholy, and will breathe into our life +a perpetual gladness. Brethren, is it not strange and sad that +with such a treasure by our sides we should consent to live such +poor lives as we do? + +But remember, although I cannot say to myself, `Now I will be +glad,' and cannot attain to joy by a movement of the will or +direct effort, although it is of no use to say to a man---which is +all that the world can ever say to him---`Cheer up and be glad,' +whilst you do not alter the facts that make him sad, there is a +way by which we can bring about feelings of gladness or of gloom. +It is just this---we can choose what we will look at. If you +prefer to occupy your mind with the troubles, losses, +disappointments, hard work, blighted hopes of this poor sin-ridden +world, of course sadness will come over you often, and a general +grey tone will be the usual tone of your lives, as it is of the +lives of many of us, broken only by occasional bursts of foolish +mirth and empty laughter. But if you choose to turn away from all +these, and instead of the dim, dismal, hard present, to sun +yourselves in the light of the yet unrisen sun, which you can do, +then, having rightly chosen the subjects to think about, the +feeling will come as a matter of course. You cannot make +yourselves glad by, as it were, laying hold of yourselves and +lifting yourselves into gladness, but you can rule the direction +of your thoughts, and so can bring around you summer in the midst +of winter, by steadily contemplating the facts---and they are +present facts, though we talk about them collectively as `the +future'---the facts on which all Christian gladness ought to be +based. We can carry our own atmosphere with us; like the people in +Italy, who in frosty weather will be seen sitting in the +market-place by their stalls with a dish of embers, which they +grasp in their hands, and so make themselves comfortably warm on +the bitterest day. You can bring a reasonable degree of warmth +into the coldest weather, if you will lay hold of the vessel in +which the fire is, and keep it in your hand and close to your +heart. Choose what you think about, and feelings will follow +thoughts. + +But it needs very distinct and continuous effort for a man to keep +this great source of Christian joy clear before him. We are like the +dwellers in some island of the sea, who, in some conditions of the +atmosphere, can catch sight of the gleaming mountain-tops on the +mainland across the stormy channel between. But thick days, with a +heavy atmosphere and much mist, are very frequent in our latitude, +and then all the distant hills are blotted out, and we see nothing +but the cold grey sea, breaking on the cold, grey stones. Still, you +can scatter the mist if you will. You can make the atmosphere +bright; and it is worth an effort to bring clear before us, and to +keep high above the mists that cling to the low levels, the great +vision which will make us glad. Brethren, I believe that one great +source of the weakness of average Christianity amongst us to-day is +the dimness into which so many of us have let the hope of the glory +of God pass in our hearts. So I beg you to lay to heart this first +commandment, and to rejoice in hope. + +II. Now, secondly, here is the thought that life, if full of +joyful hope, will be patient. + +I have been saying that the gladness of which my text speaks is +independent of circumstances, and may persist and be continuous +even when externals occasion sadness. It is possible---I do not +say it is easy, God knows it is hard---I do not say it is +frequently attained, but I do say it is possible---to realise that +wonderful ideal of the Apostle's `As sorrowful, yet always +rejoicing.' The surface of the ocean may be tossed and fretted by +the winds, and churned into foam, but the great central depths +`hear not the loud winds when they call,' and are still in the +midst of tempest. And we, dear brethren, ought to have an inner +depth of spirit, down to the disturbance of which no +surface-trouble can ever reach. That is the height of attainment +of Christian faith, but it is a possible attainment for every one +of us. + +And if there be that burning of the light under the water, like +`Greek fire,' as it was called, which many waters could not +quench---if there be that persistence of gladness beneath the +surface-sorrow, as you find a running stream coming out below a +glacier, then the joy and the hope, which co-exist with the +sorrow, will make life patient. + +Now, the Apostle means by these great words, `patient' and +`patience,' which are often upon his lips, something more than +simple endurance. That endurance is as much as many of us can +often muster up strength to exercise. It sometimes takes all our +faith and all our submission simply to say, `I opened not my +mouth, because thou didst it; and I will bear what thine hand lays +upon me.' But that is not all that the idea of Christian +`patience' includes, for it also takes in the thought of active +work, and it is \textit{perseverance} as much as +\textit{patience}. + +Now, if my heart is filled with a calm gladness because my eye is +fixed upon a celestial hope, then both the passive and active +sides of Christian `patience' will be realised by me. If my hope +burns bright, and occupies a large space in my thoughts, then it +will not be hard to take the homely consolation of good John +Newton's hymn and say--- + +\begin{verse} +`Though painful at present, \\ +\ \ `Twill cease before long; \\ +And then, oh, how pleasant \\ +\ \ The conqueror's song!' +\end{verse} + +\noindent A man who is sailing to America, and knows that he will +be in New York in a week, does not mind, although his cabin is +contracted, and he has a great many discomforts, and though he has +a bout of sea-sickness. The disagreeables are only going to last +for a day or two. So our hope will make us bear trouble, and not +make much of it. + +And our hope will strengthen us, if it is strong, for all the work +that is to be done. Persistence in the path of duty, though my +heart be beating like a smith's hammer on the anvil, is what +Christian men should aim at, and possess. If we have within our +hearts that fire of a certain hope, it will impel us to diligence +in doing the humblest duty, whether circumstances be for or +against us; as some great steamer is driven right on its course, +through the ocean, whatever storms may blow in the teeth of its +progress, because, deep down in it, there are furnaces and boilers +which supply the steam that drives the engines. So a life that is +joyful because it is hopeful will be full of calm endurance and +strenuous work. `Rejoicing in hope; patient,' persevering in +tribulation. + +III. Lastly, our lives will be joyful, hopeful, and patient, in +proportion as they are prayerful. + +`Continuing instant'---which, of course, just means +steadfast---`in prayer.' Paul uttered a paradox when he said, +`Rejoice in the Lord alway,' as he said long before this verse, in +the very first letter that he ever wrote, or at least the first +which has come down to us. There he bracketed it along with two +other equally paradoxical sayings. `Rejoice evermore; pray without +ceasing; in everything give thanks.' If you pray without ceasing +you can rejoice without ceasing. + +But can I pray without ceasing? Not if by prayer you mean only +words of supplication and petition, but if by prayer you mean also +a mental attitude of devotion, and a kind of sub-conscious +reference to God in all that you do, such unceasing prayer is +possible. Do not let us blunt the edge of this commandment, and +weaken our own consciousness of having failed to obey it, by +getting entangled in the cobwebs of mere curious discussions as to +whether the absolute ideal of perfectly unbroken communion with +God is possible in this life. At all events it is possible to us +to approximate to that ideal a great deal more closely than our +consciences tell us that we ever yet have done. If we are trying +to keep our hearts in the midst of daily duty in contact with God, +and if, ever and anon in the press of our work, we cast a thought +towards Him and a prayer, then joy and hope and patience will come +to us, in a degree that we do not know much about yet, but might +have known all about long, long ago. + +There is a verse in the Old Testament which we may well lay to +heart: `They cried unto God in the battle, and He was entreated of +them.' Well, what sort of a prayer do you think that would be? +Suppose that you were standing in the thick of battle with the +sword of an enemy at your throat, there would not be much time for +many words of prayer, would there? But the cry could go up, and +the thought could go up, and as they went up, down would come the +strong buckler which God puts between His servants and all evil. +That is the sort of prayer that you, in the battle of business, in +your shops and counting-houses and warehouses and mills, we +students in our studies, and you mothers in your families and your +kitchens, can send up to heaven. If thus we `pray without +ceasing,' then we shall `rejoice evermore,' and our souls will be +kept in patience and filled with the peace of God. + +\chapter{Still Another Triplet} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 13--15} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. +14.\ Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. 15.\ +Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that +weep.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 13--15. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +In these verses we pass from the innermost region of communion +with God into the wide field of duties in relation to men. The +solitary secrecies of rejoicing hope, endurance, and prayer +unbroken, are exchanged for the publicities of benevolence and +sympathy. In the former verses the Christian soul is in `the +secret place of the Most High'; in those of our text he comes +forth with the light of God on his face, and hands laden with +blessings. The juxtaposition of the two suggests the great +principles to which the morality of the New Testament is ever +true---that devotion to God is the basis of all practical +helpfulness to man, and that practical helpfulness to man is the +expression and manifestation of devotion to God. + +The three sets of injunctions in our text, dissimilar though they +appear, have a common basis. They are varying forms of one +fundamental disposition---love; which varies in its forms +according to the necessities of its objects, bringing temporal +help to the needy, meeting hostility with blessing, and rendering +sympathy to both the glad and the sorrowful. There is, further, a +noteworthy connection, not in sense but in sound, between the +first and second clauses of our text, which is lost in our English +Version. `Given to hospitality' is, as the Revised margin shows, +literally, pursuing hospitality. Now the Greek, like the English +word, has the special meaning of following with a hostile intent, +and the use of it in the one sense suggests its other meaning to +Paul, whose habit of `going off at a word,' as it has been called, +is a notable feature of his style. Hence, this second injunction, +of blessing the persecutors, comes as a kind of play upon words, +and is obviously occasioned by the verbal association. It would +come more appropriately at a later part of the chapter, but its +occurrence here is characteristic of Paul's idiosyncrasy. We may +represent the connection of these two clauses by such a rendering +as: Pursue hospitality, and as for those who pursue you, bless, +and curse not. + +We may look at these three flowers from the one root of love. + +I. Love that speaks in material help. + +We have here two special applications of that love which Paul +regards as `the bond of perfectness,' knitting all Christians +together. The former of these two is love that expresses itself by +tangible material aid. The persons to be helped are `saints,' and +it is their `needs' that are to be aided. There is no trace in the +Pauline Epistles of the community of goods which for a short time +prevailed in the Church of Jerusalem and which was one of the +causes that led to the need for the contribution for the poor +saints in that city which occupied so much of Paul's attention at +Corinth and elsewhere. But, whilst Christian love leaves the +rights of property intact, it charges them with the duty of +supplying the needs of the brethren. They are not absolute and +unconditioned rights, but are subject to the highest principles of +stewardship for God, trusteeship for men, and sacrifice for +Christ. These three great thoughts condition and limit the +Christian man's possession of the wealth, which, in a modified +sense, it is allowable for him to call his own. His brother's need +constitutes a first charge on all that belongs to him, and ought +to precede the gratification of his own desires for superfluities +and luxuries. If we `see our brother have need and shut up our +bowels of compassion against him' and use our possessions for the +gratification of our own whims and fancies, `how dwelleth the love +of God in us?' There are few things in which Christian men of this +day have more need for the vigorous exercise of conscience, and +for enlightenment, than in their getting, and spending, and +keeping money. In that region lies the main sphere of usefulness +for many of us; and if we have not been `faithful in that which is +least,' our unfaithfulness there makes it all but impossible that +we should be faithful in that which is greatest. The honest and +rigid contemplation of our own faults in the administration of our +worldly goods, might well invest with a terrible meaning the +Lord's tremendous question, `If ye have not been faithful in that +which is another's, who shall give you that which is your +own?' + +The hospitality which is here enjoined is another shape which +Christian love naturally took in the early days. When believers +were a body of aliens, dispersed through the world, and when, as +they went from one place to another, they could find homes only +amongst their own brethren, the special circumstances of the time +necessarily attached special importance to this duty; and as a +matter of fact, we find it recognised in all the Epistles of the +New Testament as one of the most imperative of Christian duties. +`It was the unity and strength which this intercourse gave that +formed one of the great forces which supported Christianity.' But +whilst hospitality was a special duty for the early Christians, it +still remains a duty for us, and its habitual exercise would go +far to break down the frowning walls which diversities of social +position and of culture have reared between Christians. + +II. The love that meets hostility with blessing. + +There are perhaps few words in Scripture which have been more +fruitful of the highest graces than this commandment. What a train +of martyrs, from primitive times to the Chinese Christians in +recent years, have remembered these words, and left their legacy +of blessing as they laid their heads on the block or stood circled +by fire at the stake! For us, in our quieter generation, actual +persecution is rare, but hostility of ill-will more or less may +well dog our steps, and the great principle here commended to us +is that we are to meet enmity with its opposite, and to conquer by +love. The diamond is cut with sharp knives, and each stroke brings +out flashing beauty. There are kinds of wood which are fragrant +when they burn; and there are kinds which show their veining under +the plane. It is a poor thing if a Christian character only gives +back like a mirror the expression of the face that looks at it. To +meet hate with hate, and scorn with scorn, is not the way to turn +hate into love and scorn into sympathy. Indifferent equilibrium in +the presence of active antagonism is not possible for us. As long +as we are sensitive we shall wince from a blow, or a sarcasm, or a +sneer. We must bless in order to keep ourselves from cursing. The +lesson is very hard, and the only way of obeying it fully is to +keep near Christ and drink in His spirit who prayed `Father, +forgive them, for they know not what they do.' + +III. Love that flows in wide sympathy. + +Of the two forms of sympathy which are here enjoined, the former +is the harder. To `rejoice with them that do rejoice' makes a +greater demand on unselfish love than to `weep with them that +weep.' Those who are glad feel less need of sympathy than do the +sorrowful, and envy is apt to creep in and mar the completeness of +sympathetic joy. But even the latter of the two injunctions is not +altogether easy. The cynic has said that there is `something not +wholly displeasing in the misfortunes of our best friends'; and, +though that is an utterly worldly and unchristian remark, it must +be confessed not to be altogether wanting in truth. + +But for obedience to both of these injunctions, a heart at leisure +from itself is needed to sympathise; and not less needed is a +sedulous cultivation of the power of sympathy. No doubt +temperament has much to do with the degree of our obedience; but +this whole context goes on the assumption that the grace of God +working on temperament strengthens natural endowments by turning +them into `gifts differing according to the grace that is given to +us.' Though we live in that awful individuality of ours, and are +each, as it were, islanded in ourselves `with echoing straits +between us thrown,' it is possible for us, as the result of close +communion with Jesus Christ, to bridge the chasms, and to enter +into the joy of a brother's joy. He who groaned in Himself as He +drew near to the grave of Lazarus, and was moved to weep with the +weeping sisters, will help us, in the measure in which we dwell in +Him and He in us, that we too may look `not every man on his own +things, but every man also on the things of others.' + +On the whole, love to Jesus is the basis of love to man, and love +to man is the practical worship of Christianity. As in all things, +so in the exhortations which we have now been considering, Jesus +is our pattern and power. He Himself communicates with our +necessities, and opens His heart to give us hospitable welcome +there. He Himself has shown us how to meet and overcome hatred +with love, and hurt with blessing. He shares our griefs, and by +sharing lessens them. He shares our joys, and by sharing hallows +them. The summing up of all these specific injunctions is, `Let +that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.' + +\chapter{Still Another Triplet} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 16} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Be of the same mind one toward another. Set not your mind on high +things, but condescend to things that are lowly. Be not wise in +your own conceits.'---Romans xii. 16 (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We have here again the same triple arrangement which has prevailed +through a considerable portion of the context. These three +exhortations are linked together by a verbal resemblance which can +scarcely be preserved in translation. In the two former the same +verb is employed: and in the third the word for `wise' is cognate +with the verb found in the other two clauses. If we are to seek +for any closer connection of thought we may find it first in +this---that all the three clauses deal with mental attitudes, +whilst the preceding ones dealt with the expression of such; and +second in this---that the first of the three is a general precept, +and the second and third are warnings against faults which are +most likely to interfere with it. + +I. We note, the bond of peace. + +`Be of the same mind one toward another.' It is interesting to +notice how frequently the Apostle in many of his letters exhorts +to mutual harmonious relations. For instance, in this very Epistle +he invokes `the God of patience and of comfort' to grant to the +Roman Christians `to be of the same mind with one another +according to Christ Jesus,' and to the Corinthians, who had their +full share of Greek divisiveness, he writes, `Be of the same mind, +live in peace,' and assures them that, if so, `the God of love and +peace will be with them'; to his beloved Philippians he pours out +his heart in beseeching them by `the consolation that is in Christ +Jesus, and the comfort of love, and the fellowship of the +Spirit---' that they would `fulfil his joy, that they be of the +same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one +mind'; whilst to the two women in that Church who were at variance +with one another he sends the earnest exhortation `to be of the +same mind in the Lord,' and prays one whom we only know by his +loving designation of `a true yokefellow,' to help them in what +would apparently put a strain upon their Christian principle. For +communities and for individuals the cherishing of the spirit of +amity and concord is a condition without which there will be +little progress in the Christian life. + +But it is to be carefully noted that such a spirit may co-exist +with great differences about other matters. It is not opposed to +wide divergence of opinion, though in our imperfect sanctification +it is hard for us to differ and yet to be in concord. We all know +the hopelessness of attempting to make half a dozen good men think +alike on any of the greater themes of the Christian religion; and +if we could succeed in such a vain attempt, there would still be +many an unguarded door through which could come the spirit of +discord, and the half-dozen might have divergence of heart even +whilst they profess identity of opinion. The true hindrances to +our having `the same mind one toward another' lie very much deeper +in our nature than the region in which we keep our creeds. The +self-regard and self-absorption, petulant dislike of +fellow-Christians' peculiarities, the indifference which comes +from lack of imaginative sympathy, and which ministers to the +ignorance which causes it, and a thousand other weaknesses in +Christian character bring about the deplorable alienation which +but too plainly marks the relation of Christian communities and of +individual Christians to one another in this day. When one thinks +of the actual facts in every corner of Christendom, and probes +one's own feelings, the contrast between the apostolic ideal and +the Church's realisation of it presents a contradiction so glaring +that one wonders if Christian people at all believe that it is +their duty `to be of the same mind one toward another.' + +The attainment of this spirit of amity and concord ought to be a +distinct object of effort, and especially in times like ours, when +there is no hostile pressure driving Christian people together, +but when our great social differences are free to produce a +certain inevitable divergence and to check the flow of our +sympathy, and when there are deep clefts of opinion, growing +deeper every day, and seeming to part off Christians into camps +which have little understanding of, and less sympathy with, one +another. Even the strong individualism, which it is the glory of +true Christian faith to foster in character, and which some forms +of Christian fellowship do distinctly promote, works harm in this +matter; and those who pride themselves on belonging to `Free +churches,' and standing apart from creed-bound and clergy-led +communities, are specially called upon to see to it that they keep +this exhortation, and cultivate `the unity of the Spirit in the +bond of peace.' + +It should not be necessary to insist that the closest mutual +concord amongst all believers is but an imperfect manifestation, +as all manifestations in life of the deepest principles must be, +of the true oneness which binds together in the most sacred unity, +and should bind together in closest friendship, all partakers of +the one life. And assuredly the more that one life flows into our +spirits, the less power will all the enemies of Christian concord +have over us. It is the Christ in us which makes us kindred with +all others in whom He is. It is self, in some form or other, that +separates us from the possessors of like precious faith. When the +tide is out, the little rock-pools on the shore lie separated by +stretches of slimy weeds, but the great sea, when it rushes up, +buries the divisions, and unites them all. Our Christian unity is +unity in Christ, and the only sure way `to be of the same mind one +toward another' is, that `the mind which was in Christ Jesus be in +us also.' + +II. The divisive power of selfish ambition. + +`Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to things that +are lowly.' The contrast here drawn between the high and the lowly +makes it probable that the latter as well as the former is to be +taken as referring to `things' rather than persons. The margin of +the Revised Version gives the literal rendering of the word +translated `condescend.' `To be carried away with,' is +metaphorically equivalent to surrendering one's self to; and the +two clauses present two sides of one disposition, which seeks not +for personal advancement or conspicuous work which may minister to +self-gratulation, but contentedly fills the lowly sphere, and `the +humblest duties on herself doth lay.' We need not pause to point +out that such an ideal is dead against the fashionable maxims of +this generation. Personal ambition is glorified as an element in +progress, and to a world which believes in such a proverb as +`devil take the hindmost,' these two exhortations can only seem +fanatical absurdity. And yet, perhaps, if we fairly take into +account how the seeking after personal advancement and conspicuous +work festers the soul, and how the flower of heart's-ease grows, +as Bunyan's shepherd-boy found out, in the lowly valley, these +exhortations to a quiet performance of lowly duties and a +contented filling of lowly spheres, may seem touched with a higher +wisdom than is to be found in the arenas where men trample over +each other in their pursuit of a fame `which appeareth for a +little time, and then vanisheth away.' What a peaceful world it +would be, and what peaceful souls they would have, if Christian +people really adopted as their own these two simple maxims. They +are easy to understand, but how hard they are to follow. + +It needs scarcely be noted that the temper condemned here destroys +all the concord and amity which the Apostle has been urging in the +previous clause. Where every man is eagerly seeking to force +himself in front of his neighbour, any community will become a +struggling mob; and they who are trying to outrun one another and +who grasp at `high things,' will never be `of the same mind one +toward another.' But, we may observe that the surest way to keep +in check the natural selfish tendency to desire conspicuous things +for ourselves is honestly, and with rigid self-control, to let +ourselves be carried away by enthusiasm for humble tasks. If we +would not disturb our lives and fret our hearts by ambitions that, +even when gratified, bring no satisfaction, we must yield +ourselves to the impulse of the continuous stream of lowly duties +which runs through every life. + +But, plainly as this exhortation is needful, it is too heavy a +strain to be ever carried out except by the power of Christ formed +in the heart. It is in His earthly life that we find the great +example of the highest stooping to the lowest duties, and elevating +them by taking them upon Himself. He did not `strive nor cry, nor +cause His voice to be heard in the streets.' Thirty years of that +perfect life were spent in a little village folded away in the +Galilean hills, with rude peasants for the only spectators, and the +narrow sphere of a carpenter's shop for its theatre. For the rest, +the publicity possible would have been obscurity to an ambitious +soul. To speak comforting words to a few weeping hearts; to lay His +hands on a few sick folk and heal them; to go about in a despised +land doing good, loved indeed by outcasts and sinners, unknown by +all the dispensers of renown, and consciously despised by all whom +the world honoured---that was the perfect life of the Incarnate God. +And that is an example which His followers seem with one consent to +set aside in their eager race after distinction and work that may +glorify their names. The difficulty of a faithful following of these +precepts, and the only means by which that difficulty can be +overcome, are touchingly taught us in another of Paul's Epistles by +the accumulation of motives which he brings to bear upon his +commandment, when he exhorts by the tender motives of `comfort in +Christ, consolation of love, fellowship of the Spirit, and tender +mercies and compassions, that ye fulfil my joy, being of the same +mind, of one accord; doing nothing through faction or vainglory, but +in lowliness of mind each counting other better than himself.' As +the pattern for each of us in our narrow sphere, he holds forth the +mind that was in Christ Jesus, and the great self-emptying which he +shrank not from, `but being in the form of God counted it not a +prize to be on an equality with God, but, being found in fashion as +a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death.' + +III. The divisive power of intellectual self-conceit. + +In this final clause the Apostle, in some sense, repeats the maxim +with which he began the series of special exhortations in this +chapter. He there enjoined `every one among you not to think of +himself more highly than he ought to think'; here he deals with +one especial form of such too lofty thinking, viz. intellectual +conceit. He is possibly quoting the Book of Proverbs (iii. 7), +where we read, `Be not wise in thine own eyes,' which is preceded +by, `Lean not to thine own understanding; in all thy ways +acknowledge Him'; and is followed by, `Fear the Lord and depart +from evil'; thus pointing to the acknowledgment and fear of the +Lord as the great antagonist of such over-estimate of one's own +wisdom as of all other faults of mind and life. It needs not to +point out how such a disposition breaks Christian unity of spirit. +There is something especially isolating in that form of +self-conceit. There are few greater curses in the Church than +little coteries of superior persons who cannot feed on ordinary +food, whose enlightened intelligence makes them too fastidious to +soil their dainty fingers with rough, vulgar work, and whose +supercilious criticism of the unenlightened souls that are content +to condescend to lowly Christian duties, is like an iceberg that +brings down the temperature wherever it floats. That temper +indulged in, breaks the unity, reduces to inactivity the work, and +puts an end to the progress, of any Christian community in which +it is found; and just as its predominance is harmful, so the +obedience to the exhortation against it is inseparable from the +fulfilling of its sister precepts. To know ourselves for the +foolish creatures that we are, is a mighty help to being `of the +same mind one toward another.' Who thinks of himself soberly and +according to the measure of faith which God hath dealt to him will +not hunger after high things, but rather prefer the lowly ones +that are on a level with his lowly self. + +The exhortations of our text were preceded with injunctions to +distribute material help, and to bestow helpful sympathy. The +tempers enjoined in our present text are the inward source and +fountain of such external bestowments. The rendering of material +help and of sympathetic emotion are right and valuable only as +they are the outcome of this unanimity and lowliness. It is +possible to `distribute to the necessity of saints' in such a way +as that the gift pains more than a blow; it is possible to proffer +sympathy so that the sensitive heart shrinks from it. It was `when +the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one +soul' that it became natural to have all things common. As in the +aurora borealis, quivering beams from different centres stream out +and at each throb approach each other till they touch and make an +arch of light that glorifies the winter's night, so, if Christian +men were `of the same mind toward one another,' did not `set their +minds on high things, but condescended to things that were lowly, +and were not wise in their own conceits,' the Church of Christ +would shine forth in the darkness of a selfish world and would +witness to Him who came down `from the highest throne in glory' to +the lowliest place in this lowly world, that He might lift us to +His own height of glory everlasting. + +\chapter{Still Another Triplet} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 17, 18} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things +honourable in the light of all men. 18. If it be possible, as much +as in you lieth, be at peace with all men.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. +17, 18 (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The closing words of this chapter have a certain unity in that +they deal principally with a Christian's duty in the face of +hostility and antagonism. A previous injunction touched on the +same subject in the exhortation to bless the persecutors; but with +that exception, all the preceding verses have dealt with duties +owing to those with whom we stand in friendly relations. Such +exhortations take no cognisance of the special circumstances of +the primitive Christians as `lambs in the midst of wolves'; and a +large tract of Christian duty would be undealt with, if we had not +such directions for feelings and actions in the face of hate and +hurt. The general precept in our text is expanded in a more +complete form in the verses which follow the text, and we may +postpone its consideration until we have to deal with them. It is +one form of the application of the `love without hypocrisy' which +has been previously recommended. The second of these three +precepts seems quite heterogeneous, but it may be noticed that the +word for `evil' in the former and that for `honourable,' in these +closely resemble each other in sound, and the connection of the +two clauses may be partially owing to that verbal resemblance; +whilst we may also discern a real link between the thoughts in the +consideration that we owe even to our enemies the exhibition of a +life which a prejudiced hostility will be forced to recognise as +good. The third of these exhortations prescribes unmoved +persistence in friendly regard to all men. + +Dealing then, in this sermon only, with the second and third of +these precepts, and postponing the consideration of the first to +the following discourse, we have here the counsel that + +I. Hostility is to be met with a holy and beautiful life. + +The Authorised Version inadequately translates the significant +word in this exhortation by `honest.' The Apostle is not simply +enjoining honesty in our modern, narrow sense of the word, which +limits it to the rendering to every man his own. It is a +remarkable thing that `honest,' like many other words expressing +various types of goodness, has steadily narrowed in signification, +and it is very characteristic of England that probity as to money +and material goods should be its main meaning. Here the word is +used in the full breadth of its ancient use, and is equivalent to +that which is fair with the moral beauty of goodness. + +A Christian man then is bound to live a life which all men will +acknowledge to be good. In that precept is implied the recognition +of even bad men's notions of morality as correct. The Gospel is +not a new system of ethics, though in some points it brings old +virtues into new prominence, and alters their perspective. It is +further implied that the world's standard of what Christians ought +to be may be roughly taken as a true one. Christian men would +learn a great deal about themselves, and might in many respects +heighten their ideal, if they would try to satisfy the +expectations of the most degraded among them as to what they ought +to be. The worst of men has a rude sense of duty which tops the +attainments of the best. Christian people ought to seek for the +good opinion of those around them. They are not to take that +opinion as the motive for their conduct, nor should they do good +in order to be praised or admired for it; but they are to `adorn +the doctrine,' and to let their light shine that men seeing their +good may be led to think more loftily of its source, and so to +`glorify their Father which is in heaven.' That is one way of +preaching the Gospel. The world knows goodness when it sees it, +though it often hates it, and has no better ground for its dislike +of a man than that his purity and beauty of character make the +lives of others seem base indeed. Bats feel the light to be light, +though they flap against it, and the winnowing of their leathery +wings and their blundering flight are witnesses to that against +which they strike. Jesus had to say, `The world hateth Me because +I testify of it that the deeds thereof are evil.' That witness was +the result of His being `the Light of the world'; and if His +followers are illuminated from Him, they will have the same +effect, and must be prepared for the same response. But none the +less is it incumbent upon them to `take thought for things +honourable in the sight of all men.' + +This duty involves the others of taking care that we have goodness +to show, and that we do not make our goodness repulsive by our +additions to it. There are good people who comfort themselves when +men dislike them, or scoff at them, by thinking that their religion +is the cause, when it is only their own roughness and harshness of +character. It is not enough that we present an austere and repellent +virtue; the fair food should be set on a fair platter. This duty is +especially owing to our enemies. They are our keenest critics. They +watch for our halting. The thought of their hostile scrutiny should +ever stimulate us, and the consciousness that Argus-eyes are +watching us, with a keenness sharpened by dislike, should lead us +not only to vigilance over our own steps, but also to the prayer, +`Lead me in a plain path, because of those who watch me.' To +`provide things honest in the sight of all men' is a possible way of +disarming some hostility, conciliating some prejudice, and +commending to some hearts the Lord whom we seek to imitate. + +II. Be sure that, if there is to be enmity, it is all on one +side. + +`As much as in you lieth, be at peace with all.' These words are, +I think, unduly limited when they are supposed to imply that there +are circumstances in which a Christian has a right to be at +strife. As if they meant: Be peaceable as far as you can; but if +it be impossible, then quarrel. The real meaning goes far deeper +than that. `It takes two to make a quarrel,' says the old proverb; +it takes two to make peace also, does it not? We cannot determine +whether our relations with men will be peaceful or no; we are only +answerable for our part, and for that we are answerable. `As much +as lieth in you' is the explanation of `if it be possible.' Your +part is to be at peace; it is not your part up to a certain point +and no further, but always, and in all circumstances, it is your +part. It may not be possible to be at peace with all men; there +may be some who \textit{will} quarrel with you. You are not to +blame for that, but their part and yours are separate, and your +part is the same whatever they do. Be you at peace with all men +whether they are at peace with you or not. Don't you quarrel with +them even if they will quarrel with you. That seems to me to be +plainly the meaning of the words. It would be contrary to the +tenor of the context and the teaching of the New Testament to +suppose that here we had that favourite principle, `There is a +point beyond which forbearance cannot go,' where it becomes right +to cherish hostile sentiments or to try to injure a man. If there +be such a point, it is very remarkable that there is no attempt +made in the New Testament to define it. The nearest approach to +such definition is `till seventy times seven,' the two perfect +numbers multiplied into themselves. So I think that this +injunction absolutely prescribes persistent, patient peacefulness, +and absolutely proscribes our taking up the position of +antagonism, and under no circumstances meeting hate with hate. It +does not follow that there is never to be opposition. It may be +necessary for the good of the opponent himself, and for the good +of society, that he should be hindered in his actions of +hostility, but there is never to be bitterness; and we must take +care that none of the devil's leaven mingles with our zeal against +evil. + +There is no need for enlarging on the enormous difficulty of +carrying out such a commandment in our daily lives. We all know +too well how hard it is; but we may reflect for a moment on the +absolute necessity of obeying this precept to the full. For their +own souls' sakes Christian men are to avoid all bitterness, +strife, and malice. Let us try to remember, and to bring to bear +on our daily lives, the solemn things which Jesus said about God's +forgiveness being measured by our forgiveness. The faithful, even +though imperfect, following of this exhortation would +revolutionise our lives. Nothing that we can only win by fighting +with our fellows is worth fighting for. Men will weary of +antagonism which is met only by the imperturbable calm of a heart +at peace with God, and seeking peace with all men. The hot fire of +hatred dies down, like burning coals scattered on a glacier, when +laid against the crystal coldness of a patient, peaceful spirit. +Watch-dogs in farmhouses will bark half the night through because +they hear another barking a mile off. It takes two to make a +quarrel; let me be sure that I am never one of the two! + +\chapter{Still Another Triplet} +\markright{ROMANS xii. 19--21} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto +wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith +the Lord. 20.\ Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him: if he +thirst, give him drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of +fire on his head. 21.\ Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil +with good.'---\textsc{Romans} xii. 19--21. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The natural instinct is to answer enmity with enmity, and +kindliness with kindliness. There are many people of whom we think +well and like, for no other reason than because we believe that +they think well of and like us. Such a love is really selfishness. +In the same fashion, dislike, and alienation on the part of +another naturally reproduce themselves in our own minds. A dog +will stretch its neck to be patted, and snap at a stick raised to +strike it. It requires a strong effort to master this instinctive +tendency, and that effort the plainest principles of Christian +morality require from us all. The precepts in our text are in +twofold form, negative and positive; and they are closed with a +general principle, which includes both these forms, and much more +besides. There are two pillars, and a great lintel coping them, +like the trilithons of Stonehenge. + +I. We deal with the negative precept. + +`Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto wrath.' Do +not take the law into your own hands, but leave God's way of +retribution to work itself out. By avenging, the Apostle means a +passionate redress of private wrongs at the bidding of personal +resentment. We must note how deep this precept goes. It prohibits +not merely external acts which, in civilised times are restrained +by law, but, as with Christian morality, it deals with thoughts +and feelings, and not only with deeds. It forbids such natural and +common thoughts as `I owe him an ill turn for that'; `I should +like to pay him off.' A great deal of what is popularly called `a +proper spirit' becomes extremely improper if tested by this +precept. There is an eloquent word in German which we can only +clumsily reproduce, which christens the ugly pleasure at seeing +misfortune and calls it `joy in others' disasters.' We have not +the word; would that we had not the thing! + +A solemn reason is added for the difficult precept, in that +frequently misunderstood saying, `Give place unto wrath.' The +question is, Whose wrath? And, plainly, the subsequent words of +the section show that it is God's. That quotation comes from +Deuteronomy xxxii. 35. It is possibly unfortunate that `vengeance' +is ascribed to God; for hasty readers lay hold of the idea of +passionate resentment, and transfer it to Him, whereas His +retributive action has in it no resentment and no passion. Nor are +we to suppose that the thought here is only the base one, +\textit{they are sure to be punished, so we need not trouble}. The +Apostle points to the solemn fact of retribution as an element in +the Divine government. It is not merely automatically working laws +which recompense evil by evil, but it is the face of the Lord +which is inexorably and inevitably set `against them that do +evil.' That recompense is not hidden away in the future behind the +curtain of death, but is realised in the present, as every +evil-doer too surely and bitterly experiences. + +`Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.' God only has +the right to recompense the ungodly and the sinner as well as the +righteous. Dwelling in such a system as we do, how dares any one +take that work into his hands? It requires perfect knowledge of +the true evil of an action, which no one has who cannot read the +heart; it requires perfect freedom from passion; it requires +perfect immunity from evil desert on the part of the avenger; in a +word, it belongs to God, and to Him alone. We have nothing to do +with apportioning retribution to desert, either in private actions +or in the treatment of so-called criminals. In the latter our +objects should be reformation and the safety of society. If we add +to these retribution, we transcend our functions. + +II. Take the positive,---Follow God's way of meeting hostility +with beneficence. + +The hungry enemy is to be fed, the thirsty to be given drink; and +the reason is, that such beneficence will `heap coals of fire upon +his head.' The negative is not enough. To abstain from vengeance +will leave the heart unaffected, and may simply issue in the +cessation of all intercourse. The reason assigned sounds at first +strange. It is clear that the `coals of fire' which are to be +heaped on the head are meant to melt and soften the heart, and +cause it to glow with love. There may be also included the burning +pangs of shame felt by a man whose evil is answered by good. But +these are secondary and auxiliary to the true end of kindling the +fire of love in his alienated heart. The great object which every +Christian man is bound to have in view is to win over the enemy +and melt away misconceptions and hostility. It is not from any +selfish regard to one's own personal ease that we are so to act, +but because of the sacred regard which Christ has taught us to +cherish for the blessing of peace amongst men, and in order that +we may deliver a brother from the snare, and make him share in the +joys of fellowship with God. The only way to burn up the evil in +his heart is by heaping coals of kindness and beneficence on his +head. And for such an end it becomes us to watch for +opportunities. We have to mark the right moment, and make sure +that we time our offer for food when he is hungry and of drink +when he thirsts; for often \textit{mal-a-propos} offers of +kindness make things worse. Such is God's way. His thunderbolts we +cannot grasp, His love we can copy. Of the two weapons mercy and +judgment which He holds in His hand, the latter is emphatically +His own; the former should be ours too. + +III. In all life meet and conquer evil with good. + +This last precept, `Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil +with good,' is cast into a form which covers not only relations to +enemies, but all contact with evil of every kind. It involves many +great thoughts which can here be only touched. It implies that in +all our lives we have to fight evil, and that it conquers, and we +are beaten when we are led to do it. It is only conquered by being +transformed into good. We overcome our foes when we win them to be +lovers. We overcome our temptations to doing wrong when we make +them occasions for developing virtues; we overcome the evil of +sorrow when we use it to bring us nearer to God; we overcome the +men around us when we are not seduced by their example to evil, +but attract them to goodness by ours. + +Evil is only thus transformed by the positive exercise of goodness +on our part. We have seen this in regard to enemies in the +preceding remarks. In regard to other forms of evil, it is often +better not to fight them directly, but to occupy the mind and +heart with positive truth and goodness, and the will and hands +with active service. A rusty knife shall not be cleaned so +effectually by much scouring as by strenuous use. Our lives are to +be moulded after the great example of Him, who at almost the last +moment of His earthly course said, `Be of good cheer: I have +overcome the world.' Jesus seeks to conquer evil in us all, and +counts that He has conquered it when He has changed it into +love. + +\chapter{Love and the Day} +\markright{ROMANS xiii. 8--14} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Owe no man anything, but to love one another: for he that loveth +another hath fulfilled the law. 9.\ For this, Thou shalt not +commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou +shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there +be any other commandment it is briefly comprehended in this +saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 10.\ +Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the +fulfilling of the law. 11.\ And that, knowing the time, that now +it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation +nearer than when we believed. 12.\ The night is far spent, the day +is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and +let us put on the armour of light, 13.\ Let us walk honestly, as +in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and +wantonness, not in strife and envying: 14.\ But put ye on the Lord +Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the +lusts thereof.'---\textsc{Romans} xiii. 8--14. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The two paragraphs of this passage are but slightly connected. The +first inculcates the obligation of universal love; and the second +begins by suggesting, as a motive for the discharge of that duty, +the near approach of `the day.' The light of that dawn draws +Paul's eyes and leads him to wider exhortations on Christian +purity as befitting the children of light. + +I. Verses 8--10 set forth the obligation of a love which embraces +all men, and comprehends all duties to them. The Apostle has just +been laying down the general exhortation, `Pay every man his due' +and applying it especially to the Christian's relation to civic +rulers. He repeats it in a negative form, and bases on it the +obligation of loving every man. That love is further represented +as the sum and substance of the law. Thus Paul brings together two +thoughts which are often dealt with as mutually +exclusive,---namely, love and law. He does not talk +sentimentalisms about the beauty of charity and the like, but lays +it down, as a `hard and fast rule,' that we are bound to love +every man with whom we come in contact; or, as the Greek has it, +`the other.' + +That is the first plain truth taught here. Love is not an emotion +which we may indulge or not, as we please. It is not to select its +objects according to our estimate of their lovableness or +goodness. But we are bound to love, and that all round, without +distinction of beautiful or ugly, good or bad. `A hard saying; who +can hear it?' Every man is our creditor for that debt. He does not +get his due from us unless he gets love. Note, further, that the +debt of love is never discharged. After all payments it still +remains owing. There is no paying in full of all demands, and, as +Bengel says, it is an undying debt. We are apt to weary of +expending love, especially on unworthy recipients, and to think +that we have wiped off all claims, and it may often be true that +our obligations to others compel us to cease helping one; but if +we laid Paul's words to heart, our patience would be +longer-breathed, and we should not be so soon ready to shut hearts +and purses against even unthankful suitors. + +Further, Paul here teaches us that this debt (\textit{debitum}, +`duty') of love includes all duties. It is the fulfilling of the +law, inasmuch as it will secure the conduct which the law +prescribes. The Mosaic law itself indicates this, since it +recapitulates the various commandments of the second table, in the +one precept of love to our neighbour (Lev. xix. 18). Law enjoins +but has no power to get its injunctions executed. Love enables and +inclines to do all that law prescribes, and to avoid all that it +prohibits. The multiplicity of duties is melted into unity; and +that unity, when it comes into act, unfolds into whatsoever things +are lovely and of good report. Love is the mother tincture which, +variously diluted and manipulated, yields all potent and fragrant +draughts. It is the white light which the prism of daily life +resolves into its component colours. + +But Paul seems to limit the action of love here to negative doing +no ill. That is simply because the commandments are mostly +negative, and that they are is a sad token of the lovelessness +natural to us all. But do we love ourselves only negatively, or +are we satisfied with doing ourselves no harm? That stringent +pattern of love to others not only prescribes degree, but manner. +It teaches that true love to men is not weak indulgence, but must +sometimes chastise, and thwart, and always must seek their good, +and not merely their gratification. + +Whoever will honestly seek to apply that negative precept of +working no ill to others, will find it positive enough. We harm +men when we fail to help them. If we can do them a kindness, and +do it not, we do them ill. Non-activity for good is activity for +evil. Surely, nothing can be plainer than the bearing of this +teaching on the Christian duty as to intoxicants. If by using +these a Christian puts a stumbling-block in the way of a weak +will, then he is working ill to his neighbour, and that argues +absence of love, and that is dishonest, shirking payment of a +plain debt. + +II. The great stimulus to love and to all purity is set forth as +being the near approach---of the day (verses 11--14). `The day,' +in Paul's writing, has usually the sense of the great day of the +Lord's return, and may have that meaning here; for, as Jesus has +told us, `it is not for' even inspired Apostles `to know the times +or the seasons,' and it is no dishonour to apostolic inspiration +to assign to it the limits which the Lord has assigned. + +But, whether we take this as the meaning of the phrase, or regard +it simply as pointing to the time of death as the dawning of +heaven's day, the weight of the motive is unaffected. The language +is vividly picturesque. The darkness is thinning, and the +blackness turning grey. Light begins to stir and whisper. A band +of soldiers lies asleep, and, as the twilight begins to dawn, the +bugle call summons them to awake, to throw off their +night-gear,---namely, the works congenial to darkness,---and to +brace on their armour of light. Light may here be regarded as the +material of which the glistering armour is made; but, more +probably, the expression means weapons appropriate to the +light. + +Such being the general picture, we note the fact which underlies +the whole representation; namely, that every life is a definite +whole which has a fixed end. Jesus said, `We must work the works +of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh.' Paul uses +the opposite metaphors in these verses. But, though the two +sayings are opposite in form, they are identical in substance. In +both, the predominant thought is that of the rapidly diminishing +space of earthly life, and the complete unlikeness to it of the +future. We stand like men on a sandbank with an incoming tide, and +every wash of the waves eats away its edges, and presently it will +yield below our feet. We forget this for the most part, and +perhaps it is not well that it should be ever present; but that it +should never be present is madness and sore loss. + +Paul, in his intense moral earnestness, in verse 13, bids us +regard ourselves as already in `the day,' and shape our conduct as +if it shone around us and all things were made manifest by its +light. The sins to be put off are very gross and palpable. They +are for the most part sins of flesh, such as even these Roman +Christians had to be warned against, and such as need to be +manifested by the light even now among many professing Christian +communities. + +But Paul has one more word to say. If he stopped without it, he +would have said little to help men who are crying out, `How am I +to strip off this clinging evil, which seems my skin rather than +my clothing? How am I to put on that flashing panoply?' There is +but one way,---put on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we commit +ourselves to Him by faith, and front our temptations in His +strength, and thus, as it were, wrap ourselves in Him, He will be +to us dress and armour, strength and righteousness. Our old self +will fall away, and we shall take no forethought for the flesh, to +fulfil the lusts thereof. + +\chapter{Salvation Nearer} +\markright{ROMANS xiii. 11} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`... Now is our salvation nearer than when we +believed.'---\textsc{Romans} xiii. 11. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There is no doubt, I suppose, that the Apostle, in common with the +whole of the early Church, entertained more or less consistently the +expectation of living to witness the second coming of Jesus Christ. +There are in Paul's letters passages which look both in the +direction of that anticipation, and in the other one of expecting to +taste death. `We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the +Lord,' he says twice in one chapter. `I am ready to be offered, and +the hour of my departure is at hand,' he says in his last letter. + +Now this contrariety of anticipation is but the natural result of +what our Lord Himself said, `It is not for you to know the times +and the seasons,' and no one, who is content to form his doctrine +of the knowledge resulting from inspiration from the words of +Jesus Christ Himself, need stumble in the least degree in +recognising the plain fact that Paul and his brother Apostles did +not know when the Master was to come. Christ Himself had told them +that there was a chamber locked against their entrance, and +therefore we do not need to think that it militates against the +authoritative inspiration of these early teachers of the Church, +if they, too, searched `what manner of time the Spirit which was +in them did signify when it testified beforehand ... the glory +that should follow.' + +Now, my text is evidently the result of the former of these two +anticipations, viz. that Paul and his generation were probably to +see the coming of the Lord from heaven. And to him the thought +that' the night was far spent,' as the context says, `and the day +was at hand,' underlay his most buoyant hope, and was the +inspiration and motive-spring of his most strenuous effort. + +Now, our relation to the closing moments of our own earthly lives, +to the fact of death, is precisely the same as that of the Apostle +and his brethren to the coming of the Lord. We, too, stand in that +position of partial ignorance, and for us practically the words of +my text, and all their parallel words, point to how we should +think of, and how we should be affected by, the end to which we +are coming. And this is the grand characteristic of the Christian +view of that last solemn moment. `Now is our salvation nearer than +when we believed.' So I would note, first of all, what these words +teach us should be the Christian view of our own end; and, second, +to what conduct that view should lead us. + +I. The Christian view of death. + +`Now is our salvation nearer.' We have to think away by faith and +hope all the grim externals of death, and to get to the heart of +the thing. And then everything that is repulsive, everything that +makes flesh and blood shrink, disappears and is evaporated, and +beneath the folds of his black garment, there is revealed God's +last, sweetest, most triumphant angel-messenger to Christian +souls, the great, strong, silent Angel of Death, and he carries in +his hand the gift of a full salvation. That is what our Apostle +rose to the rapture of beholding, when he knew that the thought of +his surviving till Christ came again must be put away, and when +close to the last moment of his life, he said, `The Lord shall +deliver me, and save me into His everlasting kingdom.' What was +the deliverance and being saved that he expected and expresses in +these words? Immunity from punishment? Escape from the headsman's +axe? Being `delivered from the mouth of the lion,' the persecuting +fangs of the bloody Nero? By no means. He knew that death was at +hand, and he said, `He will save me'---not from it, but through +it---`into His everlasting kingdom.' And so in the words of my +text we may say---though Paul did not mean them so---as we see the +distance between us, and that certain close, dwindling, dwindling, +dwindling: `Now,' as moment after moment ticks itself into the +past, `now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.' +Children, when they are getting near their holidays, take strips +of paper, and tear off a piece as each day passes. And as we tear +off the days let us feel that we are drawing closer to our home, +and that the blessedness laid up for us in it is drawing nearer to +us. `Our salvation,' not our destruction, our fuller life, not in +any true sense of the word our `death,' is `nearer than when we +believed.' + +But some one may say, `Is a man not saved till after he is dead?' +Is salvation future, not coming till after the grave? No, +certainly not. There are three aspects of that word in Scripture. +Sometimes the New Testament writers treat salvation as past, and +represent a Christian as being invested with the possession of it +all at the very moment of his first faith. That is true, that +whatever is yet to be evolved from what is given to the poorest +and foulest sinner, in the moment of his initial faith in Christ, +there is nothing to be added to it. The salvation which the +penitent thief received on the cross is all the salvation that he +was ever to get. But out of it there came welling and welling and +welling, when he had passed into the region `where beyond these +voices there is peace'---there came welling out from that +inexhaustible fountain which was opened in him all the fullnesses +of an eternal progress in the heavens. And so it is with us. +Salvation is a past gift which we received when we believed. + +But in another aspect, which is also emphatically stated in +Scripture, it is a progressive process, and not merely a gift +bestowed once for all in the past. I do not dwell upon that thought, +but just remind you of a turn of expression which occurs in various +connections more than once. `The Lord added to the Church daily such +as were being saved,' says Luke. Still more emphatically in the +Epistle to the Corinthians, the Apostle puts into antithesis the two +progressive processes, and speaks of the Gospel as being preached, +and being a savour of life unto life `to them that are being saved,' +and a savour of destruction `to them that are being lost.' No moral +or spiritual condition is stereotyped or stagnant. It is all +progressive. And so the salvation that is given once for all is ever +being unfolded, and the Christian life on earth is the unfolding of +it. + +But in another aspect still, such as is presented in my text, and +in other parallel passages, that salvation is regarded as lying on +the other side of the flood, because the manifestations of it +there, the evolving there of what is in it, and the great gifts +that come then, are so transcendently above all even of our +selectest experiences here, that they are, as it were, new, though +still their roots are in the old. The salvation which culminates +in the absolute removal from our whole being of all manner of +evil, whether it be sorrow or sin, and in the conclusive bestowal +upon us of all manner of good, whether it be righteousness or joy, +and which has for its seal `the adoption, to wit, the redemption +of the body,' so that body, soul, and spirit `make one music as +before, but vaster,' is so far beyond the germs of itself which +here we experience that my text and its like are amply vindicated. +And the man who is most fully persuaded and conscious that he +possesses the salvation of God, and most fully and blessedly aware +that that salvation is gradually gaining power in his life, is the +very man who will most feel that between its highest manifestation +on earth, and its lowest in the heavens there is such a gulf as +that the wine that he will drink there at the Father's table is +indeed new wine. And so `is our salvation nearer,' though we +already possess it, `than when we believed.' + +Dear brethren, if these things be true, and if to die is to be +saved into the kingdom, do not two thoughts result? The one is +that that blessed consummation should occupy more of our thoughts +than I am afraid it does. As life goes on, and the space dwindles +between us and it, we older people naturally fall into the way, +unless we are fools, of more seriously and frequently turning our +thoughts to the end. I suppose the last week of a voyage to +Australia has far more thoughts in it about the landing next week +than the two or three first days of beating down the English +Channel had. I do not want to put old heads on young shoulders in +this or in any other respect. But sure I am that it does belong +very intimately to the strength of our Christian characters that +we should, as the Psalmist says, be `wise' to `consider our latter +end.' + +The other thought that follows is as plain, viz. that that +anticipation should always be buoyant, hopeful, joyous. We have +nothing to do with the sad aspects of parting from earth. They are +all but non-existent for the Christian consciousness, when it is +as vigorous and God-directed as it ought to be. They drop into the +background, and sometimes are lost to sight altogether. Remember +how this Apostle, when he does think about death, looks at it +with---I was going to quote words which may strike you as being +inappropriate---`a frolic welcome'; how, at all events, he is +neither a bit afraid of it, nor does he see in it anything from +which to shrink. He speaks of being with Christ, which is far +better; `absent from the body, present with the Lord'; `the +dissolution of the earthly house of this tabernacle'---the +tumbling down of the old clay cottage in order that a stately +palace of marble and precious stones may be reared upon its site; +`the hour of my departure is at hand; I have finished the fight.' +Peter, too, chimes in with his words: `My exodus; my departure,' +and both of the two are looking, if not longingly, at all events +without a tremor of the eyelid, into the very eyeballs of the +messenger whom most men feel so hideous. Is it not a wonderful +gift to Christian souls that by faith in Jesus Christ, the realm +in which their hope can expatiate is more than doubled, and +annexes the dim lands beyond the frontier of death? Dear friends, +if we are living in Christ, the thought of the end and that here +we are absent from home, ought to be infinitely sweet, of whatever +superficial terrors this poor, shrinking flesh may still be +conscious. And I am sure that the nearer we get to our Saviour, +and the more we realise the joyous possession of salvation as +already ours, and the more we are conscious of the expanding of +that gift in our hearts, the more we shall be delivered from that +fear of death which makes men all their `lifetime subject to +bondage.' So I beseech you to aim at this, that, when you look +forward, the furthest thing you see on the horizon of earth may be +that great Angel of Death coming to save you into the everlasting +kingdom. + +Now, just a word about + +II. The conduct to which such a hope should incite. + +The Apostle puts it very plainly in the context, and we need but +expand in a word or two what he teaches us there. `And that +knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, +for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.' To what +does he refer by `that'? The whole of the practical exhortations +to a Christian life which have been given before. Everything that +is duty becomes tenfold more stringent and imperative when we +apprehend the true meaning of that last moment. They tell us that +it is unwholesome to be thinking about death and the beyond, +because to do so takes away interest from much of our present +occupations and weakens energy. If there is anything from which a +man is wrenched away because he steadily contemplates the fact of +being wrenched away altogether from everything before long, it is +something that he had better be wrenched from. And if there be any +occupations which dwindle into nothingness, and into which a man +cannot for the life of him fling himself with any thoroughgoing +enthusiasm or interest, if once the thought of death stirs in him, +depend upon it they are occupations which are in themselves +contemptible and unworthy. All good aims will gain greater power +over us; we shall have a saner estimate of what is worth living +for; we shall have a new standard of what is the relative +importance of things; and if some that looked very great turn out +to be very small when we let that searching light in upon them, +and others which seemed very insignificant spring suddenly up into +dominating magnitude---that new and truer perspective will be all +clear gain. The more we feel that our salvation is sweeping +towards us, as it were, from the throne of God through the blue +abysses, the more diligently we shall `work while it is called +day,' and the more earnestly we shall seek, when the Saviour and +His salvation come, to be found with loins girt for all strenuous +work, and lamps burning in all the brightness of the light of a +Christian character. + +Further, says Paul, this hopeful, cheerful contemplation of +approaching salvation should lead us to cast off the evil, and to +put on the good. You will remember the heart-stirring imagery +which the Apostle employs in the context, where he says, `The day +is at hand; let us therefore fling off the works of darkness'---as +men in the morning, when the daylight comes through the window, +and makes them lift their eyelids, fling off their +night-gear---`and let us put on the armour of light.' We are +soldiers, and must be clad in what will be bullet-proof, and will +turn a sword's edge. And where shall steel of celestial temper be +found that can resist the fiery darts shot at the Christian +soldier? His armour must be `of light.' Clad in the radiance of +Christian character he will be invulnerable. And how can we, who +have robed ourselves in the works of darkness, either cast them +off or array ourselves in sparkling armour of light? Paul tells +us, `Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for +the flesh.' The picture is of a camp of sleeping soldiers; the +night wears thin, the streaks of saffron are coming in the dawning +east. One after another the sleepers awake; they cast aside their +night-gear, and they brace on the armour that sparkles in the +beams of the morning sun. So they are ready when the trumpet +sounds the reveille, and with the morning comes the Captain of the +Lord's host, and with the Captain comes the perfecting of the +salvation which is drawing nearer and nearer to us, as our moments +glide through our fingers like the beads of a rosary. Many men +think of death and fear; the Christian should think of death---and +hope. + +\chapter{The Soldier's Morning-call} +\markright{ROMANS xiii. 12} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Let us put on the armour of light.'---\textsc{Romans} xiii. 12. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +It is interesting to notice that the metaphor of the Christian +armour occurs in Paul's letters throughout his whole course. It +first appears, in a very rudimentary form, in the earliest of the +Epistles, that to the Thessalonians. It appears here in a letter +which belongs to the middle of his career, and it appears finally +in the Epistle to the Ephesians, in its fully developed and +drawn-out shape, at almost the end of his work. So we may fairly +suppose that it was one of his familiar thoughts. Here it has a +very picturesque addition, for the picture that is floating before +his vivid imagination is that of a company of soldiers, roused by +the morning bugle, casting off their night-gear because the day is +beginning to dawn, and bracing on the armour that sparkles in the +light of the rising sun. `That,' says Paul, `is what you Christian +people ought to be. Can you not hear the notes of the reveille? +The night is far spent; the day is at hand; therefore let us put +off the works of darkness---the night-gear that was fit for those +hours of slumber. Toss it away, and put on the armour that belongs +to the day.' + +Now, I am not going to ask or try to answer the question of how +far this Apostolic exhortation is based upon the Apostle's +expectation that the world was drawing near its end. That does not +matter at all for us at present, for the fact which he expresses +as the foundation of this exhortation is true about us all, and +about our position in the midst of these fleeting shadows round +us. We are hastening to the dawning of the true day. And so let me +try to emphasise the exhortation here, old and threadbare and +commonplace as it is, because we all need it, at whatever point of +life's journey we have arrived. + +Now, the first thing that strikes me is that the garb for the man +expectant of the day is armour. + +We might have anticipated something very different in accordance +with the thoughts that Paul's imagery here suggests, about the +difference between the night which is so swiftly passing, and is +full of enemies and dangers, and the day which is going to dawn, +and is full of light and peace and joy. We might have expected +that he would have said, `Let us put on the festal robes.' But no! +`The night is far spent; the day is at hand.' But the dress that +befits the expectant of the day is not yet the robe of the feast, +but it is `the armour' which, put into plain words, means just +this, that there is fighting, always fighting, to be done. If you +are ever to belong to the day, you have to equip yourselves +\textit{now} with armour and weapons. I do not need to dwell upon +that, but I do wish to insist upon this fact, that after all that +may be truly said about growth in grace, and the peaceful +approximation towards perfection in the Christian character, we +cannot dispense with the other element in progress, and that is +fighting. We have to struggle for every step. \textit{Growth} is +not enough to define completely the process by which men become +conformed to the image of the Father, and are `made meet to be +partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.' Growth does +express part of it, but only a part. Conflict is needed to come +in, before you have the whole aspect of Christian progress before +your minds. For there will always be antagonism without and +traitors within. There will always be recalcitrant horses that +need to be whipped up, and jibbing horses that need to be dragged +forward, and shying ones that need to be violently coerced and +kept in the traces. Conflict is the law, because of the enemies, +and because of the conspiracy between the weakness within and the +things without that appeal to it. + +We hear a great deal to-day about being `sanctified by faith.' I +believe that as much as any man, but the office of faith is to +bring us the power that cleanses, and the application of that +power requires our work, and it requires our fighting. So it is +not enough to say, `Trust for your sanctifying as you have trusted +for your justifying and acceptance,' but you have to work out what +you get by your faith, and you will never work it out unless you +fight against your unworthy self, and the temptations of the +world. The garb of the candidate for the day is armour. + +And there is another side to that same thought, and that is, the +more vivid our expectations of that blessed dawn the more complete +should be our bracing on of the armour. The anticipation of that +future, in very many instances, in the Christian Church, has led +to precisely the opposite state of mind. It has induced people to +drop into mere fantastic sentiment, or to ignore this contemptible +present, and think that they have nothing to do with it, and are +only `waiting for the coming of the Lord,' and the like. Paul +says, `Just because, on your eastern horizon, you can see the pink +flush that tells that the night is gone, and the day is coming, +therefore do not be a sentimentalist, do not be idle, do not be +negligent or contemptuous of the daily tasks; but because you see +it, put on the armour of light, and whether the time between the +rising of the whole orb of the sun on the horizon be long or +short, fill the hours with triumphant conflict. Put on the whole +armour of light.' + +Again, note here what the armour is. Of course that phrase, `the +armour of light,' may be nothing more than a little bit of colour +put in by a picturesque imagination, and may suggest simply how +the burnished steel would shine and glitter when the sunbeams +smote it, and the glistening armour, like that of Spenser's Red +Cross Knight, would make a kind of light in the dark cave, into +which he went. Or it may mean `the armour that befits the light'; +as is perhaps suggested by the antithesis `the works of darkness,' +which are to be `put off.' These are works that match the +darkness, and similarly the armour is to be the armour that befits +the light, and that can flash back its beams. But I think there is +more than that in the expression. I would rather take the phrase +to be parallel to another of this Apostle's, who speaks in 2nd +Corinthians of the `armour of righteousness on the right hand and +on the left.' `Light' makes the armour, `righteousness' makes the +armour. The two phrases say the same thing, the one in plain +English, the other in figure, which being brought down to daily +life is just this, that the true armour and weapon of a Christian +man is Christian character. `Whatsoever things are true, +whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good +report,' these are the pieces of armour, and these are the weapons +which we are to wield. A Christian man fights against evil in +himself by putting on good. The true way to empty the heart of sin +is to fill the heart with righteousness. The lances of the light, +according to the significant old Greek myth, slew pythons. The +armour is `righteousness on the right hand and on the left.' Stick +to plain, simple, homely duties, and you will find that they will +defend your heart against many a temptation. A flask that is full +of rich wine may be plunged into the saltest ocean, and not a drop +will find its way in. Fill your heart with righteousness; your +lives---let them glisten in the light, and the light will be your +armour. God is light, wherefore God cannot be tempted with evil. +`Walk in the light, as He is in the light' ... and `the blood of +Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.' + +But there is another side to that thought, for if you will look, +at your leisure, to the closing words of the chapter, you will +find the Apostle's own exposition of what putting on the armour of +light means. `Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ'---that is his +explanation of putting on `the armour of light.' For `once ye were +darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord,' and it is in the +measure in which we are united to Him, by the faith which binds us +to Him, and by the love which works obedience and conformity, that +we wear the invulnerable armour of light. Christ Himself is, and +He supplies to all, the separate graces which Christian men can +wear. We may say that He is `the panoply of God,' as Paul calls it +in Ephesians, and when we wear Him, and only in the measure in +which we do wear Him, in that measure are we clothed with it. And +so the last thing that I would point out here is that the +obedience to these commands requires continual effort. + +The Christians in Rome, to whom Paul was writing, were no novices +in the Christian life. Long ago many of them had been brought to +Him. But the oldest Christian amongst them needed the exhortation +as much as the rawest recruit in the ranks. Continual renewal day +by day is what we need, and it will not be secured without a great +deal of work. Seeing that there is a `putting off' to go along +with the `putting on,' the process is a very long one. `'Tis a +lifelong task till the lump be leavened.' It is a lifelong task +till we strip off all the rags of this old self; and `being +clothed,' are not `found naked.' It takes a lifetime to fathom +Jesus; it takes a lifetime to appropriate Jesus, it takes a +lifetime to be clothed with Jesus. And the question comes to each +of us, have we `put off the old man with his deeds'? Are we daily, +as sure as we put on our clothes in the morning, putting on Christ +the Lord? + +For notice with what solemnity the Apostle gives the master His +full, official, formal title here, `put ye on the \textit{Lord +Jesus Christ}.' Do we put Him on as \textit{Lord}; bowing our +whole wills to Him, and accepting Him, His commandments, promises, +providences, with glad submission? Do we put on \textit{Jesus}, +recognising in His manhood as our Brother not only the pattern of +our lives, but the pledge that the pattern, by His help and love, +is capable of reproduction in ourselves? Do we put Him on as `the +Lord Jesus \textit{Christ},' who was anointed with the Divine +Spirit, that from the head it might flow, even to the skirts of +the garments, and every one of us might partake of that unction +and be made pure and clean thereby? `Put ye on the Lord Jesus +Christ,' and do it day by day, and then you have `put on the whole +armour of God.' + +And when the day that is dawning has risen to its full, then, not +till then, may we put off the armour and put on the white robe, +lay aside the helmet, and have our brows wreathed with the laurel, +sheathe the sword, and grasp the palm, being `more than conquerors +through Him who loved us,' and fights in us, as well as for +us. + +\chapter{The Limits of Liberty} +\markright{ROMANS xiv. 12--23} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. +13.\ Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge +this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock, or an occasion to +fall, in his brother's way. 14.\ I know, and am persuaded by the +Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him +that esteemeth anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. 15.\ +But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not +charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. +16.\ Let not then your good be evil spoken of: 17.\ For the +kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and +peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. 18.\ For he that in these things +serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men. 19.\ Let +us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and +things wherewith one may edify another. 20.\ For meat destroy not +the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for +that man who eateth with offence. 21.\ It is good neither to eat +flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother +stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. 22.\ Hast thou faith? +have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not +himself in that thing which he alloweth. 23.\ And he that doubteth +is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for +whatsoever is not of faith is sin.'---\textsc{Romans} xiv. 12--23. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The special case in view, in the section of which this passage is +part, is the difference of opinion as to the lawfulness of eating +certain meats. It is of little consequence, so far as the +principles involved are concerned, whether these were the food +which the Mosaic ordinances made unclean, or, as in Corinth, meats +offered to idols. The latter is the more probable, and would be +the more important in Rome. The two opinions on the point +represented two tendencies of mind, which always exist; one more +scrupulous, and one more liberal. Paul has been giving the former +class the lesson they needed in the former part of this chapter; +and he now turns to the `stronger' brethren, and lays down the law +for their conduct. We may, perhaps, best simply follow him, verse +by verse. + +We note then, first, the great thought with which he starts, that +of the final judgment, in which each man shall give account of +himself. What has that to do with the question in hand? This, that +it ought to keep us from premature and censorious judging. We have +something more pressing to do than to criticise each other. +Ourselves are enough to keep our hands full, without taking a lift +of our fellows' conduct. And this, further, that, in view of the +final judgment, we should hold a preliminary investigation on our +own principles of action, and `decide' to adopt as the overruling +law for ourselves, that we shall do nothing which will make duty +harder for our brethren. Paul habitually settled small matters on +large principles, and brought the solemnities of the final account +to bear on the marketplace and the meal. + +In verse 13 he lays down the supreme principle for settling the +case in hand. No Christian is blameless if he voluntarily acts so +as to lay a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in another's +path. Are these two things the same? Possibly, but a man may +stumble, and not fall, and that which makes him stumble may +possibly indicate a temptation to a less grave evil than that +which makes him fall does. It may be noticed that in the sequel we +hear of a brother's being `grieved' first, and then of his being +`overthrown.' In any case, there is no mistake about the principle +laid down and repeated in verse 21. It is a hard saying for some +of us. Is my liberty to be restricted by the narrow scruples of +`strait-laced' Christians? Yes. Does not that make them masters, +and attach too much importance to their narrowness? No. It +recognises Christ as Master, and all His servants as brethren. If +the scrupulous ones go so far as to say to the more liberal, `You +cannot be Christians if you do not do as we do' then the limits of +concession have been reached, and we are to do as Paul did, when +he flatly refused to yield one hair's-breadth to the Judaisers. If +a man says, You must adopt this, that, or the other limitation in +conduct, or else you shall be unchurched, the only answer is, I +will not. We are to be flexible as long as possible, and let weak +brethren's scruples restrain our action. But if they insist on +things indifferent as essential, a yet higher duty than that of +regard to their weak consciences comes in, and faithfulness to +Christ limits concession to His servants. + +But, short of that extreme case, Paul lays down the law of curbing +liberty in deference to `narrowness.' In verse 14 he states with +equal breadth the extreme principle of the liberal party, that +nothing is unclean of itself. He has learned that `in the Lord +Jesus.' Before he was `in Him,' he had been entangled in cobwebs +of legal cleanness and uncleanness; but now he is free. But he +adds an exception, which must be kept in mind by the +liberal-minded section---namely, that a clean thing is unclean to +a man who thinks it is. Of course, these principles do not affect +the eternal distinctions of right and wrong. Paul is not playing +fast and loose with the solemn, divine law which makes sin and +righteousness independent of men's notions. He is speaking of +things indifferent---ceremonial observances and the like; and the +modern analogies of these are conventional pieces of conduct, in +regard to amusements and the like, which, in themselves, a +Christian man can do or abstain from without sin. + +Verse 15 is difficult to understand, if the `for' at the beginning +is taken strictly. Some commentators would read instead of it a +simple `but' which smooths the flow of thought. But possibly the +verse assigns a reason for the law in verse 13, rather than for +the statements in verse 14. And surely there is no stronger reason +for tender consideration for even the narrowest scruples of +Christians than the obligation to walk in love. Our common +brotherhood binds us to do nothing that would even grieve one of +the family. For instance, Christian men have different views of +the obligations of Sunday observance. It is conceivable that a +very `broad' Christian might see no harm in playing lawn-tennis in +his garden on a Sunday; but if his doing so scandalised, or, as +Paul says, `grieved' Christian people of less advanced views, he +would be sinning against the law of love if he did it. + +There are many other applications of the principle readily +suggested. The principle is the thing to keep clearly in view. It +has a wide field for its exercise in our times, and when the +Christian brotherhood includes such diversities of culture and +social condition. And that is a solemn deepening of it, `Destroy +not with thy meat him for whom Christ died.' Note the almost +bitter emphasis on `thy,' which brings out not only the smallness +of the gratification for which the mischief is done, but the +selfishness of the man who will not yield up so small a thing to +shield from evil which may prove fatal, a brother for whom Christ +did not shrink from yielding up life. If He is our pattern, any +sacrifice of tastes and liberties for our brother's sake is plain +duty, and cannot be neglected without selfish sin. One great +reason, then, for the conduct enjoined, is set forth in verse 15. +It is the clear dictate of Christian love. + +Another reason is urged in verses 16 to 18. It displays the true +character of Christianity, and so reflects honour on the doer. +`Your good' is an expression for the whole sum of the blessings +obtained by becoming Christians, and is closely connected with +what is here meant by the `kingdom of God.' That latter phrase +seems here to be substantially equivalent to the inward condition +in which they are who have submitted to the dominion of the will +of God. It is `the kingdom within us' which is `righteousness, +peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' What have you won by your +Christianity? the Apostle in effect says, Do you think that its +purpose is mainly to give you greater licence in regard to these +matters in question? If the most obvious thing in your conduct is +your `eating and drinking,' your whole Christian standing will be +misconceived, and men will fancy that your religion permits laxity +of life. But if, on the other hand, you show that you are Christ's +servants by righteousness, peace, and joy, you will be pleasing to +God, and men will recognise that your religion is from Him, and +that you are consistent professors of it. + +Modern liberal-minded brethren can easily translate all this for +to-day's use. Take care that you do not give the impression that +your Christianity has its main operation in permitting you to do +what your weaker brethren have scruples about. If you do not yield +to them, but flaunt your liberty in their and the world's faces, +your advanced enlightenment will be taken by rough-and-ready +observers as mainly cherished because it procures you these +immunities. Show by your life that you have the true spiritual +gifts. Think more about them than about your `breadth,' and +superiority to `narrow prejudices.' Realise the purpose of the +Gospel as concerns your own moral perfecting, and the questions in +hand will fall into their right place. + +In verses 19 and 20 two more reasons are given for restricting +liberty in deference to others' scruples. Such conduct contributes +to peace. If truth is imperilled, or Christ's name in danger of +being tarnished, counsels of peace are counsels of treachery; but +there are not many things worth buying at the price of Christian +concord. Such conduct tends to build up our own and others' +Christian character. Concessions to the `weak' may help them to +become strong, but flying in the face of their scruples is sure to +hurt them, in one way or another. + +In verse 15, the case was supposed of a brother's being grieved by +what he felt to be laxity. That case corresponded to the +stumbling-block of verse 13. A worse result seems contemplated in +verse 20,---that of the weak brother, still believing that laxity +was wrong, and yet being tempted by the example of the stronger to +indulge in it. In that event, the responsibility of overthrowing +what God had built lies at the door of the tempter. The metaphor +of `overthrowing' is suggested by the previous one of `edifying.' +Christian duty is mutual building up of character; inconsiderate +exercise of `liberty' may lead to pulling down, by inducing to +imitation which conscience condemns. + +From this point onwards, the Apostle first reiterates in inverse +order his two broad principles, that clean things are unclean to +the man who thinks them so, and that Christian obligation requires +abstinence from permitted things if our indulgence tends to a +brother's hurt. The application of the latter principle to the +duty of total abstinence from intoxicants for the sake of others +is perfectly legitimate, but it is an application, not the direct +purpose of the Apostle's injunctions. + +In verses 22 and 23, the section is closed by two exhortations, in +which both parties, the strong and the weak, are addressed. The +former is spoken to in verse 22, the latter in verse 23. The +strong brother is bid to be content with having his wider views, +or `faith'---that is, certainty that his liberty is in accordance +with Christ's will. It is enough that he should enjoy that +conviction, only let him make sure that he can hold it as in God's +sight, and do not let him flourish it in the faces of brethren +whom it would grieve, or might lead to imitating his practice, +without having risen to his conviction. And let him be quite sure +that his conscience is entirely convinced, and not bribed by +inclination; for many a man condemns himself by letting wishes +dictate to conscience. + +On the other hand, there is a danger that those who have scruples +should, by the example of those who have not, be tempted to do +what they are not quite sure is right. If you have any doubts, +says Paul, the safe course is to abstain from the conduct in +question. Perhaps a brother can go to the theatre without harm, if +he believes it right to do so; but if you have any hesitation as +to the propriety of going, you will be condemned as sinning if you +do. You must not measure your corn by another man's bushel. Your +convictions, not his, are to be your guides. `Faith' is used here +in a somewhat unusual sense. It means certitude of judgment. The +last words of verse 23 have no such meaning as is sometimes +extracted from them; namely, that actions, however pure and good, +done by unbelievers, are of the nature of sin. They simply mean +that whatever a Christian man does without clear warrant of his +judgment and conscience is sin to him, whatever it is to +others. + +\chapter{Two Fountains, One Stream} +\markright{ROMANS xv. 4, 13} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`That we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might +have hope.... 13.\ The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace +in believing, that ye may abound in hope.'---\textsc{Romans} xv. +4, 13. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There is a river in Switzerland fed by two uniting streams, +bearing the same name, one of them called the `white,' one of them +the `grey,' or dark. One comes down from the glaciers, and bears +half-melted snow in its white ripple; the other flows through a +lovely valley, and is discoloured by its earth. They unite in one +common current. So in these two verses we have two streams, a +white and a black, and they both blend together and flow out into +a common hope. In the former of them we have the dark +stream---`through patience and comfort,' which implies affliction +and effort. The issue and outcome of all difficulty, trial, +sorrow, ought to be hope. And in the other verse we have the other +valley, down which the light stream comes: `The God of hope fill +you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in +hope.' + +So both halves of the possible human experience are meant to end +in the same blessed result; and whether you go round on the one +side of the sphere of human life, or whether you take the other +hemisphere, you come to the same point, if you have travelled with +God's hand in yours, and with Him for your Guide. + +Let us look, then, at these two contrasted origins of the same +blessed gift, the Christian hope. + +I. We have, first of all, the hope that is the child of the night, +and born in the dark. + +`Whatsoever things,' says the Apostle, `were written aforetime, +were written for our learning, that we, through patience,'---or +rather \textit{the brave perseverance}---`and consolation'---or +rather perhaps \textit{encouragement}---`of the Scriptures might +have hope.' The written word is conceived as the source of patient +endurance which acts as well as suffers. This grace Scripture +works in us through the encouragement which it ministers in +manifold ways, and the result of both is hope. + +So, you see, our sorrows and difficulties are not connected with, +nor do they issue in, bright hopefulness, except by reason of this +connecting link. There is nothing in a man's troubles to make him +hopeful. Sometimes, rather, they drive him into despair; but at +all events, they seldom drive him to hopefulness, except where +this link comes in. We cannot pass from the black frowning cliffs +on one side of the gorge to the sunny tablelands on the other +without a bridge---and the bridge for a poor soul from the +blackness of sorrow, and the sharp grim rocks of despair, to the +smiling pastures of hope, with all their half-open blossoms, is +builded in that Book, which tells us the meaning and purpose of +them all; and is full of the histories of those who have fought +and overcome, have hoped and not been ashamed. + +Scripture is given for this among other reasons, that it may +encourage us, and so may produce in us this great grace of active +patience, if we may call it so. + +The first thing to notice is, how Scripture gives +encouragement---for such rather than consolation is the meaning of +the word. It is much to dry tears, but it is more to stir the +heart as with a trumpet call. Consolation is precious, but we need +more for well-being than only to be comforted. And, surely, the +whole tone of Scripture in its dealing with the great mystery of +pain and sorrow, has a loftier scope than even to minister +assuagement to grief, and to stay our weeping. It seeks to make us +strong and brave to face and to master our sorrows, and to infuse +into us a high-hearted courage, which shall not merely be able to +accept the biting blasts, but shall feel that they bring a glow to +the cheek and oxygen to the blood, while wrestling with them +builds up our strength, and trains us for higher service. It would +be a poor aim to comfort only; but to encourage---to make strong +in heart, resolved in will, and incapable of being overborne or +crushed in spirit by any sorrows---that is a purpose worthy of the +Book, and of the God who speaks through it. + +This purpose, we may say, is effected by Scripture in two ways. It +encourages us by its records, and by its revelation of +principles. + +Who can tell how many struggling souls have taken heart again, as +they pondered over the sweet stories of sorrow subdued which stud +its pages, like stars in its firmament? The tears shed long ago +which God has put `in His bottle,' and recorded in `His book,' +have truly been turned into pearls. That long gallery of portraits +of sufferers, who have all trodden the same rough road, and been +sustained by the same hand, and reached the same home, speaks +cheer to all who follow them. Hearts wrung by cruel partings from +those dearer to them than their own souls, turn to the pages which +tell how Abraham, with calm sorrow, laid his Sarah in the cave at +Macpelah; or how, when Jacob's eyes were dim that he could not +see, his memory still turned to the hour of agony when Rachael +died by him, and he sees clear in its light her lonely grave, +where so much of himself was laid; or to the still more sacred +page which records the struggle of grief and faith in the hearts +of the sisters of Bethany. All who are anyways afflicted in mind, +body, or estate find in the Psalms men speaking their deepest +experiences before them; and the grand majesty of sorrow that +marks `the patience of Job,' and the flood of sunshine that bathes +him, revealing the `end of the Lord,' have strengthened countless +sufferers to bear and to hold fast, and to hope. We are all enough +of children to be more affected by living examples than by +dissertations, however true, and so Scripture is mainly history, +revealing God by the record of His acts, and disclosing the secret +of human life by telling us the experiences of living men. + +But Scripture has another method of ministering encouragement to +our often fainting and faithless hearts. It cuts down through all +the complications of human affairs, and lays bare the innermost +motive power. It not only shows us in its narratives the working +of sorrow, and the power of faith, but it distinctly lays down the +source and the purpose, the whence and the whither of all +suffering. No man need quail or faint before the most torturing +pains or most disastrous strokes of evil, who holds firmly the +plain teaching of Scripture on these two points. They all come +\textit{from} my Father, and they all come \textit{for} my good. +It is a short and simple creed, easily apprehended. It pretends to +no recondite wisdom. It is a homely philosophy which common +intellects can grasp, which children can understand, and hearts +half paralysed by sorrow can take in. So much the better. Grief +and pain are so common that their cure had need to be easily +obtained. Ignorant and stupid people have to writhe in agony as +well as wise and clever ones, and until grief is the portion only +of the cultivated classes, its healing must come from something +more universal than philosophy; or else the nettle would be more +plentiful than the dock; and many a poor heart would be stung to +death. Blessed be God! the Christian view of sorrow, while it +leaves much unexplained, focuses a steady light on these two +points; its origin and its end. `He for our profit, that we may be +partakers of His holiness,' is enough to calm all agitation, and +to make the faintest heart take fresh courage. With that double +certitude clear before us, we can face anything. The slings and +arrows which strike are no more flung blindly by an `outrageous +fortune,' but each bears an inscription, like the fabled bolts, +which tells what hand drew the bow, and they come with His +love. + +Then, further, the courage thus born of the Scriptures produces +another grand thing---patience, or rather perseverance. By that +word is meant more than simply the passive endurance which is the +main element in patience, properly so called. Such passive +endurance is a large part of our duty in regard to difficulties +and sorrows, but is never the whole of it. It is something to +endure and even while the heart is breaking, to submit +unmurmuring, but, transcendent as that is, it is but half of the +lesson which we have to learn and to put in practice. For if all +our sorrows have a disciplinary and educational purpose, we shall +not have received them aright, unless we have tried to make that +purpose effectual, by appropriating whatsoever moral and spiritual +teaching they each have for us. Nor does our duty stop there. For +while one high purpose of sorrow is to deaden our hearts to +earthly objects, and to lift us above earthly affections, no +sorrow can ever relax the bonds which oblige us to duty. The +solemn pressure of `I ought,' is as heavy on the sorrowful as on +the happy heart. We have still to toil, to press forward, in the +sweat of our brow, to gain our bread, whether it be food for our +bodies, or sustenance for our hearts and minds. Our +responsibilities to others do not cease because our lives are +darkened. Therefore, heavy or light of heart, we have still to +stick to our work, and though we may never more be able to do it +with the old buoyancy, still to do it with our might. + +It is that dogged persistence in plain duty, that tenacious +continuance in our course, which is here set forth as the result +of the encouragement which Scripture gives. Many of us have all +our strength exhausted in mere endurance, and have let obvious +duties slip from our hands, as if we had done all that we could do +when we had forced ourselves to submit. Submission would come +easier if you took up some of those neglected duties, and you +would be stronger for patience, if you used more of your strength +for service. You do well if you do not sink under your burden, but +you would do better if, with it on your shoulders, you would plod +steadily along the road; and if you did, you would feel the weight +less. It seems heaviest when you stand still doing nothing. Do not +cease to toil because you suffer. You will feel your pain more if +you do. Take the encouragement which Scripture gives, that it may +animate you to bate no jot of heart or hope, but still bear up and +steer right onward. + +And let the Scripture directly minister to you perseverance as +well as indirectly supply it through the encouragement which it +gives. It abounds with exhortations, patterns, and motives of such +patient continuance in well-doing. It teaches us a solemn scorn of +ills. It, angel-like, bears us up on soft, strong hands, lest we +bruise ourselves on, or stumble over, the rough places on our +roads. It summons us to diligence by the visions of the prize, and +glimpses of the dread fate of the slothful, by all that is blessed +in hope, and terrible in foreboding, by appeals to an enlightened +self-regard, and by authoritative commands to conscience, by the +pattern of the Master, and by the tender motives of love to Him to +which He, Himself, has given voice. All these call on us to be +followers of them who, through faith and perseverance, inherit the +promises. + +But we have yet another step to take. These two, the encouragement +and perseverance produced by the right use of Scripture, will lead +to hope. + +It depends on how sorrow and trial are borne, whether they produce +a dreary hopelessness which sometimes darkens into despair, or a +brighter, firmer hope than more joyous days knew. We cannot say +that sorrow produces hope. It does not, unless we have this +connecting link---the experience in sorrow of a God-given courage +which falters not in the onward course, nor shrinks from any duty. +But if, in the very press and agony, I am able, by God's grace, to +endure nor cease to toil, I have, in myself, a living proof of His +power, which entitles me to look forward with the sure confidence +that, through all the uproar of the storm, He will bring me to my +harbour of rest where there is peace. The lion once slain houses a +swarm of bees who lay up honey in its carcase. The trial borne +with brave persistence yields a store of sweet hopes. If we can +look back and say, `Thou hast been with me in six troubles,' it is +good logic to look forward and say, `and in seven Thou wilt not +forsake me.' When the first wave breaks over the ship, as she +clears the heads and heels over before the full power of the open +sea, inexperienced landsmen think they are all going to the +bottom, but they soon learn that there is a long way between +rolling and foundering, and get to watch the highest waves +towering above the bows in full confidence that these also will +slip quietly beneath the keel as the others have done, and be left +harmless astern. + +The Apostle, in this very same letter, has another word parallel +to this, in which he describes the issues of rightly-borne +suffering when he says, `Tribulation worketh perseverance'---the +same word that is used here---`and perseverance worketh' the proof +in our experience of a sustaining God; and the proof in our +experience of a sustaining God works hope. We know that of +ourselves we could not have met tribulation, and therefore the +fact that we have been able to meet and overcome it is +demonstration of a mightier power than our own, working in us, +which we know to be from God, and therefore inexhaustible and ever +ready to help. That is foundation firm enough to build solid +fabrics of hope upon, whose bases go down to the centre of all +things, the purpose of God, and whose summits, like the upward +shooting spire of some cathedral, aspire to, and seem almost to +touch, the heavens. + +So hope is born of sorrow, when these other things come between. +The darkness gives birth to the light, and every grief blazes up a +witness to a future glory. Each drop that hangs on the wet leaves +twinkles into rainbow light that proclaims the sun. The garish +splendours of the prosperous day hide the stars, and through the +night of our sorrow there shine, thickly sown and steadfast, the +constellations of eternal hopes. The darker the midnight, the +surer, and perhaps the nearer, the coming of the day. Sorrow has +not had its perfect work unless it has led us by the way of +courage and perseverance to a stable hope. Hope has not pierced to +the rock, and builds only `things that can be shaken,' unless it +rests on sorrows borne by God's help. + +II. So much then for the genealogy of one form of the Christian +hope. But we have also a hope that is born of the day, the child +of sunshine and gladness; and that is set before us in the second +of the two verses which we are considering, `The God of hope fill +you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in +hope.' + +So then, `the darkness and the light are both alike' to our hope, +in so far as each may become the occasion for its exercise. It is +not only to be the sweet juice expressed from our hearts by the +winepress of calamities, but that which flows of itself from +hearts ripened and mellowed under the sunshine of God-given +blessedness. + +We have seen that the bridge by which sorrow led to hope, is +perseverance and courage; in this second analysis of the origin of +hope, joy and peace are the bridge by which Faith passes over into +it. Observe the difference: there is no direct connection between +affliction and hope, but there is between joy and hope. We have no +right to say, `Because I suffer, I shall possess good in the +future'; but we have a right to say, `Because I rejoice'---of +course with a joy in God---`I shall never cease to rejoice in +Him.' Such joy is the prophet of its own immortality and +completion. And, on the other hand, the joy and peace which are +naturally the direct progenitors of Christian hope, are the +children of faith. So that we have here two generations, as it +were, of hope's ancestors;---Faith produces joy and peace, and +these again produce hope. + +Faith leads to joy and peace. Paul has found, and if we only put +it to the proof, we shall also find, that the simple exercise of +simple faith fills the soul with `\textit{all} joy and peace.' +Gladness in all its variety and in full measure, calm repose in +every kind and abundant in its still depth, will pour into my +heart as water does into a vessel, on condition of my taking away +the barrier and opening my heart through faith. Trust and thou +shalt be glad. Trust, and thou shalt be calm. In the measure of +thy trust shall be the measure of thy joy and peace. + +Notice, further, how indissolubly connected the present exercise +of faith is with the present experience of joy and peace. The +exuberant language of this text seems a world too wide for +anything that many professing Christians ever know even in the +moments of highest elevation, and certainly far beyond the +ordinary tenor of their lives. But it is no wonder that these +should have so little joy, when they have so little faith. It is +only while we are looking to Jesus that we can expect to have joy +and peace. There is no flashing light on the surface of the +mirror, but when it is turned full to the sun. Any interruption in +the electric current is registered accurately by an interruption +in the continuous line perforated on the telegraph ribbon; and so +every diversion of heart and faith from Jesus Christ is recorded +by the fading of the sunshine out of the heart, and the silencing +of all the song-birds. Yesterday's faith will not bring joy +to-day; you cannot live upon past experience, nor feed your souls +with the memory of former exercises of Christian faith. It must be +like the manna, gathered fresh every day, else it will rot and +smell foul. A present faith, and a present faith only, produces a +present joy and peace. Is there, then, any wonder that so much of +the ordinary experience of ordinary Christians should present a +sadly broken line---a bright point here and there, separated by +long stretches of darkness? The gaps in the continuity of their +joy are the tell-tale indicators of the interruptions in their +faith. If the latter were continuous, the former would be +unbroken. Always believe, and you will always be glad and +calm. + +It is easy to see that this is the natural result of faith. The +very act of confident reliance on another for all my safety and +well-being has a charm to make me restful, so long as my reliance +is not put to shame. There is no more blessed emotion than the +tranquil happiness which, in the measure of its trust, fills every +trustful soul. Even when its objects are poor, fallible, weak, +ignorant dying men and women, trust brings a breath of more than +earthly peace into the heart. But when it grasps the omnipotent, +all-wise, immortal Christ, there are no bounds but its own +capacity to the blessedness which it brings into the soul, because +there is none to the all-sufficient grace of which it lays +hold. + +Observe again how accurately the Apostle defines for us the +conditions on which Christian experience will be joyful and +tranquil. It is `in believing,' not in certain other exercises of +mind, that these blessings are to be realised. And the +forgetfulness of that plain fact leads to many good people's +religion being very much more gloomy and disturbed than God meant +it to be. For a large part of it consists in sadly testing their +spiritual state, and gazing at their failures and imperfections. +There is nothing cheerful or tranquillising in grubbing among the +evils of your own heart, and it is quite possible to do that too +much and too exclusively. If your favourite subject of +contemplation in your religious thinking is yourself, no wonder +that you do not get much joy and peace out of that. If you do, it +will be of a false kind. If you are thinking more about your own +imperfections than about Christ's pardon, more about the defects +of your own love to Him than about the perfection of His love to +you, if instead of practising faith you are absorbed in +self-examination, and instead of saying to yourself, `I know how +foul and unworthy I am, but I look away from myself to my +Saviour,' you are bewailing your sins and doubting whether you are +a Christian, you need not expect God's angels of joy and peace to +nestle in your heart. It is `in believing,' and not in other forms +of religious contemplation, however needful these may in their +places be, that these fair twin sisters come to us and make their +abode with us. + +Then, the second step in this tracing of the origin of the hope +which has the brighter source is the consideration that the joy +and peace which spring from faith, in their turn produce that +confident anticipation of future and progressive good. + +Herein lies the distinguishing blessedness of the Christian joy +and peace, in that they carry in themselves the pledge of their +own eternity. Here, and here only, the mad boast which is doomed +to be so miserably falsified when applied to earthly gladness is +simple truth. Here `to-morrow \textit{shall} be as this day and +much more abundant.' Such joy has nothing in itself which betokens +exhaustion, as all the less pure joys of earth have. It is +manifestly not born for death, as are they. It is not fated, like +all earthly emotions or passions, to expire in the moment of its +completeness, or even by sudden revulsion to be succeeded by its +opposite. Its sweetness has no after pang of bitterness. It is not +true of this gladness, that `Hereof cometh in the end despondency +and madness,' but its destiny is to `remain' as long as the soul +in which it unfolds shall exist, and `to be full' as long as the +source from which it flows does not run dry. + +So that the more we experience the present blessedness, which +faith in Christ brings us, the more shall we be sure that nothing +in the future, either in or beyond time, can put an end to it; and +hence a hope that looks with confident eyes across the gorge of +death, to the `shining tablelands' on the other side, and is as +calm as certitude, shall be ours. To the Christian soul, rejoicing +in the conscious exercise of faith and the conscious possession of +its blessed results, the termination of a communion with Christ, +so real and spiritual, by such a trivial accident as death, seems +wildly absurd and therefore utterly impossible. Just as Christ's +Resurrection seems inevitable as soon as we grasp the truth of His +divine nature, and it becomes manifestly impossible that He, being +such as He is---should be holden of death,' being such as it is, +so for His children, when once they come to know the realities of +fellowship with their Lord, they feel the entire dissimilarity of +these to anything in the realm which is subjected to the power of +death, and to know it to be as impossible that these purely +spiritual experiences should be reduced to inactivity, or meddled +with by it, as that a thought should be bound with a cord or a +feeling fastened with fetters. They, and death, belong to two +different regions. It can work its will on `this wide world, and +all its fading sweets'---but is powerless in the still place where +the soul and Jesus hold converse, and all His joy passes into His +servant's heart. I saw, not long since, in a wood a mass of blue +wild hyacinths, that looked like a little bit of heaven dropped +down upon earth. You and I may have such a tiny bit of heaven +itself lying amidst all the tangle of our daily lives, if only we +put our trust in Christ, and so get into our hearts some little +portion of that joy that is unspeakable, and that peace that +passeth understanding. + +Thus, then, the sorrows of the earthly experience and the joys of +the Christian life will blend together to produce the one blessed +result of a hope that is full of certainty, and is the assurance +of immortality. There is no rainbow in the sky unless there be +both a black cloud and bright sunshine. So, on the blackest, +thickest thunder-mass of our sorrows, if smitten into moist light +by the sunshine of joy and peace drawn from Jesus Christ by faith, +there may be painted the rainbow of hope, the many-coloured, +steadfast token of the faithful covenant of the faithful God. + +\chapter{Joy and Peace in Believing} +\markright{ROMANS xv. 13} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, +that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy +Ghost.'---\textsc{Romans} xv. 13. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +With this comprehensive and lofty petition the Apostle closes his +exhortation to the factions in the Roman Church to be at unity. +The form of the prayer is moulded by the last words of a quotation +which he has just made, which says that in the coming Messiah +`shall the Gentiles hope.' But the prayer itself is not an +instance of being led away by a word---in form, indeed, it is +shaped by verbal resemblance; in substance it points to the true +remedy for religious controversy. Fill the contending parties with +a fuller spiritual life, and the ground of their differences will +begin to dwindle, and look very contemptible. When the tide rises, +the little pools on the rocks are all merged into one. + +But we may pass beyond the immediate application of these words, +and see in them the wish, which is also a promise, and like the +exhibition of every ideal is a command. This is Paul's conception +of the Christian life as it might and should be, in one aspect. +You notice that there is not a word in it about conduct. It goes +far deeper than action. It deals with the springs of action in the +individual life. It is the depths of spiritual experience here set +forth which will result in actions that become a Christian. And in +these days, when all around us we see a shallow conception of +Christianity, as if it were concerned principally with conduct and +men's relations with one another, it is well to go down into the +depths, and to remember that whilst `Do, do, do!' is very +important, `Be, be, be!' is the primary commandment. Conduct is a +making visible of personality, and the Scripture teaching which +says first faith and then works is profoundly philosophical as +well as Christian. So we turn away here from externals altogether, +and regard the effect of Christianity on the inward life. + +I. I wish to notice man's faith and God's filling as connected, +and as the foundation of everything. + +`The God of hope fill you ...'---let us leave out the intervening +words for a moment---`in believing.' Now, you notice that Paul +does not stay to tell us what or whom we are to believe in, or on. +He takes that for granted, and his thought is fastened, for the +moment, not on the object but on the act of faith. And he wishes +to drive home to us this, that the attitude of trust is the +necessary prerequisite condition of God's being able to fill a +man's soul, and that God's being able to fill a man's soul is the +necessary consequence of a man's trust. Ah, brethren, we cannot +altogether shut God out from our spirits. There are loving and +gracious gifts that, as our Lord tells us, He makes to `fall on +the unthankful and the evil.' His rain is not like the summer +showers that we sometimes see, that fall in one spot and leave +another dry; nor like the destructive thunderstorms, that come +down bringing ruin upon one cane-brake and leave the plants in the +next standing upright. But the best, the highest, the truly divine +gifts which He is yearning to give to us all, cannot be given +except there be consent, trust, and desire for them. You can shut +your hearts or you can open them. And just as the wind will sigh +round some hermetically closed chamber in vain search for a +cranny, and the man within may be asphyxiated though the +atmosphere is surging up its waves all round his closed domicile, +so by lack of our faith, which is at once trust, consent, and +desire, we shut out the gift with which God would fain fill our +spirits. You can take a porous pottery vessel, wrap it up in +waxcloth, pitch it all over, and then drop it into mid-Atlantic, +and not a drop will find its way in. And that is what we can do +with ourselves, so that although in Him `we live and move and have +our being,' and are like the earthen vessel in the ocean, no drop +of the blessed moisture will ever find its way into the heart. +There must be man's faith before there can be God's filling. + +Further, this relation of the two things suggests to us that a +consequence of a Christian man's faith is the direct action of God +upon him. Notice how the Apostle puts that truth in a double form +here, in order that he may emphasise it, using one form of +expression, involving the divine, direct activity, at the +beginning of his prayer, and another at the end, and so enclosing, +as it were, within a great casket of the divine action, all the +blessings, the flashing jewels, which he desires his Roman friends +to possess. `The God of hope fill you ... through the power of the +Holy Ghost.' I wish I could find words by which I could bear in +upon the ordinary type of the Evangelical Christianity of this +generation anything like the depth and earnestness of my own +conviction that, for lack of a proportionate development of that +great truth, of the direct action of the giving God on the +believing heart, it is weakened and harmed in many ways. Surely He +that made my spirit can touch my spirit; surely He who filleth all +things according to their capacity can Himself enter into and fill +the spirit which is opened for Him by simple faith. We do not need +wires for the telegraphy between heaven and the believing soul, +but He comes directly to, and speaks in, and moves upon, and +moulds and blesses, the waiting heart. And until you know, by your +own experience rightly interpreted, that there is such a direct +communion between the giving God and the recipient believing +spirit, you have yet to learn the deepest depth, and the most +blessed blessedness, of Christian faith and experience. For lack +of it a hundred evils beset modern Christianity. For lack of it +men fix their faith so exclusively as that the faith is itself +harmed thereby, on the past act of Christ's death on the Cross. +You will not suspect me of minimising that, but I beseech you +remember one climax of the Apostle's which, though not bearing the +same message as my text, is in harmony with it, `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 remember that +Christ Himself bestows the gift of His Divine Spirit as the result +of the humiliation and the agony of His Cross. Faith brings the +direct action of the giving God. + +And one more word about this first part of my text: the result of +that direct action is complete---`the God of hope fill you' with +no shrunken stream, no painful trickle out of a narrow rift in the +rock, but a great exuberance which will pass into a man's nature +in the measure of his capacity, which is the measure of his trust +and desire. There are two limits to God's gifts to men: the one is +the limitless limit of God's infinitude, the other is the working +limit---our capacity---and that capacity is precisely measured, as +the capacity of some built-in vessel might be measured by a little +gauge on the outside, by our faith. `The God of hope' fills you in +`believing,' and `according to thy faith shall it be unto +thee.' + +II. Notice the joy and peace which come from the direct action of +the God of hope on the believer's soul. + +Now, it is not only towards God that we exercise trust, but +wherever it is exercised, to some extent, and in the measure in +which the object on which it rests is discovered by experience to +be worthy, it produces precisely these results. Whoever trusts is +at peace, just as much as he trusts. His confidence may be +mistaken, and there will come a tremendous awakening if it is, and +the peace will be shattered like some crystal vessel dashed upon +an iron pavement, but so long as a man's mind and heart are in the +attitude of dependence upon another, conceived to be dependable, +one knows that there are few phases of tranquillity and +blessedness which are sweeter and deeper than that. `The heart of +her husband doth safely trust in her'---that is one illustration, +and a hundred more might be given. And if you will take that +attitude of trust which, even when it twines round some earthly +prop, is upheld for a time, and bears bright flowers---if you take +it and twine it round the steadfast foundations of the Throne of +God, what can shake that sure repose? `Joy and peace' will come +when the Christian heart closes with its trust, which is God in +Christ. + +He that believes has found the short, sure road to joy and peace, +because his relations are set right with God. For these relations +are the disturbing elements in all earthly tranquillity, and like +the skeleton at the feast in all earthly joy, and a man can never, +down to the roots of his being, be at rest until he is quite sure +that there is nothing wrong between him and God. And so believing, +we come to that root of all real gladness which is anything better +than a crackling of thorns under a pot, and to that beginning of +all true tranquillity. Joy in the Lord and peace with God are the +parents of all joy and peace that are worthy of the name. + +And that same faith will again bring these two bright-winged +angels into the most saddened and troubled lives, because that +faith brings right relations with ourselves. For our inward +strifes stuff thorns into the pillow of our repose, and mingle +bitterness with the sweetest, foaming draughts of our earthly +joys. If a man's conscience and inclinations pull him two +different ways, he is torn asunder as by wild horses. If a man has +a hungry heart, for ever yearning after unattained and impossible +blessings, then there is no rest there. If a man's little kingdom +within him is all anarchical, and each passion and appetite +setting up for itself, then there is no tranquillity. But if by +faith we let the God of hope come in, then hungry hearts are +satisfied, and warring dispositions are harmonised, and the +conscience becomes quieted, and fair imaginations fill the chamber +of the spirit, and the man is at rest, because he himself is +unified by the faith and fear of God. + +And the same faith brings joy and peace because it sets right our +relations with other people, and with all externals. If I am +living in an atmosphere of trust, then sorrow will never be +absolute, nor have exclusive monopoly and possession of my spirit. +But there will be the paradox, and the blessedness, of Christian +experience, `as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.' For the joy of +the Christian life has its source far away beyond the swamps from +which the sour drops of sorrow may trickle, and it is possible +that, like the fabled fire that burned under water, the joy of the +Lord may be bright in my heart, even when it is drenched in floods +of calamity and distress. + +And so, brethren, the joy and peace that come from faith will fill +the heart which trusts. Only remember how emphatically the Apostle +here puts these two things together, `joy and peace in believing.' +As long as, and not a moment longer than, you are exercising the +Christian act of trust, will you be experiencing the Christian +blessedness of `joy and peace.' Unscrew the pipe, and in an +instant the water ceases to flow. Touch the button and switch off, +and out goes the light. Some Christian people fancy they can live +upon past faith. You will get no present joy and peace out of past +faith. The rain of this day twelve months will not moisten the +parched ground of to-day. Yesterday's religion was all used up +yesterday. And if you would have a continuous flow of joy and +peace through your lives, keep up a uniform habit and attitude of +trust in God. You will get it then; you will get it in no other +way. + +III. Lastly, note the hope which springs from this experience of +joy and peace. + +`The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, +that ye may abound in hope.' Here, again, the Apostle does not +trouble himself to define the object of the hope. In this, as in +the former clause, his attention is fixed upon the emotion, not +upon that towards which it goes out. And just as there was no need +to say in whom it was that the Christian man was to believe, so +there is no room to define what it is that the Christian man has a +right to hope for. For his hope is intended to cover all the +future, the next moment, or to-morrow, or the dimmest distance +where time has ceased to be, and eternity stands unmoved. The +attitude of the Christian mind ought to be a cheery optimism, an +unconquerable hope. `The best has yet to be' is the true Christian +thought in contemplating the future for myself, for my dear ones, +for God's Church, and for God's universe. + +And the truest basis on which that hope can rest is the experience +granted to us, on condition of our faith, of a present, abundant +possession of the joy and peace which God gives. The gladder you +are to-day, if the gladness comes from the right source, the surer +you may be that that gladness will never end. That is not what +befalls men who live by earthly joys. For the more poignant, +precious, and, as we faithlessly think, indispensable some of +these are to us, the more into their sweetest sweetness creeps the +dread thought: `This is too good to last; this must pass.' We +never need to think that about the peace and joy that come to us +through believing. For they, in their sweetness, prophesy +perpetuity. I need not dwell upon the thought that the firmest, +most personally precious convictions of an eternity of future +blessedness, rise and fall in a Christian consciousness with the +purity and the depth of its own experience of the peace and joy of +the Gospel. The more you have of Jesus Christ in your lives and +hearts to-day, the surer you will be that whatever death may do, +it cannot touch that, and the more ludicrously impossible it will +seem that anything that befalls this poor body can touch the bond +that knits us to Jesus Christ. Death can separate us from a great +deal. Its sharp scythe cuts through all other bonds, but its edge +is turned when it is tried against the golden chain that binds the +believing soul to the Christ in whom he has believed. + +So, brethren, there is the ladder---begin at the bottom step, with +faith in Jesus Christ. That will bring God's direct action into +your spirit, through His Holy Spirit, and that one gift will break +up into an endless multiplicity of blessings, just as a beam of +light spilt upon the surface of the ocean breaks into diamonds in +every wave, and that `joy and peace' will kindle in your hearts a +hope fed by the great words of the Lord: `Peace I leave with you, +my peace I give unto you,' `My joy shall remain in you, and your +joy shall be full,' `He that liveth and believeth in Me shall +never die.' + +\chapter{Ph\oe{}be} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 1, 2} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I commend unto you Ph\oe{}be our sister, who is a servant of the +Church that is at Cenchrea: 2.\ That ye receive her in the Lord, +worthily of the Saints, and that ye assist her in whatsover matter +she may have need of you: for she herself hath been a succourer of +many, and of mine own self.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 1, 2 (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +This is an outline picture of an else wholly unknown person. She, +like most of the other names mentioned in the salutations in this +chapter, has had a singular fate. Every name, shadowy and unreal +as it is to us, belonged to a human life filled with hopes and +fears, plunged sometimes in the depths of sorrows, struggling with +anxieties and difficulties; and all the agitations have sunk into +forgetfulness and calm. There is left to the world an immortal +remembrance, and scarcely a single fact associated with the +undying names. + +Note the person here disclosed. + +A little rent is made in the dark curtain through which we see as +with an incandescent light concentrated for a moment upon her, one +of the many good women who helped Paul, as their sisters had +helped Paul's Master, and who thereby have won, little as either +Paul or she thought it, an eternal commemoration. Her name is a +purely idolatrous one, and stamps her as a Greek, and by birth +probably a worshipper of Apollo. Her Christian associations were +with the Church at Cenchrea, the port of Corinth, of which little +Christian community nothing further is known. But if we take into +account the hideous immoralities of Corinth, we shall deem it +probable that the port, with its shifting maritime population, +was, like most seaports, a soil in which goodness was hard put to +it to grow, and a church had much against which to struggle. To be +a Christian at Cenchrea can have been no light task. Travellers in +Egypt are told that Port Said is the wickedest place on the face +of the earth; and in Ph\oe{}be's home there would be a like drift +of disreputables of both sexes and of all nationalities. It was +fitting that one good woman should be recorded as redeeming +womanhood there. We learn of her that she was a `servant,' or, as +the margin preferably reads, a `deaconess of the Church which is +at Cenchrea'; and in that capacity, by gentle ministrations and +the exhibition of purity and patient love, as well as by the +gracious administration of material help, had been a `succourer of +many.' There is a whole world of unmentioned kindnesses and a life +of self-devotion hidden away under these few words. Possibly the +succour which she administered was her own gift. She may have been +rich and influential, or perhaps she but distributed the Church's +bounty; but in any case the gift was sweetened by the giver's +hand, and the succour was the impartation of a woman's sympathy +more than the bestowment of a donor's gift. Sometime or other, and +somehow or other, she had had the honour and joy of helping Paul, +and no doubt that opportunity would be to her a crown of service. +She was now on the point of taking the long journey to Rome on her +own business, and the Apostle bespeaks for her help from the Roman +Church `in whatsoever matter she may have need of you,' as if she +had some difficult affair on hand, and had no other friends in the +city. Possibly then she was a widow, and perhaps had had some +lawsuit or business with government authorities, with whom a word +from some of her brethren in Rome might stand her in good stead. +Apparently she was the bearer of this epistle, which would give +her a standing at once in the Roman Church, and she came among +them with a halo round her from the whole-hearted commendation of +the Apostle. + +Mark the lessons from this little picture. + +We note first the remarkable illustration here given of the power +of the new bond of a common faith. The world was then broken up +into sections, which were sometimes bitterly antagonistic and at +others merely rigidly exclusive. The only bond of union was the +iron fetter of Rome, which crushed the people, but did not knit +them together. But here are Paul the Jew, Ph\oe{}be the Greek, and +the Roman readers of the epistle, all fused together by the power +of the divine love that melted their hearts, and the common faith +that unified their lives. The list of names in this chapter, +comprising as it does men and women of many nationalities, and +some slaves as well as freemen, is itself a wonderful testimony of +the truth of Paul's triumphant exclamation in another epistle, +that in Christ there is `neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, +male nor female.' + +The clefts have closed, and the very line of demarcation is +obliterated; and these clefts were deeper than any of which we +moderns have had experience. It remains something like a miracle +that the members of Paul's churches could ever be brought +together, and that their consciousness of oneness could ever +overpower the tremendous divisive forces. We sometimes wonder at +their bickerings; we ought rather to wonder at their unity, and be +ashamed of the importance which we attach to our infinitely +slighter mutual disagreements. The bond that was sufficient to +make the early Christians all one in Christ Jesus seems to have +lost its binding power to-day, and, like an used-up elastic band, +to have no clasping grip left in it. + +Another thought which we may connect with the name of Ph\oe{}be is +the characteristic place of women in Christianity. + +The place of woman amongst the Jews was indeed free and honourable +as compared with her position either in Greece or Rome, but in +none of them was she placed on the level of man, nor regarded +mainly in the aspect of an equal possessor of the same life of the +Spirit. But a religion which admits her to precisely the same +position of a supernatural life as is granted to man, necessarily +relegates to a subordinate position all differences of sex as it +does all other natural distinctions. The women who ministered to +Jesus of their substance, the two sisters of Bethany, the mourners +at Calvary, the three who went through the morning twilight to the +tomb, were but the foremost conspicuous figures in a great company +through all the ages who have owed to Jesus their redemption, not +only from the slavery of sin, but from the stigma of inferiority +as man's drudge or toy. To the world in which Paul lived it was a +strange, new thought that women could share with man in his +loftiest emotions. Historically the emancipation of one half of +the human race is the direct result of the Christian principle +that all are one in Christ Jesus. In modern life the emancipation +has been too often divorced from its one sure basis, and we have +become familiar with the sight of the `advanced' women who have +advanced so far as to have lost sight of the Christ to whom they +owe their freedom. The picture of Ph\oe{}be in our text might well +be commended to all such as setting forth the most womanlike +ideal. She was `a succourer of many.' Her ministry was a ministry +of help; and surely such gentle ministry is that which most befits +the woman's heart and comes most graciously to the woman's +fingers. + +Ph\oe{}be then may well represent to us the ministry of succour in +this world of woe and need. There is ever a cry, even in +apparently successful lives, for help and a helper. Man's clumsy +hand is but too apt to hurt where it strives to soothe, and nature +itself seems to devolve on the swifter sympathies and more +delicate perceptions of woman the joy of binding up wounded +spirits. In the verses immediately following our text we read of +another woman to whom was entrusted a more conspicuous and direct +form of service. Priscilla `taught Apollos the way of God more +perfectly,' and is traditionally represented as being united with +her husband in evangelistic work. But it is not merely prejudice +which takes Ph\oe{}be rather than Priscilla as the characteristic +type of woman's special ministry. We must remember our Lord's +teaching, that the giver of `a cup of cold water in the name of a +prophet' in some measure shares in the prophet's work, and will +surely share in the prophet's reward. She who helped Paul must +have entered into the spirit of Paul's labours; and He to whom all +service that is done from the same motive is one in essence, makes +no difference between him whose thirsty lips drink and her whose +loving hand presents the cup of cold water. `Small service is true +service while it lasts.' Paul and Ph\oe{}be were one in ministry +and one in its recompense. + +We may further see in her a foreshadowing of the reward of lowly +service, though it be only the service of help. Little did +Ph\oe{}be dream that her name would have an eternal commemoration +of her unnoticed deeds of kindness and aid, standing forth to +later generations and peoples of whom she knew nothing, as worthy +of eternal remembrance. For those of us who have to serve +unnoticed and unknown, here is an instance and a prophecy which +may stimulate and encourage. `Surely I will never forget any of +their works' is a gracious promise which the most obscure and +humble of us may take to heart, and sustained by which, we may +patiently pursue a way on which there are `none to praise and very +few to love.' It matters little whether our work be noticed or +recorded by men, so long as we know that it is written in the +Lamb's book of life and that He will one day proclaim it `before +the Father in heaven and His angels.' + +\chapter{Priscilla and Aquila} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 3--5} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Greet Priscilla and Aquila my helpers in Christ Jesus; 4.\ (Who +have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I +give thanks, but so all the churches of the Gentiles:) 5.\ +Likewise greet the church that is in their +house.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 3--5. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +It has struck me that this wedded couple present, even in the +scanty notices that we have of them, some interesting points which +may be worth while gathering together. + +Now, to begin with, we are told that Aquila was a Jew. We are not +told whether Priscilla was a Jewess or no. So far as her name is +concerned, she may have been, and very probably was, a Roman, and, +if so, we have in their case a `mixed marriage' such as was not +uncommon then, and of which Timothy's parents give another +example. She is sometimes called Prisca, which was her proper +name, and sometimes Priscilla, an affectionate diminutive. The two +had been living in Rome, and had been banished under the decree of +the Emperor, just as Jews have been banished from England and from +every country in Europe again and again. They came from Rome to +Corinth, and were, perhaps, intending to go back to Aquila's +native place, Pontus, when Paul met them in the latter city, and +changed their whole lives. His association with them began in a +purely commercial partnership. But as they abode together and +worked at their trade, there would be many earnest talks about the +Christ, and these ended in both husband and wife becoming +disciples. The bond thus knit was too close to be easily severed, +and so, when Paul sailed across the \AE{}gean for Ephesus, his two +new friends kept with him, which they would be the more ready to +do, as they had no settled home. They remained with him during his +somewhat lengthened stay in the great Asiatic city; for we find in +the first Epistle to the Corinthians which was written from +Ephesus about that time, that the Apostle sends greetings from +`Priscilla and Aquila and the Church which is in their house.' But +when Paul left Ephesus they seem to have stayed behind, and +afterwards to have gone their own way. + +About a year after the first Epistle to the Corinthians was sent +from Ephesus, the Epistle to the Romans was written, and we find +there the salutation to Priscilla and Aquila which is my text. So +this wandering couple were back again in Rome by that time, and +settled down there for a while. They are then lost sight of for +some time, but probably they returned to Ephesus. Once more we +catch a glimpse of them in Paul's last letter, written some seven +or eight years after that to the Romans. The Apostle knows that +death is near, and, at that supreme moment, his heart goes out to +these two faithful companions, and he sends them a parting token +of his undying love. There are only two messages to friends in the +second Epistle to Timothy, and one of these is to Prisca and +Aquila. At the mouth of the valley of the shadow of death he +remembered the old days in Corinth, and the, to us, unknown +instance of devotion which these two had shown, when, for his +life, they laid down their own necks. + +Such is all that we know of Priscilla and Aquila. Can we gather +any lessons from these scattered notices thus thrown together? + +I. Here is an object lesson as to the hallowing effect of +Christianity on domestic life and love. + +Did you ever notice that in the majority of the places where these +two are named, if we adopt the better readings, Priscilla's name +comes first? She seems to have been `the better man of the two'; and +Aquila drops comparatively into the background. Now, such a couple, +and a couple in which the wife took the foremost place, was an +absolute impossibility in heathenism. They are a specimen of what +Christianity did in the primitive age, all over the Empire, and is +doing to-day, everywhere---lifting woman to her proper place. These +two, yoked together in `all exercise of noble end,' and helping one +another in Christian work, and bracketed together by the Apostle, +who puts the wife first, as his fellow-helpers in Christ Jesus, +stands before us as a living picture of what our sweet and sacred +family life and earthly loves may be glorified into, if the light +from heaven shines down upon them, and is thankfully received into +them. + +Such a house as the house of Prisca and Aquila is the product of +Christianity, and such ought to be the house of every professing +Christian. For we should all make our homes as `tabernacles of the +righteous,' in which the voice of joy and rejoicing is ever heard. +Not only wedded love, but family love, and all earthly love, are +then most precious, when into them there flows the ennobling, the +calming, the transfiguring thought of Christ and His love to +us. + +Again, notice that, even in these scanty references to our two +friends, there twice occurs that remarkable expression `the church +that is in their house.' Now, I suppose that that gives us a +little glimpse into the rudimentary condition of public worship in +the primitive church. It was centuries after the time of Priscilla +and Aquila before circumstances permitted Christians to have +buildings devoted exclusively to public worship. Up to a very much +later period than that which is covered by the New Testament, they +gathered together wherever was most convenient. And, I suppose, +that both in Rome and Ephesus, this husband and wife had some +room---perhaps the workshop where they made their tents, spacious +enough for some of the Christians of the city to meet together in. +One would like people who talk so much about `the Church,' and +refuse the name to individual societies of Christians, and even to +an aggregate of these, unless it has `bishops,' to explain how the +little gathering of twenty or thirty people in the workshop +attached to Aquila's house, is called by the Apostle without +hesitation `the church which is in their house.' It was a part of +the Holy Catholic Church, but it was also `a Church,' complete in +itself, though small in numbers. We have here not only a glimpse +into the manner of public worship in early times, but we may learn +something of far more consequence for us, and find here a +suggestion of what our homes ought to be. `The Church that is in +thy house'---fathers and mothers that are responsible for your +homes and their religious atmosphere, ask yourselves if any one +would say that about your houses, and if they could not, why +not? + +II. We may get here another object lesson as to the hallowing of +common life, trade, and travel. + +It does not appear that, after their stay in Ephesus, Aquila and +his wife were closely attached to Paul's person, and certainly +they did not take any part as members of what we may call his +evangelistic staff. They seem to have gone their own way, and as +far as the scanty notices carry us, they did not meet Paul again, +after the time when they parted in Ephesus. Their gipsy life was +probably occasioned by Aquila's going about---as was the custom in +old days when there were no trades-unions or organised centres of +a special industry---to look for work where he could find it. When +he had made tents in Ephesus for a while, he would go on somewhere +else, and take temporary lodgings there. Thus he wandered about as +a working man. Yet Paul calls him his `fellow worker in Christ +Jesus'; and he had, as we saw, a Church in his house. A roving +life of that sort is not generally supposed to be conducive to +depth of spiritual life. But their wandering course did not hurt +these two. They took their religion with them. It did not depend +on locality, as does that of a great many people who are very +religious in the town where they live, and, when they go away for +a holiday, seem to leave their religion, along with their silver +plate, at home. But no matter whether they were in Corinth or +Ephesus or Rome, Aquila and Priscilla took their Lord and Master +with them, and while working at their camel's-hair tents, they +were serving God. + +Dear brethren, what we want is not half so much preachers such as +my brethren and I, as Christian tradesmen and merchants and +travellers, like Aquila and Priscilla. + +III. Again, we may see here a suggestion of the unexpected issues +of our lives. + +Think of that complicated chain of circumstances, one end of which +was round Aquila and the other round the young Pharisee in +Jerusalem. It steadily drew them together until they met in that +lodging at Corinth. Claudius, in the fullness of his absolute +power, said, `Turn all these wretched Jews out of my city. I will +not have it polluted with them any more. Get rid of them!' So +these two were uprooted, and drifted to Corinth. We do not know +why they chose to go thither; perhaps they themselves did not know +why; but God knew. And while they were coming thither from the +west, Paul was coming thither from the east and north. He was +`prevented by the Spirit from speaking in Asia,' and driven across +the sea against his intention to Neapolis, and hounded out of +Philippi and Thessalonica and Ber\ae{}a; and turned superciliously +away from Athens; and so at last found himself in Corinth, face to +face with the tentmaker from Rome and his wife. Then one of the +two men said, `Let us join partnership together, and set up here +as tent-makers for a time.' What came out of this unintended and +apparently chance meeting? + +The first thing was the conversion of Aquila and his wife; and the +effects of that are being realised by them in heaven at this +moment, and will go on to all eternity. + +So, in the infinite complexity of events, do not let us worry +ourselves by forecasting, but let us trust, and be sure that the +Hand which is pushing us is pushing us in the right direction, and +that He will bring us, by a right, though a roundabout way, to the +City of Habitation. It seems to me that we poor, blind creatures +in this world are somewhat like a man in a prison, groping with +his hand in the dark along the wall, and all unawares touching a +spring which moves a stone, disclosing an aperture that lets in a +breath of purer air, and opens the way to freedom. So we go on as +if stumbling in the dark, and presently, without our knowing what +we do, by some trivial act we originate a train of events which +influences our whole future. + +Again, when Aquila and Priscilla reached Ephesus they formed +another chance acquaintance in the person of a brilliant young +Alexandrian, whose name was Apollos. They found that he had good +intentions and a good heart, but a head very scantily furnished +with the knowledge of the Gospel. So they took him in hand, just +as Paul had taken them. If I may use such a phrase, they did not +know how large a fish they had caught. They had no idea what a +mighty power for Christ was lying dormant in that young man from +Alexandria who knew so much less than they did. They instructed +Apollos, and Apollos became second only to Paul in the power of +preaching the Gospel. So the circle widens and widens. God's grace +fructifies from one man to another, spreading onward and outward. +And all Apollos' converts, and \textit{their} converts, and +\textit{theirs} again, right away down the ages, we may trace back +to Priscilla and Aquila. + +So do not let us be anxious about the further end of our +deeds---viz. their results; but be careful about the nearer end of +them---viz. their motives; and God will look after the other end. +Seeing that `thou knowest not which shall prosper, whether this or +that,' or how much any of them will prosper, let us grasp +\textit{all} opportunities to do His will and glorify His name. + +IV. Further, here we have an instance of the heroic self-devotion +which love to Christ kindles. + +`For my sake they laid down their own necks.' We do not know to +what Paul is referring: perhaps to that tumult in Ephesus, where +he certainly was in danger. But the language seems rather more +emphatic than such danger would warrant. Probably it was at some +perilous juncture of which we know nothing (for we know very +little, after all, of the details of the Apostle's life), in which +Aquila and Priscilla had said, `Take us and let him go. He can do +a great deal more for God than we can do. We will put our heads on +the block, if he may still live.' That magnanimous self-surrender +was a wonderful token of the passionate admiration and love which +the Apostle inspired, but its deepest motive was love to Christ +and not to Paul only. + +Faith in Christ and love to Him ought to turn cowards into heroes, +to destroy thoughts of self, and to make the utmost self-sacrifice +natural, blessed, and easy. We are not called upon to exercise +heroism like Priscilla's and Aquila's, but there is as much +heroism needed for persistently Christian life, in our prosaic +daily circumstances, as has carried many a martyr to the block, +and many a tremulous woman to the pyre. We can all be heroes; and +if the love of Christ is in us, as it should be, we shall all be +ready to `yield ourselves living sacrifices, which is our +reasonable service.' + +Long years after, the Apostle, on the further edge of life, looked +back over it all; and, whilst much had become dim, and some +trusted friends had dropped away, like Demas, he saw these two, +and waved them his last greeting before he turned to the +executioner---`Salute Prisca and Aquila.' Paul's Master is not +less mindful of His friends' love, or less eloquent in the praise +of their faithfulness, or less sure to reward them with the crown +of glory. `Whoso confesseth Me before men, him will I also confess +before the angels in heaven.' + +\chapter{Two Households} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 10, 11} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`... Salute them which are of Aristobulus' household. 11.\ ... +Greet them that be of the household of Narcissus, which are in the +Lord.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 10, 11. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There does not seem much to be got out of these two sets of +salutations to two households in Rome; but if we look at them with +eyes in our heads, and some sympathy in our hearts, I think we +shall get lessons worth the treasuring. + +In the first place, here are two sets of people, members of two +different households, and that means mainly, if not exclusively, +slaves. In the next place, in each case there was but a section of +the household which was Christian. In the third place, in neither +household is the master included in the greeting. So in neither case +was \textit{he} a Christian. + +We do not know anything about these two persons, men of position +evidently, who had large households. But the most learned of our +living English commentators of the New Testament has advanced a +very reasonable conjecture in regard to each of them. As to the +first of them, Aristobulus: that wicked old King Herod, in whose +life Christ was born, had a grandson of the name, who spent all +his life in Rome, and was in close relations with the Emperor of +that day. He had died some little time before the writing of this +letter. As to the second of them, there is a very notorious +Narcissus, who plays a great part in the history of Rome just a +little while before Paul's period there, and he, too, was dead. +And it is more than probable that the slaves and retainers of +these two men were transferred in both cases to the emperor's +household and held together in it, being known as Aristobulus' men +and Narcissus' men. And so probably the Christians among them are +the brethren to whom these salutations are sent. + +Be that as it may, I think that if we look at the two groups, we +shall get out of them some lessons. + +I. The first of them is this: the penetrating power of Christian +truth. Think of the sort of man that the master of the first +household was, if the identification suggested be accepted. He is +one of that foul Herodian brood, in all of whom the bad Idum\ae{}an +blood ran corruptly. The grandson of the old Herod, the brother of +Agrippa of the Acts of the Apostles, the hanger-on of the Imperial +Court, with Roman vices veneered on his native wickedness, was not +the man to welcome the entrance of a revolutionary ferment into his +household; and yet through his barred doors had crept quietly, he +knowing nothing about it, that great message of a loving God, and a +Master whose service was freedom. And in thousands of like cases the +Gospel was finding its way underground, undreamed of by the great +and wise, but steadily pressing onwards, and undermining all the +towering grandeur that was so contemptuous of it. So Christ's truth +spread at first; and I believe that is the way it always spreads. +Intellectual revolutions begin at the top and filter down; religious +revolutions begin at the bottom and rise; and it is always the +`lower orders' that are laid hold of first. `Ye see your calling, +brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many +mighty, not many noble are called,' but a handful of slaves in +Aristobulus' household, with this living truth lodged in their +hearts, were the bearers and the witnesses and the organs of the +power which was going to shatter all that towered above it and +despised it. And so it always is. + +Do not let us be ashamed of a Gospel that has not laid hold of the +upper and the educated classes, but let us feel sure of this, that +there is no greater sign of defective education and of superficial +culture and of inborn vulgarity than despising the day of small +things, and estimating truth by the position or the intellectual +attainments of the men that are its witnesses and its lovers. The +Gospel penetrated at first, and penetrates still, in the fashion +that is suggested here. + +II. Secondly, these two households teach us very touchingly and +beautifully the uniting power of Christian sympathy. + +A considerable proportion of the first of these two households would +probably be Jews---if Aristobulus were indeed Herod's grandson. The +probability that he was is increased by the greeting interposed +between those to the two households---`Salute Herodion.' The name +suggests some connection with Herod, and whether we suppose the +designation of `my kinsman,' which Paul gives him, to mean `blood +relation' or `fellow countryman,' Herodion, at all events, was a Jew +by birth. As to the other members of these households, Paul may have +met some of them in his many travels, but he had never been in Rome, +and his greetings are more probably sent to them as conspicuous +sections, numerically, of the Roman Church, and as tokens of his +affection, though he had never seen them. The possession of a common +faith has bridged the gulf between him and them. Slaves in those +days were outside the pale of human sympathy, and almost outside the +pale of human rights. And here the foremost of Christian teachers, +who was a freeman born, separated from these poor people by a +tremendous chasm, stretches a brother's hand across it and grasps +theirs. The Gospel that came into the world to rend old associations +and to split up society, and to make a deep cleft between fathers +and children and husband and wife, came also to more than +counterbalance its dividing effects by its uniting power. And in +that old world that was separated into classes by gulfs deeper than +any of which we have any experience, it, and it alone, threw a +bridge across the abysses and bound men together. Think of what a +revolution it must have been, when a master and his slave could sit +down together at the table of the Lord and look each other in the +face and say `Brother' and for the moment forget the difference of +bond and free. Think of what a revolution it must have been when Jew +and Gentile could sit down together at the table of the Lord, and +forget circumcision and uncircumcision, and feel that they were all +one in Jesus Christ. And as for the third of the great +clefts---that, alas! which made so much of the tragedy and the +wickedness of ancient life---viz. the separation between the +sexes---think of what a revolution it was when men and women, in all +purity of the new bond of Christian affection, could sit down +together at the same table, and feel that they were brethren and +sisters in Jesus Christ. + +The uniting power of the common faith and the common love to the one +Lord marked Christianity as altogether supernatural and new, unique +in the world's experience, and obviously requiring something more +than a human force to produce it. Will anybody say that the +Christianity of this day has preserved and exhibits that primitive +demonstration of its superhuman source? Is there anything obviously +beyond the power of earthly motives in the unselfish, expansive love +of modern Christians? Alas! alas! to ask the question is to answer +it, and everybody knows the answer, and nobody sorrows over it. Is +any duty more pressingly laid upon Christian churches of this +generation than that, forgetting their doctrinal janglings for a +while, and putting away their sectarianisms and narrowness, they +should show the world that their faith has still the power to do +what it did in the old times, bridge over the gulf that separates +class from class, and bring all men together in the unity of the +faith and of the love of Jesus Christ? Depend upon it, unless the +modern organisations of Christianity which call themselves +`churches' show themselves, in the next twenty years, a great deal +more alive to the necessity, and a great deal more able to cope with +the problem, of uniting the classes of our modern complex +civilisation, the term of life of these churches is comparatively +brief. And the form of Christianity which another century will see +will be one which reproduces the old miracle of the early days, and +reaches across the deepest clefts that separate modern society, and +makes all one in Jesus Christ. It is all very well for us to glorify +the ancient love of the early Christians, but there is a vast deal +of false sentimentality about our eulogistic talk of it. It were +better to praise it less and imitate it more. Translate it into +present life, and you will find that to-day it requires what it +nineteen hundred years ago was recognised as manifesting, the +presence of something more than human motive, and something more +than man discovers of truth. The cement must be divine that binds +men thus together. + +Again, these two households suggest for us the tranquillising +power of Christian resignation. + +They were mostly slaves, and they continued to be slaves when they +were Christians. Paul recognised their continuance in the servile +position, and did not say a word to them to induce them to break +their bonds. The Epistle to the Corinthians treats the whole +subject of slavery in a very remarkable fashion. It says to the +slave: `If you were a slave when you became a Christian, stop +where you are. If you have an opportunity of being free, avail +yourself of it; if you have not, never mind.' And then it adds +this great principle: `He that is called in the Lord, being a +slave, is Christ's freeman. Likewise he that is called, being +free, is Christ's slave.' The Apostle applies the very same +principle, in the adjoining verses, to the distinction between +circumcision and uncircumcision. From all which there comes just +the same lesson that is taught us by these two households of +slaves left intact by Christianity---viz. that where a man is +conscious of a direct, individual relation to Jesus Christ, that +makes all outward circumstances infinitely insignificant. Let us +get up to the height, and they all become very small. Of course, +the principles of Christianity killed slavery, but it took +eighteen hundred years to do it. Of course, there is no blinking +the fact that slavery was an essentially immoral and unchristian +institution. But it is one thing to lay down principles and leave +them to be worked in and then to be worked out, and it is another +thing to go blindly charging at existing institutions and throwing +them down by violence, before men have grown up to feel that they +are wicked. And so the New Testament takes the wise course, and +leaves the foolish one to foolish people. It makes the tree good, +and then its fruit will be good. + +But the main point that I want to insist upon is this: what was +good for these slaves in Rome is good for you and me. Let us get +near to Jesus Christ, and feel that we have got hold of His hand +for our own selves, and we shall not mind very much about the +possible varieties of human condition. Rich or poor, happy or sad, +surrounded by companions or treading a solitary path, failures or +successes as the world has it, strong or broken and weak and +wearied---all these varieties, important as they are, come to be +very small when we can say, `We are the Lord's.' That amulet makes +all things tolerable; and the Christian submission which is the +expression of our love to, and confidence in, His infinite +sweetness and unerring goodness, raises us to a height from which +the varieties of earthly condition seem to blend and melt into +one. When we are down amongst the low hills, it seems a long way +from the foot of one of them to the top of it; but when we are on +the top they all melt into one dead level, and you cannot tell +which is top and which is bottom. And so, if we only can rise high +enough up the hill, the possible diversities of our condition will +seem to be very small variations in the level. + +III. Lastly, these two groups suggest to us the conquering power +of Christian faithfulness. + +The household of Herod's grandson was not a very likely place to +find Christian people in, was it? Such flowers do not often grow, +or at least do not easily grow, on such dunghills. And in both +these cases it was only a handful of the people, a portion of each +household, that was Christian. So they had beside them, closely +identified with them---working, perhaps, at the same tasks, I +might almost say, chained with the same chains---men who had no +share in their faith or in their love. It would not be easy to +pray and love and trust God and do His will, and keep clear of +complicity with idolatry and immorality and sin, in such a pigsty +as that; would it? But these men did it. And nobody need ever say, +`I am in such circumstances that I cannot live a Christian life.' +There are no such circumstances, at least none of God's +appointing. There are often such that we bring upon ourselves, and +then the best thing is to get out of them as soon as we can. But +as far as He is concerned, He never puts anybody anywhere where he +cannot live a holy life. + +There were no difficulties too great for these men to overcome; +there are no difficulties too great for us to overcome. And wherever +you and I may be, we cannot be in any place where it is so hard to +live a consistent life as these people were. Young men in +warehouses, people in business here in Manchester, some of us with +unfortunate domestic or relative associations, and so on---we may +all feel as if it would be so much easier for us if this, that, and +the other thing were changed. No, it would not be any easier; and +perhaps the harder the easier, because the more obviously the +atmosphere is poisonous, the more we shall put some cloth over our +mouths to prevent it from getting into our lungs. The dangerous +place is the place where the vapours that poison are scentless as +well as invisible. But whatever be the difficulties, there is +strength waiting for us, and we may all win the praise which the +Apostle gives to another of these Roman brethren, whom he salutes as +`Apelles, approved in Christ'---a man that had been `tried' and had +stood his trial. So in our various spheres of difficulty and of +temptation we may feel that the greeting from heaven, like Paul's +message to the slaves in Rome, comes to us with good cheer, and that +the Master Himself sees us, sympathises with us, salutes us, and +stretches out His hand to help and to keep us. + +\chapter{Tryphena and Tryphosa} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 12} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Salute Tryphena and Tryphosa, who labour in the +Lord.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 12. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The number of salutations to members of the Roman Church is +remarkable when we take into account that Paul had never visited +it. The capital drew all sorts of people to it, and probably there +had been personal intercourse between most of the persons here +mentioned and the Apostle in some part of his wandering life. He +not only displays his intimate knowledge of the persons saluted, +but his beautiful delicacy and ingenuity in the varying epithets +applied to them shows how in his great heart and tenacious memory +individuals had a place. These shadowy saints live for ever by +Paul's brief characterisation of them, and stand out to us almost +as clearly and as sharply distinguished as they did to him. + +These two, Tryphena and Tryphosa, were probably sisters. That is +rendered likely by their being coupled together here, as well as +by the similarity of their names. These names mean luxurious, or +delicate, and no doubt expressed the ideal for their daughters +which the parents had had, and possibly indicate the kind of life +from which these two women had come. We can scarcely fail to note +the contrast between the meaning of their names and the Christian +lives they had lived. Two dainty women, probably belonging to a +class in which a delicate withdrawal from effort and toil was +thought to be the woman's distinctive mark, had fled from luxury, +which often tended to be voluptuous, and was always +self-indulgent, and had chosen the better part of `labour in the +Lord.' They had become untrue to their names, because they must be +true to their Master and themselves. We may well take the lesson +that lies here, and is eminently needful to-day amidst the +senseless, and often sinful, tide of luxury which runs so strongly +as to threaten the great and eternal Christian principle of +self-denial. + +The first thing that strikes us in looking at these salutations is +the illustration which it gives of the uniting power of a common +faith. Tryphena and Tryphosa were probably Roman ladies of some +social standing, and their names may indicate that they at least +inherited a tendency to exclusiveness; yet here they occur +immediately after the household of Narcissus and in close connection +with that of Aristobulus, both of which are groups of slaves. +Aristobulus was a grandson of Herod the Great, and Narcissus was a +well-known freedman, whose slaves at his death would probably become +the property of the Emperor. Other common slave names are those of +Ampliatus and Urbanus; and here in these lists they stand side by +side with persons of some distinction in the Roman world, and with +men and women of widely differing nationalities. The Church of Rome +would have seemed to any non-Christian observer a motley crowd in +which racial distinctions, sex, and social conditions had all been +swept away by the rising tide of a common fanaticism. In it was +exemplified in actual operation Paul's great principle that in +Christ Jesus `there is neither Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond +nor free, but in Him all are one.' Roman society in that day, as +Juvenal shows us, was familiar with the levelling and uniting power +of common vice and immorality, and the few sternly patriotic Romans +who were left lamented that `the Orontes flowed into the Tiber'; but +such common wallowing in filth led to no real unity, whereas, in the +obscure corner of the great city where there were members of the +infant Church gathered together, there was the beginning of a common +life in the one Lord which lifted each participant of it out of the +dreary solitude of individuality, and imparted to each heart the +tingling consciousness of oneness with all who held the one faith in +the one Lord and had received the one baptism in the one Name. That +fair dawn has been shadowed by many clouds, and the churches of +to-day, however they may have developed doctrine, may look back with +reproach and shame to the example of Rome, where Tryphena and +Tryphosa, with all their inherited, fastidious delicacy, recognised +in the household of Aristobulus and the household of Narcissus +`brethren in the Lord,' and were as glad to welcome Jews, Asiatics, +Persians, and Greeks, as Romans of the bluest blood, into the family +of Christ. The Romish Church of our day has lost its early grace of +welcoming all who love the one Lord into its fellowship; and we of +the Protestant churches have been but too swift to learn the bad +lesson of forbidding all who follow not with us. + +Another thought which may be suggested by Tryphena and Tryphosa is +the blessed hallowing of natural family relations by common faith. +They were probably sisters, or, at all events, as their names +indicate, near relatives, and to them that faith must have been +doubly precious because they shared it with each other. None of +the trials to which the early Christians were exposed was more +severe than the necessity which their Christianity so often +imposed upon them of breaking the sacred family ties. It saddened +even Christ's heart to think that He had come to rend families in +sunder, and to make `a man's foes them of his own household'; and +we can little imagine how bitter the pang must have been when +family love had to be cast aside at the bidding of allegiance to +Him. + +But though the stress of that separation between those most nearly +related in blood by reason of unshared faith is alleviated in this +day, it still remains; and that is but a feeble Christian life +which does not feel that it is drawing a heart from closest human +embraces and constituting a barrier between it and the dearest of +earth. There is still need in these days of relaxed Christian +sentiment for the stern austerity of the law, `He that loveth +father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me'; and there are +many Christian souls who would be infinitely stronger and more +mature, if they did not yield to the seductions of family +affections which are not rooted in Jesus Christ. But still, though +our faith ought to be far more than it often is, the determining +element in our affections and associations, its noblest work is +not to separate but to unite; and whilst it often must divide, it +is meant to draw more closely together hearts that are already +knit by earthly love. Its legitimate effect is to make all earthly +sweetnesses sweeter, all holy bonds more holy and more binding, to +infuse a new constraint and preciousness into all earthly +relationships, to make brothers tenfold more brotherly and sisters +more sisterly. The heart, in which the deepest devotion is yielded +to Jesus Christ, has its capacity for devotion infinitely +increased, and they who, looking into each other's faces, see +reflected there something of the Lord whom they both love, love +each other all the more because they love Him most, and in their +love to Him, and His to them, have found a new measure for all +their affection. They who, looking on their dear ones, can `trust +they live in God,' will there find them `worthier to be loved,' +and will there find a power of loving them. Tryphena and Tryphosa +were more sisterly than ever when they clung to their Elder +Brother. `There is no man that hath left brethren, or sisters, or +mother, or father, for My sake, but he shall receive a hundredfold +more in this time, brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and in the +world to come eternal life.' + +The contrast between the names of these two Roman ladies and the +characterisation of their `labour in the Lord' may suggest to us +the most formidable foe of Christian earnestness. Their names, as +we have already noticed, point to a state of society in which the +parents ideal for their daughters was dainty luxuriousness and a +withdrawal from the rough and tumble of common life; but these two +women, magnetised by the love of Jesus, had turned their backs on +the parental ideal, and had cast themselves earnestly into a life +of toil. That ideal was never more formidably antagonistic to the +vigour of Christian life than it is to-day. Rome, in Paul's time, +was not more completely honeycombed with worldliness than England +is to-day; and the English churches are not far behind the English +`world' in their paralysing love of luxury and self-indulgence. In +all ages, earnest Christians have had to take up the same vehement +remonstrance against the tendency of the average Christian to let +his religious life be weakened by the love of the world and the +things of the world. The protests against growing luxury have been +a commonplace in all ages of the Church; but, surely, there has +never been a time when it has reached a more senseless, sinful, +and destroying height than in our day. The rapid growth of wealth, +with no capacity of using it nobly, which modern commerce has +brought, has immensely influenced all our churches for evil. It is +so hard for us, aggregated in great cities, to live our own lives, +and the example of our class has such immense power over us that +it is very hard to pursue the path of `plain living and high +thinking' in communities, all classes of which are more and more +yielding to the temptation to ostentation, so-called comfort, and +extravagant expenditure; and that this is a danger---we are +tempted to say \textit{the} danger---to the purity, loftiness, and +vigour of religious life among us, he must be blind who cannot +see, and he must be strangely ignorant of his own life who cannot +feel that it is the danger for him. I believe that for one +professing Christian whose earnestness is lost by reason of +intellectual doubts, or by some grave sin, there are a hundred +from whom it simply oozes away unnoticed, like wind out of a +bladder, so that what was once round and full becomes limp and +flaccid. If Demas begins with loving the present world, it will +not be long before he finds a reason for departing from Paul. + +We may take these two sisters, finally, as pointing for us the +true victory over this formidable enemy. They had turned +resolutely away from the heathen ideal enshrined in their names to +a life of real hard toil, as is distinctly implied by the word +used by the Apostle. What that toil consisted in we do not know, +and need not inquire; but the main point to be noted is that their +`labour' was `in the Lord.' That union with Christ makes labour +for Him a necessity, and makes it possible. `The labour we delight +in physics pain'; and if we are in Him, we shall not only `live in +Him,' but all our work begun, continued, and ended in Him, will in +Him and by Him be accepted. There is no victorious antagonist of +worldly ease and self-indulgence comparable to the living +consciousness of union with Jesus and His life in us. To dwell in +the swamps at the bottom of the mountain is to live in a region +where effort is impossible and malaria weakens vitality; to climb +the heights brings bracing to the limbs and a purer air into the +expanding lungs, and makes work delightsome that would have been +labour down below. If we are `in the Lord,' He is our atmosphere, +and we can draw from Him full draughts of a noble life in which we +shall not need the stimulus of self-interest or worldly success to +use it to the utmost in acts of service to Him. They who live in +the Lord will labour in the Lord, and they who labour in the Lord +will rest in the Lord. + +\chapter{Persis} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 12} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Salute the beloved Persis, who laboured much in the +Lord.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 12. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There are a great number of otherwise unknown Christians who pass +for a moment before our view in this chapter. Their +characterisations are like the slight outlines in the background +of some great artist's canvas: a touch of the brush is all that is +spared for each, and yet, if we like to look sympathetically, they +live before us. Now, this good woman, about whom we never hear +again, and for whom these few words are all her epitaph---was +apparently, judging by her name, of Persian descent, and possibly +had been brought to Rome as a slave. At all events, finding +herself there, she had somehow or other become connected with the +Church in that city, and had there distinguished herself by +continuous and faithful Christian toil which had won the affection +of the Apostle, though he had never seen her, and knew no more +about her. That is all. She comes into the foreground for a +moment, and then she vanishes. What does she say to us? + +First of all, like the others named by Paul, she helps us to +understand, by her living example, that wonderful, new, uniting +process that was carried on by means of Christianity. The simple +fact of a Persian woman getting a loving message from a Jew, the +woman being in Rome and the Jew in Corinth, and the message being +written in Greek, brings before us a whole group of nationalities +all fused together. They had been hammered together, or, if you +like it better, chained together, by Roman power, but they were +melted together by Christ's Gospel. This Eastern woman and this +Jewish man, and the many others whose names and different +nationalities pass in a flash before us in this chapter, were all +brought together in Jesus Christ. + +If we run our eye over these salutations, what strikes one, even +at the first sight, is the very small number of Jewish names; only +one certain, and another doubtful. Four or five names are Latin, +and then all the rest are Greek, but this woman seemingly came +from further east than any of them. There they all were, +forgetting the hostile nationalities to which they belonged, +because they had found One who had brought them into one great +community. We talk about the uniting influence of Christianity, +but when we see the process going on before us, in a case like +this, we begin to understand it better. + +But another point may be noticed in regard to this uniting +process---how it brought into action the purest and truest love as +a bond that linked men. There are four or five of the people +commended in this chapter of whom the Apostle has nothing to say +but that they are beloved. This is the only woman to whom he +applies that term. And notice his instinctive delicacy: when he is +speaking of men he says, `\textit{My} beloved'; when he is +greeting Persis he says, `\textit{the} beloved,' that there may be +no misunderstanding about the `my'---`the beloved Persis which +laboured much in the Lord'---indicating, by one delicate touch, +the loftiness, the purity, and truly Christian character of the +bond that held them together. And that is no true Church, where +anything but that is the bond---the love that knits us to one +another, because we believe that each is knit to the dear Lord and +fountain of all love. + +What more does this good woman say to us? She is an example living +and breathing there before us, of what a woman may be in God's +Church. Paul had never been in Rome; no Apostle, so far as we +know, had had anything to do with the founding of the Church. The +most important Church in the Roman Empire, and the Church which +afterwards became the curse of Christendom, was founded by some +anonymous Christians, with no commission, with no supervision, +with no officials amongst them, but who just had the grace of God +in their hearts, and found themselves in Rome, and could not help +speaking about Jesus Christ. God helped them, and a little Church +sprang into being. And the great abundance of salutations here, +and the honourable titles which the Apostle gives to the +Christians of whom he speaks, and many of whom he signalises as +having done great service, are a kind of certificate on his part +to the vigorous life which, without any apostolic supervision or +official direction, had developed itself there in that Church. + +Now, it is to be noticed that this striking form of eulogium which +is attached to our Persis she shares in common with others in the +group. And it is to be further noticed that all those who are, as +it were, decorated with this medal---on whom Paul bestows this +honour of saying that they had `laboured,' or `laboured much in +the Lord,' are women that stand alone in the list. There are +several other women in it, but they are all coupled with +men---husbands or brothers, or some kind of relative. But there +are three sets of women, I do not say single women, but three sets +of women, standing singly in the list, and it is about them, and +them only, that Paul says they `laboured,' or `laboured much.' +There is a Mary who stands alone, and she `bestowed much labour +on' Paul and others. Then there are, in the same verse as my text, +two sisters, Tryphena and Tryphosa, whose names mean `the +luxurious.' And the Apostle seems to think, as he writes the two +names that spoke of self-indulgence: `Perhaps these rightly +described these two women once, but they do not now. In the bad +old days, before they were Christians, they may have been rightly +named luxurious-living. But here is their name now, the luxurious +is turned into the self-sacrificing worker, and the two sisters +``labour in the Lord.''\,' Then comes our friend Persis, who also +stands alone, and she shares in the honour that only these other +two companies of women share with her. She `laboured much in the +Lord.' In that little community, without any direction from +Apostles and authorised teachers, the brethren and sisters had +every one found their tasks; and these solitary women, with nobody +to say to them, `Go and do this or that,' had found out for +themselves, or rather had been taught by the Spirit of Jesus, what +they had to do, and they worked at it with a will. There are many +things that Christian women can do a great deal better than men, +and we are not to forget that this modern talk about the +emancipation of women has its roots here in the New Testament. We +are not to forget either that prerogative means obligation, and +that the elevation of woman means the laying upon her of solemn +duties to perform. I wonder how many of the women members of our +Churches and congregations deserve such a designation as that? We +hear a great deal about `women's rights' nowadays. I wish some of +my friends would lay a little more to heart than they do, `women's +duties.' + +And now, lastly, the final lesson that I draw from this eulogium +of an otherwise altogether unknown woman is that she is a model of +Christian service. + +First, in regard to its measure. She `laboured much in the Lord.' +Now, both these two words, `laboured' and `much,' are extremely +emphatic. The word rightly translated `laboured' will appear in +its full force if I recall to you a couple of other places in +which it is employed in the New Testament. You remember that +touching incident about our Lord when, being `\textit{wearied} +with His journey, He sat thus on the well.' `Wearied' is the same +word as is here used. Then, you remember how the Apostle, after he +had been hauling empty nets all night in the little, wet, dirty +fishing-boat, said, perhaps with a yawn, `Master, we have +\textit{toiled} all the night and caught nothing.' He uses the +same word as is employed here. Such is the sort of work that these +women had done---work carried to the point of exhaustion, work up +to the very edge of their powers, work unsparing and continuous, +and not done once in some flash of evanescent enthusiasm, but all +through a dreary night, in spite of apparent failures. + +\textit{There} is the measure of service. Many of us seem to think +that if we say `I am tired,' that is a reason for not doing +anything. Sometimes it is, no doubt; and no man has a right so to +labour as to impair his capacity for future labour, but subject to +that condition I do not know that the plea of fatigue is a +sufficient reason for idleness. And I am quite sure that the true +example for us is the example of Him who, when He was most +wearied, sitting on the well, was so invigorated and refreshed by +the opportunity of winning another soul that, when His disciples +came back to Him, they looked at His fresh strength with +astonishment, and said to themselves, `Has any man brought Him +anything to eat?' Ay, what He had to eat was work that He finished +for the Father, and some of us know that the truest refreshment in +toil is a change of toil. It is almost as good to shift the load +on to the other shoulder, or to take a stick into the other hand, +as it is to put away the load altogether. Oh, the careful limits +which Christian people nowadays set to their work for Jesus! They +are not afraid of being tired in their pursuit of business or +pleasure, but in regard to Christ's work they will let anything go +to wrack and ruin rather than that they should turn a hair, by +persevering efforts to prevent it. Work to the limit of power if +you live in the light of blessedness. + +She `laboured much in the Lord,' or, as Jesus Christ said about +the other woman who was blamed by the people that did not love +enough to understand the blessedness of self-sacrifice, `she had +done what she could.' It was an apology for the form of Mary's +service, but it was a stringent demand as to its amount. `What she +could'---not \textit{half} of what she could; not what she +\textit{conveniently} could. That is the measure of acceptable +service. + +Then, still further, may we not learn from Persis the spring of +all true Christian work? She `laboured much in the Lord,' because +she \textit{was} `in Him,' and in union with Him there came to her +power and desire to do things which, without that close +fellowship, she neither would have desired nor been able to do. It +is vain to try to whip up Christian people to forms of service by +appealing to lower motives. There is only one motive that will +last, and bring out from us all that is in us to do, and that is +the appeal to our sense of union and communion with Jesus Christ, +and the exhortation to live in Him, and then we shall work in Him. +If you link the spindles in your mill, or the looms in your +weaving-shed, with the engine, they will go. It is of no use to +try to turn them by hand. You will only spoil the machinery, and +it will be poor work that you will get off them. + +So, dear brethren, be `in the Lord.' That is the secret of +service, and the closer we come to Him, and the more continuously, +moment by moment, we realise our individual dependence upon Him, +and our union with Him, the more will our lives effloresce and +blossom into all manner of excellence and joyful service, and +nothing else that Christian people are whipped up to do, from +lower and more vulgar motives than that, will. It may be of a +certain kind of inferior value, but it is far beneath the highest +beauty of Christian service, nor will its issues reach the +loftiest point of usefulness to which even our poor service may +attain. + +Persis seems to me to suggest, too, the safeguard of work. Ah, if +she had not `laboured in the Lord,' and been `in the Lord' whilst +she was labouring, she would very soon have stopped work. Our +Christian work, however pure its motive when we begin it, has in +itself the tendency to become mechanical, and to be done from +lower motives than those from which it was begun. That is true +about a man in my position. It is true about all of us, in our +several ways of trying to serve our dear Lord and Master. Unless +we make a conscience of continually renewing our communion with +Him, and getting our feet once more firmly upon the rock, we shall +certainly in our Christian work, having begun in the spirit, +continue in the flesh, and before we know where we are, we shall +be doing work from habit, because we did it yesterday at this +hour, because people expect it of us, because A, B, or C does it, +or for a hundred other reasons, all of which are but too familiar +to us by experience. They are sure to slip in; they change the +whole character of the work, and they harm the workers. The only +way by which we can keep the garland fresh is by continually +dipping it in the fountain. The only way by which we can keep our +Christian work pure, useful, worthy of the Master, is by seeing to +it that our work itself does not draw us away from our fellowship +with Him. And the more we have to do, the more needful is it that +we should listen to Christ's voice when He says to us, `Come ye +yourselves apart with Me into a solitary place, and there renew +your communion with Me.' + +The last lesson about our work which I draw from Persis is the +unexpected immortality of true Christian service. How Persis would +have opened her eyes if anybody had told her that nearly 1900 +years after she lived, people in a far-away barbarous island would +be sitting thinking about her, as you and I are doing now! How +astonished she would have been if it had been said to her, `Now, +Persis, wheresoever in the whole world the Gospel is preached, +your name and your work and your epitaph will go with it, and as +long as men know about Jesus Christ, your and their Master, they +will know about you, His humble servant.' Well, we shall not have +our names in that fashion in men's memories, but Jesus will have +your name and mine, if we do His work as this woman did it, in +\textit{His} memory. `I will never forget any of their works.' And +if we---self-forgetful to the limit of our power, and as the +joyful result of our personal union with that Saviour who has done +everything for us---try to live for His praise and glory in any +fashion, then be sure of this, that our poor deeds are as immortal +as Him for whom they are done, and that we may take to ourselves +the great word which He has spoken, when He has declared that at +the last He will confess His confessors' names before the angels +in heaven. Blessed are the living that `live in the Lord'; blessed +are the workers that work `in the Lord,' for when they come to be +the dead that `die in the Lord' and rest from their labours, their +works shall follow them. + +\chapter{A Crushed Snake} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 20} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet +shortly.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 20. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There are three other Scriptural sayings which may have been +floating in the Apostle's mind when he penned this triumphant +assurance. `Thou shalt bruise his head'; the great first +Evangel---we are to be endowed with Christ's power; `The lion and +the adder thou shalt trample under foot'---all the strength that +was given to ancient saints is ours; `Behold! I give you power to +tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the +enemy'---the charter of the seventy is the perennial gift to the +Church. Echoing all these great words, Paul promises the Roman +Christians that `the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your +feet shortly.' Now, when any special characteristic is thus +ascribed to God, as when He is called `the God of patience' or +`the God of hope,' in the preceding chapter, the characteristic +selected has some bearing on the prayer or promise following. For +example, this same designation, `the God of peace,' united with +the other, `that brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus, that +great Shepherd of the sheep,' is laid as the foundation of the +prayer for the perfecting of the readers of the Epistle to the +Hebrews in every good work. It is, then, because of that great +name that the Apostle is sure, and would have his Roman brethren +to be sure, that Satan shall shortly be bruised under their feet. +No doubt there may have been some reference in Paul's mind to what +he had just said about those who caused divisions in the Church; +but, if there is such reference, it is of secondary importance. +Paul is gazing on all the great things in God which make Him the +God of peace, and in them all he sees ground for the confident +hope that His power will be exerted to crush all the sin that +breaks His children's peace. + +Now the first thought suggested by these words is the solemn +glimpse given of the struggle that goes on in every Christian +soul. + +Two antagonists are at hand-grips in every one of us. On the one +hand, the `God of peace,' on the other, `Satan.' If you believe in +the personality of the One, do not part with the belief in the +personality of the other. If you believe that a divine power and +Spirit is ready to help and strengthen you, do not think so +lightly of the enemies that are arrayed against you as to falter +in the belief that there \textit{is} a great personal Power, +rooted in evil, who is warring against each of us. Ah, brethren! +we live far too much on the surface, and we neither go down deep +enough to the dark source of the Evil, nor rise high enough to the +radiant Fountain of the Good. It is a shallow life that strikes +that antagonism of God and Satan out of itself. And though the +belief in a personal tempter has got to be very unfashionable +nowadays, I am going to venture to say that you may measure +accurately the vitality and depth of a man's religion by the +emphasis with which he grasps the thought of that great +antagonism. There is a star of light, and there is a star of +darkness; and they revolve, as it were, round one centre. + +But whilst, on the one hand, our Christianity is made shallow in +proportion as we ignore this solemn reality, on the other hand, it +is sometimes paralysed and perverted by our misunderstanding of +it. For, notice, `the God of peace shall bruise Satan +\textit{under your feet}.' Yes, it is God that bruises, but He +uses our feet to do it. It is God from whom the power comes, but +the power works through us, and we are neither merely the field, +nor merely the prize, of the conflict between these two, but we +ourselves have to put all our pith into the task of keeping down +the flat, speckled head that has the poison gland in it. `The God +of peace'---blessed be His Name---`shall bruise Satan under your +feet,' but it will need the tension of your muscles, and the +downward force of your heel, if the wriggling reptile is to be +kept under. + +Turn, now, to the other thought that is here, the promise and +pledge of victory in the name, the God of peace. I have already +referred to two similar designations of God in the previous +chapter, and if we take them in union with this one in our text, +what a wonderfully beautiful and strengthening threefold view of +that divine nature do we get! `The God of patience and +consolation' is the first of the linked three. It heads the list, +and blessed is it that it does, because, after all, sorrow makes +up a very large proportion of the experience of us all, and what +most men seem to themselves to need most is a God that will bear +their sorrows with them and help them to bear, and a God that will +comfort them. But, supposing that He has been made known thus as +the source of endurance and the God of all consolation, He becomes +`the God of hope,' for a dark background flings up a light +foreground, and a comforted sorrow patiently endured is mighty to +produce a radiant hope. The rising of the muddy waters of the Nile +makes the heavy crops of `corn in Egypt.' So the name `the God of +hope' fitly follows the name `the God of patience and +consolation.' + +Then we come to the name in my text, built perhaps on the other +two, or at least reminiscent of them, and recalling them, `the God +of peace,' who, through patience and consolation, through hope, +and through many another gift, breathes the benediction of His own +great tranquillity and unruffled calm over our agitated, +distracted, sinful hearts. In connection with one of those +previous designations to which I have referred, the Apostle has a +prayer very different in form from this, but identical in +substance, when he says `the God of hope fill you with all joy and +peace in believing.' Is not that closely allied to the promise of +my text, `The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet +shortly'? Is there any surer way of `bruising Satan' under a man's +feet than filling him `with joy and peace in believing'? What can +the Devil do to that man? If his soul is saturated, and his +capacities filled, with that pure honey of divine joy, will he +have any taste for the coarse dainties, the leeks and the garlic, +that the Devil offers him? Is there any surer way of delivering a +man from the temptations of his own baser nature, and the +solicitations of this busy intrusive world round about him, than +to make him satisfied with the goodness of the Lord, and conscious +in his daily experience of `all joy and peace'? Fill the vessel +with wine, and there is no room for baser liquors or for poison. I +suppose that the way by which you and I, dear friends, will most +effectually conquer any temptations, is by falling back on the +superior sweetness of divine joys. When we live upon manna we do +not crave onions. So He `will bruise Satan under your feet' by +giving that which will arm your hearts against all his temptations +and all his weapons. Blessed be God for the way of conquest, which +is the possession of a supremer good! + +But then, notice how beautifully too this name, `the God of +peace,' comes in to suggest that even in the strife there may be +tranquillity. I remember in an old church in Italy a painting of +an Archangel with his foot on the dragon's neck, and his sword +thrust through its scaly armour. It is perhaps the feebleness of +the artist's hand, but I think rather it is the clearness of his +insight, which has led him to represent the victorious angel, in +the moment in which he is slaying the dragon, as with a smile on +his face, and not the least trace of effort in the arm, which is +so easily smiting the fatal blow. Perhaps if the painter could +have used his brush better he would have put more expression into +the attitude and the face, but I think it is better as it is. We, +too, may achieve a conquest over the dragon which, although it +requires effort, does not disturb peace. There is a possibility of +bruising that slippery head under my foot, and yet not having to +strain myself in the process. We may have `peace subsisting at the +heart of endless agitation.' Do you remember how the Apostle, in +another place, gives us the same beautiful---though at first sight +contradictory---combination when he says, `The peace of God shall +garrison your heart'? + +\begin{verse} +`My soul! there is a country \\ +\ \ Far, far beyond the stars, \\ +Where stands an armed sentry, \\ +\ \ All skilful in the wars.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent And her name is Peace, as the poet goes on to tell us. +Ah, brethren! if we lived nearer the Lord, we should find it more +possible to `fight the good fight of faith,' and yet to have `our +feet shod with the preparedness of the gospel of peace.' + +`The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet'; and in +bruising He will give you His peace to do it, and His peace in +doing it, and in still greater measure after doing it. For every +struggle of the Christian soul adds something to the subsequent +depth of its tranquillity. And so the name of the God of peace is +our pledge of victory in, and of deepened peace after, our warfare +with sin and temptation. + +Lastly, note the swiftness with which Paul expects that this +process shall he accomplished. + +I dare say that he was thinking about the coming of the Lord, when +all the fighting and struggle would be over, and that when he said +`God shall bruise him under your feet shortly,' there lay in the +back of his mind the thought, `the Lord is at hand.' But be that +as it may, there is another way of looking at the words. They are +not in the least like our experience, are they? `Shortly!'---and +here am I, a Christian man for the last half century perhaps; and +have I got much further on in my course? Have I brought the sin +that used to trouble me much down, and is my character much more +noble, Christ-like, than it was long years ago? Would other people +say that it is? Instead of `shortly' we ought to put `slowly' for +the most of us. But, dear friend, the ideal is swift conquest, and +it is our fault and our loss, if the reality is sadly +different. + +There are a great many evils that, unless they are conquered +suddenly, have very small chance of ever being conquered at all. +You never heard of a man being cured of his love of intoxicating +drink, for instance, by a gradual process. The serpent's life is +not crushed out of it by gradual pressure, but by one vigorous +stamp of a nervous heel. + +But if my experience as a Christian man does not enable me to set +to my seal that this text is true, the text itself will tell me +why. It is `the God of peace' that is going to `bruise Satan.' Do +you keep yourself in touch with Him, dear friend? And do you let +His powers come uninterruptedly and continuously into your spirit +and life? It is sheer folly and self-delusion to wonder that the +medicine does not work as quickly as was promised, if you do not +take the medicine. The slow process by which, at the best, many +Christian people `bruise Satan under their feet,' during which he +hurts their heels more than they hurt his head, is mainly due to +their breaking the closeness and the continuity of their communion +with God in Jesus Christ. + +But, after all, it is Heaven's chronology that we have to do with +here. `Shortly,' and it will be `shortly,' if we reckon by +heavenly scales of duration. Weeping may endure for a night, but +joy cometh in the morning. `The Lord will help her, and that right +early.' `The Lord is at hand.' When we get yonder, ah! how all the +long years of fighting will have dwindled down, and we shall say +`the Lord did help me, and that right early,' and though there may +have been more than threescore years and ten of fighting, that, +while we were in the thick of it, did not seem to come to much, we +shall then look back and say: `Yes, Lord, it was but for a moment, +and it has brought me to the undying day of Eternal Peace.' + +\chapter{Tertius} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 22} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I, Tertius, who write the epistle, salute you in the +Lord.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 22 (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +One sometimes sees in old religious pictures, in some obscure +corner, a tiny kneeling figure, the portrait of the artist. So +Tertius here gets leave to hold the pen for a moment on his own +account, and from Corinth sends his greeting to his unknown +brethren in Rome. Apparently he was a stranger to them, and needed +to introduce himself. He is never heard of before or since. For +one brief moment he is visible, like a star of a low magnitude, +shining out for a moment between two banks of darkness and then +swallowed up. Judging by his name, he was probably a Roman, and +possibly had some connection with Italy, but clearly was a +stranger to the Church in Rome. We do not know whether he was a +resident in Corinth, where he wrote this epistle, or one of Paul's +travelling companions. Probably he was the former, as his name +never recurs in any of Paul's letters. One can understand the +impulse which led him for one moment to come out of obscurity and +to take up personal relations with those who had so long enjoyed +his pen. He would fain float across the deep gulf of alienation a +thread of love which looked like gossamer, but has proved to be +stronger than centuries and revolutions. + +This humble and modest greeting is an expression of a sentiment +which the world may smile at, but which, being `in the Lord,' +partakes of immortality. No doubt the world's hate drove more +closely together all the disciples in primitive times; but the +yearning of Tertius for some little corner in the love of his +Roman brethren might well influence us to-day. There ought to be +an effort of imagination going out towards unknown brethren. +Christian love is not meant to be kept within the limits of sight +and personal knowledge; it should overleap the narrow bounds of +the communities to which we belong, and expatiate over the whole +wide field. The great Shepherd has prescribed for us the limits to +the very edge of which our Christian love should consciously go +forth, and has rebuked the narrowness to which we are prone, when +He has said, `Other sheep I have which are not of this fold.' We +are all too prone to let identities of opinion and of polity, or +even the accident of locality, set bounds to our consciousness of +brotherhood; and the example of this little gush of affection, +that reaches out a hand across the ocean and grasps the hands of +unknown partakers in the common life of the one Lord, may well +shame us out of our narrowness, and quicken us into a wide +perception and deepened feeling towards all who in every place +call up Jesus Christ as their Lord---`both their Lord and +ours.' + +Another lesson which we may learn from Tertius' characterisation +of himself is the dignity of subordinate work towards a great end. +His office as amanuensis was very humble, but it was quite as +necessary as Paul's inspired fervour. It is to him that we owe our +possession of the Epistle; it is to him that Paul owed it that he +was able to record in imperishable words the thoughts that welled +up in his mind, and would have been lost if Tertius had not been +at his side. The power generated in the boilers does its work +through machines of which each little cog-wheel is as +indispensable as the great shafts. Members of the body which seem +to be `more feeble, are necessary.' Every note in a great +concerted piece of music, and every instrument, down to the +triangle and the little drum in the great orchestra, is necessary. +This lesson of the dignity of subordinate work needs to be laid to +heart both by those who think themselves to be capable of more +important service, and by those who have to recognise that the +less honourable tasks are all for which they are fit. To the +former it may preach humility, the latter it may encourage. We are +all very ignorant of what is great and what is small in the matter +of our Christian service, and we have sometimes to look very +closely and to clear away a great many vulgar misconceptions +before we can clearly discriminate between mites and talents. `We +know not which may prosper, whether this or that'; and in our +ignorance of what it may please God to bring out of any service +faithfully rendered to Him, we had better not be too sure that +true service is ever small, or that the work that attracts +attention and is christened by men `great' is really so in His +eyes. It is well to have the noble ambition to `desire earnestly +the greater gifts,' but it is better to `follow the more excellent +way,' and to seek after the love which knows nothing of great or +small, and without which prophecy and the knowledge of all +mysteries, and all conspicuous and all the shining qualities +profit nothing. + +We can discern in Tertius' words a little touch of what we may +call pride in his work. No doubt he knew it to be subordinate, but +he also knew it to be needful; and no doubt he had put all his +strength into doing it well. No man will put his best into any +task which he does not undertake in such a spirit. It is a very +plain piece of homely wisdom that `what is worth doing at all is +worth doing well.' Without a lavish expenditure of the utmost care +and effort, our work will tend to be slovenly and unpleasing to +God, and man, and to ourselves. We may be sure there were no blots +and bits of careless writing in Tertius' manuscript, and that he +would not have claimed the friendly feelings of his Roman +brethren, if he had not felt that he had put his best into the +writing of this epistle. The great word of King David has a very +wide application. `I will not take that which is thine for the +Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.' + +Tertius' salutation may suggest to us the best thing by which to +be remembered. All his life before and after the hours spent at +Paul's side has sunk in oblivion. He wished to be known only as +having written the Epistle. Christian souls ought to desire to +live chiefly in the remembrance of those to whom they have been +known as having done some little bit of work for Jesus Christ. We +may well ask ourselves whether there is anything in our lives by +which we should thus wish to be remembered. All our many +activities will sink into silence; but if the stream of our life, +which has borne along down its course so much mud and sand, has +brought some grains of gold in the form of faithful and loving +service to Christ and men---these will not be lost in the ocean, +but treasured by Him. What we do for Jesus and to spread the +knowledge of His name is the immortal part of our mortal lives, +and abides in His memory and in blessed results in our own +characters, when all the rest that made our busy and often stormy +days has passed into oblivion. All that we know of Tertius who +wrote this Epistle is that he wrote it. Well will it be for us if +the summary of our lives be something like that of his! + +\chapter{Quartus a Brother} +\markright{ROMANS xvi. 23} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Quartus a brother.'---\textsc{Romans} xvi. 23. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +I am afraid very few of us read often, or with much interest, +those long lists of names at the end of Paul's letters. And yet +there are plenty of lessons in them, if anybody will look at them +lovingly and carefully. There does not seem much in these three +words; but I am very much mistaken if they will not prove to be +full of beauty and pathos, and to open out into a wonderful +revelation of what Christianity is and does, as soon as we try to +freshen them up into some kind of human interest. + +It is easy for us to make a little picture of this brother +Quartus. He is evidently an entire stranger to the Church in Rome. +They had never heard his name before: none of them knew anything +about him. Further, he is evidently a man of no especial +reputation or position in the Church at Corinth, from which Paul +writes. He contrasts strikingly with the others who send +salutations to Rome. `Timotheus, my work-fellow'---the companion +and helper of the Apostle, whose name was known everywhere among +the Churches, heads the list. Then come other prominent men of his +more immediate circle. Then follows a loving greeting from Paul's +amanuensis, who, naturally, as the pen is in his own hand, says: +`\textit{I}, Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the +Lord.' Then Paul begins again to dictate, and the list runs on. +Next comes a message from `Gaius mine host, and of the whole +Church'---an influential man in the community, apparently rich, +and willing, as well as able, to extend to them large and loving +hospitality. Erastus, the chamberlain or treasurer of the city, +follows---a man of consequence in Corinth. And then, among all +these people of mark, comes the modest, quiet Quartus. He has no +wealth like Gaius, nor civic position like Erastus, nor wide +reputation like Timothy. He is only a good, simple, unknown +Christian. He feels a spring of love open in his heart to these +brethren far across the sea, whom he never met. He would like them +to know that he thought lovingly of them, and to be lovingly +thought of by them. So he begs a little corner in Paul's letter, +and gets it; and there, in his little niche, like some statue of a +forgotten saint, scarce seen amidst the glories of a great +cathedral, `Quartus a brother' stands to all time. + +The first thing that strikes me in connection with these words is, +how deep and real they show that new bond of Christian love to +have been. + +A little incident of this sort is more impressive than any amount +of mere talk about the uniting influence of the Gospel. Here we +get a glimpse of the power in actual operation in a man's heart, +and if we think of all that this simple greeting presupposes and +implies, and of all that had to be overcome before it could have +been sent, we may well see in it the sign of the greatest +revolution that was ever wrought in men's relations to one +another, Quartus was an inhabitant of Corinth, from which city +this letter was written. His Roman name may indicate Roman +descent, but of that we cannot be sure. Just as probably he may +have been a Greek by birth, and so have had to stretch his hand +across a deep crevasse of national antipathy, in order to clasp +the hands of his brethren in the great city. There was little love +lost between Rome, the rough imperious conqueror, and Corinth, +prostrate and yet restive under her bonds, and nourishing +remembrances of a freedom which Rome had crushed, and of a culture +that Rome haltingly followed. + +And how many other deep gulfs of separation had to be bridged +before that Christian sense of oneness could be felt! It is +impossible for us to throw ourselves completely back to the +condition of things which the Gospel found. The world then was +like some great field of cooled lava on the slopes of a volcano, +all broken up by a labyrinth of clefts and cracks, at the bottom +of which one can see the flicker of sulphurous flames. Great gulfs +of national hatred, of fierce enmities of race, language, and +religion; wide separations of social condition, far profounder +than anything of the sort which we know, split mankind into +fragments. On the one side was the freeman, on the other, the +slave; on the one side, the Gentile, on the other, the Jew; on the +one side, the insolence and hard-handedness of Roman rule, on the +other, the impotent, and therefore envenomed, hatred of conquered +peoples. + +And all this fabric, full of active repulsions and disintegrating +forces, was bound together into an artificial and unreal unity by +the iron clamp of Rome's power, holding up the bulging walls that +were ready to fall---the unity of the slave-gang manacled together +for easier driving. Into this hideous condition of things the +Gospel comes, and silently flings its clasping tendrils over the +wide gaps, and binds the crumbling structure of human society with +a new bond, real and living. We know well enough that that was so, +but we are helped to apprehend it by seeing, as it were, the very +process going on before our eyes, in this message from `Quartus a +brother.' + +It reminds us that the very notion of humanity, and of the +brotherhood of man, is purely Christian. A world-embracing +society, held together by love, was not dreamt of before the +Gospel came; and since the Gospel came it is more than a dream. If +you wrench away the idea from its foundation, as people do who +talk about fraternity, and seek to bring it to pass without +Christ, it is a mere piece of Utopian sentiment---a fine dream. +But in Christianity it worked. It works imperfectly enough, God +knows. Still there is some reality in it, and some power. The +Gospel first of all produced the thing and the practice, and then +the theory came afterwards. The Church did not talk much about the +brotherhood of man, or the unity of the race; but simply ignored +all distinctions, and gathered into the fold the slave and his +master, the Roman and his subject, fair-haired Goths and swarthy +Arabians, the worshippers of Odin and of Zeus, the Jew and the +Gentile. That actual unity, utterly irrespective of all +distinctions, which came naturally in the train of the Gospel, was +the first attempt to realise the oneness of the race, and first +taught the world that all men were brethren. + +And before this simple word of greeting could have been sent, and +the unknown man in Corinth felt love to a company of unknown men +in Rome, some profound new impulse must have been given to the +world; something altogether unlike any of the forces hitherto in +existence. What was that? What should it be but the story of One +who gave Himself for the whole world, who binds men into a unity +because of His common relation to them all, and through whom the +great proclamation can be made: `There is neither Jew nor Greek, +there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, +for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.' Brother Quartus' message, +like some tiny flower above-ground which tells of a spreading root +beneath, is a modest witness to that mighty revolution, and +presupposes the preaching of a Saviour in whom he and his unseen +friends in Rome are one. + +So let us learn not to confine our sympathy and the play of our +Christian affection within the limits of our personal knowledge. +We must go further a-field than that. Like this man, let us +sometimes send our thoughts across mountains and seas. He knew +nobody in the Roman Church, and nobody knew him, but he wished to +stretch out his hand to them, and to feel, as it were, the +pressure of their fingers in his palm. That is a pattern for +us. + +Let me suggest another thing. Quartus was a Corinthian. The +Corinthian Church was remarkable for its quarrellings and +dissensions. One said, `I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos, +and I of Cephas, and I of Christ.' I wonder if our friend Quartus +belonged to any of these parties? There is nothing more likely +than that he had a much warmer glow of Christian love to the +brethren over there in Rome than to those who sat on the same +bench with him in the upper room at Corinth. For you know that +sometimes it is true about people, as well as about scenery, that +`distance lends enchantment to the view.' A great many of us have +much keener sympathies with `brethren' who are well out of our +reach, and whose peculiarities do not jar against ours, than with +those who are nearest. I do not say Quartus was one of these, but +he may very well have been one of the wranglers in Corinth who +found it much easier to love his brother whom he had not seen than +his brother whom he had seen. So take the hint, if you need it. Do +not let your Christian love go wandering away abroad only, but +keep some for home consumption. + +Again, how simply, and with what unconscious beauty, the deep +reason for our Christian unity is given in that one word, a +`Brother.' As if he had said, Never mind telling them anything +about what I am, what place I hold, or what I do. Tell them I am a +brother, that will be enough. It is the only name by which I care +to be known; it is the name which explains my love to them. + +We are brethren because we are sons of one Father. So that +favourite name, by which the early Christians knew each other, +rested upon and proclaimed the deep truth that they knew +themselves to be all partakers of a common life derived from one +Parent. When they said they were brethren, they implied, `We have +been born again by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for +ever.' The great Christian truth of regeneration, the +communication of a divine life from God the Father, through Christ +the Son, by the Holy Spirit, is the foundation of Christian +brotherhood. So the name is no mere piece of effusive sentiment, +but expresses a profound fact. `To as many as received Him, to +them gave He power to become the sons of God,' and therein to +become the brethren of all His sons. + +That is the true ground of our unity, and of our obligation to +love all who are begotten of Him. You cannot safely put them on +any other footing. All else---identity of opinion, similarity of +practice and ceremonial, local or national ties, and the +like---all else is insufficient. It may be necessary for Christian +communities to require in addition a general identity of opinion, +and even some uniformity in government and form of worship; but if +ever they come to fancy that such subordinate conditions of +visible oneness are the grounds of their spiritual unity, and to +enforce these as such, they are slipping off the real foundation, +and are perilling their character as Churches of Christ. The true +ground of the unity of all Christians is here: `Have we not all +one Father?' We possess a kindred life derived from Him. We are a +family of brethren because we are sons. + +Another remark is, how strangely and unwittingly this good man has +got himself an immortality by that passing thought of his. One +loving message has won for him the prize for which men have +joyfully given life itself,---an eternal place in history. +Wheresoever the Gospel is preached there also shall this be told +as a memorial of him. How much surprised he would have been if, as +he leaned forward to Tertius hurrying to end his task and said, +`Send my love too,' anybody had told him that that one act of his +would last as long as the world, and his name be known for ever! +And how much ashamed some of the other people in the New Testament +would have been if they had known that their passing faults---the +quarrel of Euodia and Syntyche for instance---were to be gibbeted +for ever in the same fashion! How careful they would have been, +and we would be, of our behaviour if we knew that it was to be +pounced down upon and made immortal in that style! Suppose you +were to be told---Your thoughts and acts to-morrow at twelve +o'clock will be recorded for all the world to read---you would be +pretty careful how you behaved. When a speaker sees the reporters +in front of him, he weighs his words. + +Well, Quartus' little message is written down here, and the world +knows it. All our words and works are getting put down too, in +another Book up there, and it is going to be read out one day. It +does seem wonderful that you and I should live as we do, knowing +that all the while that God is recording it all. If we are not +ashamed to do things, and let Him note them on His tablets that +they may be for the time to come, for ever and ever, it is strange +that we should be more careful to attitudinise and pose ourselves +before one another than before Him. Let us then keep ever in mind +`those pure eyes and perfect witness of the all-judging' God. The +eternal record of this little message is only a symbol of the +eternal life and eternal record of all our transient and trivial +thoughts and deeds before Him. Let us live so that each act, if +recorded, would shine with some modest ray of true light like +brother Quartus' greeting, and let us seek that, like him,---all +else about us being forgotten, position, talents, wealth, buried +in the dust,---we may be remembered, if we are remembered at all, +by such a biography as is condensed into these three words. Who +would not wish to be embalmed, so to speak, in such a record? Who +would not wish to have such an epitaph as this? A sweet fate to +live for ever in the world's memory by three words which tell his +name, his Christianity, and his brotherly love! So far as we are +remembered at all, may the like be our life's history and our +epitaph! + +%% EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE +%% ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D.D., Litt.D. +%% CORINTHIANS +%% \textit{(To II Corinthians, Chap. V)} +%% TABLE OF CONTENTS +%% CALLING ON THE NAME (1 COR. i. 2) +%% PERISHING OR BEING SAVED (1 COR. i. 18) +%% THE APOSTLE'S THEME (1 COR. ii. 2) +%% GOD'S FELLOW-WORKERS (1 COR. iii. 9) +%% THE TESTING FIRE (1 COR. iii. 12, 13) +%% TEMPLES OF GOD (1 COR. iii. 16) +%% DEATH, THE FRIEND (1 COR. iii. 21, 22) +%% SERVANTS AND LORDS (1 COR. iii. 21-23) +%% THE THREE TRIBUNALS (1 COR. iv. 3, 4) +%% THE FESTAL LIFE (1 COR. v. 8) +%% FORMS \textit{VERSUS} CHARACTER (1 COR. vii. 19, GAL. v. 6, GAL. vi. 15, R. V.) +%% SLAVES AND FREE (1 COR. vii. 22) +%% THE CHRISTIAN LIFE (1 COR. vii. 24) +%% `LOVE BUILDETH UP' (1 COR. viii. 1-13) +%% THE SIN OF SILENCE (1 COR. ix. 16, 17) +%% A SERVANT OF MEN (1 COR. ix. 19-23) +%% HOW THE VICTOR RUNS (1 COR. ix. 24) +%% `CONCERNING THE CROWN' (1 COR. ix. 25) +%% THE LIMITS OF LIBERTY (1 COR. x. 23-33) +%% `IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME' (1 COR. xi. 24) +%% THE UNIVERSAL GIFT (1 COR. xii. 7) +%% WHAT LASTS</a> (1 COR. xiii. 8, 13) +%% THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION (1 COR. xv. 3, 4) +%% REMAINING AND FALLING ASLEEP (1 COR. xv. 6) +%% PAUL'S ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF (1 COR. xv. 10) +%% THE UNITY OF APOSTOLIC TEACHING (1 COR. xv. 11) +%% THE CERTAINTY AND JOY OF THE RESURRECTION (1 COR. xv. 20) +%% THE DEATH OF DEATH (1 COR. xv. 20, 21; 50-58) +%% STRONG AND LOVING (1 COR. xvi. 13, 14) +%% ANATHEMA AND GRACE (1 COR. xvi. 21-24) +%% GOD'S YEA; MAN'S AMEN (2 COR. i. 20, R. V.) +%% ANOINTED AND STABLISHED (2 COR. i. 21) +%% SEAL AND EARNEST (2 COR. i. 22) +%% THE TRIUMPHAL PROCESSION (2 COR. ii. 14, R. V.) +%% TRANSFORMATION BY BEHOLDING (2 COR. iii. 18) +%% LOOKING AT THE UNSEEN (2 COR. iv. 18) +%% TENT AND BUILDING (2 COR. v. 1) +%% THE PATIENT WORKMAN (2 COR. v. 5) +%% THE OLD HOUSE AND THE NEW (2 COR. v. 8) +%% PLEASING CHRIST (2 COR. v. 9) +%% THE LOVE THAT CONSTRAINS (2 COR. v. 14) +%% THE ENTREATIES OF GOD (2 COR. v. 20) + +\newpage +\addcontentsline{toc}{part}{I. CORINTHIANS} + +\chapter{Calling on the Name} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS i. 2} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`All that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our +Lord, both theirs and ours.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} i. 2. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There are some difficulties, with which I need not trouble you, +about both the translation and the connection of these words. One +thing is quite clear, that in them the Apostle associates the +church at Corinth with the whole mass of Christian believers in +the world. The question may arise whether he does so in the sense +that he addresses his letter both to the church at Corinth and to +the whole of the churches, and so makes it a catholic epistle. +That is extremely unlikely, considering how all but entirely this +letter is taken up with dealing with the especial conditions of +the Corinthian church. Rather I should suppose that he is simply +intending to remind `the Church of God at Corinth ... sanctified +in Christ Jesus, called to be saints,' that they are in real, +living union with the whole body of believers. Just as the water +in a little land-locked bay, connected with the sea by some narrow +strait like that at Corinth, is yet part of the whole ocean that +rolls round the world, so that little community of Christians had +its living bond of union with all the brethren in every place that +called upon the name of Jesus Christ. + +Whichever view on that detail of interpretation be taken, this +phrase, as a designation of Christians, is worth considering. It +is one of many expressions found in the New Testament as names for +them, some of which have now dropped out of general use, while +some are still retained. It is singular that the name of +`Christian,' which has all but superseded all others, was +originally invented as a jeer by sarcastic wits at Antioch, and +never appears in the New Testament, as a name by which believers +called themselves. Important lessons are taught by these names, +such as disciples, believers, brethren, saints, those of the way, +and so on, each of which embodies some characteristic of a +follower of Jesus. So this appellation in the text, `those who +call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,' may yield not +unimportant lessons if it be carefully weighed, and to some of +these I would ask your attention now. + +I. First, it gives us a glimpse into the worship of the primitive +Church. + +To `call on the name of the Lord' is an expression that comes +straight out of the Old Testament. It means there distinctly +adoration and invocation, and it means precisely these things when +it is referred to Jesus Christ. + +We find in the Acts of the Apostles that the very first sermon +that was preached at Pentecost by Peter all turns upon this +phrase. He quotes the Old Testament saying, `Whosoever shall call +on the name of the Lord shall be saved,' and then goes on to prove +that `the Lord,' the `calling on whose Name' is salvation, is +Jesus Christ; and winds up with `Therefore let all the house of +Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye +have crucified, both Lord and Christ.' + +Again we find that Ananias of Damascus, when Jesus Christ appeared +to him and told him to go to Paul and lay his hands upon him, +shrank from the perilous task because Paul had been sent to `bind +them that call upon the name of the Lord,' and to persecute them. +We find the same phrase recurring in other connections, so that, +on the whole, we may take the expression as a recognised +designation of Christians. + +This was their characteristic, that they prayed to Jesus Christ. +The very first word, so far as we know, that Paul ever heard from +a Christian was, `Lord Jesus! receive my spirit.' He heard that +cry of calm faith which, when he heard it, would sound to him as +horrible blasphemy from Stephen's dying lips. How little he +dreamed that he himself was soon to cry to the same Jesus, `Lord, +what wilt thou have me to do?' and was in after-days to beseech +Him thrice for deliverance, and to be answered by sufficient +grace. How little he dreamed that, when his own martyrdom was +near, he too would look to Jesus as Lord and righteous Judge, from +whose hands all who loved His appearing should receive their +crown! Nor only Paul directs desires and adoration to Jesus as +Lord; the last words of Scripture are a cry to Him as Lord to come +quickly, and an invocation of His `grace' on all believing souls. + +Prayer to Christ from the very beginning of the Christian Church +was, then, the characteristic of believers, and He to whom they +prayed, thus, from the beginning, was recognised by them as being +a Divine Person, God manifest in the flesh. + +The object of their worship, then, was known by the people among +whom they lived. Singing hymns to Christus as a god is nearly all +that the Roman proconsul in his well-known letter could find to +tell his master of their worship. They were the worshippers---not +merely the disciples---of one Christ. That was their peculiar +distinction. Among the worshippers of the false gods they stood +erect; before Him, and Him only, they bowed. In Corinth there was +the polluted worship of Aphrodite and of Zeus. These men called +not on the name of these lustful and stained deities, but on the +name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everybody knew whom they +worshipped, and understood whose men they were. Is that true about +us? Do we Christian men so habitually cultivate the remembrance of +Jesus Christ, and are we so continually in the habit of invoking +His aid, and of contemplating His blessed perfections and +sufficiency, that every one who knew us would recognise us as +meant by those who call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? + +If this be the proper designation of Christian people, alas! alas! +for so many of the professing Christians of this day, whom neither +bystanders nor themselves would think of as included in such a +name! + +Further, the connection here shows that the divine worship of +Christ was universal among the churches. There was no `place' +where it was not practised, no community calling itself a church +to whom He was not the Lord to be invoked and adored. This witness +to the early and universal recognition in the Christian +communities of the divinity of our Lord is borne by an +undisputedly genuine epistle of Paul's. It is one of the four +which the most thorough-going destructive criticism accepts as +genuine. It was written before the Gospels, and is a voice from +the earlier period of Paul's apostleship. Hence the importance of +its attestation to this fact that all Christians everywhere, both +Jewish, who had been trained in strict monotheism, and Gentile, +who had burned incense at many a foul shrine, were perfectly +joined together in this, that in all their need they called on the +name of Jesus Christ as Lord and brought to Him, as divine, +adoration not to be rendered to any creatures. From the day of +Pentecost onwards, a Christian was not merely a disciple, a +follower, or an admirer, but a worshipper of Christ, the Lord. + +II. We may see here an unfolding of the all-sufficiency of Jesus +Christ. + +Note that solemn accumulation, in the language of my text, of all +the designations by which He is called, sometimes separately and +sometimes unitedly, the name of `our Lord Jesus Christ.' We never +find that full title given to Him in Scripture except when the +writer's mind is labouring to express the manifoldness and +completeness of our Lord's relations to men, and the largeness and +sufficiency of the blessings which He brings. In this context I +find in the first nine or ten verses of this chapter, so full is +the Apostle of the thoughts of the greatness and wonderfulness of +his dear Lord on whose name he calls, that six or seven times he +employs this solemn, full designation. + +Now, if we look at the various elements of this great name we +shall get various aspects of the way in which calling on Christ is +the strength of our souls. + +`Call on the name of---the Lord.' That is the Old Testament +Jehovah. There is no mistaking nor denying, if we candidly +consider the evidence of the New Testament writings, that, when we +read of Jesus Christ as `Lord,' in the vast majority of cases, the +title is not a mere designation of human authority, but is an +attribution to Him of divine nature and dignity. We have, then, to +ascribe to Him, and to call on Him as possessing, all which that +great and incommunicable Name certified and sealed to the Jewish +Church as their possession in their God. The Jehovah of the Old +Testament is our Lord of the New. He whose being is eternal, +underived, self-sufficing, self-determining, knowing no variation, +no diminution, no age, He who is because He is and that He is, +dwells in His fulness in our Saviour. To worship Him is not to +divert worship from the one God, nor is it to have other gods +besides Him. Christianity is as much monotheistic as Judaism was, +and the law of its worship is the old law---Him only shalt thou +serve. It is the divine will that all men should honour the Son, +even as they honour the Father. + +But what is it to call on the name of Jesus? That name implies all +the sweetness of His manhood. He is our Brother. The name `Jesus' +is one that many a Jewish boy bore in our Lord's own time and +before it; though, afterwards, of course, abhorrence on the part +of the Jew and reverence on the part of the Christian caused it +almost entirely to disappear. But at the time when He bore it it +was as undistinguished a name as Simeon, or Judas, or any other of +His followers' names. To call upon the name of Jesus means to +realise and bring near to ourselves, for our consolation and +encouragement, for our strength and peace, the blessed thought of +His manhood, so really and closely knit to ours; to grasp the +blessedness of the thought that He knows our frame because He +Himself has worn it, and understands and pities our weakness, +being Himself a man. To Him whom we adore as Lord we draw near in +tenderer, but not less humble and prostrate, adoration as our +brother when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, and thus +embrace as harmonious, and not contradictory, both the divinity of +the Lord and the humanity of Jesus. + +To call on the name of Christ is to embrace in our faith and to +beseech the exercise on our behalf of all which Jesus is as the +Messiah, anointed by God with the fulness of the Spirit. As such +He is the climax, and therefore the close of all revelation, who +is the long-expected fruition of the desire of weary hearts, the +fulfilment, and therefore the abolition, of sacrifice and temple +and priesthood and prophecy and all that witnessed for Him ere He +came. We further call on the name of Christ the Anointed, on whom +the whole fulness of the Divine Spirit dwelt in order that, +calling upon Him, that fulness may in its measure be granted to +us. + +So the name of the Lord Jesus Christ brings to view the divine, +the human, the Messiah, the anointed Lord of the Spirit, and Giver +of the divine life. To call on His name is to be blessed, to be +made pure and strong, joyous and immortal. `The name of the Lord +is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.' +Call on His name in the day of trouble and ye shall be heard and +helped. + +III. Lastly, this text suggests what a Christian life should be. + +We have already remarked that to call on the name of Jesus was the +distinctive peculiarity of the early believers, which marked them +off as a people by themselves. Would it be a true designation of +the bulk of so-called Christians now? You do not object to profess +yourself a Christian, or, perhaps, even to say that you are a +disciple of Christ, or even to go the length of calling yourself a +follower and imitator. But are you a worshipper of Him? In your +life have you the habit of meditating on Him as Lord, as Jesus, as +Christ, and of refreshing and gladdening dusty days and fainting +strength by the living water, drawn from the one unfailing stream +from these triple fountains? Is the invocation of His aid habitual +with you? + +There needs no long elaborate supplication to secure His aid. How +much has been done in the Church's history by short bursts of +prayer, as `Lord, help me!' spoken or unspoken in the moment of +extremity! `They cried unto God in the battle.' They would not +have time for very lengthy petitions then, would they? They would +not give much heed to elegant arrangement of them or suiting them +to the canons of human eloquence. `They cried unto God in the +battle'; whilst the enemy's swords were flashing and the arrows +whistling about their ears. These were circumstances to make a +prayer a `cry'; no composed and stately utterance of an elegantly +modulated voice, nor a languid utterance without earnestness, but +a short, sharp, loud call, such as danger presses from panting +lungs and parched throats. Therefore the cry was answered, `and He +was entreated of them.' `Lord, save us, we perish!' was a very +brief prayer, but it brought its answer. And so we, in like +manner, may go through our warfare and work, and day by day as we +encounter sudden bursts of temptation may meet them with sudden +jets of petition, and thus put out their fires. And the same help +avails for long-continuing as for sudden needs. Some of us may +have to carry lifelong burdens and to fight in a battle ever +renewed. It may seem as if our cry was not heard, since the +enemy's assault is not weakened, nor our power to beat it back +perceptibly increased. But the appeal is not in vain, and when the +fight is over, if not before, we shall know what reinforcements of +strength to our weakness were due to our poor cry entering into +the ears of our Lord and Brother. No other `name' is permissible +as our plea or as recipient of our prayer. In and on the name of +the Lord we must call, and if we do, anything is possible rather +than that the promise which was claimed for the Church and +referred to Jesus, in the very first Christian preaching on +Pentecost, should not be fulfilled---`Whosoever shall call on the +name of the Lord shall be saved.' + +`In every place.' We may venture to subject the words of my text +to a little gentle pressure here. The Apostle only meant to +express the universal characteristics of Christians everywhere. +But we may venture to give a different turn to the words, and +learn from them the duty of devout communion with Christ as a duty +for each of us wherever we are. If a place is not fit to pray in +it is not fit to be in. We may carry praying hearts, remembrances +of the Lord, sweet, though they may be swift and short, +contemplations of His grace, His love, His power, His sufficiency, +His nearness, His punctual help, like a hidden light in our +hearts, into all the dusty ways of life, and in every place call +on His name. There is no place so dismal but that thoughts of Him +will make sunshine in it; no work so hard, so commonplace, so +prosaic, so uninteresting, but that it will become the opposite of +all these if whatever we do is done in remembrance of our Lord. +Nothing will be too hard for us to do, and nothing too bitter for +us to swallow, and nothing too sad for us to bear, if only over +all that befalls us and all that we undertake and endeavour we +make the sign of the Cross and call upon the name of the Lord. If +`in every place' we have Him as the object of our faith and +desire, and as the Hearer of our petition, in `every place' we +shall have Him for our help, and all will be full of His bright +presence; and though we have to journey through the wilderness we +shall ever drink of that spiritual rock that will follow us, and +that Rock is Christ. In every place call upon His name, and every +place will be a house of God, and a gate of heaven to our waiting +souls. + +\chapter{Perishing or Being Saved} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS i. 18} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For the preaching of the Cross is to them that perish +foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of +God.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} i. 18. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The starting-point of my remarks is the observation that a slight +variation of rendering, which will be found in the Revised +Version, brings out the true meaning of these words. Instead of +reading `them that perish' and `us which are saved,' we ought to +read `them that \textit{are perishing},' and `us which \textit{are +being} saved.' That is to say, the Apostle represents the two +contrasted conditions, not so much as fixed states, either present +or future, but rather as processes which are going on, and are +manifestly, in the present, incomplete. That opens some very +solemn and intensely practical considerations. + +Then I may further note that this antithesis includes the whole of +the persons to whom the Gospel is preached. In one or other of +these two classes they all stand. Further, we have to observe that +the consideration which determines the class to which men belong, +is the attitude which they respectively take to the preaching of +the Cross. If it be, and because it is, `foolishness' to some, +they belong to the catalogue of the perishing. If it be, and +because it is, `the power of God' to others, they belong to the +class of those who are in process of being saved. + +So, then, we have the ground cleared for two or three very simple, +but, as it seems to me, very important thoughts. + +I. I desire, first, to look at the two contrasted conditions, +`perishing' and `being saved.' + +Now we shall best, I think, understand the force of the darker of +these two terms if we first ask what is the force of the brighter +and more radiant. If we understand what the Apostle means by +`saving' and `salvation' we shall understand also what he means by +`perishing.' + +If, then, we turn for a moment to Scripture analogy and teaching, +we find that that threadbare word `salvation,' which we all take +it for granted that we understand, and which, like a well-worn +coin, has been so passed from hand to hand that it scarcely +remains legible---that well-worn word `salvation' starts from a +double metaphorical meaning. It means either---and is used for +both---being healed or being made safe. In the one sense it is +often employed in the Gospel narratives of our Lord's miracles, +and it involves the metaphor of a sick man and his cure; in the +other it involves the metaphor of a man in peril and his +deliverance and security. The negative side, then, of the Gospel +idea of salvation is the making whole from a disease, and the +making safe from a danger. Negatively, it is the removal from each +of us of the one sickness, which is sin; and the one danger, which +is the reaping of the fruits and consequences of sin, in their +variety as guilt, remorse, habit, and slavery under it, perverted +relation to God, a fearful apprehension of penal consequences +here, and, if there be a hereafter, there, too. The sickness of +soul and the perils that threaten life, flow from the central fact +of sin, and salvation consists, negatively, in the sweeping away +of all of these, whether the sin itself, or the fatal facility +with which we yield to it, or the desolation and perversion which +it brings into all the faculties and susceptibilities, or the +perversion of relation to God, and the consequent evils, here and +hereafter, which throng around the evil-doer. The sick man is +healed, and the man in peril is set in safety. + +But, besides that, there is a great deal more. The cure is +incomplete till the full tide of health follows convalescence. +When God saves, He does not only bar up the iron gate through +which the hosts of evil rush out upon the defenceless soul, but He +flings wide the golden gate through which the glad troops of +blessings and of graces flock around the delivered spirit, and +enrich it with all joys and with all beauties. So the positive +side of salvation is the investiture of the saved man with +throbbing health through all his veins, and the strength that +comes from a divine life. It is the bestowal upon the delivered +man of everything that he needs for blessedness and for duty. All +good conferred, and every evil banned back into its dark den, such +is the Christian conception of salvation. It is much that the +negative should be accomplished, but it is little in comparison +with the rich fulness of positive endowments, of happiness, and of +holiness which make an integral part of the salvation of God. + +This, then, being the one side, what about the other? If this be +salvation, its precise opposite is the Scriptural idea of +`perishing.' Utter ruin lies in the word, the entire failure to be +what God meant a man to be. That is in it, and no contortions of +arbitrary interpretation can knock that solemn significance out of +the dreadful expression. If salvation be the cure of the sickness, +perishing is the fatal end of the unchecked disease. If salvation +be the deliverance from the outstretched claws of the harpy evils +that crowd about the trembling soul, then perishing is the fixing +of their poisoned talons into their prey, and their rending of it +into fragments. + +Of course that is metaphor, but no metaphor can be half so +dreadful as the plain, prosaic fact that the exact opposite of the +salvation, which consists in the healing from sin and the +deliverance from danger, and in the endowment with all gifts good +and beautiful, is the Christian idea of the alternative +`perishing.' Then it means the disease running its course. It +means the dangers laying hold of the man in peril. It means the +withdrawal, or the non-bestowal, of all which is good, whether it +be good of holiness or good of happiness. It does not mean, as it +seems to me, the cessation of conscious existence, any more than +salvation means the bestowal of conscious existence. But he who +perishes knows that he has perished, even as he knows the process +while he is in the process of perishing. Therefore, we have to +think of the gradual fading away from consciousness, and dying out +of a life, of many things beautiful and sweet and gracious, of the +gradual increase of distance from Him, union with whom is the +condition of true life, of the gradual sinking into the pit of +utter ruin, of the gradual increase of that awful death in life +and life in death in which living consciousness makes the +conscious subject aware that he is lost; lost to God, lost to +himself. + +Brethren, it is no part of my business to enlarge upon such awful +thoughts, but the brighter the light of salvation, the darker the +eclipse of ruin which rings it round. This, then, is the first +contrast. + +II. Now note, secondly, the progressiveness of both members of the +alternative. + +All states of heart or mind tend to increase, by the very fact of +continuance. Life is a process, and every part of a spiritual +being is in living motion and continuous action in a given +direction. So the law for the world, and for every man in it, in +all regions of his life, quite as much as in the religious, is `To +him that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.' + +Look, then, at this thought of the process by which these two +conditions become more and more confirmed, consolidated, and +complete. Salvation is a progressive fact. In the New Testament we +have that great idea looked at from three points of view. +Sometimes it is spoken of as having been accomplished in the past +in the case of every believing soul---`Ye have been saved' is said +more than once. Sometimes it is spoken of as being accomplished in +the present---`Ye are saved' is said more than once. And sometimes +it is relegated to the future---`Now is our salvation nearer than +when we believed,' and the like. But there are a number of New +Testament passages which coincide with this text in regarding +salvation as, not the work of any one moment, but as a continuous +operation running through life, not a point either in the past, +present, or future, but a continued life. As, for instance, `The +Lord added to the Church daily those that were being saved.' By +one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are being +sanctified. And in a passage in the Second Epistle to the +Corinthians, which, in some respects, is an exact parallel to that +of my text, we read of the preaching of the Gospel as being a +`savour of Christ in them that are being saved, and in them that +are perishing.' + +So the process of being saved is going on as long as a Christian +man lives in this world; and every one who professes to be +Christ's follower ought, day by day, to be growing more and more +saved, more fully filled with that Divine Spirit, more entirely +the conqueror of his own lusts and passions and evil, more and +more invested with all the gifts of holiness and of blessedness +which Jesus Christ is ready to bestow upon him. + +Ah, brethren! that notion of a progressive salvation at work in all +true Christians has all but faded away out of the beliefs, as it has +all but disappeared from the experience, of hosts of you that call +yourselves Christ's followers, and are not a bit further on than you +were ten years ago; are no more healed of your corruptions (perhaps +less so, for relapses are dangerous) than you were then---have not +advanced any further into the depths of God than when you first got +a glimpse of Him as loving, and your Father, in Jesus Christ---are +contented to linger, like some weak band of invaders in a strange +land, on the borders and coasts, instead of pressing inwards and +making it all your own. Growing Christians---may I venture to +say?---are not the majority of professing Christians. + +And, on the other side, as certainly, there are progressive +deterioration and approximation to disintegration and ruin. How +many men there are listening to me now who were far nearer being +delivered from their sins when they were lads than they have ever +been since! How many in whom the sensibility to the message of +salvation has disappeared, in whom the world has ossified their +consciences and their hearts, in whom there is a more entire and +unstruggling submission to low things and selfish things and +worldly things and wicked things, than there used to be! I am sure +that there are not a few among us now who were far better, and far +happier, when they were poor and young, and could still thrill +with generous emotion and tremble at the Word of God, than they +are to-day. Why! there are some of you that could no more bring +back your former loftier impulses, and compunction of spirit and +throbs of desire towards Christ and His salvation, than you could +bring back the birds' nests or the snows of your youthful years. +You are perishing, in the very process of going down and down into +the dark. + +Now, notice, that the Apostle treats these two classes as covering +the whole ground of the hearers of the Word, and as alternatives. +If not in the one class we are in the other. Ah, brethren! life is +no level plane, but a steep incline, on which there is no standing +still, and if you try to stand still, down you go. Either up or +down must be the motion. If you are not more of a Christian than +you were a year ago, you are less. If you are not more saved---for +there is a degree of comparison---if you are not more saved, you +are less saved. + +Now, do not let that go over your head as pulpit thunder, meaning +nothing. It means \textit{you}, and, whether you feel or think it +or not, one or other of these two solemn developments is at this +moment going on in you. And that is not a thought to be put +lightly on one side. + +Further, note what a light such considerations as these, that +salvation and perishing are vital processes---`going on all the +time,' as the Americans say---throw upon the future. Clearly the +two processes are incomplete here. You get the direction of the +line, but not its natural termination. And thus a heaven and a +hell are demanded by the phenomena of growing goodness and of +growing badness which we see round about us. The arc of the circle +is partially swept. Are the compasses going to stop at the point +where the grave comes in? By no means. Round they will go, and +will complete the circle. But that is not all. The necessity for +progress will persist after death; and all through the duration of +immortal being, goodness, blessedness, holiness, Godlikeness, +will, on the one hand, grow in brighter lustre; and on the other, +alienation from God, loss of the noble elements of the nature, and +all the other doleful darknesses which attend that conception of a +lost man, will increase likewise. And so, two people, sitting side +by side here now, may start from the same level, and by the +operation of the one principle the one may rise, and rise, and +rise, till he is lost in God, and so finds himself, and the other +sink, and sink, and sink, into the obscurity of woe and evil that +lies beneath every human life as a possibility. + +III. And now, lastly, notice the determining attitude to the Cross +which settles the class to which we belong. + +Paul, in my text, is explaining his reason for not preaching the +Gospel with what he calls `the words of man's wisdom,' and he +says, in effect, `It would be of no use if I did, because what +settles whether the Cross shall look ``foolishness'' to a man or +not is the man's whole moral condition, and what settles whether a +man shall find it to be ``the power of God'' or not is whether he +has passed into the region of those that are being saved.' + +So there are two thoughts suggested which sound as if they were +illogically combined, but which yet are both true. It is true that +men perish, or are saved, because the Cross is to them +respectively `foolishness' or `the power of God'; and the other +thing is also true, that the Cross is to them `foolishness,' or +`the power of God' because, respectively, they are perishing or +being saved. That is not putting the cart before the horse, but +both aspects of the truth are true. + +If you see nothing in Jesus Christ, and His death for us all, +except `foolishness,' something unfit to do you any good, and +unnecessary to be taken into account in your lives---oh, my +friends! \textit{that} is the condemnation of your eyes, and not +of the thing you look at. If a man, gazing on the sun at twelve +o'clock on a June day, says to me, `It is not bright,' the only +thing I have to say to him is, `Friend, you had better go to an +oculist.' And if to us the Cross is `foolishness,' it is because +already a process of `perishing' has gone so far that it has +attacked our capacity of recognising the wisdom and love of God +when we see them. + +But, on the other hand, if we clasp that Cross in simple trust, we +find that it is the power which saves us out of all sins, sorrows, +and dangers, and `shall save us' at last `into His heavenly +kingdom.' + +Dear friends, that message leaves no man exactly as it found him. My +words, I feel, in this sermon, have been very poor, set by the side +of the greatness of the theme; but, poor as they have been, you will +not be exactly the same man after them, if you have listened to +them, as you were before. The difference may be very imperceptible, +but it will be real. One more, almost invisible, film, over the +eyeball; one more thin layer of wax in the ear; one more fold of +insensibility round heart and conscience---or else some yielding to +the love; some finger put out to take the salvation; some lightening +of the pressure of the sickness; some removal of the peril and the +danger. The same sun hurts diseased eyes, and gladdens sound ones. +The same fire melts wax and hardens clay. `This Child is set for the +rise and fall of many in Israel.' `To the one He is the savour of +life unto life; to the other He is the savour of death unto death.' +\textit{Which} is He, for He \emph{is} one of them, to you? + +\chapter{The Apostle's Theme} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS ii. 2} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, +and Him crucified.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} ii. 2. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Many of you are aware that to-day I close forty years of ministry +in this city---I cannot say to this congregation, for there are +very, very few that can go back with me in memory to the beginning +of these years. You will bear me witness that I seldom intrude +personal references into the pulpit, but perhaps it would be +affectation not to do so now. Looking back over these long years, +many thoughts arise which cannot be spoken in public. But one +thing I may say, and that is, that I am grateful to God and to +you, dear friends, for the unbroken harmony, confidence, +affection, and forbearance which have brightened and lightened my +work. Of its worth I cannot judge; its imperfections I know better +than the most unfavourable critic; but I can humbly take the words +of this text as expressive, not, indeed, of my attainments, but of +my aims. One of my texts, on my first Sunday in Manchester, was +`We preach Christ and Him crucified,' and I look back, and venture +to say that the noble words of this text have been, however +imperfectly followed, my guiding star. + +Now, I wish to say a word or two, less personal perhaps, and yet, +as you can well suppose, not without a personal reference in my +own consciousness. + +I. Note here first, then, the Apostolic theme---Jesus Christ and +Him crucified. + +Now, the Apostle, in this context, gives us a little +autobiographical glimpse which is singularly and interestingly +confirmed by some slight incidental notices in the Book of the +Acts. He says, in the context, that he was with the Corinthians +`in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,' and, if we turn +to the narrative, we find that a singular period of silence, +apparent abandonment of his work and dejection, seems to have +synchronised with his coming to the great city of Corinth. The +reasons were very plain. He had recently come into Europe for the +first time and had had to front a new condition of things, very +different from what he had found in Palestine or in Asia Minor. +His experience had not been encouraging. He had been imprisoned in +Philippi; he had been smuggled away by night from Thessalonica; he +had been hounded from Berea; he had all but wholly failed to make +any impression in Athens, and in his solitude he came to Corinth, +and lay quiet, and took stock of his adversaries. He came to the +conclusion which he records in my text; he felt that it was not +for him to argue with philosophers, or to attempt to vie with +Sophists and professional orators, but that his only way to meet +Greek civilisation, Greek philosophy, Greek eloquence, Greek +self-conceit, was to preach `Christ and Him crucified.' The +determination was not come to in ignorance of the conditions that +were fronting him. He knew Corinth, its wealth, its wickedness, +its culture, and knowing these he said, `I have made up my mind +that I will know nothing amongst you save Jesus Christ and Him +crucified.' + +So, then, this Apostle's conception of his theme was---the +biography of a Man, with especial emphasis laid on one act in His +history---His death. Christianity is Christ, and Christ is +Christianity. His relation to the truth that He proclaimed, and to +the truths that may be deducible from the story of His life and +death, is altogether different from the relation of any other +founder of a religion to the truths that he has proclaimed. For in +these you can accept the teaching, and ignore the teacher. But you +cannot do that with Christianity; `I am the Way, and the Truth, +and the Life'; and in that revealing biography, which is the +preacher's theme, the palpitating heart and centre is the death +upon the Cross. So, whatever else Christianity comes to be---and +it comes to be a great deal else---the principle of its growth, +and the germ which must vitalise the whole, lie in the personality +and the death of Jesus Christ. + +That is not all. The history of the life and the death want +something more to make them a gospel. The fact, I was going to +say, is the least part of the fact; as in some vegetable growths, +there is far more underground than above. For, unless along with, +involved in, and deducible from, but capable of being stated +separately from, the external facts, there is a certain commentary +or explanation of them: the history is a history, the biography is +a biography, the story of the Cross is a touching narrative, but +it is no gospel. + +And what was Paul's commentary which lifted the bare facts up into +the loftier region? This---as for the person, Jesus Christ +`declared to be the son of God with power'---as for the fact of +the death, `died for our sins according to the Scriptures.' Let in +these two conceptions into the facts---and they are the necessary +explanation and presupposition of the facts---the Incarnation and +the Sacrifice, and then you get what Paul calls `my gospel,' not +because it was his invention, but because it was the trust +committed to him. That is the Gospel which alone answers to the +facts which he deals with; and that is the Gospel which, God +helping me, I have for forty years tried to preach. + +We hear a great deal at present, or we did a few years ago, about +this generation having recovered Jesus Christ, and about the +necessity of going `back to the Christ of the Gospels.' By all +means, I say, if in the process you do not lose the Christ of the +Epistles, who is the Christ of the Gospels, too. I am free to +admit that a past generation has wrapped theological cobwebs round +the gracious figure of Christ with disastrous results. For it is +perfectly possible to know the things that are said about Him, and +not to know Him about whom these things are said. But the mistake +into which the present generation is far more likely to fall than +that of substituting theology for Christ, is the converse +one---that of substituting an undefined Christ for the Christ of +the Gospels and the Epistles, the Incarnate Son of God, who died +for our salvation. And that is a more disastrous mistake than the +other, for you can know nothing about Him and He can be nothing to +you, except as you grasp the Apostolic explanation of the bare +facts---seeing in Him the Word who became flesh, the Son who died +that we might receive the adoption of sons. + +I would further point out that a clear conception of what the theme +is, goes a long way to determine the method in which it shall be +proclaimed. The Apostle says, in the passage which is parallel to +the present one, in the previous chapter, `We preach Christ +crucified'; with strong emphasis on the word `preach.' `The Jew +required a sign'; he wanted a man who would do something. The Greek +sought after wisdom; he wanted a man who would perorate and argue +and dissertate. Paul says, `No!' `We have nothing to \textit{do}. We +do not come to philosophise and to argue. We come with a message of +fact that has occurred, of a Person that has lived.' And, as most of +you know, the word which he uses means in its full signification, +`to proclaim as a herald does.' + +Of course, if my business were to establish a set of principles, +theological or otherwise, then argumentation would be my weapon, +proofs would be my means, and my success would be that I should +win your credence, your intellectual consent, and conviction. If I +were here to proclaim simply a morality, then the thing that I +would aim to secure would be obedience, and the method of securing +it would be to enforce the authority and reasonableness of the +command. But, seeing that my task is to proclaim a living Person +and a historical fact, then the way to do that is to do as the +herald does when in the market-place he stands, trumpet in one +hand and the King's message in the other---proclaim it loudly, +confidently, not `with bated breath and whispering humbleness,' as +if apologising, nor too much concerned to buttress it up with +argumentation out of his own head, but to say, `Thus saith the +Lord,' and to what the Lord saith conscience says, `Amen.' +Brethren, we need far more, in all our pulpits, of that +unhesitating confidence in the plain, simple proclamation, +stripped, as far as possible, of human additions and accretions, +of the great fact and the great Person on whom all our salvation +depends. + +II. So let me ask you to notice the exclusiveness which this theme +demands. + +`Nothing but,' says Paul. I might venture to say---though perhaps +the tone of the personal allusions in this sermon may seem to +contradict it---that this exclusiveness is to be manifested in one +very difficult direction, and that that is, the herald shall +efface himself. We have to hold up the picture; and if I might +take such a metaphor, like a man in a gallery who is displaying +some masterpiece to the eyes of the beholders, we have to keep +ourselves well behind it; and it will be wise if not even a +finger-tip is allowed to steal in front and come into sight. One +condition, I believe, of real power in the ministration of the +Gospel, is that people shall be convinced that the preacher is +thinking not at all about himself, but altogether about his +message. You remember that wonderfully pathetic utterance from +John the Baptist's stern lips, which derives much additional +pathos and tenderness from the character of the man from whom it +came, when they asked him, `Who art thou?' and his answer was, `I +am a Voice.' I am a Voice; that is all! Ah, that is the example! +We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord. We must efface +ourselves if we would proclaim Christ. + +But I turn to another direction in which this theme demands +exclusiveness, and I revert to the previous chapter where in the +parallel portion to the words of my text, we find the Apostle very +clearly conscious of the two great streams of expectation and wish +which he deliberately thwarted and set at nought. `The Jews +require a sign---but we preach Christ crucified. The Greeks seek +after wisdom,' but again, `we preach Christ crucified.' Now, take +these two. They are representations, in a very emphatic way, of +two sets of desires and mental characteristics, which divide the +world between them. + +On the one hand, there is the sensuous tendency that wants +something done for it, something to see, something that sense can +grasp at; and so, as it fancies, work itself upwards into a higher +region. `The Jew requires a sign'---that is, not merely a miracle, +but something to look at. He wants a visible sacrifice; he wants a +priest. He wants religion to consist largely in the doing of +certain acts which may be supposed to bring, in some magical +fashion, spiritual blessings. And Paul opposes to that, `We preach +Christ crucified.' Brethren, the tendency is strong to-day, not +only in those parts of the Anglican communion where sacramentarian +theories are in favour, but amongst all sections of the Christian +Church, in which there is obvious a drift towards more ornate +ritual, and aesthetic services, as means of attracting to church +or chapel, and as more important than proclaiming Christ. I am +free to confess that possibly some of us, with our Puritan +upbringing and tendency, too much disregard that side of human +nature. Possibly it is so. But for all that I profoundly believe +that if religion is to be strong it must have a very, very small +infusion of these external aids to spiritual worship, and that few +things more weaken the power of the Gospel that Paul preached than +the lowering of the flag in conformity with desires of men of +sense, and substituting for the simple glory of the preached Word +the meretricious, and in time impotent, and always corrupting, +attractions of a sensuous worship. + +Further, `The Greeks seek after wisdom.' They wanted +demonstration, abstract principles, systematised philosophies, and +the like. Paul comes again with his `We preach Christ and Him +crucified.' The wisdom is there, as I shall have to say in a +moment, but the form that it takes is directly antagonistic to the +wishes of these wisdom-seeking Greeks. The same thing in modern +guise besets us to-day. We are called upon, on all sides, to bring +into the pulpit what they call an ethical gospel; putting it into +plain English, to preach morality, and to leave out Christ. We are +called upon, on all sides, to preach an applied Christianity, a +social gospel---that is to say, largely to turn the pulpit into a +Sunday supplement to the daily newspaper. We are asked to deal +with the intellectual difficulties which spring from the collision +of science, true or false, with religion, and the like. All that +is right enough. But I believe from my heart that the thing to do +is to copy Paul's example, and to preach Christ and Him crucified. +You may think me right or you may think me wrong, but here and +now, at the end of forty years, I should like to say that I have +for the most part ignored that class of subjects deliberately, and +of set purpose, and with a profound conviction, be it erroneous or +not, that a ministry which listens much to the cry for `wisdom' in +its modern forms, has departed from the true perspective of +Christian teaching, and will weaken the churches which depend upon +it. Let who will turn the pulpit into a professor's chair, or a +lecturer's platform, or a concert-room stage or a politician's +rostrum, I for one determine to know nothing among you save Jesus +Christ and Him crucified. + +III. Lastly, observe the all-sufficient comprehensiveness which +this theme secures. + +Paul says `nothing but'; he might have said `everything in.' For +`Jesus Christ and Him crucified' covers all the ground of men's +needs. No doubt many of you will have been saying to yourselves +whilst you have been listening, if you have been listening, to +what I have been saying, `Ah! old-fashioned narrowness; quite out +of date in this generation.' Brethren, there are two ways of +adapting one's ministry to the times. One is falling in with the +requirements of the times, and the other is going dead against +them, and both of these methods have to be pursued by us. + +But the exclusiveness of which I have been speaking, is no narrow +exclusiveness. Paul felt that, if he was to give the Corinthians +what they needed, he must refuse to give them what they wanted, +and that whilst he crossed their wishes he was consulting their +necessities. That is true yet, for the preaching that bases itself +upon the life and death of Jesus Christ, conceived as Paul had +learned from Jesus Christ to conceive them, that Gospel, whilst it +brushes aside men's superficial wishes, goes straight to the heart +of their deep-lying universal necessities, for what the Jew needs +most is not a sign, and what the Greek needs most is not wisdom, +but what they both need most is deliverance from the guilt and +power of sin. And we all, scholars and fools, poets and +common-place people, artists and ploughmen, all of us, in all +conditions of life, in all varieties of culture, in all stages of +intellectual development, in all diversities of occupation and of +mental bias, what we all have in common is that human heart in +which sin abides, and what we all need most to have is that evil +drop squeezed out of it, and our souls delivered from the burden +and the bondage. Therefore, any man that comes with a sign, and +does not deal with the sin of the human heart, and any man that +comes with a philosophical system of wisdom, and does not deal +with sin, does not bring a Gospel that will meet the necessities +even of the people to whose cravings he has been aiming to adapt +his message. + +But, beyond that, in this message of Christ and Him crucified, +there lies in germ the satisfaction of all that is legitimate in +these desires that at first sight it seems to thwart. `A sign?' +Yes, and where is there power like the power that dwells in Him +who is the Incarnate might of omnipotence? `Wisdom?' Yes, and +where is there wisdom, except `in Him in whom are hid all the +treasures of wisdom and knowledge'? Let the Jew come to the Cross, +and in the weak Man hanging there, he will find a mightier +revelation of the power of God than anywhere else. Let the Greek +come to the Cross, and there he will find wisdom and +righteousness, sanctification and redemption. The bases of all +social, economical, political reform and well-being, lie in the +understanding and the application to social and national life, of +the principles that are wrapped in, and are deduced from, the +Incarnation and the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We have not learned +them all yet. They have not all been applied to national and +individual life yet. I plead for no narrow exclusiveness, but for +one consistent with the widest application of Christian principles +to all life. Paul determined to know nothing but Jesus, and to +know everything in Jesus, and Jesus in everything. Do not begin +your building at the second-floor windows. Put in your foundations +first, and be sure that they are well laid. Let the Sacrifice of +Christ, in its application to the individual and his sins, be ever +the basis of all that you say. And then, when that foundation is +laid, exhibit, to your heart's content, the applications of +Christianity and its social aspects. But be sure that the +beginning of them all is the work of Christ for the individual +sinful soul, and the acceptance of that work by personal faith. + +Dear friends, ours has been a long and happy union but it is a +very solemn one. My responsibilities are great; yours are not +small. Let me beseech you to ask yourselves if, with all your +kindness to the messenger, you have given heed to the message. +Have you passed beyond the voice that speaks, to Him of whom it +speaks? Have you taken the truth---veiled and weakened as I know +it has been by my words, but yet in them---for what it is, the +word of the living God? My occupancy of this pulpit must in the +nature of things, before long, come to a close, but the message +which I have brought to you will survive all changes in the voice +that speaks here. `All flesh is grass ... the Word of the Lord +endureth for ever.' And, closing these forty years, during a long +part of which some of you have listened most lovingly and most +forbearingly, I leave with you this, which I venture to quote, +though it is my Master's word about Himself, `I judge you not; the +word which I have spoken unto you, the same shall judge you in the +last day.' + +\chapter{God's Fellow-workers} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS iii. 9} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Labourers together with God.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} iii. 9. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The characteristic Greek tendency to factions was threatening to +rend the Corinthian Church, and each faction was swearing by a +favourite teacher. Paul and his companion, Apollos, had been taken +as the figureheads of two of these parties, and so he sets himself +in the context, first of all to show that neither of the two was +of any real importance in regard to the Church's life. They were +like a couple of gardeners, one of whom did the planting, and the +other the watering; but neither the man that put the little plant +into the ground, nor the man that came after him with a +watering-pot, had anything to do with originating the mystery of +the life by which the plant grew. That was God's work, and the +pair that had planted and watered were nothing. So what was the +use of fighting which of two nothings was the greater? + +But then he bethinks himself that that is not quite all. The man +that plants and the man that waters are something after all. They +do not communicate life, but they do provide for its nourishment. +And more than that, the two operations---that of the man with the +dibble and that of the man with the watering-pot---are one in +issue; and so they are partners, and in some respects may be +regarded as one. Then what is the sense of pitting them against +each other? + +But even that is not quite all; though united in operation, they +are separate in responsibility and activity, and will be separate +in reward. And even that is not all; for, being nothing and yet +something, being united and yet separate, they are taken into +participation and co-operation with God; and as my text puts it, +in what is almost a presumptuous phrase, they are `labourers +together with Him.' That partnership of co-operation is not merely +a partnership of the two, but it is a partnership of the +three---God and the two who, in some senses, are one. + +Now whilst this text is primarily spoken in regard to the +apostolic and evangelistic work of these early teachers, the +principle which it embodies is a very wide one, and it applies in +all regions of life and activity, intellectual, scholastic, +philanthropic, social. Where-ever men are thinking God's thoughts +and trying to carry into effect any phase or side of God's +manifold purposes of good and blessing to the world, there it is +true. We claim no special or exclusive prerogative for the +Christian teacher. Every man that is trying to make men understand +God's thought, whether it is expressed in creation, or whether it +is written in history, or whether it is carven in half-obliterated +letters on the constitution of human nature, every man who, in any +region of society or life, is seeking to effect the great designs +of the universal loving Father---can take to himself, in the +measure and according to the manner of his special activity, the +great encouragement of my text, and feel that he, too, in his +little way, is a fellow-helper to the truth and a fellow-worker +with God. But then, of course, according to New Testament +teaching, and according to the realities of the case, the highest +form in which men thus can co-operate with God, and carry into +effect His purposes is that in which men devote themselves, either +directly or indirectly, to spreading throughout the whole world +the name and the power of the Saviour Jesus Christ, in whom all +God's will is gathered, and through whom all God's blessings are +communicated to mankind. So the thought of my text comes +appropriately when I have to bring before you the claims of our +missionary operations. + +Now, the first way in which I desire to look at this great idea +expressed in these words, is that we find in it + +I. A solemn thought. + +`Labourers together with God.' Cannot He do it all Himself? No. +God needs men to carry out His purposes. True, on the Cross, Jesus +spoke the triumphant word, `It is finished!' He did not thereby +simply mean that He had completed all His suffering; but He meant +that He had then done all which the world needed to have done in +order that it should be a redeemed world. But for the distribution +and application of that finished work God depends on men. You all +know, in your own daily businesses, how there must be a middleman +between the mill and the consumer. The question of organising a +distributing agency is quite as important as any other part of the +manufacturer's business. The great reservoir is full, but there +has to be a system of irrigating-channels by which the water is +carried into every corner of the field that is to be watered. +Christian men individually, and the Church collectively, +supply---may I call it the missing link?---between a redeeming +Saviour and the world which He has redeemed in act, but which is +not actually redeemed, until it has received the message of the +great Redemption that is wrought. The supernatural is implanted in +the very heart of the mass of leaven by the Incarnation and +Sacrifice of Jesus Christ; but the spreading of that supernatural +revelation is left in the hands of men who work through natural +processes, and who thus become labourers together with God, and +enable Christ to be to single souls, in blessed reality, what He +is potentially to the world, and has been ever since. He died upon +the Cross. `It is finished.' Yes---because it is finished, our +work begins. + +Let me remind you of the profound symbolism in that incident where +our Lord for once appeared conspicuously, and almost +ostentatiously, before Israel as its true King. He had need---as +He Himself said---of the meek beast on which He rode. He cannot +pass, in His coronation procession, through the world unless He +has us, by whom He may be carried into every corner of the earth. +So `the Lord has need' of us, and we are `fellow-labourers with +Him.' + +But this same thought suggests another point. We have here a +solemn call addressed to every Christian man and woman. + +Do not let us run away with the idea that, because here the Apostle +is speaking in regard to himself and Apollos, he is enunciating a +truth which applies only to Apostles and evangelists. It is true of +all Christians. My knowledge of and faith in Jesus Christ as my own +personal Saviour impose upon me the obligation, in so far as my +opportunities and capacities extend, thus to co-operate with Him in +spreading His great Name. Every Christian man, just because he is a +Christian, is invested with the power---and power to its last +particle is duty---and is, therefore, burdened with the honourable +obligation to work for God. There is such a thing as `coming to the +help of the Lord,' though that phrase seems to reverse altogether +the true relation. It is the duty of every Christian, partly because +of loyalty to Jesus, and partly because of the responsibility which +the very constitution of society lays upon every one of us, to +diffuse what he possesses, and to be a distributing agent for the +life that he himself enjoys. Brethren! there is no possibility of +Christian men or women being fully faithful to the Saviour, unless +they recognise that the duty of being a fellow-labourer with God +inevitably follows on being a possessor of Christ's salvation; and +that no Apostle, no official, no minister, no missionary, has any +more necessity laid upon him to preach the Gospel, nor pulls down +any heavier woe on himself if he is unfaithful, than has and does +each one of Christ's servants. + +So `we are fellow-labourers with God.' Alas! alas! how poorly the +average Christian realises---I do not say discharges, but +realises---that obligation! Brethren, I do not wish to find fault, +but I do beseech you to ask yourselves whether, if you are +Christians, you are doing anything the least like what my text +contemplates as the duty of all Christians. + +May I say a word or two with regard to another aspect of this +solemn call? Does not the thought of working along with God +prescribe for us the sort of work that we ought to do? We ought to +work in God's fashion, and if we wish to know what God's fashion +is, we have but to look at Jesus Christ. We ought to work in Jesus +Christ's fashion. We all know what that involved of +self-sacrifice, of pain, of weariness, of utter self-oblivious +devotion, of gentleness, of tenderness, of infinite pity, of love +running over. `The master's eye makes a good servant.' The +Master's hand working along with the servant ought to make the +servant work after the Master's fashion. `As My Father hath sent +Me, so send I you.' If we felt that side by side with us, like two +sailors hauling on one rope, `the Servant of the Lord' was +toiling, do you not think it would burn up all our selfishness, +and light up all our indifference, and make us spend ourselves in +His service? A fellow-labourer with God will surely never be lazy +and selfish. Thus my text has in it, to begin with, a solemn call. + +It suggests + +II. A signal honour. + +Suppose a great painter, a Raphael or a Turner, taking a little +boy that cleaned his brushes, and saying to him, `Come into my +studio, and I will let you do a bit of work upon my picture.' +Suppose an aspirant, an apprentice in any walk of life, honoured +by being permitted to work along with some one who was recognised +all over the world as being at the very top of that special +profession. Would it not be a feather in the boy's cap all his +life? And would he not think it the greatest honour that ever had +been done him that he was allowed to co-operate, in however +inferior a fashion, with such an one? Jesus Christ says to us, +`Come and work here side by side with Me,' But Christian men, +plenty of them, answer, `It is a perpetual nuisance, this +continual application for money! money! money! work! work! work! +It is never-ending, and it is a burden!' Yes, it is a burden, just +because it is an honour. Do you know that the Hebrew word which +means `glory' literally means `weight'? There is a great truth in +that. You cannot get true honours unless you are prepared to carry +them as burdens. And the highest honour that Jesus Christ gives to +men when He says to them, not only `Go work to-day in My +vineyard,' but `Come, work here side by side with Me,' is a heavy +weight which can only be lightened by a cheerful heart. + +Is it not the right way to look at all the various forms of +Christian activity which are made imperative upon Christian +people, by their possession of Christianity as being tokens of +Christ's love to us? Do you remember that this same Apostle said, +`Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace +given, that I should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ?' He +could speak about burdens and heavy tasks, and being `persecuted +but not forsaken,' almost crushed down and yet not in despair, and +about the weights that came upon him daily, `the care of all the +churches,' but far beneath all the sense of his heavy load lay the +thrill of thankful wonder that to him, of all men in the world, +knowing as he did better than anybody else could do his own +imperfection and insufficiency, this distinguishing honour had +been bestowed, that he was made the Apostle to the Gentiles. That +is the way in which the true man will always look at what the +selfish man, and the half-and-half Christian, look at as being a +weight and a weariness, or a disagreeable duty, which is to be +done as perfunctorily as possible. One question that a great many +who call themselves Christians ask is, `With how little service +can I pass muster?' Ah, it is because we have so little of the +Spirit of Christ in us that we feel burdened by His command, `Go +ye into all the world,' as being so heavy; and that so many of +us---I leave you to judge if you are in the class---so many of us +make it criminally light if we do not ignore it altogether. I +believe that, if it were possible to conceive of the duty and +privilege of spreading Christ's name in the world being withdrawn +from the Church, all His real servants would soon be yearning to +have it back again. It is a token of His love; it is a source of +infinite blessings to ourselves; `if the house be not worthy, your +peace shall return to you again.' + +And now, lastly, we have suggested by this text + +III. A strong encouragement. + +`Fellow-labourers with God'---then, God is a Fellow-labourer with +us. The co-operation works both ways, and no man who is seeking to +spread that great salvation, to distribute that great wealth, to +irrigate some little corner of the field by some little channel +that he has dug, needs to feel that he is labouring alone. If I am +working with God, God is working with me. Do you remember that +most striking picture which is drawn in the verses appended to +Mark's Gospel, which tells how the universe seemed parted into two +halves, and up above in the serene the Lord `sat on the right hand +of God,' while below, in the murky and obscure, `they went +everywhere preaching the Word.' The separation seems complete, but +the two halves are brought together by the next word---`The Lord +also,' sitting up yonder, `working with them' the wandering +preachers down here, `confirming the words with signs following.' +Ascended on high, entered into His rest, having finished His work, +He yet is working with us, if we are labourers together with God. +If we turn to the last book of Scripture, which draws back the +curtain from the invisible world which is all filled with the +glorified Christ, and shows its relations to the earthly militant +church, we read no longer of a Christ enthroned in apparent ease, +but of a Christ walking amidst the candlesticks, and of a Lamb +standing in the midst of the Throne, and opening the seals, +launching forth into the world the sequences of the world's +history, and of the Word of God charging His enemies on His white +horse, and behind Him the armies of God following. The workers who +labour with God have the ascended Christ labouring with them. + +But if God works with us, success is sure. Then comes the old +question that Gideon asked with bitterness of heart, when he was +threshing out his handful of wheat in a corner to avoid the +oppressors, `If the Lord be with us, wherefore is all this come +upon us? Will any one say that the progress of the Gospel in the +world has been at the rate which its early believers expected, or +at the rate which its own powers warranted them to expect? +Certainly not. And so it comes to this, that whilst every true +labourer has God working with him, and therefore success is +certain, the planter and the waterer can delay the growth of the +plant by their unfaithfulness, by not expecting success, by not so +working as to make it likely, or by neutralising their +evangelistic efforts by their worldly lives. When Jesus Christ was +on earth, it is recorded, `He could there do no mighty works +because of their unbelief, save that He laid His hands on a few +sick folk and healed them.' A faithless Church, a worldly Church, +a lazy Church, an unspiritual Church, an un-Christlike +Church---which, to a large extent, is the designation of the +so-called Church of to day---can clog His chariot-wheels, can +thwart the work, can hamper the Divine Worker. If the Christians +of Manchester were revived, they could win Manchester for Jesus. +If the Christians of England lived their Christianity, they could +make England what it never has been but in name---a Christian +country. If the Church universal were revived, it could win the +world. If the single labourer, or the community of such, is +labouring `in the Lord,' their labour will not be in vain; and if +they thus plant and water, God will give the increase. + +\chapter{The Testing Fire} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS iii. 12, 13} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious +stones, wood, hay, stubble: 13.\ Every man's work shall be made +manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be +revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what +sort it is.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} iii. 12, 13. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Before I enter upon the ideas which the words suggest, my +exegetical conscience binds me to point out that the original +application of the text is not exactly that which I purpose to +make of it now. The context shows that the Apostle is thinking +about the special subject of Christian teachers and their work, +and that the builders of whom he speaks are the men in the +Corinthian Church, some of them his allies and some of them his +rivals, who were superimposing upon the foundation of the +preaching of Jesus Christ other doctrines and principles. The +`wood, hay, stubble' are the vapid and trivial doctrines which the +false teachers were introducing into the Church. The `gold, +silver, and precious stones' are the solid and substantial +verities which Paul and his friends were proclaiming. And it is +about these, and not about the Christian life in the general, that +the tremendous metaphors of my text are uttered. + +But whilst that is true, the principles involved have a much wider +range than the one case to which the Apostle applies them. And, +though I may be slightly deflecting the text from its original +direction, I am not doing violence to it, if I take it as declaring +some very plain and solemn truths applicable to all Christian +people, in their task of building up a life and character on the +foundation of Jesus Christ; truths which are a great deal too much +forgotten in our modern popular Christianity, and which it concerns +us all very clearly to keep in view. There are three things here +that I wish to say a word about---the patchwork building, the +testing fire, the fate of the builders. + +I. First, the patchwork structure. + +`If any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious +stones, wood, hay, stubble.' In the original application of the +metaphor, Paul is thinking of all these teachers in that church at +Corinth as being engaged in building the one structure---I venture +to deflect here, and to regard each of us as rearing our own +structure of life and character on the foundation of the preached +and accepted Christ. + +Now, what the Apostle says is that these builders were, some of +them, laying valuable things like gold and silver and costly +stones---by which he does not mean jewels, but marbles, +alabasters, polished porphyry or granite, and the like; sumptuous +building materials, which were employed in great palaces or +temples---and that some of them were bringing timber, hay, +stubble, reeds gathered from the marshes or the like, and filling +in with such trash as that. That is a picture of what a great many +Christian people are doing in their own lives---the same man +building one course of squared and solid and precious stones, and +topping them with rubbish. You will see in the walls of Jerusalem, +at the base, five or six courses of those massive blocks which are +the wonders of the world yet; well jointed, well laid, well +cemented, and then on the top of them a mass of poor stuff, heaped +together anyhow; scamped work---may I use a modern +vulgarism?---`jerry-building.' You may go to some modern village, +on an ancient historic site, and you will find built into the mud +walls of the hovels in which the people are living, a marble slab +with fair carving on it, or the drum of a great column of veined +marble, and on the top of that, timber and clay mixed together. + +That is the type of the sort of life that hosts of Christian +people are living. For, mark, all the builders are on the +foundation. Paul is not speaking about mere professed Christians +who had no faith at all in them, and no real union with Jesus +Christ. These builders were `on the foundation'; they were +building on the foundation, there was a principle deep down in +their lives---which really lay at the bottom of their lives---and +yet had not come to such dominating power as to mould and purify +and make harmonious with itself the life that was reared upon it. +We all know that that is the condition of many men, that they have +what really are the fundamental bases of their lives, in belief +and aim and direction; and which yet are not strong enough to +master the whole of the life, and to manifest themselves through +it. Especially it is the condition of some Christian people. They +have a real faith, but it is of the feeblest and most rudimentary +kind. They are on the foundation, but their lives are interlaced +with the most heterogeneous mixty-maxty of good and evil, of +lofty, high, self-sacrificing thoughts and heavenward aspirations, +of resolutions never carried out into practice; and side by side +with these there shall be meannesses, selfishnesses, tempers, +dispositions all contradictory of the former impulses. One moment +they are all fire and love, the next moment ice and selfishness. +One day they are all for God, the next day all for the world, the +flesh, and the devil. Jacob sees the open heavens and the face of +God and vows; to-morrow he meets Laban and drops to shifty ways. +Peter leaves all and follows his Master, and in a little while the +fervour has gone, and the fire has died down into grey ashes, and +a flippant servant-girl's tongue leads him to say `I know not the +man.' `Gold, silver, precious stones,' and topping them, `wood, +hay, stubble!' + +The inconsistencies of the Christian life are what my text, in the +application that I am venturing to make of it, suggests to us. Ah, +dear friends! we do not need to go to Jacob and Peter; let us look +at our own hearts, and if we will honestly examine one day of our +lives, I think we shall understand how it is possible for a man, +on the foundation, yet to build upon it these worthless and +combustible things, `wood, hay, stubble.' + +We are not to suppose that one man builds \textit{only} `gold, +silver, precious stones.' There is none of us that does that. And +we are not to suppose that any man who \textit{is} on the +foundations has so little grasp of it, as that he builds +\textit{only} `wood, hay, stubble.' + +There is none of us who has not intermingled his building, and +there is none of us, if we are Christians at all, who has not +sometimes laid a course of `precious stones.' If your faith is +doing \textit{nothing} for you except bringing to you a belief +that you are not going to hell when you die, then it is no faith +at all. `Faith without works is dead.' So there is a mingling in +the best, and---thank God!---there is a mingling of good with +evil, in the worst of real Christian people. + +II. Note here, the testing fire. + +Paul points to two things, the day and the fire. + +`The day shall declare it,' that is the day on which Jesus Christ +comes to be the Judge; and it, that is `the day,' `shall be +revealed in fire; and the fire shall test every man's work.' Now, +it is to be noticed that here we are moving altogether in the +region of lofty symbolism, and that the metaphor of the testing +fire is suggested by the previous enumeration of building +materials, gold and silver being capable of being assayed by +flame; and `wood, hay, stubble' being combustible, and sure to be +destroyed thereby. The fire here is not an emblem of punishment; +it is not an emblem of cleansing. There is no reference to +anything in the nature of what Roman Catholics call purgatorial +fires. The allusion is simply to some stringent and searching +means of testing the quality of a man's work, and of revealing +that quality. + +So then, we come just to this, that for people `on the +foundation,' there is a Day of revelation and testing of their +life's work. It is a great misfortune that so-called Evangelical +Christianity does not say as much as the New Testament says about +the judgment that is to be passed on `the house of God.' People +seem to think that the great doctrine of salvation, `not by works +of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy,' is, +somehow or other, interfered with when we proclaim, as Paul +proclaims, speaking to Christian people, `We must be manifested +before the judgment seat of Christ,' and declares that `Every man +will receive the things done in his body, according to that he has +done, whether it be good or bad.' Paul saw no contradiction, and +there is no contradiction. But a great many professing Christians +seem to think that the great blessing of their salvation by faith +is, that they are exempt from that future revelation and testing +and judgment of their acts. That is not the New Testament +teaching. But, on the contrary, `Whatsoever a man soweth that +shall he also reap,' was originally said to a church of Christian +people. And here we come full front against that solemn truth, +that the Lord will `gather together His saints, those that have +made a covenant with Him by sacrifice, that He may judge His +people.' Never mind about the drapery, the symbolism, the +expression in material forms with which that future judgment is +arranged, in order that we may the more easily grasp it. Remember +that these pictures in the New Testament of a future judgment are +highly symbolical, and not to be interpreted as if they were plain +prose; but also remember that the heart of them is this, that +there comes for Christian people as for all others, a time when +the light will shine down upon their past, and will flash its rays +into the dark chambers of memory, and when men will---to +themselves if not to others---be revealed `in the day when the +Lord shall judge the secrets of men according to my Gospel.' + +We have all experience enough of how but a few years, a change of +circumstances, or a growth into another stage of development, give +us fresh eyes with which to estimate the moral quality of our +past. Many a thing, which we thought to be all right at the time +when we did it, looks to us now very questionable and a plain +mistake. And when we shift our stations to up yonder, and get rid +of all this blinding medium of flesh and sense, and have the +issues of our acts in our possession, and before our sight---ah! +we shall think very differently of a great many things from what +we think of them now. Judgment will begin at the house of God. + +And there is the other thought, that the fire which reveals and +tests has also in it a power of destruction. Gold and silver will +lose no atom of their weight, and will be brightened into greater +lustre as they flash back the beams. The timber and the stubble +will go up in a flare, and die down into black ashes. That is +highly metaphorical, of course. What does it mean? It means that +some men's work will be crumpled up and perish, and be as of none +effect, leaving a great, black sorrowful gap in the continuity of +the structure, and that other men's work will stand. Everything +that we do is, in one sense, immortal, because it is represented +in our final character and condition, just as a thin stratum of +rock will represent forests of ferns that grew for one summer +millenniums ago, or clouds of insects that danced for an hour in +the sun. But whilst that is so, and nothing human ever dies, on +the other hand, deeds which have been in accordance, as it were, +with the great stream that sweeps the universe on its bosom will +float on that surface and never sink. Acts which have gone against +the rush of God's will through creation will be like a child's +go-cart that comes against the engine of an express train---be +reduced, first, to stillness, all the motion knocked out of them, +and then will be crushed to atoms. Deeds which stand the test will +abide in blessed issue for the doer, and deeds which do not will +pass away in smoke, and leave only ashes. Some of us, building on +the foundation, have built more rubbish than solid work, and that +will be + +\begin{verse} +`Cast as rubbish to the void \\ +When God has made the pile complete.' +\end{verse} + +III. So, lastly, we have here the fate of the two builders. + +The one man gets wages. That is not the bare notion of salvation, +for both builders are conceived of as on the foundation, and both +are saved. He gets wages. Yes, of course! The architect has to +give his certificate before the builder gets his cheque. The +weaver, who has been working his hand-loom at his own house, has +to take his web to the counting-house and have it overlooked +before he gets his pay. And the man who has built `gold, silver, +precious stones,' will have---over and above the initial +salvation---in himself the blessed consequences, and unfold the +large results, of his faithful service; while the other man, +inasmuch as he has not such work, cannot have the consequences of +it, and gets no wages; or at least his pay is subject to heavy +deductions for the spoiled bits in the cloth, and for the gaps in +the wall. + +The Apostle employs a tremendous metaphor here, which is masked in +our Authorised Version, but is restored in the Revised. `He shall +be saved, yet so as' (not `by' but) `through fire'; the picture +being that of a man surrounded by a conflagration, and making a +rush through the flames to get to a place of safety. Paul says +that he will get through, because down \textit{below} all +inconsistency and worldliness, there was a little of that which +ought to have been \textit{above} all the inconsistency and the +worldliness---a true faith in Jesus Christ. But because it was so +imperfect, so feeble, so little operative in his life as that it +could not keep him from piling up inconsistencies into his wall, +therefore his salvation is so as through the fire. + +Brethren, I dare not enlarge upon that great metaphor. It is meant +for us professing Christians, real and imperfect Christians---it +is meant for us; and it just tells us that there are degrees in +that future blessedness proportioned to present faithfulness. We +begin there where we left off here. That future is not a dead +level; and they who have earnestly striven to work out their faith +into their lives shall `summer high upon the hills of God.' One +man, like Paul in his shipwreck, shall lose ship and lading, +though `on broken pieces of the ship' he may `escape safe to +land'; and another shall make the harbour with full cargo of works +of faith, to be turned into gold when he lands. If we build, as we +all may, `on that foundation, gold and silver and precious +stones,' an entrance `shall be ministered unto us abundantly into +the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ'; +whilst if we bring a preponderance of `wood, hay, stubble,' we +shall be `saved, yet so as through the fire.' + +\chapter{Temples of God} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS iii. 16} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?'---1 \textsc{Cor.} +iii. 16 +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The great purpose of Christianity is to make men like Jesus +Christ. As He is the image of the invisible God we are to be the +images of the unseen Christ. The Scripture is very bold and +emphatic in attributing to Christ's followers likeness to Him, in +nature, in character, in relation to the world, in office, and in +ultimate destiny. Is He the anointed of God? We are +anointed---Christs in Him. Is He the Son of God? We in Him receive +the adoption of sons. Is He the Light of the world? We in Him are +lights of the world too. Is He a King? A Priest? He hath made us +to be kings and priests. + +Here we have the Apostle making the same solemn assertion in +regard to Christian men, `Know ye not that ye are'---as your +Master, and because your Master is---`that ye are the temple of +God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' + +Of course the allusion in my text is to the whole aggregate of +believers---what we call the Catholic Church, as being +collectively the habitation of God. But God cannot dwell in an +aggregate of men, unless He dwells in the individuals that compose +the aggregate. And God has nothing to do with institutions except +through the people who make the institutions. And so, if the +Church as a whole is a Temple, it is only because all its members +are temples of God. + +Therefore, without forgetting the great blessed lesson of the +unity of the Church which is taught in these words, I want rather +to deal with them in their individual application now; and to try +and lay upon your consciences, dear brethren, the solemn +obligations and the intense practical power which this Apostle +associated with the thought that each Christian man was, in very +deed, a temple of God. + +It would be very easy to say eloquent things about this text, but +that is no part of my purpose. + +I. Let me deal, first of all, and only for a moment or two, with +the underlying thought that is here---that every Christian is a +dwelling-place of God. + +Now, do not run away with the idea that that is a metaphor. It was +the outward temple that was the metaphor. The reality is that +which you and I, if we are God's children in Jesus Christ, +experience. There was no real sense in which that Mighty One whom +the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain, dwelt in any house made with +hands. But the Temple, and all the outward worship, were but +symbolical of the facts of the Christian life, and the realities +of our inward experience. These are the truths whereof the other +is the shadow. We use words to which it is difficult for us to +attach any meaning, when we talk about God as being locally +present in any material building; but we do not use words to which +it is so difficult to attach a meaning, when we talk about the +Infinite Spirit as being present and abiding in a spirit shaped to +hold Him, and made on purpose to touch Him and be filled by Him. + +All creatures have God dwelling in them in the measure of their +capacity. The stone that you kick on the road would not be there +if there were not a present God. Nothing would happen if there +were not abiding in creatures the force, at any rate, which is +God. But just as in this great atmosphere in which we all live and +move and have our being, the eye discerns undulations which make +light, and the ear catches vibrations which make sound, and the +nostrils are recipient of motions which bring fragrance, and all +these are in the one atmosphere, and the sense that apprehends one +is utterly unconscious of the other, so God's creatures, each +through some little narrow slit, and in the measure of their +capacity, get a straggling beam from Him into their being, and +therefore they are. + +But high above all other ways in which creatures can lie patent to +God, and open for the influx of a Divine Indweller, lies the way +of faith and love. Whosoever opens his heart in these +divinely-taught emotions, and fixes them upon the Christ in whom +God dwells, receives into the very roots of his being---as the +water that trickles through the soil to the rootlets of the +tree---the very Godhead Himself. `He that is joined to the Lord is +one spirit.' + +That God shall dwell in my heart is possible only from the fact +that He dwelt in all His fulness in Christ, through whom I touch +Him. That Temple consecrates all heart-shrines; and all +worshippers that keep near to Him, partake with Him of the Father +that dwelt in Him. + +Only remember that in Christ God dwelt completely, all `the +fulness of the Godhead bodily' was there, but in us it is but +partially; that in Christ, therefore, the divine indwelling was +uniform and invariable, but in us it fluctuates, and sometimes is +more intimate and blessed, and sometimes He leaves the habitation +when we leave Him; that in Christ, therefore, there was no +progress in the divine indwelling, but that in us, if there be any +true inhabitation of our souls by God, that abiding will become +more and more, until every corner of our being is hallowed and +filled with the searching effulgence of the all-pervasive Light. +And let us remember that God dwelt in Christ, but that in us it is +God in Christ who dwells. So to Him we owe it all, that our poor +hearts are made the dwelling-place of God; or, as this Apostle +puts it, in other words conveying the same idea, `Ye are built +upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ +Himself being the chief Corner-stone; in whom all the building +fitly framed together groweth ... for a habitation of God through +the Spirit.' + +II. Now then, turning from this underlying idea of the passage, +let us look, for a moment, at some of the many applications of +which the great thought is susceptible. I remark, then, in the +second place, that as temples all Christians are to be manifesters +of God. + +The meaning of the Temple as of all temples was, that there the +indwelling Deity should reveal Himself; and if it be true that we +Christian men and women are, in this deep and blessed reality of +which I have been speaking, the abiding places and habitations of +God, then it follows that we shall stand in the world as the great +means by which God is manifested and made known, and that in a +two-fold way; \textit{to ourselves} and \textit{to other people}. + +The real revelation of God to our hearts must be His abiding in +our hearts. We do not learn God until we possess God. He must fill +our souls before we know His sweetness. The answer that our Lord +made to one of His disciples is full of the deepest truth. `How is +it,' said one of them in his blundering way, `how is it that Thou +wilt manifest Thyself to us?' And the answer was, `We will come +and make Our abode with him.' You do not know God until, if I +might so say, He sits at your fireside and talks with you in your +hearts. Just as some wife may have a husband whom the world knows +as hero, or sage, or orator, but she knows him as nobody else can; +so the outside, and if I may so say, the public character of God +is but the surface of the revelation that He makes to us, when in +the deepest secrecy of our own hearts He pours Himself into our +waiting spirits. O brethren! it is within the curtains of the +Holiest of all that the Shekinah flashes; it is within our own +hearts, shrined and templed there, that God reveals Himself to us, +as He does not unto the world. + +And then, further, Christian men, as the temples and habitations +of God, are appointed to be the great means of making Him known to +the world around. The eye that cannot look at the sun can look at +the rosy clouds that lie on either side of it, and herald its +rising; their opalescent tints and pearly lights are beautiful to +dim vision, to which the sun itself is too bright to be looked +upon. Men will believe in a gentle Christ when they see you +gentle. They will believe in a righteous love when they see it +manifesting itself in you. You are `the secretaries of God's +praise,' as George Herbert has it. He dwells in your hearts that +out of your lives He may be revealed. The pictures in a book of +travels, or the diagrams in a mathematical work, tell a great deal +more in half a dozen lines than can be put into as many pages of +dry words. And it is not books of theology nor eloquent sermons, +but it is a Church glowing with the glory of God, and manifestly +all flushed with His light and majesty, that will have power to +draw men to believe in the God whom it reveals. When explorers +land upon some untravelled island and meet the gentle inhabitants +with armlets of rough gold upon their wrists, they say there must +be many a gold-bearing rock of quartz crystal in the interior of +the land. And if you present yourselves, Christian men and women, +to the world with the likeness of your Master plain upon you, then +people will believe in the Christianity that you profess. You have +to popularise the Gospel in the fashion in which go-betweens and +middlemen between students and the populace popularise science. +You have to make it possible for men to believe in the Christ +because they see Christ in you. `Know ye not that ye are the +temples of the living God?' Let His light shine from you. + +III. I remark again that as temples all Christian lives should be +places of sacrifice. + +What is the use of a temple without worship? And what kind of +worship is that in which the centre point is not an altar? That is +the sort of temple that a great many professing Christians are. They +have forgotten the altar in their spiritual architecture. Have you +got one in your heart? It is but a poor, half-furnished sanctuary +that has not. Where is yours? The key and the secret of all noble +life is to yield up one's own will, to sacrifice oneself. There +never was anything done in this world worth doing, and there never +will be till the end of time, of which sacrifice is not the centre +and inspiration. And the difference between all other and lesser +nobilities of life, and the supreme beauty of a true Christian life +is that the sacrifice of the Christian is properly a +\textit{sacrifice}---that is, an offering to \emph{God}, done for +the sake of the great love wherewith He has loved us. As Christ is +the one true Temple, and we become so by partaking of Him, so He is +the one Sacrifice for sins for ever, and we become sacrifices only +through Him. If there be any lesson which comes out of this great +truth of Christians as temples, it is not a lesson of pluming +ourselves on our dignity, or losing ourselves in the mysticisms +which lie near this truth, but it is the hard lesson---If a temple, +then an altar; if an altar, then a sacrifice. `Ye are built up a +spiritual house, a holy priesthood, that ye may offer spiritual +sacrifices, acceptable to God'---sacrifice, priest, temple, all in +one; and all for the sake and by the might of that dear Lord who has +given Himself a bleeding Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, +that we might offer a Eucharistic sacrifice of thanks and praise and +self-surrender unto Him, and to His Father God. + +IV. And, lastly, this great truth of my text enforces the solemn +lesson of the necessary sanctity of the Christian life. + +`The temple of God,' says the context, `the temple of God is holy, +which (holy persons) ye are.' The plain first idea of the temple +is a place set apart and consecrated to God. + +Hence, of course, follows the idea of purity, but the parent idea +of `holiness' is not purity, which is the consequence, but +consecration or separation to God, which is the root. + +And so in very various applications, on which I have not time to +dwell now, this idea of the necessary sanctity of the Temple is +put forth in these two letters to the Corinthian Church. Corinth +was a city honeycombed with the grossest immoralities; and hence, +perhaps, to some extent the great emphasis and earnestness and +even severity of the Apostle in dealing with some forms of evil. + +But without dwelling on the details, let me just point you to +three directions in which this general notion of sanctity is +applied. There is that of our context here `Know ye not that ye +are the temple of God? If any man \textit{destroy} the temple of +God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, and +such ye are.' + +He is thinking here mainly, I suppose, about the devastation and +destruction of this temple of God, which was caused by +schismatical and heretical teaching, and by the habit of forming +parties, `one of Paul, one of Apollos, one of Cephas, one of +Christ,' which was rending that Corinthian Church into pieces. But +we may apply it more widely than that, and say that anything which +corrupts and defiles the Christian life and the Christian +character assumes a darker tint of evil when we think that it is +sacrilege---the profanation of the temple, the pollution of that +which ought to be pure as He who dwells in it. + +Christian men and women, how that thought darkens the blackness of +all sin! How solemnly there peals out the warning, `If any man +destroy or impair the temple,' by any form of pollution, `him' +with retribution in kind, `him shall God destroy.' Keep the temple +clear; keep it clean. Let Him come with His scourge of small cords +and His merciful rebuke. You Manchester men know what it is to let +the money-changers into the sanctuary. Beware lest, beginning with +making your hearts `houses of merchandise,' you should end by +making them `dens of thieves.' + +And then, still further, there is another application of this same +principle, in the second of these Epistles. `What agreement hath +the temple of God with idols?' `Ye are the temple of the living +God.' + +Christianity is intolerant. There is to be one image in the +shrine. One of the old Roman Stoic Emperors had a pantheon in his +palace with Jesus Christ upon one pedestal and Plato on the one +beside Him. And some of us are trying the same kind of thing. +Christ there, and somebody else here. Remember, Christ must be +everything or nothing! Stars may be sown by millions, but for the +earth there is one sun. And you and I are to shrine one dear +Guest, and one only, in the inmost recesses of our hearts. + +And there is another application of this metaphor also in our +letter. `Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy +Ghost which is in you?' Christianity despises `the flesh'; +Christianity reverences the body; and would teach us all that, +being robed in that most wonderful work of God's hands, which +becomes a shrine for God Himself if He dwell in our hearts, all +purity, all chastisement and subjugation of animal passion is our +duty. Drunkenness, and gluttony, lusts of every kind, impurity of +conduct, and impurity of word and look and thought, all these +assume a still darker tint when they are thought of as not only +crimes against the physical constitution and the moral law of +humanity, but insults flung in the face of the God that would +inhabit the shrine. + +And in regard to sins of this kind, which it is so difficult to +speak of in public, and which grow unchecked in secrecy, and are +ruining hundreds of young lives, the words of this context are +grimly true, `If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God +destroy.' I speak now mainly in brotherly or fatherly warning to +young men---did you ever read this, `His bones are full of the +iniquities of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the +dust'? `Know ye not that ye are the temple of God?' + +And so, brethren, our text tells us what we may all be. There is +no heart without its deity. Alas! alas! for the many listening to +me now whose spirits are like some of those Egyptian temples, +which had in the inmost shrine a coiled-up serpent, the mummy of a +monkey, or some other form as animal and obscene. + +Oh! turn to Christ and cry, `Arise, O Lord, into Thy rest, Thou +and the ark of Thy strength.' Open your hearts and let Christ come +in. And before Him, as of old, the bestial Dagon will be found, +dejected and truncated, lying on the sill there; and all the vain, +cruel, lustful gods that have held riot and carnival in your +hearts will flee away into the darkness, like some foul ghosts at +cock-crow. `If any man hear My voice and open the door I will come +in.' And the glory of the Lord shall fill the house. + +\chapter{Death, The Friend} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS iii. 21, 22} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`... All things are yours ... death.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} iii. 21, +22. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +What Jesus Christ is to a man settles what everything else is to +Him. Our relation to Jesus determines our relation to the +universe. If we belong to Him, everything belongs to us. If we are +His servants, all things are our servants. The household of Jesus, +which is the whole Creation, is not divided against itself, and +the fellow-servants do not beat one another. Two bodies moving in +the same direction, and under the impulse of the same force, +cannot come into collision, and since `all things work together,' +according to the counsel of His will, `all things work together +for good' to His lovers. The triumphant words of my text are no +piece of empty rhetoric, but the plain result of two +facts---Christ's rule and the Christian's submission. `All things +are yours, and ye are Christ's,' so the stars in their courses +fight against those who fight against Him, and if we are at peace +with Him we shall `make a league with the beasts of the field, and +the stones of the field,' which otherwise would be hindrances and +stumbling-blocks, `shall be at peace with' us. + +The Apostle carries his confidence in the subservience of all +things to Christ's servants very far, and the words of my text, in +which he dares to suggest that `the Shadow feared of man' is, +after all, a veiled friend, are hard to believe, when we are +brought face to face with death, either when we meditate on our +own end, or when our hearts are sore and our hands are empty. Then +the question comes, and often is asked with tears of blood, Is it +true that this awful force, which we cannot command, does indeed +serve us? Did it serve those whom it dragged from our sides; and +in serving them, did it serve us? Paul rings out his `Yes'; and if +we have as firm a hold of Paul's Lord as Paul had, our answer will +be the same. Let me, then, deal with this great thought that lies +here, of the conversion of the last enemy into a friend, the +assurance that we may all have that death is ours, though not in +the sense that we can command it, yet in the sense that it +ministers to our highest good. + +That thought may be true about ourselves when it comes to our turn +to die, and, thank God, has been true about all those who have +departed in His faith and fear. Some of you may have seen two very +striking engravings by a great, though somewhat unknown artist, +representing Death as the Destroyer, and Death as the Friend. In +the one case he comes into a scene of wild revelry, and there at +his feet lie, stark and stiff, corpses in their gay clothing and +with garlands on their brows, and feasters and musicians are +flying in terror from the cowled Skeleton. In the other he comes +into a quiet church belfry, where an aged saint sits with folded +arms and closed eyes, and an open Bible by his side, and endless +peace upon the wearied face. The window is flung wide to the +sunrise, and on its sill perches a bird that gives forth its +morning song. The cowled figure has brought rest to the weary, and +the glad dawning of a new life to the aged, and is a friend. The +two pictures are better than all the poor words that I can say. It +depends on the people to whom he comes, whether he comes as a +destroyer or as a helper. Of course, for all of us the mere +physical facts remain the same, the pangs and the pain, the slow +torture of the loosing of the bond, or the sharp agony of its +instantaneous rending apart. But we have gone but a very little +way into life and its experiences, if we have not learnt that +identity of circumstances may cover profound difference of +essentials, and that the same experiences may have wholly +different messages and meanings to two people who are equally +implicated in them. Thus, while the physical fact remains the same +for all, the whole bearing of it may so differ that Death to one +man will be a Destroyer, while to another it is a Friend. + +For, if we come to analyse the thoughts of humanity about the last +act in human life on earth, what is it that makes the dread +darkness of death, which all men know, though they so seldom think +of it? I suppose, first of all, if we seek to question our +feelings, that which makes Death a foe to the ordinary experience +is, that it is like a step off the edge of a precipice in a fog; a +step into a dim condition of which the imagination can form no +conception, because it has no experience, and all imagination's +pictures are painted with pigments drawn from our past. Because it +is impossible for a man to have any clear vision of what it is +that is coming to meet him, and he cannot tell `in that sleep what +dreams may come,' he shrinks, as we all shrink, from a step into +the vast Inane, the dim Unknown. But the Gospel comes and says, +`It \textit{is} a land of great darkness,' but `To the people that +sit in darkness a great light hath shined.' + +\begin{verse} +`Our knowledge of that life is small, \\ + The eye of faith is dim.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent But faith has an eye, and there is light, and this we +can see---One face whose brightness scatters all the gloom, One +Person who has not ceased to be the Sun of Righteousness with +healing in His beams, even in the darkness of the grave. +Therefore, one at least of the repellent features which, to the +timorous heart, makes Death a foe, is gone, when we know that the +known Christ fills the Unknown. + +Then, again, another of the elements, as I suppose, which +constitute the hostile aspect that Death assumes to most of us, is +that it apparently hales us away from all the wholesome activities +and occupations of life, and bans us into a state of apparent +inaction. The thought that death is rest does sometimes attract +the weary or harassed, or they fancy it does, but that is a morbid +feeling, and much more common in sentimental epitaphs than among +the usual thoughts of men. To most of us there is no joy, but a +chill, in the anticipation that all the forms of activity which +have so occupied, and often enriched, our lives here, are to be +cut off at once. `What am I to do if I have no books?' says the +student. `What am I to do if I have no mill?' says the spinner. +`What am I to do if I have no nursery or kitchen?' say the women. +What are you to do? There is only one quieting answer to such +questions. It tells us that what we are doing here is learning our +trade, and that we are to be moved into another workshop there, to +practise it. Nothing can bereave us of the force we made our own, +being here; and `there is nobler work for us to do' when the +Master of all the servants stoops from His Throne and says: `Thou +hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over +many things; have thou authority over ten cities.' Then the +faithfulness of the steward will be exchanged for the authority of +the ruler, and the toil of the servant for a share in the joy of +the Lord. + +So another of the elements which make Death an enemy is turned +into an element which makes it a friend, and instead of the +separation from this earthly body, the organ of our activity and +the medium of our connection with the external universe being the +condemnation of the naked spirit to inaction, it is the +emancipation of the spirit into greater activity. For nothing +drops away at death that does not make a man the richer for its +loss, and when the dross is purged from the silver, there remains +`a vessel unto honour, fit for the Master's use.' This mightier +activity is the contribution to our blessedness, which Death makes +to them who use their activities here in Christ's service. + +Then, still further, another of the elements which is converted +from being a terror into a joy is that Death, the separator, +becomes to Christ's servants Death, the uniter. We all know how +that function of death is perhaps the one that makes us shrink +from it the most, dread it the most, and sometimes hate it the +most. But it will be with us as it was with those who were to be +initiated into ancient religious rites. Blindfolded, they were led +by a hand that grasped theirs but was not seen, through dark, +narrow, devious passages, but they were led into a great company +in a mighty hall. Seen from this side, the ministry of Death parts +a man from dear ones, but, oh! if we could see round the turn in +the corridor, we should see that the solitude is but for a moment, +and that the true office of Death is not so much to part from +those beloved on earth as to carry to, and unite with, Him that is +best Beloved in the heavens, and in Him with all His saints. They +that are joined to Christ, as they who pass from earth are joined, +are thereby joined to all who, in like manner, are knit to Him. +Although other dear bonds are loosed by the bony fingers of the +Skeleton, his very loosing of them ties more closely the bond that +unites us to Jesus, and when the dull ear of the dying has ceased +to hear the voices of earth that used to thrill it in their lowest +whisper, I suppose it hears another Voice that says: `When thou +passest through the fire I will be with thee, and through the +waters they shall not overflow thee.' Thus the Separator unites, +first to Jesus, and then to `the general assembly and Church of +the first-born,' and leads into the city of the living God, the +pilgrims who long have lived, often isolated, in the desert. + +There is a last element in Death which is changed for the +Christian, and that is that to men generally, when they think +about it, there is an instinctive recoil from Death, because there +is an instinctive suspicion that after Death is the Judgment, and +that, somehow or other---never mind about the drapery in which the +idea may be embodied for our weakness---when a man dies he passes +to a state where he will reap the consequences of what he has sown +here. But to Christ's servant that last thought is robbed of its +sting, and all the poison sucked out of it, for he can say: `He +that died for me makes it possible for me to die undreading, and +to pass thither, knowing that I shall meet as my Judge Him whom I +have trusted as my Saviour, and so may have boldness before Him in +the Day of Judgment.' + +Knit these four contrasts together. Death as a step into a dim +unknown \textit{versus} Death as a step into a region lighted by +Jesus; Death as the cessation of activity \textit{versus} Death as +the introduction to nobler opportunities, and the endowment with +nobler capacities of service; Death as the separator and isolator +\textit{versus} Death as uniting to Jesus and all His lovers; +Death as haling us to the judgment-seat of the adversary +\textit{versus} Death as bringing us to the tribunal of the +Christ; and I think we can understand how Christians can venture +to say, `All things are ours, whether life or death' which leads +to a better life. + +And now let me add one word more. All this that I have been +saying, and all the blessed strength for ourselves and calming in +our sorrows which result therefrom, stand or fall with the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is nothing else that makes +these things certain. There are, of course, instincts, +peradventures, hopes, fears, doubts. But in this region, and in +regard to all this cycle of truths, the same thing applies which +applies round the whole horizon of Christian Revelation---if you +want not speculations but certainties, you have to go to Jesus +Christ for them. There were many men who thought that there were +islands of the sea beyond the setting sun that dyed the western +waves, but Columbus went and came back again, and brought their +products---and then the thought became a fact. Unless you believe +that Jesus Christ has come back from `the bourne from which no +traveller returns,' and has come laden with the gifts of `happy +isles of Eden' far beyond the sea, there is no certitude upon +which a dying man can lay his head, or by which a bleeding heart +can be staunched. But when He draws near, alive from the dead, and +says to us, as He did to the disciples on the evening of the day +of Resurrection, `Peace be unto you,' and shows us His hands and +His side, then we do not only speculate or think a future life +possible or probable, or hesitate to deny it, or hope or fear, as +the case may be, but we \textit{know}, and we can say: `All things +are ours ... death' amongst others. The fact that Jesus Christ has +died changes the whole aspect of death to His servant, inasmuch as +in that great solitude he has a companion, and in the valley of +the shadow of death sees footsteps that tell him of One that went +before. + +Nor need I do more than remind you how the manner of our Lord's +death shows that He is Lord not only of the dead but of the Death +that makes them dead. For His own tremendous assertion, `I have +power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again,' was +confirmed by His attitude and His words at the last, as is hinted +at by the very expressions with which the Evangelists record the +fact of His death: `He yielded up His spirit,' `He gave up the +ghost,' `He breathed out His life.' It is confirmed to us by such +words as those remarkable ones of the Apocalypse, which speak of +Him as `the Living One,' who, by His own will, `became dead.' He +died because He would, and He would die because He loved you and +me. And in dying, He showed Himself to be, not the Victim, but the +Conqueror, of the Death to which He submitted. The Jewish king on +the fatal field of Gilboa called his sword-bearer, and the servant +came, and Saul bade him smite, and when his trembling hand shrank +from such an act, the king fell on his own sword. The Lord of life +and death summoned His servant Death, and He came obedient, but +Jesus died not by Death's stroke, but by His own act. So that Lord +of Death, who died because He would, is the Lord who has the keys +of death and the grave. In regard to one servant He says, `I will +that he tarry till I come,' and that man lives through a century, +and in regard to another He says, `Follow thou Me,' and that man +dies on a cross. The dying Lord is Lord of Death, and the living +Lord is for us all the Prince of Life. + +Brethren, we have to take His yoke upon us by the act of faith +which leads to a love that issues in an obedience which will +become more and more complete, as we become more fully Christ's. +Then death will be ours, for then we shall count that the highest +good for us will be fuller union with, a fuller possession of, and +a completer conformity to, Jesus Christ our King, and that +whatever brings us these, even though it brings also pain and +sorrow and much from which we shrink, is all on our side. It is +possible---may it be so with each of us!---that for us Death may +be, not an enemy that bans us into darkness and inactivity, or +hales us to a judgment-seat, but the Angel who wakes us, at whose +touch the chains fall off, and who leads us through `the iron gate +that opens of its own accord,' and brings us into the City. + +\chapter{Servants and Lords} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS iii. 21--23} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`All things are yours; 22.\ Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, +or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to +come; all are yours; 23.\ And ye are Christ's.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} +iii. 21--23. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The Corinthian Christians seem to have carried into the Church +some of the worst vices of Greek---and English---political life. +They were split up into wrangling factions, each swearing by the +name of some person. Paul was the battle-cry of one set; Apollos +of another. Paul and Apollos were very good friends, their +admirers bitter foes---according to a very common experience. The +springs lie close together up in the hills, the rivers may be +parted by half a continent. + +These feuds were all the more detestable to the Apostle because +his name was dragged into them; and so he sets himself, in the +first part of this letter, with all his might, to shame and to +argue the Corinthian Christians out of their wrangling. This great +text is one of the considerations which he adduces with that +purpose. In effect he says, `To pin your faith to any one teacher +is a wilful narrowing of the sources of your blessing and your +wisdom. You say you are Paul's men. Has Apollos got nothing that +he could teach you? and may you not get any good out of brave +brother Cephas? Take them all; they were all meant for your good. +Let no man glory in individuals.' + +That is all that his argument required him to say. But in his +impetuous way he goes on into regions far beyond. His thought, +like some swiftly revolving wheel, catches fire of its own rapid +motion; and he blazes up into this triumphant enumeration of all +the things that serve the soul which serves Jesus Christ. `You are +lords of men, of the world of time, of death, of eternity; but you +are not lords of yourselves. You belong to Jesus, and in the +measure in which you belong to Him do all things belong to you.' + +I. I think, then, that I shall best bring out the fulness of these +words by simply following them as they lie before us, and asking +you to consider, first, how Christ's servants are men's lords. + +`All things are yours, Paul, Apollos, Cephas.' These three +teachers were all lights kindled at the central Light, and +therefore shining. They were fragments of His wisdom, of Him that +spoke; varying, but yet harmonious, and mutually complementary +aspects of the one infinite Truth had been committed to them. Each +was but a part of the mighty whole, a little segment of the circle + +\begin{verse} +`They are but broken lights of Thee, \\ + And Thou, O Lord! art more than they.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent And in the measure, therefore, in which men adhere to +Christ, and have taken Him for theirs; in that measure are they +delivered from all undue dependence on, still more from all +slavish submission to, any single individual teacher or aspect of +truth. To have Christ for ours, and to be His, which are only the +opposite sides of the same thing, mean, in brief, to take Jesus +Christ for the source of all knowledge of moral and religious +truth. His Word is the Christian's creed, His Person and the +truths that lie in Him, are the fountains of all our knowledge of +God and man. To be Christ's is to take Him as the master who has +absolute authority over conduct and practice. His commandment is +the Christian's duty; His pattern the Christian's all-sufficient +example; His smile the Christian's reward. To be Christ's is to +take Him for the home of our hearts, in whose gracious and sweet +love we find all sufficiency and a rest for our seeking +affections. And so, if ye are His, Paul, Apollos, Cephas, all men +are yours; in the sense that you are delivered from all undue +dependence upon them; and in the sense that they subserve your +highest good. + +So the true democracy of Christianity, which abjures swearing by +the words of any teacher, is simply the result of loyal adherence +to the teaching of Jesus Christ. And that proud independence which +some of you seek to cultivate, and on the strength of which you +declare that no man is your master upon earth, is an unwholesome +and dangerous independence, unless it be conjoined with the bowing +down of the whole nature, in loyal submission, to the absolute +authority of the only lips that ever spoke truth, truth only, and +truth always. If Christ be our Master, if we take our creed from +Him, if we accept His words and His revelation of the Father as +our faith and our objective religion, then all the slavery to +favourite names, all the taking of truth second-hand from the lips +that we honour, all the partisanship for one against another which +has been the shame and the ruin of the Christian Church, and is +working untold mischiefs in it to-day, are ended at once. `One is +your Master, even Christ.' `Call no man Rabbi! upon earth; but bow +before Him, the Incarnate and the Personal Truth.' + +And in like manner they who are Christ's are delivered from all +temptations to make men's maxims and practices and approbation the +law of their conduct. Society presses upon each of us; what we +call public opinion, which is generally the clatter of the +half-dozen people that happen to stand nearest us, rules us; and +it needs to be said very emphatically to all Christian men and +women---Take your law of conduct from His lips, and from nobody +else's. + +`They say. What say they? Let them say.' If we take Christ's +commandment for our absolute law, and Christ's approbation for our +highest aim and all-sufficient reward, we shall then be able to +brush aside other maxims and other people's opinions of us, safely +and humbly, and to say, `With me it is a very small matter to be +judged of you, or of man's judgment. He that judgeth me is the +Lord.' + +The envoy of some foreign power cares very little what the +inhabitants of the land to which he is ambassador may think of him +and his doings; it is his sovereign's good opinion that he seeks +to secure. The soldier's reward is his commander's praise, the +slave's joy is the master's smile, and for us it ought to be the +law of our lives, and in the measure in which we really belong to +Christ it will be the law of our lives, that `we labour that, +whether present or absent, we may be pleasing to Him.' + +So, brethren, as teachers, as patterns, as objects of love which +is only too apt to be exclusive and to master us, we can only take +one another in subordination to our supreme submission to Christ, +and if we are His, our duty, as our joy, is to count no man +necessary to our wellbeing, but to hang only on the one Man, whom +it is safe and blessed to believe utterly, to obey abjectly, and +to love with all our strength, because He is more than man, even +God manifest in the flesh. + +II. And now let us pass to the next idea here, secondly, Christ's +servants are the lords of `the world.' + +That phrase is used here, no doubt, as meaning the external +material universe. These creatures around us, they belong to us, +if we belong to Jesus Christ. That man owns the world who despises +it. There are plenty of rich men in Manchester who say they +possess so many thousand pounds. Turn the sentence about and it +would be a great deal truer---the thousands of pounds possess +them. They are the slaves of their own possessions, and every man +who counts any material thing as indispensable to his wellbeing, +and regards it as the chiefest good, is the slave-servant of that +thing. He owns the world who turns it to the highest use of +growing his soul by it. All material things are given, and, I was +going to say, were created, for the growth of men, or at all +events their highest purpose is that men should, by them, grow. +And therefore, as the scaffolding is swept away when the building +is finished, so God will sweep away this material universe with +all its wonders of beauty and of contrivance, when men have been +grown by means of it. The material is less than the soul, and he +is master of the world, and owns it, who has got thoughts out of +it, truth out of it, impulses out of it, visions of God out of it, +who has by it been led nearer to his divine Master. If I look out +upon a fair landscape, and the man who draws the rents of it is +standing by my side, and I suck more sweetness, and deeper +impulses, and larger and loftier thoughts out of it than he does, +it belongs to me far more than it does to him. The world is his +who from it has learned to despise it, to know himself and to know +God. He owns the world who uses it as the arena, or wrestling +ground, on which, by labour, he may gain strength, and in which he +may do service. Antagonism helps to develop muscle, and the best +use of the outward frame of things is that we shall take it as the +field upon which we can serve God. + +And now all these three things---the contempt of earth, the use of +earth for growing souls, and the use of earth as the field of +service---all these things belong most truly to the man who +belongs to Christ. The world is His, and if we live near Him and +cultivate fellowship with Him, and see His face gleaming through +all the Material, and are led up nearer to Him by everything +around us, then we own the world and wring the sweetness to the +last drop out of it, though we may have but little of that outward +relation to its goods which short-sighted men call possessing +them. We may solve the paradox of those who, `having nothing, yet +have all,' if we belong to Christ the Lord of all things, and so +have co-possession with Him of all His riches. + +III. Further, my text tells us, in the third place, that Christian +men, who belong to Jesus Christ, are the lords and masters of +`life and death.' + +Both of these words are here used, as it seems to me, in their +simple, physical sense, natural life and natural death. You may +say, `Well, everybody is lord of life in that sense.' Yes, of +course, in a fashion we all possess it, seeing that we are all +alive. But that mysterious gift of personality, that awful gift of +conscious existence, only belongs, in the deepest sense, to the +men who belong to Jesus Christ. I do not call that man the owner +of his own life who is not the lord of his own spirit. I do not +see in what, except in the mere animal sense in which a fly, or a +spider, or a toad may be called the master of its life, that man +owns himself who has not given up himself to Jesus Christ. The +only way to get a real hold of yourselves is to yield yourselves +to Him who gives you back Himself, and yourself along with Him. +The true ownership of life depends upon self-control, and +self-control depends upon letting Jesus Christ govern us wholly. +So the measure in which it is true of me that `I live; yet not I, +but Christ liveth in me,' is the measure in which the lower life +of sense really belongs to us, and ministers to our highest good. + +And then turn to the other member of this wonderful antithesis, +`whether life or \textit{death}.' Surely if there is anything over +which no man can become lord, except by sinfully taking his fate +into his own hands, it is death. And yet even death, in which we +seem to be abjectly passive, and by which so many of us are +dragged away reluctantly from everything that we care to possess, +may become a matter of consent and therefore a moral act. Animals +expire; a Christian man may yield his soul to his Saviour, who is +the Lord both of the dead and of the living. If thus we feel our +dependence upon Him, and yield up our lives to Him, and can say, +`Living or dying we are the Lord's,' then we may be quite sure +that death, too, will be our servant, and that our wills will be +concerned even in passing out of life. + +Still more, if you and I, dear brethren, belong to Jesus Christ, +then death is our fellow-servant who comes to call us out of this +ill-lighted workshop into the presence of the King. And at His +magic cold touch, cares and toils and sorrows are stiffened into +silence, like noisy streams bound in white frost; and we are +lifted clean up out of all the hubbub and the toil into eternal +calm. Death is ours because it fulfils our deepest desires, and +comes as a messenger to paupers to tell them they have a great +estate. Death is ours if we be Christ's. + +IV. And lastly, Christ's servants are the lords of time and +eternity, `things present or things to come.' + +Our Apostle's division, in this catalogue of his, is rhetorical +rather than logical; and we need not seek to separate the first of +this final pair from others which we have already encountered in +our study of the words, but still we may draw a distinction. The +whole mass of `things present,' including not only that material +universe which we call the world, but all the events and +circumstances of our lives, over these we may exercise supreme +control. If we are bowing in humble submission to Jesus Christ, +they will all subserve our highest good. Every weather will be +right; night and day equally desirable; the darkness will be good +for eyes that have been tired of brightness and that need repose, +the light will be good. The howling tempests of winter and its +white snows, the sharp winds of spring and its bursting sunshine; +the calm steady heat of June and the mellowing days of August, all +serve to ripen the grain. And so all `things present,' the light +and the dark, the hopes fulfilled and the hopes disappointed, the +gains and the losses, the prayers answered and the prayers +unanswered, they will all be recognised, if we have the wisdom +that comes from submission to Jesus Christ's will, as being ours +and ministering to our highest blessing. + +We shall be their lords too inasmuch as we shall be able to +control them. We need not be `anvils but hammers.' We need not let +outward circumstances dominate and tyrannise over us. We need not +be like the mosses in the stream, that lie whichever way the +current sets, nor like some poor little sailing boat that is at +the mercy of the winds and the waves, but may carry an inward +impulse like some great ocean-going steamer, the throb of whose +power shall drive us straight forward on our course, whatever +beats against us. That we may have this inward power and mastery +over things present, and not be shaped and moulded and made by +them, let us yield ourselves to Christ, and He will help us to +rule them. + +And then, all `things to come,' the dim, vague future, shall be +for each of us like some sunlit ocean stretching shoreless to the +horizon; every little ripple flashing with its own bright +sunshine, and all bearing us onwards to the great Throne that +stands on the sea of glass mingled with fire. + +Then, my brother, ask yourselves what your future is if you have +not Christ for your Friend. + +\begin{verse} +`I backward cast mine eye \\ +\ \ On prospects drear; \\ +And forward though I cannot see, \\ +\ \ I guess and fear.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent So I beseech you, yield yourselves to Jesus Christ, He +died to win us. He bears our sins that they may be all forgiven. +If we give ourselves to Him who has given Himself to us, then we +shall be lords of men, of the world, of life and death, of time +and eternity. + +In the old days conquerors used to bestow upon their followers +lands and broad dominions on condition of their doing suit and +service, and bringing homage to them. Christ, the King of the +universe, makes His subjects kings, and will give us to share in +His dominion, so that to each of us may be fulfilled that +boundless and almost unbelievable promise: `He that overcometh +shall inherit all things.' `All are yours if ye are Christ's.' + +\chapter{The Three Tribunals} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS iv. 3, 4} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of +you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self. 4. For +I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified; but he +that judgeth me is the Lord.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} iv. 3, 4. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The Church at Corinth was honeycombed by the characteristic Greek +vice of party spirit. The three great teachers, Paul, Peter, +Apollos, were pitted against each other, and each was unduly +exalted by those who swore by him, and unduly depreciated by the +other two factions. But the men whose names were the war-cries of +these sections were themselves knit in closest friendship, and +felt themselves to be servants in common of one Master, and +fellow-workers in one task. + +So Paul, in the immediate context, associating Peter and Apollos +with himself, bids the Corinthians think of `\textit{us}' as being +servants of Christ, and not therefore responsible to men; and as +stewards of the mysteries of God, that is, dispensers of truths +long hidden but now revealed, and as therefore accountable for +correct accounts and faithful dispensation only to the Lord of the +household. Being responsible to Him, they heeded very little what +others thought about them. Being responsible to Him, they could +not accept vindication by their own consciences as being final. +There was a judgment beyond these. + +So here we have three tribunals---that of man's estimates, that of +our own consciences, that of Jesus Christ. An appeal lies from the +first to the second, and from the second to the third. It is base +to depend on men's judgments; it is well to attend to the +decisions of conscience, but it is not well to take it for granted +that, if conscience approve, we are absolved. The court of final +appeal is Jesus Christ, and what He thinks about each of us. So +let us look briefly at these three tribunals. + +I. First, the lowest---men's judgment. + +`With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you,' +enlightened Christians that you are, or by the outside world. Now, +Paul's letters give ample evidence that he was keenly alive to the +hostile and malevolent criticisms and slanders of his untiring +opponents. Many a flash of sarcasm out of the cloud like a +lightning bolt, many a burst of wounded affection like rain from +summer skies, tell us this. But I need not quote these. Such a +character as his could not but be quick to feel the surrounding +atmosphere, whether it was of love or of suspicion. So, he had to +harden himself against what naturally had a great effect upon him, +the estimate which he felt that people round him were making of +him. There was nothing brusque, rough, contemptuous in his +brushing aside these popular judgments. He gave them all due +weight, and yet he felt, `From all that this lowest tribunal may +decide, there are two appeals, one to my own conscience, and one +to my Master in heaven.' + +Now, I suppose I need not say a word about the power which that +terrible court which is always sitting, and which passes judgment +upon every one of us, though we do not always hear the sentences +read, has upon us all. There is a power which it is meant to have. +It is not good for a man to stand constantly in the attitude of +defying whatever anybody else chooses to say or to think about +him. But the danger to which we are all exposed, far more than +that other extreme, is of deferring too completely and slavishly +to, and being far too subtly influenced in all that we do by, the +thought of what A, B, or C, may have to say or to think about it. +`The last infirmity of noble minds,' says Milton about the love of +fame. It is an infirmity to love it, and long for it, and live by +it. It is a weakening of humanity, even where men are spurred to +great efforts by the thought of the reverberation of these in the +ear of the world, and of the honour and glory that may come +therefrom. + +But not only in these higher forms of seeking after reputation, +but in lower forms, this trembling before, and seeking to +conciliate, the tribunal of what we call `general opinion,' which +means the voices of the half-dozen people that are beside us and +know about us, besets us all, and weakens us all in a thousand +ways. How many men would lose all the motive that they have for +living reputable lives, if nobody knew anything about it? How many +of you, when you go to London, and are strangers, frequent places +that you would not be seen in in Manchester? How many of us are +hindered, in courses which we know that we ought to pursue, +because we are afraid of this or that man or woman, and of what +they may look or speak? There is a regard to man's judgment, which +is separated by the very thinnest partition from hypocrisy. There +is a very shadowy distinction between the man who, consciously or +unconsciously, does a thing with an eye to what people may say +about it, and the man who pretends to be what he is not for the +sake of the reputation that he may thereby win. + +Now, the direct tendency of Christian faith and principle is to +dwindle into wholesome insignificance the multitudinous voice of +men's judgments. For, if I understand at all what Christianity +means, it means centrally and essentially this, that I am brought +into loving personal relation with Jesus Christ, and draw from Him +the power of my life, and from Him the law of my life, and from +Him the stimulus of my life, and from Him the reward of my life. +If there is a direct communication between me and Him, and if I am +deriving from Him the life that He gives, which is `free from the +law of sin and death,' I shall have little need or desire to heed +the judgment that men, who see only the surface, may pass upon me, +and upon my doings, and I shall refer myself to Him instead of to +them. Those who can go straight to Christ, whose lives are steeped +in Him, who feel that they draw all from Him, and that their +actions and character are moulded by His touch and His Spirit, are +responsible to no other tribunal. And the less they think about +what men have to say of them the stronger, the nobler, the more +Christ-like they will be. + +There is no need for any contempt or roughness to blend with such +a putting aside of men's judgments. The velvet glove may be worn +upon the iron hand. All meekness and lowliness may go with this +wholesome independence, and must go with it unless that +independence is false and distorted. `With me it is a very small +thing to be judged of you, or of man's judgment,' need not be said +in such a tone as to mean `I do not care a rush what you think +about me'; but it must be said in such a tone as to mean `I care +supremely for one approbation, and if I have that I can bear +anything besides.' + +Let me appeal to you to cultivate more distinctly, as a plain +Christian duty, this wholesome independence of men's judgment. I +suppose there never was a day when it was more needed that men +should be themselves, seeing with their own eyes what God may +reveal to them and they are capable of receiving, and walking with +their own feet on the path that fits them, whatsoever other people +may say about it. For the multiplication of daily literature, the +way in which we are all living in glass houses +nowadays---everybody knowing everything about everybody else, and +delighting in the gossip which takes the place of literature in so +many quarters---and the tendency of society to a more democratic +form give the many-headed monster and its many tongues far more +power than is wholesome, in the shaping of the lives and character +and conduct of most men. The evil of democracy is that it levels +down all to one plane, and that it tends to turn out millions of +people, as like each other as if they had been made in a machine. +And so we need, I believe, even more than our fathers did, to lay +to heart this lesson, that the direct result of a deep and strong +Christian faith is the production of intensely individual +character. And if there are plenty of angles in it, perhaps so +much the better. We are apt to be rounded by being rubbed against +each other, like the stones on the beach, till there is not a +sharp corner or a point that can prick anywhere. So society +becomes utterly monotonous, and is insipid and profitless because +of that. You Christian people, be yourselves, after your own +pattern. And whilst you accept all help from surrounding +suggestions and hints, make it `a very small thing that you be +judged of men.' And you, young men, in warehouses and shops, and +you, students, and you, boys and girls, that are budding into +life, never mind what other people say. `Let thine eyes look right +onwards,' and let all the clatter on either side of you go on as +it will. The voices are very loud, but if we go up high enough on +the hill-top, to the secret place of the Most High, we shall look +down and see, but not hear, the bustle and the buzz; and in the +great silence Christ will whisper to us, `Well done! good and +faithful servant.' That praise is worth getting, and one way to +get it is to put aside the hindrance of anxious seeking to +conciliate the good opinion of men. + +II. Note the higher court of conscience. + +Our Apostle is not to be taken here as contradicting what he says +in other places. `I judge not mine own self,'---yet in one of +these same letters to the Corinthians he says, `If we judged +ourselves we should not be judged.' So that he does not mean here +that he is entirely without any estimate of his own character or +actions. That he did in some sense judge himself is evident from +the next clause, because he goes on to say, `I know nothing +against myself.' If he acquitted himself, he must previously have +been judging himself. But his acquittal of himself is not to be +understood as if it covered the whole ground of his life and +character, but it is to be confined to the subject in hand---viz. +his faithfulness as a steward of the mysteries of God. But though +there is nothing in that region of his life which he can charge +against himself as unfaithfulness, he goes on to say, `Yet am I +not hereby justified?' + +Our absolution by conscience is not infallible. I suppose that +conscience is more reliable when it condemns than when it acquits. +It is never safe for a man to neglect it when it says, `You are +wrong!' It is just as unsafe for a man to accept it, without +further investigation, when it says, `You are right!' For the only +thing that is infallible about what we call conscience is its +sentence, `It is right to do right.' But when it proceeds to say +`This, that, and the other thing is right; and therefore it is +right for you to do it,' there may be errors in the judgment, as +everybody's own experience tells them. The inward judge needs to +be stimulated, to be enlightened, to be corrected often. I suppose +that the growth of Christian character is very largely the +discovery that things that we thought innocent are not, for us, so +innocent as we thought them. + +You only need to go back to history, or to go down into your own +histories, to see how, as light has increased, dark corners have +been revealed that were invisible in the less brilliant +illumination. How long it has taken the Christian Church to find +out what Christ's Gospel teaches about slavery, about the +relations of sex, about drunkenness, about war, about a hundred +other things that you and I do not yet know, but which our +successors will wonder that we failed to see! Inquisitor and +martyr have equally said, `We are serving God.' Surely, too, +nothing is more clearly witnessed by individual experience, than +that we may do a wrong thing, and think that it is right. `They +that kill you will think that they do God service.' + +So, Christian people, accept the inward monition when it is stern +and prohibitive. Do not be too sure about it when it is placable +and permissive. `Happy is he that condemneth not himself in the +thing which he alloweth.' There may be secret faults, lying all +unseen beneath the undergrowth in the forest, which yet do prick +and sting. The upper floors of the house where we receive company, +and where we, the tenants, generally live, may be luxurious, and +sweet, and clean. What about the cellars, where ugly things crawl +and swarm, and breed, and sting? + +Ah, dear brethren! when my conscience says to me, `You may do it,' +it is always well to go to Jesus Christ, and say to Him `May I?' +`Search me, O God, and ... see if there be any wicked way in me,' +and show it to me, and help me to cast it out. `I know nothing +against myself; yet am I not hereby justified.' + +III. Lastly, note the supreme court of final appeal. + +`He that judgeth me is the Lord.' Now it is obvious that `the +Lord' here is Christ, both because of the preceding context and +because of the next verse, which speaks of His coming. And it is +equally obvious, though it is often unnoticed, that the judgment +of which the Apostle is here speaking is a present and preliminary +judgment. `He that \textit{judgeth} me'---not, `will judge,' but +\textit{now}, at this very moment. That is to say, whilst people +round us are passing their superficial estimates upon me, and +whilst my conscience is excusing, or else accusing me---and in +neither case with absolute infallibility---there is another +judgment, running concurrently with them, and going on in silence. +That calm eye is fixed upon me, and sifting me, and knowing me. +\textit{That} judgment is not fallible, because before Him `the +hidden things' that the darkness shelters, those creeping things +in the cellars that I was speaking about, are all manifest; and to +Him the `counsels of the heart,' that is, the motives from which +the actions flow, are all transparent and legible. So His +judgment, the continual estimate of me which Jesus Christ, in His +supreme knowledge of me, has, at every moment of my +life---\textit{that} is uttering the final word about me and my +character. + +His estimate will dwindle the sentences of the other two tribunals +into nothingness. What matter what his fellow-servants say about +the steward's accounts, and distribution of provisions, and +management of the household? He has to render his books, and to +give account of his stewardship, only to his lord. + +The governor of a Crown Colony may attach some importance to +colonial opinion, but he reports home; and it is what the people +in Downing Street will say that he thinks about. We have to report +home; and it is the King whom we serve, to whom we have to give an +account. The gladiator, down in the arena, did not much mind +whether the thumbs of the populace were up or down, though the one +was the signal for his life and the other for his death. He looked +to the place where, between the purple curtains and the flashing +axes of the lictors, the emperor sate. Our Emperor once was down +on the sand Himself, and although we are `compassed about with a +cloud of witnesses,' we look to the Christ, the supreme Arbiter, +and take acquittal or condemnation, life or death, from Him. + +That judgment, persistent all through each of our lives, is +preliminary to the future tribunal and sentence. The Apostle +employs in this context two distinct words, both of which are +translated in our version `judge.' The one which is used in these +three clauses, on which I have been commenting, means a +preliminary examination, and the one which is used in the next +verse means a final decisive trial and sentence. So, dear +brethren, Christ is gathering materials for His final sentence; +and you and I are writing the depositions which will be adduced in +evidence. Oh! how little all that the world may have said about a +man will matter then! Think of a man standing before that great +white throne, and saying, `I held a very high place in the +estimation of my neighbours. The newspapers and the reviews blew +my trumpet assiduously. My name was carved upon the plinth of a +marble statue, that my fellow-citizens set up in honour of my many +virtues,'---and the name was illegible centuries before the statue +was burned in the last fire! + +Brother! seek for the praise from Him, which is praise indeed. If He +says, `Well done, good and faithful servant,' it matters little what +censures men may pass on us. If He says, `I never knew you,' all +their praises will not avail. `Wherefore we labour that, whether +present or absent, we may be well-pleasing to Him.' + +\chapter{The Festal Life} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS v. 8} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven ... but with +the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} v. +8. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There had been hideous immorality in the Corinthian Church. Paul +had struck at it with heat and force, sternly commanding the +exclusion of the sinner. He did so on the ground of the diabolical +power of infection possessed by evil, and illustrated that by the +very obvious metaphor of leaven, a morsel of which, as he says, +`will leaven the whole lump,' or, as we say, `batch.' But the word +`leaven' drew up from the depths of his memory a host of sacred +associations connected with the Jewish Passover. He remembered the +sedulous hunting in every Jewish house for every scrap of leavened +matter; the slaying of the Paschal Lamb, and the following feast. +Carried away by these associations, he forgets the sin in the +Corinthian Church for a moment, and turns to set forth, in the +words of the text, a very deep and penetrating view of what the +Christian life is, how it is sustained, and what it demands. +`Wherefore,' says he, `let us keep the feast ... with the +unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.' That `wherefore' takes +us back to the words before it, And what are these? `Christ our +Passover is sacrificed for us'; therefore---because of that +sacrifice, to us is granted the power, and on us is laid +imperatively the obligation, to make life a festival and to purge +ourselves. Now, in the notion of a feast, there are two things +included---joy and plentiful sustenance. So there are three points +here, which I have already indicated---what the Christian life is, +a festival; on what it is sustained, the Paschal Sacrifice; what +it demands, scrupulous purging out of the old leaven. + +I. The Christian life ought to be a continual festival. + +The Christian life a feast? It is more usually represented as a +fight, a wrestle, a race; and such metaphors correspond, as it +would appear, far more closely to the facts of our environment, +and to the experiences of our hearts, than does such a metaphor as +this. But the metaphor of the festival goes deeper than that of +the fight or race, and it does not ignore the strenuous and +militant side of the Christian life. No man ever lived a more +strenuous life than Paul; no man had heavier tasks, and did them +more cheerily; no man had a sterner fight and fought it more +bravely. There is nothing soft, Epicurean, or oblivious of the +patent sad facts of humanity in the declaration that after all, +beneath all, above all, central to all, the Christian life is a +glad festival, when it is the life that it ought to be. + +But you say, `Ah! it is all very well to call it so; but in the +first place, continual joy is impossible in the presence of the +difficulties, and often sadnesses, that meet us on our life's +path; and, in the second place, it is folly to tell us to pump up +emotions, or to ignore the occasions for much heaviness and sorrow +of heart.' True; but, still, it is possible to cultivate such a +temper as makes life habitually joyful. We can choose the aspect +under which we by preference and habitually regard our lives. All +emotion follows upon a preceding thought, or sensible experience, +and we can pick the objects of our thoughts, and determine what +aspect of our lives to look at most. + +The sky is often piled with stormy, heaped-up masses of blackness, +but between them are lakes of calm blue. We can choose whether we +look at the clouds or at the blue. \textit{These} are in the lower +ranges; \textit{that} fills infinite spaces, upwards and out to +the horizon. These are transient, eating themselves away even +whilst we look, and black and thunderous as they may be, they are +there but for a moment---that is perennial. If we are wise, we +shall fix our gaze much rather on the blue than on the ugly +cloud-rack that hides it, and thus shall minister to ourselves +occasions for the noble kind of joy which is not noisy and +boisterous, `like the crackling of thorns under a pot,' and does +not foam itself away by its very ebullience, but is calm like the +grounds of it; still, like the heaven to which it looks; eternal, +like the God on whom it is fastened. If we would only steadfastly +remember that the one source of worthy and enduring joy is God +Himself, and listen to the command, `Rejoice in the Lord,' we +should find it possible to `rejoice always.' For that thought of +Him, His sufficiency, His nearness, His encompassing presence, His +prospering eye, His aiding hand, His gentle consolation, His +enabling help will take the sting out of even the bitterest of our +sorrows, and will brace us to sustain the heaviest, otherwise +crushing burdens, and greatly to `rejoice, though now for a season +we are in heaviness through manifold temptations.' The Gulf Stream +rushes into the northern hemisphere, melts the icebergs and warms +the Polar seas, and so the joy of the Lord, if we set it before us +as we can and should do, will minister to us a gladness which will +make our lives a perpetual feast. + +But there is another thing that we can do; that is, we can clearly +recognise the occasions for sorrow in our experience, and yet +interpret them by the truths of the Christian faith. That is to +say, we can think of them, not so much as they tend to make us sad +or glad, but as they tend to make us more assured of our +possession of, more ardent in our love towards, and more +submissive in our attitude to, the all-ordering Love which is God. +Brethren, if we thought of life, and all its incidents, even when +these are darkest and most threatening, as being what it and they +indeed are, His training of us into capacity for fuller +blessedness, because fuller possession of Himself, we should be +less startled at the commandment, `Rejoice in the Lord always,' +and should feel that it was possible, though the figtree did not +blossom, and there was no fruit in the vine, though the flocks +were cut off from the pastures, and the herds from the stall, yet +to rejoice in the God of our salvation. Rightly understood and +pondered on, all the darkest passages of life are but like the +cloud whose blackness determines the brightness of the rainbow on +its front. Rightly understood and reflected on, these will teach +us that the paradoxical commandment, `Count it all joy that ye +fall into divers temptations,' is, after all, the voice of true +wisdom speaking at the dictation of a clear-eyed faith. + +This text, since it is a commandment, implies that obedience to +it, and therefore the realisation of this continual festal aspect +of life, is very largely in our own power. Dispositions differ, +some of us are constitutionally inclined to look at the blacker, +and some at the brighter, side of our experiences. But our +Christianity is worth little unless it can modify, and to some +extent change, our natural tendencies. The joy of the Lord being +our strength, the cultivation of joy in the Lord is largely our +duty. Christian people do not sufficiently recognise that it is as +incumbent on them to seek after this continual fountain of calm +and heavenly joy flowing through their lives, as it is to +cultivate some of the more recognised virtues and graces of +Christian conduct and character. + +Secondly, we have here--- + +II. The Christian life is a continual feeding on a sacrifice. + +`Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Wherefore let us keep +the feast.' It is very remarkable that this is the only place in +Paul's writings where he articulately pronounces that the Paschal +Lamb is a type of Jesus Christ. There is only one other instance +in the New Testament where that is stated with equal clearness and +emphasis, and that is in John's account of the Crucifixion, where +he recognises the fact that Christ died with limbs unbroken, as +being a fulfilment, in the New Testament sense of that word, of +what was enjoined in regard to the antitype, `a bone of him shall +not be broken.' + +But whilst the definite statement which precedes my text that +Christ is `our Passover,' and `sacrificed for us' as such, is +unique in Paul's writings, the thought to which it gives clear and +crystallised expression runs through the whole of the New +Testament. It underlies the Lord's Supper. Did you ever think of +how great was the self-assertion of Jesus Christ when He laid His +hand on that sacredest of Jewish rites, which had been +established, as the words of the institution of it say, to be `a +perpetual memorial through all generations,' brushed it on one +side, and in effect, said: `You do not need to remember the +Passover any more. I am the true Paschal Lamb, whose blood +sprinkled on the doorposts averts the sword of the destroying +Angel, whose flesh, partaken of, gives immortal life. Remember Me, +and this do in remembrance of Me.' The Lord's Supper witnesses +that Jesus thought Himself to be what Paul tells the Corinthians +that He is, even our Passover, sacrificed for us. But the point to +be observed is this, that just as in that ancient ritual, the lamb +slain became the food of the Israelites, so with us the Christ who +has died is to be the sustenance of our souls, and of our +Christian life. `Therefore let us keep the feast.' + +Feed upon Him; that is the essential central requirement for all +Christian life, and what does feeding on Him mean? `How can this +man give us his flesh to eat?' said the Jews, and the answer is +plain now, though so obscure then. The flesh which He gave for the +life of the world in His death, must by us be taken for the very +nourishment of our souls, by the simple act of faith in Him. That +is the feeding which brings not only sustenance but life. Christ's +death for us is the basis, but it is only the basis, of Christ's +living in us, and His death for me is of no use at all to me +unless He that died for me lives in me. We feed on Him by faith, +which not only trusts to the Sacrifice as atoning for sin, but +feeds on it as communicating and sustaining eternal life---`Christ +our Passover is sacrificed for us, wherefore let us keep the +Feast.' + +Again, we keep the feast when our minds feed upon Christ by +contemplation of what He is, what He has done, what He is doing, +what He will do; when we take Him as `the Master-light of all our +seeing,' and in Him, His words and works, His Passion, +Resurrection, Ascension, Session as Sovereign at the right hand of +God, find the perfect revelation of what God is, the perfect +discovery of what man is, the perfect disclosure of what sin is, +the perfect prophecy of what man may become, the Light of light, +the answer to every question that our spirits can put about the +loftiest verities of God and man, the universe and the future. We +feed on Christ when, with lowly submission, we habitually subject +thoughts, purposes, desires, to His authority, and when we let His +will flow into, and make plastic and supple, our wills. We nourish +our wills by submitting them to Jesus, and we feed on Him when we +not only say `Lord! Lord!' but when we do the things that He says. +We feed on Christ, when we let His great, sacred, all-wise, +all-giving, all satisfying love flow into our restless hearts and +make them still, enter into our vagrant affections and fix them on +Himself. Thus when mind and conscience and will and heart all turn +to Jesus, and in Him find their sustenance, we shall be filled +with the feast of fat things which He has prepared for all people. +With that bread we shall be satisfied, and with it only, for the +husks of the swine are no food for the Father's son, and we `spend +our money for that which is not bread, and our labour for that +which satisfieth not,' if we look anywhere else than to the +Paschal Lamb slain for us for the food of our souls. + +III. The Christian life is a continual purging out of the old +leaven. + +I need not remind you how vivid and profoundly significant that +emblem of leaven, as applied to all manner of evil, is. But let me +remind you how, just as in the Jewish Ritual, the cleansing from +all that was leavened was the essential pre-requisite to the +participation in the feast, feeding on Jesus Christ, as I have +tried to describe it, is absolutely impossible unless our leaven +is cleansed away. Children spoil their appetites for wholesome +food by eating sweetmeats. Men destroy their capacity for feeding +on Christ by hungry desires, and gluttonous satisfying of those +desires with the delusive sweets of this passing world. But, my +brother, your experience, if you are a Christian man at all, will +tell you that in the direct measure in which you have been drawn +away into paltering with evil, your appetite for Christ and your +capacity for gazing upon Him, contemplating Him, feeding on Him, +has died out. There comes a kind of constriction in a man's throat +when he is hungering after lesser good, especially when there is a +tinge of evil in the supposed good that he is hungering after, +which incapacitates Him from eating the bread of God, which is +Jesus Christ. + +But let us remember that absolute cleansing from all sin is not +essential, in order to have real participation in Jesus Christ. +The Jew had to take every scrap of leaven out of his house before +he began the Passover. If that were the condition for us, alas! +for us all; but the effort after purity, though it has not +entirely attained its aim, is enough. Sin abhorred does not +prevent a man from participating in the Bread that came down from +heaven. + +Then observe, too, that for this power to cleanse ourselves, we +must have had some participation in Christ, by which there is +given to us that new life that conquers evil. In the words +immediately preceding my text, the Apostle bases his injunction to +purge out the old leaven on the fact that `ye are unleavened.' +Ideally, in so far as the power possessed by them was concerned, +these Corinthians were unleavened, even whilst they were bid to +purge out the leaven. That is to say, be what you are; realise +your ideal, utilise the power you possess, and since by your faith +there has been given to you a new life that can conquer all +corruption and sin, see that you use the life that is given. Purge +out the old leaven because ye are unleavened. + +One last word---this stringent exhortation, which makes Christian +effort after absolute purity a Christian duty, and the condition +of participation in the Paschal Lamb, is based upon that thought +to which I have already referred, of the diabolical power of +infection which Evil possesses. Either you must cast it out, or it +will choke the better thing in you. It spreads and grows, and +propagates itself, and works underground through and through the +whole mass. A water-weed got into some of our canals years ago, +and it has all but choked some of them. The slime on a pond +spreads its green mantle over the whole surface with rapidity. If +we do not eject Evil it will eject the good from us. Use the +implanted power to cast out this creeping, advancing evil. +Sometimes a wine-grower has gone into his cellars, and found in a +cask no wine, but a monstrous fungus into which all the wine had, +in the darkness, passed unnoticed. I fear some Christian people, +though they do not know it, have something like that going on in +them. + +It is possible for us all to keep this perpetual festival. To live +in, on, for, Jesus Christ will give us victory over enemies, +burdens, sorrows, sins. We may, if we will, dwell in a calm zone +where no tempests rage, hear a perpetual strain of sweet music +persisting through thunder peals of sorrow and suffering, and find +a table spread for us in the presence of our enemies, at which we +shall renew our strength for conflict, and whence we shall rise to +fight the good fight a little longer, till we sit with Him at His +table in His Kingdom, and `eat, and live for ever.' + +\chapter{Forms \textit{versus} Character} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS vii. 19; GALATIANS v. 6, vi. 16} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the +keeping of the commandments of God.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} vii. 19. \\ +`For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor +uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.'---\textsc{Gal.} +v. 6. \\ +`For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a +new creature.'---\textsc{Gal.} vi. 16 (R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The great controversy which embittered so much of Paul's life, and +marred so much of his activity, turned upon the question whether a +heathen man could come into the Church simply by the door of +faith, or whether he must also go through the gate of +circumcision. We all know how Paul answered the question. Time, +which settles all controversies, has settled that one so +thoroughly that it is impossible to revive any kind of interest in +it; and it may seem to be a pure waste of time to talk about it. +But the principles that fought then are eternal, though the forms +in which they manifest themselves vary with every varying age. + +The Ritualist---using that word in its broadest sense---on the one +hand, and the Puritan on the other, represent permanent tendencies +of human nature; and we find to-day the old foes with new faces. +These three passages, which I have read, are Paul's deliverance on +the question of the comparative value of external rites and +spiritual character. They are remarkable both for the identity in +the former part of each and for the variety in the latter. In all +the three cases he affirms, almost in the same language, that +`circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing,' that the +Ritualist's rite and the Puritan's protest are equally +insignificant in comparison with higher things. And then he varies +the statement of what the higher things are, in a very remarkable +and instructive fashion. The `keeping of the commandments of God,' +says one of the texts, is the all-important matter. Then, as it +were, he pierces deeper, and in another of the texts (I take the +liberty of varying their order) pronounces that `a new creature' +is the all-important thing. And then he pierces still deeper to +the bottom of all, in the third text, and says the all-important +thing is `faith which worketh by love.' + +I think I shall best bring out the force of these words by dealing +first with that emphatic threefold proclamation of the nullity of +all externalism; and then with the singular variations in the +triple statement of what is essential, viz. spiritual conduct and +character. + +I. First, the emphatic proclamation of the nullity of outward +rites. + +`Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing,' say two +texts. `Circumcision availeth nothing, and uncircumcision availeth +nothing,' says the other. It neither is anything nor does +anything. Did Paul say that because circumcision was a Jewish +rite? No. As I believe, he said it because it was \textit{a rite}; +and because he had learned that the one thing needful was +spiritual character, and that no external ceremonial of any sort +could produce that. I think we are perfectly warranted in taking +this principle of my text, and in extending it beyond the limits +of the Jewish rite about which Paul was speaking. For if you +remember, he speaks about baptism, in the first chapter of the +First Epistle to the Corinthians, in a precisely similar tone and +for precisely the same reason, when he says, in effect, `I +baptized Crispus and Gaius and the household of Stephanas, and I +think these are all. I am not quite sure. I do not keep any kind +of record of such things; God did not send me to baptize, He sent +me to preach the Gospel.' + +The thing that produced the spiritual result was not the rite, but +the truth, and therefore he felt that his function was to preach +the truth and leave the rite to be administered by others. +Therefore we can extend the principle here to all externalisms of +worship, in all forms, in all churches, and say that in comparison +with the essentials of an inward Christianity they are nothing and +they do nothing. + +They have their value. As long as we are here on earth, living in +the flesh, we must have outward forms and symbolical rites. It is +in Heaven that the seer `saw no temple.' Our sense-bound nature +requires, and thankfully avails itself of, the help of external +rites and ceremonials to lift us up towards the Object of our +devotion. A man prays all the better if he bow his head, shut his +eyes, and bend his knees. Forms do help us to the realisation of +the realities, and the truths which they express and embody. Music +may waft our souls to the heavens, and pictures may stir deep +thoughts. That is the simple principle on which the value of all +external aids to devotion depends. They may be helps towards the +appreciation of divine truth, and to the suffusing of the heart +with devout emotions which may lead to building up a holy +character. + +There is a worth, therefore---an auxiliary and subordinate +worth---in these things, and in that respect they are \textit{not} +nothing, nor do they `avail nothing.' But then all external rites +tend to usurp more than belongs to them, and in our weakness we +are apt to cleave to them, and instead of using them as means to +lift us higher, to stay in them, and as a great many of us do, to +mistake the mere gratification of taste and the excitement of the +sensibilities for worship. A bit of stained glass may be glowing +with angel-forms and pictured saints, but it always keeps some of +the light out, and it always hinders us from seeing through it. +And all external worship and form have so strong a tendency to +usurp more than belongs to them, and to drag us down to their own +level, even whilst we think that we are praying, that I believe +the wisest man will try to pare down the externals of his worship +to the lowest possible point. If there be as much body as will +keep a soul in, as much form as will embody the spirit, that is +all that we want. What is more is dangerous. + +All form in worship is like fire, it is a good servant but it is a +bad master, and it needs to be kept very rigidly in subordination, +or else the spirituality of Christian worship vanishes before men +know; and they are left with their dead forms which are only +evils---crutches that make people limp by the very act of using +them. + +Now, my dear friends, when that has happened, when men begin to +say, as the people in Paul's time were saying about circumcision, +and as people are saying in this day about Christian rites, that +they are necessary, then it is needful to take up Paul's ground +and to say, `No! they are nothing!' They are useful in a certain +place, but if you make them obligatory, if you make them +essential, if you say that grace is miraculously conveyed through +them, then it is needful that we should raise a strong note of +protestation, and declare their absolute nullity for the highest +purpose, that of making that spiritual character which alone is +essential. + +And I believe that this strange recrudescence---to use a modern +word---of ceremonialism and aesthetic worship which we see all +round about us, not only in the ranks of the Episcopal Church, but +amongst Nonconformists, who are sighing for a less bare service, +and here and there are turning their chapels into concert-rooms, +and instead of preaching the Gospel are having `Services of Song' +and the like---that all this makes it as needful to-day as ever it +was to say to men: `Forms are not worship. Rites may crush the +spirit. Men may yield to the sensuous impressions which they +produce, and be lapped in an atmosphere of aesthetic emotion, +without any real devotion.' + +Such externals are only worth anything if they make us grasp more +firmly with our understandings and feel more profoundly with our +hearts, the great truths of the Gospel. If they do that, they +help; if they are not doing that, they hinder, and are to be +fought against. And so we have again to proclaim to-day, as Paul +did, `Circumcision is nothing,' `but the keeping of the +commandments of God.' + +Then notice with what remarkable fairness and boldness and breadth +the Apostle here adds that other clause: `and uncircumcision is +nothing.' It is a very hard thing for a man whose life has been +spent in fighting against an error, not to exaggerate the value of +his protest. It is a very hard thing for a man who has been +delivered from the dependence upon forms, not to fancy that his +formlessness is what the other people think that their forms are. +The Puritan who does not believe that a man can be a good man +because he is a Ritualist or a Roman Catholic, is committing the +very same error as the Ritualist or the Roman Catholic who does +not believe that the Puritan can be a Christian unless he has been +`christened.' The two people are exactly the same, only the one +has hold of the stick at one end, and the other at the other. +There may be as much idolatry in superstitious reliance upon the +bare worship as in the advocacy of the ornate; and many a +Nonconformist who fancies that he has `never bowed the knee to +Baal' is as true an idol-worshipper in his superstitious +abhorrence of the ritualism that he sees in other communities, as +are the men who trust in it the most. + +It is a large attainment in Christian character to be able to say +with Paul, `Circumcision is nothing, and my own favourite point of +uncircumcision is nothing either. Neither the one side nor the +other touches the essentials.' + +II. Now let us look at the threefold variety of the designation of +these essentials here. + +In our first text from the Epistle to the Corinthians we read, +`Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the +keeping of the commandments of God.' If we finished the sentence +it would be, `but the keeping of the commandments of God is +everything.' + +And by that `keeping the commandments,' of course, the Apostle +does not mean merely external obedience. He means something far +deeper than that, which I put into this plain word, that the one +essential of a Christian life is the conformity of the will with +God's---not the external obedience merely, but the entire +surrender and the submission of my will to the will of my Father +in Heaven. That is the all-important thing; that is what God +wants; that is the end of all rites and ceremonies; that is the +end of all revelation and of all utterances of the divine heart. +The Bible, Christ's mission, His passion and death, the gift of +His Divine Spirit, and every part of the divine dealings in +providence, all converge upon this one aim and goal. For this +purpose the Father worketh hitherto, and Christ works, that man's +will may yield and bow itself wholly and happily and lovingly to +the great infinite will of the Father in heaven. + +Brethren! that is the perfection of a man's nature, when his will +fits on to God's like one of Euclid's triangles superimposed upon +another, and line for line coincides. When his will allows a free +passage to the will of God, without resistance or deflection, as +light travels through transparent glass; when his will responds to +the touch of God's finger upon the keys, like the telegraphic +needle to the operator's hand, then man has attained all that God +and religion can do for him, all that his nature is capable of; +and far beneath his feet may be the ladders of ceremonies and +forms and outward acts, by which he climbed to that serene and +blessed height, `Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is +nothing, but the keeping of God's commandments is everything.' + +That submission of will is the sum and the test of your +Christianity. Your Christianity does not consist only in a mere +something which you call faith in Jesus Christ. It does not +consist in emotions, however deep and blessed and genuine they may +be. It does not consist in the acceptance of a creed. All these +are means to an end. They are meant to drive the wheel of life, to +build up character, to make your deepest wish to be, `Father! not +my will, but Thine, be done.' In the measure in which that is your +heart's desire, and not one hair's-breadth further, have you a +right to call yourself a Christian. + +But, then, I can fancy a man saying: `It is all very well to talk +about bowing the will in this fashion; how can I do that?' Well, +let us take our second text---the third in the order of their +occurrence---`For neither circumcision is anything, nor +uncircumcision, but a new creature.' That is to say, if we are +ever to keep the will of God we must be made over again. Ay! we +must! Our own consciences tell us that; the history of all the +efforts that ever we have made---and I suppose all of us have made +some now and then, more or less earnest and more or less +persistent---tells us that there needs to be a stronger hand than +ours to come into the fight if it is ever to be won by us. There +is nothing more heartless and more impotent than to preach, `Bow +your wills to God, and then you will be happy; bow your wills to +God, and then you will be good.' If that is all the preacher has +to say, his powerless words will but provoke the answer, `We +cannot. Tell the leopard to change his spots, or the Ethiopian his +skin, as soon as tell a man to reduce this revolted kingdom within +him to obedience, and to bow his will to the will of God. We +cannot do it.' But, brethren, in that word, `a new creature,' lies +a promise from God; for a creature implies a creator. `It is He +that hath made us, and not we ourselves.' The very heart of what +Christ has to offer us is the gift of His own life to dwell in our +hearts, and by its mighty energy to make us free from the law of +sin and death which binds our wills. We may have our spirits +moulded into His likeness, and new tastes, and new desires, and +new capacities infused into us, so as that we shall not be left +with our own poor powers to try and force ourselves into obedience +to God's will, but that submission and holiness and love that +keeps the commandments of God, will spring up in our renewed +spirits as their natural product and growth. Oh! you men and women +who have been honestly trying, half your lifetime, to make +yourselves what you know God wants you to be, and who are obliged +to confess that you have failed, hearken to the message: `If any +man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed +away.' The one thing needful is keeping the commandments of God, +and the only way by which we can keep the commandments of God is +that we should be formed again into the likeness of Him of whom +alone it is true that `He did always the things that pleased' God. + +And so we come to the last of these great texts: `In Christ Jesus, +neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but +faith which worketh by love.' That is to say, if we are to be made +over again, we must have faith in Christ Jesus. We have got to the +root now, so far as we are concerned. We must keep the +commandments of God; if we are to keep the commandments we must be +made over again, and if our hearts ask how can we receive that new +creating power into our lives, the answer is, by `faith which +worketh by love.' + +Paul did not believe that external rites could make men partakers +of a new nature, but he believed that if a man would trust in +Jesus Christ, the life of that Christ would flow into his opened +heart, and a new spirit and nature would be born in him. And, +therefore, his triple requirements come all down to this one, so +far as we are concerned, as the beginning and the condition of the +other two. `Neither circumcision does anything, nor +uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love,' does everything. +He that trusts Christ opens his heart to Christ, who comes with +His new-creating Spirit, and makes us willing in the day of His +power to keep His commandments. + +But faith leads us to obedience in yet another fashion, than this +opening of the door of the heart for the entrance of the +new-creating Spirit. It leads to it in the manner which is +expressed by the words of our text, `worketh by love.' Faith shows +itself living, because it leads us to love, and through love it +produces its effects upon conduct. + +Two things are implied in this designation of faith. If you trust +Christ you will love Him. That is plain enough. And you will not +love Him unless you trust Him. Though it lies wide of my present +purpose, let us take this lesson in passing. You cannot work +yourself up into a spasm or paroxysm of religious emotion and love +by resolution or by effort. All that you can do is to go and look +at the Master and get near Him, and that will warm you up. You can +love if you trust. Your trust will make you love; unless you trust +you will never love Him. + +The second thing implied is, that if you love you will obey. That +is plain enough. The keeping of the commandments will be easy +where there is love in the heart. The will will bow where there is +love in the heart. Love is the only fire that is hot enough to +melt the iron obstinacy of a creature's will. The will cannot be +driven. Strike it with violence and it stiffens; touch it gently +and it yields. If you try to put an iron collar upon the will, +like the demoniac in the Gospels, the touch of the apparent +restraint drives it into fury, and it breaks the bands asunder. +Fasten it with the silken leash of love, and a `little child' can +lead it. So faith works by love, because whom we trust we shall +love, and whom we love we shall obey. + +Therefore we have got to the root now, and nothing is needful but +an operative faith, out of which will come all the blessed +possession of a transforming Spirit, and all sublimities and +noblenesses of an obedient and submissive will. + +My brother! Paul and James shake hands here. There is a `faith' so +called, which does not work. It is dead! Let me beseech you, none +of you to rely upon what you choose to call your faith in Jesus +Christ, but examine it. Does it do anything? Does it help you to +be like Him? Does it open your hearts for His Spirit to come in? +Does it fill them with love to that Master, a love which proves +itself by obedience? Plain questions, questions that any man can +answer; questions that go to the root of the whole matter. If your +faith does that, it is genuine; if it does not, it is not. + +And do not trust either to forms, or to your freedom from forms. +They will not save your souls, they will not make you more +Christ-like. They will not help you to pardon, purity, holiness, +blessedness. In these respects neither if we have them are we the +better, nor if we have them not are we the worse. If you are +trusting to Christ, and by that faith are having your hearts +moulded and made over again into all holy obedience, then you have +all that you need. Unless you have, though you partook of all +Christian rites, though you believed all Christian truth, though +you fought against superstitious reliance on forms, you have not +the one thing needful, for `in Christ Jesus neither circumcision +availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by +love.' + +\chapter{Slaves and Free} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS vii. 22} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`He that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord's +free man: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ's +servant.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} vii. 22. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +This remarkable saying occurs in a remarkable connection, and is +used for a remarkable purpose. The Apostle has been laying down +the principle, that the effect of true Christianity is greatly to +diminish the importance of outward circumstance. And on that +principle he bases an advice, dead in the teeth of all the maxims +recognised by worldly prudence. He says, in effect, `Mind very +little about getting on and getting up. Do God's will wherever you +are, and let the rest take care of itself.' Now, the world says, +`Struggle, wriggle, fight, do anything to better yourself.' Paul +says, `You will better yourself by getting nearer God, and if you +secure that---art thou a slave? care not for it; if thou mayest be +free, use it rather; art thou bound to a wife? seek not to be +loosed; art thou loosed? seek not to be bound; art thou +circumcised? seek not to be uncircumcised; art thou a Gentile? +seek not to become in outward form a Jew.' Never mind about +externals: the main thing is our relation to Jesus Christ, because +in that there is what will be compensation for all the +disadvantages of any disadvantageous circumstances, and in that +there is what will take the gilt off the gingerbread of any +superficial and fleeting good, and will bring a deep-seated and +permanent blessing. + +Now, I am not going to deal in this sermon with that general +principle, nor even to be drawn aside to speak of the tone in +which the Apostle here treats the great abomination of slavery, +and the singular advice that he gives to its victims; though the +consideration of the tone of Christianity to that master-evil of +the old world might yield a great many thoughts very relevant to +pressing questions of to-day. But my one object is to fix upon the +combination which he here brings out in regard to the essence of +the Christian life; how that in itself it contains both members of +the antithesis, servitude and freedom; so that the Christian man +who is free externally is Christ's slave, and the Christian man +who is outwardly in bondage is emancipated by his union with Jesus +Christ. + +There are two thoughts here, the application in diverse directions +of the same central idea---viz. the slavery of Christ's free men, +and the freedom of Christ's slaves. And I deal briefly with these +two now. + +I. First, then, note how, according to the one-half of the +antithesis, Christ's freed men are slaves. + +Now, the way in which the New Testament deals with that awful +wickedness of a man held in bondage by a man is extremely +remarkable. It might seem as if such a hideous piece of immorality +were altogether incapable of yielding any lessons of good. But the +Apostles have no hesitation whatever in taking slavery as a clear +picture of the relation in which all Christian people stand to +Jesus Christ their Lord. He is the owner and we are the slaves. +For you must remember that the word most inadequately rendered +here, `servant' does not mean a hired man who has, of his own +volition, given himself for a time to do specific work and get +wages for it; but it means `a bond-slave,' a chattel owned by +another. All the ugly associations which gather round the word are +transported bodily into the Christian region, and there, instead +of being hideous, take on a shape of beauty, and become +expressions of the deepest and most blessed truths, in reference +to Christian men's dependence upon, and submission to, and place +in the household and the heart of, Jesus Christ, their Owner. + +And what is the centre idea that lies in this metaphor, if you +like to call it so? It is this: absolute authority, which has for +its correlative---for the thing in us that answers to +it---unconditional submission. Jesus Christ has the perfect right +to command each of us, and we are bound to bow ourselves, +unreluctant, unmurmuring, unhesitating, with complete submission +at His feet. His authority, and our submission, go far, far deeper +than the most despotic sway of the most tyrannous master, or than +the most abject submission of the most downtrodden slave. For no +man can coerce another man's will, and no man can require more, or +can ever get more, than that outward obedience which may be +rendered with the most sullen and fixed rebellion of a hating +heart and an obstinate will. But Jesus Christ demands that if we +call ourselves Christians we shall bring, not our members only as +instruments to Him, in outward surrender and service, but that we +shall yield ourselves, with our capacities of willing and +desiring, utterly, absolutely, constantly to Him. + +The founder of the Jesuits laid it down as a rule for his Order +that each member of it was to be at the master's disposal like a +corpse, or a staff in the hand of a blind man. That was horrible. +But the absolute putting of myself at the disposal of another's +will, which is expressed so tyrannously in Loyola's demand, is the +simple duty of every Christian, and as long as we have +recalcitrating wills, which recoil at anything which Christ +commands or appoints, and perk up their own inclinations in the +face of His solemn commandment, or that shrink from doing and +suffering whatsoever He imposes and enjoins, we have still to +learn what it means to be Christ's disciples. + +Dear brethren, absolute submission is not all that makes a +disciple, but, depend upon it, there is no discipleship worth +calling by the name without it. So I come to each of you with His +message to you:---Down on your faces before Him! Bow your +obstinate will, surrender yourselves and accept Him as absolute, +dominant Lord over your whole being! Are you Christians after that +pattern? Being freemen, are you Christ's slaves? + +It does not matter what sort of work the owner sets his household +of slaves to do. One man is picked out to be his pipe-bearer, or +his shoe-cleaner; and, if the master is a sovereign, another one +is sent off, perhaps, to be governor of a province, or one of his +council. They are all slaves; and the service that each does is +equally important. + +\begin{verse} +`All service ranks the same with God: \\ + There is no last nor first.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent What does it matter what you and I are set to do? +Nothing. And, so, why need we struggle and wear our hearts out to +get into conspicuous places, or to do work that shall bring some +revenue of praise said glory to ourselves? `Play well thy part; +there all the honour lies,' the world can say. Serve Christ in +anything, and all His servants are alike in His sight. + +The slave-owner had absolute power of life and death over his +dependants. He could split up families; he could sell away dear +ones; he could part husband and wife, parent and child. The slave +was his, and he could do what he liked with his own, according to +the cruel logic of ancient law. And Jesus Christ, the Lord of the +household, the Lord of providence, can say to this one, `Go!' and +he goes into the mists and the shadows of death. And He can say to +those who are most closely united, `Loose your hands! I have need +of one of you yonder. I have need of the other one here.' And if +we are wise, if we are His servants in any real deep sense, we +shall not kick against the appointments of His supreme, +autocratic, and yet most loving Providence, but be content to +leave the arbitrament of life and death, of love united or of love +parted, in His hands, and say, `Whether we live we are the Lord's, +or whether we die we are the Lord's; living or dying we are His.' + +The slave-owner owned all that the slave owned. He gave him a +little cottage, with some humble sticks of furniture in it; and a +bit of ground on which to grow his vegetables for his family. But +he to whom the owner of the vegetables and the stools belonged +owned them too. And if we are Christ's servants, our banker's book +is Christ's, and our purse is Christ's, and our investments are +Christ's; and our mills, and our warehouses, and our shops and our +businesses are His. We are not His slaves, if we arrogate to +ourselves the right of doing what we like with His possessions. + +And, then, still further, there comes into our Apostle's picture +here yet another point of resemblance between slaves and the +disciples of Jesus. For the hideous abominations of the +slave-market are transferred to the Christian relation, and +defecated and cleansed of all their abominations and cruelty +thereby. For what immediately follows my text is, `Ye are bought +with a price.' Jesus Christ has won us for Himself. There is only +one price that can buy a heart, and that is a heart. There is only +one way of getting a man to be mine, and that is by giving myself +to be his. So we come to the very vital, palpitating centre of all +Christianity when we say, `He gave Himself for us, that He might +acquire to Himself a people for His possession.' Thus His purchase +of His slave, when we remember that it is the buying of a man in +his inmost personality, changes all that might seem harsh in the +requirement of absolute submission into the most gracious and +blessed privilege. For when I am won by another, because that +other has given him or her whole self to me, then the language of +love is submission, and the conformity of the two wills is the +delight of each loving will. Whoever has truly been wooed into +relationship with Jesus, by reflection upon the love with which +Jesus grapples him to His heart, finds that there is nothing so +blessed as to yield one's self utterly and for ever to His +service. + +The one bright point in the hideous institution of slavery was, +that it bound the master to provide for the slave, and though that +was degrading to the inferior, it made his life a careless, +child-like, merry life, even amidst the many cruelties and +abominations of the system. But what was a good, dashed with a +great deal of evil, in that relation of man to man, comes to be a +pure blessing and good in our relation to Him. If I am Christ's +slave, it is His business to take care of His own property, and I +do not need to trouble myself much about it. If I am His slave, He +will be quite sure to find me in food and necessaries enough to +get His tale of work out of me; and I may cast all my care upon +Him, for He careth for me. So, brethren, absolute submission and +the devolution of all anxiety on the Master are what is laid upon +us, if we are Christ's slaves. + +II. Then there is the other side, about which I must say, +secondly, a word or two; and that is, the freedom of Christ's +slaves. + +As the text puts it, `He that is called, being a servant, is the +Lord's freedman.' A freedman was one who was emancipated, and who +therefore stood in a relation of gratitude to his emancipator and +patron. So in the very word `freedman' there is contained the idea +of submission to Him who has struck off the fetters. + +But, apart from that, let me just remind you, in a sentence or +two, that whilst there are many other ways by which men have +sought, and have partially attained, deliverance from the many +fetters and bondages that attach to our earthly life, the one +perfect way by which a man can be truly, in the deepest sense of +the word and in his inmost being, a free man is by faith in Jesus +Christ. + +I do not for a moment forget how wisdom and truth, and noble aims +and high purposes, and culture of various kinds have, in lower +degrees and partially, emancipated men from self and flesh and sin +and the world, and all the other fetters that bind us. But sure I +am that the process is never so completely and so assuredly +effected as by the simple way of absolute submission to Jesus +Christ, taking Him for the supreme and unconditional Arbiter and +Sovereign of a life. + +If we do that, brethren, if we really yield ourselves to Him, in +heart and will, in life and conduct, submitting our understanding +to His infallible Word, and our wills to His authority, regulating +our conduct by His perfect pattern, and in all things seeking to +serve Him and to realise His presence, then be sure of this, that +we shall be set free from the one real bondage, and that is the +bondage of our own wicked selves. There is no such tyranny as mob +tyranny; and there is no such slavery as to be ruled by the mob of +our own passions and lusts and inclinations and other meannesses +that yelp and clamour within us, and seek to get hold of us and to +sway. There is only one way by which the brute domination of the +lower part of our nature can be surely and thoroughly put down, +and that is by turning to Jesus Christ and saying to Him, `Lord! +do Thou rule this anarchic kingdom within me, for I cannot govern +it myself. Do Thou guide and direct and subdue.' You can only +govern yourself and be free from the compulsion of your own evil +nature when you surrender the control to the Master, and say ever, +`Speak, Lord! for Thy slave hears. Here am I, send me.' + +And that is the only way by which a man can be delivered from the +bondage of dependence upon outward things. I said at the beginning +of these remarks that my text occurred in the course of a +discussion in which the Apostle was illustrating the tendency of +true Christian faith to set man free from, and to make him largely +independent of, the varieties in external circumstances. Christian +faith does so, because it brings into a life a sufficient +compensation for all losses, limitations, and sorrows, and a good +which is the reality of which all earthly goods are but shadows. +So the slave may be free in Christ, and the poor man may be rich +in Him, and the sad man may be joyful, and the joyful man may be +delivered from excess of gladness, and the rich man be kept from +the temptations and sins of wealth, and the free man be taught to +surrender his liberty to the Lord who makes him free. Thus, if we +have the all-sufficient compensation which there is in Jesus +Christ, the satisfaction for all our needs and desires, we do not +need to trouble ourselves so much as we sometimes do about these +changing things round about us. Let them come, let them go; let +the darkness veil the light, and the light illuminate the +darkness; let summer and winter alternate; let tribulation and +prosperity succeed each other; we have a source of blessedness +unaffected by these. Ice may skin the surface of the lake, but +deep beneath, the water is at the same temperature in winter and +in summer. Storms may sweep the face of the deep, but in the abyss +there is calm which is not stagnation. So he that cleaves to +Christ is delivered from the slavery that binds men to the details +and accidents of outward life. + +And if we are the servants of Christ, we shall be set free, in the +measure in which we are His, from the slavery which daily becomes +more oppressive as the means of communication become more +complete, the slavery to popular opinion and to men round us. Dare +to be singular; take your beliefs at first hand from the Master. +Never mind what fellow-slaves say. It is His smile or frown that +is of importance. `Ye are bought with a price; be not servants of +men.' + +And so, brethren, `choose you this day whom ye will serve.' You +are not made to be independent. You must serve some thing or +person. Recognise the narrow limitations within which your choice +lies, and the issues which depend upon it. It is not whether you +will serve Christ or whether you will be free. It is whether you +will serve Christ or your own worst self, the world, men, and I +was going to add, the flesh and the devil. Make your choice. He +has bought you. You belong to Him by His death. Yield yourselves +to Him, it is the only way of breaking your chains. He that doeth +sin is the servant of sin. `If the Son make you free, ye shall be +free indeed,' and not only free; for the King's slaves are princes +and nobles, and `all things are yours, and ye are Christ's.' They +who say to Him `O Lord! truly I am Thy servant,' receive from Him +the rank of kings and priests to God, and shall reign with Him for +ever. + +\chapter{The Christian Life} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS vii. 24} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with +God.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} vii. 24. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +You find that three times within the compass of a very few verses +this injunction is repeated. `As God hath distributed to every +man,' says the Apostle in the seventeenth verse, `as the Lord hath +called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all the +churches.' Then again in the twentieth verse, `Let every man abide +in the same calling wherein he is called.' And then finally in our +text. + +The reason for this emphatic reiteration is not difficult to +ascertain. There were strong temptations to restlessness besetting +the early Christians. The great change from heathenism to +Christianity would seem to loosen the joints of all life, and +having been swept from their anchorage in religion, all external +things would appear to be adrift. It was most natural that a man +should seek to alter even the circumstances of his outward life, +when such a revolution had separated him from his ancient self. +Hence would tend to come the rupture of family ties, the +separation of husband and wife, the Jewish convert seeking to +become like a Gentile, the Gentile seeking to become like a Jew; +the slave trying to be free, the freeman, in some paroxysm of +disgust at his former condition, trying to become a slave. These +three cases are all referred to in the context---marriage, +circumcision, slavery. And for all three the Apostle has the same +advice to give---`Stop where you are.' In whatever condition you +were when God's invitation drew you to Himself---for that, and not +being set to a `vocation' in life, is the meaning of the word +`called' here---remain in it. + +And then, on the other hand, there was every reason why the +Apostle and his co-workers should set themselves, by all means in +their power, to oppose this restlessness. For, if Christianity in +those early days had once degenerated into the mere instrument of +social revolution, its development would have been thrown back for +centuries, and the whole worth and power of it, for those who +first apprehended it, would have been lost. So you know Paul never +said a word to encourage any precipitate attempts to change +externals. He let slavery---he let war alone; he let the tyranny +of the Roman Empire alone---not because he was a coward, not +because he thought that these things were not worth meddling with, +but because he, like all wise men, believed in making the tree +good and then its fruit good. He believed in the diffusion of the +principles which he proclaimed, and the mighty Name which he +served, as able to girdle the poison-tree, and to take the bark +off it, and the rest, the slow dying, might be left to the work of +time. And the same general idea underlies the words of my text. +`Do not try to change,' he says, `do not trouble about external +conditions; keep to your Christian profession; let those alone, +they will right themselves. Art thou a slave? Seek not to be +freed. Art thou circumcised? Seek not to be uncircumcised. Get +hold of the central, vivifying, transmuting influence, and all the +rest is a question of time.' + +But, besides this more especial application of the words of my text +to the primitive times, it carries with it, dear brethren, a large +general principle that applies to all times---a principle, I may +say, dead in the teeth of the maxims upon which life is being +ordered by the most of us. \textit{Our} maxim is, `Get on!' Paul's +is, `Never mind about getting \textit{on}, get \textit{up}!' Our +notion is---`Try to make the circumstances what I would like to have +them.' Paul's is---`Leave circumstances to take care of themselves, +or rather leave God to take care of the circumstances. You get close +to Him, and hold His hand, and everything else will right itself.' +Only he is not preaching stolid acquiescence. His previous +injunctions were---`Let every man abide in the same calling wherein +he was called.' He sees that that may be misconceived and abused, +and so, in his third reiteration of the precept, he puts in a word +which throws a flood of light upon the whole thing---`Let every man +wherein he is called therein abide.' Yes, but that is not +all---`therein abide \textit{with God}!' Ay, that is it! not an +impossible stoicism; not hypocritical, fanatical contempt of the +external. But whilst that gets its due force and weight, whilst a +man yields himself in a measure to the natural tastes and +inclinations which God has given him, and with the intention that he +should find there subordinate guidance and impulse for his life, +still let him abide where he is called with God, and seek to +increase his fellowship with Him, as the main thing that he has to +do. + +I. Thus we are led from the words before us first to the thought +that our chief effort in life ought to be union with God. + +`Abide with God,' which, being put into other words, means, I +think, mainly two things---constant communion, the occupation of +all our nature with Him, and, consequently, the recognition of His +will in all circumstances. + +As to the former, we have the mind and heart and will of God +revealed to us for the light, the love, the obedience of our will +and heart and mind; and our Apostle's precept is, first, that we +should try, moment by moment, in all the bustle and stir of our +daily life, to have our whole being consciously directed to and +engaged with, fertilised and calmed by contact with, the perfect +and infinite nature of our Father in heaven. + +As we go to our work again to-morrow morning, what difference +would obedience to this precept make upon my life and yours? +Before all else, and in the midst of all else, we should think of +that Divine Mind that in the heavens is waiting to illumine our +darkness; we should feel the glow of that uncreated and perfect +Love, which, in the midst of change and treachery, of coldness and +of `greetings where no kindness is,' in the midst of masterful +authority and unloving command, is ready to fill our hearts with +tenderness and tranquillity: we should bow before that Will which +is absolute and supreme indeed, but neither arbitrary nor harsh, +which is `the eternal purpose that He hath purposed in Himself' +indeed, but is also `the good pleasure of His goodness and the +counsel of His grace.' + +And with such a God near to us ever in our faithful thoughts, in +our thankful love, in our lowly obedience, with such a mind +revealing itself to us, and such a heart opening its hidden +storehouses for us as we approach, like some star that, as one +gets nearer to it, expands its disc and glows into rich colour, +which at a distance was but pallid silver, and such a will +sovereign above all, energising, even through opposition, and +making obedience a delight, what room, brethren, would there be in +our lives for agitations, and distractions, and regrets, and +cares, and fears---what room for earthly hopes or for sad +remembrances? They die in the fruition of a present God +all-sufficient for mind, and heart, and will---even as the sun +when it is risen with a burning heat may scorch and wither the +weeds that grow about the base of the fruitful tree, whose deeper +roots are but warmed by the rays that ripen the rich clusters +which it bears. `Let every man, wherein he is called, therein +abide \textit{with God}.' + +And then, as a consequence of such an occupation of the whole +being with God, there will follow that second element which is +included in the precept, namely, the recognition of God's will as +operating in and determining all circumstances. When our whole +soul is occupied with Him, we shall see Him everywhere. And this +ought to be our honest effort---to connect everything which +befalls ourselves and the world with Him. We should see that +Omnipotent Will, the silent energy which flows through all being, +asserting itself through all secondary causes, marching on towards +its destined and certain goal, amidst all the whirl and +perturbation of events, bending even the antagonism of rebels and +the unconsciousness of godless men, as well as the play of +material instruments, to its own purposes, and swinging and +swaying the whole set and motion of things according to its own +impulse and by the touch of its own fingers. + +Such a faith does not require us to overlook the visible occasions +for the things which befall us, nor to deny the stable laws +according to which that mighty will operates in men's lives. +Secondary causes? Yes. Men's opposition and crime? Yes. Our own +follies and sins? No doubt. Blessings and sorrows falling +indiscriminately on a whole community or a whole world? Certainly. +And yet the visible agents are not the sources, but only the +vehicles of the power, the belting and shafting which transmit a +mighty impulse which they had nothing to do in creating. And the +antagonism subserves the purposes of the rule which it opposes, as +the blow of the surf may consolidate the sea-wall that it breaks +against. And our own follies and sins may indeed sorrowfully shadow +our lives, and bring on us pains of body and disasters in fortune, +and stings in spirit for which we alone are responsible, and which +we have no right to regard as inscrutable judgments---yet even these +bitter plants of which our own hands have sowed the seed, spring by +His merciful will, and \textit{are} to be regarded as His loving, +fatherly chastisements---sent before to warn us by a premonitory +experience that `the wages of sin is death.' As a rule, God does not +interpose to pick a man out of the mud into which he has been +plunged by his own faults and follies, until he has learned the +lessons which he can find in plenty down in the slough, if he will +only look for them! And the fact that some great calamity or some +great joy affects a wide circle of people, does not make its having +a special lesson and meaning for each of them at all doubtful. +\textit{There} is one of the great depths of all-moving wisdom and +providence, that in the very self-same act it is in one aspect +universal, and in another special and individual. The ordinary +notion of a special providence goes perilously near the belief that +God's will is less concerned in some parts of a man's life than in +others. It is very much like desecrating and secularising a whole +land by the very act of focussing the sanctity in some single +consecrated shrine. But the true belief is that the whole sweep of a +life is under the will of God, and that when, for instance, war +ravages a nation, though the sufferers be involved in a common ruin +occasioned by murderous ambition and measureless pride, yet for each +of the sufferers the common disaster has a special message. Let us +believe in a divine will which regards each individual caught up in +the skirts of the horrible storm, even as it regards each individual +on whom the equal rays of His universal sunshine fall. Let us +believe that every single soul has a place in the heart, and is +taken into account in the purposes of Him who moves the tempest, and +makes His sun to shine upon the unthankful and on the good. Let us, +in accordance with the counsel of the Apostle here, first of all try +to anchor and rest our own souls fast and firm in God all the day +long, that, grasping His hand, we may look out upon all the confused +dance of fleeting circumstances and say, `Thy will is done on +earth'---if not yet `as it is done in heaven,' still done in the +issues and events of all---and done with my cheerful obedience and +thankful acceptance of its commands and allotments in my own life. + +II. The second idea which comes out of these words is this---Such +union with God will lead to contented continuance in our place, +whatever it be. + +Our text is as if Paul had said, `You have been ``called'' in such +and such worldly circumstances. The fact proves that these +circumstances do not obstruct the highest and richest blessings. +The light of God can shine on your souls through them. Since then +you have such sacred memorials associated with them, and know by +experience that fellowship with God is possible in them, do you +remain where you are, and keep hold of the God who has visited you +in them.' + +If once, in accordance with the thoughts already suggested, our +minds have, by God's help, been brought into something like real, +living fellowship with Him, and we have attained the wisdom that +pierces through the external to the Almighty will that underlies +all its mazy whirl, then why should we care about shifting our +place? Why should we trouble ourselves about altering these +varying events, since each in its turn is a manifestation of His +mind and will; each in its turn is a means of discipline for us; +and through all their variety a single purpose works, which tends +to a single end---`that we should be partakers of His holiness'? + +And that is the one point of view from which we can bear to look +upon the world and not be utterly bewildered and over-mastered by +it. Calmness and central peace are ours; a true appreciation of +all outward good and a charm against the bitterest sting of +outward evils are ours; a patient continuance in the place where +He has set us is ours---when by fellowship with Him we have +learned to look upon our work as primarily doing His will, and +upon all our possessions and conditions primarily as means for +making us like Himself. Most men seem to think that they have gone +to the very bottom of the thing when they have classified the +gifts of fortune as good or evil, according as they produce +pleasure or pain. But that is a poor, superficial classification. +It is like taking and arranging books by their bindings and +flowers by their colours. Instead of saying, `We divide life into +two halves, and we put there all the joyful, and here all the sad, +for that is the ruling distinction'---let us rather say, `The +whole is one, because it all comes from one purpose, and it all +tends towards one end. The only question worth asking in regard to +the externals of our life is---How far does each thing help me to +be a good man? how far does it open my understanding to apprehend +Him? how far does it make my spirit pliable and plastic under His +touch? how far does it make me capable of larger reception of +greater gifts from Himself? what is its effect in preparing me for +that world beyond?' Is there any other greater, more satisfying, +more majestic thought of life than this---the scaffolding by which +souls are built up into the temple of God? And to care whether a +thing is painful or pleasant is as absurd as to care whether the +bricklayer's trowel is knocking the sharp corner off a brick, or +plastering mortar on the one below it before he lays it carefully +on its course. Is the \textit{building} getting on? That is the +one question that is worth thinking about. + +You and I write our lives as if on one of those manifold writers +which you use. A thin filmy sheet \textit{here}, a bit of black +paper below it; but the writing goes through upon the next page, +and when the blackness that divides two worlds is swept away +\textit{there}, the history of each life written by ourselves +remains legible in eternity. And the question is---What sort of +autobiography are we writing for the revelation of that day, and +how far do our circumstances help us to transcribe fair in our +lives the will of our God and the image of our Redeemer? + +If, then, we have once got hold of that principle that all which +is---summer and winter, storm and sunshine, possession and loss, +memory and hope, work and rest, and all the other antitheses of +life---is equally the product of His will, equally the +manifestation of His mind, equally His means for our discipline, +then we have the amulet and talisman which will preserve us from +the fever of desire and the shivering fits of anxiety as to things +which perish. And, as they tell of a Christian father who, riding +by one of the great lakes of Switzerland all day long, on his +journey to the Church Council that was absorbing his thoughts, +said towards evening to the deacon who was pacing beside him, +`Where is the lake?' so you and I, journeying along by the margin +of this great flood of things when wild storms sweep across it, or +when the sunbeams glint upon its blue waters, `and birds of peace +sit brooding on the charmed wave,' will be careless of the +changeful sea, if the eye looks beyond the visible and beholds the +unseen, the unchanging real presences that make glory in the +darkest lives, and `sunshine in the shady place.' `Let every man, +wherein he is called, therein abide with God.' + +III. Still further, another thought may be suggested from these +words, or rather from the connection in which they occur, and that +is---Such contented continuance in our place is the dictate of the +truest wisdom. + +There are two or three collateral topics, partly suggested by the +various connections in which this commandment occurs in the +chapter, from which I draw the few remarks I have to make now. + +And the first point I would suggest is that very old commonplace +one, so often forgotten, that after all, though you may change +about as much as you like, there is a pretty substantial equipoise +and identity in the amount of pain and pleasure in all external +conditions. The total length of day and night all the year round +is the same at the North Pole and at the Equator---half and half. +Only, in the one place, it is half and half for four-and-twenty +hours at a time, and in the other, the night lasts through gloomy +months of winter, and the day is bright for unbroken weeks of +summer. But, when you come to add them up at the year's end, the +man who shivers in the ice, and the man who pants beneath the +beams from the zenith, have had the same length of sunshine and of +darkness. It does not matter much at what degrees between the +Equator and the Pole you and I live; when the thing comes to be +made up we shall be all pretty much upon an equality. You do not +get the happiness of the rich man over the poor one by multiplying +twenty shillings a week by as many figures as will suffice to make +it up to \pounds10,000 a year. What is the use of such eager +desires to change our condition, when every condition has +disadvantages attending its advantages as certainly as a shadow; +and when all have pretty nearly the same quantity of the raw +material of pain and pleasure, and when the amount of either +actually experienced by us depends not on where we are, but on +\textit{what} we are? + +Then, still further, there is another consideration to be kept in +mind upon which I do not enlarge, as what I have already said +involves it---namely, that whilst the portion of external pain and +pleasure summed up comes pretty much to the same in everybody's +life, any condition may yield the fruit of devout fellowship with +God. + +Another very remarkable idea suggested by a part of the context +is---What is the need for my troubling myself about outward +changes when \textit{in Christ} I can get all the peculiarities +which make any given position desirable to me? For instance, hear +how Paul talks to slaves eager to be set free: `For he that is +called in the Lord, \textit{being} a servant, is the Lord's +freeman: likewise also he that is called, \textit{being} free, is +Christ's servant.' If you generalise that principle it comes to +this, that in union with Jesus Christ we possess, by our +fellowship with Him, the peculiar excellences and blessings that +are derivable from external relations of every sort. To take +concrete examples---if a man is a slave, he may be free in Christ. +If free, he may have the joy of utter submission to an absolute +master in Christ. If you and I are lonely, we may feel all the +delights of society by union with Him. If surrounded and +distracted by companionship, and seeking for seclusion, we may get +all the peace of perfect privacy in fellowship with Him. If we are +rich, and sometimes think that we were in a position of less +temptation if we were poorer, we may find all the blessings for +which we sometimes covet poverty in communion with Him. If we are +poor, and fancy that, if we had a little more just to lift us +above the grinding, carking care of to-day and the anxiety of +to-morrow, we should be happier, we may find all tranquillity in +Him. And so you may run through all the variety of human +conditions, and say to yourself---What is the use of looking for +blessings flowing from these from without? Enough for us if we +grasp that Lord who is all in all, and will give us in peace the +joy of conflict, in conflict the calm of peace, in health the +refinement of sickness, in sickness the vigour and glow of health, +in memory the brightness of undying hope, in hope the calming of +holy memory, in wealth the lowliness of poverty, in poverty the +ease of wealth; in life and in death being all and more than all +that dazzles us by the false gleam of created brightness! + +And so, finally---a remark which has no connection with the text +itself, but which I cannot avoid inserting here---I want you to +think, and think seriously, of the antagonism and diametrical +opposition between these principles of my text and the maxims +current in the world, and nowhere more so than in this city. Our +text is a revolutionary one. It is dead against the watchwords +that you fathers give your children---`push,' `energy,' +`advancement,' `get on, whatever you do.' You have made a +philosophy of it, and you say that this restless discontent with a +man's present position and eager desire to get a little farther +ahead in the scramble, underlies much modern civilisation and +progress, and leads to the diffusion of wealth and to employment +for the working classes, and to mechanical inventions, and +domestic comforts, and I don't know what besides. You have made a +religion of it; and it is thought to be blasphemy for a man to +stand up and say---`It is idolatry!' My dear brethren, I declare I +solemnly believe that, if I were to go on to the Manchester +Exchange next Tuesday, and stand up and say---`There is no God,' I +should not be thought half such a fool as if I were to go and +say---`Poverty is not an evil \textit{per se}, and men do not come +into this world to get \textit{on} but to get \textit{up}---nearer +and liker to God.' If you, by God's grace, lay hold of this +principle of my text, and honestly resolve to work it out, +trusting in that dear Lord who `though He was rich yet for our +sakes became poor,' in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred you will +have to make up your minds to let the big prizes of your trade go +into other people's hands, and be contented to say---`I live by +peaceful, high, pure, Christ-like thoughts.' `He that needs +least,' said an old heathen, `is nearest the gods'; but I would +rather modify the statement into, `He that needs most, and knows +it, is nearest the gods.' For surely Christ is more than mammon; +and a spirit nourished by calm desires and holy thoughts into +growing virtues and increasing Christlikeness is better than +circumstances ordered to our will, in the whirl of which we have +lost our God. `In everything by prayer and supplication, with +thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the +peace of God and the God of peace shall keep your hearts and minds +in Christ Jesus.' + +\chapter{`Love Buildeth Up'} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS viii. 1--13} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Now, as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all +have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. 2.\ +And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing +yet as he ought to know. 3.\ But if any man love God, the same is +known of him. 4.\ As concerning therefore the eating of those +things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an +idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but +one. 5.\ For though there be that are called gods, whether in +heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) 6.\ +But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all +things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all +things, and we by Him. 7.\ Howbeit there is not in every man that +knowledge: for some, with conscience of the idol unto this hour, +eat it as a thing offered unto an idol; and their conscience being +weak is defiled. 8.\ But meat commendeth us not to God: for +neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are +we the worse. 9.\ But take heed, lest by any means this liberty of +yours become a stumblingblock to them that are weak. 10.\ For if +any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol's +temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be +emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; 11.\ +And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom +Christ died? 12.\ But when ye sin so against the brethren, and +wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. 13.\ +Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh +while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.'---1 +\textsc{Cor.} viii. 1--13. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +It is difficult for us to realise the close connection which +existed between idol-worship and daily life. Something of the same +sort is found in all mission fields. It was almost impossible for +Christians to take any part in society and not seem to sanction +idolatry. Would that Christianity were as completely interwoven +with our lives as heathen religions are into those of their +devotees! Paul seems to have had referred to him a pressing case +of conscience, which divided the Corinthian Church, as to whether +a Christian could join in the usual feasts or sacrifices. His +answer is in this passage. + +The longest way round is sometimes the shortest way home. The +Apostle begins far away from the subject in hand by running a +contrast between knowledge and love, and setting the latter first. +But his contrast is very relevant to his purpose. Small questions +should be solved on great principles. + +The first principle laid down by Paul is the superiority of love +over knowledge, the bearing of which on the question in hand will +appear presently. We note that there is first a distinct admission +of the Corinthians' intelligence, though there is probably a tinge +of irony in the language `We know that we all have knowledge.' +`You Corinthians are fully aware that you are very superior +people. Whatever else you know, you know that, and I fully +recognise it.' + +The admission is followed by a sudden, sharp comment, to which the +Co\-rinth\-ians' knowledge that they knew laid them open. Swift as +the thrust of a spear comes flashing `Knowledge puffeth up.' +Puffed-up things are swollen by wind only, and the more they are +inflated the hollower and emptier they are; and such a sharp point +as Paul's saying shrivels them. The statement is not meant as the +assertion of a necessary or uniform result of knowledge, but it +does put plainly a very usual result of it, if it is unaccompanied +by love. It is a strange, sad result of superior intelligence or +acquirements, that it so often leads to conceit, to a false +estimate of the worth and power of knowing, to a ridiculous +over-valuing of certain acquirements, and to an insolent contempt +and cruel disregard of those who have them not. Paul's dictum has +been only too well confirmed by experience. + +`Love builds up,' or `edifies.' Probably the main direction in +which that building up is conceived of as taking effect, is in +aiding the progress of our neighbours, especially in the religious +life. But the tendency of love to rear a fair fabric of personal +character is not to be overlooked. In regard to effect on +character, the palm must be given to love, which produces solid +excellence far beyond what mere knowledge can effect. Further, +that pluming one's self on knowledge is a sure proof of ignorance. +The more real our acquirements, the more they disclose our +deficiencies. All self-conceit hinders us from growing +intellectually or morally, and intellectual conceit is the worst +kind of it. + +Very significantly, love to God, and not the simple emotion of +love without reference to its object, is opposed to knowledge; for +love so directed is the foundation of all excellence, and of all +real love to men. Love to God is not the antithesis of true +knowledge, but it is the only victorious antagonist of the conceit +of knowing. Very significantly, too, does Paul vary his conclusion +in verse 3 by saying that the man who loves God `is known of Him,' +instead of, as we might have expected, `knows Him.' The latter is +true, but the statement in the verse puts more strongly the +thought of the man's being an object of God's care. In regard, +then, to their effects on character, in producing consideration +and helpfulness to others, and in securing God's protection, love +stands first, and knowledge second. + +What has all this to do with the question in hand? This, that if +looked at from the standpoint of knowledge, it may be solved in +one way, but if from that of love, it will be answered in another. +So, in verses 4--6, Paul treats the matter on the ground of +knowledge. The fundamental truth of Christianity, that there is +one God, who is revealed and works through Jesus Christ, was +accepted by all the Corinthians. Paul states it here broadly, +denying that there were any objective realities answering to the +popular conceptions or poetic fancies or fair artistic +presentments of the many gods and lords of the Greek pantheon, and +asserting that all Christians recognise one God, the Father, from +whom the universe of worlds and living things has origin, and to +whom we as Christians specially belong, and one Lord, the channel +through whom all divine operations of creation, providence, and +grace flow, and by whose redeeming work we Christians are endowed +with our best life. If a believer was fully convinced of these +truths, he could partake of sacrificial feasts without danger to +himself, and without either sanctioning idolatry or being tempted +to return to it. + +No doubt it was on this ground that an idol was nothing that the +laxer party defended their action in eating meat offered to idols; +and Paul fully recognises that they had a strong case, and that, +if there were no other considerations to come in, the answer to +the question of conscience submitted to him would be wholly in +favour of the less scrupulous section. But there is something +better than knowledge; namely, love. And its decision must be +taken before the whole material for a judgment is in evidence. + +Therefore, in the remainder of the chapter, Paul dwells on loving +regard for brethren. In verse 7, he reminds the `knowing' +Corinthians that new convictions do not obliterate the power of +old associations. The awful fascination of early belief still +exercises influence. The chains are not wholly broken off. Every +mission field shows examples of this. Every man knows that habits +are not so suddenly overcome, that there is no hankering after +them or liability to relapse. It would be a dangerous thing for a +weak believer to risk sharing in an idol feast; for he would be +very likely to slide down to his old level of belief, and Zeus or +Pallas to seem to him real powers once more. + +The considerations in verse 7 would naturally be followed by the +further thoughts in verse 9, etc. But, before dealing with these, +Paul interposes another thought in verse 8, to the effect that +partaking of or abstinence from any kind of food will not, in +itself, either help or hinder the religious life. The bearing of +that principle on his argument seems to be to reduce the +importance of the whole question, and to suggest that, since +eating of idol sacrifices could not be called a duty or a means of +spiritual progress, the way was open to take account of others' +weakness as determining our action in regard to it. A modern +application may illustrate the point. Suppose that a Christian +does not see total abstinence from intoxicants to be obligatory on +him. Well, he cannot say that drinking is so, or that it is a +religious duty, and so the way is clear for urging regard to +others' weakness as an element in the case. + +That being premised, Paul comes to his final point; namely, that +Christian men are bound to restrict their liberty so that they +shall not tempt weaker brethren on to a path on which they cannot +walk without stumbling. He has just shown the danger to such of +partaking of the sacrificial feasts. He now completes his position +by showing, in verse 10, that the stronger man's example may lead +the weaker to do what he cannot do innocently. What is harmless to +us may be fatal to others, and, if we have led them to it, their +blood is on our heads. + +The terrible discordance of such conduct with our Lord's example, +which should be our law, is forcibly set forth in verse 11, which +has three strongly emphasised thoughts---the man's fate---he +perishes; his relation to his slayer---a brother; what Christ did +for the man whom a Christian has sent to destruction---died for +him. These solemn thoughts are deepened in verse 12, which reminds +us of the intimate union between the weakest and Christ, by which +He so identifies Himself with them that any blow struck on them +touches Him. + +There is no greater sin than to tempt weak or ignorant Christians +to thoughts or acts which their ignorance or weakness cannot +entertain or do without damage to their religion. There is much +need for laying that truth to heart in these days. Both in the +field of speculation and of conduct, Christians, who think that +they know so much better than ignorant believers, need to be +reminded of it. + +So Paul, in verse 13, at last answers the question. His sudden +turning to his own conduct is beautiful. He will not so much +command others, as proclaim his own determination. He does so with +characteristic vehemence and hyperbole. No doubt the liberal party +in Corinth were ready to complain against the proposal to restrict +their freedom because of others' weakness; and they would be +disarmed, or at least silenced, and might be stimulated to like +noble resolution, by Paul's example. + +The principle plainly laid down here is as distinctly applicable to +the modern question of abstinence from intoxicants. No one can doubt +that `moderation' in their use by some tempts others to use which +soon becomes fatally immoderate. The Church has been robbed of +promising members thereby, over and over again. How can a Christian +man cling to a `moderate' use of these things, and run the risk of +destroying by his example a brother for whom Christ died? + +\chapter{The Sin of Silence} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS ix. 16, 17} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for +necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not +the Gospel! 17.\ For if I do this thing willingly, I have a +reward.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} ix. 16, 17. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The original reference of these words is to the Apostle's +principle and practice of not receiving for his support money from +the churches. Gifts he did accept; pay he did not. The exposition +of his reason is interesting, ingenuous, and chivalrous. He +strongly asserts his right, even while he as strongly declares +that he will waive it. The reason for his waiving it is that he +desires to have somewhat in his service beyond the strict line of +his duty. His preaching itself, with all its toils and miseries, +was but part of his day's work, which he was bidden to do, and for +doing which he deserved no thanks nor praise. But he would like to +have a little bit of glad service over and above what he is +ordered to do, that, as he ingenuously says, he may have `somewhat +to boast of.' + +In this exposition of motives we have two great principles +actuating the Apostle---one, his profound sense of obligation, and +the other his desire, if it might be, to do more than he was bound +to do, because he loved his work so much. And though he is +speaking here as an apostle, and his example is not to be +unconditionally transferred to us, yet I think that the motives +which actuated his conduct are capable of unconditional +application to ourselves. + +There are three things here. There is the obligation of speech, +there is the penalty of silence, and there is the glad obedience +which transcends obligation. + +I. First, mark the obligation of speech. + +No doubt the Apostle had, in a special sense, a `necessity laid +upon' him, which was first laid upon him on that road to Damascus, +and repeated many a time in his life. But though he differs from +us in the direct supernatural commission which was given to him, +in the width of the sphere in which he had to work, and in the +splendour of the gifts which were entrusted to his stewardship, he +does not differ from us in the reality of the obligation which was +laid upon him. Every Christian man is as truly bound as was Paul +to preach the Gospel. The commission does not depend upon +apostolic dignity. Jesus Christ, when He said, `Go ye into all the +world, and preach the Gospel to every creature,' was not speaking +to the eleven, but to all generations of His Church. And whilst +there are many other motives on which we may rest the Christian +duty of propagating the Christian faith, I think that we shall be +all the better if we bottom it upon this, the distinct and +definite commandment of Jesus Christ, the grip of which encloses +all who for themselves have found that the Lord is gracious. + +For that commandment is permanent. It is exactly contemporaneous +with the duration of the promise which is appended to it, and +whosoever suns himself in the light of the latter is bound by the +precept of the former. `Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end +of the world,' defines the duration of the promise, and it defines +also the duration of the duty. Nay, even the promise is made +conditional upon the discharge of the duty enjoined. For it is to +the Church `going into all the world, and preaching the Gospel to +every creature,' that the promise of an abiding presence is made. + +Let us remember, too, that, just because this commission is given +to the whole Church, it is binding on every individual member of +the Church. There is a very common fallacy, not confined to this +subject, but extending over the whole field of Christian duty, by +which things that are obligatory on the community are shuffled off +the shoulders of the individual. But we have to remember that the +whole Church is nothing more than the sum total of all its +members, and that nothing is incumbent upon it which is not in +their measure incumbent upon each of them. Whatsoever Christ says +to all, He says to each, and the community has no duties which you +and I have not. + +Of course, there are diversities of forms of obedience to this +commandment; of course, the restrictions of locality and the other +obligations of life, come in to modify it; and it is not every +man's duty to wander over the whole world doing this work. But the +direct work of communicating to others who know it not the +sweetness and the power of Jesus Christ belongs to every Christian +man. You cannot buy yourselves out of the ranks, as they used to +be able to do out of the militia, by paying for a substitute. Both +forms of service are obligatory upon each of us. We all, if we +know anything of Christ and His love and His power, are bound, by +the fact that we do know it, to tell it to those whom we can +reach. You have all got congregations if you would look for them. +There is not a Christian man or woman in this world who has not +somebody that he or she can speak to more efficiently than anybody +else can. You have your friends, your relations, the people with +whom you are brought into daily contact, if you have no wider +congregations. You cannot all stand up and preach in the sense in +which I do so. But this is not the meaning of the word in the New +Testament. It does not imply a pulpit, nor a set discourse, nor a +gathered multitude; it simply implies a herald's task of +proclaiming. Everybody who has found Jesus Christ can say, `I have +found the Messiah,' and everybody who knows Him can say, `Come and +hear, and I will tell what the Lord hath done for my soul.' Since +you can do it you are bound to do it; and if you are one of `the +dumb dogs, lying down and loving to slumber,' of whom there are +such crowds paralysing the energies and weakening the witness of +every Church upon earth, then you are criminally and suicidally +oblivious of an obligation which is a joy and a privilege as much +as a duty. + +Oh, brethren! I do want to lay on the consciences of all you +Christian people this, that nothing can absolve you from the +obligation of personal, direct speech to some one of Christ and +His salvation. Unless you can say, `I have not refrained my lips, +O Lord! Thou knowest,' there frowns over against you an +unfulfilled duty, the neglect of which is laming your spiritual +activity, and drying up the sources of your spiritual strength. + +But, then, besides this direct effort, there are the other +indirect methods in which this commandment can be discharged, by +sympathy and help of all sorts, about which I need say no more +here. + +Jesus Christ's ideal of His Church was an active propaganda, an +army in which there were no non-combatants, even although some of +the combatants might be detailed to remain in the camp and look +after the stuff, and others of them might be in the forefront of +the battle. But is that ideal ever fulfilled in any of our +churches? How many amongst us there are who do absolutely nothing +in the shape of Christian work! Some of us seem to think that the +voluntary principle on which our Nonconformist churches are +largely organised means, `I do not need to do anything unless I +like. Inclination is the guide of duty, and if I do not care to +take any active part in the work of our church, nobody has +anything to say.' No man can force me, but if Jesus Christ says to +me, `Go!' and I say, `I had rather not,' Jesus Christ and I have +to settle accounts between us. The less \textit{men} control, the +more stringent ought to be the control of Christ. And if the +principle of Christian obedience is a willing heart, then the duty +of a Christian is to see that the heart is willing. + +A stringent obligation, not to be shuffled off by any of the +excuses that we make, is laid upon us all. It makes very short +work of a number of excuses. There is a great deal in the tone of +this generation which tends to chill the missionary spirit. We +know more about the heathen world, and familiarity diminishes +horror. We have taken up, many of us, milder and more merciful +ideas about the condition of those who die without knowing the +name of Jesus Christ. We have taken to the study of comparative +religion as a science, forgetting sometimes that the thing that we +are studying as a science is spreading a dark cloud of ignorance +and apathy over millions of men. And all these reasons somewhat +sap the strength and cool the fervour of a good many Christian +people nowadays. Jesus Christ's commandment remains just as it +was. + +Then some of us say, `I prefer working at home!' Well, if you are +doing all that you can there, and really are enthusiastically +devoted to one phase of Christian service, the great principle of +division of labour comes in to warrant your not entering upon +other fields which others cultivate. But unless you are thus +casting all your energies into the work which you say that you +prefer, there is no reason in it why you should do nothing in the +other direction. Jesus Christ still says, `Go ye into all the +world.' + +Then some of you say, `Well, I do not much believe in your +missionary societies. There is a great deal of waste of money about +them. A number of things there are that one does not approve of. I +have heard stories about missionaries being very idle, very +luxurious, and taking too much pay, and doing too little work.' +Well, be it so! Very probably it is partly true; though I do not +know that the people whose testimony is so willingly accepted, to +the detriment of our brethren in foreign lands, are precisely the +kind of people that should talk much about self-sacrifice and +luxurious living, or whose estimate of Christian work is to be +relied upon. I fancy many of them, if they walked about the streets +of an English town, would have a somewhat similar report to give, as +they have when they walk about the streets of an Indian one. But be +that as it may, does that indictment draw a wet sponge across the +commandment of Jesus Christ? or can you chisel out of the stones of +Sinai one of the words written there, by reason of the imperfections +of those who are seeking to obey them? Surely not! Christ still +says, `Go ye into all the world!' + +I sometimes venture to think that the day will come when the +condition of being received into, and retained in, the communion +of a Christian church will be obedience to that commandment. Why, +even bees have the sense at a given time of the year to turn the +drones out of the hives, and sting them to death. I do not +recommend the last part of the process, but I am not sure but that +it would be a benefit to us all, both to those ejected and to +those retained, that we should get rid of that added weight that +clogs every organised community in this and other lands---the dead +weight of idlers who say that they are Christ's disciples. Whether +it is a condition of church membership or not, sure I am that it +is a condition of fellowship with Jesus Christ, and a condition, +therefore, of health in the Christian life, that it should be a +life of active obedience to this plain, imperative, permanent, and +universal command. + +II. Secondly, a word as to the penalty of silence. + +`Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.' I suppose Paul is thinking +mainly of a future issue, but not exclusively of that. At all +events, let me point you, in a word or two, to the plain penalties +of silence here, and to the awful penalties of silence hereafter. + +`Woe is me if I preach not the Gospel.' If you are a dumb and idle +professor of Christ's truth, depend upon it that your dumb +idleness will rob you of much communion with Jesus Christ. There +are many Christians who would be ever so much happier, more +joyous, and more assured Christians if they would go and talk +about Christ to other people. Because they have locked up God's +word in their hearts it melts away unknown, and they lose more +than they suspect of the sweetness and buoyancy and assured +confidence that might mark them, for no other reason than because +they seek to keep their morsel to themselves. Like that mist that +lies white and dull over the ground on a winter's morning, which +will be blown away with the least puff of fresh air, there lie +doleful dampnesses, in their sooty folds, over many a Christian +heart, shutting out the sun from the earth, and a little whiff of +wholesome activity in Christ's cause would clear them all away, +and the sun would shine down upon men again. If you want to be a +happy Christian, work for Jesus Christ. I do not lay that down as +a specific by itself. There are other things to be taken in +conjunction with it, but yet it remains true that the woe of a +languid Christianity attaches to the men who, being professing +Christians, are silent when they should speak, and idle when they +should work. + +There is, further, the woe of the loss of sympathies, and the gain +of all the discomforts and miseries of a self-absorbed life. And +there is, further, the woe of the loss of one of the best ways of +confirming one's own faith in the truth---viz. that of seeking to +impart it to others. If you want to learn a thing, teach it. If +you want to grasp the principles of any science, try to explain it +to somebody who does not understand it. If you want to know where, +in these days of jangling and controversy, the true, vital centre +of the Gospel is, and what is the essential part of the revelation +of God, go and tell sinful men about Jesus Christ who died for +them; and you will find out that it is the Cross, and Him who died +thereon, as dying for the world, that is the power which can move +men's hearts. And so you will cleave with a closer grasp, in days +of difficulty and unsettlement, to that which is able to bring +light into darkness and to harmonise the discord of a troubled and +sinful soul. And, further, there is the woe of having none that +can look to you and say, `I owe myself to thee.' Oh, brethren! +there is no greater joy accessible to a man than that of feeling +that through his poor words Christ has entered into a brother's +heart. And you are throwing away all this because you shut your +mouths and neglect the plain commandment of your Lord. + +Ay! but that is not all. There is a future to be taken into +account, and I think that Christian people do far too little +realise the solemn truth that it is not all the same \textit{then} +whether a man has kept his Master's commandments or neglected +them. I believe that whilst a very imperfect faith saves a man, +there is such a thing as being `saved, yet so as through fire,' +and that there is such a thing as having `an abundant entrance +ministered unto us into the everlasting kingdom.' He whose life +has been very slightly influenced by Christian principle, and who +has neglected plain, imperative duties, will not stand on the same +level of blessedness as the man who has more completely yielded +himself in life to the constraining power of Christ's love, and +has sought to keep all His commandments. + +Heaven is not a dead level. Every man there will receive as much +blessedness as he is capable of, but capacities will vary, and the +principal factor in determining the capacity, which capacity +determines the blessedness, will be the thoroughness of obedience +to all the ordinances of Christ in the course of the life upon +earth. So, though we know, and therefore dare say, little about +that future, I do beseech you to take this to heart, that he who +there can stand before God, and say, `Behold! I and the children +whom God hath given me' will wear a crown brighter than the +starless ones of those who saved themselves, and have brought none +with them. + +`Some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship, they all +came safe to land.' But the place where they stand depends on +their Christian life, and of that Christian life one main element +is obedience to the commandment which makes them the apostles and +missionaries of their Lord. + +III. Lastly, note the glad obedience which transcends the limits +of obligation. + +`If I do this thing willingly I have a reward.' Paul desired to +bring a little more than was required, in token of his love to his +Master, and of his thankful acceptance of the obligation. The +artist who loves his work will put more work into his picture than +is absolutely needed, and will linger over it, lavishing diligence +and care upon it, because he is in love with his task. The servant +who seeks to do as little as he can scrape through with without +rebuke is actuated by no high motives. The trader who barely puts +as much into the scale as will balance the weight in the other is +grudging in his dealings; but he who, with liberal hand, gives +`shaken down, pressed together, and running over' measure, gives +because he delights in the giving. + +And so it is in the Christian life. There are many of us whose +question seems to be, `How little can I get off with? how much can +I retain?'---many of us whose effort is to find out how much of +the world is consistent with the profession of Christianity, and +to find the minimum of effort, of love, of service, of gifts which +may free us from obligation. + +And what does that mean? It means that we are slaves. It means +that if we durst we would give nothing, and do nothing. And what +does that mean? It means that we do not care for the Lord, and +have no joy in our work. And what does that mean? It means that +our work deserves no praise, and will get no reward. If we love +Christ we shall be anxious, if it were possible, to do more than +He commands us, in token of our loyalty to the King, and of our +delight in the service. Of course, in the highest view, nothing +can be more than necessary. Of course He has the right to all our +work; but yet there are heights of Christian consecration and +self-sacrifice which a man will not be blamed if he has not +climbed, and will be praised if he has. What we want, if I might +venture to say so, is extravagance of service. Judas may say, `To +what purpose is this waste?' but Jesus will say, He `hath wrought +a good work on Me,' and the fragrance of the ointment will smell +sweet through the centuries. + +So, dear brethren, the upshot of the whole thing is, Do not let us +do our Christian work reluctantly, else it is only slave's work, +and there is no blessing in it, and no reward will come to us from +it. Do not let us ask, `How little may I do?' but `How much can I +do?' Thus, asking, we shall not offer as burnt offering to the +Lord that which doth cost us nothing. On His part He has given the +commandment as a sign of His love. The stewardship is a token that +He trusts us, the duty is an honour, the burden is a grace. On our +parts let us seek for the joy of service which is not contented +with the bare amount of the tribute that is demanded, but gives +something over, if it were possible, because of our love to Him. +They who thus give to Jesus Christ their all of love and effort +and service will receive it all back a hundredfold, for the Master +is not going to be in debt to any of His servants, and He says to +them all, `I will repay it, howbeit I say not unto thee how thou +owest unto Me even thine own self besides.' + +\chapter{A Servant of Men} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS ix. 19--23} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant +unto all, that I might gain the more. 20.\ And unto the Jews I +became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are +under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are +under the law; 21.\ To them that are without law, as without law, +(being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that +I might gain them that are without law. 22.\ To the weak became I +as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all +men, that I might by all means save some. 23.\ And this I do for +the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.'---1 +\textsc{Cor.} ix. 19--23. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Paul speaks much of himself, but he is not an egotist. When he +says, `I do so and so,' it is a gracious way of enjoining the same +conduct on his readers. He will lay no burden on them which he +does not himself carry. The leader who can say `Come' is not +likely to want followers. So, in this section, the Apostle is +really enjoining on the Corinthians the conduct which he declares +is his own. + +The great principle incumbent on all Christians, with a view to +the salvation of others, is to go as far as one can without +untruthfulness in the direction of finding points of resemblance +and contact with those to whom we would commend the Gospel. There +is a base counterfeit of this apostolic example, which slurs over +distinctive beliefs, and weakly tries to please everybody by +differing from nobody. That trimming to catch all winds never +gains any. Mr.\ Facing-both-ways is not a powerful evangelist. The +motive of becoming all things to all men must be plainly +disinterested, and the assimilation must have love for the souls +concerned and eagerness to bring the truth to them, and them to +the truth, legibly stamped upon it, or it will be regarded, and +rightly so, as mere cowardice or dishonesty. And there must be no +stretching the assimilation to the length of either concealing +truth or fraternising in evil. Love to my neighbour can never lead +to my joining him in wrongdoing. + +But, while the limits of this assumption of the colour of our +surroundings are plainly marked, there is ample space within these +for the exercise of this eminently Christian grace. We must get +near people if we would help them. Especially must we identify +ourselves with them in sympathy, and seek to multiply points of +assimilation, if we would draw them to Jesus Christ. He Himself +had to become man that He might gain men, and His servants have to +do likewise, in their degree. The old story of the Christian +teacher who voluntarily became a slave, that he might tell of +Christ to slaves, has in spirit to be repeated by us all. + +We can do no good by standing aloof on a height and flinging down +the Gospel to the people below. They must feel that we enter into +their circumstances, prejudices, ways of thinking, and the like, +if our words are to have power. That is true about all Christian +teachers, whether of old or young. You must be a boy among boys, +and try to show that you enter into the boy's nature, or you may +lecture till doomsday and do no good. + +Paul instances three cases in which he had acted, and still +continued to do so, on this principle. He was a Jew, but after his +conversion he had to `become a Jew' by a distinct act; that is, he +had receded so far from his old self, that he, if he had had only +himself to think of, would have given up all Jewish observances. +But he felt it his duty to conciliate prejudice as far as he +could, and so, though he would have fought to the death rather +than given countenance to the belief that circumcision was +necessary, he had no scruple about circumcising Timothy; and, +though he believed that for Christians the whole ancient ritual +was abolished, he was quite willing, if it would smooth away the +prejudices of the `many thousands of Jews who believed,' to show, +by his participation in the temple worship, that he `walked +orderly, keeping the law.' If he was told `You must,' his answer +could only be `I will not'; but if it was a question of +conciliating, he was ready to go all lengths for that. + +The category which he names next is not composed of different +persons from the first, but of the same persons regarded from a +somewhat different point of view. `Them that are under the law' +describes Jews, not by their race, but by their religion; and Paul +was willing to take his place among them, as we have just +observed. But he will not do that so as to be misunderstood, +wherefore he protests that in doing so he is voluntarily abridging +his freedom for a specific purpose. He is not `under the law'; for +the very pith of his view of the Christian's position is that he +has nothing to do with that Mosaic law in any of its parts, +because Christ has made him free. + +The second class to whom in his wide sympathies he is able to +assimilate himself, is the opposite of the former---the Gentiles +who are `without law.' He did not preach on Mars' Hill as he did +in the synagogues. The many-sided Gospel had aspects fitted for +the Gentiles who had never heard of Moses, and the many-sided +Apostle had links of likeness to the Greek and the barbarian. But +here, too, his assimilation of himself to those whom he seeks to +win is voluntary; wherefore he protests that he is not without +law, though he recognises no longer the obligations of Moses' law, +for he is `under [or, rather, ``in''] law to Christ.' + +`The weak' are those too scrupulous-conscienced Christians of whom +he has been speaking in chapter viii. and whose narrow views he +exhorted stronger brethren to respect, and to refrain from doing +what they could do without harming their own consciences, lest by +doing it they should induce a brother to do the same, whose +conscience would prick him for it. That is a lesson needed to-day +as much as, or more than, in Paul's time, for the widely different +degrees of culture and diversities of condition, training, and +associations among Christians now necessarily result in very +diverse views of Christian conduct in many matters. The grand +principle laid down here should guide us all, both in regard to +fellow-Christians and others. Make yourself as like them as you +honestly can; restrict yourself of allowable acts, in deference to +even narrow prejudices; but let the motive of your assimilating +yourself to others be clearly their highest good, that you may +`gain' them, not for yourself but for your Master. + +Verse 23 lays down Paul's ruling principle, which both impelled +him to become all things to all men, with a view to their +salvation, as he has been saying, and urged him to effort and +self-discipline, with a view to his own, as he goes on to say. +`For the Gospel's sake' seems to point backward; `that I may be a +joint partaker thereof points forward. We have not only to preach +the Gospel to others, but to live on it and be saved by it +ourselves. + +\chapter{How the Victor Runs} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS ix. 24} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`So run, that ye may obtain.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} ix. 24. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +`\textit{So} run.' Does that mean `Run so that ye obtain?' Most +people, I suppose, superficially reading the words, attach that +significance to them, but the `so' here carries a much greater +weight of meaning than that. It is a word of comparison. The +Apostle would have the Corinthians recall the picture which he has +been putting before them---a picture of a scene that was very +familiar to them; for, as most of us know, one of the most +important of the Grecian games was celebrated at intervals in the +immediate neighbourhood of Corinth. Many of the Corinthian +converts had, no doubt, seen, or even taken part in them. The +previous portion of the verse in which our text occurs appeals to +the Corinthians' familiar knowledge of the arena and the +competitors, `Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, +but one receiveth the prize?' He would have them picture the eager +racers, with every muscle strained, and the one victor starting to +the front; and then he says, `Look at that panting conqueror. That +is how you should run. \textit{So} run---`meaning thereby not, +`Run so that you may obtain the prize,' but `Run so' as the victor +does, `in order that you may obtain.' So, then, this victor is to +be a lesson to us, and we are to take a leaf out of his book. Let +us see what he teaches us. + +I. The first thing is, the utmost tension and energy and strenuous +effort. + +It is very remarkable that Paul should pick out these Grecian +games as containing for Christian people any lesson, for they were +honeycombed, through and through, with idolatry and all sorts of +immorality, so that no Jew ventured to go near them, and it was +part of the discipline of the early Christian Church that +professing Christians should have nothing to do with them in any +shape. + +And yet here, as in many other parts of his letters, Paul takes +these foul things as patterns for Christians. `There is a soul of +goodness in things evil, if we would observantly distil it out.' +It is very much as if English preachers were to refer their people +to a racecourse, and say, `Even there you may pick out lessons, +and learn something of the way in which Christian people ought to +live.' + +On the same principle the New Testament deals with that diabolical +business of fighting. It is taken as an emblem for the Christian +soldier, because, with all its devilishness, there is in it this, +at least, that men give themselves up absolutely to the will of +their commander, and are ready to fling away their lives if he +lifts his finger. That at least is grand and noble, and to be +imitated on a higher plane. + +In like manner Paul takes these poor racers as teaching us a +lesson. Though the thing be all full of sin, we can get one +valuable thought out of it, and it is this---If people would work +half as hard to gain the highest object that a man can set before +him, as hundreds of people are ready to do in order to gain +trivial and paltry objects, there would be fewer stunted and +half-dead Christians amongst us. `That is the way to run,' says +Paul, `if you want to obtain.' + +Look at the contrast that he hints at, between the prize that +stirs these racers' energies into such tremendous operation and +the prize which Christians profess to be pursuing. `They do it to +obtain a corruptible crown'---a twist of pine branch out of the +neighbouring grove, worth half-a-farthing, and a little passing +glory not worth much more. They do it to obtain a corruptible +crown; we do \textit{not} do it, though we professedly have an +incorruptible one as our aim and object. If we contrast the +relative values of the objects that men pursue so eagerly, and the +objects of the Christian course, surely we ought to be smitten +down with penitent consciousness of our own unworthiness, if not +of our own hypocrisy. + +It is not even there that the lesson stops, because we Christian +people may be patterns and rebukes to ourselves. For, on the one +side of our nature we show what we can do when we are really in +earnest about getting something; and on the other side we show +with how little work we can be contented, when, at bottom, we do +not much care whether we get the prize or not. If you and I really +believed that that crown of glory which Paul speaks about might be +ours, and would be all sufficing for us if it were ours, as truly +as we believe that money is a good thing, there would not be such +a difference between the way in which we clutch at the one and the +apathy which scarcely cares to put out a hand for the other. The +things that are seen and temporal do get the larger portion of the +energies and thoughts of the average Christian man, and the things +that are unseen and eternal get only what is left. Sometimes +ninety per cent. of the water of a stream is taken away to drive a +milldam or do work, and only ten per cent. can be spared to +trickle down the half-dry channel and do nothing but reflect the +bright sun and help the little flowers and the grass to grow. So, +the larger portion of most lives goes to drive the mill-wheels, +and there is very little left, in the case of many of us, in order +to help us towards God, and bring us closer into communion with +our Lord. `Run' for the crown as eagerly as you `run' for your +incomes, or for anything that you really, in your deepest desires, +want. Take yourselves for your own patterns and your own rebukes. +Your own lives may show you how you \textit{can} love, hope, work, +and deny yourselves when you have sufficient inducement, and their +flame should put to shame their frost, for the warmth is directed +towards trifles and the coldness towards the crown. If you would +run for the incorruptible prize of effort in the fashion in which +others and yourselves run for the corruptible, your whole lives +would be changed. Why! if Christian people in general really took +half---half? ay! a tenth part of---the honest, persistent pains to +improve their Christian character, and become more like Jesus +Christ, which a violinist will take to master his instrument, +there would be a new life for most of our Christian communities. +Hours and hours of patient practice are not too much for the one; +how many moments do we give to the other? `So run, that ye +obtain.' + +II. The victorious runner sets Christians an example of rigid +self-control. + +Every man that is striving for the mastery is `temperate in all +things.' The discipline for runners and athletes was rigid. They +had ten months of spare diet---no wine---hard gymnastic exercises +every day, until not an ounce of superfluous flesh was upon their +muscles, before they were allowed to run in the arena. And, says +Paul, that is the example for us. They practise this rigid +discipline and abstinence by way of preparation for the race, and +after it was run they might dispense with the training. You and I +have to practise rigid abstinence as part of the race, as a +continuous necessity. \textit{They} did not abstain only from bad +things, they did not only avoid criminal acts of sensuous +indulgence; but they abstained from many perfectly legitimate +things. So for us it is not enough to say, `I draw the line there, +at this or that vice, and I will have nothing to do with these.' +You will never make a growing Christian if abstinence from +palpable sins only is your standard. You must `lay aside' every +sin, of course, but also `every \textit{weight}' Many things are +`weights' that are not `sins'; and if we are to run fast we must +run light, and if we are to do any good in this world we have to +live by rigid control and abstain from much that is perfectly +legitimate, because, if we do not, we shall fail in accomplishing +the highest purposes for which we are here. Not only in regard to +the gross sensual indulgences which these men had to avoid, but in +regard to a great deal of the outgoings of our interests and our +hearts, we have to apply the knife very closely and cut to the +quick, if we would have leisure and sympathy and affection left +for loftier objects. It is a very easy thing to be a Christian in +one aspect, inasmuch as a Christian at bottom is a man that is +trusting to Jesus Christ, and that is not hard to do. It is a very +hard thing to be a Christian in another aspect, because a real +Christian is a man who, by reason of his trusting Jesus Christ, +has set his heel upon the neck of the animal that is in him, and +keeps the flesh well down, and not only the flesh, but the desires +of the mind as well as of the flesh, and subordinates them all to +the one aim of pleasing Him. `No man that warreth entangleth +himself with the affairs of this life' if his object is to please +Him that has called him to be a soldier. Unless we cut off a great +many of the thorns, so to speak, by which things catch hold of us +as we pass them, we shall not make much advance in the Christian +life. Rigid self-control and abstinence from else legitimate +things that draw us away from Him are needful, if we are so to run +as the poor heathen racer teaches us. + +III. The last grace that is suggested here, the last leaf to take +out of these racers' book, is definiteness and concentration of +aim. + +`I, therefore,' says the Apostle, `so run not as uncertainly.' If +the runner is now heading that way and now this, making all manner +of loops upon his path, of course he will be left hopelessly in the +rear. It is the old fable of the Grecian mythology transplanted into +Christian soil. The runner who turned aside to pick up the golden +apple was disappointed of his hopes of the radiant fair. The ship, +at the helm of which is a steersman who has either a feeble hand or +does not understand his business, and which therefore keeps yawing +from side to side, with the bows pointing now this way and now that, +is not holding a course that will make the harbour first in the +race. The people that to-day are marching with their faces towards +Zion, and to-morrow making a loop-line to the world, will be a long +time before they reach their terminus. I believe there are few +things more lacking in the average Christian life of to-day than +resolute, conscious concentration upon an aim which is clearly and +always before us. Do you know what you are aiming at? That is the +first question. Have you a distinct theory of life's purpose that +you can put into half a dozen words, or have you not? In the one +case, there is some chance of attaining your object; in the other +one, none. Alas! we find many Christian people who do not set before +themselves, with emphasis and constancy, as their aim the doing of +God's will, and so sometimes they do it, when it happens to be easy, +and sometimes, when temptations are strong, they do not. It needs a +strong hand on the tiller to keep it steady when the wind is blowing +in puffs and gusts, and sometimes the sail bellies full and +sometimes it is almost empty. The various strengths of the +temptations that blow us out of our course are such that we shall +never keep a straight line of direction, which is the shortest line, +and the only one on which we shall `obtain,' unless we know very +distinctly where we want to go, and have a good strong will that has +learned to say `No!' when the temptations come. `Whom resist +steadfast in the faith.' `I therefore so run, not as uncertainly,' +taking one course one day and another the next. + +Now, that definite aim is one that can be equally pursued in all +varieties of life. `This one thing I do' said one who did about as +many things as most people, but the different kinds of things that +Paul did were all, at bottom, one thing. And we, in all the +varieties of our circumstances, may keep this one clear aim before +us, and whether it be in this way or in that, we may be equally +and at all times seeking the better country, and bending all +circumstances and all duty to make us more like our Master and +bring us closer to Him. + +The Psalmist did not offer an impossible prayer when he said: `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, to +behold the beauty of the Lord and to enquire in His temple.' Was +David in `the house of the Lord' when he was with his sheep in the +wilderness, and when he was in Saul's palace, and when he was +living with wild beasts in dens and caves of the earth, and when +he was a fugitive, hunted like a partridge upon the mountains? Was +he always in the Lord's house? Yes! At any rate he could be. All +that we do may be doing His will, and over a life, crowded with +varying circumstances and yet simplified and made blessed by +unvarying obedience, we may write, `This one thing I do.' + +But we shall not keep this one aim clear before our eyes, unless +we habituate ourselves to the contemplation of the end. The +runner, according to Paul's vivid picture in another of his +letters, forgets the things that are behind, and stretches out +towards the things that are before. And just as a man runs with +his body inclining forward, and his eager hand nearer the prize +than his body, and his eyesight and his heart travelling ahead of +them both to grasp it, so if we want to live with the one worthy +aim for ours, and to put all our effort and faith into what +deserves it all---the Christian race---we must bring clear before +us continually, or at least with the utmost frequency, the prize +of our high calling, the crown of righteousness. Then we shall run +so that we may, at the last, be able to finish our course with +joy, and dying to hope with all humility that there is laid up for +us a crown of righteousness. + +\chapter{`Concerning the Crown'} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS ix. 25} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`They do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we are +in\-cor\-rupt\-ible.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} ix. 25. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +One of the most famous of the Greek athletic festivals was held +close by Corinth. Its prize was a pine-wreath from the +neighbouring sacred grove. The painful abstinence and training of +ten months, and the fierce struggle of ten minutes, had for their +result a twist of green leaves, that withered in a week, and a +little fading fame that was worth scarcely more, and lasted +scarcely longer. The struggle and the discipline were noble; the +end was contemptible. And so it is with all lives whose aims are +lower than the highest. They are greater in the powers they put +forth than in the objects they compass, and the question, `What is +it for?' is like a douche of cold water from the cart that lays +the clouds of dust in the ways. + +So, says Paul, praising the effort and contemning the prize, `They +do it to obtain a corruptible crown.' And yet there was a soul of +goodness in this evil thing. Though these festivals were +indissolubly intertwined with idolatry, and besmirched with much +sensuous evil, yet he deals with them as he does with war and with +slavery; points to the disguised nobility that lay beneath the +hideousness, and holds up even these low things as a pattern for +Christian men. + +But I do not mean here to speak so much about the general bearing +of this text as rather to deal with its designation of the aim and +reward of Christian energy, that `incorruptible crown' of which my +text speaks. And in doing so I desire to take into account +likewise other places in Scripture in which the same metaphor +occurs. + +I. The crown. + +Let me recall the other places where the same metaphor is +employed. We find the Apostle, in the immediate prospect of death, +rising into a calm rapture in which imprisonment and martyrdom +lose their terrors, as he thinks of the `crown of righteousness' +which the Lord will give to him. The Epistle of James, again, +assures the man who endures temptation that `the Lord will give +him the crown of life which He has promised to all them that love +Him.' The Lord Himself from heaven repeats that promise to the +persecuted Church at Smyrna: `Be thou faithful unto death, and I +will give thee a crown of life.' The elders cast their crowns +before the feet of Him that sitteth upon the throne. The Apostle +Peter, in his letter, stimulates the elders upon earth to faithful +discharge of their duty, by the hope that thereby they shall +`receive a crown of righteousness that fadeth not away.' So all +these instances taken together with this of my text enable us to +gather two or three lessons. + +It is extremely unlikely that all these instances of the +occurrence of the emblem carry with them reference, such as that +in my text, to the prize at the athletic festivals. For Peter and +James, intense Jews as they were, had probably never seen, and +possibly never heard of, the struggles at the Isthmus and at +Olympus and elsewhere. The Book of the Revelation draws its +metaphors almost exclusively from the circle of Jewish practices +and things. So that we have to look in other directions than the +arena or the racecourse to explain these other uses of the image. +It is also extremely unlikely that in these other passages the +reference is to a crown as the emblem of sovereignty, for that +idea is expressed, as a rule, by another word in Scripture, which +we have Anglicised as `diadem.' The `crown' in all these passages +is a garland twisted out of some growth of the field. In ancient +usage roses were twined for revellers; pine-shoots or olive +branches for the victors in the games; while the laurel was `the +meed of mighty conquerors'; and plaited oak leaves were laid upon +the brows of citizens who had deserved well of their country, and +myrtle sprays crowned the fair locks of the bride. + +And thus in these directions, and not towards the wrestling ground +or the throne of the monarch, must we look for the ideas suggested +by the emblem. + +Now, if we gather together all these various uses of the word, +there emerge two broad ideas, that the `crown' which is the +Christian's aim symbolises a state of triumphant repose and of +festal enjoyment. There are other aspects of that great and dim +future which correspond to other necessities of our nature, and I +suppose some harm has been done and some misconceptions have been +induced, and some unreality imported into the idea of the +Christian future, by the too exclusive prominence given to these +two ideas---victorious rest after the struggle, and abundant +satisfaction of all desires. That future is other and more than a +festival; it is other and more than repose. There are larger +fields there for the operation of powers that have been trained +and evolved here. The faithfulness of the steward is exchanged, +according to Christ's great words, for the authority of the ruler +over many cities. But still, do we not all know enough of the +worry and turbulence and strained effort of the conflict here +below, to feel that to some of our deepest and not ignoble needs +and desires that image appeals? The helmet that pressed upon the +brow even whilst it protected the brain, and wore away the hair +even whilst it was a defence, is lifted off, and on unruffled +locks the garland is intertwined that speaks victory and befits a +festival. One of the old prophets puts the same metaphor in words +imperfectly represented by the English translation, when he +promises `a crown' or a garland `for ashes'---instead of the +symbol of mourning, strewed grey and gritty upon the dishevelled +hair of the weepers, flowers twined into a wreath---`the oil of +joy for mourning,' and the festival `garment of praise' to dress +the once heavy spirit. So the satisfaction of all desires, the +accompaniments of a feast, in abundance, rejoicing and +companionship, and conclusive conquest over all foes, are promised +us in this great symbol. + +But let us look at the passages separately, and we shall find that +they present the one thought with differences, and that if we +combine these, as in a stereoscope, the picture gains solidity. + +The crown is described in three ways. It is the crown of `life,' +of `glory' and of `righteousness.' And I venture to think that +these three epithets describe the material, so to speak, of which +the wreath is composed. The everlasting flower of life, the +radiant blossoms of glory, the white flower of righteousness; +these are its components. + +I need not enlarge upon them, nor will your time allow that I +should. Here we have the promise of life, that fuller life which +men want, `the life of which our veins are scant,' even in the +fullest tide and heyday of earthly existence. The promise sets +that future over against the present, as if then first should men +know what it means to live: so buoyant, elastic, unwearied shall +be their energies, so manifold the new outlets for activity, and +the new inlets for the surrounding glory and beauty; so +incorruptible and glorious shall be their new being. Here we live +a living death; there we shall live indeed; and that will be the +crown, not only in regard to physical, but in regard to spiritual, +powers and consciousness. + +But remember that all this full tide of life is Christ's gift. +There is no such thing as natural immortality; there is no such +thing as independent life. All Being, from the lowest creature up +to the loftiest created spirit, exists by one law, the continual +impartation to it of life from the fountain of life, according to +its capacities. And unless Jesus Christ, all through the eternal +ages of the future, imparted to the happy souls that sit garlanded +at His board the life by which they live, the wreaths would wither +on their brows, and the brows would melt away, and dissolve from +beneath the wreaths. `I will give him a crown of life.' + +It is a crown of `glory,' and that means a lustrousness of +character imparted by radiation and reflection from the central +light of the glory of God. `Then shall the righteous blaze out +like the sun in the Kingdom of My Father.' Our eyes are dim, but +we can at least divine the far-off flashing of that great light, +and may ponder upon what hidden depths and miracles of transformed +perfectness and unimagined lustre wait for us, dark and limited as +we are here, in the assurance that we all shall be changed into +the `likeness of the body of His glory.' + +It is a crown of `righteousness.' Though that phrase may mean the +wreath that rewards righteousness, it seems more in accordance +with the other similar expressions to which I have referred to +regard it, too, as the material of which the crown is composed. It +is not enough that there should be festal gladness, not enough +that there should be calm repose, not enough that there should be +flashing glory, not enough that there should be fulness of life. +To accord with the intense moral earnestness of the Christian +system there must be, emphatically, in the Christian hope, +cessation of all sin and investiture with all purity. The word +means the same thing as the ancient promise, `Thy people shall be +all righteous.' It means the same thing as the latest promise of +the ascended Christ, `They shall walk with Me in white.' And it +sets, I was going to say, the very climax and culmination on the +other hopes, declaring that absolute, stainless, infallible +righteousness which one day shall belong to our weak and sinful +spirits. + +These, then, are the elements, and on them all is stamped the +signature of perpetuity. The victor's wreath is tossed on the +ashen heap, the reveller's flowers droop as he sits in the heat of +the banqueting-hall; the bride's myrtle blossom fades though she +lay it away in a safe place. The crown of life is incorruptible. +It is twined of amaranth, ever blossoming into new beauty and +never fading. + +II. Now look, secondly, at the discipline by which the crown is +won. + +Observe, first of all, that in more than one of the passages to +which we have already referred great emphasis is laid upon Christ +as \textit{giving} the crown. That is to say, that blessed future +is not won by effort, but is bestowed as a free gift. It is given +from the hands which have procured it, and, as I may say, twined +it for us. Unless His brows had been pierced with the crown of +thorns, ours would never have worn the garland of victory. Jesus +provides the sole means, by His work, by which any man can enter +into that inheritance; and Jesus, as the righteous Judge who +bestows the rewards, which are likewise the results, of our life +here, gives the crown. It remains for ever the gift of His love. +`The wages of sin is death,' but we rise above the region of +retribution and desert when we pass to the next clause---`the gift +of God is eternal life,' and that `through Jesus Christ.' + +Whilst, then, this must be laid as the basis of all, there must +also, with equal earnestness and clearness, be set forth the other +thought that Christ's gift has conditions, which conditions these +passages plainly set forth. In the one, which I have read as a +text, we have these conditions declared as being +twofold---protracted discipline and continuous effort. The same +metaphor employed by the same Apostle, in his last dying +utterance, associates his consciousness that he had fought the +good fight and run his race, like the pugilists and runners of the +arena, with the hope that he shall receive the crown of +righteousness. James declares that it is given to the man who +\textit{endures} temptation, not only in the sense of bearing, but +of so bearing as not thereby to be injured in Christian character +and growth in Christian life. Peter asserts that it is the reward +of self-denying discharge of duty. And the Lord from heaven lays +down the condition of faithfulness unto death as the necessary +pre-requisite of His gift of the crown of life. In two of the +passages there is included, though not precisely on the level of +these other requirements, the love of Him and the love of `His +appearing,' as the necessary qualifications for the gift of the +crown. + +So, to begin with, unless a man has such a love to Jesus Christ as +that he is happy in His presence, and longs to have Him near, as +parted loving souls do; and, especially, is looking forward to +that great judicial coming, and feeling that there is no tremor in +his heart at the prospect of meeting the Judge, but an outgoing of +desire and love at the hope of seeing his Saviour and his Friend, +what right has he to expect the crown? None. And he will never get +it. There is a test for us which may well make some of us ask +ourselves, Are we Christians, then, at all? + +And then, beyond that, there are all these other conditions which +I have pointed out, which may be gathered into one---strenuous +discharge of daily duty and continual effort after following in +Christ's footsteps. + +This needs to be as fully and emphatically preached as the other +doctrine that eternal life is the gift of God. All manner of +mischiefs may come, and have come, from either of these twin +thoughts, wrenched apart. But let us weave them as closely +together as the stems of the flowers that make the garlands are +twined, and feel that there is a perfect consistency of both in +theory, and that there must be a continual union of both, in our +belief and in our practice. Eternal life is the gift of God, on +condition of our diligence and earnestness. It is not all the same +whether you are a lazy Christian or not. It does make an eternal +difference in our condition whether here we `run with patience the +race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus.' We have to +receive the crown as a gift; we have to wrestle and run, as +contending for a prize. + +III. And now, lastly, note the power of the reward as motive for +life. + +Paul says roundly in our text that the desire to obtain the +incorruptible crown is a legitimate spring of Christian action. +Now, I do not need to waste your time and my own in defending +Christian morality from the fantastic objection that it is low and +selfish, because it encourages itself to efforts by the prospect +of the crown. If there are any men who are Christians---if such a +contradiction can be even stated in words---only because of what +they hope to gain thereby in another world, they will not get what +they hope for; and they would not like it if they did. I do not +believe that there are any such; and sure I am, if there are, that +it is not Christianity that has made them so. But a thought that +we must not take as a supreme motive, we may rightly accept as a +subsidiary encouragement. We are not Christians unless the +dominant motive of our lives be the love of the Lord Jesus Christ; +and unless we feel a necessity, because of loving Him, to aim to +be like Him. But, that being so, who shall hinder me from +quickening my flagging energies, and stimulating my torpid faith, +and encouraging my cowardice, by the thought that yonder there +remain rest, victory, the fulness of life, the flashing of glory, +and the purity of perfect righteousness? If such hopes are low and +selfish as motives, would God that more of us were obedient to +such low and selfish motives! + +Now it seems to me, that this spring of action is not as strong in +the Christians of this day as it used to be, and as it should be. +You do not hear much about heaven in ordinary preaching. I do not +think it occupies a very large place in the average Christian +man's mind. We have all got such a notion nowadays of the great +good that the Gospel does in society and in the present, and some +of us have been so frightened by the nonsense that has been talked +about the `other-worldliness' of Christianity---as if that was a +disgrace to it---that it seems to me that the future of glory and +blessedness has very largely faded away, as a motive for Christian +men's energies, like the fresco off a neglected convent wall. + +And I want to say, dear brethren, that I believe, for my part, +that we suffer terribly by the comparative neglect into which this +side of Christian truth has fallen. Do you not think that it would +make a difference to you if you really believed, and carried +always with you in your thoughts, the thrilling consciousness that +every act of the present was registered, and would tell on the far +side yonder? + +We do not know much of that future, and these days are intolerant +of mere unverifiable hypotheses. But accuracy of knowledge and +definiteness of impression do not always go together, nor is there +the fulness of the one wanted for the clearness and force of the +other. Though the thread which we throw across the abyss is very +slender, it is strong enough, like the string of a boy's kite, to +bear the messengers of hope and desire that we may send up by it, +and strong enough to bear the gifts of grace that will surely come +down along it. + +We cannot understand to-day unless we look at it with eternity for +a background. The landscape lacks its explanation, until the mists +lift and we see the white summits of the Himalayas lying behind +and glorifying the low sandy plain. Would your life not be +different; would not the things in it that look great be +wholesomely dwindled and yet be magnified; would not sorrow be +calmed, and life become `a solemn scorn of ills,' and energies be +stimulated, and all be different, if you really `did it to obtain +an incorruptible crown?' + +Brethren, let us try to keep more clearly before us, as solemn and +blessed encouragement in our lives, these great thoughts. The +garland hangs on the goal, but `a man is not crowned unless he +strive according to the laws' of the arena. The laws are two---No +man can enter for the conflict but by faith in Christ; no man can +win in the struggle but by faithful effort. So the first law is, +`Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,' and the second is, `Hold fast +that thou hast; let no man take thy crown.' + +\chapter{The Limits of Liberty} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS x. 23--33} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all +things are lawful for me, but all things edify not. 24.\ Let no man +seek his own, but every man another's wealth. 25.\ Whatsoever is +sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience +sake. 26.\ For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. +27.\ If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be +disposed to go, whatsoever is set before you eat, asking no question +for conscience sake. 28.\ But if any man say unto you, This is +offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed +it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's and the +fulness thereof: 29.\ Conscience, I say, not thine own, but of the +other: for why is my liberty judged of another man's conscience? +30.\ For if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for +that for which I give thanks? 31.\ Whether therefore ye eat, or +drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 32.\ Give +none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the +church of God: 33.\ Even as I please all men in all things, not +seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be +saved.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} x. 23--33. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +This passage strikingly illustrates Paul's constant habit of +solving questions as to conduct by the largest principles. He did +not keep his `theology' and his ethics in separate water-tight +compartments, having no communication with each other. The +greatest truths were used to regulate the smallest duties. Like +the star that guided the Magi, they burned high in the heavens, +but yet directed to the house in Bethlehem. + +The question here in hand was one that pressed on the Corinthian +Christians, and is very far away from our experience. Idolatry had +so inextricably intertwined itself with daily life that it was +hard to keep up any intercourse with non-Christians without +falling into constructive idolatry; and one very constantly +obtruding difficulty was that much of the animal food served on +private tables had been slaughtered as sacrifices or with certain +sacrificial rites. What was a Christian to do in such a case? To +eat or not to eat? Both views had their vehement supporters in the +Corinthian church, and the importance of the question is manifest +from the large space devoted to it in this letter. + +In chapter viii. we have a weighty paragraph, in which one phase +of the difficulty is dealt with---the question whether a Christian +ought to attend a feast in an idol temple, where, of course, the +viands had been offered as sacrifices. But in chapter x. Paul +deals with the case in which the meat had been bought in the +flesh-market, and so was not necessarily sacrificial. Paul's +manner of handling the point is very instructive. He envelops, as +it were, the practical solution in a wrapping of large principles; +verses 23, 24 precede the specific answer, and are general +principles; verses 25--30 contain the practical answer; verses +31--33 and verse 1 of the next chapter are again general +principles, wide and imperative enough to mould all conduct, as +well as to settle the matter immediately in hand, which, important +as it was at Corinth, has become entirely uninteresting to us. + +We need not spend time in elucidating the specific directions +given as to the particular question in hand further than to note +the immense gift of saving common-sense which Paul had, and how +sanely and moderately he dealt with his problem. His advice +was---`Don't ask where the joint set before you came from. If you +do not know that it was offered, your eating of it does not commit +you to idol worship.' No doubt there were Corinthian Christians +with inflamed consciences who did ask such questions, and rather +prided themselves on their strictness and rigidity; but Paul would +have them let sleeping dogs lie. If, however, the meat is known to +have been offered to an idol, then Paul is as rigid and strict as +they are. That combination of willingness to go as far as +possible, and inflexible determination not to go one step farther, +of yieldingness wherever principle does not come in, and of iron +fixedness wherever it does, is rare indeed, but should be aimed at +by all Christians. The morality of the Gospel would make more way +in the world if its advocates always copied the `sweet +reasonableness' of Paul, which, as he tells us in this passage, he +learned from Jesus. + +As to the wrapping of general principles, they may all be reduced +to one---the duty of limiting Christian liberty by consideration +for others. In the two verses preceding the practical precepts, +that duty is stated with reference entirely to the obligations +flowing from our relationship to others. We are all bound together +by a mystical chain of solidarity. Since every man is my +neighbour, I am bound to think of him and not only of myself in +deciding what I may do or refrain from doing. I must abstain from +lawful things if, by doing them, I should be likely to harm my +neighbour's building up of a strong character. I can, or I believe +that I can, pursue some course of conduct, engage in some +enterprise, follow some line of life, without damage to myself, +either in regard to worldly position, or in regard to my religious +life. Be it so, but I have to take some one else into account. +Will my example call out imitation in others, to whom it may be +harmful or fatal to do as I can do with real or supposed impunity? +If so, I am guilty of something very like murder if I do not +abstain. + +`What harm is there in betting a shilling? I can well afford to +lose it, and I can keep myself from the feverish wish to risk +more.' Yes, and you are thereby helping to hold up that gambling +habit which is ruining thousands. + +`I can take alcohol in moderation, and it does me no harm, and I +can go to a prayer-meeting after my dinner and temperate glass, +and I am within my Christian liberty in doing so.' Yes, and you +take part thereby in the greatest curse that besets our country, +and are, by countenancing the drink habit, guilty of the blood of +souls. How any Christian man can read these two verses and not +abstain from all intoxicants is a mystery. They cut clean through +all the pleas for moderate drinking, and bring into play another +set of principles which limit liberty by regard to others' good. +Surely, if there was ever a subject to which these words apply, it +is the use of alcohol, the proved cause of almost all the crime +and poverty on both sides of the Atlantic. To the Christians who +plead their `liberty' we can only say, `Happy is he that +condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.' + +The same general considerations reappear in the verses following +the specific precept, but with a difference. The neighbour's +profit is still put forth as the limiting consideration, but it is +elevated to a higher sacredness of obligation by being set in +connection with the `glory of God' and the example of Christ. `Do +all to the glory of God.' To put the thought here into modern +English---Could you ask a blessing over a glass of spirits when +you think that, though it should do you no harm, your taking it +may, as it were, tip some weak brother over the precipice? Can you +drink to God's glory when you know that drink is slaying thousands +body and soul, and that hopeless drunkards are made by wholesale +out of moderate drinkers? `Give no occasion of stumbling'; do not +by your example tempt others into risky courses. And remember that +`neighbour' (verse 24) resolves itself into `Jews' and `Greeks' +and the `Church of God'---that is, substantially to your own race +and other races---to men with whom you have affinities, and to men +with whom you have none. + +A Christian man is bound to shape his life so that no man shall be +able to say of him that he was the occasion of that one's fall. He +is so bound because every man is his neighbour. He is so bound +because he is bound to live to the glory of God, which can never +be advanced by laying stumbling-blocks in the way for feeble feet. +He is so bound because, unless Christ had limited Himself within +the bound of manhood, and had sought not His own profit or +pleasure, we should have had neither life nor hope. For all these +reasons, the duty of thinking of others, and of abstaining, for +their sakes, from what one might do, is laid on all Christians. +How do they discharge that duty who will not forswear alcohol for +their neighbour's sake? + +\chapter{`In Remembrance of Me'} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xi. 24} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`This do in remembrance of Me.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xi. 24. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The account of the institution of the Lord's Supper, contained in +this context, is very much the oldest extant narrative of that +event. It dates long before any of the Gospels, and goes up, +probably, to somewhere about five and twenty years after the +Crucifixion. It presupposes a previous narrative which had been +orally delivered to the Corinthians, and, as the Apostle alleges, +was derived by him from Christ Himself. It is intended to correct +corruptions in the administration of the rite which must have +taken some time to develop themselves. And so we are carried back +to a period very close indeed to the first institution of the +rite, by the words before us. + +No reasonable doubt can exist, then, that within a very few years +of our Lord's death, the whole body of Christian people believed +that Jesus Christ Himself appointed the Lord's Supper. I do not +stay to dwell upon the value of a rite contemporaneous with the +fact which it commemorates, and continuously lasting throughout +the ages, as a witness of the historical veracity of the alleged +fact; but I want to fix upon this thought, that Jesus Christ, who +cared very little for rites, who came to establish a religion +singularly independent of any outward form, did establish two +rites, one of them to be done once in a Christian lifetime, one of +them to be repeated with indefinite frequency, and, as it appears, +at first repeated daily by the early believers. The reason why +these two, and only these two, external ordinances were appointed +by Jesus Christ was, that, taken together, they cover the whole +ground of revealed fact, and they also cover the whole ground of +Christian experience. There is no room for any other rites, +because these two, the rite of initiation, which is baptism, and +the rite of commemoration, which is the Lord's Supper, say +everything about Christianity as a revelation, and about +Christianity as a living experience. + +Not only so, but in the simple primitive form of the Lord's Supper +there is contained a reference to the past, the present and the +future. It covers all time as well as all revelation and all +Christian experience. For the past, as the text shows us, it is a +memorial of one Person, and one fact in that Person's life. For +the present, it is the symbol of the Christian life, as that great +sixth chapter in John's gospel sets forth; and for the future, it +is a prophecy, as our Lord Himself said on that night in the upper +chamber, `Till I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom,' +and as the Apostle in this context says, `Till He come.' It is to +these three aspects of this ordinance, as the embodiment of all +essential Christian truth, and as the embodiment of all deep +Christian experience, covering the past, the present, and the +future, that I wish to turn now. I do not deal so much with the +mere words of my text as with this threefold significance of the +rite which it appoints. + +I. So then, first, we have to think of it as a memorial of the +past. + +`Do this,' is the true meaning of the words, not `in remembrance +of Me,' but something far more sweet and pathetic---`do this for +the \textit{remembering} of Me.' The former expression is equal to +`Do this because you remember.' The real meaning of the words is, +`Do this in case you forget'; do this in order that you may recall +to memory what the slippery memory is so apt to lose---the +impression of even the sweetest sweetness, of the most loving +love, and the most self-abnegating sacrifice, which He offered for +us. + +There is something to me infinitely pathetic and beautiful in +looking at the words not only as the commandment of the Lord, but +as the appeal of the Friend, who wished, as we all do, not to be +utterly forgotten by those whom He cared for and loved; and who, +not only because their remembrance was their salvation, but +because their forgetfulness pained His human heart, brings to +their hearts the plaintive appeal: `Do not forget Me when I am +gone away from you; and even if you have no better way of +remembering Me, take these poor symbols, to which I am not too +proud to entrust the care of My memory, and do this, lest you +forget Me.' + +But, dear brethren, there are deeper thoughts than this, on which +I must dwell briefly. `In remembrance of Me'---Jesus Christ, then, +takes up an altogether unique and solitary position here, and into +the sacredest hours of devotion and the loftiest moments of +communion with God, intrudes His personality, and says, `When you +are most religious, remember Me; and let the highest act of your +devout life be a thought turned to Myself.' + +Now, I want you to ask, is that thought diverted from God? And if +it is not, how comes it not to be? I want you honestly to ask +yourselves this question---what did \textit{He} think about +Himself who, at that moment, when all illusions were vanishing, +and life was almost at its last ebb, took the most solemn rite of +His nation and laid it solemnly aside and said: `A greater than +Moses is here; a greater deliverance is being wrought': `Remember +Me.' Is that insisting on His own personality, and making the +remembrance of it the very apex and shining summit of all +religious aspiration---is that the work of one about whom all that +we have to say is, He was the noblest of men? If so, then I want +to know how Jesus Christ, in that upper chamber, founding the sole +continuous rite of the religion which He established, and making +its heart and centre the remembrance of His own personality, can +be cleared from the charge of diverting to Himself what belongs to +God only, and how you and I, if we obey His commands, escape the +crime of idolatry and man-worship? `Do this in remembrance,'---not +of God---`in remembrance of Me,' `and let memory, with all its +tendrils, clasp and cleave to My person.' What an extraordinary +demand! It is obscuring God, unless the `Me' \textit{is} God +manifest in the flesh. + +Then, still further, let me remind you that in the appointment of +this solitary rite as His memorial to all generations, Jesus +Christ Himself designates one part of His whole manifestation as +the part into which all its pathos, significance, and power are +concentrated. We who believe that the death of Christ is the life +of the world, are told that one formidable objection to our belief +is that Jesus Christ Himself said so little during His life about +His death. I believe His reticence upon that question is much +exaggerated, but apart altogether from that, I believe also that +there was a necessity in the order of the evolution of divine +truth, for the reticence, such as it is, because, whatsoever might +be possible to Moses and Elias, on the Mount of Transfiguration, +`His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem,' could not +be much spoken about in the plain till it had been accomplished. +But, apart from both of these considerations, reflect, that +whether He said much about His death or not, He said something +very much to the purpose about it when He said `Do this in +remembrance of Me.' + +It is not His personality only that we are to remember. The whole +of the language of the institution of the ritual, as well as the +form of the rite, and its connection with the ancient passover, +and its connection with the new covenant into connection with +which Christ Himself brings it, all point to the significance in +His eyes of His death as the Sacrifice for the world's sin. +Wherefore `the body' and `the blood' separately remembered, except +to indicate death by violence? Wherefore the language `the body +\textit{broken} for you'; `the blood \textit{shed} for many for +the remission of sins?' Wherefore the association with the +Passover sacrifice? Wherefore the declaration that `this is the +blood of the Covenant,' unless all tended to the one thought---His +death is the foundation of all loving relationships possible to us +with God; and the condition of the remission of sins---the +Sacrifice for the whole world?' + +This is the point that He desires us to remember; this is that +which He would have live for ever in our grateful hearts. + +I say nothing about the absolute exclusion of any other purpose of +this memorial rite. If it was the mysterious thing that the +superstition of later ages has made of it, how, in the name of +common-sense, does it come that not one syllable, looking in that +direction, dropped from His lips when He established it? Surely +He, in that upper chamber, knew best what He meant, and what He +was doing when He established the rite; and I, for my part, am +contented to be told that I believe in a poor, bald Zwinglianism, +when I say with my Master, that the purpose of the Lord's Supper +is simply the commemoration, and therein the proclamation, of His +death. There is no magic, no mystery, no `sacrament' about it. It +blesses us when it makes us remember Him. It does the same thing +for us which any other means of bringing Him to mind does. It does +that through a different vehicle. A sermon does it by words, the +Communion does it by symbols. That is the difference to be found +between them. And away goes the whole fabric of superstitious +Christianity, and all its mischiefs and evils, when once you +accept the simple `Remember.' Christ told us what He meant by the +rite when He said `Do this in remembrance of Me.' + +II. And now one word or two more about the other particulars which +I have suggested. The past, however sweet and precious, is not +enough for any soul to live upon. And so this memorial rite, just +because it is memorial, is a symbol for the present. + +That is taught us in the great chapter---the sixth of John's +Gospel---which was spoken long before the institution of the +Lord's Supper, but expresses in words the same ideas which it +expresses by material forms. The Christ who died is the Christ who +lives, and must be lived upon by the Christian. If our relation to +Jesus Christ were only that `Once in the end of the ages He +appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself'; and if we +had to look back through lengthening vistas of distance and +thickening folds of oblivion, simply to a historical past, in +which He was once offered, the retrospect would not have the +sweetness in it which it now has. But when we come to this thought +that the Christ who was for us is also the Christ in us, and that +He is not the Christ for us unless He is the Christ in us; and His +death will never wash away our sins unless we feed upon Him, here +and now, by faith and meditation, then the retrospect becomes +blessedness. The Christian life is not merely the remembrance of a +historical Christ in the past, but it is the present participation +in a living Christ, with us now. + +He is near each of us that we may make Him the very food of our +spirits. We are to live upon Him. He is to be incorporated within +us by our own act. This is no mysticism, it is a piece of simple +reality. There is no Christian life without it. The true life of +the believer is just the feeding of our souls upon Him,---our +minds accepting, meditating upon, digesting the truths which are +incarnated in Jesus; our hearts feeding upon the love which is so +tender, warm, stooping, and close; our wills feeding upon and +nourished by the utterance of His will in commandments which to +know is joy and to keep is liberty; our hopes feeding upon Him who +is our Hope, and in whom they find no chaff and husks of +peradventures, but the pure wheat of `Verily! verily I say unto +you'; the whole nature thus finding its nourishment in Jesus +Christ. You are Christians in the measure in which the very +strength of your spirits, and sustenance of all your faculties, +are found in loving communion with the living Lord. + +Remember, too, that all this communion, intimate, sweet, sacred, +is possible only, or at all events is in its highest forms and +most blessed reality, possible only, to those who approach Him +through the gate of His death. The feeding upon the living Christ +which will be the strength of our hearts and our portion for ever, +must be a feeding upon the whole Christ. We must not only nourish +our spirits on the fact that He was incarnated for our salvation, +but also on the truth that He was crucified for our acceptance +with God. `He that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me,' has for +its deepest explanation, `He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My +blood hath eternal life.' + +My friends, what about the hunger of your souls? Where is it +satisfied? With the swine's husks, or with the `Bread of God which +came down from Heaven?' + +III. Now, lastly, that rite which is a memorial and a symbol is +also a prophecy. + +In the original words of the institution our Lord Himself makes +reference to the future; `till I drink it new with you in My +Father's kingdom.' And in the context here, the Apostle provides +for the perpetual continuance, and emphasises the prophetic +aspect, of the rite, by that word, `till He come.' His death +necessarily implies His coming again. The Cross and the Throne are +linked together by an indissoluble bond. Being what it is, the +death cannot be the end. Being what He is, if He has once been +offered to bear the sins of many, so He must come the second time +without sin unto salvation. The rite, just because it is a rite, +is the prophecy of a time when the need for it, arising from weak +flesh and an intrusive world, shall cease. `They shall say no +more, The ark of the covenant of the Lord; at that time they shall +call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord.' There shall be no temple +in that great city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are +the Temple thereof. So all external worship is a prophecy of the +coming of the perfect time, when that which is perfect being come, +the external helps and ladders to climb to the loftiest shall be +done away. + +But more than that, the memorial and symbol is a prophecy. That +upper chamber, with its troubled thoughts, its unbidden tears, +starting to the eyes of the half-understanding listeners, who only +felt that He was going away and the sweet companionship was +dissolved, may seem to be but a blurred and a poor image of the +better communion of heaven. But though on that sad night the +Master bore a burdened heart, and the servants had but partial +apprehension and a more partial love; though He went forth to +agonise and to die, and they went forth to deny and to betray, and +to leave Him alone, still it was a prophecy of Christ's table in +His kingdom. Heaven is to be a feast. That representation promises +society to the solitary, rest to the toilers, the oil of joy for +mourning, and the full satisfaction of all desires. That heavenly +feast surpasses indeed the antitype in the upper chamber, in that +there the Master Himself partook not, and yonder we shall sup with +Him and He with us, but is prophetic in that, as there He took a +towel and girded Himself and washed the disciples' feet, so yonder +He will come forth Himself and serve them. The future is unlike +the prophetic past in that `we shall go no more out'; there shall +be no sequences of sorrow, and struggle, and distance and +ignorance; but like it in that we shall feast on Christ, for +through eternity the glorified Jesus will be the Bread of our +spirits, and the fact of His past sacrifice the foundation of our +hopes. + +So, dear brethren, though our external celebration of this rite be +dashed, as it always is, with much ignorance and with feeble +faith; and though we gather round this table as the first +generation of Israelites did round the passover, of which it is +the successor, with staff in hand and loins girded, and have to +eat it often with bitter herbs mingled, and though there be at our +sides empty places, yet even in our clouded and partial +apprehension, and in the imperfections of this outward type, we +may see a gracious shadow of what is waiting for us when we shall +go no more out, and all empty places shall be filled, and the +bitter herbs shall be changed for the asphodel of Heaven and the +sweet flowerage round the throne of God, and we shall feast upon +the Christ, and in the loftiest experience of the utmost glories +of the Heavens, shall remember the bitter Cross and agony as that +which has bought it all. `This do in remembrance of Me.' May it be +a symbol of our inmost life, and the prophecy of the Heaven to +which we each shall come! + +\chapter{The Universal Gift} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xii. 7} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit +withal.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xii. 7. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The great fact which to-day\footnote{Whitsunday.} commemorates is +too often regarded as if it were a transient gift, limited to +those on whom it was first bestowed. We sometimes hear it said +that the great need of the Christian world is a second Pentecost, +a fresh outpouring of the Spirit of God and the like. Such a way +of thinking and speaking misconceives the nature and significance +of the first Pentecost, which had a transient element in it, but +in essence was permanent. The rushing mighty wind and the cloven +tongues of fire, and the strange speech in many languages, were +all equally transient. The rushing wind swept on, and the house +was no more filled with it. The tongues flickered into +invisibility and disappeared from the heads. The hubbub of many +languages was quickly silent. But that which these things but +symbolised is permanent; and we are not to think of Pentecost as +if it were a sudden gush from a great reservoir, and the sluice +was let down again after it, but as if it were the entrance into a +dry bed, of a rushing stream, whose first outgush was attended +with noise, but which thereafter flows continuous and unbroken. If +churches or individuals are scant of that gift, it is not because +it has not been bestowed, but because it has not been accepted. + +My text tells us two things: it unconditionally and broadly +asserts that every Christian possesses this great gift---the +manifestation is given to every man; and then it asserts that the +gift of each is meant to be utilised for the good of all. `The +manifestation is given to every man to profit withal.' + +I. Let me, then, say a word or two, to begin with, about the +universality of this gift. + +Now, that is implied in our Lord's own language, as commented upon +by the Evangelist. For Jesus Christ declared that this was the +standing law of His kingdom, to be universally applied to all its +members, that `He that believeth on Him, out of him shall flow +rivers of living water'; and the Evangelist's comment goes on to +say, `This spake He of the Spirit which they that believe on Him +should receive.' \textit{There} is the condition and the +qualification. Wherever there is faith, there the Spirit of God is +bestowed, and bestowed in the measure in which faith is exercised. +So, then, in full accordance with such fundamental principles in +reference to the gift of the Spirit of God, comes the language of +my text, and of many another text to which I cannot do more than +refer. But let me just quote one or two of them, in order that I +may make more emphatic what I believe a great many Christian +people do not realise as they ought---viz. that the gift of God's +Holy Spirit is not a thing to be desired, as if it were not +possessed or confined to select individuals, or manifested by +exceptional and lofty attainments, but is the universal heritage +of the whole Christian Church. `Know ye not that ye are the temple +of the Holy Ghost?' `We have all been made to drink into one +Spirit,' says Paul again, in the immediate context. `If any man +have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His,' says he, +unconditionally. And in many other places the same principle is +laid down, a principle which I believe the Christian Church to-day +needs to have recalled to its consciousness, that it may be +quickened to realise it in its experience far more than is the +case at present. + +Let me remind you, too, that that universality of the gifts of the +Divine Spirit is implied in the very conception of what Christ's +work, in its deepest and most precious aspects to us, is. For we +are not to limit, as a great many so-called earnest evangelical +teachers and believers do---we are not to limit His work to that +which is effected when a man first becomes a Christian---viz. +pardon and acceptance with God. God forbid that I should ever seem +to underrate that great initial gift on which everything else must +be built. But I am not underrating it when I say, `Let us prophesy +according to the proportion of faith,' and the `proportion of +faith' has been violated, and the perspective and completeness of +Christian truth, and of Christ's gifts, have been, alas! to a very +large extent distorted because Christian people, trained in what +we call the evangelical school, have laid far too little emphasis +on the fact that the essential gift of Christ to His people is not +pardon, nor acceptance, nor justification, but \textit{life}; and +that forgiveness, and altered relationship to God, and assurance +of acceptance with Him, are all preliminaries. They are, if I may +recur to a figure that I have already employed, the preparing of +the channel, and the taking away of the obstacles that block its +mouth, in order to the inrush of the flood of the river of the +water of life. + +This life that Christ gives is the result of the gift of the +Spirit. So `If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of +His.' The life is the gift considered from our side, and the +Spirit is the gift considered from the divine side. `Every man +that hath the Son hath life'; because the law of the Spirit of +life in Christ has made him free from the law of sin and death. So +you see if that is true---and I for my part am sure that it +is---then all that vulgar way of looking at the influences of the +Holy Spirit upon men, as if they were confined to certain +exceptional people, or certain abnormal and extraordinary and +elevated acts, is swept away. It is not the spasmodic, the +exceptional, the rare, not the lofty or transcendentally +Christlike acts or characters that are alone the manifestation of +the Spirit. + +Nor is this gift a thing that a man can discover as distinct from +his own consciousness. The point where the river of the water of +life comes into the channel of our spirits lies away far up, near +the sources, and long before the stream comes into sight in our +own consciousness, the blended waters have been inseparably +mingled, and flow on peacefully together. `The Spirit beareth +witness \textit{with} our spirits'; and you are not to expect that +you can hear two voices speaking, but it is one voice and one +only. + +Now, that universality of this divine gift underlies the very +constitution of the Christian Church. `Where the Spirit of the +Lord is there is liberty,' said Paul. It is because each Christian +man has access to the one Source of illumination and of truth and +righteousness and holiness, that no Christian man is to become +subject to the dominion of a brother. And it is because on the +servants and on the handmaidens has been poured out, in these +days, God's Spirit and they prophesy, that all domination of +classes or individuals, and all stiffening of the free life of +God's Church by man-made creeds, are contrary to the very basis of +its existence, and an attack on the dignity of each individual +member of the Church. `Ye have an unction from the Holy One' is +said to all Christian people---and `ye need not that any man teach +you,' still less that any man, or body of men, or document framed +by men, should be set up as normal and authoritative over Christ's +free people. + +Still further, and only one word---Let me remind you of what I +have already said, and what is only too sadly true, that this +grand universality of the Spirit's gift to all Christian people +does not fill, in the mind of the ordinary Christian man, the +place that it ought, and it does not fill it, therefore, in his +experience. I say no more upon that point. + +II. And now let me say a word, secondly, about the many-sidedness +of this universal gift. + +One of the reasons why Christian people as a whole do not realise +the universality as they ought is, as I have already suggested in +a somewhat different connection, because they limit their notions +far too much of what the gift of God's Spirit is to do to men. We +must take a wider view of what that Spirit is meant to effect than +we ordinarily take, before we understand how real and how visible +its universal manifestations are. Take a leaf out of the Old +Testament. The man who made the brass-work for the Tabernacle was +`full of the Spirit of God.' The poets who sung the Psalms, in +more than one place, declare of themselves that they, too, were +but the harps upon which the divine finger played. Samson was +capable of his rude feats of physical strength, because `the +Spirit of God was upon him.' Art, song, counsel, statesmanlike +adaptation of means to ends, and discernment of proper courses for +a nation, such as were exemplified in Joseph and in Daniel, are, +in the Old Testament, ascribed to the Spirit of God, and even the +rude physical strength of the simple-natured and sensuous athlete +is traced up to the same source. + +But again, we see another sphere of the Spirit's working in the +manifestations of it in the experience of the primitive Church. +These are, as we all know, accompanied with miracles, speaking +with tongues and working wonders. The signs of that Spirit in +those days were visible and audible. As I said, when the river +first came into its bed, it came like the tide in Morecambe Bay, +breast-high, with a roar and a rush. But it was quiet after that. +In the context we have a whole series of manifestations of this +Divine Spirit, some of them miraculous and some being natural +faculties heightened, but all concerned with the Church as a +society, and being for the benefit of the community. + +But there is another class. If you turn to the Epistle to the +Galatians, you will find a wonderful list there of what the +Apostle calls `the fruit of the Spirit,' beginning with `love, +joy, peace.' These are all moral and religious, bearing upon +personal experience and the completeness of the individual +character. + +Now, let us include all these aspects in our conception of the +fruit of the Spirit's working on men---the secular, if we may use +that word, as exhibited in the Old Testament; the miraculous, as +seen in the first days of the Church; the ecclesiastical, if we +may so designate the endowments mentioned in the context, and the +purely personal, moral, and religious emotions and acts. The plain +fact is that everything in a Christian's life, except his sin, is +the manifestation of that Divine Spirit, from whom all good +thoughts, counsels, and works do proceed. He is the `Spirit of +adoption,' and whenever in my heart there rises warm and blessed +the aspiration `Abba! Father!' it is not my voice only, but the +voice of that Divine Spirit. He is the Spirit of intercession; and +whenever in my soul there move yearning desires after infinite +good, child-like longings to be knit more closely to Him, that, +too, is the voice of God's Spirit; and our prayers are then +`sweet, indeed, when He the Spirit gives by which we pray.' In +like manner, all the variety of Christian emotions and experiences +is to be traced to the conjoint operation of that Divine Spirit as +the source, and my own spirit as influenced by, and the organ of, +the Spirit of God. If I may take a very rough illustration, there +is a story in the Old Testament about a king, to whom were given a +bow and arrow, with the command to shoot. The prophet's hand was +laid on the king's weak hand, and the weak hand was strengthened +by the touch of the other; and with one common pull they drew back +the string and the arrow sped. The king drew the bow, but it was +the prophet's hand grasping his wrist that gave him strength to do +it. And that is how the Spirit of God will work with us if we +will. + +III. Finally, consider the purpose of all the diverse +manifestations of the one universal gift. + +`To profit withal'---for his own good who possesses it, and for +the good of all the rest of his brethren. + +Now, that involves two plain things. There have been people in the +Christian Church who have said, `We have all the Spirit, and +therefore we do not need one another.' There may be isolation, and +self-sufficiency, and a host of other evils coming in, if we only +grasp the thought, `The manifestation of the Spirit is given to +every man,' but they are all corrected if we go on and say, `to +profit withal.' For every one of us has something, and no one of +us has everything; so, on the one hand, we want each other, and, +on the other hand, we are responsible for the use of what we have. + +You get the life, not in order that you may plume yourself on its +possession, nor in order that you may ostentatiously display it, +still less in order that you may shut it up and do nothing with +it; but you get the life in order that it may spread through you +to others. + +\begin{verse} +`The least flower with a brimming cup may stand, \\ + And share its dew-drop with another near.' +\end{verse} + +\noindent We each have the life that God's grace may fructify +through us to all. Power is duty; endowment is obligation; +capacity prescribes work. `The manifestation of the Spirit is +given to every man to profit withal.' + +You can regulate the flow. You have the sluice; you can shut it or +open it. I have said that the condition, and the only condition, +of possessing the fulness of God's Spirit is faith in Jesus +Christ. Therefore, the more you trust the more you have, and the +less your faith the less the gift. You can get much or little, +according to the greatness or the smallness, the fixity or the +transiency, of your desires. If you hold the empty cup with a +tremulous hand, the precious liquid will not be poured into +it---for some of it will be spilt---in the same fulness as it +would be if you held it steadily. It is the old story---the +miraculous flow of the oil stopped when the widow had no more pots +and vessels to bring. The reason why some of us have so little of +that Divine Spirit is because we have not held out our vessels to +be filled. You can diminish the flow by ignoring it, and that is +what a host of so-called Christian people do nowadays. You can +diminish it by neglecting to use the little that you have for the +purpose for which it was given you. Does anybody profit by your +spiritual life? Do you profit much by it yourselves? Has it ever +been of the least good to anybody else in the world? `The +manifestation of the Spirit is given to' you, if you are a +Christian man or woman, more or less. And if you shut it up, and +do never an atom of good with it, either to yourselves or to +anybody else, of course it will slip away; and, sometime or other, +to your astonishment, you will find that the vessels are empty, +and that the Spirit of the Lord has departed from you. `Grieve not +the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of +redemption.' + +\chapter{What Lasts} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xiii. 8, 13} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be +tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall +vanish away. 13.\ And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these +three. ...'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xiii. 8, 13. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We discern the run of the Apostle's thought best by thus omitting +the intervening verses and connecting these two. The part omitted +is but a buttress of what has been stated in the former of our two +verses; and when we thus unite them there is disclosed plainly the +Apostle's intention of contrasting two sets of things, three in +each set. The one set is `prophecies, tongues, knowledge'; the +other, `faith, hope, charity.' There also comes out distinctly +that the point mainly intended by the contrast is the transiency +of the one and the permanence of the other. Now, that contrast has +been obscured and weakened by two mistakes, about which I must say +a word. + +With regard to the former statement, `Whether there be prophecies, +they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease,' that +has been misunderstood as if it amounted to a declaration that the +miraculous gifts in the early Church were intended to be of brief +duration. However true that may be, it is not what Paul means +here. The cessation to which he refers is their cessation in the +light of the perfect Future. With regard to the other statement, +the abiding of faith, hope, charity, that, too, has been +misapprehended as if it indicated that faith and hope belonged to +this state of things only, and that love was the greatest of the +three, because it was permanent. The reason for that misconception +has mainly lain in the misunderstanding of the force of +`\textit{Now},' which has been taken to mean `for the present,' as +an implied contrast to an unspoken `then'; just as in the previous +verse we have, `\textit{Now} we see through a glass, \textit{then} +face to face.' But the `now' in this text is not, as the +grammarians say, temporal, but logical. That is, it does not refer +to time, but to the sequence of the Apostle's thought, and is +equivalent to `so then.' `So then abideth faith, hope, charity.' + +The scope of the whole, then, is to contrast the transient with +the permanent, in Christian experience. If we firmly grasped the +truth involved, our estimates would be rectified and our practice +revolutionised. + +I. I ask this question---What will drop away? + +Paul answers, `prophecies, tongues, knowledge.' Now these three +were all extraordinary gifts belonging to the present phase of the +Christian life. But inasmuch as these gifts were the heightening +of natural capacities and faculties, it is perfectly legitimate to +enlarge the declaration and to use these three words in their +widest signification. So understood, they come to this, that all +our present modes of apprehension and of utterance are transient, +and will be left behind. + +`Knowledge, it shall cease,' and as the Apostle goes on to +explain, in the verses which I have passed over for my present +purpose, it shall cease because the perfect will absorb into +itself the imperfect, as the inrushing tide will obliterate the +little pools in the rocks on the seashore. For another reason, the +knowledge, the mode of apprehension belonging to the present, will +pass---because here it is indirect, and there it will be +immediate. `We shall know face to face,' which is what +philosophers mean by intuition. Here our knowledge `creeps from +point to point,' painfully amassing facts, and thence, with many +hesitations and errors, groping its way towards principles and +laws. Here it is imperfect, with many a gap in the circumference; +or like the thin red line on a map which shows the traveller's +route across a prairie, or like the spider's thread in the +telescope, stretched athwart the blazing disc of the sun---`but +then face to face.' Incomplete knowledge shall be done away; and +many of its objects will drop, and much of what makes the science +of earth will be antiquated and effete. What would the hand-loom +weaver's knowledge of how to throw his shuttle be worth in a +weaving-shed with a thousand looms? Just so much will the +knowledges of earth be when we get yonder. + +Modes of utterance will cease. With new experiences will come new +methods of communication. As a man can speak, and a beast can only +growl or bark, so a man in heaven, with new experiences, will have +new methods of communication. The comparison between that mode of +utterance which we now have, and that which we shall then possess, +will be like the difference between the old-fashioned semaphore, +that used to wave about clumsy wooden arms in order to convey +intelligence, and the telegraph. + +Think, then, of a man going into that future life, and saying `I +knew more about Sanscrit than anybody that ever lived in Europe'; +`I sang sweet songs'; `I was a past master in philology, grammars, +and lexicons'; `I was a great orator.' `Tongues shall cease'; and +the modes of utterance that belonged to earth, and all that holds +of them, will drop away, and be of no more use. + +If these things are true, brethren, with regard even to the +highest form of these high and noble things, how much more and +more solemnly true are they with regard to the aims and objects +which most of us have in view? They will all drop away, and we +shall be left, stripped of what, for most of us, has made the +whole interest and activity of our lives. + +II. What will last? + +`So then, abideth these three, faith, hope, love.' When Paul takes +three nouns and couples them with a verb in the singular, he is +not making a slip of the pen, or committing a grammatical blunder +which a child could correct. But there is a great truth in that +piece of apparent grammatical irregularity; for the faith, the +hope, and the love, for which he can only afford a singular verb, +are thereby declared to be in their depth and essence one thing, +and it, the triple star, abides, and continues to shine. The three +primitive colours are unified in the white beam of light. Do not +correct the grammar, and spoil the sense, but discern what he +means when he says, `Now, abid\textit{eth} faith, hope, love.' For +this is what he means, that the two latter come out of the former, +and that without it they are nought, and that it without them is +dead. + +Faith breeds Hope. \textit{There} is the difference between +earthly hopes and Christian people's hopes. Our hopes, apart from +the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, are but the balancing of +probabilities, and the scale is often dragged down by the clutch +of eager desires. But all is baseless and uncertain, unless our +hopes are the outcome of our faith. Which, being translated into +other words, is just this, that the one basis on which men can +rest---ay! even for the immediate future, and the contingencies of +life, as well as for the solemnities and certainties of +heaven---any legitimate and substantial hope is trust in Jesus +Christ, His word, His love, His power, and for the heavenly +future, in His Resurrection and present glory. A man who believes +these things, and only that man, has a rock foundation on which he +can build his hope. + +Faith, in like manner, is the parent of Love. Paul and John, +diverse as they are in the whole cast of their minds, the one +being speculative and the other mystical, the one argumentative +and the other simply gazing and telling what he sees, are +precisely agreed in regard to this matter. For, to the Apostle of +Love, the foundation of all human love towards God is, `We have +known and believed the love that God hath to us,' and `We love Him +because He first loved us,' and to Paul the first step is the +trusting reception of the love of God, `commended to us' by the +fact that `whilst we were yet sinners Christ died for us,' and +from that necessarily flows, if the faith be genuine, the love +that answers the sacrifice and obeys the Beloved. So faith, hope, +love, these three are a trinity in unity, and it abideth. That is +the main point of our last text. Let me say a word or two about +it. + +I have said that the words have often been misunderstood as if the +`now' referred only to the present order of things, in which faith +and hope are supposed to find their only appropriate sphere. But +that is clearly not the Apostle's meaning here, for many reasons +with which I need not trouble you. The abiding of all three is +eternal abiding, and there is a heavenly as well as an earthly +form of faith and hope as well as of love. Just look at these +points for a moment. + +`Faith abides,' says Paul, yonder, as here. Now, there is a common +saying, which I suppose ninety out of a hundred people think comes +out of the Bible, about faith being lost in sight. There is no +such teaching in Scripture. True, in one aspect, faith is the +antithesis of sight. True, Paul does say `We walk by faith, not by +sight.' But that antithesis refers only to part of faith's +significance. In so far as it is the opposite of sight, of course +it will cease to be in operation when `we shall know even as we +are known' and `see Him as He is.' But the essence of faith is not +in the absence of the person trusted, but the emotion of trust +which goes out to the person, present or absent. And in its +deepest meaning of absolute dependence and happy confidence, faith +abides through all the glories and the lustres of the heavens, as +it burns amidst the dimnesses and the darknesses of earth. For +ever and ever, on through the irrevoluble ages of eternity, +dependence on God in Christ will be the life of the glorified, as +it was the life of the militant, Church. No millenniums of +possession, and no imaginable increases in beauty and perfectness +and enrichment with the wealth of God, will bring us one inch +nearer to casting off the state of filial dependence which is, and +ever will be, the condition of our receiving them all. Faith +`abides.' + +Hope `abides.' For it is no more a Scriptural idea that hope is +lost in fruition, than it is that faith is lost in sight. Rather +that Future presents itself to us as the continual communication +of an inexhaustible God to our progressively capacious and capable +spirits. In that continual communication there is continual +progress. Wherever there is progress there must be hope. And thus +the fair form, which has so often danced before us elusive, and +has led us into bogs and miry places and then faded away, will +move before us through all the long avenues of an endless +progress, and will ever and anon come back to tell us of the +unseen glories that lie beyond the next turn, and to woo us +further into the depths of heaven and the fulness of God. Hope +`abides.' + +Love `abides.' I need not, I suppose, enlarge upon that thought +which nobody denies, that love is the eternal form of the human +relation to God. It, too, like the mercy which it clasps, +`endureth for ever.' + +But I may remind you of what the Apostle does not explain in our +text, that it is greater than its linked sisters, because whilst +faith and hope belong only to a creature, and are dependent and +expectant of some good to come to themselves, and correspond to +something which is in God in Christ, the love which springs from +faith and hope not only corresponds to, but resembles, that from +which it comes and by which it lives. The fire kindled is cognate +with the fire that kindles; and the love that is in man is like +the love that is in God. It is the climax of his nature; it is the +fulfilling of all duty; it is the crown and jewelled clasp of all +perfection. And so `abideth faith, hope, love, and the greatest of +these is love.' + +III. Lastly, what follows from all this? + +First, let us be quite sure that we understand what this abiding +love is. I dare say you have heard people say `Ah! I do not care +much about Paul's theology. Give me the thirteenth chapter of the +first Epistle to the Corinthians. That is beautiful; that praise +of Love; \textit{that} comes home to men.' Yes, very beautiful. +Are you quite sure that you know what Paul means by `love'? I do +not use the word charity, because that lovely word, like a +glistening meteor that falls upon the earth, has a rust, as it +were, upon its surface that dims its brightness very quickly. +Charity has come to mean an indulgent estimate of other people's +faults; or, still more degradingly, the giving of money out of +your pockets to other people's necessities. These are what the +people who do not care much about Paul's theology generally +suppose that he means here. But these do not exhaust his meaning. +Paul's notion of love is the response of the human love to the +divine, which divine is received into the heart by simple faith in +Jesus Christ. And his notion of love which never faileth, and +endureth all things, and hopeth all things, is love to men, which +is but one stream of the great river of love to God. If we rightly +understand what he means by love, we shall find that his praise of +love is as theological as anything that he ever wrote. We shall +never get further than barren admiration of a beautiful piece of +writing, unless our love to men has the source and root to which +Paul points us. + +Again, let us take this great thought of the permanence of faith, +hope, and love as being the highest conception that we can form of +our future condition. It is very easy to bewilder ourselves with +speculations and theories of another life. I do not care much +about them. The great gates keep their secret well. Few stray +beams of light find their way through their crevices. The less we +say the less likely we are to err. It is easy to let ourselves be +led away, by turning rhetoric into revelation, and accepting the +symbols of the New Testament as if they carried anything more than +images of the realities. But far beyond golden pavements, and +harps, and crowns, and white robes, lies this one great thought +that the elements of the imperfect, Christlike life of earth are +the essence of the perfect, Godlike life in heaven. `Now abide +these three, faith, hope, love.' + +Last of all, let us shape our lives in accordance with these +certainties. The dropping away of the transient things is no +argument for neglecting or despising them; for our handling of +them makes our characters, and our characters abide. But it is a +very excellent argument for shaping our lives so as to seek first +the first things, and to secure the permanent qualities, and so to +use the transient as that it shall all help us towards that which +does not pass. + +What will a Manchester man that knows nothing except goods and +office work, and knows these only in their superficial aspect, and +not as related to God, what, in the name of common-sense, will he +do with himself when he gets into a world where there is not a +single ledger, nor a desk, nor a yard of cloth of any sort? What +will some of us do when, in like manner, we are stripped of all +the things that we have cared about, and worked for, and have made +our aims down here? Suppose that you knew that you were under +sailing orders to go somewhere or other, and that at any moment a +breathless messenger might appear and say, `Come along! we are all +waiting for you'; and suppose that you never did a single thing +towards getting your outfit ready, or preparing yourself in any +way for that which might come at any moment, and could not but +come before very long. Would you be a wise man? But that is what a +great many of us are doing; doing every day, and all day long, and +doing that only. `He shall leave them in the midst of his days,' +says a grim text, `and at his latter end shall be a fool.' + +What will drop? Modes of apprehension, modes of utterance, +occupations, duties, relationships, loves; and we shall be left +standing naked, stripped, as it were, to the very quick, and only +as much left as will keep our souls alive. But if we are clothed +with faith, hope, love, we shall not be found naked. Cultivate the +high things, the permanent things; then death will not wrench you +violently from all that you have been and cared for; but it will +usher you into the perfect form of all that you have been and done +upon earth. All these things will pass, but faith, hope, love, +`stay not behind nor in the grave are trod,' but will last as long +as Christ, their Object, lives, and as long as we in Him live +also. + +\chapter{The Power of the Resurrection} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how +that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; 4.\ And +that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according +to the Scriptures.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xv. 3, 4. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Christmas day is probably not the true anniversary of the +Nativity, but Easter is certainly that of the Resurrection. The +season is appropriate. In the climate of Palestine the first +fruits of the harvest were ready at the Passover for presentation +in the Temple. It was an agricultural as well as a historical +festival; and the connection between that aspect of the feast and +the Resurrection of our Lord is in the Apostle's mind when he +says, in a subsequent part of this chapter, that Christ is `risen +from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept.' + +In our colder climate the season is no less appropriate. The `life +re-orient out of dust' which shows itself to-day in every bursting +leaf-bud and springing flower is Nature's parable of the spring +that awaits man after the winter of death. No doubt, apart from +the Resurrection of Jesus, the yearly miracle kindles sad thoughts +in mourning hearts, and suggests bitter contrasts to those who +sorrow, having no hope, but the grave in the garden has turned +every blossom into a smiling prophet of the Resurrection. + +And so the season, illuminated by the event, teaches us lessons of +hope that `we shall not all die.' Let us turn, then, to the +thoughts naturally suggested by the day, and the great fact which +it brings to each mind, and confirmed thereafter by the miracle +that is being wrought round about us. + +I. First, then, in my text, I would have you note the facts of +Paul's gospel. + +`First of all ... I delivered' these things. And the `first' not +only points to the order of time in the proclamation, but to the +order of importance as well. For these initial facts are the +fundamental facts, on which all that may follow thereafter is +certainly built. Now the first thing that strikes me here is that, +whatever else the system unfolded in the New Testament is, it is +to begin with a simple record of historical fact. It becomes a +philosophy, it becomes a religious system; it is a revelation of +God; it is an unveiling of man; it is a body of ethical precepts. +It is morals and philosophy and religion all in one; but it is +first of all a story of something that took place in the world. + +If that be so, there is a lesson for men whose work it is to +preach it. Let them never forget that their business is to insist +upon the truth of these great, supernatural, all-important, and +fundamental facts, the death and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. +They must evolve all the deep meanings that lie in them; and the +deeper they dig for their meanings the better. They must open out +the endless treasures of consolation and enforce the omnipotent +motives of action which are wrapped up in the facts; but howsoever +far they may carry their evolving and their application of them, +they will neither be faithful to their Lord nor true stewards of +their message unless, clear above all other aspects of their work, +and underlying all other forms of their ministry, there be the +unfaltering proclamation---`first of all,' midst of all, last of +all---`how that Christ died for our sins according to the +Scriptures,' and `that He was raised again according to the +Scriptures.' + +Note, too, how this fundamental and original character of the +gospel which Paul preached, as a record of facts, makes short work +of a great deal that calls itself `liberal Christianity' in these +days. We are told that it is quite possible to be a very good +Christian man, and reject the supernatural, and turn away with +incredulity from the story of the Resurrection. It may be so, but +I confess that it puzzles me to understand how, if the fundamental +character of Christian teaching be the proclamation of certain +facts, a man who does not believe those facts has the right to +call himself a Christian. + +Note, further, how there is an element of explanation involved in +the proclamation of the facts which turns them into a gospel. Mark +how `that \textit{Christ} died,' not \emph{Jesus}. It is a great +truth, that the man, our Brother, Jesus, passed through the common +lot, but that is not what Paul says here, though he often says it. +What he says is that `\textit{Christ} died.' Christ is the name of +an office, into which is condensed a whole system of truth, +declaring that it is He who is the Apex, the Seal, and ultimate Word +of all divine revelation. It was the \textit{Christ} who died; +unless it was so, the death of Jesus is no gospel. + +`He died for our sins.' Now, if the Apostle had only said `He died +for us,' that might conceivably have meant that, in a multitude of +different ways of example, appeal to our pity and compassion and +the like, His death was of use to mankind. But when he says `He +died \textit{for our sins},' I take leave to think that that +expression has no meaning, unless it means that He died as the +expiation and sacrifice for men's sins. I ask you, in what +intelligible sense could Christ `die for our sins' unless He died +as bearing their punishment and as bearing it for us? And then, +finally, `He died and rose ... according to the Scriptures,' and +so fulfilled the divine purposes revealed from of old. + +To the fact that a man was crucified outside the gates of +Jerusalem, `and rose again the third day,' which is the narrative, +there are added these three things---the dignity of the Person, +the purpose of His death, the fulfilment of the divine intention +manifested from of old. And these three things, as I said, turn +the narrative into a Gospel. + +So, brethren, let us remember that, without all three of them, the +death of Jesus Christ is nothing to us, any more than the death of +thousands of sweet and saintly men in the past has been, who may +have seen a little more of the supreme goodness and greatness than +their fellows, and tried in vain to make purblind eyes participate +in their vision. Do you think that these twelve fishermen would +ever have shaken the world if they had gone out with the story of +the Cross, unless they had carried along with it the commentary +which is included in the words which I have emphasised? And do you +suppose that the type of Christianity which slurs over the +explanation, and so does not know what to do with the facts, will +ever do much in the world, or will ever touch men? Let us +liberalise our Christianity by all means, but do not let us +evaporate it; and evaporate it we surely shall if we falter in +saying with Paul, `I declare, first of all, that which received,' +how that the death and resurrection were the death and +resurrection of the Christ, `for our sins, according to the +Scriptures.' These are the facts which make Paul's gospel. + +II. Now I ask you to look, in the second place, at what +establishes the facts. + +We have here, in this chapter, a statement very much older than +our existing written gospels. This epistle is one of the four +letters of Paul which nobody that I know of---with some quite +insignificant exceptions in modern times---has ever ventured to +dispute. It is admittedly the writing of the Apostle, written +before the gospels, and in all probability within five-and-twenty +years of the date of the Crucifixion. And what do we find alleged +by it as the state of things at its date? That the belief in the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ was the subject of universal +Christian teaching, and was accepted by all the Christian +communities. Its evidence to that fact is undeniable; because +there was in the early Christian Church a very formidable and +large body of bitter antagonists of Paul's, who would have been +only too glad to have convicted him, if they could, of any +misrepresentation of the usual notions, or divergence from the +usual type of teaching. So we may take it as undeniable that the +representation of this chapter is historically true; and that +within five-and-twenty years of the death of Jesus Christ every +Christian community and every Christian teacher believed in and +proclaimed the fact of the Resurrection. + +But if that be so, we necessarily are carried a great deal nearer +the Cross than five-and-twenty years; and, in fact, there is not, +between the moment when Paul penned these words and the day of +Pentecost, a single chink in the history where you can insert such +a tremendous innovation as the full-fledged belief in a +resurrection coming in as something new. + +I do not need to dwell at all upon this other thought, that, +unless the belief that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead +originated at the time of His death, there would never have been a +Church at all. Why was it that they did not tumble to pieces? Take +the nave out of the wheel and what becomes of the spokes? A dead +Christ could never have been the basis of a living Church. If He +had not risen from the dead, the story of His disciples would have +been the same as that which Gamaliel told the Sanhedrim was the +story of all former pseudo-Messiahs such as that man Theudas. `He +was slain, and as many as followed him were dispersed and came to +naught.' Of course! The existence of the Church demands, as a +pre-requisite, the initial belief in the Resurrection. I think, +then, that the contemporaneousness of the evidence is sufficiently +established. + +What about its good faith? I suppose that nobody, nowadays, doubts +the veracity of these witnesses. Anybody that knows an honest man +when he sees him, anybody that has the least ear for the tone of +sincerity and the accent of conviction, must say that they may +have been fanatics, they may have been mistaken, but one thing is +clear as sunlight, they were not false witnesses for God. + +What, then, about their competency? Their simplicity, their +ignorance, their slowness to believe, their stupor of surprise +when the fact first dawned upon them, which they tell not with any +idea of manufacturing evidence in their own favour, but simply as +a piece of history, all tend to make us certain that there was no +play of a morbid imagination, no hysterical turning of a wish into +a fact, on the part of these men. The sort of things which they +say that they saw and experienced are such as to make any such +supposition altogether absurd. There are long conversations, +appearances appealing to more than one sense, appearances followed +by withdrawals, sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the +evening, sometimes at a distance, as on the mountain, sometimes +close by, as in the chamber, to single souls and to multitudes. +Fancy five hundred people all at once smitten with the same +mistake, imagining that they saw what they did not see! Miracles +may be difficult to believe, they are not half so difficult to +believe as absurdities. And this modern explanation of the faith +in the Resurrection I venture respectfully to designate as absurd. + +But there is one other point to which I would like to turn for a +moment; and that is that little clause in my text that `He was +buried.' Why does Paul introduce that amongst his facts? Possibly +in order to affirm the reality of Christ's death; but I think for +another reason. If it be true that Jesus Christ was laid in that +sepulchre, a stone's throw outside the city gate, do you not see +what a difficulty that fact puts in the way of disbelief or denial +of His Resurrection? If the grave---and it was not a grave, +remember, like ours, but a cave, with a stone at the door of it, +that anybody could roll away for entrance---if the grave was +there, why, in the name of common-sense, did not the rulers put an +end to the pestilent heresy by saying, `Let us go and see if the +body is there'? + +Modern deniers of the Resurrection may fairly be asked to front this +thought---If Jesus Christ's body was in the sepulchre, how was it +possible for belief in the Resurrection to have been originated, or +maintained? If His body was not in the grave, what had become of it? +If His friends stole it away then they were deceivers of the worst +type in preaching a resurrection; and we have already seen that that +hypothesis is ridiculous. If His enemies took it away, for which +they had no motive, why did they not produce it and say, `There is +an answer to your nonsense. There is the dead man. Let us hear no +more of this absurdity of His having risen from the dead'? + +`He died ... according to the Scriptures, and He was buried.' And +the angels' word carries the only explanation of the fact which it +proclaims, `He is not here---He is risen.' + +I take leave to say that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is +established by evidence which nobody would ever have thought of +doubting unless for the theory that miracles were impossible. The +reason for disbelief is not the deficiency of the evidence, but +the bias of the judge. + +III. And now I have no time to do more than touch the last thought. +I have tried to show what establishes the facts. Let me remind you, +in a sentence or two, what the facts establish. + +I by no means desire to suspend the whole of the evidence for +Christianity on the testimony of the eyewitnesses to the +Resurrection. There are a great many other ways of establishing +the truth of the Gospel besides that, upon which I do not need to +dwell now. But, taking this one specific ground which my text +suggests, what do the facts thus established prove? + +Well, the first point to which I would refer, and on which I +should like to enlarge, if I had time, is the bearing of Christ's +Resurrection on the acceptance of the miraculous. We hear a great +deal about the impossibility of miracle and the like. It upsets +the certainty and fixedness of the order of things, and so forth, +and so forth. Jesus Christ has risen from the dead; and that opens +a door wide enough to admit all the rest of the Gospel miracles. +It is of no use paring down the supernatural in Christianity, in +order to meet the prejudices of a quasi-scientific scepticism, +unless you are prepared to go the whole length, and give up the +Resurrection. There is the turning point. The question is, Do you +believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead, or do you not? If +your objections to the supernatural are valid, then Christ is not +risen from the dead; and you must face the consequences of that. +If He is risen from the dead, then you must cease all your talk +about the impossibility of miracle, and be willing to accept a +supernatural revelation as God's way of making Himself known to +man. + +But, further, let me remind you of the bearing of the Resurrection +upon Christ's work and claims. If He be lying in some forgotten +grave, and if all that fair thought of His having burst the bands +of death is a blunder, then there was nothing in His death that +had the least bearing upon men's sin, and it is no more to me than +the deaths of thousands in the past. But if He is risen from the +dead, then the Resurrection casts back a light upon the Cross, and +we understand that His death is the life of the world, and that +`by His stripes we are healed.' + +But, further, remember what He said about Himself when He was in +the world---how He claimed to be the Son of God; how He demanded +absolute obedience, implicit trust, supreme love, how He +identified faith in Himself with faith in God---and consider the +Resurrection as bearing on the reception or rejection of these +tremendous claims. It seems to me that we are brought sharp up to +this alternative---Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and was +declared by the Resurrection to be the Son of God with power; or +Jesus Christ has \textit{not} risen from the dead---and what then? +Then He was either deceiver or deceived, and in either case has no +right to my reverence and my love. We may be thankful that men are +illogical, and that many who reject the Resurrection retain +reverence, genuine and deep, for Jesus Christ. But whether they +have any right to do so is another matter. I confess for myself +that, if I did not believe that Jesus Christ had risen from the +dead, I should find it very hard to accept, as an example of +conduct, or as religious teacher, a man who had made such great +claims as He did, and had asked from me what He asked. It seems to +me that He is either a great deal more, or a great deal less, than +a beautiful saintly soul. If He rose from the dead He is much +more; if He did not, I am afraid to say how much less He is. + +And, finally, the bearing of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ upon +our own hopes of the future may be suggested. It teaches us that +life has nothing to do with organisation, but persists apart from +the body. It teaches us that a man may pass from death and be +unaltered in the substance of his being; and it teaches us that +the earthly house of our tabernacle may be fashioned like unto the +glorious house in which He dwells now at the right hand of God. +There is no other absolute proof of immortality than the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ. + +If we accept with all our hearts and minds Paul's Gospel in its +fundamental facts, we need not fear to die, because He has died, +and by dying has been the death of death. We need not doubt that +we shall live again, because He was dead and is alive for ever +more. This Samson has carried away the gates on His strong +shoulders, and death is no more a dungeon but a passage. If we +rest ourselves upon Him, then we can take up, for ourselves and +for all that are dear to us and have gone before us, the +triumphant song, `O Death, where is thy sting?' `Thanks be to God, +which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.' + +\chapter{Remaining and Falling Asleep} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xv. 6} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`After that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of +whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are +fallen asleep.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xv. 6. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There were, then, some five-and-twenty years after the +Resurrection, several hundred disciples who were known amongst the +churches as having been eyewitnesses of the risen Saviour. The +greater part survived; some, evidently a very few, had died. The +proportion of the living to the dead, after five-and-twenty years, +is generally the opposite. The greater part have `fallen asleep'; +some, a comparatively few, remain `unto this present.' Possibly +there was some divine intervention which supernaturally prolonged +the lives of these witnesses, in order that their testimony might +be the more lasting. But, be that as it may, they evidently were +men of mark, and some kind of honour and observance surrounded +them, as was very natural, and as appears from the fact that Paul +here knows so accurately (and can appeal to His fellow-Christians' +accurate knowledge) the proportion between the survivors and the +departed. We read of one of them in the Acts of the Apostles at a +later date than this, one Mnason, an `original disciple.' + +So we get a glimpse into the conditions of life in the early +Church, interesting and of value in an evidential point of view. +But my purpose at present is to draw your attention to the +remarkable language in which the Apostle here speaks of the living +and the dead amongst these witnesses. In neither case does he use +the simple, common words `living' or `dead'; but in the one clause +he speaks of their `remaining,' and in the other of their `falling +asleep'; both phrases being significant, and, as I take it, both +being traced up to the fact of their having seen the risen Lord as +the cause why their life could be described as a `remaining,' and +their death as a `falling asleep.' In other words, we have here +brought before us, by these two striking expressions, the +transforming effect upon life and upon death of the faith in a +risen Lord, whether grounded on sight or not. And it is simply to +these two points that I desire to turn now. + +I. First, then, we have to consider what life may become to those +who see the risen Christ. + +`The greater part remain until this present.' Now the word +\textit{remain} is no mere synonym for living or surviving. It not +only tells us the fact that the survivors were living, but the +kind of life that they did live. It is very significant that it is +the same expression as our Lord used in the profound prophetic +words, `If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to +thee?' Now we are told in John's Gospel that `that saying went +abroad amongst the brethren,' and inasmuch as it was a matter of +common notoriety in the early Church, it is by no means a violent +supposition that it may be floating in Paul's memory here, and may +determine his selection of this remarkable expression `they +remain,' or `they tarry,' and they were tarrying till the Master +came. So, then, I think if we give due weight to the significance +of the phrase, we get two or three thoughts worth pondering. + +One of them is that the sight of a risen Christ will make life +calm and tranquil. Fancy one of these 500 brethren, after that +vision, going back to his quiet rural home in some little village +amongst the hills of Galilee. How small and remote from Him, and +unworthy to ruffle or disturb the heart in which the memory of +that vision was burning, would seem the things that otherwise +would have been important and distracting! The faith which we have +in the risen Christ ought to do the same thing for us, and will do +it in the measure in which there shines clearly before that inward +eye, which is our true means of apprehending Him, the vision which +shone before the outward gaze of that company of wondering +witnesses. If we build our nests amidst the tossing branches of +the world's trees, they will sway with every wind, and perhaps be +blown from their hold altogether by such a storm as we all have +sometimes to meet. But we may build our nests in the clefts of the +rock, like the doves, and be quiet, as they are. Distractions will +cease to distract, and troubles will cease to agitate, and across +the heaving surface of the great ocean there will come a Form +beneath whose feet the waves smooth themselves, and at whose voice +the winds are still. They who see Christ need not be troubled. The +ship that is empty is tossed upon the ocean, that which is well +laden is steady. The heart that has Christ for a passenger need +not fear being rocked by any storm. Calmness will come with the +vision of the Lord, and we shall abide or `remain,' for there will +be no need for us to flee from this Refuge to that, nor shall we +be driven from our secure abode by any contingencies. `He that +believeth shall not make haste.' + +It is a good thing to cultivate the disposition that says about +most of the trifles of this life, `It does not much matter'; but +the only way to prevent wholesome contempt of the world's +trivialities from degenerating into supercilious indifference is, +to base it upon Christ, discerned as near us and bestowing upon us +the calmness of His risen life. Make Him your scale of importance, +and nothing will be too small to demand and be worthy of the best +efforts of your work, but nothing will be too great to sweep you +away from the serenity of your faith. + +Again, the vision of the risen Christ will also lead to patient +persistence in duty. If we have Him before us, the distasteful +duty which He sets us will not be distasteful, and the small +tasks, in which great faithfulness may be manifested, will cease +to be small. If we have Him before us we have in that risen Christ +the great and lasting Example of how patient continuance in +well-doing triumphs over the sorrows that it bears, by and in +patiently bearing them, and is crowned at last with glory and +honour. The risen Christ is the Pattern for the men who will not +be turned aside from the path of duty by any obstacles, dangers, +or threats. The risen Christ is the signal Example of glory +following upon faithfulness, and of the crown being the result of +the Cross. The risen Christ is the manifest Helper of them that +put their trust in Him; and one of the plainest lessons and of the +most imperative commands which come from the believing gaze upon +that Lord who died because He would do the will of the Father, and +is throned and crowned in the heavens because He died, is---By +patient continuance in well-doing let us commit the keeping of our +souls to Him: and abide in the calling wherewith we are called. + +And, again, the sight of the risen Christ leads to a life of calm +expectancy. `If I will that He \textit{tarry} till I come' conveys +that shade of meaning. The Apostle was to wait for the Lord from +Heaven, and that vision which was given to these 500 men sent them +home to their abodes to make all the rest of their lives one calm +aspiration for, and patient expectation of, the return of the +Lord. These primitive Christians expected that Jesus Christ would +come speedily. That expectation was disappointed in so far as the +date was concerned, but after nineteen centuries it still remains +true that all vigorous and vital Christian life must have in it, +as a very important element of its vitality, the onward look which +ever is anticipating, which often is desiring, and which +constantly is confident of, the coming of the Lord from Heaven. +The Resurrection has for its consequences, its sequel and +corollary, first the Ascension; then the long tract of time during +which Jesus Christ is absent, but still in divine presence rules +the world; and, finally, His coming again in that same body in +which the disciples saw Him depart from them. And no Christian +life is up to the level of its privileges, nor has any Christian +faith grasped the whole articles of its creed, except that which +sets in the very centre of all its visions of the future that +great thought---He shall come again. + +Questions of chronology have nothing to do with that. It stands +there before us, the certain fact, made certain and inevitable by +the past facts of the Cross and the Grave and Olivet. He has come, +He will come; He has gone, He will come back. And for us the life +that we live in the flesh ought to be a life of waiting for God's +Son from Heaven, and of patient, confident expectancy that when He +shall be manifested we also shall be manifested with Him in glory. + +So much, then, for life---calm, persistent in every duty, and +animated by that blessed and far-off, but certain, hope, and all +of these founded upon the vision and the faith of a risen Lord. +What have fears and cares and distractions and faint-heartedness +and gloomy sorrow to do with the eyes that have beheld the Christ, +and with the lives that are based on faith in the risen Lord? + +II. So, secondly, consider what death becomes to those who have +seen Christ risen from the dead. + +`Some are fallen asleep.' Now that most natural and obvious +me\-ta\-phor for death is not only a Christian idea, but is found, +as would be expected, in many tongues, but yet with a great and +significant difference. The Christian reason for calling death a +sleep embraces a great deal more than the heathen reason for doing +so, and in some respects is precisely the opposite of that, +inasmuch as to most others who have used the word, death has been +a sleep that knew no waking, whereas the very pith and centre of +the Christian reason for employing the symbol are that it makes +our waking sure. We have here what the act of dying and the +condition of the dead become by virtue of faith in the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ. + +They have `fallen asleep.' The act of dying is but a laying one's +self down to rest, and a dropping out of consciousness of the +surrounding world. It is very remarkable and very beautiful that +the new Testament scarcely ever employs the words \textit{dying} +and \textit{death} for the act of separating body and spirit, or +for the condition either of the spirit parted from the body, or of +the body parted from the spirit. It keeps those grim words for the +reality, the separation of the soul from God; and it only +exceptionally uses them for the shadow and the symbol, the +physical fact of the parting of the man from the house which here +he has dwelt in. But the reason why Christianity uses these +periphrases or metaphors, these euphemisms for death, is the +opposite of the reason why the world uses them. The world is so +afraid of dying that it durst not name the grim, ugly thing. The +Christian, or at least the Christian faith, is so little afraid of +death that it does not think such a trivial matter worth calling +by the name, but only names it `falling asleep.' + +Even when the circumstances of that dropping off to slumber are +painful and violent, the Bible still employs the term. Is it not +striking that the first martyr, kneeling outside the city, bruised +by stones and dying a bloody death, should have been said to fall +asleep? If ever there was an instance in which the gentle metaphor +seemed all inappropriate it was that cruel death, amidst a howling +crowd, and with fatal bruises, and bleeding limbs mangled by the +heavy rocks that lay upon them. But yet, `when he had said this he +fell asleep.' If that be true of such a death, no physical pains +of any kind make the sweet word inappropriate for any. + +We have here not only the designation of the act of dying, but +that of the condition of the dead. They are fallen asleep, and +they continue asleep. How many great thoughts gather round that +metaphor on which it is needless for me to try to dilate! They +will suggest themselves without many words to you all. + +There lies in it the idea of repose. `They rest from their +labours.' Sleep restores strength, and withdraws a man at once +from effort on the outer world, and from communication from it. We +may carry the analogy into that unseen world. We know nothing +about the relations to an external universe of the departed who +sleep in Jesus. It may be that, if they sleep in Him, since He +knows all, they, through Him, may know, too, something---so much +as He pleases to impart to them---of what is happening here. And +it may even be that, if they sleep in Him, and He wields the +energies of Omnipotence, they, through Him, may have some service +to do, even while they wait for their house which is from heaven. +But there is no need for, nor profit in, such speculations. It is +enough that the sweet emblem suggests repose, and that in that +sleep there are folded around the sleepers the arms of the Christ +on whose bosom they rest, as an infant does on its first and +happiest home---its mother's breast. + +But then, besides that, the emblem suggests the idea of continuous +and conscious existence. A man asleep does not cease to be a man; +a dead man does not cease to live. It has often been argued from +this metaphor that we are to conceive of the space between death +and the resurrection as being a period of unconsciousness, but the +analogies seem to me to be in the opposite direction. A sleeping +man does not cease to know himself to be, and he does not cease to +know himself to be himself. That mysterious consciousness of +personal identity survives the passage from waking to sleep, as +dreams sufficiently show us. And, therefore, they that sleep know +themselves to be. + +And, finally, the emblem suggests the idea of waking. Sleep is a +parenthesis. If the night comes, the morning comes. `If winter +comes, can spring be far behind?' They that sleep will awake, and +be satisfied when they `awake with Thy likeness.' And so these +three things---repose, conscious, continuous existence, and the +certainty of awaking---all lie in that metaphor. + +Now, then, the risen Christ is the only ground of such hope, and +faith in Him is the only state of mind which is entitled to +cherish it. Nothing proves immortality except that open grave. +Every other foundation is too weak to bear the weight of such a +superstructure. The current of present opinion shows, I think, +that neither metaphysical nor ethical arguments for the future +life will stand the force of the disintegrating criticism which is +brought to bear upon that hope by the fashionable materialism of +this generation. There is one barrier that will resist that force, +and only one, and that is the historical facts that Jesus Christ +died, and that Jesus Christ has risen again. He rose; therefore +death is not the end of individual existence. He rose; therefore +life beyond the grave is possible for humanity. He rose; therefore +His sacrifice for the world's sin is accepted, and I may be +delivered from my guilt and my burden. He rose; therefore He is +declared to be the Son of God with power. He rose; therefore we, +if we trust Him, may partake in His Resurrection and in some +reflection of His glory. The old Greek architects were often +careless of the solidity of the soil on which they built their +temples, and so, many of them have fallen in ruins. The Temple of +Immortality can be built only upon the rock of that +proclamation---Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. And we, dear +brethren, should have all our hopes founded upon that one fact. + +So then, for us, the calm, peaceful passage from life into what +else is the great darkness is possible on condition of our having +beheld the risen Lord. These witnesses of whom my text speaks, +Paul would suggest to us, laid themselves quietly down to sleep, +because before them there still hovered the memory of the vision +which they had beheld. Faith in the risen Christ is the anchor of +the soul in death, and there is nothing else by which we can hold +then. + +As the same Apostle, in one of his other letters, puts it, the +belief that Christ is risen is not only the irrefragable ground of +our hope that we, too, shall rise, but has the power to change the +whole aspect of our death. Did you ever observe the emphasis with +which He says, `If we believe that Jesus \textit{died} and rose +again, even so them also which \textit{sleep} in Jesus will God +bring with Him?' His death was death indeed, and faith in it +softens ours to sleep. He bore the reality that we might never +need to know it, and if our poor hearts are resting upon that dear +Lord, then the flames are but painted ones and will not burn, and +we shall pass through them, and no smell of fire will be upon us, +and all that will be consumed will be the bonds which bind us. He +has abolished death. The physical fact remains, but all which to +men makes the idea of death is gone if we trust the risen Lord. So +that, between two men dying under precisely the same +circumstances, of the same disease, in adjacent beds in the same +hospital, there may be such a difference as that the same word +cannot be applied to the experiences of both. + +My dear friends, we have each of us to pass through that last +struggle; but we may make it either a quiet going to sleep with a +loved Face bending over our closing eyes, like a mother's over her +child's cradle, and the same Face meeting us when we open them in +the morning of heaven; or we may make it a reluctant departure +from all that we care for, and a trembling advance into all from +which conscience and heart shrink. + +Which is it going to be to you? The answer depends upon that to +another question. Are you looking to that Christ that died and is +alive for evermore as your life and your salvation? Do you hold +fast that Gospel which Paul preached, `how that Christ died for +our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and +that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures'? If +you do, life will be a calm, persevering, expectant waiting upon +Him, and death will be nothing more terrible than falling asleep. + +\chapter{Paul's Estimate of Himself} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xv. 10} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`By the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was +bestowed upon me was not in vain.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xv. 10. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The Apostle was, all his life, under the hateful necessity of +vindicating his character and Apostleship. Thus here, though his +main purpose in the context is simply to declare the Gospel which +he preached, he is obliged to turn aside in order to assert, and +to back up his assertion, that there was no sort of difference +between him and the other recognised teachers of Christian truth. +He was forced to do this by persistent endeavours in the +Corinthian Church to deny his Apostleship, and the faithfulness of +his representation of the Christian verities. The way in which he +does it is eminently beautiful and remarkable. He fires up in +vindication of himself; and then he checks himself. `By the grace +of God I am'---and he is going to say what he is, but he bethinks +himself, as if he had reflected; `No! I will leave other people to +say what that is. By the grace of God I am---what I am, whatever +that be. And all that I have to say is that God made me, and that +I helped Him. For the grace of God which was bestowed upon me was +not in vain. You Corinthians may judge what the product is. I tell +you how it has come about.' So there are thoughts here, I think, +well worth our pondering and taking into our hearts and lives. + +I. First, as to the one power that makes men. + +`By the grace of God I am what I am.' Now that word `grace' has got +to be worn threadbare, and to mean next door to nothing, in the ears +and minds of a great many continual hearers of the Gospel. But Paul +had a very definite idea of what he meant by it; and what he meant +by it was a very large thing, which we may well ponder for a moment +as being the only thing which will transform and ennoble character +and will produce fruit that a man need not be ashamed of. The grace +of God, in Paul's use of the words, which is the scriptural use of +them generally, implies these two things which are connected as root +and product---the active love of God, in exercise towards us low and +sinful creatures, and the gifts with which that love comes full +charged to men. These two things, which at bottom are one, love and +its gifts, are all, in the Apostle's judgment, gathered up and +stored, as in a great storehouse, in Jesus Christ Himself, and +through Him are made accessible to us, and brought to bear upon us +for the ennobling of our natures, and the investing of us with +graces and beauties of character, all strange to us apart from +these. + +Now it seems to me that these two things, which come from one +root, are the precise things which you and I need in order to make +us nobler and purer and more Godlike men than otherwise we could +ever become. For what is it that men need most for noble and pure +living? These two things precisely---motive and power to carry out +the dictates of conscience. + +Every man in the world knows enough of duty and of right to be a +far nobler man than any man in the world is. And it is not for +want of clear convictions of duty, it is not for want of +recognised models and patterns of life, that men go wrong; but it +is because there are these two things lacking, motives for nobler +service, and power to do and be what they know they ought to be. +And precisely here Paul's gospel comes in, `By the grace of God I +am what I am.' That grace, considered in its two sides of love and +of giving, supplies all that we want. + +It supplies motives. There is nothing that will bend a man's will +like the recognition of divine love which it is blessedness to +come in contact with, and to obey. You may try to sway him by +motives of advantage and self-interest, and to thunder into his +ears the pealing words of duty and right and `ought,' and there is +no adequate response. You cannot soften a heart by the hammers of +the law. You cannot force a man to do right by brandishing before +him the whip that punishes doing wrong. You cannot sway the will +by anything but the heart; and when you can touch the deepest +spring it moves the whole mass. + +You have seen some ponderous piece of machinery, which resists all +attempts of a puny hand laid upon it to make it revolve. But down +in one corner is a little hidden spring. Touch that and with +majestic slowness and certainty the mighty mass turns. You know +those rocking-stones down in the south of England; tons of weight +poised upon a pin point, and so exquisitely balanced that a +child's finger rightly applied may move the mass. So the whole man +is made mobile only by the touch of love; and the grace that comes +to us, and says, `If ye love Me, keep My commandments'---is, as I +believe, the sole motive which will continuously and adequately +sway the rebellious, self-centred wills of men, to obedience +resulting in nobility of life. + +The other aspect of this same great word is, in like manner, that +which we need. What men want is, first of all, the will to be +noble and good; and, second, the power to carry out the will. It +is God that worketh in us both the willing and the doing. I +venture to affirm that there is no power known, either to +thinkers, or philanthropists, or doctrinaires, or strivers after +excellence in the world---no power known and available which will +lift a life to such heights of beauty and self-sacrificing +nobility, as will the power that comes to us by communication of +the grace that is in Jesus Christ. + +I am perpetually trying to insist, dear brethren, upon this one +thought, that the communication of actual new life is the central +gift of the Gospel; and this new life it is, this nature endowed +with new desires, hopes, aims, capacities, which alone will lift +the whole man into unwonted heights of beauty and serenity. It is +the grace of God, the gift of His Divine Spirit who will dwell +with all of us, if we will, which alone can be trusted to make men +good. + +And now, if that be true, what follows? Surely this, that for all +you who have, in any measure, caught a glimpse of what you ought +to be, and have been more or less vainly trying to realise your +ideal, and reach your goal, there is a better way than the way of +self-centred and self-derived and self-dependent effort. There is +the way of opening your hearts and spirits to the entrance and +access of that great power, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, +which will do in us and for us all that we know we ought to do, +and yet feel hampered and hindered in performing. + +Oh, dear friends! there are many of you, I believe, who have more +or less spasmodically and interruptedly, but with a continual +recurrence to the effort, sought to plant your feet firmly in the +paths of righteousness, and have more or less failed. Listen to +this Gospel, and accept it, and put it to the proof. The love of +God which is in Christ Jesus, and the life which that love brings +in its hands, for all of us who will trust it, will dwell in you +if you will, and mould you into His own likeness, and the law of +the spirit of life which was in Christ Jesus will make us free +from the law of sin and death. + +All noble living is a battle. Can you and I, with our ten +thousand, meet him that cometh against us with his twenty, the +temptations of the world and of its Prince? Send for the +reinforcements, and Jesus Christ will come and teach your hands to +war and your fingers to fight. All noble life is self-denial, +coercion, restraint; and can my poor, feeble hands apply muscular +force enough to the brake to keep the wheels clogged, and prevent +them from whirling me downhill into ruin? Let Him come and put His +great gentle hand on the top of yours, and that will enable you to +scotch the wheels, and make self-denial possible. All noble life +is a building up by slow degrees from the foundation. And can you +and I complete the task with our own limited resources, and our +own feeble strengths? Will not `all that pass by begin to mock' us +and say, `This man began to build and was not able to finish'? +That is the epitaph written over all moralities and over all lives +which, catching some glimpse of the good and the true and the +noble, have tried, apart from Christ, to reproduce them in +themselves. Frightful gaps, and an unfinished, however fair +structure end them all. Go to Him. `His hand hath laid the +foundation of the house, His hand shall also finish it.' He who is +Himself the foundation-stone is also the headstone of the corner, +which is brought forth with shouting of `Grace! Grace unto it!' + +I need not, I suppose, linger to remind you what important and +large lessons these thoughts carry, not only for men who are +trying to work at the task of mending and making their own +characters, but on the larger scale, for all who seek to benefit +and elevate their fellows. Brethren, it is not for me to +depreciate any workers who, in any department, and by any methods, +seek, and partially effect, the elevation of humanity. But I +should be untrue to my own deepest convictions, and unfaithful to +the message which God's providence has given it to me as my life's +task to proclaim, if I did not declare that nothing will truly +\textit{re-form} humanity, society, the nation, the city, except +that which re-creates the individual: `the grace of our Lord Jesus +Christ' entering into their midst. + +II. And so, secondly, and very briefly, notice the lesson we get +here as to how we should think of our own attainments. + +I have already pointed out that there are two beautiful touches in +my text. The Apostle traces everything that he is, in his +character and in his Christian standing and in his Apostolic work +and success, to that grace that has come down upon him, and +clothed his nakedness with so glorious a garment. And then, in +addition to that, he modestly, and with a fine sense of dignity, +refrains from parading his attainments or his achievements, and +says, `It is not for me to estimate what I am; it is for you to do +it.' True, indeed, in the next verse he does set forth, in very +lofty language, his claims to be in nothing behind the very +chiefest of the Apostles, and `to have laboured more abundantly +than they all.' But still the spirit of that humble and yet +dignified silence runs through the whole context. `By the grace of +God I am---what I am.' + +Well, then, it is not necessary for a man to be ignorant, or to +pretend that he is ignorant, of what he can do. We hear a great +deal about the unconsciousness of genius. There is a partial truth +in it; and possibly the highest examples of power and success, in +any department of mental or intellectual effort, are unaware of +their achievements and stature. But if a man can do a certain kind +of service there is no harm whatever in his recognising the fact +that he can do it. The only harm is in his thinking that because +he can, he is a very fine fellow, and that the work itself is a +great work; and so setting himself up above his brethren. There is +a vast deal of hypocrisy in what is called unconsciousness of +power. Most men who have been chosen and empowered to do a great +work for God or for men, in any department, have been aware that +they could do it. But the less we think about ourselves, in any +way, the better. The more entire our recognition of the influx of +grace on which we depend for keeping our reservoir full, the less +likelihood there will be of touchy self-assertion, the less +likelihood of the misuse of the powers that we have. If we are to +do much for God, if we are to keep what we have already attained, +if we are to make our own lives sweet and beautiful, if we are to +be invested with any increase of capacity, or led to any higher +heights of nobleness and Christlikeness, we must copy, and make a +conscious effort to copy, these two things, which marked the +Apostle's estimate of himself---a distinct recognition that we are +only reservoirs and nothing more---`What hast thou that thou hast +not received? Why then dost thou glory as if thou hadst not +received it?'---and a humble waiving aside of the attempt to +determine what it is that we are. For however clearly a man may +know his own powers and achievements, it is hard for him to +estimate the relations of these to his whole character. + +So, dear brethren, although it is a very homely piece of advice, +and may seem to be beneath the so-called dignity of the pulpit, +let me venture just to remind you that self-conceit is no disease +peculiar to the ten-talented people, but is quite as rife, if not +a good deal rifer, among those with one talent. They are very +humble when it comes to work, and are quite contented to wrap the +one talent up in a napkin then; but when it comes to +self-assertion, or what they expect to receive of recognition from +others, they need to be reminded quite as much as their betters in +endowment---`By the grace of God I am what I am.' + +III. And so, lastly, one word about the responsibility for our +co-operation with the grace, in order to the accomplishment of its +results. + +`The grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain,' says Paul. +`Not I, but the grace of God which was with me, and so I laboured +more abundantly than they all.' That is to say, God in His giving +love; Christ with His ever out-flowing Spirit, move round our +hearts, and desire to enter. But the grace, the love, the gifts of +the love may all be put away by our unfaithfulness, by our +non-receptivity, by our misuse, and by our negligence. Paul +yielded himself to the grace that was brought to work upon him. +Have you yielded yourselves? + +Paul said, `By the grace of God I am what I am.' He could not have +said that, could he, if he had known that the most part of what he +was was dead against God's will and purpose? Has God anything to +do with making you what you are, or has it been the devil that has +had the greater share in it? This man, because he knew that he had +submitted himself to the often painful, searching, crucifying, +self-restraining and stimulating influences of the Gospel and +Spirit of Christ, could say, `God's grace has made me what I am, +and I helped Him to make me.' And can you say anything like that? + +Take your life. In how many of its deeds has there been present +the consciousness of God and His love? Take your character. How +much of it has been shot through and through, so to speak, by the +fiery darts of that cleansing, warming, consuming grace of God? +Are you daily being baptized in that Spirit, searched by that +Spirit, condemned by that grace? Is it the grace of God, or nature +and self and the world and the flesh that have made you what you +are? + +Oh, brethren I let us cultivate the sense of our need of this +divine help, for it does not come where men do not know how weak +they are, and how much they want it. The mountain tops are +high,---yes! and they are dry; there is no water there. The rivers +run in the green valleys deep down. `God resisteth the proud, and +giveth grace to the humble.' Let us see that we open our hearts to +the reception of these quickening and cleansing influences, for it +is possible for us to cover ourselves over with such an +impenetrable covering that that grace cannot pass through it. Let +us see to it that we keep ourselves in close contact with the +foundation of all this grace, even Jesus Christ Himself, by +desire, by faith, by love, by communion, by meditation, by +approximation, by sympathy, by service. And let us see that we use +the grace that we possess. `For to him that hath shall be given, +and from him that hath not'---not possessing in any real sense +because not utilising for its appointed purpose---`shall be taken +away even that he hath.' Wherefore, brethren, I `beseech you that +ye receive not the grace of God in vain.' + +\chapter{The Unity of Apostolic Teaching} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xv. 11} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.'---1 +\textsc{Cor.} xv. 11. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Party spirit and faction were the curses of Greek civic life, and +they had crept into at least one of the Greek churches---that in +the luxurious and powerful city of Corinth. We know that there was +a very considerable body of antagonists to Paul, who ranked +themselves under the banner of Apollos or of Cephas \textit{i.e.} +Peter. Therefore, Paul, keenly conscious that he was speaking to +some unfriendly critics, hastens in the context to remove the +possible objection which might be made, that the Gospel which he +preached was peculiar to himself, and proceeds to assert that the +whole substance of what he had to say to men, was held with +unbroken unanimity by the other apostles. `They' means all of +\textit{them}; and `so' means the summary of the Gospel teaching +in the preceding verses. + +Now, Paul would not have ventured to make that assertion, in the +face of men whom he knew to be eager to pick holes in anything +that he said, unless he had been perfectly sure of his ground. +There were broad differences between him and the others. But their +partisans might squabble, as is often the case, and the men, whose +partisans they were, be unanimous. There were differences of +individual character, of temper, and of views about certain points +of Christian truth. But there was an unbroken front of unanimity +in regard to all that lies within the compass of that little word +which covers so much ground---`\textit{So} we preach.' + +Now, I wish to turn to that outstanding fact---which does not +always attract the attention which it deserves---of the absolute +identity of the message which all the apostles and primitive +teachers delivered, and to seek to enforce some of the +considerations and lessons which seem to me naturally to flow from +it. + +I. First, then, I ask you to think of the fact itself---the +unbroken unanimity of the whole body of Apostolic teachers. + +As I have said, there were wide differences of characteristics +between them, but there was a broad tract of teaching wherein they +all agreed. Let me briefly gather up the points of unanimity, the +contents of the one Gospel, which every man of them felt was his +message to the world. I may take it all from the two clauses in +the preceding context, `how that Christ died for our sins +according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He +rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.' These are +the things about which, as Paul declares, there was not the +whisper of a dissentient voice. There is the vital centre which he +declares every Christian teacher grasped as being the essential of +his message, and in various tones and manners, but in substantial +identity of content, declared to the world. + +Now, what lies in it? The Person spoken of---the Christ, and all +that that word involves of reference to the ancient and incomplete +Revelation in the past, its shadows and types, its prophecies and +ceremonies, its priesthood and its sacrifices; with all that it +involves of reference to the ancient hopes on which a thousand +generations had lived, and which either are baseless delusions, or +are realised in Jesus---the Person whom all the Apostles +proclaimed was One anointed from God as Prophet, Priest, and King; +who had come into the world to fulfil all that the ancient system +had shadowed by sacrifice, temple, and priest, and was the Monarch +of Israel and of the world. + +And not only were they absolutely unanimous in regard to the +Person, but they were unbrokenly consentient in regard to the +facts of His life, His death, and His Resurrection. But the +proclamation of the external fact is no gospel. You must add the +clause `for our sins,' and then the record, which is a mere piece +of history, with no more good news in it than the record of the +death of any other martyr, hero, or saint, starts into being truly +the good news for the world. The least part of a historical fact +is the fact; the greatest part of it is the explanation of the +fact, and the setting it in its place in regard to other facts, +the exhibition of the principles which it expresses, and of the +conclusions to which it leads. So the bare historical declaration +of a death and a resurrection is transmuted into a gospel, by that +which is the most important part of the Gospel, the explanation of +the meaning of the fact---`He died for our sins.' + +If redemption from sin through the death of a Person is the +fundamental conception of the Gospel for the world, then it is +clear that, for such a purpose, a divine nature in the Person is +wanted. Your notion of what Christ came to do will determine your +notion of who He is. If you only recognise that His work is to +teach, or to show in exercise a fair human character, then you may +rest content with the lower notion of His nature which sees in Him +but the foremost of the sons of men. But if we grasp `died for our +sins,' then for such a task the incarnation of the Eternal Son of +God is the absolute pre-requisite. + +Still further, our text brings out the contents of this gospel as +being the declaration of the Resurrection. On that I need not here +and now dwell at any length. But these are the points, the Person, +the two facts, death and resurrection, and the great meaning of +the death---viz. the expiation for the world's sins: these are the +things on which the whole of the primitive teachers of the +Apostolic Church had one voice and one message. + +Now, I do not suppose that I need spend any time in showing to you +how the extant records bear out, absolutely, this contention of +the Apostle's. I need only remind you how the opposition that was +waged against him---and it was a very vigorous and a very bitter +opposition---from a section of the Church, had no bearing at all +upon the question of what he taught, but only upon the question of +to whom it was to be taught. The only objection that the so-called +Judaising party in the early Church had against Paul and his +preaching, was not the Gospel that he declared, but his assertion +that the Gentile nations might enter into the Church through faith +in Jesus Christ, without passing through the gate of circumcision. +Depend upon it, if there had been any, even the most microscopic, +divergence on his part from the general, broad stream of Christian +teaching, the sleepless, keen-eyed, unscrupulous enemies that +dogged him all his days would have pounced upon it eagerly, and +would never have ceased talking about it. But not one of them ever +said a word of the sort, but allowed his teaching to pass, because +it was the teaching of every one of the apostles. + +If I had time, or if it were necessary, it would be easy to point +you to the records that we have left of the Apostolic teaching, in +order to confirm this unbroken unanimity. I do not need to spend +time on that. Proof-texts are not worth so much as the fact that +these doctrines are interwoven into the whole structure of the New +Testament as a whole---just as they are into Paul's letters. But I +may gather one or two sayings, in which the substance of each +writer's teaching has been concentrated by himself. For instance, +Peter speaks about being `redeemed by the precious blood of Christ +as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot,' and declares that +`He Himself bare our sins in His own body on the tree.' John comes +in with his doxology: `Unto Him that loved us, and loosed us from +our sins in His own blood'; and it is his pen that records how in +the heavens there echoed `glory and honour and thanks and +blessing, for ever and ever, to the Lamb that was slain, and has +redeemed us unto God by His blood.' The writer of the Epistle to +the Hebrews, steeped as he is in ceremonial and sacrificial ideas, +and having for his one purpose to work out the thought that Jesus +Christ is all that the ancient ritual, sacerdotal and sacrificial +system shadows and foretells, sums up his teaching in the +statement that Christ having come, a high priest of good things to +come, `through His own blood, entered in, once for all, into the +holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.' + +There were limits to the unanimity, as I have already said. Paul +and Peter had a great quarrel about circumcision and related +subjects. The Apostolic writings are wondrously diverse from one +another. Peter is far less constructive and profound than Paul. +Paul and Peter are both untouched with the mystic wisdom of the +Apostle John. But, in regard to the facts that I have signalised, +the divinity, the person of Jesus Christ, His death and +Resurrection, and the significance to be attached to that death, +they are absolutely one. The instruments in the orchestra are +various, the tender flute, the ringing trumpet, and many another, +but the note they strike is the same. `Whether it were I or they, +so we preach.' + +II. Now, let me ask you to consider the only explanation of this +unanimity. + +Time was when the people, who did not believe in Christ's divinity +and sacrificial death, tortured themselves to try and make out +meanings for these epistles, which should not include the +obnoxious doctrines. That is nearly antiquated. I suppose that +there is nobody now, or next to nobody, who does not admit that, +right or wrong, Paul, Peter, John---all of them---teach these two +things, that Christ is the Eternal Son of the Father, and that His +death is the Sacrifice for the world's sin. But they say that that +is not the primitive, simple teaching of the Man of Nazareth; and +that the unanimity is a unanimity of misapprehension of, and +addition to, His words and to the drift of His teaching. + +Now, just think what a huge---I was going to +say---inconceivability that supposition is. For there is no point, +say from the time at which the Apostle who wrote the words of my +text, which was somewhere about the year 56 or 57 A.D.,---there is +no point between that period, working backwards through the +history of the Church to the Crucifixion, where you can insert +such a tremendous revolution of teaching as this. There is no +trace of such a change. Peter's earliest speeches, as recorded in +Acts, are in some important respects less developed doctrinally +than are the epistles, but Christ's Messiahship, death, and +Resurrection, with which is connected the remission of sins, are +as clearly and emphatically proclaimed as at any later time. So +these points of the Apostolic testimony were preached from the +first, and, if in preaching them, the witnesses perverted the +simple teaching of the Carpenter of Nazareth, and ascribed to Him +a character which He had not claimed, and to His death a power of +which He had not dreamed, they did so at the very time when the +impressions of His personality and teaching were most recent and +strong. It seems to me, apart altogether from other +considerations, that such a right-about-face movement on the part +of the early teachers of Christianity, is an absolute +impossibility, regard being had to the facts of the case, even if +you make much allowance for possible errors in the record. + +But I would make another remark. If misapprehension came in, if +these men, in their unanimous declaration of Christ's death as the +Sacrifice for sin, were not fairly representing the conclusions +inevitable from the facts of Christ's life and death, and from His +own words, is it not an odd thing that the same misapprehension +affected them all? When people misconceive a teacher's doctrine, +they generally differ in the nature of their misconceptions, and +split into sections and parties. But here you have to account for +the fact that every man of them, with all their diversity of +idiosyncrasy and character, tumbled into the same pit of error, +and that there was not one of them left sane enough to protest. +Does that seem to be a likely thing? + +And what about the worth of the teacher's teaching, that did not +guard its receivers from such absolute misapprehension as that? If +the whole Church unanimously mistook everything that Jesus Christ +had said to them, and unwarrantably made out of Him what they did, +on this hypothesis, I do not think that there is much left to +honour or admire in a teacher, whose teaching was so ambiguous, as +that it led all that received it into such an error as that into +which, by the supposition, they fell. + +No, brethren; they were one, because their Gospel was the only +possible statement of the principles that underlay, and the +conclusions that flowed from, the plain facts of the life and the +teaching of Jesus Christ. I am not going to spend time in quoting +His own words. I can only refer to one or two of them very +succinctly. `Destroy this Temple, and in three days I will raise +it up.' `As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so +must the Son of Man be lifted up.' `My flesh is the bread which I +will give for the life of the world.' `The Son of Man came not to +be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom +for many.' `This is My body broken for you; take, eat, in +remembrance of Me.' `This is My blood, shed for many for the +remission of sins; this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in +remembrance of Me.' What possible explanation, doing justice to +these words, is there, except `Jesus Christ died for our sins +according to the Scriptures'? And how could men who had heard them +with their own ears, and with their own eyes had seen Him risen +from the dead and ascending into heaven, do otherwise than +eagerly, enthusiastically, at the cost of all, and with +unhesitating voice of unbroken unanimity, `so preach'? + +I quite admit that in Christ's teaching in the gospels you will +not find the articulate drawing out into doctrinal statement of +the principles that underlay, and the conclusions that flow from, +the historical fact of Christ's propitiatory death. I do not +wonder at that, nor do I admit that it is any argument against the +truth of the divine revelation which is made in these doctrinal +statements, to allege that we find nothing corresponding to them +in Jesus Christ's own words. The silence is not as absolute as is +alleged, as the quotations which I have made, and which might have +been multiplied, do distinctly enough show. Even if it were more +absolute than it is, the silence is by no means unintelligible. +Christ had to offer the Sacrifice before the Sacrifice could be +preached. He Himself warned His disciples against accepting His +own words prior to the Cross, as the conclusive and ultimate +revelation. `I have many things to say unto you, but you cannot +carry them now.' There was need that the Cross should be a fact +before it was evolved into a doctrine. And so I venture to say +that the unanimity of the preaching is only explicable on the +ground of that preaching in both its parts---its assertion of +Jesus' Messiahship and of His propitiatory death---being the +repetition on the housetop of the lessons which they had heard in +the ear from Him. + +III. Note, briefly, the lesson from this unanimity. + +Let us distinctly apprehend where is the living heart of the +Gospel---that it is the message of redemption by the incarnation and +sacrifice of the Son of God. There follows from that incarnation and +sacrifice all the great teaching about the work of the Divine Spirit +in men, dwelling in them for evermore. But the beginning of all is, +`Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.' And, +brethren, that message meets, as nothing else meets, the deepest +needs of every human soul. It is able, as nothing else is able, to +open out into a whole encyclop\ae{}dia and universe of wisdom and +truth and power. If we strike it out of our conception of +Christianity, or if we obscure it as being the very palpitating +centre of the whole, then feebleness will creep over the +Christianity that is \textit{minus} a Cross, or does not see in it +the Sacrifice for the world's sin. You may cast overboard the sails +to lighten the ship. If you do, she lies a log on the waters. And +if, for the sake of meeting new phases of thought, Christian +churches tamper with this central truth, they have flung away their +means of progress and of power. + +Let me say again, and in a word only, that the considerations that I +have been trying to submit to you in this sermon, show us the limits +within which the modern cry of `Back to the Christ of the Gospels,' +is right, and where it may be wrong. I believe that in former days, +and to some extent in the present day, we evangelical teachers have +too much sometimes talked rather about the doctrines than about the +Person who is the doctrines. And if the cry of `Back to the Christ' +means, `Do not talk so much about the Atonement and Propitiation; +talk about the Christ who atones,' then, with all my heart, I say, +`Amen!' But put the Person in the foreground, the living-loving, the +dying-loving, the risen-loving Christ, put Him in the foreground. +But if it is implied, as I am afraid it is often implied, that the +Christ of the Gospels is one and the Christ of the epistles is +another, and that to go back to the Christ of the gospels means to +drop `died for our sins according to the Scriptures,' and to retain +only the non-miraculous, moral and religious teachings that are +recorded in the three first gospels, then I say that it is fatal for +the Church, and it is false to the facts, for the Christ of the +epistles is the Christ of the gospels: the difference only being +that in the one you have the facts, and in the other you have their +meaning and their power. + +So, lastly, let this text teach us what we ourselves have to do +with this unanimous testimony. `So we preach, and so ye believed.' +Brother! Do you believe \textit{so}? That is to say, is your +conception of the Gospel the mighty redemptive agency which is +wrought by the Incarnate Son of God, who was crucified for our +offences, and rose that we might live, and is glorified that we, +too, may share His glory? Is that your Gospel? But do not be +content with an intellectual grasp of the thing. `So ye believed' +means a great deal more than `I believe that Christ died for our +sins.' It means `I believe in the Christ who did die for my sins.' +You must cast yourself as a sinful man on Him; and, so casting, +you will find that it is no vain story which is commended to us by +all these august voices from the past, but you will have in your +own experience the verification of the fact that He died for our +sins, in your own consciousness of sins forgiven, and new love +bestowed; and so may turn round to Paul, the leader of the chorus, +and to all the apostolic band, and say to them, `Now I believe, +not because of thy saying, but because I have seen Him, and myself +heard Him.' + +\chapter{The Certainty and Joy of the Resurrection} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xv. 20} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`But now is Christ risen from the dead ... the first fruits of +them that slept.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xv. 20. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The Apostle has been contemplating the long train of dismal +consequences which he sees would arise if we only had a dead +Christ. He thinks that he, the Apostle, would have nothing to +preach, and we, nothing to believe. He thinks that all hope of +deliverance from sin would fade away. He thinks that the one fact +which gives assurance of immortality having vanished, the dead who +had nurtured the assurance have perished. And he thinks that if +things were so, then Christian men, who had believed a false +gospel, and nourished an empty faith, and died clinging to a +baseless hope, were far more to be pitied than men who had had +less splendid dreams and less utter illusions. + +Then, with a swift revulsion of feeling, he turns away from that +dreary picture, and with a change of key, which the dullest ear +can appreciate, from the wailing minors of the preceding verses, +he breaks into this burst of triumph. `Now'---things being as they +are, for it is the logical `now,' and not the temporal +one---things being as they are, `Christ is risen from the dead, +and that as the first fruits of them that slept.' + +Part of the ceremonial of the Passover was the presentation in the +Temple of a barley sheaf, the first of the harvest, waved before +the Lord in dedication to Him, and in sign of thankful confidence +that all the fields would be reaped and their blessing gathered. +There may be some allusion to that ceremony, which coincided in +time with the Resurrection of our Lord, in the words here, which +regard that one solitary Resurrection as the early ripe and early +reaped sheaf, the pledge and the prophecy of the whole +ingathering. + +Now there seem to me, in these words, to ring out mainly two +things---an expression of absolute certainty in the fact, and an +expression of unbounded triumph in the certainty of the fact. + +And if we look at these two things, I think we shall get the main +thoughts that the Apostle would impress upon our minds. + +I. The certainty of Christ's Resurrection. + +`Now \textit{is} Christ risen,' says he, defying, as it were, +doubt and negation, and basing himself upon the firm assurance +which he possesses of that historical fact. `Ah!' you say, `seeing +is believing; and he had evidence such as we can never have.' +Well! let us see. Is it possible for us, nineteen centuries nearly +after that day, to catch some echo of this assured confidence, and +in the face of modern doubts and disbeliefs, to reiterate with as +unfaltering assurance as that with which they came from his +glowing lips, the great words of my text? Can we, logically and +reasonably, as men who are guided by evidence and not by feeling, +stand up before the world, and take for ours the ancient +confession: `I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, +who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and +buried. The third day He rose again from the dead'? I think we +can. + +The way to prove a fact is by the evidence of witnesses. You +cannot argue that it would be very convenient, if such and such a +thing should be true; that great moral effects would follow if we +believed it was true, and so on. The way to do is to put people +who have seen it into the witness-box, and to make sure that their +evidence is worth accepting. + +And at the beginning of my remarks I wish to protest, in a +sentence, against confusing the issues about this question of the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ in that fashion which is popular +nowadays, when we are told that miracle is impossible, and +\textit{therefore} there has been no Resurrection, or that death +is the end of human existence, and that \textit{therefore} there +has been no Resurrection. That is not the way to go about +ascertaining the truth as to asserted facts. Let us hear the +evidence. The men who brush aside the testimony of the New +Testament writers, in obedience to a theory, either about the +impossibility of the supernatural, or about the fatal and final +issues of human death, are victims of prejudice, in the strictest +meaning of the word; and are no more logical than the well-known +and proverbial reasoner who, when told that facts were against +him, with sublime confidence in his own infallibility, is reported +to have said, `So much the worse for the facts.' Let us deal with +evidence, and not with theory, when we are talking about alleged +facts of history. + +So then, let me remind you that, in this chapter from which my +text is taken, we have a record of the Resurrection of Jesus +Christ, older than, and altogether independent of, the records +contained in the gospels, which are all subsequent in date to it; +that this Epistle to the Corinthians is one of the four undisputed +Epistles of the Apostle, which not the most advanced school of +modern criticism has a word to say against; that, therefore, this +chapter, written, at the latest, some seven and twenty years after +the date of the Crucifixion, carries us up very close to that +event; that it shows that the Resurrection was +\textit{universally} believed all over the Church, and therefore +must have then been long believed; that it enables us to trace the +same belief as universal, and in undisputed possession of the +field among the churches, at the time of Paul's conversion, which +cannot be put down at much more than five or six years after the +Crucifixion, and that so we are standing in the presence of +absolutely contemporaneous testimony. This is not a case in which +a belief slowly and gradually grew up. Whether we accept the +evidence or not, we are bound to admit that it is strictly +contemporaneous testimony to the fact of Christ's Resurrection. + +And the witnesses are reliable and competent, as well as +contemporaneous. The old belief that their testimony was imposture +is dead long ago; as, indeed, how could it live? It would be an +anomaly, far greater than the Resurrection, to believe that these +people, Mary, Peter, John, Paul, and all the rest of them, were +conspirators in a lie, and that the fairest system of morality and +the noblest consecration that the world has ever seen, grew up out +of a fraud, like flowers upon a dunghill. That theory will not +hold water; and even those who will not accept the testimony have +long since confessed that it will not. But the Apostle, in my +context, seems to think that that is the only tenable alternative +to the other theory that the witnesses were veracious, and I am +disposed to believe that he is right. He says, `If Christ be not +risen, then, are we' the utterly impossible thing of `false +witnesses to God,' devout perjurers, as the phrase might be +paraphrased: men who are lying to please God. If Christ be not +risen, they have sworn to a thing that they know to be untrue, in +order to advance His cause and His kingdom. If that theory be not +accepted, there is no other about these men and their message that +will hold water for a minute, except the admission of its truth. + +The fashionable modern one, that it was hallucination, is +preposterous. Hallucinations that five hundred people at once +shared! Hallucinations that lasted all through long talks, spread +at intervals over more than a month! Hallucinations that included +eating and drinking, speech and answer; the clasp of the hand and +the feeling of the breath! Hallucinations that brought +instruction! Hallucinations that culminated in the fancy that a +gathered multitude of them saw Him going up into heaven! The +hallucination is on the other side, I think. They have got the +saddle on the wrong horse when they talk about the Apostolic +witnesses being the victims of hallucination. It is the people who +believe it possible that they should be who are so. The old +argument against miracles used to say that it is more consonant +with experience that testimony should be false, than that a +miracle should be true. I venture to say it is a much greater +strain on a man's credulity, to believe that \textit{such} +evidence is false than that \textit{such} a miracle, \textit{so} +attested, is true. And I, for my part, venture to think that the +reasonable men are the men who listen to these eye-witnesses when +they say, `We saw Him rise'; and echo back in answer the +triumphant certitude, `Christ is risen indeed!' + +There is another consideration that I might put briefly. A very +valuable way of establishing facts is to point to the existence of +other facts, which indispensably require the previous ones for their +explanation. Let me give you an illustration of what I mean. I +believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, amongst other reasons, +because I do not understand how it was possible for the Church to +exist for a week after the Crucifixion, unless Jesus Christ rose +again. Why was it that they did not all scatter? Why was it that the +spirit of despondency and the tendency to separation, which were +beginning to creep over them when they were saying: `Ah! it is all +up! We \textit{trusted} that this had been He,' did not go on to +their natural issue? How came it that these people, with their +Master taken away from the midst of them, and the bond of union +between them removed, and all their hopes crushed did not say: `We +have made a mistake, let us go back to Gennesareth and take to our +fishing again, and try and forget our bright illusions'? That is +what John the Baptist's followers did when he died. Why did not +Christ's do the same? Because Christ rose again and re-knit them +together. When the Shepherd was smitten, the flock would have been +scattered, and never drawn together any more, unless there had been +just such a thing as the Resurrection asserts there was, to reunite +the dispersed and to encourage the depressed. And so I say, +Christianity with a \textit{dead} Christ, and a Church gathered +round a grave from which the stone has \textit{not} been rolled +away, is more unbelievable than the miracle, for it is an absurdity. + +Then there is another thing that I would say in a word. Let me put +an illustration to explain what I mean. Suppose, after the +execution of King Charles I., in some corner of the country a +Pretender had sprung up and said, `I am the King!' the way to end +that would have been for the Puritan leaders to have taken people +to St. George's Chapel, and said, `Look! there is the coffin, +there is the body, is that the king, or is it not?' Jesus Christ +was said to have risen again, within a week of the time of His +death. The rulers of the nation had the grave, the watch, the +stone, the seal. They could have put an end to the pestilent +nonsense in two minutes, if it had been nonsense, by the simple +process of saying, `Go and look at the tomb, and you will see Him +there.' But this question has never been answered, and never will +be---What became of that sacred corpse if Jesus Christ did not +rise again from the dead? The clumsy lie that the rulers told, +that the disciples had stolen away the body, was only their +acknowledgment that the grave was empty. If the grave were empty, +either His servants were impostors, which we have seen it is +incredible that they were, or the Christ was risen again. + +And so, dear brethren, for many other reasons besides this handful +that I have ventured to gather and put before you, and in spite of +the prejudices of modern theories, I lift up here once more, with +unfaltering certitude, the glad message which I beseech you to +accept: `Christ is risen, the first fruits of them that slept.' + +II. So much, then, for the first point in this passage. A word or +two about the second---the triumph in the certitude of that +Resurrection. + +As I remarked at a previous point of this discourse, the Apostle +has been speaking about the consequences which would follow from +the fact that Christ was not raised. If we take all these +consequences and reverse them, we get the glad issues of His +Resurrection, and understand why it was that this great burst of +triumph comes from the Apostle's lips. And though I must +necessarily treat this part of my subject very inadequately, let +me try to gather together the various points on which, as I think, +our Easter gladness ought to be built. + +First, then, I say, the risen Christ gives us a complete Gospel. A +dead Christ annihilates the Gospel. `If Christ be not risen,' says +the Apostle, `our preaching,' by which he means not the act but +the substance of his preaching, `is vain.' Or, as the word might +be more accurately rendered, `empty.' There is nothing in it; no +contents. It is a blown bladder; nothing in it but wind. + +What was Paul's `preaching'? It all turned upon these +points---that Jesus Christ was the Son of God; that He was +Incarnate in the flesh for us men; that He died on the Cross for +our offences; that He was raised again, and had ascended into +Heaven, ruling the world and breathing His presence into believing +hearts; and that He would come again to be our Judge. These were +the elements of what Paul called `his Gospel.' He faces the +supposition of a dead Christ, and he says, `It is all gone! It is +all vanished into thin air. I have nothing to preach if I have not +a Cross to preach which is man's deliverance from sin, because on +it the Son of God hath died, and I only know that Jesus Christ's +sacrifice is accepted and sufficient, because I have it attested +to me in His rising again from the dead.' + +Dear brethren, on the fact of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is +suspended everything which makes the Gospel a gospel. Strike that +out, and what have you left? Some beautiful bits of moral +teaching, a lovely life, marred by tremendous mistakes about +Himself and His own importance and His relation to men and to God; +but you have got nothing left that is worth calling a gospel. You +have the cross rising there, gaunt, black, solitary; but, unless +on the other side of the river you have the Resurrection, no +bridge will ever be thrown across the black gulf, and the Cross +remains `dead, being alone.' You must have a Resurrection to +explain the Cross, and then the Life and the Death tower up into +the manifestation of God in the flesh and the propitiation for our +sins. Without it we have nothing to preach which is worth calling +a gospel. + +Again, a living Christ gives faith something to lay hold of. The +Apostle here in the context twice says, according to the +Authorised Version, that a dead Christ makes our faith `vain.' But +he really uses two different words, the former of which is applied +to `preaching,' and means literally `empty,' while the latter +means `of none effect' or `powerless.' So there are two ideas +suggested here which I can only touch with the lightest hand. + +The risen Christ puts some contents, so to speak, into my faith; +He gives me something for it to lay hold of. + +Who can trust a \textit{dead} Christ, or who can trust a +\textit{human} Christ? That would be as much a blasphemy as +trusting any other man. It is only when we recognise Him as +declared to be the Son of God, and that by the Resurrection from +the dead, that our faith has anything round which it can twine, +and to which it can cleave. That living Saviour will stretch out +His hand to us if we look to Him, and if I put my poor, trembling +little hand up towards Him, He will bend to me and clasp it. You +cannot exercise faith unless you have a risen Saviour, and unless +you exercise faith in Him your lives are marred and sad. + +Again, if Christ be dead, our faith, if it could exist, would be +as devoid of effect as it would be empty of substance. For such a +faith would be like an infant seeking nourishment at a dead +mother's breast, or men trying to kindle their torches at an +extinguished lamp. And chiefly would it fail to bring the first +blessing which the believing soul receives through and from a +risen Christ, namely, deliverance from sin. If He whom we believed +to be our sacrifice by His death and our sanctification by His +life has not risen, then, as we have seen, all which makes His +death other than a martyr's vanishes, and with it vanish +forgiveness and purifying. Only when we recognise that in His +Cross explained by His Resurrection, we have redemption through +His blood, even the forgiveness of sins, and by the communication +of the risen life from the risen Lord possess that new nature +which sets us free from the dominion of our evil, is faith +operative in setting us free from our sins. + +So, dear friends, the risen Christ gives us something for faith to +lay hold of, and will make it the hand by which we grasp His +strong hand, which lifts us `out of the horrible pit and the miry +clay, and sets our feet upon a rock.' But if He lie dead in the +grave your faith is vain, because it grasps nothing but a shadow; +and it is vain as being purposeless; you are yet in your sins. + +The last thought is that the risen Christ gives us the certitude +of our Resurrection. I do not for a moment mean to say that, apart +from the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the thought, be it a wish +or a dread, of immortality, has not been found in men, but there +is all the difference in the world between forebodings, +aspirations, wishes it were so, fears that it might be so, and the +calm certitude that it is so. Many men talked about a western +continent, but Columbus went there and came back again, and that +ended doubt. Many men before, and apart from Jesus, have cherished +thoughts of an immortal life beyond the grave, but He has been +there and returned. And that, and, as I believe, that only puts +the doctrine of immortality upon an irrefragable foundation; and +we can say, `Now, I know that there is that land beyond.' They +tell us that death ends everything. Modern materialism, in all its +forms, asserts that it is the extinction of the personality. Jesus +Christ died, and went through it, and came out of it the same, and +I will trust Him. Brethren, the set of opinion amongst the +educated and cultured classes in England, and all over Europe, at +this moment, proves to anybody who has eyes to see, that for this +generation, rejection of immortality will follow certainly on the +rejection of Jesus Christ. And for England to-day, as for Greece +when Paul sent his letter to Corinth, the one light of certitude +in the great darkness is the fact that Jesus Christ hath died, and +is risen again. + +If you will let Him, He will make you partakers of His own +immortal life. `The first fruits of them that slept' is the pledge +and the prophecy of all the waving abundance of golden grain that +shall be gathered into the great husbandman's barns. The Apostle +goes on to represent the resurrection of `them that are Christ's' +as a consequence of their union to Jesus. He has conquered for us +all. He has entered the prison-house and come forth bearing its +iron gates on His shoulders, and henceforth it is not possible +that we should be holden of it. There are two resurrections---one, +that of Christ's servants, one that of others. They are not the +same in principle---and, alas, they are awfully different in +issue. `Some shall wake to everlasting life, and some to shame and +everlasting contempt.' + +Let me beseech you to make Jesus Christ the life of your dead +souls, by humble, penitent trust in Him. And then, in due time, He +will be the life of your transformed bodies, changing these into +the likeness of the body of His glory, `according to the working +whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.' + +\chapter{The Death of Death} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xv. 20, 21; 50--58} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the +first-fruits of them that slept. 21.\ For since by man came death, +by man came also the resurrection of the dead.... 50.\ Now this I +say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of +God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51.\ Behold, I +shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be +changed, 52.\ In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last +trump, (for the trumpet shall sound;) and the dead shall be raised +incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53.\ For this corruptible +must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. +54.\ So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and +this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought +to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in +victory. 55.\ O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy +victory? 56.\ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin +is the law. 57.\ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the +victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58.\ Therefore, my beloved +brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work +of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain +in the Lord.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xv. 20, 21; 50--58. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +This passage begins with the triumphant ringing out of the great +fact which changes all the darkness of an earthly life without a +heavenly hope into a blaze of light. All the dreariness for +humanity, and all the vanity for Christian faith and preaching, +vanish, like ghosts at cock-crow, when the Resurrection of Jesus +rises sun-like on the world's night. It is a historical fact, +established by the evidence proper for such,---namely, the +credible testimony of eye-witnesses. They could attest His rising, +but the knowledge of the worldwide significance of it comes, not +from testimony, but from revelation. Those who saw Him risen join +to declare: `Now is Christ risen from the dead,' but it is a +higher Voice that goes on to say, `and become the first-fruits of +them that slept.' + +That one Man risen from the grave was like the solitary sheaf of +paschal first-fruits, prophesying of many more, a gathered harvest +that will fill the great Husbandman's barns. The Resurrection of +Jesus is not only a prophecy, showing, as it and it alone does, +that death is not the end of man, but that life persists through +death and emerges from it, like a buried river coming again +flashing into the light of day, but it is the source or cause of +the Christian's resurrection. The oneness of the race necessitated +the diffusion through all its members of sin and of its +consequence---physical death. If the fountain is poisoned, all the +stream will be tainted. If men are to be redeemed from the power +of the grave, there must be a new personal centre of life; and +union with Him, which can only be effected by faith, is the +condition of receiving life from Him, which gradually conquers the +death of sin now, and will triumph over bodily death in the final +resurrection. It is the resurrection of Christians that Paul is +dealing with. Others are to be raised, but on a different +principle, and to sadly different issues. Since Christ's +Resurrection assures us of the future waking, it changes death +into `sleep,' and that sleep does not mean unconsciousness any +more than natural sleep does, but only rest from toil, and +cessation of intercourse with the external world. + +In the part of the passage, verses 50 to 58, the Apostle becomes, +not the witness or the reasoner, as in the earlier parts of the +chapter, but the revealer of a `mystery.' That word, so tragically +misunderstood, has here its uniform scriptural sense of truth, +otherwise unknown, made known by revelation. But before he unveils +the mystery, Paul states with the utmost force a difficulty which +might seem to crush all hope,---namely, that corporeity, as we +know it, is clearly incapable of living in such a world as that +future one must be. To use modern terms, organism and environment +must be adapted to each other. A fish must have the water, the +creatures that flourish at the poles would not survive at the +equator. A man with his gross earthly body, so thoroughly adapted +to his earthly abode, would be all out of harmony with his +surroundings in that higher world, and its rarified air would be +too thin and pure for his lungs. Can there be any possibility of +making him fit to live in a spiritual world? Apart from +revelation, the dreary answer must be `No.' But the `mystery' +answers with `Yes.' The change from physical to spiritual is +clearly necessary, if there is to be a blessed life hereafter. + +That necessary change is assured to all Christians, whether they +die or `remain till the coming of the Lord.' Paul varies in his +anticipations as to whether he and his contemporaries will belong +to the one class or the other; but he is quite sure that in either +case the indwelling Spirit of Jesus will effect on living and dead +the needful change. The grand description in verse 52, like the +parallel in 1 Thessalonians iv. 16, is modelled on the account of +the theophany on Sinai. The trumpet was the signal of the Divine +Presence. That last manifestation will be sudden, and its +startling breaking in on daily commonplace is intensified by the +reduplication: `In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.' With +sudden crash that awful blare of `loud, uplifted angel trumpet' +will silence all other sounds, and hush the world. The stages of +what follows are distinctly marked. First, the rising of the dead +changed in passing through death, so as to rise in incorruptible +bodies, and then the change of the bodies of the living into like +incorruption. The former will not be found naked, but will be +clothed with their white garments; the latter will, as it were, +put on the glorious robes above the `muddy vesture of decay,' or, +more truly, will see the miracle of these being transfigured till +they shine `so as no fuller on earth could white them.' The living +will witness the resurrection of the dead; the risen dead will +witness the transformation of the living. Then both hosts will be +united, and, through all eternity, `live together,' and that `with +Him.' Paul evidently expects that he and the Corinthians will be +in the latter class, as appears by the `we' in verse 52. He, as it +were, points to his own body when he says, recurring to his former +thought of the necessity of harmony between organism and +environment, `\textit{this} corruptible must put on incorruption.' +Here `corruption' is used in its physical application, though the +ethical meaning may be in the background. + +The Apostle closes his long argument and revelation with a burst, +almost a shout, of triumph. Glowing words of old prophets rush +into his mind, and he breathes a new, grander meaning into them. +Isaiah had sung of a time when the veil over all nations should be +destroyed `in this mountain,' and when death should be swallowed +up for ever; and Paul grasps the words and says that the prophet's +loftiest anticipations will be fulfilled when that monster, whose +insatiable maw swallows down youth, beauty, strength, wisdom, will +himself be swallowed up. Hosea had prophesied of Israel's +restoration under figure of a resurrection, and Paul grasps +\textit{his} words and fills them with a larger meaning. He +modifies them, in a manner on which we need not enlarge, to +express the great Christian thought that death has conquered man +but that man in Christ will conquer the conqueror. With swift +change of metaphor he represents death as a serpent, armed with a +poisoned sting, and that suggests to him the thought, never far +away in his view of man, that death's power to slay is derived +from---or, so to say, concentrated in---sin; and that at once +raises the other equally characteristic and familiar thought that +law stimulates sin, since to know a thing to be forbidden creates +in perverse humanity an itching to do it, and law reveals sin by +setting up the ideal from which sin is the departure. But just as +the tracks in Paul's mind were well worn, by which the thought of +death brought in that of sin, and that of sin drew after it that +of law, so with equal closeness of established association, that +of law condemnatory and slaying, brought up that of Christ the +all-sufficient refuge from that gloomy triad---Death Sin, Law. +Through union with Him each of us may possess His immortal risen +life, in which Death, the engulfer, is himself engulfed; Death, +the conqueror, is conquered utterly and for ever; Death, the +serpent, has his sting drawn, and is harmless. That participation +in Christ's life is begun even here, and God `giveth us the +victory' now, even while we live outward lives that must end in +death, and will give it perfectly in the resurrection, when `they +cannot die any more,' and death itself is dead. + +The loftiest Christian hopes have close relation to the lowliest +Christian duties, and Paul's triumphant song ends with plain, +practical, prose exhortations to steadfastness, unmovable +tenacity, and abundant fruitfulness, the motive and power of which +will be found in the assurance that, since there is a life beyond, +all labour here, however it may fail in the eyes of men, will not +be in vain, but will tell on character and therefore on condition +through eternity. If our peace does not rest where we would fain +see it settle, it will not be wasted, but will return to us again, +like the dove to the ark, and we shall `self-enfold the large +results of' labour that seemed to have been thrown away. + +\chapter{Strong and Loving} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xvi. 13, 14} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. +14.\ Let all your things be done with charity.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} +xvi. 13, 14. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There is a singular contrast between the first four of these +exhortations and the last. The former ring sharp and short like +pistol-shots; the last is of gentler mould. The former sound like +the word of command shouted from an officer along the ranks; and +there is a military metaphor running all through them. The foe +threatens to advance; let the guards keep their eyes open. He +comes nearer; prepare for the charge, stand firm in your ranks. +The battle is joined; `quit you like men'---strike a man's +stroke---`be strong.' + +And then all the apparatus of warfare is put away out of sight, +and the captain's word of command is softened into the Christian +teacher's exhortation: `Let all your deeds be done in charity.' +For love is better than fighting, and is stronger than swords. And +yet, although there is a contrast here, there is also a sequence +and connection. No doubt these exhortations, which are Paul's last +word to that Corinthian Church on whom he had lavished in turn the +treasures of his manifold eloquence, indignation, argumentation, +and tenderness, reflected the deficiencies of the people to whom +he was speaking. They were schismatic and factious to the very +core, and so they needed the exhortation to be left last in their +ears, as it were, that everything should be done in love. They +were ill-grounded in regard to the very fundamental doctrines of +the faith, as all Paul's argumentation about the resurrection +proves, and so they needed to be bidden to `stand fast in the +faith.' Their slothful carelessness as to the discipline of the +Christian life, and their consequent feebleness of grasp of the +Christian verities, made them loose-braced and weak in all +respects, and incapacitated them for vigorous warfare. Thus, we +see a picture in these injunctions of the sort of community that +Paul had to deal with in Corinth, which yet he called a Church of +saints, and for which he loved and laboured. Let me then run over +and try to bring out the importance and mutual connection of what +I may call this drill-book for the Christian warfare, which is the +Christian life. + +`Watch ye.' That means one of two things certainly, probably +both---Keep awake, and keep your eyes open. Our Lord used the same +metaphor, you remember, very frequently, but with a special +significance. On His lips it generally referred to the attitude of +expectation of His coming in judgment. Paul uses sometimes the +figure with the same application, but here, distinctly, it has +another. As I said, there is the military idea underlying it. What +will become of an army if the sentries go to sleep? And what +chance will a Christian man have of doing his \textit{devoir} +against his enemy, unless he keeps himself awake, and keeps +himself alert? Watchfulness, in the sense of always having eyes +open for the possible rush down upon us of temptation and evil, is +no small part of the discipline and the duty of the Christian +life. One part of that watchfulness consists in exercising a very +rigid and a very constant and comprehensive scrutiny of our +motives. For there is no way by which evil creeps upon us so +unobserved, as when it slips in at the back door of a specious +motive. Many a man contents himself with the avoidance of actual +evil actions, and lets any kind of motives come in and out of his +mind unexamined. It is all right to look after our +\textit{doings}, but `as a man \textit{thinketh} in his heart, so +is he.' The good or the evil of anything that I do is determined +wholly by the motive with which I do it. And we are a great deal +too apt to palm off deceptions on ourselves to make sure that our +motives are right, unless we give them a very careful and minute +scrutiny. One side of this watchfulness, then, is a habitual +inspection of our motives and reasons for action. `What am I doing +this for?' is a question that would stop dead an enormous +proportion of our activity, as if you had turned the steam off +from an engine. If you will use a very fine sieve through which to +strain your motives, you will go a long way to keeping your +actions right. We should establish a rigid examination for +applicants for entrance, and make quite sure that each that +presents itself is not a wolf in sheep's clothing. Make them all +bring out their passports. Let every vessel that comes into your +harbour remain isolated from all communication with the shore, +until the health officer has been on board and given a clean bill. +`Watch ye,' for yonder, away in the dark, in the shadow of the +trees, the black masses of the enemy are gathered, and a midnight +attack is but too likely to bring a bloody awakening to a camp +full of sleepers. + +My text goes on to bring the enemy nearer and nearer and nearer. +`Watch ye'---and if, not unnoticed, they come down on you, `stand +fast in the faith.' There will be no keeping our ranks, or keeping +our feet---or at least, it is not nearly so likely that there will +be---unless there has been the preceding watchfulness. If the +first command has not been obeyed, there is small chance of the +second's being so. If there has not been any watchfulness, it is +not at all likely that there will be much steadfastness. Just as +with a man going along a crowded pavement, a little touch from a +passer-by will throw him off his balance, whereas if he had known +it was coming, and had adjusted his poise rightly, he would have +stood against thrice as violent a shock, so, in order that we may +stand fast, we must watch. A sudden assault will be a great deal +less formidable when it is a foreseen assault. + +`Stand fast \textit{in the faith}.' I take it that this does not +mean `the thing that we believe,' which use of the word `faith' is +the ecclesiastical, but not the New Testament meaning. In +Scripture, faith means not the body of truths that we believe, but +the act of believing them. This further command tells us that, in +addition to our watchfulness, and as the basis of our +steadfastness, confidence in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ +will enable us to keep our feet whatever comes against us, and to +hold our ground, whoever may assault us. + +But remember that it is not because I have faith that I stand +fast, but because of that in which I have faith. My feet may be +well shod---and it used to be said that a soldier's shoes were of +as much importance in the battle as his musket---my feet may be +well shod, but if they are not well planted upon firm ground I +never shall be able to stand the collision of the foe. So then, it +is not my grasp of the blessed truth, God in Christ my Friend and +Helper, but it is that truth which I grasp at, that makes me +strong. Or, to put it into other words, it is the foothold, and +not the foot that holds it, that ensures our standing firm. Only +there is no steadfastness communicated to us from the source of +all stability, except by way of our faith, which brings Christ +into us. `Watch ye; stand fast in the faith.' + +The next two words of command are very closely connected, though +not quite identical. `Quit you like men.' Play a man's part in the +battle; strike with all the force of your muscles. But the Apostle +adds, `be strong.' You cannot play a man's part unless you are. +`Be strong'---the original would rather bear `become strong.' What +is the use of telling men to `\textit{be} strong'? It is a waste +of words, in nine cases out of ten, to say to a weak man, `Pluck +up your courage, and show strength.' But the Apostle uses a very +uncommon word here, at least uncommon in the New Testament, and +another place where he uses it will throw light upon what he +means: `Strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man.' +Then is it so vain a mockery to tell a poor, weak creature like me +to become strong, when you can point me to the source of all +strength, in that `Spirit of power and of love and of a sound +mind'? We have only to take our weakness there to have it +stiffened into strength; as people put bits of wood into what are +called `petrifying wells' which infiltrate into them mineral +particles, that do not turn the wood into stone, but make the wood +as strong as stone. So my manhood, with all its weakness, may have +filtered into it divine strength, which will brace me for all +needful duty, and make me `more than conqueror through Him that +loved us.' Then, it is not mockery and cruelty, vanity and +surplusage to preach `Quit you like men; be strong, and be a man'; +because if we will observe the plain and not hard conditions, +strength will come to us according to our day, in fulfilment of +the great promises: `My grace is sufficient for thee; and My +strength is made perfect in weakness.' + +And now we have done with the fighting words of command, and come +to the gentler exhortation: `Let all your things be done in +charity.' + +That was a hard lesson for these Corinthians who were splitting +themselves into factions and sects, and tearing each other's eyes +out in their partisanship for various Christian teachers. But the +advice has a much wider application than to the suppression of +squabbles in Christian communities. It is the sum of all +commandments of the Christian life, if you will take love in its +widest sense, in the sense, that is, in which it is always used in +Paul's writings. We cut it into two halves, and think of it as +sometimes meaning love to God, and sometimes love to man. The two +are inseparably inter-penetrated in the New Testament writings; +and so we have to interpret this supreme commandment in the whole +breadth and meaning of that great word \textit{Love}. And then it +just comes to this, that love is the victor in all the Christian +warfare. If we love God, at any given moment, consciously having +our affection engaged with Him, and our heart going out to Him, do +you think that any evil or temptation would have power over us? +Should we not see them as they are, to be devils in disguise? In +the proportion in which I love God I conquer all sin. And at the +moment in which that great, sweet, all-satisfying light floods +into my soul, I see through the hollowness and the shams, and +detect the ugliness and the filth of the things that otherwise +would be temptations. If you desire to be conquerors in the +Christian fight, remember that the true way of conquest is, as +another Apostle says, `Keep yourselves in the love of God.' `Let +all your things be done in charity.' + +And, further, how beautifully the Apostle here puts the great +truth that we are all apt to forget, that the strongest type of +human character is the gentlest and most loving, and that the +mighty man is not the man of intellectual or material force, such +as the world idolises, but the man who is much because he loves +much. If we would come to supreme beauty of Christian character, +there must be inseparably manifested in our lives, and lived in +our hearts, strength and love, might and gentleness. That is the +perfect man, and that was the union which was set before us, in +the highest form, in the `Strong Son of God, Immortal Love,' whom +we call our Saviour, and whom we are bound to follow. His soldiers +conquer as the Captain of their salvation has conquered, when +watchfulness and steadfastness and courage and strength are all +baptized in love and perfected thereby. + +\chapter{Anathema and Grace} +\markright{1 CORINTHIANS xvi. 21--24} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The salutation of me Paul with mine own hand. 22.\ If any man +love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha. +23.\ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 24.\ My love +be with you all in Christ Jesus.'---1 \textsc{Cor.} xvi. 21--24. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Terror and tenderness are strangely mingled in this parting +salutation, which was added in the great characters shaped by +Paul's own hand, to the letter written by an amanuensis. He has +been obliged, throughout the whole epistle, to assume a tone of +remonstrance abundantly mingled with irony and sarcasm and +indignation. He has had to rebuke the Corinthians for many faults, +party spirit, lax morality, toleration of foul sins, grave abuses +in their worship even at the Lord's Supper, gross errors in +opinion in the denial of the Resurrection. And in this last solemn +warning he traces all these vices to their fountainhead---the +defect of love to Jesus Christ---and warns of their fatal issue. +`Let him be Anathema.' + +But he will not leave these terrible words for his last. The +thunder is followed by gentle rain, and the sun glistens on the +drops; `The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.' Nor +for himself will he let the last impression be one of rebuke or +even of warning. He desires to show that his heart yearns over +them all; so he gathers them all---the partisans; the poor brother +that has fallen into sin; the lax ones who, in their misplaced +tenderness, had left him in his sin; the misguided reasoners who +had struck the Resurrection out of the articles of the Christian +creed---he gathers them all into his final salutation, and he +says, `Take and share my love---though I have had to +rebuke---amongst the whole of you.' + +Is not that beautiful? And does not the juxtaposition of such +messages in this farewell go deeper than the revelation of Paul's +character? May we not see, in these terrible and tender thoughts +thus inextricably intertwined and braided together, a revelation +of the true nature both of the terror and the tenderness of the +Gospel which Paul preached? It is from that point of view that I +wish to look at them now. + +I. I take first that thought---the terror of the fate of the +unloving. + +Now, I must ask you for a moment's attention in regard to these +two untranslated words. \textit{Anathema Maran-atha}. The first +thing to be noticed is that the latter of them stands +independently of the former, and forms a sentence by itself, as I +shall have to show you presently. `Anathema' means an offering, or +a thing devoted; and its use in the New Testament arises from its +use in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where it is +employed for persons and things that, in a peculiar sense, were +set apart and devoted to God. In the story of the conquest of +Canaan, for instance, we read of Jericho and other places, +persons, or things that were, as our version somewhat +unfortunately renders it, `accursed,' or as it ought rather to be +rendered, `devoted,' or `put under a ban.' And this `devotion' was +of such a sort as that the things or persons devoted were doomed +to destruction. All the dreadful things that were done in the +Conquest were the consequences of the persons that endured them +being thus `consecrated,' in a very dreadful sense, or set apart +for God. The underlying idea was that evil things brought into +contact with Him were necessarily destroyed with a swift +destruction. That being the meaning of the word, it is clear that +its use in my text is distinctly metaphorical, and that it +suggests to us that the unloving, like those cities full of +uncleanness, when they are brought into contact with the infinite +love of the coming Judge, shrivel up and are destroyed. + +The other word `Maran-atha,' as I said, is to be taken as a +separate sentence. It belongs to the dialect, which was probably +the vernacular of Palestine in the time of Paul, and to which +belong, for the most part, the other untranslated words that are +scattered up and down the Gospels, such as `Aceldama,' +`Ephphatha,' and the like. It means `our Lord comes.' Why Paul +chose to use that untranslated scrap of another tongue in a letter +to a Gentile Church we cannot tell. Perhaps it had come to be a +kind of watchword amongst the early Jewish Christians, which came +naturally to his lips. But, at any rate, the use of it here is +distinctly to confirm the warning of the previous clause, by +pointing to the time at which that warning shall be fulfilled. `If +any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be devoted and +destroyed. Our Lord comes.' The only other thing to be noticed by +way of introduction is that this first clause is not an +imprecation, nor any wish on the part of the Apostle, but is a +solemn prophetic warning (acquiesced in by every righteous heart) +of that which will certainly come. The significance of the whole +may be gathered into one simple sentence---The coming of the Lord +of Love is the destruction of the unloving. + +`Our Lord comes.' Paul's Christianity gathered round two facts and +mo\-ments---one in the past, Christ has come; one in the future, +Christ will come. For memory, the coming by the cradle and the +Cross; for hope, the coming on His throne in glory; and between +these two moments, like the solid piers of a suspension bridge, +the frail structure of the Present hangs swinging. In this day men +have lost their expectation of the one, and to a large extent +their faith in the other. But we shall not understand Scripture +unless we seek to make as prominent in our thoughts as on its +pages that second coming as the complement and necessary issue of +the first. It stands stamped on every line. It colours all the New +Testament views of life. It is used as a motive for every duty, +and as a magnet to draw men to Jesus Christ by salutary dread. +There is no hint in my text about the time of the Lord's coming, +no disturbing of the solemnity of the thought by non-essential +details of chronology, so we may dismiss these from our minds. The +fact is the same, and has the same force as a motive for life, +whether it is to be fulfilled in the next moment or thousands of +years hence, provided only that you and I are to be there when He +comes. + +There have been many comings in the past, besides the comings in +the flesh. The days of the Lord that have already appeared in the +history of the world are not few. One characteristic is stamped +upon them all, and that is the swift annihilation of what is +opposed to Him. The Bible has a set of standing metaphors by which +to illustrate this thought of the Coming of the Lord---a flood, a +harvest when the ears are ripe for the sickle, the waking of God +from slumber, and the like; all suggesting similar thoughts. +\textit{The} day of the Lord, \textit{the} coming of the Lord, +will include and surpass all the characteristics which these +lesser and premonitory judgment days presented in miniature. I do +not enlarge on this theme. I would not play the orator about it if +I could; but I appeal to your consciences, which, in the case of +most of us, not only testify of right and wrong, but of +responsibility, and suggest a judge to whom we are responsible. +And I urge on each, and on myself, this simple question: Have I +allowed its due weight on my life and character to that watchword +of the ancient church---\textit{Maran-atha}, `our Lord cometh'? + +Now, the coming of the Lord of Love is the annihilation of the +unloving. The destruction implied in Anathema does not mean the +cessation of Being, but a death which is worse than death, because +it is a death in life. Suppose a man with all his past +annihilated, with all its effort foiled and crushed, with all its +possessions evaporated and disappeared, and with his memory and +his conscience stung into clear-sighted activity, so that he looks +back upon his former self and into his present self, and feels +that it is all waste and chaos, would not that fulfil the word of +my text---`Let him be Anathema'? And suppose that such a man, in +addition to these thoughts, and as the root and the source of +them, had ever the quivering consciousness that he was and must be +in the presence of an unloved Judge; have you not there the naked +bones of a very dreadful thing, which does not need any tawdry +eloquence of man to make it more solemn and more real? The +unloving heart is always ill at ease in the presence of Him whom +it does not love. The unloving heart does not love, because it +does not trust, nor see the love. Therefore, the unloving heart is +a heart that is only capable of apprehending the wrathful side of +Christ's character. It is a heart devoid of the fruits of love +which are likeness and righteousness, `without which no man shall +see the Lord,' nor stand the flash of the brightness of His +coming. So there is no cruelty nor arbitrariness in the decree +that the heart that loves not, when brought into contact with the +infinite Lord of Love, must find in the touch death and not life, +darkness and not light, terror and not hope. Notice that Paul's +negation \textit{is} a negation and not an affirmation. He does +not say `he that hateth,' but `he that doth not love.' The absence +of the active emotion of love, which is the child of faith, the +parent of righteousness, the condition of joy in His presence, is +sufficient to ensure that this fate shall fall upon a man. I durst +not enlarge. I leave the truth on your hearts. + +II. Secondly, notice the present grace of the coming Lord. `Our +Lord cometh. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.' +These two things are not contradictory, but we often deal with +them as if they were. And some men lay hold of the one side of the +antithesis, and some men lay hold of the other, and rend them +apart, and make antagonistic theories of Christianity out of them. +But the real doctrine puts the two together and says there is no +terror without tenderness, and there is no tenderness without +terror. If we sacrifice the aspects of the divine nature, as +revealed to us in the gentle Christ, which kindle a wholesome +dread, we have, all unwittingly, robbed the aspects of the divine +nature, which warm in us a gracious love, of their power to +inflame and to illuminate. You cannot have love which is anything +nobler than facile good nature and unrighteous indifference, +unless you have along with it aspects of God's character and +government which ought to make some men afraid. And you cannot +keep these latter aspects from being exaggerated and darkened into +a Moloch of cruelty, unless you remember that, side by side with +them, or rather underlying them and determining them, are aspects +of the divine nature to which only child-like confidence and calm +beatific returns of love do rightly respond. The terror of the +Lord is a garb which our sins force upon the love of the Lord, and +when the one is presented it brings with it the other. Never +should they be parted in our thoughts or in our teaching. + +Note what that present grace is. It is a tenderness which gathers +into its embrace all these imperfect, immoral, lax, heretical people +in Corinth, as well as everywhere else---`The grace of our Lord +Jesus Christ be with \textit{you all}.' There were men in that +church that said, `I am of Paul, I of Apollos, I of Cephas, I of +Christ.' There were men in that church that had defiled their souls +and their flesh, and corrupted the community, and blasphemed the +name of Christ by such foul, sensual sin as was `not even named +among the Gentiles.' There were men in that church so dead to all +the sanctities even of the communion-table as that, with the bread +between their teeth and the wine-cup in their hands, one was hungry +and another drunken. There were men in that church, whose +Christianity was so anomalous and singularly fragmentary that they +did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. And yet Paul flings +the great rainbow, as it were, of Christ's enclosing love over them +all. And surely the love which gathers in such people leaves none +outside its sweep; and the tenderness which stoops from heaven to +pity, to pardon, to cleanse such is a tenderness to which the +weakest, saddest, sinfullest, foulest of the sons of men may +confidently resort. Let nothing rob you of this assurance, that +Christ, the coming Lord, is present with us all, and with all our +weak and wicked brethren, in the full condescension of His +all-embracing, all-hoping, all-forgetting, and all-restoring love. +All that we need, in order to get its full sunshine into our hearts, +is that we trust Him utterly, and, so trusting, love Him back again +with that love which is the fulfilling of the Law and the crown of +the Gospel. + +III. And now, lastly, note the tenderness, caught from the Master +Himself, of the servant who rebukes. + +This last message of love from the Apostle himself, in verse 24, +is quite anomalous. There is no other instance in his letters +where he introduces himself and his own love at the end, after he +has pronounced solemn benediction commending to Christ's grace. +But here, as if he had felt that he must leave an impression of +himself on their minds, which corresponded to the impression of +his Master that he desired to leave, he deviates from his ordinary +habit, and makes his last word a personal word---`\textit{My love} +be with you all in Christ Jesus.' Rebuke is the sign of love. +Sharp condemnation may be the language of love. Plain warning of +possible evils is the simple duty of love. So Paul folds all whom +he has been rebuking in the warm embrace of his proffered love, +which was the very cause of his rebuke. The healing balm of this +closing message was to be applied to the wounds which his keen +edged words had made, and to show that they were wounds by a +surgeon, not by a foe. In effect, this parting smile of love says, +`I am not become your enemy because I tell you the truth; I show +my love to you by the plainness and roughness of my words.' +Generalise that, free it from its personal reference, and it just +comes to this: There never was a shallower sneer than the sneer +which is cast at Christianity, as if it were harsh, `ferocious,' +or unloving, when it preaches the terror of the Lord. No! rather, +because the Gospel \textit{is} a Gospel, it must speak plainly +about death and destruction to the unloving. The danger signal is +not to be blamed for a collision, which it is hoisted to avert; +and it is a strange sign of an unfeeling and unsympathetic, or of +a harsh and gloomy system, that it should tell men where they are +driving, in order that they may never reach the miserable goal. +`Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.' And +when people say to us preachers, `Is that your Gospel, a Gospel +that talks about everlasting destruction from the presence of the +Lord at the glory of His coming---is that your Gospel?' We can +only answer, `Yes, it is! Because, so to talk, may by God's mercy, +secure that some who hear shall never know anything of the wrath, +save the hearing of it with the ear, and may, by the warning of +it, be drawn to the Rock of Ages for safety and shelter from the +storm.' + +Therefore, dear friends, the upshot of all that I have been feebly +trying to say is just this; let us lay hold with all our hearts, +and by simple faith, of the present grace of the coming, loving +Lord and Judge. You can do it. It is your only hope to do it. +\textit{Have} you done it? If so, then you may lift up your heads +to the throne, and be glad, as those who know that their Friend +and Deliverer will come at last, to help, to bless, to save. If +not, dear friend, take the warning, that not to love is to be +shrivelled like a leaf in the flame, at that coming which is life +to them that love, and destruction to all besides. `Herein is our +love made perfect, that we may have boldness before Him in the day +of judgment.' + +\newpage +\addcontentsline{toc}{part}{II. CORINTHIANS} + +\chapter{God's Yea; Man's Amen} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS i. 20} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the yea: +wherefore also through Him is the Amen.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} i. 20 +(R.~V.). +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +This is one of the many passages the force and beauty of which +are, for the first time, brought within the reach of an English +reader by the alterations in the Revised Version. These are partly +dependent upon the reading of the text and partly upon the +translation. As the words stand in the Authorised Version, `yea' +and `amen' seem to be very nearly synonymous expressions, and to +point substantially to the same thing---viz. that Jesus Christ is, +as it were, the confirmation and seal of God's promises. But in +the Revised Version the alterations, especially in the pronouns, +indicate more distinctly that the Apostle means two different +things by the `yea' and the `amen'. The one is God's voice, the +other is man's. The one has to do with the certainty of the divine +revelation, the other has to do with the certitude of our faith in +the revelation. When God speaks in Christ, He confirms everything +that He has said before, and when we listen to God speaking in +Christ, our lips are, through Christ, opened to utter our +assenting `Amen' to His great promises. So, then, we have the +double form of our Lord's work, covering the whole ground of His +relations to man, set forth in these two clauses, in the one of +which God's confirmation of His past revelations by Jesus Christ +is treated of, and in the other of which the full and confident +assent which men may give to that revelation is set before us. I +deal, then, with these two points---God's certainties in Christ, +and man's certitudes through Christ. + +Now these two things do not always go together. We may be very +certain, as far as our persuasion is concerned, of a very doubtful +fact, or we may be very doubtful, as far as our persuasion is +concerned, of a very certain fact. We speak about truths or facts +as being certain, and we ought to mean by that, not how we think +about them, but what they are in the evidence on which they rest. +A certain truth is a truth which has its evidence irrefragable; +and the only fitting attitude for men, in the presence of a +certain truth, is to have a certitude of the truth. And these two +things are, our Apostle tells us, both given to us in and through +Jesus Christ. Let me deal, then, with these two sides. + +I. First, God's certainties in Christ. + +Of course the original reference of the text is to the whole +series of great promises given in the Old Testament. These, says +Paul, are sealed and confirmed to men by the revelation and work +of Jesus Christ, but it is obvious that the principle which is +good in reference to them is good on a wider field. I venture to +take that extension, and to ask you to think briefly about some of +the things that are made for us indubitably certain in Jesus +Christ. + +And, first of all, there is the certainty about God's heart. +Everywhere else we have only peradventures, hopes, fears, guesses +more or less doubtful, and roundabout inferences as to His +disposition and attitude towards us. As one of the old divines +says somewhere, `All other ways of knowing God are like the bended +bow, Christ is the straight string.' The only means by which, +indubitably, as a matter of demonstration, men can be sure that +God in the heavens has a heart of love towards them is by Jesus +Christ. For consider what will make us sure of that. Nothing but +facts; words are of little use, arguments are of little use. A +revelation, however precious, which simply says to us, `God is +Love' is not sufficient for our need. We want to see love in +operation if we are to be sure of it, and the only demonstration +of the love of God is to witness the love of God in actual +working. And you get it---where? On the Cross of Jesus Christ. I +do not believe that anything else irrefragably establishes the +fact for the yearning hearts of us poor men who want love, and yet +cannot grope our way in amidst the mysteries and the clouds in +providence and nature, except this---`Herein is love, not that we +loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the +propitiation for our sins.' + +The question may arise in some minds, Is there any need for +proving God's love? The question never arose except within the +limits of Christianity. It is only men who have lived all their +lives in an atmosphere saturated by Christian sentiment and +conviction that ever come to the point of saying, `We do not want +historical revelation to prove to us the fact of a loving God.' +They would never have fancied that they did not need the +revelation unless, unconsciously to themselves, and indirectly, +all their thoughts had been coloured and illuminated by the +revelation that they profess they reject. God as Love is `our +dearest faith, our ghastliest doubt,' and the only way to make +absolutely certain of the fact that His heart is full of mercy to +us is to look upon Him as He stands revealed to us, not merely in +the words of Christ, for, precious as they are, these are the +smallest part of His revelation, but in the life and in the death +which open for us the heart of God. Remember what He said Himself, +\textit{not} `He who hath listened to Me, doth understand the +Father,' but `He that hath \textit{seen} Me hath seen the Father.' +`In Him is yea,' and the hopes and shadowy fore-revelations of the +loving heart of God are confirmed by the fact of His life and +death. God \textit{establishes}, not `commends' as our translation +has it, `His love towards us in that whilst we were yet sinners +Christ died for us.' + +Further, in Him we have the certainty of pardon. Every deep +heart-ex\-per\-i\-ence amongst men has felt the necessity of +having a clear certainty and knowledge about forgiveness. Men do +not feel it always. A man can skate over the surface of the great +deeps that lie beneath the most frivolous life, and may suppose, +in his superficial way of looking at things, that there is no need +for any definite teaching about sin and the mode of dealing with +it. But once bring that man face to face, in a quiet hour, with +the facts of his life and of a divine law, and all that +superficial ignoring of evil in himself and of the dread of +punishment and consequences, passes away. I am sure of this, that +no religion will ever go far and last long and work mightily, and +lay a sovereign hand upon human life, which has not a most plain +and decisive message to preach in reference to pardon. And I am +sure of this, that one reason for the comparative feebleness of +much so-called Christian teaching in this generation is just that +the deepest needs of a man's conscience are not met by it. In a +religion on which the whole spirit of a man may rest itself, there +must be a very plain message about what is to be done with sin. +The only message which answers to the needs of an awakened +conscience and an alarmed heart is the old-fashioned message that +Jesus Christ the Righteous has died for us sinful men. All other +religions have felt after a clear doctrine of forgiveness, and all +have failed to find it. Here is the divine `Yea!' And on it alone +we can suspend the whole weight of our soul's salvation. The rope +that is to haul us out of the horrible pit and the miry clay had +much need to be tested before we commit ourselves to it. There are +plenty of easygoing superficial theories about forgiveness +predominant in the world to-day. Except the one that says, `In +whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of +sin,' they are all like the rope let down into the dark mine to +lift the captives beneath, half of the strands of which have been +cut on the sharp edge above, and when the weight hangs on to it, +it will snap. There is nothing on which a man who has once learned +the tragical meaning and awful reality and depth of the fact of +his transgression can suspend his forgiveness, except this, that +`Christ has died, the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God.' +`In Him the promise is yea.' + +And, again, we have in Christ divine certainties in regard to +life. We have in Him the absolutely perfect pattern to which we +are to conform our whole doings. And so, notwithstanding that +there may, and will still be many uncertainties and much +perplexity, we have the great broad lines of morals and of duty +traced with a firm hand, and all that we need to know of +obligation and of perfectness lies in this---Be like Jesus Christ! +So the solemn commandments of the ethical side of Divine +Revelation, as well as the promises of it, get their `yea' in +Jesus Christ, and He stands the Law of our lives. + +We have certainties for life, in the matter of protection, +guidance, supply of all necessity, and the like, treasured and +garnered in Jesus Christ. For He not only confirms, but fulfils, +the promises which God has made. If we have that dear Lord for our +very own, and He belongs to us as He does belong to them who love +Him and trust Him, then in Him we have in actual possession these +promises, how many soever they be, which are given by God's other +words. + +Christ is Protean, and becomes everything to each man that each +man requires. He is, as it were, `a box where sweets compacted +lie.' `In Him are hid all the treasures,' not only of wisdom and +knowledge, but of divine gifts, and we have but to go to Him in +order to have that which at each moment as it emerges, we most +require. As in some of those sunny islands of the Southern +Pacific, one tree supplies the people with all that they need for +their simple wants, fruit for their food, leaves for their houses, +staves, thread, needles, clothing, drink, everything---so Jesus +Christ, this Tree of Life, is Himself the sum of all the promises, +and, having Him, we have everything that we need. + +And, lastly, in Christ we have the divine certainties as to the +Future over which, apart from Him, lie cloud and darkness. As I +said about the revelation of the heart of God, so I say about the +revelation of a future life---a verbal revelation is not enough. +We have enough of arguments; what we want is facts. We have enough +of man's peradventures about a future life, enough of evidence +more or less valid to show that it is `probable,' or `not +inconceivable,' or `more likely than not,' and so on and so on. +What we want is that somebody shall cross the gulf and come back +again, and so we get in the Resurrection of Christ the one fact on +which men may safely rest their convictions of immortality, and I +do not think that there is a second anywhere. On it alone, as I +believe, hinges the whole answer to the question---`If a man die, +shall he live again?' This generation is brought, in my reading of +it, right up to this alternative---Christ's Resurrection,---or we +die like the brutes that perish. `All the promises of God in Him +are yea.' + +II. And now a word as to the second portion of my text---viz. +man's certitudes, which answer to God's certainties. + +The latter are \textit{in} Christ, the former are \textit{through} +Christ. Now it is clear that the only fitting attitude for +professing Christians in reference to these certainties of God is +the attitude of unhesitating affirmation and joyful assent. +Certitude is the fitting response to certainty. + +There should be some kind of correspondence between the firmness +with which we grasp, the tenacity with which we hold, the +assurance with which we believe, these great truths, and the +rock-like firmness and immovableness of the evidence upon which +they rest. It is a poor compliment to God to come to His most +veracious affirmations, sealed with the broad seal of His Son's +life and death, and to answer with a hesitating `Amen,' that +falters and almost sticks in our throat. Build rock upon rock. Be +sure of the certain things. Grasp with a firm hand the firm stay. +Immovably cling to the immovable foundation; and though you be but +like the limpet on the rock hold fast by the Rock, as the limpet +does; for it is an insult to the certainty of the revelation, when +there is hesitation in the believer. + +I need not dwell for more than a moment upon the lamentable +contrast which is presented between this certitude, which is our +only fitting attitude, and the hesitating assent and half belief +in which so many professing Christians pass their lives. The +reasons for that are partly moral, partly intellectual. This is +not a day which is favourable to the unhesitating avowal of +convictions in reference to an unseen world, and many of us are +afraid of being called narrow, or dogmatisers, and think it looks +like breadth, and liberality, and culture, and I know not what, to +say `Well! perhaps it is, but I am not quite sure; I think it is, +but I will not commit myself.' All the promises of God, which in +Him are yea, ought through Him to get from us an `Amen.' + +There is a great deal that will always be uncertain. The firmer +our convictions, the fewer will be the things that they grasp; +but, if they be few, they will be large, and enough for us. These +truths certified in Christ concerning the heart of God, the +message of pardon, the law for life, the gifts of guidance, +defence, and sanctifying, the sure and certain hope of +immortality---these things we ought to be sure about, whatever +borderland of uncertainty may lie beyond them. The Christian verb +is `we \textit{know},' not `we hope, we calculate, we infer, we +think,' but `we \textit{know}.' And it becomes us to apprehend for +ourselves the full blessedness and power of the certitude which +Christ has given to us by the certainties which he has brought us. + +I need not speak about the blessedness of such a calm assurance, +about the need of it for power, for peace, for effort, for +fixedness in the midst of a world and age of change. But I must, +before I close, point you to the only path by which that certitude +is attainable. `\textit{Through} Him is the amen.' He is the Door. +The truths which He confirms are so inextricably intertwined with +Himself that you cannot get them and put away Him. Christ's +relation to Christ's Gospel is not the relation of other teachers +to their words. You may accept the words of a Plato, whatever you +think of the Plato who spoke the words. But you cannot separate +Christ and His teaching in that fashion, and you must have +\textit{Him} if you are to get \textit{it}. So, faith in Him, the +intellectual acceptance of Him, as the authoritative and +infallible Revealer, the bowing down of heart and will to Him as +our Commander and our Lord, the absolute trust in Him as the +foundation of all our hope and the source of all our +blessedness---that is the way to certitude, and there is no other +road that we can take. + +If thus we keep near Him, our faith will bring us the present +experience and fulfilment of the promises, and we shall be sure of +them, because we have them already. And whilst men are asking, `Do +we know anything about God? Is there a God at all? Is there such a +thing as forgiveness? Can anybody find anywhere absolute rules for +his life? Is there anything beyond the grave but mist and +darkness?' we can say, `One thing I know, Jesus Christ is my +Saviour, and in Him I know God, and pardon, and duty, and +sanctifying, and safety, and immortality; and whatever is dark, +this, at least, is sun-clear.' Get high enough up and you will be +above the fog; and while the men down in it are squabbling as to +whether there is anything outside the mist, you, from your sunny +station, will see the far-off coasts, and haply catch some whiff +of perfume from their shore, and see some glinting of a glory upon +the shining turrets of `the city that hath foundations.' We have a +present possession of all the promises of God; and whoever doubts +their certitude, the man who knows himself a son of God by faith, +and has experience of forgiveness and guidance and answered prayer +and hopes whose `sweetness yieldeth proof that they were born for +immortality,' \textit{knows} the things which others question and +doubt. + +So live near Jesus Christ, and, holding fast by His hand, you may +lift up your joyful `Amen' to every one of God's `Yeas.' For in +Him we know the Father, in Him we know that we have the +forgiveness of sins, in Him we know that God is near to bless and +succour and guide, and in Him `we know that, though our earthly +house were dissolved, we have a building of God.' Wherefore we are +always confident; and when the Voice from Heaven says `Yea!' our +choral shout may go up `Amen! Thou art the faithful and true +witness.' + +\chapter{Anointed and Stablished} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS i. 21} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed +us, is God.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} i. 21. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +The connection in which these words occur is a remarkable +illustration of the Apostle's habit of looking at the most trivial +things in the light of the highest truths. He had been obliged, as +the context informs us, to abandon an intended visit to Corinth. +The miserable crew of antagonists, who yelped at his heels all his +life, seized this change of purpose as the occasion for a +double-barrelled charge. They said he was either fickle and infirm +of purpose, or insincere, and saying `Yea' with one side of his +mouth and `Nay' with the other. He rebuts this accusation with +apparently quite disproportionate vehemence and great solemnity. +He points in the context to the faithfulness of God, to the firm +Gospel which he had preached, to God's great `Yea!' as his answer. +He says in effect, `How could I, with such a word burning in my +heart, move in a region of equivocation and double-dealing; or how +could I, whose whole being is saturated with so firm and stable a +Gospel, be unreliable and fickle? The message must make the +messenger like itself. Communion with a faithful God must make +faith-keeping men; the certainties of God's ``Yea,'' and the +certitudes of our ``Amen,'' must influence our characters.' And so +to suppose that a man, influenced by Christianity, is a weak, +double-dealing, unsteadfast man is a contradiction in terms. In +the text he carries his argument a step further, and points, not +only to the power of the Gospel to steady and confirm, but also to +the fact that God Himself communicates to the believing soul +Christian stability by the anointing which He bestows. + +So, then, we have in these words the declaration that inflexible, +immovable steadfastness is a mark of a Christian, and that this +Christian steadfastness, without which there is no Christianity +worth the naming, is a direct gift from God Himself by means of +that great anointing which He confers upon men. To that thought, +in one or two of its aspects, I ask your attention. + +I. Notice the deep source of this Christian steadfastness. + +The language of the original, carefully considered, seems to me to +bear this interpretation, that the `anointing' of the second +clause is the means of the `establishing' of the first---that is +to say, that God confers Christian steadfastness of character by +the bestowment of the unction of His Divine Spirit. + +Now notice how deep Paul digs in order to get a foundation for a +common virtue. There are many ways by which men may cultivate the +tenacity and steadfastness of purpose which ought to mark us all. +Much discipline may be brought to bear in order to secure that; +but the text says that the deepest ground upon which it can be +rested is nothing less divine and solemn than this, the actual +communication to men, to feeble, vacillating, fluctuating wills, +and treacherous, wayward, wandering hearts, of the strength and +fixedness which are given by God's own Spirit. + +I suppose I need not remind you that from beginning to end of +Scripture, `anointing' is taken as the symbol of the communication +of a true divine influence. The oil poured on the head of prophet, +priest, and king was but the expression of the communication to +the recipient of a divine influence which fitted him as well as +designated him, for the office that he filled. And although it is +aside from my present purpose, I may just, in a sentence, point to +the felicity of the emblem. The flowing oil smoothes the surface +upon which it is spread, supples the limbs, and is nutritive and +illuminating; thus giving an appropriate emblem of the secret, +silent, quickening, nourishing, enlightening influences of that +Spirit which God gives to all His sons. + +And inasmuch as here this oil of the Divine Spirit is stated as +being the true ground and basis of Christian steadfastness, it is +obvious that the anointing intended cannot be that of mere +designation to, and inspiration for, apostolic or other office, +but must be the universal possession of all Christian men and +women. `Ye,' says another Apostle, speaking to the whole democracy +of the Christian Church, and not to any little group of selected +aristocrats therein---`ye have an unction from the Holy One,' and +every man and woman who has a living grasp of the living Christ, +receives from Him this great gift. + +Then, notice further that this anointing by a Divine Spirit, which +is a true source of life to those that possess it, is derived +from, and parallel with, Christ's anointing. We use the word +`Christ' as a proper name, and forget what it means. The `Christ' +is \textit{the Anointed One}. And do you think that it was a mere +accident, or the result of a scanty vocabulary, which compelled +the Apostle, in these two contiguous clauses, to use cognate words +when he said:---`He that establisheth us with you in the +\textit{Anointed}, and hath \textit{anointed} us, is God'? Did he +not mean to say thereby, `Each of you in a very true sense, if you +are a Christian, is a \textit{Christ}'? You, too, are anointed; +you, too, are God's Messiahs. On you in a measure the same Spirit +rests which dwelt without measure in Him. The chief of Christ's +gifts to the Church is the gift of His own life. All His brethren +are anointed with the oil that was poured upon His head, even as +the oil upon Aaron's locks percolated to the very skirts of his +garments. Being anointed with the anointing which was on Him, all +His people may claim an identity of nature, may hope for an +identity of destiny, and are bound to a prolongation of part of +His function and a similarity of character. If He by that +anointing was made Prophet, Priest, and King for the world, all +His children partake of these offices in subordinate but real +fashion, and are prophets to make God known to men, priests to +offer up spiritual sacrifices, and kings at least over themselves, +and, if they will, over a world which obeys and serves those that +serve and love God. Ye are anointed---`Messiahs' and `Christs,' by +derivation of the life of Jesus Christ. + +And if these things be true, it is plain enough how this divine +unction, which is granted to all Christians, lies at the root of +steadfastness. + +We talk a great deal about the gentleness of Christ; we cannot +celebrate it too much, but we may forget that it is the gentleness +of strength. We do not sufficiently mark the masculine features in +that character, the tremendous tenacity of will, the inflexible +fixedness of purpose, the irremovable constancy of obedience in +the face of all temptations to the contrary. The figure that rises +before us is that of the Christ yearning over weaklings far +oftener than it is that of the Christ with knitted brow, and +tightened lips, and far-off gazing eye, `steadfastly setting His +face to go to Jerusalem,' and followed as He pressed up the rocky +road from Jericho, by that wondering group, astonished at the +rigidity of purpose that was stamped on His features. That Christ +gives us His Spirit to make us tenacious, constant, righteously +obstinate, inflexible in the pursuit of all that is lovely and of +good report, like Himself. That Divine Spirit will cure the +fickleness of our natures; for our wills are never fixed till they +are fixed in obedience, and never free until they elect to serve +Him. That Divine Spirit will cure the wandering of our hearts and +bind us to Himself. It will lift us above the selfish and cowardly +dependence on externals and surroundings, men and things, in which +we are all tempted to live. We are all too like aneroid +barometers, that go up and down with every variation of a foot or +two in our level, but if we have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in +us, it will cut the bonds that bind us to the world, and give us +possession of a deeper love than can be sustained by, or is +derived from, these superficial sources. The true possession of +the Divine Spirit, if I might use such a metaphor, sets a man on +an insulating stool, and all the currents that move round about +him are powerless to reach him. If we have that Divine Spirit +within us, it will give us an experience of the preciousness and +the truth, the certitude and the sweetness, of Christ's Gospel, +which will make it impossible that we should ever cast away the +confidence which has such `recompense of reward.' No man will be +surely bound to the truth and person of Christ with bonds that +cannot be snapped, except he who in his heart has the knowledge of +Him which is possession, and by the gift of the Divine Spirit is +knit to Jesus Christ. + +So, dear friends, whilst the world is full of wise words about +steadfastness, and exalts determination of character and fixity of +purpose, rightly, as the basis of much good, our Gospel comes to +us poor, light, thistledown creatures, and lets us see how we can +be steadfast and settled by being fastened to a steadfast and +settled Christ. When storms are raging they lash light articles on +deck to holdfasts. Let us lash ourselves to the abiding Christ, +and we, too, shall abide. + +II. In the next place, notice the aim or purpose of this Christian +steadfastness. + +`He stablisheth us with you in Christ,' or as the original has it +even more significantly, \textit{into} or `\textit{unto} Christ.' +Now that seems to me to imply two things---first, that our +steadfastness, made possible by our possession of that Divine +Spirit, is steadfastness in our relations to Jesus Christ. We are +established in reference or in regard to Him. In other words, what +Paul here means is, first, a fixed conviction of the truth that He +is the Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, and my +Saviour. That is the first step. Men who are steadfast without +their intellect guiding and settling the steadfastness are not +steadfast, but obstinate and pigheaded. We are meant to be guided +by our understandings, and no fixity is anything better than the +immobility of a stone, unless it be based upon a distinct and +whole-brained intellectual acceptance of Jesus Christ as the +All-in-all for us, for life and death, for inward and outward +being. + +Paul means, next, a steadfastness in regard to Christ in our trust +and love. Surely if from Him there is for ever streaming out an +unbroken flow of tenderness, there should be ever on our sides an +equally unbroken opening of our hearts for the reception of His +love, and an equally uninterrupted response to it in our grateful +affection. There can be no more damning condemnation of the +vacillations and fluctuations of Christian men's affections than the +steadfastness of Christ's love to them. He loves ever; He is +unalterable in the communication and effluence of His heart. Surely +it is most fitting that we should be steadfast in our devotion and +answering love to Him. And Paul means not only fixedness of +intellectual conviction and continuity of loving response, but also +habitual obedience, which is always ready to do His will. + +So we should answer His `Yea!' with our `Amen!' and having an +unchanging Christ to rest upon, we should rest upon Him +unchanging. The broken, fluctuating affections and trusts and +obediences which mark so much of the average Christian life of +this day are only too sad proofs of how scant our possession of +that Spirit of steadfastness must be supposed to be. God's `Yea' +is answered by our faltering `Amen'; God's truth is hesitatingly +accepted; God's love is partially returned; God's work is +slothfully and negligently done. `Be ye steadfast, unmovable, +always abounding in the work of the Lord.' + +Another thought is suggested by these words---viz. that such +steadfastness as we have been trying to describe has for its result +a deeper penetration into Jesus Christ and a fuller possession of +Him. The only way by which we can grow nearer and nearer to our Lord +is by steadfastly keeping beside Him. You cannot get the spirit of a +landscape unless you sit down and gaze, and let it soak into you. +The cheap tripper never sees the lake. You cannot get to know a man +until you summer and winter with him. No subject worth studying +opens itself to the hasty glance. Was it not Sir Isaac Newton who +used to say, `I have no genius, but I keep a subject before me'? +`Abide in Me; as the branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the +vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me.' Continuous, steadfast +adhesion to Him is the condition of growing up into His likeness, +and receiving more and more of His beauty into our waiting hearts. +`Wait on the Lord; wait, I say, on the Lord.' + +III. Lastly, notice the very humble and commonplace sphere in +which the Christian steadfastness manifests itself. + +It was nothing of more importance than that Paul had said he was +going to Corinth, and did not, on which he brings all this array +of great principles to bear. From which I gather just this +thought, that the highest gifts of God's grace and the greatest +truths of God's Word are meant to regulate the tiniest things in +our daily life. It is no degradation to the lightning to have to +carry messages. It is no profanation of the sun to gather its rays +into a burning glass to light a kitchen fire with. And it is no +unworthy use of the Divine Spirit that God gives to His children, +to say it will keep a man from hasty and precipitate decisions as +to little things in life, and from chopping and changing about, +with a levity of purpose and without a sufficient reason. If our +religion is not going to influence the trifles, what is it going +to influence? Our life is made up of trifles, and if these are not +its field, where is its field? You may be quite sure that, if your +religion does not influence the little things, it will never +influence the great ones. If it has not power enough to guide the +horses when they are at a slow, sober walk, what do you think it +will do when they are at a gallop and plunging? `He that is +faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.' So let +us see to two things---first, that all our religion is worked into +our life, for only so much of it as is so inwrought is our +religion---and, second, that all our life is brought under the +sway of motives derived from our religion: for only in proportion +as it is, will it be pure and good. + +And as regards this special virtue and prime quality of +steadfastness and fixedness of purpose, you can do no good in the +world without it. Unless a man can hold his own, and turn an +obstinate negative to the temptations that lie thick about him, he +will never come to any good at all, either in this life or in the +next. The basis of all excellence is a wholesome disregard of +externals, and the cultivation of a strong self-reliant and +self-centred, because God-trusting and Christ-centred, will. And I +tell you, especially you young men and women, if you want to do or +be anything worth doing or being, you must try to get your natures +hardened into being `steadfast, unmovable.' There is only one +infallible way of doing it, and that is to let the `strong Son of +God' live in you, and in Him to find your strength for resistance, +your strength for obedience, your strength for submission. `I have +set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I +shall not be moved.' + +There are two types of men in the world. The one has his emblem in +the chaff, rootless, with no hold, swept out of the +threshing-floor by every gust of wind. That the picture of many +whose principles lie at the mercy of the babble of tongues round +about them, whose rectitude goes at a puff of temptation, like the +smoke out of a chimney when the wind blows; who have no will for +what is good, but live as it happens. The other type of man has +his emblem in the tree, rooted deep, and therefore rising high, +with its roots going as far underground as its branches spread in +the blue, and therefore green of leaf and rich of fruit `We are +made partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our +confidence, steadfast until the end.' + +\chapter{Seal and Earnest} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS i. 23} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in +our hearts.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} i. 23. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There are three strong metaphors in this and the preceding +verse---`a\-noint\-ing,' `sealing,' and `giving the earnest'---all +of which find their reality in the same divine act. These three +metaphors all refer to the same subject, and what that subject is +is sufficiently explained in the last of them. The `earnest' +consists of `the Spirit in our hearts,' and the same explanation +might have been appended to both the preceding clauses, for the +`anointing' is the anointing of the Spirit, and the `seal' is the +seal of the Spirit. Further, these three metaphors all refer to +one and the same act. They are not three things, but three aspects +of one thing, just as a sunbeam might be regarded either as the +source of warmth, or of light, or of chemical action. So the one +gift of the one Spirit, `anoints,' `seals,' and is the `earnest.' +Further, these three metaphors all declare a universal prerogative +of Christians. Every man that loves Jesus Christ has the Spirit in +the measure of his faith,' and if any man have not the Spirit of +Christ he is none of His.' + +I. Note the first metaphor in the text---the `seal' of the Spirit. + +A seal is impressed upon a recipient material made soft by warmth, +in order to leave there a copy of itself. Now it is not fanciful, +nor riding a metaphor to death, when I dwell upon these features +of the emblem in order to suggest their analogies in Christian +life. The Spirit of God comes into our spirits, and by gentle +contact impresses upon the material, which was intractable until +it was melted by the genial warmth of faith and love, the likeness +of Himself, but yet so as that prominences correspond to the +hollows, and what is in relief in the one is sunk in the other. +Expand that general statement for a moment or two. + +The effect of all the divine indwelling, which is the +characteristic gift of Christ to every Christian soul, is to mould +the recipient into the image of the divine inhabitant. There is in +the human spirit---such are its dignity amidst its ruins, and its +nobility shining through its degradation---a capacity of receiving +that image of God which consists not only in voluntary and +intelligent action and the consciousness of personal being, but in +the love of the things that are fair, and in righteousness, and +true holiness. His Spirit, entering into a heart, will make that +heart wise with its own wisdom, strong with some infusion of its +own strength, gracious with some drops of its own grace, gentle +with some softening from its own gentleness, holy with some purity +reflected from its own transcendent whiteness. The Spirit, which +is life, moulds the heart into which it enters to a kindred, and, +therefore, similar life. + +There are, however, characteristics in this `seal' of the Spirit +which are not so much copies as correspondences. That is to say, +just as what is convex in the seal is concave in the impression, and +\textit{vice versâ}, so, when that Divine Spirit comes into our +spirits, its promises will excite faith, its gifts will breed +desire; to every bestowment there will answer an opening +receptivity. Recipient love will correspond to the love that longs +to dispense, the sense of need to the divine fulness and +sufficiency, emptiness to abundance, prayers to promises; the cry +`Abba! Father'! the yearning consciousness of sonship, to the word +`Thou art My Son'; and the upward eye of aspiration and petition, +and necessity, and waiting, to the downward glance of love bestowing +itself. The open heart answers to the extended hand, and the seal +which God's Spirit impresses upon the heart that is submitted to it, +has the two-fold character of resemblance in moral nature and +righteousness, and of correspondence as regards the mysteries of the +converse between the recipient man and the giving God. + +Then, mark that the material is made capable of receiving the +stamp, because it is warmed and softened. That is to say, faith +must prepare the heart for the sanctifying indwelling of that +Divine Spirit. The hard wax may be struck with the seal, but it +leaves no trace. God does not do with man as the coiner does with +his blanks, put them cold into a press, and by violence from +without stamp an image upon them, but He does as men do with a +seal, warms the wax first, and then, with a gentle, firm touch, +leaves the likeness there. So, brother! learn this lesson: if you +wish to be good, lie under the contact of the Spirit of +righteousness, and see that your heart is warm. + +Still further, note that this aggregate of Christian character, in +likeness and correspondence, is the true sign that we belong to +God. The seal is the mark of ownership, is it not? Where the broad +arrow has been impressed, everybody knows that that is royal +property. And so this seal of God's Divine Spirit, in its effects +upon my character, is the one token to myself and to other people +that I belong to God, and that He belongs to me. Or, to put it +into plain English, the best reason for any man's being regarded +as a Christian is his possession of the likeness and +correspondence to God which that Divine Spirit gives. Likeness and +correspondence, I say, for the one class of results is the more +open for the observation of the world, and the other class is of +the more value for ourselves. I believe that Christian people +ought to have, and are meant by that Divine Spirit dwelling in +them to have, a consciousness that they are Christians and God's +children, for their own peace and rest and joy. But you cannot use +that in demonstration to other people; you may be as sure of it as +you will, in your inmost hearts, but it is no sign to anybody +else. And, on the other hand, there may be much of outward virtue +and beauty of character which may lead other people to say about a +man: `\textit{That} is a good Christian man, at any rate,' and yet +there may be in the heart an all but absolute absence of any +joyful assurance that we are Christ's, and that He belongs to us. +So the two facts must go together. Correspondence, the spirit of +sonship which meets His taking us as sons, the faith which clasps +the promise, the reception which welcomes bestowment, must be +stamped upon the inward life. For the outward life there must be +the manifest impress of righteousness upon my actions, if there is +to be any real seal and token that I belong to Him. God writes His +own name upon the men that are His. All their goodness, their +gentleness, patience, hatred of evil, energy and strenuousness in +service, submission in suffering, with whatsoever other radiance +of human virtue may belong to them, are really `His mark!' + +There is no other worth talking about, and to you Christian men I +come and say, Be very sure that your professions of inward +communion and happy consciousness that you are Christ's are +verified to yourself and to others by a plain outward life of +righteousness like the Lord's. Have you got that seal stamped upon +your lives, like the hall-mark that says, `This is genuine silver, +and no plated Brummagem stuff'? Have you got that seal of a +visible righteousness and every-day purity to confirm your +assertion that you belong to Christ? Is it woven into the whole +length of your being, like the scarlet thread that is spun into +every Admiralty cable as a sign that it is Crown property? God's +seal, visible to me and to nobody else, is my consciousness that I +am His; but that consciousness is vindicated and delivered from +the possibility of illusion or hypocrisy, only when it is checked +and fortified by the outward evidence of the holy life which the +Spirit of God has wrought. + +Further, this sealing, which is thus the token of God's ownership, +is also the pledge of security. A seal is stamped in order that +there may be no tampering with what it seals; that it may be kept +safe from all assaults, thieves, and violence. And in the metaphor +of our text there is included this thought, too, which is also of an +intensely practical nature. For it just comes to this---our true +guarantee that we shall come at last into the sweet security and +safety of the perfect state is present likeness to the indwelling +Spirit and present reception of divine grace. The seal is the pledge +of security, just because it is the mark of ownership. When, by +God's Spirit dwelling in us, we are led to love the things that are +fair, and to long after more possession of whatever things are of +good report, that is like God's hoisting His flag upon a +newly-annexed territory. And is He going to be so careless in the +preservation of His property as that He will allow that which is +thus acquired to slip away from Him? Does He account us as of so +small value as to hold us with so slack a hand? But no man has a +right to rest on the assurance of God's saving him into the heavenly +kingdom, unless He is saving him at this moment from the devil and +his own evil heart. And, therefore, I say the Christian character, +in its outward manifestations and in its sweet inward secrets of +communion, is the guarantee that we shall not fall. Rest upon Him, +and He will hold you up. We are `kept by the power of God unto +salvation,' and that power keeps us and that final salvation becomes +ours, `through faith.' + +II. Now, secondly, turn to the other emblem, that `earnest' which +consists in like manner `of the Spirit.' + +The `earnest,' of course, is a small portion of purchase-money, or +wages, or contract-money, which is given at the making of a +bargain, as an assurance that the whole amount will be paid in due +time. And, says the Apostle, this seal is also an earnest. It not +only makes certain God's ownership and guarantees the security of +those on whom it is impressed, but it also points onwards to the +future, and at once guarantees that, and to a large extent reveals +the nature of it. So, then, we have here two thoughts on which I +touch. + +The Christian character and experience are the earnest of the +inheritance, in the sense of being its guarantee, inasmuch as the +experiences of the Christian life here are plainly immortal. The +Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the objective and +external proof of a future life. The facts of the Christian life, +its aspirations, its communion, its clasp of God as its very own, +are the subjective and inward proofs of a future life. As a matter +of fact, if you will take the Old Testament, you will see that the +highest summits in it, to which the hope of immortality soared, +spring directly from the experience of deep and blessed communion +with the living God. When the Psalmist said `Thou wilt not leave +my soul in \textit{Sheol}; neither wilt Thou suffer Thy Holy One +to see corruption,' he was speaking a conviction that had been +floated into his mind on the crest of a great wave of religious +enjoyment and communion. And, in like manner, when the other +Psalmist said, `Thou art the strength of my heart, and my portion +for ever,' he was speaking of the glimpse that he had got of the +land that was very far off, from the height which he had climbed +on the Mount of fellowship with God. And for us, I suppose that +the same experience holds good. Howsoever much we may say that we +believe in a future life and in a heaven, we really grasp them as +facts that will be true about ourselves, in the proportion in +which we are living here in direct contact and communion with God. +The conviction of immortality is the distinct and direct result of +the present enjoyment of communion with Him, and it is a +reasonable result. No man who has known what it is to turn himself +to God with a glow of humble love, and to feel that he is not +turning his face to vacuity, but to a Face that looks on him with +love, can believe that anything can ever come to destroy that +communion. What have faith, love, aspiration, resignation, +fellowship with God, to do with death? They cannot be cut through +with the stroke that destroys physical life, any more than you can +divide a sunbeam with a sword. It unites again, and the impotent +edge passes through and has effected nothing. Death can shear +asunder many bonds, but that invisible bond that unites the soul +to God is of adamant, against which his scythe is in vain. Death +is the grim porter that opens the door of a dark hole and herds us +into it as sheep are driven into a slaughter-house. But to those +who have learned what it is to lay a trusting hand in God's hand, +the grim porter is turned into the gentle damsel, who keeps the +door, and opens it for light and warmth and safety to the hunted +prisoner that has escaped from the dungeon of life. Death cannot +touch communion, and the consciousness of communion with God is +the earnest of the inheritance. + +It is so for another reason also. All the results of the Divine +Spirit's sealing of the soul are manifestly incomplete, and as +manifestly tend towards completeness. The engine is clearly +working now at half-speed. It is obviously capable of much higher +pressure than it is going at now. Those powers in the Christian +man can plainly do a great deal more than they ever have done +here, and are meant to do a great deal more. Is this imperfect +Christianity of ours, our little faith so soon shattered, our +little love so quickly disproved, our faltering resolutions, our +lame performances, our earthward cleavings---are these things all +that Jesus Christ's bitter agony was for, and all that a Divine +Spirit is able to make of us? Manifestly, here is but a segment of +the circle, in heaven is the perfect round; and the imperfections, +so far as life is concerned, in the work of so obviously divine an +Agent, cry aloud for a region where tendency shall become result, +and all that it was possible for Him to make us we shall become. +The road evidently leads upwards, and round that sharp corner +where the black rocks come so near each other and our eyesight +cannot travel, we may be sure it goes steadily up still to the top +of the pass, until it reaches `the shining table-lands whereof our +God Himself is Sun and Moon,' and brings us all to the city set on +a hill. + +And, further, that divine seal is the earnest, inasmuch as itself +is part of the whole. The truest and the loftiest conception that +we can form of heaven is as being the perfecting of the religious +experience of earth. The shilling or two, given to the servant in +old-fashioned days, when he was hired, is of the same currency as +the balance that he is to get when the year's work is done. The +small payment to-day comes out of the same purse, and is coined +out of the same specie, and is part of the same currency of the +same kingdom, as what we get when we go yonder and count the +endless riches to which we have fallen heirs at last. You have but +to take the faith, the love, the obedience, the communion of the +highest moments of the Christian life on earth, and free them from +all their limitations, subtract from them all their imperfections, +multiply them to their superlative possibility, and endow them +with a continual power of growth, and stretch them out to absolute +eternity, and you get heaven. The earnest is of a piece with the +inheritance. + +So, dear brethren, here is a gift offered for us all, a gift which +our feebleness sorely needs, a gift for every timid nature, for +every weak will, for every man, woman, and child beset with snares +and fighting with heavy tasks, the offer of a reinforcement as +real and as sure to bring victory as when, on that day when the +fate of Europe was determined, after long hours of conflict, the +Prussian bugles blew, and the English commander knew that (with +the fresh troops that came on the field) victory was made certain. +So you and I may have in our hearts the Spirit of God, the spirit +of strength, the spirit of love and of a sound mind, the spirit of +adoption, the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge +of Him, to enlighten our darkness, to bind our hearts to Him, to +quicken and energise our souls, to make the weakest among us +strong, and the strong as an angel of God. And the condition on +which we may get it is this simple one which the Apostle lays +down; `\textit{After that ye believed}, ye were sealed with that +Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance.' +The Christ, who is the Lord and Giver of the Spirit, has shown us +how its blessed influences may be ours when, on the great day of +the feast, He stood and cried with a voice that echoes across the +centuries, and is meant for each of us, `If any man thirsts, let +him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth in Me, out of his +belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake He of the +Spirit which they that believe or Him should receive.' + +\chapter{The Triumphal Procession} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS ii. 14} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ +and maketh manifest through us the savour of His knowledge in +every place.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} ii. 14 (R.~V.) +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +I suppose most of us have some knowledge of what a Roman Triumph +was, and can picture to ourselves the long procession, the +victorious general in his chariot with its white horses, the +laurelled soldiers, the sullen captives, with suppressed hate +flashing in their sunken eyes, the wreathing clouds of incense that +went up into the blue sky, and the shouting multitude of spectators. +That is the picture in the Apostle's mind here. The Revised Version +correctly alters the translation into `Thanks unto God which always +\textit{leadeth us in} triumph in Christ.' + +Paul thinks of himself and of his coadjutors in Christian work as +being conquered captives, made to follow their Conqueror and to +swell His triumph. He is thankful to be so overcome. What was +deepest degradation is to him supreme honour. Curses in many a +strange tongue would break from the lips of the prisoners who had +to follow the general's victorious chariot. But from Paul's lips +comes irrepressible praise; he joins in the shout of acclamation +to the Conqueror. + +And then he passes on to another of the parts of the ceremonial. +As the wreathing incense appealed at once to two senses, and was +visible in its curling clouds of smoke, and likewise fragrant to +the nostrils, so says Paul, with a singular combination of +expression, `He maketh \textit{manifest},' that is visible, the +\textit{savour} of His knowledge. From a heart kindled by the +flame of the divine love there will go up the odour of a holy life +visible and fragrant, sweet and fair. + +And thus all Christians, and not Christian workers only in the +narrower sense of the word, who may be doing evangelistic work, +have set before them in these great words the very ideal and +secret of their lives. + +There are three things here, on each of which I touch as belonging +to the true notion of a Christian life---the conquered captive; +that captive partaking in the triumph of his Conqueror; and the +conquered captive led as a trophy and a witness to the Conqueror's +power. These three things, I think, explain the Apostle's thoughts +here. Let me deal with them now. + +I. First then, let us look at that thought of all Christians being +in the truest sense conquered captives, bound to the chariot +wheels of One who has overcome them. + +The image implies a prior state of hostility and alienation. Now, +do not let us exaggerate, let us take Paul's own experience. He is +speaking about himself here; he is not talking doctrine, he is +giving us autobiography, and he says, `I was an enemy, and I have +been conquered.' + +What sort of an enemy was he? Well! He says that before he became +a Christian he lived a pure, virtuous, respectable life. He was a +man `as touching the righteousness which is in the law, +blameless.' Observant of all relative duties, sober, temperate, +chaste; no man could say a word against him; he knew nothing +against himself. His conscience acquitted him of wrong: `I thought +I ought to do many things,' as I did them. And yet, looking back +from his present point of view upon a life thus adorned with many +virtues, pure from all manifest corruption, to a large extent +regulated by conscientious and religious motives of a kind, he +says, `Notwithstanding all that, I was an enemy.' Why? Because the +retrospect let him see that his life was barren of the deepest +faith and the purest love. And so I come to some of my friends +here now, and I say to you, `Change the name, and the story is +true about you,' respectable people, who are trying to live pure +and righteous lives, doing all duties that present themselves to +you with a very tolerable measure of completeness and abominating +and trying to keep yourselves from the things that your +consciences tell you are wrong, yet needing to be conquered, in +the deepest recesses of your wills and your hearts, before you +become the true subjects of the true King. I do not want to +exaggerate, nor to say of the ordinary run of people who listen to +us preachers, that they commit manifest sins, `gross as a +mountain, open, palpable.' Some of you do, no doubt, for, in every +hundred people, there are always some whose lives are foul and +whose memories are stained and horrible; but the run of you are +not like that. And yet I ask you, has your will been bowed and +broken, and your heart overcome and conquered by this mighty +Prince, the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Life? Unless it has, +for all your righteousness and respectability, for all your +outward religion and real religiousness of a sort, you are still +hostile and rebellious, in your inmost hearts. That is the basis +of the representation of my text. + +What else does it suggest? It suggests the wonderful struggle and +victory of weaponless love. As was said about the first Christian +emperor, so it may be said about the great Emperor in the heavens, +`\textit{In hoc signo vinces!}' By this sign thou shalt conquer. +For His only weapon is the Cross of His Son, and He fights only by +the manifestation of infinite love, sacrifice, suffering, and +pity. He conquers as the sun conquers the thick-ribbed ice by +raying down its heat upon it, and melting it into sweet water. So +God in Christ fights against the mountains of man's cold, hard +sinfulness and alienation, and by the warmth of His own radiation +turns them all into rivers that flow in love and praise. He +conquers simply by forbearance and pity and love. + +And what more does this first part of my text say to us? It tells +us, too, of the true submission of the conquered captive; how we +are conquered when we perceive and receive His love; how there is +nothing else needed to win us all for Him except only that we +shall recognise His great love to us. + +This picture of the triumph comes with a solemn appeal and +commandment to every one of us professing Christians. Think of +these men, dragged at the conqueror's chariot-wheels, abject, with +their weapons broken, with their resistance quelled, chained, +yoked, haled away from their own land, dependant for life or death +on the caprice of the general who rode before them there. It is a +picture of what you Christian men and women are bound to be if you +believe that God in Christ has loved you as we have been saying +that He does. For abject submission, unconditional surrender, the +yielding up of our whole will to Him, the yielding of all our +possessions as His vassals---these are the duties that are +correspondent to the facts of the case. + +If we are thus won by infinite love, and not our own, but bought +with a price, no conquered king, dragged at an emperor's +chariot-wheels, was ever half as absolutely and abjectly bound to +be his slave, and to live or die by his breath, as you are bound +to your Master. You are Christians in the measure in which you are +the captives of His spear and of His bow; in the measure in which +you hold your territories as vassal kings, in the measure in which +you say, stretching out your willing hands for the fetters, `Lord! +here am I, do with me as Thou wilt.' `I am not mine own; be Thou +my will, my Emperor, my Commander, my all.' Loyola used to say, as +the law of his order, that every man that became a member of the +Society of Jesus was to be like as a staff in a man's hand, or +like as a corpse. It was a blasphemous and wicked claim, but it is +but a poor fragmentary statement of the truth about those of us +who enter the real Society of Jesus, and put ourselves in His +hands to be wielded as His staff and His rod, and submit ourselves +to Him, not as a corpse, but yield yourselves to our Christ `as +those that are alive from the dead.' + +II. Now we have here, as part of the ideal of the Christian life, +the conquered captives partaking in the triumph of their general. + +Two groups made up the triumphal procession---the one that of the +soldiers who had fought for, the other that of the prisoners who +had fought against, the leader. And some commentators are inclined +to believe that the Apostle is here thinking of himself and his +fellows as belonging to the conquering army, and not to the +conquered enemy. That seems to me to be less probable and in +accordance with the whole image than the explanation which I have +adopted. But be that as it may, it suggests to us this thought, +that in the deepest reality in that Christian life of which all +this metaphor is but the expression, they who are conquered foes +become conquering allies. Or, to put it into other words---to be +triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ. And the praise +which breaks from the Apostle's lips suggests the same idea. He +pours out his thanks for that which he recognises as being no +degradation but an honour, and a participation in his Conqueror's +triumph. + +We may illustrate that thought, that to be triumphed over by +Christ is to triumph with Christ, by such considerations as these. +This submission of which I have been speaking, abject and +unconditional, extending to life and death, this submission and +captivity is but another name for liberty. The man who is +absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ is absolutely independent +of everything and everybody besides, himself included. That is to +say, to be His slave is to be everybody else's master, and when we +bow ourselves to Him, and take upon us the chains of glad +obedience, and life-deep as well as life-long consecration, then +He breaks off all other chains from our hands, and will not suffer +that any others should have a share with Him in the possession of +His servant. If you are His servants you are free from all +besides; if you give yourselves up to Jesus Christ, in the measure +in which you give yourselves up to Him, you will be set at liberty +from the worst of all slaveries, that is the slavery of your own +will and your own weakness, and your own tastes and fancies. You +will be set at liberty from dependence upon men, from thinking +about their opinion. You will be set at liberty from your +dependence upon externals, from feeling as if you could not live +unless you had this, that, or the other person or thing. You will +be emancipated from fears and hopes which torture the men who +strike their roots no deeper than this visible film of time which +floats upon the surface of the great, invisible abyss of Eternity. +If you have Christ for your Master you will be the masters of the +world, and of time and sense and men and all besides; and so, +being triumphed over by Him, you will share in His triumph. + +And again, we may illustrate the same principle in yet another +way. Such absolute and entire submission of will and love as I +have been speaking about is the highest honour of a man. It was a +degradation to be dragged at the chariot-wheels of conquering +general, emperor, or consul---it broke the heart of many a +barbarian king, and led some of them to suicide rather than face +the degradation. It is a degradation to submit ourselves, even as +much as many of us do, to the domination of human authorities, or +to depend upon men as much as many of us do for our completeness +and our satisfaction. But it is the highest ennobling of humanity +that it shall lay itself down at Christ's feet, and let Him put +His foot upon its neck. It is the exaltation of human nature to +submit to Christ. The true nobility are those that `come over with +the Conqueror.' When we yield ourselves to Him, and let Him be our +King, then the patent of nobility is given to us, and we are +lifted in the scale of being. All our powers and faculties are +heightened in their exercise, and made more blessed in their +employment, because we have bowed ourselves to His control. And so +to be triumphed over by Christ is to triumph with Christ. + +And the same thought may be yet further illustrated. That +submission which I have been speaking about so unites us to our +Lord that we share in all that belongs to Him and thus partake in +His triumph. If in will and heart we have yielded ourselves to +Him, he that is thus joined to the Lord is one spirit, and all +`mine is Thine, and all Thine is mine.' He is the Heir of all +things, and all things of which He is the Heir are our possession. +`All things are yours, and ye are Christ's.' Thus His dominion is +the dominion of all that love Him, and His heritage is the +heritage of all those that have joined themselves to Him; and no +sparkle of the glory that falls upon His head but is reflected on +the heads of His servants. The `many crowns' that He wears are the +crowns with which He crowns His followers. + +Thus, my brother, to be overcome by God is to overcome the world, +to be triumphed over by Christ is to share in His triumph; and he +over whom Incarnate Love wins the victory, like the patriarch of +old in his mystical struggle, conquers in the hour of surrender; +and to him it is said: `As a prince thou hast power with God and +hast prevailed.' + +III. Lastly, a further picture of the ideal of the Christian life +is set before us here in the thought of these conquered captives +being led as the trophies and the witnesses of His overcoming +power. + +That idea is suggested by both halves of our verse. Both the +emblem of the Apostle as marching in the triumphal procession, and +the emblem of the Apostle as yielding from his burning heart the +fragrant visible odour of the ascending incense, convey the same +idea, viz. that one great purpose which Jesus Christ has in +conquering men for Himself, and binding them to His chariot +wheels, is that from them may go forth the witness of His power +and the knowledge of His name. + +That opens very wide subjects for our consideration which I can +only very briefly touch upon. Let me just for an instant dwell +upon some of them. First, the fact that Jesus Christ, by His Cross +and Passion, is able to conquer men's wills, and to bind men's +hearts to Him, is the highest proof of His power. It is an +entirely unique thing in the history of the world. There is +nothing the least like it anywhere else. The passionate attachment +which this dead Galilean peasant is able to evoke in the hearts of +people all these centuries after His death, is an unheard of and +an unparalleled thing. All other teachers `serve their generations +by the will of God,' and then their names become speedily less and +less powerful, and thicker and thicker mists of oblivion wrap them +round until they disappear. But time has no power over Christ's +influence. The bond which binds you and me to Him nineteen +centuries after His death is the very same in quality as, and in +degree is often far deeper and stronger than, the bond which +united to Him the men that had seen Him. It stands as an unique +fact in the history of the world, that from Christ of Nazareth +there rays out through all the ages the spiritual power which +absolutely takes possession of men, dominates them and turns them +into His organs and instruments. This generation prides itself +upon testing all things by an utilitarian test, and about every +system says:---`Well, let us see it working.' And I do not think +that Christianity need shrink from the test. With all its +imperfections, the long procession of holy men and women who, for +nineteen centuries, have been marching through history, owning +Christ as their Conqueror, and ascribing all their goodness to +Him, is a witness to His power to sway and to satisfy men, the +force of whose testimony it is hard to overthrow. And I would like +to ask the simple question: Will any system of belief or of no +belief, except the faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice, do the +like for men? He leads through the world the train of His +captives, the evidence of His conquests. + +And then, further, let me remind you that out of this +representation there comes a very stimulating and solemn +suggestion of duty for us Christian people. We are bound to live, +setting forth whose we are, and what He has done for us. Just as +the triumphal procession took its path up the Appian Way and along +the side of the Forum to the altar of the Capitol, wreathed about +by curling clouds of fragrant incense, so we should march through +the world encompassed by the sweet and fragrant odour of His name, +witnessing for Him by word, witnessing for Him by character, +speaking for Him and living like Him, showing in our life that He +rules us, and professing by our words that He does; and so should +manifest His power. + +Still further, Paul's thanksgiving teaches us that we should be +thankful for all opportunities of doing such work. Christian men +and women often grudge their services and grudge their money, and +feel as if the necessities for doing Christian work in the world +were rather a burden than an honour. This man's generous heart was +so full of love to his Prince that it glowed with thankfulness at +the thought that Christ had let him do such things for Him. And He +lets you do them if you will. + +So, dear friends, it comes to be a very solemn question for us. +What part are we playing in that great triumphal procession? We +are all of us marching at His chariot wheels, whether we know it +or not. But there were two sets of people in the old triumph. +There were those who were conquered by force and unconquered in +heart, and out of their eyes gleamed unquenchable malice and +hatred, though their weapons were broken and their arms fettered. +And there were those who, having shared in the commander's fight, +shared in his triumph and rejoiced in his rule. And when the +procession reached the gate of the temple, some, at any rate, of +the former class were put to death before the gates. I pray you to +remember that if we are dragged after Him reluctantly, the word +will come: `These, mine enemies, which would not that I should +reign over them, bring hither and slay them before Me.' Whereas, +on the other hand, for those who have yielded heart and soul to +Him in love and submission born of the reception of His great +love, the blessed word will come: `He that overcometh shall +inherit all things.' Which of the two parts of the procession do +you belong to, my friend? Make your choice where you shall march, +and whether you will be His loyal allies and soldiers who share in +His triumph, or His enemies, who, overcome by His power, are not +melted by His love. The one live, the other perish. + +\chapter{Transformation by Beholding} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS iii. 18} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the +Lord, are changed into the same image.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} iii. 18. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +This whole section of the Epistle in which our text occurs is a +remarkable instance of the fervid richness of the Apostle's mind, +which acquires force by motion, and, like a chariot-wheel, catches +fire as it revolves. One of the most obvious peculiarities of his +style is his habit of `going off at a word.' Each thought is, as +it were, barbed all round, and catches and draws into sight a +multitude of others, but slightly related to the main purpose in +hand. And this characteristic gives at first sight an appearance +of confusion to his writings. But it is not confusion, it is +richness. The luxuriant underwood which this fertile soil bears, +as some tropical forest, does not choke the great trees, though it +drapes them. + +Paul's immediate purpose seems to be to illustrate the frank +openness which ought to mark the ministry of Christianity. He does +this by reference to the veil which Moses wore when he came forth +from talking with God. There, he says in effect, we have a picture +of the Old Dispensation---a partial revelation, gleaming through a +veil, flashing through symbols, expressed here in a rite, there in +a type, there again in an obscure prophecy, but never or scarcely +ever fronting the world with an unveiled face and the light of God +shining clear from it. Christianity is, and Christian teachers +ought to be, the opposite of all this. It has, and they are to +have, no esoteric doctrines, no hints where plain speech is +possible, no reserve, no use of symbols and ceremonies to overlay +truth, but an intelligible revelation in words and deeds, to men's +understandings. It and they are plentifully to declare the thing +as it is. + +But he gets far beyond this point in his uses of his illustration. +It opens out into a series of contrasts between the two +revelations. The veiled Moses represents the clouded revelation of +old. The vanishing gleam on his face recalls the fading glories of +that which was abolished; and then, by a quick turn of +association, Paul thinks of the veiled readers in the synagogues, +copies, as it were, of the lawgiver with the shrouded countenance; +only too significant images of the souls obscured by prejudice and +obstinate unbelief, with which Israel trifles over the +uncomprehended letter of the old law. + +The contrast to all this lies in our text. Judaism had the one +lawgiver who beheld God, while the people tarried below. +Christianity leads us all, to the mount of vision, and lets the +lowliest pass through the fences, and go up where the blazing +glory is seen. Moses veiled the face that shone with the +irradiation of Deity. We with unveiled face are to shine among +men. He had a momentary gleam, a transient brightness; we have a +perpetual light. Moses' face shone, but the lustre was but skin +deep. But the light that we have is inward, and works +transformation into its own likeness. + +So there is here set forth the very loftiest conception of the +Christian life as direct vision, universal, manifest to men, +permanent, transforming. + +I. Note then, first, that the Christian life is a life of +contemplating and reflecting Christ. + +It is a question whether the single word rendered in our version +`beholding as in a glass,' means that, or `reflecting as a glass +does.' The latter seems more in accordance with the requirements +of the context, and with the truth of the matter in hand. Unless +we bring in the notion of reflected lustre, we do not get any +parallel with the case of Moses. Looking into a glass does not in +the least correspond with the allusion, which gave occasion to the +whole section, to the glory of God smiting him on the face, till +the reflected lustre with which it glowed became dazzling, and +needed to be hid. And again, if Paul is here describing Christian +vision of God as only indirect, as in a mirror, then that would be +a point of inferiority in us as compared with Moses, who saw Him +face to face. But the whole tone of the context prepares us to +expect a setting forth of the particulars in which the Christian +attitude towards the manifested God is above the Jewish. So, on +the whole, it seems better to suppose that Paul meant `mirroring,' +than `seeing in a mirror.' + +But, whatever be the exact force of the word, the thing intended +includes both acts. There is no reflection of the light without a +previous reception of the light. In bodily sight, the eye is a +mirror, and there is no sight without an image of the thing +perceived being formed in the perceiving eye. In spiritual sight, +the soul which beholds is a mirror, and at once beholds and +reflects. Thus, then, we may say that we have in our text the +Christian life described as one of contemplation and manifestation +of the light of God. + +The great truth of a direct, unimpeded vision, as belonging to +Christian men on earth, sounds strange to many of us. `That cannot +be,' you say; `does not Paul himself teach that we see through a +glass darkly? Do we not walk by faith and not by sight? ``No man +hath seen God at any time, nor can see Him''; and besides that +absolute impossibility, have we not veils of flesh and sense, to +say nothing of the covering of sin ``spread over the face of all +nations,'' which hide from us even so much of the eternal light as +His servants above behold, who see His face and bear His name on +their foreheads?' + +But these apparent difficulties drop away when we take into +account two things---first, the object of vision, and second, the +real nature of the vision itself. + +As to the former, who is the Lord whose glory we receive on our +unveiled faces? He is Jesus Christ. Here, as in the overwhelming +majority of instances where \textit{Lord} occurs in the New +Testament, it is the name of the manifested God our brother. The +glory which we behold and give back is not the incomprehensible, +incommunicable lustre of the absolute divine perfectness, but that +glory which, as John says, we beheld in Him who tabernacled with +us, full of grace and truth; the glory which was manifested in +loving, pitying words and loveliness of perfect deeds; the glory +of the will resigned to God, and of God dwelling in and working +through the will; the glory of faultless and complete manhood, and +therein of the express image of God. + +And as for the vision itself, that seeing which is denied to be +possible is the bodily perception and the full comprehension of +the Infinite God; that seeing which is affirmed to be possible, +and actually bestowed in Christ, is the beholding of Him with the +soul by faith; the immediate direct consciousness of His presence +the perception of Him in His truth by the mind, the feeling of Him +in His love by the heart, the contact with His gracious energy in +our recipient and opening spirits. Faith is made the antithesis of +sight. It is so, in certain respects. But faith is also paralleled +with and exalted above the mere bodily perception. He who +believing grasps the living Lord has a contact with Him as +immediate and as real as that of the eyeball with light, and knows +Him with a certitude as reliable as that which sight gives. +`Seeing is believing,' says sense; `Believing is seeing' says the +spirit which clings to the Lord, `whom having not seen' it loves. +A bridge of perishable flesh, which is not myself but my tool, +connects me with the outward world. \textit{It} never touches +myself at all, and I know it only by trust in my senses. But +nothing intervenes between my Lord and me, when I love and trust. +Then Spirit is joined to spirit, and of His presence I have the +witness in myself. He is the light, which proves its own existence +by revealing itself, which strikes with quickening impulse on the +eye of the spirit that beholds by faith. Believing we see, and, +seeing, we have that light in our souls to be `the master light of +all our seeing.' We need not think that to know by the +consciousness of our trusting souls is less than to know by the +vision of our fallible eyes; and though flesh hides from us the +spiritual world in which we float, yet the only veil which really +dims God to us---the veil of sin, the one separating +principle---is done away in Christ, for all who love Him; so as +that he who has not seen and yet has believed, has but the +perfecting of his present vision to expect, when flesh drops away +and the apocalypse of the heaven comes. True, in one view, `We see +through a glass darkly'; but also true, `We all, with unveiled +face, behold and reflect the glory of the Lord.' + +Then note still further Paul's emphasis on the universality of +this pre\-ro\-ga\-tive---`We all.' This vision does not belong to +any select handful; does not depend upon special powers or gifts, +which in the nature of things can only belong to a few. The +spiritual aristocracy of God's Church is not the distinction of +the law-giver, the priest or the prophet. There is none of us so +weak, so low, so ignorant, so compassed about with sin, but that +upon our happy faces that light may rest, and into our darkened +hearts that sunshine may steal. + +In that Old Dispensation, the light that broke through clouds was +but that of the rising morning. It touched the mountain tops of +the loftiest spirits: a Moses, a David, an Elijah caught the early +gleams; while all the valleys slept in the pale shadow, and the +mist clung in white folds to the plains. But the noon has come, +and, from its steadfast throne in the very zenith, the sun, which +never sets, pours down its rays into the deep recesses of the +narrowest gorge, and every little daisy and hidden flower catches +its brightness, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. We +have no privileged class or caste now; no fences to keep out the +mob from the place of vision, while lawgiver and priest gaze upon +God. Christ reveals Himself to all His servants in the measure of +their desire after Him. Whatsoever special gifts may belong to a +few in His Church, the greatest gift belongs to all. The servants +and the handmaidens have the Spirit, the children prophesy, the +youths see visions, the old men dream dreams. `The mobs,' `the +masses,' `the plebs,' or whatever other contemptuous name the +heathen aristocratic spirit has for the bulk of men, makes good +its standing within the Church, as possessor of Christ's chiefest +gifts. Redeemed by Him, it can behold His face and be glorified +into His likeness. Not as Judaism with its ignorant mass, and its +enlightened and inspired few---we \textit{all} behold the glory of +the Lord. + +Again, this contemplation involves reflection, or giving forth the +light which we behold. + +They who behold Christ have Christ formed in them, as will appear +in my subsequent remarks. But apart from such considerations, +which belong rather to the next part of this sermon, I touch on +this thought here for one purpose---to bring out this idea---that +what we \textit{see} we shall certainly \textit{show}. That will +be the inevitable result of all true possession of the glory of +Christ. The necessary accompaniment of vision is reflecting the +thing beheld. Why, if you look closely enough into a man's eye, +you will see in it little pictures of what he beholds at the +moment; and if our hearts are beholding Christ, Christ will be +mirrored and manifested on our hearts. Our characters will show +what we are looking at, and ought, in the case of Christian +people, to bear His image so plainly, that men cannot but take +knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus. + +This ought to lead all of us who say that we have seen the Lord, +to serious self-questioning. Do beholding and reflecting go +together in our cases? Are our characters like those transparent +clocks, where you can see not only the figures and hands, but the +wheels and works? Remember that, consciously and unconsciously, by +direct efforts and by insensible influences on our lives, the true +secret of our being ought to come, and will come, forth to light. +The convictions which we hold, the emotions that are dominant in +our hearts, will mould and shape our lives. If we have any deep, +living perception of Christ, bystanders looking into our faces +will be able to tell what it is up yonder that is making them like +the faces of the angels---even vision of the opened heavens and of +the exalted Lord. These two things are inseparable---the one +describes the attitude and action of the Christian man towards +Christ; the other the very same attitude and action in relation to +men. And you may be quite sure that, if little light comes from a +Christian character, little light comes into it; and if it be +swathed in thick veils from men, there must be no less thick veils +between it and God. + +Nor is it only that our fellowship with Christ will, as a matter +of course, show itself in our characters, and beauty born of that +communion `shall pass into our face,' but we are also called on, +as Paul puts it here, to make direct conscious efforts for the +communication of the light which we behold. As the context has it, +God hath shined in our hearts, that we might give the light of the +knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. Away +with all veils! No reserve, no fear of the consequences of plain +speaking, no diplomatic prudence regulating our frank utterance, +no secret doctrines for the initiated! We are to `renounce the +hidden things of dishonesty.' Our power and our duty lie in the +full exhibition of the truth. We are only clear from the blood of +men when we, for our parts, make sure that if any light be hid, it +is hid not by reason of obscurity or silence on our parts, but +only by reason of the blind eyes, before which the full-orbed +radiance gleams in vain. All this is as true for every one +possessing that universal prerogative of seeing the glory of +Christ, as it is for an Apostle. The business of all such is to +make known the name of Jesus, and if from idleness, or +carelessness, or selfishness, they shirk that plain duty, they are +counteracting God's very purpose in shining on their hearts, and +going far to quench the light which they darken. + +Take this, then, Christian men and women, as a plain practical +lesson from this text. You are bound to manifest what you believe, +and to make the secret of your lives, in so far as possible, an +open secret. Not that you are to drag into light before men the +sacred depths of your own soul's experience. Let these lie hid. +The world will be none the better for your confessions, but it +needs your Lord. Show Him forth, not your own emotions about Him. +What does the Apostle say close by my text? `We preach not +ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.' Self-respect and reverence +for the sanctities of our deepest emotions forbid our proclaiming +these from the house-tops. Let these be curtained, if you will, +from all eyes but God's, but let no folds hang before the picture +of your Saviour that is drawn on your heart. See to it that you +have the unveiled face turned towards Christ to be irradiated by +His brightness, and the unveiled face turned towards men, from +which shall shine every beam of the light which you have caught +from your Lord. `Arise! shine, for thy light is come, and the +glory of the Lord is risen upon thee!' + +II. Notice, secondly, that this life of contemplation is therefore +a life of gradual transformation. + +The brightness on the face of Moses was only skin-deep. It faded +away, and left no trace. It effaced none of the marks of sorrow +and care, and changed none of the lines of that strong, stern +face. But, says Paul, the glory which we behold sinks inward, and +changes us as we look, into its own image. Thus the superficial +lustre, that had neither permanence nor transforming power, +becomes an illustration of the powerlessness of law to change the +moral character into the likeness of the fair ideal which it sets +forth. And, in opposition to its weakness, the Apostle proclaims +the great principle of Christian progress, that the beholding of +Christ leads to the assimilation to Him. + +The metaphor of a mirror does not wholly serve us here. When the +sunbeams fall upon it, it flashes in the light, just because they +do not enter its cold surface. It is a mirror, because it does not +drink them up, but flings them back. The contrary is the case with +these sentient mirrors of our spirits. In them the light must +first sink in before it can ray out. They must first be filled +with the glory, before the glory can stream forth. They are not so +much like a reflecting surface as like a bar of iron, which needs +to be heated right down to its obstinate black core, before its +outer skin glows with the whiteness of a heat that is too hot to +sparkle. The sunshine must fall on us, not as it does on some +lonely hill-side, lighting up the grey stones with a passing gleam +that changes nothing, and fades away, leaving the solitude to its +sadness; but as it does on some cloud cradled near its setting, +which it drenches and saturates with fire till its cold heart +burns, and all its wreaths of vapour are brightness palpable, +glorified by the light which lives amidst its mists. So must we +have the glory sink into us before it can be reflected from us. In +deep inward beholding we must have Christ in our hearts, that He +may shine forth from our lives. + +And this contemplation will be gradual transformation. There is +the great principle of Christian morals. `We all beholding ... are +changed.' The power to which is committed the perfecting of our +characters lies in looking upon Jesus. It is not the mere +beholding, but the gaze of love and trust that moulds us by silent +sympathy into the likeness of His wondrous beauty, who is fairer +than the children of men. It was a deep, true thought which the +old painters had, when they drew John as likest to his Lord. Love +makes us like. We learn \textit{that} even in our earthly +relationships, where habitual familiarity with parents and dear +ones stamps some tone of voice or look, or little peculiarity of +gesture, on a whole house. And when the infinite reverence and +aspiration which the Christian soul cherishes to its Lord are +superadded, the transforming power of loving contemplation of Him +becomes mighty beyond all analogies in human friendship, though +one in principle with these. What a marvellous thing that a block +of rude sandstone, laid down before a perfect marble, should +become a copy of its serene loveliness just by lying there! Lay +your hearts down before Christ. Contemplate Him. Love Him. Think +about Him. Let that pure face shine upon heart and spirit, and as +the sun photographs itself on the sensitive plate exposed to its +light, and you get a likeness of the sun by simply laying the +thing in the sun, so He will `be formed in, you.' Iron near a +magnet becomes magnetic. Spirits that dwell with Christ become +Christ-like. The Roman Catholic legends put this truth in a coarse +way, when they tell of saints who have gazed on some ghastly +crucifix till they have received, in their tortured flesh, the +copy of the wounds of Jesus, and have thus borne in their body the +marks of the Lord. The story is hideous and gross, the idea +beneath is ever true. Set your faces towards the Cross with +loving, reverent gaze, and you will `be conformed unto His death,' +that in due time you may `be also in the likeness of His +Resurrection.' + +Dear friends, surely this message---`Behold and be like'---ought +to be very joyful and enlightening to many of us, who are wearied +with painful struggles after isolated pieces of goodness, that +elude our grasp. You have been trying, and trying, and trying half +your lifetime to cure faults and make yourselves better and +stronger. Try this other plan. Let love draw you, instead of duty +driving you. Let fellowship with Christ elevate you, instead of +seeking to struggle up the steeps on hands and knees. Live in +sight of your Lord, and catch His Spirit. The man who travels with +his face northwards has it grey and cold. Let him turn to the warm +south, where the midday sun dwells, and his face will glow with +the brightness that he sees. `Looking unto Jesus' is the sovereign +cure for all our ills and sins. It is the one condition of running +with patience `the race that is set before us.' Efforts after +self-improvement which do not rest on it will not go deep enough, +nor end in victory. But from that gaze will flow into our lives a +power which will at once reveal the true goal, and brace every +sinew for the struggle to reach it. Therefore, let us cease from +self, and fix our eyes on our Saviour till His image imprints +itself on our whole nature. + +Such transformation, it must be remembered, comes gradually. The +language of the text regards it as a lifelong process. `We +\textit{are} changed'; that is a continuous operation. `From glory +to glory'; that is a course which has well-marked transitions and +degrees. Be not impatient if it be slow. It will take a lifetime. +Do not fancy that it is finished with you. Life is not long enough +for it. Do not be complacent over the partial transformation which +you have felt. There is but a fragment of the great image yet +reproduced in your soul, a faint outline dimly traced, with many a +feature wrongly drawn, with many a line still needed, before it +can be called even approximately complete. See to it that you +neither turn away your gaze, nor relax your efforts till all that +you have beheld in Him is repeated in you. + +Likeness to Christ is the aim of all religion. To it conversion is +introductory; doctrines, devout emotion, worship and ceremonies, +churches and organisations are valuable as auxiliary. Let that +wondrous issue of God's mercy be the purpose of our lives, and the +end as well as the test of all the things which we call our +Christianity. Prize and use them as helps towards it, and remember +that they are helps only in proportion as they show us that +Saviour, the image of whom is our perfection, the beholding of +whom is our transformation. + +III. Notice, lastly, that the life of contemplation finally +becomes a life of complete assimilation. + +`Changed into the same image, from glory to glory.' The lustrous +light which falls upon Christian hearts from the face of their +Lord is permanent, and it is progressive. The likeness extends, +becomes deeper, truer, every way perfecter, comprehends more and +more of the faculties of the man; soaks into him, if I may say so, +until he is saturated with the glory; and in all the extent of his +being, and in all the depth possible to each part of that whole +extent, is like his Lord. That is the hope for heaven, towards +which we may indefinitely approximate here, and at which we shall +absolutely arrive there. There we expect changes which are +impossible here, while compassed with this body of sinful flesh. +We look for the merciful exercise of His mighty working to `change +the body of our lowliness, that it may be fashioned like unto the +body of His glory'; and that physical change in the resurrection +of the just rightly bulks very large in good men's expectations. +But we are somewhat apt to think of the perfect likeness of Christ +too much in connection with that transformation that begins only +after death, and to forget that the main transformation must begin +here. The glorious, corporeal life like our Lord's, which is +promised for heaven, is great and wonderful, but it is only the +issue and last result of the far greater change in the spiritual +nature, which by faith and love begins here. It is good to be +clothed with the immortal vesture of the resurrection, and in that +to be like Christ. It is better to be like Him in our hearts. His +true image is that we should feel as He does, should think as He +does, should will as He does; that we should have the same +sympathies, the same loves, the same attitude towards God, and the +same attitude towards men. It is that His heart and ours should +beat in full accord, as with one pulse, and possessing one life. +Wherever there is the beginning of that oneness and likeness of +spirit, all the rest will come in due time. As the spirit, so the +body. The whole nature must be transformed and made like Christ's, +and the process will not stop till that end be accomplished in all +who love Him. But the beginning here is the main thing which draws +all the rest after it as of course. `If the Spirit of Him that +raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up +Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by His +Spirit that dwelleth in you.' + +And, while this complete assimilation in body and spirit to our +Lord is the end of the process which begins here by love and +faith, my text, carefully considered, adds a further very +remarkable idea. `We are all changed,' says Paul, `into the +\textit{same} image.' Same as what? Possibly the same as we +behold; but more probably the phrase, especially `image' in the +singular, is employed to convey the thought of the blessed +likeness of all who become perfectly like Him. As if he had said, +`Various as we are in disposition and character, unlike in the +histories of our lives, and all the influences that these have had +upon us, differing in everything but the common relation to Jesus +Christ, we are all growing like the same image, and we shall come +to be perfectly like it, and yet each retain his own distinct +individuality.' `We being many are one, for we are all partakers +of one.' + +Perhaps, too, we may connect with this another idea which occurs +more than once in Paul's Epistles. In that to the Ephesians, for +instance, he says that the Christian ministry is to continue, till +a certain point of progress has been reached, which he describes +as our \textit{all} coming to `a perfect \textit{man}.' The whole +of us together make a perfect man---the whole make one image. That +is to say, perhaps the Apostle's idea is, that it takes the +aggregated perfectness of the whole Catholic Church, one +throughout all ages, and containing a multitude that no man can +number, to set worthily forth anything like a complete image of +the fulness of Christ. No one man, even raised to the highest +pitch of perfection, and though his nature be widened out to +perfect development, can be the full image of that infinite sum of +all beauty; but the whole of us taken together, with all the +diversities of natural character retained and consecrated, being +collectively His body which He vitalises, may, on the whole, be a +not wholly inadequate representation of our perfect Lord. Just as +we set round a central light sparkling prisms, each of which +catches the glow at its own angle, and flashes it back of its own +colour, while the sovereign completeness of the perfect white +radiance comes from the blending of all their separate rays, so +they who stand round about the starry throne receive each the +light in his own measure and manner, and give forth each a true +and perfect, and altogether a complete, image of Him who +enlightens them all, and is above them all. + +And whilst thus all bear the same image, there is no monotony; and +while there is endless diversity, there is no discord. Like the +serene choirs of angels in the old monk's pictures, each one with +the same tongue of fire on the brow, with the same robe flowing in +the same folds to the feet, with the same golden hair, yet each a +separate self, with his own gladness, and a different instrument +for praise in his hand, and his own part in that `undisturbed song +of pure content,' we shall all be changed into the same image, and +yet each heart shall grow great with its own blessedness, and each +spirit bright with its own proper lustre of individual and +characteristic perfection. + +The law of the transformation is the same for earth and for +heaven. Here we see Him in part, and beholding grow like. There we +shall see Him as He is, and the likeness will be complete. That +Transfiguration of our Lord (which is described by the same word +as occurs in this text) may become for us the symbol and the +prophecy of what we look for. As with Him, so with us; the +indwelling glory shall come to the surface, and the countenance +shall shine as the light, and the garments shall be `white as no +fuller on earth can white them.' Nor shall that be a fading +splendour, nor shall we fear as we enter into the cloud, nor, +looking on Him, shall flesh bend beneath the burden, and the eyes +become drowsy, but we shall be as the Lawgiver and the Prophet who +stood by Him in the lambent lustre, and shone with a brightness +above that which had once been veiled on Sinai. We shall never +vanish from His side, but dwell with Him in the abiding temple +which He has built, and there, looking upon Him for ever, our +happy souls shall change as they gaze, and behold Him more +perfectly as they change, for `we know that when He shall appear +we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.' + +\chapter{Looking at the Unseen} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS iv. 18} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things +which are not seen.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} iv. 18. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Men may be said to be divided into two classes, materialists and +idealists, in the widest sense of those two words. The mass care +for, and are occupied by, and regard as really solid good, those +goods which can be touched and enjoyed by sense. The +minority---students, thinkers, men of ideas, moralists, and the +like---believe in, and care for, impalpable spiritual riches. +Everybody admits that the latter class is distinctly the higher. +Now it is from no disregard to the importance and reality of that +broad distinction that I insist, to begin with, that it is not the +antithesis which is in the Apostle's mind here. His notion of `the +things that are seen' and `the things that are not seen' is a much +grander and wider one than that. By `the things that are seen' he +means the whole of this visible world, with all its circumstances +and relations, and by `the things that are not seen' he means the +realities beyond the stars. + +He means the same thing that we mean when we talk in a much less +true and impressive contrast about the present and the future. To +him the `things that are not seen' are present instead of being, +as we weakly and foolishly christen them, `the future state.' And +it makes all the difference whether we think of that august realm +as lying far away ahead of us, or whether we feel that it is, as +it is, in very deed, all round about us, and pressing in upon us, +only that `the veil'---that is to say, our `flesh'---has come +between us and it. Do not habitually think of these two sets of +objects according to that misleading distinction `present' and +`future,' but think of them rather as `the things that are seen,' +and `the things that are not seen.' + +I. Now, first, I wish to say a word or two about what such a look +will do for us. + +Paul's notion is, as you will see if you look at the context, that +if we want to understand the visible, or to get the highest good +out of the things that are seen, we must bring into the field of +vision `the things that are not seen.' The case with which he is +dealing is that of a man in trouble. He talks about light +affliction which is but for a moment, working out a far more +exceeding and eternal weight of glory, `while we look at the +things which are not seen.' But the principle on which that +statement is made, of course, has its widest application to all +sorts and conditions of human life. + +And the thought that emerges from it directly is that only when we +take the `things that are not seen' into account, and make them +the standard and the scale by which we judge all things, do we +understand `the things that are seen.' That triumphant paradox of +the Apostle's about the heavy burdens that pressed upon him and +his brethren, lifelong as these burdens were, which yet he calls +`light' and `but for a moment' is possible only when we open the +shutter of the dungeon which we fancied was the whole universe, +and look out on to the fair land that stretches beyond. A man who +has seen the Himalayas will not be much overwhelmed by the height +of Helvellyn. They who look out into the eternities have the true +measuring rod and standard by which to estimate the duration and +intensity of the things that are present. We are all tempted to do +as villagers in some little hamlet do---think that their small +local affairs are the world's affairs, and mighty, until they have +been up to London and seen the scale of things there. If you and I +would let the steady light of Eternity, and the sustaining +pressure of the `exceeding weight of glory' pour into our minds, +we should carry with us a standard which would bring down the +greatness, dwindle the duration, lighten the pressure, of the most +crushing sorrow, and would set in its true dimensions everything +that is here. It is for want of that that we go on as we do, +calculating wrongly what are the great things and what are the +small things. When, like some of those prisoners in the +Inquisition, the heavy iron weights are laid upon our half-crushed +hearts, we are tempted to shriek, `Oh, these will be my death!' +instead of taking in that great vision which, as it makes all +earthly riches dross, so it makes all crushing burdens and blows +of sorrow light as a feather. + +But, on the other hand, do not let us forget that this same +standard which thus dwindles, also magnifies the small, and in a +very solemn sense, makes eternal the else fleeting things of this +life. For there is nothing that makes this present existence of +ours so utterly contemptible, insignificant, and transitory, as to +block out of our sight its connection with Eternity. And there is +nothing which so lifts the commonplace into the solemn, and +invests with everlasting and tremendous importance everything that +a man does here, as to feel that it all tells on his condition +away beyond there. The shafting is on this side of the wall, but +the work that it does is through the wall there, in the other +chamber; and you do not understand the cranks and the wheels here +unless you know that they go through the partition and are doing +something there beyond. If you shut out Eternity from our life in +time, then it is an inexplicable riddle; and I, for my part, would +venture to say that in that case, the men who answer the question, +`Is life worth living?' with a distinct negative, are wise. It is +a tale told by an idiot, `full of sound and fury, signifying +nothing,' unless the light of `the things not seen' flashes and +flares in upon it. + +Further, this look of which my text speaks is the condition on +which Time prepares for Eternity. + +The Apostle is speaking about the effect of affliction in making +ready for us an eternal weight of glory, and he says that is done +while, or on condition that during the suffering, we are looking +steadfastly towards the `things that are not seen.' But no outward +circumstances or events can prepare a weight of glory for us +hereafter, unless they prepare us for the glory. Affliction works +for us that blessed result, in the measure in which it fits us for +that result. And so you will find that, only a verse or two after +my text, Paul, using the same very significant and emphatic verb, +writes inverting the order of things, and says `He that hath +wrought \textit{us for} the self-same thing is God.' So that +working the thing for us, and working us for the thing, are one +and the same process. Or, to put it into plain English, our +various duties and circumstances here will prepare the glory of +Eternity for us if they prepare us for the glory of Eternity. But +only in the measure in which these outward things do thus shape +and mould our characters do they work out for us `an exceeding +weight of glory.' + +It is often thought that a man has been so miserable here that God +is sure to give him future blessedness to recompense him. Well! +`that depends.' If he has used his miserableness as he will use it +when he lets the light of `the things not seen' in upon it, then, +certainly, it will work out for him the blessed results. But if he +does not, then, as certainly, it will not. Whilst there are many +ways by which character is hammered and moulded and shaped into +that which is fit to be clothed upon with the glory that is +yonder, one of the foremost of these is the passing through things +temporal with a continual regard to the things that are eternal. +If you want to understand to-day you must bring Eternity into the +account, and if you want to use to-day you must use it with the +light of the eternal world full upon it. The sum of it all is, +brethren, that the things seen cannot be estimated in their true +character, unless they are regarded in immediate connection with +the things that are unseen; and that the things seen will only +prepare an eternal weight of glory for us when they prepare us for +an eternal weight of glory. + +II. And so, I note that this look at the things not seen is only +possible through Jesus Christ. + +He is the only window which opens out and gives the vision of that +far-off land. I, for my part, believe that, if I might use such a +metaphor, He is the Columbus of the New World. Men believed, and +argued, and doubted about the existence of it across the seas there, +until a man went, and came back again, and then went to found a new +city yonder. And men hoped for immortality, and believed after a +fashion---some of them---in a future life, and dreaded that it might +be true, and discussed and debated whether it was, but doubt clouded +all minds, until One, our Brother, went away into the darkness, and +came back again, in most respects as He had gone, and then departed +once more to make ready a city in which all who love Him should +finally dwell, and to which you and I may be sure that we shall +emigrate. It is only in Jesus Christ that the look which my text +enjoins is possible. + +For not only has He given a certitude so that we need now not to say +`We think, we hope, we fear, we are pretty well sure, that there +must be a life beyond,' but we can say `We know.' Not only has He +done this, but also in Him and His life of glory at God's right hand +in heaven, is summed up all that we really can know about that +future. We look into the darkness in vain; we look at Him, and, our +knowledge, though limited, is blessed. All other adumbrations of a +life beyond must necessarily be cast into the metaphorical forms or +the negative symbols in which the New Testament abounds. We may +speak of golden pavements, and thrones, and harps, and the like. We +may say: `No night there, no sighing, nor weeping, no burdened +hearts, no toil, no pain, for the former things are passed away.' +But a future life which is all described in metaphors, and a future +life of which we know only that it is the negation of the +disagreeables and limitations of the present, is but a poor affair. +Here is the positive truth, `To him that overcometh will I grant to +sit with Me on My throne.' `We shall be like Him, for we shall see +Him as He is.' And beyond that nearness to Christ, blessed communion +with Christ, likeness to Christ, royalty derived from Christ, I +think we neither know nor need to know anything about that life. + +Not only is He our sole medium of knowledge and Himself the +revelation of our heaven, but it is only by Him that man's +thoughts and desires are drawn to, and find themselves at home in, +that tremendous thought of immortality. I know not how it may be +with you, but I am not ashamed to confess that to me the idea of +eternal continuance of my conscious being is an awful thought, +rather depressing and bewildering than delighting and attractive. +I, for my part, do not believe that men generally do grapple to +their hearts, with any gratitude or joy, that solemn belief of +immortal life unless they feel that it is life with, and in, and +like, Jesus Christ. `To depart' is dreary, and it is only when we +can say `and to be with Christ' that it becomes distinctly `far +better.' He is, if I may so say, at once telescope and star. By +Him we see Him; we see, seeing Him, that the things that are +unseen all cluster round Himself and become blessed. + +III. And now, lastly, this look should be habitual with all +Christian people. + +Paul takes it for granted that every Christian man is, as the +habitual direction of his thoughts, looking towards those `things +that are not seen.' The original shows that even more distinctly +than our translation, but our translation shows it plainly enough. +He does not say `works for us an exceeding weight of glory +\textit{for},' but \textit{`while'} we look, as if it were a +matter of course. He took it for granted as to these Corinthians. +I wonder if he would be warranted in taking it for granted about +us? + +Note what sort of a look it is which produces these blessed +effects. The word which the Apostle employs here is a more pointed +one than the ordinary one for `seeing.' It is translated in other +places in the New Testament, \textit{`Mark'} them which walk so as +ye have us for an ensample, and the like. And it implies a +concentrated, protracted effort and interested gaze. A man, +standing on the deck of a ship, casts a languid eye for a moment +out on to the horizon, and sees nothing. A keen-eyed sailor by his +side shades his eyes with his hand, and shuts out cross-lights, +and looks, and peers, and keeps his eyes steady, and he sees the +filmy outline of the mountain land. If you look for a minute, not +much caring whether you see anything or not, and then turn away, +and get your eye dazzled with all those vulgar, crude, high +colours round about you here on earth, it is very little that you +will see of `the things that are not seen.' Concentrated +attention, and a steadfast look, are wanted to make the invisible +visible. You have to alter the focus of your eye if you are to see +the thing that is afar off. + +There has to be a positive shutting out of all other things, as is +emphatically taught in the text by putting first the not looking +at `the things that are seen.' Here they are pressing in upon our +eyeballs, all round us, insisting on being looked at, and unless +we resolutely avert our eyes, we shall not see anything else. They +monopolise us unless we resist the intrusive appeals that they +make to us. We are like men down in some fertile valley, +surrounded by rich vegetation, but seeing nothing beyond the green +sides of the glen. We have to go up to the hill-top if we are to +look out over the flashing ocean, and behold afar off the towers +of the mother city across the restless waves. Brethren, unless you +shut out the world you will never see the things that are not +seen. + +Now, as I have said, the Apostle regards this conscious effort at +bringing ourselves into touch, in mind and heart and faith, with +`the things that are not seen' as being a habitual characteristic +of Christian men. I am very much afraid that the present +generation of Christian people do not, in anything like the degree +in which they should, recreate and strengthen themselves with the +contemplation which he here recommends. It seems to me, for +instance, that we do not hear nearly as much in pulpits about the +life beyond the grave as we used to do when I was a boy. And, +though I confess I speak from limited knowledge, it seems to me +that these great motives which lie in the thought of Eternity and +our place there, are by no means as prominent in the minds of the +Christian people of this generation as they used to be. Partly, I +suppose, that arises from the wholesome emphasis which has been +given of late years to the present day, and this-side-the grave +effects of Christianity, upon character and life. Partly it +arises, I think, from the half-consciousness of being surrounded +by an atmosphere of scepticism and unbelief as to a future life, +and from the most unwise, inexpedient, and cowardly yielding to +the temptation to say very little about the distinctive features +of Christianity, and to dwell rather upon those which are sure to +be recognised by even unbelieving people. And it comes, too, from +the lack of faith, which, again, it tends mightily to increase. + +Oh, dear brethren! our consciences tell us what different people +we should be if habitually there shone before us that great, +solemn issue to which we are all tending. Variations in the +atmosphere there will always be, and sometimes the distant +outlines will be clearer and sharper than at others, and the +colours will shine out more distinctly. But surely it should not +be that our vision of the Eternal should be like the vision that +dwellers amongst the mountains have of the summits. They say that +some of the great peaks of the world are swathed in mist all day +long, and that only for a few moments in the morning, or for a +brief space in the evening, does the solemn summit gleam rosy in +the light. And that, I am afraid, is very much like the degree in +which most of us look at `the things that are not seen' and so we +are feeble, and we do not understand `the things that are not +seen'; and we do not get the good out of them. + +Dear brethren, let us turn away our eyes from the gauds that we +can see, and open the eyes of our spirits on the things that are, +the things where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. +Surely, surely, it is madness that when two sets of objects are +before us, the one lasting for a moment, and then dying down into +black nothingness, and the other shining on for ever; and when our +`look' settles whether we shall share the fate of the one or of +the other, we should choose to gaze with all our eyes and hearts +at the perishable and turn away from the permanent. Surely, if it +is true that the things which are seen are temporal, common-sense, +and a reasonable regard for our own well-being, bid us look at the +eternal `things which are not seen,' since only so can the light +and the momentary afflictions, joys, sorrows, or circumstances, +work out for us, and work us for `a far more exceeding and eternal +weight of glory.' + +\chapter{Tent and Building} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS v. 1} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle be +dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with +hands, eternal in the heavens.'---2 \textsc{Cor.}v. 1. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +Knowledge and ignorance, doubt and certitude, are remarkably +blended in these words. The Apostle knows what many men are not +certain of; the Apostle doubts as to what all men now are certain +of. `\textit{If} our earthly house of this tabernacle be +dissolved'---there is surely no if about that. But we must +remember that the first Christians, and the Apostles with them, +did not know whether they might not survive till the coming of +Christ; and so not die, but `be changed.' And this possibility, as +appears from the context, is clearly before the Apostle's mind. +Such a limitation of his knowledge is in entire accordance with +our Lord's own words, `It is not for you to know the times and the +seasons,' and does not in the smallest degree derogate from his +authority as an inspired teacher. But his certitude is as +remarkable as his hesitation. He knows---and he modestly and +calmly affirms the confidence, as possessed by all +believers---that, in the event of death coming to him or them, he +and they have a mansion waiting for their entrance; a body of +glory like to that which Jesus already wears. + +I. So my text mainly sets before us very strikingly the Christian +certitude as to the final future. + +I need not dwell, I suppose, upon that familiar metaphor by which +the relation of man to his bodily environment is described as that +of a man to his dwelling-place. Only I would desire, in a word, to +emphasise this as being the first of the elements of the blessed +certitude in which Christian people may expatiate---the clear, +broad distinction between me and my physical frame. There is no +more connection, says Paul, between us and the organisation in +which we at present dwell than there is between a man and the +house that he inhabits. `The foolish senses crown' Death and call +him lord; but the Christian's certitude firmly draws the line, and +declares that the man, the whole personality, is undisturbed by +anything that befalls his residence; and that he may pass +unimpaired from one house to another, being in both the self-same +person. And that is something to keep firm hold of in these days +when we are being told that life and consciousness are but a +function of organisation, and that if the one be annihilated the +other cannot persist. No; though all illustrations and metaphors +must necessarily fail, the two which lie side by side here in my +text and its context are far truer than that +pseudo-science---which is not science at all, but only inference +from science---which denies that the man is one thing and his +house altogether another. + +Then again, note, as part of the elements of this Christian +certitude, the blessed thought that a body is part of the +perfection of manhood. No mere dim, ghostly future, where +consciousness somehow persists, without environment or tools to +act upon an outer world, completes the idea of God in reference to +man. But the old trinity is the eternal trinity for humanity, +body, soul, and spirit. Corporeity, with all that it means of +definiteness, with all that it means of relation to an external +universe, is the perfection of manhood. To dwell naked, as the +Apostle says in the context, is a thing from which man +shudderingly recoils; and it is not to be his final fate. Let us +take this as no small gain in reference to our conceptions of a +future---the emphatic drawing into light of that thought that for +his perfection man requires body, soul, and spirit. + +And now, if we turn for a moment to the characteristics of the two +conditions with which my text deals, we get some familiar enough +but yet great and strengthening thoughts. The `earthly house of +this tabernacle is dissolved,' or, more correctly, retaining the +metaphor of the house, is to be pulled down---and in its place +there comes a building of God, a `house not made with hands, +eternal in the heavens.' + +Now the contrast that is drawn here, whilst it would run out into +a great many other particulars, about which we know nothing, and +therefore had better say nothing, revolves in the Apostle's mind +mainly round these two `earthly' as contrasted with `in the +heavens'; and `tabernacle,' or tent, as contrasted, first of all +with a `building,' and then with the predicate `eternal.' + +That is to say, the first outstanding difference which arises +before the Apostle as blessed and glorious, is the contrast +between the fragile dwelling-place, with its thin canvas, its +bending poles, its certain removal some day, and the permanence of +that which is not a `tent,' but a `building' which is `eternal.' +Involved in that is the thought that all the limitations and +weaknesses which are necessarily associated with the +perishableness of the present abode are at an end for ever. No +more fatigue, no more working beyond the measure of power, no more +need for recuperation and repose; no more dread of sickness and +weakness; no more possibility of decay, `It is sown in corruption; +it is raised in incorruption'---neither `\textit{can} they die any +more.' Whether that be by reason of any inherent immortality, or +by reason of the uninterrupted flow into the creature of the +immortal life of Christ, to whom he is joined, is a question that +need not trouble us now. Enough for us that the contrast between +the Bedouin tent---which is folded up and carried away, and +nothing left but the black circle where the cheerful hearth once +glinted amidst the sands of the desert---and the stately mansion +reared for eternity, is the contrast between the organ of the +spirit in which we now dwell and that which shall be ours. + +And the other contrast is no less glorious and wonderful. `The +\textit{earthly} house of this tent' does not merely define the +composition, but also the whole relations and capacities of that +to which it refers. The `tent' is `earthly', not merely because, +to use a kindred metaphor, it is a `building of clay,' but +because, by all its capacities, it belongs to, corresponds with, +and is fitted only for, this lower order of things, the seen and +the perishable. And, on the other hand, the `mansion' is in `the +heavens,' even whilst the future tenant is a nomad in his tent. +That is so, because the power which can create that future abode +is `in the heavens.' It is so called in order to express the +security in which it is kept for those who shall one day enter +upon it. And it is so, further, to express the order of things +with which it brings its dwellers into contact. `Flesh and blood +cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit +incorruption.' That future home of the spirit will be congruous +with the region in which it dwells; fitted for the heavens in +which it is now preserved. And thus the two contrasts---adapted to +the perishable, and itself perishable, belonging to the eternal +and itself incorruptible---are the two which loom largest before +the Apostle's mind. + +Let no man say that such ideas of a possible future bodily frame +are altogether inconsistent with all that we know of the +limitations and characteristics of what we call matter. `There is +one flesh of beasts and another of birds,' says Paul; `there is +one glory of the sun and another of the moon.' And his +old-fashioned argument is perfectly sound to-day. + +Do you know so fully all the possibilities of creation as that you +are warranted in asserting that such a thing as a body which is +the fit organ of the spirit, and is incorruptible like the heavens +in which it dwells, is an impossibility? Surely the forms of +matter are sufficiently varied to make us chary in asserting that +other forms are impossible, to which there may belong, as +characteristics, even these glorious ones of my text. The old +story of the king in the tropics, who laughed to scorn some one +who told him that water could be turned into a solid, may well be +quoted in this connection. Let us be less confident that we know +all that is to be known in regard to the sweep of God's creative +power; and let us thankfully accept the teaching by which we, too, +in all our ignorance, may be able to say, `We know that ... we +have a building of God ... eternal in the heavens.' + +Now there is only one more remark that I wish to make about this +part of my subject; and it is this, that the teaching of my text +and its context casts great light---and I think by many people +much-needed light---on what the resurrection of the dead means. +That doctrine has been weighted with a great many incredibilities +and I venture to say absurdities, by well-meaning misconceptions +and exaggerations. We have heard grand platitudes about `the +scattered dust being gathered from the four winds of heaven,' and +so on, but the teaching of my text is that the contrast between +the present physical frame and the future bodily environment is +utter and complete; and that resurrection does not mean the +assuming again of the body that is left behind and done with, but +the reinvestiture of the man with another body. And so the +Scriptural phrase is, not `the resurrection of the body,' but `the +resurrection of the dead.' It is a house `in the heavens.' It +comes `from heaven.' + +We leave the tent. Life and thought + +\begin{verse} +\ \ ... have gone away, side by side, \\ +Leaving doors and windows wide; \\ +Careless tenants they! +\end{verse} + +\noindent And they may well be careless, because in the heavens +they have another mansion, incorruptible and glorious. + +We leave the `tent'; we enter the `building.' There is nothing +here of some germ of immortality being somehow extricated from the +ruins, and fostered into glorious growth. Or, to take another +metaphor of the context, we strip off the garment and are naked; +and then we are clothed with another garment and are not found +naked. The resurrection of the dead is the clothing of the spirit +with the house which is from heaven. And there is as much +difference between the two habitations as there is between the +grim, solid architecture of northern peoples, amidst snow and ice, +needed to resist the blasts, and to keep the life within in an +ungenial climate, and the light, graceful dwellings of those who +walk in an atmosphere of perpetual sunshine in the tropics, as +there is between the close-knit and narrow-windowed and +narrow-doored abode in which we now have to pass our days, and +that large house, with broad windows that take in a mightier sweep +and new senses that have relation with new qualities in the world +then around us. Therefore let us, whilst we grope in the dark +here, and live in a narrow hovel in a back street, look forward to +the time when we shall dwell on the sunny heights in the great +pavilion which God prepares for them that love Him. + +II. And now note, again, how we come to this certitude. + +My text is very significantly followed by a `for,' which gives the +reason of the knowledge in a very remarkable manner. `We know, ... +for in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with +our house, which is from heaven.' Now that singular collocation of +ideas may be set forth thus---whatever longing there is in a +Christian, God-inspired soul, that longing is a prophecy of its +own fulfilment. We know that there is a house, because of the +yearning, which is deepest and strongest when we are nearest God, +and likest what He would have us to be---the yearning to be +`clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.' That is a +truth that goes a long way; though to enlarge on it is irrelevant +to our present purpose. It has its limitations, as is obvious from +the context, in which are human elements which are not destined to +be gratified, mingled with the yearning, which is of God, and +which is destined to be satisfied. But this at least we may firmly +hold by, that just because God will not put men to confusion +intellectually, and does not let them entertain +uncherished---still less Himself foster and excite---longings +which He does not mean to gratify, a Christian yearning for +immortality is, to the man who feels it, a declaration that +immortality is sure for him. `Delight thyself in the Lord, and He +shall give thee the desires of thine heart.' Whatsoever, in +touching Him, we do deeply long for may have blended with it human +elements, which will be dispersed unsatisfied, but the substance +of it is a prophecy of its own fulfilment. And as surely as the +stork in the heavens, flying southward, will reach the sunny lands +which draw it from the grim northern winter, so surely may a man +say, `I know that I have a house in heaven, because I long for it, +and shrink from being found naked.' + +Of course such longing, such aspiration and revulsion are no +proofs of a fact except there be some fact which changes them, +from mere vague desires, and makes these solid certainties. And +such a fact we have in that which is the only proof that the world +has received, of the persistence of life through death and the +continuance of personal identity unchanged by the grave, and that +is the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Our faith in +immortality does not depend merely on our own subjective desires +and longings, but these desires and longings are quickened, +confirmed, and certified by this great fact that Jesus Christ has +risen from the dead; and therefore we know that the yearnings in +us are not in vain. So we come to this certitude, first, by reason +of his experience; and, second, by reason of the longings which +that experience fosters if it does not kindle, within our hearts. + +And let no man take exception to the Apostle's word here, `we know,' +or tell us that `Knowledge is of the things we see.' That is true, +and not true. It is true in regard to what arrogates to itself the +name of science. And we are willing to admit the limitation if the +men who insist upon it will, on their sides, admit that there are +other sources of certitude than so-called `facts,' by which they +mean merely material facts. If it is meant to assert that we are +less sure of the love of God, of immortality, than we are of the +existence of this piece of wood, or that flame of gas; then I humbly +venture to say that there is another region of facts than those +which are appreciable by sense; that the evidence upon which we rest +our certitude of immortal blessedness is quite as valid, quite as +true, quite as able to bear the weight of a leaning heart as +anything that can be produced, in the nature of evidence, for the +things round us. It is not, `We fancy, we believe, we hope, we are +pretty nearly sure,' but it is `We \textit{know} ... that we have a +building of God.' + +III. Lastly, note what this certitude does. + +The Apostle tells us by the `for' which lies at the beginning of +my text, and makes it a reason for something that has preceded, +and what has preceded is this, `We look not at the things which +are seen, but at the things which are not seen.' + +That is to say, such a joyous, calm certitude draws men's thoughts +away from this shabby and transitory present, and fixes them on +the solemn majesties of that eternal future. Yes! and nothing else +will. Take away the idea of resurrection, and the remaining idea +of immortality is a poor, shadowy, impotent thing. There is no +force in it; there is no blessedness in it; there is nothing in it +for a man to lay hold of. And, as a matter of fact, there is no +vivid faith in a future life without belief in the resurrection +and bodily existence of the perfected dead. + +And we shall not let our thoughts willingly go out thither unless +our own personal wellbeing there is very sure to us. When we know +that for us individually there is that house waiting for us to +enter into it, when the Lord comes, then we shall not be unwilling +to turn our hearts and our desires thither. We look at the things +which are not seen, for we know that we have a house eternal. + +And such a certitude will also make a man willing to accept the +else unwelcome necessity of leaving the tent, and for a while +doing without the mansion. It is that which the Apostle is +speaking of in subsequent verses, on which I cannot enter now. He +says---and therein speaks a universal experience---that men recoil +from the idea of having to lay aside this earthly body and be +`naked.' But we know that we have that glorious mansion waiting +for us, and that till the day comes when we enter upon it we may +be lapt in Christ instead, and, in that so-called intermediate +state, may have Him to surround us, Him to be to us the medium by +which we come into connection with anything external, and so can +contentedly go away from our home in the body; and go to our home +in Christ. `Wherefore, we are always confident, and willing rather +to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.' + +Oh, brethren! do we think of our future thus? If we do, then let +us lay to heart the final words of our teacher in this part of his +letter: `Wherefore we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, +to be well-pleasing unto Him.' + +\chapter{The Patient Workman} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS v. 5} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Now He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.'---2 +\textsc{Cor.} v. 5. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +These words penetrate deep into the secrets of God. They assume to +have read the riddle of life. To Paul everything which we +experience, outwardly or inwardly, is from the divine working. +Life is to him no mere blind whirl, or unintelligent play of +accidental forces, nor is it the unguided result of our own or of +others' wills, but is the slow operation of the great Workman. +Paul assumes to know the meaning of this protracted process, that +it all has one design which we may know and grasp and further. And +he believes that the clear perception of the divine purpose, and +the habit of looking at everything as contributing thereto, will +be a magic charm against all sorrow, doubt, despondency, or fear, +for he adds, `Therefore we are always confident.' So let us try to +follow the course of thought which issues in such a blessed gift +as that of a continual, courageous outlook, and buoyant though +grave lightheartedness, because we discern what He means `Who +worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will.' + +I. The first thought here is, God's purpose in all His working; +`He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.' + +What is that `self-same thing'? To understand it we must look back +for a moment to the previous context. The Apostle has been +speaking about the instinctive reluctance which even good men feel +at prospect of dying and `putting off the earthly house of this +tabernacle.' He distinguishes between three different conditions +in which the human spirit may be---dwelling in the earthly body, +stripped of that, and `clothed with the house which is from +Heaven,' and to this last and highest state he sees that for him +and for his brethren there were two possible roads. They might +reach it either through losing the present body, in the act of +death, and passing through a period of what he calls nakedness; or +they might attain it by being `superinvested,' as it were, with +the glorious body which was to come to saints with Christ when He +came; and so slip on, as it were, the wedding garment over their +old clothes, without having to denude themselves of these. And he +says that deep in the Christian heart there lay reluctance to take +the former road and the preference for the latter. His longing was +that that which is mortal might be `swallowed up of life,' as some +sand-bank in the tide-way may be gradually covered and absorbed by +the rejoicing waters. And then he says, `Now He that hath wrought +us for this very thing, is God.' + +Of course it is impossible that he can mean by this `very thing' +the second of the roads by which it was possible to reach the +ultimate issue, because he did not know whether his brethren and +he were to die or to be changed. He speaks in the context about +death as a possible contingency for himself and for +them,---`\textit{If} our earthly house of this tabernacle were +dissolved,' and so on. Therefore we must suppose that `the +self-same thing' of which he is thinking as the divine purpose in +all His dealings with us, is not the manner in which we may attain +that ultimate condition, but the condition itself which, by one +road or another, God's children shall attain. Or, in other words, +the highest aim of the divine love in all its dealings with us +Christian men, is not merely a blessed spiritual life, but the +completion of our humanity in a perfect spirit dwelling in a +glorified body. Corporeity---the dwelling in a body by which the +pure spirit moves amidst pure universes---is the highest end of +God's will concerning us. + +That glorified body is described in our context in wonderful +words, which it would take me far too long to do more than just +touch upon. Here we dwell in a tent, there we shall dwell in a +building. Here in a house made with hands, a corporeal frame +derived from parents by material transmission and intervention; +there we shall dwell in a building of which God is the maker. Here +we dwell in a crumbling clay tenement, which rains dissolve, which +lightning strikes, and winds overthrow, and which finally lies on +the ground a heap of tumbled ruin. There we dwell in a building, +God's direct work, eternal, and knowing no corruption nor change. +Here we dwell in a body congruous with, and part of, the +perishable earthly world in which it abides, and with which it +stands in relation; there we dwell in a house partaking of the +nature of the heavens in which it moves, a body that is the fit +organ of a perfect spirit. + +And so, says Paul, the end of what God means with us is not stated +in all its wonderfulness, when we speak of spirits imbued with His +wisdom and surcharged with His light and perfectness, but when we +add to that the thought of a fitting organ in which these spirits +dwell, whereby they can come into contact with an external +universe, incorruptible, and so reach the summit of their destined +completeness. `The house not made with hands,' eternal, the +building of God in the Heavens, is the end that God has in view +for all His children. + +II. So, then, secondly, note the slow process of the Divine +Workman. + +The Apostle employs here a very emphatic compound term for `hath +wrought.' It conveys not only the idea of operation, but the idea +of continuous and somewhat toilsome and effortful work, as if +against the resistance of something that did not yield itself +naturally to the impulse that He would bestow. Like some sculptor +with a hard bit of marble, or some metallurgist who has to work +the rough ore till it becomes tractable, so the loving, patient, +Divine Artificer is here represented as labouring long and +earnestly with a somewhat obstinate material which can and does +resist His loving touch, and yet going on with imperturbable and +patient hope, by manifold touches, here a little and there a +little, all through life preparing a man for His purpose. The +great Artificer toils at His task, `rising early' and working +long, and not discouraged when He comes upon a black vein in the +white marble, nor when the hard stone turns the edge of His +chisels. + +Now I would have you notice that there lies in this conception a +very important thought, viz. God cannot make you fit for heaven +all at a jump, or by a simple act of will. That is not His way of +working. He can make a world so, He cannot make a saint so. He can +speak and it is done when it is only a universe that has to be +brought into being; or He can say, `Let there be light,' and light +springs at His word. But He cannot say, and He does not say, Let +there be holiness, and it comes. Not so can God make man meet for +the `inheritance of the saints in light.' And it takes Him all His +energies, for all a lifetime, to prepare His child for what He +wants to make of him. + +There is another thought here, which I can only touch, and that is +that God cannot give a man that glorified body of which I have +been speaking, unless the man's spirit is Christlike. He cannot +raise a bad man at the resurrection with the body of His glory. By +the necessities of the case it is confined to the purified, +because it corresponds to their inward spiritual being. It is only +a perfect spirit that can dwell in a perfect body. You could not +put a bad man, Godless and Christless, into the body which will be +fit for them whom Christ has changed first of all in heart and +spirit into His own likeness. He would be like those hermit crabs +that you see on the beach who run into any kind of a shell, +whether it fits them or not, in order to get a house. + +There are two principles at work in the resurrection of the dead. +The glorified body is not the physical outcome of the material +body here, but is the issue and manifestation, in visible form, of +the perfect and Christlike spirit. Some shall rise to glory and +immortality, some to shame and everlasting contempt. If we are to +stand at the last with the body of our humiliation changed into a +body of glory, we must begin by being changed in the spirit of our +mind. As the mind is, so will the body be one day. But, passing +from such thoughts as these, and remembering that the Apostle here +is speaking only about Christian people, and the divine operations +upon them, we may still extend the meaning of this significant +word `wrought' somewhat further, and ask you just to consider, and +that very briefly, the three-fold processes which, in the divine +working, terminate in, and contemplate, this great issue. + +God has wrought us for it in the very act of making us what we +are. Human nature is an insoluble enigma, if this world is its +only field. Amidst all the waste, the mysterious waste, of +creation, there is no more profligate expenditure of powers than +that which is involved in giving a man such faculties and +capacities, if this be the only field on which they are to be +exercised. If you think of what most of us do in this world, and +of what it is in us to be, and to do, it is almost ludicrous to +consider the disproportion. All other creatures fit their +circumstances; nothing in them is bigger than their environment. +They find in life a field for every power. You and I do not. `The +foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have roosting-places.' +They all correspond to their circumstances, but we have an +infinitude of faculty lying half dormant in each of us, which +finds no work at all in this present world. And so, looking at men +as they are with eternity in their hearts, with natures that go +reaching out towards infinity, the question comes up: `Wherefore +hast Thou made all men in vain? What is the use of us, and why +should we be what we are, if there is nothing for us except this +poor present?' God, or whoever made us, has made a mistake; and +strangely enough, if we were not made, but evolved, evolution has +worked out faculties which have no correspondence with the things +around them. + +Life and man are an insoluble enigma except on one hypothesis, and +that is that this is a nursery-ground, and that the plants will be +pricked out some day, and planted where they are meant to grow. +The hearts that feel after absolute and perfect love, the spirits +that can conceive the idea of an infinite goodness, the dumb +desires, the blank misgivings that wander homeless amidst the +narrowness of this poor earth, all these things proclaim that +there is a region where they will find their nutriment and +expatiate, and when we look at a man we can only say, He that hath +wrought him for an infinite world, and an endless communion with a +perfect good, is God. + +Still further, another field of the divine operation to this end +is in what we roughly call `providences.' What is the meaning of +all this discipline through which we are passed, if there is +nothing to be disciplined for? What is the good of an +apprenticeship if there is no journeyman's life to come after it, +where the powers that have been slowly acquired shall be nobly +exercised upon broader fields? Why should men be taken, as it +were, and, like the rough iron from the ground, + +\begin{verse} +`Be heated hot with hopes and fears, \\ + And plunged in baths of hissing tears, \\ + And battered with the shocks of doom,' +\end{verse} + +\noindent if, after all the process, the polished shaft is to be +broken in two, and tossed away as rubbish? If death ends faculty, it +is a pity that the faculty was so patiently developed. If God is +educating us all in His school, and then means that, like some +wastrel boys, we should lose all our education as soon as we leave +its benches, there is little use in the rod, and little meaning in +the training. Brethren! life is an insoluble riddle unless the +purpose of it lie yonder, and unless all this patient training of +our sorrows and our gladnesses, the warmth that expands and the cold +that contracts the heart, the light that gladdens and the darkness +that saddens the eye and the spirit, are equally meant for training +us for the perfect life of a perfect soul moving a perfect body in a +perfect universe. Here is a pillar in some ancient hall that has +fallen into poor hands, and has had a low roof thrown across the +centre of the chamber at half its height. In the lower half there is +part of a pillar that means nothing; ugly, bare, evidently climbing, +and passing through the aperture, and away above yonder is the +carved capital and the great entablature that it carries. Who could +understand the shaft unless he could look up through the aperture, +and see the summit? And who can think of life as anything but a +wretched fragment unless he knows that all which begins here runs +upwards into the room above, and there finds its explanation and its +completion? + +But there is the third sphere of the divine operation. As in +creation and in providence, so in all the work and mystery of our +redemption, this is the goal that God has in view. It was not +worth Christ's while to come and die, if nothing more was to come +of it than the imperfect reception of His blessings and gifts +which the noblest Christian life in this world presents. The +meaning and purpose of the Cross, the meaning and purpose of all +the patient dealings of His whispering Spirit, are that we shall +be like our Divine Lord in spirit first, and in body afterwards. + +And everything about the experiences of a true Christian spirit is +charged with a prophecy of immortality. I have not time to dwell +upon one point gathered from the context, that I intended to have +insisted upon, viz. that the very desires which God's good Spirit +works in a believing soul are themselves confirmations of their +own fulfilment. But if you notice at your leisure the verses that +precede my text, you will find that the Apostle adduces the +groanings of `earnest desire to be clothed with our house which is +from Heaven,' as a proof that we \textit{have} `a building of God, +a house not made with hands.' That is to say, every longing in a +Christian heart when it is most filled with that Spirit, and most +in contact with God, and which is the answer of that heart to a +promise of Christ---every such longing carries with it the +assurance of its own fulfilment. He that hath wrought it has +wrought it in order that the desire may fit us for its answer, and +that the open mouth may be ready for the abundant filling which +His grace designs. He works upon us, therefore, by making us +desire a gift, and then He gives that which He desires. So let us +cherish these longings, not for the accident of escaping death, +nor as choosing the path by which we shall reach the blessed +issue, but longing for that great issue itself; and try to keep +more distinct and clear before all our minds this thought, `God +means for me the participation in Christ's glorified Manhood, and +my attaining of that Manhood is the end that He has in view in all +that He does with me.' + +III. So I must say one word about the last thought that is here, +and that is the certainty and the confidence. `Therefore we are +always confident,' says the Apostle. + +`He that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God.' Then we +may be sure that as far as He is concerned, the work will not be +suspended nor vain. \textit{This} man does not begin to build and +is unable to finish. This workman has infinite resources, an +unchanging purpose, and infinite long-suffering. He will complete +His task. + +In the quarries of Egypt you will find gigantic stones, +half-dressed, and intended to have been transported to some great +temple. But there they lie, the work incomplete, and they never +carried to their place. There are no half-polished stones in God's +quarries. They are all finished where they lie, and then borne +across the sea, like Hiram's from Lebanon, to the Temple on the +hill. It is a certainty that God will finish His work; and since +`He that hath wrought us is God,' we may be sure that He will not +stop till He has done. + +But it is a certainty that you can thwart. It is an operation that +you can counterwork. The potter in Jeremiah's parable was making a +vessel upon his wheel, and the vessel was marred in his hand, and +did not turn out what he wanted it. The meaning of the metaphor, +which has often been twisted to express the very opposite, is that +the potter's work may fail, that the artificer may be balked, that +you can counterwork the divine dealing, and that all His purpose +in your creation, in His providence and in His gift of His Son for +your redemption, may come to nought as far as you are concerned. +`I beseech you that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.' `In +vain have I smitten your children,' wailed the Divine Love; `they +have received no correction.' In vain God lavishes upon some of us +His mercies, in vain for some of us has Christ toiled and suffered +and died. Oh, brother! do not let all God's work on you come to +nought, but yield yourselves to it. Rejoice in the confidence that +He is moulding your character, cheerfully welcome and accept the +providences, painful as they may be, by which He prepares you for +heaven. The chisel is sharp that strikes off the superfluous +pieces of marble, and when the chisel cuts, not into marble, but +into a heart, there is a pang. Bear it, bear it! and understand +the meaning of the blow of the sculptor's mallet, and see in all +life the divine hand working towards the accomplishment of His own +loving purpose. Then if we turn to Him, amid the pains of His +discipline and the joys of His gifts of grace, with recognition +and acceptance of His meaning in them all, and cry to Him, `Thy +mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever, forsake not the work of Thine +own hands,' we may be always confident, as knowing that `the Lord +will perfect that which concerneth us.' + +\chapter{The Old House and the New} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS v. 8} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the +body, and to be present with the Lord.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} v. 8. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +There lie in the words of my text simply these two things; the +Christian view of what death is, and the Christian temper in which +to anticipate it. + +I. First, the Christian view of what death is. + +Now it is to be observed that, properly speaking, the Apostle is +not here referring to the state of the dead, but to the act of +dying. The language would more literally and accurately be +rendered `willing to \textit{go from} home, from the body, and to +\textit{go} home, to the Lord.' The moment of transition of course +leads to a permanent state, but it is the moment of transition +which is in view in the words. I need not remind you, I suppose, +that the metaphor of the home is one which has already been dwelt +upon in the early part of the chapter, where the contrast is drawn +between the transitory house of `this tent,' and the `building of +God,' the body of incorruption and glory which the saints at the +Resurrection day shall receive. So, then, the Christian view of +the act of death is that it is simply a change of abode. + +Very clearly and firmly does Paul draw the line between the man +and his dwelling-place. Life is more than a result of +organisation. Consciousness, thought, feeling, are more than +functions of matter. No materialist philosopher has ever been, or +ever will be, able to explain within the limits of his system the +strange difference between the cause and the effect; how it comes +to pass that at the one end of the chain there is an impression +upon a nerve, and at the other there is pain; how at the one end +there is the throb of an inch of matter in a man's skull, and at +the other end there are thoughts that breathe and words that burn, +and that live for ever. That brings us up to the edge of a gulf +over which no materialist philosopher has ever been able to cast a +bridge. The scalpel cannot cut deep enough to solve this mystery. +Conscience as well as instinct cry out against the theory that the +worker and the tools are inseparable. For such a theory reduces +human actions to mechanical results, and shatters all +responsibility. Man is more than his dwelling-place. You crush a +shell on the beach with your heel, and you slay its tiny +inhabitant. But you can pull down the tent, and pluck up its pegs, +and roll up its canvas, and put it away in a dark corner, and the +tenant is untouched. The foolish senses crown Death as last, and +lord of all. But wisdom says, `Life and thought have gone away +side by side, leaving doors and windows wide,' and that is all +that has happened. + +Still further, my text suggests that to the Christian soul the +departure from the one house is the entrance into the other. The +home has been the body; the home is now to be Jesus Christ. And +very beautiful and significant with meanings, which only +experience will fully unfold, is the representation that the Lord +Christ Himself assumes the place which the bodily environment has +hitherto held. + +That teaches us, at all events, that there is a new depth and +closeness of union with Jesus waiting the Christian soul, when it +lays aside the separating film of flesh. Here the bodily +organisation, with its limitations, necessarily shuts us off from +the closeness of intercourse which is possible for a naked soul. +We know not how much separation may depend upon the immersing of +the spirit in the fleshly tabernacle, but this we know, that, +though here and now, by faith which dominates sense, souls can +live in Christ even whilst they live in the body; yet there shall +come a form of union so much more close, intimate, all-pervading, +and all-encircling, as that the present union with Him by faith, +precious as it is, shall be, as the Apostle calls it in our +context, `absence from the Lord.' `We have to be discharged,' says +an old thinker, `of a great deal of what we call body, and then we +shall be more truly ourselves,' and more truly united to Him who, +if we are Christian people at all, is the self of ourselves and +the life of our lives. No man knows how close he can nestle to the +bosom of Christ when the film of flesh is rent away. Just as when +in some crowded street of a great city some grimy building is +pulled down, a sudden daylight fills the vacant space, and all the +site that had been shut out from the sky for many years is +drenched in sunshine, so when `the earthly house of this +tabernacle' is ruinated and falls, the light will flood the place +where it stood, and to be `absent from the body' shall be to be +`present with the Lord.' + +May we go a step further and suggest that, perhaps, in the bold +metaphor of my text, there is an answer to the questions which so +often rack loving and parted hearts? `Do the dead know aught of +what affects us here? and can they do aught but gaze on Him, and +love, and rest?' If it be that there is any such analogy as seems +to be dimly shadowed in my text, between the relation of the body +on earth to the spirit that inhabits it, and that of Jesus Christ +to him who dwells in Him, and is clothed by Him, then it may be +that, as the flesh, so the Christ transmits to the spirit that has +Him for its home impressions from the outside world, and affords a +means of action upon that world. Christ may be, if I might so say, +the sensorium of the disembodied spirit; and Christ may be the +hand of the man who hath no other instrument by which to express +himself. But all that is fancy perhaps, speculation certainly; and +yet there seems to be a shadow of a foundation for at least +entertaining the possibility of such a thought as that Jesus is +the means of knowing and the means of acting to those who rest +from their labours in Him, and dwell in peace in His arms. But be +that as it may, the reality of a close communion and encircling by +the felt presence of Jesus Christ, which, in its blessed +closeness, will make the closest communion here seem to be +obscure, is certainly declared in the words before us. + +Then this transition is regarded in my text as being the work of a +moment. It is not a long journey of which the beginning is `to go +\textit{from} home, from the body,' and the end is `to \textit{go} +home, to the Lord.' But it is one and the same motion which, +looked at from the one side, is departure, and looked at from the +other is arrival. The old saying has it, `there is but a step +between me and death.' The truth is, there is but a step between +me and \textit{life}. The mighty angel in the Apocalypse, that +stood with one foot on the firm land and the other on the +boundless ocean, is but the type of the spirit in the brief moment +of transition, when the consciousness of two worlds blends, and it +is clothed upon with the house which is from heaven, in the very +act of stripping off the earthly house of this tabernacle. + +Nor need I remind you, I suppose, in more than a sentence, that +this transition obviously leads into a state of conscious +communion with Jesus Christ. The dreary figment of an unconscious +interval for the disembodied spirit has no foundation, either in +what we know of spirit, or in what is revealed to us in Scripture. +For the one thing that seems to make it probable---the use of that +metaphor of `sleeping in Jesus'---is quite sufficiently accounted +for by the notions of repose, and cessation of outward activity, +and withdrawal of capacity of being influenced by the so-called +realities of this lower world, without dragging in the unfounded +notion of unconsciousness. My text is incompatible with it, for it +is absurd to say of an unconscious spirit, clear of a bodily +environment, that it is anywhere; and there is no intelligible +sense in which the condition of such a spirit can be called being +`with the Lord.' + +So, then, I think a momentary transition, with uninterrupted +consciousness, which leads to a far deeper and more wonderful and +blessed sense of unity with Jesus Christ than is possible here on +earth, is the true shape in which the act of death presents itself +to the Christian thinker. + +And remember, dear brethren, that is all we know. Nothing else is +certain---nothing but this, `with the Lord,' and the resulting +certainty that therefore it is well with them. It is enough for +our faith, for our comfort, for our patient waiting. They live in +Christ, `and there we find them worthier to be loved,' and +certainly lapped in a deeper rest. `Blessed are the dead that die +in the Lord.' + +II. In the next place, note the Christian temper in which to +anticipate the transition. + +`We are always courageous, and willing rather to leave our home in +the body, and to go home to the Lord.' Now I must briefly remind +you of how the Apostle comes to this state of feeling. He has been +speaking about the natural shrinking, which belongs to all +humanity, from the act of dissolution, considered as being the +stripping off of the garment of the flesh. And he has declared, on +behalf of himself and the early Christian Church, his own and +their personal desire that they might escape from that trial by +the path which seemed possible to the early Christians---viz. that +of surviving until the return of Jesus Christ from Heaven, when +they would be `clothed upon with the house which is from Heaven,' +without the necessity of stripping off that with which at present +they are invested. Then he says---and this is a very remarkable +thought---that just because this instinctive shrinking from death +and yearning for the glorified body is so strong in the Christian +heart, that is a sign that there is such a glorified body waiting +for us. He says, `we know that if our house ... were dissolved, we +have a building of God.' And his reason for knowing it is this, +`\textit{for} in this we groan.' That is a bold position to say +that a yearning in the Christian consciousness prophesies its own +fulfilment. Our desires are the prophecies of His gifts. Then, on +this certainty---which he deduces from the fact of the longing for +it---on this certainty of the glorious, ultimate body of the +Resurrection he bases his willingness expressed in the text, to go +through the unwelcome process of leaving the old house, although +he shrinks from it. + +So, then, Christian faith does not destroy the natural reluctance +to put aside the old companion of our lives. The old house, though +it be smoky, dimly lighted, and, by our own careless keeping, +sluttish and grimy in many a corner, yet is the only house we have +ever known, and to be absent from it is untried and strange. There +is nothing wrong in saying `we would not be unclothed but clothed +upon.' Nature speaks there. We may reverently entertain the same +feelings which our Pattern acknowledged, when He said, `I have a +baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened until it be +accomplished.' And there would be nothing sinful in repeating His +prayer with His conditions, `If it be possible, let this cup pass +from Me.' + +But then the text suggests to us the large Christian possessions +and hope which counterwork this reluctance, in the measure in +which we live lives of faith. There is the assurance of that +ultimate home in which all the transiency of the present material +organisation is exchanged for the enduring permanence which knows +no corruption. The `tent' is swept away to make room for the +`building.' The earthly house is dissolved in order that there may +be reared round the homeless tenant the house eternal, `not made +with hands,' God's own work, which is waiting in the heavens; +because the power that shall frame it is there. Not only that +great hope of the `body of His glory,' with which at the last all +true souls shall be invested, but furthermore, `the earnest of the +spirit,' and the blessed experiences therefrom, resulting even +here, ought to make the unwelcome necessity less unwelcome. If the +firstfruits be righteousness and peace and joy of the Holy Ghost, +what shall the harvest be? If the `earnest,' the shilling given in +advance, be so precious, what will the whole wealth of the +inheritance which it heralds be when it is received? + +For such reasons the transitory passage becomes less painful and +unwelcome. Who is there that would hesitate to dip his foot into +the ice-cold brook if he knew that it would not reach above his +ankles, and that a step would land him in blessedness unimagined +till experienced? + +Therefore the Christian temper is that of quiet willingness and +constant courage. There is nothing hysterical here, nothing +morbid, nothing overstrained, nothing artificial. The Apostle +says: `I would rather not. I should like if I could escape it. It +is an unwelcome necessity; but when I see what I do see beyond,' I +am ready. Since so it must be, I will go, not reluctantly, nor +dragged away from life, nor clinging desperately to it as it slips +from my hands, nor dreading anything that may happen beyond; but +always courageous, and prepared to go whithersoever the path may +take me, since I am sure that it ends in His bosom. He is willing +to go from the home of the body, because to do that is to go home +to Christ. + +There are other references of our Apostle's, substantially of the +same tone as that of my text, but with very beautiful and +encouraging differences. When he was nearer his end, when it +seemed to him as if the headsman's block was not very far off, his +\textit{willingness} had intensified into `having a +\textit{desire} to depart and to be with Christ, which is far +better.' And when the end was all but reached, and he knew that +death was waiting just round the next turn in the road, he said, +with the confidence that in the midst of the struggle would have +been vainglory, but at the end of it was a foretaste of the calm +of Heaven, `I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; +henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness.' That +is our model, dear brethren,---`always courageous,' afraid of +nothing in life, in death, or beyond, and therefore willing to go +from home from the body and to go home to the Lord. + +Think of this man thus fronting the inevitable, with no excitement +and with no delusions. Remember what Paul believed about death, +about sin, about his own sin, about judgment, about hell. And then +think of how to him death had made its darkness beautiful with the +light of Christ's face, and all the terror was gone out of it. Do +you think so about death? Do you shrink from it? Why? Why do you +not take Paul's cure for the shrinking? If you can say, `To me to +live is Christ,' you will have no difficulty in saying, `and to +die is gain.' That is the only way by which you can come to such a +temper, and then you will be willing to move from the cottage to +the palace, and to wait in peace till you are shifted again into +`the building of God, the house not made with hands, eternal in +the heavens.' + +\chapter{Pleasing Christ} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS v. 2} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`We labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of +Him.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} v. 2. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +We do not usually care very much for, or very much trust, a man's +own statement of the motives of his life, especially if in the +statement he takes credit for lofty and noble ones. And it would +be rather a dangerous experiment for the ordinary run of so-called +Christian people to stand up and say what Paul says here, that the +supreme design and aim towards which all their lives are directed +is to please Jesus Christ. In his case the tree was known by its +fruits. Certainly there never was a life of more noble +self-abnegation, of more continuous heroism, of loftier aspiration +and lowlier service than the life of which we see the very pulse +in these words. + +But Paul is not only professing his own faith, he is speaking in +the name of all his brethren. `We,' ought to include every man and +woman who calls himself or herself a Christian. It is this setting +of the will of Jesus Christ high up above all other commandments, +and proposing to one's self as the aim that swallows up all other +aims, that I may please Him---it is this, and not creeds, forms, +opinions, professions, or even a faith that simply trusts in Him +for salvation, that makes a true Christian. You are a Christian in +the precise measure in which Christ's will is uppermost and +exclusive in your life, and for all your professions and your +orthodoxy and your worship and your faith, not one hair's-breadth +further. Here is the signature and the common characteristic of +all real Christians, `We labour that whether present or absent we +may be well-pleasing to Him.' + +So then in looking together at these words now, I take three +points, the supreme aim of the Christian life; the concentration +of effort which that aim demands; and the insignificance to which +it reduces all external things. + +I. First, then, let me deal with that supreme aim of the Christian +life. + +The word which is, correctly enough, rendered `accepted,' may more +literally, and perhaps with a closer correspondence to the +Apostle's meaning, be translated `well-pleasing,' and the aim is +this, not merely that we may be accepted, but that we may bring a +smile into His face, and some joy and complacent delight in us +into His heart, when He looks upon our doings. That pleasure of +Jesus Christ in them that `fear Him, and in them that hope in His +mercy' and do His will is a present emotion that fills His heart +in looking upon His followers, and it will be especially declared +in the solemn, final judgment. We must keep in view both of these +periods, if we would rightly understand the sweep of the aim which +ought to be uppermost in all Christian people. Here and now in our +present acts, we should so live as to occasion a present sentiment +of complacent delight in us, in the heart of the Christ who sees +us here and now and always. We should so live as that at that +far-off future day when we shall `all be manifested before the +Judgment-seat of Christ,' the Judge may bend from His tribunal, +and welcome us into His presence with a word of congratulation and +an outstretched hand of loving reception. Set that two-fold aim +before you, Christian men and women, else you will fail to +experience the full stimulus of this thought. + +Now such an aim as this implies a very wonderful conception of +Jesus Christ's present relations to us. It is a truth that we may +minister to His joy. It is a truth that just as really as you +mothers are glad when you hear from a far-off land that your boy +is doing well, and getting on, so Jesus Christ's heart fills with +gladness when He sees you and me walking in the paths in which He +would have us go. We often think about our dear dead that they +cannot know of us and our doings here, because the sorrow that +would sometimes come from the contemplation of our evil, or of our +misfortunes, would trouble them in their serene rest. We know not +how that may be, but this at least we do know, that the Man Jesus +Christ, who, like those dear ones, `was dead, and is alive for +evermore,' in His human nature has knowledge of all His children's +failures, as well as successes, and is affected with some shadow +of regret, or with some reality of delight, according as they +follow or stray from the paths in which He would have them walk. +If it be so with Him it may be so with them; and though it be not +so with them it must be so with Him. So this strange, sweet, +tender, and powerful thought is a piece of plain prose, that +Christ is glad when you and I are good. + +Does it need any word to emphasise the force of that motive to a +Christian heart that loves the Master? Surely this is the great +and blessed peculiarity of all the morality of Christianity that +it has all a personal bearing and aspect, and that just as the sum +of all our duty is gathered up in the one command, `Imitate +Christ,' so the motive for all our duty lies in `If you love Me, +keep My commandments,' and the reward which ought to stimulate +more than anything besides is the one thought, not, of what I +shall get because I am good, but of what I shall give Him by my +obedience, a joy in the heart that was stabbed through and through +by sorrow for my sake. That we may please Him `who pleased not +Himself,' is surely the grandest motive on which the pursuit of +holiness, and the imitation of Jesus Christ can ever be made to +rest. Oh! how different, and how much more blessed such a motive +and aim is than all the lower reasons for which men are sometimes +exhorted and encouraged to be good! What a difference it is when +we say, `Do that thing because it is right,' and when we say, `Do +that thing because you will be happier if you do,' or when we say, +`Do it because He would like you to do it.' The one is all cold +and abstract. To stand before a man and simply say: `Now go and do +your duty,' is a poor way of setting his feet upon a rock and +establishing his goings. Duty is not a word that stirs men's +hearts, however it may awe their consciences. It rises up before +us like some goddess statuesque and serene, with purity, indeed, +in her deep and solemn eyes, but with nothing appealing to our +affections in her stern lineaments. But when the thought of `You +ought' melts into `For my sake,' and through the dissolving face +of the cold marble goddess there shine the beloved lineaments of +Him who `wears the Godhead's most benignant grace,' the smile upon +His face becomes a motive that touches all hearts. Transmute +obligation into gratitude, and in front of duty and appeals to +self put Christ, and all the harshness and difficulty and burden +and self-sacrifice of obedience becomes easy and a joy. + +Then let me remind you that this one supreme aim of pleasing Jesus +Christ can be carried on through all life in every varying form, +great or small. A blessed unity is given to our whole being when +the little things and the big things, the easy things and the hard +things, deeds which are conspicuous and deeds which no eye sees, +are all brought under the influence of the one motive and made +co-operant to the one end. Drive that one steadfast aim through +your lives like a bar of iron, and it will give the lives strength +and consistency---not rigidity, because they may still be +flexible. Nothing will be too small to be consecrated by that +motive; nothing too great to own its power. You can please Him +everywhere and always. The only thing that is inconsistent with +pleasing Him is the thing which, alas! we do at all times and +should do at no time, and that is to sin against Him. If we bear +with us this as a conscious motive in every part of our day's work +it will give us a quick discernment as to what is evil, which I +believe nothing else will so surely give. If you desire life to be +noble, uniform, dignified, great in its minutest acts and solemn +in its very trifles, and if you would have some continual test and +standard by which you can detect all spurious, apparent virtues, +and discover lurking and masked temptations, carry this one aim +clear and high above all else, and make it the purpose of the +whole life, to be well-pleasing unto Him. + +II. Now, in the next place, notice the concentrated effort which +this aim requires. + +The word rendered in my text `labour' is a peculiar one, very +seldom employed in Scripture. It means, in its most literal +signification, to be fond of honour, or to be actuated by a love +of honour; and hence it comes, by a very natural transition, to +mean to strive to gain something for the sake of the honour +connected with it. That is to say, it not only expresses the +notion of diligent, strenuous effort, but it reveals the reason +for that diligence and strenuousness in what I may call (for the +word might almost be so rendered) the \textit{ambition} of being +honoured by pleasing Christ. So that the `labour' of my text +covers the whole ground, not only of the act but of its motive. +The concentration of effort which such an aim requires may be +enforced by one or two simple exhortations. + +First, let me say that we ought, as Christian people, to cultivate +this noble ambition of pleasing Jesus Christ. Men have all got the +love of approbation deep in them. God put it there for a good +purpose, not that we might shape our lives so as to get others to +pat us on the back, and say, `Well done!' but that, in addition to +the other solemn and sovereign motives for following the paths of +righteousness, we might have this highest ambition to impel us on +the road. And it is the duty of all Christians to see to it that +they discipline themselves so as, in their own feelings, to put +high above all the approbation or censure of their fellows the +approbation or censure of Jesus Christ. That will take some +cultivation. It is a great deal easier to shape our courses so as +to get one another's praise. I remember a quaint saying in a +German book. `An old schoolmaster tried to please this one and +that one, and it failed. ``Well, then,'' said he, ``I will try to +please Christ.'' And that succeeded.' + +And let me remind you that a second part of the concentration of +effort which this aim requires is to strive with the utmost energy +in the accomplishment of it. Paul did not believe that anybody +could please Jesus Christ without a fight for it. His notion of +acceptable service was service which a man suppressed much to +render, and overcame much to bring. And I urge upon you this, dear +brethren, that with all the mob of faces round about us which shut +out Christ's face, and with all the temptations to follow other +aims, and with the weaknesses of our own characters, it never was, +is not, nor ever will be, an easy thing, or a thing to be done +without a struggle and a dead lift, to live so as to be +well-pleasing to Him. + +Look at Paul's metaphors with which he sets forth the Christian +life---a warfare, a race, a struggle, a building up of some great +temple structure, and the like---all suggesting at the least the +idea of patient, persistent, continuous toil, and most of them +suggesting also the idea of struggle with antagonistic forces and +difficulties, either within or without. So we must set our +shoulders to the wheel, put our backs into our work. Do not think +that you are going to be carried into the condition of conformity +with Jesus Christ in a dream, or that the road to heaven is a +primrose path, to be trodden in silver slippers. `I will not offer +unto the Lord that which doth cost me nothing,' and if you do, it +will be worth exactly what it costs. There must be concentration +of effort if we are to be well-pleasing to Him. + +But then do not forget, on the other hand, that deeper than all +effort, and the very spring and life of it, there must be the +opening of our hearts for the entrance of His life and spirit, by +the presence of which only are we well-pleasing to Christ. That +which pleases Him in you and me is our likeness to Him. According +to the old Puritan illustration, the refiner sat by the furnace +until he could see in the molten metal his own face mirrored, and +then he knew it was pure. So what pleases Christ in us is the +reflection of Himself. And how can we get that likeness to Himself +except by receiving into our hearts the Spirit that was in Christ +Jesus, and will dwell in us, and will produce in us in our measure +the same image that it formed in Him? `Work \textit{out} your own +salvation,' because `it is God that worketh \textit{in} you.' +Labour, concentrate effort, and above all open the heart to the +entrance of that transforming power. + +III. Lastly, let me suggest the utter insignificance to which this +aim reduces all externals. + +`We labour,' says Paul, `that whether present or absent, we may be +accepted.' What differences of condition are covered by that +parenthetical phrase---`present or absent!' He talks about it as +if it was a very small matter, does he not? And what is included +in it? Whether a man shall be in the body or out of it; that is to +say, whether he be alive or dead. Here is an aim then, so great, +so lofty, so all-comprehensive that it reduces the difference +between living in the world and being out of it, to a trifle. And +if we stand so high up that these two varieties of condition +dwindle into insignificance and seem to have melted into one, do +you think that there is anything else that will be very big? If +the difference between life and death is dwindled and dwarfed, +what else do you suppose will remain? Nothing, I should think. + +So if we only, by God's help, which will be given to us if we want +it, keep this clear before us as the motive of all our life, then +all the possible alternatives of human condition and circumstance +will sink into insignificance, and from that lofty summit will +`show scarce so gross as beetles' in the air beneath our lofty +station. + +Whether we be rich or poor, solitary or beset by friends, happy or +sad, hopeful or despairing, young or old, wearied or buoyant, +learned or foolish, it matters not. The one aim lifts itself +before us, and they in whose eyes shine the light of that great +issue are careless of the road along which they pass. Do you +enlist yourselves in the company that fires at the long range, and +all those that take aim at the shorter ones will seem to be very +pitifully limiting their powers. + +Then remember that this same aim, and this same result may be +equally pursued and attained whether here or yonder. It is +something to have a course of life which runs straight along, +unbent aside, and not cut short off, by the change from earth to +Heaven. And this felicity he only has who, amidst things temporal +and insignificant, sees and seeks the eternal smile on the face of +his unchanging Saviour. On earth, in death, through eternity, such +a life will be homogeneous and of a piece; and when all other aims +are hull down below the horizon, forgotten and out of sight, then +still this will be the purpose, and yonder it will be the +accomplished purpose, of each, to please the Lord Jesus Christ. + +My dear friend, remember that in its full meaning this aim regards +the future, and points onward to that great judgment-seat where +you and I will certainly each of us give account of himself. Do +you think that you will please Christ then? Do you think that when +that day dawns, a smile of welcome will come into His eyes, and a +glow of gladness at the meeting into yours? Or have you cause to +fear that you will `call on the rocks and the hills to cover you +from the face of Him that sitteth on the Throne?' + +We are all close by one another; our voices are very audible to +each other. Do you learn, Christian people, that the first,---or +at least a prime---condition of all Christian and Christ-pleasing +life, is a wholesome disregard of what anybody says but Himself. +The old Laced\ae{}monians used to stir themselves to heroism by +the thought: `What will they say of us in Sparta?' The governor of +some outlying English colony minds very little what the people +that he is set to rule think about him. He reports to Downing +Street, and it is the opinion of the Home Government that +influences him. You report to headquarters. Never mind what +anybody else thinks of you. Your business is to please Christ, and +the less you trouble yourselves about pleasing men the more you +will succeed in doing it. Be deaf to the tittle tattle of your +fellow soldiers in the ranks. It is your Commander's smile that +will be your highest reward. + +\begin{verse} +`Fame is no plant that grows on mortal soil, \\ + But lives and spreads aloft by those pure eyes, \\ + And perfect witness of all-judging Jove; \\ + As he pronounces lastly on each deed, \\ + Of so much fame in heaven expect thy meed.' +\end{verse} + +\chapter{The Love That Constrains} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS v. 14} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`The love of Christ constraineth us.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} v. 14. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +It is a dangerous thing to be unlike other people. It is still +more dangerous to be better than other people. The world has a +little heap of depreciatory terms which it flings, age after age, +at all men who have a higher standard and nobler aims than their +fellows. A favourite term is `mad.' So, long ago they said, `The +prophet is a fool; the spiritual man is mad,' and, in His turn, +Jesus was said to be `beside Himself,' and Festus shouted from the +judgment-seat to Paul that he was mad. A great many people had +said the same thing about him before, as the context shows. For +the verse before my text is: `Whether we be beside ourselves, it +is to God: or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.' Now the +former clause can only refer to other people's estimate of the +Apostle. No doubt there were many things about him that gave +colour to it. He said that a dead Man had appeared to him and +spoken with him. He said that he had been carried up into the +third heaven. He had a very strange creed in the judgment of the +times. He had abandoned a brilliant career for a very poor one. He +was obviously utterly indifferent to the ordinary aims of men. He +had a consuming enthusiasm. And so the world explained him +satisfactorily to itself by the short and easy method of saying, +`Insane.' And Paul explained himself by the great word of my text, +`The love of Christ constraineth us.' Wherever there is a life +adequately under the influence of Christ's love the results will +be such as an unsympathising world may call madness, but which are +the perfection of sober-mindedness. Would there were more such +madmen! I wish to try to make one or two of them now, by getting +some of you to take for your motto, `The love of Christ +constraineth us.' + +I. Now the first thing to notice is this constraining love. + +I need not spend time in showing that when Paul says here `The +love of Christ,' he means Christ's love to him, not his to Christ. +That is in accordance with his continual usage of the expression; +and it is in accordance with facts. For it is not my love to +Jesus, but His love to me, that brings the real moulding power +into my life, and my love to Him is only the condition on which +the true power acts upon me. To get the fulcrum and the lever +which will heave a life up to the heights you have to get out of +yourselves. + +Now Paul never saw Jesus Christ in this earthly life. Timothy, who +is associated with him in this letter, and perhaps is one of the +`us,' never saw Him either. The Corinthian believers whom he is +addressing had, of course, never seen Him. And yet the Apostle has +not the slightest hesitation in taking that great benediction of +Christ's love and spreading it over them all. That love is +independent of time and of space; it includes humanity, and is +co-extensive with it. Unturned away by unworthiness, unrepelled by +non-responsiveness, undisgusted by any sin, unwearied by any, +however numerous, foiling of its attempts, the love of Christ, +like the great heavens that bend above us, wraps us all in its +sweetness, and showers upon us all its light and its dew. + +And yet, brethren, I would have you remember that whilst we thus +try to paint, in poor, poor words, the universality of that love, +we have to remember that it does not partake of the weakness that +infects all human affections, which are only strong when they are +narrow, and as the river expands it becomes shallow, and loses the +force in its flow which it had when it was gathered between +straiter banks, so as that a universal charity is almost akin to a +universal indifference. But this love that grasps us all, this +river that `proceedeth from the Throne of God and of the Lamb,' +flows in its widest reaches as deep and as impetuous in its career +as if it were held within the narrowest of gorges. For Christ's +universal love is universal only because it is individualising and +particular. We love our nation by generalising and losing sight of +the individuals. Christ loves the world because He loves every man +and woman in it, and His grace enwraps all because His grace +hovers over each. + +\begin{verse} +`The sun whose beams most glorious are \\ + Despiseth no beholder,' +\end{verse} + +\noindent but the rays come straight to each eyeball. Be sure of +this: that He who, when the multitude thronged Him and pressed +Him, felt the tremulous, timid, scarcely perceptible touch of one +woman's wasted finger on the hem of His garment, holds each of us +in the grasp of His love, which is universal, because it applies +to each. You and I have each the whole radiance of it pouring down +on our heads, and none intercepts the beams from any other. So, +brethren, let us each feel not only the love that grasps the +world, but the love that empties itself on me. + +But there is one more remark that I wish to make in reference to +this constraining love of Jesus Christ, and that is, that in order +to see and feel it we must take the point of view that this +Apostle takes in my text. For hearken how he goes on. `The love of +Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died +for all, then all died, and that He died for all,' etc. That is to +say, the death of Christ for all, which is equivalent to the death +of Christ for each, is the great solvent by which the love of God +melts men's hearts, and is the great proof that Jesus Christ loves +me, and thee, and all of us. If you strike out that conception you +have struck out from your Christianity the vindication of the +belief that Christ loves the world. What possible meaning is there +in the expression, `He died for all?' How can the fact of His +death on a `green hill' outside the gates of a little city in +Syria have world-wide issues, unless in that death He bore, and +bore away, the sins of the whole world? I know that there have +been many---and there are many to-day---who not accepting what +seems to me to be the very vital heart of Christianity---viz. the +death of Christ for the world's sin, do yet cherish---as I think +illogically---yet do cherish a regard for Him, which puts some of +us who call ourselves `orthodox,' and are tepid, to the blush. +Thank God! men are often better than their creeds, as well as +worse than them. But that fact does not affect what I am saying +now, and what I beg you to take for what you find it to be worth, +that unless we believe that Jesus Christ died for all, I do not +know what claim He has on the love of the world. We shall admire +Him, we shall bow before Him, as the very realised ideal of +humanity, though how this one Man has managed to escape the taint +of the all-pervading evil remains, upon that hypothesis, very +obscure. But love Him? No! Why should I? But if I feel that His +death had world-wide issues, and that He went down into the +darkness in order that He might bring the world into the light, +then---and I am sure, on the wide scale and in the long-run only +then---will men turn to Him and say, `Thou hast died for me, help +me to live for Thee.' Brethren, I beseech you, take care of +emptying the death of Christ of its deepest meaning, lest you +should thereby rob His character of its chiefest charm, and His +name of its mightiest soul-melting power. The love that +constraineth is the love that died, and died for all, because it +died for each. + +II. Now let me ask you to consider the echo of this constraining +love. + +I said a moment or two ago that Christ's love to us is the +constraining power, and that ours to Him is but the condition on +which that power works. But between the two there comes something +which brings that constraining love to bear upon our hearts. And +so notice what my text goes on to adduce as needful for Christ's +love to have its effect---namely, `because we thus judge,' etc. +Then my estimate, my apprehension of the love of Christ must come +in between its manifestation and its power to grip, to restrain, +to impel me. If I may use such a figure, He stands, as it were, +bugle in hand, and blows the sweet strains that are meant to set +the echoes flying. But the rock must receive the impact of the +vibrations ere it can throw back the thinned echo of the music. +Love must be believed and known ere it can be responded to. + +Now the only answer and echo that hearts desire is the love of the +beloved heart. We all know that in our earthly life. Love is as +much a hunger to be loved as the outgoing of my own affection. The +two things are inseparable, and there is nothing that repays love +but love. Jesus Christ wishes each of us to love Him. If it is +true that He loves me, then, intertwisted with the outgoing of His +heart towards me is the yearning that my heart may go out towards +Him. Dear brethren, this is no pulpit rhetoric, it is a plain, +simple fact, inseparable from the belief in Christ's love---that +He wishes you and every soul of man to love Him, and that, +whatever else you bring, lip reverence, orthodox belief, apparent +surrender, in the assay shop of His great mint all these are +rejected, and the only metal that passes the fire is the pure gold +of an answering love. Brethren! is that what you bring to Jesus +Christ? + +Love seeks for love, and our love can only be an echo of His. He +takes the beginning in everything. If I am to love Him back again, +I must have faith in His love to me. And if that be so, then the +true way by which you, imperfect Christian people, can deepen and +strengthen your love to Jesus Christ is not so much by efforts to +work up a certain warmth of sentiment and glow of affection, as by +gazing, with believing eyes of the heart, upon that which kindles +your love to Him. If you want ice to melt, put it out into the +sunshine, If you want the mirror to gleam, do not spend all your +time in polishing it. Carry it where it can catch the ray, and it +will flash it back in glory. `We love Him because He first loved +us.' Our love is an echo; be sure that you listen for the parent +note, and link yourselves by faith with that great love which has +come down from Heaven for us all. + +But how can I speak about echoes and responses when I know that +there are scores of men and women whom a preacher's words reach +who would be ashamed of themselves, and rightly, if they exhibited +the same callousness of heart and selfishness of ingratitude to +some human, partial benefactor as they are not ashamed to have +exhibited all their lives to Jesus Christ. Echo? Yes! your +heartstrings are set vibrating fast enough whenever, in the +adjoining apartment, an instrument is touched which is tuned to +the same key as your heart. Pleasures, earthly aims, worldly +gifts, the sweetnesses of human life, all these things set them +thrilling, and you can hear the music, but your hearts are not +tuned to answer to the note that is struck in `He loved me and +gave Himself for me.' The bugle is blown, and there is silence, +and no echo, faint and far, comes whispering back. Brethren, we +use no one else, in whose love we have any belief, a thousandth +part so ill as we use Jesus Christ. + +III. Now, lastly, let me say a word about the constraining +influence of this echoed love. + +Its first effect, if it has any real power in our hearts and +lives, will be to change their centre, to decentralise. Look what +the Apostle goes on to say: `We thus judge that He ... died for +all, that they which live should not live henceforth unto +themselves.' That is the great transformation. Secure that, and +all nobleness will follow, and `whatsoever things are lovely and +of good report' will come, like doves to their windows, flocking +into the soul that has ceased to find its centre in its poor +rebellious self. All love derives its power to elevate, refine, +beautify, ennoble, conquer, from the fact that, in lower degree, +all love makes the beloved the centre, and not the self. Hence the +mother's self-sacrifice, hence the sweet reciprocity of wedded +life, hence everything in humanity that is noble and good. Love is +the antagonist of selfishness, and the highest type of love should +be, and in the measure in which we are under the influence of +Christ's love will be, the self-surrendering life of a Christian +man. I know that in saying so I am condemning myself and my +brethren. All the same, it is true. The one power that rescues a +man from the tyranny of living for self, which is the mother of +all sin and ignobleness, is when a man can say `Christ is my aim,' +`Christ is my object.' `The life that I live in the flesh I live +by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for +me.' There is no secret of self-annihilation, which is +self-transfiguration, and, I was going to say, deification, like +that of loving Christ with all my heart because He has loved me +so. + +Again, let me remind you that, on its lower reaches and levels, we +find that all true affection has in it a strange power of +assimilating its objects to one another. Just as a man and woman +who have lived together for half a century in wedded life come to +have the same notions, the same prejudices, the same tastes, and +sometimes you can see their very faces being moulded into +likeness, so, if I love Jesus Christ, I shall by degrees grow +liker and liker to Him, and be `changed into the same image, from +glory to glory.' + +Again, the love constrains, and not only constrains but impels, +because it becomes a joy to divine and to do the will of the +beloved Christ. `My yoke is easy.' Is it? It is very hard to be a +Christian. His requirements are a great deal sterner than others. +His yoke is easy, not because it is a lighter yoke, but because it +is padded with love. And that makes all service a sacrament, and +the surrender of my own will, which is the essence of obedience, a +joy. + +So, dear friends, we come here in sight of the unique and blessed +characteristic of all Christian morality, and of all its practical +exhortations, and the Gospel stands alone as the mightiest +moulding power in the world, just because its word is `love, and +do as thou wilt.' For in the measure of thy love will thy will +coincide with the will of Christ. There is nothing else that has +anything like that power. We do not want to be told what is right. +We know it a great deal better than we practise it. A revelation +from heaven that simply told me my duty would be surplusage. `If +there had been a law that could have given life, righteousness had +been by the law.' We want a life, not a law, and the love of +Christ brings the life to us. + +And so, dear friends, that life, restrained and impelled by the +love to which it is being assimilated, is a life of liberty and a +life of blessedness. In the measure in which the love of Christ +constrains any man, it makes for him difficulties easy, the +impossible possible, the crooked things straight, and the rough +places plain. The duty becomes a delight, and self ceases to +disturb. If the love of God is shed abroad in a heart, and in the +measure in which it is, that heart will be at rest, and a great +peace will brood over it. Then the will bows in glad submission, +and all the powers arise to joyous service. We are lords of the +world and ourselves when we are Christ's servants for love's sake; +and earth and its good are never so good as when the power of His +echoed love rules our lives. Do you know and believe that Christ +loves you? Do you know and believe that you had a place in His +heart when He hung on the Cross for the salvation of the world? +Have you answered that love with yours, kindled by your faith in, +and experience of, His? Is His love the overmastering impulse +which urges you to all good, the mighty constraint that keeps you +back from all evil, the magnet that draws, the anchor that +steadies, the fortress that defends, the light that illumines, the +treasure that enriches? Is it the law that commands, and the power +that enables? Then you are blessed, though people will perhaps say +that you are mad, whilst here; and you will be blessed for ever +and ever. + +\chapter{The Entreaties of God} +\markright{2 CORINTHIANS v. 20} + +\footnotesize +\begin{quote} +`Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech +... by us: we pray ... in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to +God.'---2 \textsc{Cor.} v. 20. +\end{quote} +\normalsize + +These are wonderful and bold words, not so much because of what +they claim for the servants as because of what they reveal of the +Lord. That thought, `as though God did beseech,' seems to me to be +the one deserving of our attention now, far rather than any +inferences which may be drawn from the words as to the relation of +preachers of the Gospel to man and to God. I wish, therefore, to +try to set forth the wonderfulness of this mystery of a beseeching +God, and to put by the side of it the other wonder and mystery of +men refusing the divine beseechings. + +Before doing so, however, I remark that the supplement which +stands in our Authorised Version in this text is a misleading and +unfortunate one. `As though God did beseech \textit{you}' and `we +pray \textit{you}' unduly narrow the scope of the Apostolic +message, and confuse the whole course of the Apostolic reasoning +here. For he has been speaking of a world which is reconciled to +God, and he finds a consequence of that reconciliation of the +world in the fact that he and his fellow-preachers are entrusted +with the word of reconciliation. The scope of their message, then, +can be no narrower than the scope of the reconciliation; and +inasmuch as that is world-wide the beseeching must be co-extensive +therewith, and must cover the whole ground of humanity. It is a +universal message that is set forth here. The Corinthians, to whom +Paul was speaking, are, by his hypothesis, already reconciled to +God, and the message which he has in trust for them is given in +the subsequent words: `We then, as workers together with God, +beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.' +But the message, the pleading of the divine heart, `be ye +reconciled to God,' is a pleading that reaches over the whole +range of a reconciled world. I take then, just these two thoughts, +God beseeching man, and man refusing God. + +I. God beseeching man. + +Now notice how, in my text, there alternates, as if substantially +the same idea, the thoughts that Christ and that God pray men to +be reconciled. `We are ambassadors on \textit{Christ's} behalf, as +though \textit{God} did beseech you by us, we pray on +\textit{Christ's} behalf.' So you see, first, Christ the Pleader, +then God beseeching, then Christ again entreating and praying. +Could any man have so spoken, passing instinctively from the one +thought to the other, unless he had believed that whatsoever +things the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise; and +that Jesus Christ is the Representative of the whole Deity for +mankind, so as that when He pleads God pleads, and God pleads +through Him. I do not dwell upon this, but I simply wish to mark +it in passing as one of the innumerable strong and irrefragable +testimonies to the familiarity and firmness with which that +thought of the divinity of Jesus Christ, and the full revelation +of the Father by Him, was grasped by the Apostle, and was believed +by the people to whom he spoke. God pleads, therefore Christ +pleads, Christ pleads, therefore God pleads; and these Two are One +in their beseechings, and the voice of the Father echoes to us in +the tenderness of the Son. + +So, then, let us think of that pleading. To sue for love, to beg +that an enemy will put away his enmity is the part of the inferior +rather than of the superior; is the part of the offender rather +than of the offended; is the part of the vanquished rather than of +the victor; is the part surely not of the king but of the rebel. +And yet here, in the sublime transcending of all human precedent +and pattern which characterises the divine dealing, we have the +place of the suppliant and of the supplicated inverted, and Love +upon the Throne bends down to ask of the rebel that lies powerless +and sullen at His feet, and yet is not conquered until his heart +be won, though his limbs be manacled, that he would put away all +the bitterness out of his heart, and come back to the love and the +grace which are ready to pour over him. `He that might the +vengeance best have taken, finds out the remedy.' He against whom +we have transgressed prays us to be reconciled; and the Infinite +Love lowers Himself in that lowering which is, in another aspect, +the climax of His exaltation, to pray the rebels to accept His +amnesty. + +Oh, dear brethren! this is no mere piece of rhetoric. What facts +in the divine heart does it represent? What facts in the divine +conduct does it represent? It represents these facts in the divine +heart, that there is in it an infinite longing for the creature's +love, an infinite desire for unity between Him and us. + +There are wonderful significance and beauty in the language of my +text which are lost in the Authorised Version; but are preserved +in the Revised. `We are ambassadors' not only `\textit{for} +Christ,' but `\textit{on Christ's behalf}.' And the same +proposition is repeated in the subsequent clause. `We pray you,' +not merely `in Christ's stead,' though that is much, but +`\textit{on His account},' which is more---as if it lay very near +His heart that we should put away our enmity; and as if in some +transcendent and wonderful manner the all-perfect, self-sufficing +God was made glad, and the Master, who is His image for us, `saw +of the travail of His soul, and,' in regard to one man, `was +satisfied,' when the man lets the warmth of God's love in Christ +thaw away the coldness out of his heart, and kindle there an +answering flame. An old divine says, `We cannot do God a greater +pleasure or more oblige His very heart, than to trust in Him as a +God of love.' He is ready to stoop to any humiliation to effect +that purpose. So intense is the divine desire to win the world to +His love, that He will stoop to sue for it rather than lose it. +Such is at least part of the fact in the divine heart, which is +shadowed forth for us by that wonderful thought of the beseeching +God. + +And what facts in the divine conduct does this great word +represent? A God that beseeches. Well, think of the tears of +imploring love which fell from Christ's eyes as He looked across +the valley from Olivet, and saw the Temple glittering in the early +sunshine. Think of `O Jerusalem! Jerusalem! ... how often would I +have gathered thy children together ... and ye would not.' And are +we not to see in the Christ who wept in the earnestness of His +desire, and in the pain of its disappointment, the very revelation +of the Father's heart and the very action of the Father's arm? +`Come unto me, all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will +give you rest.' That is Christ beseeching and God beseeching in +Him. Need I quote other words, gentle, winning, loving? Do we not +feel, when looking upon Christ, as if the secret of His whole life +was the stretching out imploring and welcoming hands to men, and +praying them to grasp His hands, and be saved? But, oh, brethren! +the fact that towers above all others, which explains the whole +procedure of divinity, and is the keystone of the whole arch of +revelation; the fact which reveals in one triple beam of light, +God, man, and sin in the clearest illumination, is the Cross of +Jesus Christ. And if that be not the very sublime of entreaty; and +if any voice can be conceived, human or divine, that shall reach +men's hearts with a more piercing note of pathetic invitation than +sounds from that Cross, I know not where it is. Christ that dies, +in His dying breath calls to us, and `the blood of sprinkling +speaketh better things than that of Abel'; inasmuch as its voice +is, `Come unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth.' + +Not only in the divine facts of the life and death of Jesus +Christ, but in all the appeals of that great revelation which lies +before us in Scripture; and may I say, in the poor, broken +utterances of men whose harsh, thin voices try to set themselves, +in some measure, to the sweetness and the fulness of His +beseeching tones---does God call upon you to draw close to Him, +and put away your enmity. And not only by His Word written or +ministered from human lips, but also by the patient providences of +His love He calls and prays you to come. A mother will sometimes, +in foolish fondness, coax her sullen child by injudicious +kindness, or, in wise patience, will seek to draw the little heart +away from the faults that she desires not to notice, by redoubled +ingenuity of tenderness and of care. And so God does with us. When +you and I, who deserve---oh! so different treatment---get, as we +do get, daily care and providential blessings from Him, is not +that His saying to us, `I beseech you to cherish no alienation, +enmity, indifference, but to come back and live in the love'? When +He draws near to us in these outward gifts of His mercy, is He not +doing Himself what He has bid us to do; and what He never could +have bid us to do, nor our hearts have recognised to be the +highest strain of human virtue to do, unless He Himself were doing +it first? `If thine enemy hunger, feed him. If he thirst, give him +drink; for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his +head.' + +Not only by the great demonstration of His stooping and infinite +desire for our love which lies in the life and death of Jesus +Christ, nor only by His outward work, nor by His providence, but by +many an inward touch on our spirits, by many a prick of conscience, +by many a strange longing that has swept across our souls, sudden as +some perfumed air in the scentless atmosphere; by many an inward +voice, coming we know not whence, that has spoken to us of Him, of +His love, of our duty; by many a drawing which has brought us nearer +to the Cross of Jesus Christ, only, alas! in some cases that we +might recoil further from it,---has He been beseeching, beseeching +us all. + +Brethren! God pleads with you. He pleads with you because there is +nothing in His heart to any of you but love, and a desire to bless +you; He pleads with you because, unless you will let Him, He +cannot lavish upon you His richest gifts and His highest +blessings. He pleads with you, bowing to the level, and beneath +the level, of your alienation and reluctance. And the sum and +substance of all His dealings with every soul is, `My son! give Me +thy heart.' `Be ye reconciled to God.' + +II. And now turn, very briefly, to the next suggestion arising +from this text, the terrible obverse, so to speak, of the coin: +Man refusing a beseeching God. + +That is the great paradox and mystery. Nobody has ever fathomed +that yet, and nobody will. How it comes, how it is possible, there +is no need for us to inquire. It is an awful and a solemn power +that every poor little speck of humanity has, to lift itself up in +God's face, and say, in answer to all His pleadings, `I will not!' +as if the dwellers in some little island, a mere pin-point of +black, barren rock, jutting up at sea, were to declare war against +a kingdom that stretched through twenty degrees of longitude on +the mainland. So we, on our little bit of island, our pin-point of +rock in the great waste ocean, we can separate ourselves from the +great Continent; or, rather, God has, in a fashion, made us +separate in order that we may either unite ourselves with Him, by +our willing yielding, or wrench ourselves away from Him by our +antagonism and rebellion. God beseeches because God has so settled +the relations between Him and us, that that is what He has to do +in order to get men to love Him. He cannot force them. He cannot +prise open a man's heart with a crowbar, as it were, and force +Himself inside. The door opens from within. `Behold! I stand at +the door and knock.' There is an `if.' `If any man open I will +come in.' Hence the beseeching, hence the wail of wisdom that +cries aloud and no man regards it; of love that stands at the +entering in of the city, and pleads in vain, and says, `I have +called, and ye have refused.... How often would I have gathered +... and ye would not.' Oh, brethren! it is an awful +responsibility, a mysterious prerogative, which each one of us, +whether consciously or no, has to exercise, to accept or to refuse +the pleadings of an entreating Christ. + +And let me remind you that the act of refusal is a very simple +one. Not to accept is to reject; not to yield is to rebel. You +have only to do nothing, to do it all. There are dozens of people +in our churches and chapels listening with self-satisfied +unconcern, who have all their lives been refusing a beseeching +God. And they do not know that they ever did it! They say, `Oh! I +will be a Christian some time or other.' They cherish vague ideas +that, somehow or other, they are so already. They have done +nothing at all, they have simply been absolutely indifferent and +passive. Some of you have heard sermons like this so often that +they produce no effect. `It is the right kind of thing to say. It +is the thing we have heard a hundred times.' Perhaps you wonder +why I should be so much in earnest about the matter, and then you +go outside, and discuss me or the weather, and forget all about +the sermon. + +And thus, once more, you reject Christ. It is done without knowing +it; done simply by doing nothing. My brother! do not stop your +ears any more against that tender, imploring love. + +Then let me remind you that this refusing the beseeching of God is +the climax of all folly. For consider what it is,---a man refusing +his highest good and choosing his certain ruin. I am afraid that +people have been arguing and fighting so much of late years over +disputable points in reference to the doctrine of future +retribution that the indisputable fact of such retribution has +lost much of its solemn power. + +I pray you, brethren, to ask yourselves one question: Is there +anything, in the present or in the future condition of a man that +is not reconciled to God, which explains God's beseeching urgency? +Why this energy and intensity of divine desire? Why this which, if +it were human only, would be called \textit{passionate} entreaty? +Why was it needful for Jesus Christ to die? Why was it worth His +while to bear the punishment of man's sin? Why should God and +Christ, through all the ages, plead with unintermittent voice? +There must be some explanation of it all, and here is the +explanation, `They that hate Me love \textit{death}.' `Be ye +reconciled to God,' for enmity is ruin and destruction. + +And finally, dear friends, this turning away from Him that +speaketh from Heaven, of which some of you have all your lives +been guilty, is not only supreme folly, but it is the climax of +all guilt. For there can be nothing worse, darker, arguing a +nature more averse or indifferent to the highest good, than that +God should plead, and I should steel my heart and deafen mine ear +against His voice. The crown of a man's sin, because it is the +disclosure of the secrets of his deepest heart as loving darkness +rather than light, is turning away from the divine voice that woos +us to love and to God. + +Oh! there are some of you that have heard that Voice too often to +be much touched by it. There are some of you too busy to attend to +it, who hear it not because of the clatter of the streets and the +whir of the spindles. There are some of you that are seeking to +drown it in the shouts of mirth and revelry. There are some of you +to whom it comes muffled in the mists of doubt; but I beseech you +all, look at the Cross, \textit{look at the Cross!} and hear Him +that hangs there pleading with you. + +Before the battle there comes out the captain of the twenty +thousand to the King with the ten thousand, who in His loftiness +is not afraid to stoop to sue for peace from the weaker power. My +brother! the moment is precious; the white flag may never be waved +before your eyes again. Do not; do not refuse! or the next instant +the clarion of the assault may sound, and where will you be then? + +It is vain for thee to rush against the thick bosses of the +Almighty buckler. `We beseech, in Christ's behalf, be ye +reconciled with God.' + +\newpage +\chapter{PROJECT GUTENBERG ``SMALL PRINT''} +\small \pagenumbering{gobble} +\begin{verbatim} + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans +Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. 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